Mint Chocolate Delights

Mr. Incredible made it clear that there were too many chips in the cabinet. Every time we opened up that particular cabinet, chips would fall. He was kind about it, just kept reminding me that everything has an expiration date...so we could fill up the cookie jar with chip cookies until some of these are gone. That is what I did...and the results have been absolutely amazing.

Before I give the recipe, which I got from the back of the bag of Nestle Dark Chocolate & Mint morsels, I just wanted you to see that precious picture. Did you ever notice on the side of Nestle's chips the directions say.."Tear Here To Make Sweet Memories"...I just love that so much! Makes me smile!

The recipe and very top photo from Nestle:

Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Baking Cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine, softened
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 2/3 cups (10-oz. pkg.) NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Dark Chocolate & Mint Morsels

Directions:
PREHEAT oven to 325° F.

COMBINE flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels. Drop by well-rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.

BAKE for 11 to 13 minutes or until cookies are puffed and centers are set. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

These were amazing! They didn't even last 3 days. Of course if you stop by you get some..always. Don't be a stranger! I hope you can find these chips..they may be a seasonal type! If not, no worries, we're always here and my next cookie is unbelievable! See you next time..and thanks for stopping by the kitchen today!

Chewy Coconut Macaroons

This was Mr. Incredible's pick this week. He loves macaroons. These were the easy and fun to make and it made me look like a professional. Got the recipe from my new Ultimate Cookie Book that I got for Christmas. :)

Ingredients:

2 3.5 oz. cans (2 2/3 cups total) flaked coconut

2/3 cup sugar

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

4 egg whites

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

2 ounces semisweet chocolate (optional)

1/2 teaspoon shortening (optional)

Go ahead and preheat your oven to 325 F. 

Lightly grease and flour a large cookie sheet, set aside. (Personal note here: I never grease anything..I've ruined one too many cookie sheets...I LOVE parchment paper!!) I line everything that goes in my oven with it!

In a medium bowl stir together coconut, sugar, flour, and salt. Stir in egg whites and almond extract. Inhale..because it smells amazing!!

Drop egg white mixture by rounded teaspoons 2 inches apart onto the prepared cookie sheet. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until edges are golden brown. Like below...oh and the smell. You'll want to invent a candle with this scent!

Transfer to a wire rack and let cool. If desired, in a small heavy saucepan heat and stir chocolate and shortening over low heat until smooth. Drizzle melted chocolate over the cooled cookies...and look like a pro! That's what I'm talking about. These totally wrecked my superheros and Mr. Incredible.

I won the Spouse & Mother of The Year Award with these...you might be next. Hey, thanks for stoppin' by the Kitchen...see you soon!

I Love Pizza But I Love You More

So I don't have to give credit to anyone but me this time. It's Valentine's month and I wanted to make it special for all the children in my charge. As you may know from another post, every week I get the chance to hang out with some pretty special kids. My superheros and 2 special friends. They were thrilled last week when we did the Chocolate Pretzel Buttons so I decided we will do at least one fun Valentine's Day treat each week until the actual day! This week I thought about a great after school snack! Who doesn't like pizza? (I know there are some of you who don't like pizza..but most children do).

What I like most about making pizza, is that it makes me feel like a real chef. You know, I'm not a cook, or even a baker, I'm just a girl who likes to bake. But making pizza makes me feel like a cook. Why? Because I don't need to weigh or measure anything. I can throw ingredients together and it is pretty safe. (I might add that my uncle owned a pizza place on the boardwalk in Seaside....Yes..that would be the Jersey Shore.)

OK..you see the ingredients up above. The only thing you don't see is olive oil and mozzarella cheese (for those children who might not understand the beauty of Cheddar on a pizza. (Secret ingredient for a famous Jersey pizza place). Go ahead at preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

So I chose the perfect size heart shaped cookie cutter and had the children press all the way through the dough, but still keeping it in the dough. (See below) This way the heart can just pop out!

 Then we painted the heart with olive oil. Now, I painted the whole round dough and then sprinkled some garlic powder on it. I tried this in two ways. First, I thought let's make one with sauce just on the heart and garlic on the outer part of the dough. Hoping it would turn out like garlic bread or something. While it worked this way, it is much better they way all the children did it. Slather that thing up with olive oil and then

paint the pizza dough with sauce. I used tomato sauce with garlic, basil and oregano.

