Chocolate Chip Candy Cane Cookies

Christmas has come and gone, so has New Years...now you're exhausted and maybe a little blue that the holidays are over. Well, if you have leftover candy canes, which I am almost certain you do, then these cookies should help you be a little less blue. They're crunchy and minty, just festive enough to round out this holiday season! 

Chocolate Crackles

 I remember the first time I ever made chocolate crackles, I was in Florida at my grandparent's condo. I had seen the recipe in a magazine on the flight down. I have this "tradition" that when I fly, I always buy a few magazines for the flight. And I remember (or at least I think I can remember this correctly) this was an US Weekly Magazine and the recipe was from Lauren Conrad. Now, this was probably around seventh or eighth grade, so anything Lauren Conrad had to be good, even now she's pretty awesome...her wardrobe!

I am pretty sure the recipe I used the first time I made chocolate crackles used oil and my mom was all about how these would be great because they didn't have too much fat. She really wanted me to make these and well I did. Years, later I don't know where that original recipe is, but I have created my own! Unfortunatley fortunately, they are made with butter!

 Chocolate Crackles

Ingredients:

½ Cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

¼ Cup (½ stick) unsalted butter, softened

1 Cup sugar

1 Large egg

¼ teaspoon mint extract

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 ¼ Cup flour

¼ Cup cocoa powder

¼ Cup milk

Powdered sugar for rolling

Directions:

1.     In a large microwave safe bowl, melt chocolate chips and butter at 30-second intervals, about 2-3 times. Stir in sugar. Then stir in sugar and mint extract.

2.     Gently stir in baking powder, salt, flour, and cocoa powder. Mix in milk.

3.     Refrigerate dough for at least 30 minutes, preferably 1 to 2 hours.

4.     When ready to bake, pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F. Place powdered sugar in a small bowl.

5.     Scoop cookie dough with a small cookie dough scoop. Shape dough into a ball, roll in powdered sugar and place on cookie sheet. Bake for 12-13 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes on baking sheets.

Recipe By Molly

Print Recipe Here

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Skillet Cookie

I don't if I have shared this factoid with you, but when it comes to certain things I am kind of a germaphobe. And I find this buzzfeed article quite relatable (except for #12 and #16) and HILARIOUS.  So, what does my germaphobe confession have to do with this recipe? Well, it may take me a minute to get to that, but by then I think you will see the connection.

 Now the secret to a great cast iron skillet is it being well "seasoned". I had no idea what "seasoning" for a cast iron skillet was, so I looked it up. And basically, seasoning is when the pores in your skillet absorb oil/grease when the pan is heated. In order to maintain your seasoning, you need to keep your cast iron skillet as far way from the dish soap and dishwasher as possible because the harsh detergents strip the accumulated oil and grease from your skillet. Here is the germaphobe connection How do you wash your cast iron skillet you ask? In short you don't...at least not with soap and water. Instead you scrub your pan with a paper towel and some salt, which acts as an abrasive to remove cooked on food bits. After scrubbin' and saltin' your pan, you can rinse your skillet with JUST WATER and then quickly dry. To store, place a dishcloth over the skillet and cover if you have one (I don't).  To a germaphobe, this may seem repulsive because WHERE'S THE SOAP TO DISINFECT, well you don't need soap to disinfect! Salt "disinfects" the pan because salt kills germs, ever put salt on a slug? Proof is in the slug pudding. Also the pan is being used in the oven, meaning it is exposed to extreme temperatures, which also kill germs. If that isn't enough for you, then just don't cook meat in your pan, instead make delicious skillet cookies, and what do you know, I have a recipe for one right below!! 

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Skillet Cookie

Ingredients:

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 cup all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon salt

pinch of cinnamon, optional

1 cup old-fashioned oats

1 cup mini chocolate chips (plus more for sprinkling over the top)

1 stick (½ cup) unsalted butter, softened

1 cup demerara sugar (or packed brown sugar)

1 egg

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions:

1.     Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray 10-inch skillet or 9-inch baking dish with non-stick spray.

