This is a recipe that my mother made for us when we were kids and then I made for my own kids. They are chocolate-nut cookies, rolled in powdered sugar before baking to make them pretty. A good old standby.

Chocolate Chews

• 1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening (Crisco)
• 1 2/3 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 2 eggs
• 2 1-oz. squares unsweetened baking chocolate
• 2 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1/2 cup nuts
• powdered sugar (to roll the cookies in)

Cream Crisco, sugar, and vanilla. Add eggs and chocolate. Combine dry ingredients, then add to creamed mixture alternately with milk. Stir in nuts. Chill dough 2 hours.

Form in balls about 3/4-inch in diameter and roll in powdered sugar.

Bake at 350° about 10 minutes.

Please refer to my Cookie Recipe Basics to make sure your cookies turn out!
Read the introduction to my 1990s cooking blog for background information.

1990s note: This recipe was on a can of sweetened condensed milk, ages ago. These are great! No one will know that they are low-fat.

Today: This is (still) my “go-to” recipe when I want something very chocolatey but also calorie controlled. For instance, on a Valentine’s Day, I baked these in small heart-shaped pans (lined with parchment). To serve, I drizzled each plate with chocolate syrup, added the heart-shaped brownie, dusted with powdered sugar, spooned on a little low-fat topping, and garnished with fresh sliced strawberries and mint leaves. Elegant, chocolatey, and not too many calories.

Irresistible Low-Fat Chocolate Brownies

• 1 14 oz. can low-fat sweetened condensed milk
• 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
• 4 egg whites
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/4 cup chocolate chips (can use bittersweet for extra chocolate punch)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Combine the low-fat sweetened condensed milk, cocoa, and chips and microwave until the chips melt. Stir in remaining ingredients.

Bake in 13×9″ pan, which has been sprayed with non-stick spray, for 20 minutes at 375˚ or until center is set.

Makes 18, 120 calories and 3 g fat each.

Please refer to my Cookie Recipe Basics to make sure your cookies turn out!
Read the introduction to my 1990s cooking blog for background information.

Hoo-boy, these are the ultimate cookies. My signature cookies, I would say. I always made these for Christmas. I even wrote about them in my “other” blog, the one I began in 2005, and where I still discuss other-than-food matters (unless a food matter just can’t be resisted). If you go to that old entry, be sure to click on the photo to enlarge it.

1990s note:
I clipped this recipe from a magazine years ago. Since then, they have become my “trademark” cookie. I have never seen this recipe anywhere else — and it is excellent! Lotsa chocolate and cherries — they even freeze well and are even good and soft eaten frozen. The version below reflects years of tweaking from the original magazine recipe.

2015 note:
I found the original of this recipe in the “Best You Can Bake” Chocolate Desserts cookbook.

Batter:

• 1 1/2 cup margarine
• 3 C sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 1/2 tablespoons vanilla
• scant 4 cups flour (about a tablespoon less than 4 full cups)
• 1 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda

Goodies:

• 28 ounce jar maraschino cherries. This will probably be more cherries than you need. And just get the non-health-food-store type of maraschino cherries. Eating these once in a while isn’t a death sentence. You need some of the cherry juice for the frosting.

Frosting:

• 36 ounces chocolate chips
• 3 cups sweetened condensed milk. One 14-ounce can has 20 tablespoons; you need about 2 1/2 cans.
• 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon cherry juice (from the drained maraschino cherries)

Begin by draining the maraschino cherries through a colander, reserving the juice. After you drain them, place them on a double layer of paper towels and roll them around until most of the juice is gone. This is a really important step. Let them continue drying as you prepare the batter.

Cream the margarine and sugar, the add the eggs and vanilla. In a separate bowl, mix the dry ingredients and stir to combine. With the mixer on a low speed, add the dry ingredient mixture to the creamed mixture in portions (so as not to make a big mess). Mix just until all of the dry ingredients are incorporated.

Place a piece of parchment on a cookie sheet or half-sheet pan. Heat the oven to 350˚.

Shape the dough into 1″ balls and place on the prepared cookie sheet. Push down the center of each ball with your thumb, then place 1 cherry in the indentation.

Bake 10 minutes at 350°. Do not overcook!

To make the frosting, put the chocolate chips and sweetened condensed milk and cook on high in the microwave until chocolate melts.This takes several minutes; check the melting process by stirring. When all of the chocolate is melted, stir in the cherry juice. Add a little more cherry juice if the frosting is too thick.

When the cookies are cool, you can start frosting them. I always lay them out on the counter on sheets of wax paper. Then, I pick up a cookie, hold it over the bowl of frosting, and completely cover the cookie with frosting, and place it back on the wax paper to cool.

Let the cookies stand in a single layer over night to let the frosting set completely before you pack them into containers. This recipe makes about 6 dozen cookies. They are great fresh, and they also freeze well. You can eat them frozen!

Please refer to my Cookie Recipe Basics to make sure your cookies turn out!
Read the introduction to my 1990s cooking blog for background information.

2012 note: Above is the graphic I used for cookie recipes in my original 1990s blog recipe. I had purchased a package of gif images to illustrate my old site. I’m not an artist! And I didn’t have a DSLR camera to play with then. I also had a rather bright green background color to each page. (It glares at me now.)

These are great brownies. For years, they were a favorite choice to take to TA meetings at the end of each semester. They are moist and chocolatey. I usually double the recipe and bake in a 10×15″ pan.

Marbled Chocolate and Cream Cheese Brownies

Chocolate Batter:

• 1/2 cup margarine
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 3 1-ounce squares unsweetened chocolate
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Cream Cheese Batter:

• 3 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 tablespoons margarine, softened
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons flour

Heat oven to 350°. Grease and flour a 9″ square baking pan (glass is preferred).

Prepare chocolate batter: Melt butter and chocolate, stir in sugar and vanilla. Add eggs; stir until well blended. In small bowl combine 1/2 cup flour, baking powder, and salt; stir into chocolate mixture until smooth. Set aside.

Prepare cream cheese batter: In small bowl, beat cream cheese, butter, sugar, egg, and vanilla until smooth. Blend in flour.

Alternately add spoonfuls of chocolate and cream cheese batter to prepared pan. Using a thin metal spatula, gently twist through batter to create marbled effect. Bake 25-30 minutes until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan on wire rack.

If you double this recipe, use a 10×15″ glass pan, and bake 30-35 min.

Please refer to my Cookie Recipe Basics to make sure your cookies turn out!
Read the introduction to my 1990s cooking blog for background information.