Thick and chewy chocolate chip cookie bars

Helllllllloooooo amazing new dessert. I saw this pop up in my Google reader and made it three days later. The butter taste is strong, and the bars melted in my mouth. I used semi-sweet chocolate chips, but the original post mentioned using any kind of chips. I have visions of white chocolate and butterscotch chips dancing in my head.

I had to get these out of the house quickly, so when I met with a friend for dinner and drinks, I sent them with her to give to my former coworkers. (And the few I kept for Tim and Elle were gone so fast I neglected to take a photo!)

These were simple and took an extremely short amount of time to prepare. I had all of the ingredients on hand, and the preparation and clean up were a cinch. Do yourself (and your family and friends) a favor and make these :)

Ingredients:

• 2 ⅛ cups all-purpose flour (10 1/2 ounces)
• 1/2 teaspoon table salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 12 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), melted and cooled slightly
• 1 cup light brown sugar (7 ounces)
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar (3 1/2 ounces)
• 1 large egg
• 1 large egg yolk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 325 degrees F. Butter the bottom and sides of a 9×13 inch metal baking pan. Put a long piece of parchment paper in the bottom of the pan, letting the parchment extend up two sides of the pan and overhang slightly on both ends. Place another piece of parchment paper in the same manner, perpendicular to the first sheet. (This will make it easy to remove the bars from the pan after they have baked.) Butter the parchment.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, salt, and baking soda; set aside.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together melted butter and sugars until combined. Add egg, egg yolk, and vanilla and mix well. Using a rubber spatula, fold dry ingredients into egg mixture until just combined. Fold in chocolate chips. Transfer to prepared baking pan and smooth the top with a spatula.
4. Bake until top is light golden brown, slightly firm to the touch, and edges start pulling away from sides of pan, 27 to 30 minutes. Cool on wire rack to room temperature. Remove bars from pan by lifting parchment overhang and transfer to cutting board. Cut into 2-inch squares and serve.

Source: Sweet Pea's Kitchen

Orange Chip Muffins

I was flipping through one of my little books full of clipped-out recipes for a dinner recipe a while back, and I flipped past this little gem. I came back to it, realized I had all of the ingredients except the coconut, and I left it out to make the next day.

Simply put, I heart these muffins.

The orange flavor really comes through, and the coconut adds a crunchy sweetness. I'm pretty sure you'd still have a tasty treat if you omit the coconut, but for our family, it was a hit. Most of the time when I make muffins or cupcakes, there's waaaayyyy too much batter and I end up making more than the two dozen the recipe in question is *supposed* to yield. But these were spot on. We froze a dozen and have been munching on them occasionally - and I will definitely be making these again!

Ingredients:
3 cups of four
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
1 cup orange juice
2/3 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
1 can (11 ounces) mandarin oranges, drained and coarsely chopped
2/3 cup mini chocolate chips

Topping:
1 cup shredded coconut
1/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoons of butter, melted

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 375. Place 24 paper or foil liners into 2 muffin pans.

2. In a large bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

3. In another large bowl, beat together sugar, orange juice, oil and eggs. On low beat in the flour mixture until combined. Fold in the oranges and chocolate chips. Beat on medium for 1 minute. Spoon batter equally into the lined muffin pans, about scant 1/4 cup into each.

4. Topping: In a small bowl, stir together coconut, sugar and melted butter. Sprinkle evenly over each muffin.

5. Bake at 375 for 20 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean. Cool slightly on wire rack before removing from pan.

Source: An old magazine recipe clipping

Brownie Crackles

I wanted a new addition to my Christmas cookie lineup, but with all of the other baking I had to do (for my husband's surprise birthday party, for a coworker's birthday, for work potlucks, etc.), I didn't have time for anything fancy. I just wanted something different and something tasty.


These cookies were a winner, and I have already made them again. They are simple, and they don't taste like your normal cookie - they are kind of like a brownie bite with chocolate chips. In a word: Amazing. I highly, highly recommend these, and I don't even like chocolate that much (I will choose vanilla over chocolate any day).

