New York Times Chocolate Chip Cookies

Okay, okay.  The wait is over! 

Finally, I present you the New York Times Chocolate Chip Cookies. 

For those of you who are long time readers, you know I've been searching for the best, the ultimate, the perfect chocolate chip cookie for some time now.  There are seven chocolate chip cookie recipes on the blog, and a few more that I never got around to sharing.  The reality is I have yet to meet a chocolate chip cookie I don't like.  The idea of choosing just one cookie as "perfect", "the best" or the "ultimate" is unrealistic.  Each has it's own characteristics that make it worthy of a glass of ice cold milk. 

I've been intending to try the New York Times recipe for.....2 years!  I'm a little slow but I'm glad to say I got there. This cookie is definitely up at the top of the chocolate chip cookie food chain.  In fact, I've made the recipe twice in the past month.  I have a feeling it will make a few more appearances this year. 

What makes it so special?  It's chewy in the center and slightly crisp around the edges, which is signature of top notch chocolate chip cookie (in my opinion).  It's a big cookie...especially if you follow the recipe, it comes in around 5 inches.  The first time I made them as directed and the second time (pictured here) I went a little smaller, around 3 1/2 inches.  Either way, it's a thick hearty cookie.  It has a great depth of flavor--that brown sugary caramel flavor that pairs so perfectly with dark chocolate. 

The first time I made them I took them to a birthday bash at a friend's house and the cookies were gobbled up in record time.  There were several "oooohs" and "ahhhhs" so I'm pretty sure they were well received.  ;)

A couple of notes, I made the first batch with part semi sweet chocolate chips and part milk chocolate.  I like the combo of the two types of chocolate and will likely do that going forward.  Feel free to use the chocolates that you like best.

Overall it's an AWESOME cookie!  If you haven't tried it yet, don't wait 2 years like me! 

Enjoy!

New York Times Chocolate Chip Cookies
from New York times adapted from Jacques Torres

Yields 18 five inch cookies

2 cups minus 2 tablespoons cake flour (8 1/2 ounces)
1 2/4 cup bread flour (8 1/2 ounces)
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons coarse (kosher) salt
2 1/2 sticks (1 1/4 cups)
1 1/4 cups light brown sugar (10 ounces)
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar (8 ounces)
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 pounds bittersweet chocolate disks or chips (at least 60% cacao) (I used 12 ounces of semisweet chocolate and 8 ounces of milk chocolate)
Sea salt

Sift flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a medium bowl and set aside.

Cream butter and both sugars in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment on medium speed until very light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.  Turn mixer to low and add eggs, one at a time until combined.  Add vanilla.  Keeping mixer on low, add the dry ingredients in 3 batches until just combined.  Stir in chocolate pieces.  Cover the dough with plastic wrap pressed against the surface and refrigerate 24 - 36 hours.

When you are ready to bake remove the dough from the refrigerator and allow to stand at room temperature for about 20 minutes, or until dough is scoopable.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  Scoop six 3 1/2 ounce balls of dough (about the size of golf ball) and arrange on the baking sheet.  Sprinkle lightly with sea salt (I omitted this).  Bake for 18 to 20 minutes until golden brown but still soft in the center.  Allow baking sheet to cool on a wire rack for about 10 minutes.  Transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

Cookies are best the day they are baked.

No Bake Peanut Butter "Cookies"

Summer is zipping by.  The last few months have truly flown. Things have been busier than usual around here.  And exciting too!  A lot has been going on... 

Like, I will be starting a new job in a few weeks at my current company.  :) It's a promotion (of sorts) and I'm very excited about the new role!  I will miss my current team greatly, but am so ready (and a little nervous) for this step. 

My family celebrated my Grandfather's 96th birthday in early June and I made a big cake (and dip) to feed 25 people.  In case you're wondering, it was chocolate cake with chocolate frosting.  The cake turned out pretty good for an amateur.   

Then, a couple of weeks ago I said goodbye....to the first new car I ever bought, way back in college.  I had that car for 16 years (I guess I'm dating myself here)!  Anyway, the car served me very well but it was time bid it adieu!  It actually went to a good cause...we donated it to an organization that gives the proceeds to the troops. 

And with a goodbye, I got to welcome a new car into the picture, which I LOVE!  I ended up getting a hybrid...I couldn't resist the great gas mileage and opportunity to save a few bucks at the pump.  When living in Southern California, this is a very good thing! 

Then last weekend, I baked my second big cake in just over a month.  My very close friend and her husband threw a big birthday bash for their sons and I brought along another chocolate cake with chocolate frosting (chocolate cream cheese frosting to be exact!)--this time to feed 40!  I have to say baking the cake is the easy part....putting it together and decorating it is another story.  But I'm getting better.  The cake was a big hit! 

And since I had a large captive audience at the party, I took the opportunity to test out the New York Times chocolate chip cookie recipe as well.  It did not disappoint.  Definitely a winner and it may just be "the one".  Unfortunately the cookies were all gobbled up before I could photograph them, so you know what that means?  More cookies! 

I have to take a moment to give a shout out to Hubby...he not only helped me get the massive 3 layer sheet cake put together, but he also scooped and baked off all the cookies because I was running out of time.  Thanks Hubs!  You're a keeper! ;)

This is the first weekend that things have settled down.  And I'm ready for a brief lull in the all the excitement and activity.  Other than the aforementioned cakes and cookies, I've done little baking in the last several weeks.  In fact, I have been avoiding the oven.  Mostly because it's too darn hot out.  But a girl still needs her sweet fix.  I thought this would be the perfect time to finally try a "no-bake" cookie recipe. 

This version comes from the book Baked Explorations, where I've made a number of traditional "baked" cookie recipes.  Like the authors of the book, I have a hard time truly classifying this as a "cookie."  It's not so much a cookie.  It is more in the confections/candy bar-esque category if you ask me.  But, that doesn't make it any less tasty!  The recipe title indicates this is a peanut butter cookie, but there is a pronounced chocolate element as well with the inclusion of cocoa powder.  You all know how I'm a fan of chocolate and peanut butter together. ;) So this was a winner for me.  And the oats bring in a nice chewy factor.  It definitely satisfied my sweet tooth (a few times this weekend).  The best part--no oven needed! 

Enjoy!

No-Bake Peanut Butter Cookies
from Baked Explorations by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito

Yields 36 cookies

1/2 cup whole milk
2 cups sugar
1/3 cup dark unsweetened cocoa powder (I used Guittard)
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, cut into 1/2 inch cubes and softened
1 cup chunky peanut butter (smooth can be used as well)*
3 cups rolled oats
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a medium heavy bottomed sauce pan heat milk, sugar, cocoa powder and butter over medium heat until butter is melted and sugar is dissolved.  Bring to a boil and stir constantly.  Once the mixture is boiling, stop stirring and allow to boil for 90 seconds.  Remove the pan from the heat and stir in peanut butter, oats and vanilla until fully combined.

