Chocolate, Need I Say More?

Hello Sweets,

Well it has been a long weekend of moving but it's finally complete, and again I am sleepy lol.  However, Nathan was in Canadia to help me with everything, he actually went above and beyond anything you'd expect!  He not only put up every shelf, and picture, he also assembled furniture and bought me a new tv :D  Seriously I am one lucky girl, well except he is now on his way home :(  The hardest part of our relationship has to be the "see you soon" goodbyes, it never gets any easier.  He was a HUGE help in making my new apartment a home, and even though it's almost done it just isn't the same.  I now consider this apartment "our" apartment because we did so much together, he'll be back sooner than later and until then I'll complete the look and it will be a home!

Even though I had lots of help on Saturday, it still was quite difficult for me.  On the bright side, this whole ordeal is almost over.  This process has been wreaking havoc on my body :(  Since I had family and some friends helping me move, I decided to give them food as thanks :)  Nathan and I marinaded a roast Friday night to serve Saturday, and I will threw it in the oven while all the moving hoopla took place so it wouldn't be long before we could eat.  Of course there were plenty of sweet treats as well.  The pumpkin pie bars made their debut appearance, the oh so delicious pumpkin spice cupcakes (happy accident not intentional for there to be a pumpkin theme), and of course today's recipe.  No today is not a pumpkin recipe, although with the left over pumpkin from the cupcakes I could have made something.  Nathan requested I bake these though, so I thought I would make sure there was something sweet for him when he got here.

Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

2C flour

1/2tsp baking soda

1/2tsp salt

3/4C butter, melted

1C brown sugar, packed

1/2C sugar

1Tbs vanilla

1 egg

1 egg yolk

2C semi sweet chocolate chips

 

Directions:

1)  Preheat oven to 325F.  Grease cookie sheets or line with parchment paper.  Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside.

 

2)  In a medium bowl, cream together the melted butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until well blended.

 

3)  Beat in the vanilla, egg, and egg yolk until light and creamy.

 

4)  Mix in sifter ingredients until just blended.

 

5)  Sift in the chocolate chips by hand using a wooden spoon.

 

6)  Drop cookie dough 1/4C at a time onto the prepared cookie sheets.  Cookies should be about 3" apart.

 

7)  Bake for 15-17 minutes in the oven, or until edges are lightly toasted.  Cool on baking sheets for a few minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

 

  

These little bad boys are perfectly soft, not so soft it crumbles apart in your hand but that perfect way that I remember my high school cafeteria serving.  Normally this is not my first choice of cookie, but this recipe is so yummy even I can't stop from eating a couple.  The dough even reminds me of the cookies my mom used to make, and I love me some cookie dough.  It was hard to not eat all of them before Saturday lol.

Well I've got a few more things to try and tackle tonight, but to be honest I really just want to have a nap lol.  If Nathan was here he would tell me to take one, maybe I will since everything isn't going anywhere :p  Hopefully afterwards I will be more energetic and can tackle yet another good chunk organization done.  Until next time....

Stay sweet,

Jennifer xoxoxo

One Of The Best Gingers I Know!

Hello Sweets,

How has your Tuesday been so far?  Mine has been absolutely wonderful :D, why you ask?  Well this morning I landed in the great state of Texas, which means Nathan and I have been reunited (and it feels so good lol). 

Not great quality, but you can feel the love <3

Even though I am EXTREMELY tired, feel sore, and a little sick, no of that matters as soon as I saw him as I was coming down the escalator.  Knowing that the hand I love to hold is now always in my reach is undeniably the best feeling you can have when everything seems to be going haywire.  Needless to say there will definitely be baking going on, although you may see some old recipes, I will make small changes to keep things fresh.  Not to mention that Nathan will be cooking too, so you will be privy to his delicious bites as well :)

As I promised yesterday, I have a longer post, and tonight you are going to get a yummy treat for your taste buds :)  So yesterday I made candied ginger so my tummy would have a tasty way to be settled which then got me thinking, could I make an even tastier treat that could possibly settle the tummy as well?  Then I came across an idea for the candied ginger, and giant soft and chewy ginger cookies.  When I was growing up, the mother of a childhood friend of mine would make ginger snaps, but they weren't your traditional ginger snaps because they were crisp on the outer edge but the center was chewy.  Now this recipe is not a ginger snap in any shape or form, but the soft and chewy centers of the childhood cookies are the entire embodiment in every sense of the word :)  So let's get to the deliciousness shall we?

Soft and Chewy Ginger Cookies (via The Baker Chic)

Ingredients

 2 1/4C all-purpose flour

2Tsp ground ginger

1 Tsp baking soda

3/4Tsp cinnamon

1/2Tsp cloves (I used allspice as a substitute)

1/4Tsp salt

 3/4C butter, softened

1/2C white sugar

1/2C brown sugar

1 egg

1 Tbs water

1/4C molasses

1/2C ginger, candied (see previous post)

2Tbs raw sugar (for rolling, I used white and it worked just as well)

candied ginger not pictured

Directions:

1)  Preheat oven to 350F, positioning the racks in the center of your oven.  Mix together the flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, and salt in a medium bow.  Set aside.

 

2)   In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugars until light and fluffy.

3)  Beat in the egg, then mix in the water and molasses.

4)  Gradually mix in the sifted mixture to the molasses mix.  Stir in the candied ginger.

 

5)  Chill the dough for 15 minuted to allow for easier handling.  Shape dough into 1" sized balls, and roll them into the raw sugar.  Place the cookies 2" apart on a parchment lined baking sheet (lol I made mine a little bit too big as you will see), and flatten slightly.  Baking for 8-10 minutes.

6)  Allow to cool on the pan for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.  Store in an air tight container.

Don't they look delicious :)

There are a couple different things that make these cookies unique; the fact that they have the candied ginger in them gives them a spicy depth that most ginger cookies don't have, and they stay soft and chewy as long as you can keep them in the house (lol which isn't long).

So now I am almost caught up with my back up recipes, although I do have one more up my sleeve which is something of a traditional, old fashion treat but with a sweet little surprise to it ;)  Now that I've got you intrigued you'll be coming back tomorrow for yet another one of Canuckette's creations.  Until next time...........

Stay sweet,

Jennifer xoxoxo