Triple X Chocolate Cookies

Hello, I'm Liza and I am a chocoholic.

Now you.

I'll wait.

I have a cookie recipe for you, fellow chocolate lovers. It's December. Winter is in the air and the ovens are warming up for the holiday cookie rush. Now, I don't think this is a good recipe to give away as a present. Firstly because then you don't get to eat them. But also because this recipe takes a lot of time to prepare and the cookies taste best fresh. I recommend bar cookies as gifts instead, like these lovelies.

The best part is that the dough can be frozen, so you can bake a few cookies whenever you get a craving.  Thaw your frozen toes in front of the oven, while you wait for them to bake. Maybe even burning your fingertips on slightly too hot cookies you can't keep your hands off of. No judging.

I had so much fun making these. I felt like a chocolatier.

Not only will you use three types of chocolate making this, but it feels like you're making three different kinds of desserts.

Dessert 1: Hot Fudge, Dessert 2: Truffle Filling, Dessert 3: Cookies.

They're soft and sort of fold into themselves in your mouth. The nuts add a bit of crunch. Keep a shot of milk nearby. You'll need it. Trust me.

Triple X Chocolate Cookies
(Recipe from Dishing Divine via The Pastry Affair Cookbook)

Ingredients

1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup chopped walnuts
6 tablespoon unsalted butter
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate
3 ounces unsweetened chocolate
3 large eggs
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
flaked sea salt(omitted)

Toast the nuts in the oven or in a pan until you can smell the nutty flavor. They should be lightly browned, not burnt.

Step 1: Hot Fudge

Coarsely chop the bittersweet and unsweetened chocolate. Separated the butter by tablespoons.

Melt the two chocolates and butter together in a double boiler, mixing to keep from burning. Let the mixture cool to room temperature before starting the next step.


Step 2: Truffle Filling

Beat the eggs and sugar together on medium speed for three minutes. Add vanilla and "hot fudge". Beat on medium for two minutes. Mix in the dry ingredients: the flour, baking powder and salt, leaving a few white streaks.

Take a large spoon and mix in the nuts and chocolate chips. It is important not to over mix the batter.

Pop the mixing bowl into the fridge for ten minutes or until the batter is firm enough to scoop.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Take another baking sheet out. Scoop out two-inch wide "chocolate truffles" making sure they do not touch. Freeze the entire tray. It should take about twenty minutes or so for the batter to firm. If you have a lot of freezer space and an extra tray, freeze more at this time.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Step 3: Cookies.

Now it's time to bake. If you just want a few for yourself, that's just fine. Take the amount you want out of the freezer, place on the parchment papered baking sheet and bake. After eight minutes, reduce the temperature to 350 degrees and bake for another six to eight minutes or until the cookies have a slight resistance when you press lightly on the tops. Let cool on the baking sheet for five to ten minutes.

The original recipe called for sea salt to be sprinkled on top, so add if desired. I did not and my cookies still turned out wonderfully.

If you want to make the whole batch at once, scoop and freeze another tray of batter immediately.

Freeze any remaining the cookie dough in cookie shape and store for a snowy day.

Repeat Step 3 as needed.

Old-Fashioned Red Velvet Cake w/ Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

Yes.

That's my response to this cake.

Yes.

Cream cheese frosting is, on it's own, fantastic. The sweet tangy flavor with such a richness to it- perfection. Of course chocolate is equally wonderful. Therefore the two together are a perfect match. And that's just the frosting.

This cake is amazing. There's no other word for it. But before I go on too far, I just want to add a disclaimer here and say that it's not a chocolatey cake. Not at all. Not even by red velvet standards. It's really more of a yellow butter cake in taste.

But oh my.

It's rich. It's buttery and intense and every bite is a perfect bite.

Normally I try to stick with healthier recipes, but with this one- you just have to commit. It's worth every bite. I swear.

This was also a special cake. It was a birthday cake. In my family, we always bake a cake from scratch for the other person. Nobody is allowed to bake their own cake. We all have favorites, but sometimes we like to mix things up a little. Hence this cake.

