Non-toxic Cookie Dough Balls

The world warns us of the dangers of raw cookie dough. Specifically raw eggs.
As adults, many of us ignore these warnings for the sheer delight of the sensation of butter, flour and sugar in their cold mixture rubbing against our teeth and heating with the warmth of our mouths. Especially if there are also chocolate chips.
Still, salmonella is a real problem, so how can one make cookie dough balls and keep them together without risk?

I'm in the mood for quick and easy recipes this week, so this is another non-Facebook recipe. Two steps and you've got a great appetizer (that does serve best if cold) that costs you a couple dollars but will elicit pleasure in the mouths of many!

When somebody moans in delight after biting something I made, that reward is unlike anything else. It's as rewarding as being a comedian and causing somebody to laugh with your words!

A popular pizza chain sells chocolate chip cookie dough. They state directly on their label, "Keep refrigerated. Bake before consuming."

However, they fully expect disobedience. If you read their ingredient list, they use eggs and egg whites, both followed with the words "dried, pasteurized".
That's right. Dried, pasteurized, non-toxic egg products in this marvelous chocolate chip cookie dough!

I purchased a tub of said pre-made dough, along with a bag of chocolate chips, then went home.

First, roll your dough into bite-sized balls. If you refrain from snacking, you can yield about 30 from the tub of dough. I was not so strong and only yielded 28 this time.

Then, place them in the freezer. This allows them to retain their shape when you apply the melted chocolate, the chocolate also hardens faster, and you run less risk of melting the butter in the dough.

When they are nice and cold, melt 1/2 cup chocolate chips for 60 seconds in the microwave in a glass container, stir and coat. Then, return to the freezer for cooling and quick setting.

My 1/2 cup covered 8-12 balls of dough. I used my remaining 1/2 cup chocolate chips, then was stuck with three uncovered balls of dough and some sparsely-coated chocolate balls.

I took some "Almond Bark" (also known as vanilla candy melt, also identified as "white" chocolate) and melted according to the package, stirred and coated the remaining balls.

When you try to coat a chocolate ball with the white chocolate, even though I had frozen them in between coats, the white chocolate will swirl and melt and mix with the semi-sweet chocolate.Embrace the combination, or know in advance never to double-dip.

The Non-toxic Cookie Dough Balls were an immediate hit at the party. Even better was the next morning when I took some to the teachers at my daughters' school. I heard the rewarding moan of taste satisfaction! You can too. The dough was $3 and if you had a full bag of semi-sweet chips ($2 or less), you would be "covered" for sure. I only had a half-bag left after I'd made my Easy Almond Roca.

Thanks for reading, hope this makes your appetizer obligation a bit less stressful as you enter the party season. I will be trying to post some less-decadent options in the weeks to come that still taste amazing.
P.S. My frozen delights always bead with condensation when they are in a room-temperature setting. This does not harm the flavor, but I would recommend keeping them at least in the refrigerator until serving time. I keep mine in the freezer as I enjoy the crisp coating of the chocolate paired with the extra-cold dough.

~Tammy

Easy Almond Roca

This will be my first recipe post that did not come directly from Facebook, but after making this treat I have had many friends ask me to share the recipe.

And yes, that is my photo with my own camera phone. I was shocked too. :)

I recently attended a Tupperware party. I grew up in a home where we owned many pieces of Tupperware, but had never been to a party. It's a cooking demonstration and it was a lot of fun! I volunteered to assist the saleswoman and we made this treat, though she said she was still working on tweaking the recipe to have less waste. (We had to pour off a lot of the butter liquid in the middle of the cooking)
This will not be an advertisement for Tupperware, but I did use their product to make this easy treat.
First, you will need almonds. They will need to be pulverized. Though sliced almonds are more expensive, they are much easier to pulverize.

Next, I placed waxed paper on a cookie sheet and spread the pulverized almonds.

 I then cubed one stick butter (to make it easier to melt) and mixed it with one cup raw sugar.

Her ratios at the party were 1/2 cup butter to 1/2 cup sugar, which did not work well. We had to drain a lot of the liquid, so I doubled the sugar and was pleased that I had hardly any excess liquid.

The tricky part is the cooking. You use the microwave rather than a stove and candy thermometer.

So, after one minute of cooking, remove the bowl and stir.
**My dear friend Bonnie is very conscious of the dangers of BPA contamination and contacted me after I'd posted this. If you are at all concerned about your dish, please try a glass bowl instead. I do not know how that will affect your cooking time, but your end result is to caramelize the sugar**

 The goal here is to carmelize the sugar and butter. When it looks like a caramel candy, soft and brown, you are finished.

