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A Chocolate Chip Cookie Shake-up: Toll House Marble Squares
If you love chocolate chip cookies, you will go crazy for Nestle’s Toll House Marble Squares. With all the same ingredients you love in chocolate chip cookies –rich brown sugar and fudgy chocolate chips– these squares are essentially cookie batter baked in the form of a cake in a sheet pan. The squares are a bit thicker and chewier than their cookie form, but share the same chocolate chip cookie taste we have all grown to love. Once the “cake” is baked, you cut it into small squares for bite-sized treats. This recipe makes for a great gift – simply package up the squares in small boxes with decorative bows and you have a guaranteed hit. Keep reading for the full recipe!
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Sherry Cake
Sherry cake is one of my grandmother’s most delightful go-to cakes. It’s easy to make and bursting with the distinct taste of sherry wine. You start with a basic yellow cake mix and vanilla instant pudding mix and add eggs, oil, sherry and nutmeg. The result is a moist, dense pound cake-like cake that is sure to impress. It works really well baked in a bundt pan and sliced thin with dusted powdered sugar on top. You can make it in mini loaf pans as well if you wish.
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Coconut Macaroons
I have to admit, my boyfriend’s office has been growing increasingly jealous of the fresh baked goods I send my boyfriend into work with. One of the guys requested macaroons, so I gave it a try. This recipe is courtesy of the Barefoot Contessa and is truly the best coconut macaroon recipe around. The cookies are moist on the inside and crunchy on the outside. Not only are they beautiful, but the recipe is super easy as well. With only sweetened shredded coconut, sweetened condensed milk, vanilla extract, egg whites and salt on the ingredient list, you can whip up these cookies in no time. Once baked and cooled, you can try dipping some in melted chocolate or leaving them plain. The best part is when you are baking, the sweet smell of coconut fills the house, making it smell like a tropical paradise!
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The Best Homemade Granola Bars Ever
Warning: these bars are addictive!! I finally found the perfect, healthy Granola Bar recipe and I am thrilled to share it with you here. Most granola bar recipes contain loads of butter to obtain their distinct crunchiness, but this recipe only has a couple tablespoons of oil and is loaded with texture and flavor. -
Three Garlic Pasta
If you love garlic and are looking for a quick, easy dinner full of flavor, look no further than Three Garlic Pasta. It’s a supercharged version of “spaghetti with garlic and oil,” amplified by garlic prepared 3 ways – roasted, sliced and chopped. To roast the garlic in the oven, use a terra cotta garlic roaster or simply wrap full cloves of garlic in tin foil and roast in the oven for about an hour until garlic is soft and golden. Then, sauté thinly sliced garlic and chopped garlic in olive oil, for 2 more variations and textures of garlic. After tossing your three types of garlic with “al dente” spaghetti, olive oil, white wine, parsley, red pepper seeds, salt and pepper, you have a tasty pasta dish that is sure to impress. It’s Italian peasant food made elegant and new. Enjoy!
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Healthy Chunky Banana Bran Muffins
There is nothing better than a healthy, hearty bran muffin so I set out to create one full of sweet, chunky bananas. With the addition of nonfat Greek yogurt, I was able to reduce the amount of oil in the recipe and still maintain the moistness and texture of a traditional bran muffin. For lots of fiber and healthy grains, I added wheat bran and wheat germ, along with a combination of light brown sugar and molasses for sweetness. A teaspoon of freshly grated orange zest adds a subtle citrus twist. Most banana muffin recipes call for small, diced pieces of banana that pretty much blend in, but I wanted these muffins to be chunky, so I cut the bananas slices thick. Once baked and cooled, you will have a dozen golden brown bran muffins, chock full of distinct bananas and chewy grains. Enjoy!
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Curry Garden Vegetable Soup
On these cold winter nights, nothing is more comforting than a bowl of homemade soup. This past weekend, my mom and grandmother set out to make a hearty, fresh and healthy vegetable soup with loads of flavor and a Thai-inspired ingredient list. Mission accomplished.
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Fluffy Avocado Cottage Cheese Pancakes
I love this recipe because I adore pancakes, but I rarely choose them because they can usually run up some serious calories. My boyfriend set out to make my favorite Cottage Cheese Pancakes this morning, but with a special twist. We decided it would be brilliant to add diced, ripe avocado to the recipe for extra moistness and creaminess. The result was a huge success.
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Ancho Chicken Tortilla Soup
After returning from a quick jaunt to Mexico to celebrate the New Year, I was determined to recreate the spicy Chicken Tortilla Soup I had at a taqueria in Playa Del Carmen. Bursting with rich spices and fresh, local ingredients, this soup is full of flavor and hearty enough to be a main meal. Although there are dozens of different variations of tortilla soup, my all time favorite is this one, straight from Mexico, and I’m pretty confident my recipe is spot on.
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Sunday Egg Sandwiches
Every weekend my boyfriend makes us mouth-watering egg sandwiches, so I decided to share the deliciousness. The recipe and ingredients couldn’t be more simple, but it’s easy to forget what a fantastic breakfast a simple egg sandwich can be. So here it goes:
