Chocolate Chip(ish) Cookies

I haven't made cookies in awhile, so I decided to go with a simple recipe with a few variations. I made two types of cookies: White chocolate chip cookies, and cinnamon chip cookies.

Both were tasty! My favorite, however, are the cookies I made with a bit of leftover dough-- Chocolate chipless cookies. I love crisp cookies, and I feel like the chocolate takes away from that slighty, so I made three cookies without any sort of chip.

I didn't measure the chips, but I'd estimate that I used about 2 ounces (or between a fourth and a fifth of a bag) on each type. I pretty much just poured and stirred until they looked good.

This recipe I got online, but here it's posted again!

Chocolate Chip(ish) Cookie Recipe

• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
• 3/4 cups granulated sugar
• 3/4 cups brown sugar, packed
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 1/4 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 large eggs
• Chocolate chips (or white chocolate, or cinnamon)
• You'll either need a full package of whichever type you choose, or 4-5 oz of different types
  

Preparation

• Preheat oven to 375°
• Beat together the: Butter, sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla, until creamy.
• Beat in eggs, one at a time.
• Beat in the baking soda and salt.
• Beat in the flour, bit by bit until it's all blended in.
• FOR ONE TYPE OF COOKIE
• Stir in the chips
• FOR TWO TYPES OF COOKIE
• Split dough into two different bowls, and stir in the chips
• Drop by tablespoons onto a parchment paper covered cookie sheet
• Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until golden
• For softer cookies, transfer directly to a wire rack
• For crispier cookies, leave on the cookie sheet for a couple of minutes, then transfer to wire racks to cool
  

Here you can see the two different types!

Luscious Lemon Bars

My two favorite things in the baking world are recipes that involve a) cinnamon, and b) lemon.

Since I've used cinnamon lately, I thought I'd switch to lemon!

These are your basic lemon bars-- but I've never made them from scratch before! It's always the stuff that comes in the box, where all you do is add liquid (and maybe an egg) and then bake.

To be honest, these tasted just like the ones out of the box. Unless you have the desire to actually make them from scratch, save the money (and time!) and just use the box.

This was fun! And the whole house smells soooo good! It really only took me about 40 minutes to make this-- and that includes baking and clean-up time. And the house smells SO GOOD! (:

And I've never had a chance to cut and squeeze the juice from a lemon before-- I've really just never had a reason to do so. And I FINALLY got to use the trick that I picked up from Rachael Ray 2-3 years ago: Squeeze the juice out cut-side up to keep the seeds from falling into the mixture!
Lemon Bars Recipe

• 1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 7 tbsp unsalted butter, chilled and diced
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
  
• Topping Ingredients
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 lemon -- The finely grated rind, and juice, of
• 1 tbsp all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• Powdered sugar for topping (which I ALWAYS overdo by accident!)
  

Preparation

• Preheat oven to 350°
• Grease the inside of an 8in square cake pan
• Using a food processor (I used an electric mixer, which was more work) blend the flour, butter, and powdered sugar.
• When it "comes together as a firm dough" press it into the pan, and spread smooth.
• Bake 12-15 minutes, or until lightly golden. Leave in the tin to cool.

Topping Preparation

• Whisk the eggs in a bowl until frothy.
• Add the sugar, a little at a time, and whisk until fully blended.
• Whisk in the lemon rind, lemon juice, flour, and baking soda.
• Pour over the cookie base, and bake for 20-25 minutes, until set and golden.
• Leave to cool in the pan.
• Once slightly cooled, cut into bars (recipe says 12, I made 36 by doing smaller bites) and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Chocolate Cheesecake Brownies

So apparently people love cheesecake, people love brownies, and people LOVE when the two are combined! Who knew?

This experiment went perfectly. It was like the stars aligned just for me! And it was surprisingly simple, too.

Thanks to treats like this, people at work are constantly asking me now if I'm going to open up my own shop. Maybe I should! It'd be SO fun!
And to be honest, I really don't have any helpful tips on making these! Follow the directions, and you're pretty much set. The one thing I would suggest is letting the butter sit out to room temperature (which the recipe doesn't say to do) because it made the cheesecake mixture a little more lumpy than I felt it should be.

These are SUCH an easy way to impress people, too!
But the recipe calls for it to be put in an 8" cake pan, so you don't get a lot of brownies. You'll definitely have to a) make two batches at once, or b) make small brownies.

I'm getting good at marbling!

Chocolate Cheesecake Brownie Recipe:

• For Cheesecake Mixture
• 1 egg
• 1- 8oz package "full-fat" cream cheese
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1tsp vanilla extract
• For Brownie Mixture
• 4oz dark chocolate (Recipe says "minimum 70% cocoa solids -- I used 60% and it worked fine)
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter (Softened!)
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour

Preparation

• Preheat the oven to 325°
• Line the base/sides of an 8" cake tin with parchment paper, or grease the base/sides.
• Cheesecake mixture -- Beat the egg in a mixing bowl.
• Add the cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla extract. "Beat until smooth and creamy."
• Set bowl aside for later.
• Brownie mixture -- Melt the chocolate and butter together in the microwave, or by using a double-boiler.
• Stir well to mix, and add brown sugar. Mix.
• Add the eggs a little at a time and beat well.
• Gently stir in the flour.
• Spread 2/3 of the brownie mixture over the base of the tin.
• Spread the cheesecake mixture on top. (The easiest was the 'blob' method for me, of putting it down in blobs and then just sort of pushing it around until the brownie was covered.)
• Spoon the remaining brownie mixture (or a LITTLE less, since the brownie seemed to overwhelm the cheesecake a bit) in blobs on top of the cheesecake.
• Using a skewer (or in my case, popsicle stick) swirl together to create a marbled effect.
• Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until just set in the center.
• Do NOT overcook! After about 25 (my oven cooks hot) I checked on it until I was satisfied with it.
• Leave to cool in the tin, and then cut into squares.

And I can't say it enough. These are VERY simple, and VERY impressive. Use it to your advantage if you want to make someone say "Hey, that person is awesome!"

Easter Cookies!

Alright, these weren't an experiment. I put the experiment on hold this week in order to help mom make SEVEN DOZEN cookies! Some go to work with me, some go to work with her, and some go to my lil brother's dorm. And yes, they all get eaten within a week!

This is also the only baking project that I won't share the recipe for. Sorry, Charlie! It's a seeecret reeeciiipeeee *spooky voice*

But you can certainly enjoy the pictures, can't you?

Have a Happy Easter! Or if you don't celebrate Easter, have a happy weekend! Enjoy the sun! Or if it's cloudy where you live... uh... watch this video! It makes me happy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlfKdbWwruY

Actually, EVERYONE should watch this video. Someone showed it to me a week ago and I've watched it five or six times since then!

And sorry that this picture is rotated. I can't fix it, so... tilt your head! (: