August 4: "Big as a Boat" Oatmeal Cookies

"Big as a Boat" Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups (6.8 oz) all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cups old-fashioned oats
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup (3.4 oz) shortening
4 tablespoons (2 oz) unsalted butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 tablespoons honey
1 large egg
1/3 cup pecans or walnuts, toasted and coarsely chopped
1/2 cup raisins or chocolate chips (optional)

1. Mix the flour, oats, salt, baking soda, and cinnamon together in a medium-size bowl; set aside.
2. Place the shortening and butter in a microwave-safe mixing bowl and melt for 1 minute on high. Using a wooden spoon, stir in both sugars and the vanilla, honey, and egg. Stir in the flour mixture into the sugar mixture until thoroughly combined. Stir in the nuts and raisins.
3. Using a 1/4 cup measure, scoop up the dough and arrange 12 mounds on a foil-lined plate. The dough should be a little sticky at this point, but chilling will fix that. Chill for an hour, or until the dough is firm.
4. Preheat the oven to 350 and place a rack in the center. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or nonstick foil.
5. Let the dough balls come to room temperature. Arrange the dough balls about 5 inches apart on the prepared baking sheet and press down slightly to make 2 1/2 inch rounds. Bake for 10-15 minutes, or until the edges of the cookies are browned and the middles appear set. Let cool on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Addition of sugars

Addition of vanilla, egg and honey

Addition of the dry ingredients

Addition of the pecans

Thoughts: These cookies' baking times were not what the recipe said. I had made another batch without nuts that I baked first and they were coming out a little raw after 12 minutes at 350. The book said that it might happen so they recommended lowering the temp and extending the time. I changed the temp to 325 and put them in for about 16 minutes. The cookies were just ok. Patrick didn't like them at first but he ended up thinking they were fine.

This Week's Concoctions Ending 8/6

Here are some highlights of items that I made this week other than the "Weekly Cookie"

Blueberry Cream Pie with premade crust (of course!). There is a layer of cream cheese and cool whip underneath the blueberry filling.

Blueberry Cream Pie

Nutella brownies which took forever to make....the recipe said to bake them for 30-35 minutes, but I ended up leaving them in the oven for probably 50-55 minutes. They were pure mush when I took them out at 32 minutes.

Nutella Brownies

These were supposed to be peanut butter cheesecake cookies but I couldn't taste the "cheesecake" at all.

Peanut Butter Cheesecake Cookies

This Week's Concoctions Ending 7/30

Here are some highlights of items that I made this week other than the "Weekly Cookie"

This past week's food theme at work was cheese. 

Bacon Mac & Cheese

This is the treat that I made for the kids book club. Thanks to Instagram (which I just discovered), I was able to get this appetizing lighting effect.

Oreo Rice Krispies

July 28: Milk Chocolate Middles

Milk Chocolate Middles

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups (6.8 oz) all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3/8 teaspoon salt
10 tablespoons (5 oz) unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup confectioners' sugar plus an extra cup for rolling
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg yolk
1/2 cup toasted and finely chopped pecans
24 milk chocolate candies, such as Hershey's Kisses
4 teaspoons granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1. Preheat the oven to 350 and place a rack in the center. Have ready two ungreased baking sheets.
2. In a medium-size bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, or in a large mixing bowl, using a handheld electric mixer, beat the butter until creamy. Gradually add 3/4 cup of the confectioners' sugar. Continue beating on medium speed until smooth, and then beat in the vanilla and egg yolk. By hand, stir in the flour mixture and the pecans.
4. Wrap about 1 tablespoon of dough around each chocolate candy, making sure to cover the candy completely. Mix the granulated sugar and cinnamon together and sprinkle over or dip the tops of the dough balls in cinnamon sugar. Arrange on the baking sheets about 2 1/2 inches apart. Bake for 12-14 minutes or until the edges are lightly browned. Place a wire rack over foil or waxed paper and transfer the cookies to the rack. While the cookies are still warm, sprinkle the tops with the remaining confectioners' sugar and let the remaining fall on the paper, reserving it for later. When the cookies are cool, reroll the cookies in the reserved confectioners' sugar.

