TWD: honey-wheat cookies

Last week Michelle of Flourchild picked Honey-Wheat Cookies for our weekly baking adventure. When I first read the recipe I was a little skeptical. No chocolate? No peanut butter? I'm not a huge fan of sugar cookies, and was concerned these were just a dressed up version. But I was wrong- these were fantastic! Light, chewy, the perfect hint of lemon... I'll definitely be making these again!


I couldn't find wheat germ at Dominick's, so I used oat bran - which I already had (I like adding oat bran of ground flaxseed to bread in the bread machine). It gave the cookies a wonderful chewy texture - and I loved how the dough is rolled in it before baking. The combination of honey and lemon was delicious and these would be perfect with a cup of tea!

TWD Rewind: Dorie's Best Chocolate Chip Cookies

For the February 16th TWD, Kait of Kait's Plate chose My Best Chocolate Chip Cookies. In my opinion, chocolate chip is the quintessential cookie. Warm chocolate chip cookies and a tall glass of milk - delish! Usually I stick with the recipe on the back of the Tollhouse bag... Dorie's is pretty similar, but I was excited for a little variety.


fter reading the P&Q, I decided to decrease the butter and increase the flour (both by 1/2 cup) as suggested by some of the other bakers. I like my cookies like I like my brownies: gooey and chewy. No crispy cookies here. Luckily Mr. LITK feels the same way... and chocolate chip cookies are his fave.


These turned out really well. They spread out quite a bit, but stayed chewy, even after a few days. This could definitely be my new go-to recipe!

TWD Rewind: Rick Katz's Brownies for Julia

Confession time. February came and went in the blink of an eye in the LITK household. There was a trip to NYC, a trip to Michigan, a visit from the in-laws, and 10 days of a terrible flu. So I've been a little behind in baking... until this weekend. I finally did some catching up and it's time for a blog update!

Back on February 9th Tanya of Chocolatechic chose Rick Katz's Brownies for Julia. I actually made these on time... but am just now getting around to posting! As far as brownies go, I am definitely in the gooey and fudgey camp. Have you ever seen that infomercial for the "perfect brownie pan"? The one that makes every single brownie an edge piece? That's my nightmare. Growing up, you could always tell when my brother and I had been in the brownies because there was a thin piece left all the way around the edge and the middle had been devoured. So I was excited for these brownies.

Overall they were good - rich and chewy. But I left them in the oven a little too long, so they weren't quite as gooey as I was hoping. Oh, and I was one egg short... so that might not have helped. I'll definitely make them again though!

TWD: milk chocolate mini bundt cakes

For this week's TWD recipe, Kristin of I'm Right About Everything chose Milk Chocolate Mini Bundt Cakes.

I'm all for mini desserts - I got a mini cupcake pan for Christmas and have used it 5 or 6 times already. But I don't have a mini bundt cake pan (although they do look super cute). I have to draw the line somewhere and Mr. LITK simply wouldn't tolerate many more baking supplies!


I made half of the recipe and baked it in two ramekins. At one point I thought they were going to overflow, but they fell in on themselves a little bit and turned out just fine. The cake was light and moist... although I have to say, I prefer a regular chocolate cake to milk chocolate. The only problem I had was with the glaze. I should have just used the melted chocolate chips, but the recipe calls for the addition of light corn syrup. When I added the corn syrup I wound up with more of a fudge texture. I tried microwaving it a little longer but no luck. So I just plopped a scoop of chocolate on top of each cake. Next time I'd stick with the melted chocolate. And sorry for the terrible picture quality... Mr. LITK and I have recently discovered "24" and started watching it with Season 1 (thank you Netflix!) so I was a little distracted...

TWD: cocoa-nana bread

Banana bread is a staple in the LITK home. Well actually, banana bread muffins. I make them regularly as an easy grab-and-go breakfast. And I always ALWAYS add chocolate chips! So I was surprised when I read the P&Q this week and learned that lots of TWD bakers were trying to figure out what to sub in for the bananas! Really?! Chocolate and banana is a winning combo in my book. Remember those chocolate covered frozen bananas? Yum.

The other great thing about this recipe? I had all the ingredients already. Frozen bananas in the freezer? Check. Cocoa powder? Check. Semi-sweet chocolate? Checkity-check. One thing I did sub was applesauce for the stick of butter. But I almost always use applesauce in place of butter or oil (sometimes even for eggs) in things like banana bread. Keeps it moist and helps reduce the fat and calories.


The bread was rich and chocolately. I used two large bananas, which gave it just enough banana flavor. I think I could have baked it just a little less because the sides and bottom were a little overdone... but the inside was moist and delicious! Overall this was a great alternative to standard banana bread! Be sure to check out Obsessed with Baking for the quick and easy recipe!

TWD (belated): chocolate oatmeal almost-candy bars

So I'm a week late in posting these... I even had them made ahead of time! But work was crazy last week and before I knew it Tuesday had come and gone without a post. Le sigh. These had the potential to be delicious... a combination of oatmeal cookie crust, creamy chocolate center, and more oatmeal cookie on top. While they turned out ok, I definitely was unprepared...

I halved the recipe and made it in an 8" pan. Mistake #1 was that I forgot to add the egg to the cookie layer. So instead of a nice oatmeal cookie (I left out the peanuts) I got more of an oatmeal crumble. I tasted ok, but was on the dry side. Mistake #2 was that I didn't have an sweetened condensed milk. Which I didn't realize until I was in the middle of baking on Sunday night. So I thought I'd try using regular milk and sugar. I figured half the amount of milk would be ok. But then I forgot I was already halving the recipe... so my milk, sugar, and chocolate chips turned into hot chocolate. And I was out of chocolate chips. Then, in the back of the cabinet, I discovered some mini chocolate chips. Not quite enough, but it would have to do. I added just a splash of milk, some sugar, and peanut butter to make it a little thicker and creamier. I then stirred in the raisins and chopped almonds. It was yummy, but they definitely could have used more filling.

All in all not bad, but definitely not as good as they could have been! Check out Confectiona's Realm for the recipe and the TWD blogroll for some more more successful outcomes!

MSC: Coconut Cupcakes

After missing the December MSC pick (Gingerbread cupcakes - yum!) I am back in action with January's cupcake - coconut. The cupcake itself has finely ground shredded coconut and coconut milk, while the frosting calls for coconut extract. I didn't have coconut milk or extract and we're on a little bit of a budget in the LITK household... so I used regular milk and added extra shredded coconut to the batter. I made a simple vanilla buttercream for the frosting and topped them with more shredded coconut. I only made 1/4 of the recipe and I got 12 mini cupcakes out of it. The cupcakes were really moist with a nice coconut flavor. Mr. LITK gave them a rave review -- he said these are the best cupcakes I've ever made! You just can't go wrong with Martha.


Thanks to Jen from Cinema Cupcakes for a great pick! You can find the recipe on pages 28-29 of Martha Stewart's Cucpakes. Up next month - s'mores cupcakes!