Tag Archives: chocolate

Recipe: Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Bars

21 Feb

sarah

It’s been quite a while since I’ve posted to the blog. Before Christmas I was working two jobs so work life intervened. Then, just when work quieted down a bit, my best friend found out the cancer she had been battling was back, and it was back with a vengeance. We lost Sarah earlier this month, just before her 34th birthday. Everyone – including her – thought there would be more time. Time for a bit more fun, a few more long talks, reminiscences, goodbyes.

To say it’s been difficult for everyone who loved her is an understatement. She was an amazing wife, mother, friend and surgeon and her passing leaves a void that can never be filled.

I’m sure all the self-help gurus would frown at this, but when life gives me lemons, I like to add some sugar to make it slightly more palatable. This recipe is pretty much the epitome of comfort – chocolate chip cookie dough in bar form. The best part is that it’s no bake so it requires basically zero effort. Try it out if you’re having a bad day, or even better make it for someone else who’s having a rough go of it.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Bars
(from Life’s Simple Pleasures)

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Bars | baconavecbacon.com

Dough
1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups all purpose flour
1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk
2 cups mini chocolate chips (reserve 1 teaspoon)

Topping
1 cup creamy peanut butter
2/3 cup milk chocolate chips

In a stand mixer or large bowl, beat together the butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla and beat until combined. With the mixer on low, alternate adding in the flour and sweetened condensed milk and mix until combined. Fold in the mini chocolate chips with a spatula.

Line an 8×8-inch pan with tinfoil or parchment.  Press the cookie dough into the pan with lightly floured hands.

For the topping, combine the peanut butter and milk chocolate chips in a microwave-safe bowl and heat until smooth.  Spread the mixture over the cookie dough bars. Sprinkle with the reserved mini chocolate chips.

Chill the bars for 1 hour or until topping is firm.

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Recipe: Chocolate & Peanut Butter Snack Cake

27 Jan

What goes together better than peanut butter and chocolate? If you answered nothing, you are correct. This cake is no exception. It’s dense and rich but not overly sweet. It is necessary to pair this with a big glass of milk because the peanut butter layer is quite sticky!

The recipe I used for this is from here and it’s supposed to be like a brand of snack cakes available in the Eastern US. I can’t vouch for accuracy having never enjoyed a TastyCake but I can confirm the tastyness!

The next time I try this, I might cheat and make the base with a yellow cake mix and blend the peanut butter with some marshmallow fluff to make it a bit sweeter and less dense.

Chocolate & Peanut Butter Snack Cake

Chocolate Peanut Butter Snack Cake | baconavecbacon.com

4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 cups flour
1 cup milk
2 teaspoons melted butter
1 bag milk chocolate chips
2 cups creamy peanut butter

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a 9×13 pan.

In the microwave warm the milk and the butter until melted and set aside to cool.

In a large bowl, mix the eggs, vanilla, salt, sugar, baking powder and flour. Add the milk and stir until smooth. Pour the batter into the floured pan and bake for approximately 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Immediately spread the peanut butter over top of the cake. As it melts it’ll become easier to move around. Once spread, put the cake into the fridge until the peanut butter sets.

Once the PB layer is set, in a microwaveable bowl, melt the chocolate chips. Pour over top of the peanut butter layer and spread carefully. Place the cake back into the fridge until the chocolate layer sets.

When you’re ready to eat the cake, let it come to room temperature before cutting, otherwise the chocolate will crack.

 

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Recipe: Mom’s Chocolate Chip Cookies

11 Aug

Usually, I’m all about the chewy cookie. These chocolate chip cookies are the exception. Anyone who’s had one has been unable to eat just one. In fact, last time I brought them into the office, people would randomly show up at my cube after their first taste like a crack addict pleading with a dealer, “Please man! I just need one more!!!!!” *twitch twitch*

I think it’s the hint of saltyness with the sweet cookie and the chocolate but for me, it’s just because they’re the cookies my mom made when I was growing up. She said she’s never made another recipe after finding this one, and I haven’t either.

