Conga/chocolate chip/tollhouse cookie bars

Someone cut these while they were hot!

These cookie bars seem to go by various names – Conga bars, chocolate chip cookie bars, tollhouse bars. Really they are a chocolate chip cookie dough baked in bar form. I got a late start on them tonight, so I melted the butter to speed up the process. I also added an extra yolk and some cornstarch to make them soft. I know they seem a little underdone after 30-32 minutes, but that is enough time. They will continue to bake in the pan and will be just fine once they cool completely. ( if you cook them too long, they will become dry! And that is not acceptable. )

  • Ingredients
  • 1 cup butter, melted
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 3 /4 cup brown sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 yolk
  • 2 1/2 cups flour (scooped from your flour container into your measuring cup to ensure the right amount)
  • 2 tsp cornstarch
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 2 cups chocolate chips

Directions – preheat oven to 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Line an 8×8 pan with tin foil and spray with baking spray. In a bowl, combine butter, brown sugar, sugar. Add eggs, yolk, vanilla. Fold in dry ingredients. Add 1 1/2 cups,chips. Press evenly into prepared pan. Gently press remaining 1/2 cup chips on top. Bake 30-32 minutes (light golden patches on top). Cool completley. Store in covered container.

Is anything better than a chocolate chip cookie like dessert? (only a Buffalo Bills win)

Brownie cookies stuffed with Hershey Kisses and topped with melted milk chocolate and mini m&ms

Welcome home NHL!

With the news that ESPN is getting back the NHL, I felt I needed to celebrate with an extra special treat. So I decided on chocolate brownie cookies. Stuffed with Hershey Kisses. Topped with melted milk chocolate AND mini M&Ms. Does that give you an indication about how happy I am the NHL is back?😁😁

Chocolate chocolate chocolate!
  • Ingredients
  • 3/4 cup butter, softened
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 tsp chocolate extract (opt)
  • 2/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips, melted
  • 2 cups flour
  • 1/3 cup baking cocoa
  • 1 tsp baking soda

Directions – cream butter, brown sugar and sugar. Add eggs and extract. Mix in melted chocolate chips. Fold in,dry ingredients. Scoop out 1/4 cups of dough. Divide in half. Slightly flatten each half.

On one half of dough, place a Hershey kiss.

Top with second flattened half.

Seal edges.

Chill cookies a few hours. Preheat an oven to 350 for 20 minutes. Line a cookie sheet with nonstick baking liners. Stagger cookies. Bake 9 to 12 minutes. Cool completely.

Topping ingredients and instructions – in a microwave safe bowl melt 2 cups of milk chocolate chips in 30 second increments until you can stir smooth. Add 1 tbs vegetable oil. Spoon on top on cookies. Sprinkle with m&ms. Store in covered container.

M&M’s make everything better!

Brownies topped with homemade Reese’s

Stepping up my brownie game

I didn’t want to bring in “just brownies” for work… I just saw a commercial for Reese’s eggs (which, honestly, are the best candy ever)… So I decided to make a homemade version of them and put them on top of the brownies. You can use any brownie recipe you want (even a mix is fine). You can also search my website for ideas. Rob would advise that you add a cup of chocolate chips, to make them even better.

  • Ingredients
  • 1 8×8 pan of brownies, baked and cooled completely
  • 1/4 cup butter
  • 1 cup peanut butter
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1 cup of powdered sugar
  • 1 cup milk chocolate chips
  • 1 tbs vegetable oil

Directions – in a saucepan, combine butter, peanut butter and brown sugar. Cook and stir over low/medium heat just until it bubbles. Remove from heat. Add powdered sugar. (You way want to add more powdered sugar, depending on the texture you want. If you can too much powdered sugar, you can add milk, 1 tsp at a time, to fix that). Cool 15 to 20 minutes or until you find it cool enough to handle. Scoop out tbs and place on top of brownies. Melt chips in a microwave safe bowl, in 30 second increments until you cam stir smooth. Mix in oil. Spoon on top of brownies. Store in coveres container.

Throwing down the reese’s gauntlet with a homemade version!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Happy Valentine’s day!

