Nov242018

Double Chocolate Chip Occasion Cookies

Double Chocolate Chip Occasion Cookies – Whether it’s for love, mending a broken heart or because you need ME TIME, these cookies are perfect for you! A soft, fudge-like cookie that just melts in your mouth!

Oh folks have I got one DELICIOUS treat for you today! I’ve teamed up with my friends at Rodelle Inc. to showcase two of my FAVORITE products from them – Rodelle Gourmet Baking Cocoa Powder, Dutch Processed (which is my all time FAVORITE cocoa) and their Rodelle Chocolate Extract (which is one of the secrets to an incredible chocolate dessert!).

Happy Saturday all! 2-days post Thanksgiving and I’m having a “ME” day. No matter how much prep work I get done, no matter how many things I make ahead of time, it seems like I still run around like a mad woman the day of. And the kicker – it was just the 2 of us for dinner too! Thinking back to when I was little and how Mom handled Thanksgiving – my God the woman was a super woman! 25 pound stuffed turkey in the oven, ham in the roaster oven, additional pan of stuffing, 10 pounds of mashed potatoes, Brussels sprouts, broccoli & cauliflower, green bean casserole, corn, trays of homemade rolls and gosh – at least 15 pies. And did it all flawlessly!

I, on the other hand, looked like I just ran a marathon with stuffing on my fingers, candied yams on my shirt and honey cinnamon butter stained on my pants. But, like my Mom, dinner came together beautifully. 3 days of work for 20 minutes of eating and 3 hours of dishes. Sounds about right. LOL

Black Friday shopping in my pjs

Then, of course, there was Black Friday shopping. Thankfully online shopping exists as there was no way on this earth that I was venturing out to a store. People are just crazy in the stores! So I spent a little bit of time Friday morning shopping from the comforts of my bed and pjs. And then Mr. Fantabulous came into the bedroom, batting his gorgeous hazel eyes, asking “honey, since it’s nice out can we go suck up leaves for a bit?”

So this isn’t easy but it’s not too hard. See one person drives the tractor that has what I call a leaf-sucker-upper that attaches to the tractor that “sweeps” the yard, mulches it and then blows it into a 4×8′ box trailer. That’s the easy part. The other person has to wear this 30 pound backpack blower and walk between the fence line and the trees/bushes blowing everything out into the yard where they can be sucked up. That’s the hard part as it’s heavy and you end up getting sticks and branches in your face…and other parts. This was my job. ugh…

How I come up with recipes

So while I was blowing the leaves, fighting the branches and trying not to fall as the grounds were muddy by the fence line, I tend to think about food and recipes. Stuff that I want to make or create new recipes for. Since I knew I’d be sore and tired from the miles and miles of walking I wanted to treat myself. See even though for Thanksgiving I made him his own New York style cheesecake I didn’t make myself anything special. I mean, I made pecan pie bars but that’s not a special treat ya know?

When I think of a special treat I always think back to chocolate. Immediately these “Occasion” cookies came to mind. I’ve been making this cookie since college as it’s been that cookie I always went to when I needed a hug, to impress someone, mend a broken heart, or just because it’s a ME night! Recently I’ve become a Brand Ambassador for Rodelle (see here) and I could not be any more thrilled! You guys know me – I only product THE BEST quality ingredients and also have an incredible brand footprint. Not only do they have an incredible vertically integrated vanilla supply chain but they also have the Rodelle Foundation. This foundation supports both community and national philanthropic efforts and social program. There is the Vanilla Farmer Association Partnership, The Stove Project, Vocation School and even a Water Sanitation process and new well installation at an orphanage.

Additionally if you read more they also care about the environment by using wind power to help run their facilities. This is HUGE for me. A company that cares not only about the people but also about the impact it has on our world.

But back to this cookie… Oh this glorious chocolate cookie! How I so love you!

Easy Chocolate Chip Cookies

You can totally make this in a bowl with an electric mixer or if you leave your stand mixer out on the counter, go with that. The cookie dough itself is very, VERY soft. What I do is wet my hands, scoop up the mixture (medium cookie scoop or about 2 Tbl of dough) into my hand and carefully shape the ball. You totally don’t have to do this as your hands will be very chocolatey (which isn’t a bad thing). I’m just particular about having uniformly shaped cookies. I’m weird like that.

One thing you’ll also notice is that I do not chill the dough which is pretty rare for me. 99% of the time I always tell you to chill your dough but this dough, when I did chill it, I found that the cookies didn’t come out as soft and billowy as I liked. They don’t really spread out too much and if they do, as soon as they come out the oven use the back of a metal spatula and gently push into a round shape (trust me – every baker does this trick from time to time).

When the cookies were baking you could smell the intense chocolate flavor – this is thanks to the baking cocoa and extract. I’ve tested countless cocoas in my years and by far this is THE ABSOLUTE BEST! Every single time I’ve used it I’ve had consistent quality results and that same amazing chocolate rich flavor. The engineer in my truly goes crazy when I find a product that has repeatable quality!

So back to my leaves adventure. You guys know me – I am not one with grace at all. Yesterday while I was in amongst the trees and bushes I looked up and saw my Fed Ex guy standing there delivering some stuff. Let’s just say he got the show of a lifetime today. I took 2, TWO, steps towards him and… well let’s just say it’s a good thing I’m bendy as one leg went left, one went right and my feet both went up in the air. 5.8 seconds later and I’m lying on my back in the mud while the blower was just buzzing away. He ran over, fighting back the giggles, to help me. I just laid there, like a turtle stuck on its back laughing so hard that I had tears pouring down my face. I was covered up one side and down the other with mud. He helped me up while we laughed so hard. I said, “You didn’t know I also did acrobatics while also being a chef and engineer.”

Needless to say my special treat last night was ibuprofin and a heating pad. However today… I’m making these as my special treat.

If you can’t find the Rodelle product in your store I’ve set up some easy shopping for you below. Trust me, these are THE BEST and something that any foodie would LOVE as a holiday gift!

Want more chocolate treats?