Chewy Chocolate Cookies

This cookie recipe is a favorite of my boys.  The cookie doesn't look like much because it's small and on the flat side, but it's slightly crisp on the outside and the inside is soft and chewy.  Because of that, I used to call them brownie cookies.  I like to put one on my tongue and let it melt before chewing.  

I found this recipe at the bottom of an ad for Hershey's Cocoa and have been making these cookies for at least 15 years.  I just made a batch to take on our annual beach trip, and when my boys discovered them, they both exclaimed to everyone how much they love these cookies.  Needless to say, they all disappeared!

To begin, the butter must be softened to room temperature.  Whenever I forget to do this, I put one stick of butter at time in the microwave and run it on high for 5 seconds.    I wait a couple of minutes and run it again on high for 5 seconds.  I check it to see if it has a little "give" when I squeeze it.  If it does, I remove it from the microwave and put it in my mixer bowl.  If it doesn't, I give it another 5 seconds on high in the microwave.  Any more time than that, and the butter will begin to melt.  I then start the mixer with only the butter in the bowl.  As it gets broken up by the beater, it is able to soften more quickly.  I don't add the sugar until the butter alone is soft and creamy.  Another idea, which I haven't tried yet, is to grate the cold butter using a cheese grater; the smaller pieces of butter will warm up more quickly than the entire stick!  Once the butter is soft, I beat it together with the sugar until creamy.

Then, I add the eggs one at a time, beating until fully incorporated after each egg.  I always turn off the beater when adding each egg, just in case a small piece of the shell sneaks in so I can easily remove it.  Hint:  To check for the freshness of an egg, I drop the whole egg (still in the shell) in a glass of water.  If it sinks, it's fresh, but if it floats to the top, it's rotten and I throw it away. 

I add the vanilla and beat again until thoroughly mixed in.

In the meantime, in a medium bowl, I combine the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt.

I add this mixture gradually to the butter mixture in the mixing bowl.  It gets mixed in more easily if I add it a little at a time and it keeps me from getting a cloud of the flour mixture thrown back in my face!

This is a very soft cookie dough, which is a light shade of brown.

Because the dough is soft, it spreads quite a bit when baking, so I leave about 2 inches between each cookie.  The recipe says to drop the dough by teaspoonfuls onto the cookie sheet, but I prefer to use my Pampered Chef small scoop.  I find it faster and the cookies are more round and uniform in size this way.  

Into the oven they go for 9 minutes.  The cookies may not appear done after that amount of time, but they really are.  If you leave them in any longer than that, they may not be soft and chewy.  The picture above shows how they puff while baking and the picture below shows how they flatten while cooling.  

Because they are so soft, they need to remain on the cookie sheet for about 1 minute before removing them to a cooling rack.  They will fall apart if you try to move them too soon.  By the way, a couple of months ago, I got a new range with a convection oven!  I am so excited, as I had my previous range for over 26 years!  When reading the manual about how to operate the convection oven feature, it was advised to use cookies sheets with low or no sides when baking cookies as they worked best.  I went shopping almost immediately and found these Calphalon 12" x 17" baking sheets, which are non-stick.  What an amazing product!  The non-stick feature works so well that as I was moving one cookie sheet full of cookies, I knocked it slightly and the cookies all started moving toward one end.  If these cookies weren't so soft, I probably would have been able to lift them directly off the cookie sheet with my fingers instead of using a spatula!

These yummy chocolate cookies are so addictive you can't eat just one!  Enjoy!

Chewy Chocolate Cookies

  

1 ¼ cups (2 ½ sticks) butter, softened

2 cups sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 cups unsifted all-purpose flour

¾ cup cocoa

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350°F.  Cream butter and sugar in large mixer bowl.  Add eggs and vanilla; blend well.  In a separate bowl, combine flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt; add to creamed mixture gradually, blending well.  Drop by teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake at 350°F for 9 minutes.  (Do not overbake.  Cookies will be soft.  They will puff during baking and flatten upon cooling.) Cool on cookie sheet until set, about 1 minute; remove to wire rack to cool completely.