Using a small ice cream scoop (about 1 1/2 inches wide) with a release mechanism, scoop out cookies onto the prepared baking sheet leaving room in between as they spread a bit.  You can also use a tablespoon to drop the cookies onto the baking sheet.  Once the cookies are cool, place the baking sheet in the refrigerator and chill for an hour.  Serve cold or you can also return them to room temperature.  The cookies should be stored in an airtight container separated by layers of parchment paper for up to 3 days.

*You can also use natural peanut butter, but you will also need to increase the oats by 1/3 cup.

Peanut Butter Fudge Swirl Ice Cream

Happy 4th of July! 

Today I'm going straight for the good stuff.  Sweet, delicious ice cream.  Peanut butter ice cream with fudge ripple swirled throughout, no less.  This is something I'm fairly certain you NEED in your life.  Unless you don't like peanut butter and chocolate together.  Then you should seek counseling immediately.  Because this is a flavor combination that makes one's life complete (unless you are allergic to peanuts...then you already probably stopped reading this)!

I saw this recipe on my pal Tracey's blog and instantly knew this would be the first ice cream churned of the summer at my house.  It was.  And it was pretty darn fantastic.  The ice cream base delivers on a solid peanut butter flavor.  The fudge ripple brings just the right amount of chocolate to balance the peanut butter.  Very creamy, peanutty and fudgy.  All good things in my book!

The ice cream didn't last long here.  In fact I barely had enough to squeak out some photos.  Most of it disappeared after we had my nephew and his fiancé over to watch the Blackhawks vs. Bruins game two Stanley Cup hockey game--yeah I'm a little late posting this!  I have to detour a bit from the ice cream and talk about hockey...

Hubs and I aren't too big into sports.  We occasionally watch things like the Super Bowl or World Series, but rarely follow a team.  Except when a Chicago team is the running for playoffs Hubs gets into it showing a little love for his hometown.  We started watching the NHL playoff series and low and behold the Chicago Blackhawks kept in it all the way to win the western conference and moved on to the Stanley Cup finals where they defeated the Boston Bruins (sorry Tracey!) and won the cup! We had a blast watching the games (and make food for the games).  It's safe to say we are officially hooked on hockey and are looking forward to the start of the next season in the fall. 

Back to the ice cream.

It's really delicious.  Enough said.

Enjoy!

Peanut Butter Fudge Swirl Ice Cream
from Sweet Cream and Sugar Cones via Tracey's Culinary Adventures

For the fudge ripple
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 cup water
6 tablespoons Dutch process cocoa powder, sifted
1/4 cup corn syrup
1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
1 ounce bittersweet chocolate finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Start by making the fudge ripple.  In a small sauce pan combine sugar, water, cocoa powder, corn syrup and salt.  Heat on medium/high until the mixture comes to a simmer, whisking frequently.  Once the sugar is dissolved, remove the pan from the heat and add the chocolate and allow to sit for one minute.  Stir until chocolate is completely melted and smooth.  Stir in vanilla.  Transfer to a heat proof container and refrigerate until fully chilled.

For the peanut butter ice cream
1 3/4 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup 1% milk
3/4 cup sugar divided in two
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
5 large egg yolks
1/3 cup natural peanut butter (I used regular Skippy)
1/4 to 1/3 cup fudge ripple

Make the ice cream by adding heavy cream, milk and half the sugar to a medium saucepan and place on medium heat.  Stir to combine and allow the cream mixture to just come to a simmer.

While the cream is heating, whisk egg yolks and remaining sugar in a medium heatproof bowl until pale.

In another medium heatproof bowl (large enough to hold all the ice cream mixture) add the peanut butter and set aside. 

When the cream mixture comes to a simmer, remove from the heat and slowly add the cream mixture to the egg mixture, whisking continuously (you don't want your eggs to scramble!).  Add the cream/egg mixture back to the saucepan and return heat to medium/low.  Stir frequently until the mixture thickens slightly and the temperature on a candy thermometer reaches 170 - 175.  The mixture should be thick enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon. 

Strain the mixture into the bowl with the peanut butter.  Stir to combine the peanut butter until the cream is smooth and peanut butter is fully incorporated.  Cover with plastic wrap and chill for 4 hours, or overnight until mixture is fully chilled. 

Churn peanut butter ice cream in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer instructions.  Transfer ice cream to a freezer proof airtight container, adding drizzles of fudge ripple along the way.  Add as much or little as you like to suit your taste.  Swirl the fudge using a butter knife.  Cover and return to the freezer until firm, about 4 hours.

M & M and Chocolate Chip Blondies

Guess what time it is?  Secret Recipe Club time!  A Secret Santa of sorts for food bloggers.  Each month everyone is assigned a blog....and, shhhh....it's a secret.  You spend the month stalking browsing your assigned blog.  You pick a recipe, make it and blog it.  Everyone in the group "reveals" their posts on the same day.  It's a great way to get know a new blog, and find lots of yummy new recipes to try.  Plus it's fun! 

This month I was assigned Carrie's Sweet Life.  Carrie does indeed have a sweet life, with 2 beautiful little girls and a hubby and little dog named Peanut.  I enjoyed browsing through Carrie's Sweet Life and pinned a number of recipes to try.  Ultimately I went with something sweet.  Had to be done, right?

Carrie's M&M Blondies lured me in.  Like a chocolate chip cookie wrapped up into a chewy bar with M&M's and a gorgeous crackled golden top.  Yep, it had to be done.

This recipe is easy and comes together quickly...only 2 bowls required and no mixer needed.  Gotta love that. 

So how do they taste?  Delish!  The blondies have a wonderful caramel flavor due to a combination of light and dark brown sugar (no white sugar here).  The texture is indeed chewy on the inside and I love the slight crunch from that crackly top.  Oh, and I couldn't resist amping up the chocolate factor...so in addition to the cup of M&M's...I also threw in a cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips.  This recipe is versatile so you could add in whatever mixins you were in the mood for. 

Enjoy!

M&M and Chocolate Chip Blondies
adapted from Carrie's Sweet Life

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, melted
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup light brown sugar packed
3/4 cup dark brown sugar packed
2 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup M&M's
1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350.  Spray a 9x9 inch pan with cooking spray.  Cut 2 pieces of parchment to lay in the pan to form a sling (allowing for easy removal of the blondie after baking).  Lay in the first piece of parchment and spray with cooking spray.  Lay in the second piece on the opposite side and spray again.

