Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Yogurt

I've seen a few recipes on Pinterest for cookie dough yogurt, so I decided to give it a try. I used a Yoplait vanilla yogurt because that's what I had in my refrigerator. I think it would work a bit better if you use Greek yogurt because it's typically thicker. You could also substitute peanut butter if you prefer. This is a protein-packed treat that you can enjoy without too much guilt (even for breakfast)!

    

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Yogurt
1 container yogurt (plain or vanilla)
2 tablespoons almond butter
pinch salt
a couple drops of vanilla
1 tablespoon mini chocolate chips

Stir all ingredients together and enjoy!

Hint: If you're using plain yogurt (rather than vanilla), add a bit of sugar or honey to sweeten.

Gluten-Free Cream Cheese Swirl Brownies

These are chocolately and gooey and just absolutely delicious. You'll never know they are gluten-free.

Gluten-Free Cream Cheese Swirl Brownies
1 stick butter
3 ounces (about 1/2 cup) dark chocolate chopped
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons almond meal
4 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons millet flour
2 tablespoons white rice flour
3/4 teaspoon xanthan gum
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla

for the cream cheese swirl…
1 package (8 oz) cream cheese, softened
1 egg
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup chocolate chips or mini chocolate chips

* you can make half of this recipe and use a square 8-by-8 inch pan or 9-by-9 inch pan rather than a 9-by-13 pan.

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. Line an square pan with foil so that the foil hangs over the edge a bit. Lightly grease the foil. Set aside.

Melt the 3 ounces of chocolate and butter together in a large microwave safe bowl in 30 second intervals at 50% power. It should take about 2 minutes total. Whisk in 1/2 cup of the sugar and set aside to cool slightly.

In a medium bowl, combine the almond meal, cornstarch, flours, xanthan, and salt.

Using an electric mixer, whisk the eggs with the remaining 1/2 cup of sugar until the eggs are light and doubled in volume. Stir half of the egg mixture into the chocolate. Stir in half of the dry ingredient mixture. Repeat with the remaining egg and remaining dry ingredients. Mix in the vanilla. 

Using an electric mixer, cream together the cream cheese swirl ingredients, exempt for the chocolate chips, until smooth. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Pour the brownie batter into the prepared pan reserving about a cup in the bowl. Top with the cream cheese mixture and smooth evenly. Drop the reserved brownie batter in large dollops on top of the cream cheese mixture in the pan. Use a knife to swirl the cream cheese and brownie batter. Bake for 30 minutes.

Allow to cool, then lift brownies from pan using foil hang-over. Slice into squares using a sharp knife.

Enjoy!

Classic Chocolate Chip Cookies with Toffee Bits

Emily found a recipe (along with some beautiful pictures) on a food-blog favorite of ours... The Novice Chef. So I surprised her by making them - with some slight adjustments of my own. The secret to keeping these cookies soft and chewy is corn starch. It's also the key to another favorite cookie of mine, the chewy almond sugar cookie.

I flew these in my suitcase from Oklahoma to California in a Tupperware container. They traveled perfectly! So these would be great for packaging as Christmas gifts!

   

Classic Chocolate Chip Cookies with Toffee Bits
2 cups flour
3 teaspoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
14 tablespoons butter, softened
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 heaping cup semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips

1/2 cup toffee bits (you can usually find these in the market near the bags of chocolate chips)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, baking soda and salt.

In a large bowl, using an electric mixer if you have one, beat butter and sugars together. Add egg and vanilla, beating until smooth. Slowly add the flour mixture, beating until completely combined. Fold in the chocolate chips and toffee bits (I use a large spatula to fold everything together).

Use a small cookie scoop (about 1 to 2 tablespoons) to scoop even amounts onto your prepared baking sheet, leaving about 2 inches between the cookies. Bake at 350 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes. Do not over bake!

Cool for a few minutes on the cookie sheet, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. These are really delicious, actually luscious, to eat warm out of the oven - be careful not to burn your mouth.

