Diet Wreckers

So the finale of dinner club the other night was actually some Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip cookies. I am weak when it comes to resisting peanut butter and chocolate together - it is a combination straight from heaven if you ask me. It was a true "diet wrecker" kind of afternoon. I won't mention how much dough was eaten(Oooo was it good!) or hot cookies out of the oven. But hey, I had to test them to make sure they weren't too under cooked right? A good cook always tastes her food. Plus, I can't eat healthy if I can't eat junky too sometimes. That's my kind of eating plan.



So, if you want a good "diet wrecker" type of afternoon, give these a try. They also work well for soothing "it's that time of the month" situations or "Emergency!!! I need chocolate!" moments.

The best part about this peanut butter cookie is that you get to skip all of that rolling in sugar and fork cris-crossy stuff. Just drop 'em and bake.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 C butter, soft
1 C peanut butter, creamy or crunchy
1 C white sugar
1 C brown sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
2 1/2 C flour
1/2 tsp. salt
2 C chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Beat the butter, peanut butter, sugars and eggs together on medium speed until well mixed. Add the dry ingredients. Stir in the chocolate chips. Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto an un-greased cookie sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Cool on cookie sheet for a few minutes before removing to a wire rack.

Citrus Sugar Cookies

If you ever wondered what Summer tasted like as a cookie - these are it! I made a batch yesterday with lemon - although I'm sure they'd be divine with lime or even lemon, lime and orange together! The corn meal is the secret ingredient - it's unusual but very good. So good that even kids and men go crazy for them - at least they did yesterday at MJ's softball game.


Citrus Sugar Cookies

6 Tbsp. soft butter
6 Tbsp. shortening
2 Tbsp. Karo syrup
1/2 tsp. salt
1 C sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. cream of tartar
1 egg
1/4 C corn meal
2 C flour
3 Tbsp. finely grated citrus rind (lemon, lime or orange)

About 3 Tbsp. fresh lime, lemon or orange juice
Powdered sugar

Beat together the butter, shortening, corn syrup, salt, sugar, vanilla, baking soda, and cream of tartar. Beat in the egg and then add the corn meal, flour, and citrus peel. Roll into small balls then roll in coarse surgar crystals. Bake on a lightly greased pan for 8 minutes at 350 degrees until barely brown. Cool on a wire rack. Mix together the citrus juice and some powdered sugar to make a thin glaze. Brush over the tops of the cooled cookies and let dry. Lay in your hammock with a good book and enjoy these little treats.



Notes: I forgot the coarse sugar at the grocery store so I just used regular. It was fine, but they would look even prettier with the coarse sugar. Also, the recipe calls to flatten the dough slightly before baking. I tried a batch like that and they ended up pretty flat and thin so I tried a batch without the flattening and I liked that better.

Salted Peanut Chews

We attended a fabulous BBQ this weekend - the tables were over flowing with some of the most delicious food! It was a temptation to fill my plate with a sampling of salads instead of a juicy burger. Somehow I managed to enjoy every bite of my hamburger AND taste most of the delectible side dishes.

I was asked to bring some goodies - which is probably my favorite thing to create in the kitchen, so I was excited to bring those good 'ol York Peppermint Patty Brownies and something new that I hadn't tried before. Hands down, the York brownies are to die for but the Salted Peanut Chews were outstanding as well. Let's just put it this way, it was very hard to eat only one so I didn't. I love chewy caramel corn VS. the drier, crunchy kind and so these cookies are right up my alley - the top is chewy, gooey goodness! Yum-O.



Salted Peanut Chews

1 (16.5 oz.) roll Pillsbury refrigerated sugar cookie dough
3 C mini marshmallows
2/3 C corn syrup
1/4 C butter or margarine
2 tsp. vanilla
1 (10 oz.) bag peanut butter chips
2 C crisp rice cereal
2 C salted peanuts (cocktail or party peanuts, not roasted salted)

Heat oven to 350 degrees. In an ungreased 9x13 pan, break up the cold cookie dough and with floured fingers, press evenly in the bottom of the pan to form a crust. Bake 15-20 minutes or until lightly golden brown. Immediately sprinkle with the marshmallows and return to the oven for 1-2 more minutes or until the marshmallows just begin to puff. Cool while making the topping.

In a large saucepan, heat the corn syrup, butter, vanilla, and peanut butter chips. Stir constantly just until melted and smooth. Remove from the heat and stir in the cereal and peanuts. Immediately spoon over the marshmallows and spread to cover. Refrigerate until firm, about 45 minutes.

Sensational Peppermint Pattie Brownies

I cut this recipe off the back of a bag of Easter candy. And I knew that I needed to come up with an excuse ASAP to make these. The YW came over to my house on Tuesday night for their activity - perfect!! I whipped up a batch, served them to the YW and then promptly had to get them out of my house because they are evil! I mean . . . oh so good.

Since Tuesday was April Fool's Day I thought I'd add a little something special to my brownies - I was feeling especially sneaky this year. I could never ruin such a beautiful recipe with an overdose of salt or something like that so I just opted for a nice-big-shiny-silver quarter baked right into my minty, chocolately goodness. (Don't worry I washed it a billion times before I stuck it in!)

