If at first you don't succeed...

I have been VERY fortunate in the fact that every place we have moved, there have been loving people to adopt me into their family here in Florida. I still have many Ohana in Hawaii, and have grown very close to my friend Amber & her parents. They have always treated me like one of the family and I love spending time with them!

Every Christmas they have "Girls Bake Day" which I have been able to be a part of the past two years. The girls start baking early in the morning, but by about 2pm someone is normally drunk or passed out on the couch/some one's room.

This year we are starting early, and no boys are allowed until 4pm, so we can finish all our projects and enjoy the rest of the evening.

Everyone brings a fun treat to make, and we all have tins to take a little bit of each thing home. The only real holiday 'treat' that I do is a black bottom banana cream pie, but you can't really take that home in a tin. So, I'm on the lookout!

I got a recipe from a girl at work that looked VERY promising. And, seeing as the first time I do a recipe it takes me forever, I gave it a trial run last night. They are called Choco-Caramel Delights. It is a baked chocolate cookie rolled in pecans, with caramel in the center & chocolate drizzled on top. Here is how they turned out:.
They look awesome!! But, they don't taste so awesome. With all the potential I was hoping for something really sweet, but they were kind of bitter. And, I triple checked the ingredients before I added them, so I didn't add salt by mistake or forget the sugar. Also, I'm not a fan of pecans to begin with...I prefer peanuts. And, Eric wasn't a huge fan but said they were 'edible,' which by his standard is not saying much at all (this is the man that ate a worm to gross out boy scouts at a survival demonstration, and also ate a moth on a dare).

So, I'm debating on giving up on the recipe completely or trying to tweak it. I think there is potential there. I also thought of substituting the pecans for coconut, and trying to find a better chocolate cookie recipe. Any ideas??

Or, do you have a fun cookie/treat recipe that you do every Christmas that an amateur baker could handle?? If so, please email me at: way2cool2bcocky (at) gmail (dot) com