Perfect Hot Chocolate {Sundays with Joy}

'Tis the season.  For lights and jammies.  For peace and joy.  For hot chocolate.

'Tis the season for learning how to make Christmas goodies from scratch, too.

Before tonight, the words "hot chocolate" were synonymous with "Swiss Miss".  Or maybe "Nestle".  But now they sound like "Oh my goodness, there is amazingness in my mug".

Cute Christmas mugs deserve amazingness, I think.  You do only get to use them for a little bit each year, after all.

You probably like marshmallows in your hot chocolate.  Good, go for it!  I am not a marshmallow girl, but that did not stop this from still being the perfect cup of hot cocoa.  As my husband said, "Now THIS is what I call hot chocolate, not that watery stuff!"

Go get a little Joy in your life, and celebrate the season of joy and happiness on Earth with the light twinkling in the background and a warm mug in your hand.

Recipe from the Joy the Baker cookbook.  For a similar recipe, visit her blog HERE.  And enjoy!

Merry Christmas!

** There are a lot of families today in Connecticut who are not going to be able to feel peace and joy for quite some time, if ever again.  My thoughts and prayers are constantly with them as I realize Christmas will never be the same again.  One more example of why we cannot take the people we love for granted, at this time or any time.

(This post is a part of the Sunday with Joy baking group I am a part of.  Since we are going through the entire book, recipe by recipe, we do not post the recipes online unless we have changed them and made them our own.  This one was perfect as is.)

Sweet Potato Chocolate Chip Cookies (Sundays with Joy)

"Oh, come on, try some.  You'll like it, I promise!"

How is it that every single time someone says those words they turn out to be a liar?

This is how my dear, incredibly honest aunt became a liar every single Thanksgiving.  The food she was talking about?  Yams.  Yucky yams.  I tried them, I did not like them, and then the next year we would go through the same thing.

You know what else I didn't like? Every year?  Sweet potatoes.  Because they tasted like yams.

Vegetables are not supposed to be sweet!  It is against the laws of nature, right?!

This week's Sundays with Joy recipe is sweet potato chocolate chip cookies.  Sweet potatoes + chocolate chips.

Yes, you read that correctly.

But... but.  Hold on a second.  When I was in Nashville this summer I went to this local joint called the Pancake Pantry and I was told I had to try the sweet potato pancakes.  "Come on," they said, "try them.  You'll like them.  Promise."  Liar liar, pants on fire...

Except when I did try them (a bite off someone else's plate) I DID like them.  A lot.

So this recipe by Joy the Baker did actually sound like it had some good potential.

Yes, those are some large 'heaping tablespoons' there.  And yes, my cookies came out quite large.  But whatever, they taste GOOD.

Sweet potatoes, you are no longer on the Yucky List!  Maybe vegetables can be sweet, in sweet things.   Now I need to try some yams...

Nah.

Since I am participating in October Unprocessed this year, I made these so they would be 'unprocessed'.  (I know it is not October until tomorrow, but I will be eating them in October, so I figured I should just go for it.)  These cookies were made with unbleached flour, raw sugar, and some chocolate chips that are made out of the same types of things (pure sugar, unsweetened cocoa, cocoa butter, and salt -- that's it, no more, no less).  You, of course, can make them any way you like them, but however you do it, they taste good.

Go ahead, try some.  You'll like it.  I promise.

And I am not lying!

Recipe adapted from the Joy the Baker Cookbook.  Do yourself a favor and buy a copy HERE.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup baked, mashed sweet potato (pierce skin with fork and bake at 400 for 40 minutes on tin foil-lined baking sheet)
• 2 cups unbleached flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon Allspice
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup packed raw brown sugar (smells a little different but tastes great)
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup 'fresh' chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease baking sheet and set aside.
2. In large bowl, mix dry ingredients together. Set aside.
3. In medium bowl, whisk eggs and sugar together.  Add oil and vanilla; whisk again.  Fold in mashed sweet potato.
4. Add egg mixture to dry ingredients, all at once.  Using a spatula, mix until now flour remains dry.  Fold in chocolate chips.
5. Scoop cookie dough, by the heaping tablespoonful, onto greased baking sheet, 2 inches apart.  Bake for 10-12 minutes.  Remove from oven and let cool for 10 minutes before placing on wire rack to cool completely.

COST: $5.34   COST PER Cookie (18): $0.30