Baking

Double Chocolate Skillet Brownie Cookie

If you love chocolate and you love brownies, you’re going to love this Double Chocolate Skillet Brownie Cookie. Chocolatey, chewy, dense So darn good!

I love love love this technique for making cookies. It’s so crazy easy. And fun! The cookie dough is placed into an (oven-safe) skillet. And the cookie dough bakes in the skillet to make one big gigantic cookie. There are many people who like to mix up all the ingredients in the skillet to save on dishes. But, I can easily envision myself making a huge mess doing that, so I don’t mind using an extra bowl or two for the mixing. I mean, you still have to wash measuring cups and spoons and stirring spoons, so in my view, what’s another 2 bowls.

This Double Chocolate Skillet Brownie Cookie is one of the easiest cookie recipes that I know. And that’s saying something.

dry ingredients for Double Chocolate Skillet Brownie Cookie

First you measure out all your dry ingredients into a large bowl.

Stir everything around so that all of the flour, baking powder and cocoa powder are well mixed.

raw ingredients for Double Chocolate Skillet Brownie cookie

Mix the egg, oil, and brown sugar together.

Add the wet to the dry ingredients and stir to fully incorporate. Add the chocolate chips at the end.

Pat all of the ingredients into the skillet. No need to oil it, as there is plenty of oil in the cookie dough.

The cookie dough will rise up slightly and have a dull appearance on the surface when it’s ready to come out of the oven. You don’t want to over bake the dough. It should be a bit fudgy when it’s warm.

You can eat it warm right out of the skillet if you like. Although if there are young children at the table, it might be better to slice it up and serve it on plates. As the skillet will stay hot for quite a while.

Irresistibley good.

Print Recipe

Double Chocolate Skillet Brownie Cookie

Serves: 16

Cooking Time: 25

Ingredients

160 grams butter, melted
160 grams brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
2 tsp instant espresso powder
225 g AP flour
2 Tbsp cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
170 grams chocolate chips (I used milk chocolate, but semi sweet would also be nice)

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Melt the butter either on top of the stove, or in the microwave.

Pour the melted butter into a medium size bowl.

Add the brown sugar and stir.

While this mixture cools for a few minutes, dissolve the instant espresso powder in the 1 tsp vanilla. Stir the espesso together with the vanilla. The espresso may not all dissolve, but that's ok.

Add the egg to the butter and sugar mixture once it has cooled a bit. You just don't want it piping hot, or it will cook the egg, when you crack it into the bowl.

In a slightly larger bowl, add the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt.

Mix together the dry ingredients.

Pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Stir until it all comes together.

Add the chocolate chips. Stir to incorporate.

Press the cookie batter into a 9-10 inch skillet.

Bake in the middle of the oven for about 25 minutes.

How to tell when it's done: It will smell aromatic, it will have puffed up a bit, and the top will dry out a bit and look slightly dull.

I'm always terrified of forgetting to use my oven mitts to take the skillet out of the oven. SO, if you also have this fear, keep the oven mitts very handy, close to the stove: do what you need to do to remember to put the oven mitts on.

When its done, take it out of the oven with your oven mitts and place on a rack.

This cookie is delicious when still warm. But you will want it to cool down for at least 10 minutes, otherwise, it will just fall apart when you try to take it out.

Of course, if you like, you could put it in the middle of the table, after dinner, and have every one grab a spoon and just gobble it up straight out of the pan. A couple scoops of vanilla ice cream wouldn't hurt either! (but remember the skillet will stay very hot for 20-30 minutes, so do be very careful).

If there are any leftovers, store them in a container on the kitchen counter for a couple days.

If its very warm where you live, or you think it's going to take more than a couple of days to finish it off, then you can keep it in the fridge. Let it come to room temperature before serving.

May 6, 2021

Baking

Big and Chewy Orange Coconut Anzac Cookies

Anzac Cookies are a delicious mixture of oats, flour, coconut, dark brown sugar, maple syrup plus a few more things. I have added orange extract to brighten up the nutty flavours. In the middle of winter I just love a burst of orange! These Orange Coconut Anzac Cookies have a nice sweet, nutty taste.

Anzac cookies originated in Australia and New Zealand and were made popular during World War I. I had read for years that women would bake these cookies and send them to soldiers fighting on the front lines and that’s how they came by that name. However, this appears to be a myth. They were, however, baked for fundraisers back home to raise funds for the war effort. A connection was made between these cookies and soldiers fighting during the war, so they became known as Anzac Cookies.

orange maple anzac cookies on baking tray

Anzac stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps and is protected under Australian law. Anzac cannot be used in Australia without permission from the Minister of Veterans Affairs, especially for commercial purposes.

