trick or treat? treat, of course!

i wonder if anyone ever picks trick, and more importantly what i would do if a trick or treater asked me to perform a trick. i used to make a mean balloon animal in my day, and i had a magic kit as a kid, but i am not sure anything i am capable of doing in the present time that would constitute as a trick, short of some handstand pushups…but i imagine those are not very impressive for small children. luckily, everyone that showed up at my door yesterday was looking for candy; sadly, i only got two groups of trick or treaters (one of which had a 5:1 adult to child ratio and the adults were greedy for candy) so i had a bunch of candy leftover. i figured i had three options: eat it all and have a killer stomach ache, bring it in to work to put with everyone elses leftover candy, or use it in my baked goods. i obviously chose to put them in my treats!

…and some very pampered treats they are! i would like to take just a moment to give a plug for the source of many products that make my job as a baker much easier– pampered chef. a few years ago i was a consultant, and although i no longer do this, i still use their products several times a week. my friend tracey just started up with them, so i placed an order for a bunch of things, most importantly more prep bowls. i cannot stress how much i love their prep and batter bowls; i often like to measure out ingredients in advance when i am tight on time, and what better way to store them until cooking time than some great glass bowls with measurements and lids? if you would like to order some products for yourself, visit www.pamperedchef.biz/traceybrunetti and if you want to order within the next week or two, put my name in as the host to get the benefits of being part of a party!

i had a lot to do today, so i just picked the first recipe i found for butterfinger cookies. i usually scour the internet and my cookbooks for at absolute least half an hour, making sense of the ingredients and deciding what i think would work best, and reading reviews if available. i am not a fan of flat cookies, not only because they are too chewy and hard, but they just dont look as good. when i read the ingredients i was skeptical about the melted butter. to me, melted butter means flat cookies, but the picture didnt show flat cookies, so i figured it would be alright. one thing i really despise is those bakers who dont give you the heads up on things you need to do in order to get the desired results…when i post a recipe it is because i want you to have delicious baked goods come out of your oven! this is the closest one of them came to being non-flat, but after a few minutes of cooling it flattened out a little bit:

So, my advice to you, if you make these, is to use softened butter rather than melted, to make it 2 1/2 cups flour, and perhaps to cook them at 350. however, they are still tasty. i mean, come on… they are cookies with butterfinger bars in them!

Recipe:

2 1/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon iodized salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
8 chopped fun size Butterfinger candy bars

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside. Sift together flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside. In another bowl beat together butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar until creamy. Beat in vanilla. Beat in eggs 1 at a time. Slowly mix in dry ingredients until well combined. Fold in chopped Butterfingers. Drop rounded teaspoonfuls onto prepared baking sheet. Cook 8-10 minutes or until edges start to brown and cookies are set. Allow to cool for 2 minutes on cookie sheet. Transfer to cooling rack to cool completely.