My latest adventures in baking

Last week I completely forgot to post about my monthly workday five creation for BK's team. Maybe it was the fact that I was still trying to adjust back to normal after returning to Switzerland or that BK pulled an all-nighter at work (as in he worked from 8am Tuesday until 7pm Wednesday without making a trip home) which completely threw me off.

For workday five this month I made Salted Caramel Stuffed Chocolate Crinkle Cookies…didn't realize what a mouthful that was! I think they sound much fancier and harder to make than they actually are. As this was year end, there was part of me that thought I should do something really out there, but honestly, that first week back after flying from the US is really hard on me and Baby K. I wanted to make sure that I still did something for them, and of course wanted to try something new, but I didn't get too far out there.

On one of our previous trips to the US I did think to bring caramels back with me. The ones here just aren't the same- they are much drier and not chewy. I've made my own before, but things can turn really bad really quick when trying to get it to be the right consistency and all. The chocolate cookie part is your basic cookie dough, then you roll them into balls, flatten them out and press a caramel into them. After you sprinkle salt on them you then wrap the caramel up with dough so it's stuffed with the caramel.

After you've wrapped the caramels up with dough you roll the unbaked cookie around in powdered sugar.

I'm not sure why you do this, as all of the powdered sugar bakes right into the cookie, so there's nothing left when they're done baking. I cooked the first batch a little too long for my liking the first time, but then reduced the second batch by just a couple of minutes for chewier cookies. After they cool you sift powdered sugar onto them, so there's actually some on there.

As they were all consumed in no time flat, I'd say the cookies went over well at the office. I have to say though, they weren't my favorite thing I've ever baked. The main thing I didn't like was that the caramel gets hard on the inside of the cookie, so it's not all gooey like the recipe indicates. If you have a microwave handy, they are really good heated up. Like I said, not bad, but not my favorite. This one probably won't make it into the regular rotation of baking.

The other treat that I made this week ranks much higher in my book: Chocolate Cheesecake Truffles. They are super easy to make and, in reality, don't actually require any baking. BK and I went to Zurich for the day Saturday and spent the night there for him to fly out the next morning. Our friends L&V stayed with the pups, so as a way to say thank you, I wanted to make them a little something. L really likes cheesecake, so I thought these would be good for her.

There are only four ingredients involved in this recipe: cream cheese, powdered sugar, chocolate and vanilla extract. You would think with all the baking I've done I would be trained to check my ingredients before going to the store. But no, I forgot and had to walk back to the store for cream cheese, only to get home and realize that I didn't have nearly as much powdered sugar as I thought either. That didn't deter me; I just adjusted and made a few less truffles than the recipe states.

Start by melting chocolate. Surprisingly in the land of chocolate over here, I can't find baking chocolate, so this is another US purchase brought back by BK.

Mix the melted chocolate in with cream cheese and powdered sugar that you've already combined in a little bowl.

Here comes the annoying part- then you have to chill them. Ugh…I don't know why I hate this part, but I just want to move on to the next step in the recipe and not have to wait for them to sit in my fridge. I did chill them, and have a feeling that of you don't the "dough" is way too soft to keep the shape you want.

I would think that you could pretty much top them with anything, but I went with almonds, coconut and cocoa powder.

It's pretty simple, although a little messy. Just roll your dough in one of the chosen toppings and set aside to package, or just to eat later. They do have to chill again after you roll them in the toppings, but it makes them stay together so much better.

Mine are still chilling in the fridge, so now all I have to do is figure out how I want to package them. As someone who really doesn't like my food to mix (and yes I know that it all goes to the same place and mixes together, blah, blah, blah) I don't want to just cram them into the same package. I'll figure that out this afternoon.

I'm about to head out for another walk with the boys and thought I should sample one. The cocoa covered ones are good. Yum!