Desserts

The Best Ever Chocolate Cake {Magleby’s Copycat Recipe}

October 2, 2020 by laceyaltadraper@gmail.com 3 Comments

The only non-negotiable about my wedding reception was the cake. Flowers, reception location, table linen colors? All were a little up in the air. But the cake had to be a layered Magleby’s chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. If you’ve ever had a slice of rich, delicious, fudgy, cake from Magleby’s you understand why its the cake I wanted to be eating in slices out of the freezer for weeks after the big day. My mom even packed up some for me to take on our road trip honeymoon. It’s just that good.

This homemade version is just as delicious and can be whipped up quickly in a casual 13 x 9 pan or easily made into rounds for a decadent, {dare I say wedding worthy?} dessert.

From a bakers perspective, one of my favorite things about this cake is the lovely, flat cake surface it creates. It doesn’t sink in the middle like many homemade cake recipes, and it doesn’t mound up in the center like so many boxed cakes either. The flat surface perfect for frosting! And it makes layering a dream because there is no need for trimming the cakes before frosting and stacking.

Be sure to cool completely before frosting, and enjoy a cake so delicious, its worth hauling on your honeymoon.

Serving Size:

Time:

Difficulty:

Ingredients

FOR THE CAKE:
1 cup unsalted butter
1 cup water
½ cup cocoa
1 cup sugar
2 1/4 cups flour
¾ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
2 eggs
1 cup light brown sugar
3/4 cup sour cream
FOR THE FROSTING:
1/2 c. butter
1/4 c. baking cocoa
5 T. milk
1 T. vanilla
2 1/4 cups powdered sugar

Directions

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. Spray a 9×13″ pan
In a small sauce pan heat butter until melted on medium heat. Add water and cocoa powder and whisk until smooth, then bring to a slight simmer then set aside to cool.
In a separate bowl combine flour, granulated sugar, and salt.
Add cooled chocolate mixture and stir until just combined and smooth.
In a small separate bowl add eggs, baking soda, baking powder, brown sugar and vanilla and whisk until smooth. Pour the egg mixture into the batter and gently stir until combined.
Fold the sour cream into the batter gently. Don’t over mix.
Pour batter into the prepared pan & bake for about 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick is inserted and comes out with only a few crumbs.
Allow the cake to cool completely before frosting.
FOR THE FROSTING*****
Add butter, cocoa, milk, and vanilla to a sauce pan and bring to a simmer.
Once all the butter is melted and mixture is smooth remove from heat and beat in powdered sugar.

*****If you’re making a layered cake be sure to double the frosting recipe so there’s enough for in between the layers

The Giant Cookie

February 20, 2015 by Shanon Balser 2 Comments

My husband had to leave on a business trip for a couple of days. So…. I did what any lonely housewife would do. I invited The Doobie Brothers, Boston and The Eagles over to make cookies. Actually that’s not completely true. I invited them to make cookie. I turned up the sound and mixed, stirred, whipped and rolled to “Listen To The Music”, “Lyin’ Eyes”, and “More Than a Feelin'”. There’s not much that can beat a great classic rock playlist. It’s fun. And since this cookie is fun to make, fun to look at and fun to eat it all worked out. I just wish they could have gotten better pictures.

This dessert is known simply as The Giant Cookie. I’ve been making this for over 20 years and it has remained a favorite at our house. Since I started posting to this blog Keven, my son, has been begging me to post this Giant Cookie recipe. He has an ulterior motive. He just wants to eat the spoils of blogging. Ahh Keven…

This is one of those recipes you can whip up pretty quick and get impressive results. I have made it often for my kids and their friends on many a weekend night. It usually supplied the sweet while the bean dip provided the salty.

For this delicious dessert you will need a batch of cookie dough, a small box of instant chocolate pudding, cream cheese at room temperature, refrigerated whipped topping, whole milk and sugar. Allow the whipped topping to thaw in the refrigerator to keep it from going runny.

Preheat your oven to 350°. On a 15″ baking stone or any large sized baking sheet, roll cookie dough to within 1 1/2″ of the sides. If you go too close to the edge of the pan you will be cleaning up dough that expands and runs off the edge as it bakes. I am working with about 2 cups of cookie dough here. If you don’t want to make this homemade recipe (which is fabulous for this) pick up a tube of your favorite refrigerated cookie dough.

