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Archive for the ‘chocolate’ Category
You’ve heard it here before – I have a very hard time passing up any chocolate chip cookie recipe. Good old Tollhouse is still my fav, but occasionally I’m tempted by another. Fickle cookie person that I am! What made this one unique was cornstarch. I know, cornstarch in a cookie? As I was reading Anna’s blog, Cookie Madness (I don’t know HOW that girl makes so many cookies, sometimes 2-3 batches a DAY!), she was talking about her very favorite CC cookie recipe, from Wellesley. She elaborated that they’re not the best-est looking cookie in the parade, but they’re thin, buttery and crispy, if you bake them right. She also mentioned that there’s a very fine line between looking done, and being just right – with crispy edges - and being overdone. That’s the secret. All RIGHT, I thought. Let’s give this a try.
Anna talked about the difficulty with her perfect recipe, of baking these so they come out at the perfect stage, so she decided to add one tablespoon of cornstarch. Hoping to encourage the crisp edges, but deter the overdone cookie. I’m never sure about adding either more liquid (like a dash of coffee, for instance) or dry stuff, just because it could change the chemistry of a cookie, big time. I’m glad she tried the combination. It works! In this case I did add some walnuts. If you’re a CC cookie purist, then you’ll omit those, I guess.
These cookies were easy as pie to mix up. Oh, that phrase is a misnomer. Pie isn’t easy, according to me. But you get my drift. One bowl? Yes. Thin? Yes. Buttery? Oh yes. Delicious. Oh my yes. I think my first batch got overdone – I saw what she meant about the fine line. I baked these one pan at a time as Anna suggested . . . I used a Silpat on the cookie sheet . . . and when I peeked at the cookies at 10 minutes, they didn’t show any sign of crispy (browner) edges, so I left them in for ONE MORE MINUTE. At 11 minutes they were too done. Oh, dear! So, the next pan I cut down the time by 30 seconds. Still too done. Maybe the 10 minutes was right. But, you do have to remember, that once the pan is hot, when you put in the second batch, they’ll take less time. So I still have a bit of learning to do with this recipe. But it doesn’t matter once you taste them! When I removed them from the oven, believe it or not, you could actually see light through some of the cookies, they’re that thin. Notice in the picture that the top cookie almost looks slumped. My husband looked at them and said “what’s wrong with those cookies?” Hah. Funny guy.
If you like soft crumbly cookies, this recipe is NOT for you. But if, like me, you love crispy crunchy cookies, these guys will float your boat. And also providing you don’t mind eating or serving some ugly ducklings! My one time fling may turn into an affair. We’ll have to see. Thank you, Anna, for sharing this wonderful recipe with us.
One Bowl Thin & Buttery Chocolate Chip Cookies
Recipe By: Anna from Cookie Madness
Servings: 36
8 tablespoons unsalted butter — room temp (114 grams)
1/2 cup light brown sugar — packed (100 grams)
6 tablespoons granulated sugar — (78 grams)
1 teaspoon vanilla — (5 ml)
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon salt — (2.5 ml)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda — (2.5 ml)
1 tablespoon cornstarch — (15 ml)
1 cup flour — (4.75 oz) – (135 grams) — scooped
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips — (270 grams)
2/3 cup chopped walnuts — optional (my addition)
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 C) and have ready an ungreased cookie sheet – preferably one that is not insulated (I used a Silpat).
2. Beat the butter, both types sugars, and vanilla together in a medium bowl, using an electric mixer. When creamy, beat in the egg. When egg is well blended, add salt and baking soda and beat well, scraping sides of bowl once or twice and making sure baking soda is well distributed throughout batter. Add cornstarch and stir until blended. Add flour and stir (do not beat) until it is almost blended in. Add the chocolate chips (and nuts if you use them) and stir until all flour disappears.
3. Drop dough by rounded teaspoonfuls onto the ungreased cookie sheets. Bake one sheet at a time on center rack for 8-10 minutes or until edges are golden brown. The cookies should get very brown around the edges, but do take care not to burn the bottoms.
Per Serving: 184 Calories; 11g Fat (51.1% calories from fat); 2g Protein; 21g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 21mg Cholesterol; 84mg Sodium.
