Flourless Dark Chocolate Cookies-Cookie of the Month {Chocolate}

Michael's mom's family does a cool sort of Christmas gift exchange, it's called "Kris Kinder". In this exchange you must make something for the person whose name you've drawn. I was like "Uh...I'm not crafty," but once they reassured me that food counts I was on board! And, luckily for me, I got Michael's Aunt Alayne who LOVES chocolate.

Oh...you love chocolate, Alayne? Challenge accepted.

I decided I wanted to make cookies since I knew I'd be busy and cookies are fairly simple to make-plus they're easy to package and travel with!

Then I made this recipe. And they were delicious. And all was right with the world.

Look...I sampled a couple cookies before packaging them up for Alayne. I HAD TO! Quality control people. And I can attest that they are super chocolatey and rich and perfectly crisp on the outside and insanely gooey on the inside. They're everything I wanted them to be. They're even sturdy so absolutely perfect for gift giving! And I was right-Alayne went crazy for them! She insisted I give her the recipe and raved about how incredible they are.

She's right.

AND-as if everything else about these cookies isn't enough, myself and some of my blog friends have teamed up to share a different themed cookie each month! This month is chocolate (obviously) so these beauties fit right in. And here are the other cocoa-licious goodies shared by my fellow foodies:

Chocolate Lava Cookies from Jen's Favorite Cookies
Triple Chocolate Cookie Bars from Crumb: A Food Blog
Flourless Dark Chocolate Cookies from The Cooking Actress
Caramel Chocolate Chip Cashew Butter Cookies from Magnolia Days
Chocolate Orange Ginger Cookies from gotta get baked
Peanut Butter Compost Cookies (gluten-free) from Heartbeet Kitchen
Fudgy Kahlua Brownie Cookies from Bake or Break

Flourless Almond Butter Chocolate Brownies

These brownies are delicious. And they're not just delicious in a, "they're delicious for a healthy dessert" kind of way, but just in a, "they're tasty yum yum" kind of way. They happen to be gluten-free, dairy free, low in sugar (they're mostly sweetened with honey), and low in fat (and that fat comes from eggs and good for you almond butter!) And-bonus-they don't even have any weird ingredients. In fact, if you don't have almond butter you can just use peanut butter or any other kind of nut butter. EASY!

I seriously almost don't even know why I would make regular brownies because these are THAT good. Like...super chocolatey and gooey and soft. They're not bitter. They're not gummy. They're not lacking in sweetness. The only real difference you can notice is that you can taste honey (although Michael said he didn't taste it, so I might just be more sensitive to it?)--but when warmed up you can barely detect the honey either!

The almond butter lends the fat (but in a healthy fat kind of way) and structure to the brownies and helps them taste rich and decadent (you barely taste it, almond butter has a subtle flavor-it just helps these be fantastic), honey and just a little bit of brown sugar sweeten them, and unsweetened cocoa powder and dark chocolate chips make them oh so chocolatey without all the sugar but with all the antioxidant goodness and tastiness!

Game changer-that's what these brownies are.

Flourless Chocolate Cake

I've made my fair share of flourless chocolate cakes (and this one is still the best. Although the recipe I'm sharing today is a close 2nd!). And there's a reason.

They. are. pure. DECADENCE.

Another upside to flourless chocolate cake is how EASY it is to make but how impressive it seems! You can serve the cake super elegantly with garnishes, powdered sugar, etc. (to make a symbol on the top of the cake just cut out a shape with paper, place it on top of the cake, and then dust with powdered sugar. Remove the paper and voila'!) or you can just sit on the couch in your p.j.'s and eat it warmed up with some ice cream while you watch  Millionaire Matchmaker. Up to you, really.

The texture of this flourless chocolate cake is like the most moist and chocolatey chocolate cake you've ever had times a thousand. It's intensely dense and almost melts in your mouth. I also can't decide whether I like it best cold, room temperature, or warmed. They're all delicious!

Look....it's still the holiday season. We have a bit more time to enjoy parties and indulging before January 1st rolls around and we're all hitting the gym and only eating salads. So let's live up the rest of 2014 and make ourselves and our favorite people a flourless chocolate cake. I think 2014 deserves it. I think WE deserve it!

Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies

"Just make something basic," they said. "SMALL cookies," they said. "I mean it Kayle-nothing weird or fancy," my mom said (let's be real....they're all my mom). These were my super subtle suggestions for the cookies I was tasked to bake for my grandma's 80th birthday party. Silly people. I can make basic. No problem.

...I mean....sure....the chocolate chip cookies I made were technically dairy-free because I used coconut oil instead of butter, but you can't tell! And yes....these cookies are also dairy-free AND gluten-free....but...again....YOU CAN'T TELL.

Seriously. I can't. They didn't. You won't.

These are going to taste like a classic, no frills, wonderful peanut butter cookie. A bit crisp, a smidge crumbly. And the perfect amount of peanut buttery deliciousness. It's our little secret that these cookies are made with only 5 ingredients. And they have no flour. Or butter.

This is one of those recipes that's sort of insanely easy. It's even easy to remember (just think of it as 1 cup pb, 1 cup sugar, 1 egg, and 1 tsp. baking soda)! You mix it all in one bowl so there aren't even a lot of dishes! If you're trying to bake up a bunch of treats for the holidays I HIGHLY recommend these ones-you probably already have all the ingredients, super quick and easy, not too many dishes, and they're even good for pleasing certain dietary restrictions! And they're delicious and basic enough that my family liked them.

Nothing but good things!

Thick & Soft Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies {Gluten Free & Dairy Free}-Cookie Week 2014!

Welcome to the last day of Cookie Week, hosted by Kim of Cravings of a Lunatic and Susan of The Girl In the Little Red Kitchen! We’ve teamed together with 10 other talented bloggers to bring you 5 fantastic days of cookie recipes to get you in to the holiday spirits. We hope you've enjoyed this week as much as we did! Don't forget to check out and enter our fantastic giveaway and our #CookieWeek Pinterest board full of all the cookie recipes you've see here this week!
Our sponsors for this event have provided us with some great prizes and we’d like to extend a huge thank you for their generosity. Thanks to Imperial Sugar, Circulon, Peanut Butter & Co. and Page Street Publishing for being a part of Cookie Week!     

Take a look to see what might inspire you to break out the butter and sugar this weekend.

Pumpkin Mallomars by The Girl In The Little Red Kitchen

Chocolate Fudge Brownie Cookies by Cravings of a Lunatic

Black Pepper Fig Biscotti by Crumb

Chocolate Peppermint Crinkles by Jen's Favorite Cookies

Chocolate Shot Cookies by Food Lust People Love

Double Chocolate Espresso Cookies by Cooking in Stilettos

Soft and Chewy Butterscotch Chip Pudding Cookies by Dinners, Dishes and Desserts

The Best Gingersnaps by Mind Over Batter

Thick & Soft Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies {Gluten Free & Dairy Free} by The Cooking Actress

LOOKAT THAT PICTURE! LOOK AT HOW THICK AND SOFT THESE COOKIES ARE!!

Nothing beats biting into a thick, soft, extra chewy, extra flavorful, cookie. Especially when you only need to use 1 bowl to whip them up. And there are only 6 ingredients. CRAZY simple.  And really...oh so addictive.

And the small ingredient list? The flourlessness? It just means the chocolate/peanut butter truly shine. So rich and out of control. I suppose I'd say these cookies taste like the inside of a Reese's cup...if you mixed it with cocoa powder....does that make sense? Trust me on this one-it's goooood.

Healthy Flourless Nut Butter Cookies

Here's the breakdown--these cookies have no sugar (unless you sub in sugar), no flour, no dairy/no butter and a crazy short ingredient list. And they're soft. And delicious. And taste like your favorite nut butter. And there's a wonderful bite of dark chocolate (which I guess you could opt out if you want to be really healthy but...antioxidants?) and that lovely contrast from the salt.

Mmmmmm.

And they're paleo? I think? Um....I'm not gonna claim to know much about the paleo diet-from what I understand the deal is you only eat things a caveman would've been able to eat? I think these cookies fit that bill....sorta....I dunno....just go with it, mk?

The important thing here is how incredibly soft and delicious these cookies are!

They're full of nut-buttery flavor (since you use a full cup make sure you like the flavor of it because it is the predominant taste of these treats!) and then you can taste the honey (I'm pretty sure the maple syrup would be a bit more subtle? And obviously brown sugar would make it taste a bit more traditional cookie-like), but not in an overwhelming way, and THEN the bite of the dark chocolate cuts the little bit of sweetness and the sea salt on top is always our friend. Salt + cookies forevahhhhh.

