No-mixer-needed for Best Chocolate Chip Cookies of all time

St. Patrick’s Day was of course last month, and so I’m a bit delayed on this post from that holiday of the best chocolate chip cookie that my friend Kelly had brought to my attention that weekend (she stumbled across this recipe online and we came to notice if originated from the Food Network Kitchens as well). She had asked me to come over to help bake and munch on some goodies given it was a Friday night. I asked if she needed my Kitchen Aid Mixer, and she said “nope, you don’t need it for this recipe!” I’m sure you just had the same thought as me, “no way, how?” Well it’s true and these stay chewy 4-5 days after you make them. The original recipe calls for unsalted butter and then use salt, but we just used a stick of salted butter and they were so good! Enjoy!

The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies of all time (no mixer needed!)

1 stick butter (salted)

¾ cup packed brown sugar

¾ cup sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla extract

12 oz. bag semi sweet morsels

2 ¼ cup flour

¾ tsp baking soda

**you'll see in my photos some green mint M&M's (we added a few of these for some green color in lieu of St. Patrick's Day) 

·         Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Melt butter in a microwave safe container. While the butter cools, combine flour, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl.

·         Combine butter with remaining ingredients in a large bowl. Be careful not to overmix the wet ingredients! They should be just combined.

·         Stir the chocolate chips into your wet ingredients.

·         Dump dry ingredients into wet ingredients and mix with a wooden spoon. Do not overmix! Again, ingredients should be  just blended. We’ve found that over mixing leads to flat cookies, and when done right, these cookies are dense and fluffy. 

·         Using a cookie scoop, spoon, or your hands, make 1.5-inch balls of dough, and drop them on the cookie sheet.

·         Cook for 10-12 minutes. After removing from oven, allow to cool for 1-2 minutes, and then move to a cooling rack.

Bound for Jersey Shore Blueberries

Summer days in South Jersey consist of day trips (or weekly rentals) down the Jersey shore. Whether you’re headed to Atlantic City, Ocean City, Sea Isle, or one of the exits from 7S, you are sure to pass by the farmer market stands alive with fresh, farm grown fruits, vegetables and flowers. This is actually a “secret” favorite part of my trip. Being able to stop at the stands on the way home from bronzing on the beach all day with friends, and picking out delicious fruits/veggies to bring home and cook with for the week!

My wonderful neighbors spent the day in Ocean City last week and brought me back a pint of beautiful NJ blueberries. So yesterday morning, I looked at the berries staring back at me in the fridge and was like “I’ve got to use every single one of them, why not bake some blueberry muffins for my hubby, drop some off to Sue and Gerry’s, and then I can bring some over to Barb’s house who I was going to see later that day.” The berry that keeps on giving! I took a recipe I had used before and added a special ingredient, honey! I also used some of my leftover bananas and made some peanut butter banana muffins too…I hope my muffins made everyone’s day as I think they may have by the smiles I saw on their faces! See below for the recipe…

Yummy Blueberry muffins with a crusty sugar topping. The blueberries and the buttermilk batter are wonderful together... Quick and easy, made with few ingredients. Remember to use paper liners!!!

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 1 1/4 cups white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups all-purpose flour, divided
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1 pint fresh blueberries - rinsed, drained and patted dry
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 3 tablespoons of honey

Directions

1. Position rack in the middle of oven. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Spray the top of a muffin pan with non-stick coating, and line with paper liners.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, 1 1/4 cups sugar and salt until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Mix together 1 3/4 cup of the flour and baking powder. Beat in the flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk, mixing just until incorporated. Crush 1/4 of the blueberries, and stir into the batter. Stir in the honey. Mix the rest of the whole blueberries with the remaining 1/4 cup of the flour, and fold into the batter. Scoop into muffin cups. Sprinkle tops lightly with sugar.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes, or until golden brown, and tops spring back when lightly tapped.

Some blueberry factoids…

The beautiful, wholesome, and healthy berry is the official state fruit of NJ. South Jersey’s fields are alive with blueberries from June through mid-August. Cultivators harvest about 50 million pounds of berries each year, making the Garden State the second-biggest blueberry producer after Michigan. One cup of blueberries contains 14% DV of fiber 2.41 g per 100g Blueberries are a source of vitamins, minerals, dietary fiber, phenolics, flavonoids, and are very low in fat and sodium!

