Chocolate gelato

Yummy note: This month has begun to get away from me at bit. It was literally just Halloween, I thought... then I looked at calendar and yikes, halfway to Thanksgiving already!?! what happened to November. Oh, I recall, we have been having some amazing warmer weather days for us in the Midwest and we've been taking advantage of it some. Sneaking in those extra park trips, walks outside, fishing, and playing in the yard and raking up all those leaves! I thought it was going to slow down a bit since the soccer and other fall activities wrapped up but I guess I was wrong. With this nicer weather, the kids thought it would be fun to make ice cream. We haven't made ice cream in while so I told them sure, and convenient enough, it was Secret Recipe Club time!  So why not start there.. I was in luck, my blogger for this month was Jane from over at The Heritage Cook! Yeah, I love Jane's site, perhaps it is that she has this feature called Chocolate Mondays.. Oh boy, Chocolate Mondays! What a great concept, I sure would enjoy some chocolate goodies after a long weekend to start the week off right ;)  Jane has such great a variety of recipes that you are bound to find a recipe that fits your taste buds. Also, Jane does such a great job lending a hand out in our Secret Recipe Club too, so she is a busy lady! Back to the task... Kids want ice cream.. so here's the short list..  Darkest-chocolate-in-the-world-ice-cream, Pumpkin-ice-cream, summer sorbets, and chocolate gelato... the Heritage Cook offers many dietary alternatives, so I was thrilled to find a few potentials. However, the one requirement I had was the recipe must be both dairy-free and nut-free so that both kids could enjoy it, as I was not up for making two different batches today. This chocolate gelato recipe was the winner, also I've never made a gelato before so this was new. Gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, is a winner in my book at home. This chocolate gelato sure doesn't taste free of anything though! It was amazing rich and full of chocolate goodness.

 Chocolate Gelato 

 Original recipe from The Heritage Cook

Ingredients:

1/2 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder 

2 (14 oz) cans of "lite" coconut milk (about 3-1/2 cups)

1 tsp of vanilla extract 

3/4 cup plus 2 tbsp of sugar 

2 tbsp of cornstarch 

1/8 tsp of salt 

Directions: 

Measure cocoa powder into a bowl and whisk in a small amount (no more than 2/3 cup) of coconut milk to make a smooth paste and then stir in the vanilla. In a separate sauce pan, mix sugar, cornstarch, and salt. Gradually whisk in the remaining coconut milk into the sugar mixture and heat over medium heat. Stir coconut milk mixture frequently. Once the mixture begins to just simmer, keep stirring. The mixture should simmer for about 2 1/2 to 3 minutes to fully cook the cornstarch. Note- keep stirring mixture constantly to prevent it from burning or sticking to the bottom or sides of the pan. Next, pour the hot milk mixture into the bowl with the cocoa paste. Whisk both together until it is well blended. Let chocolaty mixture just sit without touching it and let it cool for about 45 minutes. Then cover bowl and refrigerate until very cold, at least 3-4 hours. This gelato mixture can be made days in advance if needed. Next pour the gelato mixture into the frozen ice cream maker bowl. Run the gelato in your ice cream maker according the the directions. My ice cream maker turned the gelato into a softer set after about 25 minutes. To store, freeze the gelato in an airtight container. It should last in the freezer for a week or so. For the best gelato texture, let it soften slightly before scooping and serving. This recipe yielded about 1 quart of gelato.

Use quality ingredients with this simple recipe makes all the difference in taste. 

Mix the warmed up coconut mixture into the cocoa paste. 

Pour gelato mixture in the frozen ice cream maker container.  

Process ice cream for about 20-25 minutes or until soft set. 

Get ready to enjoy your homemade chocolate gelato! 

A rich dessert served with berries and chocolate sauce drizzle.

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Chocolate Peanut Butter Dream Dessert

Yummy note: I rarely make desserts like these, as they are oh so rich and amazingly sinful. My sister-in-law pointed this chocolate and peanut butter layered dessert recipe out to me a few months ago from 365 Days of Baking and More. I just got around to making it recently. Oh boy, it was as delicious as expected; I mean we already knew the peanut butter and chocolate combo was a winner, but the addition of the peanut butter cookies, cream cheese, and then more chocolate on top, mmm, yummy. I don't even want to count the calories in this dish,  so I knew I couldn't keep the whole pan in my house... So guess what I brought to the last family get together, yep, I was like I want to bring a dessert- hello, the chocolate peanut butter dream dessert. 

