A Midsummer Night's Pean-ut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie

• Once upon a rainy Friday (which are just so rare in Vancouver) I felt the urge to take full advantage of the, as some would call it, "crappy" weather and bake up a nice batch of cookies. Not content to go for an old staple I raided my Pinterest and came up with these beauties. A twist on a classic oatmeal chocolate chip cookie, already a favourite in my house, the addition of peanut butter could only make them that much more delicious I thought. And I was right. Described by some as "the best cookie they've ever had" the 400 or so cookies this recipe makes (I'm exaggerating but not by much) disappeared quickly, most of which went into my own belly. I will admit I tried to freeze a few for "later" and which turned out to be the next day after a particularly long day. I regret nothing. However, if you haven't quite developed the skill that I have perfected for putting away mass quantities of sweets you may want to half the batch, or you can just give some away. You know where to find me!

  • Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

  
  • 1/2 cup butter
  • 1 1/2 cups peanut butter
  • 1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
  • 1 cup white sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 tablespoon honey
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 4 1/2 cups rolled oats
  • 11.4 ounce bag chocolate chips
  Preheat oven to 325ºF/160ºC
  ✩ Beat together butter and peanut butter in a large mixing bowl until well combined. 
  ✩ Add sugar and brown sugar and mix until smooth. 
  ✩ Beat in eggs and vanilla.
  ✩ Add honey and baking soda then stir in oats and chocolate chips. 
  ✩ Using an ice cream scooper or large spoon, spoon heaps of mixture onto ungreased cookie sheets leaving room for the cookies to spread out while baking. 
  ✩ Bake for 15-17 minutes until golden around edges and just a hint gooey in the centre. 
  ✩ Allow to cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes before transferring to a wire cooling rack. 
  
  
  In my opinion it's better to take them out a little too soon than too late as slightly gooey is better than crispy in my family but they still taste good either way. Whatever floats your boat. 
  
  
  -H
  
  
  from the post on A Dash of Sanity
  
  

  
  

Oreo By Any Other Name

       After moving back to Vancouver (for now) I quickly discovered one thing: I no longer have any friends in Vancouver. If there's one thing I think all people in my mid (okay late) twenties age group can agree on it's that it's hard to meet people when you move to a new (or old) city. Luckily while working in my local salon I stumbled upon Cam, an apprentice and all around wonderful human being who does my hair and listens to my complaints about how terrible my white privileged life is. I am self aware to know that I have no right to complain but it doesn't stop me from doing it.

  He recently celebrated a birthday and to make him feel special and make sure that he doesn't stop liking me I took it upon myself to bake him a birthday cake! I chose an Oreo drip cake because I knew he liked chocolate, as all good people do, and I'd never attempted a drip cake before. I did actually try it myself as it's hard to explain a birthday cake showing up with a piece missing and I had to run off to my other job but he has assured me many times that it was delicious and so it has earned a place in my arsenal of recipes.

OREO Drip Cake

Cake

– 400g Unsalted Butter, softened
– 400g Light Brown Sugar
– 400g Eggs (roughly 8 Medium Eggs)
– 325g Self-Raising Flour
– 75g Cocoa Powder           
 –1tbsp Instant Espresso
– 2tsp Baking Powder
– 4tbsp Whole Milk

Oreo Buttercream

– 300g Unsalted Butter, softened
– 650g Icing Sugar       
– 2tsp Vanilla
– 154g Oreos
– 2-5tbsps Whole Milk

Drip

– 175g Dark Chocolate
– 1-2tbsps Vegetable/Sunflower Oil

For the Cake:  

Preheat your oven to 350ºF/180ºC and line three 8 inch cake pans with parchment paper.

Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy, add in eggs, flour, cocoa powder, espresso, baking powder and mix until just combined. Add enough milk to loosen the batter a little, it should be a similar consistency to brownie batter. Divide between the three pans and spread evenly. Bake for 25-30 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pan for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

For the buttercream: 

Beat the butter until smooth then add the vanilla and then the icing sugar 1/3 at a time. Continue to beat until nice and light and fluffy. 

Crush the Oreos using either a food processor for nice fine crumbs or a good old fashioned Ziploc bag and rolling pin. I chose the latter and got out some aggression on those poor defenceless cookies. 

