I am a Honey Bee

All about my adventures with cooking, crafts, and travel

chocolate chip

Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie

Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie

I enjoyed last year’s Thirsty Thursday’s posts so much that I started to think of another series that I could tackle. I wanted to do something that was a bit more of a challenge for me. I was thinking of breads and pizzas but then I would be eating a lot of carbs and cheese. And neither of of those are easy to share with other, which is what I really like to do. So I kept thinking and decided that I would have a year of PIES!!!!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie_01

I want to conquer making homemade crusts, creating lattice top pies, making the perfect crimped edge, and creating the perfect filling. This will be a year of fruit pies, chess pies, savory pies, chocolate pies, and meringue topped pies. There will be deep dish pies, tarts, mini pies, and hand pies. This will be an awesome year. 🙂

So I am kicking this year off with this Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie. It’s the combo of 2 great things… chocolate chip cookies and pie!!! And it’s just as amazing as you imagine.

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The key to making this super simple pie is slowly incorporating the ingredients into each other. This makes the pie really smooth and light in texture. As well, the butter needs to be really soft as you are adding it into the rest of the beaten ingredients and you really don’t want any lumps.

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The pie is best right out of the oven but if you can’t enjoy it right then you should just microwave it on a low power level until it is warmed through again. It makes the chocolate chips ooey gooey and irresistible.

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Stay tuned for another irresistible pie recipe next week!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie

Serves 8

Ingredients

  • 1 9″ pie crust 
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
  • 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
  • 1 cup (6 oz.) Semi-sweet chocolate chips
  • 1 cup chopped nuts, such as walnuts

Process

  1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
  2. Place pie crust in pie plate.
  3. Beat the eggs in a large mixing bowl or in the bowl of stand mixer on high speed until foamy.]
  4. One at a time, slowly beat in the granulated sugar, brown sugar, and flour until each is incorporated into the eggs. Beat in the softened butter. Stir in the chocolate chips and nuts. Spoon the mixture into the pie shell.
  5. Bake for 55 to 60 minutes or until knife inserted halfway between edge and center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack. Serve warm with whipped cream or ice cream, if desired.

Sourced from Nestle

Banana Crumb Cake with Pecans and Chocolate Chips

Banana Crumb Cake with Pecans and Chocolate Chips

Will ya look at that?

Just take a minute and look at this crumb cake.

Banana Crumb Cake with Pecans and Chocolate Chips_01

Did you do it?

I hope you really did take the time and soaked in the prettiness of this crumb cake.

But it’s prettiness is not the only nice part. Nope. It’s the bananas. It’s the chocolate chips. It’s the pecans. It’s a triple threat!!

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The crumb cake will have you sneaking into your kitchen all day and night just so you can cut sliver after sliver hoping that no one notices just how much you’ve eaten.

It’s just such a good cake. I swear. It’s flavorful like banana bread but the texture is light and airy. Plus there are chocolate chips and pecans in it! Not to mention, the crumb topping is soft, with a nice crunch on top. Ah crumb cake bliss!!

Banana Crumb Cake with Pecans and Chocolate Chips_02

Banana Crumb Cake with Pecans and Chocolate Chips

Makes a 9″/10″ cake

Ingredients

Banana Cake

  • 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 cup Greek yogurt (vanilla or plain)
  • 1/2 cup oil
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 3-4 small banana’s mashed very well
  • 1 cup chocolate chips
  • 1 cup chopped pecan pieces

Crumb Topping

  • 3/4 cup all purpose flour
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 3 Tablespoon softened butter
  • 1 Tablespoon water, if neccessary

Process

  1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and spray a 9 or 10 inch springform pan with nonstick spray.
  2. To make the crumb topping: in a small bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, and cinnamon. Incorporate the butter until the mixture is crumbly. If the texture is not right then add in a few drops of water at a time to get a crumbly mixture. Set aside.
  3. Mix all the dry ingredients together in one bowl.
  4. Lightly beat the eggs and add in the Greek yogurt, and oil and mix until well blended.
  5. Mix the bananas into the wet ingredients.
  6. Fold the dry ingredients into the wet banana mixture until just combined.
  7. Fold in the pecans and chocolate chips until just combined as well.
  8. Pour the cake batter into the prepared pan and then top with the crumb mixture.
  9. Bake at for 30-40 minutes. Allow the cake to cool for 5 minutes prior to carefully removing the outside of the springform pan.

