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Secret Recipe Club: Brownie Cookies

Secret Recipe Club

This month for the Secret Recipe Club I was assigned K&K Test Kitchen by Kim and Kelsey – a mother/daughter duo! How fun! I had such a hard time deciding on what to make! I must have booked marked at least a dozen things.

But, I decided that since Busy Season (aka tax season) was over it would be fun to bring in something to the office so I settled on their Brownie Cookies. What an amazing idea. And yes, they do actually taste like a brownie only they’re cookies! How amazing is that? I love making brownies but they’re so difficult to bring to events; there needs to be a spatula or knife for everyone to cut them. But cookies? Just set them out and everyone can easily grab one. They were a total hit at the office, and then I made them again — yes I liked them so much that I made them twice in one week — for a family gathering on Sunday and they were a hit there too.

The batter for these cookies is extremely thick, and I have on good authority from my eldest sister that the batter is absolutely delicious. She may or may not have “pre-washed” the mixing bowl once I was done. I used a medium cookie scoop to dish out the batter and that seemed to be a good size. The cookies are very very rich, so I think anything larger would be too much. But who knows, I’m not a huge chocolate person so I could be totally wrong :)!

For the office, I made a double batch and the cookies came out more like cakey brownies than fudgey brownies. The second batch was a single batch and those came out a lot more like fudgey brownies. But I think that has more to do with the oven in my apartment vs. the oven in my parent’s house than anything else.  I forgot to count how many I got from the first batch, so I counted the ones I made yesterday and I had about 3 dozen cookies.I’m definitely keeping this recipe around for parties.

On top of that the recipe is super simple and it very easy to double, so it’s perfect for small gatherings or big gatherings! For the record, there were no cookies left over from either my office for my family gathering yesterday. As fun note, one of my very good friends who lives in England told me she was making brownie cookies last week as well and without knowing it we used the same recipe. We’re totally the same person. And if they win the approval of two different groups in California and one across the pond? Pretty sure these are keepers!

Brownie Cookies

From K&K Test Kitchen

½ cup butter
4 (1 ounce) squares unsweetened chocolate, chopped
3 cups (18 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips, divided
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
4 large eggs
1 ½ cups sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

In a medium sized saucepan combine butter, unsweetened chocolate and half (1.5 cups) of the chocolate chips. Melt over medium heat stirring constantly. Once melted remove from burner and allow to cool while prepping the next steps.

Preheat oven to 350.

In a large mixing bowl (I used my kitchen aid) mix together the eggs, sugar, and vanilla. Scrape the bottom of the bowl. Next, add in the salt. Then, add in the baking powder. Slowly add in the flower (I did three 1/2 cup measures). Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl.

Add in the melted chocolate and the rest of the chocolate chips. Mix until combined. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl one last time to make sure everything is mixed.

Scoop the cookies out onto ungreased cookie sheets about 1 inch apart. Bake for 10 minutes. Allow to cool for about a minute or two on the sheet then remove to a cooling rack.


Secret Recipe Club: Eat the Rainbow!

Secret Recipe Club

Thank the Lord for the Secret Recipe Club; it makes sure I post at least once a month! Which, is sadly all I seem to have time for. Not that I’ve been cooking a whole lot lately. If I don’t eat dinner at work I get home late enough that all I eat is popcorn. I just keep reminding myself: 3 weeks left! I do, however, still love my job. I’d just like to be able to cook/bake more! :).

This month I assigned the blog Enriching Your Kid by Shirley. I was caught by her post about eating the rainbow; the photograph of the pasta just looked too good to pass up! Sadly, it didn’t have a recipe so I went with the idea of the post and did my own pasta recipe.

Shirley talks about how foods that have different colors are rich in different vitamins and you should “eat the rainbow” as often as possible in order to get the biggest benefit form the foods. I do try to eat as many different colors in a meal as I can, since it also makes it interesting to eat! Especially when I make savory dishes, it tends to start in the produce section of a grocery store and I just grab what looks good. Generally that means when I do cook, I cook with lots of different colors. If pinterest is any indication, people are always looking for ways to eat more healthily and I think this is one very easy way to fill up on vegetables. Instead of just reposting all of Shirley’s information, you should wander over to her blog and check it out.

For this recipe, I had corn, an onion, asparagus, chicken, an orange bell pepper, garlic, marinara sauce, basil and cheddar cheese on top.  I used the basic seasonings; salt, pepper and then for kicks I threw in some Cajun seasoning. It turned really well and it worked wonderfully for lunches at work!

