Mint Chip Chocolate Cookies

I love shortcut baking. Especially around the holidays. This simple cookie recipe starts with a chocolate cake mix (I say the darker, the better). I don't know if the baking chips are seasonal, but if you find some, stock up. They are delicious and festive in cookies, would make a great brownie topper, my girls even stirred some into their hot cocoa when they got home from sledding in the blizzard.

Chocolate Cookies with Mint Crunch Chips
1 chocolate cake mix
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/3 c oil
2 eggs
1 cup Andes Peppermint Crunch Baking Chips (if you can't find them, any minty chips would work)

Preheat oven to 375.
Mix together cake mix, sugar, oil and eggs. Stir in chips. Drop dough balls onto greased cookie sheet. Bake 8-10 minutes. Remove from pan and cool.

Double Chocolate Bundt Cake

My oldest daughter turns 11 today. She had some friends over for a little get together this weekend.

Who knew that 7 eleven year olds made more noise than the monkey house at the zoo?

Double Chocolate Bundt Cake
from bunny
1 chocolate cake mix
1 small pkg instant chocolate pudding mix
4 eggs
3/4 cup water
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup oil
1 heaping cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350. Spray a 10-inch bundt pan with cooking spray and dust with flour. Beat cake mix, pudding mix, eggs, water, sour cream and oil in large bowl. Stir in chocolate chips. Pour into pan. Bake 55-60 minutes or until cake springs back when lightly touched. Cool 15 minutes in pan on wire rack. Remove from pan and cool completely on wire rack. Set on serving plate and glaze.

Chocolate Glaze
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 T butter
2 T corn syrup
1-2 tsp hot water

Melt chocolate chips, butter, and corn syrup in saucepan over low heat. Cool about 10 minutes. Stir in hot water, 1 tsp at a time, until consistency of thick syrup. Pour over cooled double chocolate cake.

Chocolate Banana Snacking Cake (Vegan)

I haven't done much vegan baking. I am more comfortable with eggs and butter.
However, this recipe made a delicious, moist cake. Added bonus: no raw egg, so go ahead and lick the spoon.

4 cups flour
2 2/3 cups sugar
1 1/3 cup cocoa powder
1 T baking soda
1/2 t salt
1/2 cup oil (I substituted apple sauce...still very moist)
3 cups hot water
2 t vanilla
3 bananas, mashed

Preheat oven to 350.
In medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, cocoa, soda and salt.
In a large bowl, combine oil/apple sauce, hot water and vanilla. Add dry ingredients. Mix just to combine. Add bananas.
Pour batter into greased 9-x-13 inch pan. (If your pan is not very deep, you may want to set aside some batter and make 8 cupcakes or so). Bake for 50-60 minutes, until a tester inserted in the middle of cake comes out clean.
Remove from oven and let cool in pan on wire rack.
Store leftover cake in refrigerator

Torta Strata

This is a great appetizer. The flavors are delicious and it looks impressive.

The colors are perfect for a holiday gathering!

I clipped the recipe from from a magazine ten years ago or so (I want to say it was an In-Style magazine). Every time I make it, someone requests the recipe.

8 oz cream cheese, softened
8 oz goat cheese
1/2 cup prepared sun-dried tomato paste (I find this in the Italian section of my local supermarket)
1/3 cup prepared pesto (I like Buitoni, find it in the refrigerated section)
1 T garlic paste
salt and pepper to taste

In a medium bowl, beat cream cheese and goat cheese with electric mixer until smooth.
Evenly divide mixture into three bowls. Add sun-dried tomato paste to one bowl, pesto to the next, and garlic paste to the last bowl. Stir each to combine. Season all three with salt and pepper to taste.
Line a 3-cup straight sided mold (I've used a small spring form pan, a small cereal bowl, ...for this one, I just used a small round gladware container) with dampened cheesecloth, draping excess over rim. Spoon sun-dried tomato mixture into bottom of mold and smooth with spatula. Next add garlic mixture. Smooth with a spatula. Cover garlic mixture with pesto mixture. Press down and smooth the top.
Fold cheesecloth over the top and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate at least one hour. It can be made a couple days ahead of time and stored well covered in the refrigerator.

To serve, invert mold onto platter and remove cheesecloth.
Enjoy with crackers.

Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies

While looking through some of Bunny's recipe collection, I came across this yummy little cookie. Bunny had a knack for picking out tasty recipes...especially for sweet treats.

These cookies are wonderful. You all know my fondness for the chocolate-mint combination*.

The cyclist said they remind him of starlight mint ice cream.


Bunny's Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies
3/4 cup shortening
1 1/4 cup brown sugar
1 T milk
1 T vanilla
1 egg
2 cups flour
1 t salt
3/4 t baking soda
1 cup mint chips
1 cup chocolate chips

Combine shortening and brown sugar in a large bowl (I used a wooden spoon for the entire process). Add milk, vanilla and egg. Stir well. Add flour, salt and soda. Combine. Stir in both chips.
Bake at 375 for 8-10 minutes on greased cookie sheets. I used a #40 cookie scoop (holds a generous tablespoon of dough), but split each scoop into two cookies. The recipe made about 4 1/2 dozen cookies that way.


*Almost as good as chocolate and peanut butter!