Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookies

 Son of a nutcracker. What a long week it's been. I apologize for my lack of posts (especially so soon after starting up this blog). All three of my kids have been sick. As we speak, a poor 4yr old boy is nestled up on my side suffering from a ruptured eardrum. 

So what does a girl time in this time of crisis? Bake cookies, of course. 

I found this recipe online & altered it to my liking. They are wooonderful. But you have to be careful to not over-bake them. If baked just right, they are slightly crispy on the outside & chewy n' gooey on the inside. My son, in his fragile state, has refused to eat any. So I ate his share. & Then some. ;)

Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookies

What you need:

1 cup of butter (softened)
1 cup of white sugar
1 cup of brown sugar (packed)
2 eggs
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
3 cups of all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon of baking soda
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 1/2 cups of semi sweet chocolate chips
1 cup of white chocolate chips

What you do:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

In a medium to large bowl, cream together the butter, white sugar & brown sugar. Beat in the eggs one at a time & mix in the vanilla.

Slowly add in flour, baking soda & salt.

Stir in chocolate chips & drop by spoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheets.

Bake for 8-10 minutes until edges are slightly browned.

Nom. Happy snacking!

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

Oh, what a day, what a day.

My little Lydia is beyond fussy, tonight. She has got to be getting teeth. If she's not, then she's turning into a demon. I'm really hoping for the former. I already have one (arguably two) demon children. Just PLEASE let this one turn out well-behaved! .. Yeah right. Ha!

I wasn't going to bake, today. I really wasn't. I told myself when I got up this morning.

But, boredom got the best of me & then my son begged me for a banana.
(Read out of context, that sentence is hilarious, by the way)

When I realized that the bananas we had were horribly brown & squishy, I told him I could do better than give him a banana. I could give him a banana muffin. Not just a banana muffin, but a banana chocolate chip muffin.. With streusel topping!

They were easy to make & my kids thought it was absolutely hilarious that I mashing up bananas. They just couldn't understand the concept & they thought I was insane. Although, I probably did seem just a little bit unbalanced as I was mashing up bananas with a fork & singing, "Asanta sana, squash banana!"
 

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

with a crunchy streusel topping

What you need:

-1 1/2 cups of flour
-2/3 cup of sugar
-1/2 of a packet of instant vanilla pudding mix
-1 1/2tsp baking powder
-1/2tsp baking soda
-1/4tsp salt
-1 cup of mashed bananas (I used 3 smaller sized ones)
-1 egg
-1/2 cup (1 stick) of butter or margarine; melted
-1/2 cup of milk
-1/4tsp of vanilla extract
-1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips

What you do:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, mix flour, sugar, pudding mix, baking powder, baking soda & salt together. In a smaller bowl, whisk together egg, melted butter, milk, mashed bananas & vanilla extract. Add to you dry ingredients & mix by hand with a wooden spoon or whisk. You don't want to over beat the batter. Stir in chocolate chips.

Pour batter into muffin tin of your choice (I did a dozen normal sized muffins & a dozen mini muffins) 3/4 full. Top with streusel topping (see recipe below).

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

My mini-muffins were done in 10 minutes. My regular size muffins were done in about 22 minutes.

Crunchy Streusel Topping

What you need:

-1/2 cup of oatmeal
-2/3 cup of flour
-2/3 cup of brown sugar
-1/2tsp of cinnamon
-1/3 cup of walnuts of pecans; finely chopped (I used pecans)
-1/2 cup of melted butter or margarine

What you do:

Mix your dry ingredients & then pour melted butter over top & stir until the consistency resembles coarse crumbs.

The perfect breakfast muffin! They are so good- my 4yr old & 2yr old ate all but 3 of the mini muffins after I made them.

Enjoy!