Reece's Peanut Butter Cup Swiss Roll

I saw this recipe on crazyforcrust.com last

year and decided to give it a try this year. I don't have a really deep jelly roll pan and was worried I wouldn't have enough baking room but I did. My edges of my baking sheet went up about 1/2 inch which was plenty of room for the sponge. Don't worry if your cake comes out a little broken. It will be covered up at the end. The bake time is 15 minutes but I should have gone about 12 minutes. Practice makes perfect though. I put tin foil on my baking sheet and then buttered and floured it. I used the foil to help me roll but you could also use parchment paper. This is what I had on hand. I used a bag of mini peanut butter cups. A handful went into the filling and the rest on the ganache.

Reece's Peanut Butter Cup Swiss Roll

Cake
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 c sugar
3/4 c. flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 c. cocoa
1 tsp. espresso powder

Filling
1 cup powdered sugar
1/4 c. peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup chopped Reece's Peanut Butter cups.

Topping
1 cup chocolate chips
2/3 cup heavy whipping cream

Preheat the oven at 350 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with tin foil and grease with butter and flour. Shake the pan until the excess flour is removed. Mix the eggs vanilla and sugar until blended. Add the flour, baking powder, cocoa, and espresso powder until blended. Pour batter onto the cookie sheet and use an offset spatula to smooth out evenly. Tap the pan to get rid of air bubbles. Bake for 12-15 minutes. While warm use a metal spatula to ease the cake from the tin foil. cut off any hard edges. Begin to roll at one end trying not to crack it. If you do it's OK. You can cover it up later. Put in the fridge for a hour to cool.

Remove the roll from the fridge and carefully unwrap. Mix the filling ingredients except for the Peanut Butter Cups with an electric mixer. Hand fold in the Reece's Cup pieces. Spread the filling with a butter knife or offset spatula. Carefully roll the roll from one end to the other. Place on a cooling rack with a cookie sheet underneath.

In a small sauce pan add 2/3 c. whipping cream. Bring to just before a boil. Remove from heat and add the chocolate chips. Let sit without stirring for 5 minutes. Then use a whisk to mix the ganache. It will look like it won't come together but keep on stirring. Once thoroughly mixed, refrigerate for 10 minutes until thickened. Pour over the roll and smooth out and cover any imperfections if necessary. Top with the remaining Reece's. Back into the fridge til set. Slice and serve with a dollop of whipped cream.

Hot Chocolate Cookies

I have the standard list of cookies I am required to bake out of tradition. I try to do something new  every year. This one I made for my work cookie exchange, Hot Chocolate Cookies. It combines the chocolate flavor of hot chocolate with a dash of Espresso powder for little added kick. You could also add a bit of Cayenne for a added kick.

Hot Chocolate Cookies Yield 30 cookies 350 degrees

1 cup butter (2 sticks) room temp.
1 cup brown sugar
2 tsp. Espresso powder
3/4 cup hot chocolate or 3 packets with marshmallows
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1tsp baking soda
2 eggs
1tsp vanilla
1 cup mini  chocolate chips
mini marshmallows
1/2  cup reserved choco chips for drizzle

Cream the butter with an electric mixer and add the brown sugar and eggs. Beat until incorporated. Add the Espresso powder through the baking soda. Add the vanilla and lastly the chocolate chips. Beat until flour is completely nixed in. I used a large Tablespoon for this. You can get 15 cookies per pan. Bake for 10 minutes. Use the bottom of a shot glass to make an indent on each cookie. Place 4 mini marshmallows per cookie and return to the oven for 2 minutes to melt the marshmallows. Microwave the 1/2 cup or chips for 30 seconds until melted mixing each time. Add a few drops of oil to make the cholate glisten and easier to apply. Use a spoon to drizzle on each cookie. Let cool and package.