World's Best Chocolate Chip Cookies

A few years ago, Rach found this recipe for chocolate chip cookies. It was titled World's Best Chocolate Chip Cookies. Well, I'm here to tell you that they are! We LOVE this recipe and everyone that tries it loves it too. There are a few important details that make it the best, so read closely.

1 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup (2 cubes) real butter, softened to room temp.
2 eggs
1 Tbs. vanilla
3/4 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. salt
2 3/4 cups flour
1 package Ghirarrdeli Milk Chocolate Chips
1/2 package Ghirarrdeli Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips

Mix brown sugar and white sugar until combined.  Add butter and mix on a higher speed for a couple of minutes until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla. Mix well and then add dry ingredients. Mix well again and then add the chocolate chips. Drop golf-ball size dough onto ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 11 minutes. Cookies might not look done but take them out anyways. Let them sit on the pan for a few minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.

(different ovens may vary from 10-12 minutes)

*You can also do 2 cups flour and 2 cups oats.

*You could also spread all the dough onto an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 17-20 minutes for bars.

*Disclaimer: If you end up eating the whole bowl of cookie dough it's not my fault. It's really good! (that was mostly for Shalae)

Patty Larson's Chicken Taco Filling

1 Tbs. butter

1 small onion chopped

2 cloves garlic minced

1 4oz. can diced green chiles

3 tomatoes diced

1 can chicken

*Melt butter in pan. Add onions and garlic and sautee until onions are clear. Add last three ingredients. Mix really well and let heat through.

* Helpful hints: We make burritos and tacos with this mix and it is so easy and yummy. You can used regular chicken, too. It doesn't have to be canned. Just cook it and shred it ahead of time.

DARN COMPUTER & BREAD PUDDING

I told you I was having issues with my new computer. I finally figured out how to post pictures, but in all my frustration I deleted the pictures I had of Pork Verde Tacos and Salsa. I'll make them again soon and post. I promise!!

Meanwhile, Megan came over and INSISTED that we find a recipe for Bread Pudding. Well - I just happen to have a good one that I don't make very often and you'll see why. It's definitely NOT low fat. You will think you died and went to heaven when you eat it though!

BREAD PUDDING

1/2 loaf of 1 1/2 lb. loaf of bread (I use Grandma Sycamore's White Bread)

2 c. half-and-half

1 cube butter (not margarine)

4 eggs

1 1/2 c. sugar

1/4 t. nutmeg

1/2 t. cinnamon

1 t. vanilla

Preheat oven to 350. Butter a 9x9 square pan. Break bread into pieces and let get a little dry while preparing other ingredients. Break each slice into about 6 pieces. Not too small. Warm butter in half-and-half just until melted. Don't heat the milk too much or it will cook the eggs when they are added. Beat eggs and add sugar. Mix well and add vanilla. Stir in milk and butter. Mix the bread into the egg mixture with your hands so that the bread gets thoroughly soaked. Sprinkle the nutmeg and cinnamon in the mixture. Mix gently so the bread doesn't break up too much. Pour mixture into buttered pan and place on an old cookie sheet to bake. It puffs up a lot and the butter sometimes makes your oven messy. Bake for 40 minutes until a knife comes out fairly clean. Let cool and serve with whipped cream and berries. It's best when served warm but is also good cold and you can warm it in the microwave if it's leftover. I used fresh berries but I think Cracker's uses frozen and lets them thaw. They are just as good.

Blueberry Muffins

1/2 cup butter, softened

3/4 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

2 cups flour

1 cup milk

2 1/2 cups fresh blueberries

*Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla. Mix well. Add the rest of ingredients. Spoon into greased muffin tin and bake at 375 for 25 minutes.

*Helpful hint: Blueberries are only 99 cents right now at Superstition Ranch Market.

NEW COMPUTER, AAAARGH!!!

I got a new computer and it is making me CRAZY!!! I have new posts and pictures if I can figure out how to GET THIS COMPUTER TO LET ME POST THE PICTURES!!! Hopefully soon - if not - I want my old computer back. I like old things...don't you?

Asparagus Pasta Salad

Asparagus Pasta Salad

-1 box Bow tie pasta
-Steamed Asparagus
-Bake teriyaki chicken
-put sauce on chicken breast (about 3 chicken breast-)and bake for hour.
-Glazed pecans
(1/3 cup brown sugar, ½ t salt, ¼ cup butter, 1/8 cup corn syrup. Boil add one pound pecans then bake for an hour at 250 on parchment paper, stir every 20 min for an hour
-1 bottle Brianna’s Ginger Mandarin dressing
I also put in.……..
-Spanish leafs
-Swiss cheese squares
-sun dried tomatoes
-really whatever you think sounds good.

Chocolate Molten Cake

Well I know this isn't the best picture but these really are so tasty. I had this dessert at Bravo! and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it since so I tried a couple different recipes but this one turned out the best.
Ingredients:

* 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
* 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
* ¼ teaspoon salt
* 5 ounces bittersweet chocolate (4 ounces coarsely chopped, 1 ounce very finely chopped)
* 1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces
* 2 large eggs, at room temperature
* 1 large egg yolk, at room temperature
* 6 tablespoons of sugar

Getting ready: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. butter (or spray – it’s easier) 6 cups of a regular-size muffin pan, preferably a disposable aluminum foil pan, dust the insides with flour and tap out the excess. Put the muffin pan on a baking sheet.
Sift the flour, cocoa and salt together.
Set a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of gently simmering water, put the coarsely chopped chocolate and the butter in the bowl and stir occasionally over the simmering water just until they are melted – you don’t want them to get so hot that the butter separates. Remove the bowl from the pan of water.
In a large bowl, whisk the eggs and yolk until homogenous. Add the sugar and whisk until well blended, about 2 minutes. Add the dry ingredients and, still using the whisk, stir (don’t beat) them into the eggs. Little by little, and using a light hand, stir in the melted chocolate and butter. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups and sprinkle the finely chopped chocolate over the batter.
Bake the cakes for 13 minutes. Transfer them, still on the baking sheet, to a rack to cool for 3 minutes. (There is no way to test that these cakes are properly baked, because the inside remains liquid.)
Line a cutting board with a silicone baking mat or parchment or wax paper, and, after the 3-minute rest, unmold the cakes onto the board. Use a wide metal spatula to lift the cakes onto dessert plates.


Even more delish topped with this homemade hot fudge!

Hot Fudge
2 cups sugar
4 T coco
4 T flour
Stir in pan on low heat.
Add one can evaporated milk. Then add 4 T butter bring to rolling boil for 2 min. Take off heat and then add 2 teas vanilla.