Devil's Food Cake Cookie Sandwiches

These are the easiest cookies you will ever make in your whole life, guaranteed! The secret? They're made from cake mix! Genius! Insanely easy and very yummy!

Cookies

1 package Devil's Food cake mix (we prefer Betty Crocker)

2 eggs
around 1/4 cup of canola oil
1 tablespoon pure vanilla

1/2 cup chocolate chips

Icing
8 ounces (one package) cream cheese, room temperature

1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 cup confectioners sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

 Cookies adapted from: kraft kitchen*

Frosting from: Delightful Bitefuls

 *I pretty much made my own recipe for the cookies based from a couple different recipes on the Internet. I knew I didn't want to have cream cheese in the cookies because that's the main ingredient in the icing! So I substituted cream cheese for oil and added the vanilla and the chocolate chips for flavor.


Cookies
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Stir by hand the cake mix, eggs, oil and vanilla in a large bowl until dough forms. Stir in the chocolate chips. Note: Only use enough oil for the dough to begin to stick together. Don't add to much or the cookies will be very oily and icky!
2. Roll into balls around 1 inch in diameter and place around 1 inch apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.
3. Bake for around 6 - 9 minutes or until the middle is just set. The cookies do harden a bit once they cool.


Icing
1. Place cream cheese in a medium mixing bowl. Cream cream cheese using a wooden spoon. Gradually add butter and continue beating until smooth. Add vanilla and continue to stir.

Take one cookie and spread a generous amount of icing on it, then top it off with another cookie.

There you have it! Delicious chocolate cookie sandwiches that taste like a cookies and cream chocolate bar! Yummy!

xox,
Gabby

Classic Chocolate Chip Cookies

I made these chocolate chip cookies for my Chemistry teacher. I know this may seem that I am a grade grubber, but I made these cookies for extra bonus marks =). It was an easy recipe to make so I thought why not! I got this recipe from the Betty Crocker website, and these cookies turned out magnificent! Enjoy making your chocolate chip cookies! Maybe you'll spoil a teacher with these cookies too ;).

The ingredients you'll need are:
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup butter or margarine, softened egg
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 package semisweet chocolate chips


Heat oven to 375º F. Mix sugars, butter and egg into a large bowl. Stir in the flour, baking soda and salt. Stir in the chocolate chips. Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls about 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for about 8 to 10 minutes or until light brown (centres fill be soft). Cool on wire rack.

enjoy, cookie monsters!
xo, michelle

"I don't drown my sorrows; I suffocate them with chocolate chip cookies."  -Author Unknown

Rocky Road Brownies

Rocky road is a crowd favourite when it comes to choosing ice cream flavours, especially for the chocolate lovers! I saw this recipe once again at Joy of Baking's website. I saw the picture for the brownies and I just knew I had to try it! These brownies were so deliciously moist and chewy I'm definitely making these again! 

The ingredients you'll need are:

Batter:
4 ounces unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup unsalted butter, cut into pieces

1cup granulated white sugar

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2 large eggs

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

Topping:
1/2 cup semi sweet or milk chocolate chips
1 cup miniature marshmallows 
1/2 cup chopped nuts (walnuts, pecans, almonds, hazelnuts, peanuts, and/or pistachios)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C) and place rack in center of oven. Butter/spray with a non stick a 8 inch (20 cm) square baking pan. 

Melt the chocolate and butter in a large stainless steel bowl placed over a saucepan of simmering water. Remove from heat and stir in the sugar. Next, whisk in the vanilla extract and eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Finally, stir in the flour and salt.

Pour into the prepared pan and bake for about 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few moist crumbs. Remove from oven and immediately sprinkle the brownies with the chocolate chips, miniature marshmallows and chopped nuts. Return the brownies to the oven and bake for about 5 minutes, or just until the marshmallows start to melt. Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack. 

bon appétit!

xo, michelle

"Forget love - I'd rather fall in chocolate!"  -Attributed to Sandra J. Dykes

Carrot Cake

I have the honour of writing the first recipe on our blog! What a great way to start with an amazing carrot cake recipe. This is by far one of the best carrot cake recipes I've tried, and it's so easy to make. I stumbled upon this recipe when Gabby and I were in search of Italian dessert recipes. Carrot cake is definitely not Italian, but it's still scrumptious! This recipe came from a baking website called Joy of Baking, they have so many yummy recipes I want to try out and post on our blog soon! For now though, I'll start with the Carrot Cake recipe. Enjoy!

 The ingrediants you'll need are:

Cake Batter

3/4 pound (340 grams) raw carrots (the recipe calls for about 2 1/2 cups finely grated, I used 3 carrots)

2 cups (260 grams) all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

4 large eggs

1 1/2 cups (300 grams) granulated white sugar

1 cup (240 ml) safflower, vegetable or canola oil

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Cream Cheese Icing

1/4 cup(57 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature

8 ounces (227 grams)cream cheese, room temperature

2cups (230 grams) confectioners (powdered or icing) sugar, sifted

1 teaspoon (4 grams) pure vanilla extract

finely grated lemon zest of one lemon

Directions

Baking the cake:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C) and place the rack in the centre of the oven. Butter/Spray a 9x13 pan and cut out parchment paper to put on the bottom of the pan.

Peel and grate your three carrots and put them aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together your flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and ground cinnamon. Set it aside.

In the bowl of your electric mixer, beat the eggs until they are frothy. Gradually add the sugar and beat until the batter is thick and light in colour. Add the oil steadily and then add the vanilla extract. Then, gradually add your flour mixture until there are no lumps.

Using a rubber spatula, mix in your carrots within the batter, evenly dividing the carrots with the batter.

After fully mixed, pour in your batter onto the sprayed pan and evenly distribute throughout the whole pan. Pop it into the oven and bake for about 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Once your cake has fully baked, take it out of the oven and let it cool on a wire rack.

Frosting

In a bowl of your electric mixer, beat the cream cheese and butter on low speed, until they are blended with no lumps. Then, gradually add the sifted powdered sugar and beat on low speed until fully smooth( I would suggest turning off the mixer and putting in the sugar, you'll avoid a lot of powder go up in your face!). Beat in the vanilla extract and lemon zest(I'm not too big of a fan of lemon zest so I only put in a few drops of lemon juice).

xo, michelle

"Vegetables are a must on a diet.  I suggest carrot cake, zucchini bread, and pumpkin pie."  -Jim Davis