Quick, Easy Chocolate Croissants with 2 Ingredients You Probably Already Have On Hand

Yesterday, I was craving chocolate, so I made some chocolate croissants.  Way easier than making cookies or brownies when you have a can of crescent rolls in the house, leftover from Thanksgiving dinner (I gave myself permission to not make butter rolls from scratch this year and I'm glad I did!).  We usually make chocolate crescents just like the Pillsbury can directs you to make their rolls, only we add some chips to the triangles before rolling them up.  This time, I wanted them to look more like the filled croissants at bakeries.  So fast, easy and delicious!  Here's what you do:

Jessica Seinfeld's Chocolate Chip Cookies

B woke up yesterday morning and decided he wanted to make chocolate chip cookies.  The hubs and I were still asleep, BTW.  He started looking through my cookbooks to find a recipe. The 4th book he went through was Jessica Seinfeld's Deceptively Delicious.  She had a recipe for chocolate chip cookies in there and B looked over the ingredients list to see if we had everything.  He found all the ingredients in the pantry except for one - chick peas.  That's right, chick peas.  He had no idea what chick peas were, but he absolutely loved her Sloppy Joes so he was willing to give it a try.

Luckily, at this point, he remembered he is not supposed to use the oven!  He figured he'd mix up the batter and get it all ready for us when we woke up.  How thoughtful of him!  ;o)  But he still didn't know what chick peas were.  So he woke up the hubs and asked if he could get him some chick peas, please.  Imagine the hubs' surprise and confusion, being woken up with that question.  It still doesn't top me being woken up by B at the age of 5 saying, "Mama, my balls are gone."

After going for a lovely late afternoon walk, we came back to the house and B made the cookies.  The same friend who recommended Jessica Seinfeld's Sloppy Joes to us also told me her husband loves these chocolate chip cookies with chick peas.  She is 2 for 2 with her recommendations; these cookies are good!  You don't taste the chick peas at all.  I thought maybe they'd melted during baking, but they didn't; you cans till see them in the cookies.  But they are just soft like the dough and blend in.  No taste difference at all.  I don't know what made Mrs. Seinfeld think to add chick peas, but it works!

Once the chick peas and chocolate chips went in, we had to cover the mixer with a towel to prevent flying chick peas!

Look at that scooping concentration!

YUM!  Can you spot the chick peas?  Only if you know they are there and look for them. Going to try them on my parents this afternoon and not tell them about the chick peas.

Leftover Wednesday, Part II

In addition to the delicious salad I made on Leftover Wednesday, I also made a peach cobbler for the hubs with the above spoiling peaches.  We got them at the farmers market last Saturday and they were at their use or lose stage.  I totally forgot to include the cobbler in the salad post, so I am doing so now.

This post will be a wonderful contrast to the salad post because the salad was so beautiful and the cobbler is....well...not so much.  LOL  But I want to share my triumphs and my failures in the kitchen to show it happens to everyone, I learned something and will do better next time.  See, I have a Culinary Arts degree.  I graduated 20 years ago and never worked in a commercial kitchen.  However, I have friends who are intimidated by my degree.  They're afraid to have us over for a meal, worried nothing they make will be "good enough" for me or that I will criticize them.  So not true!  I'm just happy that someone else is cooking and doing the dishes!  ;o)  Anywho, I share my kitchen mishaps to show I am human, too, and we all make mistakes.

I showed y'all how I made a Blackberry Cobbler a couple of weeks ago, using Paula Deen's recipe.  I've done the same with the peaches, only I used a smaller pan to make a thicker cobbler.  Because of the smaller pan, I should have done things differently and you'll see why soon...

Desserts!

I don't usually make desserts unless it's the Christmas season or we are having company.  Desserts take too much effort and usually expire before they get eaten; not enough of a payoff for me.  Cooking is an Art; baking is a Science.  I prefer Art.  However, I made 2 easy-peasy desserts this week and I'm so glad I did!

I love chocolate chip cookies but hate making cookies.  It takes so long, all the scooping and baking one pan at a time.  *sigh*  Well, I found this glorious recipe on Pinterest for Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars by Jamie Cooks It Up.  Simple recipe, no scooping, no multiple pans of cookies, just spread batter in a 9"x13" pan lined with foil and bake.  The hardest part was waiting for them to cool!  They are so good and soft and chewy, just how I like my cookies.  I have gained weight this week because I can't stop eating them.  They are so good that the hubs, who is allergic to chocolate, can't keep out of the pan; he says the consequences are worth the taste!  I highly recommend you hop on over to Jamie Cooks It Up and Pin, print or save this recipe.  Better yet, just make a batch right now and share it with someone you love.  These would be perfect welcome-to-the-neighborhood cookies, pay-it-forward cookies, I'm-sorry cookies or I-know-I'll-get-my-way-after-you-taste-these cookies.  ;o)

The next dessert I made was Blackberry Cobbler with some blackberries I got at the farmers market.  Don't know what a blackberry is?  Don't be shy, not everyone does; the hubs didn't know what I was talking about, either.  They are black raspberries.  Raspberries come in red and black and my Nana and Papa grew them in their garden.  They called the 2 berries, "raspberries" and "blackberries", so that's what they are to me.  I used Paula Deen's Peach Cobbler recipe and substituted blackberries for the peaches.  I have made her Peach Cobbler in past Summers for guests and it's always been a huge hit.  It's so easy-breezy-lemon-squeezy, you really owe it to yourself to make this for your next BBQ or potluck.  You'll get rave reviews.  I'll show you the easy steps.

Now, my recipe comes from The Lady & Sons Savannah Country Cookbook, not the link that I posted above and the cookbook says to use 2 cups of fresh fruit (not 4), 1 cup of sugar and 1 cup of water in a pan, bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring often.

While your fruit is simmering, put 1 stick of butter in a 9"x13" pan and place in a 350 degree oven to melt.

While the butter is melting, mix 1 cup sugar and 3/4 cup self-rising flour in a bowl then stir in 3/4 cup milk, making sure there are no lumps.

Once the butter is melted, pour your flour/sugar/milk mixture over the melted butter.  Do not stir.

This is what it looks like with the sugar/flour/milk mixture all poured in.

Now, remove your fruit from the heat and scoop the fruit into your pan.  Do not stir.

After scooping all the fruit in, pour the juices from the pan in, too.  Do not stir.

Pop the pan in the 350 degree oven for 30 - 45 minutes.  The crust will rise up to the top.  The hubs ate his with ice cream on top.