Chocolate Chip Cookie Ice Cream Sandwich...

I've got this killer chocolate chip recipe from my mother-in-law.  But it makes WAY too many cookies so we usually roll the dough up into balls and freeze them to eat later.  For the past two weeks or so, Danny and I have pulled out 2 cookies each, baked them and made sandwiches with coffee ice cream.

These are to die for!  Warning...if you eat these every day for 2 weeks, plan on gaining some lbs :)  but it is so worth it.

Recipe.


1 lb. Butter softened (already off to a good start, right?)
1 1/2 cup sugar
2 cups brown sugar
3 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
6 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups chopped walnuts (optional)
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
4-6 cups (2 12 oz. packages) chocolate chips

Directions

1.  Whip butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla for 3-4 minutes

2.  Add mixed dry ingredients to butter mixture, and continue to beat

3.  Stir in chips and nuts

4.  Cover cookie sheet with parchment paper

5.  Bake 8-10 minutes

6.  Cool 5 minutes

Notes
I find these cookies are best if when you roll them into balls...don't make them to neat otherwise the cookies will flatten out quickly.  Make the balls kind of...lumpy and they will get nice and pretty :)

Grab some of your favorite ice cream, chocolate and carmel sauces and jump in!

Best midnight snack...EVER!

German Chocolate Cake

For Christmas my mother-in-law gave me an awesome cookbook that I've been wanting for a while...the Lion House desserts and cupcakes cookbook.  All of the Lion House cookbooks are to die for.  Great recipes for rolls, soups, desserts, casseroles...tons of things.  This is my first Lion House cookbook and I was so excited to get baking!

The first one I decided to try was the German Chocolate Cake.


Recipe.

Cake-
1 (18.25 ounce) package white or yellow cake mix  (I used yellow)
1 (3.4 ounce) chocolate instant pudding mix
1/4 cup flour
2 cups milk
3 egg whites, beaten stiff

Frosting-

3 egg yolks
1 cup sugar
1 cup evaporated milk
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/3 cups flaked coconut (I used heaping cups, my family really likes coconut)
1 cup chopped pecans

Chocolate Frosting- (double this recipe so you have extra to decorate with)

4 tablespoons cocoa
3 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup butter or margarine, softened
2-3 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla

Instructions-

Preheat to 350
Grease and flour 2 9 in round pans

Combine cake and pudding mixes, flour, and milk and beat according to cake package directions

Fold in egg whites

Pour in pans and bake 35-40 minutes
-depending the oven I always check it 10 minutes before...so at like 25 min, take a peak.  Nothing is worse than an over cooked dry cake.

Remove and cool on a wire rack

Coconut Frosting-

Combine egg yolks, sugar, evaporate milk and butter in medium saucepan
Stir over medium heat until thickened...12-15 minutes
Remove from heat, add vanilla, coconut and pecans.
Mix until thick

Chocolate Frosting-

Whisk together cocoa and powdered sugar
Add butter, milk and vanilla.  Beat until smooth.

The cake was delicious.  It was chocolate, but not too chocolatey.  Almost a milk chocolate cake.

I split the cakes in half so there would be more frosting per layer.  You can cut these with a serrated knife...or you can use thread and split through the middle of the cake.  The coconut/pecan frosting was a little...interesting.  So if you notice is calls for evaporated milk...which is not sweet and almost like really thick milk.  I continued through the recipe as instructed.  As I was finishing I tasted the frosting and realized that it wasn't very sweet.  I was even a little nervous that it was some sort of typo and you were supposed to use sweetened condensed milk.  I checked three other recipe books and sites and discovered that all of them had a very similar recipe.  So I went with it.

When you're making a recipe for the first time just trust it.  I made the chocolate frosting...double the batch!!!  I barely had enough and couldn't even frost the sides.  I did a cake layer, chocolate frosting layer and then coconut frosting.

Let me tell you.  This cake is so sweet and delicious.  The coconut frosting was incredible!!!  Everything else with the cake was so sweet that the coconut frosting was just perfect.

Any questions let me know!!  This cake was so tasty and definitely a crowd pleaser!  Good luck!