DOUBLE CHOCOLATE CHEWIES

I know it's  not Tuesday, but I couldn't get this out last Tuesday.  We are finally having some warmer temperatures than we have had for most of this summer so I decided it was a good day to defrost my chest freezer. Fortunately, for me, it is not a large one.  So that is how I have spent part of my day today.  I always like how clean it looks when I get finished.  It also looks emptier...guess all that "stuff" on the (in)sides takes up a lot of room.  But it is done for probably another year so I thought I would try to get this post out before it is Tuesday again.  Yesterday at church, I saw Jerry, one of the volunteers, and he said, "Those cookies you made last Tuesday were really good."  I was so surprised.  That was almost a week ago.  I just finished eating the last one I saved and they are so - so good. Hope you will continue to read and check them out.

If it's Tuesday, it must be volunteer day at Hillcrest Thrift Shop.  That also means I have to prepare something sweet to share with my fellow co-volunteers.  I am actually enjoying finding some different recipe that I think they will enjoy.  They are still talking about my RANGER COOKIES  from last week.  They were really, really good.

I found this recipe in my old spiral binder that I started YEARS ago when I decided to cut out recipes and glue them in a binder to try when I had time.  I don't think I had ever made them.  At least I didn't write down any comments or dates by the recipe (as I commonly do).

As I usually do, I modified the recipe to reduce the calories as much as I could.  When this recipe was printed in the magazine, you couldn't buy sugar free cake mixes but you could buy ones with the pudding in the mix.  I know because the original recipe says a "plain devil's food cake mix".  I also use a margarine that is 60 % vegetable oil and it worked fine in the recipe.  I had the Toll House Limited Edition Winter dark chocolate and mint morsels left over from last winter that I decided to use instead of just semi-sweet chocolate chips.  I am so pleased that I did.  I love the added mint taste. 


One of the volunteers asked me if I thought you could use caramel chips?  She loves caramel chips.  I told her I thought you could use any flavor of chips that you wanted to.  One of the things I have learned to do since starting this blog is being brave enough to experiment with recipes. 

Here is my updated version of

DOUBLE CHOCOLATE CHEWIES

1     Pilsbury Sugar Free Devil's Food cake mix (or regular devil's food cake mix without pudding)
1/3  cup water
1/4  cup (1/2 stick) margarine, melted (60 % vegetable oil margarine works)
1     egg
1     6 - oz bag (1 cup) chocolate chips ( I used a Winter mix of dark chocolate and mint morsels)
1/2  cup chopped pecans, walnuts, or hazelnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Spray cookie sheets with cooking spray.

Place cake mix, water, melted margarine, and egg in a large bowl.  Beat on low speed 1 minute.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula.

Increase the speed to medium and beat one more minute.  Dough will be thick.

Add the chopped nuts and finally the chips.

Drop teaspoons of dough 2 inches apart on the cookie sheet.  I used my 1 - inch scoop.

Then dipping a fork in a cup of water,

I lightly flattened the ball of dough.  The fork will stick to the dough if you don't wet it. 











Bake for 10 - 12 minutes until cookies have set but are still a little soft in the center.

Cool the cookies for 1 minute on the cookie sheet before removing them to cool on a wire rack. (The cookies on the left were the first ones I made without flattening them.  I wanted them flatter so I flattened the rest of them before I baked them.)

The recipe made 44 cookies.

NUTTY PEACH QUICK BREAD

I wanted to find a recipe to use some of my ripe peaches besides peach cobbler.  I decided to look in my 2004 Taste of Home's Quick Cooking Annual Recipes cookbook to see if I could find anything.  I found this recipe for Nutty Peach Quick Bread submitted by Ron Gardener of Grand Haven, Michigan.  Ron said, " A crunchy topping of brown sugar and oats covers these mini loaves that have little chunks of peaches throughout.  You can substitute three peeled and diced pears or 1-1/2 cups fresh blueberries, raspberries or blackberries for the peaches."  So I decided to give it a try.

