Chocolate Chip Cookie Thins

golden and buttery

Sometimes I can’t wait for my cookies to cool down before I eat them. Brownies? They SHOULDN’T be cooled down before I eat them! Don’t even get me started on slut bars…

These cookies suffered the same fate. The boy and I decided that we should make pulled pork for dinner, blissfully forgetting that it takes up to 10 hours to cook in the slow cooker. We realized this at 6:30 PM, when we finished adding all the ingredients to the pot. We decided to put the slow cooker on high heat, and give it four hours rather than the 8 hours on low heat. This way we could devoir the meaty deliciousness the second before going to bed. To wait until then, I thought we would have dessert first.

Obviously we were starving, so the second I pulled these bad boys from the oven, I grabbed some forks and we plowed away. These cookies are not fat and chewy as i usually prefer them, but they were still delicious! They reminded me of my grandma’s cookies. Crisp and buttery on the outside, and melt-in-your-mouth gooey on the inside.

fresh from the oven

I should have posted the recipe for the pulled pork sandwiches because they were INCREDIBLE but I forgot to take pictures! Next time!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Thins

• 3/4 cup butter, room temperature
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 eggs, room temperature
• 2 1/4 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
•  1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease 2 large cookie pans.

In a large bowl, beat butter and sugars until fluffy. Slowly add in eggs and vanilla and beat

I think I ate this whole stack....

until combined.

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Slowly add flour mixture to wet mixture, Beating until combined and a thick dough is produced. Stir in chocolate chips.

Bake for 12-15 minutes until golden brown, yet soft on the inside. Cool for ten to fifteen minutes, then serve with a tall glass of milk.

lack of cookie pans= Student life

Happy baking!

xx

National Women’s Day Cupcakes!

Hello all you gorgeous females! I hope y’all had a fantastic day, doing womanly things. Ha. Right.

Actually, to tell you the truth, I was a little upset with something that happened today. On campus, a Genocide Awareness Protest was taking place, fighting for anit-abortion. Why? And why on Women’s Day?? They claimed that abortion was a level of genocide. To enhance this, they put up posters of dead, headless “fetuses” which happened to look suspiciously like dogs covered in red corn syrup. As I was staring, horrified at the scene before me, a woman came up to me and asked about my thoughts on abortion. I said I was pro-choice. This spurred her to talk about how wrong abortion was, and how it was wrong for a woman to “murder” her child.

To my relief, a pro-choice group joined in, rallying against this crazy group. I was so shocked at how they were presenting this kind of thinking at a university. I just couldn’t get it.

I am absolutely in no way saying choosing to not abort is a bad choice. But I think it should be a choice, not forced. Woman should do what they want with their body, especially if it means the difference between bringing a child into a bad life or not. If you want to abort or not, do what you gotta do.

So, with that off my chest, here are some fabulous, tasty cupcakes! Vanilla cinnamon cake with chocolate cream cheese icing. I made these from Joy the Baker’s new cookbook, ya know, the one I gushed about? I adapted them a little bit (I cant help it!) and they tasted great. I hardly ever make something simple and basic. It’s nice.

Fluffy and full of flavour!

Vanilla Spice Cupcake with Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

Cupcake

• 1 1/3 cups flour
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup butter, room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 cup heavy cream

Frosting

• 1/4 cup butter
• 4 oz cream cheese
• 1 cup confectioners sugar
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix flour, baking powder, and salt together. Set aside. In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Slowly add in eggs, then vanilla, cinnamon, and heavy cream. When thoroughly combined, pour batter into a greased cupcake pan.  Bake for 25 minutes then remove and let cool for ten minutes.While cupcakes cool, make frosting. Beat butter and cream cheese together until fluffy. Add in sugar and cocoa powder, and continue beating. Finally, add in vanilla and beat until smooth.

Frost cupcakes and top with sprinkles.

Eat with all of your lady friends and have a fantastic evening!

xx.

Moist Fudgy Chocolate Cake with Nutella Buttercream Frosting

There are some food things you can’t keep in the house, or else they will be eaten in a matter of days. For me, these food things include ice cream, chinese food, leftover baking, and large quantities of nuts (yes I will eat a bag of nuts in a sitting). I have no will power against these food items, and thus it is mandatory to only eat them when I’m out for a special occasion. However, for my friend Mike’s birthday, I decided to create this cake with a not-in-my-house item.

Yes, nutella is by far my biggest NO FOOD ALLOWED item. It is so perfectly sweet, so perfectly creamy, and so perfectly rich, that I will sit and eat spoonfuls of the stuff. Me love long time.

