Ooey-Gooey-Chewy Cookies
Posted: February 19, 2014 Filed under: baked goods, cookies, eggs! | Tags: brownies, chocolate, cookies, desserts, eggs, flourless, food, recipes 11 Comments
score some brownie points
Life can be hard sometimes, amirite? It’s all about choices. And decisions. And compromises. What to wear. What to watch. What to eat. Like, do you go for a cookie or a brownie?
Well, why should you have to choose?
Why not get both?
Boom.
Yep. A cookie. A brownie. You can have it all. And actually, not to blow your mind again, but you can have it all — and less. That’s right. Because these ooey-gooey chocolatey cookies are flourless. Which is hard to believe, I know. But it’s true. Just check out the recipe. But what’s really great is that they’re so chock full of rich, chocolate flavor, you won’t miss the flour one bit.
See, life’s not so hard all the time.
Chocolate Brownie Cookies
3 cups of powdered sugar
3/4 cups of unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon of salt
2 large egg whites
1 large egg
5 oz of bittersweet chocolate, chopped
Heat your oven to 350º. Make sure your rack is in the upper third of your oven.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar, cocoa powder and salt. Next, whisk in the egg whites and egg until it resembles a thick fudgy mixture. Then fold in the bittersweet chocolate.
Drop rounded tablespoons of batter onto a parchment-lined cookie sheet about 2 inches apart. Bake for 14 to 16 minutes, rotating sheet halfway through, until cookies are puffed, cracked and set around the edges. Let them cool completely on the cookie sheet. Then eat.
Christmas Cookie Day: Toffee Bars
Posted: December 16, 2013 Filed under: cookies, desserts, eggs! | Tags: chocolate, Christmas, cookie bars, cookies, eggs, food, Holidays, recipes, sea salt, toffee 7 Comments
toffee time
These aren’t your typical Christmas cookies. But who says you need to be typical? The holidays deserve something special, and there’s something very special about toffee and chocolate and a few well placed flakes of sea salt.
Toffee Bars
1 ½ cups flour
½ teaspoon of baking powder
½ teaspoon of salt
1 ½ sticks of unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cups of brown sugar
1 egg
½ vanilla
1/4 cup toffee bits
1 ½ cups of Heath candy bar bits*
½ teaspoon of flaky sea salt
Heat your oven to 325º.
In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy, and then add the eggs and vanilla. Add the flour mixture a little at a time until well combined. Stir in the toffee bits.
Lightly grease an 8×8 (or similar) baking dish. Line with parchment paper, leaving extra that hangs over the edge, and lightly grease the parchment. Spread the batter into the dish in an even layer. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Sprinkle the Heath bits over the top and bake a few minutes more until the chocolate is melted. Remove from the oven, sprinkle with the sea salt, and let cool completely in the dish. When cool, use the parchment paper to lift out the bars and then cut into squares. Then eat.
*I used 30 miniature Heath bars, which I unwrapped, placed into a large ziploc bag and then smashed with a rolling pin. It was very therapeutic.
Christmas Cookie Day: Spiced Sugar Cookies
Posted: December 11, 2013 Filed under: cookies, eggs! | Tags: Christmas, cinnamon, cookies, eggs, food, Holiday, recipes, spiced, sugar cookies 3 Comments
spiced sugar cookies danced in their heads
I’m a little behind with my Christmas baking this year. We can blame Thanksgiving for being so “late.” But let’s be honest, it’s never too late to start making Christmas cookies.
First up this year are classic sugar cookies with holiday spices. I cut them into festive shapes to get myself into the holiday spirit. But please, don’t judge my decorating skills. There’s a reason I don’t draw or paint for a living. I don’t have a lot of patience, and I think that has a lot to do with it. The only good thing about being a crummy cookie decorator is that you get to keep the rejects for yourself. And I maybe kinda sorta messed up a few on purpose. Oops. Hope that doesn’t put me on the naughty list. Maybe I can persuade Santa with a few of these tasty cookies.
