Double Chocolate Chip Cookies

These could very well be the best cookies I’ve ever made. I’ve made them only a few times before, because they are sooooo extremely addicting and awful for you. I try to save them for the times that I need to deliver treats to people, because that way I don’t feel as guilty making them. If I give most of them away, and only eat a few of them in the process, it makes it just the slightest bit easier to justify these kinds of calories.

The original recipe is best. However, I recently modified it a bit and had great success with it (in my opinion). I’ll include both, with the necessary adjustments, and you can decide on how much fat you feel like consuming today.

Double Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, melted

¾ cup white sugar

¾ cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tbsp vanilla

2 cups white flour

½ cup cocoa powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 cup white chocolate chips

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Combine butter and sugars in a bowl. Beat in eggs and vanilla. In a separate bowl, combine dry ingredients, minus the chips. Add the dry ingredients to the wet in three installments, mixing just until combined. Fold in chocolate chips. Chill in the fridge until firm enough to roll between your hands.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Roll desired amounts into balls and place on sheets, six to eight on a sheet, depending on the size of your baking sheets. Flatten slightly.

Bake for 12 minutes. Remove from the oven and let them cool for a bit before transferring them to cooling racks. They won’t look completely done when they come out the oven, but they firm up perfectly as they cool. Makes about 36 cookies (in my experience). These store great in the cookie jar.

Okay, so that’s the regular recipe. But since I have a really hard time wrapping my head around one entire cup of butter in one batch of cookies, I cut it back to ½ cup and did some substitutions for the rest of the fat.

Instead of the other ½ cup of butter, I mixed together ¼ cup applesauce and ¼ cup greek yogurt. I warmed the mixture slightly in the microwave before combining it with the melted butter, then beat it together with the sugars, and combined the rest of the ingredients.

This mixture still needs to chill in the fridge, but it won’t ever really roll between your hands. Just a little too sticky…

But the good news is that although the globs of batter on the sheets will look at little like poop, they still bake up beautifully =)

Bake 11-12 minutes at MOST, but maybe test a few to make sure you have the baking times right. 12 minutes may be a little too long. Let them cool completely before storing. Should also make about 36 cookies.

Now what is so awesome about greek yogurt in cookies is that it keeps them moist, chewy, and fudgy for a loooong time. So don’t store these in the cookie jar. They will get a little too moist and stick to each other, and then tear when you try to pull them apart. Not that that’s a problem, but if you want to share them with others, store them in a tupperware in between layers of parchment paper, not overlapping them. They’ll be perfect.

Tortilla Soup

I’m coming around on the soup idea. Just the idea of soups in general. For those of you who don’t know me, I really hated soup as a kid. The idea of drinking my food was weird, and the texture was always weird…ycckkkk. But since I’ve gotten married, I’ve come across a soup recipe here and there, and I’ll admit that I’m starting to get hooked. Just starting, mind you. It’ll still be a while…=)

This soup is one of those recipes that just make you smile. It worked on the first try, leftovers were great, and it left you feeling happy inside. The kiddo scarfed it down the first time, too. He stuck up his nose at it the second time, don’t ask me why…crazy kid…

Tortilla Soup

1 small onion, finely chopped

2 peppers (red and yellow are best, but I guess green is okay), finely chopped

1 tbsp olive oil

3 cloves minced garlic

½ tsp cumin

(pinch of cayenne - we would have loved this, but left it out for the kiddo)

2 chicken breasts, chopped and seasoned with cumin, chili powder, and S&P

1 can (4 oz) green chilis, mild

1 can (15 oz) black beans, rinsed and drained

4 cups chicken broth or stock

½ cup red enchilada sauce

1/3 cup sour cream

Garnishes:

sour cream

avocado

shredded cheddar cheese

lime

fresh cilantro

toasted tortilla strips*

Sauté onions and peppers in olive oil until tender. Add garlic and spices for one minute more.  Add chicken pieces and sauté until just cooked through.

Pour in chilis, black beans, chicken broth, and enchilada sauce. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Remove from the heat, and stir in sour cream until fully incorporated.

Serve with garnishes of your choice. We loved the avocado, cilantro, and tortilla strips the most. This made two good-sized meals for us (including the kiddo, if he would have eaten it the second time around…).

*Tortilla strips are ridiculously easy to make. Use a pizza cutter to cut up a tortilla into the size strips you want. Place them on a lightly greased baking sheet and toast in a 350 degree oven for about 5 minutes. Keep an eye on them so they get toasted enough, but not too brown. I just toasted a new one for the leftovers while the soup was reheating on the stove.

For the record, I won't be offended if you ditch my blog and follow hers instead (where I got this recipe). It's an amazing blog. I hope I can create my own recipes one day, like that.

Pulled Pork Sandwiches

Photographing pulled pork is like photographing sloppy joe’s – you just shouldn’t. So, sorry! No pictures today! I wasn’t going to post this, since I didn’t have any, but it really was SO good that I wanted to share.

Again, you can find many different recipes for pulled pork online. Many families have their favorite recipe that they swear by. I just found a bunch that looked good and combined them to make it my own. You can easily do the same thing.

Pulled Pork Sandwiches

*2-3 lb pork shoulder or butt

2/3 cup brown sugar

1 tbsp paprika

1 tsp ground mustard

1 tsp onion powder

½ tsp garlic powder

1 tsp chili powder

1 onion, sliced

20 oz. soda – we used Dr. Pepper, but Root Beer and Ginger Ale are also popular

18 oz. bottle favorite BBQ sauce, or homemade BBQ sauce

*We had to buy a 5 ½ lb pork shoulder, because we couldn’t find one that was smaller, so I just cut it in half and put the other half in the freezer, and we’ll have it on hand to make this again.

Combine the sugar and spices. Thoroughly rub into the pork. It won’t all stick to it, but keep as much on there as you can. Place in a large freezer bag and stick in the fridge overnight.

In the morning, remove the pork and place in a greased crockpot. Slice the onion and place all around the pork. Pour the soda over the pork and onions. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours, turning it over halfway through.

When pork is done, remove it and shred (I use a couple of forks). It should be so tender it will practically pull itself apart =) Be sure to carefully discard as much of the fat as you can. Place pulled pork into a separate bowl. Use a slotted spoon to remove the onions from the pot, and add them to the pork, if you want to. Otherwise, just throw them away. Then pour the juices from the pot into another bowl to cool down before discarding. I like doing it this way because it gets rid of as much fat as possible.

Place the pulled pork (and onions) back into the crockpot. Combine with BBQ sauce, cover, and cook on low for another hour. Serve on hamburger buns. Some people (not me) like to put coleslaw on top. Others (me) like just a little cheese melted on top. Use it however you want! Yum yum!

By the way, this made three meals for our little family, plus one meal put in the freezer for later. Yay for yummy leftovers!