Chocolate Peanut Butter Mud Pies

I grew up eating mud pies. Yes, actual mud pies, like these ones: here.

My Mom's original mud pie recipe calls for coconut but my husband, Mario, really hates coconut. I've been promising for years to try making him a more palatable version of my classic mud pie. As you can see I promised as much back in October 2007 when I posted the original recipe... better late than never, right?

This version uses peanut butter instead of coconut. I also threw in some chopped peanuts hoping to give them some more "crunch". The peanuts (although really good) didn't add a lot of crunch, and so next time I am going to stir in some Rice Krispies at the end instead...that ought to be in about January of 2013 if you want to check back then...

Chocolate Peanut Butter Mud Pies

2 cups sugar
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup cocoa
1/2 cup butter
pinch salt
1 cup peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla
3 cups oats (quick cooking)
1/2 cup chopped peanuts

1. In a saucepan, mix sugar, milk, butter, cocoa and salt. Bring to a boil, and cook for about one minute (stiring constantly).

2. Remove from heat and stir in the peanut butter and vanilla until melted and smooth.

3. Mix in the oats, and then the chopped peanuts. Let sit for about 10 minutes.

4. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto a parchment lined cookie sheet, and chill until set. Makes about 60 cookies. (or do like me and eat 12 and tell everyone it makes 4 dozen).

Dark Chocolate Chunk Almond Butter Cookies

I have been out of the country on vacation for what seems like MOST of the last six weeks. Four weeks galavanting around New Zealand, followed by a week at home, and then a week in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. It's been a whirlwird, and there hasn't been much cooking going on (at least not by me).

In the weeks leading up to the New Zealand vacation, I sort of made a little game out of seeing how much food I could use up out of our pantry/freezer before I left. I did pretty good; but I have come to the conclusion, that if some sort of natural disaster were to hit Ottawa, Canada; and my house survived it, we would still have enough food to last about 6 months.

Does anybody really need 8 different types of vinegar; 6 hot sauces, or 6 open jars of different fruit preserves in the fridge? Then there are the nut butters, cereals and grains, mustards, spices...

Coming home from my travels (with a suitcase full of New Zealand olive oils, avocado oils, chocolates, MORE fruit preserves, Mexican vanilla, agave syryp, dulce de leche, spices... I kid you not), I realized that my work in cleaning out the pantry had only just begun.

And so, I grabbed my jar of natural almond butter, which was so severely separated, I had to get out my hand mixer to blend it back together... and I made these cookies. I also used up a bar of Green and Black's dark chocolate which has been sitting in my secret chocolate stash calling (screeching) my name since my birthday in August.

What amazing willpower! You remark. Well save your breath, I ate so many of these cookies, I would have been better off to just eat the chocolate bar and been done with it. But then, I'd still have that separated jar of almond butter taunting me from the pantry, and I would have had no material for this riveting blog post...

Dark Chocolate Chunk Almond Butter Cookies

1 cup smooth almond butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 salt
3oz dark chpcolate, chopped

1. In a large bowl, mix together the almond butter, sugar, egg, baking soda and salt until well combined.

2. Stir in chocolate chunks.

3. Drop by rounded tablespoons onto a parchment lined cookie sheet.

4. Bake at 350F for 12 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack.

P.S. These were so good, I made a second batch with 1/2 almond butter, 1/2 peanut butter and used chopped up whoppers (aka, maltesers, or malt balls) in place of the chocolate... yum.

Mud Pies

This was a favorite of mine growing up, and was a recipe that my Grandmother used to make. I haven't made them in a while, but my Mom recently reminded me about them. Apparently one of my cousins, who lives in Ireland and reads my blog, asked my Mom if I was going to post "Grandma's Mud Pie's".

Well of course I am, Susan!

The reason I don't make these as often as I like has a lot to do with the fact that Mario hates coconut. I usually try to make sweets where I can sample one or two and then leave it up to him to polish off the rest. Well he won't touch a mud pie! I think I am going to try to make them again, but find something to replace the coconut... maybe some graham cracker crumbs? or chopped nuts? I'd welcome suggestions...

