Double Chocolate Pumpkin Muffins

Don't you love it when you take a chance to alter one of your favorite go-to recipes and it turns out AWESOME? :) I've been making this pumpkin muffin/bread recipe for quite some time. I had the brilliant idea to swap some of the flour for cocoa powder + add chocolate chips. These muffins are SO moist & heavenly. Best of all, no oil or butter makes them like super healthy, right? :) No seriously, pumpkin is so good for you. :) I used some whole wheat white flour too because that's what I had- no one knew the difference! :)

Double Chocolate Pumpkin Muffins
yield: 2 dozen muffins- halving the recipe works great too!

• 1 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 2 cups white sugar
• 1 can (16 oz) pumpkin puree
• 2 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 3/4 tsp ground cloves
• 3/4 tsp ground ginger
• 2 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 & line your muffin cups. Whisk dry ingredients together & set aside. Mix together applesauce & sugar in large mixing bowl with electric mixer. Add pumpkin until combined. Slowly add dry ingredients Add eggs one at a time until combined. Stir in chocolate chips. Scoop batter evenly into muffin cups - do not fill more than 3/4 full. Bake 20 minutes, or until top springs back lightly when touched. Cool slightly & enjoy. These are best when warm and the chocolate is melty! :) Yum.

Enjoy!

Chocolate Chip Pudding Cookies- the BEST Cookies in the World!

I rarely ever try new chocolate chip cookie recipes because I don't feel like chocolate chip cookies are that exciting- also I already have a couple "go-to" recipes. I'm not sure what made me try this recipe from Pennies on a Platter, but I am SO glad I did! These will probably be one of the only chocolate chip cookie recipe I made from now on (except the Perfect Chocolate Chip one from America's Test Kitchen since its so different). G immediately became obsessed with these cookies and called them "The BEST cookies in the world!" He was so excited and asked me to make them again soon. I have since made these 2 more times with other pudding flavors & mix-ins (recipes to come!), but I think our favorite is the classic with vanilla pudding. The possibilities are endless!

I am on the lookout for Oreo pudding mix, because I think that would be AWESOME!! I can't find it anywhere except a pack of like 50 from Amazon. haha I haven't resorted to that yet...

You seriously need to stop reading this and make these now! Go! :)

I actually had to start freezing half of the dough balls before baking them so that we could stop ourselves from eating the entire jar of cookies in a few days. They're THAT good! You can place cookie dough balls on parchment paper in a plastic storage container in the freezer. Bake in preheated oven for about 12-14 minutes.

Note- I could never get mine to puff up very much like the original version, but they still taste great!

University of Texas Cookie Cake

Hook'em Horns! Isn't it cute? :) 

 

So tasty, but you have to cut it first or everyone else feels bad cutting the first piece. ha!

 

Recipe here.

Enjoy!

America's Test Kitchen: The Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie

There are so many chocolate chip cookies out there and they are all a little different. Everyone has their favorite. My normal chocolate chip cookie recipe is the one on the back of the Nestle chocolate chips- why mess with perfection? These cookies are truly wonderful too, but in a different way. I think they are the new favorite around my house!

The browned butter and dark brown sugar really add another layer of flavor you didn't think was possible with cookies- also they are HUGE. Let's face it, everything I've tried from my The Best of America's Test Kitchen Cookbook has been AWESOME (i.e. Baked Ziti). I can't wait to try the rest of the recipes!

One of the best parts? I froze half of the balls of dough to bake when the craving strikes! Just place frozen balls on parchment and bake in preheated oven (375) for 15-18 minutes.

The Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie
The Best of America's Test Kitchen

• 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 14 TBSP unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup backed dark brown sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 large egg , plus 1 large yolk
• 1 1/4 cups semisweet chcolate chips or chunks

Adjust oven rack to middle position and preheat to 375. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.

Whisk together flour and baking soda in amedium bowl- set aside.

Heat a medium skillet over medium-high heat and melt 10 TBSP butter. 

Continue cooking, swirling the pan constantly until the butter is a dark golden brown color and has a nutty aroma (1 - 3 minutes). Remove from heat and use a spatula to transfer melted butter to a large heatproof bowl. Stir in the remaining 4 TBSP butter into hot buter until melted.

Add both sugars, salt and vanilla to the butter mixture and whisk until combined. Add egg and egg yolk and whisk until smooth (30 seconds). Let the mixture stand for 3 minutes and whisk for another 30 seconds. Repeat the whisking and resting process 2 more times until the mixture is thick and shiny.

