White Chip Chocolate Cookies

   No lie, you can make these cookies with a baby on your hip.

{See Jim, this is why I need a stand mixer, then I would be able to make you more desserts!}

   They are that easy! Usually, super easy recipes don't really taste all that great. And recipes off the back of product packages aren't that great either...but I'm telling you these are the exception!!!
   It's like eating a brownie cookie with little morsels of ooey goodness!!!!
   I'm headed to the Annual Troxler Cookie Swap in just a few hours and I'm taking a few dozen of these little treats.
   If you try them, you won't be able to stop at just one. Take that from a girl that is surprisingly not a big fan of cookies...I just have a husband who is!
All you need is this:
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Baking Cocoa
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 cups (12-oz. pkg.) NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Premier White Morsels

   Preheat oven to 350. Set out your 2 sticks of butter and 2 large eggs and bring to room temperature. {use butter, not margarine, for cookies. The oil in the margarine can make the cookies too soggy.}

In a separate bowl, combine flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt.

{I like to sift my dry ingredients together. My husband doesn't see why I would need a sifter, so I use my small metal strainer.}

By sifting it, it should turn out looking a little like this when you are done.

Cream together butter and granulated sugar.

Add in your brown sugar.

Add a teaspoon of vanilla extract.

Blend in eggs, one at a time.

Then gradually pour in your dry mixture.

The batter will be thick.

Use a sturdy spoon to stir in the White Chocolate Chip Morsels! 

{White Chocolate chips make anything better!}

Now, if you don't have these next two items, a small ice cream scoop and a silicon baking pad, you should seriously ask Santa for one this year! They are a baker's best friend! 

This scoop, that I found second-hand, makes the perfect sized scoops for cookies. 

Place scoops of cookie dough about an inch and half apart on baking pan.

Bake in preheated oven for 9-11 minutes.

This recipe yields about 60 cookies! I've got plenty for the cookie swap and a few left over for some hungry little boys and a very hungry daddy!

Cool on pan for 2 minutes then move to wire racks to cool completely! 

I even think a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream and a drizzle of chocolate syrup would take this "cookie" to a whole new level!!!

They will love this Meatloaf, I promise

   The Crown Restaurant in Indianola, Mississippi, put a new spin on meatloaf. They plopped the big ole glob of meat down into a pastry and baked it in a cocoon.  When I tried the new style about a year ago, little did I know the hit it would be in my house!
   When Taylor, the eldest son who says he doesn't like meat, saw me place the meatloaf into a pie crust and put it in the oven. He asked if it was cake...Why, yes son, it is...It is meatloaf cake!
   Tell any child that anything is cake, if they don't know much of a difference, they'll eat that stuff like it's nobody's business! Sorry, no money back guarantees.
   To make this scrumptious concoction, all you need is a meatloaf mix,  2 lbs. of  your meat of choice (mine is ground turkey), and a pie crust.
   To mimic the Crown's and Taste of Gourmet recipe, I swap out the bread crumbs for Whole Grain Oats!!! Try it, I dare you. You will comment with many thanks!
(If you want to order the Taste of Gourmet mix for yourself, here's a link to my friend Laurie, who can help you out with that! Click here)

If I have one on hand, I use one of those rolled pie crusts. I just roll it out thinner. Place it in your loaf pan, leaving the extra hanging over the edges.

Place your meat mixture inside the pie crust.

Wrap remaining pie crust over the top, sealing any open areas.

Bake according to the directions on your meatloaf recipe.

And be prepared to be amazed! 

Without a doubt, this meatloaf delivers a yummy, delicious, scrumptious...all of the above...dish! I usually pair it with a veggie topped with shredded cheese.

So now, when I tell my chillins' that we are having meatloaf cake for supper, they actually cheer. Even though, Taylor still asks for his meatloaf cake, without the meat! 

Bon Apetit!

  

Worst Dessert Ever!