Chocolate Peanut Butter Dream Dessert

Original recipe - 365 Days of Baking and More - Chocolate-peanut-butter-dream-bars

Ingredients:
1 (16-ounce) package of peanut butter sandwich cookies, divided
1/2 stick of butter, melted
4 ounces of cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup of powdered sugar
1/3 cup of creamy peanut butter
1 (8-ounce) container of Cool Whip, divided
1 (3.9-ounce) package of instant chocolate pudding mix
1 1/2 cups of milk
1/2 cup of milk chocolate and peanut butter chips

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Finely crush 24 of the peanut butter cookies in a food processor or blender. Next, mix together the crushed cookies and the melted butter. Press cookie crumbs into an ungreased 8 x 8 baking dish and bake for 10 minutes. Allow crust to cool. In a small bowl, mix the pudding with 1 1/2 cups of milk. Then in another bowl, mix the cream cheese, powdered sugar and peanut butter together and then fold in 1 cup of the Cool Whip until blended. Spread the chocolate pudding over the cooled crust. Then layer the peanut butter mixture over the chocolate layer. Next, spread the remaining Cool Whip on top. Chop up the last of peanut butter cookies and chocolate/peanut butter chips and sprinkle on top. Refrigerate several hours or until dessert is set before cutting.

Peanut butter cookies - aka Nutter Butter

Chocolate and peanut butter layers of goodness 

Cookie crumbles and chocolate peanut butter chips top the dessert.

Delicious layers of chocolate, peanut butter, and cream cheese ready to enjoy.

Zucchini Brownies

Yummy note: Oh, how I miss you, zucchini... I didn't really get a chance to have a real garden this year, so no home grown zucchini here. :(  Last year, I had a bunch and of course, my friends at the Secret Recipe Club helped out in giving me lots of great ideas using that up last year and coincidentally enough, this month I found yet another great way to use up some zucchini that I had from the farmer's market!  So kudos to the SRC bloggers and their creativity. In all the recipes, I've tried with zucchini I don't recall ever making brownies with them. I've baked breads and cakes with it, and even made salsa and fried zucchini, but no brownies. Well, that must be fixed instantly, after I saw this recipe from Ashley at Rainstorms and Love Notes. I am pretty sure I've seen recipes like it before floating around, but I just never tried it. I knew from previous baking with zucchini sometimes my kids can be a bit picky and I need some tricks to get past the green stuff. So the chocolate here was my ammo. I also ended up pulsing the brownie mix just slightly in the food processor to incorporate the zucchini strands better, as I wanted the kids to like the brownies without finding "something stringy is in my food, mom!!" and then it would be a no-go. This recipe was kid-tested and approved and they thoroughly enjoyed these zucchini brownies and kept asking for more. It was a 2 thumbs up dessert all around. Thanks Ashley for this great treat! Don't forget to stop by Ashley's blog and learn more about her here. (btw, love this intro page!) If you are looking for other great treats, check these out... these are on my short list to try-- cookie dough bites, cinnamon doughnuts, and these amazing looking caramel shortbread bars.

Zucchini Brownies 

Source: http://rainstormsandlovenotes.com/2013/10/zucchini-brownies.html 

Ingredients: 
1 large zucchini (roughly 2 cups shredded zucchini)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup chocolate chips

Directions: 
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Finely grate zucchini, you should try and have approximately 2 cups for the recipe. Next, mix together the oil, sugar, and vanilla. Add in the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir the zucchini into brownie batter. Yummy note: If your kids are like mine and they don't like to see zucchini strands perhaps pulse the zucchini a little in a food processor to incorporate it better into the batter.  Pour brownie batter into a prepared 9x13 pan. For best results, line your pan with aluminum foil and then spray with cooking spray. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until done.

Ingredients all ready to mix together.

1st attempt at zucchini going in... then the kid factor.. "mom, that looks kinds yucky.." Ok, time to switch things up. Sneaky mom takes a bunch of zucchini out and pulses it in food processor to achieve a more smooth consistency and then blends it right into the brownie batter. 

Added a handful of chocolate chips just to make sure we are good. 

Ready to bake!

