Peanut Life Adventures: chocolate

Showing posts with label chocolate. Show all posts

Monday, November 3, 2014

Loaded Cookie Bars

I hope you all had a great weekend (and fun celebrating Halloween if you do so). Post Halloween there is usually lots of candy and treats lying around, so it's a great time to make these cookies. The base dough stays the same, but you can basically chose your mix-ins, depending on what you have on hand, leftover, or whatever sounds good! Oreos or graham crackers add a perfect crunch, and M&Ms, chocolate chips, or a variety of bit sized candy bars add some sweetness. These cookies really leave it up to you!

These make up in no time at all and are great treat to share, or enjoy on your own with a tall glass of milk. I took them to work with me and they lasted just minutes!

Loaded Cookie Bars

Recipe Adapted from Averi Cooks

Ingredients:

1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted

1 egg

1 cup brown sugar

1 TBSP vanilla

1 cup flour

2 cups/12 chopped Oreos (or grahman crackers, or pretzels, or other cookies)

1/2 cup M&Ms (or other candy/chocolate chips)

Directions:

To begin, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Then prep an 8x8 pan with foil and spay with cooking spray.

Begin making the cookies by melting the butter. Let cool slightly, then add egg. Mix in brown sugar and vanilla and mix until smoother. Next, add the flour and stir until just combined, being careful to not overmix. Then it is time to fold in your add ons. I used Oreos and M&Ms but you can use whatever you want! I mixed in half of my M&Ms and held back the other half.

Place batter into pan and smooth or pat out as best you can (dough will be very very sticky). Then sprinkle remaining M&Ms or candy on top of the batter.

Bake for 20 to 22 minutes. Top should not look doughy and the edges should be just barely browning. If you can, use a toothpick to test the center.

Make sure to let the bars cool in the pan for at least a half hour before slicing. Store in an airtight container.

Enjoy!

Linking up at some of these great parties!

Monday, August 18, 2014

Smore Bars

Ahhh Summertime, how quickly it goes! A few blinks and my short time off from work goes by in an instant. We have had a ton of fun this summer, but it's back to work I go. As you read this, I will be sitting in my in-service meetings. While I enjoy the fresh start and the excitement of a new school year, I'm not sure I'm ready to transition back to the grind of working everyday. I sure do love my summers!

This sweet treat today is a great one to bring back memories of summer - camping, hiking, bonfires, and of course, s'mores! I was lucky enough to be able to go camping three times with my husband this summer (and with both sets of our parents as well, one time each, and one time with my friends). Of course, every time we go camping, we make s'mores!

I have a coworker who has a major sweet tooth, and I love making treats to bring with me when I have to travel to the office every month. For a long time, he has been requesting a Hershey cookie with graham crackers. I hadn't heard of such a thing, but of course, was able to find something on Pinterest! I made these s'more bars to celebrate the end of summer (or if you happen to read this in the middle of winter, it can be a sweet reminder of summer!).

S'more Bars

Recipe Adapted from: I Heart Naptime

Ingredients:

Crust:

1/2 cup melted butter
1 1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs

Dough

2 cups brown sugar
2/3 cup butter
2 eggs
2 1/2 cup flour
2 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup mini marshmallows

Topping

1 Hershey bar - break each little bar into pieces
1 Graham cracker - break into pieces
1/2 cup mini marshmallows

Directions:

Heat the oven to 325 degrees.

Make the crust by combining the melted butter and graham cracker crumbs in a small bowl using a fork. You will need about 8 crackers (full sheets) to create the crust. Once the crust has been made, line a 9x13 pan with foil and press the crust into the pan.

Next cream the butter and sugar together, then add in eggs and vanilla and mix until combined. Add in the baking powder and salt, then mix in the flour. Finally, fold in the chocolate chips.

Once the dough is made, flour your hands and press the dough on top of the crust and flatten it out.

Then add the topping of graham cracker pieces, broken chocolate, and left over mini marshmallows.

Bake for 30-35 minutes. Test middle with a tooth pick. Dough will be soft, but toothpick should come out clean.

Allow bars to cool completely before cutting. Then enjoy with ice cream or a tall glass of milk!

<--- click the magic button for nutrition info and a printer friendly version!

Linking up at some of these great parties!

Monday, March 24, 2014

Chocolate Chip Muffins

I am on a mission to try to get my husband to eat some breakfast. Even if it's not something super healthy, I would feel better if he would eat something for breakfast. He has a physically demanding job, has been known to put off eating if they are running behind. I can't control what happens on his job site, but I can make sure that he at least has something to eat before leaving home so he has some energy! However, he is not a big breakfast person, doesn't like milk or cereal or eggs, so I have to be a bit more creative.

