Double Trouble Chocolate Chip Cookies

The trouble part comes from the fact, they can be slightly addictive.

I know its getting too hot here to be baking cookies, but sometimes a girls gotta do, what a girls gotta do.  I was having a massive chocolate craving, and I was feeling that pang of guilt having not blogged anytime recently

This recipe is an extra chocolatey modification of a family recipe for chocolate chip cookies that my Grandma W. has been making as far back as I can remember.  At every family gathering, there would be the big plastic rectangle container filled to the very top with these cookies.  I perched on the edge of a kitchen chair helping Grandma make them more than a few times(she always set aside a bit of chocolate chips for me to munch on, it was my favourite part!). 

The original recipe is from a yellowed old paper clipping, Grandma can’t recall exactly where it was taken from(as she has a huge stash of recipes clipped just like it).  When I married and moved in with my husband (4 years ago Thursday!)  I asked for the recipe and she simply jotted it down from memory.  I love when I make them, as it brings me back to being perched on that chair sneaking chocolate chips while Grandma showed me how to measure ingredients.

My husband actually had a hand in this adaptation, adjusting some of the amounts of sugar to his liking, as this was the first thing I taught him to bake (sometimes I think he even makes them better than me, but shhh, don’t tell).  There is just nothing sexier than a man who bakes (okay so that might just be my opinion) but I’m so glad that he quickly learned that recipes are fun to play around with.

This variation is thick, dangerously chocolately and nice and soft on the inside without falling apart in your hands.

Double Trouble Chocolate Chip Cookies

Makes approx 3 dozen or so cookies

Ingredients

• 1 Cup Butter
• ¾ Cup White Sugar
• ¾ Cup Brown sugar
• 2 Eggs
• 2 Tsp Vanilla
• 2 Cup Flour
• 1 Tsp Baking soda
• ½ Tsp Salt
• 2/3 Cup Cocoa
• 2 Cup Chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone mats, set aside.
2. Cream butter and both sugars until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla, beat well again, scraping bowl occasionally.
3. Mix flour, baking soda and salt in bowl. Sift in cocoa powder. Gradually add dry ingredients to sugar mixture, mix just until combined. Mix in chocolate chips.
4. Place by tablespoonfuls couple inches apart onto lined baking sheets. I like to leave mine heaped or rolled into a ball for a nice thick cookie.
5. Bake in oven for approximately 8 minutes or until edges and some of the middle is set…cookies will continue to bake as you take them out of the oven.  Wait a couple of minutes before transferring to racks to cool.
6. Once cool store in an airtight container.

The dough freezes well, as do the cookies themselves. If it’s very warm in your kitchen or you find the dough very soft, you can also chill the dough before baking.

You can add ½ cup chopped nuts when adding the chocolate chips. Feel free to change the flavour of chocolate chips, white or peanut butter would taste fantastic!

Oatmeal Cookies

 

Have you ever made a recipe, for the sole reason of using a certain ingredient that you have in abundance in your kitchen?  This was the case with raisins in my kitchen this week, especially for the fact that Mr. BotC does not like to eat them in anything (but on their own is fine…to each their own!).

Oatmeal cookies were never my favourite, I found them boring and more often than not, dry and rather tasteless.  Having so many raisins on hand though, oatmeal raisin cookies kept coming to mind since I just plain couldn’t think of anything else creative to use them in except raisin bread, and I haven’t had the time to devote to yeast bread this week.

These cookies really surprised me, in a really good way.  The aroma from the spices when they are baking wafts through the house, and they come out of the oven a lovely golden brown.  I tried one while still (very) warm and I thought I was in heaven.  I was so happy they were still just as delicious today.  They raisin variety is soft and chewy, with a spice flavour that doesn’t take over the cookie. 

Since Mr.BotC does not like raisins in anything, I made half raisin, and half chocolate chip.  I found when adding chocolate chips instead of raisins to this recipe they were not as soft and chewy(without the added moisture of the raisins) but my husband and his co-workers weren’t complaining.  I sent at least half the batch (both raisin and chocolate chip) with him to work, and they were devoured.  I’m so glad his work loves home baking, or I would really be in trouble!  (Since I’ll eat them all myself…The lack of will power when it comes to baked goods is almost embarrassing, I can’t be the only one right?).

I’ve included a note at the bottom of the recipe for the chocolate chip or if you too would like to do half of each. 

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Makes approximately 36 cookies

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 cups rolled oats
• 1 cup raisins (or chocolate chips*)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Place raisins in bowl and cover with hot water. Set aside.
3. In a mixer, cream together the butter, brown sugar, white sugar, eggs, and vanilla until smooth. In large bowl combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, and salt; stir into the sugar mixture.
4. Drain raisins.  Stir the raisins and oats into the rest of the cookie dough.  Mixture may be very thick.  Resist the urge to add more liquid! 
5. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased parchment-lined cookie sheets.
6. Bake 10 to 12 minutes until light and golden. Do not overbake.  Let them cool for 2 minutes before removing from cookie sheets to cool completely. Store in airtight container.

