Giant Chocolate Chip Cookies

 

What makes an ordinary chocolate chip cookie extra special?

I think it's the size.

Chocolate chip cookies are a classic favorite for all those cookie-lovers, but you have to admit: they can get a little boring sometimes. 

NOT that I would ever say no to anyone who offers me one. :)

But a little twist and a little surprise are always fun to find in those little babies.

Or in this case, HUGE babies!

These are actually white chocolate macadamia cookies, but you can omit the nuts and just use semi-sweet or milk chocolate chips if you'd like. It's pretty easy to adjust to your taste.

The one thing you MUST follow, of course, is the extra special size! 

(They are about 5" in diameter)

The edges are perfectly crisp, the center is soft, moist, and chewy, and every bite has a satisfying crunch from the nuts, and an irresistible, smooth, meltiness from the chocolate chips.

I guarantee that this perfectly sweet treats will be a "big" hit among the kids!

 

Giant Chocolate Chip Cookies
makes 8 (5-inch) cookies
Recipe adapted from Martha Stewart
Ingredients:
1 cup all purpose flour, spooned and leveled
3/4 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
6 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup chocolate chips
1/4 cup chopped macadamia nuts

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
In a medium bowl, whisk flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
In a large bowl, with an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add egg and beat well. Mix in vanilla.
Reduce speed to low and add in flour mixture; mix until just combined. Stir in the chocolate chips and nuts.
Drop by 1/4 cupfuls onto the cookie sheet, at least 4-inches apart from eachother. Bake until golden, 15 to 18 minutes. Cool 1 or 2 minutes on cookie sheets before transferring the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

 

See how wonderfully huge that is?

 

I made half the recipe and got four cookies - perfect for my family!

And yes, I used half an egg.

 

What's your way of making cookies special?

Super moist banana snack cake

I don't usually make the same recipe more than once, because I like variety, but this is one of the very, very, few recipes that I call my "go-to" recipe. 

These are bomb.

They are the most tender banana breads you will ever have.

So tender that I called it a cake rather than a bread.

They have a wonderful, deep banana flavor, and literally, they MELT IN YOUR MOUTH.

Oh, and you wanna know something even better?

They freeze beautifully.

Simply wrap each piece in plastic wrap, freeze 'em, and thaw in the refrigerator when you feel like snacking! 

20 seconds in the microwave is all it takes for a "freshly baked" banana cake :)

 

Super Moist Banana Snack Cake
recipe from Cooking light
serves 12
Ingredients:
6 3/4 oz all-purpose flour (about 1 1/2 cups - spooned and leveled)
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup plain low-fat yogurt
3/4 cup mashed ripe banana (about 1 1/2 medium bananas)
1/4 cup vegetable oil (I used safflower)
1 large egg, lightly beaten.
cooking spray
1/2 cup cool whip (optional)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375F.
Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt in a large bowl; stir with a whisk.
In a small bowl, combine yogurt, banana, oil, vanilla and egg; stir until well blended. Add yogurt mixture to the flour mixture in the large bowl, stirring just until moist.
Pour the batter into a 9-inch square metal baking pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 375F for 15-20 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool cake in the pan 10 minutes on wire rack; remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack. Serve with whipped topping, if desired. (Since the cake was so moist and tender, I found that it didn't even need a topping!)

See how tender that is?

Betty Crocker's Jumbo Chocolate Chip Cookies

I'm trying to get the perfect chocolate chip cookie these days, so I've already tried about four different recipes just last week. 

One of them was the turtle cookies I posted a few hours ago, which was awesome, but that technically wasn't a chocolate chip cookie, and they had nuts in them.

This one's more of a pure, classic version:)

Of course, they're huge, soft, thick, moist, and chewy - just how I like'em!

I usually try to underbake my cookies so that there's a little cookie doughy bit inside:)))

And these cookies certainly gave me that!

Jumbo Chocolate Chip Cookies
makes 1 1/2 dozen 5-inch cookies
Recipe from Betty Crocker's New Cookbook
Ingredients:
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar*
1 cup butter, softened
1 egg
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour**
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375F.
Mix sugars, butter, and egg in a large bowl. Stir in the flour, baking soda and salt.
Stir in the chocolate chips. Drop dough by 1/4 cupfuls onto an ungreased cookie sheet, leaving 3 inches between cookies.
Bake 12 to 15 minutes or until edges are set but the center is still soft. Let the cookies cool for about 2 minutes on the cookie sheet, then transfer to wire racks and cool completely.

