A Chocolate Chip Cookie and a Healthier Chocolate Chip Cookie

 I have been trying to make better cookies for awhile.  I followed the directions and my cookies just lacked something.  They weren't pretty and they didn't taste exactly like I wanted them to.  The first thing that I changed was the chocolate chips.

I switched to Ghirardelli's 60% cacao chips and by far, they are the best chocolate chips I have ever used.  I had a lot of food interactions last year and have completely given up eating chocolate and dairy, but these chocolate chips I can tolerate.  The next thing I have learned is that I can't make chocolate chip cookies with butter.  The cookie just doesn't look right.  It gets very flat and spreads out when I use butter.  So, I did some research and decided to try

Crisco.  Yes, I know, I have long had an aversion to Crisco.  Not considered the most healthy food ingredient but, it makes a pretty cookie.  

For the cookie above I used the recipe right off of the Ghirardelli bag.  

Here it is:

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cups unsifted flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

Somewhere between 3/4 and 1 cup of Crisco.  A full cup was too much.

(The recipe calls for 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, I omitted and replaced with Crisco.)

3/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar, packed

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs

10 oz. Ghirardelli 60 % Cacao Bittersweet Chocolate Chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. 

1. Stir flour with baking soda and salt; set aside.
2. Beat butter with sugar and brown sugar at medium speed until creamy. 
3. Add vanilla and eggs, one at a time, mixing on low speed until incorporated.
4. Gradually blend dry mixture into creamed mixture.  
5. Stir in chocolate chips.  
6. Drop by tablespoon onto ungreased cookie sheets.  
7. Bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown.

Yield: 4 dozen cookies

And now for a healthier chocolate chip cookie.  Have you ever heard of clean eating?

Here is a really great blog that describes clean eating really well.   The Gracious Pantry

is a great resource for healthy recipes if your trying to start the New Year with healthier food choices.  Clean eating is about eating foods that aren't processed.  You are ridding your body of all of the chemicals put into processed foods.  Last year I went through a whole year of food reactions and I was surprised to learn how much is in our foods that we don't want in there.  I have only began to learn about this and am not an expert by any means but, I can tell that eating this way is better for your overall health.  

So, after months of not being able to eat chocolate I just discovered not only can I use these chocolate chips but, I can make them into these much healthier cookies.

Clean Eating Chocolate Chip Cookies

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Tools
Food processor
Large mixing bowl
Spatula

Ingredients
2/3 cup almonds
1/3 cup cooked oatmeal
3 tbsp. agave or honey
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/8 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup grain sweetened chocolate chips (or dairy free chips)

Note: If you don’t want to use the chocolate chips, they could be very easily substituted with raisins, nuts or dried fruits of any kind.

Directions:

1.  Mix everything except the chocolate chips in the food processor.  You should have a wet, sticky dough when you're done. 
2. Using your spatula, scrape dough into your mixing bowl and mix in chocolate chips.
   
3. Spoon onto a parchment lined cookie sheet.
4. Bake for 20 minutes.

*Note: I used the same chocolate chips as I used in the first recipe.  I also used honey and regular whole wheat flour.  

The healthier cookies turned out great.  They tasted good and are better for you than the first recipe.  I didn't use the grain sweetened chocolate chips. I wasn't sure I would be able to tolerate them so I used what I knew would work.    The Clean Eating Chocolate Chip Cookies only made 12 cookies.  So you may need to make that recipe larger if you are making more cookies than just for a personal treat.  

Enjoy!

Sherry

I will link this to: 

Wow Us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style

This Chick Cooked at This Chick Cooks
Friday Food at Mom Trends

Foodie Friday at Designs by Gollum 
Wednesday Show Off  at Elna-Sudden. 
What's It Wednesday   at Ivy and Elephants  
Thriving on Thursdays  at Domesblissity

Hot Chocolate Station

 

If snow is in your forecast for Christmas, your plans may also include sledding with the kiddos over Christmas break.  Here I have set up a hot chocolate station for a break when the sledding gets too cold.

  I have a tea cozy made of wool over my teapot.

I was going to do a Christmas table with this Christmas pattern of British Castles by Johnson Brothers but, I saw these dishes on many tables this month so I decided to do this instead.

The food on my table includes:

Nonnie's Biscotti

Land O' Lakes individual flavored hot chocolates

Ashby's Christmas Spice tea (it is cranberry orange flavored)

Spearmint sticks

Strawberry sticks

Cinnamon sticks

Marshmallows

I will link to:

Tablescape Thursday at Between Naps on the Porch

Foodie Friday at Designs by Gollum

Visit these site for many more tablescapes and food ideas.

