Surprise Cupcakes

Made these babies the other night. Working on the recipe and then I will share it here.

I'll just say this, It involves Ferrero Rocher + Nutella.

Hope you have a fabulous weekend.

XOXO

Lidia

Healthy Reese's Peanut Butter Cups

Hi guys. Let me tell you about these AMAZING healthy chocolate snacks.

All you need are 5 simple ingredients and you will be in healthy Reese's heaven.

I incorporated these into my diet as a snack when I started clean eating back 

in March, I believe. Chocolate being one of my absolute favorite things (especially

Reese's peanut butter cups), well I just couldn't live without it so I decided to make

my own, I was so impressed on how good they were! 

P.S. those little cute chocolate liners are from my local Japanese market.

Healthy Reese's

Ingredients:

- 1/2 c. coconut oil (slightly melted)

- 1/2 c. cocoa powder

- 1/2 c. smooth peanut butter (or any other nut butter)

- 1/4 c. raw honey

- 1/2 t. vanilla

Blend all ingredients together, food processor or whisk both work just fine.

Pour into your candy cups. Freeze for about 30 minutes until firm then

remove, place in sealed container and store in freezer. Whenever you have

a chocolate craving pop one out of the freezer and in to your mouth! 

These are also great for children.

Enjoy

xoxo

Beet Chocolate Choco Chip Cookies

I had been dreaming about beet chocolate chip cookies for quite some time...
I've actually been dreaming about anything beets lately!
Beet chips, beet muffins, beet candy, all which are still on my list.
Last weekend I actually played around with the idea of these beet choco chip
cookies and was really happy with the results!
Even the kids that my mom babysits were loving these, they would never know
that they were eating veggie cookies.

These cookies have a great texture to them, really soft but with a slight crunch
in every bite that comes from the roasted beets that were then grated and
got toasted as the cookies baked. You can also puree the beets to get a
smoother texture. They are not too sweet which makes them perfect with a
cup of coffee or tea. I made my dough a chocolate cookie dough
by adding cocoa powder but I'm sure they would be great with out it too and
the color would be more of a pink instead of the purple that I got.
I will definitely be baking them again!

Beet Chocolate Choco Chip Cookies


Ingredients:

- 1 c. roasted beets, grated or pureed (about 1 large beet)
- 3/4 c. butter, softened
- 1 c. sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 t. vanilla
- 1 3/4 c. flour
- 1/4 c. unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 t. baking powder
- 1/2 t. salt
- 1/2 c. chocolate chips

Preheat oven at 375 degrees.

Cream butter and sugar. Add egg and vanilla, beat until fluffy then stir in beets.
Stir together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt, blend into batter.
Stir in chocolate chips. Using a teaspoon drop cookie dough onto ungreased
cookie sheets and bake for 12 minutes. Store in airtight container.

Enjoy!

xoxo

Chocolate Pistachio Cake

I've been debating whether to post this recipe or not for a couple of days...
You see this recipe is originally a brownie recipe but, these are no brownies to me.
They don't have the texture of a brownie at all, not chewy or gooey.
They don't have that glossy crackly top layer that personally drives me crazy!
The thing is, I decided to post this recipe after all because though I think this is not
the best brownie recipe, it is definitely a very delicious cake recipe!
Light and fluffy, great  dark chocolate flavor, studded with white chocolate and
yummy pistachios (my favorite nut).

Do to that, I decided to change the name to chocolate pistachio cake and
share the recipe with you. You can dust the cake with powdered sugar but I suggest
frosting it with your favorite chocolate frosting! I didn't do either because I was busy
working on my boyfriend's sisters' cake and was running late but next time I bake this
I will frost it with a thick layer of chocolate frosting. Yuuummy!

Chocolate Pistachio Cake
recipe originally named: chocolate chip brownies
from the book: frame> by> frame baking

serves: 12

Ingredients:

- 1 c. butter, softened + extra for greasing
- 5 1/2 oz dark chocolate, broken into pieces
- 1 1/2 c. self rising flour
- 2/3 c. superfine sugar
- 4 eggs, beaten
- 1/2 c. chopped pistachio nuts
- 3 1/2 oz white chocolate, roughly chopped
- confectioners' sugar, for dusting

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and line a 9-inch square pan.

2. Place the dark chocolate and butter in a heat proof bowl set over a
saucepan of simmering water, stirring until melted  OR place both in a
microwave safe bowl (like I did) and heat for 15 seconds then stir,
repeat process until chocolate is completely melted.

3. Sift the flour in separate bowl and stir in superfine sugar. Stir the eggs
into the chocolate mixture, then pour into the flour and sugar; beat well.
Stir in the nuts and white chocolate.

4. Pour the mixture into prepared pan, use spatula to spread evenly.

5. Bake in preheated oven for 30-35 minutes, or until firm around the edges.
Cool in pan for 20 minutes, then turn out onto wire rack, cool completely.

