The Best Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

Today I went to cycle fit (or some people call it spin class). I have been going since January once or twice a week. Its is a major cardio workout. Every time I tell Gary I have never sweat so much in my life. Except that one hot yoga class. That takes sweating to a whole new level. I was literally drenched.

I know. This is totally the best way to start a cookie post...talking about sweat. Appetizing.

The thing is, I need to work out. Often. Daily if possible.

I also bake daily. That means I eat baking daily. Spin Class is necessary.

True life.

I am soo tempted to make croissants right this moment. It is an all day commitment. And I don't even like croissants.

I just drank 20 ounces of chai tea and ate two of these cookies, and an apple dipped in natural peanut butter. I am a snacker. Speaking of snacking, I totally need to go to Trader Joes asap. They have the best snacks eveeerr.

The Best Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

(Based on Oatmeal, Chocolate Chip and Pecan Cookies from Smitten Kitchen)

1/2 cup softened butter or margarine

3/4 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed

1 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla

2 large eggs

1 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 cups quick-cooking oatmeal

1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

1) Cream butter and sugar together till light

2) Add salt, vanilla and eggs and mix for three minutes scraping down the sides of the bowl after one minutes

3) Mix flour and baking soda together. Add half the flour and mix till combined. When just combined, add the rest of the flour.

4) Stir in oats and chocolate chips.

5) Roll into heaping tablespoon sized balls and place on parchment lined cookie sheets.

6) Bake in a 350 degree oven. Bake for 10-15 minutes ( mine were perfect after 12 minutes) . Let cool 2-4 minutes on the cookie sheet then cool completely on wire racks.

Options: Add nuts (2cups, decrease oatmeal to 1 cup), Add orange zest ( 2 tsps), Add 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp nutmeg, 1/8 tsp cloves with the flour. Doing all these additions will create the same cookies found on Smitten Kitchen. I prefer mine much more plain so I didn't do any of them!



When "Bake Zucchini Cake" is on Your To-Do List, Your Bound to Get at Least One Thing Done

I need lists. I am probably the biggest procrastinator you know. I can waste too much time on Facebook, Pinterest , and blogs that I get nothing done for hours!

So I make lists. Every morning while I eat breakfast and check Facebook, I make my list of things that need doing that day. Usually there is at least one house cleaning item, dinner, some yard work and some impossible task that getting written down day after day and never actually gets done. ie. paint the living room, clean the fridge, go to the bottle depot ( I hate going to the bottle depot...is like...wahoo I am going to bring in all these bottles and cans I have been saving all this time and get some money and then I can feel awesome...and then you go and empty out the sticky bags and take all the lids off the bottles and sort all the different sizes and then bring them up to the counter and they ring it through..."and you get $4.67 back today, don't spend it all in one place!" gee...thanks...)  . Anyways, that was a little side note.

So yesterday I started my day by making a list...

 Yeah, its messy...but really who else was supposed to read it? For about 30 seconds I considered making a nice neat one and fakin' it for the picture...but this is real life. 

I like how I felt the need to clarify that I only "sort of" needed groceries. Meaning, of course, that I only needed eggs and cinnamon sticks. 

By the end of the day, I had completed all of the things on my list except cleaning the upstairs bathroom, and reprocessing my unsealed pears. 

I did find it funny that I added "Bake zucchini cake" to the list. Because really...since when did I need to remind myself to bake? It probably would be better if I forgot once in a while. Haha..not likely. 

Anyways, I made the zucchini cake. This was my second time and my oh my..its just so tasty. Just a little chocolatey, and a little zucchini-y and perfectly soft and tender and moist and really really great for breakfast. (But really, what cake isn't?)  Um on the topic of eating cake for breakfast, just the other day, somebody was quite shocked that pie is a regular breakfast item at my (and my parents!) house. I think I have a dessert problem. 

Ugh I keep getting off topic! So I made the cake. And its really really good. And you should totally make it. 

This is what it looks like. Kinda plain, I know. The actual recipe says to top it with chocolate chips, but you know me..always trying to cut down on the sugar, so I left them out. 

Actually I just forgot. And I found it totally tasty this way. 

This recipe I found through Tasty Kitchen  and is actually from another girl/lady's blog, so when that happens I don't generally like to post the recipe on my blog. So here is the LINK . I have not spent too much time on this blog yet, but it looks interesting! She even took step by step pictures! Yay. :) 

Checkerboard Cake

So I am just going to start this off by letting you know that over the next 6 weeks or so my posting ability is going to be quite limited. Or I should say, I think it might be.