Poinsettia Party

Today I am joining Beth from Food As Art for her Poinsettia Party.  She will have that party up on Sunday evening.  I just happen to recently come across this Christmas snack set that I thought would make a great Christmas gift but, I am utilizing it for today.  (Mom won't mind.)
  

The mug and plates are bedecked with the prettiest poinsettia images.

Walmart had some of the prettiest poinsettias in a variety of colors, like this pale pink one.

The cookie is one of my favorite.  I think it is official.... my favorite food has to be this Chocolate Chip cookie!

Chocolate Chunk Cookie

 Ingredients:

1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
2  1/4 cup flour
2 1/2 cups oats, powdered in blender
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
12 oz. chocolate chips
4 oz. Hershey bar, cut into chunks
1 1/2 cup of chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Cream butter, sugar, brown sugar.  Mix in eggs and vanilla.  Mix in  flour, powdered oats, salt, baking soda, and baking powder.  Next, mix in chocolate chips, chocolate chunks, and pecans.  Drop golf ball size cookie dough on an ungreased cookie sheet 2 inches apart.  Bake 8 minutes.  Cookies will not appear done.  Let cool until removal from cookie sheets.
Adapted from: Lazarus Chocolate Chunk Cookie
I am joining:
Michael Lee at Designs by Gollum for Foodie Friday
Beverly at How Sweet the Sound for  Pink Saturday
Go check these great blogs out too.
I am also having a 1-year blogoversary  giveaway.  Click here to enter.  I am giving away a Mary Carol Garrity book.

Ghirardelli Chocolate

When I visit Walt Disney World a visit is never complete until I have gone to the Downtown Disney Shopping Center and visited Ghirardelli.  If you don't know about Ghirardelli it is some wonderful chocolate made right here in America.  This picture of the outside of the shop shows Domingo Ghirardelli; an Italian immigrant, and his chocolate making history in San Francisco.  When you turn the corner to the front of the store the feature attraction is the chocolate.

This marquee on the outside of the building shows my favorite chocolate the "Drinking Chocolate."  I will get to more about that in a minute.

Step inside the door and a person hands you a square of chocolate free!  Yes, free chocolate.  Do I need to say more.  This is one reason this has become one of my favorite stops.  This wall display has some others.  Here you are looking at chocolate drops and chocolate covered fruit.  The saleslady's hand is on the chocolate covered blueberries,  right next to it is chocolate covered strawberries and chocolate covered apricots.  We have bought these in years past and they are delicious!

Check this out!  Shelves of chocolate squares in cellophane bags tied with satin ribbons.

Okay now we are getting to the serious chocolate lover's display.  Here is what you are looking at, chocolate lava cake, triple chocolate brownies, chocolate dipped strawberries, a fondue set, chocolate caramel fudge sauce, bittersweet chocolate fudge sauce, hot cocoa (in these flavors) double chocolate, chocolate hazelnut, and white mocha, and a cookbook opened up to the chocolate lava cake recipe.  But that is not all....

this little golden tin has drinking chocolate, just like the picture in the marquee out front.  I did a Foodie Friday post on this back in the winter.  You can view that here.  What is so special about this drinking chocolate is that is isn't hot chocolate.  It is true liquid chocolate.  It reminds me of the movie Chocolat when Vianne (Juliette Binoche) makes chocolate for Roux (Johnny Depp).  The best part is you can make this at home with the recipe in my Foodie Friday post.  I got the recipe off of Ghirardelli's site and you can visit that here.  You can also order most of things you see here at their website. 

 This store is also a working soda fountain shop.  They can make you almost anything.  

The lady behind the counter on the left is making the homemade waffle cones.  They smell amazing.  

So, your wondering what did I buy?  When I headed toward the store; leaving the van, the teenagers were shouting buy chocolate, lots of chocolate!

 So, a bag of the little chocolate squares with the satin ribbon made it back home with us.  If it had not been packed deep within my suitcase it might have been on the endangered species list.

But, through 1,000 miles of highway, growling teens, potty breaks, and fast food from hell; these fabulous little chocolate squares made it home in my suitcase for me to break in two and slowly savor each delectable bite. Ghirardelli a Foodie stop in heaven.:)
I will link this to Michael Lee's Foodie Friday at Designs by Gollum.
I will also link to Laurie's My Favorite Things at her site Bargain Hunting and chatting with Laurie.