Mickey Cakes...

In the mornings, AG loves to eat his breakfast on his special Mickey Mouse plates. He enjoys breakfast even more if he gets Mickey Cakes. I have a sandwich Mickey cutter that is perfect for cutting out child sized portions. In the fall I started making my own pancake mix because it was more cost effective. (Plus, they just taste waaaaaaay better!) I found a recipe on Money Saving Mom and then adapted it to my needs. Click on the link for the original recipe and my adapted one follows.

Whole-Wheat Chocolate Chip Pancakes

~2 cups whole-wheat flour (I use whatever I have...which is usually whatever was on sale with coupons! They are great either way.)
~2 tablespoons sugar
~2 teaspoons baking powder
~1/2 teaspoon baking soda
~2 beaten eggs
~2 cups lowfat buttermilk
~4 tablespoons melted unsalted butter (you can cut it in half but they cook/brown more evenly if you do 4.)
~Handful of mini chocolate chips

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and baking soda in a bowl. 

Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and add butter, then eggs, then buttermilk and mix. Lastly, add the chocolate chips. Stir until just moistened. Some days I add an extra splash of buttermilk to get the right consistency. 

Cook on a pancake griddle. While I'm mixing the wet and the dry ingredients I let the pan heat up on high and then right before I drop my batter I cut it down to medium. I use a 1/4 cup a batter per pancake. Serve immediately or cool and freeze. Cut in to shapes with cookie cutters if you want. 

On her website she freezes them and I have done that but I prefer them unfrozen. I actually take half of what we make and put it in a container and pop it in to the fridge. I then microwave them in the following morning for breakfast. They'll keep for several days that way. Also, if you reheat them cut them with a cookie cutter before you stick them in the microwave it's much easier. 

Lastly, I used regular sized chocolate chips the first few times I made them BUT AG ended up with chocolate EVERYWHERE. So, I switched to the mini chips and it's much better. I can usually get 4-5 batches out of one bag...and then you think we get two breakfasts out of one batch so that's 8-10 meals on one bag of chips. Not to shabby. :) Enjoy!

A word for Wednesday...

I had the dishwasher down while loading it and turned my back for a second...AG found the spoon and spatula that I used when making chocolate muffins. All I could do was laugh and grab my camera...

Week 11 of 52 in 2010...

In January I spent a long weekend with some of my girlfriends from college. One of my dear friends, Aubs, informed me of a sweet treat called a Pizookie over the weekend. Pizookie is a huge, gooey, warm, cookie topped with ice cream. I came home and did a little Googling to figure out how to make one.

I did my first run on our college girls for our weekly Thursday night tv date. Since it was right before Valentine's Day I did it in a heart shaped pan. It was a hit and has since become a weekly tradition. I also made one to serve on St. Patrick's Day...Viraj had heard rave reviews about "this pizookie thing" and wanted to try it. Since then I've had requests for it so here we go:

Preheat the oven to 475.

Spray a 9x13 pan with non-stick cooking spray. Use a jumbo tube of refrigerated chocolate chip cookie dough. I use the Pillsbury kind. Spread as even of a layer as much as possible. I use the back of a spoon and my hands.

Place in the oven and the cooking time will vary depending on your oven. The goal is for it to puff up and have a golden crust on it...BUT you want the inside to still be gooey. It won't take too long so just keep an eye on it. Pull it out and top with vanilla bean ice cream. Serve immediately!

With the college girls I serve it straight from the pan and with spoons to go around. With friends I took the warm pizookie and scooped it out in to coffee mugs. Then topped each individual mug with ice cream. Either way it is absolutely scrumptious!

My next goal is to make my personal cookie dough recipe and chill it before using it in this recipe. We'll see how it goes...

If you need a little chocolate...

...in your life give this recipe for Triple Chocolate and Peanut Butter Chip Cookies a try.

1 pkg. Pillsbury Dark Chocolate Cake Mix

1/2 c. butter flavored Crisco

1 egg

4 Tbs. of lukewarm water

Nestle Mini Morsels

Hershey's Special Dark Baking Chips

Reese's Peanut Butter Baking Chips

Combine first 4 ingredients at a low speed until thoroughly moistened. Dough will be thick and sticky. Mix in equal parts of chips to your liking. I prefer this combination of these particular brands. But you can use whatever you have/like. Scoop out and round into balls. Place 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheets. Gently press with your palm to make a thick disc...if you like a thinner cookie flatten away! Bake at 350 for 8-12 minutes. Depending on your oven/cookie size. Cool several minutes on cookie sheet to let them set; remove from pans. I average about 18-20 cookies per batch.

If desired, frost cookies with your favorite flavor of frosting.

For sandwich cookies, spread frosting between 2 cookies.

I'm a baker and love a good cookie recipe. I found this recipe online and fine tuned it to meet my needs about a year ago. (When I was pregnant! Ha. I was baking multiple times a week when I was pregnant...guess it was my way of nesting.) Anyways today I made a batch for one of our college students, Jess, because she was asking about "that amazing chocolate and peanut butter cookie I had in the spring" last time she was over. So Jess here's a batch of cookies and a post on the family blog just for you!