Brownie Cookie Perfected!

It's taken me longer than expected, but I finally got the recipe down. These turned out nice and chewy once completely cooled and are very close to my all-time favorite one that I used to get in high school. They're not exactly alike though as I refuse to use corn syrup in my recipes whenever I can avoid it.

So here's the basic recipe and if you're a corn syrup fan, you can take out 2 tablespoons of the sugar in exchange for 2 tablespoons of light corn syrup to get a moister, chewy brownie cookie.


First whisk together (or use a mixer) the following:

• 2 cups sugar
• 3/4 cup butter (melted) or you could substitute for shortening, but then why bother?
• 2 teaspsoons vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon salt  (optional)
• 1/4 teaspoon instant coffee/espresso (optional)

Put the mixer on slow and add the following:

• 3/4 cup cocoa powder (regular or dark cocoa) - add this 1/4 cup at a time
• 2 eggs - extra large or jumbo size

When the eggs are just blended turn off the mixer and stir in the dry ingredients by hand:

• 1 teaspoon baking soda (if you like "cakier" brownies use baking powder)
• 2 1/3 cups flour

The dough will be thick. You can either spoon them onto a parchment lined cookie sheet (non-stick may work too), or do what I do which is roll them into a ball, much like Snickerdoodles.  For a thinner cookie, use wax paper and the bottom of a glass to flatten them out, otherwise they spread fine and end up about as thick as my Snickerdoodles.

Bake at 350 degrees Farenheit for 8 minutes (undercooked is ok) and leave them on the still hot cookie sheet for at least 4 minutes, then move to a wire rack to cook.  These are at their chewiest after they are completely cooled.

Feel free to add in whatever you wish, chocolate chips do really well in these as do nuts, cinnamon chips, white chocolate, and vanilla chips.

These are a good cookie to involve your kids in too as there is no need for a mixer and kids are always good to have around for rolling cookie dough. Just remember to kick the dog out of the kitchen - the cocoa powder is a major no-no and my dogs kept trying to sneak back in while I made these.  Be kinder than I was and put them outside where they (hopefully) won't be able to smell the heavenly aroma.

Accidental Whoopie Pies

While trying to develop the "perfect" chocolate brownie cookie, I accidentally whipped up my grandmother's old Whoopie Pie/Moon Pie recipe.  It wasn't planned as I haven't had her recipe in my hands since I was a Tween.  I was simply fiddling with a cookie recipe, and accidentally had these come out of the oven.

Maga (my grandmother) made hers with Carob powder, I made these with Cocoa powder, but either way works wonderfully.  My "tasting crew" at my favorite local diner all gave me thumbs up on these, so I figured it's worth posting here.  Pictures will come later.

The key to these is the way they are mixed, so read the instructions before you start pouring stuff into the bowl.

What you'll need for the cookies:

          1 cup butter, softened (nuked in the microwave works too)
          1 cup Cocoa powder (I prefer Nestle or Hershey's_
          1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
          2 eggs
          2 teaspoons vanilla
          2 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
          1 tsp. baking soda
          1/4 tsp. salt  (optional)
          Parchment paper
          Wax paper (just a little piece will do)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

Cream the sugar and butter really well. Turn off the mixer, add in the Cocoa powder and mix on low/medium speed until really well mixed then increase the mixer speed. Add in the eggs and vanilla, mix until "fluffy" or well blended.  Add in the baking soda, flour and salt and mix well BY HAND, until all the flour is incorporated.

Roll into balls and place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper (non-stick may work too).  Place wax paper over the cookies and press flat using the bottom of a glass (if you don't have waxed paper, you can dip the glass in some cocoa powder to keep it from sticking).

Bake for 8 minutes, remove from the cookie sheet after a few minutes and let cool completely.


What you'll need for the icing:

          3 cups powdered sugar
          1/2 cup melted butter
          2 tsps. vanilla
          2-3 tablespoons milk

Place all of the ingredients in the mixing bowl. Start out slow, scrapping the sides until it is all incorporated, it will be thick at first. Add 1 tablespoon of milk, increase the mixer speed and continue mixing, continue adding milk until the icing is of the right consistency (thick but spreadable). When it looks "right" whip it for a few minutes more until it gets fluffy.

Place the icing in a frosting bag or baggie that you will cut the end off of and pipe the frosting onto a cookie bottom and top with another cookie. If the frosting is a bit loose, place the cookies in the freezer or fridge for a few minutes and it will firm up.  I would not suggest spreading the icing on as you would a cake, the cookies are a bit too fragile to hold up to that.

