nutella blondies

Nice too for Valentine’s Day.  I was able to write these up quickly because they are soooo easy (seriously – 10 m) and a decadent treat for your loved one(s).

Nothing fancy here but a solid mass of goodness in a square shape.  Easy, rich, and so very pretty these will hit your speed spot.  I promise.  I made these for friends and many of them enjoyed – especially those who like Nutella (obviously!)  Serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and I promise you will be very happy.  Not much else to say because well, a Nutella brownie kind of speaks for itself.  Cousin Daniel – next time you are here…well, you know — they will be waiting.  If I remember.  (Remind me!)

Oh, actually – the recipe calls for peanut butter chips or chocolate chips.  My family doesn’t love peanut butter – but if you do, then go for it!

Nutella blondes from Averie Cooks (click here for her link – with alternate ideas for Nutella as well):

1/2 cup (one stick) unsalted butter, room temp
1 egg
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup chocolate chips (you can use peanut butter chips here if you desire – or a mixture)
1/3 cup Nutella
1/3 kosher salt

Preheat oven 350.  Line an 8×8 pan with foil or parchment and lightly butter or spray.

Melt the butter and mix in the brown sugar.  Add the egg and vanilla and mix again.

Add the flour, salt and chips and gently fold until combined.

Pour into the prepared pan.  Smooth.  Then take small dollops of Nutella and plop all over.  (So eloquent I know.)

To decorate the top, drag a toothpick “draw” 4 or 5 lines.  Rotate the pan 90 degrees and repeat.  Alternately, you can just smooth it around.

Bake for 20-25 m – until a toothpick comes out just clean.

Let cool in pan.  Pull out by the sides of foil and parchment.  Slice and serve.

Btw, these freeze very well.

Enjoy-

choc espresso brownies (one bowl)

You have seen these before but with so many people turned off by white chocolate (although I’m serious when I say good quality white chocolate is delicious) I decided to make these with my semi-sweet super chips.  (Any semi sweet chips will do.)  And yummy yum yum.  Judy, Rob and I loved them.  (Although I still prefer my white chunk!)

FYI – good quality white chocolate is actually a bit more golden in color.  Very white white chocolate is probably not the best.

Here is the original treat – and you can substitute your own chocolate colored chocolate!

one bowl chocolate espresso white chocolate brownies

 

 

peanut butter sandwich cookies w/milk chocolate filling

Yummy peanut butter cookies.  A little crumbly with shortbread-like texture and a serious dose of peanut butter flavor.  I’m baking for various people and organizations and I hope they like them since my family doesn’t like and generally won’t try peanut butter.  Well, Rob does, but he prefers a chewy cookie.  So this one is tricky but I do recommend them.  My personal filling choice might be a simple vanilla cream or even solo with a cup of strong coffee – since I’m realizing I no longer like peanut butter and chocolate together.  Yikes.  These are really easy to make and fun for kids to fill the cookies – or nice by yourself.  A little therapeutic for me.  I think this weekend I’ll make a batch of vanilla ice cream and mix in these cookies and I have a very good feeling about that!  Keep you posted.  Enjoy –

peanut butter chocolate cream cookies (from The Craft of Baking by Karen DeMasco and Mindy Fox):

cookies–

1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, room temp
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon lightly packed brown sugar
3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon confectioners’ sugar
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter (do not use a natural peanut butter Skippy was great)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 large egg

Preheat oven to 350 – or use convection mode and preheat to 325.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Set aside.

With paddle attachment of mixer, beat together the butter and sugars until light and fluffy.  Medium high.

Add the peanut butter and beat to combine – scrape down the sides and beat again.

On low speed, add the veggie oil, vanilla extract and egg.  scrape and mix again.

Again, on lowest speed (or by hand, fold) mix in the dry ingredients being careful not to over mix. Beat just combine.

Roll dough into 1/2 inch balls (or bigger or smaller – just change baking time)  Or use a cookie scooper (they won’t look as smooth.)  The dough might be sticky so use a little flour on your hands to help.

Place on parchment lined cookie sheets and bake until cookies are golden brown on edges.  You really have to check your own time here.  Karen says 12 min but mine took longer at 350.  I also baked in convection and they took less time.  So use 12 as a guide but might take up to 17 – or more…or less!

