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I saw this recipe on Heather Eats Almond Butter and I knew immediately I had to make it! The recipe looked fast and easy. Two things I love in a recipe! The peanut butter cups turned out amazing! I personally think that they taste better than Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, but that is just me. The dark chocolate totally makes the recipe. If you love peanut butter and chocolate, then get in the kitchen now!
Ever since I bought dried cherries, I have had the strong urge to bake with them again. The chocolate-cherry scones were so good and I had a cherry craving, so I decided to make some cookies with them. OMG is all I have to say. These cookies were possibly the best cookies I have ever made! My husband told me he thinks these are his favorite I have ever made. (I think he just says that so I keep making him more) 
The cookies were chewy on the inside and just a little firm on the outside. They were the right amount of chocolate and the right mix of cherries. If you want a great cookie that will wow a crowd, check these out!
Oh wow! Doesn’t that picture just make your mouth water?!?!
Recipe adapted from Cooking Light
Ingredients:
1 cup flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla
1 large egg
1 cup dried cherries
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, stirring with a whisk. Place sugar and butter in a large bowl and beat with a mixer on high speed until well blended. Add vanilla and egg and beat well. Mix mixer on low speed, gradually add flour mixture. Beat until combined. Add cherries and chocolate chips.
Drop by tablespoons 2 inches apart on baking sheets coated with cooking spray or parchment paper. Bake at 350 for 12 minutes or until set. Remove from oven and cool for 5 minutes on pans.
I seriously have not blogged for way too long. I don’t know if it’s been a lack of motivation or time for that matter, but I really enjoy blogging, so I need to really get back to it. I don’t even know if anyone reads my blog, but I am promising to get back to it. No more excuses i.e. too tired or busy.
I have wanted to bake with dried cherries for a while now. I’ve seen so many good looking recipes that call for cherries, but I never had them in my kitchen. So I decided I was going to buy some cherries and make these scones because they just sounded too good to pass up. I love scones and I love chocolate, so I figured these could not be bad and I was right!
Some people find scones to be too dry, but I have never felt that. I’d much rather have a scone over a muffin or a bagel. There is just something about them. Maybe its because they are not too sweet or maybe its because they taste awesome. Who knows?!?! Enough of my ramblings, here is the recipe. Enjoy!
Cherry Chocolate Scones
Ingredients:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
6 tbsp unsalted butter
1/4 cup vanilla Greek yogurt (Oikos makes a great Greek yogurt)
1/4 cup buttermilk
1 large egg
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
2/3 cup chopped cherries
1/3 cup chocolate chunks
Directions:
1- Preheat over to 400 degrees.
2- In a large bowl, combine flours, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Use a pastry blender to cut the butter into the mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs.
3- In a medium bowl, stir together buttermilk, yogurt, egg and vanilla. Add the wet ingredients to the flour mixture. Stir to combine. Mix in cherries and chocolate.
4- Use a ice cream scoop to make the scones. Flatten each one with your hand. Place the scones on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for 15 minutes or until the top is lightly browned. Allow to cool.
I have been missing for the last couple of days because we had a family emergency. The past few days have been very tiring and I just didn’t have the desire to write. Family is so important and that was all that was on my mind. We got home last night and totally vegged out on the couch. I think we needed some serious down time.
This morning I wanted to make some serious comfort food. Sometimes you just want something that makes you feel a little more at ease. I know it is probably not the healthiest but I just didn’t care this morning. So I decided that we needed some homemade chocolate chip cookies. What is better than that? Plus my husband loves cookies so I figured he would help me enjoy them too!
I got busy on my cookie dough this afternoon. Check out the delicious looking dough. I could not resist a little sample.
The cookies turned out super good. They are soft and chewy. I do not like hard cookies. Plus the house smells like homemade cookies. I love that smell. I think the cookies served the comfort purpose I was seeking.
Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients:
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup softened butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
1 12 oz. package of semi-sweet chocolate chips
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Combine the flour, salt and baking soda in a bowl and set aside. Combine brown sugar, sugar, butter and vanilla and beat until creamy. Add eggs and beat. Add the dry ingredients and mix well. Stir in chocolate chips. Drop mixture by rounded spoonfuls onto a non-greased cookie sheet. Bake 8-10 minutes. Makes about 2 dozen cookies.
For my husband’s birthday I wanted to make him a cake from scratch. No mix this time. I wanted to try something a little more challenging. So I told him he could pick any type of cake he wanted. His guidelines: chocolate and raspberry. Sounded easy enough and I found this wonderful recipe from one of my favorite blogs, Sugar Plum, that sounded delicious.
As I said before, I have never made a cake from scratch. I’ve always relied on cake mixes. What a mistake that was! For all those years, I’ve been missing out on the fun of making a cake. The cake was so easy to make and it turned out perfect. Plus I know what I put in it, instead of random ingredients and preservatives that are thrown in the store bought mixes.
We celebrated my husband’s birthday last Saturday, complete with candles and some singing! The cake was so good, super chocolaty and very rich! But it was so worth it!
I found these awesome chocolate chips with peanut butter swirled in them at the store and found them pretty hard to resist. I am a peanut butter addict and with a little chocolate, well then I’m a severe addict! The cookies were easy and fast and turned out delicious.
After all my cookie baking for the holidays, I am done. I really don’t want to make anymore cookies for a long time. It’s completely out of my system…for now. I’m sure my husband won’t mind too much, except when he told me that he didn’t get very many cookies this year because they were all given away as gifts! Maybe I’ll have to make one more batch just for him! I hope everyone enjoys their holidays!
Here is the recipe for the cookies!
Two words: chocolate and peanut butter. I do not think that there are two better words when it comes to baking. When I saw this recipe, I knew I had to make them! They were very easy to make, but when it came to dipping them into the chocolate I ran into a few problems. I always make a huge mess when I use melted chocolate for dipping. Also the rice krispies kind of fell apart when they were in the chocolate. Other than that, they turned out really good. I was thinking the next time I make them, I would just put the chocolate on the top, sort of like icing.
Recipe from the Brown Eyed Baker.
My all time favorite food is peanut butter. I could eat it everyday, either in a sandwich or just a quick spoonful. Unfortunately my husband does not share the same passion for peanut butter. He doesn’t really like peanut butter cookies (which I love), so I never make any desserts with peanut butter because I want him to enjoy it too. Well I found this recipe for Peanut Butter Blondies and I decided that he was going to have to suck it up and eat a little peanut butter because these sounded too good to pass up!
The recipe was so easy and fast (which I love). After about 10 minutes in the oven you could smell the sweet aroma of peanut butter throughout the house! After I took it out, I tried to let it cool before I cut into it, but it just smelled too good. I was so pleased with the taste, that I thought maybe my husband might even like these. After he tried my Blondies, I think I may have converted him to the peanut butter side. He thought they were very good and he has been eating them all week. I am glad I decided to give peanut butter another try because I sure have been missing it!
Ingredients:
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a 9-inch by 13-inch pan and set aside.
In a saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter and brown sugar, stirring constantly until smooth. Remove from the heat, and stir in the peanut butter. Allow to cool while combining the dry ingredients – flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt – in a large mixing bowl.
Add the eggs, one at a time, to the brown sugar and peanut butter mixture, mixing well after each addition. Add the vanilla extract and stir to combine. Pour the mixture into the prepared dry ingredients, and stir to create a thick, smooth batter.
Transfer the batter to the prepared pan, spreading the batter evenly to the edges of the pan. Sprinkle with the milk chocolate chips and peanuts, lightly pressing them into the batter.
Bake for 25 minutes. Allow to cool in the pan. Cut into 1-2 inch squares.
