Death By Chocolate Chip Cookies

Double chocolate chip cookies always sound like a wonderful idea to me, but so often they just don't deliver that decadent, intense chocolate flavor I'm looking for. But have no fear, I have finally found the perfect recipe. These cookies are dark, decadent and intensely chocolaty, the perfect way to treat your chocolate craving. What I love most about them is that there is 8 ounces, yes, half a pound, of melted chocolate in the dough. Most double chocolate cookies have maybe a couple tablespoons of cocoa powered and that is all. This doesn't cut it in my book. I want real chocolate in my chocolate cookies and lots of it, not just a little powder. So this is it, finally a real chocolate lovers chocolate cookie.

If you aren't looking for something rich, these aren't for you. But if rich and chocolatey doesn't scare you, make these cookies immediately. The only difficult thing about these cookies, is waiting the 30 minutes for the dough to chill before you can bake them. But 30 minutes isn't too bad, and the wait will definitely be worth it in the end.

Death By Chocolate Chip Cookies
Adapted from Sally's Baking Addiction
Ingredients

• 1 cup + 1 Tbsp all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 8 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, chopped
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 5 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
• 3/4 cup light brown sugar
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 cups of your favorite chips; dark chocolate, peanut butter, white chocolate etc. 

Directions
Sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.

Melt the chocolate in the microwave for about 1 minute. Stir. Continue to melt in 30 second increments until fully melted and smooth. Set aside.

In a small bowl, whisk the eggs and vanilla. Set aside. With an electric or stand mixer with paddle attachment, beat the butter until smooth and creamy – about 1 minute. Beat in the sugars, scraping down the sides every 10 seconds or so. The mixture will be granular.

Mix in the beaten egg/vanilla until incorporated. Add the chocolate in a steady stream and beat until combined. Add the dry ingredients on slow speed. Fold in the chocolate chips and peanut butter chips. Do not overmix at any point in this process.

Chill dough for at least 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Scoop about 2 Tbsp of dough and roll into a ball. Bake for about 10 minutes, or until the cookies have just begun to set with the centers still appearing very soft. They will firm up as they cool.

Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for at least 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Cranberry Bliss Bars

I've never actually bought the cranberry bliss bars from Starbucks, but every single time I see them I want to try them. They are just so pretty, and look so tasty, but I never want to shell out the money to buy a tiny little bar, especially when I can probably make them at home! I've had this recipe for cranberry bliss bars in my recipe folder for quite some time, but it took me forever to get around to making them. The recipe calls for cream cheese, dried cranberries, and white chocolate, and I never seemed to have all three of those at the same time.

Finally, over this past Christmas break I decided I had to do it, so I went out and bought these three ingredients so I would no longer have any excuses not to make these bars. I'm glad I finally did it. I thought these bars were fantastic. The blondie base layer is buttery and chewy, and filled with white chocolate and cranberries. Topped with a white chocolate cream cheese frosting, covered in more cranberries and drizzled with more white chocolate, they are absolutely delicious. I still haven't tried the real thing from Starbucks so I can't compare them, but I really don't feel like I have to!

Like I said, the blondie is delicious, and could probably work as the base for some other bars. I'll have to play around with that a little. They're not difficult at all to throw together, I love anything with melted butter because I can still make it right away, even if I forgot to soften the butter. So if you are craving coffee shop pastries at home, take the initiative and make your own, it's worth it!

Cranberry Bliss Bars

From

Recipe Girl

Ingredients

Blondie Layer:

• 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) salted butter, cubed
• 1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries
• 6 ounces white baking chocolate, coarsely chopped

Frosting:

• 1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
• 6 ounces white baking chocolate, melted
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries, coarsely chopped

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9×13-inch baking dish with nonstick spray or line with parchment paper.

Prepare the blondie layer: In a medium bowl, melt butter for one minute in the microwave or until melted; stir in brown sugar. Pour the butter and sugar into a large bowl and let cool to room temperature. Use an electric mixer to beat in the eggs and vanilla. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon; gradually add the dry mixture to the butter mixture. Stir in the cranberries and chopped chocolate (batter will be thick).

Spread the blondie batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 18-21 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean (do not overbake). Cool completely on a wire rack.

