Maple Bacon Chocolate Chunk Cookies

I have been deliquent about posting this week. I've been too busy doing things like getting a new job and hanging out with real people away from my computer! How dare I, I know.

Earlier this week I made bacon chocolate chunk cookies. They were absolutely fabulous. I have been obsessed lately with the idea of salty and sweet together so I knew I would love this combination. Also, it seems like everywhere you look these days bacon is making a come back as the most popular item on every menu in town, including the dessert menu!

I adapted this recipe from the Noble Pig blog. I tried to make them a little less horrible for me but honestly, they still come in at about 3 Weight Watchers point a cookie. I allowed myself to eat about one a day...and I gained half a pound this week. So, don't think this is diet food. It's just GOOD food.

Here's the recipe:
8 strips of bacon, cooked. 5 should be mixed in the dough and 3 crumbled and pressed on top of the dough before cooking. Noble Pig said this was optional but I really think it's necessary or you don't taste the bacon in the cookies enough.
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature (I used stick margarine)
1/2 cup granulated sugar (I used 1/4 cup Splenda/Sugar combo)
1/3 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 large egg
3/4 teaspoon maple extract
2/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chunks
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Cook bacon in a large skillet over medium heat until browned and cooked through. Drain on a paper-towel lined plate and chop finely.

In a medium bowl whisk flour, baking soda and salt.

In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugars; about three minutes. Add egg and maple extract and beat until just blended. Add the dry ingredients; beat until just incorporated and the flour is dissolved. Stir in the chocolate chips, walnuts and bacon.

Drop one large Tablespoon of cookie dough 2-3 inches apart. Bake 10-12 minutes in a 350 degree oven only until the edges are brown and slightly soft in the center. Mine did not spread out that much but I only did about 8 cookies per tray.

Boy oh boy were these gems a hit! I tasted this almost exact cookie at a trendy eatery the week before and I have to say - MINE WERE WAY BETTER!

Make them, eat them, love them. Be sure to tell people they have bacon in them before you hand them over because whops, some people do still keep kosher these days...even in Texas. I'm going to try these again but without chocolate. I want to taste the bacon even more and I think a simple maple and walnut bacon cookie would really do the trick.

Key Lime Cupcakes

As far back as I can remember my dad has loved Key Lime pie. I remember it was always his dessert of choice when we went out to eat pretty much anywhere. So, when his birthday rolled around this year I contemplated just making him the straight up pie...or maybe even key lime bars. But then I came across this recipe for Key Lime Cupcakes. It was love at first sight...and eventually at first bite.

The recipe was pretty straight forward and after making cupcakes from scratch the week before I felt like a total pro already. I diligently zested and juiced more key limes than I have ever seen in my life (and gosh, I still have about 30 of them leftover...). I have to say that the addition of real lime juice and zest to this recipe put it over the top. It was just SO amazingly zingy, tangy, citrusy...limey. You get my point.

The batter was a bit runnier than the chocolate cupcakes I made previously but honestly I think these came out much more fluffy and moist.

Oh...did I mention I didn't mess with the recipe at all? That's right...full fat butter, cream cheese, etc. And I ate 2 of them. I will not measure my waistline this week.

I think my favorite part of this recipe was the frosting. I'm a total sucker for cream cheese. You could spread it on pretty much anything and it will be my favorite dish ever. I was happy to learn how to make a traditional-ish cream cheese frosting since it seems many cupcakes are topped with that.

Look at how green they are! In the future, I might not add the food coloring. I imagine the coloring was added to punch home the idea that they are LIME but you can smell it and taste it so I just don't think the fake green was necessary. Fun to buy the little McCormick's box of colors though!

Adventures with Candy - Divinity and Buckeyes

Last week was my Dad's birthday. Every year I have no idea what to buy him (this goes for most people actually). Luckily, thanks to my new hobby, I did not even think of buying him a thing this year. He LOVES sweets of all kinds so I figured I would take a stab at some of his favorite items.

First, I attempted to make divinity. I'm not incredibly familiar with this candy but I remembered that he likes it so I gave it a shot. Wikipedia says that "Divinity is a nougat-like confectionery made mainly with egg white, corn syrup, and sugar." I could tell just from the description that this could not be made in to a healthy treat so I did not even try. After all, I wasn't really planning on eating these. I used a recipe from Paula Deen that you can find here. However, I would recommend doing more internet research than just this recipe because after the fact I found more information on how hot to heat the syrup and I think maybe I shouldn't have just blindly trusted Mrs. Deen in this case.

