rocky road cookie bark

This stuff is heaven.  I really truly mean it.  Moist, very chocolaty cookies, filled with various chips, nuts and marshmallows all creating a mouthwatering texture and taste that seriously rivals most cookies I’ve eaten.  The free form shape adds to my delight (for reasons I can’t explain).  I made these for the last school fair and they were a serious hit.  I always double the recipe (the recipe below is doubled) and freeze a bunch for my son Greg who is normally not a crazy chocolate lover.  He takes these from the freezer and pops them in the microwave and eats them warm and gooey.  He  groans with pleasure and raves and raves and thanks me for making them.  Gotta love that at 13.  I like them with vanilla ice cream (what else is new).  This recipe is adapted from The Baker’s Field Guide to Chocolate Chip Cookies by Dede Wilson.  She calls them Heavenly Hash Break-up Bars, but Greg (my son) quickly named them Cookie Bark but no matter what you call them they are good.  Seriously good.  So bake them soon and enjoy!!  *Reader – order the black cocoa now – so you will be ready to bake.  And if you live locally, come to my pantry!

rocky road cookie bark (or heavenly hash break-up bars – adapted from The Baker’s Field Guide to Chocolate Chip Cookies by Dede Wilson):

2 cups all purpose flour
4 tablespoons black cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup (2 sticks) softened butter (unsalted)
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 cups semisweet choc chips, 3/4 cup white choc chips, 3/4 cup milk chocolate chips
1 1/4 cup toasted pecan halves
1 3/4 cup mini marshmallows

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Toast nuts in 350 degree oven or toaster oven for 5-9 minutes.  Be careful not to burn!  Set aside to cool.  Pull butter out to soften and egg out to room temperature.

Whisk together the flour, black cocoa, baking soda and salt.  In another bowl, place all the various chips and nuts.

In the mixer, beat butter for a few minutes, add the sugar and continue to beat for a few minutes until lighter and fluffy.  Add the brown sugar and continue to mix for another minute or two.  Scrape down the bowl, add the eggs, one at a time until each is incorporated – then the vanilla.  Scrape the bowl again and mix a little bit more.

On the lowest speed, add the flour in 2 batches – mixing until almost incorporated.  Pull bowl from mixer and add all of the chips and the nuts and continue to mix (by hand – and I actually physically use my hand here) until all is just incorporated.

Divide the dough and place half on each cookie sheet.  Flatten the dough with your hands by pushing down with wet(ish) hands and get it basically as thin as the chocolate chips.  (You will use the marshmallows in the next step if your worried I forgot).

Bake for about 17-20 minutes – continually checking to see if they look done (the glossy sheen should be gone and they should feel dry on the top).  Place the sheet pans on the counter and place the marshmallows on top of the cooked batter – placing them evenly around – and squish each one in to the bark.  Be careful as the sheet pan is hot!

Bake for another 4-5 minutes until the marshmallows kind of melt or brown a tiny bit (although not necessary).

Let cool and cut with a knife free form, or break-up with your hands.  I found that I ucookie-bark-parchment-methonderbaked this last batch and they were really really good, although a little bit harder to handle.  Getting them off of the parchment was a little tricky, so I picked the whole piece of parchment (with cookie attached) and flipped it over a piece of tin foil and just peeled back the parchment.  That did the trick.  You can cut before or after.  These are great gifts as well.  I was baking for Gilda’s Club and decided to package them up in a little bag – nice for the holidays or just a little treat for a friend or family.

berry cheesecake with sour cream topping

My dear friend Dani read my first five posts and said – “love it, but what about my cheesecake and my peppermint ice cream?”  Cheesecake first.  Dani  was very close to having gestational diabetes with her first pregnancy.  Doctors orders… no sugar – none!  It was wicked hard (yes I’m originally from Boston) for her so I really wanted to do good by her when she could eat sweets again.  When I asked what she needed as as she was going into labor, she replied, “the cheesecake please!”  That was that.  I proudly arrived – cheesecake in hand – and I think I was her very favorite person at that moment (well, except for maybe her newborn baby).  This is not a light and fluffy cheesecake, it is dense and rich and packed with berries.  My friend Elese said “OMG that cheesecake is crazy good – it is really outstanding and I’m not just saying that.” My favorite part is the buttery graham cracker crust – so much so that I changed the recipe to make 1 1/2 times the original amount of crust.  This cheesecake is so easy to make and tastes even better the following day.  Perfect for a make-ahead dessert.  (A side note: Dani read this and apparently I made – at her request – Oreo cheesecake.  Think she was really craving sugar.  I don’t remember that which is somewhat scary, but she loved it with Oreos and wanted me to tell all of you that, although I really prefer berries!)