2.     In a medium bowl, combine baking powder, flour, salt, cinnamon, old-fashioned oats, and chocolate chips. Set aside.

3.     In the bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, beat butter for 1-2 minutes until soft. Add in sugar and beat until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. With the mixer on low, add in egg and vanilla extract, mixing until combined.

4.     Reduced the speed of the mixer, and slowly add in dry ingredients, increase speed just a bit, mixing until just combined.

5.     Transfer batter to prepared pan. Sprinkle extra chocolate chips on top if using. Bake for 30-35 minutes, the edges should be golden-brown and the middle should be starting to set.

Recipe by Molly Bakelette (YAY!!! MY FIRST ORIGINAL RECIPE HAPPY DANCE TIME)

Printer Friendly Recipe Here

You made it all the way through and are still reading! Go you! Bakelette really loves you now (I feel like that is something Elmo would say...)! Anyways, would you like me to do some how to posts? I have had a few ideas for some. I could start with seasoning/clean your cast iron skillet? Thoughts? 

Pumpkin Honey Cornbread

Most people make cornbread from those little boxes found in supermarkets everywhere. Well I have this strange but vivid memory from when I was younger about those little boxes. I remember that I was making cornbread with my mom and I had opened the box and poured its contents in a bowl. Well, to my surprise there was a dead fly in it! Yuck! I have since tried to avoid those little boxes, but last year caved and tried the apple cinnamon muffins (no flies were found)! It probably was a freak accident that I got a bad box, I am prone to things like this. Anyways, back to cornbread, homemade cornbread is so delicious, while the boxed mixes are often dry and chalky.

Cornbread is a great addition to chili and other hearty meals, but it can also be a horrible if it is too dry and crumbly. Cornbread should be moist and have a delightfully dense crumb, you should not need to grab your nearest glass of water and gulp it down. 

This cornbread is perfectly moist and not too sweet, it is the perfect combination of honey, corn meal and pumpkin. I believe that using local raw honey made all the difference, you are able to taste the honey throughout the cake even though only one tablespoon is used! And if you are anything like me you will drizzle even more honey on top! 

 This cornbread will be making an appearance on my Thanksgiving table spread! You should make it part of your Thanksgiving celebration too! I can't make you make this, but I am telling you that you MUST make this as you will be completely addicted and may want to forgo the rest your Thanksgiving sides! Just kidding...maybe.

Clearly, I thoroughly enjoyed eating this while taking pictures!
The entire pan was gone in less than 24 hours....

Enjoy!
Molly
Happy Thanksgiving!
Do you have any new recipes that you will be adding to your Thanksgiving table spread?

Pumpkin Honey Cornbread 
Ingredients
1/4 cup melted butter, unsalted
1/3 cup white granulated sugar
1 TBS honey (local raw is best)
1 egg
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup pure pumpkin puree
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 F, grease or spray with cooking spray an 8 or 9 in. round baking dish.
In a medium bowl, stir together the sugar, butter and honey. Whisk in the egg, then whisk in the baking soda, buttermilk and pumpkin.
In a separate bowl mix together the salt, flour and cornmeal. Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients, stir ONLY until the flour has disappeared.
Pour the batter in the prepared baking dish and bake for 25 minutes, the top should be golden brown and a toothpick should come out clean when inserted. If toothpick does not come out clean, bake for five more minutes.

An original recipe from The Comfort of Cooking

Also don't forget to follow me on Instagram!

Blueberry Boy Bait

The story goes that a young girl once entered a recipe similar to this into the Pillsbury Baking Competition! Although she only took second place, her lovely story has lived on! She named her confection Blueberry Boy Bait because of its ability to have boys swooning over her! Now if only my baked goods had boys swooning for me...I have had two off-the-cuff marriage proposals after sharing my cookies! I guess that counts as swooning? Right? Only these have so far not panned out, but anyways on with the food!

This recipe makes a delightful complement to your breakfast or brunch, and will not have you stressing about whether or not it is too difficult to pull off! It is "easy peasy lemon squeezy"!

