BTW that little red spot is a little heart as I made these for My Sister’s Place for Valentines day.

milk chocolate chip cookies (from February 2009 issue of Food & Wine magazine):

2 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups light brown sugar
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
3 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
16 ounces good quality milk chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  With the paddle attachment of your mixer beat together the butter, sugars, eggs, and vanilla on medium to medium high speed until light and fluffy.  This should take about 5 minutes.  Scrape down the bowl and beat again for another minute or so.

Whisk together the flour, salt and baking soda and chocolate chips and add to the butter mixture.  On the lowest speed, mix until just combined.

Place the batter in the fridge for a 1/2 hour or so to firm up (you can skip this and you will have flatter cookies).  Drop by 2 T (or whatever size you want!) onto a parchment lined cookie sheet.  Bake until a light golden brown.  About 9-12 minutes I think.

other dessert recipes you might like:

• chocolate yogurt muffin cakes
• oatmeal cherry coconutty cookies
• chocolate clouds
• chocolate buttermilk waffles
• chocolate chip (whole wheat) muffins

Oh, and so so so good in vanilla ice cream.  Seriously delicious.

toll house kookie brittle (from my Aunt Suzi):

I doubled this – goes fast!

1 cup butter (2 sticks), softened (not melted)
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla,
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup sugar
2 cups flour
12 oz package of Toll House chocolate chips
3/4 cup finely chopped salted pecans

Combine the butter, vanilla, sugar and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer (or hand held) and blend well with the paddle attachment.  Fully incorporate the sugar into the butter.  I think my aunt may not use a mixer at all…

On the lowest speed or by hand (and I mean with your actual hand) add the flour and chocolate chips.

Press batter onto a parchment lined sheet pan and press so that the dough is about a half inch thick.  Alternately, Press evenly into a 15×10x1 inch baking pan.

Sprinkle the pecans over the dough and press them in so they stick.  If your pecans are unsalted, sprinkle a little sea salt on top of the pecans.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until nicely golden

Cool and cut into pieces.  Enjoy!

other dessert recipes you might like:

• (my favorite) brownie sundae with carmalized bananas
• doughnut topping (for muffins)
• flourless (and butterless) crazy delicious chocolate cookies
• brown sugar cookies (with walnuts and white chocolate)
• summer fruit crumble (with a ton of different fruits!)

Oh and btw, you can make the filling 3 in advance to make life easier on the day you plan to serve it.

salted caramel pie (very slightly adapted from Simplethings Sandwich & Pie Shop in LA written up in the November issue of Food & Wine):

1 1/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
two 14 oz. cans sweetened condensed milk
fleur de sel or Malden sea salt (delicious)
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 1/2  tablespoons confectioners’ sugar

Preaheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix together the graham crumbs, brown sugar, melted butter and salt.  Once all incorporated place and press into an 8-9 inch glass or metal pie pan.  Place in the oven for about 11 minutes until fragrant and lightly golden.  Remove and set aside.

Increase oven temp to 425 degrees.

Place the condensed milk into a 9×13 pyrex pan – or of similar size.  Cover the pan with foil.  Then place that pan into a bigger roasting pan and place in the oven.  Fill the roasting pan (the outside pan) with enough hot water so that it comes about 1/3 up the sides of the condensed milk pan.  I like to do this with the pans in the oven so that I don’t have to carry the pan with water sloshing around.

Now bake the condensed milk for about 2 hours.  During this time, lift the foil and mix with a spatula.  Do this 3-4 times while it cooks.  It should thicken like dolce de leche  and turn nice and golden (versus the whitish color it started out as).  Don’t worry if lumpy – you can smooth out later.  Also – check the water level during this time and add more if necessary (keeping the water 1/3 up the sides of the pan.)

Remove from the oven and let cool.

Scrape caramel into pie crust.  Cover with plastic wrap (spray this with veggie oil spray so that it doesn’t stick to the caramel) and let sit until the filling is chilled and set (about 4 hours).