Spiced Sugar Cookies
For the cookies:
2 1/3 cups of flour
1 teaspoon of baking soda
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
½ teaspoon of nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1 cup (2 sticks) of unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/4 cup of sugar
1 egg
2 teaspoons of vanilla
Holiday cookie cutters
For the icing:
1 cup of powdered sugar
2 teaspoons of milk, plus more if necessary
Holiday sprinkles and green & red colored sugar
In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, and then add the eggs and vanilla. Add the flour mixture a little at a time until well combined. Refrigerate dough until firm, about 2 hours.
Heat your oven to 375º.
Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface to 1/8 inch thick. Carefully cut into shapes using the cookies cutters and place on a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes until lightly browned. Let cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes and then place a rack to cool completely.
While cookies are cooling, make the icing. Combine the powdered sugar and milk in a small bowl. Add more sugar or milk depending on how thick you want it. Hold the cookies by their edges and use a spoon to pour the icing over them. Let any access icing run off, and then place on a sheet of parchment paper. Add sprinkles, colored sugar or other decorations, and let dry. Then eat. Or, leave them for Santa on Christmas Eve (wink, wink).
Fudgy Center of Attention
Posted: November 18, 2013 Filed under: cookies, desserts, eggs! | Tags: chocolate, cookies, desserts, eggs, food, fudge, nuts, oatmeal, recipes, walnuts 9 Comments
just go nuts
If you’re a fan of oatmeal cookies, you’ll probably go cuckoo for these. If you’re a fan of walnuts (here, lightly toasted, pulverized and mixed into the dough), you’ll probably go nuts. And if you’re a fan of chocolate fudge, well, these cookies will probably make you flip out from happiness.
Because seriously, what’s not to like about a dollop of gooey fudge on top of a chewy, nutty cookie?
Nothing, that’s what.
Oatmeal Walnut Fudge Cookies
12 oz of shelled walnuts
2 cups of flour
1 teaspoon of baking soda
½ teaspoon of baking powder
1 teaspoon of salt
1 cup (1 stick) of unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup of brown sugar
½ cup of sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon of vanilla
1 teaspoon of maple syrup
3 cup of rolled oats
1 14oz can of sweetened condensed milk
1 12oz bag of semisweet chocolate chips
Heat your oven to 350º.
Spread the walnuts on a rimmed baking sheet, and bake for 10 minutes, turning halfway through, until toasted. Grind them in a food processor until they’re about the size of mini chocolate chips. Remove all but 1/4 cup from the food processor and process until fine.
In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugars until light and fluffy, then add the eggs, vanilla and maple syrup. Add the flour mixture a little at a time until well combined. Stir in the oats and larger walnut pieces.
In a small sauce pan, heat the condensed milk and chocolate chips over medium-low heat until chips are completely melted and the mixture is smooth. Keep on a low heat.
Drop small rounds of the dough onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. Flatten the center to form a nest, and then spoon a teaspoonful of the chocolate mixture in the middle. Sprinkle each with the fine ground walnuts. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, or until lightly golden. Let cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes and then place a cooling rack. Then eat.
What The Fluff?! Cookies
Posted: October 1, 2013 Filed under: baked goods, cookies, eggs! | Tags: chocolate, cookies, cornflakes, dessert, eggs, Fluff, food, peanut butter, recipes 11 Comments
holy $#%&
What the F#@$ is in these?!
Yep. That’s pretty much the response from everyone who’s tried these cookies. I think that’s pretty accurate considering they have some unusual ingredients. Originally based on a Momofuku Milk Bar recipe (that famous bakery in NYC known for putting weird things like breakfast cereal into their cookies), I changed it up by replacing mini marshmallows with Fluff.
What’s Fluff, you ask?
It’s that gooey, marshmallow-y concoction that got it’s start in Union Square, Somerville (just a stone’s throw from where I now live) almost 100 years ago. In fact, the annual Fluff Festival was this past weekend. Nowadays, most people use it to make fudge or frosting or a Fluffernutter sandwich. Unlike regular marshmallows, Fluff is vegetarian friendly. And when mixed into cookie dough, it bakes up all ooey-gooey-wonderful, resulting in cookies that are both crispy and chewy. And 100% irresistible.