Enjoy!

recipe slightly adapted from thenovicechefblog.com

Nutella Chocolate Chip Cookies with Sea Salt

These are super easy to make and ohhhhhhh soooooo decadent. I made them gluten-free by simply using a gluten-free all-purpose flour. They're soft and gooey like a brownie with that delicious hazelnut flavor from the Nutella and the sea salt really adds the perfect kick to make it even more flavorful.

Nutella Chocolate Chip Cookies with Sea Salt
1 cup Nutella
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons gluten-free all-purpose flour
1/2 cup mini-chocolate chips
sea salt

In a large bowl, stir together all ingredients except the sea salt. Chill the dough in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Scoop the dough onto the prepared baking sheet and sprinkle each cookie with a little sea salt. Bake for  8 to 10 minutes. Remove and cool slightly on the baking sheet, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Enjoy!

Samoa Cupcakes

Mmmmm.... Girl Scout cookies. One of my favorites? Samoas (Emily's too)... I think they might call them caramel delights now? But when I was a little Girl Scout, they were called Samoas. I found a great recipe for them at Annie's Eats (one of my favorite blogs - you should check it out). I knew I had to try them.

I will say that they are quite involved. You need to start well in advance because these cupcakes require many steps. But they are worth it!

Samoa Cupcakes
for the cupcakes - mix up your favorite chocolate cupcake recipe. if you don't have one, try this

1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup canola oil
1 cup water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon vinegar

for the shortbread cookies*
1 cup butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
2 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

*you could also just buy some shortbread cookies and cut them to fit in the bottom of the cupcake

for the chocolate ganache
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
1/2 cup caramel sauce
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon coconut extract

for the coconut caramel topping
15 ounces soft caramels
3 tablespoons milk
pinch salt
2 cups shredded coconut, toasted
1/2 teaspoon coconut extract

First you'll need to make the shortbread cookies (or take a short-cut and buy some).

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Cream together the butter and sugar in a large bowl. Add the flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix to combine. Last add the milk and vanilla and mix. Chill the dough for 1 hour.  Remove from the refrigerator and roll the dough out to about 1/8 inch thickness and use a small round cookie cutter. Place on a cookie sheet lined with a silpat or parchment paper and bake for 10 minutes.

Next make the cupcakes.

Combine all cupcake ingredients in a large bowl.  Prepare a cupcake pan with paper liners. Place a shortbread cookie at the bottom of each cupcake well. Top each cookie with cupcake batter, filling each well about 3/4 full. Bake the cupcakes for 18 minutes at 350 degrees. Cool completely.

Prepare the chocolate ganache.

Bring the caramel sauce and heavy cream to a simmer in a small pot. Place the chopped chocolate in a medium bowl. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and whisk until smooth. Stir in the coconut extract.

Top each cupcake with a layer of the ganache. You will likely have a bit left over. Place it in a ziplock bag to use as the signature chocolate drizzle at the very end.

The last step is my favorite part of this treat (well, my favorite part to eat... not exactly my favorite part to prepare). You need to work a bit quickly with this caramel coconut topping because once it is melted and then begins to cool, it gets quite sticky and difficult to manipulate. In a heat-safe bowl, melt the caramels with the milk in the microwave at 30-second intervals until smooth, stirring between intervals. Stir in the salt and coconut extract. Lastly, fold in the shredded toasted coconut.

Using a knife or offset spatula, top each cupcake with the caramel coconut topping.

I then used the handle of a wooden spoon to make a whole in the topping to resemble the traditional cookie version of this delicious treat. Finish these off by snipping a small corner from the ziplock bag containing the extra ganache and drizzling some chocolate on each cupcake.

See... kind of a long process. But they will bring you back to those yummy Girl Scout cookies. Enjoy!


inspired by Annies-eats.com

Deep Dish Nutella-Filled Chocolate Chip Cookie for One

Yep... it's a mouthful of a name for this post. But one mouthful of this lusciousness and you'll want to make these quick little desserts for yourself every day. This version of the personal cookie is much better than one I posted quite a while ago (with or without the Nutella middle). Go ahead... give it a try. It's only one cookie!

