Tag Archives: chocolate

January 28, 2017 · 12:22 pm

Cookies by Julias: Valentine Shortbread Cookies

2 Julias + 1 day off of school = Tons of cookie fun

These 2 cute girls wanted to bake cookies on their day off of school, and since one of them is allergic to eggs, they decided to make shortbread cookies. But traditional rectangles were way too boring, so they went with hearts. And chocolate. Lots and lots of chocolate.

And once the chocolate melting and dipping started, their creative juices really got flowing!

If you are looking for more traditional shortbread cookies, you can always go with plain-old-boring-rectangles:

RECIPE:

Valentine Shortbread Cookies

2 cups butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
1 Tbs vanilla extract
½ tsp salt
4 ½ cups flour
Dark chocolate and/or colored candy melts

Preheat oven to 325°F.

Make sure that butter is very soft, but not melted. Cream butter and brown sugar with a mixer for 2 minutes. Beat in vanilla and salt. Gradually add flour, mixing well.

Lightly sprinkle flour on a pastry board or mat. Gently press or roll dough until dough is about 1/3” thick (dough will be softer than a normal cut-out cookie dough). Use a heart cookie cutter to cut out shapes and use a thin metal spatula to transfer hearts to ungreased cookie sheets, leaving a small space between cookies.

Bake at 325°F for about 20 minutes. Do not brown. Cool on a wire rack.

In a small microwave safe bowl, melt about 1 cup chopped chocolate in microwave by cooking in 30 second increments, stirring after each heating, until completely melted. Dip cookies as desired. To drizzle chocolate, place chocolate or candy melts in a Ziploc bag and cook for 30 seconds in microwave. Squish bag and repeat as needed until melted. Use a toothpick or skewer to poke a small hole in one corner of the bag and drizzle melted chocolate over cookies.

Place cookies on parchment paper or wax paper to harden. You can chill them in the refrigerator, if desired, to speed up the setting of the chocolate. Higher quality dark chocolate will take longer to harden than the candy melts.

Makes 2 ½ – 3 dozen cookies, depending on the size of your cookie cutter.

Twelve Days of Christmas Cookies (and Treats): Easy Chocolate Nutella Fudge

DAY 7: Chocolate Nutella Fudge

Can you ever go wrong adding Nutella to a dessert?

Here is a perfect example: a rich, creamy fudge made even more delicious by adding Nutella. Plus lots of toasted nuts. And nuts are protein, so that makes this healthy, right?

You can also make this completely smooth and creamy, but I love the addition of chopped toasted nuts. I like lots of nuts per bite, so I use 2 full cups of chopped nuts, but if you just want the nuts sprinkled here and there, use less. My ideal fudge would be a pile of nuts with just enough chocolate to hold the nuts together in one piece!

I used a small cookie scoop to scoop the warm fudge into miniature foil cups. You can also spread it into an 8” square pan and cut it into squares.

Nutella tip: to easily measure Nutella, warm the jar of Nutella in the microwave for 20-30 seconds (be sure that all of the foil seal is removed first!). Spray a measuring cup with oil or cooking spray, then pour warm Nutella into the measuring cup.

RECIPE:

Chocolate Nutella Fudge

1 cup Nutella
8 oz bittersweet chocolate (about 1 heaping cup bittersweet chips)
1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk
3 Tbs salted butter
1/8 tsp salt (omit salt if using salted nuts)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1-2 cups chopped toasted nuts, optional **

If you are making fudge in a pan, lightly grease an 8” square pan with butter. Line the pan with parchment paper, letting it hang over the edge on 2 sides. If you are making individual fudge cups, lay 48-64 miniature foil baking cups on a rimmed baking sheet or tray.

Place Nutella, chopped bittersweet chocolate, sweet milk and butter in the top of a double boiler. Heat water in the bottom of the double boiler to a simmer, reduce heat to low and place the top of the double boiler with the chocolate mixture over the water. Stir until mixture is melted and smooth. Stir in salt, vanilla and chopped toasted nuts.

Spread warm fudge into the prepared pan OR use a small cookie scoop (or spoon) to drop about 1 tablespoon of warm fudge into each foil cup. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or until fudge is firm.

