This year, while perusing other Christmas cookie ideas, I came across a similar cookie that uses chocolate and is iced instead of rolled in powdered sugar. Though it’s not a shortbread cookie like the snowballs, the similar shape would make it fit in well with some snowballs in a treat tin.

Iced Chocolate Christmas Cookies
from nytimes.com

4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon salt
8 ounces (about 2 cups) chopped walnuts
1 cup solid vegetable shortening
1 1/2 cups milk
1 teaspoon vanilla

Icing:

2 cups confectioners’ sugar
3 to 5 tablespoons milk, as needed
1/2 cup decorative sprinkles

…..

For the cookies:

~ Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Thoroughly mix flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, allspice, cinnamon, cloves and salt in a mixing bowl, add walnuts, and mix again.

~ In a small saucepan, combine shortening and milk. Place over low heat until shortening melts. Remove from heat, add vanilla, and stir to blend.

~ Add milk mixture to flour mixture and stir until well blended.

~ While warm, roll dough into 1- to 1 1/2-inch balls. Place about 1 1/2 inches apart on one or two baking sheets, and bake until surface is no longer shiny, 10 to 12 minutes. Allow to cool completely.

For icing and decorating:

~ Place confectioners’ sugar in a bowl and mix in enough milk to make icing just thick enough to coat the top of a cookie. Dip top of each cookie into icing, then into sprinkles, and set aside to dry. When cookies are completely dry, store in an airtight container.

Post from: Chocolate Bytes

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 what you’d normally be used to because the olive oil is liquid as opposed to the more solid butter, so there’s no creamed butter/sugar mix.

I have to say, it does make a very pretty cookie! The taste at first was a little underwhelming, but you can definitely tell they’re a bit different than a standard chocolate chip cookie, a little caramely, almost. They actually taste better the next day, and they stayed nice and chewy as well!

These would be great with a white chocolate chip, macadamia nut and craisin makeover, too!

Post from: Chocolate Bytes

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 see from the picture above, the container that I bought Tuesday morning already has about 1/3 missing. My kids love them (they’ve request them for snacks and as today’s treat in their lunchboxes instead of a piece of Halloween candy), my husband loves them, and I’ve got it sitting next to me right now, for informational purposes, of course.

They’re roasted with the cocoa and not coated in chocolate, so the chocolate taste is very subtle and the sweetness, which the label says comes from sucralose, is very light (though sucralose always leaves a little bit of a weird aftertaste to me, I almost wish they’d just use sugar). To me, almonds can start tasting kind of bland after a few, but the cocoa bumps it up to more of a treat, and if I’m not careful I may be making an extra run out to Sam’s this month for another one!

Though I know they’re just covering their behinds, I always get a kick out of nut labels that declare the product contains nuts.

Post from: Chocolate Bytes

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 it in the oven for nearly fifteen minutes longer than it specified since the middle was still pretty gooey (I used the correct pan size, oven temp, etc), and the crust ended up being a bit crispier than what I like on banana bread.

No matter, though – it was still delicious and pulled double duty: I was able to pass it off on the kids last night for dessert night, and then they each got half a slice with their breakfast this morning too! The recipe can be found at Daydreamer Desserts.

Post from: Chocolate Bytes

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 the catwalk in edible fashion themed around popular clothing trends of the past.

I’ve always wondered how chocolate and fashion survive together, and how the chocolate manages to not make a huge mess all over the wearer! The majority of these, though, look to just be chocolate and chocolate items attached to real clothing, so that probably helps.

Check out a bunch more photos of the chocolate fashion show under the cut!

[images: zuma press]

Post from: Chocolate Bytes

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 out perfectly.

M&M’s Blondies

1 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups light brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 (12 ounce) package M&M’s plain chocolate candies
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

~ Cream butter, sugar, egg, and vanilla.

~ Combine flour and baking soda and add to mixture; dough will be thick. Stir in M&Ms and walnuts. Spread in a greased 13×9″ pan and bake at 350 degrees for 30-45 minutes.

