Oatmeal Cookies with Cherries and Chocolate Chips

As a thank you to some wonderful friends who hosted a New Year's party, I brought over a bag of oatmeal cookies that I changed a little by adding some dried cherries, dried cranberries, and chocolate chips; and substituted some of the brown sugar with date sugar. I was afraid oatmeal cookies may not have gone over well with everyone, but I was pleasantly surprised to see how much everyone enjoyed them!

Preheat oven to 350. Recipe makes roughly 30 cookies.

Ingredients

• 3/4 cups butter
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/3 cup date sugar
• 1 egg
• 4 tbsp water
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 4 1/3 cup rolled oats
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• As many chocolate chips and dried cherries and cranberries as you can handle

Directions

• Cream butter and sugar together; then beat in the egg, water, and vanilla extract until smooth
• In a separate bowl, mix the oats, flour, salt and baking soda
• Gradually stir the oat mixture into the butter mixture until thoroughly combined
• Place dough by the tablespoons onto a greased cookie sheet
• Bake 15 minutes or until golden brown

Enjoy!

Holiday Cake Pops!

Cake pops may be mainstream now (guess I should have made jam), but what about holiday cake pops?! Part of the reason I love the holidays so much is because I get to make sweets and package them into dorky wannabe Martha Stewart/Paula Deen/Barefoot Contessa gifts to show people a little love. If I could, I would do this year-round, every day. Holiday cake pops may have been one of the most fun and festive treats I made all year (aside from the Valentine's day cookies). Since these were going to have to travel I omitted the stick; so technically they are not pops, but they taste just as good!

This was my first time making cake pops and I definitely learned that candy coating can either be your friend or your worst enemy. You would think melting chocolate would be easy, but no. Too hot or too cold, it is not happy. So my tip is, keep a watchful eye and keep some vegetable oil around in case of emergency. You'll see why as I explain below.
Ingredients:

The following makes about 35-45 cake balls

• 1 box of your favorite cake mix. You could make it from scratch of course, but I cannot guarantee the consistency will be correct. All the recipes I read called for cake mix (made my life easier!)
• 1 can of frosting
• 1 bag of candy coating chips. You can find them in most craft or baking supply stores.

Directions:

• Bake the cake as directed (this is also where you would want to add any food coloring)
• Once cool, crumble it with your hands. There should be no chunks, only fine crumbs. And just so you know, this part was kinda fun!
• Mix in 3/4 of the frosting until smooth. No more than that or the cake balls will be too soft.
• Roll mixture into balls and let cool in refrigerator for an hour or more, or the freezer for 15 minutes. The cake balls should not be frozen however.
• Once you are ready to dip them, start microwaving the candy coating chips in 30 second intervals. Stir each time until smooth.*
• Dip the cake balls one at a time using a spoon, place on a wax paper lined cookie sheet (use a toothpick to draw a line around the bottom of each cake ball), decorate immediately, and refrigerate or freeze until firm.

*Tip: You want the candy coating to be liquid-like. If you over cook it it will get hard. To smooth it out, add some vegetable oil one teaspoon at a time until you get the right consistency!

Happy holidays!

Banana Cream Pie

My first attempt at banana cream pie turned out pretty well! It's pretty quick to whip up too. I was short on time and used pre-made crust (gasp!) buuuut, you can use the pie crust recipe here if you are up for it. It does taste better afterall!

As for the filling however, that you have to make yourself. And here's how:

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 tbs cornstarch
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 egg yolks
• 2 cups milk (you'll use them in batches)
• 1 tbs butter
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 bananas

Directions

• Mix together the sugar, cornstarch, salt, and beaten egg yolks in a bowl. After they are all well-blended, stir in 1/2 cup milk
• In a large saucepan, over medium heat, heat remaining milk until it simmers. Remove from heat
• Add half of the hot milk to the egg yolk mixture and return the entire egg mixture to the saucepan
• Bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat, stirring for 2 more minutes until it starts to thicken
• Remove from heat, stir in the butter and vanilla, and let cool
• Once cooled, spread into pie crust* (once the pie crust is cool too) and chill
• Top with sliced bananas and whipped cream!

*Tip: For an extra touch, add a layer of Nutella to the bottom of the pie crust before you add the filling. Folks will enjoy the surprise :)

Nutella Stuffed Shortbread Cookies

I lied. These cookies actually have a little more than just Nutella. I also added some Toffifay candies (as seen above.) I figured they went with the chocolate-hazelnut theme, and would add a nice extra crunch. I think I was right!