In a medium bowl, whisk flour, baking powder and salt.  In a large bowl whisk melted butter with light and dark brown sugars until fully combined.  Whisk in eggs and vanilla until combined.  Add the flour mixture in 2 parts to the wet ingredients until just combined.  Stir in the M&M's and chocolate chips. Pour batter into prepared baking pan.  Bake for 25 - 30 minutes, until top is golden and a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.

Note: I baked mine in an 8x8 pan and increased the baking time 10-15 minutes.

Chewy Chocolate Cookies with M&M's

I have to start by saying I accidentally published this post before it was complete.  So if you received the one without photos and the recipe in your reader or email, please disregard it. 

I have a funny story about these cookies.  If you follow along here regularly you might remember back in December I had some family and friends over to bake for the Christmas edition of Operation Baking GALS.  Everyone brought baked goodies to send to the troops overseas.  My sister brought chewy chocolate cookies with chocolate and peanut butter chips that looked amazing.   Now the point of the day was to send as many goodies to the troops as possible, but, a few cookies, including 1, and only 1, chewy chocolate cookie, didn't fit nicely into the containers.  These leftover cookies, along with several broken cookies and the cut off edges of peppermint brownies and gingerbread blondies went on a piece of parchment paper on the kitchen counter that I fondly referred to as the "cookie graveyard."  It would be a major faux pas to let perfectly good tasting cookies and cookie pieces go to waste right? 

Fast forward to the end of the day and Hubby and were cleaning up.  Hubby was in the kitchen doing dishes and I was busy gathering empty appetizer dishes from the living room.  I came into the kitchen and immediately noticed my cookie graveyard was gone!  As in NOT THERE.  What!?  I had an instant reaction where I may have screamed/screeched, "What happened to my cookies????"  To which Hubby looked at me blankly.  To clarify, I pointed to the empty spot on the counter and said, "the cookie graveyard, it was sitting right over there."  He replied, "Oh.  I just threw those out a second ago.  It looked like trash."

Nooooo!!!!  Holy moly! Cookie scraps, and in this case, a few whole cookies, is so not trash.  I don't care what it looked like!  (Okay, it did look like a heap of cookie parts).  By the way, does my excessive punctuation adequately convey my astonishment and the fact that my ears turned red in these few moments where I realized my prized cookie was gone? 

I immediately flipped open the lid to the kitchen trash can and saw the parchment paper holding the cookie graveyard staring right at me. 

You know where this is going.

Without hesitating, I scooped up that bundle of parchment and opened it up to retrieve the one prized cookie I had been dying to try all day...Katie's chewy chocolate cookie.  I pulled out my little chocolate jewel....right out of the trash.  Yep. 

I know.  It's sketchy.  But rest assured the cookie was bundled inside parchment and I'm confident that it most definitely did NOT directly touch any other trash.  That makes it okay.  Right?  :)

Anyway, the dumpster diving was worth it.  The cookie was simply delicious.  Packed full of rich chocolate with both cocoa powder and chocolate chips/chopped chocolate.  I especially loved the chewy texture.  The coolest part is how the cookie can be tweaked to fit your tastes.  Katie added peanut butter chips, which were delish.  But you could easily add white chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, milk, dark chocolate or any kind of chip/chopped chocolate that suits your fancy.  I know for the holidays this year I will be making these with Trader Joe's peppermint bark baking bits--yum.  But I'm getting a little ahead of myself since it's only February...

When contemplating what to make for Baking GALS this month I knew these cookies would be on the menu.  The chewy factor makes them a good item for shipping long distances.  I wanted to dress them up a bit for the troops so I added red, white and blue M&M's (which I got from picking out white M&M's from a valentines bag and the red and blue from the normal M&M's bag).  They added a perfect little crunch and amped up the chocolate even further.  Definitely a keeper. 

Enjoy!

P.S. If you have any recipes that would be good for long distance shipping and stays fresh for at least a week, please share your links in the comments. 

Chewy Chocolate Cookies with M&M's
adapted from Cook's Illustrated Cook Book

1/2 cup plus 1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup Dutch processed cocoa (I used regular cocoa powder because it's what I had on hand)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon plus 1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup dark corn syrup
1 large egg white
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature
1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar
4 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate chopped into 1/2 inch pieces
1-1 1/2 cups M&M's

In a medium bowl whisk flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt until well blended.  In a small bowl whisk corn syrup, egg white and vanilla together until fully combined.

In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter with the dark brown sugar and the 1/3 cup of granulated sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.  Reduce the mixer to low speed and add the corn syrup mixture until fully combined, scraping the bowl as necessary.  With the mixer on low add in the flour mixture and chocolate slowly until just combined.  Remove the bowl from the mixer and stir by hand to ensure no flour remains.  Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes, allowing the dough to firm slightly.

While the dough is chilling, place the 1/2 cup of granulated sugar in a shallow bowl.  Line 2-3 baking sheets with parchment paper.  Preheat oven to 375, positioning racks in the upper and lower middle of the oven. 

Remove dough from refrigerator.  Please note the dough does not get fully firm.  Don't over chill the dough. Using a 2 tablespoon cookie scoop, scoop out the dough and roll it in the sugar and place on the baking sheets 2 inches apart, fitting 8 cookies to a sheet.  Take M&M's and gently press them into the surface of the dough (do not flatten cookies) fairly close together, but evenly spaced around the top and sides.  The M&M's will spread out when the cookie bakes. I placed about 9-10 M&M's on each cookie.

Bake about 10 - 11 minutes or until the cookies are slightly puffed and starting to crack.  The cookie may look underdone in the cracks, which is fine.  Do not overbake.  Be sure to rotate cookies from top to bottom and front to back for even baking. 

Remove from oven and allow cookies to cool for 5-7 minutes on the baking sheet.  Transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

Makes 24 cookies.

Gingerbread White Chocolate Blondies and an Operation Baking GALS Christmas

The countdown is on!  Christmas is exactly one week away.  And I am definitely not ready.  I've done about 70% of my shopping and hoping to finish the rest up during the week nights...cause I have a feeling the malls and stores are going to be insane next weekend for that final Christmas push.

Things have been a bit insane around here.  The last two weekends have been completely dedicated to non stop baking (more on the last weekend's baking extravaganza in a future post).  The baking marathon started on Friday, December 7th with dough preparation.  Followed by baking all day December 8th and half day December 9th.  On the 9th, fifteen family and friends came over to our house in the afternoon with their own baked goodies so we could pack up boxes for the two recipients I signed up to bake for for this month's Operation Baking GALS. 

