Tag Archives: chocolate

Cookie dough brownies

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Cookie dough brownies!

These are so easy to make and contain enough sugar to last anyone for two weeks! ☺ I used a homemade brownie recipe for the base, but you can certainly use a boxed mix. I used melted milk chocolate as the topping, but you can use semisweet or dark chocolate chips if you want.

If you want to spruce up your brownie mix, substitute in coffee for the water, and melted butter for the oil. You can also make both substitutions.

Remember – 1) spoon your flour from your flour container into your cup so you get the correct amount. 2) preheat the oven for 20 minutes before baking So you get the right temp

  • Brownies ingredients
  • 3/4 cups butter
  • 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 4 eggs
  • 1 tsp chocolate extract
  • 1 cup flour
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 cup 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 microwave safe bowl, melt butter and 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips. Add sugar and brown sugar. Beat in eggs, one at a time and extract. Add flour and salt. Mix in chips. Spread in prepared pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few crumbs. Cool completley.

  • Cookie dough layer
  • 1/4 cup butter, melted
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1/3 cup flour

Directions – mix butter, sugar and brown sugar. Add vanilla. Stir in flour. Spread over cooled brownies.

Chocolate chip topping – in a microwave safe bowl, combine 1 cup chocolate chips and 1 tbs vegetable oil. Heat in 30 second increments until you can stir smooth. I recommend cutting brownies before the chocolate layer completely sets. Cutting hardened chocolate is a challenge and messy for me.

Sweetness goes a long way in the world!

I hope as you read this, you know how much you matter and how much you are loved. And remember to be kind. Life is hard for everyone and many are battling things that we do not know of. Try to be as compassionate and understanding as you can be.

White chocolate chip macadamia nut cookies

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White chocolate macadamia nut cookies

This recipe is courtesy pf a request I received on Twitter. White chocolate chip cookies with macadamia nuts. You can, of course, sub in another type of nut, or leave them out. I also “frosted” the bottoms of the cookies with melted milk chocolate. You’re welcome.

Reminders – 1) spoon your flour from your flour container into your measuring cup, so you get the correct amount. If you pour the flour directly into the cup, you get too much of it and the result can be a dry cookie. A grave offense, if you ask me. 2) chill your cookie dough at least an hour. It keeps the cookies from spreading too much. 3) preheat your oven to 350 degrees for 20 minutes before baking. Ovens cycle through different temps and usually 20 minutes is enough time to get to the right temp

  • Ingredients
  • 1 cup butter, softened
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 tsp vanilla
  • 2 2/3 cups flour
  • 1 tbs cornstarch
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 cup macadamia nuts, chopped
  • 1 1/2 cups white chocolate chips

Directions – cream butter, brown sugar, and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla. Blend in dry ingredients. Fold in chips and nuts. Divide dough into 16 pieces and form mounds.

A cookie mound

Chill a few hours. Preheat oven to 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Line a cookie sheet with nonstick baking liners. Stagger cookies on the sheet. Bake 11 to 13 minutes. (Light golden spots on top). Cool completely. Optional -in a microwave safe container, combine 1 cup chocolate chips and 1 tbs oil. Microwave in 30 second increments until you can stir smooth. Frost bottoms of cookies. Let set, upside down, until chocolate has hardened. Store in covered container.

Frosted with melted chocolate

Remember to be kind. These are really tough times for a lot of people. You never know what people might be going through. You would want to be shown the same grace and kindness. Sending love your way.

Acceptable flat chocolate chip cookies

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Look at all those chips!