Let cool then eat or fill with choc/peanut filling below or with ganache or vanilla cream or vanilla ice cream and freeze.

filling–

6 ounces milk chocolate
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 cup heavy cream

Combine the chocolate, peanut butter, confectioners’ sugar and salt.

Heat the cream – bring to just almost a boil, then pour over the chocolate mixture.  Whisk until smooth.

Let sit to room temp, or place in ice bath – for spreading consistency.  With an offset spatula or knife, spread on flat side of cookie and press another on top.  Enjoy –

 

 

 

cakey brownies

My “favorite fudge” brownies are great.  So great – they are, not bragging, but just the truth.  In ice cream still great but later, in bed, I’m not thrilled.  Too rich.  So when Melissa decided to make a sundae bar for New Years – I decided it was time to find a cakey brownie suitable as a mix-in.  I scoured my books and like many a time before found myself drawn to Alice Medrich.  Her cakey brownies are perfection.  Chocolately and so good with that crumbly top that I can’t really get with fudgy brownies.  I added chocolate chips since I love that texture – and nuts would also be great.  Rob really liked them and he doesn’t eat ice cream so alone he thought delicious and def blog worthy.  Andy and Sylvie agreed.  I don’t think Greg tried them since he is slowly not eating any sweets 🙁  I will make these even without ice cream.  A nice change and so easy!

cakey brownies (from Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy Melt In Your Mouth Cookies by Alice Medrich):

2/3 cup flour (3 ounces)
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3 ounces unsweetened chocolate (good quality is best)
2 ounces bittersweet chocolate
10 tablespoons (1 and 1/4 stick) unsalted butter
1 1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (not imitation)
3 large eggs (pull to room temp if you remember)
1 cup (3.5 ounces) walnuts, pecans, or other nuts (optional)
chocolate chips, semi sweet (optional)

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees and place oven rack on lower third of oven.

Line and 8×8 inch pan with foil or parchment so that there is overhang.  See photo:

.cran-parch-w-hands

In a small bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.

Place the chocolates and butter in a heatproof bowl and place over a pot of barely simmering water.   Heat (do not cook) and remove when melted stirring here and there.

Remove bowl from water.

Place sugar, vanilla and eggs, and beat with mixer on medium high for about two minutes.  Gently fold the chocolate into the egg mixture.

Stir in the flour mixture until just blended and stir in nuts or chips if using.

Bake for 35-40 m (but check often and before – always remember that ovens vary)  Remove when a toothpick comes out JUST clean.

Let cool.  Remove from pan by lifting the foil or parchment.  Cut and serve and enjoy –

 

 

ghiradelli caramel cookies

“Now this is a good cookie” Judy said very calmly and matter of fact.  Beth agreed and both said blogworthy, but I already knew that. Sylvie was bummed that she didn’t get a taste – so I made a few more as she went out to her double header.  While she was gone, well, I couldn’t help myself!  I couldn’t.  My binging days are over but I have to say that I overindulged a bit.  Just a bit…like, there were none left!  I blamed it on the other kids and “friends” who had come by to try lest she think that I stole her precious treat.  I plan to make them again this week, for her and the shelter because  they are a yummy rich fall like cookie filled with ghiradelli caramel candies and well – what could be wrong about that!

I would double this recipe btw – but then again, you will then eat double.  So maybe not.

Oh, and broken up and in vanilla ice cream is really really scrumptious.

The recipe came from my mom who found them from The Domestic Rebel:

¾ cup butter, softened
¾ cup brown sugar
¼ cup white sugar
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cornstarch
½ tsp kosher salt
1 cup milk chocolate chips
12 Ghiradelli Caramel squares, unwrapped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a muffin top pan or deep dish cookie pan with cooking spray and set aside.  I didn’t have either so I used a regular sheet pan lined with parchment.

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

With the paddle attachment of electric mixer, beat together the butter and sugars until creamy, about a minute. Beat in the egg and vanilla to combine.

Gradually add flour mixture to the butter mixture, and mix on low until just incorporated. Remove bowl from mixer and fold in the chocolate chips.

