The only thing I can write about these cookies... they are the best chocolate chip cookies I've ever had... even with the lack of chocolate chips because I only had half a bag, you wouldnt even be able to tell.

The good side to finding this awesome, chewy, delicious recipe is that we are having a chocolate chip cookie bar at our wedding - and I think I have found the perfect recipe for the good ol' traditional chewy chocolate chipper.

It will join chocolate walnut, chocolate chocolate chip, and maybe a few exotic choices.....Anyone have any other chocolate chip cookie recipes for this project?

Triple Recipe - Devils Food Cake!

Devils Food Cake

I cant think of anything better to satisfy a sweet tooth other then cake, and chocolate cake at that. While I am typically used to Magnolia Bakery's recipe that uses whole chocolate and buttermilk to produce a slightly dense, but moist chocolate cake, King Arthur Flour's Baker's Companion boasts a recipe with common ingredients that's easy to whip up at the last minute notice of company coming over - or a quick birthday surprise.

I made mine in 2 large round cake pans - and a small tip for those baking chocolate goods - Use cocoa powder instead of flour when greasing and flouring your pan - it will not leave the white residue on your dark chocolate cake.


Peanut Butter Frosting

My dad has always loved the "funny bone" - a packaged processed cake primarily sold in the northeast - chocolate cake, peanut butter filling, and chocolate topping. He had been asking me to re-create this for some time, so now that I have my chocolate cake finished, this was the perfect opportunity to attempt to re-create it.

This was easy - beyond easy. Almost like a basic butter cream with peanut butter instead of the regular butter. The results were addicting. It was hard not to lick the bowl as the cake cooled. It was sweet, but not overly sweet like a reese cup - just sweet enough, but you could still taste peanut butter.

Milk Chocolate Glaze

The final touch - a simple glaze to go on top and finish the cake off. The recipe told me to use semi-sweet chocolate, and heavy cream, but i didn't have any on hand. Milk chocolate, corn syrup, and regular milk would have to do.

It was still delicious and finished off the cake nicely, but I will definitely be making this glaze again for something else. I imagine using the right ingredients this recipe is out of this world.

Bagels

There are two different King Arthur Flour bagel recipes - one in the bakers companion, and one on their website. I must say, the one in the companion, was kind of disappointing.

While I can attribute some of the lack of success to a lack of a kitchen aid with a dough hook (but I'm working on that one!), I think that the starter in the second recipe is really what makes that good bagel taste and texture. I'd like to try it again with that recipe on hand - after I obtain the kitchen aid for assistance.

The recipe itself was pretty easy, and that's saying a lot, because bread making is hard! If you are not familiar with the tedious delicate process yeast requires, it can often be disheartening to end up with many deflated bread items.

I avoid this disappointment by proofing my yeast every time. I don't know if this too may have altered the recipe. I doubt it, but its an insurance policy to a ton of good, and often times expensive ingredients.

In this recipe, I mixed 1/4 cup of warm water with my 1 Tablespoon of active dry yeast and slowly added a tablespoon of brown sugar - three items already within the recipe itself. The sugar is "food" for the yeast, and if the water temperature is just right then in five to ten minutes the bowl will be foamy and frothy on top, smelling exactly like bread.

In fact, if you watch it, after a few minutes, the yeast begins to POP! You can kind of see it flour in the bowl.

So it requires a double rise - but just slightly, not to doubling, followed by a quick boil and then a bake.

My bagels came out ugly, but pretty good tasting for a first try. I can say it was not exactly the perfect recipe I was looking for, and they were slightly more dense then I would have liked. I also noticed this morning, that even while packaged, the next morning they just aren't as good. This recipe is definitely something that would be great for a Sunday brunch or family holiday breakfast where they can be served nearly immediately after coming out of the oven.

Classic Cinnamon-Nut Coffee Ring

I had attempted to make a Honey Wheat loaf on Easter Sunday, and while I don't have any photos of the attempted project, lets just say its one of those situations in which you get really mad for a day, and then laugh about it with friends the following days after.

I had started it around 11:30, and put it in the warm oven to rise. Because we had to go to our families Easter get together, I figured if I left it in there, by the time I got back, it would've risen and all I would have to do is bake it. We got back around 830pm, and it was well risen and ready to go. It looked gorgeous all fluffed up in the pan perfectly, and 25 minutes at 375 degrees - we'd have one yummy, beautiful loaf of Honey Wheat bread.

