Dark Chocolate Chewy Cookies...

I love chocolate. I mean, most of you probably knew it, but just in case I haven't said it lately, I really love chocolate. I follow a really great food blog called Baked Perfection and everything I have ever tried is really good.

So, I tried  her double chocolate cookies and found that she adds a box of dry instant pudding mix to her cookies. I am telling you what, they really make the cookies soft and long lasting. A really excellent addition.

So, today I made a batch of these wonderful and tried one just to be sure. Yep, they are awesome! You may be saying to yourself, "Isn't she trying to lose weight? Is she cheating on her diet?"

Yes and no.  I am losing weight but I am not cheating. With Weight Watchers you can eat anything as long as you track it and it stays within your point allowance. I have allowed myself to eat two today. One thing I do in order to restrict my eating and yet indulge my absolute love for cookies, is I dip all the dough out into cookie balls and then quick freeze them on a cookie sheet, bag them and then just bake 1-2 cookies when I plan for them. It is a win-win. I mean, if I am going to use 3 points for a cookie, I want it warm and delicious.

Here they are, frozen into balls. You can see I have already bagged a bunch of them. It only takes about 20-30 minutes for them to freeze. When you want a cookie bake the amount you want at 350 degrees for about 12 minutes or so.

So, here is the recipe. Adapted from Baked Perfection.

CHEWY DARK CHOCOLATE-CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

Preheat oven to 325 degrees

Beat together in a mixing bowl till creamy:

            2 sticks butter [1 cup]

            2/3 C granulated sugar

            2/3C brown sugar

            1 tsp vanilla extract

Add:

            2 eggs, one at a time beating after each one

Mix together in another bowl and then add slowly to butter mixture:

            2  C flour

            2/3 C baking cocoa [dry]

                        1 tsp baking soda

                        ½  tsp salt

                        1 package chocolate instant Jello Pudding, the dry mix, not prepared, 4 serving size

            Stir only to combine all ingredients. Do not beat. Add:

                        2 Cups [12 oz] chocolate chips or 1 2/3 Cups M&Ms

                        1 Cup chopped walnuts or pecans [optional]

Stir till chocolate chips are combined. Do not beat or over mix.

Drop cookie dough onto greased or parchment lined cookie sheets. For large [rounded Tablespoon size] cookies for 11-13 minutes till cookies are puffed and centers are set. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

And for regular chocolate chip cookies that stay soft and chewy:

CHEWY CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

Preheat oven to 325 degrees

           

Beat together in a mixing bowl till creamy:

            2 sticks butter [1 cup]

            ¾ C granulated sugar

            ¾ C brown sugar

            1 tsp vanilla extract

Add:

            2 eggs, one at a time beating after each one

Mix together in another bowl and then add slowly to butter mixture:

            2 ½ C flour

                        1 tsp baking soda

                        1 tsp salt

                        1 package vanilla instant Jello Pudding, the dry mix, not prepared, 4 serving size

            Stir only to combine all ingredients. Do not beat. Add:

                        2 Cups [12 oz] chocolate chips

                        1 Cup chopped walnuts or pecans [optional]

Stir till chocolate chips are combined. Do not beat or over mix.

Drop cookie dough onto greased or parchment lined cookie sheets. For large [rounded Tablespoon size] cookies for 11-13 minutes till cookies are puffed and centers are set. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

And for another taste treat I made on Sunday--brownies on the bottom and chocolate chip cookie dough on top, baked till soft and delicious. Also adapted from Baked Perfection.  Also, a bonus recipe of Turtle Brownies.

CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE BROWNIES

(1) Make a batch of the chewy chocolate chip cookies above—you won’t use all the dough.

(2) Make a batch of Brownies for Kids or a box mix [for a 9x13 pan].

BROWNIES FOR KIDS

9x13 pan

1 1/2C flour                 2 sticks butter

2 C sugar                     4 eggs

3/4C dry cocoa            2t vanilla                    

Combine all ingredients.  Beat with mixer for 2 minutes.