Some of my favorite local farm markets that I stop at on my way to the AC Expressway…

Stella Farms- 459 New Freedom Road, Berlin, NJ 08009

Mr. Green Jeans-210 S. Route 73, Hammonton, NJ 08037

Gene’s Farm and Garden Center-7317 Black Horse Pike, Mays Landing, NJ 08330

Stumbling across Nutella Lava Cookies

An absolute must of a website to sign up for that I am a total fan of thanks to Miss Kelly, is www.stumbleupon.com. You select things of interest to you and then you select the STUMBLE button and it finds websites of things you may like that you may have never journeyed to while perusing on the world wide web. I’ve found so many great new recipes, blog, and baking sites that I haven’t looked at yet! It’s great! Check it out and add me as a stumbler (my screen name is UNCWkrissyg)

So let’s get to the cookies that my titled  blog post is all about today! If you love chocolate, there’s no doubt in my mind that you love chocolate lava cakes too. You know, the ooey gooey dessert you have to order at a restaurant when you order your dinner so they have enough time to prepare/bake it with the gooey lava chocolaty center? I found this great recipe online at Kirbie’s Cravings , using Stumbleupon, and decided to try them out on Sunday after a stressful weekend of handling Anthony’s car accident he was in. Cookies always make insurance calls, claims, and bumps and  bruises that much better J

These cookies are very easy to make, especially if you have a Kitchen Aid mixer handy. The dough will seem a bit tough when rolling into the ball shapes but believe me when I say they are the most richest and choclatey cookies you will ever taste! Next time I may add some peanut butter and/or Fluff  for the filling so I have a variety of my favorites!

Chocolate Nutella Lava Cookies

§  1 cup butter

§  1¼ cup sugar

§  2 large eggs

§  ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder

§  2¼ cups all-purpose flour

§  ¼ tsp. salt

§  1 tsp. baking powder

§  1 1/2 cups large semi-sweet chocolate chips

§  nutella for filling

1.       Preheat the oven to 350F.

2.       Line baking sheets with parchment paper ( or silicone baking mat). Cream the butter and sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Blend in the eggs one at a time, scraping down the bowl as needed. Mix in the cocoa powder at low speed until well blended.

3.       Add the flour, salt and baking powder to the bowl and mix on low speed just until incorporated. Stir in the chocolate chips.

4.       Scoop up about 2 tablespoons of dough and roll into a ball. Flatten the ball in the palm of your hand and put in about 1/2 tbsp of nutella in the middle of the dough. Then wrap the edges around to form a ball and to cover the nutella completely. Place on the prepared baking sheets, and repeat process, placing balls about 2 inches apart. Bake about 13-16 minutes, until cookies are cooked and slide easily off of parchment paper. Serve while warm.

  

Blog source: Kirbie's Cravings

Chocolate cookie recipe source: Annie's Eats 

...and guess who joined in the kitchen with the Basil Bee as sous chef/baker while baking these cookies? Miss Hailey Bee!!!

Double Peanut Butter Paisley Brownies

Happy Summer my fellow Basil Bee bloggers! So circa this past Christmas, I received a chocolate lovers recipe book from my Director, Davina at work… Hershey's Recipe Collection in 5-Ring Binder

I have been so busy with our wedding back in February and renovation of our home that I just haven’t had much time to bake, but the time came the week of Allison’s Bridal shower! We (the Bridesmaids) needed something a little extra to go with her bridal shower cake so I volunteered to make these brownie bars. When I went to reach up for the book off my new shelf in the kitchen I swear the book talked and signed ‘Ahhhhh finally!” …The recipe was really easy and if you have a Kitchen Aid mixer, even easier! The chocolate syrup added the gooeyness to it and they were a huge hit at the party! Add a glass of milk with this and you’re in for a real treat! Enjoy!

Skill Level: Intermediate

Prep Time: 15 Minutes

Ingredients

·         1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine, softened

·         1/4 cup REESE'S Creamy Peanut Butter

·         1 cup granulated sugar

·         1 cup packed light brown sugar

·         3 eggs

·         1 teaspoon vanilla extract

·         2 cups all-purpose flour

·         2 teaspoons baking powder

·         1/4 teaspoon salt

·         1-2/3 cups (10-oz. pkg.) REESE'S Peanut Butter Chips

·         1/2 cup HERSHEY'S Syrup

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease 13x9x2-inch baking pan. 

2.       Beat butter and peanut butter in large bowl. Add sugar and brown sugar; beat well. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Blend in vanilla. 

3.        Stir together flour, baking powder and salt; mix into peanut butter mixture, blending well. Stir in peanut butter chips. Spread half of batter into prepared pan; spoon syrup over top. Carefully top with remaining batter; swirl with metal spatula or knife for marbled effect. 

4.       Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Cut into squares. About 36 brownies.

Peanutbananafluff Dessert Panini

Ant and I had Panini's one night for dinner and since I had the Panini maker already out, when it came to dessert, I decided to try something new using pantry staples of some of his favorite things...


Ingredients

•  2 slices of cinnamon raisin bread
• 1 banana sliced
• Peanut butter
• Butter
• Fluff

Directions:

• Spread small slither of butter on one side of each slice, butter side down.
• Spread peanut butter on one slice and top with sliced banana
• Spread Fluff on other slice of bread and put that on top of the banana slice to make a sandwich
• Lay onto Panini maker and shut it for 3-4 minutes until toasted and everything starts to melt
• slice in half and you have a taste of dessert goodness for your night capper!