Yield:  Approximately 6 dozen

No-Bake After-Dinner Mint Bars

If you like chocolate and mint together, this recipe is for you!  I'm a huge chocolate mint lover and this has got to be the best recipe I've ever found.  There are 3 layers and there is mint flavoring in each layer!  I make these each year for our annual beach trip to munch on after dinner while we play dominoes late into the night.  They are so popular, I started making a double batch a couple of years ago otherwise there wouldn't be any for the second night!

I found this recipe in one of those little recipe books that are sold at the checkstand at the market.  My husband doesn't care for mint (that means more for the rest of us!), but my boys give this recipe 9's on the Melnarik rating scale.  I give this recipe a 10!  These scrumptious mints are easy to make, but they require refrigeration time between steps, so you need to allow for that.

The first step is to crush the chocolate wafer cookies.  Oreos do not work for this recipe.  They need to be chocolate wafers with no cream filling.  I use the kind that can be found near the ice cream cones and toppings in the market.  To crush them finely, I use my mini food processor, which has the job done in less than a minute.  If you don't have one, they can be placed in a zip lock bag and crushed with a rolling pin or mallet.  Just make sure the crumbs are very fine.

The recipe calls for mint-flavored semi-sweet chocolate chips.  Where I live, the markets only carry that product between Thanksgiving and Christmas.  That's not helpful if you want to make these mints any other time of year.  Then I discovered this product - The Andes Creme de Menthe baking chips.  I actually prefer this over the mint chocolate chips because the pieces are smaller so they melt faster and the green portion seems to melt better than that found in the swirled chocolate chips.  Either will work, I just prefer these.

In a medium saucepan, I melt the butter with 1/4 cup of the mint chips, stirring until smooth.

I remove the pan from the heat and add the wafer crumbs.  When they're mixed together, it looks like moist dirt.  Then I press this mixture into an 8- by 8-inch pan (sorry, no picture).  The pan gets put into the refrigerator for at least 15 minutes.  If the butter doesn't get hard enough, it will be very hard to spread the next layer on top - believe me, I learned the hard way!

For the second layer, I place the softened butter and powdered sugar in a bowl.

Using a hand mixer, I combine the butter and sugar until it makes fine crumbs.  This helps ensure a smooth texture once I add the liquids.

Then I beat in 1 tablespoon of milk, 1/2 teaspoon of peppermint extract, and 1 drop of green food color.  I guess the food color could be omitted, but most people expect mint candy to be green!  It ends up being a pretty shade of (what else?) mint green!

After removing the pan from the refrigerator, I spread the powdered sugar mixture on top of the crumb base.  I use an off-set cake decorator's spatula to help make it as smooth as possible into the corners.  It doesn't have to be perfectly smooth, because it won't be seen, but it will help make the top layer look more even when the bars are cut.  Back into the refrigerator is goes for another 15 minutes to let this layer stiffen up a bit.

The last layer is made by melting 1/3 cup butter with the remaining mint chips from the bag in a small saucepan (sorry, no photo), stirring constantly until the chips are completely melted and smooth.  The pan is brought back from the refrigerator and the hot mint chocolate is poured directly on top of the second layer.

The liquid chocolate pretty much runs to the sides, but I have to help it get into the corners a little with a spatula.  Back into the refrigerator to cool completely.  This will take at least an hour.  I usually make these a day ahead, so I'm sure they are completely set.

You'd think that they are ready to cut as soon as they come back out of the refrigerator, but I've found that if I give them about 1/2 hour on the counter, they cut more easily without causing breakage, thereby making final product look better.  I begin by scoring the top of the chocolate.

Then, my knife has a guide to follow and I make two more passes on each line to cut through the top layer of chocolate.  I'm really trying to avoid breaking that top layer!  Then I cut all the way through to the bottom.  You'd think that then they can be removed from the pan easily, but I've found that by letting them warm up a bit, the bottom layer is not quite as "solid" so there can be some left behind when removing them from the pan, especially with the first couple of pieces.  To avoid this, after cutting the bars, I put the pan back into the refrigerator again for about 1/2 hr.