WTF Cookies (aka Cornflake & Fluff Cookies)
1 ½ cups of flour
½ teaspoon of baking powder
1/4 teaspoon of baking soda
1 teaspoon of salt
1 cup (2 stick) of unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup of sugar
2/3 cup of packed light brown sugar
1 large egg
½ teaspoon of vanilla
3 cups of cornflakes
½ cup of milk chocolate chips
½ cup of peanut butter chips
3/4 of a 7.5 oz jar of Marshmallow Fluff
In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugars until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla, and beat for about 4 minutes, scraping down the side as needed. Add the flour mixture a little at a time until well combined. Beat in the cornflakes a little at a time, and then stir in the chips and the Fluff. Cover and chill the dough for at least 3 hours, or overnight. It’s very important you do not skip this step. The dough needs to firm up before baking.
stirring in the magic ingredient
Heat your oven to 375º.
Roll golf ball-sized balls of dough and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet a few inches apart. Pay attention to this too, as these cookies spread a lot. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, until the cookies have flattened and the edges are browned. Let cool completely on the baking sheet, and then enjoy.
Muffin Topped
Posted: September 12, 2013 Filed under: baked goods, eggs! | Tags: bacon, bananas, breakfast, chocolate, eggs, food, muffins, recipes 11 Comments
a complete breakfast!
Remember those breakfast cereal commercials from the 80s? Anyone who sat around in their pajamas in the wee hours of Saturday morning should know what I’m talking about. The announcer would always say: Part of a complete breakfast! And they they’d cut to a plate of toast and some random fruit next to the bowl of Frosted Flakes or Trix, as if eating bread and real fruit made the cereal better for you.
That story doesn’t really have anything to do with these mini muffins, because they don’t have cereal (although watch out of a future recipe that does). But they could be considered a complete breakfast. You’ve got your bananas, always a morning-time staple. You’ve got everyone’s favorite breakfast meat, bacon. And you’ve got chocolate for good measure. (Also cinnamon for that cozy kick.)
But here’s the real question:
Are these breakfast muffins masquerading as decadent little treats, or decadent little treats pretending to be — and doing a darn good job of it — breakfast food? I’ll let you decide.
Chocolate Banana Bacon Mini Muffins
2 ½ cups of flour
2 teaspoons of baking powder
1/4 teaspoon of baking soda
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon of salt
½ cup (1 stick) of unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup of sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon of vanilla
4 ripe bananas, mashed
1/3 cup of milk chocolate chips
6 slices of bacon, cooked & crumbled
Maple Sugar Camp Mix
Heat your oven to 400º.
In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, and then add the vanilla. Add the flour mixture a little at a time until well combined, scraping down the sides as needed. Beat in the mashed bananas, and then stir in the chocolate chips and crumbled bacon. (Or: If you want non-bacon eaters to enjoy them, divide the batter in half and only put bacon in some of it.)
Lightly grease a mini muffin pan and then spoon batter 3/4 of the way into each cup. Sprinkle each with Maple Sugar Camp Mix, and then bake for 12 to 14 minutes, until puffed and lightly browned. Let them cool completely in the muffin pan. Then remove muffins and enjoy.
Crumby Scrambled Eggs
Posted: August 19, 2013 Filed under: eggs!, veggies | Tags: easy, eggs, food, jalapeno, meatless monday, migas, recipes, scrambled, tex-mex, tortillas 3 Comments
waiter, there’s a tortilla in my egg
Now, don’t go thinking that I’m putting my egg-making skills down today. Because I’m not. It’s crumby, not crummy. Crumby as in crumbs. Crumby as in, “Oh, these fried tortilla crumbs certainly add a lot of texture and flavor to these scrambled eggs.”
What? You’ve never mixed fried tortillas into your scrambled eggs? Then you, my friend, have never had migas, a popular breakfast dish found throughout Texas. Migas translates to crumbs (see!) and the crumbs give the eggs a crunchy texture. You can by all means take the lazy way out and use store-bought tortilla chips. But where is the fun in that? Wouldn’t you rather gently fry your own corn tortilla strips in a nice hot skillet? Then you can season them up with anything you like. There’s nothing crummy about that whatsoever.
