Tag Archives: chocolate

Chocolate hot cocoa and marshmallow chip cookies

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I saw this wonderful creation from Nestlé at Aldi and I bought, not one, but 2 bags. Hot cocoa and marshmallow chips? Genius!

I figure pop one bag in some chocolate cookie dough and magic happens.

I put up both our trees this weekend.. and pulled put my favorite ornament. (I also love the red haired doll from Rudolph, which is right next to it). It is year 34 with this Bills ornamant, and am hoping Santa comes through this time!

Go Bills!

Remember to scoop your flour from your flour bag into your measuring cup so you get the right amount, scoop out your dough and then chill the individual mounds at least an hour, and preheat your oven to 350 degrees for 20 minutes before baking so it cycles to the right temp.

  • Ingredients list
  • 1 1/2 cups butter, softened
  • 1 1/2 tbs vegetable oil
  • 1 1/2 cups brown sugar
  • 1/3 cup plus 3 tbs sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 2 tsp vanilla
  • 3 3/4 cups flour
  • 3/4 cup baking cocoa
  • 3 tsp cornstarch
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 bag of hot cocoa chips
  • 1 cup milk chocolate chips

Directions – cream butter, oil, sugar, and brown sugar. Add eggs and vanilla. Blend in dry ingredients. Fold in chips. Scoop out dough (I used my cookie scoop that is 6 tbs worth). I formed them into tall mounds and chills them for at least an hour. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Preheat oven to 350 degrees for 20 minutes before baking. Stagger cookies on prepared sheets. Bake 15 to 18 minutes. Cool completely. Store in covered container.

Thanks for stopping by today! Remember to be kind! Go Bills!

Oreo Brookie brownies

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An oreo layer on the left, nutter butter on the right

I could not decide between making brownies or chocolate chip cookies, so I combined them and put a layer of oreos in between them and baked them up. I thought of putting melted chocolate on top, but decided that would be too much. 😀

Remember to preheat your oven to 350 degrees for 20 minutes before baking. Also, scoop your flour from your flour bag into your measuring cup so you get the right amount. Do the same drill with your baking cocoa.

  • Brownie ingredients
  • 2 1/2 cups sugar
  • 2/3 cup vegetable oil
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 2 cups flour
  • 1 cup baking cocoa
  • Oreos

Directions – preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9×13 baking pan with parchment paper and spray with baking spray. In a bowl, combine sugar, oil, and milk. Beat in eggs and vanilla. fold in dry ingredients. The mixture will be thick. Spread into bottom of prepared pan. Layer with oreos. Set aside

  • Chocolate chip layer
  • 1/2 cup butter softened
  • 1/4 cup butter flavor crisco
  • 3/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1 3/4 cups flour
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1 cup chocolate chips

Directions – in a bowl, combine butter, crisco, sugar, and brown sugar. Add egg, yolk, and vanilla. Blend in dry ingredients. Mix in chips. I grabbed handfuls of dough and flattened them like a pancake and placed them on top of oreo layer.

Bake in 350 degrees in a preheated oven for 15 minutes. Cover with tin foil to keep edges from getting too brown. Bake another 20 to 25 minutes (or possibly longer). Try not to let the edges get too brown. I would rather underbake than overbake. If you feel it is underbaked after you cut brownies up, you can chill them overnight in the fridge. That helps firm them up.

Thanks so much for stopping by today! Remember to be kind!

Chocolate cheesecake with an oreo crust

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I asked Rob what he wanted for Thanksgiving dinner this year, and he said lasagna. He despises turkey and the rest of the Thanksgiving fixings, so the last few Thanksgivings I have worked and we have had lasagna for our dinner on 🦃day. And when it came to dessert, Rob requested chocolate cheesecake. I think I do pretty well, even though I am new to making cheesecakes. (Cheesecake factory has nothing to worry about though) 😉

I pre-baked the oreo crust for 10 minutes because that is what I see people recommending online for cheesecake crusts. Something about keeping the crust from getting soggy.