Warm chocolate, almost cake-like brownies ready to be eaten! 

Yummy note: If you want to make it extra decadent try topping the brownies with this frosting! 

Easy Chocolate Frosting 

Ingredients: 
1/4 cup butter, melted
6 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 cup milk or coffee
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
about 2-3 cups powdered sugar

Directions:
Mix butter and cocoa together until combined. Then add in milk (or coffee) and vanilla and beat until smooth. Gradually mix in the powdered sugar until desired consistency for frosting is achieved.

Chocolate-loving kid tested and approved zucchini brownies! 

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Blonde Brownies

Yummy note:  Last month, my mother-in-law and I were discussing how delicious those blonde brownies from Applebee's are, and how you just can't eat one by yourself. Seriously, there is a lot of warm gooey sweet goodness going on with that dessert. So instead of heading out to the restaurant with the kids and all to get a treat, I figured let's bake something similar to these blonde brownies for Grandma and Grandpa instead. Then we an portion control ourselves and have like little blonde brownies treats all week long! ;) 

Blonde Brownies 

Original here: adapted from http://www.food.com/recipeprint.do?rid=50419

Ingredients:
1 cup sifted flour 
1/2 teaspoon baking powder 
1/8 teaspoon baking soda 
1/8 teaspoon salt 
1/2 cup chopped walnuts 
1/3 cup butter
1 cup packed brown sugar 
1 egg, beaten 
1 tablespoon vanilla extract 
1/2 cup white chocolate chips (I also have used dark chocolate) 

Directions:
Melt butter and add brown sugar, and stir until well mixed. Add in egg and vanilla and mix well. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together. Combine butter mixture with flour mixture, stirring well. Stir in nuts and desired chocolate chips. Pour into a 9-inch square pan and bake at 350 degrees for about 20-25 minutes.

Snickerdoodle Cookies

Yummy note: The other night the kids and I were making cookies to take to one of my daughter's class volunteer appreciation party and it hit me that I have never posted our family snickerdoodle cookie recipe. I had to dig it out of the family recipe binder, since I couldn't find the electronic copy? not cool. Ok, so I had to fix that. Snickerdoodles, according to my kids, are kinda like cinnamon toast- sugary, sweet, and a little crunchy- such a great food analogy! Hope you enjoy our family-trusted snickerdoodle cookie recipe, I wish I knew where the source came from, but I am unaware of who gave me this or where this recipe originated...All I know, it produces fantastic cookies :) 

Snickerdoodle Cookies 

Ingredients: 

1 cup shortening, softened 

1 1/2 cups sugar 

2 eggs 

2 3/4 cups flour 

2 tsp cream of tartar 

1/2 tsp salt 

1 tsp baking soda 

* additional 2 tbsp sugar and 2 tsp cinnamon 

Directions: 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix shortening, sugar, and eggs together. Sift dry ingredients together and blend into the shortening mixture. Chill dough, if time allowed. I have done it both ways, where I was low on time and baked them right away without chilling and it still worked fine. Roll the dough balls the size of about walnuts or use a cookie scooper. Drop the dough balls into a cinnamon/sugar mix- using about 2 tbsp sugar and 2 tsp cinnamon. This can be modified to your liking of how much cinnamon you like. Place dough on parchment-lined cookie sheet or on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for about 8-10 minutes, or until the cookie starts to puff up and the edges start to set. The cookies will then flatten some as they cool with a crinkled/cracked top.   

     

Snow White Frosting

Yummy Note:

I am always looking for frosting recipes that are dairy-free, work well with decorating cakes, AND taste good. :) Sometimes, when you use a dairy-free alternative, that doesn't taste or act exactly like butter, you can get varying results. So I was excited when I came across this one from Wilton. I can't tell you how many times, I refer back to the Wilton site for the best results. Why mess with their expertise! So when I tried the Snow White Buttercream Icing recipe and realized it actually didn't have any real "butter" in it, and it was dairy-free, I was thrilled. This frosting holds up nicely, you can make it ahead of time, and I've had several compliments on it, noting that the taste of this frosting reminds them of old-school wedding cake frosting. I have used it as a thin layer under fondant, but it sets up and dries rather fast, so make sure you keep that in mind when frosting. A note is I have had maybe one bad run of this frosting, where it almost slid off the side of the cake. I am not sure if it was due to the heat, humidity, or perhaps if I added in too much corn syrup, but it wasn't pretty on about day 2 of my cake. However, the numerous other times, it worked great!   

