Texas Sheet Cake Cookies

I originally published this post in March 2014. Now having lived in Texas for over a year and a half, I’d been wanting to update this recipe as a nod to my new home. What better day to repost it than on Texas Independence Day!

These cookies are based on the traditional chocolate sheet cake but have been transformed into cookies. Texas Sheet Cake is rich, decadent, and full of cocoa flavor - the best! I grew up eating this cake, however, it was called Scotch Chocolate Cake in our house. I have no idea the origin of this name and Google didn’t help, but it is the exact same thing as Texas Sheet Cake. It’s a moist chocolate cake with the most addicting fudge-like frosting that is made in a saucepan over the stove.

I adapted these cookies from this recipe, and have continued to adapt them since I first made these 7 years ago. And now for a quote from my original post “In my opinion, I think I should rename them to Oklahoma Frosted Drop Cookies. Seems more appropriate bing the Oklahoma girl I am. Texas tries to own everything!” Call them what you want, but since I’m now an obnoxious Texas resident, we’ll keep their OG name, Texas Sheet Cake Cookies.

Texas Sheet Cake Cookies
yields 24 - 28 cookies

Ingredients:

Cookies:
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/3 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
2 Tbsp. cocoa powder
1/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted

Icing:
1/2 cup butter
2 Tbsp. cocoa powder
3 Tbsp. milk of choice
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Directions:
Preheat your oven to 350ºF. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside. Using an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, about 1 minute, stopping after 30 seconds to scrape down the sides. Add the egg and vanilla extract and mix until combined. With the mixer off, add in the flour, baking powder, salt, and cocoa powder. On low, mix to combine. Once incorporated, increase the speed until the dough comes together. The dough will be thick and look like sugar cookie dough. 

In a microwave-safe bowl, melt your chocolate chips for 30 seconds. Take out of the microwave, give a stir, and then heat for 15 more seconds. Go for a little longer if needed, but your chips should be melted after 45 seconds. Add the melted chocolate into the dough, and mix to combine. Using a 1 1/2 Tbsp. sized cookie scoop, scoop leveled balls of dough onto your prepared cookie sheets. Bake for 7-8 minutes, until just set. Cool completely on a wire rack.

Once your cookies are cool, melt the butter, cocoa powder, milk, and vanilla extract in a small saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in powdered sugar and stir vigorously until all the lumps are gone and the icing is thin. Using a tablespoon measurer pour the warm icing over the cookies. Let that layer set. Then using the leftover icing, take a fork and drizzle in a back and forth motion over the tops of the cookies. (You may need to slightly reheat the icing before the next layer to make sure it is thin enough to drizzle). Let the icing fully harden before transferring to a container. Cookies will stay fresh in an air-tight container for up to 3 days.

Happy Texas Independence Day!

Annie

Brussels Sprouts Salad with Avocado and Pistachios

I originally published this recipe in May of 2014. I can honestly say I have never made it again until now. It’s a little hidden gem hiding in the TAB archives and I’m excited to bring it back to life. The recipe has been slightly updated along with the photos and post.

An excerpt from the original post 5/16/14:

Cooking for my parents is one of my favorite things to do! The one night I was gone this week I think my parents went into panic mode and didn't know what to do without me cooking dinner. They had to resort to take-out when their "personal chef" was gone. 

Mom, Dad, looks like 2014 is looking a little like 2020 during quarantine. Would you agree? At this time in May ‘14 I had just finished my junior year of college and was home for a couple of weeks before moving to Washington D.C. for my summer internship with Scout. My parents had just moved into a new house and I was obsessed with cooking in their kitchen. Little has changed, their kitchen is still my favorite place to cook.

How cool that recipes can instantly take you back to a certain time of life. Since I obsessively take photos of almost everything that goes into my mouth, I probably remember meals more than others. But I’m sure some of you can agree that a certain recipe can instantly have you travel back in time.

Brussels Sprouts Salad with Avocado and Pistachios
serves 2 as an entree salad, and 4-5 as a side

Ingredients:
3 tbsp. olive oil
1 lb. brussels sprouts
1 small red onion or ½ of one large onion, thinly sliced
½ cup unsalted pistachios, shelled and coarsely chopped
1 avocado, cubed
¼ cup roughly chopped cilantro
juice of one lime
salt and pepper

Directions:
Trim the ends off the Brussels sprouts and thinly slice, so they look shaved. Cut the ends off of red onion and thinly slice into rings. Heat the olive oil in a non-stick pan over medium heat. Add the Brussels sprouts and onion to the pan. Season with salt and pepper and sauté for 4-5 minutes until both are tender.

Stir in the pistachios and lime juice, and cook for 2 more minutes until the Brussels are lightly browned, the onions are starting to cook down and all the flavors are combined. Remove from heat and gently stir in the avocado and cilantro. Serve warm!

Serve this as a side dish next to fish or even with barbecue. It’s also great as a hearty lunch salad and perfect enjoyed in spring and summer!

Annie

Homemade Oreos

I originally published this post in April 2013. It was my second post in the history of Take A Bite. Nostalgia! This recipe was originally not my own. I first saw them on my favorite blogger’s site back in the day and she too was sharing them from another blogger I used to love. Along with updated blog copy and photos, I also updated the recipe making them even more quintessential to the classic Oreo flavor. Enjoy!

My cousin Clay loves these Homemade Oreos. Like brings them up about every other time he is with our family. For good reason, they are great. We were altogether about a month ago and they came up in conversation. I hadn’t made them in forever, and I’ve been loving updating old TAB archive recipes (see here and here so far), so this was a must on the “to bake” list.