Put your beautiful Giant Cookie in the oven and set a timer for 14 minutes. It is usually perfect at 15. While the cookie is baking combine 1 8oz package of softened cream cheese with 1/3 cup granulated sugar. Mix until it is perfectly blended and creamy. Set aside. By the way… this makes a great fruit dip. Add a little lemon zest or melted caramel. This stuff is delicious. Go ahead and lick the spoon…

Now empty a small package (3.9 ounce) of instant chocolate pudding into a bowl. I like to have the pudding down in the bowl first since instant pudding can clump a bit. In fact instant pudding gives me a bit of anxiety–so this is my solution. Put it in the bowl first. Measure 1 1/2 cups cold whole milk and with a wire whisk ready slowly pour the milk over the pudding while stirring it with the whisk. Continue to stir for about 2 minutes or until the pudding is a lovely creamy texture. Put this in the fridge. Lick the whisk. 🙂

Well, the cookie is about done. Grab it out, leave it on the pan, set it on a cooking rack and patiently wait for it to cool.

Here comes some serious fun. Now that the cookie is cool, spread your delicious cream cheese mixture over the top of the cookie. Get this right out to the edges. That way no one dodges the edge pieces. My son always takes the middle piece. Always. Now–here’s a great tip. Now that the cream cheese base is down–cut the cookie. Cut it in whatever shapes or sizes you want. I like using a pizza cutter for this part. The genius of cutting this dessert now is that when you are all done there is no reason to run a knife through all your hard work. That just disrupts the appeal of something this enticing and delicious. Simply loosen a few pieces so that people get the idea.

After pre-cutting your cookies, spread the chocolate pudding on top of the cream cheese mixture. The pudding is thick by now, so give it a stir and spread it on. Fill a decorating bag with a small container of whipped topping, like cool whip. This topping is great to use for projects like this because it holds its form so well. Decorate to your hearts content.

Sprinkle with chocolate shavings if desired. Loosen a couple of pieces like we talked about, turn up the music and dig in. Simple, unique and incredibly delicious.

This makes about 20 large pieces which will serve 10 people nicely or… one 15 year old.

The Giant Cookie

Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

15 mins

Total time

25 mins

This is a sure fire hit for your family and a wonderfully unique party dessert...

Author: adapted from The Pampered Chef

Recipe type: desserts

Serves: 20

Ingredients

2 cups prepared cookie dough
1 8oz package cream cheese
⅓ cup granulated sugar
1 small package instant chocolate pudding (3.9 oz)
1½ cups cold whole milk
1 small container whipped topping
chocolate sprinkles if desired

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350°
Roll Cookie dough, about ¼ inch thick on a 15" round stone or a large baking sheet. Keep the dough 1½ inches from the edge so the cookie has room to expand.
Bake 15 minutes, checking after 13 minutes. Don't over bake 🙂
While the cookie is baking combine cream cheese and sugar and mix to a smooth consistency.
Set aside.
Pour instant pudding mix in the bottom of a bowl and, while stirring with a wire whisk, add 1½ cups cold milk.
Whisk ingredients for about 2 minutes until the pudding is smooth and glossy.
Refrigerate.
When the cookie is done remove it from the oven, leaving it on the baking dish/stone, set it on a wire rack to cool.
When the cookie is cool spread with cream cheese mixture.
Pre-cut the cookie into desired sizes.
Spread with pudding mixture.
Fill a decorating bag with whipped topping (Cool Whip style) and decorate the top of your giant cookie.
Sprinkle with chocolate sprinkles if desired.
When serving just loosen a couple of the pre-cut slices and people will get the idea that the dessert is already cut.
Enjoy this fun and unique dessert.

link

Fudgy Chocolate Cake

December 29, 2014 by Shanon Balser 1 Comment

At our house, we have a birthday just a few days after Christmas. Twenty-Six years ago as we approached the holiday season and my son’s first birthday, my husband and I made a pact. First, the Christmas tree would come down by the 26th and a birthday tree would go up. Second, the presents for the birthday boy would be bought long before his Christmas presents so that there was no way that low inventory would affect his birthday. Said presents would be wrapped and placed under the tree for the days building up to his birthday. Lastly, there would be no combining of presents. He would never hear the words, “This is for Christmas and your birthday”. We wanted his birthday to be individual and unique and something he would look forward to as Christmas Day waned.

