Cafe' au Lait Muffins ~ By Victoria

 I recently re-discovered this recipe and we're all thrilled to have them again! We have had this recipe for many years but it had nearly been forgotten. These muffins are perfect for breakfast or for an afternoon pick-me-up!   Enjoy!

Ingredients:
4 cups flour
1 cup sugar
2 Tb baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
2 cups milk
1 cup butter
2 eggs, beaten
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 Ts instant coffee granules
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375.

Wisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. In a saucepan, scald milk and remove from heat. Add butter, eggs, vanilla and coffee granules.  Combine with the flour mixture just until moistened. Fold in chocolate chips.  Grease and spoon fill cupcake pans 3/4 full with the batter. Bake for 15-20 minutes.   This recipe makes 2 dozen muffins. 

Chocolate Peppermint Cookies ~ By Caroline

The cookie part and ingredients for these cookies are pretty much the same as our white chip chocolate cookies (http://foursistersff.blogspot.com/2015/12/chocolate-white-choc-chip-cookies-by.html) only with mint extract, mint icing and candy for topping.  They're very delicious and a super cute, festive dessert for Christmas time! :-) 

  

Ingredients For Cookies:

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened to room temperature

2 cups sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon mint extract

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cups cocoa powder

1tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

2 cups white chocolate chips

Icing and Candy Topping:
2 cups powdered sugar
2 Tablespoons milk
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp mint extract
Crushed peppermint candies for dusting

 

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350 F.
2. Beat butter and sugar in a large bowl until creamy.  Add eggs and flavors; beat until light and fluffy.  Stir together flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt; gradually beat into butter mixture. Stir in white chips.  Drop by rounded tablespoons onto a greased or parchment lined baking sheet.
3. Bake 8-9 minutes.  (Do not overbake; cookies will be soft and puffy and will flatten slightly during cooling) Cool on a wire rack.
4. Mix together icing ingredients in a medium bowl, and adjust milk/sugar if needed to reach the right consistency. (It should be pretty thick so that it doesn't run off the cookies at all)
5. Sprinkle crushed mint candies on freshly iced cookies

Yields: About 4 dozen cookies



White Chip Chocolate Cookies ~ by Caroline

These are amazing! Very rich and chocolaty, chewy in the middle with some crunch on the edges.  They're a favorite around here! :-)

 

Ingredients:

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened to room temperature

2 cups sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cups cocoa powder

1tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

2 cups white chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350 F.
2. Beat butter and sugar in a large bowl until creamy.  Add eggs and vanilla; beat until light and fluffy.  Stir together flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt; gradually beat into butter mixture. Stir in white chips.  Drop by rounded tablespoons onto a greased or parchment lined baking sheet.
3. Bake 8-9 minutes.  (Do not overbake; cookies will be soft and puffy and will flatten slightly during cooling) Cool on a wire rack. 

Yields: About 4 dozen cookies

 

Chocolate Zucchini Bread ~ By Victoria

This bread it perfect for an afternoon snack, breakfast, or dessert!

It is soooo moist! 

And having zucchini in it makes you feel like you're eating a healthy food!

Well, sorta. :)

 

Ingredients:

2 (1 ounce) squares unsweetened chocolate 3 eggs 2 cups white sugar *1 cup sour cream 1 cup vegetable oil 2 cups grated zucchini

1 teaspoon vanilla extract 2 cups all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:

1.	Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease two 9x5 inch loaf pans. In a microwave-safe bowl, microwave chocolate until melted. Stir occasionally until chocolate is smooth.
2.	In a large bowl, combine eggs, sugar, oil, grated zucchini, vanilla,  sour cream and chocolate; beat well. Stir in the flour baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Fold in the chocolate chips. Pour batter into prepared loaf pans.
3.	Bake in preheated oven for 60 to 70 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a loaf comes out clean. Source: All Recipes http://allrecipes.com/Recipe-Tools/Print/Recipe.aspx?recipeID=17289&origin=detail&servings=20&metric=false * The recipe we use has the exact same direction and ingredients, but a cup of sour cream was added.

Chocolate Chip Cookies ~ By Victoria

 Let me introduce you to the Bowes Family's BEST chocolate chip cookie recipe!! We LOVE these cookies! We Boweses are quite picky when it comes to CC cookies... and finding a recipe that we all like can be very challenging. But here it is. This recipe has been in the family for as long as I can remember and no other recipe has even come close to winning all of our favor (and believe me, we have tried a LOT of other recipes!). These cookies are soft, chewy and fluffy and do not flatten out like most other CC cookies. They do have Crisco instead of butter, but I believe that is one reason why they are so good as the recipes we use with butter always completely flatten out.

We like to use half mini c. chips and half regular c. chips or half white c. chips and half regular in this recipe. :-)

 

Chocolate Chip Cookies

3/4 cup butter Crisco

1 1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar

2 T. Milk

1 T. Vanilla

1 Egg

2 cups flour

1 tsp. salt

3/4 tsp. baking soda

1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375

Cream Crisco and brown sugar. Add milk, egg and vanilla.

Combine flour, salt and baking soda. Add to creamed mixture and then (by hand) stir in chocolate chips.  

Bake for 8-10 minutes.

 

 

 

 

Pumpkin Chip Cupcakes ~ by Victoria

Even though, at the time of this posting, it is the first few official days of summer, we LOVE to bake with pumpkin year round!!  And chocolate goes with everything, right? These cupcakes/muffins are delicious, fairly nutritious, and are very quick to make!!  They have been some of our favorites for years! 

 

We usually do not frost them, as we like them just the way they are! ;-) 

 

15 ServingsPrep: 20 min. Bake: 20 min. + cooling

Ingredients

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 cup canned pumpkin
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1/3 cup water
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (Your preference; we usually omit them.)
• 1 cup miniature chocolate chips
• FROSTING:
• 1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups confectioners' sugar

Directions

• In a large bowl, combine the first seven ingredients. Combine the eggs, pumpkin, oil, honey and water. Stir into dry ingredients just until combined; fold in walnuts and chocolate chips.
• Fill greased or foil-lined muffin cups three-fourths full. Bake at350° for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks to cool completely.
• For frosting, in a small bowl, beat the cream cheese, butter and vanilla until fluffy. Gradually beat in confectioners' sugar until smooth. Frost cupcakes.
• Yield: 15 cupcakes.

Source:  Old Taste of Home magazine clipping