mixed berry cheesecake with sour cream topping (adapted from my mothers recipe)
1 7/8 cup graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
7.5 tablespoons melted butter (almost one stick)
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 pound (2 – 8 oz packs cream cheese – not whipped!)
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (or more to taste),  3/4 teaspoon salt
mixed berries (about 2 cups – I use 1 cup blueberries and 1/2 cup each blackberries and raspberries – but do what you love – more or less – one type of berry or even no berries.)

topping:
1 1/2 cups sour cream, 2 tablespoons sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla, and 1/4 teaspoon salt

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees.

Mix crumbs, sugar, melted butter and salt.  Squish mixture  into an 8 or 9 inch spring-form pan and bake for 8-10 minutes.  Let cool for 10 minutes.

In mixer, mix cream cheese and sugar – when blended, add eggs one at a time and mix well.  Remember to scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix again.  Add the vanilla, cinnamon and salt.  Remove from mixer and by hand, fold in the berries being careful not to break them into pieces.

Pour mixture into pre-baked crust and continue to bake at 375 for about 30 minutes.  (Sometimes the butter from the crust leaks out of my pan, not sure why, and onto the oven floor so I often line the shelf below with tin foil to catch the drips and make clean up easier.)

As usual, remember to set your timer for 25 minutes and then check every 5-3 minutes thereafter so that you do not over cook.  Put cake on wire rack and let cool for about 15- 30 minutes.

Raise the oven temp to 400 degrees and make the topping.  Mix the sour cream, sugar, vanilla and salt and spread on top of the baked cheesecake.  This tastes delicious and also covers any cracks in the cheesecake.  Pop in the oven for 5 minutes to set.  Remove and once cool, cover with plastic wrap and let set in the refrigerator.  The following day, or several hours later, run a knife around the edges of the pan, unlock the spring and un-mold the cake.  If you have a hard time releasing the crust from the pan you can cut in slices first and then remove.  Enjoy the love and smiles  from your family and friends…

banana bread (quick and easy)

This recipe was given to me by my sis-in-law Sandy and it is a keeper!  I make it for bake sales, morning coffees, afternoon snacks and dessert.  I make it with or with out chocolate chips or nuts and in various sizes and shapes.  My kids seem to love them in a muffin shape and that helps with quantity control – otherwise they just might eat the loaf.  Zach and Lauren were over and that trick didn’t work, as Zach who’s 13 tried to convince me that I should cut into the loaf and that he should get thirds.  I gave in!

(aunt sandy’s) banana bread:

(This makes 2 (9×5) loaves or 1 loaf, 12 muffins, and one mini-loaf, but switch it up and see what shapes you want to make.  I imagine the recipe yields about 30 muffins if you forgo the loaves.  The banana bread freezes very well too – just wrap well and freeze.  Home-made banana bread on the fly.)

4 cups flour (look @baking tips for flour measurement)
2  teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 cups oil
2 7/8 cup sugar
4 eggs well beaten
6 very ripe bananas, mashed
chocolate chips to taste  (optional but I usually add a lot!)
chopped walnuts to tast (optional)

Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees.  Butter or spray your loaf pans and line bottom with parchment.  (As you are cutting, cut some extras for the next time you bake.)  If using muffin pans, line with cupcake liners.

Whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt and set aside.

Combine oil, sugar and eggs and gently add to the flour mixture until almost incorporated.  Add the mashed bananas (and chocolate chips and/or nuts if using) and mix until combined.  Try not to over mix.

Pour into your prepared pans and bake the 9×5 loaf for about 1 hour, but as usual please check before that and often.  The bread is done when it pulls away from sides and has a nice spring to it.