Add the crushed Oreos to the buttercream and enough milk so the buttercream becomes a nice spreadable consistency. 

Make sure your cakes have cooled completely and then assemble by spreading a layer of buttercream on a layer of cake and then stacking them on top of one another. Use remaining buttercream to ice the top and sides. 

For the Drip:

Melt chocolate over very low heat and then stir in oil. If you want to get fancy with your decorating you can just drip it down the sides and then save some buttercream to make fancy designs on the top. I just dumped it all on the top spread it around so it dripped off the sides and then squished my leftover Oreos around the edges. I think it looked just fine. 

Leave the cake in the fridge to cool and the drip to harden. 

Slice. Eat. Repeat as necessary. 

-Holly

Buttermilk Chocolate Cookies

I made some cupcakes last week to celebrate the last day of school and the last day of our Alexander Technique teacher, the amazing Penny O'Connor. They went over very well but left me with about half a tub of buttermilk in the fridge with absolutely no purpose. Realizing it was about to go off I decided to spend my Friday night in baking cookies with it and watching Inside Amy Schumer. I found a recipe that consisted of mainly things I already had that didn't seem like a lot of work which after a day of dress shopping on the dreaded Oxford Street and a trip to the gym was all I could muster. These are amazingly gooey and chewy and fudgey and chocolatey and all the things a cookie should be and I just ate three.

Enjoy with a cup of "T"!

Buttermilk Chocolate Cookies

Ingredients

2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 C butter

3/4 C cocoa powder

2 C sugar

1 tsp vanilla

2/3 C buttermilk

100g chocolate chips

100g milk chocolate chips

Instructions

• Line baking sheets with parchment paper and preheat your oven to 180º
• Whisk the flour and baking soda together in a small bowl.
• Place the cocoa powder into a large bowl, melt the butter and add it to the cocoa whisking until smooth.
• Add the sugar, vanilla, and buttermilk, and continue to whisk until all ingredients are combined.
• Add in the flour, a little at a time, and mix thoroughly after each addition.
• Add the chocolate chips and stir.
• Form the dough into 1 inch balls and place them onto the baking sheet 2 inches apart. 
• Bake the cookies for 10-15 minutes. 
• Allow to cool on the baking sheet for three minutes, and then transfer the cookies to a wire rack to completely cool. 

Beware The Eggs of March

My favourite thing about Spring is not the warming temperature nor the blossoming daffodils or even the fact that it's my birthday. No, dear reader(s) my favourite thing about Spring is that it means I can make and (over)indulge in one of my favourite seasonal Easter treats: Cadbury Crack. This is not your average annual Easter cookie or cupcake, this is the mother of all Easter treats and it combines pretzels, toffee, chocolate, coconut and mini eggs and it's so delicious you will eat it until you feel sick and then keep going. It's the mini eggs that make it Easter otherwise you could eat it all year round but then I'd probably have diabetes and weight about a thousand pounds.

Cadbury Crack

1 bag salted pretzels (if you can find the stick ones their easier to lay flat)
1 1/4 cup salted butter
1 1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
250 g baking chocolate
1/2 cup shredded coconut
1 family sized bag of mini eggs (300g)

-Preheat oven to 200ºC.
-Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and evenly spread the pretzels across the pan.
-In a medium sized pot melt the butter and sugar and bring to a boil. Let boil for 2-3 minutes until thickened. Add the vanilla and stir.
-Pour the mixture evenly over the pretzels and bake for approximately 6 minutes. Meanwhile, melt the chocolate.
-Remove the toffee and pretzels from the oven and allow to cool until no longer bubbling. Then pour the chocolate over the top. Sprinkle with coconut and crushed mini eggs and refrigerate for at least one hour before breaking into small pieces and binging.

Don't eat in bed if you're not willing to wash chocolate out of your sheets!

Hoppy Easter!

  -Holly

Based off of a recipe by HoneyBear lane available here

Toffee Mocha Torte, How Obscenely Decadent

Hello Dear Readers! ie. Mum (and Matt?)

    The past few months have been busy with school and moving and I've had next to no time to bake. Luckily, I'm home in Vancouver for a few weeks for the Christmas break so not only do I have spare time to pursue hobbies (such a strange feeling) but I also have all kinds of lovely tools to use!

    I've been invited to a friend's birthday celebration tonight as my one social engagement whilst I'm here and I offered to bring dessert so I'd have an excuse to use my beloved KitchenAid. Bonus, I picked a recipe also requiring coffee so I got to use my espresso machine too, it's so nice being with my loved ones. I'm making a cake I first made a few years ago for Thanksgiving, but that was pre blog so now I have the opportunity to share this delicious and incredibly simple cake with you!

It's about -4ºC outside right now so it's a perfect day to crank Adele, reflect on any deep unrequited love (childhood sweetheart, ex-lover, boss, those shoes you had to leave behind in Selfridges) and allow the warmth of the oven to thaw your cold, dead heart. No, just me?

Toffee Mocha Torte

(serves: a lot)

1 cup butter, softened

2 cups sugar

2 eggs

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

2 2/3 cups flour

3/4 cocoa powder

2 teaspoons baking soda

1/4 teaspoons salt

1 cup buttermilk

1 cup coffee

1 tbsp strong coffee (or 1 tbsp hot water and 1/2 tsp instant coffee)

2 cups heavy whipping cream

3 tbsp light brown sugar

250 g toffee pieces (in Canada I use Skor bits, I'm hunting for an alternative in the UK)

1. Cream butter and sugar until "fluffy"(when does it ever look fluffy?) Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each one. Beat in vanilla.Then, combine the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt and add it to the creamed mixture a little at a time alternating with buttermilk or else it will explode everywhere and you'll curse loudly. Beat well after each addition. Stir coffee into batter. 

2. Pour into three greased and floured 22 cm (9 inch) round baking pans. Bake at 180ºC (350ºF) for 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Mine took closer to 30 minutes but I think I used smaller pans and therefore they were thicker. You can see how precise I am about these things.

3. For the whipped cream topping, pour coffee into a large bowl; cool. Add the cream and brown sugar. Beat until stiff peaks form. Place whichever cake you decide should be the bottom layer on a serving plate; top with approximately 1/3 of topping and sprinkle liberally with toffee bits. Repeat until cake is fully formed. Store in the refrigerator. 

4. Transport to venue, put in candles, light, serve to handsome birthday boy and hopefully dazzle with your baking talents.

Happy Baking!

-Holly

No Pudge Fudge

I'm having to eat my words these days, but I'm actually alright with it as they taste like fudge! I've never bought into this whole gluten, dairy, sugar, fat, free dessert thing, banana oatmeal cookies just aren't as good as oatmeal chocolate chip. If you were going to eat the calories you might as well just have the chocolate chip cookie because at least you'll enjoy it more! But when Lauren was faced with balancing an elimination diet with her sweet tooth I figured the universe had sent me to live in her house for three weeks to solve this conundrum. Really, I lucked out because this was the first recipe I tried so it wasn't like I had thirty different awful cardboard brownies in the garbage before I found a winner but I guess I picked a pretty safe bet with coconut and chocolate.


If you like coconut and chocolate then you will love this fudge, period. Doesn't matter if you're trying to be healthy or not the bottom line is it's really, really good

COCONUT OIL CHOCOLATE FUDGE

1/2 c. coconut oil, melted
2 1/2 tbsp coconut or almond milk
2 1/2 tbsp cocoa powder
2 tbsp agave nectar
1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Melt the coconut oil over low heat.
2. Combine all ingredients and stir until smooth.
3. Pour into either a parchment line 4x4 (small) dish or an ice cube tray.
4. Put in freezer until solid.
5. Keep refrigerated or frozen.

Obviously the whole "No pudge" thing isn't really true but hey if it's delicious and healthier than the alternatives what's not to enjoy!?

Happy (healthy) indulging!

-Holly

Coconut Crunch Cookies

      Cookie week is drawing to a close. It's a short week, let's just pretend that tomorrow is a holiday because Papa Bear has about 11 bags of cookies in the freezer and believe it or not, I'm tired of baking. Really I'm more tired of doing the dishes after baking so it looks like this may be it for me and the KitchenAid mixer until Christmas and I will miss him. But I leave Vancouver on a (sugar)high note with these amazing Coconut Crunch Cookies. The cookies themselves aren't crunchy, they're nice and moist and cakey, the crunch comes from the almonds and the coconut. In a limited study of my family and the people I worked with when I made them last they were rated very highly. 

