ADM: Browned Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Every month when I receive my Cooking Light magazine, I dive into the issue wanting to try just about every recipe. However, as the month goes by, “every recipe” dwindles down to a handful, which then results in only one or two actually being made, depending on time. This month, one of the “survivor” recipes was browned butter chocolate chip cookies. This recipe struck a chord with me mainly because it uses whole wheat flour and melted browned butter. (No need to wait for softened butter!) These cookies tasted pretty fantastic. The recipe calls for a mixture of chocolate chips, but I used all dark chocolate ones. And, I ran out of vanilla somehow, so I substituted in half the amount with almond extract, which gave the cookies a tasty flavor twist.

Browned Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies (follow the link for the original recipe)
adapted from Cooking Light, October 2012

Ingredients
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons canola oil
5.6 ounces all-purpose flour (about 1 1/4 cups)
3.3 ounces whole-wheat flour (about 3/4 cup)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup dark chocolate chips

Preparation
1. Preheat oven to 375°.
2. Heat butter in a small saucepan over medium heat; cook 5 minutes or until browned. Remove from heat; add oil. Set aside to cool.
3. Weigh or lightly spoon flours into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flours, baking powder, and salt, stirring with a whisk. Place butter mixture and sugars in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until combined. Add almond extract and eggs; beat until well blended. Add flour mixture, beating at low speed until just combined. Stir in chocolate chips.
4. Drop by level tablespoonfuls 2 inches apart onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Bake 12 minutes or until bottoms of cookies just begin to brown. Cool slightly.

ADM: Caramelized Banana-topped Vanilla Bean Banana Cupcakes

ANNOUNCEMENT: This week’s French Fridays with Dorie assignment, lime honey beet salad, will not be made because beets are gross. Instead, please enjoy this Afternoon Drive Munchies post featuring caramelized banana-topped vanilla bean banana cupcakes!

I’ve been on an organic banana kick lately. I’ll have one for breakfast with yogurt or sliced on toast with Nutella or even as a snack, wrapped in a slice of cheese. But since I’ve been purchasing organic bananas, I have to use them fairly quickly before they go bad. I saw a recipe for banana cake with vanilla bean frosting on Fake Ginger’s blog and thought it would be perfect to help me go through my surplus.

Of course, I made a few alterations. Obviously, I made cupcakes instead of a sheet cake, and I used vanilla bean paste instead of a whole vanilla bean for the specs. To jazz them up a bit, I placed caramelized banana slices on top as a garnish. My only warning about this recipe is the frosting, as mine was rather soupy. I would suggest letting the frosting firm up a bit before frosting or before serving.

Afternoon Drive Munchies: Seven Layers of Sin Bars

Now, I’m sure there are brownie purists out there who would find my next statement blasphemous, but if you’re ever in a pinch for something chocolatey, nutty, chewy, and very much brownie-like but don’t want to actually mix anything, then these truly sinful bars are the perfect solution. Quite possibly the easiest recipe ever, seven ingredients are layered one on top of another and baked to form a dizzingly sweet treat. It’s almost as easy as Dolly Parton’s “Cupa Cupa Cupa Cake” sounds from Steel Magnolias (which I have never tried).

It’s been awhile since I brought treats to the 107.5 WGCI Afternoon Drive Crew, mainly because my contact over there (Codename: Radio Diva) had to get settled into her new digs! With all the new crew members available to sample these seven layers of sin bars, I was nervous to hear their reactions. Radio Diva informed me almost immediately that the bars were an instant hit, prompting a “more treats, more often” response! If you want to make these bars yourself, the recipe can be found below and in Worth Tasting: A Culinary Tour Through the Architecture of the Palm Beaches. I’ve made several recipes from this cookbook and have never been disappointed. A special thanks to my friend and sorority sister (Codename: GPL) who gifted me the cookbook in the first place!

SEVEN LAYERS OF SIN BARS
(Adapted from Worth Tasting: A Culinary Tour Through the Architecture of the Palm Beaches)

INGREDIENTS
1 stick butter, melted
1&1/2 c. graham cracker crumbs (I literally smashed graham crackers in a plastic bag.)
1 c. dark chocolate chips
1 c. butterscotch chips (Or white chocolate)
1 c. chopped pecans (Can use walnuts or hazelnuts)
1 c. shredded coconut
1 14-oz. can sweetened condensed milk

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Pour melted butter into 9×12 pan and swirl to coat bottom and sides of pan. In the order listed, layer graham cracker crumbs, dark chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, chopped pecans and shredded coconut, one layer at a time. Pour sweetened condensed milk on top of layers, being careful to keep as much of it away from the sides, as it will harden and become difficult to remove from the pan later. Bake for 25 minutes. Allow to cool before slicing into bars.

Red Velvet Chocolate Blossoms

One of the great advantages of following several food blogs is that when I’m not particularly jonesing to make any one recipe, I’ll find one from another food blog that inevitably catches my attention. Such is the case with these red velvet chocolate blossoms. They’re a variation of Cupcake Muffin’s red velvet peppermint blossoms. Unfortunately, my local grocery store didn’t have the fun white chocolate peppermint Hugs, so I opted for the milk chocolate Kisses “hugged” by white cream. The bag also came with regular Kisses, so I used some of those as well.

