Chocolate Chocolate Chip Muffins

I got this recipe from my friend Evelyn. I knew they were a keeper when I couldn't stop eating these mini delights! I love the Costco jumbo sized muffins and these are an easy, healthy (from the pumpkin), mini replica.

It also makes a great food storage dessert recipe too since all 3 ingredients can be easily found in your pantry. And don't worry, they don't taste anything like pumpkin after they've been baked. Just chocolate goodness!

-1 box Dark Chocolate Fudge Cake Mix (Duncan Hines Moist Deluxe) believe me, it has to be this cake mix, the other chocolate cake mixes don't produce the same rich taste to really pull this recipe off.

-1 bag semi-sweet chocolate chips, regular size or mini (I usually use a little less than a bag. It can't be milk chocolate, won't taste right)

-1 can (14.5oz) canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie)

Using an electric mixer combine cake mix and pumpkin together in a large bowl until creamy. Do NOT add any ingredients for making a cake as found on the box. Then stir in chocolate chips.

Using cookie scoop, add the batter to the greased mini muffin pan. The secret to a nice looking muffin is the cookie scoop as this batter tends to stay in the same shape/form when baked as the original dough.

Bake for 15-18 minutes at 350 F degrees, or until done when tested with a toothpick.

Yield: 48 mini muffins

White Chocolate Chip Macadamia Nut Cookies

I LOVE these. They are pretty much my favorite cookie. Why didn't I ever make them from scratch before?!! I used the same dough from the chocolate chip recipe here, adding the white chocolate chips and the macademia nuts instead. Delicious!

2 1/2 sticks butter
1 1/4 c. brown sugar
1 c. granulated sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
1 2/3 c. white wheat flour (actually, remove about 2 tbsp from the 2 cups, because wheat flour absorbs more and you need to lessen the amount so the batter won't be too dry)
2 c. white flour
2 T. corn starch
1 1/4 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. salt

White chocolate chips, I used Trader Joe's brand

Macademia nuts (unsalted) got mine at Trader Joe's

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together. Beat in eggs and vanilla.

In a small bowl, add dry ingredients and combine. Slowly add dry ingredients to the butter/sugar mixture. Hand stir in chocolate chips and nuts. The dough is kinda stiff, so I actually just used my hands to mix them in. Cover with plastic wrap and chill the dough before baking. You can do this while oven is preheating or refrigerate longer for an even better taste.

Using a 1.5" scoop, or a spoon, place cookie balls onto an ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 10-12 minutes or until dough looks cooked, but in between the cracks of dough, it still looks a little gooey. That's good for making the cookie chewy when completely cooled.

Yield: A ton. Enough to eat and give away to 2 more families as well. At least, that's what I do!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

I found this recipe from Stephanie's blog. These are my new favorite recipe. I especially love that I can use 2 cups of white wheat flour and can't even taste it! Plus, just look at them! Thick and so perfect.

CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
2 1/2 sticks butter
1 1/4 c. dark brown sugar (you can use reg. brown sugar too)
1 c. granulated sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
2 c. white wheat flour (actually, remove about 2 tbsp from the 2 cups, because wheat flour absorbs more and you need to lessen the amount so the batter won't be too dry)

1 2/3 white flour
2 T. corn starch
1 1/4 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. salt
Milk or semi-sweet chocolate chips
Sea salt to sprinkle, if using milk chocolate chips

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together. Beat in eggs and vanilla.

In a small bowl, add dry ingredients and combine. Slowly add dry ingredients to the butter/sugar mixture. Hand stir in chocolate chips. The dough is kinda stiff, so I actually just used my hands to mix the chocolate chips in. Cover with plastic wrap and chill the dough before baking. You can do this while oven is preheating or refrigerate longer for an even better taste.

Using a 1.5" scoop, or a spoon, place cookie balls onto an ungreased cookie sheet. If using milk chocolate chips, sprinkle cookie balls with sea salt prior to baking.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 10-12 minutes or until dough looks cooked, but in between the cracks of dough, it still looks a little gooey. That's good for making the cookie chewy when completely cooled.

Yield: 5 dozen cookies

*Tip! Use several baking sheets so that you can rotate and only place cookie dough on cooled sheets before baking. Placing dough on warm/hot sheets will make your dough spread too thin too fast and give you a flat and very crispy cookie.

