Whole Wheat Chocolate Chunk Chippers

Good morning, sweet peas! How's Tuesday for you? For some odd but oh so great reason, I have splendid feelings about today. I would venture to say that I'm experiencing overflow from how well my Monday ended, but who knows. Who cares!
As I hinted, last night was perfect. I daresay it was a little piece of heaven. After a long day at work (and just a long day in general), I felt like spending a little time in solitude. After running to the grocery store and renting a redbox movie, I decided to do a little baking. Because I will be moving out of my apartment in the near future (tear.) to move back into the oven-and-stove-less dorms for the fall semester, I have been trying to use up my stock of baking ingredients. I had almost an entire bag of whole wheat flour, so I used this as the pivotal feature to work around. After some minutes in thought and internet research, I decided on making whole wheat chocolate chunk chippers. Mmmm. I hope you find this recipe as delightful and delicious as I found it to be. Keep in mind, too, that I substituted several ingredients for healthier alternatives. Delicious meets cookies meets wellness. Hello, perfection!

Whole Wheat Chocolate Chunk Chippers

Ingredients:

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

1 cup applesauce (sub. for butter)

2 eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 1/3 cups whole wheat flour

1 dark chocolate bar shaved and/or chopped into chunks (this is way cheaper than buying a bag of chocolate chips)

two handfuls chopped almonds (or pecans, macademias, etc., or omit entirely if you so desire)



Directions

First things first! For a little company:

Oh, Frank.



1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2. On a cutting board, chop almonds and chocolate

3. Mix brown sugar, white sugar, and applesauce together in a bowl

4. Beat in eggs, one at a time

5. Stir in vanilla, salt, and baking soda until well blended

6. Fold in chocolate chunks and almonds

7. Spoon out small globs of cookie dough onto a greased cookie sheet

8. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until golden brown

9. Enjoy with tea and a good movie :)

I ended up enjoying these little delights while lounging on the couch and watching the Adjustment Bureau. It was a fine evening, indeed.

Chickadees, a hope you find time for some 'you time.' We all need a little break once in a while. Love from me to you.

XO. 

Harry Potter and Coffee Cake

Hello, almost weekenders! Three cheers for Fridays!

What a week it has been. Late last night and into the early morning, I had the pleasure of going with a group of friends to the midnight showing of the final Harry Potter movie. Not only was the movie enchanting, but the entire evening of festivities was wonderfully enjoyable. We arrived at the theatre around 8:45 pm to find over a thousand people waiting in anticipation. People were decked out in HP gear, talking in English accents, and casting spells on each other. There was even a wizard band. You don’t believe me? Check it out yourself.

For real.

Now, I’m not a die-hard fan. I haven’t read the books; I haven’t seen all the movies. But, the excitement was contagious and I thoroughly enjoyed the anticipation and the motion picture. I am even inspired to read the books! Crazy, right? Downfall to the night: we got back around three this morning, and I had to work at eight. I definitely didn’t get the beauty rest that I wanted. However, one thing made my Harry Potter hangover not so bad. Six words: banana, chocolate chips, cinnamon, coffee cake.

On my day off yesterday, I really wanted to bake something. I checked the pantry and fridge, assessed my ingredients, and searched around the web for something delicious. I came across several recipes for coffee cakes and adapted them to fit my interests, taste buds, and ingredients. Thus, I bring you: banana coffee cake with chocolate chip and cinnamon streusel.

Ingredients:

1 cup chocolate chips (milk or dark chocolate- your preference!)

½ cup brown sugar

1 tablespoon cinnamon

¾ teaspoon baking soda

¾ teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

¾ cup white sugar

1 ½ cups flour

½ cup butter (room temp.)

1 egg

3 large mashed bananas (I usually use frozen bananas; they are easier to mash once thawed)

1 6-oz package of Greek yogurt (some recipes call for buttermilk-I prefer yogurt)

1.       Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2.       Grease a 9x9 or 8x8 inch baking pan

3.       Make streusel topping- stir brown sugar, chocolate chips, and cinnamon together

4.       Mix flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda in a separate bowl

5.       With an electric mixer, beat sugar, butter, and egg together for two minutes

6.     Mix in mashed bananas and yogurt

7.       Gradually add bowl of dry ingredients

8.       Blend well

9.       Pour half of this batter into the baking pan

10.   Pour half of streusel mixture on top of batter

11.   Repeat steps 9 and 10, layering the remaining batter and streusel

12.   Bake for 44-48 minutes, or until a fork or toothpick comes out clean

13.   Allow to cool for a few minutes

14.   Enjoy with coffee or English tea

Easy-peezy, lemon squeezy.

I brought this coffee cake into work this morning and it was hit. So, TRY! You will have no regrets J

Till next week, flowers.

XO.