Chewy Coconut Cookies

These are definitely a new favorite cookie. They are super chewy and quite delicious with the coconut. I will certainly be making these again!

Chewy Coconut Cookies
allrecipes.com

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/3 cups flaked coconut

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C.) Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside.

In a medium bowl, cream the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until smooth. Beat in the egg and vanilla until light and fluffy. Gradually blend in the flour mixture, then mix in the coconut. Drop dough by teaspoonfuls onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Cookies should be about 3 inches apart.

Bake for 8-10 minutes, until lightly toasted. Cool on wire racks.

Chocolate Pretzel Bites

These were so easy and fun. I'd seen them around the blogs awhile ago and meant to make them. Every seemed to love these. I think it's the salty/sweet combo. 

Chocolate Pretzel Bites

Rolo's Candy, unwrapped
Butter Snap pretzels (or any pretzels with a square base)
Pretzel M&M's

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F.

Lay the pretzels in a single layer on a baking sheet. Top each pretzel with a Rolo candy. Place the baking sheet in the oven for 8-10 minutes, until the Rolos are just melted. Remove from oven and place an M&M on top of each Rolo. Allow to cool before serving.

Toffee

I'd never made toffee before.

Sounded delicious.

So I did it. 

Then I immediately gave it away because it was too delicious to keep around.

Toffee
Mehan's Kitchen

1/4 pound almonds 
3 cups (6 sticks) salted butter 
3 cups sugar
1 pound semi-sweet chocolate

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Toast nuts on baking sheet, about 15 minutes. Remove nuts from oven and let cool completely. Transfer cooled nuts to a large ziplock bag and pound nuts until coarsely ground.

Melt butter in an 8-quart pot over medium-low heat; stir in sugar. Continue stirring until toffee reaches 305 degrees on a candy thermometer, about 30 minutes.

Pour toffee onto an 18-by-13-inch rimmed baking sheet, spreading evenly. Let cool until toffee is slightly hardened. Run a knife along the edges of the baking sheet to make toffee easier to remove.  

In a bowl set over (but not touching) simmering water, melt chocolate. Remove chocolate from heat and let cool slightly until it reaches about 95 degrees on a candy thermometer. Immediately pour melted chocolate over toffee, spreading evenly to cover. Sprinkle over coarsely ground almonds, pressing down with offset spatula. Transfer to refrigerator until toffee is set, about 1 hour. To remove toffee from pan, run a sharp knife along the edges and lift toffee from the bottom. Using your hands, break toffee into large pieces.

Buffalo Chicken Dip

Buffalo chicken dip. Bet you can't eat just one. Or something.

I made this forever ago for the superbowl, so pardon the picture. It came out of the oven and I had to beat off one hundred hungry hands to get this picture in!

This dip is so good it will knock your socks off. If you like buffalo chicken wings you may have to hold yourself back from eating an entire dish of this dip. Don't say I didn't warn you!

I recently made this for the second time and used it as a calzone stuffing. Um. Holy amazing!

Buffalo Chicken Dip
Frank's Red Hot 

8 oz. pkg. cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup blue cheese or ranch salad dressing (I used blue cheese)
1/2 cup any flavor FRANK'S® REDHOT® Sauce
1 cup crumbled blue cheese or shredded mozzarella cheese (I used cheddar cheese)
2 cans (12.5 oz. each)  Chunk Chicken Breast in Water, drained

HEAT oven to 350°F. Place cream cheese into deep baking dish. Stir until smooth.

MIX in salad dressing, Frank's RedHot Sauce and 1/2 cup of the cheese. Stir in chicken. Smooth top and sprinkle remaining cheese over casserole.

BAKE 20 min. or until mixture is heated through; stir. Garnish as desired. Serve with crackers or vegetables.

Cocoa Fudge Cookies

These were a great chocolate cookie. Very chewy. And they sort of taste like a brownie. Love. 



Cocoa Fudge Cookies
Cooking Light

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons unsalted butter
7 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup plain non fat yogurt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350°.

Combine flour, soda and salt; set aside. Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Remove from heat; stir in cocoa powder and sugars. Add yogurt and vanilla. Stir to combine. Add flour mixture, stirring until moist. Drop by tablespoons onto a greased cookie sheet. 

Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes. Cool on pans 2-3 minutes or until firm. Remove to wire racks to cool completely.

Curried Lentils

I made these lentils awhile ago, after being inspired by a Sri Lankan friend cooking for me. They were so good and such a great protein addition to just about everything, I fell in love. I didn't realize I hadn't posted it yet, until I went looking to make them for the third time and couldn't find the recipe!

What a dingbat. Sorry I held these out on you. Make lentils.

Curried Lentils
The Fig Tree 

• 2 cups of red lentils (rinsed)


• 1 teaspoon of olive oil


• 4 cloves of garlic; minced (or 1 and 1/2 teaspoons of garlic powder)


• 1-28 ounce can of diced tomatoes


• 2 cups of vegetable stock


• 1 and 1/2 teaspoons of ground cumin


• 1 teaspoon of turmeric


• 3/4 teaspoon of ground cinnamon


• salt and pepper to taste


• 1/4 teaspoon of cayenne (optional)

Rinse the lentils well and soak them for 5 minutes in warm water. Drain.