Sourced from Ask Chef Dennis

No Bake Peanut Butter Bars

peanut butter bars

I’m totally loving following along the different races to create a new recipe for each race in my Sprint Cup Snacks series. I’m learning more about regional foods and trying out new things as well. Like I had never made BBQ sauce before when I made the Homemade Jack Daniel’s BBQ Sauce for the Food City 500 @ Bristol Motor Speedway in Bristol, TN. What was I waiting for? So good! And I’ve been seriously addicted to the Ham and Cheese Sliders I made for the STP Gas Booster 500 @ Martinsville Speedway in  Martinsville, VA. I think they are going to make another appearance at our house this weekend. Total noms.

So we’re back to the “Old Dominion” state with this weekend’s race in Richmond, VA. I looked into what foods Virginia is famous for and of course there were plenty of seafood options for the area along the Atlantic coast and wines in the mountains in the Western part of the state. And then I found out there are peanut farms! Oh my so in love with peanut butter right now. I found these no bake peanut butter bars and knew that I had to make them for this race.

These no bake peanut butter bars are soo super easy and soo good. In all it took me about 10 minutes to put together and then I just had to wait for it to chill and set up. That’s it! I love how simple they were to make but I love jsut how good they are even more. They taste just like a Reese’s peanut butter cup!!

So here’s the thing… the first piece that you cut out of the pan will get all ugly from you scooping it out. That is your piece to sneak while you are in the kitchen before you serve them. See you were just looking out for your guests and you couldn’t give them them an ‘ugly’ bar. Gotta take one for the team!  😛

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No Bake Peanut Butter Bars

Makes up to 32 squares

Ingredients

  • 1 cup butter melted
  • 2 cups graham cracker crumbs
  • 2 cups powdered sugar
  • 1 cup + 4 tablespoons peanut butter
  • 1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Process

  1. In a medium bowl, mix together the melted butter, graham cracker crumbs, powdered sugar, and 1 cup of the peanut butter until well blended.
  2. Press evenly into the bottom of an ungreased 9×13 inch pan.
  3. Melt the chocolate chips with the remaining 4 tablespoons of peanut butter, stirring occasionally until smooth. Spread the melted chocolate over the peanut butter layer.
  4. Refrigerate for at least one hour before cutting into squares.

Source: My Baker Lady

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{Sprint Cup Snacks Track Facts}

Another great night race this weekend! All of the races held at Richmond International Raceway are ‘held under the lights’. Richmond was built in 1946 and since then has evolved to become a state of the art facility with a Video Scoring Tower that boasts more LED square footage than any other track in the motorsports industry. There are four high definition LED screens that come together to measure 38-feet wide by 24-feet high. Are we going to see Kyle Busch on that screen in the winner’s circle again this year? The younger Busch has won the last 4 Toyota Owners 400 races at Richmond International Raceway. Can he do it again this year?!?!

Track: 3/4 miles

Shape: D-Shaped Oval

Banking: 8 degree banking in the front stretch, 2 degree in the back stretch, and 14 degrees in the turns

Surface: Asphalt

Capacity: 97,912 seats

Race: 400 laps for 300 miles

2012 winner:  Kyle Busch

Chocolate Chip Rice Krispies Cookies

I’m skipping this week’s edition of Monday Munchies because I wanted to participate in sharing a great recipe instead.

I love being part of Secret Recipe Club. It is so much fun to ge a new secret assignment every month. Plus it’s a lot of fun on reveal day having your partner find our out ou had their recipe and what you made while you are searching around to find out who made a recipe on your blog. All of that is great but it is time’s like this that I realize that community is just as important.

