Holiday Cookies: Chocolate Crinkle Cookies

I made these cookies for the first time just this past weekend for a holiday party. The look all crunchy,  but don't you worry...these cookies resemble mini brownies. They have a slightly crispy outer shell and a perfectly soft inside (much like my personality hahahaha...not).

Okay, bad joke aside though, these cookies are pretty good. Plus, they look like snowy mountains, which as we all know is perfectly winter holiday appropriate. So if you live in a nice, warm, sunny city--I hate you (jk I love you all), but what that means is make these cookies stat. Heck, make them if you live in a cold city with tons of snow, or if you're like me and live in the mountains with NO snow. Just make them. I haven't worked on healthifying the recipe too much quite yet, but I will tell you there is no butter, and very little oil in this here recipe. Now if I could work on that sugar part...stevia maybe? If anyone tries it, let me know.

Chocolate Crinkle Cookies: (Recipe adapted from www.allrecipes.com)

• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips + 2 tablespoons milk (I used almond milk) warmed in the microwave for 30 seconds and mixed until melted and smooth
• 2/3 cup white sugar
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 3 tbsp vegetable oil
• 2 eggs  
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract  
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar (to roll the dough in)

• With a hand mixer, mix the sugars, vanilla extract and eggs until thicker and lighter in color.

• Add the melted chocolate and oil and mix

• With a wooden spoon or rubber spatula scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix in the cocoa powder.

• Sift together, flour, baking powder and salt and add that to the mixture. Mix with the spoon or spatula until combined.

• Cover the bowl and dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 3-4 hours or until hard enough to scoop without it being sticky.

When dough is ready:

• Preheat oven to 350 F or 175 C

• Grease a cookie sheet with some vegetable oil.

• Scoop and roll dough into 1- 1 ½ inch balls. Roll ball in powdered sugar and place on cookie sheet.

• Bake for 8-10 minutes (Mine were done after 9 minutes, it’s okay if they’re a little soft, they will harden up when they cool)

• After they cool for about 3-4 minutes, press a hershey’s kiss into the center. Because the cookie is still hot, they will start to melt a little bit from the bottom… place cookies onto the cooling rack and place them in the refrigerator for about 20-30 minutes until Hershey kisses harden again. Take cookies out and bring them back to room temp.  

Enjoy!

Good ol' Blueberry Muffins (These are perfect)

Yes, it's been eons since I last posted. Things got crazy. The first year of this PhD program happened. It  seriously happened. (YAY!) Now don't get too excited... it's not quite over... I've got until the end of the summer before I can officially put a seal on year one, but it's as over as in no classes this summer at least. For some reason however...I still have trouble finding the time (and gathering the patience) to work as well as I want on my research--or my cooking/baking. This makes me sad. Just know that it makes me sad.

Tonight however, I made the best gosh darn blueberry muffins I have EVA made. I adapted the recipe from a blog written by what seems to be a wonderful woman with great talent! Her name is Chelsea and her blog is called "Making Home Base". I'll include the link to the original recipe below. 

I'm not one to brag about the moist-ness of baked goods. Partly (mostly) because I hate the word moist. But my word hatred aside... these are HELLA moist. All thanks to the greatness that is plain yogurt, and the wonderfulness that is science and all that jazz. 

Good ol' Blueberry Muffins

Adapted from Making Home Base

Ingredients for Muffins

**This recipe can easily be made vegan by using a coconut milk based yogurt (or just adding an extra 1/4 cup of the non-dairy milk + tsp of apple cider vinegar and eliminating the yogurt), substituting a flax egg for the egg, and using solidified coconut oil in place of the butter used in the topping. 