I had wanted to put mushrooms in this dish and I even bought them, but I forgot to put them in! I was so sad after the dish was done. It still tasted delicious though. If you like mushrooms I think they’d make a wonderful addition!

Eat the Rainbow
inspired by Enriching Your Kids
As with most savory recipes I make, the seasoning amounts are estimates. I really need to get better about measuring things before I throw them into a pan.

Serves 8-10

1 lb of pasta of your choice
2 tbsp oil
2 lbs of boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces
1 bundle of asparagus cut into bite sized pieces
1 medium onion
4 gloves garlic minced
2 cups of frozen corn
2 orange bell peppers cut into bite sized pieces
1 bunch of basil, sliced thinly
2 tbsp Cajun seasonings
1 tbsp Italian seasonings
1 jar of marinara sauce
2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese

Cook pasta according to your package instructions.

In a large pan eat oil over medium heat and add in the onions and garlic. Once the onions have become translucent add in the bell peppers and asparagus, cook for 2-3 minutes.

Add in the chicken breast along with the Cajun seasonings, and Italian seasonings and cook until the chicken has turned opaque and the pink is gone from the middle. When the chicken is about done, add in the frozen corn.

Add salt and pepper to taste.

Mix in pasta, basil and marinara sauce once the chicken is done. Sprinkle the cheddar cheese over the top of the dish and cover with aluminum foil or lid for a few minutes and allow the cheese to melt.

Serve into bowls or plates and enjoy!



Secret Recipe Club: Spicy Roasted Olives

Secret Recipe Club

I’ve finally done it. I finally branched out and joined a cooking club! I’m so excited! I’ve wanted to join a food blogging club since I started blogging but always thought I wouldn’t have the time with school. So now, I decided to join the Secret Recipe Club which assigns you a blog to cook from and then reveal what you made on a due date. Once a month.  I can totally handle that! It also reminds me of monthly secret Santa and who doesn’t love a good secret Santa?

For my first round with the Secret Recipe Club I was assigned the nifty blog Rhubarb and Honey. After looking through Kimberly’s recipe list I decided on her spicy roasted olives. I love spicy foods and olives. Perfect for me!

I decided to make the olives when my parents were coming up to Sacramento so my dad could help me put together an Ikea dresser. Does anyone else hate Ikea directions or is it just me? I’m just not visual enough for only pictures. I need words with my picture instructions thankyouverymuch. Luckily my dad is good with Ikea instructions so the dresser went together easily enough.

But, I digress. This was supposed to be an early afternoon appetizer since they were supposed to get up here around 1pm. Well, as life happens they didn’t actually make it up to Sacramento until around 5pm, so this became a feast of roast olives, fruit, salami and cheeses. It was really quite filling and the olives were really the star of the show. Everyone loved them. They were spicy without being overwhelming spicy and the thyme and basil added some nice flavors to the olives too. The original recipe called for parsley and I really just can’t do parsley. It takes like soap to me, but I love love love basil so I always switch out parsley for basil and haven’t had it ruin any recipes yet! :)

I bought the olives from Safeway’s olive bar that were marinated for a Greek-types salad so the roasting only enhanced those flavors and I probably could have cheated and only thrown in garlic and crushed red chili flakes if I needed a quick appetizer for unexpected guests.  I’m definitely going to have to keep this recipe around and have olives on hand quite often especially after busy season for when I have people over!  They were delicious hot and I’ve even been munching on them cold. I love foods that are good hot and cold. Simplifies my life which I’m all for.

The only thing I need now is more people over so I can make copious amounts of these olives. In fact, I think I’m going to polish off the rest of these tonight as an evening snack. Hooray for healthy snacks! Another fantastic thing about these olives is that they’re really hands off. Put everything on baking tray, throw them in the oven for 30 minutes and then go back to socializing until your timer goes off. Easy and delicious. Fantastic. To make things even easier, I got already peeled garlic from Trader Joe’s which cut down the prep time by a few minutes. And I didn’t have to peel any garlic! I love garlic, but I’m not a fan of peeling it.  I also zested the lemon before juicing it over the olives because the zest has a ton of flavor and I  love lemons.

Spicy Roasted Olives

From Rhubarb and Honey

2 cups mixed green and black olives
10 whole garlic cloves, peeled
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Juice of 1/2 lemon (about 2 tablespoons)
2 or 3 fresh thyme sprigs

Preheat oven to 350.

On a baking tray mix everything together. After the oven has preheated bake for 30 minutes.

Put in a serving dish and enjoy!