And you know what? I’m so happy I bought it because this frosting was to die for! Like, over the top good. It was light, fluffy, and irresistibly drenched in nutella flavour.

fudgey, rich, and hella addicting

I was super happy with the whole cake- I couldn’t believe how moist, rich and fudgey it was, while still have a super light crumb! It’s a keeper. I slightly adapted the cake recipe from Take a Megabite. Make this for your friends birthday rather than buying them a million shots at the bar. This will taste much better, and they will most likely remember it better .

Moist Fudgy Chocolate Cake with Nutella Buttercream Frosting

Cake

• 3/4 c cocoa powder
• 1 tsp espresso powder
• 1 1/2 cup boiling water
• 2 cups flour
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• half cup salted butter, melted
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract

Frosting

• 1/3 cup heavy cream
• 3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 3/4 cup nutella
• 2 cups confectioners sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and grease 2 8 inch cake pans or one 10 inch springfoam pan.

In a medium bowl, mix together cocoa powder, espresso, and boiling water. Set aside.

In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and sugars. Add in melted butter, and stir. Add eggs and vanilla and mix until combined. Finally, add cocoa mixture and beat until batter is smooth and thoroughly mixed.

Pour batter into pan(s) and bake for 30-35 minutes. Remove, let cool for 10 minutes, then remove. Slide a knife around edges to help remove cake from pans. Cool cake in fridge for twenty minutes or longer.

While cake cools, make frosting. Beat butter and nutella till smooth and incorporated. Add confectioners sugar and heavy cream and beat until combined. Beat in vanilla. Place in fridge until cake is done cooling.

When ready, frost cake. Sprinkle with additional confectioners sugar.

a slice is nice

Enjoy!

xx.

Maple Caramel Cheesecake with Chocolate Ganache

Dear Cold,

I don’t know what your deal is. I try and try to kick you out, but you don’t leave! Don’t you understand that I’m done with “us”? I want to move on!

Sincerely,

Hannah

…had to get that off my chest. I haven’t been able to work out in 2 weeks because of this cold. 2 weeks! I think it’s time to visit the Doc.

In other news, I made this cheesecake and it was lovely! Like suuuuuper decadent. I’m happy with the results considering how badly I winged it. The flavour combo is quite odd, I know, but it works.

Rich and fluffy

I ran out of graham cracker crumbs, and didn’t know how to replace them. That’s when my roomie Jess walked by and tossed out “how about an oatmeal crust…” GENIUS. I then debated about how to flavour it….key lime? Caramel? Maple? Chocolate? I decided on the maple-caramel combo and it was great! I did a caramel swirl, which you cant see because of the chocolate ganache, but it was quite pretty.

super moist

To tell you the truth, I preferred the cake without the chocolate. I know, I know, how can chocolate make something less delicious. But I found it to be a tad overwhelming to the other flavours. Other tasters said the chocolate was great, so just do what you think would taste best for you!

Maple Caramel Cheesecake with Chocolate Ganache

*Note: The maple flavour is quite subtle in this cake. If you want to increase the flavour, add another 1/2 cup of maple syrup and leave out the sugar.*

Crust

• 1 cup graham cracker crumbs
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 3 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 cup butter
• 1/2 cup coconut oil

Filling

• 3 1/2 x 8 oz packages cream cheese, room temperature
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup maple syrup
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 3 eggs, room temperature
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup caramel sauce

Ganche

• 250 g semisweet chocolate
• 1/2 cup heavy cream

Directions:

in a bowl, mix graham crumbs, oats, sugar, butter, and coconut oil. Push evenly into the bottom of a 10 inch springfoam fan. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.In a large bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar until fluffy. Incorporate eggs, and beat until a smooth, custardy texture forms. Add vanilla, maple syrup,  and cinnamon until combined. Pour mixture into crust and swirl in caramel sauce. Bake for 75-85 minutes until top is brown and cake is still jiggly. Let cake sit in oven, with oven door open, for fifteen minutes (so as to not shock cheesecake and let it sink/crack, etc.). Then remove cake and let cool for half an hour on counter top, and at least 3 hours (best if overnight) in fridge.Before serving, make ganache. Heat cream until just boiling, then remove and pour over chocolate, in a small-medium bowl. Let chocolate melt, then whisk until mixture becomes smooth and glossy. Cool in fridge or freezer until desired thickness. Pour gently over cheesecake.Happy baking!

xox.

Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

I decided to post a pretty basic recipe for simple, chocolate cupcakes considering that most of my recipes are more complex in flavour and sometimes time consuming. Not these beauties! The cake is moist and almost fudgey, and the frosting is buttery and just what you need when a chocolate craving strikes.

Chocolate on chocolate...on chocolate

I kinda just winged this recipe, so if proportions seem off, just trust that it works out. The taste is proof, amiright??

Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

Cupcake

• 3/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 tbsp canola oil
• 2 tbsp coconut oil (or 2 tbsp canola oil)
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 tsp vanilla

Frosting

• 3/4 cup butter, room temperature
• 2 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp milk or heavy cream
• 1/3 cup cocoa powder
• 2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a standard 12-cake cupcake tin.

deep, dark cupcakes

together dry ingredients and set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together wet ingredients. Add to dry ingredients and beat thoroughly until smooth and well-combined. Pour batter into cupcake compartments, until almost full.

Bake for 25-30 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for ten minutes on a cooling rack, then fifteen more in the fridge.

While cups are baking and cooling, make frosting. Beat frosting until fluffy. Then add rest of ingredients and beat until a thick yet fluffy frosting is formed. If milk is needed, add in small amounts.

Frost cupcakes in any fashion you wish, and garnish with chocolate bar pieces!

Happy munching!

Xox.

Now off for some drunk bowling

Vegan Rocky Road Cookies

Before I start anything, I must say that the marshmallows and chocolate chunks in this recipe ARE NOT vegan. They were what I had in the house so I used them. The cookie batter base IS vegan, which I think is the most important part anyways. If you are on a vegan diet, for whatever reason, you will need to find vegan certified chocolate, or other fillings that you wish to include. And really, whatever diet you follow, these are to die for!

Super chewy, chocolatey, and delicious

I made these with coconut oil, and I was happy with the result. No, it doesn’t have the same “OMG” effect that butter gives, but it gives a nice, subtle hint of coconut. I use coconut oil in almost all my cooking, and I love it. It keeps me full longer than your average olive oil and it is perfect as a conditioner and moisturizer, too! Super food?

I modified the recipe from Cookie Madness.

Vegan Rocky Road Cookies

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 tbsp maple syrup
• 2 tbsp apple sauce
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup coconut oil, melted
• 2/3 cup semisweet chocolate (vegan approved)
• 2/3 cup marshmallows (leave out if following vegan diet)

Directions:

so rich and gooey

Preheat oven to 350 degreees F and grease a large cookie sheet.

Mix together dry ingredients, and set aside.

In a large bowl, mix together wet ingredients. Mix in dry ingredients until thoroughly combined. Stir in chocolate and other mix-ins.Scoop 1/4 cup dough balls onto bake sheet, leaving 1-2 inches between cookies. Bake for 15 minutes, until set and golden brown.Happy Baking!xox.

Caramel Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

I’m home and I ain’t happy about it! I was up in Whistler for the last three days, skiing and partying and having a blast, but my cold actually got the better of me and I had to come home. Seriously, I tried to battle this thing but it would not back off! I think I chugged a whole bottle of cough syrup by the end of the trip, probably not the healthiest thing to do. Anywho, I am happy with the days I got it, I’m super sore from the shredding! It was great to see everyones drunk and skied-out faces every night and hope to get back up to Whistler ASAP.

Waiting in the lift line

Had a sick time skiing Spankies with the Rohn bros. They kill it! I’m always humbled to death whenever I ski with them.

Dan having his way with the mountain

Now that I’m home, and eating real food (ski food= peanut butter on everything), I decided to whip up some cookie bars. I found these on BrownEyedBaker’s site and died looking at the pictures. Holeeeee yummo. I adapted it slighty and they still tasted amazing.

Chewy, gooey caramel

I cant wait for my babies to come back so that they can continue eating all my baked goods. This stuff is dangerous to have hanging around the house!

caramel soaked, tbh

Caramel Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies 

• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup salted butter, melted
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 cup apple sauce
• 1 cup chocolate chips
• 3/4 cup caramel spread

Direction:

Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 9×9 baking dish.

Mix together flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

yuuum

In a medium bowl, beat butter and sugars until combined. Add in eggs and beat until smooth. Add vanilla and apple sauce and beat thoroughly. Add wet ingredients to dry, and mix. When combined, stir in chocolate chips.

Spread half of the cookie dough into the baking dish in an even layer. On top, spread a thin layer of caramel. Finally, spread the rest of the cookie dough on top, making sure to cover the caramel.

Bake for 30-35 minutes, until golden and still soft inside. Cool for 15-20 minutes, then cut into bars. For a less gooey bar, cool in fridge for a further 15 minutes.

Enjoy!

xox.

Red Velvet S’mores

My cold is taking over my life. Ugh, I feel like sh*t and don’t know what to do about it. I want to be outside and doing things, not sitting around the house. Plus, I want to drink and I know it is a no-no. I have a concert to go to tonight and I am absolutely terrified of how I’m going to feel tomorrow.

What have I been doing to deal with my boredom? Baking up a storm. These little guys were a total hit. I adapted the recipe from How Sweet It Is.