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar (feel free to substitute your sweetener of choice, but adjust amount accordingly)
• 1 egg
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup melted extra virgin coconut oil (feel free to use canola oil here)
• 1/3 cup "homemade buttermilk" (1/3 cup of ANY milk. I used Almond Breeze's unsweetened coconut almond milk + 1 tsp apple cider (or white) vinegar--allow this to rest for about 5 min before pouring it into the wet ingredients)
• 1/4 cup + 1 tbsp plain yogurt (I would suggest NOT to use nonfat--but doing so won't necessarily mess things up.
• 1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries (I used fresh ones that I had frozen myself)

Ingredients for Topping

• 1/4 cup butter softened
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/3 cup all purpose flour
• 1/4 cup sugar

Directions:

• Pre-heat oven to 400 F
• Sift together the dry ingredients in a large bowl (First 5 ingredients)
• In a separate smaller bowl, whisk together the egg, sugar, and vanilla extract
• While continuously mixing add the oil, milk, and yogurt
• Before adding the wet ingredients to the dry ones, go ahead and make the topping by just combining the ingredients for it with a fork. It should look crumbly. Set aside
• Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and combine. Don't over-mix
• Fold in the blueberries (batter will be relatively thick, just make sure you disperse the blueberries across the whole batter)
• Spray a cupcake tray with non-stick spray and place about 1/4 cup batter in each space. Generously top each with the topping. Makes about 10-11 muffins. 
• Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes--keeping an eye out during those last 5 minutes that it doesn't over-brown. Remove from the oven when tops are browned and toothpick inserted in the center of a few of them comes out clean. 
• Cool in pan for 5 minutes before placing them on a rack to cool completely. (Or if you're like me you'll burn your tongue trying to eat one 2 sec after it came out of the oven...no big deal.) 

I apologize for horrible pictures... 

Chocolate and Butterscotch Chip Oatmeal Banana Cookies

Hello all!

Yes, it has been a million years (only a couple months) since I've posted anything. I apologize. Profusely. I moved from sunny San Diego, CA to beautiful rural Blacksburg, Virginia. I miss San Diego, the ocean, and the knowledge that there are more sunny and warm days in the year than there are cloudy and cold days...but life must go on.

Sunset Cliffs - San Diego, CA (07/2012)

Just after a thunderstorm - Blacksburg, VA (09/2012)

And it has! It took me a bit to get situated here, and now that I'm situated, school has consumed me completely. Please don't be angry with me. Send me a message or comment every so often so I know that I'm in your thoughts and I promise it will motivate me to come and post. I've started a PhD degree in Clinical Psychology and Science at Virginia Tech and it's been a great experience thus far. I have pretty close to zero time to relax, but the pace is refreshing and because I like what I'm learning/doing it hasn't been so bad. Lets hope none of that changes.

For now, here is the cookie recipe I promised so long ago!

Chocolate and Butterscotch Chip Oatmeal Banana Cookies

Ingredients

· 1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour

· 1 cup sugar

· 1 teaspoon salt

· 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

· 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

· 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

· 1/2 cup oil + 2 tbsp

· 1 egg (or 1 tbsp ground flax mixed with 3 tablespoons water left to sit for 5 min)

· 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar (or white vinegar) (if you use flax in place egg)

· 1 tspn vanilla extract

· 1 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 2)

· 1/3 cup + 2 tbsp peanut butter

· 1 cup rolled oats

· 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

· 1/3 cup chopped butterscotch chips (leave out to keep vegan)

Directions

·In a bowl, combine the first six ingredients; add oil and mix until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add egg (or flax egg), vinegar (if using flax egg), vanilla, bananas, peanut butter and oats; mix well. Stir in   chips.

·Drop by tablespoonfuls onto greased baking sheets. Bake at 375° for 13-15 minutes or until bottom is golden brown and top is slightly browning. Cool on wire racks. Yield: 2 dozen.

I love these cookies with a cold glass of coconut milk. ALSO I found that the brand Almond Breeze has a combined coconut AND almond milk and is AWESOME. I've included the link for the unsweetened version, although sweetened versions exist as well. Hugs all!