Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Double Chocolate Lovehandles

Have you ever had one of those days (okay, fine, months) when all you want to do is ravenously devour all forms of chocolate? Do you ever have those mornings  when you weigh yourself and swear off all food for the next seven days in order to get back down to your normal weight? Well, my friends, I have those months and mornings all the time. Everyday, in fact.

As you may have noticed by now, I simply adore chocolate... especially brownies. The problem with brownies, though, is that each batch only makes about 16 squares, thereby forcing you to consume a portion of cellulite-in-the-making that may be satisfying to the taste buds, but not to your pants, which barely even button when laying down on your bed, sucking in your stomach, by the way. That's why I was determined to make something that tasted like a brownie, but was only a portion of the size. A smaller portion, to be exact.

The brownie cookie. I won't tell you that I consumed fewer calories than I would have had I made real brownies, but I will tell you that every delicious bite was totally worth it. I basically subsisted off these and salty ghetto noodles during the recent snow storm, but ended giving away two dozen to my gracious neighbors who helped me to dig my car out from behind a five-foot snow bank. True story, my friends. It's a darn good thing I gave them away, too because after consuming over a dozen on my own, I was beginning to wonder if I had ANY self-control. I mean seriously-- what girl eats a dozen cookies when she has the ability to sip on an avocado smoothie before it rots in a non-working fridge? A single girl who doesn't have anyone to look sexy for, that's who.

I didn't take cookies because I forgot. So sorry to have inconvenienced you.

Anyway, let's go on, shall we? These cookies are really delicious, but really rich, so watch out now! I tried these when they were warm (against my better judgement because I'm not a fan of warm cookies), and thought they were icky. Once I let them solidify, though, I decided that they were as tasty as can be and definitely blog-worthy. So what are you waiting for? Make 'em!

One last thing... I should warn you that the dough is effing amazing. I actually reserved a container of raw dough for snacking on later. A wise decision.

Ingredients:
2/3 cup unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups chocolate chips

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 375'.

2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and brown sugar. Incorporate eggs and vanilla.

3. In another bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda.

4. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet. Add chocolate chips. Taste the dough. It's so delicious, right?

5. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets and bake for 10-12 minutes. I say 10-12, but mine definitely took 12 minutes.

6. Allow to cool slightly before moving to cooling racks. I always store my cookies in the fridge to extend their shelf life. It works amazingly well.

Yield: 4 dozen Pin It

Monday, February 4, 2013

Eat Your Hips Off Double Chocolate Clusters

"What the fuck? You're asking me to eat my hips off?" No, I'm asking you to make cookies that are made with ingredients that aren't bad for you. In fact, these are probably a good indulgent "diet snack" for you to stock your cookie jar with. Jeesha kapeesha!

These cookies are awesome! They're soft, smooth (not gritty in the least), and best of all, super flavorful! They're made with whole wheat flour, oats, and a bit o' olive oil. See what I mean? I'm willing to bet these dream clouds contain fewer than 100 calories each. It's a damn good thing, too, because I seriously ate six of them over the weekend. And yet I still managed to step on the scale this morning and see that my weight is only 1.6 pounds from where I'm comfortable, and down 1.8 pounds from the week before. Score!

This is a really easy recipe that should be fool-proof. The biggest problem I had was keeping my fingers out of the bowl and away from my mouth. I wish I could wear this dough as lipstick. That may look weird, though, right? It may not complement my skin tone.

Ingredients:
6 tbsp butter, softened in such a way that... nevermind.
2 tbsp olive oil (of course if don't have olive oil, you can just use more butter)
1 egg
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
3 tbsp cocoa powder
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/4 cup oats (I always use old fashioned)
1/2 cup-ish chocolate chips

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 350'.

2. In a large bowl, combine all of your wet ingredients.

3. In a small bowl, combine all dry ingredients, less chocolate chips.

4. Slowly incorporate dry ingredients into wet. Use a hand mixer and grind the oats ever so slightly. You don't have to do it this way, but that's how I did mine, and they were fabulous! And I mean f-a-b-o-l-o-u-s. BTW, I love this song. I know, it's a shocker considering my main musical squeeze tends to be David Crowder. But I digress.

5. Stir in chocolate chips.

6. Drop rounded teaspoonfuls of dough onto ungreased cookie sheet.

7. Bake for 8-10 minutes. You won't be able to tell when these are browned, so just use your best judgement. Allow to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before moving to cooling racks.


Pin It