Molasses and dark chocolate mixed together make quite the cookie! A completely black cookie. Yes, you needed this information. Chocolate molasses cookies turn out to be rather yummy.
I started with a standard chocolate chip recipe. Alas, I had no chocolate chips. Such minor inconveniences never keep me from my cookies, however. Some days require cookies (this is a fact).
Instead of chocolate chips, I added dark cocoa, and supplemented the sugar with molasses. The result was a very lovely cookie. Not too sweet, but not un-sweet. I suspect it would be more chocolatey with chocolate chips, or more flavorful if I used more spices. But overall, it is an excellent cookie!
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup Butter one stick, room temperature
- 1/2 cup Sugar
- 1/3 cup Molasses baking
- 1 whole Egg
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1 cup Flour
- 1/2 cup Cocoa Dark Chocolate
- 1 tsp Baking Soda
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- Chocolate Chips optional
Servings: cookies
Instructions
- Cream together butter and sugar until fluffy (or at least smooth). Add molasses, stir. Add egg and vanilla extract. Mix until well combined.
- Add your dry ingredients - flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt - to the wet mixture. With stirring, you should get a nice cookie dough.
- Throw in your chocolate chips last, if desired. You want to get them evenly distributed throughout the dough. Mmmm. . . chocolate. . .
- Scoop out 2ish tablespoons of dough for each cookie. Bake on an ungreased baking sheet at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for about ten minutes.
- Enjoy with milk.
Recipe Notes
Between the dark cocoa and the dark molasses, it will be very difficult to tell when your cookies are done. Make sure to take them out of the oven while they are still soft. Because molasses isn't quite as sweet as pure sugar (especially with dark chocolate thrown in), your chocolate molasses cookies will not stay sweet if they're overcooked. . .
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I try to keep my fridge stocked with the basics - eggs, milk, and butter. The jar of white flour should be full, and there should be extra whole wheat flour stashed away somewhere. I keep sour cream or yogurt around because I tend to cook with it, but I try not to keep multiple packages of cream cheese around. Its dangerous!
So what to do when I just have to have cheesecake? (these are the important questions)
Yes, cheesecake. Very dangerous. Very rich.
It turns out, you don't need to use cream cheese. There are recipes for cheesecake which use a variety of other cheeses - like ricotta, or farmer's cheese. The beauty of using Farmer's Cheese, of course, is that you can make it yourself, and flavor it however you like while making it.
I tried this recipe using cheese made from apple cider vinegar and sprinkled with cinnamon and topped with applesauce. Awesome.
Ingredients
Filling
- 1 gallon Milk
- 2-3 tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar
- 1 tsp Cinnamon
- 4 whole Eggs
- 1 Egg White
- 3/4 cup Sugar
- 1/2 cup Sour Cream
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
Crust
- 1 3/4 cup Flour White
- 1/2 cup Confectioners Sugar
- 3/4 tsp Baking Powder
- 1/4 tsp Salt
- 1/2 cup Butter
- 3 Egg Yolks
- 3 tbsp Sour Cream
Servings: people
Instructions
- Pour your milk into a large pot, and gently warm until it is frothy. Use the apple cider vinegar to separate the curds from the whey and drain. Add cinnamon if desired. (this is just the standard Farmer's Cheese recipe adapted; you can find more details here.
- Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a medium sized bowl. Cut in butter, as if you were making pie crust dough.
- Beat 3 egg yolks and 3 tablespoons of sour cream together, and then add to the flour mixture. Mix until it forms dough (again, resembling pie crust dough). Roll out and place in pie plate.
- Beat the 4 eggs and one egg white at high speed until frothy. You will probably want to use an electric beater!
- Put farmer's cheese, granulated sugar, 1/2 cup sour cream, and vanilla extract in a blender. Blend well. The Farmer's Cheese will be naturally rather granular when first made; it should be chopped up until very fine and liquid. Add some of the egg mixture if necessary.
- Fold together the farmer's cheese mixture and egg mixtures. Pour into the pie plate.
- Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for about 40 minutes. The cake will rise in the oven, turn golden, and set.
- Cool for a few hours in the refrigerator before serving. Enjoy!
Recipe Notes
One thing I like about this recipe is that it does have instructions on making its own crust. You could definitely still do a typical graham cracker crust with this, but if you don't keep graham crackers around either, this makes it simpler.
As long as you have eggs. Lots of eggs.
Based off of Country Cheesecake.
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Every Christmas, my family makes Brandy Balls. Ok, this year, it was more like after Christmas before they got made - but it was Christmas time, and there were Brandy Balls.
And they're a great Christmas Cookie! They're chocolatey, they're sweet, and they have liquor. They're even really easy to make. What's not to like?
Ingredients
- 1 box Vanilla Wafers crushed
- 3 Tbsp Cocoa
- 1 1/2 Cup Walnuts finely chopped
- 4 1/2 Tbsp Corn Syrup
- 1/2 Cup Brandy
- 1 Cup Confectioners Sugar (also extra for rolling / storage)
Servings: cookies
Instructions
- Prepare the ingredients - crush the vanilla wafers, and chop up your walnuts.
- Combine all your ingredients - vanilla wafers, cocoa, walnuts, corn syrup, brandy, and confectioners sugar - and mix well. I suggest using a blender. It makes it so much faster! The mixture should form a sticky dough.
- Divide the dough into small balls (1-2 inches in diameter), and roll them in powdered / confectioners' sugar. Chill, and store with more confectioners' sugar - it keeps them from sticking together.
- Enjoy! 🙂
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Cream pies are amazing creamy goodness. There is, granted, probably not much redeeming benefit health-wise (unlike fruit pies - those are totally healthy, right?), but they are delicious.
You can add as much or as little cinnamon to this recipe as you like to give it some flavor. Otherwise, its all cream - and its very very important that you make it with cream! I've tried a lot of variations with less cream, more milk, or buttermilk, and its just not worth it. If you are horrified at the thought of a pie with cups and cups of cream and then some butter added for good measure, this pie is not for you. Just. . . don't make a cream pie. Make some other kind of pie.
In other news, I realize that I've missed a few weeks here. Christmas bustle got to me. I will be resuming regular scheduling as of. . .now!
Merry Christmas!
Ingredients
- 1 Cup Sugar
- 1/4 Cup Flour All purpose, of course
- 1 Dash Salt
- 2 1/2 Cups Cream Heavy Whipping
- 1/2 Cup Milk
- 2 Separated Egg Yolks
- 2 Tsp Vanilla Extract
- 2 Tbsp Butter
- 1 Tsp Cinnamon
- 1 Whole Deep Dish Pie Crust
Servings: people
Instructions
- Mix together your dry ingredients - sugar, flour, and salt - in a medium sized bowl. Make sure they're well combined.
- Add two (2) cups of heavy cream. Mix well.
- In another bowl, mix together egg yolks, 1/2 cup of cream, the 1/2 cup of milk, and vanilla extract. Add to original cream and sugar mixture. Again, mix well, but don't beat it! You don't want whipped cream.
- Pour the cream mixture into your prepared pie crust. Dot with butter. Sprinkle Cinnamon across the top.
- Bake for about 1 hour at 350 degrees Fahrenheit. You'll know the pie is done when its bubbling ALL the way across the top. Let it do this for about 10 minutes before taking it out of the oven.
- Let the pie cool completely in the fridge for optimal creaminess.
Recipe Notes
You can also use half and half instead of 1/2 cup cream and 1/2 cup milk, but then you will be buying 3 dairy products instead of 2. This seems silly to me, unless you already buy half and half.
If you really can't get enough cinnamon, you can add cinnamon to the cream mixture as well as sprinkling it across the top. Nutmeg and Ginger also taste good. Add as much or as little spice as you like.
Based on Old Fashioned Sugar Cream Pie from Loaves and Dishes. Apparently its an Indiana thing!