One of my favorite aspects of this recipe is subtle crunch and hint of flavor given by the cinnamon-sugar mixture that is sprinkled over the top of batter! I would have never thought of putting cinnamon and blueberries together! The next time that I make this recipe I plan to add a touch of vanilla extract. I could not believe the recipe did not call for vanilla, but I decided to try it without. While it was delicious without the vanilla, I think the vanilla would really push this over the edge and make it superb!

Do you have any go-to ingredients that you seem to put in EVERYTHING? For my mom it is cinnamon, she puts it in all sorts of things. I really like to use vanilla!


Blueberry Boy Bait 
Ingredients For Cake:

• 1 Cup plus one TBS all-purpose flour
• 1 Cup plus two TBS cake flour
• 1 TBS baking powder
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1 Cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
• 3/4 Cup light brown sugar
• 1/2 Cup sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1/3 Cup skim milk
• 2/3 Cup Chobani Vanilla Greek Yogurt
• 1 Cup Fresh of Frozen Blueberries

Ingredients for Topping:

• 1/2 Cup Fresh or Frozen Blueberries
• 1 tsp Cinnamon 
• 3 TBS sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Butter and flour a 13x9 baking dish. 
2. In a medium sized bowl whisk together the cake flour, 1 cup of the all-purpose flour, baking powder and salt. Set this aside. 
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer beat together the butter and sugars until light and airy. Beat in the eggs, make sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl to ensure everything is incorporated. In a separate bowl mix together the yogurt and milk. 
4. Reduce speed and alternate mixing in the milk/yogurt mixture and the flour mixture until evenly incorporated. 
5. In a separate bowl stir the blueberries with the remaining tablespoon of flour. Then gently mix the blueberries into the batter. 
6. Spread the batter into the prepare pan. Then sprinkle the blueberries and cinnamon-sugar mixture over the top of the batter.
7. Bake 45-60 minutes, or until cake bounce back when poked, and/or a cake tester comes out clean. Cool for 20 minutes in the pan, then transfer with the topping side up to a serving dish (I just left it in the pan overnight until picture time!). 
8. Wait for your bait to lure the boys! Or you can eat half before you can even take pictures...

Enjoy,
Molly
Recipe Adapted From Smitten Kitchen

Flour's Banana Bread

In the past two weeks, my life has gone from zero to sixty to about 100 million! So again I am very sorry that I am not yet able to post on a regular basis, hopefully I will come fall! Also I have had these pictures on my computer for a while, I just have not been able to get around to writing the posting. Finally, here I am writing this...so here goes!
Today I have a delicious banana (I credit Gwen Stefani with teaching me how to spell banana :D, but I ain't  no hollback girl!) bread from my favorite Flour Cookbook. The version I made for the photos below was not my best, I think my bananas were WAY overripe, they were like liquid it was disgusting! Anyways when used with slightly overripe bananas, this is the best banana bread I have had...EVER! Of course Joanne's version is fab, but I felt it necessary to add a smidgen of my sugar n' spice and by that I mean more vanilla and cinnamon!

Flour's Famous Banana Bread 

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup plus 2 TBS sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 1 1/3 cup mashed bananas (about 3 1/2 ripe bananas)
• 2 TBS sour cream
• 3 tsp vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup of toasted walnuts (optional) 

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 325F and butter a loaf pan (9 by 5). 
2. Sift and set aside the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. 
3. Beat the eggs and sugar until light and fluffy (about 5 minutes on medium). 
4. While on low speed, slowly add in the oil (if done too fast you will lose all the air in the batter). Add the bananas, sour cream and vanilla, mix until just combined. 
5. Fold the flour mixture and nuts into the wet ingredients. Make sure there are no flour streaks, then pour batter into prepared pan. 
6. Bake for an hour to an hour and fifteen minutes. It should be golden brow and bounce back when poked. Let the bread cool for thirty minutes in the pan before popping it out. 

