The lovely purveyors of TCHO were kind enough to send me three samples of their chocolate flavors: Chocolatey (which I’d reviewed in a previous beta version), Fruity, and Nutty. After having a few squares and submitting our feedback online CK and I still had quite a bit of chocolate kicking around in our fridge. So I decided to make good on my previous idea that this rich dark chocolate would be an excellent addition to cookies.

I’ve become obsessed with sandwiching sweet things to other sweet things with even more sugary things lately. So it only seemed natural to make mini TCHO laced Chocolate Chip Cookies (a mixture of chopped up fruity and nutty) and secure the two halves together with a rich filling made with melted TCHO Chocolately squares.

The resulting cookies, if I do say so myself, were a chocolate overload of tastiness. But you don’t have to take my word for it. CK’s boss, Dave, had an extremely exuberant reaction to them.

TCHO Beta Stuffed Cookies
(Cookie based on the Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip cookie recipe published in the Got Milk? Cookie Book by Peggy Cullen)

2 ounces (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, softened
6 tablespoons white sugar
6 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup (6 ounces) chocolate chunks or chips (Note: I used a mixture of finely chopped TCHO Fruity & Nutty)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

In a medium bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the butter, sugars, salt, and vanilla until well combined. Beat in the egg. Scrape down the bowl using a rubber spatula and beat for a few more seconds.

In a small bowl, whisk together the flour and baking soda. Add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture and mix on low speed just until absorbed. Add the chocolate chunks and stir into the dough.

For perfectly uniform cookies, scoop the dough using a small diameter ice-cream scoop (around 1 3/8”), leveling the dough off across the top before dropping onto the silpat lined (or greased) baking sheet. Bake for 7-10 minutes, or until edges are golden. Let sit for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

TCHO Chocolate Filling:
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 tablespoons Crisco
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1 ounce melted dark chocolate (Note: I used TCHO Chocolatey)
1 cup confectioner’s sugar
1-2 tablespoons of water (Optional)

Mix the first five ingredients together in a small bowl. If the mixture doesn’t appear smooth enough add in 1-2 tablespoons of water until you reach a spreadable consistency. If the mixture is too wet, simply stir in a little extra confectioner’s sugar.

To assemble, gently spread filling onto half of the cooled cookies and top with the remaining cookies.

One of my grocery store foes happens to be the mini peanut butter cups at Trader Joe’s. Every time I go to pick up perfectly acceptable items like zucchini and milk I walk by the aisle that they live in and stare at them with barely concealed mouthwatering longing. For three years I’ve managed to reign myself in and not add them to my cart, but last week the temptation proved too great and I came home with a box. As I suspected, I had absolutely no will power what-so-ever when it came to these miniature peanut butter minions as I promptly sat down the next afternoon and allowed them to keep me “company” while watching a tivoed Project Runway episode. If CK hadn’t come out of his office before Tim Gunn started telling everyone to “make it work” I’m quite sure I would have eaten them all.

So In an effort to curtail this bad snacking behavior I decided my best course of action would be to bake the evil treats into something and send them into the world for other people to enjoy and establish peanut butter addictions to. But if we’re going to be bad, I figured, be bad all the way.  So with a few simple additions to the previously showcased Chocolate Chip Filled Melting Moments recipe I created a silky peanut butter version of the cookies, gloriously sandwiched with a buttery peanut butter icing and studded with mini peanut butter cups. Get that gallon of milk ready and make sure it’s skim because you’re going to need it!

As for me, I’m hopefully back on the candy free wagon.

Triple Peanut Butter Melting Moments
Inspired by the Chocolate Chip Filled Melting Moments recipe found in Elinor Klivans’s The Essential Chocolate Chip Cookbook published by Chronicle Books

Cookies
1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cake flour
3/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
3/4 cup powdered sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Filling (Note: I tend to double the below icing recipe so that my melting moments are a bit overstuffed).
1/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/8 cup creamy peanut butter
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup miniature peanut butter cups (Note: I purchased mine at Trader Joe’s)

Position a rack in the middle of he oven. Preheat the oven to 300º F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

Make the cookies. Sift both flours, the cornstarch, baking powder, and salt into a medium bowl and set aside.

In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the butter, peanut butter, and powdered sugar until smooth and lightened slightly in color, about 1 minute. Stop the mixer and scrape the sides of the owl as needed during mixing. Add the vanilla and mix until blended. On low speed, add the flour mixture, mixing just until it is incorporated and a smooth dough forms.

For each cookie, roll a level tablespoon of dough between the palms of your hands into a smooth ball. Place the cookies on the prepared baking sheets, spacing them 2 inches apart. Use a fork to gently flatten the cookies to 1 1/4 inch disks, leaving an impression of the fork tines. Bake the cookies one sheet at a time until the tops feel firm and the cookie bottoms are lightly browned, about 30 minutes; the tops of the cookies should not color. Cool the cookies on the baking sheets for 10 minutes, then use a wide metal spatula to transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

Make the filling. In a medium bowl, use a wooden spoon to stir the butter, peanut butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla together until smooth. Stir in the peanut butter cups.