Prepare the frosting: In a large bowl, use an electric mixer to beat the cream cheese and powdered sugar until combined. Gradually add half of the melted white chocolate; beat until blended. Frost brownies. Sprinkle with chopped cranberries. Drizzle with remaining melted white chocolate. Let the frosting set (speed this up by throwing them into the fridge) then cut into bars- square or triangle-shaped. Store in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

Christmas Cookies 2012

Tis the season for decorating Christmas cookies! I'll admit, I had very little to do with these cookies. My sister Lara has become the cookie decorator. I am just around for moral support, suggestions, and a little help here and there, otherwise it is all her. Every year she gets a little better, and a little fancier with the cookies. This year she got some ideas out of a magazine I got in the mail, and then adapted them to work for her. I think she did a fantastic job, they turned out so beautifully! Our kitchen was taken over by cookie decorating for a few days, but that's okay, I think it was worth it.

Lara used the same recipes that we have both been using for the last couple of years, both for the cookies and for the royal icing. We love them both, and haven't had any problems with either. You can find the recipes

here

.

The whole platter full

 Poinsettias!

Good job Lara, they look great! Check out this post for the recipes!

Twisted Sugar Cookies

I finished my first semester of med school on Thursday. It was a great semester, but I am so glad that I now have three weeks off to do whatever I want! Of course, Christmas baking is at the top of that list. I've already spent many hours in the kitchen, and plan to log plenty more there before the break is over. Because I have so many things I want to bake, it is difficult to decide how to prioritize and what to bake first. This year I started with these twisted sugar cookies. I had seen the recipe last year and printed it off with the hopes of making them this Christmas. I thought that they were so beautiful and wanted to try them for myself. They were a lot of fun to make, and quite tasty to eat too. Although they didn't turn out exactly like the pictures I was looking at (she's had a lot more practice than me!), they still turned out beautifully, making me happy at the beginning of this Christmas baking season!

The dough for this recipe has yeast and sour cream, both of which are a little different. You just throw it all together, cutting cold butter in, and then chill overnight. The next day you laminate the dough while covering it in flavored sugar, and then cut into strips and twist. As the cookies bake they kind of unfold a little revealing the layers created while rolling and folding. I just love all the different layers of dough you can see. The sugar crystallizes on the bottom of the cookies, turning into a kind of carmel, yummy!

For the first half of the dough I did what the recipe said and used vanilla sugar to roll them out in, but for the second half I decided to mix it up a little and added a little almond extract as well. They are both good but I absolutely love almond flavored things, especially at Christmas, and so the almond flavored cookies were my favorite. What a fun cookie to start out the Christmas baking season with!

Lots of rolling out

Cut them up

Twisted and ready to bake

Delicious sugary bottoms!

So pretty and twisty

Twisted Sugar Cookies
From Cook and Be Merry
Ingredients

• 2 ¼ teaspoons Active Dry Yeast (1 pkg) (NOT Rapid Rise, Pizza Crust or Bread Machine)
• ¼ cup warm water (100 – 110 degrees F)
• ½ teaspoon sugar
• 3 ½ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 cup salted butter (2 sticks), chilled, cut into tablespoon-size pieces
• 2 large eggs
• ½ cup sour cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

For sugary topping

• 1 ½ cups sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon almond extract (optional)

Directions
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line 1 cookie sheet with foil. Double pan to bake.

In a warm medium bowl, combine water, yeast and sugar. Proof until frothy, about 10 minutes.

In a separate large bowl, mix together the flour and salt. Cut butter into flour until rice-size with two knives or pastry cutter.

In the medium bowl, mix eggs, sour cream and vanilla into the yeast mixture. Pour the egg mixture into the large bowl with the flour. Stir thoroughly with a fork to make a dough.

Divide the dough into 2 patties, wrap each in plastic, and refrigerate a minimum of 4 hours or overnight. Place patties side by side, not stacked to assure even cooling. My patties were 18.5 oz each.

In a medium bowl, thoroughly mix together the sugar and vanilla until evenly distributed. Cover the bowl with a plate or plastic wrap so the sugar doesn’t dry out.

On a dry surface, place ½ of the vanilla sugar. Place one patty of dough on the vanilla sugar (leaving the other patty in the refrigerator) and roll into a 16 x 8-inch rectangle. Scoop up all the sugar from around the edges and spread evenly over top of dough.

