Thousand-Layer Chocolate Chip Cookies

I had never heard of a Thousand-Layer Chocolate Chip cookie before, but the thought of a thousand layers of chocolate sounded like heaven. Making this cookie was unlike any baking technique I had ever tried before, but it was fun, different, and resulted in a delicious chocolate chip cookie (which I had been craving for days!)

In a traditional chocolate chip cookie recipe you would mix together all the ingredients and fold in the chocolate chips at the very end, before rolling and placing on a baking sheet to cook. This recipe was similar to most chocolate chip cookie recipes until the end, when you kept the dough and chocolate separate. Instead of mixing the chocolate in to the dough, you create layers of dough and chocolate (hence the name "thousand layer") before rolling out the layers and cutting out with a cookie cutter. 

The only slight downfall for these cookies is that you are required to chill the dough before creating the layers.

Cookie recipes that require me to refrigerate the dough are tough for two reasons...

1. I don't have the patience to wait 30 minutes to an hour while the dough chills

2. I eat half of the dough while I am failing at being patient

Both of the above happened on Sunday night when I was making these cookies, but I still had enough dough to make 20 large cookies and I ate enough dough to give me a stomachache.

I received rave reviews from every one that got to eat one of these and they are already all gone (the last one was consumed while I wrote this post). Looks like I will be making this recipe again soon!

I might add pecans next time and call them Two Thousand Layer Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Four-Legged Friends

In the three years of baking for this blog I have never shared a recipe for man's (or woman's) best friend. You know that best friend who always greets you at the door with an excited tail wag or a slobbery kiss. My canine best friend loved to chase cars, be held like a baby (at least he tolerated it), and thought the best seat in the house was right on top of whatever project you were working on. My sweet Jake died a few summers ago, but his sassy sister Stella still keeps my family company and loves on us, especially when we drop human food or give her a treat. 

These dog treats are for any and all special pups in your life, even the ones who leave hair everywhere, steal your laundry, and get in to your food. They are especially for those that snuggle with you at night, really listen when you talk about your problems, and serve as watchdog, no matter how big or small.

I followed a very simple recipe that included some of my favorite flavors, pumpkin and peanut butter. The dough might seem sticky when you try to roll it out, just make sure that you have a well-floured surface, rolling pin, and hands (go ahead and throw some flour on your face to look like a professional baker). Watch your treats carefully in the last minutes of cook time to prevent burning and cool completely before storing. I bagged mine and have been keeping them in the fridge to ensure freshness!

Stella loved her treat and those eyes show clearly that she wasn't letting anyone get near her peanut butter and pumpkin bone. 

Make these treats for all the dogs in your life- they will thank you for it!

Back to people food after today. 

Rustic Caramel Apple Hand Pies

When Annie first blogged about these Rustic Apple Hand Pies I almost jumped in my car and drove 30 minutes to her house just to get my hands on one. I love desserts with fruit in them more than anything and apple pie is one of my favorites (getting excited about our Thanksgiving apple pie as we speak). While I was shopping for produce at the grocery store this weekend I couldn't help but pick up some granny smith apples. Not only were they beautiful but I had been dreaming about making these apple pies for a while. 

While Annie kept her pies classic, I decided to stuff mine with not only apples but little pieces of soft caramel. They might have made for a mess in the baking process (read: hot, melted caramel everywhere) but they tasted wonderful, especially hot, right out of the oven and warmed up with my coffee on Sunday morning.

Follow Annie's recipe and let her pictures be your guide, but if you want the flowing caramel of my version, just add small cubes of caramel (store bought) with the apples!

Maybe I will sneak some caramel in to the pie on Thanksgiving too. 

Pumpkin Ginger Cookies with Cinnamon Chips

These cookies combine three things that I love to cook with. Pumpkin, ginger, and cinnamon chips. When I found this recipe I tucked it away for safe keeping until the "Fall Baking Season" had officially commenced. Even though I know that you feel like you have enough pumpkin recipes to last until August, I want to add another because these cookies are absolutely worth it. I followed this recipe and what resulted was some addicting dough specked with cinnamon chips and a soft, light, perfect-for-fall cookie.

Like some of my other favorite cookies (peanut butter and ginger snaps) you roll this dough in sugar before baking. It gives the cookie a wonderful texture and adds a little touch of sweetness. I love these cookies and I can't wait to share them. 

