No Bake Chocolate Walnut Bars

My husband and sons love, love, loves these. They are a great grab and go. If you have a sweet tooth, these will hit the spot.  They are pretty easy to make and work great for us.

Here is what I do:
1/2 Cup raw unfiltered organic honey
1/4 Cup organic cold pressed coconut oil
1/4 Cup almond butter
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 Cup chopped walnuts or half cup walnuts and half cup almonds chopped
1/2 Cup raw organic cocoa nibs (you can use chocolate chips if you want. We just don't want the added sugar. Cocoa nibs keeps it healthier.)
1/4 Cup sunflower seeds
1/4 Cup pepitas ( raw shelled pumpkin seeds)
1/4 Cup dried goji berries (I sit and cut them in half. You don't have to but I like them smaller)
1 Cup organic rolled oats

Place walnuts, cocoa nibs, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, goji berries and rolled oats into a large bowl. Mix and set aside.
Oil an 8x8 baking dish and set aside.
In a saute pan set over med-low heat add the honey, coconut oil, almond butter, salt and cinnamon. Bring to a boil over med heat and let boil about two minutes stirring constantly. This will be your tried and true work. If you boil it long enough the bars will not get soft and messy when eating them room temperature. If you don't boil it long enough they will be a bit gooey. Not big deal. You will figure out what the right amount of time to boil the mixture for is. After the two minutes remove from the heat and add the vanilla and stir well.
Pour over dry ingredients and stir well to combine (I use a rubber spatula for this. It seems to work best and everything doesn't stick to it.)
Pour into prepared baking dish and press everything in tight. Place in refrigerator for two hours. Take out and cut into 12 bars. I them wrap them individually in plastic wrap and store in refrigerator. They will soften some as they warm up while you eat them. Sticky and delicious. 

Chocolate Chip Cookie Brownie Sundae= OMG!!!

I had to borrow this picture from PW. It is also her recipe. 

Sorry for the borrowed picture. I am terrible about remembering to take pictures of the foods I make and put on my blog. I found this recipe on PW blog and it is divine. It looked like a group of Parana had attacked my baking pan. When the smoke cleared the pan was empty and I even think there were dents. Oh the joys of a house full of Sasquatches. Here's what I did:

2 sticks of butter softened
1 cup of light brown sugar
1/2 Cup regular white sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. real vanilla (I personally think this makes all the difference in the world.)
2 1/4 Cups all purpose flour
1 tsp. instant coffee granules (trust me. It is the secret to success.) I used instant espresso granules.
1 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. salt
8 ounces semi sweet chocolate chips. (more if you want. I found this to be a good amount.)
Vanilla ice cream (or your ice cream of choice)
hot fudge
caramel sauce
whip cream
cherry
nuts
Just whatever you want to top it with.
Oven set to 375, a 13x9 baking pan. I used a cake pan that is 13x9
In mixer bowl add softened butter and sugars. Beat till blended. Add eggs, vanilla and mix together. In separate bowl mix dry ingredients and add to wet a little at a time. Add a little and turn mixer on and mix it down and then add more till all the dry ingredients are blended in. Mix in the chocolate chips and give it one more good mix. Grease or spray a 13x9 cake pan and put dough in and spread out evenly. Bake 15-18 minutes.
 Since we didn't eat ours right out of the oven we cut ours into serving pieces and then microwaved each piece to heat it up and then added the toppings. This was great.

Double Fudge Irish Cream Cookies

 These are divine. You can't really put your finger on what it is that makes them taste so good. The secret is Baileys Irish Cream. SShh, don't tell anyone.

This recipe is adapted  from How Sweet It Is. 

Double Fudge Irish Cream Cookies

1 Cup butter softened

1 1/2 Cups sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

2 2/3 Cup flour

1/2 Cup cocoa

1 1/4 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

1 tsp. instant espresso powder ( or plain instant coffee if that is what you have.)

8 Tbl. Baileys Irish Cream

1 to 1 1/2 Cups white chocolate chips ( I don't like a ton of chips so I use 1 cup. Put the amount that you like in.)

