Just a Mom, HA!

Mini Peanut Butter Cookies (Gluten Free)

I’m about to show you a cookie that is flour-less, butter-less, and that boasts only 4 ingredients in its batter. Brace yourself:

Huh. I was a little surprised myself.  This is a normal looking little cookie – not what I’ve come to expect from gluten-free baking.  Sadly I made these when I was so sick that I lost my sense of taste completely, so I can’t tell you how they are straight out of the oven, but I will say that their texture improves with time and their taste on day 2 is very scrumptious.

Mini Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies
(Slightly Modified from Spark Recipes)

• 1 c Peanut Butter* (works best with natural PB, reduced-fat, low sodium, that kind)
• 1 egg
• 1/2 c. packed brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• Milk chocolate chips, if desired

Combine first 4 ingredients and stir until well combined.  Use a rounded teaspoon to scoop dough onto a cookie sheet (I lined mine with parchment paper for easy removal).  Bake at 350 degrees for 7 minutes, remove from oven, stick one or two chips into the cookie tops, then return cookies to oven one final minute of baking.  Let cookie sit on baking sheet to cool then remove them to a rack.

*Kim’s notes: I’d love to try this recipe again with natural Almond Butter.  Also, if you aren’t a fan of chocolate, skip the chips and criss-cross the dough balls with fork tongs for a more classic PB cookie look.

Peanut Butter Frozen Fluff

This is a dessert that can please almost anyone.

The Reese’s lover looking for a chocolate-PB fix.  The health nut that needs a treat that won’t ruin the day.  Even the Weight Watcher’s crowd only has to count one little point for this dessert.

Oh, and it’s easy. That pleases me.

You can eat these in their wrappers, straight from the freezer, or you can be a little classier and turn them out into a dish or plate to be eaten with a utensil.  When sharing one with Cee tonight I used the plate approach, which was classy… until I licked the plate to not waste one drop of the gooey joy that is this stuff.

Peanut Butter Frozen Fluff (adapted from Spark Recipes)

• 1/2 tub of light or fat-free whipped topping (such as Cool Whip)
• 1 Tbs of natural, reduced-fat Peanut Butter
• Chocolate syrup (such as Hershey’s), reduced calorie or sugar-free
• cupcake liners

Stir together the whipped topping and peanut butter until combined. Spoon into liners that are in a cupcake pan or set out on a tray (this recipe makes 6).  Freeze until set – I let mine go over night, then put cups into a freezer bag or wrap them individually to be stored in the freezer until time to serve.

Kim’s note: These were great, but maybe PB isn’t your thing.  I’m thinking of trying this again, but mixing in a couple of Tbs of cheesecake pudding, then drizzle it with strawberry sauce.  Or mashing some berries and putting them in for fruit fluff.

Happy Cooking!

Surprise Ingredient Chocolate Chip Cookies

These cookies are healthy.  That means a somewhat odd texture, but a taste that’s just about normal.

If that doesn’t weird you out then keep reading.

Did you spot the surprise ingredient?  That would be a chickpea.  A garbanzo.  Otherwise known as a bean.

I got this recipe from my friend the Trainer Mama.  I didn’t do much to her recipe, just used regular flour since that’s all I had, and added a few of my own touches to the dough-making process.

Chocolate Chip Chickpea Cookies

• 1 c. brown sugar
• 3/4 c. sugar free applesauce
• 2 large egg whites
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 1 can chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drained and rinsed
• 2 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 2 c. flour (she uses whole wheat, I used all-purpose)
• 1/2 c. rolled oats
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt (I would only add this if you’re using no-salt beans, canned beans have TONS of sodium)

I found that the cookies tasted most like cookies when the beans were mashed – if you don’t mash them then the occasional bite just tastes like a bean.  To mash I warm the beans up a little first then mash with my hands and a potato masher.  They will be flaky, but that’s normal.

Add all wet ingredients and sugars to the mashed beans and blend together.  Next add the dry ingredients and stir well to form the dough.  Lastly stir in the chocolate chips.

Bake on parchment paper or a lightly sprayed cooking sheet at 350 degrees for 11 minutes.  Remove from oven and let cool on wire racks.  Store in an air tight container and can be frozen to make them last longer.