Shortbread Jelly Cookies

This recipe comes from my friend Evelyn. She brought us a plate of them and I selfishly ate not only my share, but the girls' too. Trevor doesn't like sugar cookies, but he loved these because they're shortbread. They're so good!

Cookies:
1 lb. butter, slightly softened
1 C sugar
4 egg yolks
2 tsp. grated lemon rind
2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. salt
4 C unsifted flour

Filling:
seedless jam or jelly (or you can strain regular jam/jelly. No seeds--pretty color) I used raspberry because I had that on hand, but the strawberry filled ones from Evelyn tasted even better

1 C powdered sugar for dusting

Directions:
Cream butter and sugar. Add yolks one at a time. Add lemon rind, vanilla and salt. Blend in 4 C flour, one at a time until to thick to mix with mixer. Put on floured board and knead in remaining flour. Wrap dough in waxed paper and chill one hour in the refridgerator.

Preheat oven to 375°. Roll dough 1/4" thick and cut with cookie cutter shape of choice. Cut tops with the same cutter and a smaller inside shape cutter (star, bell, etc.) to leave an opening for jam to show through. Bake all pieces (bottoms, hearts with cut-outs, small cut-outs) until lightly browned, about 10 minutes for big cookies. Let cool.

Generously spread jam on bottom cookie pieces, covering entire cookie to 1/8 inch from the edge. Dust powdered sugar (using a sifter or a fine mesh sieve) over the top pieces BEFORE placing on top of the jam. When dusted, sandwich top and bottom pieces together. Enjoy!

Number Of Servings: 24 sandwiched cookies (about the size of your palm)
Preparation Time: 30 minutes

Berry Delicious Crepes or Palatschinken

1 cup flour

1/4 cup powdered sugar

1 cup milk

2 eggs

3 tblsp butter, melted

1 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp salt

Filling:

Vanilla yogurt

Fresh berries of your choice

In a large bowl, combine flour and sugar. Whisk in milk, eggs, butter, vanilla and salt until smooth.

Heat a lightly greased 6-8inch skillet over medium heat, adding about 3 tblsp batter to the skillet. Rotate the skillet to cover the entire bottom of pan. Cook until it starts to look a little doughy and slightly wet.

Flip it over and cook for another 30 seconds to 1 minute or until lightly golden. Remove to a plate to cool. Repeat with remaining batter.

Assemble your crepe on your plate, filling with as much yogurt and berries as you wish in the center. Roll up sides and it's ready to eat!

Yield: 12 approx.

New York Cheesecake

photo by me
Recipe by Kraft

This is a delicious recipe and wasn't as hard as I thought it was going to be! I'm definitely going to be making more cheesecakes in the future...which is good for my mouth but not for my waistline!

1 cup graham cracker crumbs (smash in a plastic ziplock for no mess)

3 tbsp sugar

3 tbsp butter, melted

5 pkg (8oz each) cream cheese, softened (take out of pkg and microwave for a few seconds)

1 cup sugar

3 tbsp flour

1 tbsp vanilla

1 cup sour cream (I use light)

4 eggs

1 can (21oz) cherry pie filling

Mix crumbs, 3 tbsp sugar and butter; press firmly onto bottom of 9 inch springform pan. Bake at 325 F degrees for 10 minutes.

In a large bowl, mix cream cheese, 1 cup sugar, flour and vanilla with electric mixer until well blended. Add sour cream; mix well. Add eggs, 1 at a time, mixing on low speed after each addition just until blended. Pour over crust.

Bake at 325 F degrees for 1 hour 5 minutes, or until center is ALMOST set if using a silver springform pan. (Or bake at 300 F for 1 hour 5 minutes if using a dark non stick springform pan). The cake will look really tall in the oven, right when you remove it. It will gradually settle down a few inches while cooling.

Loosen cake from side of pan; cool before removing rim of pan. Refridgerate 4 hours or overnight.

Top with pie filling right before serving. Store leftovers in fridge.

Makes 16 servings.