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If you’re a regular reader of my blog, you already know that I rarely buy a box mix of anything. That started a long time ago when I learned a lot about food additives. So I prefer to use fresh products whenever possible. But I’ve been known to be lured into trying a few boxed things. My friend Cherrie (who doesn’t bake) started buying some of Ina Garten’s Barefoot Contessa mixes and gave them superlative accolades.
So I chose a chocolate cupcake mix with a peanut butter frosting, thinking that our granddaughter Taylor would be particularly interested (she takes after her grandpa, since they both love all things peanut butter), and would like to make them. Uh, no. She was more interested in playing and taking care of her baby cousin Vaughan, so I whipped them up myself. It wasn’t much different than a regular cake mix. But oh, the taste. Oh my goodness. How in the heck can she/they make a box mix taste so darned wonderful? Will I buy one of these again? Oh yea!
We had the family over for another outdoor barbecue dinner for 9. We ate leftovers of our 4th of July meal, and added about 2 pounds of some wonderful grilled Italian sausage to the menu. And rounded out the dinner with these fabulous cupcakes. So if you ever have a time when there simply isn’t time, or you’d rather spend it creating something else, these cupcakes are highly recommended.
My mother came from the era of 3×5 cards for her recipes. And when I was searching for just the right chocolate dessert to serve at the tea the other day (more about the tea later), this recipe floated out of the stack. It’s not an old-time recipe (probably it’s from the 1970’s), after the advent of Cool Whip and instant chocolate pudding anyway. I found some other versions on the internet, but none by this exact name. So I have no idea of the origin of this one. It’s basically a layered chocolate (and whipped cream) pie with walnuts.
The crust is a simple press-in bottom layer in a 9×13 pan (walnuts, flour, butter). Once that’s baked and cooled, you make a cream cheese layer (with powdered sugar, Cool Whip and the cream cheese), then a thick chocolate pudding layer. Then it’s topped with more Cool Whip and chocolate shavings and more nuts on top. This is a VERY simple and easy dessert. And it could feed a big crowd if you don’t cut very big pieces. It went well with the tea because I could cut it up into smaller pieces to look more like “tea” sized servings. We had ample leftover. It is best made the day ahead, and actually keeps for several days.
Chocolate Ribbon Dessert
Recipe By: Unknown, handed down to me by my mother in about 1980.
Serving Size: 16
PASTRY-NUT CRUST:
1 cup flour
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup walnut — minced
CREAM CHEESE LAYER:
8 ounces cream cheese — at room temperature
1 cup powdered sugar
8 ounces Cool Whip®
CHOCOLATE PUDDING LAYER:
6 ounces chocolate pudding mix — instant, regular or sugar-free
2 1/2 cups 2% low-fat milk
TOPPING:
4 ounces Cool Whip®
1 tablespoon chocolate curls — or more as needed
1/3 cup walnuts — minced
1. CRUST: Combine flour, butter, nuts and mix together. Press into bottom of a 9×13 pan. Bake for 10-15 minutes at 350 until just slightly golden brown. Cool.
2. CREAM CHEESE LAYER: Beat together the cream cheese, powdered sugar and Cool Whip. Mixture is a little stiff, so be careful as you slather it over the prepared crust. Gently push into corners without lifting up the crust. Chill if you have time; otherwise leave out while you prepare the pudding.
3. PUDDING LAYER: Mix the large package of instant chocolate pudding with the milk. Beat vigorously with a wire whisk until completely smooth. Pour over cream cheese and spread into corners. Cover and chill completely.
4. TOPPING: Once dessert is chilled, spread the Cool Whip over the pudding layer, spreading into the corners. Chill again. Sprinkle top with shaved chocolate and nuts (or coconut, if you’d prefer). May be made a day ahead, but not longer than that.
Per Serving: 348 Calories; 21g Fat (54.7% calories from fat); 5g Protein; 34g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 34mg Cholesterol; 106mg Sodium.
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There are probably 1001 recipes out there for molten chocolate cake, or lava cake. Meaning that some of the batter doesn’t quite get cooked through, so when you press your fork or spoon into it, some of the center, hot batter oozes out and becomes a sauce. I have made these before, but not often, since I rarely make a heavy-duty chocolate dessert for guests. I do serve chocolate, but not usually a really heavy dose of it because the caffeine in chocolate affects me, so I assume it affects others too. I’m sensitive to caffeine. A half a cup of regular coffee and I’m feeling jittery in a matter of 15 minutes and regular coffee would probably prevent me from sleeping all night.
