Flourless Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies

When I have a favorite anything, I kind of dig my heels into it. New fave shoes? I wear them every day. New fave outfit? I wear it every day. Ok, not every day but I have been known to rock the same outfit twice in a row. (If you’re going to two different places with different people, it’s technically a new outfit. Senseless logic brought to you by me.) Fave nail polish? OMG I CAN’T STOP WEARING MINT GREEN AND CORAL!! Ahem, you get the point. I mean, why would anyone want to mess with elusive perfection once it’s found?! So when I find a cookie recipe that actually works in my finicky oven, I kind of can’t stop making it. And then I make them all the time… for everything.

Then the inevitable happens: I get into a rut and yell on my blog and whiiiiine because if I change anything about said perfection, it won’t be perfect anymore. What I sometimes fail to realize, is that change can help it become something even BETTER!! Say it with me people, change is good!!

Especially when it involves cookies. And chocolate. And peanut butter. And chocolate peanut butter. Baby steps…

So embrace the change with me, people! Let’s make a tiny adjustment to a cookie recipe and yell on the internet about how awesome it is (whining optional).

For these cookies, I took my go-to peanut butter cookie recipe and simply changed the peanut butter to one of my all time PB obsessions: Dark Chocolate Dreams. And the end result is simply amazing. I can’t wait to try this with the White Chocolate Wonderful!! And almond butter.

*Note: Since the peanut butter I used is all natural, the texture was a bit different from the original cookies. They are a tad less chewy and a tiny bit more crumbly. But still completely delicious!

Flourless Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies

Ingredients:

1 cup Dark Chocolate Dreams peanut butter (or your favorite chocolate nut butter)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg (lightly beaten)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup dark chocolate chips (or chunks! or nuts! or…)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350° , with a rack positioned in the middle of your oven (I don’t have the capacity to have two sheets going at once, I forget to flip/switch them.). Line a jelly roll pan or your standard cookie sheet with a silicone mat, foil or parchment paper; set aside.

In a large bowl with a wooden spoon, stir together peanut butter, sugar, egg, baking soda, and salt until well combined. Stir in chocolate chips.

With a cookie scoop (mine is 1 1/2 TBSP in size) scoop, level and plop equal portioned dough balls onto your prepared cookie sheet. Alternatively: with moistened hands, roll dough, about 1 heaping tablespoon at a time, into balls. Place 2 inches apart on baking sheet. (These are not huge spreaders! So if you want a slightly thinner cookie, gently press down on the top of the cookie to flatten it a bit.)

Bake until cookies are golden and puffed, 12 to 14 minutes. Cool 5 minutes on sheets; transfer cookies to racks to cool completely. Promise me that you’ll have one warm from the oven?

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Not-So-Mini Madeleines (Rewind #2) – TWD

I’m such a slacker.

The first “specialty” pan I bought when I first started baking was a madeleine pan. I have made madeleines a total of two times. TWO.

And I love madeleines. So much so that I named my kitty Madeleine. Not to be confused with MadeLINE.

Cute kitty name aside, madeleines are the perfect dessert for breakfast or to nibble alongside your afternoon tea. When made correctly, they are little melt in your mouth shells that have a delicate flavor and a slight sweetness that can warm anyone’s heart. (Way to sound like a Christmas commerical, Jeannette.)

These were supposed to be mini madeleines but I don’t have a mini pan (and Tony would give me “the look” if I came home with a mini version of a pan I already have LOL) so I made these in a standard (non-stick) mad pan. I upped the salt a bit and added a bit more honey (I just can’t resist the flavor of honey!) I baked my mads with some help from Dorie (thanks for sharing Di!) and all was well 🙂 I baked at 400 degrees in the bottom half of my oven to hopefully off-set them darkening quickly but 10 mins in the oven browned them pretty quickly either way. Still incredibly tasty and some even got the lovely humps 🙂

For the recipe, head on over to my good friend Di’s blog Di’s Kitchen Notebook.

SMS – Chocolate Peppermint Meringues

Me and meringues apparently don’t get along so well.

On pies, my meringue wants to either set on fire, smoke up my kitchen and become black as night in quite literally 5 seconds after placing it underneath the broiler.

It seems as if my meringue cookies are cursed as well. You see I believe that these were supposed to be chewy and semi-soft… mine were, well here let me show you:

Yah. I think that about says it all! They were HOLLOW! And crunchy. Almost inedible. Almost. And even if you dared to take a bite, you’d end up with crumbles all over the floor, your mouth, hands, shirt and the cat. Not that I’d know anything about that. I’m just assuming……

I think the culprit was that I must have whipped my egg whites for too long. It’s the only thing that I was unsure about. Also, my chocolate ‘powder’ was 50% tiny chocolate chips cus I was too chicken to let the processor stay on for too long for fear of ending up with a gritty form of ganache. So, in turn I have beautifully speckled, hollow meringues. And I’m ok with that.