Happy Valentine’s day! This is a heart shaped fudgy brownie topped with milk chocolate ganache. I know, my decorating skills are not good, but I tried. 😁

This recipe is super simple. You can add cut up candy in the batter or in top,of the ganache or frostinf if you want as well. If ganache (which honestly, is just a fancy word for melted chocolate with heavy cream), is not your thing, you can leave the brownies plain, sprinkle with powdered sugar or use whatever frosting you want. I used one my two heart shaped cake pans, but you can them in an 8 or 9 inch Square cake pan. Remember to spoon your flour from your flour container into your measuring cup to get the correct amount. Also preheat your oven for 20 minutes before baking, to get your oven to the right temperature.

  • Ingredients
  • 3/4 cup butter, melted
  • 1 1/2 cups sugar
  • 2/3 cup baking cocoa
  • 3 eggs
  • 2 tsp chocolate or vanilla extract
  • 1 cup flour
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 cup chocolate chips

Directions – preheat oven to 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Line a baking pan with tin foil and spray with baking spray. Combine butter and sugar. Add cocoa. Blend in eggs, beating one at a time. Mix in extract. Fold in flour and salt. Blend in chips. Spread into pan. Mixture will be thick. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted,in center comes out with a few crumbs. Cool completley.

  • Ganache ingedients
  • 1/2 cup heavy cream
  • 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips (I used milk chocolate)

Directions – heat cream in a microwave safe bowl for 45 seconds. Pour over chips. Let sit 5 minutes. Stir smooth. Pour over brownies. let ganache set. Store in covered container.

❤❤❤❤

Victory Monday treats # 2 brownie cookies stuffed with chocolate chip cookies

Brownie cookies stuffed with chocolate chip cookies

The tollhouse bars I made yesterday after the Bills 1st playoff win in a quarter of a century did not seem to be big enough to bring into work tomorrow. So I grabbed a brownie mix and made cookies out of it and stuffed the cookies with brownies. You can stuff these with Oreos, candy, etc! Magical!

  • Brownie cookie Ingredients
  • 1 brownie mix
  • 1/4 cup flour
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/4 cup oil

Directions – preheat oven to 350 for 20 minutes. Combine ingredients. I used my hands at the end to make sure everything came together. Scoop out 1/4 cups of dough and divide in half. Flatten one half and place a cookie on top. Top with other half. Seal edges. Bake 10 to 12 minutes. Sprinkle with powdered sugar. Cool completley. Store in covered container.

Yum!

I answered the “Oreo Challenge”

Victory Monday Treats!

I felt Oreo threw down the gauntlet by recently announcing it’s latest release – a brownie-chocolate chip-cookie-oreo concoction. I took it as a challenge and decided to do my own take on it for Bills Victory Monday treats. These are a layer of brownies, Oreos, cookie dough and melted milk chocolate. Sugar galore for ESPN Radio!

  • Brownies ingredients
  • 1 cup butter
  • 2 cups dark chocolate chips
  • 1 1/2 cups sugar
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 5 eggs
  • 1 tbs vanilla
  • 3 tbs syrup
  • 1 cup flour
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/4 cup baking cocoa
  • Oreos

Directions -preheat oven to 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Line a 9×13 pan with tin foil and spray with baking spray. Set aside. In a microwave safe bowl, melt butter and chips in 30 second increments until you can stir smooth. Add sugar and brown sugar. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Add vanilla and corn syrup. Stir in dry ingredients. Spread into prepared pan. (Mixture will be thick). Layer oreos on top of brownie batter.

The oreo layer!

Bake 18 to 22 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into brownie comes out with a few crumbs. Cool completely.

Looks remarkably the same after baking!
  • Cookie dough ingredients
  • 1 cup butter, melted
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2 tsp vanilla
  • 2 tbs plus 1 tsp milk
  • 1 1/3 cups flour

Directions – cream butter, sugar and brown sugar. Add milk and vanilla. Fold in flour. Spread over brownie layer.

Top with melted chocolate.

Voila!

Cut the brownies before the chocolate sets (otherwise good luck cutting through a oreos and hardened chocolate) Store in covered container.

Go Bills!!!

Victory Monday brownies (because I needed something to put the extra ganache on)

Go Bills!

Bonus victory Monday treat for my Buffalo Bills. I had extra ganache left over from the sugar cookie cups, so I quickly whipped up some brownies to remedy use up the rest. (I have many brownie recipes, though not as many as for chocolate chip cookies) And why not extra chocolate this Christmas week? You absolutely do not have to put anything on top of these, but the powdered sugar is recommended, by Rob!