     I don't let Jim in my kitchen very often, and when I do, it's only as my sidekick. When he married me 5 years ago it was okay to have a dessert every night. I hadn't yet birthed three kids and had a job that kept me on my feet 8 hours a day.
     Now, well you know the story, my sweet husband requires a dessert every night. If I don't have something made he will scrounge through the pantry and fridge to see if we have the ingredients for whatever he is in the mood for.
     I got smart a long time ago and started making him desserts that I didn't like just so it wouldn't be so hard to say no. But, there are only so many desserts that I am not going to like!!! Then I thought I was being clever when I just stopped making them, but that just opened the door for him to get into my kitchen and drive me batty. Yep, if I don't have a dessert, the crazy man gets in there and starts messing up my kitchen! It's not that he's not a good cook or anything, because he is,  it's just that I'm afraid he might use the wrong side of the knife and put it back in the wrong place. And he really doesn't know the difference between Self-Rising and All-Purpose and I'd rather not explain the two! Just kidding. I'm just a control freak.
     Then one night, I had the best-most-worst dessert ever at a friend's house. She put a scoop of cookie dough in the bottom of an oven-safe bowl, baked it, and then served the cookie, in the bowl with a scoop of ice cream and chocolate syrup on top!!!!!
     You guessed it! I came home, made it for Jim and HE LOVED IT.  Big surprise, I loved it too!
It's sooo awful, but so easy. And the best part is...it requires no messing up of my kitchen! I love it even more!

This has become my "go-to" dessert when I am not in the mood to make something or feel like thinking much that week. I make sure I always have the two key ingredients on hand: Ice Cream & Ready Bake cookies, like these:

{If you are like me and don't want to be tempted with this dessert, you can do what I do and buy a type of cookie dough that you don't like!}

The Tupelo Middle School Cheerleaders just came around selling those big tubs of cookie dough that you can keep in your fridge...Those are perfect for this dessert!

Next, you will want a bowl like this. These are our everyday bowls that we use for everything.

But make sure it says this on the bottom::::::

Oven Safe 

 Then you put a scoop, or 1-3 of those pre-cut cookies in the middle of the bowl. {I use 1, Jim uses 3!}

These cookie scoops in this pic are actually scoops of homemade cookie dough. I was making a batch and had enough left for 2 bowls of dessert.  

Bake on 350 or whatever your cookie package recommends, for about 14 minutes. Top with a scoop, or two of your favorite ice cream and chocolate or caramel syrup and nuts...oh and the list just goes on! And that's it!!! You serve it in the bowls you make it in! See why I don't mind if Jim makes this one himself!

I suggest letting it cool for a few minutes after taking it out of the oven just so you can hold your bowl and ooh and ahhhh and let out a few mmmmmmmmmm's as you try to practice some self control and not lick the entire thing clean!!!!

I was out of chocolate syrup when I took these pics. Thank goodness!!!

You can thank me later for this one!

A Pound of Cake

     We leave for the beach in the Outer Banks in T-Minus 17 days and I still have 11 pounds of baby weight hanging out with me. I'm just like the next girl and I stress about my weight and jean size just like the next girl. I don't know what I was thinking when I agreed to the beach vacation being planned so close to having a baby! {I really did miscalculate the timing...I even bought CA the cutest yellow-polka dotted bathing suit that is going to be way too big for her}
     So, ever since I got the go ahead from my doc, I've been attempting to exercise. haha! Mostly I've been walking at least 2+ miles most everyday, sometimes pushing 70 pounds of pure preciousness. I think I've done about a gazillion lunges. I gained about 22 pounds while I was pregnant, you can do the math...
     So with D-day quickly approaching. (That's the day I have to actually get the bathing suit out and try it on, just to make sure I can squeeze it all in, I wonder if they make any suits out of Spanx?). I've incorporated the help of my sweet neighbor, Virginia, and my very ripped and focused husband to help me.
     However, neither of these people are being very much help! I'll elaborate...
     Virginia's great, she and I have been walking together all week, but she enjoys my love for Creative Cake Cupcakes just like me!!! Enough said!
     And Jim....OH MY WORD!!!!  He tried to teach me how to do a pull-up. But I think that bar in the closet is much better used as an extension to my clothes rack! I can't even do half a pull-up! I do good just to hold on! He told me if I would do those I would get ripped! RIGHT!!!! I'm sure he is right, but seriously. Tonight I asked him if he would help me work on my abs. He mentioned the number 500....500 what hun? Okay, we'll just do half.
     Then the nerve, oh the nerve....we got up off the floor and my sweet husband asks...Hey, we got the stuff to make that pound cake? Jim burns like 8,000 calories a day with all his running and all the other stuff he does. Eating a piece or two of pound cake right before he goes to bed can only help him! Me on the other hand, not only have no self control, I have no full factor since I've been nursing CA...I am always hungry! And the SUPERWIFE that I am, of course, I'm going to make him whatever he wants....because if I don't, he'll get my cookbook out and attempt to make it himself.
     He was hilarious! He smelled it when it was done baking. You should have seen his face when he saw it sitting on the counter. He made a beeline straight for it. That smile left real quick when I told him he had to wait 10 minutes. You would've thought he had gotten a bad time in a race. He was like a little kid. He walked around and around the kitchen island waiting for the thing to cool! He got the strawberries out and cut them up. Started to defrost the cool whip. He swung his arms back and forth. Like a kid at Christmas waiting for the grown-ups to stop talking and get on with the ripping open of gifts!
     The Pound Cake was surprisingly easy to make. All you have to have is:

