29 Friday Apr 2011
Posted in Baking, Cakes & Pies, Dessert, Postaweek2011
Tags
Baked, Baking, Cakes & Pies, Chocolate, Cookies, Dessert, From Scratch, Party Cakes, Recipes
This gallery contains 1 photo.
I have a teenage daughter. She like boys, British boys. She really likes Prince William. Yes, I am pretty sure …
29 Friday Apr 2011
Posted in Brownies & Bars, Cookies, Dessert, From a Mix, Postaweek2011, Recipes
Tags
Baked, Baking, Birthdays, Cookies, Dessert, Easy, From a Mix, Postaweek2011, Recipes
This gallery contains 3 photos.
We had two things to celebrate today! I will admit my excitement for one of these was fueled mainly by …
15 Tuesday Feb 2011
Posted in Candy, Cookies, Dessert, Postaweek2011, Recipes
Tags
Candy, Chocolate, Cookies, Cream Cheese, Dessert, Easy, Oreo Truffles, Postaweek2011, Recipes
Oreo Truffles are no secret to the food blog world, especially with Valentine’s day, but hey, I liked how these turned out, so why not post on them! Besides, it will ensure I get my post a week in… (LOL). This is your classic 3 ingredient truffle made with cream cheese, Oreos and candy coating. I would say it is pretty user-friendly. After I combined the first two ingredients I rolled level tablespoon spheres (I hate the other word) and placed them in the freezer to harden. Then I used a small heart-shaped fondant cutter resulting in these cute, one-bite heart truffles. I will post the recipe just in case you don’t know it.
P.S. I really don’t care for Valentine’s Day. It is so commercialized and a financial rip off, but I have three kids and I don’t want to be a Valentine Scrooge…
Oreo Truffle Hearts
adapted from, well anywhere.com
Ingredients:
Directions:
Finely crush the Oreo cookies (a food processor is ideal here) and combine with cream cheese until well blended. Roll into desired shape and size and refrigerate or freeze until hardened.
Melt candy coating according to package directions, dip and let the coating dry before indulging.
12 Saturday Feb 2011
Posted in Baking, Cookies, Dessert, Postaweek2011, Recipes
Tags
Baked, Baking, Chocolate, Cookies, Dessert, From Scratch, Oatmeal, Postaweek2011, Recipes, Weight Watchers
It has been an exciting few weeks, to say the least. Ok, exaggerating completely. I have been MIA from my blog for several weeks. I hate that too. It has just been hectic and everyone in the family has been trading virus’. The most recent one knocked 4 of the 5 of us out for several days. Don’t get me wrong though, I haven’t starved my family, I just haven’t had the time or energy to photograph and post on the recipes. I have been experimenting with new dinner recipes too – but haven’t taken pictures and I don’t like to post without them. I am hoping now I will have a little more time to devote to this blog… and to the kitchen!
On to the reason I am typing now… I have had this weight watchers cookbook for over two years and scan these cookies quite often. I don’t do WW, I just prefer to purchase cookbooks that have nutritional values listed… and often these tend to be diet cookbooks. Here is the recipe taken directly from the Weight Watchers 20 Minute Recipes, Fall 2008 cookbook. The recipe is quite easy and it’s not a terrible choice for a chocolate treat, especially with this coming Monday… Valentine’s day (and I will save my opinion of this day, I am just not a fan). Taste you ask? I didn’t actually try one (shame, shame) but my daughter said they were really good. I like the fact that it is a rich cookie, but the richness is mellowed out by the white chocolate and the oatmeal.
Double Chocolate-Oatmeal Cookies
Ingredients:
Preparation:
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper (this is important)
In a large bowl combine the first five ingredients, beat until smooth.
Combine the oats, flour, baking powder and salt; add to butter mixture, stirring just until blended. Drop by rounded tablespoons 2 inches apart on parchment. Bake for 9 minutes or until cookie centers are almost done. Remove and cool for 1 minute on pan then transfer to wire rack to cool completely (or indulge in a warm one!)