6. Dust with confectioners' sugar (which I didn't do because I ran out) OR
slather a great chocolate frosting on top ;) Cut into 12 squares and serve.

bestest with milk <3

Chocolate Sable Cookies

So, I officially have a favorite cookie now. If someone were to ask me me what my favorite cookie is,
"chocolate sable cookies" would be my answer. These cookies are a classic french cookie,
sable in french means "sandy". Chocolate sandy cookies. They are a chocolate shortbread,
too good to be true.

I love to bake and share my baked goods with friends and family as I mentioned before on my blog,
it's so satisfying. The most I usually will have, when it comes to cookies is three. I found myself
eating these like popcorn! I'm a little ashamed of that but it's true! I ended up taking the rest over
to a friend's house that night, (these are just too dangerous to have around).
I always have my sisters rate my food from 1-10. These were a 20. No doubt about it.

note: I almost regretted making these cookies, when I was sitting there grating the chocolate.
The chocolate kept on breaking and melting on me. I used my brain, put the chocolate in the
freezer and continued on grating. The frozen chocolate was waaay easier to grate and though
my hand still hurt from finely grating the chocolate, it was soooo worth it!

Moral of the story: freeze your chocolate before grating it.

Chocolate Sable Cookies
recipe from: Miette, the book

*makes about 40

Ingredients:
- 1 c. a.p. flour
- 1/3 c. cocoa powder
- 1/2 t. baking soda
- 1/2 c. unsalted butter, room temp.
- 2/3 c. sugar + more for sprinkling
- 1/4 t. sea salt
- 3/4 t. vanilla extract
- 3 1/2 oz. 70 % cacao (good quality) chocolate, grated

1. Sift flour, cocoa & baking soda into bowl, set aside.
2. Beat together butter, sugar, salt & vanilla until lightened,
about 4 minutes. Add dry ingredients & grated chocolate,
mix just to combine.
3. If dough is too soft, refrigerate 30 minutes. Otherwise,
roll out dough 1/2-inch thick on a lightly floured surface
into a 6 by 7-inch rectangle. Square edges as much as
possible, cut the dough into 1-inch squares. Place 2-inches
apart on parchment (wax works too) lined baking sheets.
Sprinkle lightly with sugar.

4. Bake cookies in a 350 degree, preheated oven until
firm, about 12 minutes. Store in airtight container for
up to 2 weeks. (Though they won't last that long!)

notes: 1. My dough turned out fine but when I have time,
I like refrigerating dough that I'm going to roll out, it makes
thing less sticky.

2.This dough will keep one week in the refrigerator and
up to three months in the freezer.

3. This cookie pairs perfectly with a glass of milk, sandwiched
with a scoop of ice cream, and makes a perfect gift.

enjoy <3

Double Chocolate Crackles

 Let me start off by saying this is one of the best cookies I've ever made!
They remind me of a chocolate doughnut, nough said? No not enough
I forgot to mention how extremely easy and fast they are to make.
I took these to a pot luck and everyone asked for the recipe.


Double Chocolate Crackles
adapted from Food Network magazine

Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 c. all purpose flour
- 1/2 c. granulated sugar
- 1/2 c. natural cocoa powder
- 3/4 t.baking soda
- 1/2 t. salt
- 6 T. unsalted butter, melted
- 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
- 1/2 c. white chocolate chips
- 1 c. confectioners' sugar

1. Whisk the flour, granulated sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt
in a medium bowl. Whisk in the melted butter and eggs until combined,
then stir in the white chocolate chips. Cover with plastic wrap and chill
until firm, about 1 hour.

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
Put the confectioners' sugar in a shallow bowl. Roll tablespoonfuls of dough
into balls, then roll in the confectioners' sugar until well coated. Place 1 inch
apart on the baking sheets.

3. Bake until the cookies are puffed and the tops are cracked, about 10 minutes.
Let cool 2 minutes and transfer to a rack to cool completely. Store in an airthight
container up to 1 week.

Best Gluten Free Chocolate Cookies

Chocolate Puddle Cookies
- 3 c walnut halves, toasted & cooled
- 4 c powdered sugar
- 1/2 c + 3 T unsweetened cocoa powder
- scant 1/2 t fine grain salt
- 4 large egg whites, room temp.
- 1 T vanilla extract


recipe adapted from 101 cookbooks 

She had me at " texture that made me think of a collision
between soft meringue and a fudgy brownie".

1. Preheat oven to 320 degrees.
Position racks on top and bottom third.
Line baking sheets with parchment paper
( this step is crucial, i usually use wax paper
for everything so the first time i made these
cookies they got stuck to the wax paper
completely! it was the worst. moral of the story
use parchment paper.)

2. Make sure walnut have cooled, chop coarsely and
set aside. sift powdered sugar, cocoa powder, and
sea salt. stir in walnuts then add egg whites and
vanilla. stir until well combined.

3. Spoon batter onto prepared sheets, 1 T each
( these cookies will be HUGE, they expand like crazy).
allow plenty of room between cookies.

4. Bake until they puff up. Tops should get glossy
and crack a bit. 12-15 minutes. (rotate pans).

* let cool completely before removing.
they keep in airtight for a couple of days,
IF you get lucky and don't eat them all at once!