Cappuccino Chip Cookies and Fudge Puddles. It's a Cookie Two-fer!

I thought since we have a little less than a week left before those pesky resolutions ban us from cookies and sweet treats, I have a sworn and bound duty to share with you TWO spectacular cookies from our Holiday Cookie Palooza! 

First up....Cappuccino Chip Cookies from my friend Kim!  These are fabulous and were a great snack for Santa to keep his energy going to wrap all the gifts he waited until the last minute to buy visit all those houses!  This recipe makes a LOT (like 4-5 dozen) of these coffee-chocolatey bits-o-love, which makes them oh so very nice to share.

Cappuccino Chip Cookies

• 4 sticks of butter, melted
• 1/4 cup instant coffee crystals
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tsp brandy or rum extract
• 3 cups sugar
• 3 eggs, beaten 
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 3 cups mini chocolate chips
• 5 1/2 cups flour 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Melt butter in a (very) large bowl.  Whisk in the instant coffee and extracts until the coffee is dissolved.
Add sugar, eggs, baking soda and baking powder; mix well.
Stir in chocolate chips.  Add flour in one-cup increments, stirring after each addition. Mix until flour is evenly distributed.
Form walnut-sized balls of dough, roll in sugar if desired.
Place 2" apart and bake for 9 to 11 minutes.

YUM!

Next up, Fudge Puddles, aka Puddles-o-YUM!  I can't remember where I originally saw this recipe, but when the lovely Tina from Mommy's Kitchen blogged these, I double bookmarked them to make.  They are so fabulously rich...perfect with a cold glass of milk!

Fudge Puddles

Cookie Crust recipe:

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 /2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 large egg
• 1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Grease a mini-muffin pan.
In a large mixer bowl, combine butter, peanut butter, and both sugars. Beat in egg and vanilla Next, in a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, and salt. Gradually add flour mix to the creamy mixture. Chill in the fridge for at least one hour (or in the freezer for about 15 minutes). Remove from fridge and form into 1" balls.
Add 1 ball to each muffin cup. Bake for about 15 minutes or until very lightly browned. Remove from oven and make an indentation in the center of each ball. I used the handle of my potato masher, cause that's how I roll.  Let them cool in the pan for at least 5 minutes and then move to a cooling rack.
Once all of the cookies are done baking, it's time to make the fudge filling.

Filling recipe:

• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup butterscotch chips
• 1 can sweetened condensed milk, 14 ounces
• 1 tsp vanilla

In a microwave safe bowl or saucepan, combine all of the ingredients except the nuts/sprinkles. Microwave for 1 minutes. Stir well. If there are still un-melted chips, continue to melt in microwave for 15 second increments until all smooth:
Immediately start filling the cookie cups with the filling. Work quickly to avoid the mixture hardening up on you.  Instead of using a spoon to fill each cup up with, I put the mixture into a Ziploc baggie and snipped the corner off to fill that way.  It went MUCH faster. Let set for an hour or until fudgey center has firmed-up.

YUM 2.0

These recipes has been linked at:
Nikkis Nifty Knacks
Tidy Mom
Simply Sweet Home
Mommy's Kitchen
Eat at Home