These Big and Chewy Orange Coconut Anzac Cookies are made without eggs, and therefore keep quite well. You can make them chewy or crisp, but this recipe makes quite chewy cookies.

orange maple anzac cookies on cookie rack

After the cookies have cooled on the baking tray, you can transfer them to a cookie rack until they are completely cold.

So yummy. I make them big, so they’re quite chewy and almost bendable. They’re a perfect treat when you’re in the mood for something nutty and sweet. If you want to make vegan Orange Maple Anzac Cookies, swap up the butter for vegetable oil.

Super simple.

One of these cookies goes very well with a hot beverage on a cold wintery day.

Enjoy!

Suzanne

Print Recipe

Orange Coconut Anzac Cookies

Serves: 12

Cooking Time: 12-15 minutes

Ingredients

1 cup rolled oats
1 cup flour
3/4 cup unsweetened coconut
2/3 cup dark brown sugar
100 grams butter
2 Tbsp maple syrup
2 Tbsp boiling water
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp orange extract

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit.

Stir together the dry ingredients.

Melt the butter in a small pot or in the microwave.

Add maple syrup to butter.

Add baking soda to 2 Tbsp boiling water.

Pour baking soda mixture into butter and maple syrup.

Add the orange extract to liquid ingredients.

In a large bowl, add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients.

Stir well to incorporate.

Divide dough into 12 pieces, around 48 grams each.

Shape each piece into a ball and place on lined baking sheet.

Leave 1.5" inches between cookies, as they will spread.

Flatten slightly.

Bake for 10-12 minutes until lightly golden around edges and slightly soft in the middle.

Leave on baking tray to cool.

Then transfer to wire rack.

After they have cooled they should be bendable and soft and chewy.

Notes

To make this recipe vegan or dairy-free, replace the melted butter with a liquid oil of your choice.

April 21, 2021

Baking

Delicious Soft Pumpkin and Chocolate Chip Cookies

pumpkin chocolate chip cookies on a plate

Pumpkin chocolate Chip Cookies are one of my favourite cookies of all time. These Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies are just so yummy, we can’t stop eating them! They’re made with a good amount of baking powder which makes them puffy and soft, plenty of pumpkin puree, a kick of spice and lots of chocolate chips too.

With everyone staying home this Hallowe’en, these Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies are the perfect treat to whip up. The recipe is super simple and uses mostly common pantry ingredients. I still had a can of pumpkin puree in my cupboard from our Canadian Thanksgiving weekend, but if you’re all out, the grocery stores still have plenty and they are probably on sale too!

This recipe for Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies is based on one from my very first cookbook: The Peanuts Cookbook. Our Grade 4 elementary school teacher signed us up to a book club and we all ordered 1-2 books to read. My friend, Bonnie got some Nancy Drew mystery books, but I ordered this cookbook. I still have a copy, although not my original copy. The cookbook has lime green and bright pink pages and kid-friendly recipes like Divine Divinity, Lucy’s Lemon Squares, Security Cinnamon Toast and Red Baron Root Beer as well as loads of comic strips.

The first time that I made these cookies was with a friend from school. We were about 9 or 10 and my Mum let us bake some cookies in our kitchen all by ourselves. We thought it would be really cool if we baked them like mini-pumpkins. So we rolled them all into balls and placed a bunch on a cookie sheet. Well, I don’t know what happened, we must have left something out of the recipe, because when we took them out of the oven they had spread out completely so they were one big huge gigantic cookie, and were possibly slightly burnt. We had a good laugh, and so did my Mum. We still ate the cookies and thought they were pretty great! And all these years later, I’m still having fun in the kitchen!

pumpkin chocolate chip cookies on a plate on a table

These cookies are moist, tender and loaded with pumpkin flavour and milk chocolate chips! So autumnly divine! If you bundle up, cookies with hot chocolate or chai tea are lovely outside!

And they’re super easy to make. All you need is flour, brown sugar, butter, eggs, baking powder, pumpkin puree, cinnamon and chocolate chips. All of these could be yours in about one hour! So tempting!

Happy Hallowe’en everyone!

Print Recipe

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Serves: 50

Cooking Time: 8-10 minutes

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
2 eggs
340 grams pumpkin puree
3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp cinnamon
1 Tbsp baking powder
2 cups milk chocolate chips (semi-sweet would work too)

Instructions

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees.

