Dessert

The Browniest Cookies

Ingredients

  • 4 ounces unsalted butter
  • 4 ounces unsweetened chocolate chips
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1⁄2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1⁄2 teaspoon table salt
  • 1⁄2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1 cup all purpose flour
  • 4 ounces semisweet chocolate chips

Instructions

  1. Place butter and unsweetened chocolate chips in small bowl.  Microwave until melted, stirring every 30 seconds.
  2. Using a stand mixer, whisk together sugar, melted chocolate mixture.  Add eggs, one at a time, mixing after each addition.  Then add vanilla, baking soda, and salt.  Mix in cocoa powder and flour until just combined.  Stir in semisweet chocolate chips.  
  3. Refrigerate dough for 30 minutes.  
  4. Heat oven to 350*F.  
  5. Using a small ice cream scoop, scoop dough onto parchment paper-lined baking sheets, allowing room for the cookies to spread a little.  Bake 11-15 minutes or until cookies look almost finished but still a little undercooked.  Remove from oven and cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to rack to cool.  

Comments

This recipe is from Smitten Kitchen.  I made it for a class party and they were extremely appreciated by my classmates.  And by me and my family as well!  Scrumptious.  Like a soft, rich, brownie-cookie hybrid.  Fantastically chocolaty.  These go well with a nice, cold glass of milk.

Lime (Key or Otherwise) Pie

Ingredients

  • 10 whole graham crackers
  • 1⁄2 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 3 tablespoons sugar
  • 2.5 ounces melted butter, cooled
  • 14 ounces sweetened condensed milk
  • 4 egg yolks
  • 4 ounces freshly squeezed lime juice
  • 1 tablespoon lime zest
  • 6 ounces heavy cream
  • 2 tablespoons powdered sugar
  • 1⁄4 cup mascarpone

Instructions

  1. Heat oven to 375*F.  Place graham crackers in food processor with salt and sugar.  Process for 30-45 seconds until the crackers are small crumbs.  Add melted butter and pulse until incorporated.  
  2. Press mixture into bottom and up the sides of springform pan.  Chill the crust in the refrigerator for 15 minutes.  Bake crust for 10 minutes and allow to cool complete.  Reduce oven heat to 325*F.  
  3. Add sweetened condensed milk, egg yolks, lime juice, and zest to food processor.  Process for 10 seconds, stop and scrape down sides of processor bowl, process for 10 mote seconds.  Pour mixture into cooled crust.  
  4. Bake for 14-17 minutes or until the pie is firm but still jiggles in the center.  Cool to room temperature on rack then transfer to refrigerator to chill completely, at least four hours.  
  5. When ready to serve, release the sides of the pan and remove.  Combine heavy cream and powdered sugar in mixing bowl and whisk on his speed until soft peaks form.  Add mascarpone and whisk until smooth and thick.  Serve pie topped with cream mixture.  

Comments

Art requested this for his birthday.  The recipe is from Serious Eats.  It’s very tart and nice and creamy.  I like the addition of the mascarpone in the topping, it helps to temper the tartness of the pie.  This might be better with key limes, but I find them annoying to find and deal with.

Biscoff Buddies

Ingredients

  • 2 1⁄4 cups Chex cereal (any plain variety you like, or a mixture)
  • 2 tablespoons white chocolate chips
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 3⁄8 cup (about 6 tablespoons) Biscoff Spread
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • powdered sugar for coating (Mix it with some extra cinnamon for more cinnamony goodness.)  

Instructions

  1. Place cereal into a large bowl. 
  2. Place chocolate chips, cinnamon, biscoff spread, and butter in small microwave safe bowl and microwave for 1 minute.  Stir well and microwave an additional 30 seconds at a time until smooth.  
  3. Spoon mixture into cereal and gently mix to combine ingredients.  
  4. Place powdered sugar (with extra cinnamon if desired) into large zip-top bag.  Add cereal mixture and shake to coat.  Spread on wax paper to cool then enjoy.  

Comments

This recipe is from Willow Bird Baking.  It calls for cinnamon chips, but I can’t find those locally and I needed to make the recipe NOW so I couldn’t wait for Amazon to deliver them to me.  I love Biscoff cookies when I fly Delta and these were scrumptious.  I believe I used a mixture of rice, corn, and wheat Chex.

Rice Krispies® Treats

Ingredients
3 tablespoons butter
10 ounces marshmallows
1⁄2 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 cups Rice Krispies® cereal

Instructions
1. In large saucepan, melt butter over low heat.  Add marshmallows and stir until completely melted.  Stir in vanilla then remove from heat. 

2. Add cereal and stir well until coated. 

3. Spray 9 by 12-inch baking dish with cooking spray and spread cereal mixture into dish.  Press down with wax or parchment paper.  Cool completely then cut into squares for serving. 

Photo

Comments
This recipe is from ricekrispies.com.  Everyone knows how to make these, right?  They don’t really even need a recipe.  However, I haven’t been able to eat these for years and years and years, since Rice Krispies® have had high fructose corn syrup in them until recently.  I actually saw an ad on the TV at the gym (of all places) announcing the Kellogg no longer uses HFCS in their “grain” cereals.  I rushed out to the store to see if this could possibly be true and came home with a box of Rice Krispies® and a bag of marshmallows.  I am a happy camper!

Nutella, Banana, and Croissant Pudding

Ingredients
1 tablespoon butter
12 ounces mini croissants (I used the cute, little croissant muffins that my store sells.)
1⁄2 cup Nutella spread
2 bananas, sliced into 1⁄4- to 1⁄2-inch disks
1⁄2 cup milk
1⁄2 cup cream or half and half
1⁄4 cup sugar
4 eggs, beaten

Instructions
1. Butter 9 by 9-inch baking dish. 

2. Slice croissants in half and spread with Nutella.  Place in baking dish then scatter banana slices over top.

3. In medium bowl, whisk together milk, cream, sugar, and eggs.  Pour half of milk mixture over croissants.  Place remaining croissant halves on top then pour in remaining milk mixture.  Cover with saran wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour or overnight, pressing down occasionally to soak croissants. 

4. Move oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350*F. 

5. Bake until egg is set, about 30 minutes.  Allow to rest 15 minutes before serving. 

Photo

Comments
This recipe is from Serious Eats.  I made is on a whim one day since, by some miracle, I happened to have all of the ingredients on hand.  It was really delicious and we all enjoyed the treat!  I could see making this with some other sort of fruit as well, perhaps Strawberries?  Yum.

Pumpkin Pecan Shortbread

Ingredients
For the crust
1 1⁄2 cups flour
3⁄4 cup powdered sugar
1 cup pecans
1⁄2 teaspoon salt
3⁄4 cup unsalted butter, cold and cut into pieces

For the pumpkin layer
15 ounces pumpkin
1 1⁄3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla
2 teaspoon cinnamon
1⁄2 teaspoon nutmeg
1⁄4 teaspoon ginger
1⁄2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
2⁄3 cups heavy cream or half and half

Instructions
1. Heat oven to 350*F. 

2. Add flour, powdered sugar, pecans, and salt to food processor bowl.  Process until nuts are chopped and all ingredients are combined.  Add cubed butter and pulse until the texture of cornmeal.  Press into 9 by 13-inch baking pan and bake for 12 minutes. 

3. Meanwhile, add all ingredients for pumpkin layer into food processor bowl and process until smooth and combined.  Pour pumpkin mixture over shortbread crust and spread evenly with spatula.  Bake 35 to 45 minutes or until center has set.  Let cool then refrigerate until ready to serve. 

No photo

Comments
This recipe is from Perfecting the Pairing and I made it to take to Christmas with my parents.  It was really awesome.  If I could change it at all, I’d try to put a cream cheese layer in there somewhere to be more like the pumpkin squares I loved as a kid, but this pretty much just rocked.

Buttermilk Pie

Ingredients
8 tablespoons butter, softened
2 cups sugar
1 1⁄2 tablespoons cornmeal
3 large eggs, beaten
Pinch of salt
3⁄4 cups buttermilk
1⁄4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon white vinegar
1 piecrust (storebought or homemade, I used Pillsbury)

Instructions
1. Heat oven to 350*F.  Place piecrust in pie plate and bake 10 minutes. 

2. Meanwhile, beat butter in mixer on high speed until light and fluffy.  Mix sugar with cornmeal in small bowl and add to butter.  Continue mixing on low speed and add eggs, salt, buttermilk, baking soda, vanilla, and vinegar. 

3. Pour filling into the piecrust and bake until brown on top and set, about 45 to 50 minutes. 

No photo!

Comments
This recipe is from Alyssa B. Young.  Sadly, over the holidays, I neglected to take many pictures that I should have taken.  You can follow the link for the original recipe’s great pictures instead.  This pie was really yummy and we enjoyed it for our Thanksgiving feast.  The recipe is also super simple, which is a plus!