Notes:
*I used splenda brown sugar blend, just to make it a little healthier:)
**I used 2 1/4 cups of self rising flour and omitted the baking soda and salt.
For regular sized cookies, drop by heaping tablespoons about 2 inches apart and bake for 8 to 10 minutes. Makes about 4 dozen.

Ooey Gooey Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Bars

How about that, eh? Ooey and gooey. And chewy.

I made these for my dad and his golf friends, since they always skip lunch when they go golfing.

I had less than an hour left until my dad had to go, so I made these in a real hurry. 

Notice that they are quite underbaked. Problem? Nah.

They didn't even get to cool down before getting packed, which meant EXTRA gooey:)

These are the BEST peanut butter chocolate chip bar cookies I've ever made!

They have a slight crackling top, and the interior is very soft and moist. 

Every bite gives you a huge chunk of oozing chocolate and a killing smell of warm peanut butter.

I'll probably make these again... and again...and again... 

until I become a big, fat chocolate chip.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Bars
Makes 16 bars
Recipe adapted from Bakeat350
Ingredients:
6 tablespoons unsalted  butter
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 cup sugar
1/4 cups light brown sugar, packed
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F. Line an 8x8" square pan with aluminum foil.
Whisk together the flour, salt, and baking powder. Set aside.
Cream the butter and peanut butter together until smooth. Beat in both the sugars until combined.
Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Make sure you scrape down the sides of the bowl.
Stir in the vanilla; stir in the flour mixture. Add the chocolate chips and mix until just combined.
Spread the batter into the prepared pan. Bake about 40 minutes. Cool completely; cut into 16 squares.

Mini Pistachio Pudding Tartlets

It's October already!

The weather is getting cooler... well, it's supposed to, but here in Arizona, it's still nearly 100 degrees in midday..

So! I was going to make a warm, gooey apple pie to welcome Fall, but it still felt pretty much like summer, so then I decided to make refrigerated mini tartlets:)

This is a very quick and easy dessert to whip up in 10 minutes. 

Okay, maybe not 10 minutes, because you have to bake the crust a bit, but it was the easiest tartlets I'd ever made. Plus, it looks and tastes wonderful! 

Mini Pistachio Pudding Tartlets
Makes 2

Ingredients:
For the Crust:
10 Oreos
1-2 tablespoons milk
For the Filling:
1/2 pkg  jello instant pistachio pudding mix (you can use any flavor you'd like!)
scant 1 cup of cold fat free milk
kiwi, for garnish

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F.
Remove the cream in the oreos and set aside. Do not throw away the cream. Crush the oreo cookies with the milk in a ziploc bag; press into a 3" mini tart pan. Bake for 10 minutes. Cool on wire rack.
For the filling, combine pudding mix with cold milk and whisk for 2 minutes. Pour into cooled crusts and pop them in the refrigerator.
For garnish, stir the reserved Oreo creams until smooth. Put them in a ziploc bag, cut off the corner, and pipe them into a swirl on the cooled tartlets. Garnish with kiwis.

Cranberry Chocolate Chip Biscotti

Biscottis are wonderful complements to a warm cup of coffee or tea.

Well, that's what I heard.

I've never had biscottis before in my life, let alone bake any, so I had no idea what they were supposed to taste like. I usually prefer soft or chewy cookies, rather than hard ones, so I always skipped the biscotti recipes when I looked through cookbooks or websites. 

But I guess it was about time I at least tried some, just to know what it's like.

Not too sweet, but full of flavor, these crunchy little cookies are indeed yummier when they are dunked in warm coffee. The original recipe had white chocolate coating, but I felt that if those were dipped in coffee, they wouldn't really soak up anything, so I threw in some chocolate chips in the batter instead:)

They actually taste wonderful, and I would bake them again soon - probably with a dash of cinnamon to spice'em up!

But umm... I still prefer soft and chewy cookies.