*Since these are a low-cal sweet treat, I have a small bag that I keep in the freezer for when I need an emergency dessert that won’t ruin my healthy day.  I even like them cold and straight from the freezer since that makes the odd/chewy texture less noticeable.

I was worried my boys wouldn’t like these and I’d have to end up eating them all by myself, but they really surprised me.  Jay and Cee both gobbled them up like regular cookies…

Sometimes it can be a little hard to get the shot I want when cookies are involved.

Happy Cooking!

Wonder Bars (AKA Homemade Reese’s)

Now to reveal this other mystery goody on our caroling plate this year…

Wonder Bars – a classic, Mama D treat.  They are a wonder, because they are Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups – homemade style.  They are wonderfully tasty, but also wonderfully fattening, so proceed with caution.

Wonder Bars

• 3/4 c. margarine or butter
• 1 3/4 c. graham crackers, crushed (11 crackers)
• 1 c. peanut butter
• 2 1/2 c. powdered sugar
• 16oz. milk chocolate chips

Melt margarine, add peanut butter and mix. Add graham cracker crumbs and powdered sugar to butter mixture then blend well. Pad “dough” into a 13×9 in pan. In a microwave safe bowl, microwave chocolate chips for 2 minutes. Stir until smooth. Spread on top of PB mixture. Refrigerate for 20 minutes to help the chocolate set.

Kim’s tips:  Doing half of this recipe in an 8×8 square pan is great for smaller families.  Also, if you choose to chill your wonder bars to help the chocolate set faster, let them come back up to room temp before cutting them so that the chocolate doesn’t crack.

Happy Cooking!

Hot Fudge Slow Cooker Cake

Love chocolatey goo?  Love easy homemade desserts?  Have I got the thing for you:

This cake is simple, rich, and when paired with vanilla ice cream is basically unbeatable (Jay even said it was better than the restaurant chocolate cake he’d eaten that same day!).  It doesn’t look like a lot, but it served me, Jay, Cee, 3 twenty year old boys, with a leftover scoop remaining.

Hot Fudge Slow Cooker Cake (adapted from Betty Crocker)

• 1 c. flour
• 1/2 c. sugar
• 2 Tbs baking cocoa
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 c. milk
• 1 Tbs canola oil
• 1 Tbs natural applesauce
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 3/4 c. packed brown sugar
• 1/4 c. backing cocoa
• 1 1/2 c. hot water
• possible add-ins: 1/2 c. chopped nuts, or 1/4 c. chocolate chips, or nothing at all

Mix together first 8 ingredients.  Once combined add your chosen mix-in, or move on to the next step.  Spread batter evenly in the slow cooker (will be kind of thin, don’t worry).  Next mix the brown sugar, 1/4 c. cocoa in a small bowl, add the hot water stirring until dissolved and smooth. Pour sauce evenly over batter in the slow cooker.

Cook on high for 2 hours, or until cake passes the toothpick test.  Turn off the slow cooker and allow cake to rest 30-40 minutes.*  Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.

Kim’s note:  When I opened my slow cooker I thought I’d burnt my cake!  But it turns out that the sauce settles to the bottom and the cake rises up to the top during the baking process.  The top will look dry, but the gooey sauce is just down under the surface.

Happy Cooking!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Banana Bread

I’ve mentioned now a few times that I’m no baker.  7 out of 10 things that I bake seriously fail.  But today I’m proud… I’m oh so proud that I baked something that I made up and it was a success!

The flavor combo of banana, Peanut Butter, and chocolate has got to be one of my favorites of all time.  So I looked over some banana bread recipes that I know, made some adjustments, broke the batter down and made chocolate-peanut butter-banana STRATA!

Can you see the three strata?  Chocolate, PB, and then plain banana on top.  Delish!