*If adding chocolate chips, you may wish to omit the spices.  I added 1/2 tsp of cinnamon just for a bit of flavour.  This of course is up to you.

For half chocolate chip/half raisin:  Follow recipe as directed until step 3, except do not add cinnamon and cloves to flour mixture. Mix in oats.  Divide dough in half, adding 1/2 tsp ground cloves and 1/2 tsp cinnamon to one half, add raisins.  In other half, add chocolate chips and 1/4 of cinnamon.  As dough is very stiff, make sure to mix spices in very well, using a strong spoon or your clean hands.  Bake as directed. 

Recipe adapted from Beth's Spicy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies submitted by Beth Sigworth to Allrecipes.com.

Love Muffin(s)

My favourite kind of recipes are those that can be reinvented over and over, with just a quick change up of ingredients.  This is what I have done with great results with my blueberry muffin recipe, prompted by a lack of fresh blueberries and an abundance of chocolate chips one day.  Its so fast to whip up, using just one bowl –who doesn’t love less mess?!  You don’t even need to turn on a mixer, just a spoon or spatula will do, as the less you work the dry ingredients, the less likely you will end up with tough, dense muffins.  These are great for breakfast or for filling that late night hunger (I can’t be the only one that stays up so late they get too hungry to go to sleep right?).  I especially love them a bit warm, with the chocolate still gooey, but were still good two days later stored in an airtight container.  I think these would be great with mini chocolate chips too, but for some reason seem to be tricky to find in a grocery store lately.

Chocolate Chip Muffins

Using an ice cream scoop is fast and gives you perfectly proportioned muffins with a nice rounded top

Makes 8 muffins

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease muffin cups or line with muffin liners.
2. Combine 1 1/2 cups flour, 3/4 cup sugar, salt and baking powder. Place vegetable oil into a 1 cup measuring cup; add the egg and enough milk to fill the cup. Mix this with flour mixture.  Mix in vanilla. Fold in chocolate chips.  Using ice cream scoop, place one full scoop in each cup or liner (if not using a scoop, just put large spoonfuls).
3. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until skewer inserted in middle comes out clean.

Adapted from "To Die for Blueberry Muffins" submitted by Colleen to Allrecipes.com.

Two-Bite Brownies

This blog post proves there is (almost) always a silver lining, even when a recipe decides to go pear shaped.

Today I attempted to make vanilla cupcakes with a brownie centre, using my very favourite brownie recipe.  Well, it didn’t pan out(pun intended). 

The vanilla cupcakes, a new recipe, were just plain bad.  Dense (more than a muffin), dry, and pretty much tasteless.  The brownie section was dry in some parts, and completely uncooked in others.  I was thoroughly disappointed, especially since I had just spent the afternoon mucking up the kitchen, and there was half a pound of butter down the drain.

I know, you’re wondering where does the silver lining come in.

Well I had a bunch of brownie batter leftover, but not enough for a full pan, so I had just quickly put the rest into greased mini muffin tins, and slipped them in the oven alongside the cupcake pan.

These turned out to be the little stars of the show.

These are my usual brownies, but this is the  first time I’ve ever made them mini, thinking they would end up tough and hard.  Instead they developed this wonderful chewiness (don’t take me wrong, its not like chewing chocolate bubblegum I promise!). The texture when baked in the pan is very fudgy, not cakelike, which might be why they didn’t end up drying out which I was afraid of.  If you would rather bake these in a pan then as minis, I’ve included a note at the bottom with directions.  These are very good even unfrosted, but I found as minis, they were almost elevated to miniature brownie cupcakes with a touch of frosting.

Two Bite Brownies

1/2 cup butter, melted

1 cup white sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

Frosting

1/4 cup butter, softened

2 ounces chocolate, melted (two full chocolate baking squares)

1 cup icing sugar, sifted

Enough milk to make creamy consistency (approx. 2 to 4 tablespoons*)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).  Grease two mini muffin pans and set aside.

In large bowl combine melted butter,  sugar, eggs, and 1 teaspoon vanilla.  Beat in 1/3 cup cocoa, 1/2 cup flour, salt, and baking powder.  Drop by teaspoonful into greased mini muffin pans.

Bake in preheated oven for approximately 10-15 minutes (check at the 10 minute mark). Do not overcook.  Let set for 5 minutes in pans, then gently remove and cool on racks.  Store in airtight container.

To Make Frosting:  Combine melted chocolate and butter.  Add icing sugar and mix.  Mixture will be crumbly.  Add just enough milk to make a smooth and creamy consistency. 

*As icing sugars can differ in starch content, even depending on humidity, this amount can differ.  If you accidentally add too much milk or the frosting is too runny, you can slowly add more sugar.  Pipe or spread on cooled brownies.