If you haven't heard of the Baking GALS, it's a group of volunteer bakers who bake and ship goodies to military deployed overseas once a month.  I've been participating since May of this year and I absolutely love it.  I typically sign up to send to one recipient each month and usually send one large flat rate priority mail box from the post office... 

But since December is Christmastime I figured I would up my game and recruit my friends and family to help bake for the two troops I signed up for.  It must be especially hard to be away from home during the holidays so it was our goal to bring them some home baked goodness and holiday cheer. 

I have to say my friends and family rock!  They amazed me with everything they contributed.  I wasn't sure how many boxes we could fill, but I was hoping for 6 (3 for each recipient).  If you're wondering what one person would do with that many treats...don't worry, they don't have to eat them all by themselves.  Each recipient shares the goodies with all the troops in their units (our recipients have 50-100 people in each of their units). 

Apparently I completely under estimated my crew because we filled more than twice as many boxes as I hoped....we did a total of 14 boxes!  Wow!  It was beyond awesome!

Since I've never done this on a mass scale, I wasn't sure how it was all going to come together.  Especially since we have a fairly small home and not a lot of space.  There was a little chaos trying to get our assembly line organized, but we made it work and everything came together in just a couple of hours. 

Each person brought their goodies, already baked, along with some non baked items, like individual snack size bags of nuts to help fill spaces in the boxes.  The shipping is a flat rate, so we pack in as much as possible.

Here's a re-cap of the baked goodies everyone contributed:

Walnut Fudge

Peanut Butter Cookies (two kinds)

Raisin Walnut Spice Cookies

Chewy Chocolate Cookies with Peanut Butter Chips

Peppermint Brownies

Molasses and Ginger Cookies (several types)

Cranberry Almond Biscotti

Nieman Marcus Cookies

Jalapeno Cheddar Crackers

Salted Candied Pecans

Pumpkin Bread

Zucchini Bread

Chocolate Zucchini Bread

Chocolate Chip Candy Cane Cookies

Cookie Dough Fudge

Oatmeal Cookies

and

Gingerbread White Chocolate Blondies 

People also donated plenty of non baked items to help fill the boxes....such as pistachios, beef jerky, mixed nuts, pretzels, coffee, cup of noodles, card games, magazines, See's peanut brittle and 150 See's candy suckers.  My mom, niece and nephew and a few others, tied red, white and blue curling ribbon on each and every sucker.  We used them to fill up nooks and crannies and it really brought a festive touch to the boxes.

Here are pictures from Operation Baking GALS Christmas.
 

Friends and family packing up cookies



Mom and my niece and nephew tying red, white and blue ribbons on 150 See's suckers
(notice the guys supervising while watching football)

The goodies are stacking up!

My Grandma!  She made these adorable (and delicious) little strawberry santas for us to snack on.
 

Check out the goodies!  We included some cards and notes for the troops.

All the boxes around the Christmas tree ready to be taped up!

See.  My friends and family rock!  I've already gotten a few requests to make this an annual tradition.  I'm totally in!

Thank you to everyone who helped with the

Operation Baking GALS Christmas edition. 

Oh, and I suppose I should tell you a little about the blondies. 

I've sent these to the troops in the past and they maintain freshness for the week plus traveling time it takes for a box to arrive overseas.  The molasses is what keeps them so moist.  They remind me of a chewy ginger snap dotted with sweet white chocolate.  They bake in large sheet pan.  I turned the giant blondie out on to the bottom of another sheet placed on top and then inverted and inverted again onto a large cutting board.  Once it's out I cut individual squares using a square cookie cutter.  I find that my knife skills trying to maintain even straight lines are pretty horrible.  Luckily the cookie cutter ensures a perfect size every time.

These are easy to make and have that spiced flavor I'm looking for around the holidays.  Definitely a keeper.

Enjoy!


Gingerbread White Chocolate Blondies
from Martha Stewart Cookies

2 3/4 cups plus 1 tablespoon all purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1 1/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1 1/4 cups (2 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature
1 1/4 cups packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 large eggs plus 1 egg yolk
1 1/4 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/3 cup unsulfured molasses
1 3/4 cup coarsely chopped white chocolate (10 ounces) - I used 12 ounces white chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350.  Spray a 12x17 rimmed baking sheet with non stick cooking spray.  Line bottom of the pan with parchment paper and spray the parchment with non stick cooking spray (to make a sling for easy removal, allow parchment to hang over the ends of the pan). 

In a medium bowl, whisk flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger and cloves together until evenly distributed. 

In the bowl of an electric mixture fitted with paddle attachment, beat butter and both sugars on medium-high speed until creamy and pale (about 3 minutes).  Turn mixer to low and add eggs and yolk one at a time until fully combined, scraping down bowl as needed.  Add vanilla and molasses until combined.  With mixer on low add the flour mixture in 3 batches until combined.   Stir in white chocolate.

Pour batter into the baking sheet and spread evenly using an offset spatula.  Bake for 25 minutes until golden brown on the edges. Cool fully in the baking sheet. 

Non-Dairy Banana Chocolate Ice Cream Pie

Is it really August?  The time is flying and I can feel fall coming right around the corner.  That feeling is in my mind and not due to any sign from the hot and unseasonably humid weather that doesn't seem to let up.  I guess the thought of fall is more like wishful thinking at this point  But doesn't a pumpkin spice cake or warm apple pie sound delicious? 

In the meantime, I have this banana chocolate ice cream pie to cool me off.  I love the combination of banana and chocolate! 

Today marks another round of Secret Recipe Club.  This month I was assigned Deanna's blog, The Mommy Bowl.  The Mommy Bowl is dedicated to gluten free and dairy free recipes.  There's a charming story behind how The Mommy Bowl got it's name.  Deanna had a bowl, actually 3 bowls, that have been with her since childhood.  She managed to hang on to them through college dorm rooms, apartments and eventually marriage and children.  The bowls are still in Deanna's life and she always keeps one of the bowls at the ready for her morning cereal--The Mommy Bowl.  Her bowls have been filled with various things over the years and her blog is the journey to document what will fill her bowl next.  Don't you just love that?