Black Forest Cake

Recipe from Sage Cafe (McMinnville, OR). I used to work at this little lunch cafe while for a few months while I was home from college in 1999. All of their recipes are delicious. I found their cookbook my mom bought years ago and begged her last year to let me take it home with me. Sadly, the cafe had to close it's doors a few years ago due to the boutique store below them going out of business. The Sage Cafe was located up the stairs from the boutique shop. Luckily for me, the recipes I loved are in my home now.

Cake

1 1/4 cup white flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 tsp baking soda

3/4 cup buttermilk

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup melted butter

1 egg

1 tsp vinegar

1/2 tsp vanilla

6 tbsp cocoa powder

In a small bowl, stir buttermilk and baking soda together. In a medium bowl, combine flours, sugars, baking powder, salt and cocoa powder. In a large bowl, combine butter, egg, vinegar, and vanilla. Beat until mixed. Add buttermilk. Slowly mix in the dry ingredients until fully incorporated.

Grease a 8" cake pan (I used a deep cheesecake spring form 8" round pan). Lightly flour the inside of the pan. Pour cake batter into pan and bake at 350F degrees for 40 minutes at least. I don't remember how long it actually took to completely bake. I kept checking on the cake every 5 minutes or so until it was done. It takes longer when it's so thick. When cake is done, let it cool for 5 minutes before removing the pan.

Let cool completely (a few hours) before frosting.

Chocolate Frosting

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1 1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1 tbsp milk

Mix ingredients together in a large bowl, adding a tiny bit of extra milk if necessary until frosting is smooth and spreadable. Frost only the sides of the cake, leaving the top bare.

Topping

1 can (14 oz) cherry pie filling

Starting at the center of the cake, dollop the pie filling. Spread from center to the sides. You're done! Slice and Enjoy!

Cinnabon Rolls

These rolls are so rich and gooey that they melt in your mouth. The cream cheese icing is addictive too, so watch out! Normally, I don't like frosting. But I slather it on these rolls thick because it's so good.

I was given this recipe 4 years ago from Lehi 8th Ward, at an Enrichment night. After I made the recipe, I realized that this truely makes the best cinnamon rolls, far beyond anything else I've ever made or tasted. You won't be disappointed, but please, do limit yourself to just 2 or 5 and vow to exercise the next day!


Dough:
1/2 cup warm water
2 pkgs dry yeast (or 4 1/2 tsp)
2 TB sugar
1 (4 serving size) package instant vanilla pudding
2 cups milk
1/2 cup margarine or butter, melted
2 eggs, beaten
1 tsp salt
8 cups flour


In small bowl, combine water, yeast and sugar. Stir until dissolved. Set aside.

In a large bowl, mix the pudding mix according to package directions. Add butter, eggs and salt. Mix well, then add yeast mixture. Blend; gradually add flour and knead until smooth.

Place dough in a very large greased bowl. (I use canola oil to lightly grease the bowl.) Cover the bowl with saran wrap that has been sprayed with cooking spray (so that it won't stick to the dough). Let rise until doubled in size. Punch down and let rise again.

Roll out onto lightly floured surface to 34" by 21".

Filling:
1 cup softened butter or margarine
2 cups brown sugar
4 tsp cinnamon

Mix the brown sugar and cinnamon together in a small bowl.

Spread butter over entire surface of the dough. Sprinkle cinnamon sugar over top of the dough. Then press sugar into dough with hands, keeping them flat.

Roll up dough very tightly. With a serrated knive (or thread), slice dough every 2 inches. Place on greased large cooking sheet, bar pan or 9x13 baking dish. Lightly press down with hand a little. Cover and let rise until doubled again.

Cream Cheese Frosting:
8 oz cream cheese
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened but not melted
1 tsp vanilla
3 cups powdered sugar

Mix until smooth. Be careful! The powdered sugar may want to fly out of the bowl at first! If the mixture is too stiff, it will soften as the cream cheese becomes room temperature. If it is still too thick, you can soften it by using a VERY LITTLE amount of milk, like 1 maybe 2 tsp. Remember, it will melt as it is slathered on the hot rolls!


Bake at 350 F degrees for 15-20 minutes or until golden. Don't overbake. Frost warm rolls.

*Note, I hate taking pictures with a flash and had to do so before these were gone. I'll take new pics next time I make them.

