Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie

Because there just aren't enough desserts on this blog . . .

I think this may be my favorite picture
I have ever taken on my own camera . . . 

Georgia B. made this amazing dessert when she hosted book club.  When she said the words "cookie" and "pie" together, I admit I was taken aback.  It sounded like too much.  It sounded like it was missing the words "bacon-wrapped" and "deep-fried."

But then I had a bite.  Next, I inhaled my beautiful wedge o' heaven-sent cookie pie.  Finally, I plotted about how to get another piece (never mind the other twenty girls who were at this particular book club meeting . . . in fact, what do you guys think about a new book club rule?  Only people who read the book can  have refreshments?)

I used my flakiest pie crust recipe for the shell

I think it actually looks prettier before it's cooked

This kind of crust needs a pie shield, so that it doesn't get crispy and burnt before the rest of the crust cooks.  Actually, unless your crust is exactly level with your filling, every pie needs a pie shield.  You just take it off the pie about 10-15 minutes before it is baked all the way. 

I have two pie shields--one is a solid aluminum ring, and it fits a nine-inch crust. The other is a re-sizeable silicone pie shield that I can use on just about any size pie pan.

55 minutes later . . . it should be a nice caramely-brown 

My husband happened to show up at this book club to collect our baby, and another book club member (Tonia) said, "Here, Allen, you should take a piece of this."  He was sold on one bite also.  {And Tonia and I are still friends, despite the fact that she A) appeared to be a more thoughtful wife than I am and B) ruined my plan to ask to take a piece home to Allen . . . which I had no intention of giving him.  Okay, maybe she is a more thoughtful wife . . . }

Georgia did not hoard the deliciousness.  And neither will I.

Mrs. Fields' Chocolate Chip Cookies (+ Chocolate)

Though I love my own CCC recipe, sometimes I crave that slight taste of oatmeal that only Mrs. Fields can deliver. This is a not-so-secret recipe that periodically makes the rounds of the Internet, but I like to add extra chocolate to mine. Growing up, these were my favorite chocolate chip cookies . . . and they're still as delightful as I remember.

This cookie dough makes seven dozen and DOES NOT refrigerate or freeze well--the oat flour makes it too dry and it crumbles apart.  So you have to make all seven dozen cookies soon after you make the dough.  Allen's Grandmother (check out her amazing chocolate cream pie recipe) gave me this giant Tupperware container--it's perfect for cookie storage.

I make these cookies when I am going to big family functions and they are gone in an evening.

*(Click the link to my CCC's to get all kinds of cookie-tips)

Bex Deluxe Triple C's (Chocolate Chip Cookies)

I've always disliked how inundated January is with weight-loss tips and must-have exercise equipment and fitness routines and recommended healthy snacks foods. I subscribe to mostly food/cooking magazines, and the hypocrisy of January's low-fat chickpea salads with lighter dressing is made all the more nefarious by the spate of December's best Christmas cookies EVER recipes, in close-up, full-color photos that essentially force me to don aprons daily and buy butter in bulk. Those marketeers have got my number.

But there's one cookie that I make year-round, never mind the delectable December duress. A cookie I have, in all the modesty I can muster, perfected. I've picked up a few tips here and there: Heather (who can go from zero to cookies in ten minutes) first introduced me to more-brown-than-white-sugar, Morgan and Carson shared an article with invaluable cookie-baking tips, and I picked up on Adriane and Tom's tendency to refer to this great American tradition as "CCC's." These things combined, with my own quest for the perfect see-see-see, have aided in the composition (and completion) of my masterpiece.

Here are the tips that make any CCC recipe even better:

• Double the recipe. If you're going to take the time for homemade, go ahead and make a lot, because chocolate chip cookie dough freezes beautifully, and it's great to have on hand for unexpected company or a last-minute dessert. (I freeze a dozen dough-cookies per quart-sized Ziploc and feel the security that only chocolate prepearedness can bring).
  
  

• Chill the dough--it keeps it from spreading too thin when it bakes, and is part of what makes the cookie crackle beautifully.
• Lower the temperature and lengthen the time in the oven, for a softer, more chewy-gooey cookie. A good rule of thumb is to add two minutes for every 25 degrees lower.
• Always use room temperature butter, and even room temperature eggs (if you remember to set them out in advance). They'll blend better and maximize the amount of air you can whip into the dough, which makes the cookie less dense and more moist.
• Bake on aluminum, or something shiny--dark pans almost always burn the bottom of your cookies.
• I change the sugar ratio (which is usually equal parts white and brown sugar) to one part white, two parts brown--makes it a little richer. Mmmmm.
• I always add whole wheat flour, which gives the cookie some texture and substance, using the ratio one part whole wheat to two parts white (in this recipe, the whole wheat flour is slightly greater than that). Plus, (hello!) healthy!
• Add more chocolate. Duh. To quote my chocolate-worshiping father-in-law, "I want a cookie with just enough dough to hold the chocolate together." Amen.

