Cinnamon Apple Crumb Pie

It's been two weeks since we went apple picking and I STILL have a fruit drawer full of apples... Nothing using up a ton of apples in such a delicious way as apple pie!

This is my FAVORITE apple pie recipe.  Not just because it is super yummy, but because it only requires one pie crust, and it is far easier to make a crumb top than a second pie crust (I am just NOT skilled at putting on a top to a pie!)

The pie dough is a basic pastry dough recipe that I grew up baking with my mom.  The filling is a tweaked recipe from Williams-Sonoma Baking Book. 

Basic Pastry Dough: Makes one pie crust
1 1/3 cup all purpose flour
1 stick (4oz) cold butter cut into small chunks
1 tsp salt (less if you use salted butter)
(You can add 1 tsp of sugar if you prefer)
about 1/4 cup cold water

Add flour, butter, and salt to a food processor (I use a mini one because 1. it is all I  have, and 2. it fits the dough perfectly).  process until mixture has a coarse consistency.  Slowly pour a little bit of water at a time through the lid of the processor while running it, do so until dough begins to form a ball.  Turn out onto wax paper and shape into a flat disc.  Use immediately or refrigerate or freeze for later use.  Let stand to room temperature when ready to use.

Cinnamon Apple Pie Filling and Topping
Topping:
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/3 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
5 TBSP cold unsalted butter cut into small pieces

Filling:
up to 10 Apples, about 6 cups when cut (depending on the size, you can use more or less.  I always prefer to use more than needed...those extra sugary/seasoned apples are great to snack on while the pie bakes!)
1 TBSP lemon juice
 1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 TBSP flour (recipe originally called for cornstarch, but I've always used flour in pies)
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cloves

Roll the dough into a 12 inch disk. Transfer to a round 9inch pie dish.  Trim the edges and pinch together to create a high rim.

In the (mini) food processor, combine pie topping ingredients.  Pulse until mixture is crumbly. Do not overpulse, or put ingredients into a bowl and use a pastry blender.  Refridgerate until ready to use.

For the filling: Peel the skin off all the apples, then cut into 1/2 inch pieces.  Put into a large bowl toss to coat with lemon juice.  Add the rest of the pie filling ingredients and mix well.  Fill the pie dough with the apples, then cover pie with crumb topping.  Refrigerate for 20 minutes.

Preheat over to 375F.  Bake pie until crust is golden and filling is bubbly, 50-60 minutes. Cool completely to set.

Sweet and Sour Chicken Pizza

You can use any pizza dough recipe, or this one here. I happened to use a different dough recipe that I thoroughly liked, just for something different.

3/4 precooked chicken cut into strips. I used chicken from our roasted chicken I made last night.
4 Tbsp sweet and sour sauce
1 pound pizza dough at room temperature (one pizza dough recipe)
1 cup shredded mild cheddar cheese
1 cup shredded colby jack cheese blend
1/2 small red onion chopped
(1 cup pineapple tidbits, drained... I used less since I am not a fan of pineapple)

Preheat oven to 500F. Lightly coat a 14 inch pizza pan with nonstick spray.

Coat the chicken with the sweet and sour sauce, set aside.

Roll out the dough into a 14 inch circle. Place on the pan.

Scatter the cheddar cheese over the crust. Scatter chicken, onion, and pineapple. Drizzle honey BBQ sauce over the toppings. Scatter colby jack cheese.

Place in oven and bake for 8-15 minutes, until cheese is melted and crust has browned on the bottom.

Makes 8 servings.

Deep Dish Pizza

For Christmas I received a deep dish pizza kit. It came with the pan, a nifty UNO style spatula, and a little recipe book. I figured since I'm living so close to Chicago, I should learn how to make the famous Chicago style pizzas. This is the first one I've tried, I'm sure you can alter my recipe to whatever preferences you have. (Please excuse the blurry photos... they were taken quickly with my phone. We were in a hurry to eat!!)