Cream butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla  with electric mixer until fluffy. Add in Baileys one tablespoon at a time. Mix flour, cocoa, baking soda, salt, espresso powder together and add to the creamed butter mixture. Mix till blended. Stir in white chocolate chips. Refrigerate 4 hours and roll into balls and place on cookie sheet. Or do what I do don't wait the four hours. Using cookie scoop scoop and place on cookie sheet and bake 350 for 8-10 minutes. In my oven I have found 7 1/2 minutes is perfect. Since I have never done the refrigerate four hour thing I don't know if that is why they are better at the shorter time but I tend to think so.

The Best Chocolate Chip Cookie Ever #2

This is my Mom's favorite Chocolate chip Cookie Recipe

This is the second chocolate chip cookie recipe I have listed. I have a hard time deciding which I like best. I think right now this is my favorite one. I use large salt crystals in this cookie. There is something about biting into the sweet chocolate cookie with that slight salty taste. So good. This recipe came from Alice at Savory Sweet Life. Thanks Alice. This is divine.

Chocolate Chip Cookie #2

1 Cup (2 sticks) salted butter, softened
1/2 Cup sugar
1 1/2 Cups packed brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
2 3/4 Cups all purpose flour (12oz.) If you can measure this by weight it works better.
3/4 tsp. small to med course sea salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
2 Cups semisweet chocolate chips

preheat oven 360

Combine dry ingredients. Cream butter, sugars until nice and fluffy with electric mixer, about 3 minutes. Add eggs and vanilla and beat 2 minutes. Add dry ingredients and mix. Stir in chocolate chips. Batter should be somewhat thick. Drop by spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 12-14 minutes.

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies #1

I have two go to chocolate chip cookie recipes. Its hard to decide which I like better. This one is more chewy. For those who almost like their chocolate chip cookies baked. The other recipe bakes up fluffier but still has a nice chewiness to it also. I am going to list them both. You decide.

Chocolate Chip Cookie #1

3/4 Cup butter, softened
1/4 shortening
3/4 Cup sugar
3/4 Cup firmly packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp. instant espresso granules
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
2 Cups semisweet chocolate chips

Beat butter and shortening at med speed with electric mixer until creamy. Gradually add in sugars, beating well. Add eggs and vanilla, beat well.
Combine flour,instand espresso granules, soda, salt. Add to butter and mix well. Stir in chocolate chips.
Drop by spoon fulls onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 9-11 minutes. Cool on wire rack.

Favorite Sugar Cookies

My middle son T.J. loves sugar cookies. I however never liked the time consuming process of making them. This is a make and drop sugar cookie that also happens to be the best tasting sugar cookie I have had. At the holidays I use colored sugar on top. The rest of the year just white sugar. This make a bunch and my son is always very happy. I also always double this or any recipe I make for my ginormous family of 5 grown men and little ole me. 

Favorite Sugar Cookies: oven 350

1 Cup butter softened

1 Cup vegetable oil

1 Cup sugar

1 Cup sifted powder sugar

2 large eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

4 Cups all purpose flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. cream of tartar

1/2 cup sugar (colored sugar at Christmas time)

Beat butter and vegetable oil at med. speed with electric mixer until blended. Gradually add in 1 Cup sugar and powdered sugar, beating well. Add eggs and vanilla. Beat well.

Combine flour and next 3 ingredients. Add to butter mixture, beating at low speed till blended. 

Drop dough by rounded spoonfuls about two inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet.

 Dip flat end of glass in 1/2 cup sugar and flatten each cookie mound slightly. Bake 10-12 minutes. Remove and cool on wire rack. 

Chewy Chocolate Cookies

To me these taste like a brownie in cookie form. They are sooooo good. My boys love these.


Chewy Chocolate Cookies

Oven 350 F.
1 1/4 cups butter, room temp.
2 Cups sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
2 Cups all purpose flour
3/4 Cup cocoa
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 Cup chopped nuts (optional. I don't use the nuts. My crazy kids don't care for them. I swear I don't think these kids are related to me.)

Cream butter, sugar in bowl. Add eggs, vanilla and blend well. Combine flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. Gradually add to butter mixture. Using a regular size kitchen spoon ( I have a fancy scoop I use.) place a spoon full of dough on cookie sheet. Bake 8-9 minutes (depending on the size of your dough scoops) and then look out. It could get dangerous in your house. They barely make it off the cookie sheet at my house.