I may have mentioned before that my grandparents own a produce-store-that-actually-sells-everything store. And because they sell everything, of course they have a bit of a home baking operation going on. There is a great lady who has been doing the baking (in my grandmas certified kitchen) for 14 years!
14! FYI that is a long time.
Anyways, she broke something in her hand about a week ago and will be wearing a cast for 6 weeks. Obviously somebody has to step in a bake the pies and the bread and the sweet loafs and the cinnamon buns and the muffins and the cookies. Naturally, I offered. So last week I spent 2 days in the kitchen with the broken hand baker and she taught me the ropes. Basically, she doesn't use recipes...and is super woman and can work harder and faster then anyone I know.

I think the whole time she was probably shaking her head at me as my pie dough ripped or my loafs got stuck in the pan or I spill flour/sugar/raspberries/etc. on the floor.
Anyways, I think I can do it, and I think it could be fun. I look forward to when I can do it by myself and crank up the radio and just get in to my baking world ( my favorite place to be! ).
I do have to mention that when her hand is healed, I will not be sad to give her her job back. I am sure it is going to be very tiring.

Especially becauseeeee ( changing the subject completely) Gary and I have to move. Well we don't have to move, but we are moving. We get to start milking cows in May ( wohoo! this is Gary's life long dream) on our own little dairy farm. Only it wont be our own cause we can only afford to rent a barn with a milking parlour etc. In BC it costs a lot to get started milking cows. Most people are either born into a dairy farm one way o another or start with the help of a program in place by the milk board. The problem with the milk board program is that if we put our name on the list...we could easily not get to start milking cows for 20 years!

So I need to stop rambling...but to summarize everything into point form:

a) In may we get to start milking cows ( ahem....12-15 cows...YES I am going to name them!)
b) On april 15th we are moving to a house much closer to the farm we will be renting then the house we live in now
c) I will get to milk cows too ( Sorry I shouldn't say get...like its a pleasure to get up at 5:30 to go milk the cows...but hey..I will get an early start to my day!)
d) I am baking for the next 6 weeks 3 days a week for the Yellow Barn.
e) I am currently baking 2 9x13 cakes to attempt to make a checkerboard cake. Ok I didn't talk about that before but I am now :)

Has anyone ever made a checkerboard cake? Do you even know what it is? Basically you make a chocolate and a vanilla/white cake. and then you cut it in a special way and put the pieces back together to make a checkerboard look when you cut into it.

With that great description I am sure you are all saying OHHHH I get it. or probably not..

This is what the top of mine looked like:

Next time I would have much more yellow icing and not run out so I could do more decorations :)

I did the words by printing a page off the computer in writing that I liked and then placing wax paper on top and basically copying the writing with my melted white chocolate (with a touch of yellow food colouring) 

and THIS was the inside! Surprisingly enough, this is the only actual picture I have of the inside of the cake..

I know, I know, way to be a good blogger. 

But I was cutting and serving and admiring my cake! 

Ok I am sorry this is taking me forever to post! I have been super busy baking for the yellow barn and starting packing our house! :) 

<3

Ps. can I just say, I am sorry I talk so much!

I think its because my husband talks sooo much too that I don't always get to say the millions of things I want to say and so then I end up saying them all on here and I could just write for ages and ages

I am sorry 

Better-Then-Crack Brownies (for real)

Ok, so have you ever made something that is sooo good that you want to eat the whole pan?
I mean, I make things I like all the time, but LOVE and want to eat every last crumb of? That doesn't happen very often, or at least I don't let it happen very often or else I would be 300lbs. by tomorrow.
I have to admit though...3/4 of this pan is gone and I have eaten every last crumb. :)
I made these once before but for somebody else so I only had 1 piece. (thank goodness)
This time I made a 9x9 pan rather then the 9x13 pan that this recipe calls for.
I found this recipe on How Sweet It Is. Which is my new favourite blog by the way. So many delicious treats that look amazing! I have made quite a few and they are always always always delicious!

So you know what this is??

Brownie ( well I actually used chocolate cake but...same difference)
Peanuts
Peanut Butter Cups
Rice Krispies coated in peanut butter, chocolate and butter

yum

yum

and yum

I never know if I should post the recipe here or direct you over to How Sweet blog.. but today I think I am going to post it here...