With the long edge toward you, fold both edges toward the center, making 3 equal layers. Turn one quarter around and roll into a 16 x 8-inch rectangle. Scoop up any extra sugar and smooth onto the dough. Do not discard any of the vanilla sugar. Use it all.

Fold and roll into a 16 x 8-inch rectangle 2 more times. The dough should be about 1/4-inch thick.

Trim the edges slightly with a sharp knife to as perfect a rectangle as possible.

With the knife, cut the dough the long way into eight 1-inch wide strips. Cut each 16 x 1-inch strip into 4 equal pieces, each 4 inches long.

Twist half (16) of the 4 x 1-inch strips 2 times, over-twisting to stretch the dough in the middle. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Make sure the dough twist lies flat on the sheet. You may need to fan out the layers on the ends somewhat to make sure each is touching the sheet. Press down a little to help it adhere.

Double pan. Bake at 375 degrees F, 15 – 20 minutes or until a rich golden brown. With a spatula, remove from sheet immediately before the caramelized sugar hardens and sticks to the foil. Cool on a rack.

Discard foil on cookie sheet and replace with new foil. Repeat with remaining 16 dough strips.

Start over with the second dough ball and remaining half of sugar

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Squares

Time for round two of the pumpkin recipes. It's the fall so I think two pumpkin recipes in a row is perfectly acceptable. Since I had some leftover pumpkin puree from the pumpkin bundt cake cake I just made I decided that I was obligated to make something else. When I saw the recipe for these bars they just sounded good. Chocolate and pumpkin is one of my favorite combinations so I was sure this recipe would be a winner. I was definitely right. I know it may not look or sound all that exciting, it's just a bar, but don't be fooled by it's humble appearance. This bars turned out even better than I had hoped. The pumpkin leant it's characteristic mild flavor and moistness to each bite, the two kinds of chocolate were bursts of delicious sweetness, and the fall spices warmed the whole thing up. A perfect combination.

This is a simple recipe, not much to say other than that you should try it. All you need is a can of pumpkin, chocolate and lots of butter. There is no reason not to make this, it is so yummy!

The ingredients, ready to go

Spread the batter in the pan

Ready for the oven

Baked!

Ready to dig in

Enjoy!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Squares
Adapted from Martha Stewart 
Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tablespoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon allspice
• 1/4 teaspoon cloves
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 1 large egg
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• 4 ounces white chocolate, cut into chunks
• 8 ounces semi sweet chocolate chips

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9 x 13 inch pan and set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, spices, baking soda, and salt; set aside.

With an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar on medium-high speed until smooth; beat in egg and vanilla until combined. Beat in pumpkin puree (mixture may appear curdled). Reduce speed to low, and mix in dry ingredients until just combined. Fold in chocolate.

Spread batter evenly in prepared pan. Bake until edges begin to pull away from sides of pan and a toothpick inserted in center comes out with just a few moist crumbs attached, 35 to 38 minutes. Cool completely in pan.

Cut into squares and enjoy!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Shortbread Cookies

Well, I've been busy at med school for about a month and I am loving it. It is a ton of work, but it's work I want to be doing so I don't mind it at all. You may have noticed however that I haven't been quite as busy on the blog. To be honest, I haven't had that much time to bake or cook. Hopefully now that I've gotten settled in to the routine of school I'll have a little more time to spend in the kitchen, but we'll see. Regardless, I'm still here and will put up some posts whenever I can.

I pulled this recipe from the archives of the summer. I never got around to posting it then, so here it is. If you like shortbread, chocolate and peanut butter you will love these. They may look like a regular chocolate chip cookie, but they have that wonderful, sandy shortbread texture, a texture I love!

The only trouble I had with this recipe involved cutting the cookies up. The chocolate chips kept getting in the way so it was hard to cut an even cookie. Because of this, the cookies weren't really very uniform in shape or thickness. This didn't seem to affect the taste at all however, they were still wonderfully delicious!

