Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake

What can I say? There are no words for Nadijah. She's one of the best people I've ever known, and my heart will fill a void when I realize we won't be hanging out on weekends anymore. We are so proud of her, tabarakAllah, and may she feel ease and happiness in this new chapter of her life. Congratulations!!!!

These were everything a good cookie cake should be. Chewy, soft, alittle under-baked in the middle, and golden brown crispy on top..

You can't have cookie cake without frosting. But better than artificial, sickeningly sweet canned frosting is this homemade chocolate buttercream. It was smooth and luscious and a perfect crown to this celebratory cake.

I'm planning to make this again for Yusif and Naven, thats how good it was. They love cookies so I'm sure they will enjoy this. And this was one the easiest recipes out there. I like how there's no extra wait for these. You don't have to wait to chill the cookie dough and you don't have to make them a day early.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake
Adapted from: Sally's Baking Addiction

Ingredients
3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
1 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1 large egg + 1 egg yolk, room temperature*
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour (careful not to over measure)
2 teaspoons cornstarch (cornflour)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 and 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips or chunks (reserve 1/4 cup)

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 F degrees. Grease with shortening a 9-inch pie dish or cake pan or use a nonstick spray. Set aside.

In a large bowl using a hand-held mixer or stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, beat the butter for 1 minute on medium speed until completely smooth and creamy. Add the sugars and beat on medium speed until creamy, about 1 minute. Mix in eggs and vanilla on medium-high speed until combined. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed.

In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, baking soda and salt. On low speed, slowly mix into the wet ingredients until combined. The cookie dough will be quite thick. Add 1 and 1/4 cups chocolate chips and mix for about 5 seconds until evenly disbursed.

Press the cookie dough evenly into the prepared pan. Sprinkle reserved 1/4 cup of chocolate chips on top and lightly press in. Cover with aluminum foil to avoid heavy browning of the cookie cake. Bake for 20 minutes. Then, remove foil and bake for an additional 10 minutes or until the cake is lightly golden brown. Remove from the oven and set the pan on a wire rack to cool completely. Once cooled, use a sharp knife or metal spatula to loosen the sides of the cookie cake from the pan and transfer to a serving dish. (Or use can serve directly from the pan.)

Milk Chocolate Buttercream
1 and 3/4 cups confectioners' sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
2 Tablespoons heavy cream or half-and-half*
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
pinch of salt

Directions
Sift or whisk together the confectioners' sugar and cocoa powder to assure there are no lumps. Set aside. With a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium speed until creamy - about 2 minutes. Gradually add the sifted sugar/cocoa powder alternately with the heavy cream and vanilla. Beat on low speed after each addition. Once all added, beat on high speed until creamy and combined for at least 2 minutes. Add a pinch of salt.

Decorate the cooled cookie cake with frosting with a Wilton 1M piping tip. Cookie cake remains fresh covered tightly at room temperature for up to 3 days.

*I prefer room temperature eggs for my cookie cake. Room temperature eggs incorporate evenly into your cookie dough – guaranteeing a uniform texture in each bite of the cookie cake. Simply set out the eggs when you set out the butter to come to room temperature. If you forget to set out your eggs, no worries. Place them into a bowl of warm water for 5 minutes, then use.


*For the frosting, heavy cream or half-and-half will give the creamiest texture. You may use milk instead, keeping in mind the frosting won't be as creamy or whipped.

Gooey Messy Brownies

I made these for Musa's first visit to our home. Welcome, baby!

We ate these with Breyer's tiramisu gelato and fresh strawberries. The slight coffee flavor from the gelato, the bittersweet chocolate from the brownies, and summerly sweet berries all paired so well together.

This brownie recipe is called, "The Best Brownies in the World." Which is a pretty big claim! They were delicious, but I'm still on the hunt for the very best. And the blogger said I would be if I want fudgy, cakey brownies, which is exactly what I'm looking for. These on the other hand, are gooey messy brownies. They're great with ice cream or gelato though!