Drop a Tablespoonful of dough into the bottom of each cavity – or on your cookie sheet.  Top with an unwrapped square.  Top the candy with an additional tablespoonful of dough and gently press the top dough ball to cover and enclose the candy.

Bake the cookies for approx. 12-15 minutes or until the centers are set and the edges are golden and lightly crisped. Allow the cookies to cool in the pan about 5 minutes before gently removing to wire racks to cool completely.  You can loosen them from the pan very carefully with a butter knife.  You can let them cool directly on the cookie sheet if that is what you used.

Enjoy-

best darn sugar cookies

So my friends daughter broke her arm again.  Pins this time.  And because I do believe that cookies have curative powers (at least while you are actively eating them) I asked Liz what Lucy’s favorite cookie was.  I figured it would be choc chip, or brownies or my meringue cookies.  But no, Lucy’s fave is sugar cookies.  Sugar cookies – hmmm…never the biggest fan and I’d yet to find and make a blog-worthy one.  So I browsed through my books, but realized that I already tried many of them so  I took to the Internet and googled “best sugar cookie” — and well, many popped up, but this one called to me because the author wrote that it was the “best darn sugar cookie” and that it was really true.…(kinda like I do).  And it was!  Liz said Lucy was the happiest and Sylvie and I were also very impressed by how crisp, flaky and flavorful they were.  The rest went to My Sister’s Place, and I hope they were happy with the results as well.  Try them!

Enjoy –

best darn sugar cookie ever – click here to be directed to the page  – the only addition I made was to add  1/4 teaspoon kosher salt to the recipe.

one bowl chocolate, espresso, and white choc chunk brownies

Gosh I made these sooo long ago – and have been just too lazy to write them up – and I’m sorry because they are delicious.  Really really scrumptious, rich, moist, fudge-like, decadent and well – truly different from other brownies.  And oh, they freeze really well.  Crazy well.  I served them recently (from the freezer) and Stephanie said “wow, wow, this is crazy good” – I’m not sure she remembers that she said that last time but I do!   I know white chocolate turns many off – but again, if you use really good quality then you might be surprised.  Don’t buy chips here – buy a bar and chop it yourself.  So tasty.  It has been a while since I first served these treats, but I do remember someone (other than Stephanie) who ooohed and aaahed and said the best!  And I felt proud which is really silly because I only followed the recipe.  Anyway, make them.  Enjoy –

one-bowl chocolate, espresso, and white chocolate chunk brownies (from Simply Sensational Cookies by Nancy Bagett:

3/4 cup (1.5 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into chunks
3 1/2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, broken up or coarsely chopped
2 1/2 ounces 65-75 percent cacao bittersweet chocolate, broken up or coarsely chopped
1 2/3 cup sugar
generous 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
4 large eggs, room temp
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 tablespoon instant espresso powder dissolved in 2 tablespoons hot water
3/4 cup all purpose flour
8-10 ounces coarsely chopped good quality white chocolate

Place rack in middle of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees.

Line an 9 inch square baking pan with foil, letting the foil slightly overhang on each side.  Grease the foil or coat with spray.

In a heavy large saucepan, heat the butter and chocolates on the lowest heat and stir constantly until melted.  Remove from heat.  I usually opt to melt the butter and chocolate over a pot of simmering water.  That way I can let it sit and not worry about overheating or stirring.  So do what feels comfy to you.  The microwave works well too.

Stir the sugar and salt into the chocolate mixture until fully incorporated and the batter as cooled to warm.  Vigorously stir in the eggs, one at a time, and then the vanilla and espresso mixture.  Stir until the mixture is smooth and shiny.

Stir in the flour until just evenly combined.

Place half the batter into the prepared pan.  Sprinkle about a third of the white chocolate evenly over the top and cover with remaining batter.  Spread the rest of the white chocolate chunks all around.  Bang the pan on the counter to embed the pieces slightly.

Bake 25-35 minutes – until edges are just pulling away from the sides of the pan and a toothpick comes out almost clean (the bottom will should still be moist and gooey.)

While the brownies bake, fill a large shallow pan a 1/2 inch deep with ice cubes and water.  When brownies are done, place the pan into the shallow ice water to immediately stop continued cooking.  Let stand until completely cooled – 30-45 m.