Better-Than-Crack Brownies

1 - 9x13 size batch, Brownies
1/2 cup Salted Peanuts
1 cup chopped Peanut Butter Cups ( I used 6 cups for a 9x9 and that was plenty)
1 1/2 cup Milk Chocolate chips ( you could totally use semisweet...I used half semi and half milk)
1 1/2 cup Creamy Peanut Butter
1/2 tablespoon Butter
1 1/2 cups Rice Krispie Cereal

1. Bake Brownies till set and basically done.
2. Remove from oven and sprinkle with chopped Peanut Butter Cups and Peanuts. Put back in oven and bake for a few more minutes. Basically till brownie is 100% done and the PB Cups are melting.
3. When they are done, melt Peanut Butter, Chocolate Chips and Butter in a medium sized pot. Stir over medium/low heat until completely melted and combined.
4. Remove from heat and stir in the Rice Krispie Cereal. ( both times I have made this I added about 1/2 cup more cereal. I am sure it doesn't matter but I just like the krispyness :) )
5. Spread over the Brownie base evenly.
6. Chill till the chocolate is set and not goopy or runny. (about 2 hours)
7. YUM eat and share ( so you don't gain 100lbs like me :) )

Breaking the Rules

I am breaking my own rules. But thats ok, because I'm the boss around here.

This is not a healthy recipe. At all.

I hope you wont be offended if I wreck your healthy eating plan on January the 10th. I'm sorry.

A while back I found a recipe for Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Dip on this awesome blog called How Sweet It Is.

Currently it is in my top 5 favourite blogs. (along with Joy The Baker, The Pioneer Woman (obviously), Sugar Plum, and Sugarcafter)

Anyways, a while after the Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Dip was posted, a wonderful list of variations showed up. Variations like Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, Snickerdoodle, and Double Chocolate Chip. Naturally, I had to try them all.

Who doesn't love cookie dough? and in dip form? delish!

I made 1 regular batch and divided it into 3 and made the peanut butter vaiation and the double chocolate variation along with the regular chocolate chip. We ate them with Teddy Grahams, Animal Crackers and pretzels, but a spoon would also work perfectly fine. They were all amazing, but the peanut butter one was my favourite.

By the way, my spell check says the favourite is spelled without a "u" but I am Canadian so it is spelled with a "u". I am sorry if its annoying.

I whipped this together on Saturday night and I didn't take a picture. It was really tragic.
The bowls are empty. I am sorry. :(
There are lots of pictures on the How Sweet It Is blog. Please check them out!

Here is the recipe.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Dip ( and variations)

1/2 cup Butter
1/3 cup Brown Sugar
8 ounces Cream Cheese (1 block)
1/2 cup Icing Sugar
1 teaspoon Vanilla

1. Melt butter in a small pot and stir in brown sugar. Stir till brown sugar is dissolved and mixture starts to bubble, Remove from heat to cool and add vanilla.
2. Cream icing sugar and cream cheese together until blended.
3. Add butter/brownsugar mixture to cream cheese and blend on low speed until combined.
4. If you would like regular chocolate chip cookie dough dip, stir in 3/4 chocolate chips and serve with animal crackers or pretzels or fruit or a spoon :)

Variations:
If you would like to make 3 different flavors from 1 batch, divide batter into 3 equal portions before adding chocolate chips.

To make 1/3 recipe of 3 flavours:
 Peanut Butter Cookie Dough: add 1/4 cup peanut butter and 1/4 cup chocolate chips
Snickerdoodle Dough Dip: add 1/2 tablespoon Cinnamon
Double Chocolate Dough Dip: add1/4 cup cocoa powder and 1/4 cup chocolate chips

To make a full batch of any of the flavours:
Regular Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough: add 3/4 cup chocolate chips
Peanut Butter Cookie Dough: add 1/2 cups Peanut Butter and 1/2 cup chocolate chips
Snickerdoodle Dip: add 2 tablespoons Cinnamon

Give it a try! and Check out How Sweet It Is Blog! .

I will make this again soon ( and take pictures)
Double Chocolate Dough Dip: add 1/2 cup Cocoa, and 1/2 cup Chocolate Chips.

Happy New Year!! ( and peanut butter cupcakes)

Husband and I have been in Vancouver for New Years eve and New Years Day! It has been tons of fun! We have been eating lots of yummy food and buying fun dresses ( me not Gary :P) and doing a lot of fun stuff!

On New Years eve, we went shopping and I bought 2 cute dresses ( because I totally could not decide) then we went over to my uncles' house for supper and then to a comedy thing which was really not that funny and we left half way through and went back to our hotel and watched tv haha. ( oh dear...it was not quite worth how much we paid! Our lights didn't even turn on!)