So good with my morning coffee. 

Sweet Potato and Five-Spice Muffins

For my birthday last week, my friends got me Gwyneth Paltrow's newest cookbook, It's All Good. I think they were hoping that I might make them many of the recipes out of it, which I am happy to do. I immediately started tearing through the pages and marking recipes that looked especially tasty. In typical fashion, I had bookmarked almost every breakfast recipe, especially the sweet potato and five-spice muffins. 

 Let me preface this by saying that these muffins were not quick and were not cheap to make. All (or almost) of Gwyneth's recipes in this cookbook are gluten-free, dairy-free, and sugar-free and those are ingredients that I usually rely on when baking. This called for a trip to Whole Foods to stock up on the approved items for this cookbook, like gluten-free flour and high quality maple syrup. These things do not come cheap, but $70 later I was ready to tackle most of Gwyneth's cookbook. 

Half-way through the baking process I started to worry that I was putting a lot of time and money in to something that might turn out awful. As these muffins came out of the oven, I braced myself as I bit in to the first one, only to be amazed at how good they really were. Not only did they smell like Christmas, but they tasted like a crisp, fall day and went perfect with a glass of milk and an overcast day. 

What You Need

1 large sweet potato 
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil 
1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk
3/4 cup good-quality maple syrup or xylitol, plus 2 extra tablespoons for brushing the muffins 
1 tsp pure vanilla extract 
2 cups gluten-free flour (if the flour doesn’t include xanthan gum, add 1 tsp) 
2 tsp baking powder 
2 tsp baking soda 
1½ tbsp chinese five-spice (found in speciality spice stores) 

½ tsp fine sea salt

What You Do

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Prick the sweet potato a few times with a paring knife or a fork. Bake until soft (when a paring knife can cut through with no resistance), about one hour. Set the sweet potato aside until it’s completely cool (I placed mine in the refrigerator to speed up the process)

2. Peel the sweet potato, discard the skin, and mash the flesh in a mixing bowl with a fork. Whisk the olive oil, almond milk, maple syrup or xylitol, and vanilla into the sweet potato. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, five-spice powder, and salt. Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.

3. Line a 12 hole muffin tin with paper cases and evenly distribute the muffin batter among them. 
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean, brushing the tops with the extra maple syrup during the last five minutes of baking. Let the muffins cool before serving.

I love these muffins and have only gotten rave reviews from my favorite food critics (my roommates and boyfriend). They are perfect to grab on your way out the door to be enjoyed at your desk with coffee on a busy work morning. I hope my coworkers love them too!

More Gwyneth-approved food to come.

A Bread Post

I am honestly a little surprised that I haven't had a post that has been dedicated to all the fantastic uses of bread. It is one of my absolute favorite food groups and if you put a bread basket in front of me, then you will not be enjoying any of it. It will be gone. In a flash.

Story time: As a child I enjoyed bread so much that I thought I would start a little bread collection. My tiny, undeveloped brain thought of the genius plan to fill a shoe box with all sorts of breads to keep under my bed for those middle of the night cravings. Completely normal.  So after dinner one night, I stealthily filled a Ked's shoe box with two leftover dinner rolls, some biscuits from breakfast that morning, and a few pieces of classic Wonder Bread. I went to bed that night happy, knowing that under my bed was my own, little collection of carbs. Well, after about 30 minutes of "sleep", I woke up STARVING and had to break in to my rations. Ten minutes later... bread collection had been depleted. Gone, vanished, gobbled up by carb-loving Kathleen. 

Now you understand the need for a bread post.

Earlier this week, when buying bread for my grown-up almond butter + jam sandwich, I had a major George Banks "Superflous Buns" moment at the grocery store. I kept looking at the loaves of bread thinking about how I was buying bread for one person. I wanted to stick my hand in the bag, take out the two slices that I needed and leave the rest for another 23 year old in my predicament. What on earth would I do with all those slices before it eventually molded? Oh, don't worry, carb-loving Kathleen has found some ways.

1. Avocado + Egg Toast 

Mash 1/4 of an avocado with salt, pepper, and a little Tabasco sauce and spread on a toasted slice of bread. Top with a scrambled egg. Delicious breakfast!