When I first started browsing Deanna's blog, I'm not going to lie, I got nervous.  I have only baked gluten free once and butter and eggs, among other dairy products, are regular characters in my kitchen. What would I make?  The reality is whatever recipe I selected, I would have to go out and buy ingredients which are not staples in my pantry.  I was having a little bit of the fear of the unknown....but this is what Secret Recipe Club is all about.  Making new things.  New, tasty things.  :)

I ultimately decided to make Deanna's Non-Dairy Queen Ice Cream "Cake" a.k.a Banana Chocolate Ice Cream Cake.  But I turned mine into pie because I didn't have the mold rings Deanna used for hers.  But I do have a cute 6 inch mini pie pan.  And it worked perfectly!

What I enjoyed the most about making this was seeing how alternative ingredients turn into flavors that I'm familiar with.  Like turning dates, cocoa powder, honey and water into fudge sauce.  And it really does have a dark chocolate fudgey taste and consistency.  I would never guess I was eating dates!  Kind of cool!  It turns out my gluten free, dairy free fears were unfounded.  This ice cream pie is a delicious and refreshing summer treat.  It reminds me a lot of eating a chocolate covered frozen banana topped with nuts.  Who doesn't love those?  Especially on a hot day.

Thanks to Deanna for turning me onto the goodness of a non-dairy frozen dessert!  If you are looking for a variety of gluten free or dairy free recipes, including a ton of baked goods head over to The Mommy Bowl.

Enjoy!

Non-Dairy Banana Chocolate Ice Cream Pie
adapted from The Mommy Bowl

Note: The Mommy Bowl makes an ice cream "cake" version using a round English muffin mold.  For this presentation head over to her site. 

Makes one 6 inch mini pie

Ingredients:

Crust:
2 tablespoons palm sugar
1/3 cup whole almonds
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 tablespoon (heaping) raw cacao (I used cacao nibs)

Fudge:
3 dried dates soaked in water for 1 hour
1 tablespoon raw cacao powder (I used cocoa powder)
1 teaspoon honey (not in original recipe)
1-2 tablespoons water

Ice Cream:
2 large bananas, peeled and frozen (I used 3 small)
2 tablespoons non-dairy milk (I used almond milk)

Chocolate Sauce to drizzle on top:
1 tablespoon raw cacao powder (I used cocoa powder)
1 tablespoon coconut nectar, agave nectar or maple syrup (I used clover honey)
1 teaspoon water

Prep:
Start by peeling and freezing the bananas.  I recommend doing this the night before you plan to make the dessert.  Prepare your mini pie pan (or you could use a 6 inch cake pan) by spraying it with non stick cooking spray. 

Make the Crust:
Next make the crust by combining all ingredients in a mini food processor until the nuts begin to break down and release some of their oil.  The crumbs should stick together when you press them together.  Press crumbs along bottom and sides of the pie pan.  Place pan in freezer for about an hour or until crust feels solid.

Make the Fudge:
While the crust is freezing, make the fudge by combining all the ingredients in a mini food processor and blend until smooth.  Spoon the fudge layer over the frozen crust, on the bottom and up the sides stopping about 1/4 inch from the top of the crust layer.  Return to the freezer for another hour or until the fudge is frozen.

Make the Ice Cream:
Blend bananas and non dairy milk in a large food processor until smooth and creamy and no chunks of banana remain.  Fill the pie with the banana "ice cream" and return to the freezer for 2-4 hours or until frozen through.

Make the Chocolate Sauce:
Mix the sauce by stirring all the ingredients together in a small bowl until it reaches a drizzling consistency.  Drizzle sauce over the frozen banana pie and return to the freezer for one final set up, about 30 minutes to 1 hour.

Cut, serve and enjoy!

Gateau au Chocolat

Chocolate cake or jalapeno poppers?

Chocolate cake or jalapeno poppers?

Jalapeno poppers or chocolate cake???

We all know what wins in the end with me.  Chocolate.  Cake.

My first love in the kitchen is baking.  And my kitchen is filled with warm chocolate smells right at this very moment.  My little beauty is out of the oven and I'm keeping my fingers and toes crossed that I didn't over bake it.  Guess we'll find out later.

I found the recipe for this chocolate gateau on Rhonda's blog, The Kitchen Witch (TKW).  The Kitchen Witch is my blog assignment for this month's Secret Recipe Club.  For those of you that don't know, Secret Recipe Club is like Secret Santa for food bloggers.  Each month you are assigned a blog.  You pick a recipe to make and on the designated day, everyone in the group "reveals" their post featuring a recipe from their assigned blog.  It's fun to see what everyone makes.  I look forward to SRC reveal day each month. 

I've been in Secret Recipe Club with Rhonda for over a year now...and I always enjoy reading her blog posts.  She's adventurous, she's funny, she's always keepin it real and she's a bit of badass.  I mean come on, she has a regular feature on her blog called Motorcycle Mondays.  That's pretty cool!  Hope you don't mind I called you a badass Rhonda! ;)

Speaking of cool, I'm a little envious of Rhonda's most recent adventure...an intensive 5 month photography school.  Check out this inspiring post to see how she turned a big lemon into lemonade by pursuing one of her passions.  Kudos to you Rhonda!  She recently posted about one of her final photography projects...a video showcasing macro food photography.  It's really stunning.  If you have a couple of minutes I urge you to watch her beautiful collage of photos.

While Rhonda has been working hard on her photography, I've spent the last month pouring over her blog, pondering what to make.  She has a variety of recipes from down home cooking, like Loose Meat Sandwiches and "Red Neck Breakfast on a Croissant" alongside pretty dishes like "Brie, Bacon and Fig in a Phillo Cup" or "Goat Cheese and Proscuitto Crostini".  So many delicious choices.  Ultimately it came down to bacon wrapped jalapeno poppers and this chocolate cake.  I came really really close to going with the poppers...I adore jalapeno poppers and I've never made them at home.  Rest assured, I still plan to make these babies...I even have all the ingredients.  But in the end, the craving for warm sweet chocolate won. 

I'm so not sorry I went with the cake.  It's a perfect chocolate dessert.  The cake is rich, but not too rich.  It's chocolatey but not too chocolatey.  It has beautiful crackled top which deceptively hides the intensely moist interior.  The cake is incredibly light and airy (no doubt, due to the whipped egg whites that are folded into the batter).  It's brownie-esque...but lighter.  I really loved it.  The cake doesn't need much adornment.  A little sprinkle of powdered sugar will do it.  I threw in a few raspberries for color, but the cake definitely stands alone.  A dollop of fresh whipped cream would never hurt, though.

I halved the recipe and made it in a regular 6 inch cake pan.  The recipe calls for a spring form pan (I believe around 9-10 inches) but I don't have a small spring form.  So to ensure I could remove this delicate cake from a regular cake pan, I added two strips of parchment parchment paper under the round parchment lining on the bottom.  The two strips make handles to lift the cake from the pan.  I was a little nervous, but it came out of the pan easily. 