Cream the butter and brown sugar together.

Beat until light and fluffy.

Add the eggs.

Add the pumpkin puree. Don't worry if it curdles, it will sort itself out when you add the dry ingredients.

Mix together the dry ingredients.

Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients. Try not to over mix.

Stir in the chocolate chips.

Using a small ice-cream scoop, place cookie dough on a parchment paper-lined cookie sheet, approximately 2 inches apart.

Bake in oven for 8-10 minutes. They will puff up and be slightly golden on the bottom when they're done.

Let cookies cool on baking sheet for about 2-3 minutes.

Place cookies on a cooling rack to cool down.

Enjoy!

October 30, 2020

Baking

Orange Nutella Alfajores

I have wanted to make alfajore cookies ever since I first heard about them. Their common description of being a melt-in-the-mouth cookie sandwiched together with dulce de leche just seemed heavenly. And they are.

Alfajores Cookies are one of the simplest cookies to make. They are made from just a handful of ingredients; flour, cornstarch, butter, sugar and egg. And they are ready in a jiffy.

The first batch of alfajores that I made was sandwiches together with dulce de leche. Dulce de leche, for those that are not familiar with this unctious spread, is caramelized milk. It is made by baking milk in a low oven for several hours, until it is thick, golden and sweet. You can buy it from Latin American shops, or make your own. Although I always buy mine. With Valentine’s Day approaching, I wanted a chocolate filling. I added orange zest to the cookie dough, sandwiched them together with Nutella, and Orange Nutella Alfajores were born. And I must say it is a heavenly match.

You can use store-bought Nutella for the filling. Or if you have time, try my recipe for Nutty Chocolate Hazelnut Spread. It is divine.

Alfajores cookies have been popular in Uruguay, Peru and Argentina since the mid 1800’s. Common fillings in alfajores are dulce de leche, chocolate mousse, fruit spreads or whipped cream. Toppings include meringue coating, milk chocolate, coconut or a sugar glaze.

I always find it interesting to read about similar foods in different parts of the world. The word alfajor comes from the Arabic “al-hasu”, which means filled or stuffed. Culinary experts have traced Alfajores to Andalusia, Spain during the occupation by the Moors. There is a strong similarity between alfajores and mamoul, a buttery confection filled with date paste that is popular in the Middle East and North Africa. I can’t wait to make a batch of those.

Alfajores are so popular in Peru and Argentina, that there are chain restaurants that only sell alfajores. Casa del alfajor is one such chain in Peru. There is also Havanna, in Argentina, which has been around since 1947.

Try making a batch. You will love them!

Print Recipe

Orange Nutella Alfajores

Serves: 18

Cooking Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients

200 gram flour
300 gram corn starch
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
250 grams softened butter
150 grams sugar
3 egg yolks
1 Tbsp brandy
zest from one orange
nutella (store bought or my own - see above)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.

Line baking sheet with parchment paper.

Mix together flour, corn starch and baking powder and soda.

Cream together butter, sugar and orange zest for 5 minutes, until pale and fluffy.

Add the egg yolks and brandy to the butter mixture.

Add in the flour mixture.

Mix briefly until well incorporated.

Roll out dough until about 1/4 inch thick. Cut out cookies with cutter about 1 1/2 inches in diameter.

You can place them relatively close together, as they will not spread.

Bake for about 10 minutes, only until slightly golden around the edges.

Cool on baking tray for 5 minutes, then place them on a cookie rack to cool.

Sandwich them together, when they are cold, with nutella.

February 9, 2019

Baking

Festive Mocha, Almond, Brandy Strazzate

Christmas Cookie baking has begun! I started my baking season with these Vegan Mocha, Almond, Brandy Strazzate. This cookie is normally made with Strega, a herbal liqueur from the Basilicata Region of Italy, which supposedly goes really well with chocolate. That liqueur is difficult to find where I live, so I used brandy, which I always have on hand this time of year., and which also works well with the mocha, almond flavours in this cookie. This is a super delicious cookie, made without eggs or butter.

I woke up the other morning to this snowy site and decided it was the perfect day to begin my Christmas Baking.

It’s never too early to start baking Christmas cookies or playing around with Christmas lights: two of my favourite winter activities.

These Mocha Almond Brandy Strazzate cookies come together very quickly. And the taste is divine. A cookie dough made with cocoa powder and chocolate chips so you get chocolate goodness in every bite. The dough also contains ground almonds + chopped almonds – double goodness again! And the espresso coffee blends with the chocolate to create than umami mocha flavour that is so powerful.

