S'More Chocolate Chip Cookies

I love s'mores and try to make them a few times each summer. My husband and I built a fire pit in our yard years ago and it is nice to sit out there and relax after a long work week. My youngest shares my love for them to. When I saw a recipe for s'more chocolate chip cookies, I knew they would be perfect for him.

I followed the directions of this recipe at Baked Perfection closely, but again added some changes to a half batch of my favorite chocolate chip cookies. I couldn't stop eating this cookie dough before I even put any chocolate in it. The graham cracker taste comes through very well in these. These are a chewy cookie, which is what I prefer in a cookie.

S'more Chocolate Chip Cookies
3/4 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 tablespoon of baking soda
1 teaspoon of cornstarch (optional-this ingredient seems to be all the rage on Pinterest for chocolate chip cookies. I will add 1 tablespoon next time)
1/2 cup plus 1/3 cup graham cracker crumbs (Sorry, I was too lazy to do the math-about 7 ounces altogether)
1/2 to 3/4 cup mini chocolate chips
1 to 1 1/2 cups mini marshmallows
2 -3 regular size Hershey milk chocolate bars

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Melt the butter and cool slightly. Add the sugars, eggs and vanilla.Stir in the flour, salt ,baking soda, and cornstarch. The add the graham cracker crumbs and mini chips. Roll into balls the size of golf balls. Place on parchment lined cookie sheets. Bake for 8 minutes. Pull the cookies out and lightly press 3-5 mini marshmallows and 1 square of the Hershey's milk chocolate bar onto each cookie. Bake another 3-4 minutes, depending on how dark you like your cookies. Allow to cool on the pan at least 5 minutes before moving to a cooling rack.

Brownie Chocolate Chip Cookie Peanut Butter Cup or Oreo Bars

My son gave me a challenge to make these brownie chocolate chip cookie peanut butter cup (that's a mouthful!) bars. I decided to also make a batch of brownie chocolate chip cookie Oreo bars. Liam liked them both but really loved the Oreo ones.

I liked the Oreo's best myself, not to say that the other ones weren't really good also!

I looked up some recipes for this but I decided to go with a half batch of my favorite chocolate chip cookies and my favorite brownies. I did cut down on the flour a little because one of the recipes I found said this was a good idea. Here is a link to Kevin & Amanda's blog to that recipe because I followed the directions for baking these and it worked out. This could be made in a 9x13 pan. I used two 9x6 1/2 in pans since I was making the 2 kinds.

Brownie Chocolate Chip Cookie Peanut Butter Cup or Oreo Bars

For the Chocolate Chip Cookie base:

3/4 cup of butter, melted and cooled for 10 minutes

1/2 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar

1 egg
1 egg yolk

1 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla

2 cups flour

1/2 tablespoon of baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup chocolate chips (regular of mini)

For the Brownie base:

2 square Baker's unsweetened chocolate
6 tablespoons of butter
1 cup sugar
1 -2  eggs (I actually beat an egg and used half of it with the other whole egg. You could probably get away with just one large egg)
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla
1/2 cup flour

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

For the cookie dough: mix the melted butter and sugars together, add the eggs and vanilla. Mix the flour, salt and baking soda together separately and then add to the wet ingredients. Add the chocolate chips. Spread the cookie dough into a well greased 9x13 pan.

Place of a layer of Oreos or peanut butter cookies on top of the dough.

For the Brownies: Melt the unsweetened chocolate and butter in the microwave. Cool 10 minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Spread over the Oreos or peanut butter cups.

Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake for about 15 to 25 more minutes. Mine took 15 and now I am realizing that I could have made the full batch of brownies and this would be even better. They were very good nonetheless. It is a good excuse to make these again though!

My Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies

I was not too impressed with my regular chocolate cookie recipe anymore. I was using a mix of butter and shortening in my recipe for years, but they were suddenly turning out either cakey or hard. I like my chocolate chip cookies with some chewiness. This fit the bill!

The recipe comes from Anna at Cookie Madness, who got it from a Top Chef Challenge (made by Eric). This is a recipe where you don't need to pull out the mixer. I just use a wooden spoon.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

3 sticks of butter, melted
1 cup sugar
2 cup brown sugar (I used dark brown)
2 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
3 teaspoons vanilla
4 2/3 cup of flour
1 tablespoon of baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
18 to 24 ounces of chopped chocolate or chocolate chips (I use 1 1/2 to 2 bags of chocolate chips)

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Melt the butter and cool about 10 minutes. Add the sugars, eggs, yolks and vanilla to the melted butter. Mix the salt, flour and baking soda separately and add to the wet ingredients. I like to make these big with 1/4 cup of dough. I bake them on parchment lined cookie sheets for 15-17 minutes. You want to pull them out when they look like they are almost but not quite done. Let them sit for a few minutes on the pan before removing to cool. I love this recipe!. I have played around with adding 2 teaspoons of cornstarch to the dough. I am not sure if it makes a difference yet or not. The next time I make them I will do half with the cornstarch and half without.

 It is easy to half this recipe and put into a greased 9x13 pan and bake into bars for about 22-26 minutes. I did this for Valentine's Day this year.

Whopper Malted Ice Cream

I made this ice cream for my son's 21st birthday.

It was an easy ice cream to make. The recipe comes from Your HomeBased Mom. I modified it a little to fit my ice cream maker. The last time I made it there was extra. I would never want to waste potential ice cream! I also changed the ingredients some because I  didn't want to buy both heavy whipping cream and half-n-half. I already buy whole milk for my teenager. He doesn't have an extra ounce of fat on him so he doesn't need skim milk (lucky boy!).

