As much as I like recipes that don't necessarily fall under the GF umbrella, I realize they are always going to cut out what seems to be an increasingly large number of people who have celiac or a sensitivity towards gluten. My goal is to start posting more gluten free or easily GF adaptable recipes on the blog, and this fantastic flourless cookie recipe is kicking that off!

I love flourless chocolate desserts because you usually end up with a fudgy, decadent end product when you remove flour from the equation. These cookies are rich and flavorful--as one might expect a cookie with cocoa, dark cocoa almonds and mini chocolate chips all mixed in the batter to taste. I don't usually add nuts to cookies, but I made an exception since I couldn't see a reason not to add another chocolate ingredient.

As a note, you should always check the ingredients before attempting to make something gluten free. A lot of things you'd think would be safe sneak gluten in depending on the brand you use. I used Nestle Semisweet Chocolate Chips and Domino Powdered Sugar, which both pass the GF test. My apologies for not having better pictures. I was rushing with some other Easter baking, so you'll have to take my word these are amazing. Enjoy!

Flourless Chocolate Almond Cookies
Recipe from Two Peas and Their Pod
Yield: 2 dozen cookies
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 12-13 minutes

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups Dark Cocoa Almonds (can use regular almonds or walnuts)
3 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup plus 3 tablespoons Dutch processed cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
4 egg whites
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or a Silpat baking mat and set aside.
2. 4. In a medium bowl, combine the chopped almonds, powdered sugar, cocoa, salt, and mini chocolate chips. Stir to combine. Set aside.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer, use the whisk attachment to beat egg whites until they are white and foamy, but are not stiff peaks. Fold in the vanilla extract.
4. Add the dry ingredients to the bowl of beaten egg whites and gently stir with a spatula until combined. The batter will be thick, like brownie batter.
5. Use a 2 tablespoon sized cookie scoop to form cookie dough balls. Place the dough balls about two-inches apart on prepared baking sheet.
6. Bake cookies for 12-13 minutes, until the cookies are puffed, shiny and cracked. Remove cookies from oven and allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 3-5 minutes. Use a spatula to remove cookies from the baking sheet and place on a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
Note-if you don't have cocoa almonds, you can use regular almonds or walnuts. If you need the cookies to be gluten-free, make sure you check the packaging of the chocolate chips and cocoa to make sure they are gluten-free.

Happy New Year everyone! I hope you all had a nice holiday season. I'm starting the year off with a bang by introducing you to these amazing Caramel Nougat Chocolate Bars. The name on its own sounds like any other standard dessert, but the amazing part is these taste exactly like Snickers. 

Actually, these taste better than Snickers. You can also cut them into any size you'd like.

Sorry, New Year's Resolutions.

I don't think I could have told you what actually makes the nougat layer of candy bars, so I never would have thought I'd be able to recreate it exactly. Something tells me I'm not alone. I have multiple memories of getting the nougat piece in a box of chocolates and wishing I had gotten caramel or milk chocolate instead of the one with the mystery filling. Now I know. I'm not saying I would pick the nougat piece, but when you combine chocolate, nougat, caramel and peanuts it's amazing. Obviously Mars already knows this since they have been making money on the combination for decades. 

I'm sure you've all seen the other copycat candy bar recipes. You take a bite and think, "Hmm, I guess it does somewhat taste like the real thing." Not this one. This is spot on. It also makes a giant serving. My main suggestion is to make sure you keep it cold. I also found that setting it out for 15 minutes or so and then cutting it with a warm knife helped. Enjoy!

Caramel Nougat Chocolate Bars (aka Snickers!)

Recipe from Deliciously Yum

First Chocolate Layer

1. 1 1/4 cups milk chocolate chips
2. 1/4 cup creamy peanut butter

Nougat Layer

1. 1/4 cup unsalted butter
2. 1 cup granulated sugar
3. 1/4 cup evaporated milk
4. 1 1/2 cups marshmallow fluff
5. 1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
6. 1 teaspoon vanilla
7. 1 1/2 cups salted peanuts

Caramel Layer

1. 1 12-ounce bag of caramels
2. 1/4 cup heavy cream

Final Chocolate Layer

1. 1 1/4 cups milk chocolate chips
2. 1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
3. 1 9x13-inch aluminum baking pan, optional