And if you want proof that these cookies still taste good (even though they're healthyish): my 5 year old twin flower-girls-to-be tried one of these cookies and they proclaimed "You made these? Good job! They're really good." so there ya have it. 

Children don't lie about liking food.

Neither do I!

Trust me, trust Kate and Evie-you'll like 'em!

Toffee & Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies (Gluten Free)

I made these cookies a couple weeks ago, during yet ANOTHER snowstorm. It was coming down, all gross, and I was fed. up! I seriously....this winter. I can't even handle it. Every time I think "maybe it's done." another snowstorm hits! It makes it SO difficult to get anything done in NYC (laundry when there's snow on the ground? Not happening.) So, I was feeling quite cranky. So, what could I do?

Make cookies. Obviously.

Cookies make every day better, in my opinion. And these TOTALLY did perk me up! Now, one thing to remember when whipping this delicious (one bowl) recipe up--they do need chilled. For at least 2 hours, or up to 5 days. Now, I knew snow was coming, so I made these the night before the storm, so the dough was good to go when I awoke the next morning to just....way too much icy white stuff. It was actually sort of nice that the dough was already ready, I just looked outside, got cranky, then began preheating the oven. Next thing I knew I had cookies!

Mmmmm cookies. Cookies that are just a little bit crisp, but mostly soft and cheeewwwyyyy and gooey in the centers. Cookies FULL of peanut butter flavor (no flour=less to take away from that peanut buttery goodness), with crunchy little bites of toffee, and gooey wonderful bites of rich milk chocolate. Ahh these cookies. Delightful when they are warm from the oven, and matured and complex and perfect at room temperature. 

Now, these cookies you see in my pictures might be a little more brown than yours will be. You see, you're not supposed to use homemade or natural pb in these, it doesn't make for the best texture. And I happened to have a bunch of PB & Co peanut butters hanging around. So...I sort of frankenstein'd it up and used a mix  of honey peanut butter, white chocolate peanut butter, and dark chocolate peanut butter (and that is to blame for the slightly darker color). I would've just used regular peanut butter but hey, either way...DELISH.

And let's not forget that these perfect little treats are gluten free, and I know A TON of people who are off that gluten but cravinggg sweets. Friends, never fear-THESE COOKIES ARE HERE!

Flourless Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake

Remember how last week we talked about the new Dark Chocolate Dreams cookbook? Remember that yummy pie? Well, that was Michael's choice from the cookbook to make. THIS was mine.

Um....flourless chocolate cakes are freaking delicious. They're rich. They're dense. When warm they're a little molten, when chilled they are silky decadence. And this cake is all of that...plus PEANUT BUTTAHH.

This is totally not wedding diet approved.

I mean...there are 8 eggs in this recipe. And 2 sticks of butter. And a bunch of chocolate and peanut butter. But like....life isn't worth living without indulgences, right? RIGHT. Plus...this cake is seriously SO rich, and that even I (queen of "THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS TOO RICH") only need a small slice to get my fix. So hey, there's that! I'm super sorry that this recipe is too late for Valentine's Day, because it would've been perfect. But...um...you probably have a birthday or anniversary or something coming up, right?

If not...just serve it on a Tuesday. Because you deserve it.

Flourless Peanut Butter & Nutella Oatmeal Cookies

Soooo, ya know, I've heard a lot of things about how wheat is not good for our bellies etc etc.

And I get it. I could see where that might make sense. BUT...I just....I cannot live my life without carbs. Do you have ANY idea how much of my diet is carbs?! WAY TOO MUCH! I know it but I can't help it! I need breads and pastas and potatoes! Neeeed em!

*cough* but um anyway...maybe sometimes it's nice to cut back. But ya know...with cookies.

I'm not sure if you know this. I've been super tight lipped about it and am definitely not uncontrollably talking and thinking and planning about this all the time* but...I'm getting married. And I'd like to be in decent shape for that big day. Um...but I still wanna eat cookies.

*(lies)

So, what all this lead up is well...leading...to is THIS: cookies. Cookies made with oats instead of flour. Cookies with a surprisingly small amount of sugar. Cookies where the only fat is in the forms of peanut butter (I used homemade, so-healthy!) and nutella (you can probably use homemade, but this time around I used the safer for baking yet still healthier option of Nocciolata Organic Hazelnut Spread). Cookies that actually taste a lot like those no-bake cookies that I LOVED as a kid. Cookies that are chewy and delicious and satisfying.