Old-Fashioned Oatmeal Cookies

Recipe from Williams Sonoma Essentials of Baking

Photo by me

1 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 TB cinnamon

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed

1/2 cup sugar

2 large eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats (NOT instant)

2 cups raisins

In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, combine the butter, brown sugar and white sugar. Beat on medium speed until smooth. Add eggs and vanilla and beat until well blended.

Add dry ingredients and rolled oats, beat until incorporated. Mix in raisins by hand using a large spoon.

Drop the dough by heaping tablespoons onto baking sheets. Bake at 350 F degree for 12 minutes and then keep checking until cookies look almost done but not quite golden brown. To ensure a chewy oatmeal cookie, make sure to remove the pan when the cookies are still a tiny bit doughy looking on top. (When they cool, they will firm up and be fully cooked, but still chewy.)

Let cookies cool on sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.

Mom Whiting's Pumpkin Pie

Made from pumpkins grown in Trevor's childhood home garden, and lovingly canned by his mother. This was my first pumpkin pie I've ever made and it just screamed of Fall goodness.



Pumpkin Pie by Karen Whiting
1/2 c. granulated sugar
1/2 c. brown sugar
2 tsp. cinnnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. salt

2 eggs
1 1/2 c. canned pumpkin
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 c. milk, scalded

Unbaked 9" pie shell (make ahead from scratch or from store)

Mix all dry ingredients in large bowl.

Add scalded milk and stir to dissolve sugar.

Add slightly beaten eggs, pumpkin and vanilla. Blend well.

Pour into unbaked 9" pie shell. Bake at 400 degrees for 5 minutes, then lower to 325. Bake 50 to 60 minutes, until knife comes out clean.

Yield: 1 pie

Banana Bread

We often enjoy this moist banana bread recipe that my sis in law, Kari, shared with me. The smell of banana bread baking in the oven... Ahhh, just heavenly.


3 bananas
1/2 cup butter, slightly softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp. baking soda
3 tblsp buttermilk* (see below how to make your own)
2 cups flour


In a small bowl, mash bananas and set aside. Mix butter and sugar together until creamy. Add in eggs, vanilla and buttermilk, mixing well. Add dry ingredients and the mashed bananas alternatively to the batter, until completely combined.

Grease a bread loaf pan and pour batter in. I find that this recipe make one LARGE loaf, or one regular sized one and a mini loaf. I like to make the latter because the girls get a kick out of the mini loaf. (okay, so do I).

Bake 325 F for 1 hour or until when toothpick inserted comes out dry. The mini loaf will be done sooner, around 30 minutes or so.

*If you don't have any buttermilk on hand (I never do), you can make your own!

Buttermilk
1 1/2 tsp lemon juice
1/2 cup milk

Combine and let sit for 15 minutes. The milk will start to curdle and there you go...buttermilk!

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip

Recipe taken from my friend Becky's blog. She made these for us when we came over to visit teach her and we quickly became addicted!!

My words are in the purple italics. The following is from Becky:

These are so delicious. They are good as bars too. I served them warm out of the oven with vanilla ice cream, whip cream and hot fudge.

3/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup peanut butter (I used natural because I didn't want the extra sugar)
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 & 1/4 cup flour
2 cups oats
1 -12oz. bag chocolate chips (I use milk chocolate, Guittards brand) (I used half a bag and still had TONS of chocolate chips in the bars, and definitely go with milk chocolate of any brand)

1. Beat together butter and peanut butter with an electric mixer on high speed for about 30 seconds.
2. Add sugars, baking powder and soda. Beat until comobined.
3. Beat in eggs and vanilla until combined.
4. Beat in flour slowly until combined. Stir in rolled oats and chocolate chips.
5. Bake on ungreased cookie sheet in rounded balls (or in a 9x13 pan as cookie bars)
6. Bake @ 375 for about 10 minutes for cookies and about 20-30 minutes for bars. Keep checking bars until the top starts to turn golden brown. They will still look kind of doughy, but they set up pretty fast. Not good if you over-bake them. DRY!

I have made this recipe twice as the bars and just LOVE them! Thanks Becky for a yummy treat!

Scrumptious Carrot Cake

With real cream cheese frosting that is to die for!

I made this for Trevor's birthday cake

and it was so GOOD that I made it again for his welcome home cake from Wisconsin too.

