Double Chocolate Cherry Cookies

Now that it's the holiday season I'm always on the lookout for different and interesting baking ingredients in the baking isle. I don't know about everyone else, but I absolutely love baking this time of year. Most people are a little more lax on their diet so they can indulge in the yummy holiday goodies that everyone is baking. Needless to say, the other day I was walking down the baking isle and I stumbled across something I've never seen before: cherry baking chips. They have a strong red color and looked a little iffy, but I thought I'd give them a try.

Tonight I decided that a chocolate cookie with these cherry baking chips would taste like a chocolate covered cherry maybe. You know those Cherry Cordials that you can find in Walgreens or any kind of candy store? Those old timey cherry cordials that old people are constantly eating?...I wanted to make a cookie version of those.

I found a recipe in my Cookie Bible recipe book for a Double Chocolate Cranberry Chunkies. Although I did have some dried cranberries that I wanted to use, I decided to eliminate the cranberries and add those cherry baking chips instead. Oh my goodness...these cookies literally taste like a chocolate covered cherry. They are absolutely amazing! Plus the red chips add such a beautiful pop of color to the cookie that it would make a great addition to any holiday table this season. :)

Double Chocolate Cherry Cookies:

Ingredients:

1 & 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

1 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1 egg

1 tsp. vanilla

2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

1 cup cherry baking chips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Combine flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt in a small bowl. Whisk together and set aside. Beat butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar in a large mixing bowl with electric mixer at medium speed until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla until well blended. Gradually beat in flour mixture on low speed until blended. Stir in chocolate chunks and cherry chips.

3. Drop dough by level 1/4 cupfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets, spacing 3 inches apart. Flatten dough until 2 inches in diameter w/ bottom of a glass that has been dipped in additional granulated sugar (I skipped the sugar and just dipped it in water b/c I felt like the cookies were already sweet enough and didn't need extra sugar).

4. Bake 11-12 min. Cool cookies.

Roasted Corn and Red Pepper Quesadillas

Usually during the summer I honestly don't like cooking that much. I'm not sure why exactly either. In the winter I'm much more prone to cook--maybe because the oven warms the apartment. The good thing about summer, however, is the abundance of fresh vegetables. As a vegetarian, I appreciate the fact that I can go to the grocery store and find a ton of fresh veggies on sale. One of my favorites right now is fresh corn (at Kroger it's usually 3 or 4 for $1). I was trying to decide what to make for dinner and awhile ago I made veggie enchiladas with fresh corn. This time I went on a different route...

So last night I cooked a really delicious meal for Mark and I thought it was "blogworthy." I wish I had taken a picture of it but we ate it up too quickly. Next time I'll take a picture! We were going to make enchiladas, but we decided last minute to make quesadillas instead. They had roasted fresh corn, red pepper, onions, and cheese. They were amazing! If you have a panini maker they make exactly quesadillas in a shorter time than on a griddle pan. I had leftover corn, pepper, and onion mixture but you can use it to make a ton of other stuff. Try using it in soup, on a panini, or in pasta.

Ingredients:

1) 3 husks of fresh corn (I used the bicolor)

2) 1 red pepper (any color would taste fine)

3) 1 medium yellow onion

4) minced garlic

5) olive oil

6) margarine

7) 1 & 1/2 tbsp. rosemary

8) 4 whole wheat tortillas

9) shredded cheese

Directions:

Remove the corn from the husk by cutting it with a knife. Saute some garlic (however much you like really) in olive oil in a saute pan. Add the corn with a tablespoon of margarine and chopped rosemary (fresh rosemary tastes the best). Stir until the corn is tender, about 5 min.

In another saute pan add olive oil and saute the peppers and onions.

Put all your veggies in one bowl and let set for a few minutes to let the flavors blend together.

Assemble your quesadillas by adding your cheese (however much you'd like) and veggie mix. Cook on the panini pan until done and enjoy!

Sorry that I don't have the accurate measurements on a lot of the ingredients. I don't measure anything when I'm cooking, only baking, so it's really up to your how much of something you want. Mark gave them a thumbs up too!

Berry Cobbler

Hello everyone! I am still alive I promise. I have been doing a lot of wedding stuff, including moving into a new empty apartment. The good news is: I now get to bake more! I am slowly trying to get my fiance to enjoy sweets more, but I think I have a long road ahead of me. It's ok...I'm up for the challenge.

This recipe came from my mom. When I was younger she used to make this cobbler with fresh blackberries in the summer and it was so wonderful (especially with vanilla ice cream). I used frozen berries because I am broke and it's all I have. I also tweaked the recipe too because my cobbler was a little more dry than I like it. My mom warned me to take out the majority of the juice from the frozen berries because it can make the cobbler soggy. I think I might have taken out too much. To fix the problem I added a few spoonfuls of Reduced Sugar Raspberry Preserves and it brought life to this cobbler. :)

This is the reason I haven't been baking as much...he occupies a lot of my time. It is completely well worth it too. :) :) :)

This is what the cobbler looked like before it went in the oven.

This is what it looked like in the end. Not the prettiest cobbler, but it is really really really good.

Ingredients:

1 bag frozen berries, thawed and heated in the microwave

1/2 cup butter, melted (I only had that spreadable non-margarine stuff, and it worked fine)

1 cup sugar

1 cup milk

1 cup self-rising flour (I usually HATE self-rising, but it worked well in this recipe I must admit).

1 tsp. vanilla (Mexican vanilla preferred)

1/2 tsp. butter extract

1 tsp. cinnamon

Directions:

Mix the flour and sugar together in a mixing bowl. SLOWLY add the milk. Mix in the melted butter slowly as well. Mix in the extracts and cinnamon. Pour into a baking dish (you can use a cobbler dish, a pie dish, or a 13x9 pan which I used). Spoon the fruit evenly on top. Bake at 350 degrees for 35-45 min.