Here’s a snippet of the tree. *Side note: we like to write on our birthday balloons. We write funny things, serious things and things that make no sense at all.

We should probably get on to Fudgy Chocolate Cake. This is such a great chocolate cake recipe. It’s one that you will use over and over again in a variety of ways. Today I used it in a simple 9X13 pan and frosted it with white buttercream frosting because, well, that is one of Jake’s favorite things. This recipe works great in a 9X13 pan, 2 round pans, 2 small square pans or made into cupcakes. You will love the texture and the density of this chocolate cake.

** If your homemade cake falls a little in the middle, don’t stress! It means that it is not poofy and crumbly, it’s deeply chocolatey and most assuredly homemade. If you start adding a bunch of cake flour, then you are going to end up with a “box” type cake. Embrace the small divot in the middle of the cake and use it for a reservoir of frosting! Honestly, this cake doesn’t sink that much, but it is true that a lighter cake doesn’t really sink and a deep fudgy one struggles just a bit to stay well-formed in the middle during the last bit of baking. Realizing that it might dip in the middle is kind of like that moment of epiphany when you realize that your laundry is never done because you are, at that very moment, wearing the next batch of laundry. It’s liberating, really. Go ahead and try recalibrating your oven if you have the patience, mess with the leavening if you want, but in the end just enjoy the fact that your homemade cake tastes completely homemade.

Happy Birthday Jake! I love you quite a bit!

Fudgy Chocolate Cake

Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

38 mins

Total time

48 mins

This thick and delicious cake is perfect for any occasion.

Author: Shanon

Serves: 20

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
½ cup baking cocoa
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup warm water
Frosting
Sprinkles
**This cake can be enhanced if you have 1 tablespoon of espresso powder. Not necessary to make this great cake but you may want to try it on some occasion. I get mine at King Arthur Flour.

Instructions

Prepare baking pans as desired. This recipe works well in a 9X13 pan as well as 8-inch rounds, 8-inch square pans or cupcake tins. If you are going to release the cake for decorating, grease and flour the pans well or use parchment paper for the bottom of the pans, greasing and flouring the sides adequately.
Preheat oven to 350°
In a large bowl or stand mixer, combine all dry ingredients.
Pulse by turning the machine off and on again.
Add oil, buttermilk, eggs and water.
Mix at medium speed for about 2 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary to combine the ingredients smoothly.
Pour into prepared pans and bake at 350° for approximately 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center of the cake comes out clean.
Cool completely before turning out of the pan for frosting and decorating.
Throw on those sprinkles. They just sing "Happy Anything"!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

October 10, 2014 by Shanon Balser Leave a Comment

I have to admit that I am a bit of a late comer to pumpkin cookies. In fact I hadn’t even tasted so much as a morsel of a pumpkin cookie until 11 years ago. I still remember the occasion; my youngest son was graduating from preschool in full black garbage bag regalia. I know, I am still trying to consider the wisdom of having a group of preschoolers working with plastic that will eventually be draped over their heads. Gasp… shudder. At any rate he marched proudly in his black garbage bag cap and gown across the deck and down the stairs while Pomp and Circumstance played on the small boom box plugged in near the base of the wooden stairs. He looked adorable. I was hungry. There were pumpkin cookies. I scoffed at first and considered staying hungry (pumpkin is not usually a favorite) but eventually the hunger pains won out and I tried one. Eureka! I tried two and then three and then I sent my little garbage bag graduate to get one for the road. What had I been missing all these years? The long and short of is that I couldn’t get enough these new found treats and it was spring as in… it wasn’t even fall! To date I have not met a pumpkin cookies I didn’t like but making them from scratch is my favorite and I have never found the need to discriminate the season. They are equally delicious spring, summer, winter or fall.

One note; don’t get pumpkin pie filling when the recipe asks for pumpkin.Get 100% pumpkin. Or better yet–when you are feeling all domestic prepare your own pumpkin. Let’s make some cookies! This batch makes about 3 dozen medium size cookies. Gather the following ingredients: butter, brown sugar, white sugar, pumpkin, egg, vanilla, flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, baking soda, salt and chocolate chips.