2. Grilled Almond Butter + Jam Sandwich

It was so good the first time, why not enjoy it again on this upcoming lazy weekend. I might even add some variance to my berries.

3. Summer Panzanella

The Smitten Kitchen panzanella looks absolutely wonderful and it is basically a salad with extra croutons so what's not to love?

4. Whole Wheat Bread Pudding

After three meals of carbs it is only right to have a dessert made completely of bread. It includes apples, raisins, and walnuts so those make it perfectly healthy!

Carb up, it's almost the weekend. 

Macarons (First Attempt)

I have been wanting to try to make French macarons for months. Not only are they a tasty treat (especially with coffee) but they are so cute, almost too cute to eat!

Just almost to good to eat!

I can't say that my cookies were even near as cute as these but I wasn't too disappointed by my first attempt. The recipe wasn't even as hard as I was expecting. I followed this recipe for a basic almond macaron and this recipe for a chocolate ganache filling. As much as I love chocolate, I found that this ganache was too over powering for this little cookie. I think that a buttercream would be much more suited! I used violet food coloring gel to give my cookies a slight purple tint but can't wait to add actual flavor.

I plan on testing out other recipes throughout this week, until I find the recipe that I think is perfect, or close to perfect! I would love to have a go-to recipe for these treats and after buying a tiny but expensive bag of almond flour I am determined to put it all to good use!

Many macarons to come!

The Best Brownies

I love finding new blogs and recently I have stumbled upon so many great ones that I now spend an extra hour each day reading them and pouring over their archives. Yesterday I found a new food blog, Apt. 2B Baking Co., and I couldn't be happier with my new discovery. Every recipe that I came across on the blog sounded fantastic but I was in the mood for something sweet (shocking) and these brownies were going to hit the spot. And they did. 

This is the only picture of the finished product because they disappeared that quickly! 

Confession: I will admit that have never been the biggest brownie fan. Don't get me wrong, a warm, chocolate dessert sounds fantastic, but if I have other choices like cookies or cupcakes I normally will go for those. These brownies might have completely changed my view on this sweet treat. They were unlike any brownie I have ever tasted with just the right amount of crunchiness on top but the perfect moist choclatey center. Even a day later there is no sign of dryness.  

The second they came out of the oven, had cooled, and I had tried a small bite I began slicing them up and packaging them up to be shared. I know myself well enough that I can't keep an entire pan of the best chocolate brownies in my kitchen!

These brownies were surprisingly easy to make as well. I think the biggest difference is that you melt the bittersweet chocolate and butter over the stove to make that perfect center consistency. The recipe calls for optional cacao nibs to mix in and top the batter, but I threw some semisweet chocolate chips in since I had them on hand. I think that either would be great but I love the addition to a nib or chip to the smooth batter. 

I cannot say enough about how wonderful these brownies are. I highly, highly recommend making them right now, today, tomorrow, and on Valentine's Day because whoever you share them with will love you forever. 

Going to finish off that last bite right now. 

Champagne Cupcakes

I have been wanting to make champagne cupcakes for months, but knew that I had to wait until the perfect occasion to make them. Well I don't think there is a better occasion than New Year's Eve to make these pretty, delicious, and bubbly cupcakes. 

I also wanted to post this immediately so that if someone out there is still searching for a special treat to take to a party tonight, they would have the recipe. I wish that I could say that I was going to a party that I could use these cupcakes to feed and impress guests, rather I will eat them for breakfast and use the holiday as my validation. I think this would be the time to declare that my New Year's Resolution is to not eat cupcakes for breakfast indulge in more cupcakes for breakfast. Hey, life is short, eat dessert first-- and I really mean first, as in the first meal of the day. 

I followed the recipe here that included some interesting new techniques. My only change would be to cook these cupcakes for less than the recommended 20 minutes.

Also, you can embellish your cupcakes anyway that you like. I chose edible glitter, available at Michael's. 

Enjoy!

Glitter is even better when it's edible. 

Chocolate Fudge Pomegranate Cookies

Before this year I had never even eaten a pomegranate. It wasn't until a sweet friend once exclaimed that pomegranates were her favorite snack that they entered my culinary radar. 