The dough, ready to chill

Rolled into a nice log and chilled, ready to cut

Onto the baking sheet

A delicious stack 

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Shortbread Cookiesa
From: The View From the Great Island
Ingredients

• 1 stick, (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, room temp 
• 1/3 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 cup all purpose flour 
• 1/4 cup confectioner's sugar
• scant 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 3/4 cup chocolate chips

Directions
Cream the butter and the peanut butter together in a stand mixer, with a hand mixer, or a wooden spoon. Beat in the vanilla.

Whisk the dry ingredients together and add to the butter mixture. Mix until the dough comes together.

Stir in the chips, and turn the dough out onto a piece of waxed paper. Gently pull the dough together and form it into a log. If it is still crumbly, work it with your hands until it holds together smoothly. Roll it up in the paper, smoothing the shape as you go. Twist the ends securely and refrigerate for at least a couple of hours.

Slice the log into slices with a sharp knife. Not too thick, not too thin, about 1/3 inch. If a slice crumbles a bit, just smoosh the dough back together. These don't have to be perfect disks.

Bake on a parchment or silpat lined baking sheet at 325 for about 12-14 minutes. The cookies will not be browned, and they may look undone, but don't over bake. One of the joys of shortbread cookies is that they fall apart and melt in your mouth. 

Let the cookies cool on the pan for 5 minutes before transferring to a rack.

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies with M&M's

Well, I have been gone for quite a while! It's been a very busy couple of weeks and I just couldn't get around to posting anything. First of all, I had a week of orientation to start out med school with a bang. An entire week of get to know you games, lectures, and information overload. It was crazy, but wouldn't have been so bad, except that in the middle of the week the hard drive on my computer decided to die. So I was computer-less for about a week, and didn't have any of my food photos. When I finally did get my computer back med school started. Just let me say that they don't ease you into school. It was a super busy week, but a good one. Now that I have a few minutes on Sunday morning I'm going to share a new cookie that I tried out a few weeks ago. A very delicious PB oatmeal chocolate chip cookie with my favorite addition, M&M's!

I took these cookies out to the lake one day to go boating and they were very well received. They're kind of like the cross between a monster cookie and a chocolate chip cookie. A hint of nuttiness from the PB, a bit of chew from the oats, and of course a nice, hefty dose of chocolate. You really can't go wrong with this combination. A definite keeper!

 Start with butter of course!

 Add the sugar and cream until

nice and fluffy

 Next is the PB, egg, and vanilla

 Nice and creamy

 Time for the dry ingredients

 Mix until just combined

 Finally, the oats!

 And the chocolate!

 Mix it all up

 Onto a cookie sheet

 Ready to bake

 Bake until just golden on the edges

 Cool them off on a wire rack

Grab a nice big glass of milk, and enjoy!

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies with M&M's
Adapted from: Pinch of Yum
Ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2/3 cup unpacked brown sugar
• 1/2 cup peanut butter 
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup rolled oats
• 3/4 cup chocolate chips
• 3/4 cup M&M's

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream together the butter, white sugar and brown sugar until smooth. Beat in the peanut butter, vanilla and egg until well blended. 

Add the flour, baking soda and salt. Stir until just moistened. 

Mix in the oats, chocolate chips, and M&M's until evenly distributed. 

Drop by tablespoonfuls on to lightly greased cookie sheets.

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven, until the edges start to brown. Cool on cookie sheets for about 5 minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

Baby Announcement Cookies (and Cupcakes!)

Last month, on Mother's Day, my brother and sister-in-law gave my mom the most perfect present, the news that she would soon be a grandma! My mom was ecstatic (of course) and could hardly believe it. After telling us all the news, my sister-in-law asked Lara and I if we would be willing to bake her some goodies to give to her friends and co-workers to tell them the good news. For her friends we made white cupcakes with blue and pink swirled frosting, and for her to bring to work we made decorated sugar cookies. Even with a limited amount of time they turned out great! A cute way to let your friends and loved ones know you are expecting.

I have to be honest and say that I did none of the work on these cookies. Lara baked the cookies and did all of the decorating. I baked the cupcakes that we made which also turned out very cute (but I forgot to get a picture of). The whole thing was a success, and something I would love to do again for someone else. Spreading good news with food sounds like a great idea to me!

You can find the cookie and icing recipes here.

Update: I forgot to take a picture of the cupcakes, but my sister-in-law got a few goods ones and sent them to me. Now I can share them with you! Here they are: