A Birthday Recipe: Double Chocolate Gooey Butter Cake

Are you a maker or a buyer of birthday cakes?

I’m a maker.  It’s not that I don’t an extra special cake from a local bakery (and there are some truly excellent bakeries around here), but I feel like a homemade birthday cake is much more special.  It’s a gift from the heart.  It says “I took time out of my busy day to make this for you”. 

It also helps when the person whose birthday it is has a favorite cake.  It makes it that much easier.

Today is my mother’s birthday and she has a cake that she just absolutely adores.  I’m making her dinner tonight (shrimp and grits – recipe coming next week!) and serving her favorite cake as dessert. 

This cake is clearly from Paula Deen – two sticks of butter, cream cheese, an entire box of powdered sugar.  But it is also very easy and so very, very delicious.  If you are looking for something different than regular cake with frosting, try this recipe. 

Double Chocolate Gooey Butter Cake – adapted from Paula Deen

Crust:

1 18.25 oz box of chocolate cake mix (I recommend Pillsbury)

1 egg

1 stick of butter, melted

Topping:

8 oz cream cheese, room temperature

2 eggs

3½ tablespoons cocoa powder

16 oz powdered sugar

1 stick of butter, melted

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350°.  Grease a 9x13 cake pan.

In large bowl, combine cake mix, egg, and melted butter.  Mix well until no dry cake mix remains.  Pat the crust into the bottom of the prepared dish and spread out evenly.  Set aside.

Beat cream cheese until smooth (2-4 minutes) with an electric mixer (hand or stand).  Beat in eggs and cocoa powder, scraping down sides as needed to fully combine everything.  Lower the speed of the mixer (very important!!) and slowly beat in the powdered sugar.  With the mixer running, gradually add the melted butter and vanilla.  Stir in nuts by hand, if desired.  Pour topping over the crust and spread evenly.

Bake for 40 to 50 minutes.  The sides should look set, but a toothpick inserted in the center will not come out cleanly.  It’s okay; you want the cake to still be slightly gooey.  Allow to cool on a wire rack before serving.  Best served warm.

 

This post is linked to What's On Your Plate? and Delicious Dishes.

Recipe: Cookie Bars

I hate to admit it, but sometimes cookies are too much trouble.  I don’t mind the mixing up and waiting until they're baked, but the scooping, shaping, and spacing evenly onto cookie sheet is just too much trouble sometimes.  Every once and while, I want an easy cookie.  Which is why cookie bars are the perfect solution.  All the taste of delicious cookies, none of the work.  Perfect solution. 

These cookie bars are even better because they have all the taste of an awesome cookie, the ease of a cookie bar, and the texture of a cake.  Oh yes.  This is one excellent dessert.

Cookie Bars – adapted from How Sweet It Is

6 tablespoons butter, softened

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3 eggs

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup milk (I actually forgot the milk and they still turned out pretty decent, just a little dry)

¾ cup chocolate chips (I like milk, but semi-sweet would be good too)

¾ cup white chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350°.  Spray a 13 x 9 cake pan (or baking dish) with non-stick spray. Layer with parchment paper and spray again.

Cream butter and sugars in the bowl of an electric mixer. Add vanilla, then and add eggs one at a time. In separate bowl, mix flour, baking powder and salt.  Add half of the dry ingredients to the butter mixture, alternating with the milk and ending with the dry ingredients.  Fold in both kinds of chips.   

Pour batter in pan and spread evenly. Bake for 35-45 minutes, or until knife inserted in middle comes out clean.

This post is linked to Tasty Tuesday and Delicious Dishes.

12 Days of Christmas Cookies - Chocolate Chip Cupcakes

Okay, I know I promised to have the 12 Days of Christmas Cookies finished by now, but I was hoping I would get around to making these before I ran out of time.  Of course, I did run out of time and haven’t made them yet, but I wanted to share the recipe with a few days (um hours now) left.  These are a standard holiday recipe in my family.  My grandmother made them for as long as I can remember, and a few years ago, when baking became too much of a hassle for her, she taught me to make them.  I am now the official chocolate chip cupcake baker in the family.

Although these are cupcake-shaped, they do not have a classic cupcake texture.  They are more like chocolate chip cookie bars, baked in the shape of the cupcakes.  It’s also kind of a weird baking process, but follow the directions exactly and you’ll end up with amazing cupcakes.  Don’t be alarmed if your cupcakes sink, because that’s how they are supposed to look.  The little bowl that is created in the middle is the perfect place for a scoop of ice cream!

Chocolate Chip Cupcakes – makes 12

1/2 cup butter, softened
6 tablespoons brown sugar
6 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 egg
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

Filling:

1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1/8 teaspoon salt
6-ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat 375°.  Line a standard 12 cup muffin tin with paper liners.  Grease liners!

Cream together butter and both sugars.  Beat in egg and vanilla.  Stir together flour, baking soda and salt in a small bowl, and then stir into butter mixture.  Spoon batter evenly into prepared pan and bake for 10-12 minutes or until cupcakes are puffed and golden.  (They will not be done finished cooking, so don’t increase the cooking time).

Stir the filling ingredients together in a bowl.  Top partially baked cupcakes evenly with the filling.  The filling will sink down towards the bottom.  Return cupcakes to oven and bake for 14-16 minutes.  These are amazing served warm.

Photo Credit

I hope you have found some new recipes to try this holiday season!  I’ve loved sharing some of my family’s favorite cookies with you.  What was your favorite cookie that you made this year?

12 Days of Christmas Cookies - Decorated Sugar Cookies

Growing up, one of the things I looked forward to most during the holidays was decorating sugar cookies with my mom and my two older twin cousins.  Mom always made it so fun.  She had lots of different toppings like sprinkles, and M&Ms, red hots, and chocolate chips.  She also made icing for us to spread on plain cookies. 

This year I intended to make decorated sugar cookies twice.  Once by myself, so I could finally learn how to pipe, flood, and decorate with royal icing, and again with my cousins’ oldest children.  My twin cousins have 5 children between them and their oldest kids are 5 this year.  My mom and I thought that they would be old enough to enjoy making and decorating cookies.  We had them over on Sunday (naturally I forgot to take good pictures) and I think they had a good time. 

I’ve yet to make and decorate my own cookies and I may or may not get around to it.  But I wanted to share my favorite sugar cookie recipes and the recipe for the icing. 

I never use the same recipe twice when making sugar cookie recipes, so instead of sharing one, great recipe, I’ve listed three recipes that I’ve tried and had great results with.  What recipe do you use for sugar cookies?  Or do you go with a mix or even slice and bake cookies?

Our Best Bites Sugar Cookies use almond extract which I think gives a little extra punch of flavor.

I like that Alton Brown’s recipe uses powdered sugar instead of flour to roll out the dough. 

If you want to slightly fancy and extra delicious, these from Annie’s Eats use both a vanilla bean and lemon zest.

There are tons (and tons) of icing recipes out there, but I use this, which is mostly a royal icing type and can either be piped (and thinned for flooding) or spread with a knife (which is way way way easier and good for kids).  It also gets nice and hard which is good for storage and gift giving. 

Basic Decorative Icing – makes 1½ cups

2 cups powdered sugar

1 egg white

1 tablespoon water

¼ teaspoon cream of tartar

Food coloring, if desired

In a mixing bowl, combine the sugar, egg white, water, and cream of tartar. Beat for 3-5 minutes with an electric mixer.  You really do need at least a hand mixer for this; you’ll be exhausted if you try to do it by hand.  I use my stand mixer fitted with my whisk attachment.  You want the icing to be spreadable and smooth.  It should drip off the whisk (paddle, spoon, whatever) in one smooth line and fold back into the rest of icing fairly quickly.

Divide icing into small bowls and tint with food coloring (or gel colors).  Frost away!  

If you are looking for good icing tutorials, try these from Annie’s Eats and The Pioneer Woman (with help from Bake at 350).

I apologize for not taking pictures, but like I said, I forgot.  Plus, you all know what decorated sugar cookies look like anyway.  :)

12 Days of Christmas Cookies - Amaretto Balls

Okay, I’ll be the first to admit that this recipe isn’t for everyone.  But it’s a personal favorite of my dad’s and my mom always makes them for him.  It’s another one of those traditional holiday recipes that show up year after year at our house.

These keep fairly well and they freeze beautifully, so they would make an excellent gift if you are looking for something last minute.  I would use the little candy papers (like these).  You can also use almonds instead of pecans, if you prefer that flavor.

Amaretto Balls – makes 4-5 dozen

6 oz chocolate chips

½ cup sugar

3 tablespoons light corn syrup

½ cup Amaretto

12 oz box (2½ cups) vanilla wafers, crushed

1 cup finely chopped pecans (or almonds, if you prefer)

Extra sugar for rolling (granulated or powdered, your choice)

Melt the chocolate (in the microwave is fine) and transfer to a mixing bowl.  Add the sugar and corn syrup and stir to combine.  Blend in the Amaretto.  In a separate bowl, mix the crushed wafers and the nuts; stir into the chocolate.  Use your hands to form small balls (about 1 inch in diameter).  Finger licking is not only recommended, but practically required, as your hands will be very gooey.  Roll balls in extra sugar. 