Note: To make in an 8 inch square pan: spread brownies in the greased and parchment or foil lined 8 inch pan, and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, checking at the 15 minute mark.  Let cool in pan on a wire rack.

Recipe adapted from “Best Brownies”  from  Allrecipes.com

 

My 6 year old nephew loves the store-bought two bite brownies, that come in the brown folded bag.  He hates cake with a passion so I dress them up for his birthdays.  I would love to see if these(without frosting of course) would pass his discriminating taste buds.

I am still on the look out (and desperate) for a fantastic vanilla cupcake recipe.  If you have one you could point me to or would like to share, please let me know!

Hoppy Easter and Cake Pops!

Phew I’m exhausted!  Lots of spring cleaning and baking this weekend, along with making a full roast chicken dinner with all the fixings today.  Friday I made the bachelorette cake, and a certain specific area of the cake was refusing to cooperate as the kitchen and my hands were just too warm.  Finally  I got everything to stay put and It was picked up Saturday with no problems.  I was told today it was the centre of the party!  I would love to post pictures but unfortunately for obvious reasons I can’t ;)  Which reminds me, I have leftover Twinkies if anyone is interested!  Since this party was only for about 12 people I had leftover cake, and hating to waste food I knew the perfect way to use it.

I have been admiring the gorgeous cake pops over at Bakerella for some time, and have been just looking  for an excuse to attempt the sweet gems.  Easter and leftover cake gave me the perfect reason!  Bakerella has generously included her instructions for cake pops and Cupcake Bites on her site, which was really useful, because it was trickier than it looked!

I started with the cupcake pops, using the method of chocolate peanut butter cup moulds.  I made up the cake balls (crumble prepared cake, mix with frosting, and ta-da!) and popped them in the freezer.  While they chilled I melted milk chocolate chips and poured in the mould for the base.  I then took out the cake balls and pushed them into the chocolate mould and stuck them back in the freezer. 

When the chocolate was set, I popped them out of their moulds (which you have to do very carefully I found out, or the cake balls will break off from the base very easy!)  I stuck lollipop sticks right through the chocolate bottoms, and then put them in the fridge to firm up once again.

While they chilled I mixed white and red compound chocolate to make pink for the top.  When they were chilled and firmed up  I dipped them in the pink chocolate.  This was the tricky part, as its hard to keep the chocolate from dripping down everywhere and coating the cake ball evenly.  I found spooning the chocolate over the one side to be helpful for completely coating it.  Then you patiently leave them to set, before digging in.

 

I also tried simple cake pops by shaping them into eggs (although I must admit they only bare a very vague similarity to eggs!)

I had a lot of fun with the Wilton sprinkles I found at Michaels…

Although decorating them made me appreciate how truly talented Bakerella is!

My sister brought my niece and nephew over today for an Easter egg hunt around our living room and a sugar-high filled afternoon with the Wii.  My sister and niece loved the pops, though my 6 year old nephew didn’t partake because he hates cake (apparently that IS possible!).   They are rather sweet depending on your cake/icing combination but very yummy…as my niece can attest to, as she had two while my sister was busy (Sorry sis!)

Hope you all had a Happy Easter!

Chocolate Swirl Bars

It tastes as good as it looks.

Yesterday I was craving something sweet, but other than applesauce, we were plum out.  I didn’t really have the patience for making cookies, so this was the perfect compromise.  These are almost like a cross between a chocolate chip cookie bar and a  blondie (a non-chocolate brownie).   My dentist would not be impressed with me after all the work I am still recovering from, but hey Mr. Dentist, at least its easy to chew, right?

When getting the batter into the pan, I found it much simpler to just use my hands to pat it down.  Although it says to “spread it” I was afraid I would be there forever as it just seemed to keep bouncing back from the knife. 

This is one of those things that you’re eyeing it while its baking thinking, “this is not going to work” and then magically it comes together into something glorious. 

 

Chocolate Swirl Bars

Preparation time:  15 mins
Baking time:  28 mins
Makes:  24 squares
Freezing:  excellent

Ingredients

1 cup butter , softened 250 mL

1 cup brown sugar , packed 250 mL

1/2 cup granulated sugar 125 mL

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla  5 ml

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour 550 mL

1 tsp baking soda 5 mL

1/2 tsp salt 2 mL

2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips 500 mL

PREHEAT oven to 375ºF (190ºC). Grease a 13" x 9" (33 cm x 23 cm) cake pan. Beat butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, vanilla and eggs together until creamy. Add flour, baking soda, salt and nuts. Mix well. Spread in prepared pan. Sprinkle chocolate chips evenly on top.
BAKE in centre of 375ºF (190ºC) oven for 2-3 minutes or until chips are soft and shiny. Run knife through batter to marble. Bake 20-25 minutes longer, or until set. Cool in pan on rack then cut into squares.
TIP: Replace half or all the flour with All Purpose Whole Wheat Flour.

Adapted from Robin Hood