Banana Bread and Chocolate Crinkle Cookies

Day 7 Recipe 5 & 6
This morning I made banana bread. It was a pretty simple recipe to follow. It had orange zest in it,which really added to the flavor of the bread. It came out very moist and I would definitely make it again. Sawyer has already eaten 2 slices and asked for more, so that is a good sign!!

I have been making a lot of bread lately, so I wanted something sweet. I had most of the ingredients on hand for these cookies, and boy am I glad I did! They were a total pain in the butt to make (you have to roll the dough, which is the consistency of truffles into balls then into powdered sugar... very messy!) but they were totally worth it!! So yummy! They tasted almost like a brownie...but better! I will definitely be making these again!!

Recipe from Williams-Sonoma Essentials of Baking

Ingredients:

4 oz unsweetened chocolate, chopped
¼ cup unsalted butter
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
½ cup cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
4 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 ½ cups mini semisweet chocolate chips (I used regular size and it worked just fine)
½ cup powdered sugar

Directions:

1. Place the chocolate and the butter in the top of a double boiler place over (Not touching) barely simmering water. Heat, stirring often until the butter and chocolate melt. Remove and let cool slightly. (I heated the butter until melted in the microwave and then mixed in the chocolate and continued to cook at 15 sec intervals until melted and it worked just fine. Just be careful not to scorch it.)

2. In a bowl, mix together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

3. In a mixer (or by hand) combine the eggs, sugar and vanilla. Beat until light in color and thickened, about 3 minutes. Beat in the chocolate mixture on low speed until blended. Add the dry ingredients and beat until incorporated. Mix in the chocolate chips.

4. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 2 hours until the dough is firm enough to roll into balls.

5. Preheat oven to 325 degrees with oven rack in the middle. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper (I used silicone baking sheets).

6. Sift the powdered sugar into a small bowl. To form each cookie, roll a rounded tablespoon of dough between your palms into a 1 ½ inch ball, then roll in the powdered sugar. (I rolled out all the balls first and then coated them in the sugar… your hands get pretty messy!!) Place the cookies 3 inches apart on the baking sheets. Make sure to set them firmly so they don’t roll off.

7. Bake the cookies 1 sheet at a time until the tops are puffed and crinkled and feel firm when lightly touched, 13-17 minutes. (Mine took 16 mins) Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely. Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days. Makes about 30 cookies.