Warm Cookies or Cookie Dough?

February 22, 2015February 22, 2015 lizellyn Sweets Chocolate, Cookie

Screen Shot 2015-02-21 at 9.31.45 PM Screen Shot 2015-02-21 at 9.30.24 PM Which do you prefer: warm chocolate chip cookies or chocolate chip cookie dough? It is an even split in my house; two prefer the dough and two prefer the warm cookies. In order to appease all the members of family, I baked one tray of cookies and placed cookie size portions of cookie dough in a sealed container in the freezer. That way my cookie-dough eating daughter can grab a chunk of cookie dough when she so chooses. And, I can pop a tray of dough in the oven when the males in the house want some warm and gooey chocolate chip cookies but I don’t have time to whip up a new batch. Hopefully, when I dig in the freezer, I won’t find an almost empty container of cookie dough. 🙂

If you are a fan of cookie dough, my daughter found the following cookbook. These recipes do not use eggs. So, you don’t have to worry about any bacteria issues.

to Lindsay Landis!

See my other posts with desserts from this book:

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Truffles

Triple Cookie Dough Cheesecake

I probably love cookie dough as much I do romance books. In Mystery Man (Book #1 Dream Man Series by Kristen Ashley) the main character, Gwen, is a fan of cookie dough, too. Hawk, Gwen’s fat-free-eating perfectly sculpted boyfriend, loves Gwen’s cookie dough curves.

Kristen Ashley is a fabulous author; I recommend both her Chaos Series and Dream Man series.

Chaos: Own The Wind

Tough biker dudes were a bit hard to warm up to, but once I did – oh my my. A great exploration of balancing of whether you can like someone in spite of their faults. Now that I’ve developed a greater understanding of the biker world – can’t wait to read more of Kristen Ashley’s books.

Dream Man: Mystery Man, Wild Man, Law Man, Motorcycle Man

Badass Commando, sexy DEA Agent, honorable police officer, and righteous biker make for some hot tales. It is very difficult for me to decide which highly protective character should win the most desirable. However, in Wild Man, Brock’s appreciation for Tessa’s cupcakes (not a euphemism) earns him my vote. Gotta love a guy that has a sweet tooth and an amazing body.

to Kristen Ashely!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Buckeyes

February 20, 2015March 23, 2015 lizellyn more sweets, Uncategorized Chocolate, gluten free

Chocolate and Peanut Butter is almost always a good thing. These are definitely good-to-eat treats. But what in the world is a buckeye?

Just what exactly is a buckeye and why is it Ohio State’s mascot?

“In preparation for Monday night’s national championship game between the Ohio State Buckeyes and the Oregon Ducks(more on that in another story), it seems appropriate to clear the confusion up.

According to The Ohio State University’s athletics department website, a buckeye is “a small, shiny, dark brown nut with a light tan patch that comes from the official state tree of Ohio, the buckeye tree.”

According to folklore, the Buckeye resembles the eye of a deer and carrying one brings good luck. It has been the official Ohio State nickname since 1950, the website says, but it had been in common use for many years before that.”

See the full article at

http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2015/01/what_exactly_is_a_buckeye_and.html

By Cheryl Wray | cwray@al.com

Email the author | Follow on Twitter
on January 12, 2015 at 5:45 AM, updated January 12, 2015 at 9:06 AM

Valentine’s Heart Pound Cake

February 15, 2015 lizellyn Sweets Cake, Chocolate

This was my Valentine’s gift to my family – a pound cake in a pound cake. The pink (vanilla) cake stayed remarkably moist after being baked inside the chocolate cake. My kids really liked snacking on the extra leftover pink cake. My daughter is a true chocolate lover and she doesn’t believe that chocolate cake actually is an acceptable form of chocolate. She prefers ganache and fudge to chocolate cake. However, she appreciated the fun look of the cake and enjoyed a few slices. Less than 24 hours later, all the cake is gone (the pink scraps and the one with the heart inside).

Peppermint Patties

February 11, 2015March 23, 2015 lizellyn more sweets Chocolate, gluten free

February 11, 2015 is National Peppermint Patty Day. The cool taste of peppermint seems fitting for a cool winter day. However, next year I think I would prefer to make this at Christmas time. I would top it with red and white chocolate. This is also a good recipe to add to a gluten free diet.

Lemon Curd and White Chocolate Cupcake

February 6, 2015February 6, 2015 lizellyn Sweets Cupcake

This recipe centers around, both literally and figuratively, a lemon curd filling. The lemon curd filling was a lucky recipe find. I was on a hunt for a new angel food cake and I came upon a rolled-up angel food cake with this lemon curd filling. I tried the recipe and the filling was amazing. I knew it would also be great inside a cupcake. The cupcake is topped off with a white chocolate Lindt Truffle cream cheese frosting. All together, it’s rich and delicious.

I need to find other recipes to use this lemon-curd. I personally enjoyed eating the filling by the spoonful (it’s gluten free).

Irish Coffee Cupcakes

January 20, 2015 lizellyn Sweets Chocolate, Cupcake

photo taken by my daughter –

Bailey’s Irish Creme is a fantastic compliment to desserts. This is a mocha flavored cupcake with a Bailey’s buttercream. To get the perfect buttercream you need have the right balance of liquid to powdered sugar and must whip the buttercream for a sufficient period of time. A good buttercream will be fluffy. If you add too much liquid, the buttercream will not hold its shape. If you do not add enough liquid, the buttercream will be stiff and difficult to pipe. Do not stress – just keep taste testing your batch until it is perfect. Taste testing – one of the perks of baking!

Blueberry Cake

January 11, 2015 lizellyn Sweets Cake

Blueberry Cake and Blueberry Cake 10 minutes later. My teenage son doesn’t even like blueberries and he ate three pieces of cake.

Here’s the back story on tonight’s cake. It was snowing, I didn’t feel like going to the grocery store to get anything for dinner. After looking in my refrigerator, I decided that I would make a breakfast dinner. If you’re not familiar, that’s when you eat breakfast foods for dinner. My kids are convinced that breakfast foods taste better at dinnertime. I decided to make scrambled eggs and sausage. I considered starch options: toast, bagels, or biscuits. Then I thought to myself, if I make muffins or a coffee cake it’s like a combination of a breakfast starch and a dinner dessert. Hence, I chose blueberry cake – it was like killing two birds with one stone. Looking at the empty plate above, it’s more like my family killed-off the cake.