chocolate

Fudgey Chocolate Cut-out Cookies 💞🍫

Food

Chocolate cut-outs are admittedly delicious any time of year, but they are extra fun around Valentine’s Day! I made a batch of these decadent cookies this year to give away to my co-workers and family members, and left a few for my husband, of course. 😘

The dough whips up super fast and you can even make it a few days in advance. If you choose to do so, just be sure to wrap the dough in plastic wrap tightly to prevent air from getting in and drying it out.

While I’m writing this post for Valentine’s Day, I encourage you to get creative and use this recipe all year round. I love my Wilton cookie cutter set because it allows me to make cookies for literally any occasion.

Christmas, Saint Patrick’s Day, dinosaur day…no wait, that’s not a thing. But it very well could be!

Side note: this recipe produces quite a few cookies so be prepared to be a crowd pleaser!

Ingredients

  • 3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for counter
  • 2/3 cups unsweetened cocoa
  • 3/4 teaspoon table salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 16 tablespoons (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
  • 1  1/2 cups sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 cup white chocolate melting wafers (I used Ghirardelli)

Instructions 

  1. Preheat oven to 350F.
  2. Whisk flour, cocoa, salt, and baking powder together in a medium sized bowl and set aside.
  3. Beat butter and sugar with an electric mixer until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, scraping down side of bowl. Mix in vanilla.
  4. Gradually mix the dry ingredients.
  5. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and chill for at least 1 hour.
  6. Roll out the cookie dough on a floured counter to about 1/4 inch thickness.  Cut dough into heart shapes.
  7. Bake on a parchment lined baking sheet for about 7-8 minutes. The edges should be firm and the centers are slightly sod and puffed.
  8. Transfer to wire rack to cool.
  9. Once cooled, melt your white chocolate according to the instructions on the package. Use a fork to drizzle the melted chocolate onto the cookies.
  10. Enjoy! 😍

Original recipe retrieved from Shutterbean.

Healthy Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins!

Food, Wellness

In a true New York effort, the Nor’easter has covered my tiny town in snow! With travel bans keeping us appropriately holed in at home, this morning was the perfect time to try out a new recipe and indulge in an unhurried breakfast.

Leading up to the wedding, Andy and I are doing what most engaged couples probably do: recommitting to health and wellness.

As I already workout on a daily basis, for me this means re-focusing on nutrition and finding exciting ways to eat healthy. Prioritizing health without losing flavor!

With an itch for baking, I scoured the internet for ideas and found this recipe by Ambitious Kitchen for lightened up Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins.

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It’s the first time I tried this recipe and was definitely impressed by the flavor – you’d never know that these muffins are made without processed sugars and contain essentially no fat! I also love the extra protein you get from incorporating Greek yogurt – always Chobani in our household!

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Check out my adapted version of the recipe below:

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 3 bananas
  • 1/4 cup honey
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla
  • 1 tablespoon olive or coconut oil
  • 1 egg
  • 1/2 cup Chobani plain greek yogurt
  • 1 tablespoon milk (or almond milk)
  • 1/2 cup chocolate chips (add a full cup if you’re a dedicated chocoholic!) 

INSTRUCTIONS

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
  2. Spray a 12-cup muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray. *Make sure to grease the pan well!*
  3. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt.
  4. In a separate bowl, mix mashed bananas, honey, vanilla, oil, egg, milk and yogurt until well combined.
  5. Add the dry ingredients and mix until just combined.
  6. Gently fold in the chocolate chips.
  7. Divide the batter evenly into the muffin tin and bake for 20-25 minutes or until tooth pick comes out clean.
  8. Cool the muffins for 5 minutes before removing and transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling. 
  9. Enjoy!

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Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Food

With every season there are a handful of recipes that are on my absolute must-make list. For fall, we’re talking butternut squash, homemade applesauce, cheesy bowtie bratwurst casserole and pumpkin chocolate chip cookies.

It’s no secret that pumpkin spice is a an all-time favorite for most (#PSL season started two months ago), and this recipe combines the rich, rustic spices of fall with milk chocolate for a winning combination.

As I’ve mentioned before, I also love this recipe for the cookies’ consistency (think dessert AND breakfast) and love how many batches the dough renders.

And while this recipe is super simple, it’s also quite elegant – great for both cookie connoisseurs and beginning bakers alike!

