Triple Chocolate Chip Cookies

The other night I got a craving for some chocolate - not just any chocolate, but gooey, melty chocolate in the form of a just-baked cookie. I was specifically thinking of the triple chocolate chip cookies from Otis Spunkmeyer that we sell at the c-store where I used to work (those things are 6-8 WW points apiece, btw!!). I had some assorted partial packages of chocolate chips and baking chocolate left over from Christmas baking, so I took your basic Big Fat Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe and made them Big Fat Chewy Triple Chocolate Chip cookies! Even better! Mine didn't turn out very fat, probably because I was too impatient to eat them so I skipped the chilling step, which made them spread more than normal. But they were so delicious, and Kevin said he liked them better when they were thinner, so all was well. I made a batch of this dough, baked one dozen of them, and rolled the rest into a log in the freezer for some future use. Maybe the next batch will be fatter - we will see!



Triple Chocolate Chip Cookies
Adapted from Made by Melissa

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted

1 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 egg

1 egg yolk

1/2 cup white chocolate chips

1/2 cup chopped dark baking chocolate

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Grease cookie sheets or line with parchment paper.

Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.

In a medium bowl, cream together the melted butter, brown sugar and white sugar until well blended. Beat in the vanilla, egg and egg yolk until light and creamy. Mix in the sifted ingredients until just blended (do not over-mix). Stir in the chocolate chips by hand using a wooden spoon. I refrigerate the dough for a couple hours before baking. Drop cookie dough 1/4 cup at a time onto the prepared cookie sheets. Cookies should be about 3 inches apart. I prefer smaller cookies, so I use my cookie scoop.

Bake for 15 to 17 minutes (about 12 minutes if using cookie scoop size) in the preheated oven, or until the edges are lightly toasted. Watch closely and pull out of the oven as soon as edges start to turn golden! Cool on baking sheets for a few minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

Store in an airtight container and these cookies should stay soft for a couple of days, if they last that long! If cookies do start to become hard, add a piece of bread to the container.

I know my un-pretty pictures do not make these look that great, but you are going to have to trust me when I say they are AMAZING and you need to go make them now!!

Christmas Cookies!

This is the first year I have every really gotten into Christmas baking, but I really enjoyed making all my cookies. My friend Melanie came over one night and we baked for hours, accomplishing about half of these. The others were made over my finals week, because I had no finals (lucky me!). I enjoyed taking these to work, to holiday parties, and of course, snacking on them at home!

So this post isn't ridiculously long, I will just link to the recipes I found in other blogs, and will only post the recipes here that are family recipes I used.

Espresso Shortbread (Source: Yum.)
Chocolate Toffee Cookies (Source: Smitten Kitchen)
Mexican Wedding Cookies (Source: A Year in the Kitchen) Not pictured; these got eaten up too fast!


Top to bottom: Peanut Butter cookies with mini PB cups, Chocolate Toffee cookies, and Espresso Shortbread

It was my first time making all of these recipes, all were wonderful, and all will definitely be made again! I especially loved the lemon zest added to the Mexican Wedding cookies, it was so refreshing tasting with all that sugar!

The following 3 recipes are family recipes from my mom:

Sugar Cookies
4 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup shortening
3 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. almond extract
1 1/2 cup sugar

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Cream: Shortening, sugar, eggs, and flavoring
Mix: Dry ingredients
Add: Dry ingredients to cream mixture
Roll to 1/4 inch thickness and cut with cookie cutters. Decorate as desired.
Bake 10 minutes.




Gingerbread Men

4 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup shortening
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup molasses

Preheat oven to 250 degrees.
Cream: Shortening, sugar, eggs, and molasses
Mix: Dry ingredients
Add: Dry ingredients to creamed mixture
Roll to 1/4 inch thick and cut with cookie cutters.
Bake for about 10 minutes




Peanut Butter Cookies (With Mini PB Cups or Kisses)

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda

Cream: Butter and peanut butter
Add: Egg, vanilla, sugar, brown sugar, flour, and baking soda
Roll into 1" balls and put onto a greased cookie sheet.
Bake for 10 minutes
Immediately press in mini PB cups or kisses (14 oz. bag)
Let cool 10 minutes.

White Chocolate Dipped Cinnamon and Banana Bread Biscotti

I have had this starred on my google reader for awhile now so last week I made it for my family a few days before Thanksgiving. The cinnamon chips were a bit elusive but I finally tracked them down, and it was worth all the searching! They are so good!