I'm not a frosting person, but I REALLY love this cream cheese frosting! SO, that's saying something! This is also the same frosting I use when I make Cinnabon Cinnamon rolls.

Trevor says this is the best carrot cake he's ever had!

Ingredients

4 eggs

1 cup white sugar

1 cup brown sugar

2 tsp vanilla

3/4 cup oil

1/2 cup applesauce

1/4 tsp nutmeg

2 cups flour

2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp cinnamon

3 cups grated carrots

1 cup pecans (we omitted these because Rae's allergic)

Mix first six ingredients all together. In a separate bowl, mix all of the dry ingredients together. Gradually add all of dry ingredients to the wet cake batter. Stir in carrots and nuts.

Pour into a greased 9x13 pan and bake 350F for 45 minutes or so until when inserted toothpick comes out dry.

While cake is baking you can start on the frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting

8 oz cream cheese

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened but not melted
1 tsp vanilla

3 cups powdered sugar

Mix until smooth. Be careful! The powdered sugar may want to fly out of the bowl at first! If the mixture is too stiff, it will soften as the cream cheese becomes room temperature. If it is still too thick, you can soften it by using a VERY LITTLE amount of milk, like 1 maybe 2 tsp.

Let cake cool completely before frosting.

Serve and enjoy! Refridgerate any leftover cake.

Baked Fresh Cherry Pie

I made this for Father's Day and Trevor said this was the best cherry pie he's EVER had!
This recipe is found here at allrecipes.com

1 pastry for a 9 inch DOUBLE crust pie (or in other words, two crusts. I used refridgerated & ready to roll pillsbury kind, but NOT the kind in the tubes)

4 tblsp quick-cooking tapioca

1/8 tsp salt

1 cup white sugar

4 cups pitted cherries
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 tablespoons butter

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (205 degrees C). Place bottom crust in piepan. Set top crust aside, covered.

In a large mixing bowl combine tapioca, salt, sugar, cherries and extracts. Let stand 15 minutes. Turn out into bottom crust and dot with butter. Cover with top crust, flute edges and cut vents in top. Place pie on a foil lined cookie sheet --- in case of drips!

Bake for 50 minutes in the preheated oven, until golden brown.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

These are SUPER EASY!

1 box Spice Cake Mix

1 can pumpkin puree (14oz) not pumpkin pie

1 bag milk chocolate chips

* Walnut/Pecans optional, chopped

Empty dry cake mix into a bowl. Add canned pumpkin puree. That's it! Do NOT add the other ingredients on the box to make a cake. Mix well. Add chocolate chips and stir. Drop onto cookie sheet and bake for 18 minutes at 350 F.

YUMMO!

**This is a vegan recipe too Becks, especially if you make it with cinnamon chips that you can special order at Hershey's website (they're not available in stores.) I got this recipe from my friend Charmaine and have made it several times!

Cinnamon Walnut Cupcakes

I just made this recipe tonight for the first time. I found it from Bettycrocker.

It is amazing! Especially for whenever you craving something sweet. I wanted to make something for a friend that was going through a hard time, as a little "pick-me-up". Hence, the cute ribbons added. Honestly, I didn't put anymore frosting on the rest of the cupcakes that we ate at home because it didn't change the taste at all, and it is just more calories that we could do without. It does make the cupcake look beautiful, however, if you give some away!

Enjoy!

1 box Betty Crocker® SuperMoist® yellow cake mix
2/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
8 egg whites

1 container (8 oz) sour cream (1 cup)
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup chopped walnuts
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Frosting (optional)

1 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon milk
1 teaspoon vanilla


1. Heat oven to 350°F (325°F for dark or nonstick pan). Grease cupcake pan or use cupcake wrappers.

2. In large bowl, beat dry cake mix, applesauce, egg whites and sour cream with electric mixer. Spread half of the batter in pan. Stir together brown sugar, walnuts and cinnamon; sprinkle over batter in pan. Carefully spread remaining batter evenly over walnut mixture.
3. Bake 17-25 minutes or until done (inserted toothpick comes out dry). Stir powdered sugar, milk and vanilla until thin enough to spread. Spread powdered sugar mixture over cupcakes. Cool completely, about 1 hour. Store covered.

Yield: 24/30 cupcakes