Tag Archives: dark chocolate

Feb 3

Dark Chocolate Cookies With White Chocolate Chips

Is it ever going to stop snowing around here? Yesterday was so nice I decided to take my son out for a walk…and today it’s snowing again. It’s snowing a lot. And I’m tired of it. Thank goodness I have cookies. Cookies make everything better.

These cookies are really easy to make, and I like the contrast of the white chocolate chips with the dark chocolate base. I especially like dipping these babies in hot chocolate while watching the snow fall from the comfort of my living room.

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Dark Chocolate Cookies With White Chocolate Chips

Ingredients:

1 cup butter, softened (but not melted)
2 cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups AP flour
3/4 cup dark cocoa (I used Hershey’s Special Dark)
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 and 1/2 cups white chocolate chips

Method:

  1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Very lightly grease a few baking sheets and set aside.
  2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth.
  3. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla.
  4. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. Pour the dry ingredients into the wet and mix until well-combined.
  5. Stir in the white chocolate chips.
  6. Drop the dough by rounded spoonfuls onto your cookie sheets.
  7. Bake for 9-11 minutes, or until the outsides of the cookies get crisp (the centers may still be somewhat soft but they will firm up during the cooling process).
  8. Remove the cookie sheets from the oven and let the cookies rest on the sheets for two minutes; then transfer the cookies to a rack to cool completely.
Dec 19

Chocolate Almond Cranberry Bark

Up until recently, I’d spend much of the holiday season racking my brain trying to come up with great presents for my family members, friends, co-workers, and so forth. But a couple of years ago, I had the idea to forego store-bought gifts in favor of homemade candy.

Now I will say that from a time-related perspective, this move didn’t do me many favors. Making batch after batch of candy and confections is a time-consuming process, and then once the stuff is made you still have to package it up all nice and pretty. But from a crowd-pleasing perspective, homemade candy for the holidays is one of the best ideas I’ve ever had. And although candy-making does take some time, most of the recipes I use are super easy. And as an added bonus, you get to keep some of the candy for yourself, or at least taste little bits and pieces along the way.

cranbark

Chocolate Almond Cranberry Bark

Ingredients:

2 cups dark chocolate morsels or melting discs
2/3 cup slivered almonds, plus another 1/4 cup for topping
2/3 cup dried cranberries, plus another 1/4 cup for topping

Method:

  1. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
  2. Melt the dark chocolate using either a double boiler or your microwave at 50% power for 30-second increments. Pay attention to your chocolate and remove it from the heat once it’s mostly melted. Leave it too long, and your chocolate will seize.
  3. Once melted, mix in 2/3 cup almonds and 2/3 cup dried cranberries.
  4. Pour the chocolate mixture onto the prepared baking sheet, using the back of a spoon or a spatula to spread it evenly.
  5. Quickly sprinkle the remaining almonds and dried cranberries on top.
  6. Place the baking sheet in the fridge and leave for at least one hour to set. Use your hands to break up the set mixture into fun, festive pieces of bark.
Mar 8

Chewy Dark Chocolate Cookie Bars With Peanut Butter Chips

There’s just something about the marriage of chocolate and peanut butter that works wonders for my taste buds. I’ve made countless desserts featuring this classic combination, and I have to say, these bar cookies are definitely among my favorite.

First of all, they’re just so incredibly easy to prepare, and you get a lot of bars for not a lot of work. Second, they’re chewy and flavorful without being overwhelmingly sweet or rich. The original recipe calls for regular unsweetened cocoa, but I’ve been on a dark chocolate kick, so I decided to use mostly dark cocoa for my batch.

If you have about 15 spare minutes tonight (which, trust me, I know some of you don’t), go ahead and make these. Then pour yourself a tall glass of cold milk and enjoy each wonderful bite.

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Chewy Dark Chocolate Cookie Bars With Peanut Butter Chips
Recipe from Hershey’s

Ingredients:
2 and 1/2 sticks butter, softened
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups AP flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa (I used about 1/3 cup regular and Hershey’s Special Dark for the rest)
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 and 2/3 cups peanut butter chips

Method:
1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9 x 13 baking pan.
2. Beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
3. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well.
4. Stir together your flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt; gradually blend into butter mixture.
5. Stir in peanut butter chips.
6. Spread the batter into the prepared pan (it will be somewhat stiff).
7. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
8. Cool the bars completely in their pan on a wire rack before cutting into them.

Feb 8

Blizzard Brownies

Living in the Northeast means you have to expect snowstorms at least once in awhile. Today is apparently one of those days. They’re calling the impending storm a weather event of epic proportions,  or something ridiculously dramatic along those lines. I mean, I get it: You want people to be prepared. And that’s fine. But I just find it a touch annoying that every storm that rolls around these days is hailed as the biggest, baddest version  of anything we’ve ever known.

Now, having gotten that rant out of the way, I will say that it looks like we’ll be stuck at home for the next day or so. And based on previous experiences, we can’t really rule out the possibility of a power outage. See, most people’s power companies are equipped to handle weather-related outages. Mine isn’t. So generally, when the power goes out, it stays out for awhile. And while we did invest in a generator, we can only use it to power so many appliances at a time—which means if we do wind up with an outage, my ability to bake will be seriously hampered. And since I obviously can’t risk being cooped up for the weekend without an ample supply of sweets on hand, I decided to take a few minutes to whip up a batch of brownie goodness.

These brownies are, simply put, super yummy. They’re definitely dense and intense, but they’re not quite as sweet as your average brownie. I like how the coffee flavor really comes out and complements the rich dark chocolate without being too overpowering. And these are definitely the kind of brownies that would go well with a nice scoop of vanilla or coffee ice cream. So if you’re expecting to be stuck indoors this weekend, take 15 minutes out of your evening (yes, that’s really all you need to throw these together, including cleanup) and bake yourself some brownies. Then go grab a blanket, queue up your favorite movie, and enjoy some delightfully delicious downtime. You can worry about clearing out your driveway tomorrow.

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Blizzard Brownies (or, for some context, Intense Dark Chocolate Brownies)

Ingredients:
1 cup AP flour
2/3 cup unsweetened dark cocoa powder (I used Hershey’s Special Dark)
1 and ½ cups granulated sugar
½ cup confectioners sugar,plus more for dusting
1 tablespoon instant coffee
¾ teaspoon salt
3 large eggs
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 tablespoon water
1 tablespoon milk (I used skim)
½ cup dark chocolate chips (again, I used Hershey’s Special Dark)
½ cup semisweet chocolate chips

Method:
1.    Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8×8 baking pan and set aside.
2.    In a large bowl, mix the flour, cocoa powder, sugars, instant coffee, and salt.
3.    Add in the eggs one at a time, and mix well (I recommend using a spoon instead of a whisk—the batter will be quite thick at this point, and it may be easier to work with a spoon).
4.    Add in the oil, water, and milk, and mix well.
5.    Stir in the chocolate chips.
6.    Pour the mixture into your prepared pan and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Wait about 20 minutes and then dust with confectioners sugar.
7.    Let the brownies cool completely before cutting into them. Or, if you’re me, reject the notion of self-control and grab yourself a warm, gooey bite shortly after they come out of the oven. Either way works, I suppose.