Dough Recipe:
2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast
3/4 cup warm water
1 TBSP sugar
1/4 cup olive oil (recipe said soybean oil but I didn't have any, so I used EVOL)
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 TBSP salt
1 TBSP olive oil

Dissolve yeast with water and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer. Add the 1/4 cup oil and mix. Add flour and salt and mix at medium speed, until dough is smooth. Turn dough out of the bowl and kneed by hand for a few more minutes. Oil another bowl with the 1 TBSP olive oil and turn dough to coat. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise for two hours on the counter or in the refrigerator overnight (just take it out one hour before use). You can freeze the dough for later use and put in refrigerator for 24 hours before you plan to use it.

Sausage Pizza Recipe:
1 dough recipe
16 oz Mozzarella, sliced
16 oz Italian sausage, ground (we bought the links and took it out of the casing)
12 oz chunky pizza sauce (we just used Ragu pizza sauce since again, that's all we could find)
2 TBSP Parmesan (and or/Romano) cheese, grated
1/2 tsp oregano

Place dough ball in the center of the pan, and, using your hands, work the dough along the pan and up the sides. Lay about 2/3 of the cheese on top of the dough, overlapping slices to cover all the dough. Place sausage over the cheese, working it into a thin disk to cover all the cheese. Spread sauce evenly over the sausage. Place remaining mozzarella, parmesan, and oregano over the sauce. Bake on the middle rack at 475F for 25-30 minutes or until crust is golden brown and sausage is cooked. (minimal internal temp of 165 with a kitchen thermometer will help guage the sausage.)

Tasty Thursday - Southwestern Skillet Macaroni

This has become my new favorite last minute meal. I always have these ingredients in the house, it is relatively quick and easy to make. AND it tastes GREAT! I have adapted the recipe from a Weight Watchers cook book recipe, adding more vegetables and changing the ingredients a bit. This is too spicy for my kids, so I cook extra macaroni and set it aside for them. You can always add more veggies to bulk it up!

1 1/2 cup uncooked elbow macaroni
.75-1 pound lean ground beef or ground turkey (whichever I have)
1/2 chopped onion
1 chopped green pepper
1 TBSP chili powder
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp salt
1 can corn
1 (14 1/2 oz) can petite diced tomatoes with green chilis (I use hot), with their juices
1 (8 oz) can tomato sauce
1 cup shredded low fat cheese, cheddar or Mexican blend (I use whatever we have in the fridge)

Cook the macaroni according to the package, drain and set aside.

In a large skillet brown the meat until no longer pink over medium-high heat, about 8 minutes. Stir in the onion, green pepper, chili powder, cumin, and salt. Stir occasionally and cook until onion softens, about 3 minutes. Add tomatoes, tomato sauce, and corn, bring to a simmer. Reduce heat, and stir occasionally until flavors are blended. Add macaroni and cheese, stir to combine.

Peanut Butter Cupcakes with Strawberry Icing

I discovered this wonderful combination yesterday and am glad (angry) that I did! So surprisingly wonderful. I love peanut butter in baked goods, so I like to make these cupcakes. The icing was a last minute decision, and I'm glad I tried it.

I got the cupcake recipe from here. The recipe said the batter yields 12, but I got 15.

I also got the icing recipe online but changed it a bit and this is what I came up with:

1/4 cup melted butter
1/2 tsp vanilla
pinch of salt
1-2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup chopped strawberries

First I cut up the strawberries and put them in my mini food processor to get them more finely chopped. Then I melted the butter, and combined with vanilla and salt. I added 1 cup of powdered sugar and the chopped strawberries. I kept adding more powdered sugar until I got the desired consistency.

The icing recipe yielded A LOT (definitely more than for just 15 cupcakes). I saved it and plan on either making more cupcakes later this week, or drizzling some on cookies!

Tasty Thursday - Roasted Chicken

I had always been afraid to cook an entire roasting chicken. I figured it was too difficult to monitor whether it was undercooked/overcooked. I thought it was hard to keep it from drying out or not having enough flavor.

Boy was I WRONG! I found a recipe online and tweaked it a little bit to my own liking. And I prefer to cook my chicken this way, instead of buying chicken breasts, because we are saving money and getting MORE chicken for what we are spending.



I use whatever size chicken is available at my store. The smallest I've cooked is 3lb, the largest was the one pictured above, 7.5lb!

6 TBSP butter
1/3 cup lemon juice
1 TBSP paprika
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tsp brown sugar
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

Place chicken in an ungreased baking pan or roasting pan. Preheat oven to 325.