This bread is fab, but I’ll also let it slip that I have more in store for this bread, but that is to come on another post. : )

The banana and peanut butter flavors are the strongest by far, so I may try adding chocolate chips next time to bring in more chocolate.*

Peanut Butter Chocolate Banana Bread

• 2 c. flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 ripe bananas (mashed)
• 2 Tbs natural applesauce (you could use oil or softened butter here, but applesauce worked fine)
• 1/2 c. sugar
• 1/2 c. packed brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/2 c. milk
• 1/4 c. peanut butter
• 1 Tbs cocoa powder

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, prepare pan with cooking spray and a light dusting of flour (I used an 8×8 square glass dish, but you could use a loaf pan).  In a bowl combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Stir until evenly combined.  In another bowl stir together the sugars, eggs, applesauce, vanilla, milk, and mashed bananas.  Add half of the powder mixture to the wet ingredients, stir to combine, then add the remaining powder and continue to stir until evenly combined.

Distribute the batter evenly into 3 bowls.  To one bowl add the peanut butter and stir until combined.  To another bowl add the cocoa powder and stir until combined.*  Now layer the batter starting with the chocolate into the prepared baking dish.  Turn or shake the dish until the batter lays evenly.  Next add the PB batter – this will be thicker than the last, so you will need to help it disperse.  Next add the plain banana batter and again shake dish until the batter lays evenly.

Bake at 350 for 50 minutes or until bread passes the toothpick test.

*In the future, I will try adding 1/4 c. of semi-sweet chocolate chips to both the PB and banana batters to help boost the chocolate flavor.

Happy Cooking!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip [Cake Batter] Cookies

It’s the season for pumpkin cooking!  I’ve got two pumpkin recipes for you this week, but since it’s getting late I’m just going to start with the easier of the two.

I get a lot of traffic to this site because of my recipe for Cake Batter Cookies – they’re easy, they’re delicious, you can really cut a lot of the fat, and they lend very well to add-ins.  One of my favorite variations of this recipe is to take spice cake mix and change it into pumpkin cookies!  This is a big fav for Jay too, so when I had some spare pumpkin lying around after a dinner I hosted last week, I knew that the time had come for this:

Hold me back from the cooling racks, I seriously have little restraint around these bad boys.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip [Cake Batter] Cookies

• 1 box spice cake mix
• 1 c. canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix, they are typically sold side by side)
• 1 egg
• 1/2 c. water
• 1/4 c. canola oil, applesauce, or a combo of both (I’ll fill my measuring cup most of the way up with natural applesauce, then just top it off with the oil – you can cut the oil completely, but I find that it adds a little extra weight and moisture to the cookies.)
• 1/2 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips

Mix first 5 ingredients together in a big bowl – I find that a hand mixer works well for this, but by hand gets the job done too.  Once blended and lumps are out of batter, fold in chocolate chips.  If not using oil, spray your cookie sheets before scooping dough to prevent sticking.  Bake at 350 degrees for 11 minutes.

Happy Cooking!

Zucchini Bread Brownies

A college roommate and friend of mine is a baking genius. I’m lucky to have her.  I’m a baking bumbler.  I do it only for birthdays, when I want a treat, and when I feel at peace enough with myself to do it (since I generally end up laughing at my foolishness).

Her baking blog (And Now For Something Completely Delicious) is an inspiration and I’d highly recommend it for baking enthusiasts.  I saw her post about Chocolate Zucchini bread and knew I’d have to give it a try, but with a few switcheroos to make it a little more “Average Pantry.”

I was thrilled with the results, Zucchini Bread Brownies.  Jay claims their more cake-like than brownie-like, but that hasn’t stopped us all from gobbling them down.  The day that I baked these to surprise Jay, he came home with a little carton of ice cream to surprise me.  We ended up making a warm brownie sundae to split and it was out of this WORLD!

I just love it when fortune smiles on you like that.

Zucchini Bread Brownies

• 1 1/2 cup (about 1/2 pound) fresh grated zucchini
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup cocoa
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon pumpkin spice
• 1/2 cup natural applesauce minus 1 Tbs
• 1 Tbs canola oil
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease an 8×8 pan. In a medium bowl combine flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and pumpkin spice.

In another mixing bowl stir together the zucchini, apple sauce, oil, sugars, eggs, and vanilla together until combined well. Add the dry ingredients in two additions, mixing between each until the batter is just combined. Add the chocolate chips.