Preheat your oven to 375° Combine 2 cups flour, 1 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1 teaspoon baking soda and 1/4 teaspoon salt in a bowl and whisk together.

In a separate bowl, or in the bowl of your stand mixer, combine 1 cup butter at room temperature (this recipe works well with 1/2 cup margarine and 1/2 cup butter for those of us on a budget), 2/3 cup brown packed brown sugar and 1/3 cup white sugar (aka granulated sugar) .

Beat together and then scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add 1 cup pumpkin**, one egg and 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract and beat together.

Scrape down the bowl again and then add the dry ingredients, beating together until thoroughly combined.

Stir in 1 cup chocolate chips ( I like milk chocolate) and drop the dough onto a prepared baking sheet. I like using a large cookie scoop for this because the cookies stay nicely uniform.

Bake on the middle oven rack in your preheated oven until your cookies edges are lightly browned. As you are checking on your cookies you will notice the color denseness disappear as the cookies bake. Watch for the denseness in the center to close in, but don’t over bake the cookies. Plan on about 12 minutes depending on your oven and the size of your cookies. I usually do a test run on a couple of cookies to make sure that when they bake I like the way they look when they are done. I like this cookie to be a bit “puffy” so if I need to add a bit more flour to the dough, I do.

Remove them from the oven and cool the cookies on the pan for 2 minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack to completely cool.

**Any pumpkin not used should be removed from the can and refrigerated or frozen. If I put mine in the refrigerator I like to use it within 5 days max. If I don’t think I will bake pumpkiny things within that time frame I put it in a freezer bag ( because I can get most of the air out) and pop it in the freezer, labeled. I like to use my frozen pumpkin within 6 months.

By now the cookies should be cooled…eat up! No garbage bag required.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

1 cup butter softened (or 1/2 cup margarine and 1/2 cup butter if you are feeling thrifty)
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup white sugar
1 cup pumpkin (canned or make your own)
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups flour (more if needed)
1 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup chocolate chips

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375°
In a bowl combine dry ingredients whisking together. Set aside.
In a large bowl, or the bowl of your stand mixer, beat together butter and sugars. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the pumpkin, egg and vanilla extract and mix together. Scrape down the bowl again and add all dry ingredients and mix until well incorporated. Scrape down the bowl and stir in chocolate chips.
Drop cookie dough onto prepared baking sheet and bake at 375° for approximately 12 minutes. Cool on cookie sheet for 2 minutes and finish cooking on a cooling rack until completely cool. Makes about 3 dozen large cookies.

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Chocolate Cupcakes

April 15, 2013 by laceyaltadraper@gmail.com Leave a Comment

What is it about cupcakes? I think that is has something to do with the cake-to-frosting ratio. That and the fact that they are your own personal reminder of childhood birthday parties, filled with games, pinatas and being friends with everyone in the class. Cupcakes are fun to make, fun to frost, fun to sprinkle,and fun to eat.
My husband has issues with most cupcakes for that very reason; they are usually adorable but not incredibly tasty. I guess I made it my personal quest to give him a cupcake that was worthy of being called a cupcake–that handheld cake of deliciousness. I started with a solid batter that doesn’t pull apart when you take the liner off and then I filled it with creme and topped it with a variety of favorite frostings. He capitulated! For a man who watches his sugar intake, I watched him sneak behind my back for seconds and thirds. Victory is sweet.
This recipe is good without the filling and is delicious with any kind of frosting. The clear favorite at my house was the peanut butter frosting.

