Chocolate Chip Cookies (or Bars)

Nothing breakthrough here today. I’m sharing my chocolate chip cookie recipe, which is actually really Nestle Tollhouse’s chocolate chip cookie recipe, but over they years I have made some modifications to suit our family. 
image courtesy American Heritage Cooking

Last night, the kids felt like cookies but I didn’t feel like standing around scooping out and baking four pans full of perfectly portioned cookies.  Instead of making them the “normal” way, I decided to just press the dough into a cookie sheet and bake them as bars.  They turned out so delicious and moist, if a little bit thin, which reminded me that I used to do them this way back when and when I did I would double the dough for the same size pan.  I will try them this way next time for a bit thicker bar. 

Dark Chocolate Peppermint Crunch Cookies

I have a thing for chocolate and mint, and I love the flavor of peppermint during the holidays.  I knew I had to try these dark chocolate peppermint crunch cookies, and once I tasted them, I knew they would be the perfect addition to the cookie tins we made for The Messy Mister’s coworkers. 

I once watched Giada De Laurentiis on the food network claim you should never make anything chocolate without adding some coffee to flavor it.  Now I know why.  The coffee granules in these cookies add a depth and richness to the chocolate.  I wasn’t sure about adding peppermint on top of all that, but it really is very nice.

image courtesy A Kitchen Addiction; recipe courtesy back of the Andes Peppermint Crunch Baking Chips bag

Quick & Easy Hot Fudge Sauce

When I recently made the Better-Than-Christmas poke cake, I didn’t have any hot fudge sauce on hand.  I didn’t really want to leave this element out, so I was excited to find this quick & easy microwave-and-blender recipe.  I was even more excited with how delicious it turned out!  I’ll be making this for sundae night ASAP!  recipe & image courtesy The Café Sucre Farine

“Better-Than-Christmas” Poke Cake

I made this over the holidays, and we LOVED it!  Such a fun, festive, holiday take on the poke cake! 

recipe and photo courtesy Something Swanky

I didn’t have any hot fudge sauce on hand, so I used this quick and easy recipe, and was thrilled with how it turned out!