Chocolate Pots de Creme

As soon as I saw these on the Pioneer Woman's blog, I knew I had to try them. Besides being adorable, they are an easy dessert with no cooking involved. I adapted her recipe to make a few things easier, including the types of ingredients you might need.

I made this dish at our Valentine's Day dinner, and it was a hit but please be warned that this is very rich (as you might guess when you read the ingredients)! A little goes a long way, so you won't need much to feel satisfied.



Ingredients

• 12 oz bag semi-sweet chocolate chips 
• 4 eggs, at room temperature 
• dash of salt 
• splash of vanilla extract OR flavored liquer (such as Grand Marnier) 
• 1 cup (8 oz) brewed coffee OR hot cocoa (the liquid must be HOT) 
• powdered sugar or whipped cream (optional, for decoration)

Directions

1. Place chocolate chips and 2 of the eggs in a blender. Pulse until chips are broken up.
2. Add the other 2 eggs, salt, and vanilla / liquer. Blend until smooth.
3. While blender is on, slowly pour a steady stream of hot cocoa / coffee into the chocolate mixture.
4. Pour into ramekins or small Mason jars. Place in fridge and let set, about 2 hours.
5. Before serving, decorate with a sprinkle of powdered sugar or whipped cream.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

I think the most beautiful, classic cookie ever invented was the one involving oatmeal. I loved oatmeal raisin cookies as a kid, and upgraded my favorite when I began making my own oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. My favorite kind of chips to use are Nestle's white "Swirled" morsels, or what I like to call zebra chips. Each chip was a twist of milk chocolate and white chocolate. They are hard to find but apparently are still made. If you ever find them in the store, be sure to try this recipe using them!

Anytime you use oats in baking, be sure to use real "old fashioned" oats. This means they are not instant, partially cooked (like "quick oats"), or cut in a way to reduce cooking time. You want them to take the full amount of time to cook so they can absorb the proper amount of liquid and leave you with a cookie, rather than a blob. 

I've made this recipe so many times I don't really remember where it came from, but if I had to guess I would probably say that this is my own twist on a recipe found in the The All-American Cookie Book.

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 3 cups old-fashioned oats
• 1 bag chocolate chips, or chips of your choice

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Lightly grease two cookie sheets.
3. In a large bowl, mix butter, sugar, and brown sugar until blended.
4. Add vanilla and eggs and mix.
5. In a medium bowl, mix flour and baking soda.
6. Add flour mixture to sugar mixture. Stir well.
7. Add oats. Stir well.
8. Add chocolate chips. Stir well.
9. Roll into golf ball sized balls and place on cookie sheet.
10. Bake 9-12 minutes at 375 degrees. Centers should be slightly soft when taken out of oven.
11. Let cool on rack for at least 5 minutes before eating or packing into containers.

Comments

The trick with baking these is removing them at the perfect time so you get soft, chewy cookies. I usually remove mine at around 10 minutes when the centers still look gooey but the outsides seem almost browned. I kept them in a sealed tupperware container and even a week or so later they were still very moist. This recipe makes about 30-40 cookies at the size specified.