White Chocolate Dipped Cinnamon and Banana Bread Biscotti
Source: Picky Palate

Ingredients:

¾ Cup mashed over ripe bananas
1 egg
2 Tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 ¾ Cup plus 2 Tablespoons flour
½ Cup plus 2 Tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon salt
½ Cup cinnamon chips
1 Cup white chocolate chips
White non-perils

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place bananas, egg, brown sugar, and vanilla into a large bowl; mix until combined. Place flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and cinnamon chips into a large bowl; mix to combine. Add wet ingredients to dry until combined. Divide dough into 2 equal parts and place onto a silpat lined baking sheet 4 inches apart from each other. Form each piece of dough into a 7 inch logs, about 2 inches wide. Bake for 25 minutes, remove from oven, reduce heat to 250 degrees F and let cool for 10 minutes. Using a serrated knife, slice biscotti into ½ inch strips, on the diagonal. Place slices back onto cookie sheet and bake for an additional 20-25 minutes or until crisped. Let cool completely.

2. Melt chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl in 30 second intervals until smooth. Dip top corner of biscotti in chocolate then sprinkle with non perils. Let dry on wax paper.

Makes about 30 biscotti

Apple Spice Cookie Bars

These have been floating around on the message boards for awhile now so I made them to take to a tailgate to see what all the fuss was about- they were delicious! They were sitting outside in the cold weather and I think they might have even tasted better cold than warm! I did make one small change which was to sub in one cup of whole wheat flour for some of the all-purpose.

Apple Spice Cookie Bars
Source: Good Things Catered

Ingredients:
2 c. plus 2 Tbsp all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp allspice
small pinch ground cloves
1/2 c. butter, melted
1 c. packed brown sugar
1 c. white sugar
2 eggs
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
2 apples, cored and diced (a little less than 2 c.)
cinnamon sugar for sprinkling

Directions:
-Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line 9x13 pan with foil and baking spray.
-In medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and cloves.
-Whisk to combine well and set aside.
-In bowl of stand mixer, combine sugars and butter and beat on medium high until light and fluffy, about 1 minute.
-Add eggs, one at a time, beating well to combine.
-Add vanilla extract and beat to combine.
-Turn mixer on slow and fold in flour mixture a little at a time until just combined.
-Fold in apples.
-Spread mixture evenly into prepared pan and sprinkle top generously with cinnamon sugar.
-Place in oven and bake until cooked through, when top slightly bounces back to the touch, about 30 minutes.
-Remove from oven and let cool completely before removing from pan, cutting and serving. (bars will be very soft)

They were absolutely delicious and I would definitely make these again!

White Chocolate-Macademia-Pretzel Bars

Oh man these cookie bars were AMAZING! I took them to work on Saturday night and my co-workers went through almost the whole pan! I had 3 people ask for the recipe, so I would say that they were successful.

White Chocolate-Macademia-Pretzel Bars
Source: Pillsbury

Ingredients:
1 roll (16.5 oz) Pillsbury refrigerated sugar cookies
1 bag (12 oz) white chocolate chips
1 cup coarsely chopped pretzel sticks or twists
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips (9 oz)
1/4 cup peanut butter
1 cup chopped cashews (I used macademia nuts)

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray 13x9in pan with cooking spray. Break up cookie dough into pan. With floured fingers, press dough evenly in bottom of pan to form crust. Sprinkle 1 cup of the white chocolate chips and the pretzels over dough; lightly press into dough.
2. Bake 16-20 min or until light golden brown. Cool completely on cooling rack, about 30 minutes.

3. In small microwaveable bowl, place 1/4 cup of the white chocolate chips; set aside. In large microwaveable bowl, microwave remaining white chocolate chips and the semisweet chips on high for 2 minutes, stirring every 30 seconds, until melted and smooth. If necessary, microwave 30 seconds longer. Stir in peanut butter and cashews. Spread mixture evenly over cooled baked crust. Refrigerate until chocolate is set, about 15 minutes. (It took mine over 30 minutes to set completely)
4. Microwave reserved 1/4 cup white chocolate chips on high for 30 seconds; stir until melted and smooth. If necessary, microwave 10 seconds longer. (I added a few drops of vegetable oil to thin out the chocolate and make it easier to pour) Drizzle over bars. Let stand until set, about 10 minutes. For bars, cut into 6 rows by 6 rows. (I did 5x6 rows)

Overall these were so so good, but very rich! I ate two and got a stomachache, but that was probably a good thing because any more and I would have been at the gym for hours working them off! One thing I might change is to make my own sugar cookie dough from scratch instead of the premade kind, just because I am not the hugest fan of the taste of the Pillsbury sugar dough, but it was a very good shortcut that made these super easy to put together.