Usually, I prefer my cookies to be puffy, like mounds of sweet goodness. These turned out a little flatter than I prefer, but I still believe the are acceptable to serve to others. And as an extra treat, I melted milk chocolate and coated some on the bottom. Why, you ask? Just because. ☺

  • Cookie ingredients
  • 1 cup butter, softened
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 tbs vanilla
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 2 tsp hot water
  • 1 tsp cornstarch
  • 3 cups flour
  • 2 cups chocolate chips

Directions – cream butter, sugar, and brown sugar. Add eggs. In a separate cup, dissolve baking soda in water. add to sugar mixture. Mix in vanilla. Fold in dry ingredients. Stir in 1 1/2 cups chips. Form 1/4 cups of dough into mounds. Gently add extra chips (from remaining 1/2 cup) into the top of each mound. Chill dough a few hours. Preheat oven to 350 for 20 minutes. Line a cookie sheet with nonstick baking liners. Bake 12 to 14 minutes (light golden spots on top). Cool completely. Optional – combine 1 cup chocolate chips and 1 tbs vegetable oil in a microwave safe container. Microwave in 30 second increments until you can stir smooth. Cover bottoms of cookies. Let set, upside down, until chocolate is solid. Store in covered container.

Frost the bottoms with melted chocolate!

Hat trick of cookies!

Remember to be kind. We are all going through some sort of trial. Some people’s trials are extremely heavy burdens. Give people a break. And give yourself a break too. Wishing you peace, love and happiness. ❤

White chocolate brownies with milk chocolate ganache and mini M&Ms

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I wanted to bring in another treat to go along with the very large chocolate cookies with peanut butter chips. I noticed I have a few bags of white chocolate chips, so I opted for white chocolate brownies. I usually toss in some milk chocolate chips, but decided to instead make a milk chocolate ganache to put on top. And then, top it all off with mini m&ms. Because m&ms make take everything to another level.

Reminders – preheat your oven to 350 degrees for 20 minutes before baking So the oven cycles to the right temperature. Scoop your flour from your flour container into your measuring cup.

  • Ingredients
  • 1/2 cup butter
  • 1 bag white chocolate chips (usually 10 oz)
  • 1 tbs vanilla
  • 3 eggs
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1 1/4 cups flour
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 cup milk chocolate chips (opt)

Directions – in a microwave safe bowl, heat butter and white chocolate chips in 30 second increments until you can stir smooth. Add eggs and vanilla. Blend in sugar. Stir in flour and salt. Add milk chocolate chips, if using. Line an 8×8 pan with tin foil and spray with Pam. Spread dough evenly. Bake 20 to 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center basically comes out clean. Brownies will be light golden on top. Cool completely.

  • Ganache ingredients
  • 1 cup milk chocolate chips
  • 1/2 cup heavy cream

Directions – heat cream in a microwave safe bowl until hot (45 seconds -1 minute). Pour over chips. Let stand 5 minutes. Stir smooth. Leave in bowl for 10 minutes or so to firm up a bit. Pour over cool brownies. Top with M&Ms.

Let ganache firm on the brownies before cutting them (or don’t and be like Rob, my husband 😏) Store in covered container.

If you are struggling with something today, remember you are not alone. I wish you kindness, peace and love. To quote the great Bruce Springsteen “tomorrow there’ll be sunshine, and all this darkness passed.”

Very Large Chocolate Cookies with Peanut Butter Chips

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Few combos better than pb and chocolate

I felt my very large chocolate chip cookies needed some sort of companion, so I made very large chocolate cookies with peanut butter chips. You, of course, can sub in another type of chip, if you are not a peanut butter fan. These are quite big, but look at it this way – instead of eating 3 smaller cookies, you can just have a big one!

Remember to scoop your flour from your flour container into you measuring cup. If you don’t have cake flour, sift together 1 cup flour and 1 tbs cornstarch. I recommend chilling the mounds of dough for a few hours. Also, preheat your oven for 20 minutes before baking. Ovens need to cycle through different temperatures for about 20 minutes to get to the right temp.

  • Ingredients
  • 1 cup butter (cold and grated with a cheese grater to make it easier to use)
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 tsp chocolate extract
  • 1/2 cup baking cocoa
  • 1 cup cake flour
  • 1 1/2 cups flour
  • 1 tsp Cornstarch
  • 3/4 tsp baking soda
  • 1 cup peanut butter chips

Directions – cream butter, sugar and brown sugar. Add eggs and chocolate extract.. Fold in dry ingredients and mix well. Add chips. Divide dough evenly into 8 mounds. Chill a few hours. Preheat oven to 410 for 20 minutes. Stagger on a cookie sheet lined with nonstick baking liners. Bake 9 to 10 minutes. Cool completely. Store in covered container.

