Double Chocolate Protein Cookies

They're real, and they're spectacular!

Looking for a tasty protein packed snack that is a cookie in disguise? I fed these to coworkers and they had no idea they were good for them. SCORE.

That is totally my go to test for if a recipe is a win or not. Pass it on to coworkers and see if they happily eat it, and then the most important part, ask for more :D

Check out the recipe for these chocolate protein cookies on Food Fanatic.


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Strawberry Nutella Pie

Happy June! I was called out by not 1, not 2, but FOUR people this weekend about not posting... and only ONE of those four was my mom. Just saying.

If I gave you a slice of this strawberry nutella pie would you forgive me?

Thought so.

It's a good thing I decided to make up a new recipe out of nowhere tonight. Perfect blog fodder. Not that you're looking for posts from me anymore. Maybe I should explain. We had much going on this past 1/2 year that caused a lack of posting. The thing that caused the most rukus it seems was a got a new job. Seriously awesome opportunity and great people! However the schedule is a bit more jam packed and when I get home at night all I want to do is chill with the husband and Hobbes.

Trail hike anyone?

So that brings up back to this pie. This deliciously gloriously easy to make pie. Horror of horrors I realized too late I was at the bottom of my jar of nutella, so next time I'll be adding a bit more of the sweet stuff, both to the inside and the top of this pie. But for the mean time, this hit just the spot.



Strawberry Nutella Pie
recipe by steph chows

1 pre-made graham cracker crust
4oz fat free cream cheese
2- 6oz containers fat free strawberry yogurt
2 Tbs nutella
4oz fat free cool whip thawed
6 large strawberries sliced
chocolate sauce to drizzle (or just use more nutella)

Beat cream cheese yogurt and nutella until smooth. Fold in cool whip and scoop into the graham cracker crust. Top with sliced strawberries and chocolate sauce.



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All But Gluten

Their tagline is "rekindle your love of baked goods" I kinda love that tagline. Gluten free baking is a tricky matter. I've given it a go and had some delicious results and some pretty epic fails. All But Gluten definitely comes out on the BIG WIN side. It's one thing to say "oh this doesn't taste gluten free" and a whole other thing to say "this tastes amazing!" I was surprised all these wonderful things were made without gluten, but delighted that they had the texture of typical baked goods along with all the delicious flavor!

Best yet, all of their products are in the regular aisle.. no freezer burn here! I have to say it's one of the biggest turnoffs of gluten free breads out there. They are always in the freezer... who wants to have to thaw something before making a sandwich? Or be forced to toast it. No thanks, I think I'll have a slice of this fresh cinamon raisin bread with a little cream cheese on top!

In case you are wondering and aren't a long time reader, I'm not gluten free. I eat everything. Personally I think it gives this review a bit more street cred... no offense but if you haven't eaten a real gluten-filled muffin in years... can you accuratly compare a product to them? These things were so good I don't care if you can eat gluten, you should eat them anyway, cause they are awesome! The blueberry muffins... seriously they tasted exactly like the white flour kind, all tender and delicious. The macaroons... seriously swoonworthy. (I may have eaten the entire bag in way less time than I'd ever admit) The chocolate chip cookies?? The perfect amount of chew. And the brownies you ask?A slight crumble to them, but not in a bad way, just eat them over a plate and you're ready to roll.

Bottom line, this line of gluten free products gets an A+ from this lady right here.


Products were provided to me, I was not paid for this post, all opinions and statements are my own.



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PB Oatmeal Cookies

Hey guys! We are celebrating Jamie of My Baking Addiction with a virtual baby shower!!!!

I'm bringing my latest favorite cookie. It's packed with good for you protein and is delicious to boot! I've tweaked the recipe a bit since I posted it over on Food Fanatic, so here is the most up to date recipe I've been using :)

Best wishes to the newest addition to My Baking Addiction's family!!!! Congrats!!!

Check out what everyone else brought to the table!

