Why I have no business baking...

Happy Monday!!  I hope you had a great weekend!  Last Monday, you may remember that I attempted to make peppermint bark brownies and they turned out ok. They were kind of gross at first, but after being refrigerated overnight, they actually were great.  I still wanted to redeem myself and try another holiday recipe and saw Lauren Brennan making these on GMA.  They looked ridiculously good and easy, so I thought I'd give them a shot:


Ingredients:

• 1 tube refrigerated sugar cookie dough
• 1 family-sized box brownie mix
• 2 (8oz.) packages cream cheese
• 2 1/2 cups white chocolate chips
• 2 teaspoons peppermint extract, divided
• 4 candy canes, crushed

Directions:

• Make brownie batter according to package directions, but add 1 teaspoon of peppermint extract.
• Bake according to package directions and set aside to cool.
• Spray a 9-by-13” rectangular pan with non-stick cooking spray and spread cookie dough along the bottom, creating an even layer. Bake cookie dough according to package directions, until edges are golden brown. Set aside to cool.
• Once brownies have cooled, remove any hard edges and discard (or eat!). Scrape the rest of the baked brownies into a large bowl. Combine brownies with cream cheese to create a thick mixture that is generally uniform in color. Scoop this mixture onto the baked and cooled cookie dough. Smooth the top.
• Over a double boiler, melt white chocolate and 1 teaspoon of peppermint extract. Spread melted chocolate over the cookie-brownie mixture, sprinkle with candy canes and let cool. Once chocolate has hardened, cut into bars and enjoy!
• Scoring the top of the melted white chocolate before putting it into the fridge to set will help prevent the chocolate from cracking.

Seems easy enough, right?  When I got to the cookie dough at the grocery store, I didn't know if I needed the small or large roll.  I thought surely it must be the small one, but wasn't sure.  I almost bought both just for good measure, but opted for the small one and came home.  Looking at that video again and scrutinizing her pictures of the ingredients, I thought for sure it was the large roll!  Ugh!  I was so ready to begin and my son had just gone down for his nap, so I thought I would just make a smaller batch, using a smaller pan.  I  followed the directions and took a peek in the oven and it looked like the cookies were going to bubble over the top of the pan.  Sheesh!  Realizing that the recipe must have been calling for the small roll in the large pan, I quickly dumped the boiling hot cookie dough into the larger pan.  I also managed to burn my wrists because hot dough slid down ME before hitting the pan.  Yikes.

While the cookies baked, I started the brownies.  Somehow I managed to think the recipe called for 1/2 cup of oil, not 1/3 cup and didn't realize it, until I had already poured it in.  I can't even get a box of brownies made correctly.  What is wrong with me?  I baked them anyway and they were super moist and not greasy, so oh well.  :)

Once the cookies and brownies were done, I was ready to get going on the fun parts:

These things are amazingly delicious!  It's a cookie with chocolate cheesecake topped with peppermint bark! If you like all of those things, you will love these and must give them a try!!  Also be sure to check out Lauren Brennan's blog for more recipes! 

Have a great week!!