If anyone else has a husband, or a husband to be - you can probably understand whats about to happen next. I have officially learned that Men love to touch things, it must be their primary sense, because future DH loves to touch things and will determine whether or not he likes something based only on texture and feel half the time.

Back to the bread - sitting there on top of the stove looking soft, fluffed up and ready to go.... future DH had to touch it.... and the poor delicate, innocent loaf deflated into a flat dense hockey puck. Into the trash it went to bakery heaven - never be baked at Grace Point Road.

Moving on, our next official recipe would be Classic Cinnamon-Nut Coffee Ring. This was a pretty easy and simple recipe to make and came with the option of using a variety of nuts of your choosing, and the option to add chocolate chips. I chose Walnuts and Nestle miniature chocolate chips this time around.

The batter had basic cake ingredients, though less butter then I would expect. The mixture of cinnamon and sugar had me curious as to how it would turn out - as I'd never tried anything with the mixture of the two. It required to build similar to the steps of a muffin, mixing the wet and dry ingredients in two separate bowls and then combining with minimal mixing. It came out very light and fluffy, almost the middle ground between a foamy meringue and a cake batter.

The middle mixture is where the nuts and chocolate come it, mixed with melted butter and sugar - it smelled good enough to just eat out of the bowl.

I am embarrassed to say that my ring was indeed a cake, as I do not own a bundt pan. How embarrassing to be such a fan of baking and not own one of the essentials to many baked goods!

Layers of cake batter and filling layers two times upon each other into a 13"x9" pan finishing off with the topping, and into the oven it went for 45 minutes. It baked beautifully, smelled amazing, and was pretty easy to complete - as long as you have plenty of mixing bowls.

With a huge cup of joe, a nice slice of Classic Cinnamon-Nut Coffee Ring - I can't see a day starting out nothing but...sweet.

Vanilla Pound Cake

(Sorry for no photo this time around, my camera battery had died and my future-DH decided to dig in before it had charged)

I decided to start with something familiar to me first, with the intention of starting this project on a high note. Let me say, this pound cake seemed pretty easy, but was actually a little harder then you're run of the mill pound cake. It's loaded with vanilla and butter, making it dense and rich in flavor.

I honestly didn't think it was going to be that great, with 1 whole Tablespoon of vanilla in the batter and another on a candied glaze to top with after baking. The mixture of the amount of white sugar (1 and 1/4 cups total) combined with the 2 Tablespoons of vanilla made me feel like this was overload and was sure to be overwhelming.

Boy was I wrong! I let the butter soften, and beat in the sugar, both brown and white, and hoped for the best. I was excited to finally use my loaf pan, for a few years I had this set of Calphalon baking equipment, but the loaf pan seemingly had been orphaned to the bottom corner of the cabinet.

45 minutes passed as I nervously prayed it didn't end up a non-risen hockey puck, my utter fear of baking all loaf shaped items. I nervously peaked in the door and to my surprise, it was gorgeous and as perfect as I thought a pound cake was supposed to be. Golden yellow on top with hints of brown hues - and the smell was out of this world! The sweet aroma of vanilla and sugar filled the house as it cooled.

The glaze the recipe provided was pretty simple through reading it, but the mastering of exactly how thick the glaze was supposed to be has me perplexed. It said to let it boil for 1 minute and then cut it off, add the vanilla, and let it cool a minute or two, but this left me with some very watery glaze. I decided to go for a second round in a shallower pan, letting it boil for a little longer - this left me with more of a soft warm caramel glaze - much better then the original attempt.

Vanilla Pound Cake - You've been checked off my list! You were warm, moist, sweet and delicious. I imagine with a berry and some fresh whip you'd be the perfect pairing to close out the end of a hot summers day.

Oh, Bakers Companion, how I love thee

Photo from Good Housekeeping.

So, here it is in its heavy, royal, red glory. Considered one of the most essential baking books anyone should have, its filled with pages of epicurian delights and battles from pastry to pancakes, crackers to cupcakes. My goal? to complete every recipe in this entire cooking companion. Will it prove my baking defeat, or will i reign King Arthur Flour Champion? We'll see....