Here is a peek at the oreo crust
  • Crust ingredients
  • 24 oreos, finely crushed
  • 1/4 cup butter, melted

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Line the inside of a 10 inch springform pan with tin foil on the bottom and halfway up the sides. In a bowl, combine crumbs and butter. Press into bottom of prepared pan. Bake 10 minutes. While crust is in the oven, prepare cheesecake.

  • Cheesecake ingredients
  • 24 ounces cream cheese, softened (I used neufchatel, which is softer, less calories, and lower fat)
  • 14 ounce can condensed milk
  • 12 ounce semisweet chocolate chips, melted
  • 4 eggs
  • 1 tsp vanilla

In a bowl, beat cream cheese smooth. Add condensed milk. Blend in melted chocolate. Beat in one egg at a time. Stir in vanilla. Pour over crust. Bake 70 minutes at 300 degrees. Remove from oven. Cool completely. Store covered in fridge.

Thanks so much for stopping by today! Wishing you peace and happiness. And please, remember to be kind.

Frosted brownie cookies

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These are my delayed celebration cookies for the Bills win Thursday night. I do not tempt the football gods with premature celebration treats, so I always wait until the win is completed. And Thursday’s game ended after 11 p.m., and I was not going to start baking then, hence, the brownie cookies recipe now.

  • Ingredients list
  • 1 cup butter, softened
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 2/3 cup sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 4 tbs cornstarch or honey
  • 3 cups flour
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1 cup baking cocoa

Directions – preheat oven to 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. in a bowl, cream butter, brown sugar and sugar. Blend in eggs, corn syrup and vanilla. Fold in dry ingredients. Scoop out 1/4 cups of dough. Stagger on cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake 11 to 13 minutes (no longer). Cool completely.

  • Frosting ingredients
  • 1/4 cup melted butter
  • 1/3 cup cocoa powder
  • 1 3/4 cups powdered sugar
  • 2 tbs milk (perhaps more)
  • 1 tsp vanilla

Directions – mix well. Frost cooled cookies. Store in covered container.

Thanks for stopping by today. ❤️❤️

What the Puck? It’s NHL Opening Night! Happy Hockey!

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In honor of NHL opening night tomorrow (Tuesday), I made flourless brownie “pucks” covered in melted chocolate. I baked flourless brownies in a 9×13 pan. Let them cool, used the top of a glass to cut out pucks, then used scraps of the remaining dough to form mini pucks and topped them with melted chocolate. Happy hockey!

Remember to preheat your oven to 350 degrees for 20 minutes before baking so it cycles to the right temp.

  • Ingredients list
  • 10 tbs butter
  • 2 cups dark chocolate chips
  • 1 1/2 cups sugar
  • 4 eggs
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 4 tbs baking cocoa
  • 6 tbs cornstarch

Directions- line a 9×13 baking pan with tin foil and spray with baking spray. Preheat oven to 350 degrees for 20 minutes before baking. In a microwave safe bowl, combine chips and butter and microwave in 45 second increments until you can stir smooth. Add sugar. Mix in eggs, one at a time. Stir in vanilla. Fold in cocoa and cornstarch. Spread evenly into pan. Bake 20 to 25 minutes – toothpick inserted in center comes out with a few moist crumbs. Cool completely. Spray the rim of a round glass with Pam and cut out pucks.

Top with melted chocolate. Let set. Store in covered container.

Thanks for stopping by! Go Sabres!

Happy NFL Opening night

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For opening night in the NFL tomorrow, I present smores cookies. They are a graham cracker cookie, topped with a fluff frosting and melted hershey kisses. These cookies spread out more than I wanted because I didn’t have time to chill them. The graham cracker cookie is really a chocolate chip cookie without the chips. I also took out a little flour and added crushed graham crackers. I used a range for the flour because I think adding a little more could prevent the spreading.