Graham crust and marshmallow topping <3

Next time, I will use marshmallow fluff because I think it would be easier to eat! This stuff gets everywhere. Messy.

Rev Velvet S’mores 

Crust:

• 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 1/2 cup room temperature butter

Red Velvet:

• 1/2 cup butter at room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 tbsp red dye
• 2 1/2 tbsp cocoa powder
• 1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Topping:

• 2 cups mini marshmallows

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9x9x2 baking pan.

Mix graham cracker crumbs and butter together, and press into bottom of pan.

In a small bowl, mix together cocoa powder, vanilla, and red dye into a paste. Set aside. In a medium bowl, beat butter and sugar until fluffy. Add in eggs, one at a time, until combined. Slowly add cocoa mixture and beat until colour is even throughout the batter.

Toasted marshmallows

Add in flour and salt and mix until batter is smooth and a mild red colour. Stir in chocolate chips. Pour batter on top of graham crust and bake for 35-40 minutes. Remove, add marshmallows in an even layer on top of red velvet, and broil for 5 minutes more. Keep your eye on it and check for the perfect golden colour of marshmallow.

Remove and let cool for ten minutes, then dig in. If you want a square-like dessert, and not a goey mess, let cool in fridge for 20 minutes more.

Slice and enjoy!

xox

Black Bean Brownies

Moooore brownies. Slightly healthier, too, because I only added a 1/4 cup of flour and used beans for the rest. They taste great, too! I chucked in some roasted, salted peanuts and they add a nice lil’ crunch.

I adapted the recipe from Joy the Baker, who got it from Martha Stewart originally. These brownies are moist and absolutely addicting! I can’t believe there is a full cup of beans in them.

Black Bean Brownies

• 1/4 cup butter
• 3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup kidney beans
• 1 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs plus 1 egg white
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup peanuts

Ingredients:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a medium baking pan. Line with waxing paper and butter again.

In a blender, blend beans, vanilla, and eggs until smooth. In a small bowl, melt butter and chocolate chips in microwave. Let cool for 5 minutes and then mix in sugar. When thoroughly combined, add in egg mixture.

SO rich!

In a medium bowl, mix together flour, salt, baking powder, and cocoa powder. Stir in wet mixture until combined. Pour into baking dish and swirl in peanuts.

Bake for 20 minutes (or longer if it’s too gooey).

Happy Baking!

xox

Pre-drink food with the girls

Chocolate Stuffed Raspberry Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Icing

Happy Valentine’s Day!

These are the first red-velvet-anything I’ve ever made and they turned out well! I ran out of red food dye and resorted to using raspberry and strawberry jam in the batter. I was happy with the colour it made, but even more happy with the flavour it provided. I usually HATE fruit in my chocolate…especially cherries *shiver*.

Jam and chocolate filled

I also decided last minute to stuff the cupcakes with chocolate chips the moment they came out of the oven. I’m so happy I did because they melted immediately and created a nice filling. I altered the recipe form BrownEyedBaker.

Dey so Cuuuute!

Chocolate Stuffed Raspberry Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Icing

Cake:

• 4 tbsp butter, room temperature
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 1/2 tbsp coca powder
• 1 1/2 tbsp red food colouring (or beet juice!)
• 2 1/2 tbsp Strawberry/Raspberry jam
• 1/2 tbsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup butter milk (use normal milk with lemon juice—>cheaper)
• 1 cup plus 2 tbsp flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 1/2 tsp lemon juice (or distilled vinegar)
• 3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Frosting:

• 4 oz butter, room temperature
• 4 oz cream cheese, room temperature
• 2 1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar
• 2 tbsp vanilla extract

Directions: 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a muffin tin.

Beat butter and sugar until fluffy. Add in egg and beat well.

In a separate bowl, mix together cocoa powder, jam, food colouring, and vanilla. Incorporate mixture into batter, and beat well until food colouring is dispersed evenly.

Pink is so hot right now...

Slowly add in half the buttermilk, followed by half the flour. Add the remaining buttermilk and then the remaining flour and mix thoroughly.

Add salt, baking soda, and lemon juice and mix until batter is smooth. Pour batter into greased cupcake tin and bake for 18-20 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool on rack for 10 minutes, while you cut out little holes in each cup cake. Pull out enough cake so that you can stuff in 8 chocolate chips (or as many as you want!). When finished, cool in fridge.

While cupcakes cool, make frosting.

Beat cream cheese and butter until fluffy, then slowly add in vanilla and sugar. Keep frosting in fridge until ready to use.

Cut the corner of a ziploc bag and pour frosting inside. Pipe cupcakes, and decorate with sprinkles.

Xox.

For my roommates....y'all my Valentine's

Have a lovely day with your favourite people! Eat lotsa chocolate and spread the love!

Happy Baking!

xox