I was going to take a picture of myself eating a Bex Deluxe cookie, but candid eating photos never look good (I'm one step behind this Facebooking generation that has somehow mastered the art of photographing oneself flatteringly), so this low-light picture will have to suffice. I added the Lego R2-D2 as a point of reference. You're welcome.

Shout out to Shanna M. for this beautiful photo!!!

PS- If you are in the mood for my other favorite CCC, try Mrs Field's recipe.

Peanut Butter Cup Brownies

This dessert is everything a brownie should be: moist, dense, rich, chocolatey . . . then multiply your dessert enjoyment by 10 when you add chunks of Reese's peanut butter cups.

This recipe card was one of the first ones I ever made, and what was I thinking with that font?  

Old card--do not use this one.
Scroll down to bottom for new card.

I found the recipe for Peanut Butter cup brownies in Wondertime magazine about five or six years ago (alas, Wondertime is no more).  They looked so good . . . but the first time I made them, they were far too sweet.  So, I reduced the sugar by half a cup, and eventually by 3/4 cup.  Then I added two more peanut butter cups to the recipe.  And a bit more salt.

Now they are perfect.

I actually only had 8 cups this time, but it's better
with ten.  Or even twelve.  Is there any kitchen
chore more delightful than shucking PB cups?

Cut each cup into fourths.  (A few times I have used a package of
bite-size Reese's instead and the brownies have been delightful)

Use real butter to grease the pan---no substitutions.

This is how it looks before you put it in the oven . . . 

This is how it looks before you put it in YOUR MOUTH

Mmmmmmm . . . brownies.  With Reese's . . . 

Chocolate Truffle Cookies

I am going to add photos of the finished cookies next time I make them. I don't have photos because WE EAT THEM ALL.

This is how they look rolled in cocoa and ready to bake

The original recipe from Mel's Kitchen Cafe says to dip the cookies in powdered sugar, but I think they are much prettier (not to mention more rich and less sugary) when you dust them with powdered sugar instead.  But maybe it's because I love any excuse to use my OXO powdered sugar wand.  It's the most fun kitchen gadget you can own.  

Chocolate Sour Cream Bundt Cake

If the number of bowls you dirty is an indication of how yummy a recipe is, then this one takes the (pun intended) cake!  THREE bowls, all your measuring cups and spoons, rubber spatulas, classic Bundt pan, and beaters will fill your sink . . . but the most moist and delectable chocolate cake you've ever had will fill your mouth.

Worth it, people.

For this chocolate cake (which recipe originally comes from America's Test Kitchen, but was introduced to me by my dear friend, mellifluous Melanie) you don't want to use Dutch-processed cocoa.  Natural cocoa is gonna give the cake a fuller chocolate flavor, and won't compromise the cake rise like Dutch-processed cocoa will.   You can dust it with powdered sugar when it's done, but I think it's perfect as is.

The recipe also came with the best Bundt cake advice ever: instead of greasing your Bundt pan with shortening and then dusting with flour (which doesn't really work and makes your cake look ugly and floury), make a cake release cocoa paste and brush it on the inside of your Bundt pan--it's just equal parts cocoa and melted butter.  I have NEVER had a Bundt cake slide out of the pan so perfectly!

This is the classic and original Bundt Pan design--I think it's perfect
for any cake.  You can get them for a great price on Amazon.

I am proud of myself for getting a photo of the cake before we started devouring it.  It is rich and moist and turns out perfectly every time, as most America's Test Kitchen recipes do.  I think these pictures speak for themselves.

Nutella-and-Marshmallow-Stuffed Brownies

I used The Baked Brownie recipe to make these Nutella-and-Marshmallow-stuffed brownies, because it is the last brownie recipe you'll ever need.  I just spread half the batter in the pan, drizzled Nutella over it, then drizzled Marshmallow Cream (which I purchased for the first time specifically for this recipe), then covered with the remaining half of the brownie batter.

I was expecting them to be "too much."

But, um, hello.  They were amazing.

Presumption Bars

Get ready for the world to beat a path to your door.  This is, of all the recipes on this blog, the one that gets asked for the most.  Unequivocally.