Be sure not to use too much sauce. Too much will make for a soggy pizza. We put about 3 heaping spoonfuls of tomato sauce on each little pizza and then added our cheese. Here is my plug for cheddar. If you haven't had cheddar and/or jack cheese on a pizza...try it. It gives it a special tang...really really good!

Here is the one that I did...see I left the crust plain...the plain garlic crust around the heart wasn't as tasty as the rest of them.

Really the toughest part is getting that cookie cutter to go through that dough. But..they had no problem.. after all, they do have superpowers. ;)

Really, we are convinced that there is no such thing as too much garlic...so sprinkle away. After we trimmed our pizza's with cheese and pepperoni, I placed it in the oven..at that point turning the oven down to 400 degrees. Baked those beauties for 8 minutes..or until it looks perfect!

Let it cool for about a minute so you can handle it and pop that heart right out. 

You can see that it leaves a cute little cut out heart (and his crust is all yummy with extra cheese and sauce.)

Here is my youngest superhero and his heart shaped pizza. He was so proud and very excited to taste!

Just look at that! I had 5 very happy children today! Below is our friend...look at that adorable smile! It just makes my heart full of joy!

So it was a success...we made heart shaped pizzas...everyone loved them..and hopefully they all knew how much I loved seeing them smile!

Don't you want to show your kids how much you love them...buy giving them a loving snack that makes them smile. Just look at that beautiful girl below - she says it all with her smile! Happy Valentine's Month! Enjoy and thanks for stopping by the Kitchen this afternoon!

French Breakfast Muffins

These were by far, the best muffins I have ever tasted. Seriously! I am so glad I tried them this morning. I already had every ingredient in my house...nothing out of the ordinary...staples really. You could probably go make them right now....and you WILL NOT BE SORRY!

Yes...found it on Pinterest..from this website.

First the ingredients:

1/3 c. butter, melted
1/2 c. sugar 1 egg (preferably room temperature)
1 1/2 c. all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 c. milk

Topping (option: cut topping in half*)
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. butter, melted
1 tsp. cinnamon

While you are getting your supplies together, you might as well preheat the oven to 350 degrees and spray the muffin tins with some non-stick spray. You know, I use muffin cups..the paper or tin kind...but I still spray them a little. I've had the muffins stick to the paper liners...that is not pretty at all!

I think this first step is what makes it so special...sifting all the dry ingredients together in a medium bowl.

Then go ahead and add your wet ingredients to that. Melted butter..really I knew it was going to be delicious when I added that ingredient. OH and the nutmeg...very special too.

Mix the wet and dry ingredients just until combined. Still going to be a little lumpy.


Using a large ice cream scoop, I was able 8 medium-large muffins out of this batter; I think you could get 10-12 muffins by distributing the batter a little less generously.  (Personally I think bigger is better here!) Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until they just start to turn a bit golden at the edges.

They come out beautiful! But just wait until you jazz it up a little more.

For the topping, mix sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Place melted butter in another small bowl.

Dip the warm muffins in melted butter (you can dip just the top, but it's even tastier to dip the whole muffin!),

then dip/roll the muffin in cinnamon sugar.

Is that not the prettiest muffin in the world!? WOW!  So just a few of my own opinions here...I used 1/4 cup of salted plus 3 tbsp. of unsalted butter for my topping. I just thought..the salt and sweet would go nice! ABSOLUTELY! I ended up rolling the tops and then some of the sides too...I'm a push over for yumminess!

You can ask my superheros what they thought. And I quote..."OH my goodness Mom..it tastes like Christmas morning..my mouth is so happy!" "I think it tastes like a Snickerdoodle Muffin!" Well, then I really got the Awesome Mom award when I let them dip and roll pieces of their nice warm muffins in the butter and sugar...why waste all that deliciousness. I certainly cannot be eating that! ;)

Mr. Incredible got to have one when he came home from school. He put his in the microwave for a few seconds...and it rendered him helpless! He was in love..(with me)..hugs and kisses followed. Great day!