Mom’s Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup hard margarine, softened
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup chopped nuts, optional (walnuts or pecans are best)

Mix the flour, baking soda and salt and set aside. Cream the margarine until fluffy and beat in the sugar. Beat in the egg and the vanilla. Stir in the flour mixture, chocolate chips and nuts.

Use a medium cookie scoop to portion spoonfuls onto a cookie sheet covered in parchment. Bake @ 350 degrees for approximately 17 minutes or until golden.

Tips & tricks:

  • Don’t use butter for this recipe! Use hard margarine, in particular Imperial brand (the kind that comes in squares). It works best and yes they still taste lovely and buttery even with margarine. Ignore this rule at your peril.
  • For perfect cookies every time, pick up some Air Bake cookie sheets. The double wall construction means that your cookies don’t get burnt on the bottom while the middle cooks. They’re worth the investment and are available at Home Sense, Bed Bath & Beyond and other nicer kitchen stores.
  • Use parchment. They sell it at the dollar store and it means never scrubbing crud off of pans. You just pick the parchment up, wipe any crumbs off the pan and put it back in the cupboard.

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Recipe: Smores Pudding Cups

7 Aug

There’s a blight of ‘dessert in a mug’ recipes on Pinterest. Basically a few ingredients thrown into a mug and microwaved which is supposed to create something to satisfy your cravings. Any time I’ve tried one, it’s only made me angry because they all turn out like vaguely flavoured sponges. Blech. Need confirmation? Just ask Sonja from The Pintester:

And yet, sometimes you just need a little something sweet but you want to put in basically zero effort and you want it to be done almost immediately. Well, for those times there are smores pudding cups. It’s all of the great stuff about smores – crunchy graham crackers, tasty chocolate and gooey marshmallow without needing a campfire or really any heat at all.

Smores Pudding Cups


1 package of chocolate or chocolate fudge instant pudding mix
2 cups cold milk
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
3 tbsp butter, melted
2 tbsp sugar
marshmallow fluff
graham crackers
chocolate chips (optional)

Melt the butter in the microwave in a cereal sized bowl. Add the cup of graham cracker crumbs and the sugar and stir until combined. Pack a few teaspoons of the mix in the bottom of the dish you’re using, reserving a few crumbles for the top. You can use little plastic wine globlets like I did (nothing but class around these parts), or small bowls, or even a small casserole dish for a big version. Mix up the instant pudding as per package directions and pour it on top of your ‘crust’. Top with a couple of spoonfuls of marshmallow fluff, the remaining crumbles and if you’d like a chunk of graham cracker and chocolate chips.

Throw the cups in the fridge for about five minutes and after that they’re ready to enjoy. Virtually instant gratification.

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Recipe: Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie

20 Jul

I can’t recall where this recipe came from but it’s in my scribbled notebook of ‘keeper’ recipes. The ones that aren’t in my core cookbooks I keep there so I can easily remember and find a tried and true option when I need one.

This pie is so rich and sinful even though I always make it with low fat cream cheese and diet whipped topping. People go nuts for it, so much so that last time I whipped one together for a get together with Mr. Bacon’s side of the family, I didn’t even get a single slice!

To make up for it, I had an extra big slice of this one. And it was fantastic.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie

1 Redi Crust chocolate pie crust
1 tub of whipped topping
1 block of cream cheese, softened
1 cup smooth peanut butter
1/2 cup powdered sugar
chocolate sundae syrup
handful of chocolate chips, peanuts or chocolate covered peanuts

Beat together peanut butter, cream cheese and sugar. Fold in 3/4 of the whipped topping and spoon mixture into the pie shell. Spread the remaining whipped topping over the top. Drizzle the chocolate sundae syrup liberally overtop. Place another 2 tbsp of peanut butter into a small sandwich bag and microwave for approximately 30 seconds or until liquid. Snip the tip of the bag and drizzle the peanut butter overtop of the chocolate sauce. Sprinkle the chocolate chips on top.

Place in the fridge for at least an hour to firm up. Overnight is best though.

** Tip ** – Invert the lid of the pie crust and reseal the edge to cover your pie while it’s in the fridge.

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