See-totally to the top!

Whopper Malted Ice Cream from: Your HomeBased Mom

1 cup of sugar

2 cups whole milk

1/4 teaspoon of salt

2 cups whipping cream

1 tablespoon of vanilla

1/2 cup malted milk powder (I use Carnation)

1 cup coarsely chopped Whoppers  (I like some bigger chunks in there)

Mix everything but the Whoppers together and put in the ice cream bowl. My ice cream maker takes about 25 to 30 minutes to process. Add in the Whoppers at the end and put in the freezer until it is frozen to your liking. 

Sloppy Joes

I have made these Sloppy Joes several times and it sure beats the canned stuff I had when I was a kid. My husband wouldn't even touch the stuff until I made this homemade version. The canned version seems overly sweet to me now.

Sloppy Joes from: The New Better Homes and Garden Cookbook

1 pound ground beef
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped green pepper
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 8 ounce can of tomato sauce
2 tablespoons of water
3 teaspoons chili powder ( the recipe calls for 1 tsp)
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
2 teaspoons hot sauce (use less if you don't like it with a little kick)
salt and pepper to your liking

Cook the beef, onion, green pepper and garlic in a skillet until the meat is browned. Drain the fat.
Stir in the rest of the ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes. I have cooked this up and put it in the crock pot to stay hot for a party before. This serves 3-4 people but can easily be doubled or tripled.

Homemade Granola

Who doesn't like granola? They say it can be fattening. This recipe has oil, but at least you know exactly what kind and how much is in it. I use canola oil in this.Of course if has honey and brown sugar to. Do the oats and nuts cancel out that?

Granola from: Once a Month Cooking from 1986-Here is a link to the newest edition

8 cups of rolled oats

1 ¼ cup brown sugar (I use dark brown sugar)

1-2 cups of wheat germ, bran, unprocessed wheat or I just grind up some more rolled oats in my hands

1-2 cups chopped nuts or a mix with sunflower seed

¼ cup canola oil (or you can use vegetable oil)

¾ cup honey

2 teaspoons of vanilla

2 cups of raisins or craisins or other dried fruit

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Mix the oats through the nuts together in a large bowl. Put the oil, honey and vanilla in a saucepan and heat while stirring until it gets bubbly. Pour this over the dry ingredients and stir well. Spread onto 2 large, rimmed cookie sheets and bake 20 to 25 minutes, stirring several times for even cooking. Remove from oven and cool completely stirring occasionally to keep it from clumping too much. Add the raisins. This should store for a least a couple of weeks, but it has never lasted that long here. Makes 14 to 16 cups. We like to snack on it or have it with milk.

Cabbage Rolls

We love cabbage rolls around here. We use the hottest sausage we can find for these, but any type will do or you could just use some ground pork.

This recipe is a combination of a couple recipes, but mostly it comes from a Barefoot Contessa recipe on Food Network. That Lady knows how to cook and bake. I still need to make her brownie recipe that has like a dozen sticks of butter in it. I bet they are good!

Stuffed Cabbage Rolls  From: Food Network Barefoot Contessa

Sauce:
3 tablespoons of olive oil
1 to 1 1/2 cups chopped white or yellow onions
1 tablespoon of minced garlic
2 (28) ounce cans of crushed tomatoes (or I sometimes use  2 (14) ounce cans of petite diced tomatoes with one 6 ounce can of tomato paste and 1 cup water)
1/4 cup of red wine vinegar
1/4 cup brown sugar (I use honey or agave sometimes instead)
1 1/2 teaspoons of salt
3/4 teaspoon of black pepper
1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes (I got this idea from a Martha Stewart recipe for stuffed cabbage)

1 Large head of cabbage. My neighbor just told me about a cool trick for the cabbage. Instead of coring the cabbage and soaking it in boiling water for 3 to 4 minutes-take the whole head and freeze it for a day or 2 until completely frozen through. Then thaw out on the counter starting the morning you are going to make these. She said almost every leaf is usable and doesn't tear. That would eliminate the frustration I have when making these. I am definitely trying this trick next time. Takes a little planning ahead though.

Filling:
1 to 1 1/2 pounds of sausage(as spicy as you want it) or ground pork
2 large eggs
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 teaspoon of minced garlic
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1 1/2 cups cooked rice
salt and pepper
1 teaspoon or more of smoked paprika (if you want more spice-idea also from the Martha Stewart recipe)
You can add about a 1/2 cup of the sauce to this filling if it seems like it needs a little more moisture.

Start you water boiling in a large pan for the head of cabbage. In another pan, saute your onions and garlic in the olive oil about 5 minutes over medium heat. Add the rest of the sauce ingredients and bring to a boil. Simmer about 30 minutes. I just start with the sauce and by the time I make everything else, the sauce is ready.

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Core the cabbage and immerse into boiling water for a few minutes or try the freezing trick up above. Separate the cabbage leaves once cool enough to handle.

Mix all of the filling ingredients together and divide among the cabbage leaves. Roll the cabbage around the filling and put in a greased or sprayed 9x13 pan. Spread the sauce over the top and bake cover with foil for an hour. Take the foil off and make sure the sausage is fully cooked by slicing into the middle of a cabbage roll with a sharp knife. You may have to cook them for another 15 to 20 minutes. You can leave the foil off.

This recipe feeds the four of us-3 adults and a 16 year old that eats more than the rest of us. Ha!