Turn half of the cooled cookies bottom side up, and use a thin metal spatula to spread a rounded teaspoon of filling evenly over each one. Place the remaining cookies right side up on the filing, and press gently.

The cookies can be stored in a tightly covered container at room temperature for up to 5 days.

For the record I have been so incredibly impressed with all of the Tovolo products I’ve been using over the last few weeks. The molds I used for Popsicle Week were all distributed by Tovolo and the ice cream sandwich molds I tested for this post were no exception. With the assistance of these cute contraptions making ice cream sandwiches becomes incredibly easy. You begin by baking your favorite soft and chewy cookie recipe. I made a batch of Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies, of course. Next, you allow them to cool slightly before cutting out the cookies with whichever shape you decide to use. This kit comes with a heart, star, and a squircle. I’m not making that up. They actually refer to the odd shaped mold as a “squircle.”  There’s also a kit that comes with animal shapes (a chicken, cow, and pig) if that’s more your style. After cutting out your cookie shapes let them cool completely on a wire rack. Finally, assemble the cookies by placing one cookie in the mold, adding a scoop of ice cream, topping with an additional cookie, and firmly applying pressure with the cookie press. Voila! A cute ice cream sandwich is born. If you aren’t going to eat the treats immediately you’ll definitely want to place them in the freezer as they start to melt quickly.

I can definitely imagine using something like this for a child’s slumber party, birthday party, or even as an interactive end to a grown-up dinner party. Just bake the cookie shapes ahead of time and set out the molds, ice cream, and bowls of sprinkles for your guests to use.

Note: There’s actually an “xoxo” engraved on the cookie press. I was really excited about this because it made me think of that show Gossip Girl. It’s hard to see in my photos, probably because of the type of cookie I baked, but I believe if you used a lighter colored sugar cookie or peanut butter cookie you’d be able to see the detail much more clearly.

PS: Many thanks to Anna D for giving me these as a birthday gift last month! Do my friends know me well, or what?

Last weekend I finally got to go to the beach for the first time this summer. It was fabulous. I even briefly braved the 66 degree ocean temp for a quick dunk. Once upon a time someone told me that salt water increased your highlights. Obviously this meant more to me when I was a blonde and not a brunette. Oh well! On the way home we made the necessary stop at Russell Orchards and CK surprised me with a dish of “Purple Cow” frozen yogurt. I was off in the other room buying kitten magnets for some reason.  Don’t ask…

The Purple Cow yogurt was homemade black raspberry yogurt studded with chucks of white and dark chocolate. I honestly think I almost fell into a dessert swoon on the way home as we shared the frozen treat in the car. Of course, I had to try to make my own.

On Friday I stopped by Whole Foods to purchase the ingredients. There weren’t any fresh black raspberries to be found, but a huge display of blackberries were on sale, so blackberry frozen yogurt would have to do. They’re both purple, right?

I got home, prepped everything as outlined below in the recipe, rocked out to some Better Than Ezra Greatest Hits and pulled out my KitchenAid Ice Cream Maker attachment. Then I totally forgot how to use it, found the “quick start” card it came with, dumped in the ice cream mix, attached the paddle, turned on the pink goddess and all I heard was, “Click click.  Click click.” In hindsight, I probably should have actually read that card… meanwhile I yelled for CK.

What was supposed to happen, was that I attach the paddle, turn on the machine, pour in the ice cream mixture and shortly afterward a vat of tasty goodness forms. Unfortunately, my yogurt was now sitting in a semi-frozen state in the bowl. CK tried to help. I yelled at CK. CK yelled at me. Than we made-up and mutually chiseled out the ice cream from its icy prison with a collection of wooden spoons and rubber spatulas and graciously participated in a frozen yogurt “do over.”  Eventually it all worked out.

Was it worth it? Let’s see:

$9.58 for two containers of Fage Yogurt
$2.50 for 4 ounces of Ghirardelli White Chocolate
$2.50 for 4 ounces of Ghirardelli Dark Chocolate
$5.00 for 2 half pints of blackberries
1 moronic girl
1 fight with CK
Equals: Fabulous Purple Cow Frozen Yogurt.

Purple Cow Frozen Yogurt (Frozen Yogurt base previously published in David Lebovitz’s book Perfect Scoop as discovered on Heidi Swanson’s website 101 Cookbooks).

3 cups Greek-style yogurt (Note: I used Fage)
3/4 cup sugar, plus 1 tablespoon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups blackberries (or black raspberries, if you can find them)
4 ounces of white Ghirardelli chocolate, chopped
4 ounces of dark Ghirardelli chocolate, chopped

Mix together the yogurt, sugar, and vanilla. Stir until the sugar is completely dissolved. Refrigerate 1 hour.