Pour the batter into the greased pan and bake for about 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Let the bread cool in the pan, but on a rack at least 10 minutes before cutting into it.

86 calories per serving when cutting pan into 5×5 squares.

Happy Cooking!

Chocolate Banana Biscotti

Last weekend I posted a link about cutting eggs out of baking.  Since I’d never really thought about taking out eggs I decided to give two of the suggestions a try in one recipe – Chocolate Banana Biscotti.  These turned out 100 times better than I ever imagined!  First out of the oven they have crip outsides, a warm and chewy inside, and a flavor that is sweet, but not too sweet.  I could have eaten them all day, but I stopped myself after two. : )

The best part is the calorie count – I sliced my logs to make 19 cookies, and with a little math I discovered that puts the average sized ones at 93.42 calories.  And with the fat corners I cut, the only fat involved is what comes in the original batter, and what’s in the chocolate chips.  Not a bad treat!

Chocolate Banana Biscotti

• 1 package banana bread mix (I used Pilsbury)
• 3 Tbs water
• ½ banana, mashed
• 4 oz plain, fat free yogurt
• 2 Tbs natural applesauce
• 2 servings of semi-sweet chocolate chips (I actually counted them so that I could do the calorie math and I used 64)

Combine all wet ingredients in a mixing bowl and stir until combined.  Add wet ingredients to banana bread mix and stir until mixed.  Chop half of the chocolate chip pieces until slivered, then add them and the rest of the chocolate chips to the batter.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line a cookie sheet with foil or parchment paper.  Since I took all of the oil out of the recipe, I sprayed the foil with cooking spray until well coated for ease of removing logs.  Divide dough in half and form two rectangular logs (about 4.5 inches x 8 inches) – dough will be sticky, but touchable (use wet hands if needed).

Bake logs for 30 minutes, remove from oven and cookie sheet, and allow to cool on wire racks.  Once the logs are cooled cut them into ½  inch strips.  Put strips back on the cookie sheet, cut side down, and bake for another 10 minutes.  Flip strips to other side and bake another 10 minutes.

Kim’s note:  Mine were crisp on the outside with a chewy center using the method described above, but have softened even more as I’ve stored them.  If you want them to be truly crispy throughout like a coffee house biscotti, I’d suggest baking the strips longer, but still doing the 10-minute flip so that the edges don’t have the chance to burn.

Happy Cooking!

Mama D’s Chocolate Chip Cookies

My mom is a lot of things – you might say she’s the epitome of “Just a mom? HA!”  Among her traits and talents she happens to be a world class cookie maker (at least in the eyes of her family and friends).  These cookies have been bringing my family happiness and good luck for years, and now I’m passing the recipe on to you.  When I told my mom that I was going to take her recipe public she said, “Be sure to tell them how I halved the fat from the original recipe.”  See where I get it. : )

Mama D’s Chocolate Chip Cookies

• 1 stick margarine, softened
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 eggs
• ¾ c. sugar
• ¾ c. packed brown sugar
• 2 ½ c. flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 ½ c. semi-sweet chocolate chips

Stir together margarine, sugars, eggs, and vanilla until smooth and creamy.  Add flour and baking soda and stir thoroughly. (My mom always sifts them in, but if you don’t have a sifter that’s ok – you may just need to add a little water to moisten the dough if the unsifted flour makes it too dry.)  Add chocolate chips and stir to mix them in evenly.  Drop by tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.  Bake at 350 degrees.

The baking time is my mom’s big secret.  She doesn’t like hard or overdone cookies, so she bakes hers for only 7 minutes, then sets them on top of the stove to continue warming/cooking for about 3 minutes before removing them to a wire rack to finish cooling.

When I make these cookies Jay prefers that I cook them a little longer, so I let them go 9-11 minutes, then do the same cooling method my mom uses.

Here’s the side by side comparison:

My mom’s cookies are done when there’s just a little browning on the edges.  They are very chewy and go great in the freezer because they are still soft right out of the cold.  My cookies are done when there’s coloring on the edges and on the top cookie peaks.  Mine are better right out of the oven, but aren’t as chewy.

Happy Cooking!