I like sticky brownies not cakey ones. They have to be intensely chocolate. They have to cause your tastebuds to jumping around and screaming for milk or coffee. They absolutely have to be worth eating. Seriously!

The trick to really intense chocolate brownies is the darkest cocoa powder you can find. Cocoa gives a much richer flavor than melting chocolate and adding it, however in these you are going to use both. Yep. And then… ready? You are going to add toasted pecans (remember that the toasting intensifies the flavor…)  AND chocolate chips…AND white chocolate chips.

In a sugar coma yet?

These are fantastic. I think they will keep for several days… I say think because honestly they have never lasted more than an hour or two here. You can’t use the toothpick method to test these and see if they are done. In order to maintain the complete awesomeness that they are these brownies will always test raw.  Just follow the cooking time, and then cool them in the fridge long enough for them to set.  You can top them with ganache if you like extra chocolate.

Toasted Pecan Brownies

• 3/4 c unsalted butter-melted and allowed to brown
• 1 1/2 c sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 3/4 c flour
• 1/2 c cocoa (the darkest you can find…do not substitute baking chocolate)
• 1/2 cup dark chocolate chopped and melted in 2 tbs heavy cream
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3/4 c chopped pecans, toasted in a 375F oven for 5 minutes. Watch carefully!
• 1 cup white chocolate chips
• 1 cup bittersweet chocolate chips

1. Cream sugar, melted butter, and chocolate until smooth. Add eggs one at a time. beat well. add flavorings.
2. Stir in dry ingredients, nuts, white chocolate chips, and chocolate chips
3. Spread into a greased 9 inch pan. Bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes. Leave slightly under done.
4. Allow to cool long enough for the center to set.

Makes 12 or so depending on how big you cut them.

Post from: Baking Delights

I really kind of sweated about what to make. Bake sales are funny things. Believe it or not, all you guys in foodie land, there are people that just aren’t interested in trying raspberry chipotle brownies, or bacon and chocolate chip cookies. I know, right? Bake sale items are the best if they are comfort food, normal stuff that you used to eat when you were a kid, or things that are very similar. So I thought that peanut butter chocolate chip would be different enough to feed my sense of uniqueness and familiar enough to do well. I will have to tell you the verdict on that later. But I can say that, since a cookie broke when I was removing it from the sheet and I was forced to eat it, these are the perfect balance of chocolate and peanut butter flavor.

*It’s later and the bake sale was called off for some reason.  But the cookies are…awesome!

The cookies are large, moist and slightly chewy with a crisp outside and a tender inside. Warm, the chocolate chips just melt and flow into the surrounding crumb. Right now the entire house smells fantastic..better than ANY Yankee Candle Co. candle. Give these a try and let me know what you think.

It is really important not to over bake these. They will be soft when you take them out of the over. Allow them to stand for at least 5 minutes to firm up before removing them from the baking sheet to cool completely. By using a tablespoon measure you should get cookies that are about 3-4″ in diameter.

Did you know that the traditional design in peanut butter cookies (the fork ### crosshatching) helps them to develop a crisp outside and a tender middle without being cakey?  Now you do.  I forgot where I read that…

What are you waiting for? Gosh!

Bake Sale Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chip Cookies

• 1/2 cup soft unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup Crisco
• 1 cup peanut butter
• 1 cup dark brown sugar
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt (more if you are using homemade peanut butter)
• 6 oz chocolate chips (I used Safeway/Tom Thumbs brand organic)

2. Cream the butter, Crisco, and peanut butter together until smooth.
3. Add the brown sugar and white sugar and beat until fluffy and well blended.
4. Beat in the eggs, one at a time beating well after each addition.
5. Add the vanilla and blend.
6. Sift together the baking soda, flour and salt and stir in to make a soft dough.
7. Stir in the chocolate chips.
8. Roll tablespoons of the dough into balls and place on a cookie sheet covered with silpat or parchement.  Flatten with a fork dipped in flour, first horizontally and then vertically to make squares.
9. Bake at 375F for 8 minutes.
10. Cool.

Makes about 4 dozen

images:marye audet (c)2009

Post from: Baking Delights

Look at the first picture and look me in the computer screen and tell me I am lying, go ahead-

Uh huh, see?

If you like peanut butter, (and really, who doesn’t?) these are the cookies for you. They are, depending on how long you bake them, chewy, crispy, or somewhere between. The peanut butter is intense. And, I use them as sandwich cookies, sandwiching them together with peanut butter mixed with honey. The are also great just single with a tall glass of organic milk.

The Best Peanut Butter Cookie Recipe Ever

2 1/2 c flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1/2 c unsalted butter

1/2 c vegetable shortening

1 c peanut butter

1 c sugar

1 c brown sugar, firmly packed

2 eggs, beaten

1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350

Stir together dry ingredients.

In mixer cream butter, shortening and peanut butter until smooth. Add sugars and continue beating until well blended. Add eggs, one at a time, then vanilla. Add gflour mixture and blend well, you may need to do that part by hand.

Shape dough into 1″ balls. Place on the silpat covered baking sheet 2 inches apart. Flatten with a ford dipped in flour and then flatten the other way to create cross hatching.

Bake for 8-10 minutes for chewy

10-12 minutes for crispy/chewy

and 12-14 minutes for crispy but watch carefully. Cool completely. about 6 dozen.

Now, if you want to make sandwich cookies make a spread of equal amounts of peanut butter and honey (or try sandwiching with ganache..yum) and put two cookies together with the filling in the middle.

Don’t eat them all before the kids get home.

Post from: Baking Delights