Another interesting little tidbit... when I pulled out my battered and beaten recipe card to make these, I noticed that my Mom had written, "Mrs. Pearson's Mud Pies". Well who the heck is Mrs. Pearson? Apparently, my Grandmother clipped this recipe out of the Newfoundland Telegram many many years ago, and Mrs. Pearson would be the wife of former Canadian Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson.

Mud Pies

2 cups white sugar
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup shortening
5 tbsp cocoa
1 cup fine coconut
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
3 cups quick cooking oats

1. In a saucepan, stir together the sugar, milk, shortening, cocoa, salt and vanilla. Bring to a boil and remove from heat at once.

2. Add oats and coconut. Stir well.

3. Cool a bit and drop by spoonfuls onto cookie sheets lined with waxed paper. Chill until set.

Mixed Nut Bars

Does anyone else buy those big bags of mixed cracking nuts during the holidays and eat only a few? Actually, I usually end up left with a big bowl of everything but walnuts, since my father-in-law will come over and systematically pick out all of the walnuts (he has learned to just ignore my dirty looks).

Well here is a recipe that I discovered LAST YEAR to use up the leftover mixed nuts (or you could just do like my Mom and put them away and bring them out again the next Christmas.... ** eat the mixed nuts at my Mom's house at your own risk **)

Well, speaking of OLD NUTS (no not you Mom), these are the mixed nut bars that I made with the 2006 Christmas leftover nuts. I made them in January (before I started my blog). I sent some to Mario's work, kept some out for the kids, and put some in the freezer. I found them yesterday at the bottom. I'm really scared about what else might be down there, so I stopped looking after I discovered the mixed nut bars.

But at least now, I can report with confidence, that this recipe freezes well!

Back when I made these, I actually sat down and figured out the nutritional information per serving. It was a little shocking, so I destroyed it. Luckily, I have a good memory for these types of things, and I believe these were fat free!


Mixed Nut Bars

1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 cup mixed nuts (measure after you remove the shells)
3/4 cup corn syrup
3 tbsp butter
1 cup butterscotch chips
2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup peanut butter

1. With a pastry blender, cut together the flour, icing sugar, and 1/2 cup butter. Press into an un-greased 9" x 13" pan. Bake 12 minutes at 350F.

2. Sprinkle nuts over crust.

3. In saucepan, melt 3 tbsp butter, butterscotch chips, and corn syrup. Pour over nuts. Bake 5 more minutes at 350F.

4. In another saucepan, melt chocolate chips and peanut butter. Spread over bars. Let stand until cool and cut into small rectangles (or big if you want, I don't care).

Banana Oatmeal Cookies

It seems like everytime I buy a bunch of bananas, one or two end up too ripe and get thrown in the freezer. I always try to mash the bananas first, and freeze them in baggies, because there is nothing worse than opening the freezer door and getting bombarded by an avalanche of disgusting black frozen bananas.

So, what do I normally do with all those frozen bananas? Well, of course I make banana muffins or banana muffins or banana bread. Thing is, then I get a glut of banana muffins in my freezer instead. There are just no huge muffin eaters in my family.... there are however, huge cookie eaters. So when I discovered this recipe for Banana Oatmeal Cookies, I new I was on to something BIG.

I made these for the first time on the weekend, and they were a major hit. Moist and chewy and the banana flavour wasn't over-powering. I will be making these again (I have enough bananas in the freezer for about 23 more batches!)

Banana Oatmeal Cookies

3/4 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 cup mashed banana (about 2 large)
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
2 cups quick oats
1 cup chocolate chips

1. Beat shortening, sugar, egg and bananas well.

2. Stir in flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg.

3. Stir in oats and chocolate chips.

4. Drop by large spoonfuls onto a baking sheet.

5. Bake 10 minutes at 400F. Cool on wire rack.

Butter Tart Squares

One of my very favorite cookbooks was a free gift that I got when registering for wedding gifts at The Bay (eons ago). The book is called "A Century of Canadian Homecooking" and it has a chapter for every decade since 1900 with recipes and the history of the dishes.

This recipe is from the chapter dedicated to "The Fifties". About these squares, the book says: "Squares and bars came in all shapes and sizes and were the mainstay of suburban kitchens. Bazaars, teas, bridge luncheons, coffee parties, all required home baking."

