How do you like your Chocolate Chip Cookies?

Do you like them crispy or soft?  Do you like them flat or chunky?   How about stuffed or not?

I describe my favorite chocolate chip cookie as crispy on the outside, soft on the inside, chunky with lots of chips and nuts.  It can be stuffed with Hazel Nut spread to take it over the top. 

With Hazelnut Spread Stuffed Inside

Do you want one?   Once you have the ingredients on hand they are very easy to make and it takes no time at all to have a cookie sitting next your favorite beverage while reading a book or watching a show or movie. 

Here is the recipe let me know if you try it......

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Cookies for Christmas

At Christmas time I get together with family and friends and we bake cookies and make candy treats to load onto cookie trays to give as gifts or use at family gatherings.  Lots and lots of treats and cookies.   We have been doing it for years.   It is a fun, tiring, messy, and delicious day.  Sometimes it is a couple of us other times it is a group.   We make several of the old stand byes and often try out a new recipe or two.  By the end of the day we have made dozens and dozens of delicious, delectable tasting cookies and other goodies.

One of my favorites to make is a called the Italian Fudge Roll.   It was a recipe I received from my mother in law over 33 years ago and who knows how long she had it.  

The recipe is very simple and easy to follow.  It uses ingredients that you can get at your local grocery store, if they aren't in your pantry and fridge already.    

The dough comes together nicely and is easy to work with. The fudge center is simple to make and after making it you well learn that you can use it to make many different kinds of fudge.  

If you have never had the chance to taste it, yes, it tastes like a rich creamy chocolate fudge wrapped in a delicate pastry making it easy to eat.     Once you have tried it you will be seeking it out on the next tray of cookies.   

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Minty Deliciousness

Mint and chocolate are one of many classic combinations and you can't go wrong pairing them together whether it is in a brownie, a cookie, a cake, a pie or a cupcake.

My family has always enjoyed the Mint layered brownies, but when I wanted to make cupcakes for someone's birthday, I thought why not chocolate and mint with a Thin Mint cookie decoration. Not to forget the ganache filling and coating on top of the cupcake. Or for either of those to be outdone by the Butter Mint frosting that tastes just like an after dinner butter mint.







Thin Mint Cupcakes


Cupcakes
1 Chocolate Cake Mix
1 cup warm water
2 tsp. instant coffee
3 eggs
1 cup mayonnaise
24 Girls Scout Thin Mint Cookies (for decorating)
1/2 cup of mini chocolate chips (for decorating)

Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a standard size cupcake tin with paper liners. Pour cake mix into a medium sized bowl. Add in eggs and mayonnaise, stir until combined. Add water with coffee mixed in, stir just until combined. Fill cupcake tins 2/3 full of the batter. Bake for 20 minutes, rotating the pans half way through the baking time. Do not overbake (dries out your cake).

Chocolate Ganache
12 ounces chocolate chips
1 cup heavy cream

Instructions for Ganache
Place the chocolate chips in a small bowl. Heat the cream in the microwave just until heated through. Pour the warm cream over the chopped chocolate. Allow the mixture to sit for about a minute. Then mix until it looks smooth and glossy.

Set the warm ganache aside. Allow to cool before using it in cupcakes.

Butter Mint Frosting
1 1/2 cups of unsalted butter at room temperature
3 cups of powdered sugar
Pinch of salt
1 to 2 tbs. heavy cream
1tsp. peppermint extract
1 tbsp. Crème de Menthe

Instructions for the Butter Mint Frosting
In a small measuring cup, add the Crème de Menthe, peppermint extract, salt and cream. Mix until salt is dissolved.

Cream the butter until smooth and it is light and fluffy. Add the sugar a little at a time, beating until combined. Add the liquid ingredients, and beat again until light and fluffy.

Assembling the Cupcakes
Once cupcakes have cooled, core out a 1 1/2 inch diameter circle in each cupcake. Save the top of the cored cupcake piece to put back on top after filling with ganache.

Fill the hole with a heaping teaspoon of cooled chocolate ganache. Replace the top of the hole with the reserved cupcake piece.

Spread a thin layer of the ganache over the entire cupcake. Immediately press mini-chocolate chips, around the edges only, into the wet ganache.

Pipe the frosting on each cupcake inside of the rim of mini chocolate chips.

Drizzle left over ganache over cupcakes. Top with a chocolate mint cookie.

Notes & Swaps
You can add more mint flavoring to either the ganache or the cupcake, but I didn't want the mint to overpower the chocolate flavor. 

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Chocolate-Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread

This one is for all those chocolate lovers out there.  It won't disappoint anyone having a chocolate craving.    It is an eye pleasing, moist, tasty, quick bread that satisfies any chocolate craving one might have.  Ready to eat in about one hour and fifteen minutes.  Sooner if you like it a little warm.    

This recipe only makes one loaf.  If you think you might want to share you will have to double the recipe.   It is sure to be a family favorite that they ask you to make again and again.



Click on the recipe image below and it will open in a new window.  When the window opens move your mouse over the photo, right click and select print picture from the drop down menu.  

Enjoy!





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