Amber from Bluebonnets & Brownies | Lemon Strawberry Cupcakes
Julie from The Little Kitchen | Pistachio Pudding Cupcakes
Jen from My Kitchen Addiction | Sugar and Spice Cookies
Shaina from Food for My Family | Vanilla Raspberry Mini Meringue Kisses
Glory from Glorious Treats | Modern decorated cookies
Cheryl from TidyMom | Chocolate Cake with Raspberry Buttercream
Katie from Good Life {Eats} | Raspberry Hibiscus Soda
Aimee from SimpleBites | How to freeze a big batch of homemade waffles
Amanda from I am Baker | Heath Bar Cake
Steph from Steph Chows | PB oatmeal cookies
Allison from Some the Wiser | Raspberry Chocolate Chip Muffins
Megan from Stetted | Strawberry Jalapeno Palmiers
Shelly from Cookies & Cups | Bacon Cheddar Scones
Emily from Jelly Toast | Meyer Lemon Scones
Kristan from Confessions of a Cookbook Queen | Samoa Layer Cake

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies
recipe by steph chows

1.5 cups whole wheat flour
3/4 cup quick oats
1 tsp baking soda
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup white sugar
1/4 cup peanut butter
3 Tbs vegetable oil
2 Tbs ground flax seeds
5 Tbs water
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup cashews
1/3 cup chocolate chips

Beat together sugar, oil and peanut butter. Add flax seed/water/vanilla and stir. Dump in flour/oats/bakign soda and stir until combined. Stir in cashews and chocolate chips (use dark chocolate chips to make this a vegan recipe).

Bake at 350 for 13 minutes.


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Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies

Seriously my new favorite cookie. AMAZING. Seriously, I'm making at least one batch a week. Best snack evver.

Want to give this Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe a try?? Yeah you do!

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Raspberry Linzer torte- and a giveaway

My Aunt Carol makes a bazillion cookies every year for Christmas. What is my all time favorite that she makes?

Yup, she let me have her recipe. And what do I do? I make it healthier, because I have a problem. My newest problem is realizing I can't control myself around linzer torte. Even though it's healthier, it's still not healthy for you. Yet somehow I kept saying, oh it's ok to have another square... and the next thing I knew 1/2 the torte was gone. WHOOPS.

Seriously. Amazing. I can't stop eating it. This can be served sliced like a cake, but she always cut them into little squares so I followed suit here.

Instead of using 1/2 POUND of butter, I used a 1/2 CUP of Melt. It's an organic butter substitute that uses healthy for you fats (think coconut butter). It gave the torte an amazing texture and this thing was so super delicious, I can't help myself... must go eat more...

Want to win your own Melt giveaway pack! (coupons to try melt for FREE, a cutting board, and a cool spreader). Just comment below and tell me what flavor you'd like to try first. US entries only, you have until Sunday Oct 6th to enter. Wow, when did October get here??

Linzer Torte- healthier
recipe adapted from Aunt Carol

1/2 cup Melt Original
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 tsp lemon powder (or 2 Tbs lemon zest)
1 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup ground walnuts
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup raspberry jam

Preheat oven to 350, lightly spray a 8" springform pan. Beat melt and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating each in. In a separate bowl mix together flour, lemon, walnuts and spices, salt, baking powder. Mix dry into wet and stir until incorporated. Place 2/3 of the batter into the spring form pan. Top with 1 cup raspberry jam, and then remainder of the dough. Bake for 50-60 minutes or until edges start to pull away from pan. Fully cool and then cut into bite sized squares.


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Pretzel and Nutella Ice Pops

It's a popular birthday day today. THREE members of our bridal party celebrate today. Jen and Maria the same year even! And Paul... just a few older. :) Happy birthday you three!!!

So lets celebrate with pretzel nutella pops! Need I say more?

Head over to Food Fanatic for the Pretzel and Nutella Pop Recipe.



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Skinny Protein Brownies

Protein and brownies, I know, those two words aren’t ones you normally think of going together. But if you can bake a brownie without fat and packed with protein… and they taste delicious, wouldn’t you do it too? I saw this recipe posted on a friends facebook page, it was one of those “shared” recipes that gave no credit to the author and I couldn’t track down where it originated from… so this isn’t my brain child, but I did make some changes to the original posting. Whoever originally came up with this, thanks for the inspiration!

Chocolate, low fat, packed with protein AND deliciousness. What more can you ask from a snack?

Find out how to make them at Food Fanatic. You know you want some Skinny Protein Brownies.



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Buzz Buzz Biscotti

Addicting is the best way to describe these biscotti, SERIOUSLY addicting. I tend to bake things and then either give them away or John eats the rest of them. Yup once baked goods are cooled and a day old I'm a bit of a snob and don't want to eat them.

Not these.

These I will happily eat days after they have been baked, I may be in love with them. Don't tell John.

The secret is the espresso power, why oh why have I never bought this stuff before? Oh right, the price tag. Well I ponied up the money and bought a bottle, whenever things called for it before I use instant espresso which normally left a bit of a bitter taste to things. Not this stuff, this stuff is heaven (I got it from William Sonoma-that place is hazardous to my wallet, oh how I love it though). That plus a handful of cappuccino chips from KAF melded perfectly with the milk chocolate chips.