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I hadn't even tried the fruit yet, but when I found this recipe for Chocolate Fudge Pomegranate Cookies I was intrigued and my mouth was watering. I am a lover of desserts with fruit in them, and all chocolate treats sometimes seem too rich for me. I loved the idea of a delicious, gooey, fudge cookie with bursts of refreshing sweetness and that is exactly what this cookie is.

I also love the hints of pink hiding in this dough and in the cookies-- so pleasing to the eye and the stomach. Rather than using a fresh pomegranate (which you can do) I bought the snack pack of pomegranate arils which gives you all the juice and arils for this recipe!

I followed this recipe from my favorite food blog. I swear that Jessica at How Sweet It Is cannot go wrong and her blog is overflowing with delicious recipes just begging to be made! (I almost always give in to the begging... I think the last 10 recipes I have made have come from her recipe index)

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Don't be thrown off by the pomegranates, these cookies are an incredible chocolate cookie with a hint of something special. They also got the major stamp of approval from my pomegranate-loving friend as we devoured them while watching the final episode of Gossip Girl. 

XOXO. 

I know that I don't have a 'recipe' tab anymore, but if you are looking for a previous recipe, just search "recipes" in the search bar on my page to see all recipes!

Oh, and don't forget to like my Facebook page! 

Gingerbread Cupcakes

The above was one tasty cupcake!

I went to the grocery store on Wednesday on a mission to get a couple of ingredients for a new chicken dish I was wanting to try out and of course walked right past the strategically placed "Holiday Baking" display and couldn't help but throw some ground ginger in my cart.

I absolutely love gingerbread and although I was tempted to make gingerbread cookies, I decided to hold off until I am home when I can use my mom's extensive collection of cookie cutters!

These cupcakes were delicious, easy, and completely upstaged my dinner.

Funny how dessert has a way of doing that!

In the spirit of Christmas baking, here are my other 5 favorite holiday treats!

{Pumpkin Cream Cheese Bars}

{White Chocolate Cream Cheese Cranberry Snickerdoodle}

{White Chocolate Peppermint Cookies}

{Coffee Toffee Bars}

{Caramel Spice Cookies}

Happy baking!

Espresso Chocolate Chip Cookies

I woke up Saturday morning with nothing to do. 

And when I say nothing, I mean I had tons of things I could have done, but none of them really involved me changing out of my pajamas and leaving my apartment.

Besides, my desire to bake on Saturday would have trumped any real plans that I had. 

So for two and a half hours I sat on my couch (watching Little Women) and searching the entire world wide web for something sweet to make. The possibilities were really endless and ranged from cranberry crumble bars to peanut butter fudge cookies to white chocolate peppermint fudge.
I landed on these espresso chocolate chip cookies; a decision based solely on the fact that I already had all the ingredients and didn't have to change out of my pajamas and go to the grocery store.

Not that going to my grocery store (Wal-Mart...) in my pajamas would be a shock to anyone there. Every time I walk in I spot people in their pajamas, slippers and everything. 

This. Is. Not. Okay.

So it was settled. I was going to make espresso cookies, and it had absolutely nothing to do with the little tiny detail that these cookies have coffee in them...

The cookies were quite easy to make and I anxiously awaited for them to come out of the oven so that I could enjoy them with a glass of milk. 

And here is where the story gets sad. Cue somber music and cut to an image of me eating a sub par cookie by myself in my pajamas. Actually the score from Little Women was playing in the background and it doesn't get more somber than that. 

These cookies were not bad, I promise. They just were not everything I was expecting.
I was tempted to throw the entire batch away so that the cookies wouldn't even be a temptation (wasting calories on mediocre cookies is a crime) but I was too lazy and told myself I would get rid of them later.

Cut to Sunday morning- me in my pajamas, on my couch, watching Little Women. Dejavu?
I decide to try another cookie with my coffee for breakfast.
It was SO GOOD.
Yes, you read that right. These "okay" cookies had magically transformed overnight to "awesome" cookies.

So here are my conclusions--
1. These are "next day cookies". This syndrome for baked goods really does exist. Like the chocolate cake that gets better as it sits, these cookies are better after they rest and the flavors mature.
2. These cookies are best dipped in or paired with coffee. My glass of cold milk did nothing for these chocolate chip cookies, but the hot coffee made these cookies melt in my mouth and I was hooked. So hooked that I had two more for breakfast.

Never judge a cookie until the next day.