Now, they're ready to remove from the pan and savor!   If I'm serving these mints for something special, I will "clean up" the crumbs from the top, so they look better, but in this case, they're going to the beach where nobody cares what they look like, they just want to put them in their mouths.  I hope the pretty plate made them look better here!  My only other suggestion is to serve them cold.  Once they warm up a bit, they get more messy to eat.  Any way you serve them, these will be the best chocolate mints you've ever tasted!  Enjoy!

 No-Bake After-Dinner Mint Bars

½ cup butter

1 (10 oz.) pkg. mint-flavored semi-sweet chocolate chips*

2 cups chocolate wafer cookie crumbs**

¼ cup butter, softened

1 tablespoon milk

½ teaspoon peppermint extract

½ teaspoon vanilla

1 drop green food color

2 cups powdered sugar

1/3 cup butter

Lightly grease an 8- or 9-inch square pan.  In a medium saucepan, combine ½ cup better and ¼ cup of the chocolate chips.  Cook over low heat until melted, stirring constantly.  Remove from heat; stir in cookie crumbs until well moistened.  Press crumb mixture evenly in greased pan.  Refrigerate 15 minutes until firm.

Meanwhile in a small bowl, beat butter adding powdered sugar gradually.  Add extract and vanilla and food color.  Spread evenly over crumb mixture and refrigerate another 15 minutes.

In a small saucepan, melt remaining chocolate chips and 1/3 cup butter over low heat, stirring constantly.  Spread evenly over bars.  Refrigerate 10 to 15 minutes.  Score the top with a knife to make cutting more easy.  Return to refrigerator for at least 1 hour before cutting and serving.  I find these are best if served cold straight from the refrigerator.

*I use the Andes mint chips

**I find these in the ice cream toppings section of my market

Apple Raisin Muffins and Cinnamon Butter

When we were invited with a group of friends to spend the weekend at the home of friends who had moved away, we each took a meal that we were in charge of.  I got breakfast on the Sunday morning.  I  thought a lot about what I could make that was great, but didn't take much time to prepare or clean up from because we were all going to church afterward.  I finally decided on these mini muffins because all the work was done at home!  They were a huge hit that weekend and as the same group of friends attends our annual beach trip weekend, I now make these muffins each year to take along.

I originally saw Paula Deen make these muffins on one of her shows, so I went on line to get the recipe.  On the show, she ate them plain and they're terrific that way, but I "Paula Deen" them by serving them with homemade cinnamon butter (recipe included below)!  The cinnamon butter can be used straight from the refrigerator if it is being applied to something hot like toast, but for use on these muffins, I bring it to room temperature before using it.  The only down side to this recipe is that you have to have plenty of time to prepare them.  The prep time in itself isn't long, but there are 2 steps in the process with a lot of cooling time needed in between!  Don't get me wrong -- the time investment is totally worth it!

The first step is to grate the apples.  I give them a good wash and then grate them with the peel on.  I have found it easiest to grate around the apple first to get through the peel, then grate it vertically the rest of the way.

As you can see from the photo above, I grate it right down to the core.  Usually, 2 medium apples yield the 2 cups needed for this recipe.

The easiest way to grate nutmeg, I've found is to use my microplane.  Holding the handle, I rest the tip on my surface and run the nutmeg along the side until I get the amount I need.  It's a very handy kitchen tool that can also be used to zest lemons, limes and oranges or grate ginger or parmesan cheese!

In a large saucepan, I place the butter, sugar, raisins, apples, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves.  Don't worry if the apples have begun to darken, they are perfectly fine and they won't even be distinguishable by the time this mixture is cooked!  I turn the heat on high and once the butter begins to melt, I can stir the ingredients to combine them.  

Once this mixture begins to boil, I turn off the heat and remove the pan to let it cool.  This is when the waiting begins.  Depending on the time of year and how warm it is in your kitchen, this could take hours!  I usually do this part in the morning, so I can bake the muffins in the afternoon.  The mixture does need to cool completely before the next step.

I use muffin tin liners in my mini muffin pan, but if I'm out, the tin can also be greased.  One friend is allergic to nuts, so I use different liners for 6 of them to distinguish the nut-free muffins just for him!

In a large bowl, I combine the flour and baking soda.  Then I add the cooled apple and raisin mixture.

