Brown Butter Salted Caramel Stuffed Toffee Chip Cookies for #CookieWeek

Here it is, my last #cookieweek post (although it lasts until the end of tomorrow, so you still have time to enter the giveaway and get more awesome recipes from the other participants!)! Susan of The Girl In The Little Red Kitchen and Kim of Cravings of a Lunatic have joined together this week with 23 of their blog friends to present to you a week of cookie treats! We have every type of cookie you can think of listed this week, including something for our furry friends! Now is the time to bookmark these recipes for the upcoming holidays and cookie swaps or simply visit our Pinterest board! Make sure you enter the giveaway with some fabulous prizes from KitchenAid, King Arthur Flour, OXO, Silpat and Zulka Pure Cane Sugar to help with your cookie making needs!

These cookies have been elevated in the pantheons to one of the all time best cookies that have ever graced my lips. But that's no surprise. I used one of my fave cookie bases (from these)-which has browned butter, used toffee chips, stuffed them with SALTED CARAMEL SAUCE, and sprinkled them with some more salt. Honestly...there's really no way to go wrong with these.

Now, like I said, there is caramel sauce stuffed inside these cookies. And caramel tends to ooze. So don't be alarmed if, when you pull the cookies out of the oven, you see some caramel has oozed out of them. That's totally ok. You can just use your spatula to mush it back to the edge of the cookie. Or leave it and just eat it as is. Yumminess either way.

These cookies are BIG.

They're crisp, yet chewy.

They have delicious bites of toffee, and ooey gooey salted caramel.

THEY ARE IRRESISTIBLE.

You're gonna love 'em.

Now check out all the other #CookieWeek recipes for today!:

• Bethmännchen cookies by Masala Herb
• Chewy Brigadeiro Pecan Bars by Food Lust People Love
• Chocolate Cookie Thumbprints with Sweet Pepper Jelly by Omeletta
• Chocolate-Stuffed Gingerbread Cookies by i heart eating
• Earl Grey Icebox Cookies by Crumb
• Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies by Frugal Antics of a Harried Homemaker
• Homemade Thin Mints by The Girl In The Little Red Kitchen
• Malted Chocolate Chip Cookies by Like Mother Like Daughter
• Miso Sesame Cookies by NinjaBaking.com
• Peppermint Cream Thumbprint Cookies by Beyond Frosting
• Salted Caramel Stuffed Toffee Chip Cookies by The Cooking Actress
• Sandwich Cookies by Texana's Kitchen
• Shortbread Christmas Mouse Cookies by Cravings of a Lunatic

And continue on past the recipe to enter the giveaway!

Deep Dish S'more {for my BIRTHDAY!} and a #DivineInNYC Review

Happy birthday to me....

happy birthday to me,

happy birthday to meee-eeeee

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!

Yay! It's my birthday! I LOVE my birthday!!

You know what else I love? CHOCOLATE.

Chocolate and my birthday go together like...well ya know...like stuff that goes together.

For my 21st birthday, I even gorged myself on chocolate as opposed to the general tradition of getting sick on alcohol instead. Best. birthday. EVER! So, imagine my excitement when the amazing people at Divine Chocolate agreed to send me some of their amazing chocolate to celebrate my special day (and oh yeah, on top of that, they're giving 3 of you wonderful readers a gift set too! So it's like everyone's birthday!! Continue reading past the recipe for the giveaway info.)

Up until now I hadn't had the opportunity to try Divine chocolate, although I have seen it in multiple stores in the city, (such as the one on 1066 Third Avenue, near my favorite Bed Bath and Beyond location--check out their store locator to find where YOU can get some Divine chocolate.), so I was STOKED to be sent such an amazing array of chocolatey goodness! Divine provided me with their baking line as well as their super festive holiday goodies! So far, everything has been just luscious-I cannot wait to try out everything!

AND, on top of delicious chocolate products, Divine also has an incredible story. Grown in Ghana, the cocoa beans used by Divine Chocolate are hand-harvested, slow-fermented and carefully dried by the family farmers of the Kuapa Kokoo Farmers Cooperative, who co-own the company. While Fair Trade makes sure farmers get a better deal for their cocoa and some extra income to invest in their community, company ownership gives farmers a share of Divine’s profits and a stronger voice in the cocoa industry. HOW COOL is that??! 

For more info. about Divine Chocolate, visit www.divinechocolate.com/us. For news about competitions, deals, and more, sign up for the Divine Newsletter: http://www.divinechocolate.com/us/subscribe-our-newsletter. 

Now, on to what I DID with my chocolate. 

One of mine and Michael's fave spots to get some food in this city is Heartland Brewery and, at their Union Sq. location, they have a dessert they call "Ole Time S'mores" and I was SUPER into it. But, I don't get down there very often these days, and other locations don't seem to have that dessert. So, I thought to myself...why not just recreate it? And I did!

This deep dish s'more is, sort of, single serving. The perfect birthday dish means you don't have to share. First I made a nice thick, buttery, graham cracker crust. Then, the main component, a smooth, rich, thick chocolate ganache I made using half milk and half dark Divine chocolate (giving the perfect balance, methinks), and then a beautiful top of toasted marshmallows. Ahhh...definitely my kind of birthday dessert.

And it's pretty darned easy. Because nobody wants to spend all day slaving away on their birthday...

...then again...most people don't make their own birthday treat do they? I'm weird.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME AND MY WEIRDNESS! HOORAY FOR S'MORES AND CHOCOLATE AND KAYLE!!!

Loaded Oatmeal Coconut Cookies for #CookieWeek

It's #cookieweek my cookie monster friends! Susan of The Girl In The Little Red Kitchen and Kim of Cravings of a Lunatic have joined together this week with 23 of their blog friends to present to you a week of cookie treats! We have every type of cookie you can think of listed this week, including something for our furry friends! Now is the time to bookmark these recipes for the upcoming holidays and cookie swaps or simply visit our Pinterest board! Make sure you enter the giveaway with some fabulous prizes from KitchenAid, King Arthur Flour, OXO, Silpat and Zulka Pure Cane Sugar to help with your cookie making needs!

Being Queen Cookie Monster...I think I have like insanely high standards for cookies.

Like...to kind of an insane degree.

Take these cookies: they're good cookies. Michael liked em just fine, there's nothing wrong with these cookies. BUT-I was so mad at them. Like "THESE COOKIES ARE SO MEDIOCRE. Like...anyone could have made them...ugh!" *and then she threw herself exasperatedly on the bed* (not really. but kinda)

Now that I've disclosed my not 100% happy feelings, let's discuss why that's probably not fair:

They are good cookies. They're easy. They're super customizable (go ahead and throw just about whatever you want in these babies). And they're just fun, crunchy, grab and go kinds of cookies. They also make enough to feed an army. Not a small one either, nope, a full on, full sized, army.* Plus I may have mixed some of that delectable caramel sauce up in 'em. Because life's short. Eat cookies.

*well...no. But it does make a lot.