26 Jul 2010

Too Many Chocolate Chips Chocolate Chip Cookies

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Can that really be true? Can a cookie have too many chocolate chips? I don’t think so. These cookies are a good indication that I might be right.

1 1/4 cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 stick unsalted butter, room temp
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
6 T white sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
4 C (2 bags) chocolate chips. I used swirled white and milk chocolate and 1 bag dark. Perfect blend!

Cream butter and sugar, add in egg. Then vanilla. Fold in dry ingredients. Mix in chocolate chips.
Bake on sprayed pans at 350 for 10 minutes (give or take depending on how big you make them). I liked them bigger because they stayed together better.
This recipe came from The Essential Chocolate Chip Cookbook

Enjoy!

23 Apr 2010

Butterscotch Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookies

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I love cookies. Bad, bad cookies! 🙂
But, when you are making them for 8th grade girls to go along with pizza and get them full of sugar for a sleepover – they are perfect. These are so good – especially right out of the oven. Perfectly chewy!

1 cup unsalted butter, room temp
1 cup light brown sugar
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs (room temp)
2 1/2 cup flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 SCANT tsp salt
5 oz butterscotch chips
4 oz semi sweet chocolate chips
4 oz milk chocolate chips
3/4 cup chopped walnuts

Cream wet ingredients. Add in dry. Fold in chips and nuts.
Larger cookies – 11 minutes – slightly sprayed cookie sheets. 350 degrees.
Cool and eat!

Question: Do have a favorite cookie sheet that looks like this one? And what are your fave chips to use in cookies?
8 Mar 2010

Double Chocolate Ghirardelli Cookies (2010.9)

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These are a wonderful bite of chocolate-y goodness! 🙂 I made them before my 5k on Saturday, baked some afterwards and baked the rest this morning for the office. YUM!
This recipe of the week was definitely a winner and I think you can find the recipe virtually in every cooking magazine at some point – just as an advertisement for the BEST chocolate!

1 bag dark chocolate chips – Ghirardelli 60%
6 T unsalted butter
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 bag semi sweet – ghirardelli
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Melt dark chocolate and butter – let cool a bit.
Mix eggs and sugar till thick and creamy. Add in chocolate. Mix well. Add in dry ingredients. Fold in chips and nuts.
Put in seran wrap in 2 separate piles and chill for at least an hour.
Cut, roll, and bake for 11 minutes at 375.
Cool.

Best way to enjoy: warm with a tall glass of milk!
11 Feb 2010

Valentine's Day Sugar Cookies

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I love this pan! 🙂 I got it at Joann’s fabrics and just like my spring pan, it makes decorated sugar cookies so easy! I need one for every holiday!

Sugar cookies:
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp almond
2 3/4 cup flour
1 tsp salt (I thought the batter was a little salty, so next time I might lower it to 3/4 tsp)

Cream, add dry. Spray pan cavities. Bake at 350 for 9 minutes. Let cool in pan for about 5 minutes, then remove gently with a butter knife. Let cool. Decorate. These would be perfect for kiddos to make! 🙂
25 Jan 2010

Orange Molasses Cookies (2010.4)

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I love healthy cooking magazines that don’t always use the light version of everything. I want healthy stuff – not fat free or “light stuff”. Eating Well is that magazine for me. A lot of their ingredients are either less of stuff or natural stuff. I like it. I love these cookies. I halved the recipe and changed it a little bit, but these are so good. I am glad these are going to the office tomorrow.

3/4 cup oats – put in a blender and ground semi-fine
2.5 T unsalted butter, softened
1/6 cup sugar
1/6 cup brown sugar
zest of one naval orange
1/4 cup molasses
3.5 T all natural applesauce
1/2 large egg yolk (scramble egg yolk, then just pour in half of it)
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp soda
3/4 tsp cinnamon
3/4 tsp nutmeg (I didn’t have any ginger)
1/4 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp allspice (I added more of this and left out the pepper)
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/8 cup whole wheat flour
Turbinado sugar to roll cookies in

Cream wet ingredients. Add in dry. Roll cookies in turbinado sugar. Bake at 375 on greased sheets for 9 minutes.
I love the orange flavor that comes out in the first bite – wow – orange! 🙂
About 76 calories a cookie, 2 fat, 1 fiber.

