Showing posts with label chocolate chips. Show all posts
Showing posts with label chocolate chips. Show all posts

Thursday, March 19, 2015

Trios (Peanut Butter-Chocolate Chip-Oat) Bundt #BundtBakers


A tender Bundt cake recipe with oats, chocolate chips and peanut butter, made gluten-free, just like the new-this-year Trio Girl Scout cookies. 

I’ve had a long and happy relationship with the Girl Scouts for many, many years so I was delighted when this month’s Bundt Bakers host Kelly from Passion Kneaded suggested the theme of Girl Scout cookies, using either the actual cookies or the flavors for inspiration.

As I wrote here, joining a Girl Scout troop was one of the main reasons I solidified friendships and settled in at a new school, in a new country that was ostensibly my own. That supportive environment allowed me to grow and explore in a safe and creative way. I was a Girl Scout through elementary school and into high school and my fellow scouts have remained my lifelong friends.

My first real job after I graduated from university was at the Girl Scouts and I worked with a woman who taught me grace under pressure, how to cooperate with and motivate volunteers and how to comport and express myself articulately in meetings with financial backers. Among other valuable lessons. She gave me scary big responsibilities and made sure I had the support to fulfill them. She reminded me, in fact, very much of my former troop leader in that regard. 

Our volunteers and area coordinators came from every race, every socio-economic group, every religion. What they had in common was a staunch belief in the innate ability of girls to succeed, to grow, to become responsible, contributing members of society - a society that would be made greater by the educated and creative influence those girls would have, as the strong and capable women they would become, through participation in the Girl Scout program.

Years passed and I was blessed with girls of my own. At the first opportunity, I made sure they were able join Girl Scout troops and took turns being troop leader for one of the other throughout the years they were involved in scouting. I saw them learn resilience and perseverance, both leadership skills and how to be a supportive team member, and I saw their natural curiosity and creativity enriched by being part of the Girl Scouts.

Girl Scout cookies come in some wonderful flavor combinations, many new since I was involved with the program. My absolute favorite is the Thin Mint, closely followed by the peanut butter cookies, called either Do-Si-Do or Peanut Butter Sandwich cookies, depending on the bakery and region, but I decided, in the spirit of a true Girl Scout, to explore the new and base my cookie on the latest addition, called the Trio.

It tickled me to bake my Trio Bundt in a Nordic Ware Duet pan (<Amazon affiliate link) which has a 5-cup capacity but you can use a six-cup pan if you prefer. Or even full size pan but the Bundt will just be shorter.

Ingredients
3/4 cup or 70g five-minute oats (These are the step between quick cooked and rolled oats.)
1 1/4 cups or 125g gluten-free bread flour mix (I like this one from Dove Farm. <Amazon affiliate link)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup or 140g creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup 100g packed brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup or 120ml milk
3/4 cup or 150g semi-sweet chocolate chips

Optional for serving: A good sprinkling of powdered sugar

Method
Preheat oven to 350°F or 180°C. Grease and flour your Bundt pans or pan or use a gluten-free baking spray.

In a medium sized mixing bowl, combine the oatmeal, flour, baking powder and salt.



In large bowl, beat the brown sugar and peanut butter with your electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy, scraping the bowl down occasionally. Beat in the vanilla and the two eggs.



Beat in flour mixture and then pour in the milk as it mixes till well blended, scraping the bowl occasionally.


Fold in the chocolate chips.



Pour the batter evenly in your prepared pans or pan and smooth out the top.



Bake 35 to 45 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.



Leave the Bundts to cool for about 10 minutes and then turn them out on a wire rack to cool
completely.



Sprinkle with a little icing sugar before serving, if desired. Of course, Trio cookies don’t have icing sugar but I’m taking poetic license here because it looks pretty.


Enjoy!



Were you a Scout growing up? What's your favorite cookie? Perhaps it's been recreated as a Bundt cake in this fabulous list of Girl Scout Cookie inspired Bundts! Many thanks to Kelly from Passion Kneaded, our host this month's Bundt Bakers for this great theme.


BundtBakers


#BundtBakers is a group of Bundt loving bakers who get together once a month to bake Bundts with a common ingredient or theme.  Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on the BundtBakers home page.

We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

If you are a food blogger and would like to join us, just send me an email with your blog URL to foodlustpeoplelove@gmail.com.





Posted by at 5:58:00 AM 0 comments
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Sunday, January 12, 2014

Brioche aux Pépites de Chocolat

Brioche is a subtly sweet eggy yeast dough, kneaded with added butter.  The addition of semi-sweet or dark mini chocolate chips elevates it to favorite status for breakfast or snack time. 