It was quick and I ♥ the taste of the fresh peaches in the bread. We enjoyed one of them and I froze the other two for later.  It is surprising how the oats give the topping a nutty taste.

NUTTY PEACH QUICK BREAD

1/2       cup margarine, softened
1/2       cup stevia or sugar
1/3       cup packed brown sugar
2          eggs
2          tablespoons honey
1          teaspoon vanilla extract
1-3/4    cups soft wheat pastry flour or all - purpose flour
1          teaspoon baking powder
1          teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2       teaspoon baking soda
1/8       teaspoon salt
1/2       cup skim milk
1-1/2    cups diced peeled ripe peaches (2 large peaches)
1/2       cup chopped pecans

TOPPING:

1/3       cup quick-cooking oats
1/3       cup packed brown sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Spray or grease three mini loaf pans.

In a large mixing bowl, cream the margarine and sugars.

Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.  Scrape the sides of the bowl as necessary.

Beat in honey and vanilla.

Combine the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt with a whisk.

Add the dry ingredients to creamed mixture alternately with milk.

Fold in peaches and pecans.

Spoon into prepared loaf pans.  

In a small bowl, combine the oats and brown sugar; sprinkle over batter  

and gently press in with the back of a spoon.

Bake for 45 - 50 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Cool for 20 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks to cool completely.

  

ROBIN'S ZUCCHINI BREAD

When we moved to CA,  we lived in a patio home for five years before we decided to bite the bullet and buy a house.  If you aren't familiar with patio homes, it is a way builders get more houses in a small area.   You only have access to three sides of your property.  That means the other side of your house has no windows.  This gives the family total privacy on the other side of their property where they have a patio.  We only had about 3 feet across the back of the property but there was a block wall and then a wooden fence on it to give us total privacy on the back side.  The floor plan was quite roomy for us and we enjoyed our five years we spent there.

Robin and Dave lived on the west side of us.  Robin liked to make zucchini bread and this is a recipe she used when she made it.  We were fortunate that she made it often and would share a loaf when she did. They moved away and we bought a house and we lost touch with each other.  I often wonder where they are and how they are especially when I use her recipe to make zucchini bread.  I don't know where she found the recipe or anything about it.  I just know that it makes a really good zucchini bread.

I did reduce the calories as much as I can -- which is what I usually do with recipes.  It doesn't change the good taste.

ROBIN'S ZUCCHINI BREAD

3         eggs
1         cup oil (I used 1/2 cup of canola oil and a 4 - oz container of unsweetened applesauce)
1-1/2   cups sugar (I used 3/4 cup of sugar/stevia blend)
1-1/2   cups brown sugar (I used 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons of brown sugar blend)
2         cups grated zucchini
3        teaspoons vanilla
3        cups flour (I used soft wheat pastry flour)
1        teaspoon salt
1        teaspoon baking soda
3        teaspoons cinnamon
1/4     teaspoon baking powders
1        cup nuts (optional) (I did leave them out this time)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Grease and flour loaf pans.  (I used 3 pyrex mini loaf pans)

Grate the zucchini.

Beat the eggs thoroughly.












Add the next 5 ingredients.

Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl with a whisk.  (Sifting the ingredients will assure you that there are no lumps in the baking soda and baking powder.)









Add the dry ingredients and mix til just combined. 

Add nuts if you choose.

Pour the batter in the loaf pans.

Bake for 45 - 60 minutes depending on the size of loaf pans you use.  Two larger loaves will take longer than the three mini loaves.  Check doneness by inserting a toothpick in the center.  It should come out clean when done.

Cool in pans on wire rack for 10 minutes.

Remove and continue cooling on rack.

Great served warm or cold.

OUR QUILT OF VALOUR (PART SIX)

Our group continues to be small, but Janice, Fran, Sharon, and I gathered at our "fearless leader" Kay's house to "lay the quilt top out" for those of you who have been following the saga of Our Quilt of Valour that we have been working on for a year now.  (You can read from the beginning HERE.  There is a link to the next post at the end of each.) 