**There are a couple of things I’d like to point out about how I do cupcakes. I use a 1/3 cup measuring cup to fill the cupcake pan. It fills it to about where I would like it, which is about 2/3 full. This puts a nice top on the cupcake when it bakes.
Another thing is that when I fill the decorating bag I always need extra hands so i fold the bag over a cup. In this case I am using a large decorating bag so am also using a really big cup. It just lets me drop the frosting down without much mess.
May I add one more note? I don’t always swirl and sprinkle! There are plenty of cupcakes inhaled at my house frosted the traditional way with a butter knife…

Chocolate Cupcakes by Sweet Suppertime adapted from Taste of Home Magazine
Pre-heat oven to 350 and prepare cupcake pans

3 1/4 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1/3 cup baking cocoa
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1 cup water
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 eggs
1 cup oil
1/4 cup sour cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Combine sugar with oil and eggs and beat until fluffy. After this I don’t really pay too much attention. I just start adding the rest of the ingredients beating well and scraping down the sides so that I have a nice smooth batter. Fill cupcake pans with each cup being about 2/3 full. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Don’t over-bake.

Cupcake Filling by Sweet Suppertime

1/3 cup butter
3 tablespoons shortening
2 cups powdered sugar
3 tablespoons milk
After the cupcakes are baked, it’s time to fill them! Let them cool first, of course.
( To get this piped inside, I cut an “X” with a sharp knife in the bottom of the cupcake liner and pipe it in with a decorating bag using the wide circle tip) You don’t need much, just about a tablespoon. The consistency for this should be a lot like frosting just a bit fluffier. If you need more body, add shortening one tablespoon at a time and beat well.

Peanut Butter Frosting by Sweet Suppertime

5 tablespoons butter, softened
1 cup peanut butter
2 cups powdered sugar
Approx 1/3 cups milk, or enough to create the consistency you desire

Mix until creamy, frost with a knife or put it in a cake-decorating bag and swirl it up!

Double Delicious Cookie Bars

March 19, 2013 by laceyaltadraper@gmail.com Leave a Comment

Lucky me. Saint Patrick’s weekend found me in Saint George, Utah watching my son play baseball. He’s great. His name is Keven. He’s not just great at baseball but he’s a great kid. When we were expecting Keven we weren’t sure we were going to get to keep him. Lucky us… we did! He is named after my husband’s brother. The reason? Because I have rarely seen an older brother who loved his younger brother like my brother-in-law loves Tod, (my husband).
You may wonder what all this has to do with baking cookie bars. Well, there is a connection. We stayed with Tod’s brother and his wife and we had plenty of time to visit while we sat in the stands. It was fun to share memories and tell stories and catch up on kids and grandkids. ( I get my first one in two weeks!) One conversation led to another and before long we were all hungry and wishing for something delicious to eat. That’s when I remembered this recipe which I promised to share with my sister-in-law. So, here it is! She will appreciate this because it speaks of some pretty rich ingredients and we have shared a few of those over the years. So here we go:

Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees and lightly spray a 9 X 13-inch baking pan with non-stick cooking spray.

Cream:
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
Add:
2 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Mix well and
Add:
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups flour
1 1/3 cups oats (quick cooking or old-fashioned)
Mix together to form cookie dough. When well-mixed
Throw in:
1 cup chocolate chips ( I am a milk chocolate girl trying to refine my senses to enjoy semi-sweet)
You will need an additional 1/2 cup chocolate chips when the bars are removed from the oven.
Spread:
Take about 2/3 of your cookie dough mixture and spread it in the bottom of your prepared pan. It’s a bit sticky so you can use a little flour with a small roller and a piece of waxed paper or parchment or you can just dig in with your fingers. I like to think of baking as a contact sport so I just got a little non-stick spray on my fingertips and went after it!
This is where it gets fun.

Place:
3 lines of chocolate creme-filled cookies (I used Oreos) in the pan
Drizzle:
1/2 cup or more of caramel over the cookies. I melted 32 caramels with 1 teaspoon of water in a microwave-safe bowl for 30 seconds on half power and 1 minute on full power; stirring halfway through. You can use bottled caramel but I can’t recommend caramel-flavored topping. Get the good stuff!
Sprinkle
1/2 cup of shredded sweetened coconut over the caramel drizzle
Finish off:
by dropping spoonfuls of the remaining dough on top of the cookies and pressing the dough down lightly. It doesn’t need to cover all over the pan, just most of it, as it will spread.

Bake:
at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until the top starts to turn golden brown. Remove from the oven and

Top:
with remaining half cup of chocolate chips. These will soften.
Drizzle:
more caramel if you feel like it and wait until it is completely cool before slicing. I’m sure you won’t have any lack of imagination on how to serve these or where to hide a few extras for yourself!