Post from: Chocolate Bytes

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 too dark, and 3% Fleur de Sel, a premium French sea salt. When I tried the bar I let it sit in my mouth for just a minute and the salt doesn’t come through at first.

After melting just a bit the salt flavor is unmistakeable, but it’s not at all overpowering. It’s really an excellent combination, and I wanted more after the first square, which doesn’t happen terribly often after having some dark chocolate (a little goes a long way!).

My daughters loved it as well and we had to be careful not to devour the whole thing before my husband could try some too! Overall, this was a hit.

Have you tried Lindt’s A Touch of Sea Salt? What did you think?

Post from: Chocolate Bytes

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 started on them this morning (they hold up well for a couple of days after baking!) and are one of the easiest things to make. Though it only makes 18 little “buttons,” they’re the perfect treat after dinner, and doesn’t fills you up or makes you feel guilty.

The recipe is from Dorie Greenspan’s Baking: From My Home to Yours (here’s the recipe), and I made a few changes: I didn’t add the orange zest, but I did add about half a cup of finely chopped walnuts, and I decided to dress them up just a bit and dipped the tops in some melted white chocolate.

I store them in a sealed plastic container at room temperature, and though this batch is being saved for tomorrow, the last one wasn’t even last for 24 hours, thanks to an appreciative husband and kids!

Post from: Chocolate Bytes

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 hand.

In her post, Jamie explains how the creation of the cookies came from a need to clean out her pantry, something I can totally relate to! I had pecans that needed to be used up, half a bag of shredded coconut that was about to end up in the garbage, and several “odds and ends” bags of chocolate chips in the freezer.

When I make these again (it probably goes without saying that they were a hit), I’m actually going to pare down the chocolate chips and pecans just a tad, but everything else was perfect. I used 3/4 of a cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips, and 3/4 cup of milk chocolate chips. I also got about 26 cookies out of the batch.

Coconut Pecan Chocolate Chip Cookies
from My Baking Addiction

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled until warm
1 cup packed brown sugar (light or dark)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk, from a large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips (semi-sweet, milk chocolate or any combination)
1 cup of chopped pecans
3/4 cup sweetened flaked coconut

~ Pre-heat oven to 325°F

~ Cover 2 large cookie sheets with parchment paper

~ Mix flour, baking powder & salt in a bowl or bag and set aside

~ Mix butter and sugars with with a mixer until blended and smooth, add egg, yolk & vanilla; mix until incorporated

~ Add dry ingredients and mix until just combined

~ Stir in chips, pecans and coconut

~ Divide into 18 equal balls, a 2″ cookie scoop works just about perfectly, (about 2.1 ounces)

~ Evenly space 9 on each cookie sheet

~ Bake for 12-18 minutes, rotating front to back and top to bottom after 8 minutes. (I did mine for 13 minutes.)

~ Cool on sheets to maintain chewy texture

Post from: Chocolate Bytes

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 of using M&M’s in the first place!

The package says they’re milk chocolate as well, but they taste just a little different to me. I don’t have a bag of regular M&M’s around to compare to, but I would imagine the baking bits have something added to help them stand up to the baking process — I’m not sure.

Anyway, my kids and I have enjoyed making cookies with them since, and the bag conveniently provides the recipe for the cookies, and one for M&M’s Rainbow Blondies, too.

M&M’s Cookies
from M&M’s

1 cup (2 sticks) softened butter
1/2 c granulated sugar
1/2 c firmly packed light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
1 12oz package M&M’s baking bits
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

~ Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

~ In a large bowl, cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy; beat in egg and vanilla.

~ In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt; blend into creamed mixture. Stire in M&M’s baking bits and nuts.

~ Drop by heaping tablespoonfuls about two inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 10-13 minutes or until edges are lightly browned and centers are still soft. Cool on cookie sheet for one minute, then transfer to wire racks. Makes about 3 dozen cookies.

Post from: Chocolate Bytes