Last month we manage to finish sewing all of the "squares" together and piled them into what we called "blue squares" and "red squares".  (If you missed last month's post, you can read it HERE.) For the pattern they will be laid out so that we have diagonals with blue and red squares with cream ones in between.

Kay cleared and vacuumed the floor in her craftland before we arrived so everything was ready for us to start the process.  Kay had the blue squares and Janice had the red ones.  Sharon was telling us which color we needed next (until we had the pattern going and then we didn't need the magazine anymore) and Fran decided to place them on the floor.  Oh, I was busy taking pictures and offering my "two cents" as everyone else was too. 

At first we were trying to change out squares that had similar prints too close together.  I said "we"... actually everyone but Sharon.  (Sharon does "random" better than the rest of us.)  After a bit, she suggested we just "lay them down" and then move  (squares) after we finished.  So we agreed.

It actually only took us maybe 30 minutes to complete the process.  We moved a few that were really bothering someone, but not too many. 

We were so pleased with the end result.

We stacked the rows (like we do in Blankets of Hope ... the church quilting group that Janice, Fran, and I belong to) and numbered the stacks. 

Into the basket they went to easily sew them together at our next meeting.  We are hoping that Dorothy, Ellen, and Rita will be back in town and we will all have a hand in the final step.

The first square is laid.

Fran busy at work.

We can see the diagonal starting.

Getting close to the end.

There it is.

From the other side.

Stacking them one square on top of the next square from left to right for each row.

Numbered....

In the basket til next month.

Then we decided to play a little canasta.  Sorry Kay I couldn't get you in the picture.

Here is a picture of Kay's seasonal Santa (What Santa is busy doing during the year.)  Did you know he gardens?

A cute quilted hanging on her door.  She called it a "Posey Pocket".  I think Kay told me the flowers were from her daughter's wedding.

I couldn't resist taking a picture of one of her humming birds feeding outside the window.










As we started to leave we couldn't help but smell "good smells" in the kitchen.   Kay told us she had a roast in her slow cooker.  She removed the lid to show us what it looked like.

  You can see how the meat had cooked off the bone.  Here is her recipe for her 

SLOW COOKER POT ROAST

1     chuck roast
1     envelope of Italian Dressing
1     envelope of Ranch Dressing
1     envelope of Brown Gravy
2     cups water

Combine the mixes and the water and then pour over the roast in the slow cooker.  Cook on High for 4 hours or Low for 8 hours.

You can check out our next meeting HERE.

BUFFALO WING CHEX MIX

Sue prepared a big batch of this Buffalo Wing Chex Mix for us to also enjoy at Farkle.  

She served it in this crock with smaller milk bottles of nuts, taffy, and mints. (I will be sharing the recipe for the Cajun Cashews in a later post.)

BUFFALO WING CHEX MIX

3    cup Rice Chex
3    cup Corn Chex
2    cup rye chips
1    cup peanuts (unsalted)
2    cups white cheddar cheese crackers
2    cups pretzels
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup buffalo sauce
1    package dry ranch dressing mix

Combine first 6 ingredients in a large bowl.

Melt butter and mix with the buffalo sauce.  Pour sauce over the Chex mix and toss to coat.

Sprinkle with the dry dressing mix.

Pour into a rimmed baking sheet and bake at 250 degrees F for 45 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes.

Cool and store in an air-tight container.

PEACH CRUMBLE

I am trying to take advantage of the fresh peaches that are in the stores right now. Too bad they don't produce throughout the year. I did discover how to freeze sliced peaches last year and that helps SEE MORE.... .

Anyway, I wanted to find a new recipe that I could share here. I decided to look in one of my Mr. Food Cookbook that I got at an estate sale. The first one I picked up, The MR. FOOD Cookbook, had one. I couldn't believe my luck.

