Mom's Date-Nut-Chocolate Chip Dessert

My mom has made this recipe for years. She received it from my aunt, but I have no idea where she got it from. A cross between a cake and a brownie, this moist dessert goes really well with Cool Whip (which of course I forgot when I made this for some friends!).

Mom's
Date-Nut-Chocolate Chip
Dessert

Ingredients:
1 cup dates, chopped
1 tsp baking soda
1-1/2 cups boiling water
1/2 cup margarine
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs. slightly beaten
1-1/2 cups flour, plus 3 tablespoons
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup nuts, chopped (I used walnuts)
1/2 cup sugar

Mix dates, (1 teaspoon) baking soda, and boiling water in a small bowl. Cover and set aside.

Cream margarine and sugar. Add eggs.

Sift flour, salt, and (3/4 teaspoon) baking soda. Add to creamed mixture. Then stir in date mixture. Pour batter in greased 9 x 13 pan. Sprinkle chocolate chips, nuts, and sugar over batter.

Bake in 350 degree oven for 30-35 minutes.

Serves 15-20.

Mudslide Cookies

A friend gave me a recipe box called Chocolate Bliss (Music Cooks) as a gift. Inside are ten recipe cards and a music CD to play while you are making or enjoying the recipes.

I made only one minor change to this recipe. I used milk chocolate chips instead of the semisweet ones in the original recipe. If you are a huge chocolate fan, you will love these cookies because they are what the name implies: a whole mudslide full of chocolate.

P.S. If you want more recipes like this, you can buy the Chocolate Bliss recipe box online at Barnes and Noble or Amazon.

Mudslide Cookies

Ingredients:
1/2 cup flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 ounces unsweetened chocolate
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup chopped walnuts
3/4 cup milk chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a small bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

In a microwave-safe bowl, melt the butter, the unsweetened chocolate, and the bittersweet chocolate. It is best to cut the chocolate into smaller pieces (I cut the 1-ounce squares in half) and then melt them on high for 30 seconds. Stir and melt again for another 30 seconds. Stir again. If they are still some unmelted chocolate pieces, continue cooking and stirring every 30 seconds.

In a large bowl, beat the eggs and the sugar on high for 3 minutes. The mixture should become pale and somewhat fluffy. Add the chocolate mixture and the vanilla. Beat on medium speed for one minute. Gradually add flour mixture and beat until just blended. Stir in walnuts and chocolate chips.

Use a small cookie scooper to drop batter onto prepared cookie sheet. The batter will be rather runny so don't expect perfectly rounded scoops of dough.

Bake for 12-14 minutes. Let cool on pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire rack.

Yields: about 36 cookies.

Cranberry Walnut Brownies

Sometimes I make a dessert with the intention of posting it on this blog, and then I almost forget to snap a photo before the dessert disappears!

Such is the case with these brownies.

I brought them into work. My team loved them, and I brought home a few leftovers. Then what? Yesterday I realized there were only two left, and I hadn't taken a picture yet! So the photo you see below is of the last two remaining brownies. They aren't as moist as they first were, but I have to say that the dried cranberries seemed to keep the brownies moist longer than usual.

Cranberry Walnut Brownies

Ingredients:
10 tablespoons butter
5 oz. semisweet chocolate
2/3 cup sugar
2/3 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
2/3 cup flour
3/4 cup chopped walnuts
3/4 cup dried cranberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Line a 9 x 9 inch pan with foil. Spray with cooking spray.

In a microwave-safe bowl, melt chocolate and butter 2 minutes on high. Stir every 30 seconds. If necessary, continue to melt at 30 second increments.

Stir in both kinds of sugar, eggs, salt, and vanilla. Add flour and stir. Mix in dried cranberries and walnuts. Spread into pan.

Bake 25-30 minutes until knife comes out clean. Cool on wire rack.

Butterballs

I made these cookies a while ago, but never got them on the blog. I can't say they were my favorite, but if you like nutty cookies, you'll probably enjoy these.

Butterballs

Ingredients:
1 stick (8 tablespoons) butter, softened
3 tablespoons honey
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon almond extract
1 cup flour
1 cup finely chopped pecans or walnuts
3/4 cup powdered sugar

Cream butter. Beat in honey, salt, and almond extract. Gradually add in flour and then stir in pecans or walnuts.

Wrap dough in plastic wrap and chill for at least an hour.

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Roll dough into balls and place two inches apart on greased cookie sheet. Bake 35 minutes.

Allow to cool for a few minutes before rolling in powdered sugar. Allow to cool fully and then roll in powdered sugar.

Yields: about 3 dozen cookies

Date, Walnut & Chocolate Cookies

My mom makes a dessert that she calls "Date & Walnut Dessert," or something like that. It's basically a 9 x 13 chocolate cake with lots of yummy goodies like dates, chocolate chips, walnuts, and extra sugar on top. I decided to try to make a similar sort of cookie, so here's what I developed:

Date, Walnut & Chocolate Cookies

Ingredients:
1 stick of butter, softened
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 tablespoon milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup quick-cooking oats
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup chopped dates

Cream the butter with both types of sugar. Beat in eggs, milk, and vanilla.

In a small bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Slowly blend flour mixture into butter-sugar mixture.

Stir in oats. Then add chocolate chips, walnuts, and dates. Refrigerate dough for an hour.

Then preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease cookie sheets. Scoop dough onto cookie sheets. Baking 8-10 minutes until lightly browned. Cool on sheets for 2 minutes before removing to wire racks.

These cookies are great warm!

Yields: about 3 dozen cookies

Chocolate Cranberry Walnut Cookies

These cookies were kind of a "what do I have at home that might make a good cookie" type of recipe. Enjoy!

Chocolate Cranberry Walnut Cookies

Ingredients:
1 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 small package (3.9 oz.) chocolate or chocolate fudge instant pudding
2 eggs
1 tsp. baking soda
1/8 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. vanilla
1 3/4 cups flour
1 cup Craisins
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Beat butter and sugar with electric mixer. Add pudding and beat again. Add eggs, baking soda, salt and vanilla. Gradually beat in flour.

Stir in Craisins, walnuts, and chocolate chips. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto baking sheets covered with parchment paper. Bake 10-12 minutes.

Cool for 2 minutes before removing to wire rack.

Yields: about four dozen cookies