Let's Workout!!! and eat cookies too =)

Last year I was plowing through granola like it was going out of style.  I had just started getting back in the groove of working out and wanting to eat healthy after my 6 stress filled weeks of job training.  But the pounds weren't melting off (like we all imagine them to).  I was actually staying about the same weight, which really frustrated me!  I hadn't baked in over a couple months, so I couldn't imagine why I wasn't losing weight...  Then, I actually looked at what I was eating, and when I saw the fat and sugar content in some of the granola I was eating, I knew I had found the culprit to my dieting woes.  Right then and there I had decided to change up my baking (and eating) habits, and make more healthy recipes.
I researched granola recipes and a ton of them have cups of oil and butter that are included in the recipe (yuck!).  I dug deeper and then it hit me that I could switch out the oil and fat for APPLESAUCE.  After that I went a little crazy over board with the granola making...and I eventually got bored of it, but had all this leftover applesauce and oats.  I started looking for different ways I could use my ingredients, and fell onto a healthy version of a chocolate and oatmeal cookie.  Yey!!!! Cookies back in my diet =)

Applesaucey Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookie Recipe

INGREDIENTS
1 Cup  All-purpose Flour
1 teaspoon  Baking Powder
1/2 teaspoon  Baking Soda
1/2 teaspoon  Salt
1 teaspoon  Ground Cinnamon
2 Tablespoons  Unsalted Butter, room temperature
1 Cup  Light Brown Sugar
1 Large Egg
1/4 Cup  Unsweetened Applesauce
1/2 teaspoon  Vanilla Extract
2 Cups  Quick Cooking Oats
1/2 Cup  Dark Chocolate Chunks
1/2 Cup  Craisins
1 Tablespoon  Flax seeds

DIRECTIONS
1. Whisk together oats, flour, baking powder and soda, salt, flax seeds and cinnamon in a medium bowl.

2. In a large bowl, cream butter a sugar till fluffy.  Then, beat in the egg, making sure it's incorporated before adding the applesauce and vanilla extract.

3. Mix in dry ingredients until just combined, and fold in chocolate chunks and craisins.

4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Drop dough on a parchment paper lined baking sheet and bake for 11 - 13 minutes or until edges are slightly brown.

5. Let cookies cool, then transfer to a cooling rack (or your belly).

The great thing with this recipe besides the fact that you can include it in your diet, is that you can change up or add ingredients such as wheat germ, pumpkin seeds, or nuts.  Soooo yummy!

A Mouthful of Mint...Chocolate

It's pretty much a given that Food Network will be switched on at some point during the day in my house.  Typically after my morning cardio and workout sessions =)  And then it'll stay on for the rest of the day whether or not I'm watching it. Many times it becomes ambient noise that carries me through my housework and kitchen time.  One morning Giada was in one of her chocolate moods.  I seriously love this woman!  She's a mother and a wife, she can cook and bake, she loves her chocolate and she looks AMAZING!  Definitely my food idol.

On this particular episode she put together a Double Chocolate and Mint Cookie.  As soon as she said chocolate, I was all ears, eyes and drooling..
Aside from the previously mentioned attributes, I just admire the way she works in her kitchen.  Everything is perfectly arranged and she has tons of counter space (JEALOUS!) to create her masterpieces.
Here's my rendition of her delectable recipe:

First, you chop up 6 ounces of milk or dark chocolate (I would use dark chocolate to give the cookies a richer flavor).  Melt your chocolate with butter and set aside to cool while you prepare the rest of your ingredients.

Now unwrap half a bag of Andes mints and chop them into 1/2 inch pieces.  Go ahead and sneak a few for yourself ;) 

I don't have pictures for the other steps, but just whisk together your dry ingredients and set aside.  Then, do the same for your wet ingredients in a medium sized bowl, and mix in your dry ingredients.  Now, take your cooled melted chocolate and stir it into the batter.  Your dough will stiffen up after this step, but that's perfectly normal.  Oh, don't forget to fold in your mints!

Once you have all of your delicious ingredients mixed together drop your batter by the heaping tablespoon on a parchment paper lined baking sheet, leaving enough room for each cookie to spread out in the oven.
Oooh, I know it's so hard to part ways, but place your cookies in the oven and watch them transform into mint-chocolaty amazing-ness!  After several short minutes, take them out and have them cool for another few minutes.

Okay, now TASTE THEM!  This has got to be one of the best parts of baking =)  Oh, yeah, they turned out  fantastic!!  The chocolate and mint meld together, creating pockets of deliciousness that will drive your sweet tooth crazy!

Hey, don't forget to share now! =)

Mint Chocolaty Cookies Recipe

INGREDIENTS

6 Ounces  Dark Chocolate, chopped into 1/2 inch pieces

2 Tablespoons  Unsalted Butter, softened

1 Cup  All-purpose Flour

2 Tablespoons  Unsweetened Cocoa Powder

1 teaspoon  Baking Soda

1/4 teaspoon  Salt

2/3 Cup  Light Brown Sugar

2 Large Eggs, room temperature

1 teaspoon  Vanilla Extract

1/2 Bag Andes Mint Chocolates

DIRECTIONS

1. Combine dark chocolate pieces and butter in a microwave safe bowl.  You may use either a double-boiler or your microwave oven to melt the chocolate. Just be careful to not burn your chocolate!  Stir together and set aside to cool.

2. Whisk your dry ingredients together in a small bowl.  (Flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt)

3. In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, sugar, 2 Tablespoons of water and vanilla extract.

4. Stir in the dry ingredients and cooled chocolate.  And fold in the mint chocolate pieces.

5. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.  Drop cookie dough on a parchment paper lined baking sheet, and bake for 9 minutes.  Rotate the sheet and bake for another 9 minutes or until the cookies are set and dry looking.

6. Let cookies cool completely before storing (or eating) them.

A Peanut Butter Lover's Staple

Any peanut butter lover would admit that they have committed the spoon-to-peanut butter jar crime at some point in their peanut butter craving fiasco.  I'm definitely guilty of this desperate act to gain satisfaction once or twice...a week ;).  But there are times when I'll hold back and take the time to bake up a batch of peanut butter thumbprints.  These, without a doubt, have been made countless times by hundreds of bakers across the globe.  And why not?!  They are so simple to make and will leave smiles on your taste testers faces for days!

There are just a few easy steps to follow before you can dive in.  Step one, unwrap 24-36 Reese's peanut butter cups.  Step two make a peanut butter cookie recipe.  By all means do this step from scratch!  I'm just lazy and want these in my belly faster, so I use a small pouch of Betty Crocker's peanut butter cookie mix.  Now, just place about a tablespoon of batter into each spot in your mini muffin tin and bake according to the instructions in your recipe or pouch mix.

Once your cookies drops are finished, immediately push a peanut butter cup in the middle of each.  The dough will wrap itself up and around the sides of the cup, creating a delicious nest for your chocolate and peanut butter confection.
Allow these to cool before popping them out of the tins and into your mouth =).  Make sure to save some for your fellow peanut butter lovers!