I carefully cut my brownies and put them on a platter. I forgot which one was the special one as I served them and then it took about 10 minutes for the lucky victim to speak up. I was getting worried since there was only one brownie left on the platter - could that be the special one sitting there untouched?! Oh no. My wonderful friend Megan who is also a YW counselor spotted the shiny culprit in her brownie and started to laugh. She wasn't sure at first if one of my kids had made an addition to my brownies while I wasn't looking and then she realize that she had been tricked! I was hoping that the victim would just take a big bite into the quarter, but this ended up being just as funny. Thanks Megan and sorry! ;) I admit that I played enough tricks that by the end of the day MJH was getting quite suspicious of me. Although my son CMH asked if I would trick him some more tomorrow!

Sensational Peppermint Pattie Brownies
(Beware, these brownies are so far from lo-fat that this recipe should have come straight from Paula Deen or the Pioneer Woman)

24 small (1 1/2-inch) YORK peppermint patties
1 1/2 C butter or margarine, melted
3 C sugar
1 Tb. vanilla extract
5 eggs
2 C flour
1 C cocoa powder
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt

Heat oven to 350 degrees (325 for glass baking dish). Remove the wrappers from the peppermint patties. Grease a 9x13 pan. Stir together the butter, sugar and vanilla in a large bowl. Add the eggs; beat until well blended. Stir in flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt. Reserve 2 cups of batter. Spread remaining batter in prepared pan. Arrange peppermint patties six-by-four, evenly, in a single layer in the pan. Spoon a dollop of batter on each pattie and then spread to cover. Bake for 50-55 minutes or until brownies start to pull away from the pan. Cool completely in the pan on a wire rack. These would even be good baked a day ahead of when you plan to serve them.

No-Bake Chocolate Candy Cupcakes

Can you say To-Die-For?! Honestly, how can you go wrong with melted candy bars and butter? I got this recipe from thedishtoday.blogspot.com. I was thinking that these little bites of heaven might be good made with Snickers too. I dare you to try these!

No-Bake Chocolate Candy Cupcakes

5 (2 oz) Milky Way candy bars
4 Tb. butter
3 1/2 C Rice Krispies cereal
1 C semi-sweet chocolate chips
(1/2 cube white almond bark)

Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper baking cups. Chop 4 of the candy bars coarsely. Slice the remaining candy bar into 12 thin pieces. In a medium saucepan place the chopped candy and the butter over medium heat. Heat and stir until melted and smooth (don't panic if it's not smooth at the beginning). Stir in the cereal. Quickly spoon into baking cups and kind of pat down to get it all sticking together.

The original recipe called for the 1 C choc. chips melted and then mixed with 1 tsp. vanilla. I did this and my chocolate totally seized up on me and harden in an instant. So I tried again and used the 1 choc. chips and melted it with a little white almond bark so it would harden a little better. It worked great - all you need is a little garnish so do this step however you are most familiar with. Top the melted chocolate garnish with a slice of the reserved Milky Way. Chill for 30 minutes to set the chocolate topping. Holy Cow these were great!

Note: I actually only got 11 out of my batch because I filled them a little full - but you could easily get 12.

1 Point Chocolate Chip Cookies

My friend Julie asked me for this recipe and it is a good one - so I thought, why not share it here? Each of these cookies is worth only 1 Weight Watchers Point. They are good - and if you are a dough eater like me - the dough is good too. Enjoy!

2 Tb. butter, softenend
2 Tb. canola oil
1/2 C dark brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1/8 tsp. salt
1 large egg white
3/4 C flour
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 C chocolate chips, regular or mini

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Cream together the butter, oil and brown sugar. Add the vanilla, salt and egg white; mix well. Combine the flour and baking soda together and add to the wet ingredients. Add the chocolate chips. Drop by rounded teaspoons onto a greased baking sheet. Bake 5-6 minutes and then cool on a wire rack. YUM.

Eric McCormack's Amazing Chocolate Almond Biscotti

I got this recipe a while ago and just decided to try it this Christmas. It is really good! My Mom wanted to me to pass it along. And in case you were wondering about why Eric McCormack sounds familiar - he is Will on Will and Grace and gave this recipe to "Semi-Homemade" Sandra Lee.

Chocolate Almond Biscotti

1 box dark fudge cake mix
1 C flour
1/2 C butter, melted
2 eggs
2 tsp. almond extract
3/4 C whole almonds

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Coat a cookie sheet with cooking spray or use a silpat. Combine the cake mix, flour, melted butter, eggs, and almond extract in a large bowl. Beat for 2 minutes or until dough forms. Very roughly chop the almonds and then knead into the dough. Put dough on the cookie sheet and form into a long log, about 3 inches wide. Bake for 35 minutes. Cool for 35 minutes. Using a serrated knife, cut the log crosswise and at a slight angle into 1/2 inch thick slices on a cutting board. Carefully put slices back on the cookie sheet and bake for 15 minutes. Turn heat down to 200 degrees and bake for 40 more minutes or until biscotti are dry. They will harden as they cool. Variation: Can dip the bottom of the biscotti in chocolate.