Makes about 10 cookies
Per serving (1 cookie): Calories: 109, Fat: 4.3g, Sat Fat 2.4 g, Protein 2 g, Carbs 17g, Fiber 1.1g, WW Points (old) 2 points
*Update, thank you to Susitrvl at Mad for Mexican Food for calculating the WW points in the new system – they total 3 points!
This post is linked to Sweets for a Saturday at Sweet as Sugar Cookies - check it out!
27 Monday Dec 2010
An annual Christmas tradition that my kids count on every year is baking and decorating cookies for Christmas with thier cousins. This year was no exception. Except for the fact that the kids decorated all but two cookies before I could get to them, I would say that decorating was a success. Our “artists” ranged in age from 9 to 17 years old. While they decorated, my sister in law and I prepared our Angel Wings (see this post, they are awesome!).
I tried another new sugar cookie recipe this holiday. They were excellent for keeping their shape when baking and the taste was mild enough that being loaded with frosting didn’t give you an overwelming sugar rush. I’m not sure I will ever settle on a rolled sugar cookie recipe, but this one has made it’s way to the top of my list. It is very easy to prepare and rolled well. It was rather sticky when first being rolled, but what sugar cookie is not? With the right amount of flour added it rolled easily. I found the recipe from a third party link here, at Tidy Mom (and I believe she got it from Bake at 350).
Here is the recipe:
Vanilla Almond Butter Cookies
yields approx 30-35 large cookies or 60 smaller cookies
Directions:
Combine flour, baking powder and salt and set aside. Cream sugar and butter, then add eggs and extracts. Slowly add the flour mixture and beat until combined. Refrigerate for at least an hour to ease rolling and cutting. Bake in preheated oven at 350° for 10-12 mins. Remove and once completely cooled, decorate with royal icing or fondant.
Now, the title of this post is “Two Cookies”, so here is the second one. It is a very, very common recipe found at probably most blogs and recipe sites. My oldest daughter really wanted to make these and we literally started them about an hour before we were scheduled to meet for Christmas dinner. They are really easy and the ingredients are common pantry staples.
No-Bake PB Choc-Oat Cookies
Directions:
Measure peanut butter and oats, set aside.
Combine all other ingredients in medium saucepan over med-high heat and bring to a boil. Boil for one minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and add peanut butter and oats. Quickly drop cookies onto wax paper and let cool. (I use a tablespoon size cookie scoop).
09 Thursday Dec 2010
Tags
Baked, Baking, Cakes & Pies, Cookies, Dessert, Holiday Baking, pumpkin, Thanksgiving
I’m not sure whether to call these cookies, pastry, pies, tarts or just plain dessert. Since preparing these for my daughters 4th grade class they have been given all of those titles, and with flying colors. I did give out a few copies of the recipe too.
Note, I had prepared this post Thanksgiving week and just realized that it was still in my unpublished file! I must have been half asleep when I started it. Anyway, here is the original post link and this is how easy it is to prepare these… Original source: Three Baking Sheets to the Wind
Pumpkin Pie Pockets, How I prepared them:
Ingredients:
Directions:
Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees. Roll out the crust and cut 2 – 4” circles with a glass or cookie cutter. Place 1 rounded tablespoon (see note) of pie in the center of the circle and fold over. Use a fork to close edges and a small sharp knife to cut a couple of decorative vent holes. Place them on a coated baking sheet then brush the tops with egg white and sprinkle with sugar (if desired).
Bake for 8 – 10 minutes. Tops of pies will brown slightly. Remove and let cool completely, store in refrigerator.
*Each crust will make about 17 – 2 inch pies.
Note: originally I posted to use 1 – 2 teaspoons of filling. A more accurate amount would be a rounded tablespoon. You want to have enough filling to enjoy, but not so much it oozes out when you seal the edges!