   

Deep Dish Nutella-Filled Chocolate Chip Cookie for One
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 tablespoon brown sugar
Dash of vanilla

Pinch of salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup flour
2 tablespoons chocolate chips (I like to use mini chocolate chips for this)

1 tablespoon Nutella (optional)

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Coat a small ramekin with non-stick cooking spray.

In a medium, microwave-safe bowl, microwave the butter for about 30 to 45 seconds or until melted. Whisk in the sugars and vanilla. Add the salt, baking soda, and flour and whisk to evenly combine. Stir in the chocolate chips. 

Spoon half of the dough into the prepared ramekin. Add the Nutella on top of the dough in a dollop.  Top with the remaining dough and bake for 10 to 15 minutes (don't over cook it... it's supposed to be soft and gooey). There's no egg in this dough so don't worry about cooking completely. Remove from the oven and allow to sit for 2 to 3 minutes before eating. 

Enjoy!

slightly adapted from www.chocolatemoosey.com

Chevron Cookies How-To

I made these super cute chevron cookies for a wedding recently. I just love them! I made over 150 for the event - quite time consuming, but very much worth the result. Here's a step-by-step. It's not hard, just takes time to go through each step. Give it a try!

      

Chevon Cookies How-To
I start with my basic sugar cookie recipe. This is my tried and true recipe that I use for all cut-outs for holidays, birthdays, weddings, baptisms... Click here to go to the recipe.

I recommend using royal icing for these cookies because it will dry and harden so that you can package them and it keeps the colors from bleeding together. I used Bake@360's royal icing recipe. It's my favorite. Click here to get it. Please, please, please make sure you sift the powdered sugar when making icing. When you're creating designs like this, it is a must! Otherwise, you'll get small chunks of powdered sugar stuck in your decorating tip.

If you won't be packaging your cookies, you could use the simple powdered sugar frosting recipe on the perfect sugar cookies post - it will harden up a little, but not like royal. I prefer the simple powdered sugar frosting with butter over royal, but you really must use royal if you are packaging for an event or planning to stack the cookies.

Now, let's get to it. Bake the cookies, prepare the icing. Thin icing as needed.

Prepare a template... I use an index card, draw a chevron (zig-zag), cut it out. Just like this:

Next, using an edible marker (you can get this in the cake decorating aisle of any craft store), use the template you just created to trace the chevron patter onto your cookie. Start at the top of the cookie and move the template down the cookie. The space between each line is your preference and will also depend on the size of your cookie.

Now you can start with your first color. Trace a single thin line with  your icing, then flood in the spaces, but remember to go every other space so that you'll have an area for your second color.

Allow the first color to dry a bit and then fill in the alternating space with your second color. Finish by going back over the edges of the first color by piping a thin line. This makes the chevron pattern more crisp.

Your chevron pattern is now complete. Allow to dry and add any embellishment you like. I did a few different monograms for the wedding... piped with icing in an accent color and a white monogram on top of a fondant circle. If you decide to add a fondant accent, just adhere it to the cookie with a small dot of royal icing.

Now you can package them up in bags with ribbon, display them on a plate, or just eat them up!

Enjoy!

Raspberry Marscarpone Cookies

Our local market (Uptown Grocery) often has samples on weekends. This is not a good situation for me... I'm pretty sure I have "SUCKER" written on my forehead. I get pulled in to just about every new thing to try and want to buy just about every sample I'm offered. I'm a marketing expert's dream. Recently at the market, one of the sample offerings were these simple little cookies topped with marscarpone cheese and a single raspberry. I was hooked instantly. These are so easy to put together. But don't let the simplicity of this dessert fool you... They are lusciously delicious. 

Raspberry Marscarpone Cookies
1 package Keebler Dark Chocolate Fudge Stripe cookies
1 package Marscarpone* cheese
1 cup fresh raspberries

Top each cookie with a layer of the cheese. Top the cheese with two or three fresh raspberries. Enjoy!!

Marscarpone is a soft, creamy, mild cheese. It's slightly sweet. You should be able to find it in the specialty cheese section of your market. 