And thankfully, I didn't overbake it.  In fact, I think 3 more minutes would have been just perfect.  My 6 inch pan baked for 30 minutes.

This one's already been filed away in the keeper file. 

By the way, Rhonda doesn't claim to be a baker, but I think she has to face the fact that she's got some serious skills in the baking department.  Thanks Rhonda for sharing such a great recipe!

Enjoy!

Gateau au Chocolat
from The French Recipe Cookbook via The Kitchen Witch

3/4 cup sugar (3 tablespoons set aside)
10 ounces of semisweet chocolate, chopped
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
5 eggs, whites and yolks separated
1/4 cup flour, sifted
Pinch of salt
Powdered sugar for dusting

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.  Butter a 9-10 inch spring form pan.  Line the bottom with parchment paper and butter the parchment paper.  Sprinkle flour in the pan and shake the pan to cover the bottom and sides with flour, discarding any excess flour. 

Melt chocolate, butter and all the sugar minus 3 tablespoons in a medium sauce pan on low heat until chocolate is melted and sugar is dissolved.  Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.  Allow chocolate to cool slightly.

Whisk egg yolks and very slowly stream the yolks into the chocolate mixture, whisking continuously.  You don't want any scrambled eggs.  Stir in the flour and set aside.

Place egg whites in a stand mixer and mix on medium using the whisk attachment until the whites get frothy.  Gradually increase the speed to high and add the pinch of salt and continue beating until the soft peaks form.  Slowly add in 3 reserved tablespoons of sugar and continue beating until stiff glossy peaks form. 

Fold 1/3 of beaten egg whites into the chocolate mixture.  Add remaining egg whites, stirring gently until fully incorporated.  Pour the batter into your prepared cake pan and gently tap the pan on the counter to remove any air bubbles.  Bake for 35 - 45 minutes until cake rises and the top is dry and springs back when lightly touched with your fingertip.  Transfer the cake to a wire rack and remove the sides of the spring form pan and allow cake to cool completely.  (Or if you use a regular pan, allow to cool completely in the pan before removing).

Just before serving, dust with powdered sugar.

White Chocolate Blueberry Almond Cookies

I do a lot of stuff in my mind.  Like accomplishing way more tasks in a day than humanly possible.  In my mind, every night I plan to get up early the next day to start conquering the to do list.  The list is all checked off at the end of the day and I beam with satisfaction. 

I also exercise  a lot (still in my mind).  I envision myself running and sweating and feeling so accomplished by the fact I can actually run.  It's like I'm running a 5K everyday.  And I see my jeans slipping on and buttoning with ease because of all this running I'm doing. 

Since I'm exercising it's only natural that I'm also eating really really healthy (yet tasty) foods.  Again, we are still in my mind.  And I feel all energized and clean from eating such nutritionally rich super foods.   I'm practically glowing from all this healthiness. 

And of course I still have time to check a few more things off my to do list before I turn in for the night.  Then I get up and do it all over again.  

I'm sure you can guess where this is going.

Reality.  Why does reality always come along and ruin everything?

In real life I'm lucky if I get through 1/3 of my to do list on most days.  Even if I actually set my alarm to rise early and tackle a few more projects in my day...I pretty much always snooze.  At least 3 times, sometimes more.  And I rarely exercise.  If I do, it certainly doesn't involve running.  Best case scenario it involves a swift walk, occasionally up a hill if I'm feeling really adventurous.  It's so much more fun to run in my head I guess!  Food is the one area where sometimes I accomplish the lofty goals my mind has in store.  I try to eat healthy-ish.  But I also do more than my fair share of indulging in cookies, cakes, pies, ice cream....more cookies.   

Cookies live in my mind.  And thankfully they are a pretty regular reality around here.  They are my indulgence of choice.  I'm always looking to try new cookie flavor combos.  These cookies were completely experimental.  I was looking for something different to send for Operation Baking GALS this month.  I was very happy with the finished product and hope they made it through 7 days of travel overseas. 

I took a white chocolate chip macadamia nut recipe and pretty much went to town.  It started with plump dried blueberries (I'm pretty certain blueberries are a super food!  Right?  Right??) and almonds (good for you too!), along with butter and plenty of brown sugar.  Okay, those last two are questionable in the health department, but they make these oh so chewy and caramelly delicious.  Don't forget about the sweet, creamy, white chocolate chips.  All the flavors work really well together...blueberry pie, meets cheesecake, meets cookie.  Good stuff.

I better go back to exercising in my head. 

Enjoy!

White Chocolate Blueberry Almond Cookies
from The Ginger Snap Girl

Yields 36 cookies

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/4 cups packed brown sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 cups white chocolate chips
1 3/4 cups dried blueberries
1 3/4 cups chopped almonds

Preheat oven to 375 and line 3 baking sheets with parchment paper.  In a medium whisk flour, baking soda and salt.  In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (you can also use a hand mixer) cream butter and sugars on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes.  Turn mixer to low and add eggs one at time, until incorporated.  Mix in vanilla.  Add in flour mixture in three batches and mix on low until just incorporated.  Add white chocolate chips, blueberries and almonds and mix on low until evenly distributed. 

Using a medium cookie scoop (about 2 tablespoons) scoop out 12 cookies per baking sheet.  Bake for 11-13 minutes until lightly golden brown, rotating sheets from front to back and top to bottom halfway through cooking.  Allow to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Kit Kat Ice Cream

Kit Kat's were hands down my favorite candy bar as a kid.  "Gimme a break, gimme a break, break me off a piece of that Kit Kat bar!"  Come on, sing it with me!   "Gimme a break, gimme a break, break me off a piece...." 

Sorry.  Had to do it. 

This was long before I took a liking to dark chocolate.  In fact, these days, I rarely eat milk chocolate.  After going to the dark side, I find milk chocolate a little too sweet.  But I still have a soft spot for my childhood favorite.  I came across this recipe on Baked Bree and it made me smile, feeling a surge of nostalgia.  Kit Kat's and ice cream sounded like the perfect way to enjoy my favorite candy bar.  Plus my cat's name is Kit Kat.  No relation to the candy bar, but sweet nonetheless.

The ice cream made it's debut over the long weekend.  Memorial Day weekend is a turning point in the year.  It marks the (unofficial) start of summer.  It's also the anniversary of when Hubby and I officially bought our current home 8 years ago and embarked on a number of heavy duty home improvement projects.   It's also the one year anniversary of the purchase of our very first ice cream maker.  So you see, the Kit Kat ice cream was meant to be this weekend.