LOVE.

Buzz Buzz Biscotti
recipe by steph chows

¾ cup whole wheat flour
½ cup white flour
1/3 cup splenda (or 1/3 cup white sugar)
2 Tbs brown sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp espresso powder
¼ cup unsweetened coconut chips (flakes work too)
¼ cup slivered almonds (or chop up some whole almonds)
½ cup chocolate chips
¼ cup capuchino chips
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla
drizzle of agave or honey if things are aren’t wet enough

Combined flour through chocolate chips in a large bowl. Add beaten eggs and vanilla and stir until a stiff dough forms. If you need a little more liquid drizzle 1-2 tsp of agave or honey and keep kneading. Form into a rectangle about 1 inch thick on a silicon baking mat on a cookie sheet. (Wet hands help here so the dough doesn’t stick to you). Bake in a preheated 325 oven for 25 minutes. Once the top is brown and baked through remove from oven and place on a cutting board. Slice into ½ -1inch slices and place back on baking sheet. Continue baking 10-15 minutes or until all sides have browned.

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Thick chewy bad for you cookies

Long post title... I know. But it's true. These cookies are amazing!! Super thick and chewy and Sally's Baking Addiction gives all the reasoning for it in her post and why she uses the ingredients she does. One point she makes I would have never even thought of. When you roll the dough into balls, make them taller than wide, it makes the cookies fatter when they bake! WHY have I never thought to do this?? I always end up with thin cookies. I now know the secret!! YEAHH!!!!

Seriously, look at these things. PERFECT gift for Father's Day for the guy you don't know what to get. But, like the title says, these are NOT healthy. But that's ok people, you can eat not healthy things, just don't eat the whole batch at once ;) Which brings me to another awesome point she made. Roll up all the cookies and then freeze them on a cookie sheet. Once frozen toss them into a zip lock bag and BAM you get pre portioned cookies to make on the fly. This also means you can eat 2-3 warm out of the oven every time you feel like a cookie! No leftovers for this lady here!

The only changes I made to these were instead of the 1 cup chocolate chunks, I used 1/2 cup white chocolate chunks + 1/2 cup milk chocolate chips + 1/2 cup chopped macadamia nuts.

What tips do you have for cookie making? I feel like the most important is keeping the dough chilled, but she has some other great tips. Got any more tips for me?



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Coconut almond biscotti

Hey guys! I've got a super delicious whole grain recipe for coconut almond biscotti over on Food Fanatic! You should totally go check it out! You wont be sorry. I make a batch of these 1-2 times a week. Love um!

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Going bananas

I go through a ton of bananas in a week. I eat one in a green monster every morning, and John brings one to work most days. In reality it's pretty easy math to figure out how many we need in the week... but somehow we end up eating more or less, and when it's less... you end up with brown overripe bananas. And there is only so much banana bread one feels like eating. So instead of bread this past week, I made cookies. Delicious amazingly soft and chewy hot out of the oven cookies.

Here's the bad part, they were only ehhh once they cooled off. SAD. I'd make them again, but plan on less... or having people over to gobble them up. Because out of the oven they tasty buttery and gooey and decadent. The next day, they taste... kinda bland, and ehh texture. But based on how tasty they were hot I had to share this recipe and not just scrap it.

Do you have recipes where things taste great day 1, but not so great day 2?

Banana chocolate chip cookies
recipe by steph chows
dry
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup oats (old fashioned)
1 tsp baking soda
dash of salt
1 tsp cinnamon
2 Tbs flax

wet
1 large ripe banana (mashed)
1/3 cup brown sugar packed
1/2 cup apple sauce
1 tsp vanilla

3/4 cup chocolate chips

In a small bowl mix together dry ingredients. In a medium bowl beat together wet ingredients. Add dry and gentle stir, add in chocolate chips and stir until everything is incorporated. Drop heaping tablespoons on a silicon mat lined baking sheet and bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes. Eat warm with a tall glass of milk.

Use dark chocolate chips and serve with a non dairy milk to make these vegan.



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PB Energy Balls

Love love love these things. No bake, vegan, gluten free.

You can find my post over at Food Fanatic. And you can find the recipe for these Peanut butter oatmeal balls here.


YUMMM!


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Oatmeal Pecan Cookies

I have a tendency to randomly bake people cookies. It's a very odd habit, but I don't hear anyone complaining so I'll just keep right on doing it :) This batch was for a friend who always helps us out around the house, he hasn't had to come to our rescue lately but I figured I'd keep him buttered up in case something decided to go wrong with the house out of nowhere.