Presumption Bars?  You won't find that name anywhere else, because my husband came up with it.  They were originally called "Passion Bars" by my dear friend Melanie A, but Allen kept changing the name every time he asked me to make them.

"Will you make those persnickety bars?"

"I think we should have precocious bars tonight."

"How about presumption bars for dessert?"  

And it stuck.  But these bars don't presume to be decadent and addicting---they actually are.  This recipe has what my husband refers to as "the five Mormon ingredients": butter, peanut butter, quick oats, sweetened condensed milk, and chocolate chips.  How can you go wrong if these five make up most of the dessert?  My friend Melanie made these for us when we visited her family near Memphis in 2007.  I did not leave without the recipe, and no one I make them for wants to leave without it, either.

Cut butter into oats, flour, sugar, salt, and soda until crumbly.
We've been over this, people: if a recipe calls for cutting butter
into crumblies, then it is a WINNER.

Press crumblies (reserving 1 1/2 cups) into bottom of 9x13 pan
You do not need to grease the pan.

Spread the peanut butter/sweetened condensed milk mixture over
crumbly crust, then scatter chocolate chips over top with reckless
abandon . . . er, as reckless as you can be and still have all the
chocolate chips in the pan.

I have learned to just "pour" the peanut butter layer.  It's so thick that when you try to spread it, you end up spreading the bottom layer, too.  Silicone spatulas are a must.  And they are the best all-purpose tool, anyway.  You can get this amazing five-pack for only $15--it's easily the kitchen gadget I use the most.

Top with reserved butter crumblies.

Bake at 350 till golden brown.  Let cool completely.
It's hard.
But you must.

Ooey and gooey and peanut buttery deliciousness.
Oats = healthy.  Right?

Presumption.  BOOM.

Let them cool a bit before cutting and serving.  They are good warm, but I am the only one in my family who likes them cold--like, almost frozen.  No matter the temperature, it's hard to only eat one.

Enjoy.

Molten Chocolate Cakes

This is not so much a recipe as it is a way of life instructions for assembly.

You don't have to go to Chili's to have one of the best dessert inventions to come from the fat nineties.  You can totally make it at home.



For best results, use Julie's homemade chocolate sauce for the center of the cake, and my mom's amazing homemade caramel sauce to drizzle over the top.  Though I am an advocate for All Things Made From Scratch . . . I totally used store-bought fudge sauce and store-bought caramel to compliment my store-bought ice cream and store-bought Magic Shell (can one even make Magic Shell at home???  It's surely too magical for the hoi polloi).

But making the cake from a mix?  That's going too far.  I used my husband's famous Texas Sheet Cake recipe.

Make the cake batter, then grease and flour some ramekins, or your large muffin tin.  I have got to get a set of 12 ramekins.  Any suggestions?  These ones look cool.  Plus, you can always get good discounts at Kohl's.  But I digress . . .



I made six big "cakes" with this recipe, and twelve small cupcakes for my kids.  Sorry, kids, only grownups got the molten goodness this time . . . be happy with your inferior (albeit, delicious) cupcakes.

On second thought, I wish I would have thought to use a "cake release" recipe (like in Melanie's peerless Chocolate Sour Cream Bundt Cake)", which is just equal parts melted butter and cocoa.  Brush that stuff all over your pan and those babies will come right out without leaving half of themselves behind.

Once the cakes have cooled, turn them over so they look like little volcanoes.  Then scoop out a 1/4 cup-sized hole in the top of the cake, so it looks even more like a little volcano.  Then fill that hole with your (cool or room temp) chocolate sauce, so it looks . . . nothing like an actual volcano, but a lot like something you want to stuff into your face with reckless abandon.

Unfortunately, we ate all the perfectly-shaped cakes.  This was
one that broke apart when I tried to get them out of the pan, so
the back half is missing.  When there's dessert involved, my picture-
taking desire is over-ruled by my chocolate-inhaling desire . . .

Now, you can refrigerate or freeze (up to 2 weeks) your volcanoes until you are ready to serve them.  Or skip straight to the part where you microwave the cake for 30-45 seconds, until the chocolate sauce is melted (but not scorched).

Next, top your little volcano o' molten joy with a big ol' round scoop of vanilla ice cream.  Then be liberal with some chocolate Magic Shell topping (sauce that hardens over ice cream).  Finally, drizzle some warm caramel sauce over THAT . . . and you are ready to enjoy.

Chocolate Cake + Chocolate Fudge + Ice Cream + Magic Chocolate + Caramel = America the Beautiful.