Chocolate-Puddle Peanut Butter Cups

HI THERE!

So I have a lot of posts to put up; hopefully I can get it all done tonight. A random bunch of recipes but they are all so good. This will be the first of the lot.

If you are in Vancouver right this moment, you can probably agree with me that the weather outside is AWFUL! It is snow and then rain, and then snow, and then rain, and then SLUSH puddles form, and I have to try and run and jump over them, and I usually don’t succeed. :’(

Puddles O' Love <3

I made these a while ago, and have been meaning to put them up. They are pretty rich and decadent, and though they look small, are actually HUGE. Think about it, a hollowed out peanut butter cookie-muffin, full of chocolate fudgey goodness. Damn. Also, the name I gave them is deceiving. These are the reverse of a peanut butter cup, where the chocolate is on the insider and peanut butter on the outside. INSANE I know.
Chocolate-Puddle Peanut Butter Cups

Peanut Butter Cup 

• 1 1/4 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup softened butter
• 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla

Chocolate Filling

•  1 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk
• 1 tsp vanilla

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Grease a mini-muffin tin.
Mix together flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

Cream butter, Peanut butter, and sugars together. Mix in egg and vanilla, and then flour mixture until thoroughly combined. Roll batter into 1 inch-sized balls and place in muffin compartments.

Cute!

Bake 12-14 minutes. Remove form oven and indent wells into each puffed ball. Cool in pan for 5 minutes.

Mix sweetened condensed milk, chocolate, and vanilla together in a pot, placed over a pot of simmering water (or double boiler). Mix continuously, and when all contents and thoroughly combined, remove from heat.

Spoon small dollops of chocolate into peanut butter cups. Cool on wire rack, then place in refrigerator for a harder chocolate if you like!If you want to top the chocolate with pecan halves, coconut, or other toppings, go for it. Make them fancy.

Happy baking!

xox

Left-over Christmas Chocolate Studded Cookies

I have so much left over chocolate from Christmas, just sitting in my pantry. I really didn’t want to see myself eating all of it so I decided to throw it into a batch of cookies and allow other people to eat it for me . These cookies were huge, with inspiration from Vanilla Sugar, and definitely tasty. I prefer to cook with semi-sweet chocolate, but no one seemed to mind the combo of dark, white, and milk chocolate chunks.

Good with a big glass of milk, and Even better when used to sandwich ice cream. Nom nom nom.

Use an ice-cream scoop for the perfect size and shape

Now I’m just chilling around the house, trying to clean things up and get ready to go back to school. I am going to head out to Lake Louise tomorrow and get a last day in of skiing. Should be fun!

Left-Over Christmas Chocolate Studded Cookies

2 cups plus 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
¾ tbsp baking powder
¾ tsp salt
12 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
1 1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
2 large eggs
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups chopped left over chocolate (I used white, dark, and milk)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper (you will end up making many batches).

Whisk all the dry ingredients together; set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, mix butter & sugars until thoroughly combined. Add in the eggs and vanilla extract, mix well. Then add in the dry mixture, mix until just combined. Now, fold in chocolate pieces.

Using an ice cream scoop, scoop out dough onto cookie sheet. Keep cookies 2 inches apart.
Bake about 11-14 minutes, rotating pans halfway through. Once puffy and lightly browned, take out!! Don’t over-cook.

Makes about 18 large cookies.

Chocolate studs....damn

Spend the last few precious days of holidays outside and doing fun stuff! Go to the mountains and ski your butts off. Hang out with friends who you won’t see again till summer (or even longer). Spend time with your family until you are so sick of them that it will take the next semester to finally miss them again.

I hope everyone had a great break! I’m stoked to get back to VanCity for some good times up at Whistler, and to see all my roomies again.

Happy Baking! xox

Sugar Cookies

These cookies were made by my sister, Bean, and they turned out really well. They weren’t overly crumbly or buttery, and had a more dense consistency. it took her probably 4 hours to decorate them all, and by the end there were some pretty ugly dudes being made (bulgy-eyed snowmen, etc.). I can emphasize enough how important it is for the dough to be cool when you are cookie-cutter-ing it. If it gets too warm and “wet”, the cookies wont be stiff enough to move onto your cookie sheet.

so colourful

Sugar Cookies

• 1 1/2 cups softened butter
• 2 cups white sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 5 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt

Cream together butter and sugar. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in flour , baking powder, and salt. Cover and chill dough for one hour (or 40 minutes in the freezer).Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Roll out dough on floured surface, 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into shapes. Place cookies on greased cookie sheet.

Bake 6-8 minutes. Cool completely before decorating!

xox

Cranberry-Coconut Oatmeal Cookies

chewy oatmeal and coconut

The holidays definitely snuck up on me this year, and I am sort of panicking to get everything bought, wrapped, and under that damn Christmas tree. Considering the super luxurious and expensive student lifestyle I live (NOT) I had to be pretty creative with gift ideas. Home-made cards, home-made burned CD’s, home-made baked goods…ya, you get it.

Most people love cookies, cupcakes, brownies, and the like, but it seems that around Christmas, it’s the last thing you want to be getting. There is so much holiday food already around, it’s almost an overkill.

But not with these cranberry-coconut oatmeal cookies (what a mouthful). These cookies have protein. these cookies have fiber. They are made with half the fat and sugar as regular cookies, thanks to the applesauce, and are also pretty darn addictive!! I have quite the active family, and I’m sure these will be a hit because they are considered more as a healthy (gasp) snack, than a dessert.

perfect for presents, or just for yourself

Cranberry-Coconut Oatmeal Cookies
by Me

Ingredients

•  1 1/3 cups white flour
• 1 cup wheat germ
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 1/2 cups rolled oats
• 1/2 cup room temperature butter
• 1/2 cup apple sauce
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup shredded coconut
• 1 cup cranberries (or raisins, or dried blueberries)
• 1/2 cup sunflower seeds (or pecans, or almonds)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and line a greased cookies sheet with parchments paper. This recipe makes almost 40 cookies, so use multiple cookies sheets or else this will make many batches.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, wheat germ, baking powder and soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and rolled oats. Set aside.

In a large bowl, beat room temperature butter and apple sauce, and sugars. (Don’t worry if butter appears to separate). Then slowly beat in eggs, one at a time. Finally add vanilla.

Slowly add dry ingredients to wet, mixing in between. Add coconut, sunflower seeds, and cranberries until just combined. Scoop tablespoon size amounts of dough onto cookie sheet, about 2 inches apart. Bake for 10-12 minutes for chewier cookies, and 12-14 minutes for a more crisp cookie. Both ways are delicious.

Makes 36-40 cookies.

Hope you’re all having fun with holiday baking!

xox