Migas, aka Tex-Mex Scrambled Eggs
For the fried tortillas strips:
6 corn tortillas
4 tablespoons of vegetable oil
Sea salt
For the eggs:
½ yellow onion, diced
1 large jalapeno, diced
4 eggs
2 tablespoons of milk
1/4 cup of shredded Monterey Jack cheese
1 plum tomato, diced
Jalapeno (or habanero) hot sauce
Salt and pepper
Salsa (optional)
Cut the corn tortilla into ½ inch strips. Add the oil to a large cast iron skillet and heat on medium-high. Working in batches, add the tortilla strips and lightly fry on both sides until golden brown. Place on a paper towel-lined plate and lightly season with sea salt.
Drain some of the oil from the skillet, lower the heat to medium-low and add the onions and jalapeno. Cook until soft, about 5 minutes. In a bowl, lightly whisk together the eggs and milk, and season to taste salt and pepper plus a few dashes of hot sauce. Add the eggs to the skillet and cook, constantly stirring, until the eggs are the consistency you prefer. Stir in the cheese, and then about 6 strips of torn fried tortillas, and cook for 1 minute until the cheese is melted and the tortilla pieces are slightly soft. Off the heat, stir in the diced tomato. Plate the eggs, garnish with extra tortilla strips and salsa, and eat.
Frittering Around
Posted: August 5, 2013 Filed under: apps & snacks, eggs!, sides & soups, veggies | Tags: appetizers, corn, corn fritters, eggs, food, meatless monday, recipes, side dishes, snacks, summer food, vegetarian 15 Comments
fried & true
You know what I like? Lazy Sundays. When there’s nothing on your schedule, you’re free to catch up on crappy TV or read a good book (or a good-bad book) or leisurely make yourself dinner.
You know what’s easy? Removing kernels from a cob. I know they make gadgets that do that now, but why bother? A knife will do just fine. Plus, it’s very satisfying running your knife down the side of an ear (that sentence sounds scarier than it actually is, btw) to make little strips of kernels fall off.
You know what’s weird? Those little white hairy threads that you find between kernels of corn.
You know what’s really tasty? Hot corn fritters with lime aioli on top. If you’ve ever squeezed fresh lime juice on your salt and peppered corn, you’ll understand how awesome and refreshing a combo that can be.
Corn Fritters with Lime Aioli
For the fritters:
½ cup of flour
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1/3 cup of 2% milk
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 ½ cups of fresh corn kernels (about 2 to 3 ears of corn)
½ cup of scallions, finely diced
Pinch of red pepper flakes
Salt and pepper
Vegetable oil
For the aioli:
3 tablespoons of mayonnaise
2 tablespoons of lime juice
1 clove of garlic, minced
In a mixing bowl, combine the flour and the baking powder. Add the milk and egg and whisk until smooth. Add the corn, scallions, red pepper flakes and 1/4 teaspoon of both salt and pepper. Chill in the fridge for about 10 minutes.
Heat a tablespoon of oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Drop 1/4 cups of batter into the skillet (don’t overcrowd the skillet) and cook until the top bubbles and the edges are golden, about 2 minutes. Flip the fritters and cook another 2 minutes or until golden. Place on a paper towel-lined plate and set aside. Continue with the additional batter, adding more oil as necessary, until all the fritters are fried.
you know what’s a good supper? these fritters
To make the aioli, combine the mayo, lime juice and minced garlic in a small bowl. Top with each fritter with a dollop of aioli.
Midweek Meltdown: Blackberry Ice Cream
Posted: July 17, 2013 Filed under: desserts, eggs! | Tags: berries, blackberries, eggs, food, frozen treats, ice cream, recipes, summer food 11 Comments
purple makes me happy
It continues to be hot. Like H-O-T hot. I feel like I’ve been melting, or on the verge of melting, for weeks. Which is good and bad when ice cream is involved. You want your ice cream cold and tasty, but not too cold that you can’t eat it without a dreaded brain freeze. And then you don’t want it too melty so it turns into a big drippy mess and gets all over your face and clothes, or whatever else happens to be around, like your iPhone, or your cat.
