This week’s sweet is a slight variation of the classic chocolate chip cookie.
My friend Mary gave me a bag of chocolate chips that she swore were the best chocolate chips EVER. I couldn’t put them directly into cookies without taste-testing them first. That taste-test turned into me eating so many of the chocolate chips that I did not have enough for the recipe. The chocolate chips in questions are Chef’s Select and chocolate liquor is included in the ingredient list. I couldn’t find this in any of the chocolate chips available at the grocery store. While I don’t know if the chocolate liquor is the reason these taste so good, they are delicious for a $1 bag of chocolate chips.
To supplement for the chocolate chips I ate, I used an 8 ounce bag of dark chocolate covered powerberries from Trader Joe’s. The package says they are, “real fruit juice pieces made with acai, pomegranate, cranberry and blueberry juices and dipped in smooth dark chocolate.” They are about twice the size of a chocolate chip, which made them a little bulky in the cookie dough but they are the perfect combination of sweet and slightly tart. Delicious as a snack, even better in a cookie!
Chocolate Powerberry Cookies
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
2 eggs
2 t. vanilla extract
3 cups rice flour blend (recipe in this post)
1 t. baking soda
2 t. hot water
1/2 t. salt
1 cup chocolate chips
1 8 oz. bag Trader Joe’s Powerberries
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Cream together butter and both sugars until smooth. Add eggs and vanilla. Dissolve baking soda in hot water and add to batter with salt. Mix in flour. Gently incorporate chocolate chips and powerberries.
Drop by spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes.
I got this fun new cookie gadget. It’s a spoon with a bulldozer function–it pushes the dough off of the spoon we you press down on the upper metal part. Pretty nifty, but works best the first couple of times. Spraying it with a non-stick cooking spray might have helped.
This week’s Sweet Friend is actually a whole family of friends! My friend Mary and I often participate in races together, 5ks and half marathons. For the last couple of years, her family has joined us on Memorial Day for the Amy Thompson 8k. This year it was Mary, her hubby Kirk, her son Larry, daughter-in-law Katie and their adorable kids Mia and Sam. I love seeing families participate in healthy activities together, so much so that I brought milk and cookies to the race. Counter-productive perhaps, but perhaps more appropriate than the egg rolls being served at the finish line.
Last year Mary’s grandson Sam ran in his first race and proved he will continue the family tradition of being race-crazed. He’s a fast little fella! I offered him a cookie after this year’s race and he reluctantly accepted, declining my offer of chocolate milk. Not only is he fast, he also has good eating habits! I so admire his parents for instilling these values early on. Plus they are just fun…Sam laughs and laughs at the snake-in-a-can gag he totes around his grandparents house, first offering a snack, “Want some peanuts?” and then graciously warning just before the cap is removed, “It’s a snake!”
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