Serve with milk and don't worry about the calories!

Sunshine Lemon in a Muffin

One of my favorite waitresses loves Lemon Poppy Seed muffins. I've made them before but lost the recipe so pulled one together from a more basic recipe with a few tweaks.  This version is very lemon-y thanks to TrueLemon packets. These really pack a punch over lemon extract or lemon juice, although you can use either of those in place of TrueLemon.

Check out TrueLemon at: http://www.truelemonstore.com

(No, I don't get anything from them for posting them here...I doubt they even know I exist).

Anyway, these muffins make up quickly, and are nice and moist. They are good with the glaze included here or with cream cheese frosting.  I'll add pictures at another time, I just wanted to get this posted for a bunch of folks looking for my recipe.

Lemon-Poppy Seed Muffins

1/4 cup butter (really soft or melted in microwave; I melt mine)
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup milk  (do NOT use water, but skim milk will work)
1 egg (Jumbo or Extra Large AA)
3 packets TrueLemon OR 3 tblsp. lemon extract or lemon juice
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tblsp. baking powder
1-3 tblsp. poppy seeds (this depends on your preference, I tend to use 2 but for big fans I'll use 3)

You'll need 2 bowls. Mix the flour, poppy seeds salt, and baking powder in one bowl and put to the side (I use a whisk or fork for mixing the dry ingredients). In the other bowl mix the butter, sugar, and lemon hoice until well mixed. Add the egg until mixed in.  By hand stir in the remaining ingredients by alternating the milk and dry mixture. Be careful to not over mix.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a muffin tin or use paper cups.  Fill cups about 3/4 full and bake for 20-30 minutes. This will depend on your oven, for mini-muffins mine takes 22 minutes, for regular size muffins it takes 25 minutes, for jumbos 30.  This recipe will usually make 24 mini-muffins, 12 regular muffins, or 9 jumbo muffins (depending on your tin sizes).



Lemon glaze:

1/4 + 2 tblsp. powdered sugar  (no powdered sugar on hand, you can use regular)
1/4 c. water + 4 packets TrueLemon OR 1/4 lemon juice

Mix the sugar and lemon until well mixed. Drizzle over the top of the cooled muffins.

I tend to double this glaze when I make the mini muffins as I remove them from the pan and drizzle it over the whole batch at once, which takes more.

No-Sugar Spelt Flour Banana Bread

Cancer tends to REALLY like sugar, and the all-purpose highly-processed wheat flours aren't all that great either. With so many of my friends and family currently fighting the "Big C" vigorously, I came up with this modification last week (or was it the week before). Either way, it was a BIG hit.

My recommendation is to actually make this into muffins. They freeze really well and using the paper cup liners will make it easier to get the baked goodies out of the pans. Otherwise, it's really sticky, so lots of greasing and flouring of the pan will be needed.

Mary's Magic Banana Muffins

Tips: if you're short on mashed bananas add more unsweetened applesauce to make up the difference.
Use the organic version of items wherever you can when prepping this for a Cancer Fighter.



1 1/2 cups UNSWEETENED applesauce
1/2 olive oil OR 1/2 cup butter (melted)
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups mashed ripe bananas (usually about 4)
1/2 cup milk (or buttermilk)
2 tsps vanilla
2 1/2 cups + 2 tbls SPELT flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt optional
1 cup chopped nuts optional - strongly suggest you use Walnuts
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1 tbsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

For loaf pans: grease the entire pan with olive oil or butter and flour heavily - even for non-stick pans. For muffin pans: use paper liners.


In a separate bowl, mix the spelt flour, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon and nuts. Again, this is a recipe where I tend to add the cinnamon and nutmeg until it just "looks right".

In a large bowl whisk or stir the butter/oil and sugar until well mixed. Add in the bananas, milk and vanilla. Stir in the already mixed dry ingredients until it's all moistened and there's no loose flour in the bowl.

Pour or spoon the batter into the pans in even amounts, you'll want each loaf pan or muffin tin about 3/4 full, it will need room for the top to rise.

Bake loaves for 50-60 minutes. Bake muffins for 22-25 minutes. Test with a fork or toothpick until center comes out clean.  Let cool and turn out of loaf pan (basically grab the bottom of the pan and flip it upside down into your other hand) or remove paper cups from muffin pans.

Snickerdoodle Muffins

I've been making these muffins since I was in middle school. It's a modification of a French Puff and has been nicknamed "Satan Muffins" by some of the teens like to hang out at our house. These are easy to make, and don't require a mixer if you have younger kids that would like to make them on their own.