New Years day, we went for breakfast at a very cool restaurant on Dunbar street called Jethro's Fine Grub. SO YUMMY! My sisters and cousins took me there for brunch on my bachlorette and it was so good that we just had to go again! After we went roller-blading through Stanley Park, which was gorgeous!

All-in-all we had a fantastic get-away! (Probably my favorite holiday as a married woman so far!)

So I know I promised healthy recipes this month, but I have just one last unhealthy recipe that I really wanted to post on new years eve but I ran out of time! So I promise after this...health recipes till the end of January! yay!

These beautiful babies are Peanut Butter Cupcakes with Dark Chocolate Ganache. YUM!
I have a thing with peanut butter cupcakes. Or really just cupcakes in general. I think it may have something to do with the fact that they look like muffins. And muffins are healthy.

 These are so dense and peanut buttery and moist. Just talking about them makes me want more right now. So you should make them. Right now. Please.

Here is the recipe. I bet you have everything in your house...to make these right now.

Peanut Butter Cupcakes with Dark Chocolate Ganache

1 cup Flour
1 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 tsp Salt
6 tbsp Butter (softened)
3/4 cup Peanut Butter ( I use smooth, but chunky would probably add something yummy too)
1 cup Brown Sugar
1 Egg
1tsp Vanilla Extract
1/2 cup Milk

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Mix ( or sift if you're into that sorta thing) flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Set aside.
3. Beat butter, peanut butter and brown sugar until light and smooth. (1 min ish)
4. Add egg and vanilla. Beat till smooth.
5. Add flour mixture alternating with milk. Starting and finishing with flour mixture.
6. Fill muffin liners ( and do use liners, I think they are pretty necessary in this recipe)
7. Bake about 20-25 minutes. Until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Usually there will be cracks in the top.
9. Cool in the pan for a few minutes and then remove to finish cooling on a wire rack.
* Personally I think these cupcakes are the best cool*

Chocolate Ganache

1/4 cup Whipping Cream
1 tbsp Butter
1 cup Chocolate chips (I like dark, but you could really use semi-sweet or milk)
1/2 tsp Vanilla ( if you want... I dont)

1. Warm whipping cream and butter in a pot on the stove until hot and butter is melted, but not scalding or boiling. Remove from heat.
2. Sprinkle chocolate chips over the top of the warm butter/whipped cream mixture. Let sit for a few minutes. Stir together till smooth.
3. Dip cupcakes tops into the chocolate to cover the tops. Let sit until chocolate is set. Eat one with a big glass or milk. Yum.
Then force your husband to eat one even though he says its not good for him.

Texas Sheet Cake and My Favourite Spatula

Do you have a favorite spatula?
You know, the one that cleans the inside of your mixing bowl like a dream and folds egg whites like no tomorrow and fills a muffin tin without spilling batter all over the place?
Well, I have one. Its perfect. I love it. I don't know where to find another one...but I need a new one...because mine broke...
right in half.

Shoot.

I still use it though...its almost more maneuverable without the handle. 

Actually I was at my grandmas the other day...and she has the same spatula in her drawer...and hers it taped together with duct tape...haha so obviously this was a bit of a design flaw...

I really like is use "..." as my only form of punctuation. I create my own grammar rules. Don't tell my momma 

Texas Chocolate Sheet cake is sooooo yummy....

I eat it right out of the pan with a spoon. 

Have you ever had sheet cake? Basically it is a cakey brownieish thing baked in a large, rimmed cookie sheet and then covered with a really really really thick layer of chocolate icing as soon as you take it out of the oven. This results in a layer of gooey sweetness between the actual icing and the cake. Yum yum yum. 

Nuts in the icing are definitely optional, but something I like to leave out. 

Apparently it is soooo good that this is also the only picture I have of it. So here is the recipe. Adapted slightly from Pioneer Woman :) 

Cake:

2 cups Flour

2 cups Sugar

1/4 tsp Salt

4 heaping tablespoons Cocoa

1 cup of Butter 

1 cup Boiling Water

1/2 cup Buttermilk

2 beaten Eggs

1 teaspoon Baking Soda

1 teaspoon Vanilla

1. In a medium bowl, combine flour, sugar and salt. Set aside. 

2. Melt butter in a pot on the stove, and add cocoa. Stir.

3. Add boiling water and allow mixture to boil for about 30 seconds. Remove from heat and pour over flour mixture. 

4. In a measuring cup, pour buttermilk, eggs, baking soda and vanilla and stir well. Add to chocolate mixture. 

5. Pour into sheet cake pan, jelly roll pan, or any medium large cookie sheet with edges. The recipe says not to grease your pan, which does work just fine, but I like to line all my pans with parchment paper. It just makes clean up 100 times easier and then if I need to use that pan before the cake is gone, I can just slip it right out. 