When this was served at the cooking class last week I hesitated. Should I really eat this? I don’t want to be up half the night playing mindless games on the computer. But my will power was weak. Especially when each of these cakes was cut in half, so I was only getting a half portion. I dug in. Ah, yes, it was good. Very good.
It’s a relatively simple recipe. The batter can be made up ahead of time, poured into ramekins and refrigerated. Then you can pop the pan into the oven about 15 minutes before you want to eat them. You could bake them just as you’re getting up from the dinner table perhaps. The only thing I learned from this version was dusting the buttered ramekins with granulated sugar before pouring in the batter. You could also use powdered cocoa (that’s what I’ve done in the past) but the granulated sugar is probably a better option. Dusting the ramekins with one or the other helps when it comes time to unmold the cakes. And make the caramel sauce ahead of time - it will keep for several weeks in the refrigerator.
The good news is that I slept just fine, thank you!
Molten Chocolate Cake with Caramel Sauce
Recipe By: Deb Buzar, professional chef
Serving Size: 4
MOLTEN CAKES:
4 ounces semisweet chocolate
1/2 cup butter
1 cup powdered sugar
2 large eggs
2 large egg yolks — whole, reserve whites for another use
6 tablespoons flour
CARAMEL SAUCE:
8 ounces sugar
1/8 cup water
1/4 teaspoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
3/4 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons butter
GARNISH:
2 cups vanilla ice cream or whipped cream
Fresh berries to decorate plates
CAKE :
1. Preheat oven to 425 F. Butter and sugar 4 custard cups or ramekins. Place on cookie sheet and set aside.
2. Place chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl and set over a bowl of simmering water (do not let bowl touch water), and stir occasionally until chocolate and butter are melted. Stir to combine, then add sugar. Remove from heat and mix until combined. Blend in eggs and egg yolks with a wire whisk. Stir in flour until no flour streaks are visible. Pour batter equally into the four cups.
3. Bake for 13-15 minutes, or until sides are firm but the centers are still soft and jiggly. Let them stand for one minutes. Take a small knife and loosen cake from sides of ramekins. Invert cakes onto dessert plates. It may take a fairly solid bang onto the plate to get them to release. Or, serve them in the ramekin. Serve immediately with topping of your choice, and with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream and berries for garnish.
SAUCE:
1. Place sugar, water and lemon juice in a small saucepan and gently bring to a boil. Brush down the edges of the pot with a wet, clean pastry brush. Add the corn syrup and continue to cook until the caramel turns a golden amber color. Do not stir even once.
2. Remove from heat and whisk in the butter. Carefully pour in the cream, whisking gently but constantly. May be done ahead and kept covered in the refrigerator for several weeks.
I purposely have not included the nutrition count on this as the recipe assumes you eat all of the caramel sauce, which you won’t do. The numbers would scare anybody away from ever making this!
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It was one of those days. It had been a stressful day (because of some major work we’re having done around our yard). I recognized that I was very unsettled and needed something to soothe the “ravage beast” in myself. What better to do than make cookies? It made sense to me. We’ve been out of cookies in the freezer for awhile, and I had another one of Donna Deane’s recipes from the Los Angeles Times to try. She’s the Food Editor at the paper, and she wrote up an article the first week of January, about refrigerator cookies. I made one already – the Coffee Walnut Cookies – that were just wonderful.
Making the batter is cinchy easy. The usual stuff: butter, sugar, vanilla, flour, leavening. This one also had chunky peanut butter and chopped bittersweet chocolate. Roll the batter into logs, chill overnight and bake. I didn’t have any peanuts in my larder, so used walnuts instead.
The result: very good. The peanut butter taste does not predominate, which is interesting. This is basically a chocolate chip cookie with a peanut butter undertone, made into a refrigerator cookie for easy slicing. The cookies contain a lot of nuts by proportion – just make sure you chop both nuts and chocolate into pretty small pieces – otherwise when you try to slice these you’ll be doing “chopping” as you slice, which breaks up the dough. Now, it’s possible that if I’d had peanuts on hand, maybe the peanutty taste would be stronger. But I liked the walnuts actually.
