Sweets

• Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees.
• In a small sauce pan over the stovetop melt 11 tbsp of unsalted butter and set aside to cool completely.
• While your melted butter is cooling, take out a large cookie sheet and line it with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
• Now that the butter is completely cool, pour it into a stand mixer or bowl (if using a hand mixer), and add 1/2 cup of powdered sugar, mix together on medium speed until well combined.
• Add 1 1/2 cups of unbleached all purpose flour to the butter mixture and mix on medium-high speed until well combined.
• Lastly, pour in 1 tsp of vanilla extract to the cookie dough mixture and mix on medium speed until well combined.
• The cookie dough will be a crumble like consistency. Not to worry! You are doing great. This is where your hands come in…
• I recommend keeping the cookie dough inside of the mixing bowl to knead it for a bit with your hands to create a smoother cookie dough consistency before scooping it out with a tsp to start forming little cookie dough balls.
• Grab a teaspoon and scoop out some cookie dough from the mixing bowl; if it is a little more than a teaspoon, that is ok! Now, put the cookie dough in your hand and knead it until it is smooth, then roll it between both of the palms of your hands to form a little cookie dough ball. Repeat this step until you have filled your lined baking sheet with cookie dough balls. Make sure you place each cookie dough ball two inches apart.
• When you have finished placing the cookie dough balls on to the lined baking sheet, grab a table fork, and lightly press down on each cookie dough ball. This will lightly flatten each cookie and add a simple design.
• Pop your cookies in a 350 degree oven and bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes.
• Let the cookies cool for 10 minutes and then enjoy! These cookies are so delicious as is. However, if you want to add a special touch to these cookies you can make the following cookie topping…

Cookie Topping

• Add 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips to a medium glass mixing bowl along with 2 tbsp of whole milk and melt together over a double broiler or in your microwave. Once the chocolate is completely melted and a smooth consistency, pour the melted chocolate into a pipping bag, cut the tip of the pipping bag, and then drizzle chocolate over the top of each cookie.
• Add 1/3 cup fresh pecans to a ziplock bag and then finely crush the pecans with a rolling pin into small pieces by lightly beating them with the rolling pin. You can also add the pecans to a food processor and pulse them into small fine pieces. Whatever you prefer! If you have had a tough day the rolling pin method might make you feel better.
• Sprinkle the finely crushed pecans over each chocolate drizzled cookie. Let the cookies sit for a few hours allowing the chocolate time to dry or you can pop the cookies in the refrigerator for an hour. Once the cookie topping has dried you can fully indulge in these amazing cookies!

• Let's start by melting the chocolate. (You can use either a double boiler or a microwave to melt the chocolate.) In a medium mixing bowl add 5oz of semi-sweet chocolate chips, 5oz of dark chocolate chips, 2 tbsp whole milk, and 1 tsp vanilla extract. Melt these ingredients together until the mixture is evenly combined and smooth. Set aside.
• Pour 4 cups of fresh pecans over a cutting board and chop the pecans just enough to slightly break them up then pour them within the melted chocolate mixture and stir until all of the ingredients are evenly combined.
• Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
• With your small cookie scoop or with a table spoon, scoop a chocolate cluster over the parchment, one at a time.
• sprinkle each chocolate cluster with a pinch of sea salt and your favorite Christmas sprinkles.
• Chill the chocolate clusters for at least two hours in the refridgerator before serving.
• Enjoy!

• Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees.
• In a small sauce pan melt 5 tbsp of salted butter on your stovetop. Set aside to cool.
• Within a medium mixing bowl combine 1 1/2 cups of almond flour, 1 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp salt, 3/4 cups cocoa powder. Whisk together until all of these ingredients are evenly combined. Set aside.
• In a separate mixing bowl or stand mixer with the whisk attachment, pour in the melted butter, along with 1 cup of granulated sugar, 1/2 cup brown sugar, and mix on low speed, while adding in one room temperature egg at a time. When all 3 large eggs have been added, cream the melted butter, sugars, and eggs together, while pouring in 1 tbsp of vanilla extract and mix these ingredients on medium speed until all ingredients are evenly combined and have reached a smooth consistency.
• Time to mix in our dry ingredient mixture! Pour 1/3 of the dry mixture to the wet mixture and mix together on low speed in between adding the dry mixture until all ingredients are evenly combine.
• Finally add 1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips and 1 cup of crushed pecans to the brownie batter and mix them in on low speed until they are evenly combined within the brownie batter.
• Line a 9"x9" glass or metal baking pan with parchment paper and pour in the brownie batter with a silicone spatula to smooth over within the pan to make sure the brownie batter is evenly distributed throughout the pan before baking.
• Pop your brownie batter within your 350 degree oven and bake for 40-45 minuets.
• When your brownies are done, it is important that you allow them time to completely cool before cutting them, as they will continue to bake even when you take them out of the oven. Once they are cool, cut them up, and enjoy them with loved ones!

• Line a 9"x9" baking pan with parchment paper.
• Place 1/2 cup (1 stick) of unsalted butter in a large pot on the stovetop. Turn the oven burner on medium heat and allow the butter to fully melt.
• Once the butter is completely melted, add in a 10oz bag of marshmallows, and stir the marshmallows within the melted butter over medium-low heat with a silicone baking spatula until the marshmallows are completely melted.
• When the marshmallows are completely melted and evenly combined with the melted butter, add in 1 tbsp of vanilla extract, along with 1 tsp of salt, and stir until everything is evenly combined.
• Turn the oven burner off. Set the pot on a thick towel on the kitchen counter so that it is no longer on the hot burner.
• Finally, add in 6 cups of rice krispie cereal and fold the cereal into the marshmallow mixture until the rice krispie cereal is completely coated with the marshmallow mixture.
• Now that everything is combined evenly pour the rice krispie treat mixture into a 9"x9" parchment paper lined baking pan.
• Press down on the mixture with a piece of parchment paper. Trust me on this one! I have tried pressing down the rice krispie treat mixture with my spatula or with my hands, never again. Parchment paper is definitely the answer!
• At this point you can add some fun sprinkles as a topping if you want!
• Pop the rice krispie treat mixture into the refridgerator for 1-2 hours before cutting it up into delicious treats.
• Once the rice krispie treat mixture is completely chilled you can pull the chilled mixture out of the 9"x9" pan by grabbing the sides of the parchment paper and placing the chilled mixture on a cutting board.
• Now you can cut your rice krispie mixture into rice krispie treats and enjoy!