1 1/2 cup     All-Purpose Flour

1/4 tsp         Baking Powder

1/8 tsp         Baking Soda

1/2 cup       Sour Cream

1/2 cup        butter

1 cup           sugar

1/2 tsp         vanilla

3                 eggs

Allow the butter, eggs and sour cream to sit at room temperature for 30 minutes.  In a mixing bowl, mix flour, baking powder and baking soda, until well blended. In a separate bowl, blend the butter at medium-high speed for 30 seconds.  Slowly add the sugar. Continue blending until light and fluffy {about 10 minutes}.

Blend in vanilla.

Blend in eggs, 1 at a time, blending mixture for 1 minute after each. Scrape sides of bowl frequently.

Alternately add the flour mixture and sour cream, mixing at medium-low speed, just until combined. 

Pour into a floured loaf pan.

Bake for 60-75 minutes at 325 degrees or until the toothpick comes out clean. 

Let cool for ten minutes, remove from pan, cool.

Yes, I used a paper plate....this was a super simple dessert that needed a super simple plate...and besides...it was 10:00 p.m. by the time Jim got to eat it!!!

 I love you hun!!!!

Good ole Molasses Cookies

     It's Cooking Club time tonight!!! I love the first Friday of every month! As I mentioned before we are going through Cooking Light, The Complete Cookbook: A Fresh New Way to Cook. This month I have to bring a dessert. This cookbook is full of fun dessert recipes, but I'm going to go simple tonight. I am headed to the kitchen right now to start on Molasses Cookies.
     One of the purposes of our Club is to try new things, and to see what something looks and tastes like and what worked and didn't work for certain recipes. I re-make at least one or two things from each month's club. It's sooo much fun!!! This month's choice for cookies is to remind myself to go back to something basic and simple!

    Here we go and I am sooooo glad that I didn't eat these things before I got to Wendy's house... they are just that good! AND....they are actually low fat!!! Yah, check out the recipe to see how these delish cookies can actually be considered a healthy choice!

   First though, I want to show you what you do when your oven is on 375, your hands soaked in cooking oil and all three of your kids wake up from their naps:

Yah, I know...she looks real excited to be there doesn't she!!

Anyway, back to the cookies... {I usually preheat my oven before I do anything, but wait...don't heat it up until you put the dough in the freezer. There will be plenty of time to heat it up then.}

You will need:

1/2 cup       applesauce

1 1/4 cups   sugar, divided

6 Tbs          butter, softened

1/4 cup       dark molasses

1 large        egg

1 cup          all-purpose flour

1 cup          whole wheat pastry flour

2 tsps          baking soda

1 tsp           ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp        salt

1/2 tsp        ground ginger

1/2 tsp        ground gloves

Cooking spray

From the picture that looks like a lot, but really these were super, super easy.

1. Spoon applesauce onto several layers of heavy-duty paper towels, let stand 5 minutes. {I used 3 regular absorbant paper towels on top and bottom} Scrape into a bowl using a rubber spatula.

2.  Combine the applesauce, 1 cup of the sugar and butter; beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended {about 3 minutes}

Add molasses and egg; beat well.

3. Lightly spoon flours into dry measuring cups, level with a knife. Combine flours and baking soda, ground cinnamon, salt, ginger and cloves, stirring well with a whisk.  {I used whole wheat flour, instead of ww pastry flour. If you do so, you can sub with 1 cup whole wheat flour minus 2 Tbs whole wheat flour for the 1 cup wheat pastry flour.} Add flour mixture to sugar mixture, beating until blended.

 

Cover and freeze 30 minutes or until firm.

4. Preheat oven to 375.

5.  With moist hands, shape dough into 32 (1 -inch) {My batch made 48} Roll balls into 1/4 cup of sugar.

Place 3 inches apart on baking sheets coated with cooking spray. {I heart my silpat pad!} That's a silicone baking pad that nothing sticks to!!! It realllly is the best thing since sliced bread!!! I use it for everything. If you don't have one, seriously, get off this computer and go get you one!!!

Bake at 375 for 8 to 10 minutes. {8 minutes makes them good and chewy!}

Cool on pans 5 minutes. Remove from pans; cool completely on wire racks.

Now all you need is a very cold cup of milk and a comfy chair!!!!!