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Light, fluffy, and coconutty - macaroons are an easy and delicious treat!
I tracked down this recipe a few years ago when I had too much coconut. The cookies are pretty small, so doubling the recipe is entirely reasonable. Right? Right.
Ingredients
- 1 1/3 cup Coconut Flakes sweetened
- 1/3 cup Sugar
- 2 tbsp Flour
- 1/8 tsp Salt
- 2 Egg Whites
- 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1/2 tsp Almond Extract
Servings: cookies
Instructions
- Beat the egg whites, vanilla, and almond extract together until the egg whites are fluffy and soft peaks form.
- Mix the sugar, flour, and salt, then add the coconut flakes. Then add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. The coconut flakes need to be sticky enough to hold together while baking.
- Form dough into balls, about one tablespoon each. Bake for 18-20 minutes at 325 degrees Fahrenheit.
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As part of my great pie experiment, I decided to try Sweet Potato Pie. The verdict? Its yummy, but very heavy. . . in a potatoey way. If I were to make it again, I'd probably try to go lighter on the sweet potato part.
If you too decide to try out Sweet Potato Pie, I definitely recommend having it cold, and with whipped cream. Mmmmmm, yummy!
Ingredients
- 3 whole Sweet Potato cooked and mashed
- 1/2 cup Butter melted
- 1/2 cup Brown Sugar
- 1/4 cup Dark Karo Syrup
- 2 whole Eggs beaten
- 1 can Evaporated Milk
- 2 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1/4 tsp Salt
- 2 cups Pecans ground
- 2 tbsp Butter
- 2 tbsp Dark Karo Syrup
Servings: people
Instructions
- Peel and chop your sweet potatoes, and start them cooking with a little water on the stove over medium heat.
- While your sweet potatoes soften, put the pecans, 2 tbsps of butter, and 2 tbsps of karo syrup in the food processor. Pulse until the pecans resemble crumbs, and press into the bottom of a deep dish pie plate.
- Once the sweet potatoes are soft, mash them. Add butter, brown sugar, karo syrup, eggs, evaporated milk, vanilla extract, and salt. Mix well.
- Pour your filling into your pie plate.
- Cook at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for about 40 minutes. The pie should be firm, and not like a custard.
- Serve with whipped cream and enjoy!
Recipe Notes
Based on a recipe from the Sage Trifle.
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In my pie making adventures, I've tried quite a few recipes whose results were questionable (Shoofly Pie with blackstrap molasses; do not do this!) or which mysteriously morphed into something else. Such it was that I started with the notion of making chess pie and ended up with this Almond Custard Pie.
I'm not entirely sure how one thing led to another anymore, but this is a delicious almondy confection. I'm not entirely sure it counts as a pie, as the almond crust has the interesting habit of rising to the top of the pie instead of remaining on the bottom as crust.
Ingredients
For Crust
- 1 cup Almonds preferably sliced
- 1 tbsp Butter
- 1/4 tsp Almond Extract
Servings: people
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°.
- Chop your almonds up in a food processor. Once they are finely chopped, add the butter and almond extract and continue processing until well mixed. If the butter starts out soft, then the almonds should start clumping together in a loose dough.
- Press your almond dough into the bottom of a pie plate, and bake in the oven for 10 minutes.
- While your crust is cooking, cream together your butter and sugar until smooth.
- Add in the eggs, flour, whey, almond extract, and nutmeg. Mix well.
- Pour the filling into your pie plate, and bake for an additional 60 minutes.
Recipe Notes
On the whey - the first time I made this recipe, I had really thick whey from one of my cheese-making experiments.. It was a bit like soft yogurt. You can also use buttermilk, OR 1 cup of whey/milk with 1/2 cup of yogurt.
On the pie crust - 1 cup of almonds only makes enough to cover the bottom of the pie plate. I like limited crust, but if you want it to go up the sides as well, double the crust recipe.