If fudge was prepared in a pan: For easier cutting, run the knife under hot water, then pat dry before using to cut the fudge. Run the knife along the edges of the pan and use the parchment paper to lift out the block of fudge. Rinse knife in hot water again, dry. and cut the fudge into 1” squares (cut larger squares, if desired). Rinse and dry knife before each new cut.

Makes 48-64 servings

**To toast nuts: Coarsely chop nuts and spread into an even layer on a baking sheet. Bake at350°F for 5-10 minutes.

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Filed under Candy, Desserts

Tagged as baking, candy, chocolate, christmas, fudge, Nutella, Nutella tips, nuts, recipe, sweetened condensed milk

December 2, 2016 · 7:48 am

Twelve Days of Christmas Cookies: Chocolate Fudge Toffee Cookies

DAY 2: Chocolate Fudge Toffee Cookies

An easy to make rich dark chocolate drop cookie made with toffee chips and nuts. Slightly crispy outside, and soft gooey middles. A great cookie for chocoholics!

Just be sure to use silicone mats or parchment paper on your baking sheets, or the toffee pieces will stick to your pans.

RECIPE:

Chocolate Fudge Toffee Cookies

16 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped (about 2 ½ cups bittersweet chips)
½ cup butter
¾ cup sugar
¾ cup brown sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 ½ cups chopped walnuts or toasted almonds
1 ½ cups (8 oz bag) toffee chips

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line baking sheets with silicone mats or parchment paper.

Place chocolate and butter in a medium saucepan and heat over low heat (or a double boiler) until melted and smooth, stirring often. Cool completely to room temperature.

Combine sugars, eggs and vanilla in a large mixing bowl. Beat until mixture is light and fluffy. With the mixer on low speed, beat in the cooled chocolate.

Mix the flour, salt and baking powder together in a small bowl. Add to mixing bowl and beat until just combined. Mix in nuts and toffee chips. Let dough sit, at room temperature, for 15 minutes before scooping and baking.

Drop tablespoon-sized scoops of batter onto the lined baking sheets.

Bake for 8-10 minutes; do not overbake. Leave cookies on baking sheets for 5 minutes, and then use a thin metal spatula to remove them to a cooling rack.

Makes 4 dozen cookies

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Tagged as baking, chocoholic, chocolate, christmas, Cookies, dark chocolate, recipe, toffee, Twelve days of Christmas

October 20, 2016 · 3:49 pm

Chocolate Halloween Pretzels

—
An alternate heading and photo I probably should have led with:

What Not To Do When You Move

In the spirit of putting away some extra food for a rainy day, I have a 5-gallon bucket full of chocolate chips (of various varieties). Shown above: what used to be a bag of Ghirardelli 60% Bittersweet Chips, Costco-sized bag. My favorite.

Don’t judge my food storage choices. When the zombie apocalypse hits, what do you really want to eat: cracked wheat porridge or chocolate?

Before moving last year, I did not think about the effects that a month of sitting in the back of a moving truck in June/July, would have on my precious bucket of chocolate chips. So instead of a bucket full of chocolate chips, I had a bucket full of chocolate bricks. I have finally made it through the last bag!

The struggle is real.

This is certainly a lemonade from lemons kind of first-world dilemma. We ended up with some fun chocolate dipped pretzels to share at a recent Fall Fest.

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Don’t want to bother remelting the chocolate block? It also makes a good paperweight.

A Birthday Experiment

Just wanted to give a little teaser of a recipe in progress. Next month I am making a couple of cakes for a church young women event. I wanted to try out a new recipe I hope to bring that night, and since Monday was my birthday, I figured that was as good of an excuse as any to try it out. Monday was also a holiday from school, so I enlisted Little J to help me. She was thrilled to help; she had been worried that with her two older sisters now gone at college, she would be on her own to come up with a birthday dessert for me.

This is not a traditional cake –in fact, there is no actual cake in it at all. It has a brownie base that is topped by chocolate, raspberry and vanilla mousses. It is not an especially hard cake to make, but is extremely time consuming, as there are long waiting periods throughout the assembly process.

