Double Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

These cookies are a deep, dark chocolate with more chocolate chips for the person that loves, well, chocolate. They’re almost brownie-like and super delicious! I made these for the first time for the 4^thof July, kind of the opposite of what I traditionally think of a Summer dessert – not light or airy or fully of berries, but deeply chocolatey. And, sometimes you just need a little (or a lot) of chocolate. These cookies are a great make-ahead for the holidays as they freeze well.

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cook time: 10-11 minutes

Ingredients (Adapted from Pioneer Woman's Triple Chocolate Cookies)

2 ½ sticks butter, softened

2 cups granulated sugar

2 large eggs

1 Tablespoon vanilla extract

2 ¼ cups AP flour

¾ cups unsweetened cocoa powder (I like Hershey’s special dark cocoa powder)

1 ½ teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 ½ cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Instructions

Preheat oven to 325*F.

Add butter to a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Beat for 2-3 minutes until pale yellow and fluffy. Add sugar, beat 2 minutes until fluffy. Scrape the sides of the bowl. Add eggs, one at a time. Add vanilla, salt, and baking powder.

Slowly add cocoa powder to prevent it from coming out of the mixing bowl. Add flour slowly. Add chocolate chips. Mix until just combined.

Use a medium-sized cookie scoop or 1 1/2 Tablespoon of dough to portion cookies and place on a baking sheet sprayed with nonstick cooking spray.

Bake for 10-11 minutes. Let cool and enjoy!

This cookie dough freezes well. Simply scoop cookies onto a baking tray lined with foil and sprayed with cooking spray. Freeze for 50-60 minutes. Remove from tray and place in a zip-top freezer bag. Label with baking time and temperature. These should last about 3 months in the freezer. To bake frozen dough, let cookie dough defrost in the fridge for 12-24 hours. Then, bake at 325*F for 10-11 minutes.

For more tips, encouragement, and recipes for a healthy lifestyle, you can follow me on Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, and Twitter. 

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Valentine's Dessert Ideas

Happy Valentine's Day! February is known the month of love, and you know I love to celebrate. Valentine's Day is a great opportunity to celebrate and spend time with the person you love. I have plenty of dinner ideas to celebrate and help you make a great menu.

But, you don't have to make a huge meal to celebrate. Pick something to make or bake. Share it with your loved ones: family, friends, co-workers, or your Galentines! Here are some of make favorite desserts to make and share.

Browned Butter Salted Cereal Bars

Ginger Cookies 

 Layered Cake with Fruit Filling
Here are some tips for decorating layered cakes.

 Blueberry Thyme Crisp

 Individual Vanilla Soufflé

 Blackberry Crostata

 Vanilla Bean Panna Cotta topped with Berries

 Strawberry Shortcake with Homemade Whipped Cream

 Sugar Cookie Decorating

You're the only one I "sea."

Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter and Nutella Buttercream

If you can't choose one treat, make a few and set up a dessert bar. Share with the ones you love.

Dessert bars are a great way to entertain. It would be such a fun idea to host a dessert potluck. Have everyone bring one dessert or fruit and send everyone home with the extra as a party favor.

For more recipes, encouragement, and tips for healthy eating, follow me on Pinterest, Instagram, and Twitter. 

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Dessert Bar

Rice Cereal Bars

Recently, my family and I were invited to a friend's house; she prepared a delicious dinner for our family and hers. After dinner, she announced that she made salted cereal treats. They were such a delicious surprise that everyone, toddlers and adults, enjoyed!

 
I was thinking about treats for the holiday season and for entertaining. I'm always searching for recipes that are quick, easy, and delicious. It's the recipe trifecta! It's an added bonus when adult and kids request recipes.

Did you grow up eating cereal treats? They're the marshmallow covered cereal bars. I was inspired to create a "grown-up" version of this dessert. Salty and sweet desserts are very popular. Salt helps balance the sweetness of the marshmallow. Also, I've been on a browned butter kick recently, so I browned the butter for these. They turned out super tasty! If you're unfamiliar with browned butter, don't worry. Keep reading, and I'll explain.

Ingredients

1 stick (8 Tablespoons) unsalted butter

6 cups rice cereal

1, 10 ounce bag of mini marshmallows

1/8 teaspoon kosher salt

Sprinkles (optional) - I used navy, light blue, and white stars.

Equipment
Nonstick cooking spray

Wax paper
8 x 13 pan
Cutting board
Chef's knife

Directions

Measure all ingredients. Have them prepared and ready to go. This process is called "mis en place." It's super helpful for this recipe because you need every ready to go.

Prepare an 8 x 13 baking pan by lining the bottom with waxed paper. Spray the pan with nonstick cooking spray. I used a canola oil spray.

Start by placing 1 stick (8 Tablespoons) butter into a large pot. Heat on medium heat. Stir the butter consistently until the color turns to a caramel color, and it smells nutty.

Add salt. Then, add all the mini marshmallows.  

Stir marshmallows until they are melted and smooth. Turn off heat.

Add cereal treats, and stir until coated. Pour the cereal treats into your lined 8 x 13 inch pan. Let the cereal treats set until cool for 15 minutes. Turn treats out onto a cutting board. Spray a knife with cooking spray, which helps cut the sticky treats more easily. Cut into 16 pieces.

I really enjoyed making  . . . and eating these browned butter treats. The browned butter gives a caramelized, nutty almost smoky taste, which offsets the sweetness of the treats. The salt helps balance the sweetness. To me, these taste like a salted caramel cereal treat. This dessert is quick, easy and tasty! It's everything I want in a dessert. I hope you enjoy this dessert and share it with your friends!

For more recipes, encouragement, and tips for healthy eating, follow me on Pinterest, Instagram, and Twitter. 