I was pleasantly surprised by these tasty little gems. The recipe calls for placing the Hugs Kisses into the center of the cookies immediately after they come out of the oven, allowing the Kisses to get nice and melty while still retaining their shape. However, since I was bringing these for the office and the Afternoon Drive Crew, I had to place them in the refrigerator to firm up. No point in having a chocolate, gooey mess that would prevent anyone from trying them!

ADM: Banana Cake Muffins

Each time my nieces visit, I inevitably have leftover fruit. After our Thanksgiving gathering, I had some bananas that were the “left behinders”, and they were ripening rather quickly. Luckily, blogger Compulsive Foodie posted the recipe for Ina Garten’s Old Fashioned Banana Cake which specifically calls for very ripe bananas. Score!

However, knowing how yummy Ina’s recipes are, I nixed the idea of making a cake, as it would be harder to share the tastiness with others. Instead, I made regular sized and mini muffins. The recipe below yields one 9-inch round cake or 15 regular muffins plus 18 mini muffins.

As for the ingredients, I used pecans instead of walnuts, and I really couldn’t tell too much difference. And, I had to use 1/4 cup plain Greek yogurt because I only had enough sour cream to fill 1/4 cup as opposed to the 1/2 cup the recipe calls for. I skipped the cream cheese frosting seeing as I was pretty good over Thanksgiving and didn’t want to start overindulging now. Plus, I thought these muffins might work well for a quick breakfast instead.

Old Fashioned Banana Cake Muffins
adapted from Ina Garten’s Old Fashioned Banana Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
2 very ripe bananas, mashed
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
1/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup plain Greek yogurt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour, after sifting
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup coarsely chopped pecans

PREHEAT oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin pan with cupcake papers or spray wells with cooking spray.

MIX bananas, granulated sugar and brown sugar in bowl with an electric mixer on low speed until combined. Add oil, eggs, sour cream, Greek yogurt and vanilla. Mix until smooth. Add flour, baking soda and salt. With mixer on low, mix just until combined. Stir in chopped pecans. Pour batter into the prepared pan and bake for 20-25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan for 5 minutes, turn out onto cooling rack.

Must bake…before getting sick!

Ever get that feeling when you know you’re about to get sick? I haven’t been feeling 100% for the past couple of days, and I’ve been doing my best to stave off any flu-like symptoms by pumping myself full of vitamins and orange juice. But, I know my body. When I start feeling run down, a cold is just around the corner. So, while I still have energy to bake, I made Bon Appetit’s peanut butter and jelly shortbread wedges.

I mainly stuck with the recipe but used the coconut peanut butter that my sister (Codename: Surfer Psychologist) sent me from Hawaii instead!

The recipe also called for blackberry jam, but I used strawberry jam instead and lessened the recommended 1/3 cup so that more of the sweetness came from the coconut essence in the peanut butter.

The wedges were a snap to make! It’s another foray into shortbread that I wasn’t expecting, but it turned out fantastic nonetheless. The Afternoon Drive Crew commented that reducing the amount of jam really heightened the sweetness of the coconut essence in the peanut butter, which coincidentally pushed these wedges over the top!

Finally, this recipe utilized a really interesting method to spread the top layer of shortbread: part of the shortbread dough is frozen and then shredded through a cheese grater. However, my frozen dough stuck to the plate, so I just used a spoon to “shave” off the dough onto the jam layer. I think it worked!

“Healthy” Chocolate Cupcakes?

Even though I’m not a huge fan of chocolate cupcakes, I was intrigued by this month’s Fitness magazine which included a recipe promising “guilt-free goodies” that are “all fudge, no pudge.” When I told my sister (Codename: Chunklet’s mom) that I was making a “healthy” sort of chocolate cupcake, she replied, “Chocolate cupcakes should NEVER be healthy. That just sounds sad to me.”

Turns out, this “healthy” version of chocolate cupcakes did not impress my co-workers or the Afternoon Drive Crew because the cupcakes were a bit dry. It could’ve been my omission of the whipped heavy cream frosting. (I substituted in a powdered sugar dusting instead.) Or it could be the non-fat Greek yogurt I used in the batter instead of the recommended 2 percent. Despite these substitutions, I will say that the cupcakes were indeed chocolatey and had the consistency of a Hostess cupcake sans the cream center, chocolate glaze, and frosting swirl on top. At which point, you should probably just go for the Hostess cupcake. I guess Chunklet’s mom was right!

The Fitness recipe did teach me a great tip: Fill empty muffin pan slots halfway with water to help distribute heat evenly!

Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients
2 large eggs
3 tbsp. vegetable oil (I used canola)
2 tsp. instant espresso powder dissolved in 1 c. hot water
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1&1/2 c. sugar
1&1/2 c. all-purpose flour
3/4 c. unsweetened natural cocoa powder plus more for dusting
1&1/2 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 c. 2 percent plain Greek yogurt
3/4 c. heavy cream

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 muffin pans with 18 cupcake liners.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, oil, espresso and vanilla. Whisk in sugar. In another large bowl, sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Gradually stir dry ingredients into the wet mixture. Stir in Greek yogurt until just combined.
3. Divide batter evenly among liners. Bake until tops spring back when touched and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 18 minutes. Remove from oven. Leave cupcakes in pan 10 to 20 minutes, then remove them and set on wire racks to cool completely.
4. Just before serving, whip cream in a large bowl until stiff peaks form. Pipe or spoon a small dollop of whipped cream onto each cupcake and dust with cocoa powder.

Afternoon Drive Munchies: Apple Pie Muffins

Seriously, if you love apple pie, you have no reason not to try this yummy looking and yummy tasting apple pie muffin! I’ve been seeing this recipe float around the blogosphere, and after a strong recommendation from My Baking Addiction, I just had to try it out. Be warned: the recipe makes a fair amount of batter. I had enough to make 12 mini-muffins AND 12 regular-sized muffins. With all these muffins, I was able to hand out several to co-workers and the ever-amazing Afternoon Drive Crew. Most of the reactions I heard came immediately after the first bite and centralized around the theme of “Oh my gosh, these are delicious!”

One of docket clerks in my office (Codename: Tasha) even made a cake version of this recipe! (Sorry for the photo quality. I used my cell phone to snap a quick picture.)

Seriously. You have to try this recipe.

APPLE PIE MUFFINS

Muffins:
2¼ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground ginger (I left this spice out because I didn’t have any)
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg (I doubled this spice to make up for the lack of ground ginger)
¼ teaspoon allspice
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon kosher salt
1 egg
1 cup buttermilk
½ cup butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1½ cups packed brown sugar
2 cups peeled, coarsely chopped Granny Smith Apples

Topping:
½ cup packed brown sugar
⅓ cup all-purpose flour
¼ cup rolled oats
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 tablespoons butter, melted

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line 12 cup muffin cups with paper liners.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, and spices; make a well in the center. In a small bowl, whisk together the egg, buttermilk, butter, vanilla, and brown sugar, stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Pour the butter mixture into the well in the flour mixture and stir until just combined. Gently fold in apples. Use a large scoop to fill each muffin well, filling the cups to the top; do not overfill.

To make the topping, stir together brown sugar, flour, rolled oats, and cinnamon in a small bowl. Drizzle in the melted butter, mixing until well blended. Sprinkle over the tops of the muffins.

Bake for 25 minutes, or until the tops of the muffins spring back when lightly pressed. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then remove the muffins to finish cooling on a wire rack. Store at room temperature (if you even have any left!)

Afternoon Drive Munchies: Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Recently, I purchased a 2-lb. container of Quaker Oatmeal for only $1.50! I thought it was a good purchase since I’ve been meaning to eat more oatmeal for breakfast, and I’ve been wanting to bake oatmeal cookies. I played around and made oatmeal chocolate chip cookies instead using a Betty Crocker recipe while incorporating chopped bits of dark and milk chocolate. I was surprised by the lack of cinnamon in the recipe, so I added about a teaspoon of that as well.

The recipe also calls for chopped nuts. My plan was to shell and chop pistachios. However, stirring 2 cups of oatmeal into this batter took a bit more elbow grease than I was expecting, so the pistachios stayed in the bag. I’ll try and remember to buy pre-shelled chopped nuts for next time!

As usual, the recipe made tons more cookies than I could ever dream of eating, so I handed off the majority of cookies to the Afternoon Drive Crew over at 107.5 WGCI! I don’t feel too bad about sharing these cookies because they’re made of oatmeal, so that means they’re automatically healthy! Right?

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Afternoon Drive Munchies: Nutella-filled Butter Cookies

***WE INTERRUPT THIS REGULARLY SCHEDULED ffwD POST TO BRING YOU AN AFTERNOON DRIVE MUNCHIES POST ALREADY IN PROGRESS***

Lately, I’ve been so busy with work and other commitments that I haven’t had time to go grocery shopping. I’ve been out of eggs, milk and Diet Coke for about five days now, and I probably won’t have time to shop until Sunday. (Those who know me personally know that the lack of Diet Coke is a HUGE problem!) This also means I’ll be sitting out this week’s ffwD Olive-Olive Cornish Hen assignment.

That being said, I wanted to bake some cookies using ingredients I already had. Surprisingly enough, I only needed FOUR items for these rich and delicious Nutella-filled butter cookies! (The recipe I followed is below.) These were extremely easy to make, but make sure to allow extra time for all the hand-rolling and crimping you’ll be doing for these filled cookies.

Nutella-filled Butter Cookies
2 sticks butter, softened
1/2 c. sugar
1&1/4 c. AP flour
Nutella

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Cream the butter until soft.
3. Add the sugar gradually and beat until light and fluffy.
4. Sift in the flour and mix just until the dough comes together.
5. Roll the dough into balls, gently flatten into discs, then place on greased cookie sheet a few inches apart.
6. Spoon a dollop of Nutella on each disc then cover with another flattened disc.
7. Seal edges and decorate by making impressions with a fork.
8. Bake for 15 minutes.