Enjoy!
Molly

So...its been a while...err here is some Swedish Visiting Cake

Okay, okay I am so sorry, but that is no excuse for the fact that this past month has gone by like snap of the fingers (cue actual snap)! It has been a crazy busy month for me, in general it has been a weird summer. Anyone agree? It has just flown by and I am so not ready for it to end, well to help cope with our end of summer sadness-sniffle,sniffle- here is a delightfully delicate Swedish visiting cake. It has hints of lemon, almond and vanilla! This cake is the perfect accompaniment to breakfast or just to eat anytime, I chose the latter. 

Enjoy,

Molly

Swedish Visiting Cake

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup (one stick) unsalted butter- melted and cooled, additional butter needed for pan
• 1 cup of sugar, plus additional to sprinkle on top
• zest of one lemon 
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp almond extract
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup of sliced almonds (whichever you prefer)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F, then butter a 9in round pan (you may use a seasoned cast iron skillet if you have one). 
2. Combine the sugar and lemon zest in a medium bowl, mix with your fingers until fragrant and the lemon zest is evenly distributed.
3. Add the eggs one at a time, whisking until just combined after each addition. 
4. Stir in the flour, then fold in the melted butter. 
5. Pour batter into prepared pan, smooth the top then sprinkle with almonds and sugar.
6. Bake for 25-30 minutes, cake is done when the edges are golden brown and beginning to pull away from the pan. 

Original Recipe from Bella Eats

Delicious and Rich Chocolate Birthday Cake

I jump at any opportunity to bake, so realizing my Dad's birthday was approaching I knew I had to find a great recipe to celebrate. Once again I found myself looking through the Flour Cookbook (I highly recommend it!) for a chocolatey recipe per my father's request! So I decided on the "Midnight Chocolate Cake", in the book it was paired with a milk chocolate buttercream frosting, but that recipe alone called for six sticks of butter!!! I couldn't bring myself to use that much butter for the icing on the cake if you will! Instead I paired the cake with Hershey's Perfectly Dark Chocolate Frosting! My own spin on the cake was fabulous and regarded as "one of the best birthday cakes EVER!"
When it came time to frost I was running a little short so I decided to not frost the sides of the cakes, which added a welcome casual feel to the cake! Find any opportunity you can so that you can make this cake, it so moist and delicious...even days later (yes I am still enjoying it!).

(the lighting was prettier in reality than through the camera lens, it was natural light through a lacy curtain) 

Because of copyright...I am going to put up the recipes for the Hershey's Cake and Frosting, I am still trying to figure out if I am able to post recipes from a cookbook, do any of you know the answer? The Hershey's one is excellent I have made it before- and the recipes are very similar, the only real difference seems to be that Flour uses butter, while Hershey's uses oil!

Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Cake 

"

• 2 cups sugar
• 1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup boiling water
• "PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE" CHOCOLATE FROSTING (recipe follows)

Directions

1. 1 Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 9-inch round baking pans.
   
2. 2 Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared pans.
   
3. 3 Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. Frost with "PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE" CHOCOLATE FROSTING. 10 to 12 servings.
   
   VARIATIONS:
   ONE-PAN CAKE: Grease and flour 13x9x2-inch baking pan. Heat oven to 350° F. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake 35 to 40 minutes. Cool completely. Frost.
   
   THREE LAYER CAKE: Grease and flour three 8-inch round baking pans. Heat oven to 350°F. Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake 30 to 35 minutes. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. Frost.
   
   BUNDT CAKE: Grease and flour 12-cup Bundt pan. Heat oven to 350°F. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake 50 to 55 minutes. Cool 15 minutes; remove from pan to wire rack. Cool completely. Frost.
   
   CUPCAKES: Line muffin cups (2-1/2 inches in diameter) with paper bake cups. Heat oven to 350°F. Fill cups 2/3 full with batter. Bake 22 to 25 minutes. Cool completely. Frost. About 30 cupcakes.
   
   
   "PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE" CHOCOLATE FROSTING
   
   1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine
   2/3 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
   3 cups powdered sugar
   1/3 cup milk
   1 teaspoon vanilla extract
   
   Melt butter. Stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating to spreading consistency.
   Add small amount additional milk, if needed. Stir in vanilla. About 2 cups frosting."- Copied from http://www.hersheys.com/recipes/recipe-details.aspx?id=184