Cranberry Chocolate Chip Biscotti
recipe adapted from cinnamon, spice & everything nice
Makes 5 dozen biscottis
Ingredients:
2 cups all purpose flour
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup chocolate chips


Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F. Line cookie sheet with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and baking soda. Add eggs one at a time, beating at low speed with an electric mixer. Mix in vanilla extract. Add dried cranberries and chocolate chips and stir to combine.
Divide batter into two, and shape each one on a cookie sheet into a rectangular log, about 15 inches long and 2 inches wide. 
Bake for 30 minutes, until edges are golden brown; cool on a wire rack until warm to the touch. Transfer logs onto a cutting board and slice diagonally into 1/4-inch thick cookies. 
Arrange back on parchment lined cookie sheet and bake for 8 to 20 minutes, depending on how crisp you want them.
Cool completely on wire rack.


Enjoy!

The Moistest Blueberry Crumb Cake.. EVER.

I love Martha Stewart's recipes. 

Her recipes almost always guarantee success, so I browse her website practically everyday. Once I start browsing, I just can't stop. The list seems to go on forever, and there are loads of creative recipes that I've never even thought of.

But of course, there are plenty of classic ones that bring me a feeling of 'home, sweet, home', and this blueberry crumb cake is definitely one of them.

This cake is the yummiest, the moistest, and the most tender crumb cake I have ever baked. 

Usually, when I bake things in a square pan, the edges become a little firmer than the inside, but this cake is moist and tender right until the very edge of it. When I hold it in my hands, they kind of feel marshmallow-y and very soft, and they almost fall apart because of their tenderness. The streusel crumbs on top have a very slight crunch, but they're still on the softer side. And they don't even have a lot of butter in them! But don't get me wrong. It is NOT over-tender.

I have tried this recipe 3 times, each with cherries, blueberries, and peaches, and all of them turned out absolutely amazing. This is going into my 'best recipes' file, and I highly recommend you try it out too:)

Blueberry Crumb Cake

recipe adapted from Martha Stewart

Ingredients:

For the Cake:

4 tbsp unsalted butter

1+1/2 cup all purpose flour

1+1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/8 tsp ground cinnamon

1/8 tsp ground nutmeg

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 egg

2/3 cup milk

1/2 tsp lemon juice

1+1/2 cup fresh blueberries

1 tsp all purpose flour (for coating blueberries)

For the Streusel Topping:

1 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup brown sugar, packed

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup unsalted butter

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F. Line a 9-inch square pan with parchment paper.

For the Streusel Topping:

In a medium bowl, stir together flour, brown sugar, and salt. Cut in the butter with your hands or a pastry blender until large, moist crumbs form. Chill. 

For the Cake:

Combine milk and lemon juice.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. In a large bowl, beat the butter and granulated sugar with and electric mixer until fluffy. Add egg; beat well. Add flour mixture and milk mixture alternately until just combined. In a large bowl, toss the blueberries with 1 tsp of flour. Fold into the batter; spoon into prepared pan.

Sprinkle cake with streusel topping. Bake until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Let cool completely. Cut into squares.

Enjoy!

Moist Cocoa Brownies

I'm so into brownies these days. 

For the last few months, I've been obsessed with cakes covered in whipped cream, so I had them practically everyday. I'm still not over it, but two weeks ago, this amazing book of brownies caught my eye.

It was full of awesome bars, brownies, and blondies recipes, and I just HAD to buy it.

Plus it was on a clearance sale!

I've tried three of the recipes so far, and all of them turned out great.
This was my first brownie from the book, and it's moist and chocolatey, with some crunchiness from a handful of nuts; it's just like the classic, most basic brownies you can ever bake.

Moist Cocoa Brownies

Recipe very closely adapted from Good Housekeeping: Brownies

Makes 16 squares

Ingredients:

2 eggs

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup chopped nuts (I used pecans)

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup unsalted butter

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Direction:

Preheat oven to 350F. 

Combine flour and cocoa powder in a medium bowl.

Melt butter in a small saucepan over low heat; remove from heat and stir in sugar. Once the sugar is dissolved, mix in eggs, then stir in vanilla extract. Stir in flour-cocoa mixture and mix until moistened. Stir in chopped nuts and pour batter into a 9-inch square pan lined with foil. Bake for 17 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few moist crumbs. Cool in pan for 5 minutes, then on a wire rack, until completely cooled. Cut into 16 squares. You can dust some powdered sugar on top just before serving, but to me it tastes gorgeous even without it:)

Enjoy!