This is a Birthday cake with a capital B. It is also a Valentine's Day cake, an Anniversary cake, a New Year's cake, an I-was-just-in-the-neighberhood-and-thought-I'd-say-hey cake. It's a my-team-just-won-the-superbowl cake, an I-just-reorganized-my-desktop cake, and of the course a Just-had-a-slice-ten-minutes-ago-but-who-cares cake.

Yeaaaaah. Get serious.

Red Velvet Cake

(from Joy of Cooking)

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups sifted cake flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon cocoa powder

3/4 cup unsalted butter

1 1/3 cups sugar

3 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup buttermilk

2 tablespoons red food dye

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Assemble all the ingredients and leave them out so all ingredients are room temperature. Take two 9 or 8 inch pans. Cut out circles in wax paper and attach the circles using Crisco as a glue. Grease the top of the wax paper and flour.

Take a bowl and whisk together cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

Beat the butter until creamy. Gradually add the sugar to the mixer on high speed until light and fluffy. This should take 3 to 5 minutes.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs and vanilla. Beat in the egg mixture into the butter for around 2 minutes.

Take the flour mixture and buttermilk and add alternately to the batter on slow speed- 3 parts flour, 2 parts buttermilk. Scrap down the sides, if necessary. Beat until smooth.

Fill the two prepared pans.

Bake for 25-30 minutes for the 9 inch pan. Bake 30-35 minutes in the 8-inch pan.

Check cake with a toothpick. If it comes out clean, remove pans from the oven and cool on a rack.

Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

(from Joy of Cooking)

Ingredients:

8 ounces cold cream cheese

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

2 teaspoons vanilla

3 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted

5 ounces semisweet/bittersweet chocolate, melted

3 tablespoons coffee or water

Combine all ingredients in a food processor and pulse until smooth and creamy. Don't over work the mixture.

Melt the chocolate and mix with the coffee or water mixture. Cool to lukewarm, then stir into the frosting.

If the mixture is too thin, chill in the refrigerator for ten minutes before spreading.

Peanut Butter Banana Ice "Cream" Sundae Sandwich

Have you gotten in on the frozen banana ice cream train? The idea is simple, yet brilliant. Take a banana. Freeze it, then give it a whirl in the blender, with a splash of vanilla. If you haven't tried it yet, I highly recommend it. It's a satisfying and wicked healthy ice cream replacement.

I'm one of those people who are committed to their ice cream. I will eat it year round, regardless of the outside or inside temperature. In the dead of winter, I walk downstairs, complaining bitterly of the chill, wrapped in a scarf, my fingerless gloves on. I will pad into the kitchen, my heavy duty socks acting like slippers. Staring at my hand, I will wonder if my fingers have frozen solid? No, still usable? Good. I open up the freezer, take out an ice cream container, scoop frozen goodness into a bowl. And later I will wonder why it's suddenly gotten colder.

I've made banana ice cream for breakfast before. I've eaten ice cream instead of dinner.

I know I'm not the only one.

But, sometimes we need to eat "real" food. Not a creamy frozen dessert.

So what to do if it's lunchtime, you don't know what to make and you've got a banana frozen in the freezer? Make an ice cream sundae sandwich of course!

Oddly healthy, this sandwich concoction will surely satisfy the child within.

Peanut Butter Banana Sundae Sandwich
Ingredients:
2 slices of challah OR white bread
1-2 tablespoons peanut butter
1 large square of dark chocolate (70% of higher) OR 1 tablespoon Nutella
1 pre-sliced frozen banana

Toppings(Optional):
Chopped Nuts
Sprinkles
Mini Chocolate Chips
Shredded Coconut

At least two hours prior, slice a banana and freeze. If you already have a whole frozen banana, you can use this as well, but it will defrost faster, and give your sandwich a stronger banana taste.

Take the bread and cover one piece with peanut butter and the other with chocolate. Using a toaster oven or a pan heat the slices, until lightly toasty and the chocolate melts.

Add desired toppings. Take the banana chips out of the freezer. Spread frozen slices on the bread.

Put together the sandwich and consume immediately.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

What can I say? These cookies are my childhood.

These cookies were one of the first things I ever learned how to bake. My mother used to whip up the dough, measure out the chocolate chips, hand me a metal spoon, and let me mix them in. The best part of the whole process. There's nothing quite like pouring in handfuls of chocolate, slowly mixing them in, watching the buttery dough coat the chips so they start to shine. All the while the oven is warming your back and you just know that you are nine minutes away from the most important bit of all- the test cookie.