  • Ingredients
  • 10 tbs butter, melted
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1/3 cup brown sugar
  • 1 tbs vanilla
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 yolk
  • 1 tbs corn syrup (or honey)
  • 1 tbs cornstarch
  • 3/4 cup baking cocoa
  • 2/3 cup flour
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 cup chocolate chips
Brownies!

Directions -preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8×8 pan with tinfoil and spray with baking spray. Combine butter, sugar and brown sugar. Add eggs,yolk,and vanilla. Blend in dry ingredients. Fold in chips. Bake for 20 minutes (a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few moist crumbs). Immediately sprinkle powdered sugar on top. Cool completely. Top with melted chocolate or frosting. Store in covered container.

Chocolate chocolate chocolate!

Friday football week 15 treats – Peanut butter cookies stuffed with brownie truffles and topped with melted chocolate

Peanut butter cookies stuffed with brownie truffles and topped with melted chocolate

I decided to up my cookie game for this football Friday before Christmas. (Go Bills!) Instead of a traditional peanut blossom (a peanut butter cookie topped with a Hershey kiss), I stuffed a peanut butter cookie with a brownie truffle and topped it with melted chocolate. For the brownie truffles, I smooshed up some brownies I made the other night and mixed in about a half cup of chocolate frosting. You could also use candy or Oreos, or you don’t have to stuff the cookies at all. These use Crisco and it keeps them nice and puffy. Remember to scoop your flour into your measuring cup, and to preheat your oven to 375 degrees for 20 minutes before baking.

Yum!
  • Brownie truffles ingredients
  • 1 pan of brownies, prepared and baked, as directed, cooled completely
  • 2 tbs butter melted
  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 4 tbs baking cocoa
  • Milk
  • Directions – combine butter, powdered sugar and baking cocoa. Add enough milk to make the frosting. Combine the frosting with brownies. Scoop out 1 tbs and form into balls. Set aside.
  • Peanut butter cookie ingredients
  • 1 cup Crisco
  • 1 1/2 cups peanut butter
  • 2/3 cup brown sugar
  • 2/3 cup sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 tbs vanilla
  • 4 tbs milk
  • 3 cups flour
  • 2 tsp baking soda

Directions – preheat oven to 375 degrees. cream Crisco, peanut butter, sugar and brown sugar. Add eggs, milk, and vanilla. Stir in dry ingredients. Scoop out 1/4 cup of cookie dough. Divode in half. Slightly flatten bottom half and top with a brownie truffle. Top with other cookie dough and seal around truffle. On a cookie sheet lined with non stick baking liners, stagger cookies. Bake 11 – 13 minutes. Cool completely. Top with melted milk chocolate. Store in covered container.

Go Bills!

The Baked Brownie – topped with milk chocolate ganache

#GoBills

This is treat #2 for Bills victory Monday. A stressful game, but I had to behave for a half hour and not use bad words because we were have our internet changed and the tech was in our house during the first half. I made up for that lack of swearing on the second half. A lot of stress and frustration. But they won, and that is all that counts. This treat is the Baked Brownie.. I think I found it reading something online regarding Oprah a long time ago. I used dark chocolate chips, but you can use semisweet if you want. I added some chocolate chips to the batter and topped them with milk chocolate ganache!

  • Ingredients
  • 1 cup butter
  • Just under 2 cups dark chocolate chips
  • 1 1 /2 cups sugar
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 5 eggs
  • 1 tsp chocolate extract
  • 1 1/4 cups flour
  • 2 tbs baking cocoa
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 cup chocolate chips

Directions – preheat oven to 350 for 20 minutes. Line an 8-8 pan with tin foil and spray with baking spray. In a microwave safe bowl, melt butter with just under 2 cups dark chocolate chips in 30 second intervals until you can stir smooth. Add sugar. Mix in eggs, one at a time, and extract. Fold in flour, baking cocoa ans salt. Add 1 cups chips. Spread into prepared pan. Bake 35 to 40 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out with a few crumbs. Sprinkle hot brownies with powdered sugar. Cool completely. In a microwave safe bowl, microwave 1/3 cup heavy cream for one minute. Add 1 cup milk chocolate chips. Stir until completely blended. Let sit at least 20 minutes and then frost brownies. Store in covered container.

Do brownies need frosting? Why yes!