Irish Cream Chocolate Chip Cookies

February 23, 2021 Amanda Plott

As we get closer to March and to St. Patricks’s Day, I thought I would try my hand at making some chocolate chip cookies, but with a little bit of an Irish twist. These cookies here are made with some Irish Cream baked right in. And let me just tell you, they’re so sooo good!

The out edges are browned and have a little crisp to them while the insides are light, moist, and totally fluffy. And there’s just enough Irish Cream in there to get a hint of the flavor without it being over powering. If you love chocolate chip cookies and you love Irish Cream - these Irish Cream Chocolate Chip Cookies will likely be your new favorites…

Healthified Cosmic Brownies

February 19, 2021 Amanda Plott

So… I’ve been missing for 3 days now. I live in Texas and in case you didn’t hear the news, the entire state was basically without power for the most of this past week - during some of the coldest weather we’ve had in decades. It wasn’t fun. On top of being without power, we were also put on a ‘boil water’ notice. Anyone know how to boil water when you don’t have power? It’s tricky.

Thankfully, my home got it’s power back yesterday morning. And we’re (so far) one of the few houses to have both heat AND running water for the time being. I’m still being cautious with how much electricity being used as we try and keep the grid stable, but as soon as the lights and heat came on, I was ready to get baking. Nothing much is more comforting than chocolate. And these Healthified Cosmic Brownies are chocolate on top of chocolate and rainbow bits!…

Honey Tea Loaf Cake

February 15, 2021 Amanda Plott

When it snows. I bake. Okay, okay. In all honesty, I planned on making this Honey Tea Loaf Cake long before there was confirmation of snow in the forecast. But, it was a really nice treat to get to enjoy on a frosting winter' morning. And goodness gracious is it frosty today! Seriously. We have the coldest ‘high’ temperature on record today in Austin.

This Honey Tea Loaf Cake is… amazing. The pictures just don’t do it justice. The texture is very much so akin to a pound cake in that it’s dense, moist, and also somehow light. This loaf cake is par-baked before being finished off baking with a honey drizzle soaking into the loaf. The end result is this delicious cake with a natural line of honey ‘filling’…

Circus Animal Cookie Blondies

February 7, 2021 Amanda Plott

If you love blondies and you love circus animal cookies then you are going to go nuts over these Circus Animal Cookie Blondies! Blondies are basically a vanilla (non-chocolate) version of brownies. So they’re a bit more dense and moist than cake.

These blondies are super easy to make and are whipped up all in one bowl. Plus, look at how colorful they are! With circus animal cookies baked right in, they have that frosted cookie crunch among the sprinkles and blondie. It’s basically heaven on a plate for me since circus animal cookies are one of my favorite guilty pleasures…

Triple Chocolate Cheesecake (Instant Pot)

January 22, 2021 Amanda Plott

So, here’s the thing. Sometimes when you’re trying to eat better, feel better, and be better… you need to indulge a little bit. One of the many mantras that I try to keep in my own mind is that you can ‘eat whatever you want so long as you cook/make it yourself.’ I think the idea behind it is that you would burn off as many calories in making your food as you would eating it, or at least enough to counter balance it.

That means, today we’re having a Triple Chocolate Cheesecake and I’m not going to feel guilty about eating it. Why? Because I made it from scratch and I did my very best to make it better-for-you while still tickling that chocolate craving itch with all the richness and decadence that comes along with it….

Lazy Valentine Cookie Bars

January 14, 2021 Amanda Plott

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We all reserve the right to be a little lazy every so often, and with a quick trip planned for the weekend (followed by two weeks of self-quarantine) I’m feeling the laze take over. Either way, my daughter asked for some more cookies after all the GIANT Valentine Cookies from last week disappeared. Gee… I wonder how that happened…

Being as I was out of special Valentine sprinkles, and again… I’m being lazy, I thought I’d try my hand at a ‘lazy cookie bar’ recipe that was passed off to me. I did make one small change to lower the calorie count just slightly, but other than that it’s pretty much the same-same…