As usual I took liberties with his recipe. I used the brown sugar blend to reduce calories instead of the light brown sugar.  I decided I wanted to use my cookie crumbs that I had made and frozen recently with some gingersnaps ( see link below for the recipe) that I made instead of graham cracker crumbs. Mr. Food's recipe called for cinnamon and nutmeg, but since I was using the gingersnaps I decided I didn't need to add anything but the margarine.

It looked and smelled so good when I took it out of the oven, I could only let it cool for about 15 minutes before I ate some. I would definitely recommend it while it is warm.

PEACH CRUMBLE

4         cups sliced peaches (4 - 6 peaches, depending on the size)
1/4      cup + 2 tablespoons brown sugar blend, packed (or 3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed)
1-1/4   cups crumbled cookies (I used GINGERSNAPS I make.)
5-1/3   tablespoons margarine, softened

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Spray an 8 - inch square baking dish with cooking spray.

Peel and slice enough peaches to measure 4 cups. Toss with the brown sugar to cover all the peaches.

Spread evenly in the baking dish.

Combine the crumbled cookies and margarine in a small bowl til well blended.

Crumble the topping evenly over the peaches.

Bake for 30 - 35 minutes or til peaches are tender or bubbly.

Can be served with ice cream or tastes just great without.

RANGER COOKIES

The other night when the NNL's Tasty Bunch got together for our monthly dine-out and dessert, we went back to Judy and Paul's to enjoy some freshly baked chocolate chip cookies. I didn't take my camera but did take a picture of some of them and will share the recipe in a later post.....I promise.

The men were all on the deck enjoying being outdoors and solving the problems of the world. (Not sure, but that is usually what they discuss.) The women were all in the family room enjoying being indoors and not trying to solve the problems of the world.  

Among our topics of discussion were Judy's cookies. She brought out her old, abused (sorry....used) Betty Crocker's Cookbook that had the recipe.  She also had a recent Betty Crocker's Cookbook and told us that the cookie recipe for the chocolate chip cookies was different in the two cookbooks. 

Looking at the recipe to copy it down for my blog post, I turned the page and saw the recipe for Ranger Cookies.  After reading the ingredients, I knew I had to try them. So I copied it down also.

Monday I was trying to think what I would make to take to Hillcrest Thrift Shop the next morning to share with the other volunteers and I remembered the Ranger Cookies. At first I couldn't find the paper that I had written the recipes on, so I got my old Betty Crocker's Cookbook out. My 1969 version was printed in 1974. I found the recipe for the Ranger Cookies and immediately noticed that my recipe said "fortified whole wheat flakes cereal". I remembered that the recipe I copied down had said "Wheaties or Total" cereal. I thought that was rather interesting. I did find the paper with the recipes and my recipe for the Chocolate Chip Cookies was the same as Judy's.

Long story short....I made the cookies yesterday morning and took them to Hillcrest later when I went in for my "shift". I had so many people ask for the recipe, I knew I had to share it today.  

They just may be my favorite crispy cookie now. Warning! It is hard to eat just one. The cookbook says "chewy on the inside, crisp on the outside". Oh! Yeah!

RANGER COOKIES

1/2     cup shortening
1/2     cup sugar
1/2     cup brown sugar, packed
1        egg
1/2     teaspoon vanilla
1        cup flour
1/2     teaspoon baking soda
1/4     teaspoon baking powder
1/4     teaspoon salt
1        cup quick - cooking oats
1        cup Wheaties, Total, or Bran Flakes cereal
1/2     cup shredded coconut (I did use unsweetened coconut)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Cream shortening, sugars, egg, and vanilla til smooth.

Combine the rest of the ingredients in a large bowl.

Add to creamed mixture and combine on low.  Batter will be thick.

Using a 1 - inch scoop or teaspoon drop the dough onto ungreased cookie sheets about 2 inches apart....cookies will spread.

Bake 9 - 10 minutes.  Cookies will look soft in the middle but will be nicely golden brown.

Remove immediately from the cookie sheet and cool on a wire rack.

Enjoy my not-so perfect pictures....