fudgy peanut butter chip cookies

I was going to make chocolate chip-peanut butter chip cookies...but, of course, I ran out of chocolate chips. So, needless to say, the craving for chocolate and peanut butter didn't go away, to top it off, the batter was half way made. So, I decided to make fudgy peanut butter chip cookies instead. I'm not the least bit upset about this! These reminds me of my favorite ice cream places (Findiscens in Salem, NH) chocolate-chocolate peanut butter chip ice cream...DELICIOUS!!

Here's what you need:

• 2 sticks of butter, room temperature ***it's important to be at room temp, and not hard, or melted. the easiest way to tell if a stick of butter is at room temp is to stick your finger in, it should slide right down to the bottom of the butter with ease.
• 3/4 cup of sugar
  
• 3/4 cup of packed brown sugar
• a pour of vanilla (I seriously never measure vanilla...I usually pour, and once it's started, I count to two).
• 2 eggs
• 2 1/4 cups of flour
• 3/4 cups of cocoa powder
• 1 tsp of baking soda
• 1/4 tsp of salt
• 1 bag of peanut butter chips

Preheat oven to 350ºF or if you're here in Germany with me, 190ºC. Take a bowl and beat the butter, and the two sugars together until blended. Beat in one egg at a time, this should make it nice and creamy. Add the vanilla, and mix in. In another bowl, mix together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. Once mixed, add it to the sugar mix, until it's all well blended. The mixture is going to be very stiff. Now it's time to mix in the chips. You'll want to hand mix these in, because you don't want the chips to break. After chips are mixed in, you can spoon scoop the batter onto cookie sheets. I always use my pampered chef pizza stones, as they're super easy clean up, and they don't stick to the service ever! (of course, now that I say this we'll shall see what happens next time I make cookies...lol) Bake in the preheated oven for about 8-9 minutes. The cookies won't spread, so sometimes it's hard to tell if they're done. Usually you can see the peaks of them become a bit browned (mind you, you'll have to look closely, as they're already brown thanks to the Cocoa Powder). I just made sure the top was hardened a bit, and viola, they came out hot and delish!



Next batch, I'll remember to take photos! Can we tell this blogging thing is brand new to me?

French Toast with a Fresh Berry Yogurt sauce

The boys woke up hungry, and I woke up with the urge to cook. Sorry for not having pictures of the "work in progress" stage...I wasn't even thinking about it....hopefully I'll get better quickly for that one!


Don't mind the kiddie plate, the only one who still had a whole piece left when I remembered to take a picture was Mr. T...lol

Ingredients:

For the French Toast

• loaf of sliced bread (I just use regular sandwich breach)
• 4 eggs
• milk (I don't measure, but I add a bit to help mix up the eggs)
• a sprinkle of two of cinnamon
• a springle of nutmeg
• powdered sugar (just enough to dash on the top of the bread)

For the Fresh Berry Yogurt Sauce

• pint of fresh strawberries: rinsed, de-stemmed and chopped
• pint of fresh blueberries: rinsed, making sure there are no stems attached still
  
• raspberry yogurt (I used the German type, as it's not as sweet as the American type: very similar to greek yogurt)
• whipped cream
  

whisk together the 4 eggs, milk, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Heat your skillet to a medium heat (make sure it's not too hot, as the bread will burn too quickly). Dip bread into the egg mixture, and make sure all area is eggy, both sides. Place it in the fry pan, flip when it starts getting brown on the side that's facing down (about 1-2 minutes depending on how high the heat is). When both sides are brown put on a plate, and put it on low, low heat in the oven, as you'll want to keep the already done toast warm while you're cooking the others. Do this until all the egg mixture is gone, I got about 10 slices of bread coated with the mix of 4 eggs.

After the french toast is done, take a bowl, and dump the strawberries and blueberries in, and pour raspberry yogurt over the top, gently mix together, careful not to mash the fresh fruit.

Assemble on a plate with warm french toast, yogurt sauce, and whipped cream on top. Everyone, including Pookey and Mr. T LOVED it!

French Bread Pizza to freeze

So we had an extra french loaf to use around the house, plus the fixings for pizza...so what do we get? French Bread Pizza, that I froze.



Ingredients:

• French Bread
• EVOO (Extra virgin olive oil)
• left over sauce (pizza or marinara will do)
• mozzerella cheese
• baby bam seasoning (recipe following)
• Freezer bags/air tight container/glade press and seal

Take the french bread and slice it in half, then three times along the length of the bread. (you'll get 6 "pizza crusts" unless your cut gets messed up).
Brush EVOO on the bread. Spoon the sauce onto the bread, and sprinkle with the baby bam seasoning.



Top with cheese. I wrapped mine in press n seal, and then put them in Freezer bags (as it wasn't "freezer" pns). Super easy-ready made lunch, that's cheaper and healthier than the store bought versions.

Emeril's baby bam seasoning..
Ingredients:

• 3 tablespoons paprika
• 2 tablespoons salt
• 2 tablespoons dried parsley
• 2 teaspoons onion powder
• 2 teaspoons garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon celery salt

mix all spices/seasonings together, and keep in an air tight container.