Happy birthday, Sunday Supper!  This week we are celebrating the second anniversary of the creation of Sunday Supper, a movement dedicated to getting folks back around the family dinner table, eating together.  Along with recipes, we are sharing our favorite Sunday Supper memory from the last year.  For my recipe, I decided to go back to my first Sunday Supper post and choose someone else’s recipe from that list to adapt.  I first participated just over a year ago and the theme was “bucket list.”  I tackled lemon soufflé.  As I looked through those recipes, I realized that one of my favorite bloggers, Nancy from Gotta Get Baked, had made something that was also on my bucket list:  Brioche.  So yay!  Another year and another challenge to scratch off the list!

My favorite Sunday Supper memory really speaks about the hearts of the men and women who form this group.  It’s not even post, theme or recipe related.  One night, a couple of months back, one of our British members wrote a heartfelt plea on the Sunday Supper Facebook group wall.


What followed were jokes and commiserations and virtual handholding.  When the next morning rolled around, she came back to thank everyone for seeing her through.  The thread ended with a comment from our wonderful leader, Isabel from Family Foodie.




And, Isabel is exactly right:  That is what makes this group special.

And, now on to the brioche!  I’ve given these special sweet rolls their French name because, when we lived in France, they were my daughters’ first choice of snack when we’d walk down to the local bakery of an afternoon, and that brings back another lovely memory for me.  You can’t beat brioche with little chocolate chips for a great breakfast or snack!

Make sure to scroll down and see all the other celebratory recipes and favorite Sunday Supper memories we have for you today.

Ingredients
For the dough:
4 cups or 500g flour
1 packet (1/4 oz or 7g) dried yeast
2/3 cup or 155ml milk
1/3 cup or 70g sugar
1/2 cup or 110g butter, very slightly softened
2 eggs
100g mini semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips

To decorate before baking:
1 egg yolk
1 tablespoon milk
About 3 tablespoons or 30g pearl sugar

Method
Warm your milk in the microwave by zapping it for about 30-40 seconds.  Sprinkle on the dried yeast and one teaspoon of the sugar.  Stir gently and set aside for about 10 minutes.

In the bowl of your standing mixer, measure your flour and add in the rest of the sugar and the two eggs.  Pour in the milk/yeast mixture.

Mix well and keep mixing until you have a nice homogeneous dough.  This gets pretty stiff and you may need to hold the mixer down if it starts to travel.  Cut your butter into chunks and add about one-third of them to the dough.

Knead, in your mixer, until the butter is fully incorporated. (You can do this by hand but it takes some muscle and time.)

Add the second third of the butter to the dough and knead until incorporated.

Add the final third of the butter and knead again until incorporated.

You should have a stretchy, silky, buttery dough.


Form a ball with the dough and leave it in the bowl.  No need to grease the bowl, it's buttery enough.

Cover the bowl and let the dough rise in a warm place for about an hour or until it doubles in volume.  (If you are living in a cold place, fill your sink with a few inches of hot water and set the covered bowl in there.)


Meanwhile, prepare your 12-cup muffin pan by lining it with stiff paper cups.

Punch down the dough and remove to a clean work surface.  Pour on the mini chocolate chips.  Fold and knead the dough until the chips are evenly distributed.

They look like they don't want to mix it but perseverance here is key.


Cut the dough into 12 reasonably similar pieces.



Roll them in balls and set them inside the prepared muffin cups.


Set aside for about an hour in a warm place to rise for the second time.  (If you live in a cold place, you can do the hot water in the sink trick again but do be careful to put just a little water so it doesn’t come up and wet the stiff paper cups and dough when you put the muffin pan in.)

When you are about 15 minutes from the end of the second rising, preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C.

Beat your egg yolk with the tablespoon of milk.  When the brioche are ready to bake, brush them lightly with the egg yolk/milk mixture and sprinkle on the pearl sugar.




Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the brioche are golden and sound a bit hollow when tapped.


Enjoy!


Happy 2nd Anniversary, Sunday Supper!  It's been an honor and a privilege to be a part of this wonderful group.  Look at all the other celebratory recipes and special memories my fellow members have shared!

Brilliant Breads and Breakfast Fare:
Amazing Appetizers and Cocktails:
Spectacular Soups and Salads:
Enticing Entrees:
Decadent Desserts:




Posted by at 1:08:00 AM 75 comments
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Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Chewy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

A classic from Joy of Cooking, this oatmeal chocolate chip cookie recipe makes the best chewy cookies around.


