Recipe: Dennys Double Chocolate Biscotti

Dennys Double Chocolate Biscotti

What else do you have to do while snowed in? C'mon, baking these cookies is a real OMG moment!

Just imagine those wonderful brownie chocolate smells wafting all over the house and leaking out through the cracks in the windows traveling miles down the road.

Suddenly everyone in the neighborhood wants to be your new best friend! Make some new friends this New Year! Make Dennys Double Chocolate Biscotti! (How's that for shameless marketing? Not bad, huh?!)

Seriously though here's my New Year's blessing to you: May this New Year 2009 find all who read this healthy, well employed in this tough global economy and most especially, may this New Year find you all well loved by many! (Group hug.)

Denny


Note: For other recipes visit my other fun blog:
Comfort Food From Louisiana

Photo by mamamusings @ flickr

Recipe: Chocolate Pinwheel Cookies

Those of us who LOVE chocolate know one thing: keeping sugar around is a must to combine with chocolate in a recipe. What to do when you go to your pantry only to find there is too little of white granulated sugar? Well, you can switch over to light or dark brown sugar which actually gives cookies a great flavor. (Might be too heavy a sugar for some cakes.)

Then your hopes are dashed when you realize there isn't even any brown sugar available. You pull down the box or large bag of powdered (confectioner's) sugar. What can you do with this sugar? Most times it's used for icing but in this case you can use it to make pinwheel cookies! Yay!

So, here you find your pantry a bit depleted from the holiday cooking and baking. You really don't feel like yet another trip to the grocery store. Make these lovely cookies from Betty Crocker.

After spending for the holidays these inexpensive cookies are easy on the wallet AND you get a chocolate fix. Doesn't get any better than that! Bake up a few to enjoy right now and freeze the cookie dough for later when someone shows up at your house hungry for a little sweet.

Chocolate Pinwheels

Prep time: 50 minutes
Total time: overnight in the refrigerator, about 10 hours
Makes: about 4 dozen cookies

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1 1/4 cups butter

1 egg

3 cups Gold Medal all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup unsweetened Hershey's baking cocoa

1 Tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon chocolate sprinkles, if desired


In large bowl, beat powdered sugar, butter and egg. Stir in flour and salt.

Divide dough in half. Stir the cocoa into one half. Stir chocolate sprinkles into the other half, if desired.

Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Roll half of plain dough into 9 x 8-inch rectangle on lightly floured surface. Repeat with half of chocolate dough; place on top of plain dough. Roll doughs up together tightly, beginning at long side. repeat with remaining plain and chocolate doughs. Wrap and refrigerate at least 8 hours but no longer than 24 hours. (The butter can make the dough like a little brick if it chills too long.)

Heat oven to 400 degrees F. Cut rolls into 1/4-inch slices. Place slices about 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until set. Immediately remove from cookie sheet to wire rack.

Nutrition: 1 cookie is 90 calories of which 45 calories are from fat. Nothing like a little reality check! :) Guilt advisor: Remember your New Year's resolution about losing a few pounds. That's why this cookie is so great. Temptation can be relegated to the freezer, tightly wrapped, for up to 6 months! Enjoy!


Note: For other recipes visit my other fun blog:
Comfort Food From Louisiana

Photo from BettyCrocker.com

Recipe - Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies

Note from Denny: Found this fun little healthy recipe using lots of chocolate over at the photography site of flickr! Enjoy!

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies with Tofu

- vegan recipe

Yields about 12 large cookies

Photo and recipe by freakapotimus @ flickr

Ingredients

1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

1 cup unrefined sugar

1 cup chocolate chips

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/8 teaspoon fine-grained sea salt

1/2 cup soy margarine

1/2 cup silken tofu OR 2 eggs (3 eggs for a cakey texture)

1 teaspoon almond OR vanilla extract

Optional: try adding 1 cup nuts to the dry ingredients!

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Grease a cookie sheet or line with parchment.

In a large mixing bowl, mix flour, sugar, chocolate chips, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt.

Blend margarine, tofu (or egg), almond (or vanilla) extract.

Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and mix well.

Drop cookie dough onto sheet using a tablespoon.

Bake 15-20 minutes, or until cookie bottoms begin to brown.

Briefly cool on a cooling rack--they are tasty warm!

Note from freakapotimus @ flickr: For the batch I made yesterday, I used the equivalant of two eggs instead of the three called for, and they came out a bit less cakey but still chewey and moist. Although I feel bad I cheated on the vegan-ness by using Swiss-made dairy chocolate chips.

This was my first fime making this recipe, and the cookies turned out so yummy delicious! It's an easy-to-follow recipe that can, without any trouble, be vegan--I find it's tastier with the tofu!

Note: For other recipes visit my other fun blog:
Comfort Food From Louisiana