25 Jan 2010

Chocolate Cherry Pistachio Oatmeal Cookies (2010.3)

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Bon Appetit comes through again for this week’s recipe. I really love their cooking magazine. I halved the recipes and made it my own by adding some chopped pistachios – and the review I got “These are great, just what I needed, something a little sweet”. The only thing that puzzled me about these were the timing. I couldn’t get it just right – but they were still good. This version of the recipe makes about 2 dozen.

1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
3/4 tsp vanilla (I upped it some from original amount)
1 egg
1 cup oats
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup dried cherries (next time I would chop these before putting them in)
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped pistachios

Cream the first three. Add in egg and vanilla. Combine the dry ingredients. Fold in the additions.
Bake on greased cookie sheets at 375 for anywhere from 10-13 minutes, just watch them so they don’t burn.
These were good. I would make them again.

118 cal, 6 fat, 1 fiber
22 Jan 2010

Menu Week: Jan 25

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I am excited about this week in cooking and eating. Pretend like this is being written on Monday morning (but I am writing it now so I can go grocery shopping on Saturday afternoon):
Coming off a great weekend of baking and getting some rest (I’m in the midst of a cold) – I am grateful that I have an office of professors and co-workers to bring yummy treats to. I promise I am not breathing on the food!
Orange Molasses Cookies
Dark Cherry Pistachio Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies
Pumpkin Chocolate Muffins
I will be eating leftovers this week: beef stew, pinto bean stew, curried veggies, salads.
Breakfast (coming off my delicious week of oats) will be vegan spiced banana pancakes all week – YUM!
I am taking dinner to friend’s of mine who just had sweet baby Noah: chicken pot pie, salad, Best of Fall cookies (by request).
Recipe of the week is the afore mentioned Orange Molasses Cookies
Weekend will be in Nashville suburbs of Brentwood and Murfreesboro with new and old friends. I’m bringing with my Ghirardelli’s Chocolate cookies for my friend who is pregnant. And get to eat out with some cool people while I’m there – so definitely check back after next weekend for my review of what we find!
The next couple of weeks will be spent clearing out the freezer because money will be tight. I have to pay my car tax – fun, huh! 🙂 But, thankful to God I don’t have to dip into savings to do it!

16 Jan 2010

Menu Week: January 18

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Since I am going to be out having fun this wknd in the Chicago area with my friend, I thought I would go ahead and post the menu for next week.
I am doing good so far. Spending less money on food. Cooking more legumes. This week I am doing well at the start of cleaning out the freezer work that I will need to do in the next 2 months.
So, here goes:
Leftovers: hummus pancakes (yum!)
Monday: brunch in Chicago with Janel and then probably a hummus pancake on an arthur’s thin when I get home.
I am housesitting all next week for some friends so I want something easy and portable that I can just grab or eat in bowls.
All breakfast: oats – saving money, healthy, and filling (and versatile) – T-Friday. Saturday will be tea and muffins I think with a friend over a book review
Lunch: curried vegetables from a recipe that I am adapting from Crostini and Chianti. Yummy and healthy – even without the couscous. Just give me a bowl
Wednesday I’m hitting the salad bar at Jason’s Deli with a friend of mine – taking a break from work and I haven’t been to the new one yet.
Saturday – beef stew from The Kitchn – using some steak and roast that I have in the freezer – full of veggies. And my friend is bringing a late bday offering – oreo cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory. Yes, there will be some running after that meal. And I have some bread in the freezer we are going to use to sop up all the goodness in the beef stew.
Recipe of the week is from Bon Appetit – Dried Cherry Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies. I am halving the recipe – and it will still make a lot – plenty for a plate for the office.
I am looking forward to picking up a few good finds in Trader Joes on Sunday – and dreaming of the day when I live within easy shopping distance of a TJ again!