Well, I certainly didn't bring these to a Bazaar (what the heck is a bazaar??) or a bridge luncheon. And I do wonder what the difference is between a "tea" and a "coffee party"... what if you go to a "tea" and ask for a cup of coffee? Do you get thown out? Ostracized?

I just happen to love butter tarts, and this is a nice simple (way less finicky) version.


Butter Tart Squares
from "A Century of Canadian Homecooking" by Carole Ferguson and Margaret Fraser

Base:
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup flour

Topping:
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 tbsp melted butter
2 tbsp flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup raisins

1. For base: cream butter with sugar and blend in flour until crumbly. Press into the bottom of a 8" square baking dish. Bake at 350F for 10 to 15 minutes or until lightly browned.

2. For topping: Combine all ingredients and spread over base. Bake and additional 30 minutes.

3. Cool in pan and cut into 16 squares.

Peanut Layered Brownies

I made these brownies a few weekends ago when I had some friends over for dinner, and then I brought all the leftovers to work the following Monday (to remove the temptation from home). They were very popular. I did eat one, the night I had them for my friends, and they were delicious, but then again I have a serious bias towards ANYTHING that combines chocolate and peanut butter.

Honestly, some of my favorite peanut butter and chocolate recipes might even find their way onto this site someday. How about "Crunchy Chocolate-Peanut Butter Spoonfuls". You take a spoon, get a good glob of peanut butter on there, then press about 8 chocolate chips into the peanut butter, then dip the whole spoon into the Rice Krispies box, to get it nice and coated ... lick the spoon clean, REPEAT.

Or another favorite, "Chocolate-Peanut Butter Sandwich cookies". Get some store bought Fudgeo Cookies, twist them apart, spread some peanut butter inside, close it back up... enjoy with cold milk. I really could go on for ever, my imagination when it comes to peanut butter and chocolate knows no bounds.

I am submitting this recipe to the Browniebabe of the Month competition hosted by Myriam over at Once Upon a Tart. The winner gets a Browniebabe of the month apron! Wish me luck!


Peanut-Layered Brownies
Adapted from Bakers' Chocolate "Easiest Ever Chocolate Recipes"

Brownie Layer:
4 squares (4 oz) unsweetened chocolate
3/4 cup butter
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup flour
1 cup chopped peanuts

Peanut Butter Layer:
1 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Glaze
4 squares (4 oz) semi-sweet chocolate
1/4 cup butter

1. In a double boiler melt unsweetened chocolate and 3/4 cup butter. Stir until completely melted. Remove from heat.

2. Stir in sugar. Mix in eggs, vanilla, flour and peanuts.

3. Spread in a greased 13" x 9" baking dish and bake for 30 minutes at 350F. Cool in pan.

4. Mix peanut butter, powdered sugar and vanilla. Spread over brownies.

5. In double boiler, melt semi-sweet chocolate and 1/4 cup butter. Stir until chocolate is completely melted. Spread over peanut butter layer.

6. Cool until set. Cut into squares.

Pam's Marshmallow Cookies

My Mom used to make these cookies a lot when we were little, and judging by the name of the recipe, I am guessing that she got this one from my Aunt Pam.

I made these last week to take to a barbecue and my kids were very disappointed that I didn't bring any leftovers back home. The cookies are very simple to make, so if I was a nice Mom, I'd just make another batch for the kids.... but I'm afraid I'd eat them all myself, so Claire and Marco are pretty much out of luck! Sorry kids! (Maybe I'll show them the pictures, instead)

Pam's Marshmallow Cookies

1 egg
1/2 cup butter
1 cup icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla
6 oz chocolate chips
2 cups mini marshmallows
Graham crackers
shredded coconut

1. line a 8"x8" baking dish with graham crackers.

2. Put the first 5 ingredients in the top of a double boiler and melt.

3. Remove from heat and stir in the marshmallows. Pour mixture over the graham crackers.

4. Sprinkle with coconut and chill. Cut into squares.

Caramel Pecan Brownies

I have to say these brownies were the tastiest flop I've ever made, unlike my most famous flop, Haupia, which came out tasting nasty. Actually, it might not even be fair to call these brownies a flop, it is just that they didn't really turn out how I had imagined they would.