Peanut and Bittersweet Chocolate Cookies
Recipe By: Donna Deane, Los Angeles
Serving Size: 66
1 1/4 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter — cold
1/2 cup chunky peanut butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 whole egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup peanuts — chopped
1 cup bittersweet chocolate — finely chopped
1. In a medium bowl sift together flour, baking powder, soda and salt and set aside.
2. Beat the cold butter in a stand mixer (or medium bowl with hand mixer). Beat in the peanut butter until blended. Beat in the sugar and brown sugar until light and fluffy.
3. Beat the egg and vanilla into the sugar mixture until blended. Add flour mixture and beat until thoroughly mixed. Then stir in the chopped peanuts and chocolate until evenly incorporated.
4. Divide the dough in half. Shape each piece into a log about 9 inches long and wrap each log in plastic wrap, waxed paper or foil. Twist ends to seal. Chill in the refrigerator overnight.
5. Heat the oven to 350. Unwrap the logs and cut into one-fourth-inch thick slices. Place slices on silicone-lined baking sheets, and bake 10-13 minutes until lightly browned around the edges. Remove the cookies to a wire rack to cool. Store the cookies in an airtight container (or freeze).
Per Serving: 67 Calories; 5g Fat (58.8% calories from fat); 2g Protein; 6g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 7mg Cholesterol; 52mg Sodium. Exchanges: 0 Grain (Starch); 0 Lean Meats; 1 Fat; 0 Other Carbohydrates.
From my notes about this, it came from an ad I read in a magazine in 2002. Most likely an ad for Jell-o products since the pudding mix features in a major way in this dessert.
Searching through my recipes for something I could make at home and transport easily, I flagged about four recipes and this one won out because it just sounded good to me. My favorite go-to recipe for transporting is my German Chocolate Chip Cake I wrote up last year. Perfect for a picnic, camping, or any big gathering. But last weekend was our son’s birthday and his request was for German chocolate layer cake. He’s likely been eating leftovers of that all week. So I didn’t want to make that cake since it’s so similar. Therefore, this brownie pudding pie was the ticket.
It’s extremely easy to make. You do have to make a batter for the brownies, but it’s an easy one. Once baked and cooled, you make instant pudding to layer on top of that, and top with a thick layer of Cool-Whip (or real whipped cream if you’d prefer). If you want to be fancy, shave a bit of chocolate on the top for decoration. The cake doesn’t need anything else (like ice cream) because it’s already very moist with the pudding layer. Perfect for just slicing and serving on paper plates with plastic utensils. What’s interesting is: although you use an instant pudding mix, and Cool-Whip, for goodness’ sake, when you combine it all, you don’t realize you’re eating fake whipped cream and instant pudding. Somehow, the combination, or the zing of chocolate fools you to think you’re eating real whipped cream (would I kid you about this?) and you don’t exactly know there’s a pudding layer. It tastes kind of like mousse. Nobody has to know you didn’t slave on this – it looks like you did.
Because my DH is diabetic, I did substitute some Splenda for sugar in the brownie part, and I used sugar-free pudding so he could have some of this. But you can use whatever suits your fancy. It’s just the combo of the brownies, pudding and whipped cream that kind of just melt in your mouth. Not super gourmet by any means. Easy? Yes. Tasty too.
Brownie Bottom Pudding Pie
Serving Size: 8
BROWNIES:
4 ounces semisweet chocolate
1/4 cup butter
3/4 cup sugar
2 whole eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup nuts – walnuts, pecans or almonds
PUDDING LAYER:
2 1/2 cups 2% low-fat milk
2 small packages chocolate pudding mix — instant, sugar free or mix one of each - the packages that make 4 servings
TOPPING:
1 1/2 cups Cool Whip® — or Light Cool Whip
1. Preheat the oven to 350° for a metal pie pan; 325° for a glass pie dish.
2. In a large glass (or microwavable) dish, melt the chocolate and butter for about 2 minutes. Stir until chocolate is melted. Stir into the bowl the sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Mix in flour, then nuts. Spread into the pie pan and bake 25-30 minutes. Cool.
3. In a large bowl pour milk into the two packages of pie filling. Allow it to stand for about 2 extra minutes until it’s thickened. Spread over the brownie layer. Top with the Cool-Whip topping and refrigerate until ready to serve. Shave some chocolate curls on top for decoration.