Coconut Crunch Cookies

make a lot (3 dozen maybe?)

1 c butter, softened

3/4 c sugar

3/4 c packed brown sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp almond extract

2 c flour

1 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp salt

2 c flaked coconut

1 package milk chocolate chips

1-1/2 c chopped toasted almonds

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

Beat in eggs and extracts.

In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. Gradually add to butter and mix until combined. 

Stir in coconut, chocolate chips and almonds.

Drop in 1-1/2 inch scoops onto ungreased cookie sheets and bake for 12-15 minutes at 350ºF (180ºC) until lightly browned.

Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Share with people who you want to like you. 

Until London, Happy eating!

-Holly

Chocolate Truffle Cookies

       I write this to you on a rainy, dark Vancouver evening sitting in my jammies in front of the fire which anyone who knows me knows is just how I like it. What goes well with dark, rainy evenings? Well, a lot of things, but fudgy, moist oh so chocolatey cookies for one! So for day 3 of cookie week I introduce to you....the Chocolate Truffle Cookie. It's normally what I would consider a "seasonal cookie" but maybe that's just because I first made them for Christmas two years ago but there's no rule in my book, written or unwritten, that says you can't enjoy these babies year round.    

Like the name implies they're basically the cookie form of the inside of a chocolate truffle. Dark, with a rich chocolate flavour that quite literally melts in your mouth. Whatever you do, don't eat the dough or else they won't make it to the oven, but then you can reward your self restraint by licking the bowl and spoon until all you can taste is porcelain.

Chocolate Truffle Cookies
Makes 24 (less, if you start on the dough, I got 20 out of my last batch)

4 oz unsweetened chocolate
2 c semi-sweet chocolate chips, divided
1/3 c butter
1 c sugar
3 eggs
1-1/2 tsp vanilla 
1-1/2 c flour
2 tbsp cocoa powder
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
icing sugar for dusting

In the microwave (carefully!) or in a heatproof bowl over boiling water, melt the unsweetened chocolate, butter and 1 c of chocolate chips.
Let stand to cool for 10 minutes. 
Meanwhile beat the egg and sugar, add the cooled chocolate mixture and vanilla.
In a separate bowl combine flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt.
Gradually beat the flour mix into the chocolate until just combined.
Stir in remaining chocolate chips.
Cover and refrigerate for about 3 hours or until firm enough to easily shape into balls. 
Scoop out enough dough to make 1-1/2 inch balls. Place each ball 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.
Lick off all the gooey dough that is stuck to your hands, spoon, bowl, kitchen counter wherever. 
Bake at 350ºF (180ºC) for 10-12 minutes until the tops begin to crack. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Dust with icing sugar.

If you don't want the gooeyness all over your hands you can flour them ahead of time to prevent sticking, but I mean really, why bother?

Happy licking!
-Holly

Double Chocolate Cookies From Heaven

Just found the most fudgey, moist, chocolatey delicious cookie I've ever tasted. It's almost like a gooey brownie and a chocolate chip cookie gave birth to the most perfect child since Harper Beckham. (Those pictures from Fashion Week? Could she be any cuter?) One of these bad boys will satisfy even the most aggressive of chocolate cravings and since they're so moist, they don't go stale quickly. I was hesitant to make them considering I already have what I thought was a great double chocolate cookie recipe, thank goodness I reconsidered. This is the only double chocolate cookie recipe I will be using for the forseeable future! 

Shall I just go ahead and call these Harper Beckham Double Chocolate Cookies?

1c. Semi-sweet chocolate chips

2tbsp unsalted butter or margarine

1c and 3tbsp all purpose flour

3tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

1tsp baking powder

1/2tsp salt

1/2c sugar

1/4c and 2tbsp packed brown sugar

2 eggs (at room temp)

2tbsp milk

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

1c milk chocolate chips

-Preheat oven to 300F (150C). Line two baking trays with parchment paper and lightly grease.

-Over low heat, gently melt the semi-sweet chocolate chips and butter until smooth. 

-In a medium sized bowl combine flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

-In a separate bowl beat the eggs and mix in both the sugars, the milk and vanilla, 

-Add the wet ingredients to the dry (or vice versa) and stir just until combined. Fold in the chocolate/butter and then the milk chocolate chips stirring until the mixture is just blended.