Like I mentioned above, this cookie is traditionally made in the Basilicata Region of Italy where Strega is made. I think any liqueur/liquor that goes with mocha and almonds would work. If you don’t drink alcohol, try a strong spiced herbal tea or chai. Those would work too.

You can eat them plain, or sprinkled with some icing sugar. So tasty. Make a splash with your Christmas Baking this year. Try something new.

Print Recipe

Mocha, Almond, Brandy Strazzate

Serves: 16

Cooking Time: 30

Ingredients

1/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup + 2 tbsp finely ground almonds
1 tbsp roughly chopped almonds
3/4 cup + 1 tbsp white flour
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1 tbsp chocolate chips
1/2 tbsp cocoa powder
2 tsp olive oil
1/4 cup brandy
2 tsp espresso powder, dissolved in 1/4 c. boiling water

Instructions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Mix together the ground almonds, chopped almonds, flour, brown sugar, chocolate chips and cocoa powder and olive oil.

Dissolve the baking powder in 2 teaspoons of hot water.

Add baking powder solution, coffee, and liqueur.

Give it all a good brisk stir. The dough will be very wet.

Form into 30 gram balls (or 1 ounce).

Place on parchment paper about 1 inch apart.

Bake in oven for 30 minutes, until dried out and set. The bottom will be slightly golden.

After 30 minutes, remove from oven.

Let dry on baking tray for 2-3 minutes.

Remove from baking tray to cool on a rack.

Enjoy!

Notes

These cookies will keep in a coo, dry place or 3-5 days. Or you can freeze them for up to one month.

Recipe slightly adapted from Saveur Magazine February 4, 2013.

November 23, 2018

Baking

Mocha Chocolate Chip Oat Cookies Recipe

With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, I thought I would post this fantastic recipe for Mocha Chocolate Chip Oat Cookies. They are super chocolate-y and the espresso powder gives them a great oomph of flavour. And what could be a better gift for someone than a bunch of cookies all bundled up in red ribbon. These Valentine Day Mocha Chocolate Chip Oat Cookies would be a nice surprise in your partner’s lunch box, a sensational gift for your son or daughter’s teacher, or put some out on the table after dinner at home. Sweet Sensation!

I really love cookies. I love them for many different reasons: the endless flavours and varieties, they’re quick to make, they’re not very big but hit the spot without breaking the calorie bank and they are ubiquitous. Every culture makes cookies.

When I was little, my mom only made three types of cookies: sugar cookies, peanut butter cookies with raisins and oatmeal cookies that came from a package (all you had to do was add water and an egg). She never used a timer and always set the oven at 350 ° F. And, unlike my Mum’s Date and Oat Squares, my mom couldn’t finish a chapter of her book in the time it took to bake some cookies. So, we had our fair share of burnt cookies.

There are far too many varieties of cookies out there these days, for me to only make three types of cookies. So, my family is lucky in that way. I love trying new recipes. I made these Mocha Chocolate Chip Oat Cookies recently and they were a hit with everyone. They didn’t last long.

It doesn’t take very long to put together a batch of cookies, but, in order to do it properly, you do need to follow a few basic techniques.

make sure all of your cookies are the same size (I weigh mine. And most of the cookies that I make weigh between 30-35 grams)
use a timer (a kitchen timer, your microwave, your stove or your iphone)
cookies are done when they are dry on top and just a hint of golden brown on the bottom (to check if they are ready to come out of the oven, flip one over onto your oven-mitted hand and see if it has turned golden)
after you take the cookies out of the oven, place the cookie tray on rack for 1-5 minutes. The cookies will continue to cook. After that time (the recipe usually states how long to cool on the tray) place them directly on a rack to cool. They will firm up quite a bit.
almost all cookie doughs freeze very well (before they are baked).
I quite often will make some cookie dough, shape it into a flat disc, and freeze until I’m ready to bake the cookies. Let the dough thaw overnight in the fridge and then the next day, form into cookies and bake as usual.
You can also shape the cookie dough into cookies and freeze on a flat tray until hard, and then place in a ziplock bag. Bake the cookies from frozen (add 1-2 minutes to baking time).

Print Recipe

Mocha Chocolate Chip Oat Cookies

Serves: 36-40

Cooking Time: 9-10

Ingredients

1 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 3/4 cup flour
1/4 cup cocoa
1 1/4 cups quick oats
1/2 tbsp instant espresso powder
1 tbsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
2 cups chocolate chips (dark or semi-sweet)

Instructions

Beat softened butter with sugars until light and fluffy.