Instructions

1. Thoroughly grease your aluminum baking pan.
2. For the first layer, melt 1 1/4 cups milk chocolate chips and 1/4 cup peanut butter and mix until thoroughly combined. Pour into the bottom of the aluminum pan and spread in an even layer. Let cool completely in the fridge for 30 minutes or until firm.
3. For the nougat layer, melt 1/4 cup unsalted butter and add 1 cup sugar plus 1/4 cup evaporated milk. Bring the mixture to a boil and continue to cook (over medium-high heat) while stirring until sugar is completely dissolved, about 5 minutes. Next, add 1 1/2 cups marshmallow fluff, 1/4 cup peanut butter, and vanilla. Stir until creamy and thoroughly combined. Mix in 1 1/2 cups salted peanuts and spread evenly over chocolate layer. Let cool completely on the counter or in the fridge until firm.
4. For the caramel layer, combine caramels and 1/4 cup heavy cream in a pot. Melt caramel mixture over medium-high heat, stirring constantly! Spread over nougat layer and let cool once again.
5. For the fourth and final chocolate layer, melt the remaining 1 1/4 cups milk chocolate chips and 1/4 cup peanut butter and mix until thoroughly combined and creamy. Spread evenly over the caramel layer and let cool completely. Refrigerate for two hours or until ready to serve. Bars will keep in refrigerator for one week.

Everyone has a few areas of their cooking they'd like to improve on. For me, it's yeast breads and candy. Since this post has nothing to do with yeast breads, I'll explain the candy issues. If I'm supposed to judge a candy by consistency alone (no thermometer), I'm in trouble. I always take the bubbling mixture off too soon or leave it for just a bit too long. I love pralines, and I've got the taste part down, but I've never quite been able to achieve the perfect mix of creamy and crunch. I tried, and failed, the other day to make two different varieties of pralines. The first didn't harden enough and the second burnt in the pan which was the most difficult dish I've ever had to clean. I had to soak it for five days. I would've thrown it out if it hadn't been one of my favorite pans.

To get my praline fix without having to mess with a very particular cooking time, I decided to turn to my trusty crockpot and just make cinnamon sugar pecans. I realize I'm posting two crockpot recipes in a row, but if you don't have one you really should invest. I use one that was $20 at the grocery store, and it's never let me down. These cinnamon sugar pecans are delicious and are PERFECT for the holidays. I bought a bag of pecans at Costco because nuts always strike me as ridiculously expensive. Other than that you will probably have all of the ingredients on hand.

Now, I know that stirring every 20 minutes seems like a hassle. I'd usually agree. However, I chose to sit in bed and catch up on scandal during the three hours of cooking. Every 20 minutes I'd press pause and go stir. A) It helped me justify three hours of Scandal ("I mean, I have to do something to occupy my time while the pecans are cooking.") B) It takes about 30 seconds total to get up and go give them a quick stir. Easy. As an added bonus, your house will smell amazing!

Slow Cooker Cinnamon Sugar Pecans
Recipe from The Recipe Critic

Ingredients

• 1¼ C. Sugar
• 1¼ C. Brown Sugar
• 2 Tbsp. Cinnamon
• ⅛ tsp. Salt
• 1 Egg White
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 3 Cups Pecans
• ¼ C. Water

Instructions

1. Mix together in a large bowl sugars, cinnamon, and salt.
2. In another bowl with a whisk, mix together the egg white and vanilla until it is frothy. Add the pecans and coat thoroughly. This will help the mixture stick to the pecans during the cooking process.
3. Prepare your slow cooker by spraying it with cooking spray. I used a 4 quart. Add the cinnamon pecan mixture to the pecans and turn it to low. Stir until the cinnamon sugar mixture is coated well on the almonds. Be prepared for your house to smell amazing!
4. You want to cook for about 3-4 hours. Mine took about 3. Stirring every 20 minutes. In the very last hour, add ¼ cup water and stir well. This will ensure a crunchy coating and help the mixture to harden.
5. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and spread the pecans onto the sheet to cool. The pecans should be pretty sticky so be sure to seperate them the best that you can and let them cool!

 *These pictures don't really convey the deliciousness of these pecans, but it's because I was forced to sneakily take them in my office.

I was shocked how quickly this dessert came together. Being a southerner there's really no take on pecan pie that I don't like, these bars included. I made them for my family on our beach trip this year (hence the melted ice cream in the picture two seconds after I scooped it!), and everyone loved them. Ice cream is always an essential part of dessert for my family, and while I'm not a huge ice cream and cake fan, these pecan pie pars almost demand it.