I found this recipe over at What would Cathy Eat, she has so many good recipes and if you haven't been over yet go check her out. I made a few alterations to her recipe, nothing major but good to know things like using regular whole wheat flour instead of whole wheat pastry flour worked out without any ill effects! Hooray!!










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Ewwey Gooey PB Perfection

How could you say no to this cookie? It's like eating cookie dough... but warm. Undeniably decadent and delicious... except for the decadent part. These things are healthy. No really, they are.



They may look innocent enough but these are grain free, vegan, and low in sugar. I know what you are thinking, they must taste like saw dust. But they don't!! I promise!

The weirdest part is there is a cup of canned chickpeas hanging out in these cookies. I know, weird. But you don't taste them, and they give the cookies this buttery dough dough texture which I am in love with.

You can find the recipe here at the Texanerin, she has some wicked tasty looking recipes. She uses honey but I went with agave and it worked great! I admit I used semi-sweet chocolate chips in the photos... but if you use dark chocolate chips these bad boys will be vegan and grain free! And don't serve your vegan friends skim milk (as pictured)... that would just be mean.



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Gingersnaps

A satisfying crunch of a cookie, these are not of a healthy variety. Molasses, sugar, a little roll in raw sugar to top it all off. Perfect to send home with a friend with a super sweet tooth though. Even more perfect with a tall glass of milk!


I'm kinda wishing I saved some of this dough so I could make some more of these right now... *drool* Recipe is via Recipe Girl, only changed the topping to raw sugar instead of white.






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Fresh Start 2013 #CooksNetwork

Looking for a romantic evening? Or maybe a fresh and healthy start to 2013? How about both?

It's John's birthday this week and I like to celebrate in both delicious and healthy ways. Remember he's the reason this whole healthy blog started! So I wanted to take a classic William Sonoma Recipe for Molten Chocolate Cakes and health it up a bit! (Click on the image at the bottom of the post to go to the original recipe: since I know a lot of you love the full fat and sugar versions too!)

Skinny Chocolate Cakes
recipe by steph chows

1 cup unsweetened apple sauce
1/4 cup splenda blend for baking or 1/2 cup white sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/3 cup Hershey's Cocoa
2 tsp Baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
dash salt
1/8 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup chocolate chips (or in this case chopped up mini eggs!)

Preheat over to 350 F
Mix apple sauce, sugar, vanilla, and beat in egg
In a separate bowl mix flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, salt.
Add flour mixture to wet mixture a little at a time, stir in chocolate chips.
Spoon batter into 6 lightly greased ramekins
Bake for about 20 minutes or until tops are firm to touch. (don't over bake!)

Now for a delicious but less skinny version head over here:

This post is a collaboration with Williams-Sonoma, but all words and opinions are my own.

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Christmas Cookies- not healthy

Friday's events are still on all of our minds. It's hard to think about moving on with normal life when so many are left shattered. I keep going back and forth between feeling so sad and not wanting to do anything to thinking we need to live and be happy for the sake of those lives lost and to celebrate the life that is still here. So many have said much more eloquent things but I felt like I wanted to say something, and not just ignore what is going on. Below is the post I wrote last week that was scheduled for today.

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One of the awesome things about blogging is you meet all these wonderful people, and sometimes if you are lucky, those people actually live near you! Such is the case with Tracy of Sugarcrafter, and Sarah of A Dash and Pinch. Sarah lives literally a mile from my house, and Tracy is just on the other side of town!


We decided to meet up and get our cookie making skills on! But first there was copious amounts of bread, meats and cheeses... and don't forget the marshmallow vodka to go in our hot chocolates *drool*.


Once we had our fill of chitchat and carbs we got into some hard core baking! I had just seen this recipe over at Cinnamon Spice and Everything Nice and knew I had to make it. No way John would eat these butter balls so making them for a cookie exchange was the best idea out there. These things are delicious! I brought some in for my boss and he basically went through them like potato chips, kinda impressive, and scary, all at the same time.



Another great thing about baking with other bloggers is they take awesome action shots of you baking.


Thanks Sarah! So pretty!

Sarah made Chanukah Oreo Balls. So festive! Tracy made these polish/hungarian deliciousness things who's name I forget... filled with her very own delicious jam to boot! Amazing!!

Do you live near other bloggers? Ever done a meet up? What's your favorite go to cookie recipe for an exchange?



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