Double Delicious Cookie Bars by Sweet Suppertime

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups flour
1 1/3 cups oatmeal (quick or traditional)
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips, divided
1/2 cup shredded coconut
1/2 cup or more of caramel sauce or melted caramels
18 chocolate creme-filled cookies

Spray a 9×13 baking pan with cooking spray. Cream butter, brown sugar and white sugar until fluffy.
Add vanilla and eggs and incorporate. Mix in baking soda, baking powder and salt. Once incorporated, add flour and oats scraping sides of the bowl. Add 1 cup of chocolate chips, mixing just to coat.
Spread 2/3 of the dough on the bottom of your prepared pan and place 3 lines of creme-filled cookies on top of the dough. Drizzle about 1/2 cup of caramel on the cookies followed by 1/2 cup coconut.
Top with remaining cookie dough, dropping by spoonfuls and then slightly flattening.
Bake 350 for 20-25 mintues, until nicely golden brown.
Remove from the oven and sprinkle remaining chocolate chips (1/2 cup) on top to melt. Drizzle with additional caramel, if desired.
Enjoy and feel lucky!

Very Peanut Butter Bars

March 8, 2013 by laceyaltadraper@gmail.com Leave a Comment

School lunch at Alpine Elementary was delicious. I loved school lunch and that is saying something since my own mother is my most admired cook. I not only loved school lunch but I loved the lunch ladies! They were women that I knew and they smiled at me and made me feel loved as I went through the line collecting my lunch.
My own children went on school lunch strike about 10 years ago and my husband has been packing lunches ever since. Yes–my husband–he is pretty great. Their collective complaints were that the food was not quite up to snuff–smaller less palatable portions–yada yada– I digress.
One of the best things about school lunch back in the day was that giant slice of peanut butter bar that was larger than any third graders hand. It was divine and through the ensuing years I searched for a way to recreate peanut butter bars that matched the memory of a young girl who lingered in the lunchroom before bounding out to a game of four square, kickball, hopscotch or jacks. (By the way my mother is a great jacks player!)
One thing I knew as I embarked on my mission to create the best bar was that there had to be ENOUGH peanut butter verging on too much….as if?
This is how it goes:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and grease (and I still like to flour) a large baking sheet, jelly-roll style.
Have a piece of parchment, wax paper or a little extra flour handy when it’s time to spread the dough into the pan.
Cream together:
3/4 cup butter or margarine ( I am a bit of a penny pincher so I use a cube of margarine and 1/3 a stick of
butter
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup PEANUT BUTTER
Mix until well incorporated and
Add:
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
give this about 20 seconds with your mixer and finish off
Adding:
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
* I put the flour in first so that it doesn’t puff out all over the place, then I add the rolled oats and mix just until the flour and oats are blended nicely. Your dough will be pretty sticky, but that’s okay since you will be sprinkling a bit on the top to get it rolled out nicely.

Spread:
Drop the dough evenly down the center of your greased pan and work the dough out to the sides with your fingers a bit. This is where I usually grab a piece of waxed paper or parchment and a rolling pin to help me get the dough to the edges as evenly as possible.
Bake:
Bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes until light brown. My kids like them kind of chewy, if yours like them crunchy then leave them in a bit longer.

When they come out of the oven take 6 large spoonfuls of peanut butter and drop them on top of the hot dough and let the peanut butter get soft, about 2 minutes. To be honest this picture looks a bit skimpy on the peanut butter side of things. Load it up if you love peanut butter!
Frost:
Wait until everything is cooled and frost with your favorite frosting. I will post my favorite chocolate frosting tomorrow–it’s like spreadable fudge! Slice and serve (preferably the size of a third graders hand 🙂 )
Eat!

Very Peanut Butter Bars by Shanon Balser, Sweet Suppertime

Cream together:
3/4 cup butter or margarine
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
Add:
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
Blend well and add:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
Mix until well blended and spread on a greased and floured jelly roll pan ( I call it a large cookie sheet)
Bake at 350 for 12-15 minutes. Drop 6 large tablespoons of peanut butter on top of the hot dough and allow to sit for about 2 minutes. Spread over the top of the bars and allow to cool. Frost with your favorite chocolate frosting.