Sometimes a kid's gotta do, what a kid's gotta do.

Montreal: Hot Chocolate and Bakery Windows Pt. 2

Bringing my food tour of Montreal to a close, I will continue discussing the many delicious foods and attempt to move beyond Old Montreal. But first, let me share a quick pic I snapped while walking through the cobblestone streets.

Not much can compare to fresh french bread. The yeasty smell that fills the air when the oven is opened, the crunch when you bite down, the sweetness of the bread...

Perhaps chocolate. Perhaps.

Moving on... Let's talk hot chocolate-

The difference between American hot chocolate and Montreal is night and day.

While hot chocolate is traditionally made with cocoa powder in the USA, in Montreal they use melted chocolate. Stirring is often required to get to the near-solid layer of warm chocolate that rests on the bottom of the glass.

The drink pictured here was from a chain near the hotel, Java U. Looking at it makes me think of a chocolate milkshake, the way they served it in a tall glass and handed you a long handled spoon. It was the largest amount of hot chocolate I was served at one time and ironically the least chocolatey.




The other hot chocolates were in small coffee cups, including ones that looked better fit to hold an expresso shot. And they were more intense then the milkshake chocolate.

Let that sink in.

The molten chocolate to milk ratio can be overwhelming the first time you experience it.

Mmmm.....

Tiny cups of chocolatey goodness-

What could be better?

The best hot chocolate was from Cafe Myriade. We had to walk two miles from our hotel to get there, but it was worth it. And more importantly, we needed to work up an appetite. Cafe Myriade had a machine that mixed the molten chocolate as you watched. Intense. My companions had their cappuccino and pastries.

Check out the intricateness of the leaf design on the cappuccino. Gorgeous.

I drank my melted chocolate with milk and ate a chocolate croissant.

Sometimes mornings are stressful.

Sometimes not.

Later that day, while wandering the streets, we came across a beautiful cupcake window display.

Cupcakes in martini glasses, what could go wrong?

I think my favorite meal had to be fondue at Founduementale. Gorgeous bubbly cheese mixed with basil and garlic. Endless pieces of bread to dip. My only regret was that it was so large, I couldn't finish it. And sadly, they have not yet invented a way to sensibly take fondue leftovers with you. The meal was rounded off with a chocolate fondue served with bananas, apples, marshmallows and of course, strawberries, which we dipped to our hearts content.

And those are some of my favorite places to visit in Montreal.

If you feel cheated by the lack of chocolate and/or fondue based photographs from this post, or simply want to learn about more Montreal restaurants, check out how to get chocolate poisoning (or how not) in Montreal at The Personal Autopsy, a hysterical blog written by Brittany, the self proclaimed goddess of cats, squirrels and chocolate. Check her out!

Olive et Gourmando: Chocolate and a Salad in Montreal

For my next few posts, I will be doing a brief series on Montreal, as I just returned there from a week-long vacation.

To begin, I want to talk chocolate.

This is not an idle conversation. Chocolate is an important part of my life. I consider it to be a minor obsession.

I'm well aware of the health benefits of chocolate- that the flavonoids are good for your heart and that there's even some evidence that eating a little chocolate everyday can help depression.

But none of those things matter. Not really. I'd eat it anyway. 

So it should come to no surprise, that last week while vacationing in Montreal, I had my fair share of the sweet stuff. Largely, I enjoyed hot chocolates and chocolate pastries, often at the same time.

I roamed the streets of Old Montreal, taking in the cobblestones and old buildings. I had my fair share of food at various restaurants and cafes. My favorite meal however, was at Olive et Gourmando.

I could have eaten there every day and been satisfied. How satisfied? To get back to the hotel on day five, all I would have needed would have been a really good push.

Their most outrageous chocolatey pastry is their Valhrona Chocolate Brioche. It's the type of pastry that's probably meant to be split, but you won't want too share. The outside is flaky, but the inside is as moist as a muffin. Rich veins of chocolate run throughout. It is well worth sinking your teeth into.

To really go overboard, pair with their hot chocolate. Be sure to mix well, the bottom of the cup is where most of the chocolate is hiding.