Sadly, an email went out sharing the news with out group that one of our members had passed away. Dan, aka the Herring, and Meredith, aka the Haggis shared the blog The Haggis and The Herring. Dan, a man in the prime of his life, unexpectedly passed away recently. Meredith shared a very touching post about Dan, their kids, and their love together. It is unbelievable to me that Meredith is expecting a baby at this point. I could not imagine that pain and sadness. I wish her and her boys nothing but happiness and they rebuild their lives.

 

In a tiny way of honoring a great cook, a great man is my post of his Chocolate Chip Cookies with Rice Krispies. As soon as I saw these I knew I would have to try them. These cookies are a lot of fun. They are great chocolate chip cookies with a fun surprise inside. The contrasting texture is a lot of fun and makes the cookie more interesting than a typical chocolate chip cookie.

Chocolate Chip Rice Krispies Cookies

Makes

Ingredients

  • 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/2 cup butter, softened
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 2 cups Rice Krispies cereal
  • 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Process

  1. Combine together the flour, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl. Set aside.
  2. In a large bowl/stand mixer, beat together butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
  3. Add egg and vanilla. Beat well.
  4. In small batches, add the flour mixture, mixing until combined.
  5. Stir in the rice krispies and chocolate chips.
  6. Portion out heaping tablespoons sized cookies into your hands, roll into balls and then gently press onto baking sheets covered with parchment paper/coated with cooking spray.
  7. Bake at 350-degrees for 12 minutes or until lightly browned.
  8. Remove immediately from baking sheets and cool on wire racks. Store in airtight container up to 3 days.

Chocolate Chocolate Mint Cookies

During some recent shopping trips, I have come across M&M’s holiday flavored candies. I picked up all the varieties I saw and started to look up different recipes that I could use with the M&M’s candies. So far my favorites are the cheery cordials to eat and the mint to bake with, but i’m just getting started.

 

 

One of my coworkers makes the most unbelievable chocolate chocolate chip cookies. I decided that I would make something similar but instead of loading it up with chocolate chips I would add in the mint m&m’s. Having made chocolate chocolate chip cookies in the past I decided that could wing it and see how it would come out. The first time worked out well but I did not add any chocolate chips, only the m&m’s and I didn’t feel that was enough so I made them again and added in some chips. Much better! I love the mint and chocolate combo so these cookies are ones I would actually eat. I ate 2- very usual for me!

 

 

Chocolate Chocolate Mint Cookies

*makes 2 dozen 2 1/2″ cookies*

Ingredients

  • 2 1/2 Cup all purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon backing soda
  • 1/2 cup cocoa powder
  • 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 2 eggs beaten
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 cup of semi sweet chocolate chips
  • 1 9.9 oz bag of mint m&m’s

Process Ingredients

  1. Preheat oven to 375 and line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
  2. Wisk the flour, salt, baking soda, and cocoa powder in a bowl to combine. Set aside.
  3. Combine the butter and sugars in bowl and beat until light and fluffy.
  4. Add the eggs and vanilla extract to the sugar mixture and beat until combined.
  5. Add the dry ingredients to the bowl and mix until a dough as formed.
  6. Once the dough has combined add in the chocolate chips and continue to mix.
  7. Using a spoon, gently mix in the m&m’s until evenly combined.
  8. Scoop the dough out and mix into 1 1/4″ balls by hand.
  9. Place the balls on the cookie sheets with plenty of room to allow spread.
  10. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Remove cookie sheets from oven when the center of the cookie is still soft to the touch. Let cool and set up for 5 minutes on the cookie sheet prior to removing.

Cheesecake Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

These Cheesecake Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars are so easy to make that you’ll be saying “Ta-Dah!”. You’ll also be amazing at how quickly they disappear. Yum!

Post from 2/4/18, Pictures updated 8/22/18

Do you know people who don’t cook?

I didn’t think people like that really existed, but my friend Dawn does not cook.

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