Maple Bacon Cookies

Ingredients
2 cups all purpose flour
1⁄2 teaspoon baking soda
1⁄2 teaspoon salt
1⁄2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
1⁄2 cup plus 1 tablespoon maple syrup (Grade B preferred)
1 cup bacon, chopped and cooked until crisp

Instructions
1. Mix flour, baking soda, and salt in medium bowl. 

2. Add butter and sugars to mixing bowl.  Cream at medium speed for three minutes or until light and fluffy.  Add vanilla, egg, and maple syrup and continue mixing until well incorporated.  Stir in the bacon pieces.  Chill the dough in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. 

3. Heat oven to 350*F.  Using

4. Using a #20 ice cream scoop (about 2 tablespoons), scoop 6 balls of dough onto each cookie sheet.  Bake for 13-15 minutes or until golden brown.  Rotate the sheets halfway through cooking for even browning.  Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

Maple Bacon Cookies

Comments
This recipe is from [Simply Recipes](http://www.simply(recipes.com/recipes/maple_cookies/), but modified by me to add bacon.  This probably sounds like a weird combination of flavors for a cookie, but a friend of mine requested that I make these for him for GenCon this year.  I tried out a few (recipes and ended up going with this one due to the great maple flavor and texture of the cookies.  They’re chewy and delicious.  I ordered Grade B maple syrup from Amazon and it worked very well, but I can’t tell you how regular Grade A would have been instead. 

Shown here with Chocolate Chip Cookies and Bacon Chocolate Cookies.  The Maple Bacon are the pale ones in the middle.

Chocolate Covered Bacon

Ingredients
1 pound bacon, the thicker the better, cut into fourths
12 ounces chocolate chips, bittersweet, semisweet, or milk – your choice

Instructions
1. Heat oven to 350*F.  Line baking sheet with aluminum foil and then set wire rack into sheet.  Spread bacon pieces in single layer on wire rack.  Cook until crisp, 30 to 60 minutes depending on a number of factors such as your bacon, the oven, the baking sheet, etc.  Remove from oven and cool. 

2. Place chocolate chips in microwave safe bowl and microwave on high, stirring every 30 seconds, until melted and smooth. 

3. Dip cooled bacon into chocolate and then place on parchment paper to cool.  Transfer to refrigerator or freezer to chill completely before serving. 

Chocolate Covered Bacon

Comments
I was looking for a diabetic-friendly treat to take to an event, and someone suggestion chocolate covered bacon.  Now I’m not sure that it’s actually diabetic-friendly, but it seemed like a fun thing to try. 

I thought these were fine.  Nothing I’d go out of my way to order in a restaurant, but definitely interesting enough to try.  Some people loved them, and some didn’t care for them at all.  So lots of personal variation when it came to enjoyment.

Bacon Chocolate Cookies

Ingredients
1 cup unsalted butter, melted
2 1⁄4 cups bread flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt or 1⁄2 teaspoon table salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1⁄4 cup sugar
1 1⁄4 cups brown sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2 tablespoons milk
1 1⁄2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups Chocolate Covered Bacon, chopped into small pieces

Instructions
1. Mix flour, salt, and baking soda in a medium bowl.

2. Pour the melted butter into mixing bowl and add the sugars.  Cream on medium speed.  Add the egg, yolk, milk, and vanilla.  Mix until well combined.  Slowly incorporated the flour mixture until completely combined.  Stir in the chocolate bacon pieces.  Chill the dough in the refrigerator for at least an hour.

3. Preheat oven to 375*F and line baking sheets with parchment paper.

4. Using a #20 ice cream scoop (about 2 tablespoons), scoop 6 balls of dough onto each cookie sheet.  Bake for 13-15 minutes or until golden brown.  Rotate the sheets halfway through cooking for even browning.  Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely. 

cookies

Comments
A friend of mine suggested that the Chocolate Covered Bacon would probably work better in a dessert than as a dessert, so I decided to give them a try in place of the chocolate chips in cookies.  They turned out really well and I definitely enjoyed the bacon more in the cookies than I did just as chocolate covered bacon.  My first batch was just a test run, so I’ll add a picture once I make them again. 

This is just my standard Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe with the chips swapped out for bacon pieces.

The Bacon Maple Cookies are on the left side of each bin.