Maybe I should stop using the same bittersweet chocolate (ghiradelli brand) when testing brownie recipes. Because I think maybe what my taste buds are looking for are brownies that are made with dark chocolate and dark cocoa and maybe dark semi-sweet chocolate chips. But I keep getting similar results in flavor and texture with the ghiradelli chocolate. Similar, but I would say Good Housekeeping's brownies were alittle better than these.

I like to store my brownies in a container with a lid as soon as they are cooled. This keeps them moist, chewy, and soft. 

Gooey Messy Brownies
Adapted from: Cravings of a Lunatic via Tasty Eats at Home
Yield: 12 brownies

Ingredients
8 tablespoons of butter
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate
1 cup sugar
2 eggs. beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (I used mini)
¼ cup flour¼ cup cocoa powder
¼ teaspoon salt

Directions
Preheat oven to 325˚F. Line 8x8 inch pan with parchment paper.

Melt the butter and unsweetened chocolate together over low heat in a medium saucepan. Stir with a wooden spoon or whisk. Remove from heat and add the sugar. Stir well. Add eggs and vanilla, stirring until it’s smooth. Add chocolate chips, flour, cocoa powder, and vanilla salt. Stir until well blended.

Pour into pan and place in oven. I always tap my pan to get out any bubbles and make it even.
Bake for 35-45 minutes, toothpick inserted should come out clean when done. Remove and cool on a rack.

Good Housekeeping's Fudgy Brownies

We were browsing through a half priced book store where I snapped a couple of pictures of recipes from cupcake and brownie cook books. That's where I got this recipe. 

These were some pretty good brownies, and I was amazed to hear my brother say they were the best brownies he ever eaten. He's been on a diet for the past few months though (haha). I think these would be the best brownies ever if I added about 1/3 cup cocoa powder to deepen the chocolate flavor and then maybe add some mini chocolate chips to make them sweeter and richer (to balance the cocoa). 

Though If you love bittersweet chocolate, these are the brownies for you. The flavor of the ghiradelli chocolate that I used really shines through. These are really good the next day as they get chewier.  

Good Housekeeping's Fudgy Brownies
Yield: 24 brownies

Ingredients
1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt
¾ cup butter or margarine (1 ½ sticks)
4 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
4 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
5 large eggs, beaten

Directions
Preheat oven to 350˚F. Grease 13” by 9” baking pan with shortening or butter.

In small bowl, with wire whisk, stir flour and salt.

In heavy 4-quart saucepan, melt butter and unsweetened and semisweet chocolates over low heat, stirring frequently, until smooth. Remove from heat.

With wooden spoon, stir in sugar and vanilla. Add eggs; stir until well mixed. Stir flour mixture into chocolate mixture just until blended. Spread batter evenly in prepared pan.

Bake until toothpick inserted 2 inch from edge comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. When cool, cut lengthwise into 4 strips, then cut each strip crosswise into 6 pieces. Makes 24 brownies.

Martha Stewart Fudgy Chocolate Brownies

Maryam wanted me to bake her coworker some Mascarpone Brownies. But since I don't really consider those to be brownies, more like a rich, fudgy cake, I baked her fellow dietician these brownies. Which again, are such a throwback, I made them over five years ago, and decided to give them a revisit. They taste much better the next day, as they set up and become chewy. With that sugary crackly top, these have a very gourmet, bakery-like feel to them. I would like to revisit the Hershey's Best Brownies recipe to replicate a kind of melt in your mouth boxed brownies.

Martha Stewart Fudgy Chocolate Brownies

Ingredients
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, plus more for pan
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter an 8-inch square baking pan or heatproof glass dish. Line pan with parchment paper, leaving a 1-inch overhang on all sides. Set aside. Place butter and chocolate in a large heatproof bowl set over (but not touching) simmering water; stir frequently until chocolate and butter are melted, about 7 minutes. Remove bowl from heat; let cool to room temperature, 10 to 15 minutes.

Stir sugar into cooled chocolate mixture until combined. Whisk in eggs one at a time, whisking until smooth after each addition. Whisk in vanilla. Gently fold in flour and salt.

