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This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of PAM Cooking Spray.
Update: The giveaway has ended. Terri was the random winner and has 48 hours to respond to my email. Congratulations Terri!
For the holidays, I am always the one who takes the lead on sweet treats for our huge family. Whether I’m hosting or it’s at my aunt or grandma’s home, I come with candies, cookies, cake pops and more every year, enough to feed 25 people for several days. And keep in mind that these 25 people LOVE sweets. My grandma adds to my sweets table with her classic fudge. Such goodness.
The sweets are one of my favorite parts of the holidays. With some experience behind me, I thought I’d share how I get all of these sweets done in time for the holidays plus an incredibly delicious recipe for caramel cashew chocolate chip cookies (quite the tongue-twister there) using PAM Cooking Spray.
My holiday baking tips
- Start early. Although fresh, just-baked treats are the tastiest, it’s more than fine to refrigerate or freeze cookies, candies and cakes for the holidays.
- Variety. I make anywhere from 5 to 10 different items each year for our holiday celebration. I love doing it and they love eating it.
- Classics. Holiday classics never go out of style. I try something new every year, but stick with what I know was popular the year before.
- Pull out all ingredients at the beginning and put them away as you go.
- Focus on one recipe at a time.
- Use PAM Cooking Spray on cookie sheets and cake pans so things come out just right.
I’ve been a long-time user of PAM Cooking Spray for baking. PAM Cooking Sprays now leave up to 99 percent less residue buildup than margarine or bargain brand-cooking sprays while still offering the awesome no-stick results. This is huge. My husband and I can scrub and scrub pans and cookie sheets working to get the buildup off. We love that this is easy to remove and won’t require so much time to clean. And the improved formula has zero calories per serving. Does this mean you can eat another cookie? Let’s hope so because the recipe I’m about to share with you is delicious and I couldn’t stop eating them yesterday!
We’re pretty sure Santa will enjoy these cookies as well!
Caramel Cashew Chocolate Chip Cookies
Recipe adapted from Pam’s recipe here.
Ingredients
- PAM® Baking Spray
- 1 cup butter (1 cup = 2 sticks)
- 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup caramels quartered (Pam suggests using chocolate covered caramels)
- 1 cup semisweet chocolate morsels
- 1 cup coarsely chopped cashews
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray baking sheets with cooking spray; set aside.
- In large bowl, beat butter and sugars with electric mixer until creamy. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well. Gradually add combined flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; beat well.
- Stir in caramel candies, chocolate morsels and cashews. Drop dough by heaping tablespoonfuls onto prepared baking sheets, spacing 2 inches apart.
- Bake 12 minutes or until golden brown. Cool 2 minutes on cookie sheets; transfer to wire racks. Cool completely.
I honestly couldn’t stop eating these. They are dangerously good. They are the perfect combination of soft, gooey and crunchy, everything I love about a cookie.
Giveaway
Guess what friends?! You have the opportunity to win a full size sample of PAM and a Le Creuset Pie Dish! All you have to do is comment below answering this question.
How do you prepare for the holidays and what is your favorite holiday food?
To enter, leave a comment by midnight CST on Monday, Nov. 25. You must be 18 years+ and reside in the continental U.S. One winner will be selected at random and announced in this post on Tuesday, Nov. 26. For full giveaway terms and conditions, please click here.
This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of PAM Cooking Spray.
For more information, visit http://www.pamcookingspray.com.
Favorite holiday food?? How can I narrow that down! :D Obvs I love to bake and could not do so successfully without Pam spray. I even use it on top of parchment. So I’d say one of my fav holiday foods is a cranberry cake I make. It’s super simple but really yummy.
So happy to hear you use PAM spray regularly. And on top of parchment? Interesting! I’d love to hear more about that. Cranberry cake sounds delicious! I love how tart cranberries are. Yum!
My favorite holiday food is all of it! From dump cake to wedding cookies to buckeyes my mom and I go baking crazy. Gotta love PAM too, I tried my hand at pumpkin bars last weekend and PAM was involved. ;)
Me too! I love mashed potatoes and all of the savory stuff as well!
Tough choice! I’d have to say stuffing. I could eat pans and pans of it!
Ohhh…. Stuffing is the best! Definitely a favorite of mine too.
Lots and lots of Christmas cookies and they are my favorite food!!
So good, right? I love the classic sugar cookies with sprinkles or icing. Yum!
Those cookies look amazing!! YUM……hope I get to try them over the holidays! P.S……I love baking, especially over the holidays and I always use PAM! Perhaps I will try this recipe!
They are SO good.
I love making Cinnamon thumbs! They’re so easy and so good! By the way, I just bought Pam baking spray! I love it, but when I used it to make enchiladas, they had a little bit of a cupcake flavor on the bottom! I didn’t mind, just warning you to only use it on sweets!
I bet if you used the cooking spray instead of baking spray for enchiladas it would be fine. They have a variety of options.
Great timing…I’m heading home to my parents this weekend for our family holiday cookie bake! I may just have to try your yummy cookie recipe above :) By far, my fav holiday goodie is spritz cookies…love using the cookie “pump” to make all sorts of fun shapes and designs!