These do not last long! The recipe makes a dozen regular size muffins or 6 jumbo muffins.

Miss Mary's Snickerdoodle (a.k.a. Satan) Muffins

1/3 cup shortening or melted butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 cup flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 cup milk

Pre-heat oven to 350 F
Mix sugar and butter together until well mixed, add egg and mix  in throughly
In another bowl mix together in flour, baking power, salt and nutmeg
Stir in flour alternately with milk
Grease muffin tin (I use Pam Baking spray) - DO NOT USE paper cups
Fill muffin cups 2/3 full (usually one big eating tablespoon full)
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes
Remove from oven, let cool a few minutes then remove from muffin tin

Mix 1/2 cup sugar with 2 tbsps Cinnamon (or mix to your taste) in a container big enough to fit a muffin
Melt 1/4 cup of butter (1 stick) - I nuke this in a bowl big enough to fit a muffin

Roll muffins in melted butter, then roll in cinnamon-sugar mixture
Final step: EAT!

This is what my cinnamon sugar mix looks like:

Homemade Dog Biscuits - Updated!

My dogs love their treats. Even more, they love peanut butter.  I recently tweaked my previous homemade dog biscuit recipe I found on line to make something that my dogs absolutely adore!  Easy to make, the kiddos can easily help out and prep time is pretty minimal.

These last about 3 weeks in a air-tight container in the fridge. With two big dogs, these don't last long. Use cookie cutters or roll into balls and use a fork to cross hatch them as you do regular peanut butter cookies. I typically do some of each so as not to waste any dough.

Peanut Butter Dog Biscuits

1 1/4 cup hot water (tip: use boiling water if possible)
1/3 cup peanut butter - creamy or chunky
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup oatmeal (I use the Old Fashioned Oats)
 
Optional add-ins:
3 Tablespoons brown sugar
Cinnamon  (my female Pyr absolutely adores Cinnamon!)

Preheat over to 350 F.  Bake for 30 - 40 minutes.

Stir the peanut butter into the hot water until it's all melted. Add the optional brown sugar during this step. I typically pour boiling water into my 2 cup Pyrex measuring cup, then add the peanut butter and brown sugar to the cup.

In a larger bowl, lightly mix the oatmeal, wheat flour and cinnamon (if using).  Pour the hot water mixture into the dry mix and stir throughly.  Roll out in between floured wax paper sheets to about 1/4" thick. Use cookie cutouts to make biscuits.  Any leftover dough not big enough - or cooperative enough - can be rolled into small balls and cross-hatched with a fork just like a peanut butter cookie.

Place the cookies on a parchment lined cookie sheet. You can use a pre-greased/oiled cookie sheet but I've found they still stick, so parchment works best for me.  Bake them for 30 minutes if you want slight chewing biscuits, or 40 minutes and leave in the oven to harden overnight if you want really hard biscuits.

Enjoy!

Check Yourself

As the end of October is upon us, I had a stark reminder of the fact that this is Breast Cancer Awareness month.  Please check yourself, every month, and every year if you're off "that age" to get mammograms - this includes you men as well!

Last week I learned that my annual exam came back with unusual results.  I received a call from the testing center to call "ASAP" to discuss my results and then promptly refused to answer the phone when I called back. By the time I finally got them on the phone, I'd had calls from the two doctors I'd had the results sent to telling me to schedule a follow-up exam, but that I shouldn't panic just yet.

Then yesterday, I learned a dear friend has breast cancer on the same side as my abnormal results. In an odd way it's made my waiting for a final diagnosis a bit easier. I have game plans in place for the both of us, one direction if I do have it, another if I don't. Either way, I'll be there to hold her hand, along with my amazing dear hubby. After all, I have the best role models for this.

I haven't noticed anything off, but I'm a dense girl, so more difficult to test. But then, neither did my mom. However, my mom and I have an advantage: her mother. My grandmother had a double mastectomy and was a guinea pig for much of our protocols in use today. She handled it all with style, grace, and fight. My mom also handled hers well, and was fought for what was right for her. As a result, I've done a lot of research and had made all my decisions on treatments plans years ago. I did not want to have to make these decisions while in the throws of the diagnosis.

Either way, I'll have an answer this week.  It is not a death sentence. No matter what the results, I'll fight. In my own way, and on my terms. For myself, my dear, dear friend, and everyone else who may be affected by this.

My only request is this: Check yourself.  Now, and each month. If you don't know how, there are tons of resources online. Start with the Susan G. Komen site at a minimum.