Combine remaining ingredients in a small saucepan and heat until butter melts completely. Remove from heat and pour over the chicken. Bake for 1.5 hours (smaller chicken, my 7.5lber took about 2 hours), or until chicken reaches a temperature of about 165. Baste occasionally.


This recipe is SO simple and so yummy. I make about one chicken every 1l-2 weeks. Here is a picture of how much chicken I pulled off the bones AFTER we had already eaten dinner. I cannot wait to make chicken enchiladas with it tonight!

Salsa

I have been CRAVING my friend Nicki's homemade salsa. She used to make it in the summers and bring extras into work. Those were some of my favorite work days! I got the recipe from her and finally made it myself. Pretty darn good, if I do say so myself! The tomatoes were given to me by a local friend who grew them in her garden. I think they added the special touch homemade salsa deserves! Here is the (incredibly vague) recipe!

"dice 2-3 tomatoes, 1-2 jalapenos, 1-2 banana peppers, fresh garlic, and fresh cilantro. and some onion and pepper. the amounts used depend on how much you want to make, but I usually start with the tomatoes and keep adding the other stuff until I like the way it looks (and tastes!). then put lemon and/or lime juice on it. "

Healthy Stuffed Peppers

I got this recipe from parenting magazine back in 2006 and finally tried it! I tweaked the recipe a bit based on what I had in my pantry and my own tastes, so I'll post what I did. (The original called for mushrooms, which I am not fond of, so I often omit them from recipes or avoid recipes altogether if they call for mushrooms!).

4 red bell peppers, halved lengthwise, stems, seeds, and ribs removed
3/4 cup cooked rice
3/4 lb lean ground beef (I think next time I might try half beef and half ground pork)
14.5 oz can seasoned diced tomatoes, drained
1/2 small onion, finely chopped
3/4 cup corn
3/4 tsp paprika
1 cup grated low fat colby jack cheese (or enough to top each pepper half)

1. place peppers cut side up in a large roasting pan
2. mix remaining ingredients except cheese in a bowl. fill each pepper half, mounding the tops, then top with cheese. cover pan with foil and bake, covered at 400 degrees for 45 minutes, then uncovered 25 minutes.

You can also freeze the peppers and bake frozen at a later date. Bake covered at 400 for an hour, then uncovered for 25 minutes.

Each half is only 158 calories!

This recipe will be a new family favorite. I am so glad I finally tried it!

Crock Pot Thursdays - Irish Stout Beef Stew (cheater recipe)

I am all for super easy recipes... usually involving McCormick seasoning packets or jarred sauces. My mom gave me a jar of Williams Sonoma sauce for meats the last time I was at home. I LOVE sauces like this, as the possibilities are endless, however I cannot afford a $16 jar of sauce.

Anyway, today I made a delicious beef stew using the Irish Stout braising sauce. I browned a package of stew meat, then put it in the crock pot. I added 6 smallish potatoes, sliced, chopped celery, chopped onion, and a handful of baby carrots. I covered in all with the sauce, then cooked on high for 4.5 hours.

DELICIOUS!!!

Salmon Patties

This is another super easy recipe, and it is good for last minute dinner idea since I always have these ingredients around. I normally hate fish... like, really hate fish. But for some reason canned salmon and tuna I can handle if prepared well.

1 can red salmon (I prefer red over pink... better quality in my opinion)
1/3 cup seasoned breadcrumbs, plus some extra
1 egg

Combine salmon, 1/3 cup breadcrumbs, and egg in a medium bowl. Form into patty shape, about 5-6 patties. Sprinkle some more breadcrumbs on a plate and coat each side of the patties. Cook on a skillet, lightly brown each side. I love to serve mine with any flavor of Near East rice blends or couscous. In the photo, I served with the brown rice pilaf.

My son prefers to serve his...well... on his head.

Crock Pot Thursdays - Italian Sausage Subs

I love super easy recipes, especially ones that require minimal preparation. This is definitely one of those recipes!

1 Package Italian Sausages
1 red pepper, sliced
1 green pepper, sliced
1 small onion, sliced
1 (26oz) jar pasta sauce
sub buns
slices provolone cheese

In a nonstick skillet over medium heat, cook sausage until brown. Place in slow cooker. Add peppers and onion. Top with pasta sauce. Cover and cook on low 4 to 6 hours until sausage is fully cooked. Place in buns, top with peppers, onions, sauce and cheese.