Whip up heavy cream and sugar (check out whipped cream post for more instruction).  Sprinkle with the fleur de sel/Maldon salt (best!)

And slice and serve…wait for the mmms….

other dessert recipes you might like:

• fudgy puffy chocolate cookies (changed the name so you don’t confuse these with my traditional meringues)
• chocolate/caramel matzoh candy with sea salt
• chocolate clouds
• date nut cookies
• chocolate decadence cake

coconut mounds (from Chewy, Gooey, Crispy Crunchy by Alice Medrich):

makes about 22 cookies

4 large egg whites
3 1/2 cups (5.25 oz.) unsweetened dried coconut flakes (also called coconut chips)
3/4 cup (5.25 oz.) sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
slightly rounded 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

Combine all the ingredients in a stainless steel bowl.  Set the bowl over a sauce pan filled with an inch of barely simmering water (the bowl should be on top of the sauce pan, it should not fit inside the sauce pan.)

Mix the ingredients with a rubber spatula over the heated water until the mixture becomes more opaque and less translucent.  This should take about 5-7 minutes.  The mixture will get hot – which you want, but you don’t want to cook the egg whites.

Set batter aside for 30 minutes to fully absorb the coconut flavor.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Place 2 tablespoons of batter for each cookie onto a parchment lined baking sheet.  Bake for about 5 – 7 minutes (rotating pans).  You want the coconut tips to just start to color.  Reduce the oven temp to 325 and continue to cook for 10-15 minutes (again, rotating your pans) until the cookies are a beautiful cream color with golden brown edges.

If the coconut tips are browning too fast, you can reduce the oven temp to 300.

Let cool on pans, and oh, best to enjoy day one as they are gooey and soft on the inside and crispy on the outside.  Yum.

other dessert recipes you might like:

• coffee ice cream (Philadelphia style)
• crystal almond pound cake w/citrus glaze
• salted caramel pie (don’t miss this one)
• chocolate covered Peeps
• remember the gingerbread pudding cake for this Thanksgiving…

chocolate chip banana cake (from The Gluten Free Almond Flour Cookbook by Elana Amsterdam):

3 cups blanched almond flour
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup grapeseed oil
1/4 cup agave nectar
3 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 cup coarsely chopped dark chocolate (she suggests 73 percent – but again for kids or for sweeter flavor go semi-sweet)
1 cup (2 to 3) very ripe bananas (mashed)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease a 9 inch pan with grape seed oil and dust with almond flour – or use a parchment or foil liner.

In a large bowl, combine the almond flour, baking soda, and salt.

In a medium bowl whisk together the grape seed oil, agave nectar, eggs and vanilla extract.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and gently stir to combine.  Fold in the chocolate and mashed bananas and then pour into prepared pan.

Bake for 33-43 minutes – but check often and try not to over bake as usual!

Let the cake cool in the pan then serve.

Enjoy-

other dessert recipes you might like:

• chocolate clouds
• butta cookies
• chocolate chip crumb cake
• cherry almond cobbler
• lemony lime bars

Same recipe as yesterday…but got my taster here for the true test…

Happy New Year!

other dessert recipes you might like:

Best to buy agave nectar in bulk from the health food store or online.  Amazon makes it easy.  You can find arrowroot powder at the supermarket but also great to buy in bulk at Penzeys.com or Amazon.  Lastly – you can find grapeseed oil at the supermarket.

Enjoy -

power packed pancakes (from The Gluten-Free Almond Flour cookbook by Elana Amsterdam):

I double this recipe as it yields only 12 smallish pancakes

2 large eggs
1/4 cup agave nectar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup water
1 1/2 cup blanched almond flour (almond meal)
1/2 teaspoon kosher or sea salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon (or more or less to taste)
1 tablespoon arrowroot powder
chocolate chips, blueberries or raspberries to taste and as desired
2 tablespoons grapeseed oil (for the pan)

In a bowl, whisk together the almond flour, salt, baking soda, arrowroot powder and cinnamon. Set aside.