To make these cookies you can use this same shortbread recipe, just don't add any baker's cocoa or coffee! After the dough is chilled, to stuff the cookies take about 2 tbs of dough and flatten it. Top with about a tablespoon of Nutella (2 tbs if you think you have enough dough to cover it) and a Toffifay candy. Then wrap the cookie up, closing the edges at the top until it looks like a Hershey's Kiss or a cute little dumpling :) Make sure there is no Nutella seeping out and that it is closed up tight.

Pop them in the oven for about 14 minutes and you are all done!

Black and White Cookies

I had another bake sale fundraiser at the office and tried out Black & White cookies, some call them Tuxedo cookies. I like the cake texture of the cookie a lot, and the fact that the cookie itself is not too sweet. The icing takes care of that!

Preheat oven to 350

Ingredients

Cookies

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup well-shaken buttermilk
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/3 cup (5 1/3 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg

• Icings
• 1 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
• 1 tablespoon light corn syrup
• 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 to 2 tablespoons water
• 1/4 cup unsweetened unsweetened cocoa powder
• I added some Black food coloring as well

Directions

• Whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl. Stir together buttermilk and vanilla in a cup.
• Beat together butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes, then add egg, beating until combined well.
• Mix in flour mixture and buttermilk mixture alternately in batches at low speed (scraping down side of bowl occasionally), beginning and ending with flour mixture. Mix until smooth.
• Spoon 1/4 cups of batter about 2 inches apart onto a buttered large baking sheet. Bake in middle of oven until tops are puffed and pale golden, and cookies spring back when touched, 15 to 17 minutes.
• Transfer with a metal spatula to a rack and chill in refrigerator or freezer (to cool quickly), about 5 minutes.

You can make the Icing while the cookies chill:

• Stir together confectioners sugar, corn syrup, lemon juice, vanilla, and 1 tablespoon water in a small bowl until smooth.
• Transfer half of icing to another bowl and stir in cocoa, adding more water, 1/2 teaspoon at a time, to thin to same consistency as white icing.

Ice cookies:

Turn cookies flat sides up, then spread white icing over half of each and chocolate over other half.

Enjoy!

Peanut Butter & Cracker Jack Cookies

I really should just start calling this blog 'Peanut Butter & All The Fixins' because almost everything I post seems to have something to do with peanut butter. I was inspired by a local cookie bakery whose cookies always seem to end up at my office but...guess what? I can't remember the name of the place! Regardless, they made a peanut butter cookie with caramel popcorn and I was jealous they thought of it first (obviously why I can't remember their name well enough to give them credit here!) No, I joke. I only wish mine were as good as theirs.

Preheat oven to 350

Ingredients

• 2 cups flour



• 1 tsp baking soda



• 1 tsp salt



• 1 tsp ground cinnamon



• 1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter



• 1/2 cup smooth peanut butter



• 1 cup packed brown sugar



• 1/2 cup white sugar (for those who care, I used Stevia this time and recommend "splurging" with white sugar. Let's be real, it just tastes better.)



• 2 eggs



• 1 cup chocolate chips



• As much Cracker Jack as you can fit in the bowl of dough without overpowering the dough

Directions

• Line the baking sheet(s) with parchment paper



• Sift together the dry ingredients



• In a separate bowl, mix the peanut butter and butter until smooth



• Add sugars and mix, then mix in eggs



• Gradually add the flour mixture



• Mix in chocolate chips



• Refrigerate dough for 15 minutes



• Add the Cracker Jacks once you are ready to bake, or else they might get soggy sitting in the dough while it refrigerates



• Roll dough into 1" balls and flatten slightly onto the sheet



• Bake for about 13 minutes or until golden brown

Enjoy!

Rice Krispy Treats with Peanut Butter and Butterfinger

The Rice Krispy treat is such an under-valued dessert. Not only is it the easiest thing ever to make, but you can customize! I layered mine and sandwiched some peanut butter and Butterfinger in between. Then, to make matters worse (read: better), I topped it off with even more Butterfinger. These things didn't last long at all!

Ingredients

• 1 bag of fun size Butterfinger candies
• 10 cups of Rice Krispies (5 per layer)
• 80 marshmallows/2 regular size bags of marshmallows (40 for each layer, and 40 should come in each bag)
• 1 stick of margarine (1/2 stick for each layer)
• 1 cup of peanut butter

Directions

• I totally cheated and microwaved the marshmallows and margarine (about 2 minutes.) Once you have done that mix in the Rice Krispies and press into a 9x13" pan lined with greased tin foil. Or you can just grease the pan.
• Let that cool in the fridge and spread the peanut butter over the first layer once it has hardened a bit so that the peanut butter is easier to spread.
• Spread the peanut butter, add a layer of Butterfinger, and repeat (sans- peanut butter)

Easy-peezy!