 

 

 

Snow White Frosting

recipe from

http://www.wilton.com/recipe/Snow-White-Buttercream-Icing

Ingredients:
2/3 cup plus 3 tablespoons water, divided
1/4 cup meringue powder
12 cups sifted powdered sugar, (about 3 lbs.) divided
1 1/4 cups solid vegetable shortening
3 tablespoons light corn syrup
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon almond extract
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon butter flavor

Directions:
In large bowl, sift all of the powdered sugar. Next, combine 2/3 cup of water and meringue powder together and mix at high speed until peaks form. Add powdered sugar, one cup at a time, at low speed. If you mix at a higher speed, you will end up with a powdered sugar dust storm and a big mess :)  Mix well, after each additional cup of sugar. After all of the sugar has been added, add the last 3 tablespoons of water, shortening and corn syrup to that and mix well. Add salt and flavorings last, and beat at low speed until smooth. Keep bowl covered with a damp cloth until ready to use, so it does not dry out.  For best results, store in refrigerator in an airtight container. The frosting can keep for about 2 weeks.

I don't have pictures of the actual frosting being made as I've always been in a rush when making it or forget. But I have how the finished cake and frosting is.

In our latest cake effort -
My daughter and I made a minion banana cake for my son's birthday and decorated it using this snow white frosting and fondant.

 

Chocolate and Peppermint Swirl Cookies

Yummy note: This month, my group with the Secret Recipe Club is on a break, so we will be back with our regular group posting in mid-January. Instead, a few of us (like 60-some bloggers!) decided to get in the spirit of the holiday fun and do a Cookie Carnival, which is basically a virtual cookie exchange. I wish I had some addresses of my fellow Secret Recipe Club friends, as I'd ship them some delicious cookies that I ended up making. I made not one, but two different cookies from my cookie match, Sawsan from Chef in Disguise. My cookie match had some awesome choices to pick from...she calls herself a "food explorer" which is perfectly fitting for her as she tries out and blogs about various foods from around the world. Speaking of trying food from around the world, I think this is one of my first international bloggers to review in the SRC so it was an exciting find. Sawsan has such a variety of recipes on her site, and if you are ever looking for traditional middle eastern cuisine, please check her blog out as that's her speciality. Now on to the cookies- I picked these chocolate and peppermint swirl cookies as my daughter has been asking me for mint chocolate things lately, so I thought she'd really enjoy these, and they are super festive! With so many choices on Sawsan's blog, I had to try the date and ranger cookies as well from Chef in Disguise and those were packed full of flavor and might be my new favorite as well. :) I hope you all enjoy making some cookies this holiday season and share some with your friends and family as we did. 

Chocolate and Peppermint Swirl Cookies

recipe here:  http://chefindisguise.com/2011/12/13/chocolate-and-peppermint-swirl-cookies-with-basic-cookie-dough/

Ingredients:
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon almond extract

For the chocolate half:
2 tablespoons cocoa

For the peppermint half:
1-2 teaspoons green food coloring
1/4 teaspoon peppermint extract

Directions: 
Mix butter and sugar until creamy, then add in the egg and vanilla/almond extracts. Gradually add in the flour, baking soda, and salt. Divide the dough in half.  And add cocoa to the one batch, and the green food coloring and peppermint extract to the other. Chill for about 15 minutes. Roll each dough out on waxed paper, forming two different large rectangles. Next, place the two rectangular-shaped dough sheets on top of one another. Peel the one waxed paper sheet off and trim dough if needed to align. Use the waxed paper as a guide and roll up rectangle starting with the long side. Refrigerate for another 15 minutes or so, and then cut the log into 1 cm slices. Arrange on a prepared baking sheet and bake in preheated 375 degree oven. Bake for about 5-8 minutes or until the cookie starts to set and the bottom begins to brown. Sawsan noted to briefly set the cookies under the broiler to brown the tops slightly if desired. Allow to cool before removing from pan and enjoy!  

Roll out dough into rectangles and stack on each other. 

Roll up using the long edge of the rectangle to start your swirl cookies. 

Use a sharp knife and cut out 1 cm thick slices and bake.