The muffins took about 30 minutes – and the mini-loaf about 40 but again, check early and often.  The mini loaf is a nice little gift for a friend, teacher or for someone that you appreciate.  A little cake brings a lot of smiles.

whole-wheat chocolate chip pancakes

I think because my mom often sent me to school with a kiss and a cold pop-tart (sorry mom), I am now one of those moms who really insists that we all eat something healthy in the mornings and that we all sit together to eat it!  It can be a challenge to make it happen since all three kids have school at different times, but we usually can manage 5-7 minutes together.  The harder problem is Andy — who unlike his brother Greg and sister Sylvie, really dislikes cereal.  Not only that, he refuses most breakfast items unless they happen to have chocolate or chocolate chips in them.  That being said,  I’m always on the look out for healthy pancakes.  Of course I mess that up a bit with some added chocolate chips but I hope that the benefits of merely eating, and eating together will somehow win the fight over the chocolate in the AM.  So I decided to try Ellie Krieger’s Whole Wheat pancakes for a change.  They were a hit!  Especially with the chocolate.  Oh, and Andy just read this and said, “I’m eating whole wheat pancakes?!” – guess they are good.  Ellie serves these with an delicious looking strawberry sauce, but Andy eats them plain (well with chips)  and no need for syrup.

whole-wheat chocolate chip pancakes (adapted from The Food You Crave by Ellie Krieger)

3/4 cup flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
mini-chips (to taste and optional)
2 large eggs (room temp if possible)
1 cup buttermilk (low fat)
3/4 cup low or non fat milk
1 tablespoon honey
3/4 teaspoon vanilla
cooking spray
chocolate chips

In a large bowl, whisk the 2 flours, baking soda and powder, salt, cinnamon and chocolate (if using).  In a medium bowl, beat the eggs, buttermilk, milk, honey and vanilla.  Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix gently until just mixed.  Do not over work or over mix this batter.  It should be lumpy.

Spray the non-stick pans with cooking spray and then heat over medium (at the start) to low heat.  Pour the batter from 1/4 or 1/8 cup measures and then add a few full sized chocolate chips to the pancakes.  Turn pancakes when they start to bubble and they are brown on the bottom.  Then cook about another 1 1/2 minutes depending on the heat.  I like to cook them on low heat – especially at the end of the batch because the pan gets super hot and they can burn easily.

I like to double the recipe and make many extra.  Once cool, I wrap the pancakes in groups of 3-4 pancakes and place in a plastic bag or airtight container and freeze.  (I just read about Freeze-tite – a product that is best for the freezer from the same maker as my beloved Stretch-tite!)  Every night I pull out a pancake pack to defrost and in the morning I microwave or heat in the toaster oven.  Every day I have home-made pancakes for my chocolate-loving cereal-hating son Andy.  And yes, he better love me forever.

teddie’s apple cake

I brought this apple cake to my friends  house the other night for dessert.  Well, I brought the apple cake and my fudgy brownies because I didn’t know if they were chocolate or fruit fans. Turns out they are both.  Lucky me…lucky them!  Laura said delicious!  And added – this looks like a cake but tastes like a pie!  And she is right.  This cake forms a delicious crumb on the top that I could just shave off and gobble up.  But I try to eat it piece by piece and not just the crunchy top.  My mother sent me this recipe via her friend Sally who said that yummy is an understatement.   Sally has the original recipe that was printed  in the NYT Magazine from 9/30/73!  (36 years ago today!)  My chocolate-loving son Andy thoroughly enjoyed this cake after school (who wouldn’t?)  Dress the cake up with vanilla ice cream and caramel sauce for a Saturday night dessert.

teddie’s apple cake (adapted from the NYT Magazine 9/30/73
1 1/2 cups oil (veggie or canola)
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
3 cups four (about 18 oz.)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg, 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves (have fun here and add spice to your taste…I did)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups peeled, cored and thickly sliced apples (a firm apple is good here)
1 cup chopped walnuts ( I like to toast these first – 5-8 min in 350 oven – but optional)
3/4 cup raisins

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees and butter and flour a nine inch angel food pan.

Whisk together the flour, salt, spices and baking soda and set  aside.

In electric mixer (or hand held) beat together the oil and sugar – then slowly add eggs one at a time and the vanilla and beat until the mixture is creamy.  Gently stir the flour mixture into the batter and blend half way – then add remaining ingredients and mix until just incorporated.

Pour into prepped pan and bake for about an hour and 10-20 minutes.  As usual – try not to over bake.  Check the cake after 50 minutes to gage how it is doing and then check every 10 to 7 minutes – and toward the end every 5-3 minutes thereafter to pull it when just cooked.