Nutella Filled Chocolate Chip Cookies

I have been seeing these all over the place online lately - my favorite blogs, pinterest, food and recipe sites... So I decided I needed to give them a try. I was sure that I would like them... no doubt about that - I love chocolate chip cookies and I sometimes just eat a big ole spoon of Nutella (oops my secret is out). These cookies are just do luscious, so decadent, so perfect.... make them right away. I promise you won't be sorry. I promise the extra steps will be worth it.

     

Nutella Filled Chocolate Chip Cookies
about 1/2 cup Nutella (for the filling)
1 cup butter, browned
2 1/4 cup flour
1 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 egg plus 1 egg yolk
2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1 tablespoon Greek yogurt
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

First, place the Nutella in a pastry bag or a ziplock bag with about a 1/2 inch hole cut in one corner. Squeeze dollops of Nutella onto a piece of waxed paper or parchment paper, place on a flat plate or baking sheet, and freeze for an hour or two. This is really an essential step. If you skip this, it will be very, very messy to fill the cookies with the Nutella.

To brown the butter, place the butter in a small heavy saucepan over medium heat. Melt the butter and continue cooking until a light brown (about 5 minutes). Remove from heat and allow the butter to cool.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, blend together the flour, baking soda, cornstarch, and salt. In a separate large bowl, use an electric or stand mixer to cream together the cooled butter and sugars. Add the egg and egg yolk, vanilla, and yogurt and mix to blend. Slowly add the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Fold in the chocolate chips. Refrigerate the dough for about 30 minutes. 

        

Using a small cookie scoop if you have it, spoon out about 2 tablespoons worth of dough and form into a ball. Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicon baking mat. Create an indentation in the dough and place one of the frozen Nutella dollops in the center. Form the dough around the Nutella to seal it in. Repeat with the remaining dough and Nutella dollops, spacing each ball of dough about 2 inches apart on the baking sheet.

Bake cookies for 8 to 10 minutes (don't overbake). Remove from oven (optional: sprinkle on some course sea salt for extra luscious flavor if you like) and allow to cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Enjoy with a cold glass of milk ! (or with your favorite glass of wine)

recipe adapted from annies-eats.com

Almond Sugar Cookies

There's a cookie place near-by called Eileen's Cookies. The iced sugar cookie from there are one of my very favorite cookies ever! I've tried a few times to create them at home, but I just can't seem to get it right. Eileen's are soft and almond-y with a yummy almond frosting on top. I saw these cookies on pinterest recently and decided to give it a try. The cookie is almost exactly like Eileen's!!!! Hooray!!! I don't have the frosting quite right yet, but I will try to add it next time and share the complete recipe. For today, I just rolled the cookies in coarse sugar. They were perfectly soft, moist, chewy, with great almond flavor! I think I ate too many...

   

Almond Sugar Cookies
1 1/2 cups sugar
2/3 cup cold butter
2/3 cup vegetable shortening
2 eggs
3 teaspoons almond extract
2 3/4 cups cake flour
1 cup all purpose flour
1 tablespoons cornstarch
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
turbinado or coarse sugar for rolling

In the bowl of a stand mixer (or using a handheld electric mixer in a large bowl), cream together the sugar, butter, and shortening. Add the eggs and almond extract, mixing on low to combine. 

In a separate bowl, combine the flours, cornstarch, baking powder, and salt. Slowly add the flour mixture to the large bowl and blend until just combined. 

Chill the dough in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a baking sheet with a silpat silicone baking mat or a piece of parchment paper.

      

Scoop about a tablespoon of dough and roll into a ball (I used a small cookie scoop to get all of the cookies the same size). Roll each cookie in the coarse sugar (I used colored coarse sugar, but you can also use turbinado sugar/sugar-in-the-raw). Place sugared cookies on the prepared baking sheet about 2 inches apart. Do not flatten the cookies. Bake for 7 minutes.

    

Remove the baking sheet from the oven and immediately press each cookie gently with a spatula to flatten a bit. Cool the cookies completely on the baking sheet. When completely cool, remove the cookies from the baking sheet and serve. Store in an airtight container.

Enjoy!