How Is This Even Possible?!?!?

PB&C is never bad, right? Wrong. I found this recipe online from a link on yumsugar that led me to here. From the looks of it, these cookies seem very tasty and combine the two most perfect things on earth, foodwise. Unfortunately, this combination of chocolate and peanut butter proved disastrous. The cookies were as easy to make as cookies are, the pre-bake dough taste test received raves from Glenn, but as soon as they came out of the oven they were defeated. They did not taste good warm. I gave them a chance to cool and they did not taste good cooled either. I am chalking this one up to an unfortunate baking event and so life goes on. Just for future reference on what not to bake in case you ever come across this, here is the recipe.

By the way, this recipe won the Pillsbury Bake-Off contest back in the day, 1951. I guess in 1951 they had crappy tastebuds, because this recipe would come in dead last on my scorecard.

Chocolate Nutbutter Cookies

1 1/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup chunky or creamy peanut butter
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
2 eggs
2 cups Pillsbury all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened baking cocoa
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup milk

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Grease a large baking sheet.

Beat sugar, shortening, and peanut butter together in a large bowl with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs and vanilla.


Stir together flour, baking soda, cocoa, and salt in a separate bowl. Gradually mix in the egg mixture and the milk alternating between the two.



Drop the dough by rounded teaspoonfuls onto baking sheet. Flatten cookies slightly with a fork in a criss cross pattern.


Bake for 6-10 minutes (in my oven, 6 minutes was probably a little more done than I like).

Check Out My Double D's.... Cookies That Is

The other interesting recipe we found in the Bon Appetit Magazine was called Deep Dark Chocolate Cookies (Double D, get it?) and it was captioned with "these dense chewy cookies will satisfy even the most intense chocolate craving." They weren't lying. These cookies are very intense and perk you up like a cup of coffee. It probably wouldn't be a bad idea to throw in some espresso and really give these cookies a boost. Coffee always brings out the chocolate flavor a little better even if you can't taste the Joe.

Double D Chocolate Cookies

nonstick vegetable oil spray
1 1/2 cups bittersweet chocolate chips, divided (I used Ghirardelli)
3 large egg whites at room temperature
2 cups powdered sugar, divided
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Spray two large baking sheets with nonstick spray.

Melt 1 cup chocolate chips in glass bowl in microwave, stirring a couple times.

Beat egg whites to soft peaks using an electric mixer.

Beat in 1 cup powdered sugar gradually. Continue beating until mixture resembles soft marshmallow cream.


Whisk 1 cup powdered sugar, cocoa, cornstarch, and salt in a medium bowl to blend.

Beat dry ingredients into meringue on low speed.

Stir in lukewarm chocolate and 1/2 cup chocolate chips. The batter should become stiff. (Mine didn't so I refrigerated it for about 20 minutes.

Scoop out tablespoon sized balls of dough and place on cookie sheet. A cookie scoop works best for this. Space two inches apart on baking sheet.

Bake for about 10 minutes or until tops of cookies are puffy and cracked.

Soda Bread = Better Than Soda Muffins

A while back I made soda bread and Glenn and I really liked it. Glenn always brings me home the Bon Appetit Magazine from work and as he was going through it, he spotted a recipe that intrigued him. This was Giant Soda Muffins. Soda Bread is super easy to make and I figured I could just whip those together while the ice cream was being mixed and the brownies from hell were baking because I only need a bowl and a wooden spoon.

Giant Soda Muffins

nonstick vegetable oil spray
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter at room temperature
1 cup raisins
1 1/4 cups buttermilk
1 large egg

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Spray a jumbo muffin tin (1 cup capacity) with nonstick spray.

Whisk next six ingredients in a large bowl.

Add butter. Using fingertips, blend butter into mixture until it is incorporated and it starts to forms crumbs.

Whisk buttermilk and egg together. Add to dry ingredients and stir to blend.

Spoon batter into muffin cups.

Bake muffins until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 23 minutes.

Remove muffins from pan and cool slightly on rack before serving.

Hell's Brownies

Before I talk about the brownies, I need to talk about the process of making them. I was bored while Glenn was at the game so I decided to finally try the Jalapeño Brownies that I have been pondering lately. I ran to Safeway and picked up some Jalapeños and a Habañero to substitute for the Thai Chilis. Once I got home, I preheated the oven and started prepping. I washed the peppers and cut them into halves and then removed all the seeds... BARE HANDED! Nobody told me you should wear gloves or coat your hands in oil before you mess with peppers. I chopped away and ended up with some beautifully minced peppers. As I finished up with the recipe, my hands felt extra warm, an odd sensation to say the least. I put the brownies in the oven and forgot about everything until I tasted a bit of the ice cream that was being made in my new KitchenAid Ice Cream Maker Attachment, mind you, I used my finger. The first sensation I experienced was bliss, my ice cream was turning out incredibly, but then came the second feeling. Searing pain blazed across my tastebuds rendering me helpless and desperate for milk. After I guzzled my milk, I was awakened to the awful agony surging from my fingertips and radiating from my palms. I figured it would go away, but it didn't. After three hours I was worried, so I went online and found countless home remedies, none of which worked. I gave up trying and sucked it up. The next day, 24 hours later, my hands still hurt. They are still sensitive to extreme temperatures right now, 5 days later, but I can certainly handle that. Moral of the story? Glove your hands if you wanna mess with peppers.

All of that being said, I made the Jalapeño Brownies which were well received by my taste testers Glenn and Becky. I won't even go near them thanks to that awful experience. I also don't like peppers at all, so there's another reason I won't try them. The main problem with the recipe though is that Jalapeños are oily peppers and they made the brownies very difficult to cook, and even after 15 extra minutes of baking time, they were still severely undercooked. I would either use less next time, chop them coarser, or leave em in the oven even longer. If you are a fan of spicy and chocolate, I suggest you try this unexpected combination.