05 Sunday Sep 2010
I have been anxious to get back to baking, however spare time has been sparse. This week though I got a new camera, and decided no matter what, that I would set aside some time this weekend to bake and take (photos that is). With literally millions of options on the WWFB (world-wide food blogs) I came across this recipe on one of my favorites, Get Off Your Butt & Bake. This is an Oatmeal Raisin Cookie, but it is put together in a way I haven’t seen before. That is you boil the raisins and the flour is added with the butter and sugar prior to adding the soda and salt… The aroma of the spices in there was tantalizing and made the house small like Christmas… which by the way is coming sooner than you would believe.
But I digress. I did change-up a few small items, but otherwise stuck to the original recipe. My husband and youngest daughter were my taste testers. After the first bite, my husband had this like “pregnant pause”, which alarmed me. Then he stated, “Those are good, really good!” My daughter said the same and didn’t even complain about the raisins (which she swears she hates).
So here is the recipe and some practice photos taken with the new Rebel T2i (which so far is amazing).
Mom’s Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
Slightly adapted from Get Off Your Butt & Bake
Ingredients:
Begin by combing the raisins and water in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer on low for 15 minutes then remove and allow to cool completely. Once cool, pre-heat your oven to 375 degrees.
Combine the raisin mixture with the butter, sugar, eggs, oatmeal, flour and chocolate chips (or nuts) and salt. Mix well with a wooden spoon and/or your hands. Add the remaining ingredients until well blended and drop by tablespoons onto parchment or non stick pan, sprinkle some sea salt on cookie tops if desired. Bake for 10 – 12 minutes. Let the cookies rest on baking sheet just long enough to not fall apart 1 – 2 minutes.
*Note: in halving the recipe I had to use 1 1/2 eggs. I used my kitchen scale, but you could just open one egg, beat it lightly, and use half of it.
My changes in the cookies were:
05 Monday Apr 2010
This recipe originates from PickyPalate.com. The minute I saw the recipe I knew it was a must try. I am always looking for that “perfect” cookie. For me, texture is second only to taste, followed closely by how well they hold up in the next couple of days (if they last that long).
I baked part of the batch on Saturday and I am happy to say that 48 hours later, the cookies are as fresh as the day I baked them. Additionally, I baked some more tonight and after being refrigerated they baked up perfectly.
These chocolate chip cookies are certainly gaining a top ten ranking on my long list of cookies. Try it, you won’t be disappointed.
Just as a note, for the chocolate chips I use a combination of Ghirardelli semi-sweet chips and their 60% baking disks (which I love…)
For the recipe, please click on the link over to Picky Palate’s site. Make sure to make time to check out her other recipes and links. It’s a great blog.
23 Saturday Jan 2010
Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
A recipe classic, oatmeal raisin cookies fit about any occasion. For those who are not raisin lovers, chocolate chips make a great substitution. I have two Oatmeal Raising Recipes that I turn to. As my “go to” recipe, I use this Land O’ Lakes recipe. It has always yielded a tender cookie that remained soft even a day or two after it is baked. The second is a favorite of my husband and oldest daughter. The only drawback (if you would call it one) is that you need a little pre-prep time. It is a wonderful recipe though (recipe post to come).
Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
From Land O’ Lakes
Heat oven to 350°F.
Combine brown sugar and butter in large bowl. Beat at medium speed, scraping bowl often, until creamy. Add eggs, water and vanilla; continue beating until well mixed. Reduce speed to low. Add all remaining ingredients except oats and raisins; beat until well mixed. Stir in oats and raisins.
Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls, 2 inches apart, onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until lightly browned. Let stand 1 minute; remove from cookie sheets. Cool completely.
Makes about 4 dozen cookies
*If you use unsalted butter, as I do, increase to 1 tsp salt
24 Thursday Dec 2009
One of my families Christmas traditions (as seen in last years post) is to get together a few days before the 25th and bake cookies. This year we added making gingerbread houses… (which I don’t think will join our annual tradition). That’s a story in itself. Anyway, my sister-in-law and I prepare these little pastry’s we call Angel Wings. They are better known to some as Chrusciki. They won’t fall into the quick and easy recipe category, but if you decide to make them you will not be disappointed. Link back to my original post for the recipe!
