I'm Still Alive!!

Long time, no see, Kitschies!  I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas full of family and friends.  I spent time in Cali with my parents, sister, BIL and extended family.  My mom did a blog post with a great collage of pictures from our visit.  You can check it out HERE.  We had SO much fun, but I'm glad to be home (I about melted in to my bed last night).  I'll have more on our trip in a later post, but for now, it's back to business as usual.

Just a little side note...the gift gods were good to me!  The hubs surprised me with a new camera (like this one, only silver).  I squeed when I opened this!

And my parents got me a Helmer!  It's really red - my favorite color.  I can't wait to put it all together and see how much I have to stash in it.  I can't wait!!

OK.  Enough gloating.  I found this recipe on a blog and I hate that I can't remember which one.  Just a friendly word of warning...do not make these cookies unless you have a *severe* sweet tooth!  You'll see why in a minute.

Chewy Chocolate Gobs

3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/3 cup butter-flavored shortening
1 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 cups cream-filled chocolate sandwich cookies (Oreos) coarsely chopped (16 cookies)
3 (1.75 oz) Mounds bars, chilled and chopped
1 to 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Beat butter and shortening at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy; gradually add sugars, beating until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla, beating until blended.

Combine flour and next 3 ingredients; gradually add to butter mixture, beating until blended. Stir in cookies, candy bars, and desired amount of chocolate morsels. Chill dough 30 minutes.

Drop dough by 1⁄4 cupfuls 2" apart onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Bake at 350° for 10 to 12 minutes or until barely set. Cool on baking sheets 10 minutes. Transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

NOTES:  I don't have dark brown sugar on hand and I couldn't see buying a bag just for this recipe, so I used light brown sugar.  Really...with all this stuff, who cares?!  I dropped by "rounded quarter cupfuls and that was a little big.  I think if you just did not quite full quarter cupfuls, you'd be good to go!

This dough is a little difficult to work with because it's so thick, but once it warms up a bit, it's not bad.

Fresh out of the oven.  They don't look quite so big when they're lined up side-by-side.  My eyes popped out of my head when I read that they're supposed to be scooped up with a quarter cup!

Mmmmm!!!  Chocolaty goodness.  This is making me drool.

For size comparison, here's a Choco Gob compared to a regular Oreo.  See how HUGE it is?  Usually I can pack away at least two or three cookies, but one of these bad boys is enough for me!

It's been pretty steady at work, but when I have so much fun stuff waiting for me to play with at home, it's hard to be here and concentrate.  So, I guess I better get to that - it *is* what they're paying me for, after all!!