Giant Chocolate Chunk Peanut Butter Swirl Cookies

PB-swirl-choc-chunk-5

 

I don’t want to brag, but my kids friends think I’m the greatest mom in the neighborhood. I think it has a lot to do with the fact that I bake cookies pretty much every week.

It’s kind of hard to keep coming up with new cookies to bake each and every week, and it’s not too often that I get to return to an old favorite. In fact, I remember one day when one son was gushing over the cookie of the week, and the other son commented, “Do you like that? Because you’ll never have it again.”

Having a cookie blog is a double-edged sword, my friends.

I decided to revive an old favorite this week, one I haven’t made for maybe 2 years. One that is extra large and extra chocolatey, just the way I like my cookies. I used an amazing recipe from Cookie Madness, though I did make one tiny little addition, one that is completely optional, but more on that later.

The recipe calls for 12 oz. of chocolate, chopped up into pieces. That equals 3-4 good bars of chocolate or 1 bag of chocolate chips. This go-round I used 2 Scharffen Berger Chocolate Bars, 3 oz. each, and half of a bag of Ghirardelli Dark Chocolate Chips. Honestly, the chocolate chunks are kind of nice, because they get chopped into different sizes, so there’s really no uniformity to it. It’s cool, in a old-fashioned, rustic sort of way.

The addition I made was to add just a little swirl of peanut butter. I used only 1/2 cup for this small batch, and swirled it into the dough at the very last minute. I wanted some bites to be more peanut-buttery than others, kind of like the chocolate, I guess. If you’re not into peanut butter, though, just leave it out and no one will be the wiser.

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Strawberry Cream Cheese Poke Cake

This pretty Strawberry Cream Cheese Poke Cake is a simple Spring dessert. Perfect for Easter or just because!

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Skinny Coffee Cake – Half the Fat & Calories

Low-Fat Coffee Cake 3

Hi Everyone! My name is Stephanie and I blog over at Eat. Drink. Love. I’m so excited to be a contributor to My Cooking Spot!

One of my favorite parts about blogging is that I love the challenge of taking a recipe that would normally be considered to be unhealthy and lightening it up! Today I am sharing my low-fat coffee cake recipe with you. The typical slice of coffee cake can run anywhere between 400-500 calories and can have over 20 grams of fat! My version contains just 225 calories and 7.9 grams of fat for a generous slice!

One of my favorite parts of coffee cake is the crumb topping, but that crumb topping will cost you a lot of calories. I wanted to try to create a version that still gave me that cinnamon sugar flavor without having to do a crumb topping, so instead I did a swirl of cinnamon sugar inside the cake, and really, I didn’t even miss the crumb topping! I baked mine up in a bundt pan and then dusted the top with some additional cinnamon and sugar. This cake is perfect to serve for guests, or in my case, co-workers!

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Apple Pie Dip with Cinnamon Pie Crust Chips


Apple Pie Dip with Fried Pie Crust Cinnamon Chips

The weather is finally starting to cool in California (and by cool, I mean high 60s, low 70s), but that is good enough for me! I have a theory, starting September 1st is beanie season. I grew up in Vermont, so September is really when it starts to cool down. However, in California, we are still pushing 80-degree weather here, and people kind of look at you like a crazy person when you are wearing a beanie with shorts and a t-shirts. Now that we are in the middle of October, it should be completely acceptable to wear beanies, chunky sweaters and boots.  I am totally ready for a change in wardrobe!

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