Olive et Gourmando is a stylish and trendy sort of place. It's always bustling with people, whether they are standing in line for one of the two counters or enjoying their meal. At one point, I ate a late lunch at two in the afternoon and it was still as busy as ever. When you walk into the cafe, you can immediately see the first line of people waiting for their coffee and pastry. The second counter is in the back and has a large chalkboard, listing the many sandwiches available. Not-so-visible is the inside of the counter, where more food options are often hidden by people waiting to order them. 

The one thing to be aware of before you visit is the menu. Simply put, they don't have one. At least not in the normal sense. Instead, the staff will direct you to the many chalkboards that are scattered about the restaurant. The pastries are all labeled by tiny white markers and lunch options are showcased similarly in the back counter. Tea, coffee, and hot chocolate options are tightly squeezed on a long chalkboard located in a tiny corner, right next to the pastry line.

As busy as this place is and as diverse are their options, I highly recommend that you check out their website at http://oliveetgourmando.com/ for the extensive list of pastries, sandwiches, salads and more, before visiting. It's easy to miss food options that are hidden behind customers otherwise.

Feeling a bit overwhelmed by all the chocolate? Quick! Stare at this kale.

Better?

Olive et Gourmando also has the best vegetarian/vegan fare for breakfast and lunch. I ate The Herbivore as my next meal after my chocolate overdose. It's a monstrous dish made for a veggie lover with an appetite.

The Herbivore is a delicious and healthy salad, full of shredded and chopped vegetables, such as kale, carrots and radishes, mixed with different kinds of seeds and nuts. The whole thing rests on a pile of Soba noodles. The plate is topped off with sprouts and your choice of dressing. I went with a spicy peanut sauce. Fabulous.

Olive et Gourmando was one of the most pleasant places I ate at while in Montreal and I highly recommend you check it out if you are ever in town, whether it be for a meal or a pastry to go.

Toffee Bars

Start with a buttery cookie base- followed with a layer of melted milk chocolate with chopped walnuts sprinkled on top. And what do you get? Toffee bars.

The sweetest kindest bar cookie on the block.

This is the cookie to make for friends, neighbors, new roommates or just people you want to impress the heck out of for minimum effort.

Why is it an impressive cookie?

1. It's easy to make, because it's not a drop cookie that is baked individually, but a bar cookie. You plop all the dough in on pan and bake it like a cake.

2. It has "layers", but isn't as complex as say-- a 7-layer bar recipe. Again, Easy-Bake Oven easy.

3. A toffee bar is not a chocolate chip cookie. Nor does it contain chocolate chips in any form. This automatically makes it an interesting alternative to the norm. And if you bring it to a block party, you avoid that awkward moment that comes from realizing you brought the same dessert as someone else. Oooh, burn.

4. Each cookie comes with a list of references, witty conversation starters and is bilingual.

5. It is composed of simple flavors that everyone enjoys, so it's bound to be a hit among all ages.

6. If you make an angel food cake or meringues with it, you can use up an excess egg yolk. Yeah. It is that awesome.

7. It's something to do during the summer with excess chocolate, (if there is indeed such a thing), besides making s'mores. Mmm...s'mores.

Toffee Bars
(makes 32 cookies)
From the Betty Crocker Cookbook
Ingredients:
1 cup butter (softened)
1 cup brown sugar (packed)
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg yolk
2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
2/3 cup milk chocolate chips/bar
1/2 chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix together the butter, brown sugar, vanilla and egg yolk in a large bowl or mixer. Add flour and salt slowly to the mixture, stirring until combined.

Scrape into an 13x9x2 inch pan. Press down on dough gently to create an even surface. Take care that the edges are level as well.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes. The bars should be a light brown and will still be soft.

Remove from the oven and immediately sprinkled the chocolate pieces evenly over the crust. As the heat begins to melt the chocolate spread evenly over the cookies. Add nuts to the warm chocolate.

Let bars cool completely in pan on a wire rack. Cut into 32 pieces.

Tip: If you over bake the crust, pop the cookies into an airtight container with a lid. Add a slice of bread and seal the container. Leave overnight. The toffee bars will soften.
The bread will be hard as a rock. You won't be able to save it. Sorry.
Nab a free slice of bread from your dining hall if you can. Just make sure it isn't already stale.