We were pretty pleased with the result, although there are some additional changes I want to make to the recipe before I post it here. So you will have to wait until next month for the full revised recipe.

For anyone who lives close who would like to test it out for me, come on by! Since Little A won’t touch chocolate, there are only three of us left here to eat this enormous cake! (Don’t feel too sorry for him though- I am a sucker-mom and made him his own parfait out of the raspberry and vanilla mousses.)

It has been 4 days now, and we still haven’t made it halfway through. Help!!

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Tagged as birthday, brownie, chocolate, dessert, ganache, mousee cake, mousse, raspberry, vanilla

December 9, 2015 · 3:07 pm

Twelve Days of Christmas Cookies:Buckeye Brownie Cookies

DAY 9: Buckeye Brownie Cookies

These cookies start with a simple cookie made from a brownie mix (and cream cheese to make them soft and gooey). Then they are topped with a mound of peanut butter fluffiness and drenched in dark chocolate.The topping is similar to the traditional Buckeye Candy, but not quite as sweet and dense (again, thanks to the addition of cream cheese). I think cream cheese is probably the most versatile of ingredients. It is perfectly at home in just about any recipe!

RECIPE:

Buckeye Brownie Cookies
———(adapted from Inspired by Charm)

Cookies:
2 boxes brownie mix
½ cup butter, melted
8 oz cream cheese, softened
2 eggs

Topping:
1 cup creamy peanut butter
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup powdered sugar
8 oz dark/bittersweet chocolate (about 1 ½ cups chips)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone mats.

Topping (Prepare topping before baking cookies):
In a mixing bowl, combine peanut butter, 8 oz cream cheese, vanilla and powdered sugar. Beat with an electric mixer until smooth and fluffy. Set aside.

Cookies:
In a large mixing bowl, use an electric mixer to beat together the brownie mixes, melted butter, 8 oz cream cheese and eggs.

Use a medium cookie scoop, or tablespoon, to drop batter onto baking sheets. Bake for 12-15 minutes.

Use a small cookie scoop, or teaspoon, to spoon a ball of peanut butter topping onto each HOT cookie. Flatten topping just slightly with the palm of your hand. Allow cookies to cool for 5-7 minutes on the baking pan. Transfer to a wire rack and cool completely.

Melt chocolate in a double boiler or in the microwave (in 30 second increments). Spoon melted chocolate over the top of each cookie. Allow chocolate to set before serving or storing.

If cookies are not going to be eaten the same day, store them in the refrigerator.

Makes about 4 dozen cookies.

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Tagged as brownies, buckeye cookies, chocolate, Cookies, peanut butter, recipe

December 6, 2015 · 1:34 pm

Twelve Days of Christmas Cookies: Texas Sheet Cake Cookies

DAY 6: Texas Sheet Cake Cookies

A cookie for fans of the crowd-feeding chocolate cake with pour-on frosting known as Texas Sheet Cake. Now you don’t need a crowd to feed to have an excuse to indulge in a rich, chocolaty, nutty treat.

Also available without nuts. In fact, a great alternative is to make the icing without nuts, and stir in ¼ tsp peppermint extract for a fudgy, mint brownie-like cookie.

These cookies are super rich and fudgy: serve with a tall glass of ice-cold MILK!

RECIPE:

Texas Sheet Cake Cookies
————(adapted from Cookies & Cups)

Cookies:
1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 2/3 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup chocolate chips

Icing:
½ cup butter
2 Tbs cocoa powder
3 Tbs milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups powdered sugar
¼ cup finely chopped pecans

Cookies:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or use silicone mats.

Combine butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl. Beat until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Mix in flour, baking powder and salt.

In a microwave safe bowl heat chocolate chips on high for 30 seconds. Stir. If chunks still remain, add another 20 seconds and stir again. Mix warm melted chocolate into cookie dough until evenly mixed.

Use a medium cookie scoop (or Tablespoon sized measure) to drop dough onto baking sheets. Bake for 7-8 minutes until cookies just appear set. Do not overbake. Cool for 2 minutes on baking sheet and then cool completely on a wire rack.