Adding the confectioners' sugar

Adding the egg yolk and vanilla

Adding the flour mixture

Adding the pecans

(Hershey Kiss is inside)

This step of sprinkling sugar on them while they were warm was unnecessary

Thoughts: Confectioners' sugar is not my favorite because it gets everywhere! But other than that, this was an ok cookie to make although I would skip the sprinkling of powdered sugar on the warm cookies due to the fact that you reroll them in the sugar once they are cool. Patrick didn't like this cookie at all and I only ate half of one. I don't know whether we tried them before they had completely cooled or what, but they were mushy.

This Week's Concoctions Ending 7/23

Here are some highlights of items that I made this week other than the "Weekly Cookie"

These are banana pudding squares. It was for the kids book club that mentioned bananas. It has a crumb bottom, a layer of bananas, banana pudding and cool whip on top (not pictured).

This is from Betty Crocker. It was super easy to make and very good!

BBQ Chicken Fajitas

This is a candy bar pudding pie. It has cut up Three Musketeers, Snickers and Milk Ways on the bottom and then pudding on the top. I think it would've looked better if I had used chocolate pudding, but I only had vanilla and I didn't feel like going to the store. Maybe one day I will able to make my own pie crust successfully...

This is a flu-curing Clementine smoothie. It has 2 clementines, a banana, lemon juice, almond extract and milk. It also called for an avocado, but that sounded unappetizing. However, this smoothie was not very good. Patrick thought adding some vanilla protein powder would make it better but it made it worse.

As part of our vegetable share, we have been getting a lot of beets so I have made several different dishes. I had a half jar of pesto so....

Pesto Roasted Beets

On a side note, this week I made chili. I was out of chili powder, but I noticed that I had a jar of chipotle chili powder. I made the substitution and it was so hot (I generally don't eat a lot of hot foods). I sat there eating it with a box of Kleenex.

July 21: Double Trouble Chocolate and Potato Chip Cookies

Double Trouble Chocolate and Potato Chip Cookies

Ingredients:
1 cup (4.5 oz) all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon plus an extra pinch of salt
6 tablespoons (3 oz) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup crushed salted potato chips (about 2 1/2 oz by weight)
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate mini chips

1. Preheat the oven to 350 and place a rack in the center. Have ready two ungreased baking sheets.
2. In a medium-size bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda, and salt and set aside.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, or in a large mixing bowl, using a handheld electric mixer, beat the butter and both sugars at medium-high speed until light and fluffy. Reduce the mixer speed to medium; add the egg and vanilla and beat for about 30 seconds, or until incorporated. By hand or with the lowest speed of the mixer, add the flour mixture and stir until fully blended. Stir in the potato chips and chocolate chips.
4. Drop tablespoonfuls of dough about 2 1/2 inches apart on the baking sheets. Bake one sheet at a time for 13-14 minutes, or until lightly browned. Let cool on the baking sheets for about 3 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Dry Ingredients

Addition of vanilla and egg

Addition of flour

Addition of potato chips and chocolate chips

Before....

and After.

Thoughts: 13-14 minutes is too long. I put them in for about 11-12 minutes and they still browned nicely. These cookies were very good; although Patrick would've preferred them without the potato chips. I didn't really taste the chips but it was a saltier cookie.

This Week's Concoctions Ending 7/16

Here are some highlights of items that I made this week other than the "Weekly Cookie"

 All of the main ingredients were from our fruit and vegetable shares.

We received a quart of blackberries which we overheard would be best used if it was consumed within the next 24 hours. So I made the blackberry cobbler that night for the kids book club the next day.

Blackberry Cobbler

We got 3 pounds of fava beans. I had never really seen what they looked like or much about them other than the references in "Silence of the Lambs". They came in pods that were furry inside with only maybe 3-4 beans/pod. I boiled them for a minute and then had to peel off the outer layer of the bean which yielded the green bean seen below. The taste was pretty meh.

Fava Bean Pesto Pasta

We got 2 pounds of sweet cherries. I had a hard time finding a recipe that I liked...I initially wanted to make a pie with a premade crust and most of the ones that I found were calling for either a can of cherry pie filling or double crusts. I really liked this cake.

Sweet Cherry Pound Cake