Pour batter into prepared pan, and smooth top with an offset spatula. Bake until cake tester inserted in the center comes out with only a few moist crumbs attached, 40 to 45 minutes. Transfer pan to a wire rack to cool completely.

Run a knife or offset spatula around the edges of the pan. Using parchment, lift brownies out of pan and onto the rack. Transfer to a cutting board; cut into 2-inch squares.

Martha Stewart's Hot Fudge Sauce
1 cup heavy cream
½ cup light corn syrup
12 oz. semisweet chocolate chips (or high quality chocolate, chopped)

Directions
Combine the heavy cream and corn syrup in a sauce pan over low heat until bubbly. Add the chocolate and stir until combined. Remove from heat. Refrigerate leftovers. 

Chocolate Mascarpone Brownies

I made these over FOUR years ago. They were good back then, and they were good yesterday. I made them for family day. I don't know why I thought to make them again. I wouldn't call these brownies really, its more like a bittersweet chocolate cake. A slice is deliciously served along side a pile of fresh blackberries.

Chocolate Mascarpone Brownies
Adapted from: Bake or Break via Food.com

Ingredients
1 cup unsalted butter (plus more for preparing pan)
3 ounces good quality semisweet chocolate, chips or finely chopped
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup mascarpone cheese, softened
3 large eggs, at room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions
Preheat oven to 325°. Butter a 9-inch square glass baking pan and set aside.

Place the butter and chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave at half power in 30 second intervals, stirring between each heating. Continue until both are completely melted.

Sift sugar and cocoa powder. Add to the butter/chocolate mixture. Beat in (by hand) the mascarpone, eggs, and vanilla extract until smooth. Fold in flour and salt.

Pour batter into pan and spread evenly.

Bake for 40-45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Chocolate Ganache
6 ounces good quality semisweet chocolate, chips or finely chopped
6 tablespoons heavy cream
3 tablespoons unsalted butter

Directions
Place chopped chocolate in a small bowl. Set aside.

In a small saucepan, heat the butter and cream over medium heat, stirring constantly. When mixture is almost boiling, pour over the chocolate. Let stand for 30 seconds. Then, stir until smooth.

Pour ganache over cooled brownies and spread evenly.

Allow ganache to firm before cutting brownies. Brownies may be placed in refrigerator to expedite this.

Peanut Butter Blondies or Brownies

Girl's night in is always the most fun. I enjoy seeing my friends smile more than anything! 

I admit, I slipped up (why does this keep happening?) and I didn't add the cocoa to the brownies. At all. Thankfully, they still turned out yummy and even though I have never made blondies before I would imagine they taste something like this! Rescued by the power of peanut butter, these were still delicious even if you don't add the cocoa. And I'm sure they are even better if you do. 

Now I can see why my peanut butter didn't come out looking very swirled on top. There isn't much contrast. But if you add more cocoa, that should do the trick.

Peanut Butter Brownies
Adapted from: Beth Cakes

Ingredients
1/3 cup chocolate chips (plus more for topping)
1 1/4 cups flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1 1/3 cups sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temp
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line a 9x9 baking pan with foil or parchment paper. Leave 3-4 inches of foil hanging over two sides so the brownies will easily lift out of the pan once they're done. Spray foil with non-stick cooking spray.

Melt chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl or glass measuring cup, just until melted. Be careful not to over heat.  

Combine flour, cocoa powder, and baking powder in a bowl. Carefully whisk them together. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add vanilla, eggs, and chocolate, mixing until combined. Add flour mixture in two stages, mixing well and scraping the sides of the bowl after each addition. Spread brownie batter into the prepared pan.

Microwave peanut butter for 20-30 seconds in a microwave safe container. Drizzle over brownie batter and swirl with a toothpick. Sprinkle top of brownie batter with chocolate chips. Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the brownies comes out clean.