Refrigerate the slab for 45 m so it will cut easily (or just cut messy!)  Invert onto a cutting board to carefully remove foil.  Then place ride side up.

Cut – and use a damp paper towel to wipe the blade in between cuts.

These are so good cold or room temp.

Enjoy!

creamsicle cookies

Baked again for My Sister’s Place — and decided to once again make a cookie.  These are flecked with orange zest and taste fresh and bright.  The white chocolate sweetens them up and adds another scrumptious dimension.  Greg had one and said, “hmmm, good mom!”  He had another the next day (cuz he never eats more than one at a time!) and said, “I really really like these mom” and on the third said “you should def make them again.”  Rob too – which was surprising since he doesn’t like white chocolate at all – said good.  (Please use good quality white chocolate!)  I loved them.  And Mike if you are reading this (which I doubt) I will share with you next time, since orange is one of your faves.

Got this recipe from a fun blog called Cookies & Cups…

creamsicle cookies from Cookies & Cups:

click here

guittard choc chip cookie

The first time I baked these Andy said, “These are the best chocolate chip cookies of all time!”  The second time (tonight) I surprised him by making them on the DL and boy, the delight on his face – it reminded me when he was two as his eyes lit up when Sylvie was born.  Anyway, after dinner he sat down with a giant one and  said, “these cookies are magnifico!”  He obviously loves loves loves them.  Rob too – especially warm out of the oven.  Greg’s friend Matt said that both cookies were equally good (when compared with Toll House) but said he couldn’t decide which was better.  Greg and Sylvie too said Yum.  My sis in law Kathy turned me onto these over-sized chips – thank you Kathy!  She was able to buy them in Boston, but I could only find them online (Amazon).  I never saw them before and well – I made the recipe on the back, and you know the results!  Enjoy –

super chip cookie (from the recipe on the Guittard Super Cookie Chip bag):

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup butter (at room temp)
6 tablespoons sugar
6 tablespoons firmly packed brown sugar
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
10 ounces Guittard Super ChookieChips
1/2 cup walnuts (optional — I did not use…)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Whisk tog the flour, salt, baking soda.

In mixer – using paddle, beat the butter until softened up – then add sugars and beat until fluffy.  Scrape down and on medium speed, add the egg and vanilla.

Fold in the dry ingredients and chips.

Bake at 375 for 10-14 m – really depends on your oven and how many racks you are baking – and or if you use convection (then bake at 325).  Bake until light gold (or more or less depending on your taste.)

Enjoy-

fudge chocolate cookies w/white chips

Yum.  As always – it seems that whenever you mix chocolate with butter and a few other ingredients the result is always delicious.  Always.  These tempting cookies were so up my alley.  I know I’m in the minority with my like of white chocolate.  But I do like it a lot.    Well, only GOOD quality white chocolate.  This is vital.  If you don’t like it – then obviously just place reg choc chips in here and enjoy the burst of an all rich dark chocolate cookie.  But I do think the white chocolate takes the edge off of the bitter-sweetness.  These are simple to make and are a sure hit for you and your guests.  Enjoy –

dark chocolate cookies w/white chips (from Baking Unplugged):

½ cup unsalted butter
7 ounces good quality bittersweet chocolate (60-65 percent cocoa solids), chopped
1 cup packed light brown sugar

2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon kosher salt (plus a dash more)
1 cup all purpose flour
¼ cup unsweetened natural cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
3.5 ounces white bar chocolate (good quality!– preferably, chopped

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Melt the butter over low heat and add the chopped chocolate and gently melt (melt not cook) completely.

In a small bowl, mix together the flour, cocoa powder and baking powder.  Set aside.

Transfer the butter and chocolate to a large bowl and let cool for 5 min or so.

Beat in the sugar until there are no lumps.   Then gradually stir in the eggs, vanilla, and salt until smooth and creamy.

Gently fold in the dry ingredients and follow with the chopped white chocolate.  Do not over mix.

Drop mounds of dough (about 1 ½ tablespoons) on parchment lined baking sheets.  Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes and rotate the pans.  This might take a little bit longer – but watch carefully.

The cookies should be puffed in the centers but not quite set.

Cool and enjoy –