Ingredients

1 package fudge brownie mix (13-in. x 9-inch pan size)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 egg
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup canola oil
1 cup (6 ounces) Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
Confectioners' sugar

Directions

In a large bowl, beat the brownie mix, flour, egg, water and oil until well blended. Stir in chocolate chips.

Place confectioners' sugar in a shallow dish. Drop dough by tablespoonfuls into sugar; roll to coat. Place 2 in. apart on greased baking sheets.

Bake at 350° for 8-10 minutes or until set. Remove from pans to wire racks to cool. Yield: 4-1/2 dozen.

Nutrition Facts: 2 cookies equals 154 calories, 6 g fat (2 g saturated fat), 8 mg cholesterol, 84 mg sodium, 24 g carbohydrate, 1 g fiber, 2 g protein.

Source: Taste of Home

Chocolate Caramel Cracker Candy

I got this recipe a few years ago from the TV writer at the paper I worked at in Pittsburgh. It is super easy and the perfect treat for someone who likes sweet and salty snacks. This is also a good way to use up saltine crackers - I know whenever I buy them, whether they be for soups, sickness or for pregnancy-related nausea (no, I'm not pregnant again, just having a bit of a flash back!), I always ended up with an extra sleeve or two of these crackers.

I gave some of this tasty treat away as part of Christmas gifts and cookies plates but kept some in the fridge (making it waaayyyyyy too easy to snack on, but that's what the holidays are all about, right?!).

I've also seen it made with graham crackers instead of saltines, which would give a sweet and sweet snack, but a yummy one just the same.

Two pieces of advice: A.) Be careful to make sure no foil sticks to your broken up pieces. B.) Avoiding "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter" will help with this, as the consistency really changes and makes the butter layer gummy, sticking to the foil but not the chocolate as well.

Ingredients:
Saltine ingredients
1 cup real butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 (12-oz.) package chocolate chips

Directions:
Line a cookie sheet or jelly-roll pan with two layers of foil, cover with 35 saltine crackers.

Heat together brown sugar and butter, stirring. Boil for three minutes (keep stirring).

Pour over crackers. Bake in over at 350 degrees for five minutes.

Sprinkle chocolate chips on top and let sit for five minutes.

Spread the melted chocolate. Refrigerate overnight. Then break in to pieces. Keep refrigerated.

Source: A former coworker

Lactation Cookies

Since we started the baking blog almost two years ago, I've made very few things more than once. I've wanted to experiment, to share new recipes, and there is no shortage of new recipes to try. There are a few staples, sure, like Oatmeal Carmelitas and Cake Mix Coolers and Blueberry Banana Bread, that I've made repeatedly, as well as special occasion foods like the White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake that I make for my husband's birthday, but for the most part, most of it has been new.

But I've made this cookie recipe pretty much every two weeks for the last two months. I love it because you can mix it up a bit - I've added cranberries, substituted white chocolate chips, etc. - and it yields about six dozen, so I freeze most of them and have a ready stash.

The other reason I love it? A bit more complicated, and perhaps, at first, a bit more challenging to follow. But here I go:

Breastfeeding is hard work, yo. (Cue your "I thought this was a baking blog?!" statements here.) I gave birth to my daughter more than five (!) months ago, and she's been exclusively breastfed. We plan to introduce solids after her six-month pediatrician's appointment, but for now, her nutrition is all on me. No pressure, right? :) We've actually had a fairly easy time of it - no issues latching, no supply problems, no real pain - and I am extremely grateful for that. But it hasn't been a stress-free journey.

Initially, it is very exhausting and overwhelming to be "on-call" 24/7. After the first few weeks, things calmed down a bit, but the whole process of breastfeeding works on the premise of supply and demand. And when I returned to work, I worried it would  be harder to keep up the supply, because a breast pump just doesn't replicate the demand as well. Combine that with added stress and sometimes having to miss a pumping session because of work-place demands, and supply can easily plummet for some women.

But to keep my supply up, I sacrificed: I make and eat these cookies regularly. I know, I know - I lead a tough life, but someone has to eat the cookies!