12 Days of Christmas Cookies - Almond-Cherry Rosettes

Like Mostaccioli, these cookies are an Italian holiday standard in my family.  I never actually saw my grandmother make them, we always bought them from a Polish bakery that specialized in Italian cookies (weird, right?) when we visited my dad’s family in upstate New York.  My aunt sends us a big box every year in our Christmas package and they disappear within a couple of days. 

You really need a cookie press to get the authentic shape of these cookies (rosettes), but I don’t have a cookie press, nor do I expect you to have one, so I simply roll the dough into balls, flatten them slightly, and press the cherry in the middle.  They still taste good and that’s all that really matters with us.

Almond-Cherry Rosettes – makes about 2½ dozen

½ cup sugar

½ cup powdered sugar

½ cup flour

⅛ teaspoon salt

1 can (8 ounces) almond paste

2 egg whites

Candied cheery halves or maraschino cherries, halved

Preheat oven to 300°.  Prepare baking sheets.

Sift together both sugars, flour, and salt and set aside.  Break the almond paste up into small pieces using a fork.  Put into a mixing bowl and add egg whites.  Use an electric mixer to beat until smooth (2-4 minutes).  Mix in flour mixture.  If the dough is too sticky, add more flour, 1 tablespoon at a time (you may add as much as an additional ¼ of a cup). 

Roll the dough into small balls, about 1.5 inches wide.  Lightly press the cookies down with your fingers.  Top with a cherry half.  Bake for 20-25 minutes or until light brown.  

Photo Credit

This post is linked to Tasty Tuesday.

12 Days of Christmas Cookies - Brown Butter and Jam Cookies

A few years ago, Food Network’s 12 Days of Cookies highlighted cookies from around the world.  Many of the cookies were familiar to me, but I had never heard of a cookie like this.  I made them the Christmas I found the recipe, and I’ve made them every holiday since.  I don’t make many jam or filled cookies, so I find that these are a nice change from chocolate and super sweet cookies. 

I’ve made some changes to the original recipe, including the shape, which makes the original name of the cookie, Lusikkaleivat or “spoon cookies”, irrelevant.  Here is the original recipe and how make spoon-shaped cookies.

Brown Butter and Jam Cookies – makes about 36 cookies or 18 sandwiches

2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter

2 cups flour

¾ teaspoon baking powder

⅛ teaspoon salt

¾ cup sugar

1 egg yolk

1 tablespoon vanilla

¼ cup jam of your choice (I like raspberry, black raspberry, or blackberry)

Powdered sugar, for dusting

Preheat oven to 325°.  Prepare baking sheets with parchment paper, silicone mats, or greased aluminum foil.

Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat.  Cook for 15-20 minutes, or until lightly browned and it smells slightly nutty.  Swirl the pan during the cooking to keep the butter from burning.  Watch the butter carefully, because butter goes from delicious browned to burnt very quickly.  Remove brown butter from heat and pour into a medium bowl.  Allow to cool for 10-15 minutes.

Wisk egg yolk, sugar, and vanilla into cooled brown butter.  Stir together flour, baking powder, and salt in a separate small bowl.  Gradually whisk dry ingredients into butter mixture.  Stir until dough looks like wet sand. 

Roll a small amount of dough into a ball that is slightly smaller than a gumball.  Arrange cookie balls on prepared pans and flatten lightly with your fingers.  Repeat with remaining dough.  Try to make an equal amount of cookies, as you will sandwich these together. 

Bake cookies until very light brown, 12-15 minutes.  Cool 5 minutes on pan and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. 

When cookies are cool, spread about ½ teaspoon of jam onto one side of half the cookies.  Sandwich together with another cookie.  Dust powdered sugar over tops, if desired.

Photo Credit

12 Days of Christmas Cookies – Peanut Butter Reindeer

Anyone who's known me for any length of time knows that I am not crafty. Sure I cook and bake, and I occasionally get creative in what I put in a dish, but when it comes to making something look good, I fail miserably.

I can barely sew (just hems and repairing rips…I can't sew buttons back on!), I've failed at every scrapbooking project I've ever attempted, my dad had to do all of my drawing for school projects, and even my baking crafty projects only turn out okay. Please don't ask me to decorate your cake or your cookies. I guarantee I will mess them up.

I'm okay with that, though, because pretty much everything I make tastes good enough to make up for its lack of presentation.

(And that will do it for my ego-boosting session of the day. Ahem.)

So when I saw these cookies in the Betty Crocker holiday cookie magazine, I was tempted to ignore them. After all, I'm a big, fat, failure when it comes to cute decorating. But they were just so cute, that I had to try my hand at them.

And all though they don't look quite as cute as the ones in the magazine, they taste really good. And cookies that taste good are all that really matter, right?

This recipe is very easy. It starts with a peanut butter cookie mix and the reindeer are super easy to shape. I think this would be a great recipe to make with kids! If you don't do peanut butter cookies, sugar cookies would be an appropriate substitute (you may need to chill the dough before shaping). You could also use mini M&Ms instead of chocolate chips for the eyes and nose. A red hot would make an excellent Rudolph nose if you wanted to have a red-nose reindeer leading your herd.

Peanut Butter Reindeer – adapted from Betty Crocker

1 package of peanut butter cookie mix, mixed according to the package directions (sugar mix may be substituted)

2 tablespoons sugar

72 chocolate chips

24 pretzel sticks

Preheat oven to 375°. Line baking sheets with parchment or greased aluminum foil.

Roll cookie dough into 24 evenly sized balls (about 1¼ inch) and space evenly on cookie sheets. Dip a glass into a small bowl of sugar and use the glass to lightly press the cookies down. You want them about ½ inch thick. Use your fingers to shape one end of the cookie into a point. (The top will remain round and the middle and bottom will graduate to a point.)

Break 1 pretzel stick into four even pieces. Put two pieces on either side of head to form antlers. Use three chocolate chips (or M&Ms or red hots, your choice) to make the eyes and nose. Repeat with remaining pretzel sticks and chocolate chips.

Bake for 9-11 minutes until the edges are just brown. Cool for 2 minutes on the pan and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. 

Aren't these adorable?!

 This post is linked to Tasty Tuesday.

12 Days of Christmas Cookies – Holiday M&M Cookies

I've shared this recipe before, but I wanted to share it again because these are perfect holiday cookies. They are easy to make, taste great, and can be easily customized.

I made this batch with two different kinds of M&Ms: plain holiday ones and holiday mint. Both are delicious and prove that you can easily use any kind of M&Ms you want. I added 1 cup of M&Ms to the batter and then pressed 2-3 more candies on the top of each cookie. The candies on top with slightly crack, which is a really cool effect.

You could also add nuts, chocolate chips (any flavor), mini M&Ms, or even Reese's Pieces. Any addition would be delicious or great substitutes.

The recipe for my M&M cookies can be found here. If you try them, let me know what you think!
 

Recipe: M&M Party Cookies

This recipe came out of my mother's recipe box.  I consider this box the go-to place for the best desserts from the 70s and 80s.  She probably hasn't cleaned it out in years, so every time I go digging in there, I find something new.  

These cookies are a favorite of mine, not just because the recipe came from some named Cookie.  Cookie's cookies actually taste really good. 

As much as I wanted to, naming this recipe "Cookie's Cookies" would have been a bit much for me.  So I stuck to their original name of "M&M Party Cookies".  The original recipe calls for shortening, but I have a problem putting a cup of shortening in a cookie batter.  So I replaced it with butter.  

Because butter makes everything better.

What does it say about me that I have no problems putting a cup of butter in anything? 

M&M Party Cookies - 2-3 dozen cookies depending on size

2 1/4 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla 

1 cup M&Ms

Preheat oven to 375.  Line cookies sheets with parchment or spray with baking spray.

Sift together flour, soda, and salt in a bowl; set aside.  Cream together butter and both sugars until creamy (about 3 minutes) with an electric mixer.  Beat in eggs until well blended.  Beat in vanilla.  Add flour mixture in three increments (to prevent making a mess), beating until just combined.  Mix in candy with a rubber spatula.  

Drop by rounded tablespoons (or more for bigger cookies) onto prepared baking sheets.  Be careful not to overcrowd as the cookies will spread.  Bake for 9-11 minutes or until edges are brown.  

Cook's Notes: Sometimes I mix about 3/4 cup of candy into the batter and then press 3-4 pieces onto each cookie before they go into the oven.  The candies crack a little and it adds a nice effect.  Chocolate chips, nuts, or reese's pieces make for great additions to this recipe.  

This post is linked to Tasty Tuesday