This may seem silly, but apparently a scientist contributed to this recipe and the process of allowing the sugars to rest before baking allows them to be dissolve more and therefore have  more caramely flavor. I can't disagree!

Stir in the flour mixture with a rubber spatula until just combined (about 1 minute). Stir in the chocoalte chips and give it one final stir to make sure there aren't anymore flour pockets.

Divide dough into 16 portions (each about 3 TBSP). These are BIG cookies! Place onto prepared baking sheet (or freeze in parchment paper in plastic containers. Make sure they are at least 2 inches apart to allow for spreading (no more than 8 balls per sheet, depending on the size of your sheet). Bake 1 tray at a time until the edges are set but the center is still soft and puffy and they are golden brown all over - 10-14 minutes, rotating halfway through. Transfer baking sheet to wire rack and cool completely on sheet before serving.

Enjoy!

Lion Cookie Cake

Cookie Cake is not a newbie to my blog. It is a frequently requested baked good. Its actually so much easier to make than cookies since you don't have to waste time forming dough balls and patiently waiting while you bake 52 batches. The frosting really takes this over the top. You can have fun with your decorations, but my friends Brittney and Kelly had a jungle themed birthday party and requested a lion.

This was my first time decorating like this, and I was pretty pleased with how it turned out.

Also, do you like my custom cookie cake box? :)

I just stopped by a local pizza parlor and asked for a box- they gave me one for FREE! It may or may not be because I go there very frequently for lunch.

I used the same recipe found here. And in the mini cookie cake sandwiches here. I made a few alterations this time due to the ingredients I had on hand, and actually, word on the street is that this was the best yet!

• Used dark brown sugar instead of light brown
• Used all milk chocolate chips

My next cookie cake design request? A monkey! We'll see if I can pull that one off...

Brownie Cookie Bars

Have you ever wondered if two things you really love separately would go well together? Sometimes it doesn't work out so well- i.e. pickles & ice cream. Sometimes it works out very well, like in this example. I love cookies. I love brownies. Now I love Brownie Cookie Bars too. Isn't that just great?

I got this idea from these cookie dough brownies that were traveling around blogland, but I wanted to cook them. Since I was cooking it, I figured I could use my regular cookie recipe with eggs. I used the recommended brownie recipe from All Recipes and added some brown sugar instead of half of the white sugar to give it a more caramel flavor. I used a half batch of the cookie recipe I use for my cookie cakes. Now, I think there is a little tweaking to be done in the execution area of this recipe, but I think I know what you should do if you make this. Cook the brownie batter half way first before adding the cookie dough. Mine tasted marvelous, but a lot of both batters blended together. Next time I want two more disticnt cookie brownie layers.

This takes a little while to cook, so if your cookies are looking brown on top but the brownies are not cooked through, cover with foil to prevent burning. If you go with the method I suggested above, you may not need this step.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

After looking at the list of recipes I posted recently, I realized that I never make cookies. Don't get me wrong, I like cookies. A lot. But I always want to make something "more exciting." Sometimes though, you just want something classic, comforting and reliably delicious. Quick is nice too. :) These cookies are all of those things. I love how they are slightly chewy and caramely. They are always a hit and go pretty quickly. The dough isn't half bad either.... ;) I really prefer to use the mini chocolate chips- I don't know why, but I think it tastes better.

 The original recipe is from this funny little "chocolate" recipes booklet called Chocolate Fantasies by Oxmoor House that my mom gave me. I have no idea where it came from, and the original published date was in 1987, but all the recipes I've tried so far are SO good. There are really just too many recipes to ever try all of them, but I want to try. Mississippi Mud Cake is calling my name next...

The Sweetest Treat...Little Cookie Cake Sandwiches

 

I know this is way late, and that I should have posted like a week before Valentine's day so that you all could make this in time. I know. I'm SORRY! I really have to get with the program on my timing of holiday-themed posts...I mean, what did you expect after this Chili Dip recipe popped up 2 weeks post-Superbowl? Oh well, its OK because you can really make these ANY day in any shape/color! :)

They are very yummy. I don't think you will want to wait until Feb 14th every year to enjoy these. I made them for a sweet treat potluck for work, and I was so glad they were all gone so I didn't have to take any home with me! Well, I did have to reserve one for the bf though, and apparently he was unable to restrain himself and enjoyed a lovely sugary chocolately chippy Vday breakfast!