Remember to scoop your flour from your flour bag into your measuring cup so you get the right amount. Pouring the flour directly from the bag packs it in. It’s too much flour, and you get a dry cookie. Also preheat the oven to 350 degrees for 20 minutes before baking so it cycles to the right temp.

  • Cookies ingredients
  • 3/4 cup butter, cold, and shredded or cubed
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1 3/4 -2 cups flour (
  • 1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs
  • 1 tbs cornstarch
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp salt

Directions – in a bowl, cream butter, brown sugar and sugar. Add egg and vanilla. Blend in rest in ingredients. Scoop out 2 tbs dough and form tall mounds. Chill a few hours. Preheat oven to 350 degrees for 20 minutes vefore baking. Line a cookie sheet with nonstick baking liners. Stagger cookies on sheet. Bake 12 to 14 minutes. They will seem a little underbaked on top, but they will be fine. Cool completely.

  • Frosting ingredients
  • 1/4 cup butter
  • 1 cup marshmallow fluff
  • 2-3 cups powdered sugar
  • Milk (enough to get the consistency you want)

Frost cookies and store in covered container.

Now to figure out what I make for the Bills opener Monday!

A big chocolate blob of a cake

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This actually was the second cake I made for Rob’s birthday. The chocolate mid cake was a disaster.. took forever to cook and looked like this. Not acceptable for a cake

This cake will have another purpose as a crust for a cheesecake

So after the above pictured fail, I made a second cake for Rob after I worked out on his actual birthday. Got it in the oven at 510 am. He loved it. It is pretty easy to make. It is quite dense thanks to greek yogurt and has a fudgy frosting and is topped with pieces of oreos. I wanted to finely grind them up in my food processor, but ran out of time.

  • Ingredients list
  • 1 chocolate cake mix
  • 3.4 ounce instant chocolate pudding mix
  • 4 eggs
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 3/4 cup oil
  • 1 cup Greek yogurt
  • 1 cup chocolate chips

Directions – preheat oven to 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Spray a bunt cake pan with baking spray. In a bowl, combine cake mix and pudding mix. Blend in water, oil, and Greek yogurt. Add chocolate chips. Mixture will be thick. Pour into prepared pan and spread evenly. Bake 30 to 40 minutes in preheated oven, until a toothpick inserted in center comes out with a few moist crumbs. Cool 10 minutes in pan. Invert onto plate. Cool completely.

  • Fudge frosting ingredients
  • 8 tbs butter
  • 1/2 cup baking cocoa
  • 6 tbs evaporated milk
  • 3 to 4 cups powdered sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • Milk

Directions – in a saucepan, over low -medium heat, combine butter, baking cocoa and evaporated milk, stirring occasionally, just until it boils. Remove from heat. Add vanilla. Mixture will be thick and clumpy. Add 3 cups powdered sugar. Again, mixture will be clumpy. Add a tbs or two of milk. Add more milk or more powdered sugar until you get the texture you want. Frost cooled cake. Top with crushed oreos.

Thanks so much for stopping by today!!

Triple chip cookies

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Today is the first time in a month it hasn’t felt like you are sitting on the bleeping sun when you go outside. So to celebrate, I made triple chip cookies (Rob’s request). The humidity made so many of my cookies a big, flat disaster. I was assured they tasted good, but the fact that they were flat BUGGED me. (Plus the humidity bugged the hell out of me as well). These cookies did flatten a bit, but not as bad as some of the other ones.