We arrived in the sweltering heat and were met at the rustic terminal building by a man named Pup Joint. Back then, we meant me, my husband and one large Boxer dog.

So young! What the heck happened?
The seaside oilfield town of Balikpapan, carved out of the jungle on the southeast corner of Borneo, was as about as far as you could get, in distance and modernity to Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei, where we had met six years before, in the northwest corner of the same enormous island. Of course, compared to Balikpapan, most cities were developed.

We didn’t really have a grocery store to speak of. And, back then, there was only one decent hotel in town. Other options to eat out included the local warung – small holes in the wall serving Indonesian fare – or Chinese food. So we made our own fun. We hosted game nights and potlucks and barbecues around the pool. We played card games and did needlework. There might have even been some drinking games, possibly Quarters.


I took Indonesian lessons and traveled around the region, practicing my language skills. We went SCUBA diving and I enjoyed baking and cooking, despite the limited supplies. And then the dog got a baby sister, which suddenly gave me all kinds of necessary jobs!

So young! Still just as cute now
.
Telephone lines were poor and satellite television was our only real link to the outside world. The complex we lived in had one immense satellite dish with one receiver so everyone watched whatever it was tuned to and the guardhouse controlled it. We received the live feed so there were no commercials but we got to see the news anchors sipping their coffee or combing their hair or checking their teeth for lipstick between segments. It was all rather amusing. Until the time when we had a houseful of guests watching a rugby game and the guards decided to change the channel. A persuasive emissary was sent to convince them to change it back immediately.

But the single most important thing that made that little town one of our favorite places to live were the friends we made. All we had were each other. We became family. And without an English bookstore or internet, we depended on each other to share books and recipes and magazines. If you’d read something, you passed it on. And there were no secret recipes. If you made something delicious, you shared.

And that is the very long story of how I came by this recipe for oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. My friend, Valorie, made these for us one day back in 1990 and I have been making them ever since. Her original recipe comes from the Joy of Cooking, and you can see from my well-worn hand-copied version that it is used often.


I am sharing it with you today, because it became a favorite with my daughters as well and was probably the one cookie I made most often for after school snacks when they lived at home. I would make a double batch of dough and bake a few that first day, then freeze the rest of the dough and they would get freshly baked cookies with minimal time and effort on many other days as well.

Today I am joining a group of avid cookie bakers called Creative Cookie Exchange started by Laura of The Spiced Life and Rebecka of At Home with Rebecka. Our theme this month is Back to School – cookies that would be great packed in lunch boxes or for an after school snack. Make sure to scroll down to see the other delicious cookies my fellow bloggers have made!

Ingredients
1/2 cup (firmly packed) or 100g brown sugar
1/2 cup or 115g granulated sugar
1/2 cup or 115g butter, softened
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 tablespoon milk
1 cup or 125g all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda (bicarbonate of soda)
1/2 teaspoon double-acting baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup or 95g uncooked quick rolled oats
3/4 cup or 125g semi-sweet chocolate chips
Optional: 1/2 cup or 50g chopped pecans (I leave them out most of the time.)

Method
Preheat oven to 350°F or 180°C and grease a cookie sheet.

Cream your butter with the two sugars.


Add in the egg, vanilla and milk. As you can see, I've doubled the recipe.


Add in the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and beat until smooth.


Add in the oats and chocolate chips and beat until well mixed.


Drop 2 inches apart on well-greased cookie sheet.



Bake 8-10 minutes, or until light brown. For chewy cookies, do not over bake!

Yeah, I put them too close. Doesn't affect the taste though.


A single batch will make about three dozen two-inch cookies per the ingredients list at the top. I highly recommend making a double batch of dough and freezing the balance as outlined below.


Freezing and baking instructions
On a big sheet of cling film, spoon out your leftover cookie dough along the width of the film.

Fold it over and press the dough into a sausage shape.




Fold in the sides of the cling film and roll the sausage up to completely cover the dough.


Place on cutting board or baking pan and put into the freezer until firm. This keeps for a couple of months.



When you are ready to bake again, preheat the oven and cut off as many slices of dough as you want to bake.

Place them on a greased cookie sheet. By the time the oven is up to temperature, the dough slices will be thawed.

Once they soften, you can pat them round again, if you want. The shape does not affect the taste though. :)
Bake as per initial instructions. Now you can have fresh baked cookies anytime! And the best part is that you know exactly what has gone into these, unlike the store-bought dough.




Enjoy!


 Also, if you are looking for inspiration for this month’s theme, check out what all of the hosting bloggers have made so far:

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Posted by at 5:15:00 AM 27 comments
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