Puree the blackberries in a food processor and than strain through a fine mesh sieve to separate the liquid from the seeds. Stir 1 tablespoon of sugar into the berry puree and also refrigerate for 1 hour.

Thoroughly combine the frozen yogurt base with the berry puree and freeze in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Don’t be like me and actually read them. Stir in the chocolate chunks by hand at the end of the freezing process. Finally package in a tightly sealed container and leave in your freezer until completely frozen. Serve and make-up with anyone you may have offended during the cooking process.

My first batch of Root Beer Float pops bubbled up and created a sticky lava flow all over the frozen broccoli and chicken breasts in my freezer. So you’d think that the second time I made them I’d manage to not repeat the same mistake twice, right? Well, what do you suppose I did two hours into the freezing process after noticing that the popsicles weren’t filling out the molds as I’d hoped? Why panicked of course! Than made CK come into the kitchen to debate whether or not we should add more root beer.

I thought maybe the Virgil’s Root Beer that I used this time would behave differently when frozen than the Mug Root Beer I’d used in the first batch. Don’t laugh! It’s been eight years since I’ve had a science class. So CK and I decided we should add more root beer to the molds with a turkey baster. It was pretty ridiculous. Of course three hours later the pops overflowed again. Not to the extent that they did the first time but they still pushed the tops of the pop molds up.

The author of the cookbook, Krystina Castella, was kind enough to send me a note last night and offered the following additional advice surrounding the exploding soda pop phenomenon:

• Open the soda and put it in a pitcher in the fridge for a bit (5-20 minutes) depending on how much you want to flatten the liquid.

• Once the fizz is mostly out of the soda put it in the pop molds leaving 1/2 inch at top and it should turn out fine.

• If you like the airy texture that you get from using carbonated soda than let the liquid flatten for a shorter period of time

Even though these pops gave me a host of gooey trouble it’s hard to stay mad at something so frosty and delicious. The best part is the hidden bite of Maraschino Cherry!

Root Beer Float Pops
Adapted from Krystina Castella’s new book: Pops! Icy Treats for Everyone published by Quirk Books.
Makes six 8-ounce pops or eight 6-ounce pops

4 cups Root Beer
6 or 8 Maraschino Cherries, stemmed
2 1/2 cups Vanilla Ice Cream

Pour cold root beer into a pitcher and put it in the freezer for 10 minutes. (This will make it very cold reduce the ice cream melt factor).

Put a cherry in each mold. Pour some root beer into each mold until it is half full.

Gently lower a small scoop of ice cream into each pop mold so it is about three quarters full.

Slowly add more root beer until the molds are full. Scoop off the foam with a spoon. Freeze for at least 6 hours.

Remove from the freezer; let stand at room temperature for 5 minutes before removing the pops from the molds.

As previously promised Popsicle week has at last arrived. Thankfully these pops are awesome because I think I gave myself temporary carpal tunnel syndrome after juicing eight limes by hand with a ridiculously flimsy plastic juicer. Obviously a sturdier tool is going right to the top of my shopping list. By the time I finished with my popsicle prep hard labor my hands were completely shriveled from the lime juice and looked as though I’d been soaking in a hot soapy bath for two hours.

The remainder of the recipe is dead simple though and since I only made one batch of pops with my new Shooting Star Pop Molds I had half a pitcher of mojito mix left over. A few extra splashes of rum, some ice cubes and immediate cocktail satisfaction is yours. This definitely makes the wait for these icy citrus dreams slightly more tolerable.

Loosen Up Your Fingers & Prepare for Battle	The Aftermath
Muddle	Time to Freeze

Mojito Pops
Adapted from Krystina Castella’s new book: Pops! Icy Treats for Everyone published by Quirk Books.
Makes 24 two-ounce ice cube-tray pops, six 8-ounce pops, or eight 6-ounce pops (Note: Or be like me and make six popsicles and three nice sized mojitos to share while you’re waiting for the pops to freeze).

1 1/2 cups fresh lime juice (Note: I used 8 limes)
2 1/2 cups Club Soda
1/3 cup fresh mint leaves
1 lemon, peeled and cut into wedges
3 limes, peeled and cut into wedges
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 tablespoons light rum

Pour the lime juice, club soda, and 1 cup water into a pitcher and let sit for 5 minutes.

Add the mint, lemon and lime wedges, sugar, and rum to the pitcher. Mash all of the ingredients together with a muddler or a wooden spoon.

Pour into pop molds, being sure to distribute the fruits and mint evenly among the molds. Insert the sticks. Freeze for at least 12 hours. Remove from the freezer; let stand at room temperature for 5 minutes before removing the pops from the molds.

For more popsicle ideas and information please visit IcyPops.com.