My second batch did come out a tiiiiiny bit better. I refrigerated the meringue ‘dough’ for 24 hours and baked for a shorter time. They were a bit more chewy but not much different. If there’s a next time, I’d whip less and bake for MUCH less time in the oven.

But all hollowness (and bitterness) aside, they sure do take some pretty pictures.

A thank you goes out to Kelly of Sweetgrass Sensibilities for choosing this recipe, even if it didn’t want to work out for me. Head on over to her blog for the recipe and make sure to stop by the other bakers’ blogs to see what they are supposed to look and taste like.

Up next week: Chocolate Raspberry Truffle Torte.
If this is ANYTHING like the soft chocolate raspberry torte that I’ve already made, I KNOW I will love it. And you will too!

SMS – Pecan Shortbread Cookies (no sweet potato bread)

Better (waaaay) late than never, right?

I don’t know how it happened but I managed to forget to post about these. I baked them and photographed them on time… I just didn’t remember to blog about them. Woopsy! I must have been hella busy because baking and my assignments are usually on my mind.

Anyway, these were good. Not GREAT but good. I had to dunk the cookies in powdered sugar THREE times to make sure that I didn’t end up with another case of the missing powdered sugar.

I much prefer my go-to pecan sandies over these.

Speaking of powdered sugar… I never quite know what to call it. Powdered sugar? Confectioners sugar? They are the same thing but I noticed that I flip flop between the two. What do you call it?

Thank you to Lara of The Lab for choosing this recipe. Click here for the recipe and here to see the other SMS bakers and their lovely renditions of these cookies.

Up next week: Strawberry Rhubarb Cobbler Pie (which, I’ll have you know, I’ve already made and photographed! Now to blog it, before I forget again)

SMS – Sugar Cookies

I heart sugar cookies. Mainly because it gives me an excuse to break out the cookie cutters!

Cookie cutters = fun!

I baked all of this months recipes in about a week to give myself some time to bake other things that aren’t “assignments.”

I baked these a few days before valentines day and kept them tightly wrapped in the fridge until I was ready to use the dough.

It came together very quickly, but was a pain in the patella to roll out. I tried avoiding the floury, messy surface and rolled between two sheets of wax paper but even after letting the dough rest on the counter for half an hour, it was still so cold and solid. BUT eventually I got it to a workable temperature, cut out my cute hearts and baked em.

Only to be let down. There are ridiculously bland and (this may be my fault) oddly cakey in texture. I had to give these a flavor other than “bland” so I coated the tops in red and pink candy melts (melted, of course) that tasted like white chocolate. It made them edible, but not great. I packed em away with some brownies (I’ll post about those later) in a red tub and shipped em off to my sister and brother. I also added white chocolate chips to half the batter for my fiance as I was giving them to him as a sweet Vday surprise.

All in all, it’s not the worst thing that has come out of my oven, but certainly not the best.

A big thanks to Nina of Nina’s Cupcakes for choosing this recipe which was easy to throw together, which is always refreshing. Head over to her blog for the recipe.

TWD – My Best Chocolate Chip (etc!) Cookies

I think that I have a ‘chocolate chip cookie curse.’

No matter how many different recipes I make, how hard I try, underbake, overbake, mix like crazy, just incorporate, freeze, chill, don’t chill… it doesn’t matter WHAT I do, my cookies never come out the way I want them to. And it ONLY happens with chocolate chip cookies.

The are flat as discs. It seems like all the dough falls to the baking sheet and leaves the chips exposed. If anyone can remedy this problem for me, I’d love you forever. I’d even send you a package of the beautiful cookies, scout’s honor!!

Aside from my displeasure at the appearance of these, they tasted great. I made 4 different versions (posted above, respectively): regular ole chocolate chip cookies, CCC with walnuts, CCC with coconut and raisins, and Chocolate CCC. I also used bittersweet, semi-sweet and milk chocolate chips/chunks for variety.

The coconut raisin variation was dubbed “the best cookies I’ve ever had” by a coworker. None of the cookies lasted very long, which is a good sign. So I’ll be making these again, nipping and tucking until they look like they do in the book. I’m OCD like that. 😀

Thanks to Kait of Kait’s Plate for picking these. Head on over to her blog for the recipe and the the TWD blogroll to see the different variations of a classic.

TWD – Cafe Volcano Cookies

I promise you that I have never photographed anything as ugly as this. I mean these are uuuuuuugly.  Then again, I don’t think I’ve ever MADE anything as ugly as this.

I mean, suuuure cakes have fallen. Bundt cakes exploded (don’t ask). Soggy cheesecakes. Burnt-beyond-recognition cookies.

But this, this is in a class of its own.

They look like… like…. gosh I can hardly bring myself to type it and send it out into cyberspace. Fecal matter. There, I said it. And I will never say it again. Scout’s honor.