Add eggs one at a time.

Dissolve espresso powder in the vanilla. Add to the egg/sugar mixture.

In a separate bowl, mix the dry ingredients: flour, cocoa, oats, baking powder and baking soda.

Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients. Mix gently until combined.

Stir in chocolate chips

Weigh out approximately 35 grams of cookie dough. Roll it into a ball and place on a parchment lined baking sheet about 2 inches apart.

Baking in 375 ° oven for 9-10 minutes until dry on top and slightly golden underneath.

Remove from oven, place on wire rack for 1 minute. Remove cookies from tray and place directly on rack to cool.

Makes about 36-40 cookies.

February 8, 2018

Baking

Brown Butter Finnish Spoon Cookies with Lingonberry Jam Recipe

I made these Brown Butter Finnish Spoon Cookies a few weeks ago to whet everyone’s appetite for the avalanche of christmas cookies soon to be upon us. Cookies are great any time of year, but at Christmas I like to bake up recipes that have that extra ‘wow’ factor. A lot of christmas cookies have special ingredients such as chocolate, macadamia nuts, toasted coconut or icing and sprinkles. The extra ingredient in these cookies is the browned butter. More of a mystery ingredient than extra fancy, the browned butter lends a smooth, nutty aroma to the cookie dough but without the nuts: guests will wonder what that secret ingredient is. They have a texture resminiscent of shortbread and the lingonberry jam in the middle contrasts nicely to the smoothness of the browned butter flavour in the cookie.

If you have never made browned butter before, here are some photos to help guide you.

Add two sticks of butter to a medium hot pan and let them melt.

After all the butter has melted it will start to foam up.

After the butter has foamed up, it will settle down and start to turn a golden colour. Take it off the heat as soon as the butter is a deep golden colour and the bits on the bottom are brown. If you wait too long, they will burn very quickly.

This is how the browned butter should look after it is poured out of the pan

The recipe for these cookies comes from Toronto Cooks by Amy Rosen. My eldest son, Max, bought this book for me for Mother’s Day last year. Everyone in my family knows how much I love cookbooks. I have about 200 on my shelves now, most of them gifts from my husband. Max thought that I would enjoy a cookbook filled with recipes from the many fine restaurants in the city where I grew up. And he was right. This book is also special to me as it’s the first cookbook he ever bought for me.

Max and I share a love for Scandinavia so this Finnish cookie recipe caught my eye straight away and was the first recipe I tried. The raw dough has such an amazing aroma, I’m surprised it made it into the oven. I made my cookies a bit larger than the recipe instructed, so I only made about 20 filled cookies, and they are a bit larger than the original recipe.

Forming the dough on the teaspoon is just slightly tricky, but take your time, don’t rush and they will turn out beautifully.

They’re scrumptious! Hope you enjoy them as much as we did.

Print Recipe

Brown Butter Finnish Spoon Cookies with Lingonberry Jam

Serves: 40

Cooking Time: 10-12 minutes

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups unsalted butter
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup superfine (caster) sugar
1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup lingonberry jam
icing sugar, for dusting

Instructions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a heavy-bottom saucepan or skillet, melt the butter until it foams up and then begins to brown and smells nutty. This takes about 10 minutes. Keep your eye on it, and don't let it burn.

Pour into a bowl and let it cool for about 20 minutes.

In another medium sized bowl, stir together flour and baking soda.

Once the browned butter has cooled, add the sugar and vanilla and stir until combined evenly. Add the dry ingredients to this bowl and stir until combined. Cover and set aside on the counter for 30 minutes.

To make the cookies, press some of the dough into a dessert spoon. Level the top off with a knife. Slide the dough off the spoon. Reshape with your hands, if needed, as the dough can be a bit crumbly. Place flatter side down on the cookie tray.

Bake in the oven for 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned and set. These cookies do not brown very much, so keep an eye on them and take them out of the oven when the cookies seem dry and set.

Cool the cookies on the baking sheet for 2 minutes and then transfer them to a cookie rack to cool completely.

Spread lingonberry jam or another jam on the flat side of one cookie. Then place another cookie on top. Sprinkle with icing sugar.

Store these cookies in an airtight container for about 1 week. But they wont' last that long. They're too goodl

While the cookies were baking I went outside to photograph some flowers in my garden on one of the last sunny warm days of fall.

Orange Gerber in November

December 30, 2017