Butterscotch "Blarney Stone" Cookies

So here's my story......

Yesterday was blarney stone baking day. It's Sweet Tooth Tuesday a day late! Blarney stone, blarney stone, how do I bake thee?? I'd only eaten them once in my life. I honestly wasn't a big fan of them but my Irish-rooted hubby is a self-proclaimed blarney stone fan. I have been feeling guilty about all of these recent lemon and lime flavored desserts I've been baking up so it was high time to make something I knew he'd devour. After a quick google search whilst walking the grocery store aisles I clicked on the first link at the top of the results page. Hmmm, kind of peculiar. These tiny little mini cookies in the picture sure didn't look like the blarney stones I've seen before. At that point I was officially confused. I'm no expert so I figured there may be more than one kind of blarney stone. Or maybe you could make any kind of dessert with nuts and call it a blarney stone. I even googled information about the history of the blarney stone. I was blarney stoned out and I hadn't even picked a recipe yet. See, I was just confused. I kept thinking "blarney stones are big puffy things covered in frosting and rolled in nuts." (scratching my head). "I'm totally overthinking this, aren't I??" "But the title of the recipe said 'blarney stones'". Hmmmm. So you see where that was going.....where was a little leprechaun when I needed one?

I decided "ah what the heck? I'll give this recipe a try!" I'm so glad I did. And I even made up my own name for these treats. These are the Fannings new version of blarney stones in cookie form....and I'm ok with that. Join me if you will in the new blarney stone revolution!! (man I'm kinda tired of typing the word blarney...are you tired of reading the word blarney?)

This has got to be the most surprising recipe I've baked thus far. Surprising in the fact that it's not what I expected at all. First of all, I had no idea what a fan of butterscotch I was until I took one bite of these. Isn't butterscotch just something you eat in the form of a hard candy when you go to your grandma's house? Not any longer. These have jumped straight to the top of my list of what to make when I'm craving something sweet. Don't let the green color steer you away from making them anytime of the year. Just leave out the coloring or add colors for different holidays. But I must warn you.....these are very DANGEROUS. Since they are bite size it is possible to consume mass amounts of them and not even realize what you are doing until you are staring at a plate that only has a few crumbs left behind. The hubs was a huge fan of these tasty little boogers. Maybe boogers wasn't the best choice of words being as they are green and all. Hmmm, let's try tasty little morsels. That better?? ;) Now that we've got that squared away LET'S START BAKING!

Ingredients:

*1 cup butter, softened

*3/4 cup packed brown sugar

*1/4 cup sugar

*1 package (3.4 ounces) instant pistachio pudding mix

*1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

*1/2 teaspoon almond extract

*2 eggs

*Green food coloring, optional

*2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

*1 teaspoon baking soda

*1 package (10 to 11 ounces) butterscotch chips

*1 cup chopped walnuts

Directions:

1) In a large bowl, cream the butter, sugars, pudding mix and extracts until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add a few drops of green coloring if desired.

2) Combine flour and baking soda; gradually add to creamed mixture. Stir in chips and nuts (batter will be stiff).

3) Cover and refrigerate for several hours.

4) Shape into 1/2-in. balls; place 2 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 350° for 8 minutes. Remove to wire racks to cool.

Make sure and recruit a great helper like I did....

Red hair? Check. Fair skin? Check. She must be Irish.

The mint green color was so pretty while it was stirring in the mixer. I almost couldn't help myself from grabbing a big handful of cookie dough and eating it raw.....but salmonella was not really what I was going for so I refrained. The house smelled magnificent. Oh and did I mention that the recipe made about 75 of these treats? It actually was supposed to make 150 bite size but I made some a bit larger. Ya see, they are just too darn good to describe. So I won't even try. I'll simply try to make enough batches to share with everyone of my friends, family and patients. Send me your order!! Oh yeah, one more thing....ENJOY!!! Oh yeah, and one more thing....HAPPY ST. PATTY'S DAY FRIENDS!