Put the brownie batter in a well greased 9x13 or larger pan, I like 10x14 Pyrex and spread evenly. You can either mold the cookied dough into flat sections and place over brownie batter or just drop tablespoons of it onto the brownie batter. Push the dough down so it is even with the brownie batter. Bake for 25-30 minutes until the cookie portion is brown and the brownies are set.

These are delicious and very rich.

TURTLE BROWNIES

Make a batch of Brownies for Kids [above].  Spoon 2/3 of the batter in the bottom of a greased  9x13 baking pan.

Sprinkle 1 cup of chocolate chips [mini or regular size] over batter.

Bake 12 minutes at 350 degrees. Remove from oven and set aside.

Meanwhile in a large saucepan, heat over low heat until melted:

            1- 14oz package of caramels, unwrapped

            1-14 oz can sweetened condensed milk

Pour caramel mixture over baked brownie layer. [Optional: sprinkle with pecan pieces.]

 Drop remaining brownie batter over caramel by teaspoonfuls. Spread batter with an offset spatula till even.

Bake 35-40 minutes longer or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out with moist crumbs. Do not over-bake. Cook on a wire rack. You may want to sprinkle with Powdered sugar before serving.

Take care,
Jill

Gingerbread Muffins--super healthy and delicious...

As many of your know I have been doing Weight Watchers on line for the past 5 months and have lost 46#. It is a great program and pretty easy to follow. My downfall has always been baked goods. And, the biggest problem is that I LOVE to bake.  So, I have been trying to balance my love for eating and baking with my love for not being fat and there is always quite a bit of tension between the two things.

I modified a muffin recipe I liked and then modified it some more and then again, and I have finally come up with a fantastic recipe that is super healthy and tasty. I eat one about 4-5 mornings a week along with a cup of tea and some Oikos Vanilla Greek Yogurt. If you know WW points, the muffins are 3 WW Points+ and so is the yogurt, so for 6 points I have a healthy and satisfying breakfast. But, you don't have to be watching your weight to love these muffins.  Here is the recipe, it makes a dozen nice sized muffins. I bake them in a Pampered Chef stone muffin pan without using cupcake papers. I tried other pans but they don't rise as high.

Gingerbread Muffins
Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Combine the following dry ingredients:

• 1 3/4 C flour, I use 1 C whole wheat and 3/4 C regular unbleached flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1 tsp ginger
• 1/4 tsp cloves
• 1/2 tsp sea salt

Mix the following together, then add to the dry ingredients, stirring till combined, but it is OK if it is a bit lumpy:

• 1 C canned pumpkin puree
• 1/4 C applesauce, unsweetened [you could use oil instead, but I wanted a low fat muffin**]
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 C water 
• 1/2 C sorghum [or honey]
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Scoop into 12 muffin cups. I like to use a 1/2 C ice cream scoop and then just plop a scoop into each muffin cup. [3 WW plus points per muffin, 2 for 5 points if you use sorghum rather than honey]. Bake for about 20-25minutes till the middle of the muffin pops back when you touch with your finger.

You may want to add nuts, raw sunflower seeds, cinnamon chips or dried fruit to batter before baking. I like to top with a sprinkle of cinnamon sugar before baking, or what I did to the muffins in the photo above was add 1 tsp of streusel to each muffin.

Streusel topping: I make up a batch of this and keep it in the fridge in a zip-loc bag. It will last a long time and then it is easy to scoop some out to top muffins or coffee cakes. 1 tsp doesn't add any WW points, but when I use it, I count 2 muffins as 6 points.

Streusel:

 Mix together till crumbly: 
1/4 C butter [1/2 stick]
1/4 C  white sugar
2/3 C flour. 

Store in a bag or jar in the fridge and spoon it out as needed. 


Take care,
Jill

Note: For a more pumpkiny muffin which is not so gingerbready, omit the cloves and the ginger. 
**If you use a WW healthy oil in place of the applesauce, count the muffin as 4 WW+ points and each one has one healthy oil to help meet your daily healthy guidelines. If you have problems getting your healthy oils in daily, this may be a great way to do it. 