After School Chocolate Chip Cookies

January 7, 2013 by Shanon Balser Leave a Comment

Danny is 17 and believes in chocolate chip cookies with all his heart. It has come from years and years of being indoctrinated after school by a very specific chocolate chip cookie. He doesn’t know how easy it is to make, that’s my little secret. But I do love making cookies for my kids.

I think before you can talk cookie–or in this case share a cookie recipe–you sort of have to set some fundamental cookie rules. It’s important for any reader to know that, while I like dark chocolate and have been known to bake with semi-sweet morsels now and then, I am definitely a milk chocolate kind of girl. Additionally it is important to note that I am loyal to a soft and chewy chocolate chip cookie. I have often tried a new recipe only to find out that it’s too “cake” like or “crispy”. This cookie is soft and chewy, a bit salty and loaded with chocolate chips. Sometimes I toss in white chocolate chips, sometimes peanut butter chips and if I feel domestic a dip them halfway in melted chocolate. What I love most about this recipe is that it’s a small batch and I am in and out in under an hour which makes it the perfect cookie for an after school snack. And because I whip these babies up in a bowl with a wooden spoon and a bit of elbow grease the clean up just seems simpler.

In this recipe I use shortening, it keeps the dough soft and if you take a look up here you won’t see vanilla. What?! No vanilla? I forgot to add it one day and found that I really liked the flavor of the dough better without it so…no vanilla here. If you love vanilla add a bit.

Cream the sugars and shortening together until it’s nice and creamy and then add the egg, stirring the dough until you can’t tell you added the egg, about 20 strokes. Add the salt and baking soda followed by the flour.

Stir until the flour is incorporated and then add all those happy little chocolate chips! These I just fold gently into the dough and then using a cookie scoop, put 12 balls of cookie dough on a cookie sheet or pizza stone.

After placing them on an ungreased, cool cookie sheet I like to push them down gently with my fingers and sprinkle just a bit of sea salt on top.

Pushing them down just seems to keep them from flattening out too much which gives them that crispy edge that I don’t care for. I also bake just a few the first round so that I can see if they need more flour to keep their shape. Most of the time they don’t.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 9 minutes. Cool on your cookie sheet for about two minutes before transferring to a wire rack. They are fast, easy and delicious and they make my house smell like “home” when the kids come through the door. These are the perfect after school chocolate chip cookie.

After School Chocolate Chip Cookies Sweet Suppertime

Preheat oven to 350 Degrees

1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white super
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup flour
1 cup milk chocolate chips

Cream shortening and sugars together. Add egg and stir. Add soda and salt evenly over the dough and stir until well incorporated. Add flour and once the flour is absorbed into the dough fold in the chocolate chips.

Drop by teaspoonfuls or use a cookie sheet to drop 12 balls of dough onto a cool, ungreased cookie sheet or stone. Press the dough down lightly with your fingers and top with a few sprinkles of sea salt.

Bake at 350 degrees for 9 minutes or until edges are turning golden brown. Remove from oven and cool for two minutes before transferring to a wire rack.

Blackberry Lemon Squares

October 15, 2012 by Shanon Balser Leave a Comment

A few notes about this recipe. I like a thin crust on a lemon bar, so if you like a thicker one then go ahead and double the crust portion of the recipe.(I have been known to double the batch for the crust and refrigerate the other half so that I have a head start the next time I want to make this) Secondly I like it to have a very strong lemon flavor because I am not crazy about that many eggs in one place at the same time, so there is a lot of lemon zest in this recipe.

Many recipes for lemon bars tell you to put foil in the pan and “lift” it out when it is done. I haven’t had any problems lifting my bars out, if you do—use foil to create a cradle for your bars. Lastly, when I add the blackberry part of the filling (or raspberryJ) I like to drizzle it after the bars have been in the oven for about 10 minutes. The filling starts to set and when it does then the heavy blackberry filling doesn’t sink all the way to the bottom, oh… and I don’t strain out the seeds. Who cares if the seeds get to stay around for the main event? It all sounds more intricate than it is.

Give it a try, the payoff for this recipe is more than worth it. Every time I make this dessert someone will stop by the table and pick up one—then they head back with a small plate to pick up three more. Some recipes are just like that.