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When I was growing up, pie was made with fruit. There was peach pie, cherry pie, apple pie, and maaaaybe berry pie (that was exotic!). But then, one day, I ventured into the wilds of Indiana and discovered that not all pie was fruit. Some pie was weird. Some pie was. . . vinegar.
Rock Run Cafe & Bakery - the place of the inspirational Vinegar Pie.
Intrigued, I ordered the mysterious vinegar pie. It smelled like vinegar, but it didn't taste like vinegar. It was creamy, and different, and interesting! So I decided to make it for myself.
While searching for vinegar pie recipes I discovered a whole host of different pie ideas that I'd never heard of; chess pie, mock apple pie, oatmeal pie, etc. I resolved there to broaden my pie horizons!
So first up, in the Great Pie Experiment is Vinegar Coconut Pie. I ran across this recipe under the name "French Coconut Pie" and it seems to basically be vinegar pie with coconut. Its definitely outside of Vinegar Pie's "poor man's pie" roots, but its delicious.
Ingredients
- 6 Eggs
- 1 1/4 cup Sugar
- 2 cups Coconut Flakes Sweetened
- 1 cup Butter Unsalted, Melted
- 2 tbsp White Vinegar
- 2 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1/4 tsp Salt
- 1 Deep Dish Pie Crust
Servings: pieces
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- Melt butter. I did this in the heating oven, but the microwave will do just as well.
- Beat eggs, then add the coconut, sugar, vinegar, vanilla extract, and salt.
- Pour a little of the coconut mixture into the melted butter to cool it down (otherwise you might start cooking the eggs with the hot butter!). Mix the butter into the coconut mixture.
- Pour the filling into the pie crust, and put it in the oven for 1 hour. The top should be golden brown and firm.
Recipe Notes
I made the crust with 2 cups flour, 2/3 cup shortening, a bit of cold water. Rolled it out, put it in the deep dish pie plate, and forked the bottom. It came out really well!
Based on French Coconut Pie.
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Every so often, I find myself in the terrible predicament of strawberries going bad. An entire carton of strawberries going bad in the fridge is a horrible thing.
And sometimes, the solution is cookies. Strawberry cookies.
Strawberry cookies have a bit less sugar than ordinary cookies, but the sweetness and goodness of strawberries - and maybe a bit of chocolate!
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup Butter softened
- 4 oz Cream Cheese or Farmers Cheese
- 3/4 cup Sugar
- 1 whole Egg
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1 1/4 cup Flour all purpose
- 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
- 1 dash Salt
- 1 tbsp Flour
- 1 1/2 cup Strawberries chopped
- 1 cup Chocolate Chips optional
Servings: cookies
Instructions
- Chop up your strawberries into nice small cookie-sized chunks. Lightly cover with a tbsp of flour. This will keep them from sticking together too badly.
- Cream together your butter, cream cheese, and sugar. Add egg and vanilla. Mix.
- Add your dry ingredients - flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix well.
- Carefully fold in your floured strawberries. Mix in chocolate chips, if desired.
- Place heaping tablespoons of cookie dough on a cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 15-20 minutes, or until light brown.
Recipe Notes
This recipe was inspired by Strawberry Cookies with White Chocolate Chunks. You could, of course, add white chocolate to this recipe too, though I generally make the cookies without chocolate chips and they taste wonderful.
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Rhubarb was not quite as expensive as usual at the grocery store this week, so I couldn't resist buying a few stalks and making something rhubarb-y.
Now everyone knows that rhubarb and strawberries go great together. But rhubarb is equally good with apples! Granted, it won't have that pretty red tint, but the apples nicely balance out the tartness of the rhubarb. And anyway, strawberries aren't in season . . .
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Chop up the rhubarb and apple. Heap them into a deep dish pie plate (don't overfill; you can cook down any left over on the stove with some sugar. It will taste great too!)
- Mix together flour, sugar, and spices. Chop in butter, until it resembles coarse sand.
- Sprinkle crumble mixture over fruit.
- Bake for an hour and a half, or until the crumble is bubbly and the rhubarb has cooked down.
- Serve warm with ice cream!
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