Chocolate Chip Zucchinni Bread

If you're taking advantage of either plentiful zucchini in your garden or just the cheap prices at your local grocery store this is great way to use zucchini. Another Paula Deen recipe that doesn't disappoint. I love that it has cinnamon & nutmeg in it, plus nuts, chocolate chips, and orange zest. If you haven't tried the chocolate/zucchini combo before you need to. A great way to get your kids to eat their veggies! This recipe makes 2 loaves so you can keep one and pass one on to a friend.

Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread

Paula Deen

3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 eggs
2 cups white sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups grated zucchini
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 tablespoon orange zest

Whipped cream, for serving
Zucchini ribbons, for serving

Directions

Preheat oven at 350 degrees F. Grease (2) 9 by 5-inch loaf pans.
Sift together flour, baking powder, salt, spices and baking soda.
In a large bowl, beat eggs until light and fluffy. Add sugar, and continue beating until well blended. Stir in oil, vanilla, zucchini, pecans, chocolate chips, and orange zest. Stir in sifted ingredients. Pour into prepared loaf pans.
Bake for 50 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. Remove loaves from pans and cool. Chill before slicing. Serve with whipped cream and ribbons of zucchini.

Three Chocolate Cookies

I don't know about you, but it seems like I always have a big freezer bag full of assorted types of chocolate chips. What could be yummier than chocolate chip cookies? Try these. The original recipe calls for semi sweet chocolate chips, milk chocolate chips, and bittersweet chocolate chunks but I don't really love bittersweet chocolate so I used white chocolate chips instead. You could use butterscotch, mint, peanut butter, whatever you have on hand. They are nice and chewy and very tasty. The toffee chips add just the right touch. I also needed to add about 1/2 cup of flour because the dough seemed too sticky. Be prepared to share. If you make normal sized cookies you could end up with about 85 cookies on your hands.

Three chocolate cookies
adapted slightly from Paula Deen




1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
3/4 cup sugar
1 3/4 cups firmly packed brown sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour (I added 1/2 cup to this)
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 (12-ounce) package semisweet chocolate morsels
1 cup milk chocolate morsels
3 oz. (about 1/2 cup) white chocolate chunks or chips
1 cup almond brickle chips


Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly grease baking sheets.
With an electric mixer, beat butter and shortening at medium speed until creamy; gradually add sugars, beating until fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla, beating well.
In a small bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt; gradually add to butter mixture, beating until blended. Stir in chocolate morsels and almond brickle chips. Drop cookies by 1/4 cupfuls about 3-inches apart onto prepared baking sheets. Bake for 11 to 12 minutes, or until lightly browned. Let cool for 2 minutes on baking sheets. Remove to wire racks to cool.

*I also changed this to make regular sized cookes. I just used a cookie scoop and baked them for 9-11 instead of 12.

Peanut Butter Cheese Cake Minis

I made these last year for the superbowl. They are another Paula Deen special. Who doesn't like cheesecake or Reese's Peanut Butter Cups? You know they've got to be good together. These were delicious and easy to serve. No fork required. You could even do mini mini cheese cakes and use a mini muffin pan. (You might have to cut up the peanut butter cup and make sure to reduce the baking time.)

Peanut Butter Cheese Cake Minis

Crust:

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs

4 tbsp. sugar

1/4 c. butter, melted

12 reese's miniature peanut butter cups

Filling:

2 8 oz. packages cream cheese, at room temperature

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup all purpose flour

1 tsp. pure vanilla or almond extract

2 eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place a paper muffin cup liner in each cup of a standard muffin pan (or use a mini cheesecake pan).

To make crust, in a bowl, combine graham cracker crumbs, sugar and melted butter until crumbs are moistened. Press crust into bottom of each muffin cup. Put one Peanut butter cup into the center of each crust.

Beat cream cheese with a handheld electric mixer until fluffy. Add sugar, flour and vanilla, beating well. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Spoon cream cheese mixture over peanut butter cups and graham cracker crusts. Bake until just set, about 20 minutes. Allow to cool completely before serving.

Chocolate Chip Pancakes with Cinnamon Cream

Most people have had Chocolate Chip Pancakes but Paula takes it to the next level with the cinnamon cream. It's delicious, try it.

1 1/4 c. all purpose flour

3 tbsp. sugar

2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

1 cup milk

2 large eggs, separated

3 tbsp. butter, melted plus 4 tbsp, divided

1/2 c. miniature semi-sweet chocolate chips

Cinnamon Cream

Maple syrup for serving

Cinnamon Cream:

1 cup heavy whipping cream

1/4 cup confectioners sugar

1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon

Preheat griddle to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.

In a small bowl, combine milk, egg yolks, and 3 tbsp. melted butter; add to flour mixture, whisking until smooth.

In a small bowl, beat egg whites at medium-high speed with an electric mixer until stiff. Gently fold in batter. Gently fold in chocolate morsels.

Melt 2 tbsp. butter on hot griddle. Ladle about 1/4 c. batter for each pancake onto hot griddle. Cook pancakes for 2-3 minutes, or until tops are covered with bubbles and edges are cooked. Turn and cook on the other side. Repeat procedure with remaining 2 tbsp. butter and remaining batter.

For the cinnamon cream:

In a medium bowl, beat cream at medium-high speed with an electric mixer until thickened. Gradually beat in confectioners' sugar and cinnamon, beating until stiff peaks form. Cover and chill.

Serve pancakes with cinnamon cream and maple syrup.

Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cake

This is a Paula Deen recipe. I love her recipes and her show. She reminds me of Duane's aunt. This is hard to describe. It's almost like an buttery, pumpkin pie bar. Just trust me. If it's Paula, you know it's good.

Cake:
1 18 1/4 oz. pkg. yellow cake mix
1 egg
8 tablespoons butter, melted

Filling:
1 15 oz. can pumpkin
1 8 oz. pkg cream cheese, softened
3 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
8 tbsp. butter, melted
1 16 oz. box powdered sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

To make the cake, combine all of the ingredients and mix well. Pat the mixture into a lightly greased 9 x 13 in. baking pan.

Prepare filling:
In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese and pumpkin until smooth. Add the eggs, vanilla and butter and beat together.

Next, add the powdered sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and mix well.

Spread pumpkin mixture over cake batter and bake for 40-50 minutes. Make sure not to overbake as the center should be a little gooey.

Serve with fresh whipped cream (or ice cream)

The recipe says it yields 6-8 servings. Maybe in Paula's world. This is a 9 x 13 cake pan so I would say more like 16-20 squares.