Thinking about what else to say about these to convince you they're delicious makes me want to go make them right now, so I'm going to have to cut it off here seeing that I have class in an hour. Really the only thing you might not have in your cabinet out of these ingredients is a package of pecans. So write those down on your list now and make these asap!

Chunky Pecan Pie Bars
Recipe from Brown Eyed Baker

For the Crust:
1½ cups all-purpose flour
½ cup (1 stick) butter, softened
¼ cup packed brown sugar

Filling:
3 large eggs
¾ cup corn syrup
¾ cup granulated sugar
2 Tablespoons butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1¾ cups coarsely chopped semisweet or bittersweet chocolate (or chocolate chunks in a bag!)
1½ cups chopped pecans

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 9×13-inch baking pan.

2. For the crust, mix together the flour, butter and brown sugar until crumbly. Press into the baking pan and bake for 12-15 minutes or until lightly brown.

3. For the filling, beat the eggs, corn syrup, sugar, butter and vanilla extract with a wire whisk. Stir in the chunks and pecans. Pour evenly over the baked crust and bake for 25-30 minutes or until set.

4. Cool in the pan on a wire rack. Cool completely and cut into bars. Store in an airtight container at room temperature (or in the refrigerator if you live in a warm/humid area with no air conditioning).

Yep, I was the impatient person who cut one right out of the center before taking pictures.

Once again, I have broken my camera. I really should not be allowed to have electronics. I like to say that I always get the duds, so of course they end up breaking, but truthfully, it's probably just me. I won't go into my long, unfortunate past with cameras, phones, computer issues, etc., but I honestly don't think I did anything wrong to cause this one to bite the dust. The others, maybe. I feel like every camera I get is just a "lens error" waiting to happen. Luckily, I've already solicited a few friends to loan me cameras until I save up to buy a new one. Hopefully I won't get too much more behind on posting in the meantime.

These cookies are incredibly easy to make (boxed cake mix), and I have never seen a cookie with this long of a shelf life. I used to eat them all the time when I was little, and found the recipe in a family friend's cookbook. It was originally from my grandma (if she reads this she'll be embarrassed that I'm calling a cake mix recipe an original), but somehow despite the simplicity of the recipe she still always managed to make them even better than mine turned out. I love the pecans with the yellow cake, and these are great because they are so small you can grab one or two and get your cookie fix. I'll salvage some new food pictures soon and post them as soon as I can!

Yellow Cake Oatmeal Pecan Cookies
(I have no idea what the real name is, so a descriptive name will have to do!)
Yield: 5 dozen

1 package yellow cake mix
2 cups quick cooking oats, uncooked
1 cup sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs
1 cup pecans, chopped
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Combine cake mix, oats and sugar in a large bowl. Combine oil and eggs. Add to dry ingredients, stirring well. Stir in pecans and vanilla. Drop dough by small rounded teaspoonfuls 2 inches apart onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 350 degrees for 12 minutes minutes or until lightly browned. Remove to wire racks to cool.

Regardless of how health-conscious I’ve been all semester once break hits it’s time to eat. It would be an understatement to say my family likes to do it big during the holidays. From when I came back home on December 20 until today, we have had some sort of large meal every day. Whether it’s a big Christmas party for all of our family friends or one of our four Christmas meals, there has been enough food around my house to feed a small army (which is good because when my whole family is together we literally have a small army to feed).

Christmas is when you just have to toss in the towel and say, to heck with it, I’m going to eat and I’m going to eat a lot. I will cook every waking hour for days straight and be more relaxed than I’ve been in months.  I guess entertaining is in my blood. There’s nothing better than seeing all the hard work pay off with a room full of happy people. One of these days I’ll start posting all of my cooking recipes to add to the sweets and baked goods. Despite the blog’s name I actually love to cook, I just haven’t quite figured out how to get the lighting right at night when most of the meals are served.

Ok, now I'll get to the recipes. I didn’t take pictures of everything I made, but I’ll post the ones I did. I knew I had to bake these oatmeal raisin pecan cookies after the review said they were some of the best oatmeal raisin cookies ever. That’s all I need to read to bookmark a recipe. It's way too hard to judge recipes without a review. I want someone to tell me what they thought when they made it. I loved these cookies. They may not have been the best oatmeal raisin cookies I’ve ever had, but they are definitely top three (and I’ve had a lot). I love the addition of pecans, and I also love that they’re nice and thick. They’re not the moistest cookies ever, but they’re chewy so I’m willing to let that slide. My whole family loved these, and I will most certainly be making them again soon!