I'm a few days late here, but still want to highlight that Memorial Day is more than a long weekend and fun ice cream.  It's a day dedicated to remembering and honoring the brave men and women who have served our country and have lost their lives.  Their bravery and sacrifice is what makes it possible for us to enjoy the freedom and civil liberties that make life great in America.  I have to be honest that I have not paid this national holiday the homage it deserves in the past.  I am embarrassed to admit that I posted last year about our Memorial Day weekend without a single mention of the meaning of the holiday.  It's too easy to get caught up in life and forget to take a moment to think about all that we have to be thankful for.  This my reminder to be mindful and my opportunity to say thank you to the soldiers that have lost their lives in service and thank you to the soldiers currently serving.

Thank you.

Okay, I have to talk a little about the ice cream.  When I told my Hubby I was making Kit Kat ice cream, he was excited.  What he didn't realize was the ice cream base is chocolate (not the vanilla he was hoping for).  The chocolate base mimics the flavor of the candy bar with cocoa powder, milk chocolate and malted milk powder.  The malted milk powder is wafer-esque in flavor, just like the crunch in the candy bar.  Once the ice cream is churned, 1/4 inch pieces of Kit Kat's are mixed in.  And to take it over the top, it's garnished with a stick or two.  I churned my ice cream for 25 minutes, but think it could have used another 5.  It was on the soft side, even after being frozen overnight.  Though it was a touch on the soft side, that certainly didn't stop me from eating it all.  Aside from a small bowl Hubby ate, I devoured the rest over 4 days.  Don't tell anyone.

If you have a soft spot for Kit Kat's, give this ice cream a try.  You won't be sorry.  Unless you (nearly) eat it all by yourself like I someone I know.

Enjoy!

Kit Kat Ice Cream
from Baked Bree

1 cup whole milk
3/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1/4 cup malted milk powder
Pinch of salt
3 egg yolks
3 ounces milk chocolate, chopped
1 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
3 full size Kit Kat bars

In a saucepan heat milk, sugar, cocoa powder, malted milk powder and salt over medium heat to a just a simmer until sugar and cocoa powder are dissolved.  Do not boil.

Whisk eggs in a medium bowl and very slowly stream in half of the hot milk mixture to the eggs, whisking continuously.  If you add it too quickly the eggs will scramble.   Add the egg and milk mixture back to your saucepan and heat on medium low until mixture is thickened (the mixture should coat the back of a wooden spoon).  This only took a few minutes for me.

Pour the mixture through a fine mesh strainer into a medium bowl.  Add chopped chocolate, heavy cream and vanilla and stir until the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth.  Cover the mixture with plastic wrap and chill for at least 4 hours or overnight.

Pour mixture into your ice cream maker and churn accordingly to the manufacturer's instructions.  While the ice cream is churning, chop the Kit Kat bars into 1/4 inch pieces (reserving 2 sticks for garnish).  Transfer ice cream into a container and stir in the Kit Kat pieces.  Cover and freeze until firm, 4 hours or overnight.

Monster Cookies

How the month sneaks by so quickly, I don't know.  But it's already time for the latest installment of Secret Recipe Club. This month I was assigned Moms Crazy Cooking.  Tina has a really fun blog with a lot of little craziness in the mix. ;) Between cooking for her family of six, her twin girl's competitive cheer schedule and participating in several online cooking/baking groups I don't think there is a dull moment at Tina's house.  Tina even hosts a monthly themed cooking challenge online called the "Crazy Cooking Challenge" where other bloggers make their take on the assigned theme, link up their posts and then everyone votes for the "Ultimate Recipe".  The last Crazy Cooking Challenge theme was Grilled Cheese Sandwiches.  There were some pretty good looking recipes in there!  Check out Tina's blog when you get a chance. 

As usual I flagged a number of recipes while perusing Moms Crazy Cooking.  In fact I even made two of her recipes this week.  The first was Au Gratin Potatoes in a crock pot.  First of all, that's a genius idea.  Second of all, it's stinkin delicious.  It was a huge hit at our Mother's Day lunch last weekend.  Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures because we were too busy fighting over these tasty potatoes.  Yes I said fighting.  There was a little scuffle at the table when my mom's fork suddenly nose dived into my aunt's plate to swipe the oh so coveted, browned crispy parts of the potatoes.  I guess sisters can do that.  My family takes potatoes very seriously! Needless to say, I will be making these again, and I hope have a clear enough mind to actually take a picture or two. 

Thankfully I did take photos of these Monster Cookies.  I have made dozens of different kinds of cookies through the years, but never a monster cookie.  Tina's blog had two versions, one with and without peanut butter.  I went with the non peanut butter version, but will have to try the peanut butter version at some point too. 

This monster cookie is a cross between a chocolate chip and oatmeal cookie with 3 cups of anything and everything mixed in. You can customize your monster cookie to your taste by stirring in nuts, candy, chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, raisins, pretzels...whatever you can think of really. I kept mine pretty simple, mixing in pretzel M&M's and chocolate chips. The oatmeal brings a very homey texture to the cookie.  I am putting monster cookies on the baking list next time my nieces and nephews are over. 

Enjoy!

Monster Cookies
from Mom's Crazy Cooking

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup margarine (I used all butter)
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups rolled oats
3 cups of your favorite mixins - such as nuts, dried fruit, chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, butterscotch chips, toffee, M&M's, chopped up candy, marshmallows, pretzels, etc. (I used 2 cups of pretzel M&M's and 1 cup of chocolate chips)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. 

In a medium bowl combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and oats and whisk to combine. 

In the bowl of stand mixer, beat butter, margarine and sugars on medium until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.  Reduce speed to low and add eggs, one at a time and vanilla, mixing until just blended.  With mixer on low add the flour mixture in three batches until just combined.  Add your 3 cups of mixins and mix on low to combine.

For truly monster size cookies, use a full size ice cream scoop with a release mechanism and bake 6 cookies per sheet.  Bake for 10-12 minutes or until cookies are golden brown on the edges (mine took 14 minutes).  Makes 24 extra large monstrous cookies!

Grasshopper Bars

Its already time for the latest installment of Club: Baked.  For those of you who don't know, Club: Baked is a small group of bloggers baking our way through the book Baked: Explorations by Matt Lewis and Renato Polifito.  We bake twice a month, on the 1st and 15th (don't tell anyone that today is the 16th).  Each week, one of the Club: Baked members is the hostess and picks the recipe that the whole group will make and we all post our results on the same day (or maybe some people post a week late sometimes, maybe).  Anyway, it's always fun to see everyone's posts and how they fared with the recipe.  This week's recipe for grasshopper bars was selected by Kirsten of The Sweet Swiper.