It simply didn't seem to matter how long I left them in the oven, they never cooked! In fact at one point, after I had left them in twenty minutes beyond the recommended cooking time, I took them out thinking, they have to be cooked now. I waited for them to cool and tried to cut them.... they were still like all squishy in the middle. So I committed a cardinal sin and put them BACK in the oven at that point, for about 30 more minutes. Same result.

In the end, just to be able to cut them into squares, I put the whole pan in the freezer for an hour. Then I hacked away at them until they were all cut. I stored them in the fridge, and to be honest they were the yummiest little things. They were just a lot more fudge-like than brownie-like.

So I guess I could have just called them "Caramel Pecan Fudge" and not fessed up about the flopped-ness of the recipe. But I like to think I am honest blogger, and as anyone who cooks much will know, not everything turns out they way you were hoping it would!



Caramel Pecan Brownies

4 squares (1 oz each) unsweetened chocolate
3/4 cup butter
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 cup flour
1 package (14 oz) caramels
1/4 cup heavy cream
2 cups pecans, coarsely chopped
1 package (12 oz) chocolate chips

1. Heat unsweetened chocolate and butter in a saucepan until melted. Stir in sugar. Beat in eggs. Stir in flour until well blended.

2. Spread half the mixture in a greased 9" x 13" baking dish. Bake for 20 minutes at 350F.

3. Meanwhile combine caramels and cream in a saucepan and melt over low heat. Stir until smooth. Stir in 1 cup pecans.

4. Spread caramel mixture over partially baked brownies. Sprinkle with half the chocolate chips. Pour remaining brownie batter over the top. Sprinkle with last of pecans and chocolate chips.

5. bake for 25 to 30 more minutes. Cool in pan on wire rack.

6. Hope for the best.

Ginger Sparklers

Well, the last few days I have been running a little poll in my sidebar. It was just for fun to help settle a minor domestic issue that Mario and I are having, concerning who will get more time behind the wheel of our brand new car, which we get next week.

I assumed that I would win by a landslide, considering this is MY site and all. But obviously Mario must have been buying votes, because the outcome is very close (50/50 right now). So... thank you to all my "loyal" readers!! Maybe since you all like Mario so much, I ought to just turn the site over to him ... but he might have to change the name to "Mario is Single"...

Seriously, you guys better start being nicer to me, one of these times when you aren't paying attention, I'm going to add a cup of salt to one of my recipes! Ha take that!

So speaking of recipe's....today's is a good one.


These cookies are a little bit of a blast from my past. My Mom used to make these when we were little. She got the recipe from an old Robin Hood Flour cookbook and I still work from a wrinkly-grease stained photocopy of the original page.

There is just something about the flavour of these cookies, I don't know what it is, but they are so GOOD. And the sugar on the outside gives them a delightful little crunch. The recipe makes 50 cookies.

Ginger Sparklers

2 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1 cup brown sugar, packed
3/4 cup butter
1/4 cup molasses
1 egg
sugar

1. Whisk together the flour, salt and spices.

2. Cream together the butter, brown sugar, molasses and egg.

3. Pour dry ingredients into creamed mixture. Mix well.

4. Roll into small 1" balls. Roll the balls in sugar and place 2" apart on a greased baking sheet.

5. Bake at 375°F for 8-10 minutes.

Muskoka Cookies

I made a batch of these cookies a couple of days ago and brought half of them into work, and sent the other half to Mario's work. I was so anxious to get them OUT of the house (so I wouldn't eat them all) that I actually forgot to leave any at home for the kids.

I felt a little bad about that, because it is one of their favorites, so last night I started pulling out all the ingredients to make another batch. While I was doing that, I also had dinner on the go, and I guess I wasn't paying that much attention to the kids. Marco walked into the kitchen....


Yes folks that was permanent marker.... sorry buddy no cookies for you! So I put the ingredients back away, and decided to put on EXTRA vegetables for dinner instead!

