Chocolate Sugar Cookie Bars

http://www.sixsistersstuff.com/2015/07/chocolate-sugar-cookie-bars.html

Oh man. These are really rich, soft, and so good. They tasted like really good brownies and may have been what pushed my kidney stones to break loose.  I like how they are bars so making cookies saves you a little bit of time. 

CHOCOLATE SUGAR COOKIE BARS

Looking for a dense and rich chocolate cookie? It doesn't get much better than these chocolate sugar cookie bars!

15 minPrep Time

14 minCook Time

29 minTotal Time

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1/4 cup sour cream (could also substitute plain Greek yogurt)
• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
Frosting:
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1-2 teaspoons vanilla (depending on your taste)
• 3 tablespoons of cocoa
• 2-3 cups of powdered sugar

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Grease a 9x13" baking pan (or spray with non-stick cooking spray - my favorite for baking recipes is Baker's Joy).
2. In a large bowl, beat together the butter, brown sugar, and sugar. Add in the egg, vanilla, and sour cream and mix until completely incorporated.
3. Add in the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and mix well.
4. Stir together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. Press the dough into the prepared pan (I had to use my hands to press the thick dough all the way to the edges of the pan) and bake for 13-14 minutes (be sure not to overbake or they will become dry).
5. While waiting for the bars to cool, make your frosting by mixing all ingredients together in a bowl until smooth (I used a hand mixer). Add more powdered sugar or milk until you reach desired consistency and spread on top of bars.
6. If desired, top frosting with sprinkles

Chicken Dumpling and Vegetable Soup

We really liked this soup. It was a good Sunday dinner meal. Mark especially liked it but wanted more dumplings in it. The good news was that it wasn't as hard as I thought it was going to be and I didn't have to handle raw chicken much since it got cooked with the soup. I will definitely make again.

https://www.melskitchencafe.com/chicken-and-vegetable-dumpling-soup-3/

SOUP:

• 1-2 teaspoons olive oil
• 2-3 stalks celery, chopped
• 2-3 large carrots (or 8-ish baby carrots), chopped
• 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
• 4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 4 cups water
• 1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts (2-3 medium) or use precooked chicken (see note above)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1/2 cup water + 1/4 cup all-purpose flour to thicken
• 1/2 cup frozen peas

DUMPLINGS:

• 1 cup flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme or sage
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 tablespoon vegetable or canola oil

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a large pot, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the celery, carrots, and onion. Cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring often. Add the chicken broth, water and chicken (if using uncooked chicken). Bring to a simmer and cook for 10-15 minutes until the chicken is just cooked through. Remove the chicken to a plate. Stir in the salt, pepper and thyme.
2. In a small bowl, blend the 1/2 cup cold water and 1/4 cup flour with a wire whisk until smooth. Whisking vigorously, slowly add the flour mixture into the hot broth and whisk until well combined. Stir in the frozen peas and bring the soup back to a simmer. Cut up the cooked chicken and add it back into the soup.
3. For the dumplings, in a medium bowl, stir together the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, combine sour cream, milk and oil. Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir just until combined (don’t overmix, it is ok if there are a few dry spots of flour here and there).
4. Drop teaspoonful amounts (the dumplings should be fairly small, they’ll expand while cooking) of dumpling dough into the boiling soup, covering the entire surface of the soup. Cover the pot and simmer the soup and dumplings for 12-15 minutes. Do not lift the lid of the pot while the dumplings cook.
5. When the dumplings have cooked fully, remove the lid and gently stir the dumplings to break them apart. Serve.

NOTES:

Very often, I make this with leftover chicken or turkey. I just omit cooking the chicken in the broth and water at the beginning and add the leftover, cooked chicken with the peas.