(my favorite) fudgy brownies

I’ve been making these brownies for as long as I can remember.  And they are truly fabulous.  Seriously yummy, fudgy and wet.  The recipe has been written up many times – always titled Katharine Hepburn’s Brownies.  Hard to believe, but I find the original recipe too sweet (I think because I add so many chocolate chips to the batter).  When I bake these, I generally  multiply the recipe by four.  I fill a (parchment lined) half sheet pan with the batter and once cool, I wrap and freeze the whole sheet.  I cut and serve as needed throughout the month.  The recipe below is for one 8 inch square pan – but I’ve cooked them in 9 inch rounds as well.  Just watch the baking time.  You can also double the recipe for a thicker brownie as these come out fairly thin.  And of course again, adjust the baking time.

favorite fudge brownies (adapted from Katherine Hepburn’s Brownie Recipe)
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
2 oz. unsweetened chocolate
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
chocolate chips to taste (I go heavy)
chopped walnuts to taste (optional)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Line the pan with foil so that it comes up the sides of the pan.  If you need two sheets, go for it.

Melt butter and chocolate in a medium-sized metal bowl over a pot with (about) an inch of simmering water.  Remove bowl from heat when melted and add the sugar.  Mix eggs with vanilla and add to the butter mixture.  Mix well.  Gently stir in the flour, salt and chocolate chips (and nuts if using) and mix until just incorporated.  Do not over mix.  Spread into pan and bake.  I don’t have a set time here – the key is to bake these until they are just cooked.  Set the time for 30 minutes, but then check every 5-7 minutes thereafter.  They should take about 35-40 minutes, but it really can change each time.  People often tell me that my desserts are good and I do think that half the battle is to not over bake.

Once cooked and cool – pull the foil (with brownies inside) out of the pan with two hands.  Then you can easily cut and serve.  Of course, you can just stick a spoon in there and start to eat when hot and warm out of the oven.  (OK, sometimes I do this.)These are fudgy and rich – and although I do like them with ice cream, they are really  great on their own.

salted peanut butter toffee cookies

The recipes in Alice Medrich’s cookbook Pure Dessert are so innovative and fresh.  I read through the book dog-earring many pages vowing to bake from it.  I finally made the time even though I knew that these cookies would be a tough sell for my family.  No  peanut lovers  here (except for me) and my brother-in-law Patrick turns his nose with disgust whenever I make anything with  peanut butter (he’s French and says the French just don’t get peanut butter).  But I forged ahead because I knew I’d like them and I just needed to try.  Well…yum!  If you like peanuts and peanut butter – then this is a cookie for you.  My friends Ali and Jonathan generally get to try and enjoy most of  my sweets (they are neighbors so they get it all) but claim to not be critical enough.  But I’ll take Ali’s concise comment – “loved them.”  My daughter Sylvie surprised me by telling me that they were yummy – that the nuts reminded her of the chou-chou nuts that they sell on the beach in France.  Oh, and by the way, these cookies are truly beautiful to look at.

salted peanut butter toffee cookies (just barely adapted from Pure Dessert by Alice Medrich)
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1  teaspoon sea salt
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup  firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg, room temperature
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup natural (smooth or chunky) peanut butter (not unsalted)
1+ cup lightly chopped toffee peanuts*

Whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt together in a medium bowl.  Mix the melted butter with both sugars in a large bowl.  Whisk in the egg, vanilla and peanut butter.  Add the flour mixture and mix  until just incorporated.  Do not over mix.

Cover the dough and refrigerate for an hour or  overnight.  Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.  Place the chopped nuts onto a tray.  (I line the tray with parchment for easier clean up).  Oh and re-use and re-use your parchment.  Spoon out about 1  to 1 1/2 tablespoons of dough for each cookie and roll in a ball and then  into the nuts. Press in the  pieces that fall off.  I like to cram as many as I can into the cookies.  Place on cookie sheet and bake for anywhere from 14-19 minutes.  Baking time will vary and depends on the size of  the cookie,  where they are placed in the oven,  and how you measured your ingredients that day.  The humidity and weather can also affect baking time.  So please check the cookies often so as not to over bake.  They should look very lightly browned on the top.  Let cool and enjoy!  Turn into a peanut cookie ice cream sandwich with vanilla ice cream.  A little messy but delicious.