I was introduced to the lactation cookies in one of my mommy/baby groups - it is actually a "breastfeeding support" group, but we cover a variety of topics, from eating to sleeping to acid reflux. The facilitator of the group brought these cookies in to one of our meetings, and although it *could* be psychological, they really do seem to help. I was without cookies for a few days at one point, and it didn't seem like I was pumping as much as I usually do.

Oatmeal is a food commonly mentioned in conversations about naturally increasing breastmilk supply, and these cookies contain two other key ingredients: Brewer's Yeast and flax seed. I found the yeast at a natural food store, and while it wasn't cheap, I am set for life and even shared some with another mom.

 The breastfed wonder. She knows she's cute :)

But aside from those ingredients? These are your run-of-the-mill chocolate chip cookies. My husband and one of his friends have eaten them (without lactating) and were surprised at how "normal" they taste. They're not the healthiest cookies I've ever made, considering they have a cup of butter in them (and my attempt to substitute "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter" produced flat, not-quite-right cookies), but when you're breastfeeding, you need to consume *some* extra calories to make up for the fact that you're contributing so many to the baby. It isn't advised to eat a diet of Twinkies, onion rings and Skittles to get those extra calories, but if I'm going to eat a dessert, I now choose these cookies.

Mommy note: I often make the batter for these at night, when my daughter is in bed, and then I bake them during her nap or playtime the next day, when I can put her in her jumperoo for a few minutes and dart in and out of the kitchen to change cookie sheets. Life with an infant can be a little unpredictable, so at least if the batter is made, I can sneak in a few baking sessions here and there during the course of the day.

Mommy note II: These wouldn't be a bad gift for a new mom, especially if you know she's breastfeeding. Or you could buy some of the pre-made mix from a seller like Hardier Lime. 

Ingredients:

1 C butter
1 C sugar
1 C brown sugar
4 T water
2 T flaxseed meal (no substitutions)
2 Lg eggs
1 t vanilla
2 C flour
1 t baking soda
1 t salt
3 C Thick cut oats
1 C Chocolate chips
2 T Brewers Yeast (no substitutions)

Directions:

Preheat oven at 375.

Mix 2 T of flaxseed meal and water, set aside 3-5 minutes.

Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs.

Stir flaxseed mix into butter mix and add vanilla. Beat until well blended.

Sift dry ingredients (except oats and chocolate chips).

Add butter mix to dry ingredients.

Stir in the oats and then the choc chips.

Drop on parchment paper on baking sheet. Bake 8-12 minutes.

Source: Epicurious

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

I hadn't baked for my husband's coworkers in quite some time, and I wanted to thank them for some awesome baby gifts they'd purchased for us.

I checked my cupboards, referenced my recipe books and found an easy cookie recipe that sounded perfect for the occasion.

These were really moist, not overly peanut-buttery and super soft. I didn't have white or yellow cake mix, so I used french vanilla and it worked well. I think chocolate cake mix would work well, too, like the Peanut Butter M&M bars and variation that I made a few months ago.

Ingredients:
2 eggs
1/3 cup butter or margarine, softened
1/2 cup chunky peanut butter
1 yellow or white cake mix
1 cup chocolate chips or chunks

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

With spoon, mix eggs, butter and peanut butter together. Stir in cake mix and then add chocolate.

Drop dough balls on to a lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake 8-12 minutes or until light golden brown around the edges.

Remove cookies and place on non-stick rack to cool.

Source: 101 More Things to Do With A Cake Mix

Buster Bar

A few years ago, I worked in Kalamazoo, Michigan - first as an intern, then a year later as a full-time staffer. Journalists are known for their affinity for food, and the Gazette newsroom was no exception.

One favorite treat was made by one of my friends, Pam. Pam worked with me in sports, and for special occasions, she would make her heralded treat: Buster Bar.

The ice cream-based cake took preparation, it took ideal conditions (basically, it has to be kept cold and can't sit out for long periods of time), and it took a roomful of hungry people. This dessert is rich, and we all knew it was reserved for birthdays, retirements and other special times.