Festive Chocolate and Peppermint Swirl Cookies! 

I had to try out Sawsan's go-to cookie recipe, also. The Chef in Disguise said was probably her favorite cookie recipe and I see why... it is fantastic, chewy, flavorful cookie, that I even snuck a few for breakfast. Yummy.. So try out the oats and date ranger cookies too if you are looking for a good comfort cookie. 

Oat and Date Ranger Cookies

Happy Holidays from Heather at It's Yummy to My Tummy!

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Pumpkin bars

Yummy note:  I almost was able to grow enough pumpkins for us to carve this year, but fell short by one. I had three nice pumpkins to start. Two were perfect, but one smaller pumpkin appeared to be not quite jack-o-lantern ready. So instead, I ended up buying another to carve, but saved the other one for roasting. I made some nice pumpkin puree out of it and got about 2-3 cups, which was awesome for a pumpkin bar recipe I've been meaning to try out. I've wanted to lighten up this Paula Deen recipe, and try and make it dairy-free and this combination below worked perfect. The applesauce addition was used to eliminate some of the eggs and oil in the recipe, while not taking away from the pumpkin flavor. I am happy to say that it got rave reviews and I will be making this again for a Thanksgiving treat later this month. 

Pumpkin Bars 

(dairy-free) 

Adapted from http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/pumpkin-bars-recipe.html

Ingredients: 
Pumpkin bars:
2 eggs
1 2/3 cups granulated sugar
about 1 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup oil (can use vegetable or coconut)
15-16 ounces (roughly 2 cups) of pumpkin puree
2 cups flour, sifted
1 tsp salt
1 1/4 tsp baking soda
2 1/4 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
1 1/4 tsp nutmeg or pumpkin pie spice

Frosting:
8 ounce package cream cheese or non-dairy alternative, softened (The non-dairy brand, Tofutti, was preferred- as it set up well and tasted very close to regular cream cheese.)
1/2 cup butter or non-dairy alternative
2 cups sifted powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Directions: 
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Combine the eggs, sugar, oil, applesauce, and pumpkin puree until it is mixed well. Sift together the flour, baking powder, salt, baking soda, and spices. Add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture and combine until the batter is smooth. Pour the batter in a prepared greased 9x13 pan (or bigger) baking pan. Bake for about 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Next prepare the frosting, by combining the non-dairy softened cream cheese and butter and mix until smooth. Add in the sifted powdered sugar and vanilla. Mix until it is all incorporated, if it is too thick, you can add a few drops of water or if the frosting is too thin, you can add more powdered sugar until you reach your desired consistency. Make sure the pumpkin bars have cooled completely before you frost them.

Add some festive candy to the top for a cute treat. 

I made these in a 9x13 pan, and got a very moist, cake-like pumpkin bar. The bars raised nicely, so I think next time, I will use a slightly larger pan and make a slightly thinner bar.

Iced Banana Cookies

Yummy note: I came across this recipe for Iced Banana Cookies this last month from one of my bloggers in the Secret Recipe Club. Oh boy, was it a hit, these banana cookies were almost classified as breakfast-on-the-go for my youngest kid. They were fantastic and will most definitely be making them again soon. This recipe came from Julie over at the Texan New Yorker blog. Her iced banana cookies were very moist, cake-like and flavorful, and such a nice way to use up those brown bananas! They tasted almost like banana muffin tops, perhaps more than a cookie, either way they were super delicious and the kids couldn't stop eating them. 

Iced Banana Cookies 

Original recipe here

Ingredients: 
1/2 cup butter or non-dairy spread, softened
2 1/2 cups flour, divided
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 tsp cloves
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 ripe bananas, mashed
*optional handful of chocolate chips

Glaze: 
2 1/4 cups powdered sugar, divided
up to 3 tbsp water
1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions: 
Beat the butter or non-dairy alternative for about 30 seconds, until it begins to cream. Add in 1 cup of the flour, sugar, eggs, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and vanilla to the mixing bowl. Mix well and then add in the remaining 1 1/2 cups of flour. Finally, add in the mashed bananas to the mixture and mix well. Using a cookie dough scooper, drop dough on a prepared baking sheet with either a silpat or parchment paper. Bake in a preheated oven at 375 degrees for about 9 minutes. Next, mix up the glaze, by adding the powdered sugar and vanilla extract in a bowl and begin to mix in a few teaspoons of water at a time. Begin to mix together until a thick glaze forms. If you accidentally add to much water, just add in a little bit of powdered sugar to thicken it back up. When the cookies are done, let them cool for a few minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack. Frost banana cookies with glaze and enjoy!

Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Yummy note: I looked into my freezer the other night and gasped... omg, I ran out of my frozen cookie dough balls! How can that be, it looked so bare, cold and empty, oh so sad. :(  They are like my secret little addiction, I will take out a frozen cookie ball and eat it like that or pop it into the microwave for a few seconds and par-bake it before devouring it before anyone notices. lol. Shh...mommy needs a treat at night too. So, I needed to change that empty cookie dough container immediately.  Luckily for me, I had just been doing some reading up for my Secret Recipe Club assignment and Julie from The Texan New Yorker had plenty of good stuff to choose from that might just fit. Cookies were on my brain that's for sure, so I had noted a few... I do love my sweet potatoes... never made those before- Sweet Potato Chocolate Chip Cookies, or wait a minute, Duck Fat Cookies - woah, looks awesome to try, but not sure where I'd find the duck fat, but it would be a refrigerator style of cookie that would hold up to the freezer. Then I saw these, Brown Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies; it had been awhile since I've made cookies with butter. Yes, butter is a like an evil word around here, since my youngest is allergic to dairy, it is a treat when I use it. So why not, I'll just keep these tucked away in the freezer for myself to enjoy ;-)  

Brown Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies 

http://www.texannewyorker.com/2013/08/07/brown-butter-chocolate-chunk-cookies/

Ingredients:

1 cup (2 sticks) plus 1 tbsp unsalted butter (make sure you have atleast 1 stick at room temperature)

1 cup granulated sugar

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp molasses

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1 large egg

1 large egg yolk

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chunks/chips

Directions: 

Julie notes a great tutorial here to view if you've never browned butter before. That is the first step of making these cookies. Place 9 tablespoons of butter in a stainless steel pan or skillet and heat over medium heat. Melt butter. Once the butter completely melts, it will froth, bubble and begin to crackle. It starts to begin to smell delicious, too, haha. At this point, keep a close watch and make sure it doesn't start to burn or blacken. This is basically the water being cooked out of the butter, as then it begins to brown. This happens very quick, it can go from golden to brown in minutes, so be careful. 

Once the butter has browned, remove from the heat and pour into a different container to cool. Make sure to scrape all of the brown butter bits at the bottom of the pan out too. Next, cream the remaining 8 tablespoons of room temperature butter with the granulated sugar. Cream for a few minutes until light and fluffy. Add in the vanilla extract and molasses. Next add in the cooled brown butter and brown sugar. Cream until well mixed and add in the egg and the egg yolk. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, salt, and baking soda. Once eggs have been mixed in, then add in your flour mixture to the batter and mix until just incorporated. Stir in the chocolate chips or chunks by hand. Cover the bowl and chill for about 30 minutes. 

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Once dough has chilled, scoop cookie dough using a tablespoon scoop and bake on a silpat or parchment-lines baking sheet. Bake cookies for about 12 minutes or until lightly browned on the outside. The inside will still be slightly soft in the center when the timer goes off, so make sure to let cookies rest on the pan for 5 minutes before removing them to cool.  

Brown the butter first, then mix up the rest of the cookie dough. 

At first, I wasn't sure if these cookies were going to make it out of the oven. The dough itself was nibbled on quite a bit. I loved the caramel-almost nutty flavor tones in these cookies. 

The cookies were slightly crispy on the outside, and yummy gooey inside. 

Golden brown butter chocolate chip cookies, looking pretty perfect. 

All ready for the freezer to keep my cookie dough stash nicely stocked!

Oh, and I felt a little guilty for enjoying these delicious Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies all by myself, so I had to make some other cookies to share with the kids. I made some of Julie's Iced Banana Cookies as well. They were so moist, cake-like and flavorful, and such a nice way to use up those brown bananas! They tasted almost like banana muffin tops, more than a cookie, and they were super delicious and the kids couldn't stop eating them. I will post that recipe later this week as well, as I don't want to loose that recipe! :) Thanks again to the Texan New Yorker for these scrumptious recipes I got to try this month for the Secret Recipe Club!

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