I'm making these for a pot-luck we're having Friday, so I will triple the meat and double the veggies. Yum!!!

Lemon Berry Muffins

This weekend I received the new Penzey's spices catalog. Although I do not buy their products I do quite enjoy them (my mom will buy them and mail them to me! Have I mentioned how much I love my mommy???). Often I will save a few of the recipes included in the catalog, but usually don't get around to trying them. This one definitely stuck out and I made sure to try it. I am not a huge muffin fan, but the kids are, and this recipe is a nice way to use up any berries that might be getting old in the fridge.

I changed the recipe to make it a bit healthier. Since we try to stick to Weight Watchers points system, I had to tweak the recipe, also I did not have some of the ingredients, so I changed it for what I did have in the house. They turned out pretty good!! Here is the recipe I did:

2 1/8 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp salt
1 6oz container fat free lemon yogurt
1/2 cup applesauce (can use oil if you prefer)
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
6-8oz berries (any berry, alone or mixed; about 1 1/4 cups total)

Struesel topping:
(I cut this in half.. if you don't mind extra calories and want more of a topping, double the topping recipe)
1 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1 1/2 Tbsp sugar
1/8 tsp vanilla
1/8 tsp lemon juice
1/2 Tbsp cold butter

Preheat oven to 375F. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Make a well in the center of the mixture. Stir together yogurt, lemon juice, applesauce, eggs, and vanilla. Pour into the well and stir until moistened. Fold berries into batter. Spoon into lightly greased muffin pans (or into muffin cups) until 2/3 full.

For Topping: combine flour, sugar, vanilla, and lemon juice. Cut the butter into the mixture until crumbly. Spoon evenly over the batter in the muffin pans.

Bake for 18-22 minutes or until golden. Remove from pans and cool on wire rack.

Yields 15 muffins.

Crock Pot Thursdays - Weekend Chicken

So I thought I would try something new... I love posting recipes here, but I also love my crock pot. I think if I tell myself I want to post a new crockpot recipe every Thursday I will be more likely to use my crock pot that week!

Here's a new recipe I tried. I bought a cookbook awhile ago that is published by Lipton, so all recipes have some form of Lipton dried soup in it. This particular recipe I changed around a little based on what ingredients I had lying around the house.

2 lb chicken breast, cut into smaller pieces
2 14oz cans diced tomatoes, seasoned, undrained
8oz sliced mushrooms
1 package Lipton Golden Onion Soup Mix
1/4 cup dry red wine
(I had 1lb small potatoes that needed to be used up so I cut those up and included them in the recipe)

Place mushrooms at the bottom of the crock pot. Place chicken on top. (Place potatoes on top of those... or any other veggie you wish to add.) In a separate bowl combine tomatoes, soup mix, and wine. Pour into crock pot.



Cook on low 8 hours, or on high 4 hours.

I realized at dinner time that pasta would have gone well with this dish but didn't have time, so I heated up some leftover brown rice we had in the refrigerator. Salad was also served with dinner.


EDIT:
fyi, this tasted so much better with pasta. And I realize that adding potatoes was super weird. Would have tasted great with a green veggie in it!!

It's Peanut Butter Chocolate Time!

Every year, around March, I gain weight... Maybe it is the depression caused by seemingly never ending winter weather that makes me gain. Or maybe it is the abundance of Easter candy in EVERY store. Probably the latter (with a bit of Girl Scout Cookies mixed in). But this year I am determined not to cave, no matter how much snow is outside or how crazy my kids are being inside for months on end.

Peanut butter chocolate eggs are my favorite. There is something amazing about the combination of peanut butter and chocolate. It is just divine! It is my weakness. I have been in the stores twice this week and each time I picked up a package of candy but was able to force myself to put it back. Probably because my husband was with me each time and I tend to eat my peanut butter chocolate candies in private, like it is a dark secret of mine! But yesterday I just HAD to have the combination. Lack of car forced me to come up with my own . And to be honest, it is much more satisfying to eat something that I made myself. I decided to make cupcakes, because Jordan loves to decorate them.