So um...when am I coming over?

I presume you're making these for me.

Chocolate Truffle Tart

Um so...prepare for a million drool inducing photos.

Happy almost blogaversary The Cooking Actress, have some (sort of) cake.

You'll love it. It's chocolatey and rich and dense and fudgy and pretty much everything you love about life.

And added bonus?

The boyfriend likes it too

(because it's served cold, and thusly makes him like it. Because he doesn't like most desserts warm...

...including cookies.

I KNOW.

he's crazy)

Pretty much it's another one of those amazing flourless chocolate cake/tortes.

But for some reason this one seems super sophisticated and fancy.

Like...I could eat this while wearing evening attire under dim lighting with important people

...but I also could still eat it in bed, in my pj's, while watching TV.

It's a versatile cake.

I'm getting hungry looking at these photos again. 

I'm sad that we ate all of this. I miss it. *sigh*

But sorry, don't let me get you down! YOU can still have this cake and indulge in the velvety texture, sinful flavor, and bliss-inducing wonder that is this tart/cake/torte (or whatever it is).

Honestly...I'm not one of those people who makes pretty food. My food tastes delicious, but...it's rare when it is pretty. I'm unsure if it's a matter of my lack of patience or if it's a lack of talent, or perhaps I just am SO preoccupied with it tasting amazing, the appearance portion is just sorely neglected? Either way, it's a bit of a point of shame for me.

But this chocolate truffle tart is PRETTY. It is one of the pretties things I've ever made. I just gazed at it in wonder, so proud and so excited. Perhaps that's why there's so many photos. I am so pleased that I just wanna show off.

Plus..I mean...come on....chocolate.

Flourless Chocolate Lava Cake

Chocolate Lava Cakes.

Molten Chocolate Lava Cake.

Whatever you want to call it.

It's amazing.

My favorite dessert.

MOLTEN. CHOCOLATE. LAAAAVAAAA!

We're talking melty, warm, chocolate, gushing from the middle of a decadent chocolate cake.

That has Kayle written all over it.

Chocolate Decadence-Holiday Recipe Exchange: Week One (CHOCOLATE)!

I know what you're thinking-these are the most beautiful photographs you've ever seen, right? Look at how yummy! This was a pleasant little surprise for me, my friends. I was going through my old recipe box (from my pre-food blogging addition days) and saw this recipe for "Chocolate Decadence" with no picture. So...I really wasn't sure what I was getting myself into. I just knew...hey, with a name like that-it couldn't be bad, right? I also decided to make it because I had on hand all the ingredients necessary. Right around this time, some strange thing called Hurricane Irene kept coming up. I ignored it and assumed it was no biggie. The day before Irene was gonna hit though, I started noticing "Hey....like...everyone's freaking out?". So then, I actually looked into it. And got concerned. Although I don't live in an evacuation zone (Astoria, I was right outside of it), it was apparently almost definite I'd be without power. So, I went to the grocery store and picked up as many non perishables as you know....were there. It was crowded and awful and I was not happy. Michael, meanwhile, told me to stop overreacting that we'd be fine. My mom, kept telling me all the things I needed to do because, "Kayle, there is no doubt about it, you are definitely going to be without power for days." Obviously I was, you know, conflicted. I decided to play it safe though. Anyway, Saturday arrived, I had nothing to do, and Irene wasn't going to hit until that night. So I thought "Hmm...well...if the power goes out...at least I'll have chocolate?" So I made this. And it was glorious. I realized, what with the whole no flour thing, this was what can also be referred to as a flourless chocolate cake, or a torte. Um, I love those things. I lucked out! It is almost velvety in texture, rich, fudgey, melts in your mouth, just goooood. It's best cold and refrigerated so-good thing-Irene affected us not at all. We didn't lose power or anything. But hey! At least we had this! I'd been waiting for the perfect time to share this with you guys because really...this is one of my favorite recipes, for sure, now. And now is the perfect time! Two of the blogs I read regularly (My Baking Addiction and GoodLife Eats) have a Holiday Recipe Exchange-and week one's theme is CHOCOLATE!  Perfect! So, enjoy (and go to the link at the bottom of the post to find out more about the exchange) :)