Chocolate Drop Brownie Cookies

This is a special post for the amazing Prudence Pennywise , Prudy is one of the sweetest bloggers and her recipes always sound amazing. After mentioning these cooking in my TWD Chocolate Chunkers post Prudy asked if I shared this recipe for chocolate cookies made with buttermilk, my favorite chocolate cookies, and of course I do!

I don't even like most chocolate cookies no matter how many yummy mix-ins you add, but these simple chocolate ones make me smile. The original recipe comes from Betty Crocker's Cooky Book, which I simply adore. I have a reprint of the 1963 book, complete with all of the fun pictures, drawings, and comments from that era.

Chocolate Drop Cookies is the title in the book but these are so much more, they are soft and a touch cakey, like a brownie, and the frosting is so simple and delicious. These are a family favorite in our home :)

Chocolate Drop Brownie Cookies

1/2 cup butter or margarine softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg
2 one ounce squares unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled
1/3 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 3/4 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

(if you want to use self rising flour, omit baking soda and salt)

Mix butter, sugar, egg, and chocolate thoroughly. Stir in buttermilk and vanilla. Stir together flour, baking soda, and salt; stir into wet ingredients.



Heat oven to 350, drop rounded tablespoons of dough onto cookie sheet about 2 inches apart. Bake about 10-12 minutes, or until no imprint remains when touched lightly. After cooling frost with...

Marie's Chocolate Icing

1 tablespoon butter
1 one ounce square unsweetened chocolate
1 1/2 tablespoons warm water
1 cup powdered sugar

Melt butter and chocolate over hot water. Blend in warm water. Stir in powdered sugar until icing spreads easily.

Our family really enjoys these cookies, I remember the first time I made them I wasn't expecting to even like them, but they really won us over. These are one of my picky husband's most requested cookies :) I hope you like these old fashioned little gems of a cookie if you give them a try!

Bon Bon Cookies

Happy 4th of July! These little cuties are our patriotic treat for the day. The recipe is from Betty Crocker's Cooky Book and these were introduced as the "Best Cooky of 1955-1960." You can fill them with whatever you'd like, the book gives suggestions such as candied or maraschino cherries, petite dates, nuts, or pieces of chocolate. I went with chocolate. I cut up a couple Hershey bars and we were all set.

I loved the way these turned out and almost think I could have added MORE chocolate in the middle, might even try whole Hershey kisses next time. I can see myself making these for lots of future holidays because I just love seasonal sprinkles and here is a perfect way to use them up. Last Christmas I made a similar recipe called "Hidden Treasures" that had a maraschino cherry in the middle, and while they were wonderful I think I like this dough recipe better, this is a butter based dough while "Hidden Treasures" was a crisco based recipe. No offense to crisco, I've had great success with some crisco recipes, but the butter flavor in real butter just can't be beat.

I've been doing so much baking from Betty Croker's Cooky Book lately that I'm almost temped to challenge myself to a "bake through" for this book. I probably won't follow through, at least not with this book, just because there are so many variations on each recipe. I wouldn't feel right saying I baked my way through the whole book if I didn't try each variation, and while I love you Cooky Book, I don't think I'm ready for that kind of commitment right now.

Reese's Brownies and Barbecue Tofu

Didn't plan these but they were what ended up cooking in Nummy Kitchen today. The husband had been asking (begging, bugging, whichever) for something sweet...I got out my Betty Crocker Cooky Book, a favorite of mine, and found some brownies that sounded easy and yummy, and all of the ingredients were at my disposal, so why not? Also at my disposal was a package of "Mini Reese's Pieces for Baking" so I added those in. Now if these brownies were for *me* they would be coconut caramel cheesecake brownies with macadamia nuts, but picky husband does not like coconut, cheesecake, or macadamia nuts :( Yeah, I married boring food man. Oh-well.

My basic brownies with Mini Reese's were wonderful! I am always amazed when I try a recipe from Betty Crocker's Cooky Book, it is a reprinted version of the original from 1963 with all of the old illustrations and photos and nostalgic recipes with silly names such as "Teen-time chocolate nut bars," how cute is that? Anyway, what amazes me is that every recipe I've tried turns out perfectly tastey morsels that rival in taste anything prepared out of today's cookbooks. I guess I'm surprised that with all of our advances in, well, everything, recipes for yummy treats from forty something years ago still taste good, even great!

Dinner was not really planned, just something that sounded good for a nice summer evening. I had some Melissa's Organic Tofu Cutlets in the fridge and a new barbecue sauce, World Harbors Apple Maple, that I wanted to try, and also a half a bottle of Sweet Baby Ray's Hickory Brown Sugar Barbecue that I wanted to use up...mmmm barbecue tofu! Husband grilled himself up some meat, I did the tofu in the oven on the broil setting, it was so simple to prepare I won't even bother telling you how to do it. I also made some super simple foil packet butter potatoes to grill. What a delicious dinner! As for the barbecue sauce taste off, Sweet Baby Ray's won by a landslide. Husband preferred it on his meat and I preferred it on the tofu. World Harbors Apple Maple was way too sweet and not spicey enough, and it sounded so good :(

Winner

Loser