INGREDIENTS:

  • 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
  • 1 cup white sugar
  • 1 cup light brown sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 cup canned pumpkin puree
  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 2 cups (12-ounce bag) milk chocolate chips, not semisweet

DIRECTIONS:

  1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees F.
  2. Spray cookie sheets with nonstick spray or line them with parchment paper.
  3. Using a mixer, beat the butter until smooth. Beat in the white and brown sugars, a little at a time, until the mixture is light and fluffy.
  4. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then mix in the vanilla and pumpkin puree.
  5. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg.
  6. Slowly beat the flour mixture into the batter in thirds.
  7. Stir in the chips.
  8. Scoop the cookie dough by heaping tablespoons onto the prepared cookie sheets and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the cookies are browned around the edges.
  9. Remove the cookie sheets from the oven and let them rest for 2 minutes. Take the cookies off with a spatula and cool them on wire racks or paper bags.
  10. Share with friends and family for a hyggelig time!

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*Original recipe retrieved from FoodNetwork.com

Chocolate Bread Pudding

Baking

Last night as I was preparing for the impending snowstorm, I decided to try making a rich and cozy dessert: bread pudding.

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Although I had never actually made bread pudding before, I found through some internet skimming that most recipes were extraordinarily simple. I decided to give it a go and found that with such a short time required for preparing the dish, bread pudding actually makes for a great week-night dessert, or in this case, addition to a blizzard preparedness plan.

I followed the recipe closely, though I used chocolate chips or morsels instead of grating a bar of chocolate and also had to bake my pudding ten minutes longer than the recipe suggested.

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The dessert really did come out great, and the blend of cinnamon, almond, chocolate and Kahlua made for a great cozy-feeling dessert on a cold winter night.

If you do decide to give this recipe a try, I also recommend topping it with whipped cream.(Homemade is obviously the best if you have the time, but if not, store-bought will more than do!)

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I acquired said recipe from FoodNetwork.com and would certainly recommend it to anyone looking to try out a rich and flavorful dessert. Click here to check it out!

How to Make Muddy Buddies

Food

This time of year, it’s easy to become cookied-out. In other words, feel as if one more Christmas cookie will simply cause you to burst, being as sick of them as you are.

So what sweet treat do you make when planning for a New Year’s Eve get together? Simplest answer: Muddy Buddies.

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One of the easiest dessert snacks you can make in THE entire world, this treat is immensely satisfying and (quite frankly) a bit addicting.

Ingredients:

  • 9 cups of wheat Chex cereal
  • 1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips
  • 1/2 cup peanut butter
  • 1/4 cup butter
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 and 1/2 cups of confectioners’ (powdered) sugar

Directions:

  • Measure your cereal out into a large bowl
  • Melt the chocolate chips, peanut butter and butter together in the microwave (approximately 1 minute)
  • Stir your melted ingredients
  • If not fully melted, place in the microwave for an additional 30 seconds
  • Stir in the vanilla extract
  • Pour melted ingredients over top of the cereal
  • Mix everything together
  • Place the coated Chex cereal into a sealed plastic bag with the confectioners’ sugar
  • Shake it up!
  • Lay the Muddy buddies out on waxed or parchment paper to cool
  • Store in an air-tight container in the refrigerator or in a cool space
  • Enjoy!

Whether you’ve made these a million times or are a muddy buddies novice, I know you will enjoy this sweet and savory treat!

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*Recipe retrieved from Chex.com

 

Chocolate Frosting (Happy Birthday Dad!)

Food

Growing up, my mother would always get annoyed with my father’s birthday cake request: cake made from packaged mix (such as Betty Crocker, Duncan Hines, etc.). Although she always wanted to make a homemade cake, he insisted that he liked pre-packaged mix the best.

Although I was once opposed to boxed cake mix myself, I have come to realize that it doesn’t really matter if your cake is homemade or not. What matters is the frosting. And you most definitely want homemade frosting.


This is convenient, as making homemade frosting is much quicker than making a homemade cake. That being said, below is an easy chocolate frosting recipe that is not only delicious but requires little effort and ingredients:

What You Will Need:

3 cups confectioner’s sugar

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa

1 stick butter, softened

3-4 tablespoons heavy cream (or however much you need to achieve desired consistency)

1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:

  1. Sift sugar and cocoa together.
  2. In a separate bowl, combine 1 cup of sugar mixture with butter and 1 tablespoon of cream. Beat until smooth.
  3. Keep adding the sugar mixture cup by cup, with each accompanied by another tablespoon of cream.
  4. Continue until all ingredients are combined and frosting is fluffy.
  5. Mix in vanilla.
  6. Frost your cake!

If the requirement for heavy cream isn’t enough indication that this recipe is delicious, take my word for it!

And if you find yourself in a situation that calls for packaged cakes, don’t fret. Simply enhance it with homemade frosting.

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