Icing:

**DO NOT MAKE ICING UNTIL COOKIES ARE COOL AND READY TO ICE

In a medium saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Stir in cocoa powder and cook for 30 seconds, stirring with a whisk. Stir milk and vanilla into pan. Remove from heat and whisk in powdered sugar. Stir in pecans.

Spoon 1-2 tsp of frosting over each cooled cookie. Stir icing if it begins to harden on top. If icing becomes too hard to easily spoon, place pan over low heat and stir until smooth.

Allow icing to set on cookies completely before serving or storing.

Makes about 4 dozen

**NOTE: These can also be made without nuts. For a mint chocolate icing, stir ¼ tsp peppermint extract into icing with the vanilla (do not use nuts).

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Tagged as chocolate, christmas, Cookies, frosted, recipe, Texas sheet cake

December 4, 2015 · 2:17 pm

Twelve Days of Christmas Cookies: Easy One-Bowl Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

DAY 4: Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

These should be called “Super-Easy-One-Bowl-No-Mixer-I-Forgot-To-Make-Cookies-For-The-Bake-Sale-Tomorrow-Don’t-Even-Have-To-Soften-The-Butter-Chocolate-Chip-Cookie-Bars”

They are that easy.

These cookies will stay nice and chewy (without burnt edges and soggy middle) if you bake them in two 8×8” pans instead of one 9×13” pan.

Since we have one non-chocolate eater, I usually prepare the batter without the chocolate chips, put half of the batter in one pan and sprinkle the top with cinnamon/sugar. Then stir some chocolate chips into the remaining batter and put the chocolate chip version in the other pan.

RECIPE:

Easy One-Bowl Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

1 cup butter
¾ cup white sugar
¾ cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 ½ cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
1 ½ cups chocolate chips
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease two 8” square baking pans (or spray with Baking Pam).

Melt butter in a large bowl in the microwave. Stir sugar and brown sugar into melted butter until incorporated. Mix in the eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder and salt. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts. Spread the batter into the prepared baking pans.

Bake at 350°F for 28-30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely and then cut into squares.

Makes 32 bars

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Tagged as bar cookies, chocolate, chocolate chips, christmas, dessert, easy, no mixer, one bowl, recipe

December 3, 2015 · 2:56 pm

Twelve Days of Christmas Cookies: Homemade Thin Mint Cookies

DAY 3: Homemade Thin Mint Cookies

Sometimes you just can’t wait a whole year for those cute little Girl Scouts to knock on your door selling contentment in a box. If you absolutely must have Thin Mints before cookie selling season comes around again, this recipe is for you.

You could also dress them up for Christmas by adding some crushed candy canes.

120111 001-2

RECIPE:

Homemade Thin Mint Cookies

2 cups flour
1 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
10 Tbs butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
1 1/2 tsp pure peppermint extract
about 2 pounds dark chocolate, coarsely chopped

Preheat oven to 325°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat.

Whisk flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. In another bowl, beat butter and sugar with a mixer on medium-high speed for 1 minute. Reduce speed to medium-low, and add eggs and peppermint extract. Slowly add flour mixture, and beat until just incorporated.

Divide dough in half and place on two large pieces of plastic wrap. Using plastic wrap, shape dough into 2 logs about 2″ in diameter. Wrap logs securely in the plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, at least 1-2 hours, or several days.

When ready to bake, unroll plastic wrap from dough logs. Use a sharp knife to cut dough into 1/4” disks. Gently reshape edges into circles, if necessary. Place cookies on lined baking sheet, keeping unused dough in the refrigerator until ready to slice. Bake cookies for 10 minutes, or until dry to the touch. Cool 2 minutes on baking sheet before transferring cookies to wire racks to cool.

Melt chocolate in a heatproof bowl in the microwave or in a double boiler (melt chocolate slowly). Dunk cookies into melted chocolate. Use a fork to turn the cookie over in the chocolate. Pick up the cookie with the fork, let excess chocolate drip off, and gently scrape bottom against edge of bowl. Place on parchment (or waxed paper)-lined baking sheets. Let chocolate harden before storing.