I had high hopes for this...I'm a big chocolate mint fan.  I really enjoyed the Chocolate Mint Thumbprint cookies when the group made them last year.  I have no will power when it comes to Girl Scouts Thin Mint cookies and I think mint chip ice cream is the bomb.  So I was pretty excited to see this recipe come up on the roster. I stuck to the recipe pretty closely, even resisting my normal temptation to half it.  My only changes were to use a teaspoon of peppermint extract in place of the cream de menthe called for (couldn't find it at my local grocery store) plus a few drops of green food coloring to get that pale minty color.  I also cut the amount of butter in the chocolate glaze in half (mostly because I was too lazy to get another 1 pound butter packet out to cut some more).

Here's what I liked about the recipe.  The frosting is where it's at!  It is smooth, silky and minty.  It's an unusual (to me) butterceam frosting method that starts with boiling milk, cream, sugar and flour together in a sauce pan and then once thickened, it gets transferred to a stand mixer and you beat on high until all the heat has been released and the mixture is fully cooled. Toss in the butter and beat it until you have a magical fluffy frosting.  The Baked boys use this same method in other recipes, like this absolutely delicious caramel buttercream.  What I like about this buttercream method is the frosting isn't overly sweet and it's really light and and airy (traditional buttercream is too sweet and heavy to me). 

Look how dreamy the frosting is...

I didn't love the brownie base.  I'm not sure if I overcooked it...they actually recommend under baking it to give it a fudgy texture.  It just didn't have a that deep fudgy flavor I was looking for.  Though these didn't turn out perfectly, I would like to give them another go because the frosting is so stinkin good and I'm total sucker for chocolate mint desserts.

To get the recipe head over to Kirsten's blog.  To see how other Club: Bakers grasshopper bars turned out, click here.

Ooey Gooey Rocky Road Cookies

Attention chocolate lovers.  This ooey gooey rocky road cookie is for you.  Grab a cold glass of milk to go alongside because this cookie is decadent.  It's rich.  It's uber chocolaty.  In fact it's the most chocolaty cookie I've ever had...out-chocolating even this cookie.  I'm not exaggerating...not even a little.  This is serious chocolate business! 

Where did this amazingly delicious ooey gooey cookie come from?  A fabulous (new to me) blog that I discovered through Secret Recipe Club.  Before I tell you more about this fab blog, here's a little bit about Secret Recipe Club.  Once a month Secret Recipe Club members are each assigned another member's blog.  You check out your assigned blog, find a recipe, bake it or make it and then blog it.  Your assignment is a "secret" until everyone reveals their posts on the same day and time.  It's a great group, founded by Amanda Formaro of Amanda's Cookin' that grew from a dozen or so members to 300+ members in the past year.  The group has gotten so large there's a waiting list to participate.  If you are interested in joining, head over to the SRC site and check out the "Join SRC Section."  I always look forward to SRC every month.  It's fun to get your blog assignment and start browsing.  Choosing which recipe to make is probably the hardest part!  My problem is I usually find 3 or 4 or 10 I really want to make.  That was no exception this month. 


I had the pleasure of being assigned Joanne's blog, Fifteen Spatulas.  Fifteen Spatulas is beautiful blog containing an abundance of recipes, both savory and sweet and is named after her expansive collection of her favorite kitchen tool, the spatula.  Joanne's blog is filled with what she calls scrapeworthy recipes.  If her photos are any indication...they are indeed worthy of scraping your plate clean and possibly licking it too.  I loved reading about Joanne's journey and I totally admire her for following her passion...food.  To read about her story click here.  Joanne's passion comes through in every aspect of her blog, from her gorgeous photos, to her detailed yet approachable recipe instructions.  Joanne believes in teaching her readers the reason why a recipe calls for certain techniques and she even has a number of fun instructional videos.  I went a little nuts and bookmarked 9 recipes I wanted to try. 

But this ooey gooey rocky road cookie recipe drew me in.  Rocky road has always been a favorite ice cream flavor and the cookie version looked pretty stunning.  With a fudgey flourless chocolate cookie base studded with toasted almonds and chocolate chips, topped with golden brown gooey marshmallows, I knew this cookie would be a winner.  It has a crackly exterior and a positively gooey interior.  Gooey is a good thing in my book.  As stated previously, this cookie is not for the chocolate faint of heart.  Luckily I'm a chocolate girl through and through. 



The dough/batter comes together easily. But I did I encounter a couple of issues in execution...I had trouble removing the cookies from the parchment paper once they were baked.  This recipe has no fat (i.e., butter) in it which usually helps a cookie slide right off parchment paper.  I think the gooey marshmallows melted down through the cookie and stuck to the paper.  Next time I make these I will spray the parchment with non stick cooking spray.  I also under baked the cookies the first go round.  It was hard to tell they were under baked until they were cooled and I attempted to remove them from the baking sheet.  When half the dough was raw on the underside, they had to take a trip back to the oven.   Despite my challenges, the cookies still tasted fantastic.  Did I mention these cookies are amazingly chocolaty?  The almonds add a nice crunch and the marshmallows are pillows of sweet gooey goodness.  Delish!  I'm thinking these cookies would be great alongside vanilla ice cream. 

Oh, and I almost forgot to mention Joanne's has a great video on how to make these cookies.  Click here to check it out. 

Enjoy!

Ooey Gooey Rocky Road Cookies
from Fifteen Spatulas

Makes 24 cookies

Ingredients:
3 cups powdered sugar
2/3 cup cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 extra large egg whites
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
2.5 ounces chopped or slivered, toasted, almonds (to toast almonds, heat oven to 350 and place almonds on foil lined baking sheet and bake until golden, about 10 minutes)
1 cup mini marshmallows

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.  In a large bowl sift powdered sugar and cocoa powder.  Whisk in salt.  Add egg whites and vanilla and whisk until combined and batter is smooth.  Stir in chocolate chips and almonds.  *Chill batter in refrigerator for 1 hour to help prevent spreading in the oven.  Using a medium size cookie scoop, portion out 12 cookies on each baking sheet.  Place 4-5 marshmallows on top of each cookie.  Place the baking sheets in the freezer for 5 minutes (or fridge for 10-15 minutes) to chill cookies to prevent them from spreading too much in the oven.  Bake cookies for 12-13 minutes.  Allow to cool on the baking sheets for at least 5 minutes and then transfer cookies to wire rack to finish cooling. 

Note: My cookies stuck to the parchment paper and were very delicate to remove.  Next time I make these I will spray the parchment with non stick cooking spray.

*Updated 10/8/2012