Chocolate Brownie Cookies

There's no particularly interesting story behind these other than they are beyond delicious.
People are going to look at you strangely when you tell them what these cookies are. Just tell them to try one. They'll love them. Trust me.
They taste like a brownie but look like a delicate chocolate cookie. Chocolatey, chewy, rich.

Chocolate Brownie Cookies
Adapted from Joy The Baker

• 8 ounces semisweet chocolate
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 cup flour
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
Melt butter and chocolate in the microwave or over a double boiler. In a separate bowl, mix the eggs, sugar, and vanilla extract. Add the melted chocolate and butter mixture. Then add the rest of the dry ingredients. Finish up with mixing in the chocolate chips.

Chill batter for an hour. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto a greased cookie sheet about 2 inches apart. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until the tops crack.
Remove from oven and let cool for about 10 minutes.

The Classic: Chocolate Chip Cookies

Sometimes things go wrong. Horribly wrong. You forget your credit card at home, your luggage gets lost during travel, the people you need to get ahold of won't answer the phone, you get a piece of wood stuck in your wrist. Things just happen.
So sometimes you've just got to make chocolate chip cookies. They're simple. They're not the type of thing that goes horribly wrong... most of the time. Chocolate chip cookies are like a safety blanket. A delicious, chocolatey safety blanket.
These cookies are more of the soft variety. They tend to stay soft even days after if they are stored in an airtight container.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

• 14 tablespoons of butter, softened
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Beat butter and sugars until smooth. Add vanilla and eggs. Gradually add flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Mix until well combined. Stir in the chocolate chips. Chill dough for 30 minutes.

Drop by tablespoons on a baking sheet about 2 inches apart.
Bake for 8-10 minutes.
Enjoy!

Anything You Like Blondies

I'm sitting in bed watching No Strings Attached. Eating frosted flakes from a cow mug. Drinking Diet Dr. Pepper. Cuddling with a human sized teddy bear.

It's nights like this where I wonder why I'm not out doing normal things a person my age should be doing.

What does any of that have to do with blondies? 

Nothing at all other than I finally decided, after a day of procrastinating, to write this post and be productive.

Blondies are basically a brownies without the chocolate in the batter. You can add whatever mix-ins you'd like to these. Coconut, nuts, candy pieces, chocolate chips, etc. I went with butterscotch chips, white chocolate chips, and milk chocolate chips.

Anything You Like Brownies

Adapted from Whipped

• 6 tablespoons butter (melted)
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 egg whites
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup mix-ins

Preheat the oven to 350.

Mix the melted butter and brown sugar together. Add the egg whites and vanilla until well mixed. Mix in the flour, baking powder, and salt until combined. Add in your mix-ins of choice. 

Pour batter into a 8x8 baking pan. Put in oven and bake for 18-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool completely and serve.

German Chocolate Cake Brownies

Yesterday you were in trouble and today you need to impress a girl or boy? Well, you're in luck. I like to call these "Fall in love with me" brownies. It works. Trust me.
Girls like chocolate. And you know what they like even more than that? Boys who can bake them something with chocolate. True story.
Boys are suckers for a good baked good. Just show up with these and you're set. If he isn't impressed well...he's clearly crazy.
So go grab some chocolate and impress some people.
These brownies are more cakey than fudgy. The brownie itself isn't hugely sweet but the frosting makes it perfectly sweet. As a last minute idea, I added some Almond Joy Pieces that I had left over. You can leave them out but I thought they added a nice touch to the brownie and made it a little more interesting.

German Chocolate Cake Brownies
Recipe adapted from The Taste of Home Baking Book


Brownies:

• 1/2 cup butter
• 2 ounces unsweetened chocolate squares
• 2 ounces semisweet chocolate
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/3-1/2 cup Almond Joy Pieces

Topping:

• 2 tablespoons butter (melted)
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup flaked coconut
• 1/3 cup chopped pecans
• 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
• 2 tablespoons milk

Preheat oven to 350.

In a heavy medium saucepan, melt the butter and chocolates until smooth. Remove from the heat and cool. Stir in sugar and vanilla. Add the eggs until well mixed. Then add the flour, baking powder, and salt until fully combined.

Pour mixture into a greased 9x9 baking pan.
Bake for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

For the topping, combine all ingredients and mix well. Drop by tablespoons onto warm brownies and spread.
Broil brownies for 2-4 minutes until topping is slightly browned.
Cool brownies and enjoy.

Chewy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

You know those moments where you realize you just haven't shown your appreciation for all someone does? Whether that's your mom, dad, brother, sister, teacher, friend, boyfriend, girlfriend. Or the moment where you realize you just messed up big time? Like you broke your mom's lamp or forgot your sister's birthday?
Well these cookies are for those moments.
Maybe it won't fix the issue completely but I promise they'll be a lot happier once you show up with these in hand.
These cookies are the perfect combination of a soft, chewy cookie and a crunch cookie. You can leave the cookies in longer depending on if you want a more crunchy cookie or prefer a soft one. I used two different types of oats simply because... well I'm terrible at making decisions. I also used both semisweet chocolate chips and milk chocolate chips. I like having a variety of chips in my cookies.

Chewy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
Adapted from a recipe given to me from a friend
Makes about 50 cookies

• 1 cup butter or 2 sticks (softened) 
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups flour
• 2 1/2 cups oats (either old fashioned or quick, or a bit of both)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1- 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350.
Beat the butter and sugars until smooth. Add eggs one at a time and the vanilla. Add the dry ingredients except the chocolate chips and mix until well combined. Add chocolate chips. I usually prefer to chill my dough before baking to get a better texture in the cookie. You can chill it for anywhere from 30 minutes to overnight.

Scoop dough onto a cookie sheet by the tablespoon.

Bake for 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned.

(Yes, I need a new cookie sheet. Where are birthdays when you need them?!)

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Bars

I woke up this morning with one extremely swollen eye. Nothing but a sliver of vision. This has happened for the past 3 days. Today, I also decided, after almost a year of thinking on the matter, to start a baking blog.
What these two things have in common?
I have no idea.
But here we are. I have a stye in my eye and look like a pirate with an eye patch so therefore I decided to bake up some bars.
There just something about bars. They're so easy to make yet so delicious. These bars were simply inspired by my love for chocolate, coconut and oatmeal. Together, they make one yummy treat.
These are just the right amount of sweetness and have a cake-like texture with a bit of chewiness from the oatmeal and coconut.
Now go make some bars, watch a scary movie and put a warm rag on your swollen eye.
But maybe not the last part.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Bars

• 1/2 cup butter or 1 stick at room temperature
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon coconut extract
• 1 cup flour
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup oats
• 2/3 cup shredded coconut
• 1/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 1/3 cup dried cranberries
• half a bar of a Hershey's milk chocolate candy bar (chopped)

Preheat oven to 350.
Beat together the butter and sugars in a medium bowl until smooth. Add the eggs one at a time followed by the vanilla and coconut extracts. Next add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, oats and shredded coconut all at once to the butter mixture. Mix until well combined.

Then add the chocolate chips, cranberries and chopped up candy bar.

Transfer mixture to an 8x8 greased pan.

Bake for about 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
Let cool for 20 minutes and serve.