Whatever difficulties or hardships you are experiencing, I hope your burdens are lightened. Wishing you joy and peace.

Very Large Chocolate Chip Cookies

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Larger cookies mean less time baking!

This recipe is pretty self explanatory. They are very large chocolate chip cookies. I decided to go big in celebration of Rob and I getting our first Pfizer shots. Great experience at CVS overall, topped off by 80s music being played in the store. First song I heard- “The Glory of Love” by Peter Cetera. How I love that song! (And the movie it was in – “Karate Kid 2”) I was (still am actually) a huge fan of a songs in that genre from that decade. Lionel Richie was the best! Anyways, I felt a huge relief after getting the shot.. Like a big step toward the road back to normal. This has been an incredibly difficult past 12 months for so many people. Our light is at the end of the tunnel. Anyways, to celebrate, I present these cookies. Yes, they are large, but if you eat two or three of the small ones, you may as well have a big one!

I subbed one yolk for an egg to make the cookies softer. I also added cornstarch to keep the cookies puffy. If you don’t have cake flour, you can sift together 3 /4 cup flour and 1 tbs cornstarch.

Remember – scoop your flour from your flour container into your measuring cup. Also chill your mounds of dough for at least an hour. And, preheat your oven for 20 minutes before baking. The oven cycles through various temperatures and gets to the right temp after 20 minutes.

  • Ingredients
  • 1/2 cup butter (cold, I grated with a cheese grater to make it easier to use. You can also chop it into little squares)
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 yolk
  • 1 1/4 cups flour
  • 3/4 cup cake flour
  • 1 tsp Cornstarch
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

Directions – cream butter, brown sugar and sugar. Add egg and yolk. Blend in dry ingredients. It takes a while to come together. I actually used my hands like I was making meatballs at this point. Fold in chips. Divide dough into 8 equal amounts and form mounds. Chill a few hours. Line a cookie sheet with nonstick,baking liners. On a cookie sheet lined with nonstick baking liners, stagger cookies. Preheat oven to 400 degrees for 20 minutes. Bake 8 to 9 minutes (light golden spots on top). Cool completely. Store in covered container.

Remember to be kind. We are all fighting some sort of battle each day.

Frosted Cake mix cookies with mini m&ms

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Easy cake mix cookies!

I panicked at the thought of bringing 6 cupcakes into work tomorrow (although they are very large), so I decided,to add some cake mix cookies to bring in. I used a white cake mix for the cookies, topped them with white chocolate frosting, and I topped them with mini m&ms. They cookies are puffy and soft and I think you will really like them. You can try and different cake mix flavor if you want. You can also use semisweet or milk chocolate chips in the frosting if you prefer. Remember to scoop your flour from your flour container into your measuring cup so you get the correct amount, and preheat the oven to 350 degrees for 20 minutes before you start baking, so the oven is the perfect temp. Also, I really piled on the frosting thick and still had a little left over. If you don’t want a ton of frosting on the cookies, you can halve the frosting recipe or save it to use on something else.☺

  • Cookies ingredients
  • 1 white cake mix
  • 1/2 cup egg whites
  • 3/4 cup flour
  • 1 tbs cornstarch
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1 tsp water
  • 1/3 cup vegetable oil

Directions – preheat oven to 350 degrees for 20 minutes. In a bowl,combine cake mix, flour and cornstarch. Add egg whites, vanilla water and oil. Line a cookie sheet with nonstick baking liners. Stagger 1/4 cups of dough on the prepared sheet. Bake 8 to 10 minutes. They will be lightly golden on the bottom. Cool completely.