This makes a fairly stiff dough.

Using my Pampered Chef medium scoop, I fill the 6 liners with the nut-free dough.

Then I add in the pecans and mix to combine.  I fill the rest of the muffin tin and it's ready to go into the oven.  Of course, the nuts can be added before the apple/raisin mixture if you don't have any nut allergies to worry about.

These muffins don't rise much, so they should be filled to the top.  Using the scoop, it looks as though the dough comes above the top of the tin, but this amount is perfect.

You can see in the photo above, that they rise a bit and are a perfect golden brown when they come out of the oven.  I let them cool a couple of minutes before removing them from the pan to a wire rack to cool completely.  I store them in Tupperware with wax paper separating the layers when taking them to the beach.  This recipe makes 5 dozen, so if you don't plan to use them all at once, they freeze very well.

 

We love to eat these tasty little treats at breakfast time and they are especially good warm (they can be heated in the microwave), and they're great as a snack, but we're used to having them on our beach trip weekend as we visit with very good, long-time friends!  Enjoy!

Apple Raisin Muffins

1 cup water

2 cups sugar

2 cups grated apples

2 cups raisins

1 cup (2 sticks) butter

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

2 teaspoons freshly grated nutmeg

½ teaspoon ground cloves

1 cup chopped pecans

2 teaspoons baking soda

3 ½ cups all-purpose flour

Combine the water, sugar, apples, raisins, butter, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves in a large saucepan; bring to a boil.  Remove the pan from the heat and cool completely.

Preheat the oven to 350°F.  In a large bowl, stir the baking soda and nuts into the flour.  Add the cooled mixture to the bowl and stir until blended.  Grease miniature muffin tins or line with paper liners.  Fill muffin tins with batter to the top.  Bake for 15 minutes at 350°F.  These muffins are great served warm or at room temperature and they freeze well.

Cinnamon Butter

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter at room temperature

1 cup powdered sugar

1 1/2 heaping teaspoons ground cinnamon

In a medium bowl, cream together butter and sugar.  Add cinnamon; combine thoroughly.  Store in refrigerator.

Tasty (Peanut Butter) Trail Balls

Every year, my family joins many other families for a weekend at the beach.  It is a trip that we all look forward to every year.  We've been doing this annually for almost 20 years!  I'm not really a beach girl, as I hate the sand, but I love this weekend at the beach because it's all about doing nothing but visiting with close friends and eating!  I do all the work ahead of time and get to sit and relax and do absolutely nothing for an entire weekend!  I can put up with sand for that!

We spend each entire day on the beach and share the good food we've all brought.  My sister shared this recipe with me years ago and it's a perfect snack for our trip.  My oldest son says if I bring Tasty Trail Balls and a certain sandwich to the beach (to be posted at a later time) he'll be totally happy.  They don't look like much, but they are peanut buttery, crunchy goodness and oh so easy to put together.

There are only 4 ingredients in this snack, the main one being peanut butter.  I always use my Pampered Chef Wonder Cup to measure my peanut butter because I can easily see that I have no air bubbles as I fill the cup.  The inside portion (yellow) gets slid down inside the clear tube to the exact measurement that is needed.  To fill it with peanut butter, I take my Pampered Chef Skinny Scraper and get some peanut butter from the jar, then I place it inside the measuring cup and press it firmly against the side as I lift out the spatula.  I can see that I'm not leaving any air bubbles, so I get an accurate measure.  I continue around the side of the cup and then fill in the middle, pressing as I go.  I make it even on the top with the edge of the cup.  The other nice thing about the Wonder Cup is that to remove the peanut butter, I turn it over and plunge the yellow part towards my bowl and the peanut butter goes directly into it and I just have to scrape a little off the yellow part.  So easy!

To the peanut butter, I add the Coffee-mate and brown sugar.  Do not use chunky peanut butter in this snack, as it gets plenty of crunch from the granola, which is added next.

I mix those ingredients together thoroughly.

Then I add the granola.  There are many types of granola out there with almonds and raisins, etc., but for this recipe, the plain granola is the best.  I find it easiest to get the first 3 ingredients mixed together thoroughly before adding the granola.