Per Serving: 462 Calories; 21g Fat (38.8% calories from fat); 8g Protein; 65g Carbohydrate; 2g Dietary Fiber; 74mg Cholesterol; 211mg Sodium. Exchanges: 1/2 Grain (Starch); 1/2 Lean Meat; 1/2 Non-Fat Milk; 4 Fat; 3 1/2 Other Carbohydrates.
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I made these cookies a couple of weeks ago. Our son-in-law, Todd, was still here (he’s since gone back home to his family), and he let it be known, every so subtly, that the freezer was out of cookies. Those of you who read my blog regularly know I like crisp cookies. So these wouldn’t have been something I’d make for myself. But I’ll have to admit, they’re very good. Toothsome. With just a bit of chocolate in them, and the addition of dried cherries is interesting. Good kind of interesting. The little dark items you can see in the cookies are both the dried cherries and chocolate chips. Todd took a bag of them home with him when he left last week. The recipe came from Bake or Break, a blog I read regularly. But Jennifer got the recipe from the website for Schokinag, the chocolate manufacturer.
Chocolate Chunk & Dried Cherry Oatmeal Cookies
Recipe By: Schokinag website (chocolate producer) via Bake or Break food blog
Serving Size: 48
1 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar — firmly packed
2 whole eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups oats, rolled (raw)
1 cup dried cherries [I cut each cherry in half]
8 ounces semisweet chocolate — chunks [or chips]
1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. In large bowl beat butter and brown sugar together until smooth. Add eggs one at a time, mixing after each addition. Add vanilla.
3. In separate bowl combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Whisk together then gradually add to butter mixture just until combined. Do not over mix. Stir in oats, cherries and chocolate.
4. Drop by tablespoons full onto lined or lightly greased baking sheets. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until bottom edges are lightly browned. Cool on pans for a few minutes, then remove to wire racks to cool completely. These also can be made into bar cookies. Press dough into a lightly greased 9×13 baking pan. Bake about 20 minutes.
Per Serving: 115 Calories; 6g Fat (44.1% calories from fat); 2g Protein; 15g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 19mg Cholesterol; 93mg Sodium. Exchanges: 1/2 Grain (Starch); 0 Lean Meat; 0 Fruit; 1 Fat; 1/2 Other Carbohydrates.
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We had our friends, Bud & Cherrie, over for dinner the other night, and I pulled out some old favorites to serve as part of the meal. First, I wanted to serve them some of the Kurobuta Ham that I wrote up last week. Since I’m now a big fan of the David Rosengarten specialty ham, I wanted Cherrie to taste it. I had some of the mustard sauce leftover, which I included in the post about the ham. I’d stored it in a heavy-duty glass container, so I plunked it into a pan of water and brought it up to a simmer until the sauce just warmed through and thinned out.
I made a new cauliflower dish, which I posted a day or so ago, and a big green salad with some dressing I’d made a week ago. And I had a tube of Pillsbury biscuits in the refrigerator. Now I must tell you, I don’t use package mixes or ready-made food much. In fact, very rarely! But these biscuits I’ve been making for about 35 years are an exception. I posted about them last summer, but I didn’t have a photo. Now I do. I won’t re-write the post here, but will just tell you that these are so awfully good. They’re slathered with an herb and lemon butter before baking. Cinchy easy. If you want to read the post and try them, just click on the link above. The recipe was given to my by a friend named Zelda, in Oklahoma, eons ago.
I didn’t want to make a dessert, but my standby in that department is a chocolate sauce I’ve been making also, for about 35 years, to drizzle over vanilla ice cream. It was also given to me by a friend, and even after trying at least a dozen other combinations of chocolate, cream, butter, etc. I revert to this one as my favorite. It’s made with German’s sweet chocolate, and keeps in the refrigerator for ages (you just have to reheat it whenever you want to use it). Here’s photo of that one. I posted the recipe last year HERE. It’s so very easy to make and blows away the competition, even Hershey’s Syrup, which is pretty darned good considering that it’s a bulk-produced sauce.
Posted In: German's sweet chocolate, Uncategorized, biscuits, bread, butter, chocolate, chocolate sauce, herbs, ice cream
