Tuscaloosa Tollhouse Pie

I have fond memories of my mom making chocolate chip pie when I was a kid, and this recipe is a delicious and easy version of it. Delightful!

My local Trader Joe’s was out of chocolate chips, so I just bought chocolate bars and chopped them up, which may have even worked out better.  I would definitley make this one again. I’ve made two strawberry pies in the past few weeks, and while tasty, both of them were a bit of a juicy, sticky mess. So bonus points for The Tuscaloosa pie being easy to transport and serve. 

Banana Cupcakes with Vanilla Pastry Cream

Overall I thought that these banana cupcakes were just alright. They were easy to make, and have a delightful moist texture and the banana and vanilla flavors are nice. But I kept thinking of ways to make it better-add walnuts, cinnamon, banana flavor in the frosting as well as the cake, add a splash of whiskey, use cream cheese frosting instead of the vanilla cream. There are a lot of options for customization. Not sure of I would make them again but if you love banana they’re worth a try!

Coffee Malteds

These coffee malteds were pretty good! I used my extra small cookie scoop so I ended up with perfectly bite sized coffee flavored cookies. They were easy to make and not too sweet, so I added a powdered sugar glaze. I wish they were more buttery, but other than that they were a delightful treat. 

Exceedingly Chocolate Crinkles

These Exceedingly Chocolate Crinkles are delicious. They have a very chocolatey (surprise!) flavor, with a moist cakey texture. Very easy to put together, the only thing I didn’t have on hand was the six ounces of chocolate, which was easily remedied with a trip to the convenience store around the corner. (They were having a BOGO on gourmet chocolate bars, so I took that as a good sign for the rest of my morning.) 

I would definitely make these again, so simple, and such perfect little chocolate treat.

Old Fashioned Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

These Old Fashioned Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies are quite tasty. The combination of whiskey, vanilla, cinnamon and molasses is a great accompaniment to the chocolate chunks. I’d definitely make them again, except I think I would eat most of them before I got the chance to take them to work!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Elizabeth Rapp (@busylizzy84)

Chocolate-Cornflake Haystacks

On one hand, I did like these.

On the other hand, every time I took a bite I wished they were different. Crunchier, saltier, more chocolate, it just seemed like they needed something. A scoop of peanut butter or salted peanuts would probably have been great. Toasting the coconut and the nuts would have been delicious.

The recipe is flexible, so I could make them again with different additions. I used cashews, sweetened coconut, cornflakes, and milk chocolate, and substituted honey for the agave since I had that on hand.

The overall texture was a lot chewier than expected – a combination of the softness of the coconut and the ‘glue’ holding the cookies together, which was almost taffy-like in texture when baked.

Not my favorite cookie recipe, but definite potential  with some tweaks.

Black Forest Cupcakes

I thought these Black Forest Cupcakes were great! I got a lot of compliments after taking them to my office. The cake was very moist and chocolatey, and the icing was fun to make. I substituted strawberry jam and grenadine for the cherry preserves and kirsch, but I thought the results were delicious.

I did feel like it made a crazy amount of frosting for 24 cupcakes, even swirled high. Other than that, I thought the results were wonderful.

Lemon Sugar Cookies and Anzac Biscuits

Both these Lemon Sugar Cookies and Anzac Biscuits were delicious, and easy to make! I’m planning on bookmarking both recipes to make again.

For the Anzac biscuits, I didn’t have golden syrup so I used corn syrup, and I added a bit of coconut extract. With a touch of chocolate they would be very reminiscent of Girl Scout Samoas.  They were not too sweet, with a bit of crunch on the edges and a bit of chew from the oats and coconut. They were best the day I baked them, the next day they had toughened a bit.

The lemon cookies were just delightful – fragrant and soft with a nice texture from rolling the dough in sugar.

Valentine’s Day Share-a-Heart

I thought the Valentine’s Day Share-a-Hearts were just ok. They were a cute Valentine’s Day treat, especially using red sprinkles. The dough was very crumbly right out of the food processor, and even after chilling it did not hold together all that well.  The flavor is a bit bland, what this recipe really needs is more chocolate- a melted chocolate drizzle or frosting would be perfect.

Nutella Chip Cookies, Almond Style

These were delicious! If you love chocolate with a delightful crunch of toasted nuts these cookies will make you very happy. They were very moist, so the slivered almonds that I used were a perfect complement. I’m sort of meh about hazelnuts, so I decided to substitute Trader Joe’s Cocoa Almond spread instead. I’ve never tried it before, and I noticed that it doesn’t have a strong nut flavor (while Nutella is very hazelnutty).  If  you want a cookie that is more chocolate the TJ’s spread makes a good alternative.