6. Bake in a 350 degree F oven for about 20 minutes or until the cake springs back lightly. It does not take too long because the cake is not very think!

7.  While the cake is baking, make the icing

Ingredients:

1/2 cup finely chopped Pecans

3/4 cup Butter

4 heaping tablespoons Cocoa

6 tablespoons Milk 

1 teaspoon Vanilla

3 1/2 cups icing sugar ( 1 lb bag, minus 1/2 cup) 

a) Melt butter in a medium pot ( you can totally use the same one as before)

b) Stir in cocoa and turn off heat

c) Add milk, vanilla and icing sugar

d) Add pecans and stir until smooth

e) As soon as the cake comes out of the oven, pour the entire pot of icing over the cake and spread with a spatula. 

Eat is hot, eat it cold, eat it with ice cream or whipped cream or out of the pan with a spoon. Yum. 

Chocolate Mint Snow Top Cookies

So today, early early this morning, ( ok not that early...7am)
Gary and I packed a bag and headed off to Oregon. Since Gary buys and sells hay, sometimes he has to go actually looking for hay. He has gone sooo many times before when we were dating and now that we are married I get to come! yay :)
All day I was thinking about posting and wishing I could post and that I had internet in the car so I could post this recipe...but of course we don't and didn't have annnyyyy time to stop at a Starbucks so I could type this thing up. But now its 7:18pm and we are in....Sweet Home Oregon which is a very small town and has only two restaurants (that apparently they have the same food, but one is fancier and has table clothes...we didnt go to the fancy one) .
We were not going to stay in Sweet Home and instead continue driving to Madras Oregon which is about one or two hours away from here. It is also over a big mountain pass that is verrryy verrry snowy. So we decided not to drive through there tonight.



Anyways... here is the yummy recipe!
Ohh and I took alll these pictures at night time...so forgive the badness of them...


Chocolate Mint Snow Top Cookies.

This is what you need:
1 1/2 cups Flour
1 1/2 teaspoons Baking Powder
1/4 teaspoon Salt
1 1/2 cups Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips (I like to use 1/2 dark chocolate chips and 1/2 semi sweet)
6 tablespoons Butter or Margarine softened
1 cup Sugar
2 large Eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons Vanilla Flavoring
1/4 teaspoon Mint Flavoring (or if you like minty cookies add more till you are happy)
1/4-1/2 cup Icing Sugar

1. Combine flour, baking powder and 1/4tsp salt in a bowl. Set aside.

2. In a saucepan, melt 1 cup of the chocolate chips over low heat, stirring constantly. Remove from heat once melted. Set aside

3. Beat butter with a mixer on medium speed for 30 seconds (or a wooden spoon and get a great arm workout)
4. Beat in sugar until combined. Add in melted chocolate and mix together thoroughly.

5. Add Vanilla, Mint and eggs and stir until well combined.

** So when I made these...I doubled the recipe. Everything was going just great. Until this point. I accidentally added 3 teaspoons of mint flavoring....instead of 1/2 of a teaspoon of mint flavoring. Lucky for me I have the oldest bottle of mint flavoring you have ever seen. Not even kidding...it was covered in dust, and sticky and had a Liquidation World sticker on it. So I figure, my cookies are probably a touch more minty then they were designed to be...but just the perfect amount of minty if you like a nice mint chocolate combo. The last batch I made before this, I put in the right amount of mint...and they were good...but not nearly minty enough for me!**

6. Slowly add flour mixture and remaining chocolate chips and stir until it is all mixed in

And at this point... I stopped taking pictures. I always forget! It is not something I am used to...taking pictures while cooking is a tricky thing!

7. If you mixture is thick enough, you can dump it out onto wax paper, wrap and chill for 3 hours or until firm enough to shape. Mine is usually too sloppy so I just cover the bowl and throw it in the fridge. Both work equally fine.

This is my dough...it looks yellowy...but it was nice and brown and smelled minty 

8. When you are ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
9. Shape dough into 1inch balls and then roll in icing sugar. Place balls on parchment paper lined or greased cookie sheets and press down slightly ( I use my 1/4 cup measuring cup)

10. Bake until tops are crackled and almost set. About 10-12 minutes. Cool 2 minutes on the cookie sheet, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Makes about 42 cookies... I ALWAYS double this recipe :)