Depending on your microwave, it will take an additional 2 to 4 minutes from the first time you stir. Check often! I checked at 60-90 second intervals.

Your next step is to pour and spread this liquid "caramel" over all the almonds. At the party, she used a little tupperware container that was safe to go "from freezer to microwave". Her roca was thicker than mine as it was not spread over such a large surface area.

I tried to spread this to the corners, but really didn't have enough "caramel" to go around the entire pan.

While the "caramel" is still hot, you then spread one cup chocolate chips over it so that they melt and mix as they go. At the party she used regular semi-sweet chips, but I chose to use mini-chocolate chips as they melt faster.

Again, I am not a food artist, and I use my 3.2mp camera phone for all these shots, so please forgive the soft focus that sometimes plagues my images.
Once I had sufficiently melted the chocolate, I used the wax paper to fold up the edges with extra almond bits and "threw them" onto the chocolate, mixing it in.

I then placed the cookie sheet into the freezer. Please note that this pan is fairly warm, so you do not want to place it directly onto any frozen food. I have a wire shelf in my freezer that is perfect for this purpose.

When you are satisfied with the freezing process, you may remove your roca. I was attending an evening function, so I know mine was in there for a couple hours before I removed it. You probably won't need to wait that long.

As it is nice and frozen, and I used wax paper, simply pick up the entire thing and flip it over, then begin breaking it!

 When you are satisfied with the size of your pieces, you can place it on a nice serving platter.

And, I promise that the butter flavor is what makes it the best recipe you will ever try!

Comment with your input!
~Tammy

37 Calorie Brownies

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7umZR_4pC6G9BAh-wsK-rKWrIFDAYirjdzNWfVa-IveyfyZCwIPM4awTxbxcJ3NrVGNx7YJGJDpS_nFv0I0SaGuXLUemFX_l8VmRBZ37YQ8yJ7HofLbEV_vfCHCkNBR4uoWMHddF613kP/s1600/37-Calorie+Brownies.jpg

Generally, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. :)
Any time that somebody tells you there is a healthy tasty version of something that is otherwise an unhealthy treat, you're tempted to try it! I want to have my cake and eat it too. In this case, a very tasty chocolate brownie!

So, when a recipe comes across facebook, I immediately copy and paste into Microsoft Word, knowing that the "share it to your wall" option will not truly save all these posts. (due to experience, the original post is often removed within a day or two of the time I see it)

I then Google the recipe to find the original blog and directions to see how they compare to the facebook version.
This recipe was fascinating. I entered all the ingredients into myfitnesspal.com to see what changing the 1/2 cup Truvia to 1/2 cup real cane sugar would do. My recipe turned these into 97 calorie brownies. Still, that seemed reasonable!

After reading through the comments on the blog, a wise observer pointed out that the original recipe never called for applesauce. (the facebook version asks for 1/3 cup)
The post mentioned that the ingredients would make 45 cal brownies but if you account for not fully scraping all sides of the bowl, the amount left in a container or measuring cup etc, then it would be 37 cal/brownie.
Here's the link to the blog, posted in April 2013. Bromabakery.com

I purchased the ingredients I lacked, then placed all of them in full view for your enjoyment.

The original recipe called for 1/2 cup of Truvia or other sugar-like (non liquid) substance.
First, I don't like the flavor of artificial sweeteners, second, they are expensive and I only needed one half cup, so I purchased a happy medium.

Zulka Morena pure cane sugar. GMO free, "all-natural", and? Still only 15 calories per teaspoon (exactly the same as every other package of gmo-contaminated non-organic white sugar product I examined while at the store). It did seem to have larger crystals than the generic white sugar in my pantry, so I was curious to see the results after baking.

As directed, I mixed all the ingredients into my food processor and greased an 8x8 pan (which I dusted with cocoa powder)

The batter was really runny compared to your standard box mix with eggs, water and vegetable oil

I baked as directed-15 minutes at 400 degrees. I let it cool (some) before cutting it up and trying it

I was pleasantly surprised that this was more dense and less cake-like than the last chocolate brownie recipe I tried.
These brownies are a little too moist when not cooled. They were difficult to cut and eat initially, but when they were completely cooled, they were better than palatable. The applesauce overwhelmed the chocolate for me, but I really like buttery, fudgy brownies.


If you want the joy of eating brownies without the high fat content of butter or vegetable oil and you don't mind a bit of applesauce flavor, this is the recipe for you!
The sugar content really doesn't seem to be an issue for me, but if you prefer your artificial sweeteners, you can cut calories. I would recommend reading the original blog post and the comments before attempting that particular recipe.

~Tammy