Cream Cheese Filled Snickerdoodles

I'm about to confess something to you, and that's that I've never successfully made a cookie that didn't come from a box. And I didn't realize this phenomenon until last night when I made these. Remember The Great S'Mores Cookie Fail of 2011?

It all started out okay, except that it's been a very long week and I was sort of already tired and apathetic. And these didn't seem very hard. And the Husband said that I shouldn't tell you about my failure, since one pan of the cookies came out okay. "Just take pictures of the ones that turned out nice," he said.

But no. I have to be honest with you guys- otherwise what kind of blogger am I? So one pan turned out pretty and delicious and looking like this. And one pan turned out burnt.

To be fair, I have a crappy oven that hates me and wants me to fail. If you have a good relationship with your oven, you probably won't have any problems at all.

Your ingredients: flour, sugar, baking soda, cream cheese, cream of tartar, eggs, vanilla, cinnamon, and butter.

So first, mix together cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla, put it into a small bowl, cover it and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. It's delicious.

For your cookie dough, cream together your butter and sugar, then add the eggs and vanilla. Then, add the flour, cream of tartar until it looks like this- like a cookie dough!

In a small bowl, mix together sugar and cinnamon. Then stop and take a minute to think about how sugar and cinnamon together is never, ever wrong.

Alright, here's the hard part- okay, not hard. Just complicated.

Get a small disk of cookie dough, flatten it. Dollop some cream cheese onto it. Get another small disk of cookie dough, flatten it, put it on top, and pinch the whole thing closed. Now, roll it in the cinnamon sugar mixture. Repeat.

Refrigerate the cookies for 15 minutes, then bake them for 8 minutes.

They're very yummy- that is, if they don't get burnt. But I have faith in you. You'll be able to avoid my mistakes.

Cream Cheese Filled Snickerdoodles
From Cookies and Cups
Cream Cheese Filling:
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
Cookie Dough:
1 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
2 3/4 cup AP flour
2 tsp. cream of tartar
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
Also, 1/4 cup sugar and 2 tsp. cinnamon

Beat together the cream cheese, 1/4 cup sugar, and 2 tsp. vanilla until combined. Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400°.

In an electric mixer, cream together the butter and 1 1/2 cups of sugar until fluffy. Add in the eggs and 1 tsp. vanilla, then add the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt. Mix on low until a dough forms.

In a small bowl, mix together the remaining sugar and cinnamon.

To make each cookie, flatten out a tablespoon of dough, then put a spoonful of cream cheese in the middle, then place another flattened tablespoon of dough on top of it. Pinch the edges closed, then roll the cookie in the cinnamon-sugar mixture.

Refrigerate the cookies for at least 15 minutes, then bake for 8 minutes on a parchment-paper-lined baking sheet.

Hagrid's Rock Cakes and HARRY POTTER

Remember how I told you this week was going to kick my tail? Well it has. I've been making up a storm of Harry Potter treats for my Harry Potter Premiere Party today, and some of them have been more successful and less frustrating than others.

Making the Nosebleed Nougats on Tuesday night was definitely the low point, as that project nearly wound up being a total disaster-saved only by the calm efficiency of The Husband.

So when I set out to make my second batch of treats last night, he suggested (nicely) I blog at least one of them, saying that it "focused me" when I was baking. And by golly, it worked. So here, my friends, is the recipe for Hagrid's Rock Cakes.

Don't they look delicious? That's straight-up cinnamon sugar on top.

Your ingredients: Self-rising flour (if you only have all-purpose, that'll work too. See this helpful link), butter, eggs, sugar, raisins, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, and milk

Start by sifting together your flour, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Chop in your chilled butter until it looks crumbly throughout. Add in the sugar and raisins by hand.

In a seperate bowl, whisk together your eggs and milk. Then pour it over the flour mixture, and mix just until combined (If you overmix it, they will come out too hard, like actual rocks).

In a small bowl, mix together sugar and cinnamon to taste.

Then just dollop it onto a cookie sheet, sprinkle a sugar-cinnamon mix on top and bake! Don't worry about shaping them, they're supposed to come out lumpy and uneven. I'll give you a tip- I baked half of mine on parchment paper and half on a greased cookie sheet. The ones on parchment paper did much better, the ones on the greased cookie sheet burnt a little on the bottom.

And.... rock cakes! A la Hagrid! Hope you're getting pumped for the premiere, you know I am. Probably pictures of all my treats to follow.

Hagrid's Rock Cakes

From MuggleNet

4 cups self-rising flour

1 cup (2 sticks) chilled butter, cut into cubes

1/2 tsp. salt

4 large eggs

1 tsp. cinnamon, plus some for topping

1 tsp. nutmeg

1 cup raisins

1 cup sugar, plus some for topping

1/2 cup milk

Preheat oven to 400°. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Sift together flour, salt, and spices. Cut the butter into the flour until it is crumbly throughout. Stir in sugar and raisins.

In a seperate bowl, whisk together the eggs and milk. Pour the eggs into the flour mixture. Mix until JUST combined, if you overmix the cakes will be hard. In a small bowl mix together sugar and cinnamon to taste.

Dollop the mixture onto the cookie sheets. Sprinkle with the cinnamon-sugar mixture. Bake for 12-15 minutes.