Muskoka Cookies
from the May 2003 issue of Today's Parent Magazine

4 cups quick oats
2 cups brown sugar
1 cup butter
1 cup chocolate chips

1. In a large microwave safe bowl (or a saucepan) melt the butter.

2. Stir in the brown sugar until melted.

3. Stir in the oats until coated, and then stir in the chocolate chips.

4. Press the mixture down into a greased 11"x16" cookie sheet with a 1/2" lip. Press until well packed and even.

5. Bake at 375°F for about 10-12 minutes until edges start to brown and mixture is bubbly. Let cool and cut into squares.

Fig Newtons

Fig Newtons are one of my all time favorite cookies. At some point I decided that I wanted to try to make my own. I knew there was no way I'd get them as low in calories as the store bought ones (only 40 per cookie), so I didn't even bother calculating the calories in these (there is really no need to alarm myself).

I had a little trouble finding a recipe that I liked, so I adapted one that I found on Recipe Goldmine.

Unfortunately, I didn't have nearly enough fig filling for the amount of pastry I made. I didn't want to waste all that good pastry, and I was out of figs, so I made some of the peanut butter filling from Peabody's recipe for Peanut Butter Filled Chocolate Cupcakes and stuffed the leftover pastry with that (and chocolate chips of course).

Then I didn't have enough pastry and I had half of the peanut butter filling left. I realized that this could turn into a very ugly never ending cycle of filling...pastry...filling...pastry, so I had to put an end to it by just eating the rest of peanut butter filling with a spoon.

The Fig Newtons were really good, and I figured that after eating about a cup of peanut butter filling, it really didn't matter anymore how many calories they had. So I ate six of them.

I've adjusted the amounts in the recipe, so hopefully this won't happen to you. But, if you do find that you have leftover pastry, I highly recommend the peanut butter filling with chocolate chips! On second thought, forget the pastry and the Fig Newtons, and just have a big bowl of peanut butter filling.

Fig Newtons

Filling:
2 cups dried figs, very finely diced
1 1/2 cups water
1 cup sugar

Pastry:
3 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup honey
1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla

1. Make sure the figs are very finely chopped so you will be able to spread the filling evenly on the pastry. Simmer the figs in the 1/2 cup sugar and water for 10 minutes. Let cool.

2. Sift the flour, salt and baking powder together.

3. Cream butter and 3/4 cup of sugar. Mix in honey. Add egg and beat until light.

4. Add dry ingredients and milk to creamed mixture. Add vanilla and blend well. Roll into a ball, cover with plastic wrap and let sit for 30 minutes.

5. Divide dough into quarters and roll out into a rectangle that is approximately 11" long by 5" wide. Use a ruler and a knife to trim the pastry into a "neater" rectangle that is 10" x 4".

6. Spread with about 1/4 of the fig mixture. Fold sides of pastry over the filling and cut the the pastry into five 2" cookies.

7. Place on a parchment lined cookie sheet and repeat with the next 1/4 of the dough.

8. Bake at 400F for about 15 or until tops are golden brown.

Snickerdoodles

I really try not to buy too many store bought cookies for our family. In fact just about the only ones I actually buy are fig newtons, I love them and I'm not sure you could make them homemade with only 40 calories each (I might try sometime though, just for fun).

Cookies are really so easy to make and there are just so many different varieties. These ones, Snickerdoodles, are really no-fuss. The cookie dough is a little dry and so it doesn't spread out much in the oven on its own. That is why the recipe says to press them down with the bottom of a glass before you bake. I tried a few different thicknesses. One batch I flattened to about 1/3", others I left a little thicker. Mario and the kids preferred the ones that I didn't flatten too much because the inside stayed softer. The flattened ones were crispy throughout. So whichever you prefer....

Snickerdoodles

1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 2/3 cup flour
2 tbsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1. Cream together the butter and the sugar. Beat in the egg, mixing well.

2. Add flour, salt and baking powder. Mixing until all is incorporated.

3. Mix 2 tbsp sugar with cinnamon and spread on a plate.

4. Roll cookie dough into balls the size of an eyeball (just kidding) the size of an egg yolk and roll in cinnamon sugar.