Bring spritz back to the ‘hood, please! I love them but have never made them.
Pam is definitely a staple in our house! Sits front and center in our cupboard. We also use the grilling spray which works great!
Favorite holiday treat – Hershey kiss cookies or my Mom’s Chrismas wreathes. Yummy!
Anything your mom makes is a good thing!
I prepare for the holidays early and my favorite holiday treat is moms fudge and homemade cookies.
Fudge is so good, right?
My favorite holiday food is the stuffing. Can’t get enough of well seasoned homemade stuffing! But my favorite thing to make (not just eat!) during the holidays are spritz cookies, which I make with my grandmother’s cookie press. Definitely lots of PAM used in the making of those too!
I love them too, but need to try making them for the first time.
My favorite holiday treat would have to be chocolate covered pretzels…I love them! I love pam for healthy baking and cooking. Cool giveaway! My second favorite food, green bean casserole – very Midwestern, I know, but it is good.
Me too! LOVE them and they are the easiest to make.
I would say that my favorite holiday food is eggnog cheesecake bars that I make but there are so many good items. I love the stuffing that goes with the turkey I love the mashed potatoes and at Christmas love the roast beef. As for getting ready for the holidays it is a all year long thing in that I shop for items through the year and I have made items too either baked or handmade –knit. That way I do not have to go running around at the last minute.
So smart to shop throughout the year! I need to do that.
My family and my husband’s family are very set in their holiday ways. So I pretty much bake myself whatever I am craving that year. :) But there is always a Sherry Cake. It is pure Christmas to me.
What is sherry cake? Sounds interesting!
i prepare as much as i can before the actual holiday and try to just have to bake or re heat items! i love baking cheesecakes!
It helps so much, doesn’t it? I don’t enjoy a stressful rush right at the end. Makes it hard to relax with family.
I try and buy things that are on sale in the weeks leading up to the holidays. I love baking with my family.
Good idea! I should start being on the lookout!
I like sweet potato casserole during holidays. I make stock and cookie dough in a large quantity and freeze it in plastic bags.
I’m new at cooking and my favorite holiday food are the desserts!
The exhausting truth is that I prepare for the holidays by cleaning like a daemon; I din’t want everyone to know how messy things are the rest of the year!
My favorite holiday food is pie, so I feel compelled to make several.
I try to decide what Im cooking for the holidays early one and have everything ready. My favorites are pumpkin pie, apple pie and pretty much any pie ;)
I prepare by getting the house in order early and making lists of ingredients I need for baking, etc. My favorite thing to eat at holiday dinners is apple pie.
I tackle preparation by making lists! Without them, I lost.
Lists for Sam’s Club, lists for the grocery store, lists for the butcher, lists of chores to be done, lists of things to be baked, people to visit, and gift shopping to do. With lists I can organize everything.
I am such a list person as well! I agree. I’ve actually lost lists before and felt lost trying to start over. Now I keep them on my computer and email them to my smart phone or create lists on my iPhone. So helpful!
I try to prepare by first getting my house clean and everything organized. Then make a detailed list. My favorite food is all different kind of pies at the holidays. We rarely have them any other time.
We prep by trying to get gifts early (so we dont have to deal with the mall during the holidays!) and then we have everyone help make the food!
I prepare by making a list of what I actually want to do…cook…buy…etc. It helps me to put in to perspective what I am spending. It takes the emotion out of impulse buying! I love to make chicken and dumplings! Thank you for the chance, I would love to win this, and give it to my mother!
ninigossett at gmail dot com
Good idea! It’s easy to impulse buy if you haven’t thoroughly thought threw the who, what and how much pieces of the holiday gifts list.
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I conSult with family on what we want to eat. my favorite is pecan pie.
I love my mom’s frosted sugar cookies
thanks for the giveaway
i prepare by trying to get gifts early and my favorite holiday food is pumpkin pie
Yum! These look delicious!
I love to make fruit pies for holiday parties and try to bake them in advance and freeze, I usually start cooking around the first week of November so that it is not so overwhelming!
That’s awesome and so planful! Great job!
I prepare for the holidays by blasting Christmas music to get in the spirit :) I also try to do my shopping early so I’m not rushing to find gifts. It’s so hard to pick just one favorite holiday food, but I think I’ll have to go with stuffing/dressing. (Though, chocolate and other sweets are a close second!)
Pecan pie is my absolute favorite holiday food….yum!!!
Huge fan of pecan pie!
I prepare for the holidays by baking lots and lots of Biscotti. Some for the treat tray and some to package up and give away as gifts. My favorite treat has to be my Mom’s fudge. I have the recipe but it never quite turns out the same as the way she makes it. Fortunately, she always has a package to send home with me!
I prepare for the holidays by remembering what they are all about! I live decorating with my family and being able to see everyone in one place :) my favorite food has to be my moms dressing!
I love holiday baking, who am I kidding I love all baking but anything with pumpkin and cinnamon wins me over every time :)
I make lots of lists! My favorite thing to bake for the holidays is a white chocolate, cranberry & pecan tart. Have to cover it during baking with aluminum foil sprayed with PAM.
Congratulations, Terri. What a blessing. Have a great holiday season!
ninigossett at gmail.com