Nutella Caramel Brown Butter and Sea Salt Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

Reflecting on this difficult time last year, I am very blessed to spend last week in Houston, with some of my closest, dearest friends. Thank you for feeding us Tamimi family! I didn't get a chance to take any real pictures of these, but I took two on my phone. They don't show how gooey, chewy, and scrumptious they were but trust me, they were.

Nutella Caramel Brown Butter and Sea Salt Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
Adapted from: Tasty Kitchen

Ingredients
2-¼ cups All-purpose Flour
1-¼ teaspoon Baking Soda
¼ teaspoons Salt
1 cup Unsalted Butter
1-¼ cup Dark Brown Sugar
¼ cups Granulated Sugar
1  Egg
1  Egg Yolk
1-½ teaspoon Pure Vanilla Extract
1 Tablespoon Plain Greek Yogurt
¾ cups Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
½ cups Milk Chocolate Chips
½ cups Dark Chocolate Chips
1 jar of Nutella, chilled in refrigerator
1/2 cup of store bought caramel sauce/topping
Coarse Sea Salt, for sprinkling

Directions
Whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl and set aside.

Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. The butter will begin to foam. Make sure you whisk consistently during this process. After a couple of minutes, the butter will begin to brown on the bottom of the saucepan; continue to whisk and remove the pan from heat as soon as the butter begins to brown and give off a nutty aroma. Immediately transfer the butter to a large bowl to prevent burning. Set the butter aside to cool for a few minutes.

With an electric mixer, mix the slightly cooled butter and sugars until thoroughly blended. Beat in the egg, egg yolk, vanilla and yogurt until combined. Add the dry ingredients slowly and beat on low-speed just until combined. Gently fold in all of the chocolate chips.

Chill dough for at least 2-4 hours in the refrigerator, or overnight, for best results.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. 

If making into cookie bars, butter a 9x9 baking dish, and spread half of dough onto the bottom. Cover with 1/2 cup of nutella or more if desired and then add caramel sauce, and finally top with remaining cookie dough. Generously sprinkle with sea salt. Bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown. 

To make cookies: once dough is chilled measure about 1 1/2 tablespoons of dough and roll into a ball. Flatten the dough ball very thinly into the palm of your hand. Place 1 teaspoon of chilled Nutella in the middle and fold the dough around it then gently roll into a ball. It doesn’t have to be perfectly rolled but make sure that the Nutella is not seeping out of the dough. Add more dough if necessary.

Place dough balls on a non-stick or parchment paper-lined cookie sheet, 2 inches apart and flatten with your hand VERY gently. Really only the tops need to be flattened a bit!

Bake the cookies 9-11 minutes or until the edges of the cookies begin to turn golden brown. They will look a bit underdone in the middle, but will continue to cook once out of the oven. Cool the cookies on the sheets at least 2 minutes. Sprinkle with a little sea salt. Remove the cooled cookies from the baking sheets after a few minutes and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with remaining dough.

Best if served a tiny bit warm.

Sticky Toffee Pudding Date Cake

Ramadan Mubarak!

Incredibly moist cake baked with sweet smelling dates and topped with a brown sugar toffee sauce and walnuts.

Maybe sticky toffee pudding can have different textures? Because the last one I made was different. Hard to describe, but it was just softer, and you could eat it with a spoon. I was expecting this one to be just like it, but actually it baked up as a cake. Date cake. Moist, dense date cake. It was a delicious surprise. 

I was alittle unsure because the cake has no sugar added! The dates lend all their natural sugars. It was still satisfyingly sweet.

Since I was expecting sticky toffee pudding, I wanted the sauce to be, well sticky. But once you add the powdered sugar, however, it sets up right away and hardens. It was still good, and tasted like toffee, but I think something alittle gooey would be great. More like caramel and then add just alittle powdered sugar. Or maybe just put a thin layer of caramel underneath this topping.

Do you see how moist it is? You pre-cook the dates so they become soft and flavorful.