It should look stiffer than just peanut butter and the granola adds a texture that is different from chunky peanut butter.

The next step is to pour the rest of the Coffee-mate in a shallow bowl.  The mixture then gets rolled into 1-inch balls; I use my smallest Pampered Chef scoop to form the balls, which I then roll in the Coffee-mate.  Sorry, no picture.  That's it!  I then place them in Tupperware, using wax paper to separate the layers.  

These tasty little nuggets do not need to be refrigerated, they're ready to eat!  Enjoy!

Tasty Trail Balls

2 1/4 cups creamy peanut butter

2 cups Coffe-mate Original powdered creamer, divided

1 cup brown sugar

2 cups plain granola 

In a large bowl, combine the peanut butter, 1 cup of the creamer, and brown sugar; mix thoroughly.  Add granola and mix to combine.  Roll into 1-inch balls and roll in reserved creamer; shake off any excess creamer.  Store in an airtight container.

Kansas City Steak Strips

My sister passed this recipe along to me years ago when I told her that my husband loves green beans.  He also loves beef, so this was sure to be a hit with him.  It was and it continues to be one of his favorite dishes.  What I love about this dish, other than how good it tastes, is that it can be prepared and on the table in about half an hour!

This dish is easy to prepare and is quite flavorful, plus it doesn't heat up the kitchen in the hot summer months.  My guys give it 8's and 9's on the Melnarik rating scale.

I always serve this over rice, and since it takes about 20 minutes to cook, I get that going in the rice cooker first.  If you don't have a rice cooker, the rice can be prepared in a medium saucepan on the stove.  Rice, when cooked, doubles in size so keep that in mind when determining how much to make.  I usually use about 2 1/2 to 3 cups of raw rice so that I have enough to go with any leftover meat.

I like to use my wok for this dish because it gives me plenty of stirring space, but a large skillet may also be used.  To begin, I melt half of the butter in the wok.

I add the steak, which I've cut into strips, cooking over medium-high heat until no longer pink and slightly browned on the edges.

I remove the cooked beef to a board.  It does not need to be kept warm as it will be returned to the pan to reheat with the rest of the ingredients.

The remaining butter goes into the wok, where I let it melt.

Then I add the green onions to the wok, stirring and cooking over medium-high heat until they are wilted, but before they begin to brown.  They get removed from the pan to the steak, which was previously removed.

The beef broth gets added to the wok and as it heats, I scrape the pan to get any of the tasty bits that the meat or onions left behind.  

Then I add the chili sauce and stir to combine.

To that, I add the frozen green beans.  That's right, you don't even have to thaw them!  They defrost quickly and they cook in about 3 minutes as I stir occasionally.  The original recipe indicated that the green beans could be substituted with frozen mixed vegetables, but I've never tried it that way as we like it so much this way.

Once the beans are cooked, I add back in the steak and green onions, stirring to combine the ingredients and making sure the meat and beans are covered in the sauce.  I stir making sure everything is heated through.  Salt and pepper is added at this point according to our taste.

The last step is to serve it over the hot, fluffy rice.  Simple and tasty, it doesn't get much better than that!  Enjoy!

Kansas City Steak Strips

2 sirloin strip steaks (12 oz. ea.) or 1 lb. of sirloin beef tips

3 tablespoons butter

1 cup thinly sliced green onions

1/2 cup beef broth

1/2 cup chili sauce

1 (9 oz.) package frozen green beans

salt and pepper to taste

cooked long grain rice

Cut meat into even strips or bite-size pieces.  Heat half of butter (1.5 tablespoons) in large skillet.  Add meat and saute over medium-high heat until meat is brown.  Do not overcook.  Remove meat.  Add remaining butter to pan and add green onions; saute over medium-high heat 4 - 5 minutes until onions are soft, but not brown. Remove to beef.  Add broth to pan; heat and scrape pan brownings.  Add chili sauce, stirring to combine.  Add green beans to pan and cook for 3 minutes.  Add meat and onions back into pan; stir to combine.  Cook over high heat for a few minutes until hot.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Serve immediately over hot, fluffy rice.