Switching gears a little, but does anyone else watch Bon Appetit’s YouTube series Gourmet Makes? Being the food freak that I am, I fall asleep to Claire Saffitz episodes remaking nostalgic junk food dishes. Her episode on Oreos was one of the first few episodes she filmed, but still one of my favorites. Long story short, but I felt like Claire Saffitz for a second while I re-made these! Maybe I should be calling them Gourmet Oreos?

Homemade Oreos
yields 40 sandwich cookies

Wafer Ingredients:
1 cup unsalted butter, softened 
1 cup white sugar
2 tsp. salt*
2 eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa (you can use Hershey’s Extra Dark cocoa to resemble the dark color of a true Oreo wafer, but regular dutch process cocoa works great)
½ tsp. baking soda

Filling Ingredients:
¼ cup unsalted butter, room temperature,
¼ cup shortening, room temperature*
2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1 teaspoons vanilla extract

Wafer Directions:
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa, and baking soda and set aside.

In an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream softened butter, sugar and salt on high until light and fluffy, about 1 minute. Scrape the sides down and then beat in the eggs one at a time until incorporated.

With the mixer on low, slowly add in the dry ingredients. Mix until the dough is combined.

Turn the dough onto a clean surface. Divide into two and form flat discs. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes to an hour. 

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. To roll out the dough, take one disc of the dough between two sheets of parchment paper (the dough can be rolled out on a lightly floured surface, but the parchment prevents any additional flour from altering the color/appearance of the dark cookies). Roll the dough between the two sheets of parchment to ¼-inch thickness.

Using a 1½ inch round cookie cutter, cut out each wafer. Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet leaving only ½ inch between each (they don’t spread much). Repeat until all dough has been used. Bake for 15 minutes, rotating pans halfway through. Remove cookies from oven and let cool on a cooling rack.

Filling Directions:
In an electric mixer, beat the room-temperature butter and shortening, powdered sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy. 

Assembly:
Using a pastry bag full of filling or a dinner knife, add a dollop of filling to one cookie. Top with another cookie and lightly squeeze together. 

Serve with a glass of milk and enjoy. 

Notes:
*When it comes to salt: Oreos cookies are not that sweet when you think about them. It’s the filing that makes them sweet. Don’t be alarmed by the low amount of sugar and a high amount of salt. It’s the balance you need to make the perfect bittersweet cookie to stand up to the filling. 

*When it comes to shortening: you can easily use ½ cup unsalted butter instead of the butter/shortening combo. However, I think the shortening really gives you that nostalgic Oreo cream flavor.

My favorite part of these updated posts are sharing the original photography. Let’s all just take a moment to observe the Instagram filters being used here. I think these were maybe Amaro or Lof? What a time to be alive.

With Valentine’s Day on the horizon, I couldn’t help but make a pink cream-filled version! I cut a little heart out of a few “tops” so more pink was revealed. Xoxo!

Annie

Crock-Pot Verde Turkey Chili

I originally published this post in November 2014. It’s been such a hit with friends and followers (and let’s be honest, with me too), that I decided to update the post and photos. Enjoy!

When someone asks me for a recipe recommendation from my blog, the one I suggest the most is this chili. It’s made in the Crock-Pot so it’s basically no fail, and with minimal ingredients it’s cheap to throw together and relatively healthy.

Once the temperatures dip slightly, this recipe quickly gets thrown into rotation. The temps have yet to drop in Dallas, but it’s October so I’m ignoring mother nature and cooking what I seasonally want.

Crock-Pot Verde Turkey Chili
yields 4-6 servings

Ingredients:
1 lb. ground turkey
1 can white navy beans
1 package frozen bell peppers
2 (12-16 oz) jars of verde salsa, I use Trader Joe’s
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. chili powder
Topping ideas: Fritos, plantain chips, cheese, avocado, sour cream, greek yogurt, lime and cilantro

Directions:
Cook your turkey meat in a non-stick pan. Once your turkey is cooked through, strain it. Next, strain your beans. In your Crock-Pot, add the cooked turkey meat, drained beans, frozen veggies, salsa and seasonings. Stir to combine.

Set your Crock-Pot to cook 4-5 hours or high or cook 6-7 hours on low. Taste the chili and add more cumin and chili powder if necessary.

Top with your choice of toppings. Fritos and chili go hand in hand for me, but I love swapping the highly addicting (and my favorite chip) for a healthier option like plantain chips.

For a fun side-by-side to show you how things have developed after 6 years of blogging…Picture on the right, currently, picture on the left circa 2014 on my iphone3.

And a note from my original 2014 post “it’s even better the next day.” Which 5 years later I can still attest to.

Annie

Halloween Sluts

I don't mean to offend anyone, but I hate, HATE those slutty Halloween costumes you can buy at the party store. You know, the sexy Alice in Wonderland, sexy kitten or sexy fireman? Fireman are supposed to be respected, not turned into skimpy sexy outfits for girls to parade around in on Halloween. I've never seen a fireman walking around in knee-high socks and heels with a little red skirt and fireman hat on. At least not in Oklahoma.

These Halloween brownies are slutty, but not in a slutty costume kind of way. I'm on a slutty brownie kick and pretty much think they are going to be my go-to dessert from now on. Don't be surprised if Christmas, Valentine's Day and St. Patrick's Day slutty brownies pop up in the future. Thank goodness Oreo likes to celebrate as much as me and provides themed cookies to go with each holiday.

Third times the charm because this batch turned out perfect! Tips I learned: make sure you use a 9x9 pan, an 8x8 won't cut it. Double layer your foil, for easier removal from the pan, and 35 minutes is the baking time that has worked best for me to get fully cooked slutty brownies.

Halloween Slutty Brownies
yields 16-20 brownies
Recipe stays the same as the original just sub holiday themed Oreos for the regular ones and add holiday sprinkles!

Annie