Hell's Brownies

1/2 cup butter
2/3 cup chocolate chips
4 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup cocoa
5 large jalapeños, minced
6-8 thai chilis, minced (I used one Habañero in place of these)
3/4 cup walnuts (I didn't put these in, I hate nuts in brownies)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 13 x 9 baking dish.

Melt butter and chocolate chips together then set aside.


Whisk or beat eggs with salt in a large bowl until foamy


Add sugar and vanilla and beat until well blended. Add chocolate butter mixture and stir just until combined. Add flour and cocoa and mix until almost blended.


Fold in the jalapeños, Thai chilis and nuts.


Transfer batter to prepared pan and bake until top forms a cracked cruse and the inside looks slightly moist, 30 to 35 minutes. (I did this for 50 minutes and it still wasn't done)


Cool and cut into squares.

More Celebration of Peanut Butter Lover's Month

Hooray for more peanut butter! I am going to make myself sick eating all this peanut butter, but who cares. I don't like biscotti and that was the second recipe in my book, so I skipped to the third recipe which was peanut butter cookies. Sounds great to me. Only problem is I start gathering my ingredients and realize that I have a half a stick of butter left. Bummer, that means less cookies. Oh well, I just half the recipe and then throw in some chocolate chips for good measure, and these little beauties are what comes out. They aren't bad or anything, I am just not that impressed. A peanut butter cookie is something to savor, to truly experience, and I am just really picky about them. I want them to be soft and chewy and a tad bit too sweet. I just didn't get that from these, but they were still good. Glenn suggested that next time they be flattened more because one bite is a little too much rich sticky peanut butteryness to handle in your mouth. I am still working on developing a better pb cookie recipe, but this will suffice until it is complete.

By the way, trying to figure out what half of an egg looks like is an interesting task.

PB Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup light brown sugar (I used dark brown because it's yummier)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 egg
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1 cup peanut butter (crunchy is best)
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt

Sift the flour and baking soda together. In a separate bowl, beat the butter and sugars until soft and creamy. Combine the egg, flour mixture, peanut butter, and salt. Add the butter and sugar mixture and mix until smooth.

Wrap the dough in foil or parchment and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, preferably overnight. (I totally skipped this step)

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

Shape the dough into 1 1/4 inch balls and place them 2 inches apart on a baking sheet. Flatten slightly with a fork. Bake 15 minutes, or until golden. (I thought peanut butter was already golden)

Remove from the oven and allow to cool.

Don't Discriminate Against the Shortbread

I have never liked shortbread, it's just so plain to me and it is severely lacking in the chocolate and/or peanut butter department. But when I asked Glenn what I should make yesterday, he suggested just starting at the beginning of my 500 Cookies book and knocking out each recipe, one by one. That first recipe just happened to be shortbread. Incredibly easy and incredibly tasty. Needless to say, I actually like shortbread now... I guess as long as I make it myself. I don't like that shortbread is traditionally extremely dry and crumbly. I prefer a little chew to my cookies.


Scottish Shortbread (I don't understand the Scottish part)

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup + 2 teaspoons sugar
2 tablespoons rice flour (I just used regular flour since I didn't have this specialty kind)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter
Raw sugar for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F and line a 7 x 11 inch pan with aluminum foil. Sift the all purpose flour into a bowl and stir in the rice flour.

Beat the butter and the sugar until smooth. Add the vanilla extract. Work the dough until it starts to clump together, then press it into the pan.

Bake for 45 to 50 minutes. The shortbread will seem to be done before it is, so ensure that it cooks the full 45 minutes (or if you are like me, you completely ignore this warning and do it your own way).

Remove from the oven, sprinkle with the raw sugar, and cut into fingers. Cool for 20 minutes and remove from pan. For an extra tasty treat, dip half of the cookies into melted chocolate.

Is It Supposed to Look Like Brownie Batter?

Well, I got a new cookie cookbook which is super exciting, not that I need anymore, but this one just begged for me. It was so cute and small and lime green and has 500 cookies in it. I had to have it. Anyway, I am flipping through it and I see these cookies that look almost identical to my favorite Chewy Chocolate Supreme cookie at the Great American Cookie Company. I of course had to try it. So I make it, and taste it, and it is delicious, but when I go to drop it by tablespoonfuls on the pan, it looks just like brownie batter, smooth and slightly runny. I go on and attempt to neatly place this runny mess on the cookie pan and stick it in the oven. I second guess myself and decide to add more flour to the cookie dough so it looks more like cookie dough. When I look in the oven, I begin to think that maybe it's going to run onto the bottom of the oven, but thankfully I didn't. It turns out that they actually kinda sorta turned out how they were supposed to, but it was too late and I had already made my changes. Whatever, next time I will give the chocolate more time to cool, and maybe that will help the runnyness of it all.

Chewy Chocolate Cookies

6 oz. bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter
1/3 cup all-purpose flour (I later added an extra 3/4 cups)
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 oz. semisweet chocolate, chopped coarse (i just used 1/2 cup chocolate chips)


Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

Melt the bittersweet chocolate with the butter. Set aside and allow it to cool slightly. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together in a bowl. In another bowl, beat the eggs, sugar, and vanilla extract until thick and pale. Stir the melted chocolate into the egg mixture and then gradually add flour mixture. Stir in chocolate chunks.

Drop tablespoons of mixture onto baking sheets and bake for 8 to 10 minutes. Slide the parchment paper onto wire racks to cool.