-Scoop in generous tablespoons of batter onto your prepared baking trays and bake for 18-20 minutes until firm but soft. Let sit on baking tray for five minutes to set before transfering to a cooling rack. Eat warm, cold, lukewarm and often!

This is the first cookie I've ever been able to eat half and feel satisfied enough to walk away, they're that indulgent. Or maybe I'm just growing up. More likely they're just a really, really good cookie. 

-Holly

Bark the Herald Angels Sing

    If anyone else out there has recently had the "Oh no, I forgot to get something for...." as I recently did with my hairdresser, here's a quick and easy last minute token of appreciation perfect for those people you want to give something small. It's a little bit more personal than a bottle of wine, and for me way more budget friendly (we ALL know how much a bottle of Naked Grape costs, you can't fool anyone with that). 

    Cranberry Almond Bark

  1 c semi sweet chocolate chips

 2.5 oz white chocolate

 1/2 c toasted chopped almonds

 1/3 c dried cranberries

-Melt both chocolates separately using either the microwave or stovetop (or combination of both).
-Stir 3/4 of the nuts and most of the cranberries into the semi sweet chocolate.
-Evenly spread the mixture onto a wax (or grease proof) paper covered baking tray.
-Drizzle the white chocolate overtop and use the tip of a knife to swirl it in.
-Sprinkle remaining nuts and cranberries overtop, pressing them into the soft chocolate.
-Place in fridge to cool and harden then break into pieces.

You can really use any nut and/or fruit combination, I just happened to have almonds and cranberries on hand. 

My New Year's resolution this year is going to be to figure out how to take better pictures because this poor blog is looking ghetto. 

-Holly

Bring your hand to the Nanaimo Bar...

  I feel the way about my KitchenAid mixer that most people feel about their pets. Probably because I'm not allowed to have a pet and I form emotional attachments easily but nonetheless, I was incredibly excited to get back in a proper kitchen filled with my gadgets and ingredients I didn't have to pay for myself! It eased the pain of leaving London (even temporarily) enough that I did not embarrass myself in Heathrow. Much.

  My mum had already done a fair amount of baking before I arrived so I couldn't go as crazy as I would've liked, but the annual Christmas Nanaimo Bar had yet to be done and I jumped at the chance to prove my belief that everything tastes better when made with digestive biscuits instead of graham crackers. The recipe is simple and requires no actual baking, just time between layers to let them chill and set. Really the best part is crushing the digestive biscuits. You could put them in a food processor but I prefer the old Ziploc bag and meat mallet technique as it is both efficient and helps to relieve pent up aggression and stress. Also it's quiet and whilst I was doing all this my sister was still in bed and you know what they say about poking a sleeping bear and whatnot.

Nanaimo Bars

Base:

1/2 c. butter

1/4 c sugar

1/3 c cocoa

1 tsp vanilla

1 egg, beaten

1 1/2 c digestive biscuit crumbs

1 c shredded coconut

1/2 c finely chopped walnuts (I like mine roughly chopped, it's rustic)

Grease the bottom and sides of a 9x9 pan. Cook butter, sugar, cocoa and vanilla over low heat, stirring until smooth. Add the beaten egg and heat just until thickened. Remove from the heat, stire in the crumbs, coconut and walnuts. Mix well. Press into the bottom of the pan, cover and chill for 30 minutes. 

Filling:

1/4 c butter

3 tbsp custard powder

3 tbsp milk

1 tsp vanilla

2 c icing sugar

Cream butter, custard powder, milk and vanilla until blended. Add icing sugar. Beat until smooth, then whip until light and creamy adding more milk if needed. Spread evenly over first layer, cover and chill for 30 minutes.

Top:

4 oz semi sweet chocolate

11/2 tsp butter

Heat chocolate and butter on low heat, stirring until smooth. Spread evenly over filling. Let sit at room temperature until set. Score with a knife then refrigerate and cut into bars. 

I forgot to score mine before I chilled it, so the chocolate cracked when I cut it, but what can you do?

For those who are unfamiliar with Nanaimo Bar it's basically diabetes on a plate, but it's also the most delicious thing ever. To my Canadians; digestive biscuits can be found at Thrifty's and London Drugs I am told.

Happy Holiday sugar comas!

-Holly