Making Baking Healthier: Chocolate Chip Cookies

I cleaned my cookbook cupboard last week. That is not the cookbook cupboard of a skinny person. It is the cookbook cupboard of a person who REALLY likes all things sweet. :)

I am not sure these cookies can really count under my making baking healthier title but I am going to put them there anyway. I cut the fat in half for these, plus, cut the chocolate chips by half and made them very small. This way they counted as 2 weight watchers points each.

They were still very tasty - friends even had some and agreed. The only problem is you still want to eat 6 or 8 at a time... Ah, well.

The recipe:

1/4 c. salted stick butter softened
1/4 c. shortening
2/3 c. granulated sugar
2/3 c. packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 t. vanilla
1 t. baking soda
1 t. salt
2 c. flour
1/3 c. old fashioned oats
1 c. mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

Cream butter and shortening. Add granulated sugar and brown sugar. Cream in eggs and vanilla.

Add baking soda, salt and first cup of flour. Add second cup of flour and mix until well combined. Then add handful of oats and the mini chips. Mix until just combined.

Dough will be a bit dry - loosely form 1 inch balls, just getting dough to stick together and place about 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Makes about 48 small cookies. Bake at 365 for 8 to 10 minutes.

Enjoy!!!!!

Failing at Macaroons...

So I have attempted to make macaroons two weekends in a row - once for a gathering with friends and once for Easter with the family. The recipe I was using was a weight watchers one but it's directions were horrible!!!

My first attempt didn't even deserve to be photographed - they turned out like mounds of coconut on top of a fried egg. Really gross looking - they tasted fine and I was able to salvage the second pan by adding some more coconut. And I dipped the bottoms in chocolate since I had to slice the first pan off the wax paper because of the fried egg situation - the chocolate held them together.

Anyway, all that to say that my second attempt was not a complete failure but they still weren't quite right but I thought I'd share them anyway. They were still very tasty and maybe I will make some that turn out to look like the picture on the recipe some day. And if not, oh well. Not everything I make is picture perfect. :) I think this second batch may have been over beaten - they were much more like meringues then macaroons.

The recipe:

3 egg whites
2/3 c. sugar
1 t. vanilla
2 1/2 c. coconut (unsweetened if you can find it), packed into the measuring cup
1/3 c. semi sweet chocolate chips

Beat the egg whites until they are holding soft peaks. Begin adding the sugar a little at a time while still mixing the egg whites. I mixed my second batch until the egg whites held stiff peaks. You can test the meringue to know it hold a stiff peak by dipping a spoon in - if it leaves a little mountain peak behind that holds it shape - the meringue holds stiff peaks.

Mix in by hand the vanilla and the coconut. Drop by level tablespoons full unto a cookie sheet covered in wax paper. Bake for about 15 minutes - until lightly browned. Move to a cooling rack - cool completely.

Melt the chocolate chips in the microwave for about 1 minutes stopping to mix them every 15 seconds. Put a small dollop of chocolate on the top of each cooled macaroon using a teaspoon. Cool in the refrigerator until the chocolate has set. About 30 minutes.

Makes about 36 macaroons.

Enjoy - even if they are more like meringues. :)

Cream Cheese Frosting

Mmmmm. Cream cheese frosting is the best. And so yummy on so many things.

These cupcakes I made last weekend for Linc's FINAL birthday celebration were diet and rather blah. Maybe not that bad but not great by any means. But they had GREAT frosting.

I even lightened it up a bit. :) I used 1/3 less fat cream cheese and half the butter of my regular recipe. It was still delicious.

The recipe:

8 oz. package, 1/3 less fat cream cheese. Softened.
4 T. butter. Also softened.
2 1/2 to 3 cups of powdered sugar

Cream cream cheese and butter. Begin adding sugar a cup at a time. Adding the last cup just a half cup at a time. Deciding if it needs the full three cups or not quite. You'll know when it's right.

Cream cheese frosting is kind of weird :) - it seems really thick at first but the more you mix and the more powdered sugar you add, the creamier and more frosting like it gets. This reduced butter recipe made a little less than a normal recipe but it was plenty (actually more than enough) to frost the 23 small diet cupcakes I made.

Give it a try - on your favorite cupcakes, on sour cream cookies. Really on anything. It is one of the things my dad has always said you could eat on sawdust. :)

Birthday Treats: Jello Cake and Milkshakes

My second son turned two this week. He has a St. Patrick's Day birthday. I made a jello cake to celebrate with my family last weekend. I thought about using lime jello, so it would be green, but I just hate lime flavoring. :)

I didn't get a good picture of just a slice of the cake so this one with sweet Lincoln will have to do.

I wanted this to be a cake I could eat while still attempting weight watchers so I tried to lighten it up. It's about 4 points a piece if it serves 16. And because I was sort of playing with the proportions of things - I'll give you the recipe the way I would do it next time.

