While perusing some of my favorite blogs yesterday, I came across this recipe for chocolate chip cookies made with olive oil instead of butter. I’ve made olive oil cake before, and I like using it when I make bread, so using it in cookies didn’t seem as weird to me as it might to some!

I found these at Crepes of Wrath, and since I always have the supplies on hand to make chocolate chip cookies, I printed out the recipe and headed straight for the kitchen. They were easy enough to make, though the dough is a little different that …read more

I’ve eyed the container of Emerald Cocoa Roast Almonds every time I’ve gone down the snack aisle at Sam’s Club. During my most recent trip at the beginning of this week, however, I buckled and picked one up.

It’s not that I didn’t want to try them, it’s that I’m always wary of purchasing a big container of something I haven’t tried before. What if we absolutely hate them? That $10 could have easily gone toward something else and I’d kick myself for having wasted it.
In this case, though, the $10 on the 38oz container was not wasted. As you can …read more

I tried a chocolate banana bread recipe last month, and since I had overripe bananas on my counter again this week I decided to see if I could dig up another recipe to try.

This one is from Daydreamer Desserts, and while the recipes are somewhat similar, this new one included the addition of sour cream. I have to admit that I couldn’t really taste the sour cream when the bread was finished, but it did help make for a light and fluffy batter when I was mixing it up!
Though this recipe was good, I did end up having to keep …read more

This week, more than 400 exhibitors are in Paris, France for the 2009 Paris Chocolate Festival. The event, which runs from October 14-18th, kicked off last night with a chocolate fashion show. And yes, everything that was worn was either made with or layered in chocolate!

The five day event will feature the latest innovations from chocolatiers around the world, and will include cooking demonstrations, a cocoa show dedicated to the cultures and countries that produce cocoa, tasting sessions and even an awards show.
Last night’s fashion show featured French celebrities, including models, actors, singers and television personalities, who strutted down …read more

For dessert night last night for my family, I decided to mix things up a bit and not do our now-standard M&M’s cookies. While the kids love them, my husband and I were getting a bit tired of them, so I decided to try the other recipe on the M&M’s Baking Bits package — blondies!

True, they’re not terribly different from the cookies, but it was easier to serve up with a scoop of ice cream! I made mine in a 9×9″ pan because my 13×9″ was already in use. I baked it for about six minutes longer and they turned …read more

I always love getting a package from Lindt, whose chocolates are always a great treat!

This past week I was sent a bar of Lindt Excellence A Touch of Sea Salt. Though it’s not new, I haven’t seen this on shelves yet and I was instantly intrigued. It’s no secret that I’m a big fan of chocolate and salt together, and it had never occurred to me that a chocolatier might actually combine just the two (without, say, peanut butter or something else with it).

The label says A Touch of Sea Salt is made dark chocolate, though at 47% it’s not …read more

My sister and her family and heading down my way tomorrow for an overnight stay as they pass through on their way to California. We haven’t seen each other in over two years and I was so excited about the visit that I nearly forgot to plan out my end of their trip!

After a few exchanges back and forth about what she and her husband and their daughters would like for dinner and breakfast, she requested that I also make these brownie buttons, a picture of which I had posted in a private family blog several months back.
I got …read more

Sunday nights are dessert nights at my house (having a “set night” keeps the kids from asking every night!) and yesterday afternoon I realized I hadn’t made anything. I wasn’t in the mood to do anything too involved like a cake or even ice cream (it’s been one of those weeks), but I’m always up for cookies, so I set out to find something a little more substantial than an everyday chocolate chip cookie.

I found this recipe from My Baking Addiction, one of my favorite food blogs, and was very happy to realize that I had all the ingredients on …read more

I had never heard of M&M’s mini baking bits until just a few years ago when we went out of state to visit family. My niece bought a bag so our kids could make cookies, and I remember wondering why a bag of regular M&M’s wouldn’t work just as well.

Once we opened the bag I realized why. The M&M’s baking bits are about half the size of the regular-sized milk chocolate M&M’s. The smaller size means there are more of them, and it makes it easier to stir them into dough without having them break apart, thus losing the fun …read more

I tend to over-buy bananas. Actually — scratch that. I buy bananas that my kids say they’ll eat, but which are then forgotten as they head out the door for school. Either way, I usually end up with a few bananas on the counter that are going to go bad really quick if I don’t put them to good use, and that usually involves making banana bread.

I had never thought about adding chocolate chips before, though. I don’t know why, we all know that chocolate and bananas go well together! So, I found a recipe for a basic banana bread …read more