Oatmeal Raisin Pecan Cookies 

Recipe from Jonesing for..

Based on the recipe from Ina Garten’s “Back to Basics”
Ina always calls for extra-large eggs in her recipes which frankly, I never have. I read somewhere that an extra-large egg usually has 1-2 tsp. more weight than a large, so to make up the difference I’ll crack an extra egg, scramble it up, and add in the difference. Or you could, yknow, just buy extra-large eggs.
Makes about 3 dozen cookies.

Ingredients

• 8 oz. (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
• 2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
• 1½ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp. kosher salt
• 3 cups old-fashioned oats (not quick cooking)
• 1½ cups raisins
• 1½ cups pecans, toasted and roughly chopped

Directions

1.) Preheat oven to 350° F. Line 3-4 baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
2.) In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or using a hand mixer with a large mixing bowl), beat the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar together on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Turn the mixer down to low and add the eggs one at a time, letting each one completely incorporate before adding the next. Stir in the vanilla extract.
3.) In a mixing bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. With the mixer running on low, add the dry ingredients a little at a time. Stir in the oats, raisins, and pecans at the end until just combined.
4.) Using a large cookie scoop, drop 3 Tbsp. sized mounds of dough onto sheet pans about 2 inches apart. Slightly wet your hand with cold water and press lightly down on cookies to flatten. Bake 14-16 minutes or until lightly browned. For chewier cookies, let cool completely on sheet pans. For crisper cookies, transfer cookies from sheet pan to cooling rack after about 5 minutes.

There's a little coffee shop on UNC's campus that I frequently stop in before a night of studying at the library. For as long as I can remember I have had an extreme aversion to the library, so I always reward myself for going with a frozen drink or cookie (or both). I avoided the library for the first two months of school, but then my class schedule caught up with me and doing work at my desk just wasn't cutting it. As you can imagine, this cookie/frappuccino habit is not so good when going multiple nights per week.

In the five days leading up to Thanksgiving break I worked on a group project a total of 30 hours. 30 hours! And that is on top of my full class schedule and all other homework. What in the world are these teachers thinking? Anyway, I became a frequent coffee shop visitor to get my cookie and caffeine fix before work time. I've seen the shop's buffalo chip cookie a few times, but had never actually tried it. I think theirs is pretty similar to this one: coconut, chocolate chips, pecans, oats. Lots of ingredients but so worth it. My week of studying left me wanting to make a batch of these at home (that didn't cost me $2 a cookie), so after some research this is the recipe I decided on.

I never read through entire recipes as much as I should. Therefore, when I started putting the ingredients into the bowl to make these cookies I had no idea the GIANT batch of dough it made. Not only did it deplete my ingredient stash, it also broke my spatula. It's a good thing they turned out so well. I do think there are probably great buffalo chip recipes that aren't so ingredient-heavy, but these are great. I just need to remember to cut the recipe in half next time, for my spatula's sake.

Buffalo Chip Cookies
Recipe from CD Kitchen

Ingredients:
1 cup margarine or butter
1 cup shortening
1 box dark brown sugar
4 eggs
2 cups white granulate sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 cups plain flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 cups oatmeal
1 (6-ounce) package of chocolate chips
1 cup chopped pecan or walnuts
2 cups Rice Krispies cereal
1 cup coconut (optional) *I used it

Directions:

In a very large bowl, cream butter and shortening. Add brown sugar, eggs, white sugar and vanilla. Sift and add flour, baking powder and baking soda. Add oatmeal, then stir in the chocolate chips, nuts, Rice Krispies and coconut. Use a large measuring spoon (approximately 1/4 cup) for batter per cookie. Put on an ungreased cookie sheet (9 cookies to 1 sheet). Bake for about 12 to 15 minutes at 350 degrees.

Let cool 3 minutes before removing from baking sheet.

One of these days, I'm going to figure out what grocery stores actually do with past-their-prime bananas instead of pondering it all the time. I kid you not, last night I was laying in bed thinking about this question. What is wrong with me? For now I'll pretend that's the first time it's ever crossed my mind.