He does have a habit of going to the cookie jar on his way out the door and grabbing a cookie (or three) but I was aiming for something a little more filling. Enter these chocolate chip muffins. While I am sure they are not the healthiest breakfast item out there, they are a good something to have to start your day and the added chocolate chips make them sweet and make my husband willing to eat them. I hope you enjoy them as well!

Chocolate Chip Muffins

Recipe adapted from Creative Savings

Ingredients:

1 egg
1 cup sour cream (8 oz)
5 TBSP butter (melted)
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cup flour
2/3 cup sugar
3/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp baking powder
1 cup chocolate chips (or mini chips)

Directions:

In a bowl, mix the wet ingredients. Stir in dry ingredients until just blended - no not over mix. Finally fold in chocolate chips. Place paper liners in muffin tin and fill 3/4 full with mix. Bake at 350 degrees for 18-20 minutes - test center of larger muffin with a toothpick. Muffins are done when toothpick comes out clean. Let cool.
These also freeze well and can be re-heated in the microwave for 10-15 seconds.

<--- Click here for a printer friendly version and nutritional info

Monday, February 17, 2014

Polka Dot Cookie Bars

Hello! Welcome back to PeanutLifeAdventures. Remember last month when I shared these M&M Cookie bars? If you liked those, you should love today's sweet treat. It came, from all places, from a magazine clipping from my mother-in-law. My mother-in-law is an extremely healthy person. She eats very healthy, balanced meals, and I hardly ever see her take a bite of dessert. When she gave me this recipe, I was pretty surprised, but she knows her son/my husband loves his treats and knows that I like to bake for him. These polka dot cookie bars certainly earned my husband's approval!

Again, I love the easy and simplicity of cookie bars. I like that they just bake in one pan, and no rolling out dough, and a lot less cleanup. Win in my book, especially when I am pressed for time, but still want to have a treat to enjoy for the week.

Polka Dot Cookie Bars

Recipe adapted from Taste of Home

Ingredients:

1 cup butter softened
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups flour
1/3 cup baking cocoa
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups white chocolate chips (divided)

Directions:

In the bowl of a stand mixer (or a regular bowl if you don't have a stand mixer), cream the butter and sugars together until smooth. Add eggs and vanilla extract and beat well. Slowly add in the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. Fold in 1 cup of white chocolate chips. Spread in a well greased 15x10x1 inch pan. Sprinkle the remaining white chips over the top of the batter.

Bake at 375 degrees for 18-23 minutes.

If you don't have a 15x10 pan, you can use a 9x13 pan to make the cookies instead. They will be thicker and will need longer to cook (closer to 30-40 minutes). Test with toothpick near the center, if it comes out clean, then they are ready (be sure to do this step with cookie bars - it's important so you don't have doughy/soggy cookie bars in the middle!)

Let the cookie bars cool in the pan before cutting.

Enjoy!

<-- Click for nutritional info and a printer friendly version

Linking up at some of these great parties!

Monday, August 19, 2013

Secret Ingredient Chocolate Chip Cookies

My husband adores chocolate chip cookies. Like there is serious love going on. They are the cookie he nearly always requests. I usually use a basic recipe, the one on the package, and the cookies come out alright, but I always feel they are a little too thin and come out more "brown" or cooked than I would like them to be. I know that my husband really likes a thick soft cookie, so I did some exploring and came up with this one. It has a secret ingredient :). The same secret ingredient in my cake batter cookies (which are my husband's other current favorite - and I think the reason is because of the secret ingredient).
How do you like your cookies? Thin and on the crisper side or thicker and soft and chewy?

Now, without further ado, lets get to the cookies!

Secret Ingredient Chocolate Chip Recipe:
Recipe adapted from: Six Sisters

Ingredients:
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 (3.4 ounce) package instant vanilla pudding (just the mix, you don't need to make the pudding)
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups chocolate chips (I used mini ones this time!)

Directions: Using a stand mixer, cream together the butter, sugars, and pudding mix. Add in eggs and vanilla and beat well. Slowly add in the flour and baking soda. Fold in the chocolate chips. Using a cookie scoop, scoop cookie dough onto greased baking sheets. Bake for 8-12 minutes at 350 degrees. Enjoy!

In case you didn't figure it out, the secret ingredient is the pudding mix. It is the key to having a really soft and chewy cookie - give it a try!

Side note - this is my 100th post! I can't believe I've written that much already. I hope you are enjoying Peanut Life Adventures! Thanks for taking the time to stop by my corner of the web. Have an amazing day!