Remember to scoop your flour bag into your measuring cup so you get the right amount, form your dough into tall mounds and chill them for a few hours, and preheat oven to 350 degrees before baking so your oven cycles to the right temp. (That last tip was a lifesaver from a tech who serviced one of our first ovens. Very valuable advice)

This is a mound of cookie dough
  • Ingredients
  • 1 1/2 cups butter, cold and shredded with a cheese grater
  • 1 1/4 cups brown sugar
  • 1 1/4 cups sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 4 1/4 cups flour
  • 2 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tbs cornstarch
  • 2/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips
  • 2/3 cup white chocolate chips
  • 2/3 cup milk chocolate chips
This is how I stagger cookies on a sheet

Directions – in a bowl, cream grated butter, sugar and brown sugar. Add eggs and vanilla. Fold in dry ingredients. Mix in chips. Scoop put 1/4 cups of dough and form tall mounds or cylinders. Chill a few hours. Preheat oven to 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Stagger cookies on sheet. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until edges are golden and there are golden spots on top. Cool completely. Store in covered container.

Thanks for stopping by today. I wish you peace, love and joy. And remember to be kind. Everyone is fighting some sort of battle each day. Being mean helps no one.

Chocolate Reese’s Pieces cookies

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I noticed a couple of boxes of Reese’s Pieces in my baking cabinet, so I decided to put them in some large chocolate cookies. These only make 8, so I cut them in half and put some melted chocolate chips on a few halves. Not sure why. Also not sure why I thought it was a good idea to turn on the oven and bake when it is hot and disgustingly humid. Anyways, we celebrate the home run derby with these tomorrow at work.

A few tips : Scoop your flour and baking cocoa from your containers into your measuring cups so you get the right amount. Chill your mounds of dough at least a couple of hours to prevent too much spreading. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees for 20 minutes before baking so it cycles to the right temp.

  • Ingredients
  • 8 tbs butter, melted
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 2/3 cup unsweetened baking cocoa
  • 1 egg
  • 1 yolk
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1/4 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 cup flour
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tbs cornstarch
  • 1 1/2 cups Reese’s pieces

Directions – combine melted butter, sugar, brown sugar, and baking cocoa. Add vanilla, egg, and yolk. Blend in flour, cornstarch and baking soda. Dough will be very soft. Fold in Reese’s pieces. Scoop out 1/4 cups of dough. Chill a few hours on fridge. Preheat ovento 350 degrees for 20 minutes before baking. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. I put 4 on a sheet at a time bc they are 1/4 cups of dough each. Bake 12 minutes (no longer). Cool completely. Store in covered container.

Thank you for stopping by today. Please remember to be kind. We all need a little kindness.

Browned butter/Reese’s pieces/mini M&M chocolate cookies

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It is hot and humid today, so why not fire up the oven? 😁 I used browned butter in these because I wanted to speed up the process, as opposed to waiting for the butter to soften to room temp. Browned butter is pretty easy – put it in a pan and cook over low-medium heat, stirring occasionally, just until you see brown specks form. Then immediately remove from heat. I also opted to use Reese’s pieces and mini m&ms, but use whatever mix-ins you want.

Some tips – Remember to scoop your flour directly from your flour bag into your measuring cup so you get the right amount. Chill the individual mounds of dough for a few hours to help prevent spreading. Preheat oven to 350 degrees for 20 minutes when you are ready to bake so it cycles to the right temp.

  • 3/4 cup butter, browned
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 cups flour (scooped from your flour bag into your measuring cup)
  • 1/2 cup unsweetened baking cocoa
  • 1 tbs cornstarch
  • 3/4 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 2/3 cup Reese’s pieces
  • 1/3 cup mini m&ms
  • Directions – place butter in a pan and cook over low -medium heat until melted and just until brown specks form. Remove from heat and pour into bowl to cool for for 10 to 14 minutes. Add brown sugar and sugar to butter. Mix in eggs and vanilla. Fold in dry ingredients. Mix in candies. Scoop out 1/4 cups dough. Chill in fridge, or freeze, for a few hours. Preheat oven to 350 degrees for 20 minutes before baking. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Stagger cookies on the sheet, as seen below.

Bake at 350 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes. Cool completely. Store in covered container.

Thanks so much for stopping by today. Remember to be kind. We all need kindness in our lives – in terms of giving and receiving!