Sticky Toffee Pudding Date Cake

Recipe adapted from The English Kitchen

Dates

1 1/2 cups pitted dates, chopped (15 medjool dates)
3/4 cup water

1 tsp baking soda

Directions

Place the dates into a saucepan with water. Bring to a boil, and then reduce the heat and allow to simmer for about 10 minutes, gently. Make sure the water doesn't completely evaporate. Add the baking soda, and set aside to cool. It should still have water in the pan.

Cake

1 cup unsalted butter

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder

2 tsp vanilla extract

3 large eggs

1/3 cup milk

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease an 8 inch square baking pan with butter and line the bottom with parchment paper. Make sure it hangs well over two sides so that you can just lift the bars out to cut when finished.

Place all ingredients into a medium sized bowl and mix together, until well blended. Add the date mixture and lightly blend. Do not over mix.

Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 40-45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Set aside to cool.

Topping

2 tbsp butter

2 tbsp light brown sugar, packed
2 tbsp heavy cream or milk

3/4 cup sifted powdered sugar

1/2 cup chopped toasted walnuts

Directions

To make the frosting combine the butter, brown sugar, and cream into a small sauce pan. Heat gently to dissolve the sugar. Add the powdered sugar and mix together well. Quickly spread over the cooled cake mixture and sprinkle with the toasted walnuts.

Cut into squares to serve.

Carmelitas

We've visited Barnes and Nobles twice now just to get their huge chocolate chunk cookie. About to go again last night, but instead made these. You have to let them cool so they aren't a gooey mess, but they are yummy when warm with ice cream. They are much better the next day though, when completely cooled off.

I've seen them on Pinterest and their picture (not mine) looks mouth watering. I love caramel.

I like how easy these were to make. I LOVE oats in chocolate chip cookies. And I like the crumbly texture, but I think I prefer to cream the butter and sugar first to get a more soft, chewy cookie texture.

Carmelitas

Recipe from The Baker Upstairs via Lulu the Baker

Caramel

32 caramel squares, unwrapped or 1 1/4 cups caramel bits (in baking section)

1/2 cup heavy cream

Cookie Crisp

3/4 cup butter, melted

3/4 cup brown sugar, packed

1 cup flour

1 cup rolled oats

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

Combine caramels and cream in a small saucepan over low heat. Stir until completely smooth; set aside. In a separate bowl, combine melted butter, brown sugar, flour, oats, and baking soda. Pat half of the oatmeal mixture into the bottom of an 8x8" pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Remove pan from oven and sprinkle chocolate chips over crust. Pour caramel mixture over chocolate chips. Crumble remaining oatmeal mixture over caramel. Return to oven and bake an additional 15-20 minutes, until the edges are lightly browned. Remove from oven and cool completely before cutting.

M&M Rice Krispie Treats

So I made peanut butter cookies with M&M's, which are currently sitting in the freezer. They are intended purely for guests. We'll see how long that lasts. But no really, I want to be able to serve a batch of homemade cookies if I didn't have time to make something else. So they are not for me.

These however...are for me. And they are a result of, "what else should I do with M&Ms?" I can't remember the last time I've eaten these. The original recipe calls for a 10 oz. bag of marshmallows. My halal marshmallows come in a 9 oz. bag so I only used 5 cups of rice krispies. Also, I just wanted mine to be slightly more gooey (because the marshmallow is my favorite part). And I added 2 cups M&M's but I'd say you should go with 1 1/2 cups for a more balanced breakfast. ;) 

Lemon Cheesecake Creme Brulee Bars

Epic Failure.

Yes, I saw these on pinterest, and they looked amazing! And I've made something similar before and they were FABULOUS so I was excited for these!

Let me just say, if you do not have a blow torch. Forget it. The recipe said you can use your oven's broiler, so I did. No. Just no. As you can see from the pictures, that did nothing but burn the edges, leaving gritty sugar in the center, and melted cheesecake around the edges. We did just get a new oven, so maybe the broiler just sucks or I didn't use it right.

The sweet lemony flavor was good but I already ruined the tops to a gritty, gooey mess. I went out to HEB looking for a blow torch, trying to salvage these. Couldn't find one. Went to Walmart and looked everywhere. No blow torch. It was a sad day for baking.