Soft Chocolatey Chocolate & Mint Chip Cookies

I finally did what I've been wanting to do for about 9 months now.  No, not finish gestating something, I made the super yummy Soft Chocolatey Chocolate & Peanut Butter Chip Cookies with mint chips instead of peanut butter chips.  And here's what I have to say...do yourself a favor, find these somewhere, and buy them...you can thank me later:

Mint lovers, these cookies are fantabulous!  I replaced the 1 cup of peanut butter chips with 1 cup of these Andes baking chips, and I also added 1/2 teaspoon of mint extract.  BUT, next time I am going to replace ALL the chips with mint (so that would be no chocolate chips, no peanut butter chips, just 2 cups of mint chips).

enjoy!
 ~ j

Witch Hats!

Okay, so this isn't exactly cooking...but it's something cute I made in the kitchen and took pictures of, so it works for me.  I saw these around on the interwebs somewhere and had to make them because they looked so freakin' cute.  Well, they don't look quite as cute in my photos, but I think you get the idea.  I need to take a class on food photography.  Do you think there is such a thing?  I also need better lighting in my kitchen for food photos.  ANYWAYS...

I've been cooking up all sorts of stuff lately, and remembering to take pictures!  So hopefully I'll get my slack-ass in gear and actually start posting again.  I made these, and Ryan took them into work, and everyone thought I was cool.  So make them and get lots of props with hardly any work...it's fabulous.  And now, finally, what you've been waiting for...Witch Hats!!

Ingredients:
fudge stripe cookies
Hershey's kisses
orange Wilton decorator icing in a can (or tube, I guess)

Instructions:
1)  Turn cookies upside-down.
2)  Squeeze some icing onto the bottom of a kiss.
3)  Smoosh kiss onto the middle of upside-down cookie.
4)  Get mad kudos with minimal effort.

enjoy!
 ~ j

Kick Ya' Into Labor Cookies!

The recipe for "Soft Chocolatey Chocolate & Peanut Butter Chip Cookies" now comes with a medical warning for pregnant women. 

Our very, very good friend Nevena made a batch last night, and went into a labor!  And it was a GIRL!!  CONGRATULATIONS to the whole family, sending lots and lots of love!!

Soft Chocolatey Chocolate & Peanut Butter Chip Cookies

Now that I've proclaimed my non-baker status, here I am baking all the time for some reason.  I have a theory that pregnancy hormones make one want to bake, because our friend Kerrie Anne (due in 1 month & 1 day!) has been baking too.  And she is not normally a baker either.  I'll have to find out if our friend Nevena has been a baking machine (she's due NOW!).  It's a sound theory, don't you think?  Anyways...I made these soft, chewy cookies last night for the first time and I can't stop eating them.  They are so delicious!

Ingredients:

2 ¼ cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 cup butter, softened

¾ cup packed brown sugar

¼ cup white sugar

1 (3.4 oz) package instant chocolate pudding mix

2 eggs

1 ½ tsp vanilla extract

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1 cup peanut butter chips

Instructions:

1)  Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F.  Sift together flour and baking soda, set aside.

2)  In large bowl, cream together butter and sugars.  Beat in pudding mix until blended.  Stir in the eggs and vanilla.  Blend in flour mixture.  Stir in chocolate and peanut butter chips.  Drop cookies by rounded spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.

3)  Bake for 10 – 12 minutes.

enjoy!

 ~ j