Cinnamon Rolls

Once a year we have a cinnamon roll open house and last night was the night. So, here is a photo diary of the process. Sure wish you could smell them too.  Here are some of them. You may notice one in the middle is gone--I had a fresh hot one right from the center.




You can see my kneader and the two most important ingredients, flour and brown sugar.

 I use my kitchen aid for making the filling.

 My kneader is full to the brim of my basic roll dough. [Recipe at the end of this blog.] I use this dough for making dinner rolls, coffee cakes and cinnamon rolls. It is a good all around dough.

 The dough after a brief rest. I just uncovered it so I could begin making the rolls.

 I divide the dough into fourths so I can work with it.

 I grease pyrex baking pans with a mixture of 1 part liquid lecithin and 2 parts veggie oil.

 I put some oil on the counter and then roll the dough out long and thin.  I try not to make it wide because then the rolls are so big and some gets wasted.

I mix up the filling in my Kitchen Aid and divide into fourths, using 1 part for each piece of rolled out dough. I spread it with a thin spatula.

 I spread the filling thin, top with broken pecan pieces and roll up like a jelly roll.

 Here it is rolled up. Then I put it on my long cutting board in order to slice.

 I slice about 1 inch thick.

 I put them loosely in the greased Pyrex baking pan. When the pans are greased with the lecithin/oil solution they slide right out after baking.

 Here they are rising. I covered them up with flour sack towels as I went along, but took them off for the photo.

 In the oven.

 I make up the frosting while the first ones are baking.

 The first rolls are out of the oven. I put 15 to a pan, and eventually made 133 rolls out of this triple size batch. I tip the pan up and the rolls slide right out and after a few minutes I spread with a light frosting and they are ready to eat.

My kneader does a great job of kneading the dough, making this job much easier.

I have added the recipe below. I made a triple batch for the party.

Take Care,
Jill

BASIC ROLL DOUGH (For dinner rolls and coffee cakes)

7C flour                       1/2C sugar

2T yeast                       1/2C margarine

2 1/2 C milk                2t salt

2 eggs

In mixing bowl, combine 3C flour and the yeast.  Heat milk, sugar, shortening and salt just till warm (115°-120°).  Stir constantly till shortening almost melts.  Add to mixture; add eggs.  Beat at low speed of mixer 1/2 minute, scraping bowl.  Beat 3 minutes on high. By hand, stir in remaining flour to make a soft dough.  Shape into a ball.

Place in lightly greased bowl; turn once to grease surface.  Cover; let rise in warm place till double, 1 1/2-2 hours.

 ** Punch down; turn out on floured surface.  Cover with bowl and let rest 10 minutes.  Shape.

            

THIS IS GOOD MADE INTO DINNER ROLLS.

For dinner rolls, make into small balls, and put on greased cookie sheets, cover and let rise till doubled. Then bake at 350° for 20-30 minutes, till brown.

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CINNAMON ROLLS

The best ever!

Make Basic Roll Dough [above]

Grease* 2 large pans, I prefer pyrex glass pans, the 10x14 size, or you could use 3 smaller pans.

While dough is resting, mix together the following:

            2 sticks softened butter

            3T cinnamon

            2C brown sugar

After resting, roll out dough and spread dough with above mixture.You may want to top with broken or chopped pecan pieces.

Dough:  Roll up dough and cut into 1" to 1 1/2" slices and put in

prepared pans.  Let rise till doubled (30-45 min).

BAKE:  350°. for about 20 minutes.  When brown, take out of oven, let

sit about 5 minutes.

                            

After baking, when rolls are warm but not hot,  top with a frosting

Frosting:  Combine about 1 1/2 C powdered sugar, 1-2 T milk and a dab of  butter..

You can make these the night before, and put in fridge to rise, then let warm at room temp 2-3 hours, then bake.

 This recipe makes about 24 large, or 40 medium rolls.  I usually use two 10 x 14 pans, or three 9 x 13 pans.

*  A great way to grease pans is to buy liquid lecithin at a health food store.  Mix 1 part lecithin and 2 parts oil and keep in a small mason jar.  Apply with a pastry brush to grease bread pans or cookie sheets.  Baked goods slide right out. This mix does not need to be refrigerated.