They were way too delicious, thankfully I was able to contain myself and not eat the entire dozen regular size and dozen mini cupcakes. These are the recipes I used: cupcake and icing. FYI, I substituted all the white flour with whole wheat flour and used 1/2 cup applesauce and 1/8 stick of butter instead of 1/2 cup of butter.

Sous Chef Jordan - Master decorator


Finished product... YUM!

Sugar Cookies

The entire family is having an off day today, so I thought sugar cookies were in order. I'm not a huge fan of sugar cookies, but we just acquired quite a few cookie cutters, and I wanted to try one of them out. Jordan is into piggies at the moment, so I thought it was a perfect idea. Plus we only have pastel food coloring... I'm not sure the dinosaurs want to be pink or light blue =)

I used this recipe and they turned out pretty good. Definitely a keeper. here is the icing recipe. We got halloween pumpkin and kitty cookie cutters, so I think I need to get some orange and black food coloring. I could have been more creative, like melting chocolate to put on the feet to make them "messy piggies" or make eyes... but that would have required much more energy than I had today.

Edit to add.... since making the piggies we have made T-Rexs, Stegosauruses, black cats, and pumpkins! i'm all sugar cookied out!!!

Peanut butter cups

I got this recipe from my dear friend Sarah, I hope she doesn't mind me sharing. You are all going to get fat right along with me!! Thank you (and curse you) Sarah for this awesome recipe!!!

Peanut Butter Cups

12 mini cake liners
3/4 cup of chocolate chips or chunks
1/2 cup of creamy peanut butter + 2 tbsp to add to the melted chocolate
1/4 of powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
pinch of salt

Melt the chocolate. When smooth and fully melted, remove from the heat and stir in the 2 tbsp of peanut butter. Allow to cool until still liquid but not too hot. Place a heaping teaspoon in each cake liner, and swirl around a little to get some chocolate up the sides, making sure the bottom is completely coated (but not too thick, unless you like it that way). Place the chocolate covered liners in the fridge. (You should have a fair amount of chocolate left still, around half).

Meanwhile, stir together the peanut butter, vanilla, powdered sugar and salt. It should form a paste dry enough to handle and make into balls. Form twelve balls from the peanut butter paste (use it all), and flatten the balls into discs just smaller in diameter than the chocolate liners. The liners should be ready by now (it only takes 5 minutes for the chocolate to harden up enough), so take them out and place one peanut butter disc in each liner, making sure there is just enough space all around the disc for chocolate to cover it. Take the remaining chocolate (re-heat if necessary) and share between the 12 liners. Ensure no peanut butter is showing. Refrigerate the cups for at least 1 hour, then try not to eat all 12 at once, you'll regret it. =)

Apple Bread

I love Autumn. Not just because the weather turns cooler and the leaves are really pretty, but also because of the recipes. I love cooking and baking with apples. Here's a new recipe i found and adapted to make it a little bit healthier (ha!!). I didn't realize until AFTER we started making it that the recipe makes two loaves, so I froze the other. It tastes super good toasted with some butter!


Bread:
2-3 Large apples, peeled, cored, and chopped
4 large eggs
1 cup applesauce
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
3 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar

Topping:
1 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup white sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup butter, room temperature

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease two bread loaf pans. In a large bowl beat eggs until fluffy. Add applesauce. Add vanilla extract, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon until mixed. Add flour and sugar until well blended. Turn mixer to high and beat mixture is smooth and thick. Add apple pieces and mix by hand so the apple pieces do not break. Spoon batter into the pans. Combine topping ingredients in a medium bowl, mixing with fork or hands. Spread over each loaf. Bake for an hour or until middle of the loaf is firm.

Star Pie

My mom recently got me a pocket pie mold from William Sonoma. I finally tried it tonight and it is SO CUTE!! You can use any fruit filling in them and I am totally in love with them. Now I want to buy the heart shaped mold (thankfully my birthday is coming up soon!).

A friend asked me for the recipe, however I sort of made up how I did the filling... so here's my best guess. The little pies taste so good and are much easier than having to make a huge pie.

EDIT: I just thought this morning, after posting the recipe, that you either want to cut the fruit filling in half or double the pie crust recipe. I had lots of the fruit left over, so next time I will be making double the crust so I can have 12 pies.