So we savored it. (And harassed her to make it more often, but that's beside the point.)

I haven't had Buster Bar since I left that paper in 2005. That is a long time to go without Buster Bar, people. Especially when you keep in touch with people who still get treated to Buster Bar despite the fact that Pam retired last fall and they tell you about it.

When I was able to travel home last month and realized I'd be there for my dad's birthday, I started brainstorming what to make for him. Over the last few years, my family has gotten hooked on Dairy Queen ice cream cakes. When I started with that concept and tried to think what I could make, Buster Bar quickly came to mind. I looked on allrecipes.com and found a winner! We were in Buster Bar Business.

My little brother helped me make our dad's birthday cake. We tried to do it inconspicuously. (For example, when we were working on the chocolate sauce, Doug told Dad it was Mexican Tomato Basil Soup. I don't think my dad really cared or noticed, but we tried to hide our project.)

The Buster Bar came out well and brought back fond memories of my time eating in Michigan. It's tricky to get the ice cream out of the container and flattened on top of the cookie crust, but not impossible at all. We used Edy's ice cream and cut open the side of the container, allowing us to slice up chunks of ice cream instead of scooping. The only other minor issue I had was waiting for the chocolate sauce to cool. I have a slightly impatient personality and again, we were trying desperately to hide the uh, Mexican Tomato Basil Soup from my dad. I think by rushing it a bit and pouring slightly warm sauce on the ice cream made the top-most layer a little bit sticky, almost carmelized, and allowed it to soak in to the ice cream layer a bit instead of keeping the layers extremely separate.

Appearances and texture aside, it was still delicious. My dad loved it and it was a relatively easy dessert to make.

Ingredients

1 pound chocolate sandwich cookies, crushed
1/2 cup margarine, melted
1 3/4 cups confectioners' sugar
1 (12 fluid ounce) can evaporated milk
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup margarine
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 gallon vanilla ice cream
1 1/2 cups dry-roasted peanuts

Directions

1. Combined crushed cookies and melted margarine and press into a 9x13 inch dish. Chill 1 hour in refrigerator.

Tada! Mexican Tomato Basil Soup!

2. In a saucepan over medium heat, combine confectioners' sugar, evaporated milk, chocolate chips and 1/2 cup margarine. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly, and boil 8 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Set aside to cool.


3. Slice vanilla ice cream into 3/4 inch slices, and place them in a single layer over the chilled crust. Smooth the seams. Sprinkle the peanuts over the ice cream. Top with the cooled chocolate sauce. Cover and freeze 8 hours or overnight.

Source: allrecipes.com, inspired by Pam

Hello Dolly Bars

Here's another delicious recipe from my friend Darla (thanks, Darla!) She says these can be made in lots of different ways- with raspbery jam, butterscotch or peanut butter or white chocolate chips. She prefers them simple, with straight-up chocolate chips.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups crushed cinnamon graham crackers (about 8 graham crackers)
2 cups of chocolate chips
1 1/2 cups of shredded coconut
1 1/2 cups of chopped pecans
1 14 oz. can of sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup of butter

Method:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Melt the butter in a saucepan.
Pour melted butter into an 11x7 or 8x8 cake pan.
Sprinkle graham cracker crumbs into pan, and mix well with melted
butter to form a crust.
Layer on top of graham-cracker crust chocolate chips, coconut and pecans.
Evenly pour sweetened condensed milk over everything.
Bake in oven for 25 to 30 minutes, top should be light brown.
Let cool in pan for at least half an hour, cut into bars and serve.

Source: Darla via this blog

Banana Chocolate Chip Cake/Bars

If you've been a regular follower of the blog, you might think that Meg and I are part-monkey. We seem to always have bananas, and routinely, we have bananas that are past their prime.

A few months ago, I had a surplus of bananas and a desire to bake, so I hunted down some recipes on allrecipes.com. (FYI, I love the feature where you can input desired ingredients and the site generates recipes with those specifications!)