I buy bananas all the time. My issue is that not only do I love them baked into just about anything, I also like them on sandwiches, plain, on cereal, in peanut butter, etc. So basically not only am I always buying bananas, I am also always running out of bananas to serve both these purposes.

I found this recipe the other day and decided it was worth saving some bananas to make. I think cream cheese enhances pretty much anything (anybody else a fan of cream cheese in their scrambled eggs?). I've found so many banana recipes I love that it's rare for me to find something new I want to try. This bread is extremely moist. It's not as flavorful as I was anticipating, but it was still delicious.  Also, if I could figure out a way to just bake a huge batch of this crust I would in a heartbeat. It is hands down the best part of this bread. The weird thing was that I couldn't really taste the cream cheese in the bread. I don't know why this would be considering there is a huge line of it smack dab in the center of the cake. It wasn't so bad because it still tasted great, but I might try to figure out some way to bring out that flavor a little more. This is a great way to change up the usual banana bread routine (or if you're like me, to change up the usual banana and peanut butter cupcake routine). Enjoy!

Banana Brunch Cake
Recipe from Lemons and Lavender, originally from Dining By Design: Stylish Recipes-Savory Settings
Yield: 12 to 16 servings

For the cake:
Nonstick cooking spray
6 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup sugar
3 cups plus 1 tablespoon flour
1 teaspoon nutmeg, divided
3 eggs
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 tablespoons hot water
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/3 cup orange juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 medium-sized ripe bananas, mashed
1 cup chopped pecans

For the topping:
1 tablespoon melted butter
1 tablespoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 defrees F.  Coat a 10-inch tube or bundt pan with the cooking spray.

Combine the cream cheese, 1/3 cup sugar, 1 tablespoon of the flour and 1/2 teaspoon of the nutmeg in a medium bowl.  Beat until smooth.  Add 1 of the eggs, beating to mix.

Cream 1/2 cup softened butter in a large bowl, gradually adding 1 1/2 cups sugar.  Beat well.  Add the remaining 2 eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.  Whisk the baking soda and hot water in a small measuring cup.  Mix into the butter mixture.

Combine the remaining 3 cups flour, the baking powder, salt, remaining 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg and 1 teaspoon cinnamon in a bowl.  Mix, alternating with the orange juice, into the butter mixture.  Mix in the vanilla, bananas and pecans.

Spoon 1 1/2 to 2 cups of batter into the tube pan and make a slight well in the center.  Spread the cream cheese mixture over the banana batter.  Spoon the remaining banana batter over the cream cheese mixture.

Bake for 50 to 55 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Cool for 15 minutes in the pan.  Remove to a wire rack to finish cooling.

Brush with the melted butter.  Mix together 1 tablespoon sugar and the remaining 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon.  Sprinkle over the cake.

Look at that crust! Mmm.

As always, I pick my recipes largely based on the way they are described. So the "better than crack brownies" obviously caught my eye.  But really, who thinks up these names? I guess parents have an alternate name for these when serving them to their kids?

Anyways, basically after trying these brownies I came to the conclusion that not only are these brownies (supposedly) better than crack, I'm pretty sure they are so much better that these little suckers could put crack dealers out of business (for the sake of staying on this metaphor). Although I'm a peanut butter/chocolate maniac, I never include the nuts on any recipe. For this one I gave in and put the peanuts in. I also added some Reese's peanut butter chips. I just can't even describe how good these are. I'm at a loss for words. Maybe that's how whoever made up this recipe decided to name them better than crack brownies..these are so good they couldn't think of anything comparable? Not worth thinking about because all you should be thinking now is when can I get into the kitchen to make these.

Better-Than-Crack Brownies

Recipe from How Sweet It Is

1 batch brownies 

1/2 cup salted peanuts (if don’t have salted, add sea salt)

1 cup chopped Reese’s peanut butter cups

1 1/2 cup milk chocolate chips

1 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

1/2 tablespoon butter

1 1/2 cups Rice Krispies Cereal

Mix brownies according to directions, and bake for 20-25 minutes in a 9 x 13 baking dish. Remove and top with peanuts and peanut butter cups, and bake for 4-6 minutes more.

While they are finishing baking, melt chocolate chips, peanut butter and butter. Stir in cereal. Remove brownies from oven and evenly pour chocolate mixture over top.

Refrigerate for 2 hours before serving.