  • Frosting ingredients
  • 1/2 cup butter, melted
  • 1/4 cup milk
  • 1/2 cup white chocolate chips
  • 3 to 4 cups powdered sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla

Directions – in a microwave safe bowl, heat milk and white chips in 30 second increments until you cam stir it smooth. Add butter and vanilla. Blend in enough powdered sugar to get the consistency you want. Frost cookies and top with mini m&ms. Store in covered container.

Have a wonderful week! And remember to be kind!

Hostess cupcakes (complete with the squiggle!)

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Hostess cupcakes with marshmallow fluff filling, chocolate frosting and a squiggle!

These dear friends are hostess cupcakes, complete with the fluff filling and magical squiggle. I made these using a chocolate cake mix, but I fancied it up a bit, using an instant pudding mix, fat free Greek yogurt, along with water, oil and eggs. If you don’t have Greek yogurt, you can always use sour cream. My squiggle isn’t so much a squiggle, but a blob of a line. ☺. You can use whatever cake flavor you want, but just use a corresponding flavor pudding mix. I used jumbo cupcake liners here too! a reminder to preheat your oven to 350 degrees before baking.

  • Cupcake ingredients
  • 1 cake mix
  • 3.4 oz instant pudding mix
  • 4 eggs
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 3/4 cup oil
  • 1 cup Greek yogurt
  • 1 cup chocolate chips

Cupcake Directions – preheat oven to 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Line a jumbo cupcake pan with jumbo cupcake liners. In a bowl combine cake mix, pudding mix, oil, eggs and water. Blend in Greek yogurt, then chocolate chips. Scoop put 1/2 cups of batter into each cupcake liner. Bake 13 to 18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool completely

  • Filling ingredients
  • 1/4 cup butter, softened
  • 1 cup marshmallow fluff
  • 2-3 cups powdered sugar
  • Milk

Filling Directions – combine butter, fluff and powdered sugar. Add milk, a tsp at a time, if you want to thin it out a bit.

  • Frosting ingredients
  • 1 stick butter, melted
  • 2/3 cup baking cocoa
  • 3 cups powdered sugar
  • 2 tbs milk

Frosting Directions – combine all ingredients

  • Squiggle ingredients
  • 1/4 cup butter
  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 2-3 tsp milk

Squiggle Directions – blend well. Put in a small Ziploc baggie and cut off a small corner

Cut out a cone from the cup of each cupcake.

Set cone aside.

Fill the hole with fluff filling.

Replace cone, gently pushing in.

Frost.

Top with squiggle.

Store in covered container.

Chocolate cutout cookies (they are decorated as basketballs, which you probably can’t tell)

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This, is a basketball

The NBA playoffs are in full swing.  I thought I would try to make some basketball cutout cookies.  The chocolate cookies,  buttercream frosting and chocolate stripes all taste great

My decorating is a disaster!  But you will like these cookies.

It still tastes good!

Next time, I may try chocolate mini m&ms as the stripes!

  • Cookie ingredients
  • 1 cup butter, softened
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tsp chocolate extract (or vanilla)
  • 2 1/4 cups flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 cup baking cocoa
  • 1/4 tsp salt

Directions – cream butter and brown sugar. Add egg and extract. Fols,in,dry ingredients. On a floured surface, roll out to desired thickness and cut with a round cookie cutter. I chilled the dough for a few hours so the cookies would not spread. Preheat an oven to 350 degrees for 20 minutes. On a cookie tin lined with nonstick baking liners, stagger cookies.

Bake 10 minutes. Let cool completely.

  • Frosting ingredients
  • 3/4 cup butter, softened
  • 2 cups powdered sugar
  • 1tbs heavy cream,or milk
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • Red and yellow food coloring

Directions – cream butter and powdered sugar. Add milk and vanilla. Using directions for orange on food coloring box, add food coloring. Frost cookies.

  • Chocolate icing ingredients and directions
  • 4 tbs butter, softened
  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 2 tbs baking cocoa
  • Milk
  • Blend butter, powdered sugar and cocoa. Add enough milk, 1 tsp at a time to get the right consistency to pipe on stripes. (I cut off the end of a sandwich baggied and piped it, disastrously, as you can see). Store in covered container.