Treats

Peanut Butter Pretzel & Chocolate Chip Cookies

/ Emily / Leave a comment

Snow days mean something different to everyone. You see the die hard skiers cross county-ing across the park, kids flinging themselves into piles of questionable snow and others staying burrowed into their cozy homes. As many times as I experience the snow, it always feels like an adventure to get out there. Even if it’s just a trip to the store to get “rations” (sounds way cooler than groceries) I feel a sense of pride and rugged sensibility. But it is also nice to get home, cook a hot meal and stoke the fire. These cookies conjure up a similar feeling of comfort and adventure. Hope you enjoy these salty & sweet treats!

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Peanut Butter Pretzel & Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

  • 2 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup butter, softened
  • 3/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 3/4 cup brown sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 cup chocolate chips
  • 1.5 cups broken peanut butter pretzels**

How to:

  1. Combine flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
  2. Cream butter and sugars. add in eggs and vanilla, mix well.
  3. Gradually add in flour mixture. Stir in pretzels and chocolate chips. The pretzels may not want to totally incorporate, so as you are preparing to bake the cookies, try to integrate any pieces at the bottom into the spoonfuls. They will bake into them beautifully.
  4. Chill for 30 minutes.
  5. Drop by spoonfuls onto a cookie tray. Bake in a preheated 375 degree oven for 8-10 minutes.

**Trader Joe’s sells peanut butter pretzels! If you can’t find peanut butter ones, just go for the regular pretzels, it’ll still give you the salty flavor & crunch!

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Berk loves the snow.

Pots of Chocolate-y Goodness

/ Emily / 1 Comment

You know that song about heaven missing an angel? I am pretty sure it was written about these. And before you say, “that looks too fancy for me to make” read the recipe and see how simple it actually is. Our friend and brother came to visit this weekend and luckily, these guys enjoy food as much as we do. Kyle planned on making a French inspired dinner so I wanted to make a complimentary dessert. I had planned to make creme brulee, but didn’t get enough whipping cream so I had to go back to the drawing board. The result was a super decadent to eat, impressive to look at and easy to prepare dessert.

Trust me…

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Chocolate Pots de Creme

makes about 6 individual 4 oz. servings

Ingredients

  • 8 oz. semisweet chocolate (2 boxes of the Baker’s brand bars or 1/2 bag of chocolate chips)
  • 1.5 cups whole milk
  • 1 cup heavy whipping cream
  • 6 egg yolks
  • 4 TBL sugar
  • pinch of salt

How to:

  1. Break up chocolate into pieces and put in your blender or food processor. Pulse it until it becomes like a coarse powder.
  2. Separate your eggs so you just have the yolks (save the whites for an omelet or something!), whisk in the sugar just until blended.
  3. In a saucepan over medium heat, whisk together milk, heavy cream, egg & sugar mixture and a pinch of salt. Cook this for about 5 minutes while stirring constantly. Watch the temp of your burner. You don’t want this to get to a boil. Just a very, very light simmer. Cook until your mixture coats the back of a wooden spoon (see photo). Take off the heat.
  4. Pour the mixture directly into your blender over that chocolate powder from earlier. Pulse your blender until everything is smooth and incorporated, scraping the sides if you need to. Divide among ramekins (6) and give each one a few little taps to get out the air bubbles. Put in the fridge to chill for about 3 hours.
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This is what “coating the back of a wooden spoon” looks like.

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Ready for the fridge.

Toppings (optional, but encouraged!)

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  • 1/2 c. whipping cream
  • 1 t. vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract
  • 1/2 Tablespoon powdered sugar

1. Whip it all together!

Fruit Topping

  • 2 heaping tablespoons cherry preserves (you could do raspberry, blackberry etc.)
  • splash of whiskey

1. In a small saucepan or skillet over medium heat heat the preserves. Once they start to bubble a bit, add the whiskey. Enjoy the poof of whiskey aroma as the alcohol cooks off and then let it simmer for just a minute more. Remove from heat.

The final moment…. Your pots should be set and firm. Top with the whip cream, add a drizzle of the warm fruit and then prepare to sit around the table in silence while everyone savors these pots of deliciousness!

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Side note: I have ramekins, so I used those. But since there is no actual cooking in the vessel, you could use tea cups, little jars, etc.

Chocolate Chip Zucchini Muffins

/ Emily / Leave a comment

Thanks to our bountiful zucchini plants this year, I have been challenged to get creative with this green vegetable. This recipe falls somewhere between a cupcake and a muffin on the treat spectrum. No sugary frosting, but enough sweetness (& chocolate!) to satisfy a craving.

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Decadent Zucchini Muffins 

  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
  • 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
  • 4 large eggs, at room temperature
  • 1 cup packed dark brown sugar
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 cup coconut oil (melted)*
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 14 ounces zucchini (about 3 to 4 medium zucchini), ends trimmed, grated on the large holes of a box grater (about 3 cups)
  • 1 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions

  1. Heat the oven to 350°F and arrange two racks to divide the oven into thirds. Line muffin pans.
  2. Mix the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, nutmeg, and salt in a medium bowl and whisk or sift to ensure there are no lumps. Set aside.
  3. In another bowl mix the eggs, sugars, oil, and vanilla in a large bowl and whisk until the eggs are broken up and the mixture is thoroughly combined. Using a rubber spatula, fold in the flour mixture until just combined. Fold in the zucchini until evenly mixed. Finally add in the chocolate chips. Be careful not to over mix.
  4. Fill the muffin wells about two-thirds of the way and cover the tops with the walnut topping. Bake about 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool and enjoy!

Topping

  • 1 c. coarsely chopped walnuts
  • 4 TBL. Cold butter
  • ½ c. packed brown sugar
  • 1 TBL. Flour
  • 1 tsp. cinnamon

Chop the butter into little pieces. Mix all ingredients together by hand. Get in there and squeeze all the ingredients together like you are squishing one of those stress balls. Mixing by hand will incorporate the butter best. Alternatively, you could pulse it in a food processor until the butter looks like small beads (but be careful not to over do it and turn it all into a paste!)

**To melt coconut oil, just measure out one cup and microwave for about 30 seconds in a glass cup. When it looks like most of it is melted, but there are a few chunks just swirl in until everything is melted. This will ensure that you aren’t putting in molten hot oil. Alternatively, you can use vegetable oil!

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This is Berk. He is our charismatic coonhound. He can be found doing something silly or flashing his big eyes to get his way. It usually works… Here he is showing off his “I don’t like the rain, but could model for Pendelton” look.