The process was unlike anything I have ever done. First of all I have NEVER used white corn syrup in my kitchen. I have also never beaten egg whites to stiff peaks (though I have seen it done on TV many times). I think I got the egg whites portion down...at least they seemed like stiff peaks to me.


Melting the sugar, corn syrup and water together was rather exciting. I loved seeing it bubble and using my new candy thermometer. The recipe said to use a heavy bottom pot so I chose to use my enameled cast iron pot. In retrospect this was not a great idea since the pot was too heavy to lift off the stove and pour the scalding hot sugar in to the mixer. I ended up using a ladle which worked OK but might have contributed to the gooey outcome I suppose.



Once everything was mixed together I had no idea if it was done. The recipe says to "beat until mixture holds its shape." No clue what that means...what shape? I beat it for about 5 minutes and decided it seemed fluffy and stopped. I think that was my mistake right there. Once I started to spoon everything on to the parchment paper it just oozed everywhere. Disaster. I tried to put some in to muffin tins...even after letting them sit for a day and a half they were still gooey and would not come out. In the end, a few of the thinner candies did dry out and tasted pretty good. Most of the mixture ended up in a Ziploc bag. It has the texture of marshmallow cream. I'm going to try to use it this week to make cookie sandwiches or something...I just hate to waste it. So, Divinity - 1 Ashley - 0.

Luckily, I think I redeemed myself slightly with the second candy attempt: Buckeyes. These were SO easy it was wonderful. Unfortunately, my non baker self kicked in and neglected to read or learn anything about melting chocolate correctly. I had seen it done a zillion times on the Food Network with the whole double boiler situation so I got that setup and dumped in the chopped up chocolate (I used half milk, half semi sweet). It started to melt but never got to the consistency necessary to dip the peanut butter balls in. So, I added a couple tablespoons of coffee (Ina Garten always uses coffee in her chocolate!) and it loosened up a bit but still not enough. So, I added a couple splashes of milk and voila! - I could easily dip the balls. Unfortunately, I guess adding all that liquid made it more of a ganache so it never really got very hard. They firmed up enough to be mighty delicious and pretty though so I didn't cry over it too much. Lesson learned for next time.



The last thing I made for him were Key Lime Cupcakes. But...you'll have to wait to hear about those as they definitely deserve their very own entry.

New favorite things: turkey tenderloin and the mandolin slicer

I cooked so much last week that I couldn't find the time to blog about it. What a problem to have!

I finished out the week of veggies with a couple of great dishes and some not so great. I never did make the carrot soup...I'm going to get to that today hopefully and I have an entirely new bunch of carrots to add to it from the box this past Friday.

On Tuesday I had to use those mustard greens that we attempted to eat as a salad the night before. I have to say...they weren't my favorite things ever. I mixed in the greens from the beets and added some red wine vinegar which helped but they were just meh. That night I roasted a turkey tenderloin which was a new addition to my normal repertoire. I'm a fan! This meat is so low in calories and fat that I could eat 8 ounces of it for under 5 Weight Watchers points - that same amount of chicken breast is 8 points! I have no idea how it is so much leaner than chicken breast but I'm going to go along with it and use it more often. The leftovers made great sandwiches mixed up like chicken salad. That same night I cooked brown rice and put in some diced up carrots and...BACON! Yum. It was only 1 slice but gave the rice a great flavor.


Wednesday and Thursday we went out for dinner but made up for it on Friday with a blowout vegetable and shrimp stir fry. We make this a lot and it's always a hit. I used up the brocolli, some carrots, spinach, leftover brown rice and we threw in some shelled edamame and shrimp as well. And LOOK - Max and I finally learned how to use our mandolin slicer to make perfect stir fry carrots. Very exciting, I know.


After all of the things I cooked last week, how much I indulged AND the fact that I did not exercise even once, I still lost 2 ounces. I know that might not seem like a lot but I had at least 3 HUGE and ridiculously calorie heavy meals out this week so if it wasn't for my healthy cooking during the week the situation would be much worse. :)

I have to get the pictures together of the treats I made for my dad...some turned out great and others not so much. Stay tuned if you have a sweet tooth!