#3816 - Caramel Surprise Cookies

(by Shirley McNevich)

3 sticks softened butter
1 1/2 cups Domino's dark brown sugar (packed)
1/2 cup white sugar
2 eggs
4 tsp. vanilla
2 cup flour
2 cups BREAD flour
4 tsp. cornstarch
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cups Nestle's chocolate chunks
1/2 cup dark chocolate (finely chopped)
18 Kraft caramels

Unwrap each caramel. Using a sharp knife, cut each caramel in half. In a bowl add regular flour, bread flour, cornstarch, baking soda and salt--whisk to mix. In a mixer add butter, brown sugar and white sugar--beat. Add eggs and vanilla--beat. Slowly add flour mixture--beat. Remove bowl from mixer--add chocolate chunks and finely chopped dark chocolate--stir with a wooden spoon. Take a spoonful of dough and roll it into a ball. Use your thumb to press a well in the dough ball. Place one of the sliced caramels into the well, then wrap the dough around the caramel and roll the dough into a ball again (so the sliced caramel is hidden in the center of the dough ball). Repeat with all dough and all sliced caramels. Place the balls on to greased cookie sheets. Bake at 350 degrees 11-13 minutes. DO NOT REMOVE the cookies after baking--let them cool completely on the cookie sheets.

#3431 - Dutch Oven Bread

(by Shirley McNevich)

3 cups bread flour OR all-purpose flour
1 tsp. active dry yeast (make sure the yeast is not too old)
2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cups warm water
1 TBSP white sugar
2 TBSP cornmeal

In a bowl add flour, yeast, white sugar and salt--stir to mix. Add the warm water--stir until mixed. Cover the bowl with Saran wrap, set the bowl on your counter and set a kitchen timer for 19 HOURS. After 19 hours, lightly sprinkle some flour on your counter. Place the dough (which will be "gooey") on the floured counter and turn/fold it a few times, adding more flour if necessary. Cover the dough with a towel and let it rest for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, sprinkle some more flour on the dough and use your hands to roll the dough into a ball. Sprinkle 1 TBSP of cornmeal on a towel to roughly the size of the dough ball. Place the dough ball on the cornmeal. Sprinkle the other 1 TBSP of cornmeal over the top of the dough. Place another towel over the top of the dough. Let the dough rise until doubled in size (about 3 hours). Place your Dutch oven (including the lid) in your oven and set the oven at 475 degrees. Once the oven is heated to 475 degrees, remove the hot Dutch oven, place the dough ball in the center of the Dutch oven, put the lid on the Dutch oven and put the whole thing in the oven for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, remove the lid and continue baking another 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven and place the Dutch oven on a wire rack for 1 hour before removing bread and slicing it.