Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Pecan Praline Cheesecake Cookies


I was feeling a bit smug today.
See...I invented a cookie.
Yep. Totally came up with it on my own.
This makes me a super genius. Granted, not a very modest super genius but still a super genius.
Then I made the mistake of going on Pinterest and looking around for some cool food ideas.
Here is a little hint for you - never compare yourself to someone else. There is always someone better than you. It took the wind out of my sails to see all of the incredibly inventive food ideas that I, in a million years, would never have come up with.
This made me pouty and, honestly, turned me into a baby.
Then my mom came into the kitchen, not knowing anything about my whole pouty story, and said, "Hey, where did those cookies come from?"
I replied, "I made them. I was just trying something new."
To which she replied, "You can't give any of those away. They are delicious. I think they are the best cookie I have ever eaten."
Sometimes moms know just what to say.


Pecan Praline Cheesecake Cookies

Ingredients
Praline
4 Tbsp brown sugar
1 Tbsp light corn syrup
1 Tbsp butter
1/8 tsp cinnamon
1 cup pecans, coarsely chopped (or almonds or walnuts)

Cookies
3/4 cup butter, room temp
1 brick (8 oz) cream cheese, room temp
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
1 tsp cornstarch
1 tsp baking soda
1 praline recipe (above)

1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs

Directions
Praline - Line a small cookie tray with parchment paper. Set aside.
Place all praline ingredients, except pecans, into a non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Stir constantly until mixture starts to bubble. Stir in pecans. Cook and stir for about 5 more minutes, until nuts are golden. Pour onto to prepared cookie tray and cool completely. You can place in the fridge to speed the process.


When cool, transfer to a cutting board and chop fairly fine with a knife.


Cookies - Preheat oven to 350. Line a cookie tray with parchment paper.Set aside.
In a large bowl, cream butter and cream cheese until smooth. Add sugar and vanilla and mix until smooth. Stir in flour, cornstarch, and baking soda until incorporated. Stir in the pecan praline.
Place the graham cracker crumbs in a small bowl.


Scoop the cookie dough up using a small (or medium) cookie scoop. Scrape the dough so it is even in the scoop. Dip the flattened edge into the graham cracker crumbs and then place, crumb side down, onto the prepared tray. (If you don't have a cookie scoop - pinch off ping pong ball sized pieces of dough and press only one side of the ball into the crumbs. Place crumb side down on the cookie tray.)


Bake at 350 for 15 - 20 minutes. (I did 10 minutes, rotated the cookie sheet, then 8 to 10 minutes more) Edges should be golden brown.


Remove from heat, let sit on cookie tray for about 5 minutes before removing to wire rack to finish cooling. 


I was trying to mimic a piece of cheesecake with these cookies. The cream cheese flavor shines through and the addition of the graham crumbs on the bottom is like the crust on a real cheesecake.
Yay! Success!


 Lesson learned today.
Be proud of your accomplishments! There might be people out there who are better at some things than you are BUT there is no one out there better at being you than you.
If you are going to compare yourself to someone then compare yourself to who you used to be. I bet the person you are now is even better than the person you used to be.


Now, excuse me... I have some more cookies to eat. :)

8 comments:

  1. Thank you for stopping by my blog from My Turn (for us) and for your kind comments.

    These cookies are awesome and I'm Pinning them. I'll tell you, these cookies will be exactly what you described. People will see them and get pouty and act like babies because they will never in a million years think of something like that!

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  2. Smart beyond your years I believe. Yes, I also do this (not inventing terrific cookies but get kinda intimated with whats out there). Great share! And also super great share on the cookies. These sound outstanding! Thank you for being a part of Freedom Fridays. Hope you week is fabulous!

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  3. These cookies look so yummy! Pecans are so delicious in cookies! We appreciate you linking up to our "Strut Your Stuff Saturday". Hope you'll come back soon! -The Sisters

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  4. You've been featured at my blog! http://acraftycook.blogspot.com/2012/08/1-month-of-fun-august-link-party.html

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  5. These look delicious. Although I haven't tried them yet, I'm planning to make them for a cookie exchange I'm going to... Just wondering how many cookies this recipe makes?

    Thanks,

    Stacey

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    1. Ooooh...geez! I'm terrible at keping track of that. Uuuummmmm...if I had to guess - I used a small cookie scoop - I think I got around 3 dozen. Sorry I can't be more exact. :/

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  6. Oh no problem at all. I just needed a general idea... I'm required to make I think 72 cookies so I'm just going to try them out tonight as a test run to see how much one batch yields. Thanks a bunch!!

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