These are the things I was thinking about when I was making my latest batch of ice cream. This time I’ve gone the fruity route, using blackberries, those darker, richer cousins of raspberries and strawberries.
I really love the color of this ice cream, it’s such a happy purple. It just makes me smile. It’s like staring into a bowl of Grimace or something. Wait, is that weird? Forget I said that. The heat has gotten to me. It’s nothing like a bowl of Grimace. It’s sweet and creamy and berry good … and might just be one of the tastiest varieties I’ve made.
Blackberry Ice Cream
2 pints of blackberries
1 1/4 cups of sugar
2 tablespoons of lemon juice
3 cups of half & half
5 large egg yolks
In a medium saucepan, combine the blackberries, 1/4 cup of sugar and the lemon juice. Simmer over low heat until the blackberries have broken down and are syrupy, about 20 minutes. Next, pour the mixture through a fine-mesh strainer into a large bowl, using a spoon or spatula to get as much of the liquid through as possible. Discard the remaining pulp and seeds and let the liquid cool.
In another saucepan, heat 1 ½ cups of half & half and 1 cup of sugar over medium-low heat. Meanwhile, whisk the egg yolks in a bowl until pale yellow and thick, about 3 minutes. Gradually add some of the warm half & half mixture into the egg yolks while whisking constantly. Then pour the egg-half & half mixture into the saucepan and continue cooking over low heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens and can coat the back of a wooden spoon, about 5 minutes.
Add the remaining 1 ½ cups of half & half to the blackberry mixture, and then add the egg-half & half mixture and stir to combine. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until cold or overnight.
Place the mixture into your ice cream maker and freeze according to the machine’s instructions. Most machines take 20 to 40 minutes to make ice cream. When the ice cream is thick and creamy, place into a freezer-safe container (with piece of parchment paper between the ice cream and the lid) and let it harden for a few hours.
i color coordinate my ice cream and ice cream containers
Let it sit at room temperature for a few minutes before scooping, and then eat.
Midweek Meltdown: Frozen Key Lime Pie
Posted: June 5, 2013 Filed under: desserts, eggs! | Tags: dessert, eggs, food, frozen treats, key lime pie, lime, pie, recipes, summer food 11 Comments
easy as pie
While technically not ice cream, this pie IS frozen, and basically has the same ingredients as ice cream, so I’m qualifying this as a meltdown. And even for people who don’t like pie (this guy) this one is a real treat. I’ll let you in on a little secret too — I’m spilling a lot of them this week — I don’t use regular graham crackers for the crust. I use honey-flavored Teddy Grahams. So, I throw those poor innocent bears into a food processor and pulverize them into little crumbs. If that offends anyone, I’m sorry. But just like the brave limes in this pie, they really do sacrifice their lives for a good cause. As a result, this frozen pie has all the necessary flavors of the perfect summer dessert: zesty, creamy, sweet and, if you leave it out in the sun for too long, melty.
Frozen Key Lime Pie
For the crust:
2 cups of graham cracker crumbs
6 tablespoons of butter, melted
For the filling:
6 large egg yolks
1/4 cup of sugar
1 14 oz can of sweetened condensed milk
2 tablespoons of lime zest
3/4 cup of lime juice (about 4 to 5 limes)
For the topping:
½ pint of heavy cream
3 tablespoons of sugar
½ teaspoon of vanilla
Heat your oven to 350º.
For the crust, combine the graham cracker crumbs and melted butter in a bowl. Press into a 10 inch pie dish, making sure the sides and bottom are even thickness. Bake for 10 minutes, and then allow to cool completely.
For the filling, beat the egg yolks and sugar on high until thick, about 5 minutes. On medium speed, add the sweetened condensed milk, lime zest and lime juice. Pour the mixture into the baked pie crust, cover with foil and let freeze overnight.
For the topping, beat the heavy cream on high until soft peaks form. Add the sugar and vanilla and beat to combine. Spoon over the top of the pie and allow to freeze several hours. Cut into slices and then eat.
egg me on 