They taste, well… they weren’t MY favorite (least favorite Dorie recipe actually) but my nutty lovin’ mom liked em so they couldn’t have been THAT bad.

I think it would be fun to get pictures from all my readers of all the things gone awry in their kitchens. I see far too many perfectly photographed pictures of food and IIII knoooow that I’m not the only one in the kitchen who has those flops. These cookies gave me an idea for a monthly (or heck even weekly) spot on my blog: Ugliest Baked Goods Contest. There are no prizes (yet?) except for the satisfaction that you are not alone in this. SO, if you’re interested in being showcased for a few laughs (I’ll be posting mine as well) send me an email (flamegoddess65@aol.com) with a picture or however many you deem necessary. How often I post depends on how many pictures I get. 🙂 Bake on and photograph those flops!!

Visit The Lonely Sidecar for the recipe and a cute post about her tie to these cookies.

Not that you WANT to see, but more pics are here.

TWD – Sugar Topped Molasses Spice Cookies

Third time’s a charm.

I can’t tell you hooow many times I’ve heard this simple phrase and paid it no mind, gave it no attention, practically ignored it. No more.

I’m a changed gal. And I have these cookies to thank.

First batch: set timer for 12 minutes. Didn’t look done, tacked on another two. Crunchy, hard cookies.   😦

Second batch: set timer for 10 minutes. Still didn’t look done, tacked on another two. Slightly overly crunchy cookies.   :((

Third batch: set timer for 10 minutes. Decided I was taking them out to see what would happen. DEEEEELISH soft and chewy cookies.  😀

Third time was a charm. Oh man, were these delicious. I ate a third of the batch by myself, made some into yummy ice cream sandwiches, and shared the rest with co-workers. They are all gone now and I’m left with one regret:

That I didn’t bake more. ( Or share less ;D )

These scream HOLIDAYS and beg to be put in that goodie bag or care package. They beg to be shared over hot tea and good conversation.   🙂

For the recipe, head over to Pam at Cookies With Boys and for pointers and tips, go here.

More pics.

TWD – Sweet Potato Biscuits (erm, cookies)

This will be a short(er) post than normal. I don’t have much to say regarding these biscuits. In a few words…

They didn’t rise.

SO I decided to market them as soft sweet potato cookies. I told the story and offered them to my coworkers and they were well received!! So,

I think my biscuits went south because I used a glass cup to cut the biscuits rather than a sharp biscuit cutter. I must remember to invest in some of those!

So, lessons I’ve learned:

* Don’t over-handle the dough. Stop JUST BEFORE you think its done.
* I need to invest in biscuit cutters AND a pastry cutter.
* Check the expiration date of your baking powder/soda BEFORE you bake.
* I must make these again. Simply because they tasted so good (and because I had tons of fun mashing up the sweet potatoes!)

For the recipe please visit Erin’s blog Prudence Pennywise and oogle her delicious goodies!! And for a better visual of these biscuits, visit the TWD blogroll!

SMS – Snickerdoodles!

Let me start off by waving caution banners wildly in the air and yelling “DANGER!!!”

Yes, these cookies ARE that dangerous. Dangerously DELICIOUS! Take it from a woman who is her harshest critic… these are chewy, cinnamon-sugary, melt in your mouth monsters! And I can’t seem to stop eating them.

My batch yielded 32 cookies and I swear I’ve eaten more than half the batch all. by. myself. I’m not ashamed. But I won’t hold my breath for that thank you note from my mid-section.

They were ridiculously easy to throw together! Again, take this from a woman with snickerdoodle experience. My first shot at them (following a different recipe) was a DISASTER! Think puddles of cinnamon butter that crusted into a paper thin, completely inedible mockery of a cookie. I still shudder to this day at the very thought. *shudder*

But you, my dear reader will have success with these! Scouts honor! You might already have everything you need on hand! The hardest part is waiting for that never ending hour to pass as the dough cools in the refridgerator. My cookies were beautifully done at 11 minutes (the directions didn’t say to switch the cookie sheets for even baking, but I did half way through baking).

*my baker’s note: my cookies usually fall flat and are never chewy so I took some precautions to ensure that these had a fighting chance. Here are my personal tips if your cookies tend to fall flatter than you’d like:

• Buy new baking soda. Better safe than sorry.
• Refridgerate the dough for the entire noted time. You’ll be glad you did!
• Work quickly when rolling the cookies and pop them back in the fridge (entire cookie sheet and all) for a few mins before putting them in the oven.
• DON’T overbake!! Keep a close eye on the cookies. You want slightly golden edges but a pale center.

Visit Spike’s blog Spike.bakes for the recipe.

My blog was supposed to be posted yesterday, and I apologize that it wasn’t. I wasn’t feeling well and I couldn’t get myself to a computer. Better late than never??

Click here for more pictures of these cookies.