Now, I've made cookie cake before. It is pretty delicious and seriously the easiest dessert to make. Also, Everyone LOVES cookie cake. I wanted to do something a bit different than the norm this time, so I cut out mini heart shapes from the cake and made them into mini "sandwiches" - anyone familiar with the double doozie? So sinfully DELISH! :)

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Balls!

THESE ARE AMAZING. I just had to get it out as fast as I could. They are seriously the best things ever! Joy the Baker was NOT lying. :) I'm warning you though, once you make these, you will never be able to get them out of your head. They'll be invading your thoughts from the freezer....

I made these a while ago. I needed something sweet like 5 minutes before I even found this recipe.  I did not have time to wait for anything to bake, and I did not have time to make them into perfect shapes. That also meant I did not have any time to waste taking photos- sorry. The cookie dough was whipped up in like 5 minutes, and um, maybe I did not even freeze all of it...  Although, I have to say it is MUCH better frozen, now that I'm enjoying the fruits of my labor a couple weeks later. I did not dip mine in melted chocolate like Joy did, but I'm sure that would be extra amazing. I'm just happy with the dough balls though.

Goodbye Katy Cookie Cake

People love to eat when they're sad. I made this for one of my good friends and coworkers, Katy's, goodbye game night party. :(

We're sad she is moving on to Dallas, but we all became happy again while eating this cookie cake together... Too bad I only got a picture of the sad part.

This is seriously. The. Best. Recipe. It's so quick and easy - 10 minutes to throw together and 20 minutes to bake. I love cookies, but I hate scooping cookie dough balls since it makes such a big mess. Well, it always make a big mess when I do it... Technically you could use any cookie recipe and bake into a "cake" per the below, but I really love this recipe. It's just so chewy and perfect. I think the secret is all the extra brown sugar! I've made this many times and everyone always asks me where I bought it from. Seriously, its so much cheaper than a mall cookie cake and so much more delicious that its RIDICULOUS! You can even pop it in a large baker's box/unused pizza box and people will think you've come straight from heaven.

So many options here to vary it up. The original recipe calls for a variety of chocolate chips and nuts, but I just use the regular ole chocolatey chips. Classic perfection. You could also make 2 small circles in round cake pans and layer icing in between, stacking like a real cake, or bake in a square pan for a thicker version.

The bf loves this cookie cake too, but there was nary a piece in this one for him. Sad story. He watched me make it, enjoyed the fresh-baked cookie smells and then I put it in his fridge for a whole day and told him "NO TOUCH!" He looked so sad, but he's had this many times before so don't feel too bad for him- UPDATE there ended up being a few slices leftover for him. He has access to more baked goods than most guys his age!

Best Cooke Cake Ever

• 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 cups & 2 TBSP AP flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1 bag semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375. Line a large, round pizza pan with parchment paper and spray with non-stick cooking spray. The parchment paper really helps keep the edges/bottom from getting too toasty.

In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugars.

Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. In a small bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt with a whisk. Slowly add to butter mixture until fully incorporated.

Add vanilla.

Fold in chocolate chips by hand.

Resist the urge to scoop directly into your mouth, but pleaseeee lick the beaters/spoon!

Place dough on prepared pan and spread across the bottom until evenly spread out in a circle, but do not spread all the way to the edges. Leave a couple inches for it to spread when it cooks. I always start with a wooden spoon or spatula but end up using my (clean!) fingers to round it out. Have fun!

Bake 18-25 minutes, depending on the thickness of your cookie cake (mine took 20), until the edges are golden and the center is still slightly soft. It's OK if it looks a little underdone- it's tricky like that! Cool completely before icing.

Cookie Cake Icing
Makes enough for minimal decorations. Double if you want to get fancy.

• 1/2 stick butter, softened to room temperature
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 TBSP milk

Using paddle attachment, beat butter for a couple minutes until fluffy. Turn off and add powdered sugar. Slowly turn mixer back on. Continuing to mix, gradually add vanilla and milk until desired consistency is reached.

Add food coloring if you wish and scoop into icing bags. I used one bag with a star tip to create the edges and one bag with the end snipped into a small opening (no tip) to write.

Ice cooled cookie cake as you wish. Store in fridge until ready to serve. Enjoy with a group of friends! :)

-Marissa