Add olive oil to a large pot. Sauté garlic on medium heat for about a minute.

Add canned tomatoes to garlic. Add cumin, cinnamon, turmeric, salt and pepper. Stir to combine.

Add 2 cups of vegetable stock. Bring mixture to a boil and add the drained lentils

Reduce to a simmer. Partially cover the pot with a lid. Simmer for 15 minutes until lentils are tender. If you find that the lentils are becoming too dry, add an additional 1/2 cup of water or vegetable stock.

Chocolate Mousse Non-Mouse

In a little land, probably far far away from where you are now, there is a bakery. This may look like any ordinary bakery, but no! It houses my most favorite dessert find: The Mousse Mouse. Now, you may ask, what is a mousse mouse?! Well, its the most miraculous chocolate creation, with rich chocolate cake sandwiched with a decadent chocolate mousse. All coated in a layer of chocolate ganache. The cherry on top would have to be the pure chocolate mouse that sits atop the cake and the chocolate sprinkles scattered along the sides. Tah dah!

Needless to say, I just had to recreate this bad boy at home! Mine turned out a bit differently. First, I used a rich chocolate brownie for the bottom. Instead of cutting the brownies in half and sandwiching with the mousse, I simply topped it with the mousse followed by the ganache. I didn't go so far as to recreate the chocolate mouse, but I couldn't resist chocolate sprinkles.

The result? I think mine may have been a bit better. More chocolate flavors and mouse or not, super delicious!



Truffle Brownies
First Look then the Cook 

6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped, divided
11 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch cubes
1 1/4 cups sugar
3 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4  teaspoon salt
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour 

Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350°F. Line 9x9x2-inch metal baking pan with foil, leaving overhang. Spray foil with nonstick vegetable oil spray. Combine 6 ounces bittersweet chocolate and butter in medium metal bowl. Set bowl over saucepan of simmering water and stir until chocolate and butter are melted and smooth. Remove bowl from over water and cool chocolate mixture until lukewarm, 5 to 10 minutes.

Whisk sugar, eggs, vanilla extract, and salt in large bowl to blend. Whisk in chocolate mixture. Stir in flour, then chopped toasted walnuts. Transfer batter to prepared baking pan. Bake brownies until tester inserted into center comes out with moist crumbs attached, 26 to 28 minutes. Transfer pan to cooling rack and let brownies cool completely.

Chocolate Mousse
Annie's Eats 

7 oz. bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
3 tablespoons water
4 large eggs, at room temperature, separated
pinch of course salt

Combine the chocolate and water in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water.  Heat until the chocolate is almost completely melted, stirring occasionally.  Remove the bowl from the heat and stir until the mixture is smooth.  Set aside and let cool to near room temperature.

In a clean, dry bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, combine the egg whites and the salt.  Whip on medium-high speed until stiff peaks form.  They should be thick and smooth.

Stir the egg yolks into the cooled chocolate mixture.  Add one third of the whipped egg whites to the bowl with the chocolate and fold gently to lighten up the mixture.  Fold in the remaining egg whites gently with a spatula just until no visible streaks are left.

Top the cooled brownies with chocolate mousse and spread into an even layer. Refrigerate until set, about 3 hours.

Ganache Topping
First Look then Cook 

6 ounces bittersweet chocolate
3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
Chocolate sprinkles

Bring cream to a simmer in small saucepan over medium heat. Remove from heat. Add remaining 6 ounces of chocolate to hot cream and let stand 5 minutes to soften, then whisk until melted and smooth. Pour chocolate ganache over mousse layer on brownies and spread to cover completely. Drop sprinkles over ganache and let stand a room temperature until set, about 4 hours.

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Yes, I know. I have neglected my little blog here. And for that I am sorry! Lots of new stuff going on though, which is good, but leaves little for other outlets! The end of February was busy busy busy! I acquired two new jobs, both which I love and are a nice transition from dancing from me (which I am still doing when I can). Spice and I also moved, but just downstairs in our apartment complex to a two-person apartment. 

Needless to say, very little time and mental capacity for blogging! Which means my blogging style is probably going to change and you will be seeing less posts. I thought about whether I wanted to continue the blog and ultimately decided that I love having all my favorite recipes in one electronic place, with my thoughts on how I liked it. That being said, I will not only be baking less, but probably wont blog unless something is outstanding! Which I mostly do anyways since I would never want to share a less than stellar recipe!



I was craving a peanut butter cookie a few weeks ago and these were definitely a great find! I loved the hearty combo of the oats and peanut butter and the subtle chocolate that comes through too!



Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
Brown Eyed Baker

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
1 stick (½ cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature
½ cup creamy peanut butter
½ cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup light brown sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
½ cup rolled oats
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

Whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.

On medium speed, cream together the butter, peanut butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract, about 3 minutes. Add the egg and beat to combine. On low speed, gradually add the flour until just combined. Stir in the oats, and then the chocolate chips.

Use a large cookie scoop (3 tablespoons) and drop dough onto prepared baking sheets about 2 inches apart. Bake for 10 minutes, or until the cookies are lightly golden. Cool completely on the baking sheet and then store in an airtight container at room temperature.