This "cake" was easily transitioned in to bars. It was moist and a great combination of fruit flavor and sweet chocolate chips.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup white sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup mashed bananas
1 egg
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup milk
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9x13 inch pan.

2. In a large bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.

3. In a separate bowl, combine bananas, egg, melted butter and milk.

4. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture until blended. Be careful not to over mix.


5. Stir in chocolate chips.

6. Pour batter into 9x13 inch pan. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) 30 to 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into center of cake comes out clean. (It will have some melted chocolate, but no crumbs.)

Source: allrecipes.com

Pumpkin Chip Cupcakes

We had a Halloween potluck at work at the end of October (cuz we like to come up with any excuse we can to eat good food).

I volunteered to bring in dessert, mostly because I love to bake (you probably already knew that). But also because I still had some homemade cream cheese frosting chilling in the fridge, begging to be used up. I made a big batch of it when I made pumpkin spice cookies for my mom, and I couldn't let the rest of it go to waste.

I tried to branch out and make something non-pumpkiny, since I've been making so much pumpkin stuff lately. But in the end, cream cheese frosting simply tastes amazing paired with pumpkin, and it *was* a Halloween potluck. So I caved. And, I told myself it was OK because I tried out a new recipe.

I snatched this recipe for Pumpkin Chip Cupcakes out of one of those little grocery store aisle booklets last year, vowing I would make them one day. Well, that day arrived. The combination of the frosting, pumpkin, pecans and chocolate chips sounded promising. Plus, I had some mellowcreme pumpkins to use up and some fall-inspired sprinkles.

My co-workers enjoyed them, and I threw the leftovers back in the fridge in the breakroom, where they sat all weekend. But they seemed to keep pretty well because people were still eating them on Monday (and claiming they were still just as good).

Ingredients

1 cup flour
1 cup sugar
1 tspn baking powder
1/4 tspn baking soda
1/4 tspn salt
1/4 tspn ground cinnamon
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 cup cooking oil
1/2 cup pecans, chopped
1/3 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips
Vanilla, chocolate or cream cheese frosting

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease or line muffin cups with paper baking cups; set aside.

In medium bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Make well in center of flour mixture.

In another medium bowl, combine eggs, pumpkin and oil. Add egg mixture all at once to flour mixture; stir until just moistened. Fold in pecans and chocolate chips. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups, filling each about two-thirds full.

Bake regular sized muffins for 20-25 minutes (mini muffins for 14-16 minutes), of until toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. Cool in muffin cups on wire rack for 5 minutes. Remove from muffin cups. Cool on wire rack. Tint frosting as desired; spread over cupcakes. Top with sprinkles.

Source: Better Homes and Gardens' Simply Better "Halloween Treats"

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread

For Round 13 of Operation Baking Gals, I made some Vanilla Cake Mix Coolers
and some pumpkin bread. I went in search of a pumpkin bread recipe and found one that included 1 cup of mini-chocolate chips - just the amount I had left over from the last time I made Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Dip. Since I'm all about not letting ingredients go to waste, I thought I'd try this one out.

The recipe I found yielded three loaves, which seemed a bit much, but I'm glad I made it. I sent one to our soldier, Josh; part of one to his wife, Kara; a few slices to my friend, Sara; and uh, Tim and I *might* have eaten the rest. Maybe.

Aside from the deliciousness of this moist, rich bread, I was pleased to find a reason to pull out some of the bread pans my grandmother had given me. There are a lot of baking pans that she passed on to me when I moved from Pittsburgh, and I feel like I don't use them enough.

INGREDIENTS

3 cups white sugar
1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
1 cup vegetable oil
2/3 cup water
4 eggs
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon ground nutmeg
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour three 1 pound size coffee cans, or three 9x5 inch loaf pans.


2. In a large bowl, combine sugar, pumpkin, oil, water, and eggs. Beat until smooth. Blend in flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, and salt. Fold in chocolate chips and nuts. Fill cans 1/2 to 3/4 full.


3. Bake for 1 hour, or until an inserted knife comes out clean. Cool on wire racks before removing from cans or pans.

Source: allrecipes.com