The recipe:

yellow cake mix
10 oz. diet uncola (like Sprite Zero or diet 7UP)

Mix the cake mix and soda together. Pour into a lightly greased and floured bundt pan.
Bake as directed for a bundt shaped cake on the cake mix box. Allow cake to cool. Use a toothpick to poke holes all over the cake.

1 small package of sugar free strawberry gelatin
1 c. boiling water
1/2 c. cold water

Dissolve gelatin in the hot water and then add the cold. Pour over the baked and cooled and poked cake. Refrigerate overnight or at least 4 hours.

Frost with:

1 large package of sugar free vanilla pudding
1/4 c. confectioner sugar
1 c. cold milk
8 oz. lite cool whip

I can never remember - check the pudding box, but if you add the milk/pudding mix in the wrong order it will get lumpy. I think you need to add the milk than the pudding. Beat on low speed until combined. Add the confectioner sugar until combined. Then fold the pudding mixture into the cool whip. This actually was a little bit too much frosting for my diet soda cake. It is just the right amount for the cake mix prepared in the usual way. Have fun eating the extra. It's yummy. :)

Refrigerate until serving. Serves 16.

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And on Linc's birthday we had homemade mint shakes - instead of more cake. I just thought this was a fun picture, so I had to share. They were really yummy too!

Jazzing Up a Boxed Brownie Mix: Mint Brownies

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This is such a simple thing - it really isn't a recipe but it is one of my favorite things to make.

Bake a box of brownies that have the chocolate chunks in them as directed on the box. Cool.

Whip up a batch of frosting (kind of like you can read about here) but instead of almond and vanilla flavorings at 1 t. of mint extract. And a couple drops of green food coloring.

Frost the brownies. And for a final, wonderful touch - melt one square of unsweetened or semi-sweet baking chocolate with 1 T. butter. Drizzle on top of the frosting and smooth into an even coat.

Refrigerate until serving. These are so yummy cold. Love them!!!!

Making Baking Healthier: Chocolate Cake with an unusual ingredient

I have decided to do Weight Watchers for a few weeks and I don't want it to mean I can't bake.

So I want hunting for some Weight Watchers dessert recipes and I found LaaLoosh. While searching her dessert recipes, I found a Weight Watchers' Dark Chocolate Cake.

I gave it a try - even though it has a very unusual ingredient, sauerkraut. Yes, you read right - sauerkraut. I don't know why exactly but it works and you'd never know it was in there. Jace even ate two pieces of it (though he said it had a weird after-taste - Ella and I didn't agree).

Be brave and try it yourself. It serves 14 and only has 4 weight watchers points per serving. Even with a little sprinkle of powdered sugar and drizzle of Hershey's syrup.

Here's the recipe:

2 c. of all-purpose flour
1 1/3 c. sugar
1 1/2 t. baking soda
2/3 c. unsweetened cocoa
1/2 c. butter, melted
1 1/2 c. hot water
1 t. vanilla
1 c. sauerkraut, pureed until smooth (think applesauce consistency)
1 t. unsweetened cocoa

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Coat a Bundt pan with non-fat cooking spray with flour (I didn't do that - I was careful to hardly coat it with a bit of canola oil and a bit of flour, I'm sure that added a bit more to the point count but hardly and I just didn't have any spray on hand).

Mix flour, sugar, baking soda and 2/3 c. cocoa together. Add melted butter, hot water, and vanilla. Mix well.

Pour batter into the prepared pan. Bake in center of the oven for about 55 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean. Cool in pan at least 20 minutes before turning out onto serving platter. Sprinkle with 1 t. cocoa.

So good!!!

Celebrating a New Baby Girl...

I made another batch of sour cream cookies this week.

This time I needed something special for a bit of a baby shower for a mom who is a part of the leadership team at our mom's group. I dressed them up as little cakes, remembering some cookie cakes I had seen in some Martha Stewart publication a few years ago. They had my almond flavored frosting on them. I piped it on with a round tip.



Didn't they turn out so sweet? I think you could easily make them work for a baby boy too. Or won't they be fun for a tea party? I was pleased with the result.

If you want to make some cookie cakes - follow that sour cream cookie recipe. And cut out equal numbers of three different size rounds. I used every other size of a graduated set of circle cookie cutters.

Then whip up a batch of frosting (fairly stiff). Make it any color you choose and fill a pastry bag fitted with a round tip. Pipe frosting between the layers of cookies - to stick them together. I piped my flower onto the top of the small cookie before placing it on the medium size cookie. When all the cookies are frosted together and stacked up, add the small dots around the seams where the cookies meet. Wah-lah... Beautiful cookie cakes to celebrate with an expecting mom!!!!