Makes 6 mini pies.

Crust:
Place 1 tsp salt, 1 1/3 cup flour, and 1 stick cold butter cut into 1 inch pieces into a food processor (I use a mini food processor as it is just the right size). Process for 8-10 seconds or until mixture has the consistency of coarse meal. Pour cold water into the mixture while processing (about 1 Tbsp at a time) until dough begins to form into a ball. Turn out onto wax paper and shape into a flattened disk. refrigerate immediately.

Prepare 2 cups fruit into a medium mixing bowl. Wash and chop as necessary (can use any fruit). Add 1/4 cup sugar and 1 Tbsp to the fruit. Mix thoroughly and let sit for 15 minutes.

While fruit is sitting, take dough out and soften to room temperature. Roll on lightly floured surface to 1/8-1/10" thickness. Cut dough with the mold. Place one cut out in the mold, spool 1 Tbsp of filling onto the dough, then place another cutout on top. Press mold until the two pieces are securely together. Place the mini pies on a cookie sheet sprayed with cooking spray. Place sheet in freezer for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400 F. Bake pies for 20 minutes, until crust is lightly brown and center is bubbling. Cool on wire rack.


I made my pie with raspberry as that's what fruit we had in the fridge that needed to be used up the soonest. If I were making apple I would add cinnamon to the sugar/corn starch mixture. I'll probably make apple next!!

another EDIT: WW points are 6 per pie.

Pizza Pizza Pizza!

I have perfected my whole wheat dough recipe... so here it is!! Makes 2 pizza crusts.

Combine in a mixer:
2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast
1 1/3 cup warm milk.

Let sit for 5 minutes until yeast is dissolved.

Add:
3-4 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup wheat germ and/or flax seed
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp salt
1 Tbsp sugar

Mix for a few minutes. Knead for about 10 minutes either by hand or using a dough hook. until the dough is smooth and elastic. Place dough in a bowl lightly coated with butter or olive oil (I use whatever is lowest calories!), turn once to coat the dough. Cover until doubled in bulk, 1.5 hours.

Preheat oven to 475 F. Grease two baking sheets with spray and dust with cornmeal.

Punch down the dough and divide in half. Roll into a ball and let rest for 15 minutes, covering loosely with plastic wrap. Flatten each dough ball on a lightly floured surface until it is a 12" round. Place on the baking sheet. Lift edges and brush a little olive oil on the dough. Let dough sit for 10 minutes then top and bake for 12 minutes on lowest rack.


I made a chicken alfredo pizza. It was DELICIOUS!!! Here's what I did:

After brushing with olive oil I sprinkled some garlic powder and italian seasonings on the dough. Then I put the following toppings on:
1/2 cup alfredo sauce
1 cup thawed, drained spinach
chicken breast
3/4 cup low fat mozzarella
sprinkled with parmesan cheese

If you do weight watchers, the dough for one pizza is 16 points total. The alfredo pizza was 6 points for 1/4 of a pizza.

Baking Addtiction... Why Oh Why???

So I haven't forgotten to tell you all about our wonderful vacation in Pittsburgh, I have just gotten sidetracked by life.

I do have a moment to tell you my reason #231 why the internet is EVIL. Long ago people bought cook books or swapped recipes with family members or neighbors. But now, thanks to the internet, we have unlimited resources to extract oh so yummy and bad for you recipes. The one I have most recently discovered is Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Brownies. That's right... Brownies AND Dough in the SAME DISH. Someone just told me at least I say I baked them for the children, however that would only work if:
1. one of my children wasn't an infant
and
2. my older childed LIKED sugary treats...which she does not. Weird girl licks the spoons but refuses the baked goods.



REVIEW!
I used whole wheat flour for both the brownie layer and the cookie dough layer. I thought it tasted just fine, so I doubt I'll ever use the white flour. I saw someone mentioned needing to double the cookie dough recipe. I probably would agree, however never will for sake of my hips. This recipe was DELICIOUS! I froze them, foolishly thinking I would eat less if the brownies were in the freezer... note to readers, they taste BETTER frozen than thawed!! So yeah, it was a miracle that the brownies lasted about 48 hours.