Zucchini Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ah, vegetables, what can't you make sound healthier?

This isn't the prettiest cookie in existence, although it's certainly not the ugliest. It's slightly lumpy looking and you can see flecks of a green vegetable of some sort if you stare really hard at it.

It's also soft.

And cakey.

And melts in your mouth, leaving no zucchini aftertaste whatsoever...just a strong desire for a cold glass of milk.

There are other cookies that as you chew you are able to contemplating life, the universe and all other such matters. Then you swallow, say, gosh-darn-gee-whiz, that was one decent cookie. And then you go on with your day, desire for cookie sated, not one thought of the remaining cookies wrapped in foil in your pantry in your mind, because they were "just okay".

Not these cookies my friend. Not these.

Please enjoy responsibly.

Zucchini Chocolate Chip Cookies
recipe adapted from Care2.com
(makes 24 cookies)

Ingredients:
1 egg
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup honey
1 tablespoon maple syrup
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup finely shredded zucchini
12 oz chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Shred one cup of zucchini. Set aside.

Combine flours, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg in a large bowl.

Beat egg lightly in a small custard cup. In a separate bowl, mix together egg, butter, sugar, honey, and vanilla until a well combined liquid mixture forms.

Add wet ingredients to flour mixture. Mix. Stir in zucchini and chocolate chips.

Bake cookies on a cookie sheet for 10-15 minutes.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups

If you've ever been on a college meal plan, you know the feeling of getting taken for a ride. So much money- so little edible food. You just want to get your money's worth, so you sneak things out of the dining hall. Maybe some cereal in a plastic cup, a sandwich wrapped in paper napkins or an entire pie---

No?

Just me?

Kidding. I never stole a pie, but I did hear from a reliable source about someone who did.

The point is, you never feel satisfied and you know why? 'Cause there's no milk to go with the cereal, so you chuck it. The sandwich went stale in your pocket and now the inside of your coat pocket smells like PB and J or worse, and last but not least, did you really need to eat that entire pie in one sitting?

....Are you feeling okay? Do you need to sit down?

The point is that are some wonderful things you can liberate from the hands of your dining hall/food court, if you are so inclined, that I guarantee you won't end up tossing out the next day.

Like, I don't know, for example... you know those little plastic ketchup containers. About an inch wide, with a little plastic top? They've got a recycling sign on the bottom-

Yeah, like that!

Grab some and let's make some homemade chocolate peanut butter cups. You know you want to.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup(s)
Makes as many as you'd like.

chocolate (dark chocolate is best)
natural peanut butter
mini-plastic ketchup containers
aluminum foil(optional)

For each cup you'll need one mini-bar of chocolate and about 1 tablespoon of peanut butter. I think the perfect peanut butter to chocolate ratio is a personal thing, but I believe the more peanut butter the better!

Prepare your mold. Take out the ketchup container. If you find the plastic to be too flimsy to use as a mold, line the cup(s) with aluminum foil. Use one continuous strip, pressing center into cup, bending excess foil over edge. To avoid getting bits of aluminum stuck in the chocolate, smooth down sides.

Melt the chocolate. There are three easy ways to do this.

If using a microwave, place in a microwave proof bowl and zap ten seconds at a time. Stir the chocolate when it begins to melt. When the chocolate is completely melted, remove bowl.

If you have a stove melt small amounts of chocolate in pan, stirring constantly. Remove from heat immediately when melted to avoid burning.

For larger batches, use a double boiler. You can make one with two pans, one larger than the other. In the larger pan boil water. Place smaller pan over boiling water, allowing it to rest in the liquid. Melt chocolate in top pan, stirring constantly. Remove from heat when melted.

Pour about a centimeter's worth of chocolate into your prepared molds. Place a dollop of creamy peanut butter in the center of each, smoothing down slightly. Fill the rest of the mold with the melted chocolate.

Place the candy in the freezer, allowing it to harden. Take out a few minutes before you want to enjoy. Cups should come out of the plastic easily.

Be warned, these are addicting. The natural peanut makes a wonderfully nutty filling.

They melt in your hands and your mouth, so store either in freezer or fridge until your ready to eat.