Recipes taken from My Kitchen Addicition
Growing up, I loved Girl Scout thin mints. They were always my favorite Girl Scout cookie. So when I found a homemade thin mint recipe, I was super excited to try it. The recipe was very easy and straight forward, so I figured it would turn out great. Needless to say I was disappointed by my new baking endeavor. The cookie itself was good, although in my opinion it could use a little more mint flavoring. But after I dipped it into the dark chocolate coating, it just lost all appeal to me. My husband thought they were good and proclaimed he would eat all of them. I’m glad at least one of us liked them.
I am pretty sure it was my choice it dark chocolate that ruined it for me. I think it was a little too bitter for the cookie. It needed a sweeter chocolate. So if I decide to make them again, I would opt for a milk chocolate or a combination of dark and milk chocolate.
Recipe:
Taken from Bakingbites.com
Ingredients:
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
6 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1/3 cup milk (any kind)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 tsp peppermint extract
In a small bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, cocoa powder and salt.
In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar. With the mixer on low speed, add in the milk and the extracts. Mixture will look curdled. Gradually, add in the flour mixture until fully incorporated.
Shape dough into two logs, about 1 1/2 inches (or about 4 cm) in diameter, wrap in plastic wrap and freeze for at least 1-2 hours, until dough is very firm.
Preheat oven to 375F.
Slice dough into rounds not more than 1/4 inch thick – if they are too thick, they will not be as crisp – and place on a parchment lined baking sheet. Cookies will not spread very much, so you can put them quite close together.
Bake for 13-15 minutes, until cookies are firm at the edges. Cool cookies completely on a wire rack before dipping in chocolate.
Dark Chocolate Coating
10-oz dark or semisweet chocolate
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
In a microwave safe bowl, combine chocolate and butter. Melt on high power in the microwave, stirring every 45-60 seconds, until chocolate is smooth. Chocolate should have a consistency somewhere between chocolate syrup and fudge for a thin coating.
Dip each cookie in melted chocolate, turn with a fork to coat, then transfer to a piece of parchment paper or wax paper to set up for at least 30 minutes, or until chocolate is cool and firm.
Reheat chocolate as needed to keep it smooth and easy to dip into.
Makes 3 1/2-4 dozen cookies.
Not too long ago I tackled one of my baking fears: scones. I do not know why I was always so afraid of baking them. Maybe I always felt like I could not compete with local bakeries. That said, I put my fear aside and made fresh blueberry scones. The recipe was so easy and they turned out great!
So last Sunday, I was feeling a little braver and decided to try a different recipe for chocolate chip scones. I got the recipe from the Joys of Baking and it seemed just as easy as the other one I tried. But in the long run, I was disappointed. I felt like these turned out to be very crunchy and super sweet. I like a nice soft scone with just a hint of sweetness. My husband agreed with me and even said they tasted a little too rich.
Here is the recipe:
2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup granulated white sugar
1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cold and cut into pieces
1/2 cup milk or semi sweet chocolate chips or chunks
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2/3 cup buttermilk (You will probably need more than this)
Egg mixture for brushing tops of scones:
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon milk
Cinnamon Sugar:
2 tablespoons granulated white sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F and place rack in middle of oven. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Cut the butter into small pieces and blend into the flour mixture with a pastry blender or two knives. The mixture should look like coarse crumbs. Stir in the chocolate chips. In a small measuring cup whisk together the buttermilk and vanilla extract and then add to the flour mixture. Stir just until the dough comes together (add more buttermilk if necessary). Do not over mix the dough.
Transfer to a lightly floured surface and knead dough gently four or five times and then pat the dough into a circle that is about 7 inches round and about 1 ½ inches thick. Cut this circle in half, then cut each half into 4 pie-shaped wedges (triangles). Place the scones on the baking sheet. Make an egg wash of one well-beaten egg mixed with 1 tablespoon milk and brush the tops of the scones with this mixture. To make the Cinnamon Sugar, mix together the sugar and ground cinnamon. Sprinkle the tops of the scones with a little of the cinnamon sugar.
Bake for about 15 to 20 minutes or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
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