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Football Food for Entertaining

It's Super Bowl week! Americans love football, and football food is a big deal. So, I'm sharing some of my favorite foods for entertaining. These are great recipes to feed a crowd. Click on the recipes below to build a tasty and easy menu for the Super Bowl!

Easy Empanadas

Jalapeno Chicken Sliders

Hummus

Chicken Cordon Bleu Sliders

aka grown-up ham and cheese

Rice Cereal Bars

Brownie Football Bites
mini brownies toped with cream cheese icing

These recipes are easy to make and are great for feeding a crowd. Each of these recipes makes food that is easy to eat; no utensils needed. Try these recipes. Invite friends over. And, enjoy!

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Browned Butter Cereal Treats

Recently, my family and I were invited to a friend's house; she prepared a delicious dinner for our family and hers. After dinner, she announced that she made browned butter cereal treats. They were such a delicious surprise that everyone, toddlers and adults, enjoyed!

I was thinking about treats for the holiday season, that grown-ups and kids would enjoy. And, her "grown-up" cereal treats inspired this Fall version. Here's the recipe for my brown butter salted candy corn cereal treats.

Ingredients

1 stick (8 Tablespoons) unsalted butter

6 cups rice cereal

1, 10 ounce bag of mini marshmallows

1/8 teaspoon kosher salt

Food coloring (optional) - I used golden yellow and burgundy get food coloring.

Nonstick cooking spray

Wax paper

Measure all ingredients. Have them prepared and ready to go. This process is called "mis en place." It's super helpful for this recipe because you need every ready to go.

Prepare 2, 9-inch round baking pans by lining the bottom with waxed paper. Spray both pans with nonstick cooking spray. I used a canola oil spray.

Start by placing 1 stick (8 Tablespoons) butter into a large pot. Heat on medium heat. Stir the butter consistently until the color turns to a caramel color, and it smells nutty.

Add salt. Then, add all the mini marshmallows.  

Stir marshmallows until they are melted and smooth. Turn off heat.



Add cereal treats and stir until coated. Take two, 1/4 cup scoops from the mixture. Add one scoop to the middle of each pan.

Color the remaining cereal with yellow food coloring. Remove approximately 1 1/2 cups of the cereal treats from the pot to add to each pan in a larger ring around the white cereal treats. Note: If you spray your hands with the non-stick spray, it is easier to handle the sticky cereal treats.

Color the remaining cereal with red food coloring to change the color from yellow to orange. Divide the orange cereal between the two pans. Make a large ring round the yellow cereal treats to completely fill the bottom of the pan.

So, you should have three circles. The small white circle, the medium yellow ring, and the largest orange ring. These colors mimic the colors of candy corn.

Let the cereal treats set until cool. Turn treats out onto a cutting board covered with wax paper. Spray a knife with cooking spray, which helps cut the sticky treats more easily. Cut each round into eight piece. Enjoy!

I really enjoyed making and eating these browned butter treats. The browned butter gives a caramelized almost smoky taste, which offsets the sweetness of the treats. The saltiness cuts through and compliments the sweetness. To me, these taste like salted caramel cereal treats. I hope you enjoy this treat!

This is a quick and delicious sweet any time of the year. Feel free to omit the food coloring and serve plain.

For more recipes, encouragement, and tips for healthy eating, follow me on Pinterest, Instagram, and Twitter. 

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State of My Goals Address: July Edition

As promised, I am sharing updates on my goals and 2016 resolutions in the state of my goals address. You can take a look at my 2016 goals and my thoughts on goals and resolutions. Sharing these goals is a way to keep me accountable and help me to improve, grow, and learn. People who share their goals tend to be more successful. So, I'm sharing the goals here to encourage you and to keep me accountable. You're welcome to comment with your goals and share your progress as well. Feel free to tag your goals with #RDTODgoals or #healthyRD on social media.

2016 Goals

Try 30 new recipes. 

In July, I tried a few new recipes including:

• Sprinkle Cake with browned butter 
• It was fun to practice some of the leveling and icing skills that I learned at my first cake decorating class. The sprinkle cake was more crumbly than the cake we used in class, but it was delicious!

• Sugar cookies

• Scallops with a lemon orange gastric 

• Royal Icing

• Cake balls 
• This was my first attempt at cake balls. They are a bit messy; I learned a lot. They are far from perfect, but they were delicious!

For those keeping track, this makes my new recipe count 26 out of 30.

Build endurance and strength.
I'm still loving my weight lifting class. I also restarted Zumba. I danced in high school and love to dance. I found an instructor that I like taking class from, so yay for cardio!

image from amazon.com

Read more.
I read Playing with Fire by Bianca Olthoff. You can read my review of Playing with Fire from my July favorites. The book is available for pre-order. Please note that I was able to get an early copy of the book, since I was a part of the book launch team.

For those keeping track, my book count is 5 in 2016.

Learn something new.
I took a break from cooking classes this month. Instead, I took a cookie decorating class. My first attempt at icing cookies with royal icing did not go smoothly. So, I was excited to learn some tips and tricks for cookie decorating and working with royal icing. Stay tuned for my class review.

I practiced making pasta with my pasta KitchenAid attachment. My husband surprised me with the pasta roller as a half birthday present; so nice! I've practiced making pasta with friends. It's so nice to have friends help you make pasta. It's great to have two or more pairs of hands. And, it's nice to have people to visit when you make tortellini because it takes time to make homemade pasta.

Travel.

There was no big travel this month. But, we have some travel plans later this year. So, stay tuned!

These are my broad goals for 2016. What goals are you working on in 2016?
Comment below. I would love to hear your goals and progress.

For more recipes, encouragement, and tips for healthy eating, follow me on Pinterest, Instagram, and Twitter. 

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