Decadent Chocolate Chip Cookies

I have been craving cookies for a while now.  I try not to bake them too often because they are clearly my weakness. They are just too easy to grab.  I have been known to have coffee and a cookie for breakfast

I wasn't sure these would be good because I overdid some of the ingredients - imagine that?

Not the most professional photo , but you get the idea -lots of flavorful ingredients

Here they all are just waiting to be mixed in the dough...YUM!!

The recipe called for light brown sugar and I used my new favorite muscovado sugar. I love the richness it adds to quick breads and muffins, but was worried when the cookie dough had a very strong molasses smell and taste  (yes, I do sample my cookie dough!)

But all of that seemed to mellow out when they baked in the oven. And I ended up with one of the best cookies I have made in quite some time.  Everyone who tried them loved them!

Decadent Chocolate Chip Cookies                                                            

 adapted from Two Peas and Their Pod

3 cups flour
1 tsp. sea salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 cup butter, softened
1/2 c. sugar
1 1/2 c. muscovado (molasses) sugar*
2 large eggs
2 tsp. Vanilla Bean Crush extract (King Arthur)
1/2 c. milk chocolate chips
1/2 c. bittersweet chips (King Arthur Flour - or any dark chips)
3/4 c. butterscotch chips
3/4 c. Heath Toffee Gits and Heath Bits o'Brickle
Extra sea salt for sprinkling on top of baked cookies

*You can certainly substitute light or dark brown sugar, depending on your taste.

Preheat oven to 350.  Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, sea salt, baking soda and baking powder; set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream butter and sugars together until light and creamy, about 5 minutes.  Add the eggs and vanilla and beat for an additional 2 minutes.  Slowly add the flour mixture to the butter mixture.  Add a little at a time and mix just until blended.  Stir in all of the chips and toffee pieces.

Drop about 1-2 tablespoons of dough (depending on how many cookies you want to make) onto the prepared cookie sheet, placing the dough balls about 2 inches apart. Bake for 12 minutes or until the edges are slightly golden brown.  Remove from oven, sprinkle with a pinch of sea salt,  and allow the cookies to cool for 2-3 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Cookie dough perfection!

Just the right amount of sea salt on top (with another dusting after baking.

Fresh out of the oven...

Rich, delicious, and I dare you to eat just one!!

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Banana Chocolate CHUNK Muffins! - low sugar

Again, I had a surplus of over-ripe bananas.  I often peel them and put them in the freezer to use in smoothies, but wanted to another fun muffin recipe. And I think I found my new favorite!  The batter itself is low sugar, so the chocolate chunks can be omitted to keep them lower in sugar and calories......but....if you can add the chunks, the intensity of the flavor is memorable... and addicting!

And I wanted to try a muffin recipe using self rising flour and I was amazed at how beautifully they rose.  It was easy to convert - you just  take out any salt and baking powder and as long as your self rising flour is fresh, they will rise perfectly.   It was fun to experiment and learn something new, even at my age!! :)

Dark chocolate makes everything healthy, right?

BANANA CHOCOLATE CHUNK MUFFINS - low sugar

adapted from King Arthur Flour Baker's Companion cookbook

1 stick butter (1/2 cup_

1/2 cup Truvia Baking Blend

1 large egg

1/2 tsp. nutmeg  (I used fresh ground)

1/2 tsp. allspice

2-3 medium ripe bananas, mashed

1/3 cup vanilla coconut milk (regular milk is fine)

2 cups self rising flour

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 c. chocolate chunks (I used the Burgundy chunks from KAF)

Preheat oven to 350.  

In a mixer bow, cream the butter and Truvia baking blend until they are well-blended and smooth.  Scrape the bowl down, and add the egg, banana and milk.  In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, spices and baking soda. Add the chocolate chunks and gently fold into the butter mixture. 

Spoon the batter into 12 greased muffin tins.   Bake the muffins for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let stand for 10 minutes before removing from the pan.

Oven ready...

Oh the aroma!....

Patiently waiting for them to cool...

Look at that melty chocolate....... can you say breakfast decadence??

They warm up beautifully too and taste as fresh as the day they were made.

Try to find the time to put your ripe bananas to good use baking these muffins.  

I promise you will not regret it!

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When Cooking and Computing Meet......

I felt like I was living under a rock when I first heard about Biscoff.  All of a  sudden bloggers were posting about Biscoff cookies and cupcakes and cakes and..... well...... you name it. And I had NO CLUE what they were talking about.  So of course I had to find it online and order it.  That is the normal response, right?  So Amazon came to my rescue and it a few days I was able to sample this new (to me) taste treat. And those are the perfect words - taste treat.  I tried the cookies first and they were good - naturally good with brown sugar and cinnamon baked into them.  Crispy and yummy.
But then I moved on to the spread and if I had not had a lot of self restraint I could have eaten spoonful after spoonful of the contents of the jar. Good thing I ordered two jars.  For the next few days I made toast for breakfast just so I had a reasonable excuse to pull out that delectable jar and savor it first thing in the morning!!  Pretty pathetic but very satisfying!!!

So next on my list was to actually experience  baking with it .  Trying the Biscoff Banana Bread with Biscoff Cookie Streusel from Two Peas and Their Pod seemed like the perfect candidate for me as it used the spread AND the cookies.  So if one form of Biscoff was good, two HAD to be even better!

The recipe was pretty straightforward and the ingredients were similar to basic banana bread, with the addition of the Biscoff!

Now if you cannot find it locally or do not want to order online, run don't walk to your nearest Trader Joe's and grab their Speculoos Cookie Butter (and it comes in crunchy now)-- it's a great substitution and more economical too.  Here is what you are looking for (and I forgot the brown sugar in the photo above so it was a good excuse for a second photo!)

One  thing I learned (and really should have known) is that when you do a streusel topping that is SO thick on top , you really should press it down into the batter so it stays in place when you turn the bread out of the pan.  I think next time I might try to put half of it in the center of the bread and the rest in top so more bites will be full of that cookie mixture - it was yummy!  But I wasn't too upset when I just HAD to clean up the crumbly topping that fell off,  and of course I sampled it... just a little!!  I knew instantly that this would be  a recipe I would try again.

Just look at that scrumptious topping - Biscoff cookies, brown sugar, butter and flour!

Fresh out of the oven - minus a bit of streusel on top!

Can you see how moist and wonderful it is??  Trust me!

And while I am talking about recipes, I would love to share my new kitchen companion with you.  I have been looking at tablets for a long time. I have the Kindle Fire which I really love and it's great to grab to read books, peruse cookbooks, or even answer email - but I couldn't actually "work" on it - at least not easily. With all of the blog recipes I am saving, I am creating quite a collection!

So to make life so much easier, I am welcoming the Sony Vaio Duo tablet into my life!

Oh how I love this toy!!  Yes I am a techie junkie too!   One of the best things is that I save all of my favorite blog recipes to Microsoft One Note.  And because my computer and tablet are all synced through Office 365, I can instantly pull up the recipe on my tablet and bake or cook to my heart's content!!  I love the ease of use and the convertibility and that I can do all that I need to do on it.  It's a perfect fit for me!

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