* I bought toffee peanuts on-line at Feridies.com.  Amazon.com  sells them too – as well as many other sites if you look around.

toffee-peanuts-and-log

As usual – (you’ll see this often when I bake cookies) I reserved some un-peanut coated dough to freeze.  I rolled it into logs (see oatmeal cookies for more instruction) for use the next time I’m hankering for a peanut cookie.  Defrost the dough in the refrigerator and follow steps above – coating the balls of dough.  Bake and enjoy with very little effort.

nutella-swirl pound cake

Daniel, my nephew,  loves Nutella.  His eyes light up when he sees that jar.  So when I saw a write-up for a new cookbook that featured Nutella-Swirl Pound Cake, I knew I had to make it for him!   I decided to double the recipe so I could keep one and also give one  to Gilda’s club – a charity that I often bake for.  My family really enjoyed  the cake.  For me –  a warm toasted slice was heaven.  I should have swirled the batter a bit more – I think the result would have been even better.  Sadly Daniel didn’t even get to try the cake – but for his next visit I’ll be ready — Nutella jar in hand!

This recipe was adapted from Lauren Chattman’s new cookbook – Cake Keeper Cakes.  She suggests serving this with coffee ice cream.  And I think sliced and toasted with vanilla ice cream is also a winner.

nutella swirl pound cake (adapted from Cake Keeper Cakes by Lauren Chattman)
1 1/2  cups all-purpose flour
4 large eggs – room temperature
2 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 1/4 cups sugar
one 13 oz. jar Nutella

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.  Lightly grease and flour a 9×5 inch loaf pan or a bundt pan.  Mix the eggs with the vanilla.  In a medium bowl whisk the flour with the baking powder and salt.

Beat the butter with the sugar at medium high speed until lighter and fluffy, about 3-5 minutes.  Lower the mixer speed to medium and gradually beat in the egg and vanilla until incorporated and can’t see the egg anymore.  Add the flour in 2 batches, beating at low speed between additions until just incorporated.

Spread about one- third of the batter in the pan, then spread half of the Nutella on top.  Repeat with another third of the batter and the remaining Nutella.  Top with remaining batter.  Swirl the Nutella into the batter with a knife.  Do not over-mix.

Bake the cake for about 1 hour and 15 minutes but check before that –  and keep checking so as not to over bake.  I rarely use the baking time listed.  I use it only as a guide.  Let the cake cool in the pan for 10-15 minutes, then turn the cake out onto a wire rack.  Invert and let cool.  Enjoy.

oatmeal raisin cookies

I cannot believe that my first post is for oatmeal raisin cookies! I have to blame it on our friend Jason – who is coming to dinner on Saturday night. Unlike Rob and I, Melissa (his wife), and all of our (6) collective kids, Jason is just not happy with a chocolate cookie, cake or dessert. Crazy, but true. Since I’m pressed for time and already have chocolate chip cookie dough in the freezer I figure an oatmeal raisin cookie will do the trick.  This recipe was given to me by my friend Jill who said it is The Best oatmeal cookie she’s ever eaten.  And Jill knows her cookies. The recipe calls for plenty of butter so I knew it would be good. But as I was finishing with the batter, I just couldn’t help myself…I had to add some chocolate chips to the dough.  I reserved some plain Jason dough for Saturday night, but experimented with the rest – dividing it into three bowls and adding semi-sweet, milk chocolate, and white chocolate chips to each. The result was great.  Saturday night came and went.  Jason actually loved the white chip cookies.  And my chocolate-loving son Andy said that the plain oatmeal raisin were one of his favorites!  Success.  Thank you Jill.

oatmeal raisin cookies

2 cups butter, softened
2 cups white sugar
1 cup light brown sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 large eggs
3 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon kosher salt
3 cups rolled oats (not quick)
2 cups raisins
1 1/2 cups pecan halves
And chocolate chips – milk, dark or white to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
In large bowl, cream butter, sugars and vanilla together until light and fluffy and sugar is completely dissolved. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well with each addition. Combine flour, baking soda and cinnamon and salt; mix well and gradually stir into creamed butter mixture. Fold in rolled oats, raisins and pecans. I find it is easiest to do this part by (clean) hands. Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto parchment. Bake for 12-15 minutes in pre heated oven. Cool and enjoy.

This recipe makes a lot of cookies – so I decided to roll and freeze some dough for the next time I need cookies. I do this often and it is easy. Pull out your plastic wrap or parchment – and form a log of dough – wrap it up, label and bag – and pop in the freezer.  I just read about Freeze-tite – a product that is best for the freezer from the same maker as my beloved Stretch-tite!

oatmeal

The next time you need cookies, the dough will be on hand and ready to slice and bake. Just adjust the baking time if you take directly from the freezer – the cookies will take longer to bake.

If you think ahead, pop in the fridge before you bake, or pull out on the counter to soften first.