5. Place on parchment lined cookie sheet and flatten slightly with the bottom of a glass.

6. Bake for 10 minutes at 400F.

Almond Butter Cookies with Dark Chocolate Buds

There is a little story behind these cookies. A couple of months ago, I noticed that President's Choice had a new Almond Butter product. It was a natural Almond Butter with no sugar added. I bought some thinking that if the kids would eat it in place of peanut butter, it would so healthy. Almonds are loaded with protein, fibre, calcium, magnesium, potassium, vitamin E and other good stuff. Anyway, like many of my well laid plans, it didn't work out. The kids had other ideas and neither one of them would even TASTE the almond butter, that is, until I baked these cookies! Ha, take that! Score: Mom 1 - Kids 0.... but wait they did get me to make these scrumptious cookies... Mom 0 - Kids 3000.

This recipe is my own concoction, I figured that any peanut butter cookie recipe would work just as well with the Almond Butter. The dark chocolate buds were an afterthought, because I had some I wanted to use up, but they were perfect! I was going to take these to work, but no one would let me leave the house with them.

Almond Butter Cookies with Dark Chocolate Buds

1/2 cup almond butter
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 1/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 package of dark chocolate buds

1. With a whisk, beat together the almond butter and butter.

2. Beat in the sugar and brown sugar and then the egg.

3. In another bowl sift together the flour, baking soda and salt. Add the dry ingredients a little at a time to the almond butter mixture. Stirring until it is all incorporated.

4. Roll dough into 1" balls. Place on parchment lined cookie sheet and press down on each with a fork (spray a little cooking spray on the fork so it doesn't stick).

5. Top each cookie with a chocolate bud. If there are any chocolate buds leftover, eat them before anybody else notices.

6. Bake cookies for 15 minutes at 300F. If you prefer a crispier cookie bake for 9 minutes at 375F.

Milk Chocolate Pecan Cookies

There are some special instructions for this recipe: (1) Wait until your kids aren't looking then run around the house collecting all of the extra Easter chocolate that they haven't eaten yet, because frankly they've had plenty in the 4 days since Easter. (2) Hide the chocolate. (3) A little while later (and again make sure they aren't looking) chop the chocolate up into small pieces. (4) Make the following cookies.

I have to say, this was one of my most brilliant plans yet. Out of paranoia that my kids will get chubby from all the chocolate, I steal it from them... then add heaps of butter, sugar and flour to it, bake it and give it back to them! .... uh, maybe I'll bring these ones to work. It's OK to make your co-workers chubby, because in the end this just makes YOU look better!

Milk Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
12 oz reclaimed milk chocolate Easter Bunny, chopped (or use milk chocolate chips)
1 1/2 cups chopped pecans.

1. Preheat oven to 375°.

2. Combine flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl & set aside. Beat butter, eggs, brown sugar and vanilla in large bowl.

3. Gradually beat flour mixture into egg mixture. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts.

4. Drop by tablespoonful onto ungreased baking sheets and bake for 9 minutes or until golden brown.

Double Chocolate Chip Cookies

Last year on Mother's Day, my son Marco brought home a mason jar filled with a homemade dry cookie mix. It was cute, the ingredients were layered in the jar and it was tied with a ribbon and instructions to add the wet ingredients. We tried the cookies at home, and they were INCREDIBLE! I had to beg the staff at Marco's daycare to write down the amounts for the dry ingredients. I have since taken these cookies to work and was bombarded with e-mails asking for the recipe. Tonight, I made them with cashews instead of pecans because that's all I had. I don't know if that makes them better, because I am not eating one - EVER (I can't eat just one), but my kids approved of the alteration. At my house cookies all have to be the same size, so there are no commotions, so I used a food scale and measured 35g of dough for each cookie. I got 30 cookies from the recipe.

Double Chocolate Chip Cookies

3/4 cup margarine, softened
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup cocoa
1 3/4 cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup pecans
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat over to 350F.

2. Cream butter, egg and vanilla. Add brown and white sugars, mix well.

3. Add cocoa, flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Combine well (you will have to get your hands dirty to mix it up good).

4. Mix in the nuts and chocolate chips.

5. Roll into balls, about the size of walnuts. Place 2" apart on greased cookie sheet and bake 11-13 minutes.