TIME SAVING NOTE: You can also just use your fingers to hold the cookie and only dunk the top and sides of the cookie, gently scraping the excess chocolate off of the top of the cookie before placing it on the parchment paper

Makes 4-6 dozen, depending on the size of your cookies

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Tagged as chocolate, chocolate covered, christmas, Cookies, copy cat, girl scout cookies, mint, recipe, Thin Mints

May 21, 2015 · 7:38 am

Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie

I have been a less-than-faithful blogger the last several months. Being a single mom during the week for the last eight months (since my husband accepted and started working at a job 250 miles out of town) has really taken a toll on blogging. Plus trying to get a house ready to sell and move. It is scary how much junk you can accumulate when you stay in one house for 14 years. And how many little repair jobs you can ignore. And how you once thought wall paper was a really good idea.

But I hope to get in a few more posts before I am swamped with last minute moving details and the craziness of unpacking in a new house. I am excited to start cooking in this new kitchen in about 6 weeks! This photo is the sole reason that I agreed to purchase a house that I have not seen yet. In a neighborhood I have never been to. If I get this room to play in, who really cares what the rest of the house looks like?!

Last weekend was our annual church youth camp fundraiser. Along with some Rocky Road Cookies and Snickerdoodle Bars, I made a couple of these Chocolate Peanut Butter Pies to auction off. And there just may have been enough “extra” filling that couldn’t possibly have fit into the pie crusts and had to be saved in a small bowl at the back of the fridge where no one could see it.

RECIPE:

Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie
——–((inspired by Zoe Bakes)

Crust:
6oz chocolate wafer cookies (about 2/3 of a Nabisco 9oz package)
5 Tbs salted butter, melted

Filling:
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 cup smooth peanut butter
1 can (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup heavy cream

Chocolate ganache:
¼ cup heavy cream
2 oz (about 1/3 cup) semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chips
¼ tsp vanilla extract

Whipped Cream Topping:
1 cup heavy cream
2 Tbs cream cheese, softened
2 Tbs powdered sugar
½ tsp vanilla extract

Candied Peanuts:
½ cup salted dry roasted peanuts, coarsely chopped
2 Tbs sugar

Crust:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Crush chocolate wafer cookies in a food processor or blender until finely ground. You should get about 1 ½ cups of crumbs. Melt butter in a medium bowl in the microwave. Stir in chocolate wafer crumbs. Press into 9” pie plate. Bake for 5 minutes (not longer or it will taste burnt). Cool completely before filling.

Filling:
With an electric mixer, beat cream cheese, peanut butter, sweetened condensed milk and vanilla. In a separate bowl, beat 1 cup heavy cream until stiff peaks form. Stir in half the whipped cream to lighten the batter, and then fold in the remaining whipped cream. Pour into cooled crust. Refrigerate, uncovered, for at least one hour.

Chocolate Ganache:
Place ¼ cup cream in microwave safe measuring cup or bowl. Heat for 45 seconds. Stir in chocolate chips. Let sit for one minute, then stir again until smooth. Let cool until slightly thickened. Spoon the ganache over the chilled peanut butter filling, spreading almost to the edge of the filling. Return pie to refrigerator. Chill until ganache has completely set.

Whipped topping:
Combine 1 cup heavy cream and softened cream cheese (must be very soft, or your topping will be chunky!) in a large bowl. Beat until soft peaks form. Add powdered sugar and vanilla and beat until stiff. Spread over top of cooled ganache, spreading almost to the edge of the ganache. Chill pie until firm, about 1 additional hour. (The cream cheese in this topping will stabilize your whipped cream and help it keep its shape even over several days.)

Candied Peanuts:
In a medium skillet (I like to use my cast iron skillet), stir together the chopped peanuts and sugar. Cook over medium-low heat until the sugar begins to melt. Reduce the heat to low and cook, stirring constantly, until the sugar is completely melted and begins to caramelize, about 2 minutes. Pour the nuts onto a piece of foil or parchment paper to cool. Sprinkle top of pie with candied peanuts just before serving.

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Tagged as candied peanuts, chocolate, desserts, peanut butter, pie, recipe