Bakers Royale

Chocolate Chip Cinnamon Rolls ~ Word of caution: Use a fork. This is a delectable mess of ooey-gooey goodness.    

Chocolate Chip Cinnamon Roll

A mash up of favorites, I decided to combine two flavors I love, chocolate and cinnamon into one favorite breakfast treat.    

The basis of the recipe is an adaptation of Fine Cooking’s Cinnamon Roll that I made previously, but with a few more tweaks this time around. I wasn’t sure if all the spices along with the chocolate would be too busy, so I decided to omit the cloves and allspice. I did add a little nutmeg to the cinnamon and then traded in the springform pan for a muffin pan. I didn’t have any unsalted butter, so I used regular butter and omitted the salt.    

The result . . . this is now the only way my family wants their cinnamon roll. 

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Fourth of July Crème Filled Strawberries  ~ Get patriotic with an easy red, white and blue dessert for your 4th of July barbeque or picnic.

4th of July Creme Filled Strawberries

I have been tasked with bringing fruit for 4^th of July. Matt suggested I keep it easy, to quote him, “Just chop and block some fruit and throw it in a bowl”. I could, but what fun is that. Besides you all know my predilection for all things pretty.

While this is not as fast as “chopping and blocking”, it comes pretty darn close.

No recipe just a few notes for this fast and easy dessert.

A few notes:

• Hull your strawberries and cut the bottom tips for a flat edge.
• Fill hulled strawberries with whip cream. I cheated and used Ready Whip. Martha would be so ashamed (sorry Ms. M, I ran out of time). On the flip side Sandra Lee would embrace me.
• Toss the blueberries in an apricot sauce. Uh, cheated again- I nuked apricot preserves in the microwave.
• Top crème filled strawberries with  blueberries.
• For a fun adult version, add two tablespoons of champagne or vodka to every cup of whip cream.

Double Down Chocolate Chunk Cookies ~ These wickedly addictive double chocolate chip cookies will have you hovering around the cookie jar like a bee to honey.

Double Down Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Tender and chewy these cookies are a mid-point between a crisp cookie and a soft brownie.  Not only are these awesome-ly (uh, yes, a real word in my kitchen) good they smell delish while baking. In fact, so much so, I was able to bribe my little guy into quiet submission for the 12 minutes they took to bake.

Call me terrible, I call it efficient. Twelve minutes was all I needed to throw the dishes into the dishwasher and get out the glasses of milk and napkins for the taste testing.

Verdict: My family LURVED these bad boys(or girls, if you are going to get PC on me) and so did I. I love the taste, texture, and most of all I love that these Double Down Chocolate Chunk Cookies are the kind of cookie that can rival any top notch bakery. » Read the rest of this entry «