In a blender, combine the eggs, agave nectar, vanilla extract and water.  Process on high for about a minute.

Add the dry ingredients to the blender and process again until thoroughly combined.

I like to use two skillets.  Pour a tablespoon of grapeseed oil into each pan and heat at medium low to eventually low.  Ladle 1 heaping tablespoon of  batter onto the skillet (then add a few chips or berries to each if desired) and cook until small bubbles appear.  Then turn over (this can be a little tricky) and gently cook the other side – being careful not to burn.

Repeat with remaining batter and serve

other dessert recipes you might like:

• (gluten-free) chocolate chip peanut butter cookies
• mendiants (chocolate rounds of goodness)
• multigrain waffles
• double fudge frosted brownies
• chocolate brownie cookies

OH, instead of re-writing the recipe for these cookies, I will simply send you the link.  Dede Wilson is one of my favorite bakers and I have 2 of her books.  Her blog looks amazing.  I’ll have to add it to my blogroll if I can remember how!

dede wilson’s thumbprint cookies — – the only change I made to the recipe was to add kosher salt – just 1/4 – 1/2 teaspoon which for me really brings out the flavor of the nuts and is a nice contrast to the sweetness of the jam.

And lastly, Happy New Year!  Thank you for writing to me and encouraging me with this blog.  I hope you are all enjoying your holiday now, be it Christmas or Hanukkah or both (like my lucky kids!)

other dessert recipes you might like:

• apricot raspberry tart (with easy press in crust)
• blueberry cornmeal breakfast treat
• salted caramel pie (don’t miss this one)
• valentine Peeps
• cranberry pecan pumpkin upsidown cake

chocolate banana muffins (from Nick Malgieri’s The Modern Baker):

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2/3 cup dutch processed cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/2 cups mashed bananas (about 3 medium bananas)
1/2 cup sour cream
12 tablespoons butter (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
3 large eggs
chocolate chips (to taste — maybe 3/4 cup to 1 1/2 cups)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Line 2 muffin tins with paper.

In a smallish bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt and chips.  Set aside.

In another bowl, stir together the smashed banana and sour cream.  Set aside.

With the paddle attachment of your mixer, beat the butter until a little lighter and fluffy – about 3 minutes.  Then add the white sugar and beat another 3 minutes or so.  Mix in the brown sugar, then the eggs, one at a time until incorporated.  Scrape down the bowl a few times during this process.

On the lowest speed, add 1/3 of the flour mixture, followed by 1/2 the banana mixture.  Scrape down and follow with the next third of the flour mixture, and last  half of the banana.  Again, scrape, then gently fold in the last third of flour and chocolate chips if desired.

Scoop into tins and bake until the muffins rise and are a bit firm to the touch.  A toothpick should come out with a few moist crumbs.

Remove from oven and 10 minutes later, remove from pan and place on a wire rack to cool.

other dessert recipes you might like:

• sunshine bread
• banana waffles
• pumpkin loaf with whole grains and olive oil
• top 20 crowd pleasers to date
• eggnog snickerdoodles

Other good ideas, gingerbread cookies, apple cake bars, caramel shorties, gingerbread and white choc chunk brownies, banana toffee cake, orange cake, and cranberry apple crisp.  Oh, and of course my last post that is just under this.

There are so many more though…so look through the recipe index and also at the 20 crowd pleasers to date post packed with all time favorites regardless of the season!

Enjoy your holiday!!

other dessert recipes you might like:

• chocolate buttermilk waffles
• (beautiful) blue cornmeal pancakes
• chocolate/caramel matzoh candy with sea salt
• flourless (and butterless) crazy delicious chocolate cookies
• chocolate chip meringue bars