Hypnotizing Sugar Cookies + Chocolate Chip Caramel Cookies

When I went to go visit my mom in Montreal, I wanted to make something special for my little cousins. I never get to make "cute" baked goods, because I'm never near people who are dramatically younger than I am. I knew when I saw this recipe that the bright colours of the cookies would definitely be a hit with children who are 3.5 years old. Heck they were a hit with people my age too! These were absolutely delicious cookies. Sugar cookies have been a favourite of mine since I attended camp when I was younger, as I have said this numerous times before. These cookies, oh my goodness, I cannot even tell you how many I ate when I made them, not sure if it was the colours that were hypnotizing me, or it was simply the buttery sugary goodness of the cookie! These were definitely an excellent cookie, it almost hurt me to give them to my cousins, but it was mature of me to give them away right? ;)

Hypnotizing Sugar Cookies

Recipe taken from here
Recipe inspired by here

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups butter, softened
• 2 cups white sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 5 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt

Directions:

In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Separate the dough into as many bowls as colors you want to make for the cookies.

Work in as much food coloring as need to get the desired color.

Pinch off pieces of the dough and form a loose log shape on a piece of parchment paper. If you do some really little pieces and some larger it creates a very nice variation in the dough.

Roll up the cookies in the parchment to form a log. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour or overnight.

Cut cookies about 1/4 inch thick. Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.

Bake 6 to 8 minutes in preheated oven. Cool completely.

Chocolate Chip Caramel Cookies
Recipe taken from here

These I made for my mom, aunt and uncle. I liked these because of the caramel swirled in them. They were not even nearly as good as the hypnotizing sugar cookies though ;). I really do think I got "hypnotized" by the colours and that's why I ate so many, hahaha. These however were very chewy and gooey. When I have my cookies I like them to be sort of raw i.e. more soft, and chewy cookies aren't usually on my list of cookies to do. However, these were very good, and might have convinced me a little bit to try chewier cookies.

Ingredients:

• 2 1/4 cup flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1 cup butter, room temperature
  
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 1 12oz package of mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
• About 8 soft caramel chews
• 1 tbsp milk

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Mix the flour, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl and set aside.

In a small pot, place the milk and the unwrapped caramels over low heat. Stir until it's nice and smooth and remove from heat.

In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugars. Next add in the vanilla and eggs. Slowly add the flour mixture in batches. When it's all incorporated, using a rubber scrapper, mix in the chocolate chips and then drizzle in the caramel. You just want to fold the caramel in so there are nice ribbons of it running through the dough.

Scoop 1 inch balls onto a cookie sheet and bake for 8 minutes.

Remove and cool on a cooling rack.

Now turn to your inner child, get your hands messy, and have some fun making some really awesome cookies!