brownie + cookies = love

Why: Sometimes when I want a treat there is only one thing that will satisfy my craving. Warm, gooey, chocolate brownies. Warm brownies with ice cream, best desert ever. Lava cake!? My thoughts exactly! What makes these cravings super frustrating is that you can't run out and buy one quickly and on the cheap. If I wanted ice cream, 30 seconds and $1 later I'd be happy. Warm brownie sundae? I don't even know where you can buy a decent one. The mood for a warm chocolate treat hit me and suddenly I remembered recently viewing a recipe for brownies made into cookies. SOLD!

What: Ok, I'm not going to lie, I have totally classified this as healthy because it doesn't have a lot of butter or oil in it. But it does have A LOT of chocolate which doesn't make it cheap. It has quite a few more steps than I typically care for when making cookies and scooping cold dough is annoying but I can mix it by hand which means the bowl from my stand mixer won't take up the entire dishwasher. The results are pretty good. If you're the kind of person that likes the outside pieces of the brownie pan, this is totally for you. Each cookie is a little crisp around the outside, chewy in the middle. I used my super nice semi sweet chocolate which is a little bitter for the recipe so next time (hell yes there will be a next time) I'll do maybe 1 ½ cup semi and ½ cup milk. And to make it even more amazing, it wouldn't hurt to throw a few unmelted chips into the dough before baking. I'm just saying.. if you're going to make a brownie cookie, might as well go all in.

Recipe:

1 tbsp oil

1 tsp of butter (yes, this is the correct amount)

2 cup of bitter or semi sweet chocolate

¾ cup brown sugar

2 eggs

½ tsp vanilla

½ cup flour

¼ tsp baking powder

¼ tsp salt

Preheat to 350. Mix together brown sugar and eggs. Add vanilla, flour, baking powder and salt, stir until combined. In a separate bowl add the chocolate, oil and butter. Melt in microwave in short intervals, stirring between, until compeltely melted. Fold chocolate into the other mixture (until color is consistent) and chill in the freezer for 10 minutes. Scoop chilled dough onto a greased or lined cookie sheet and bake for 11-12 minutes.

Biscotti, a new frontier

Why: Another game night with family was planned for new years eve and I desperately wanted to use some hazelnuts I had hanging out. I searched for recipes including hazelnuts and it was either shortbread-ish cookies or a chocolate hazelnut cheesecake. Based on what I already had in the fridge, I went for the cookies.

What: This is the first time I made biscotti (weird, I know. They're super simple and one of my favorites). I used this recipe and followed it exactly. Next time I will definitely cut down on the nuts, a full cup was too much. Even with chocolate on top all I could taste was nuts. Also, as some of the comments noted, biscotti is great because it lasts forever but since the recipe has butter there is a chance that they will spoil quicker. I'll try a few other recipes but I'm happy to say that I am no longer intimidated by biscotti.

pumpkin baby cakes

Why: I wanted to try the famous pumpkin cake in a more transportable/individual size.

What: I made the recipe the same as before but used my lighter muffin/cupcake tin and filled each with a little bit of caramel and used one of my ice cream scoops to portion out the cake. The result? Success! Well, for the most part. I got a little impatient and used my darker and smaller muffin tins and when all 24 mini cakes came out of the oven it was hard to get them all out of the tins quickly enough before the caramel made it impossible. I will definitely prepare these again but only do 12 cups at a time.

Snow isn't the only winter thing that's white and fluffy

Why: The baking bug bit a little late this Christmas season but I still wanted to do a little something. For some of my customers at work I made a cinnamon toasted nuts and vanilla marshmallows. I found some adorable tins at the dollar store so in less than an afternoon I had a totally presentable gift.

What: I followed this recipe for marshmallows and used a full vanilla bean for flavor. I've tried marshmallows before but I figured out that the secret is that it's best to mix the hot sugar mixture with the gelatin by hand to ensure that it get's fully incorporated - otherwise you'll end up with gelatin blobs in your marshmallows. Not pleasant, trust me. I also, it is near impossible to make these without a mixer and even so, I highly recommend having 2 mixer bowls. Alllso, I used a little bit of baking spray and some powdered sugar in the bottom of the pan to help it release later on but the bottom which worked great, but the bottom of my marshmallows had a yellow hue. Not the most appetizing. All in all, a success. They packed a mean vanilla flavor so I will tone that down next time but they were still super tasty.