Spiced Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

I was perusing the ol' interweb looking for "just the right" recipe for cookies this afternoon.  Hmpf.  Didn't find at all what I was wanting.  SO.. what else to do than come up with my own, yeah?  I just might add that they turned out DELISH!


Spiced Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
3/4 cp turbinado sugar
1 cp dark brown sugar
1 cp softened butter
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 cp all purpose flour
1/2 cp whole wheat flour
2/3 cp flax meal
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp china cinnamon
1 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp ginger
3 cps rolled oats
2 cps raisins


1. Blend sugars and butter until smooth. Mix in eggs and vanilla.
2. In separate bowl, combine flours, flax, soda and all spices.
3. Slowly add dry ingredients to wet.  Stir until combined.
4. Add oats and raisins.  Mix well.
5. Bake (in about 1 1/2 Tbsp balls) on greased cookie sheets at 375 for about 8-10 min.  Shorter for softer cookie, longer for crispier.
6. Allow to sit about 5 min on cookie sheet before transferring to rack or parchment paper.  Makes about 2 1/2 dozen.

On a side note.. these are GREAT October cookies. Not necessarily May cookies :)  However, I'll still have one today with a little Earl Gray.

Busy Day Cake

Tonight we're attending a friend's birthday party.  I am making dessert.  I have a three month old that doesn't like nap without being held.  This is quite a conundrum when responsible for that thing I mentioned in sentence two.  However, my friend Lani to the rescue!  She has shared her great recipe for just my situation.

Well, the proof is in the pudding cake.  See image below from this morning. I doubled the recipe and baked in an angel food cake pan for a little shwing.

Busy Day Cake

Prep: 25 min.   Bake: 30 min.   Oven: 350 F

Cool: 30 min.   Makes: 8 servings

1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

2/3 cup sugar

2 tsp baking powder

2/3 cup milk

1/4 cup butter, softened

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

3 cups assorted fresh berries

whipped cream (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease an 8 x 1 1/2-inch round cake pan; set the pan aside.

2. In a medium mixing bowl combine flour, sugar, and baking powder. Add milk, butter, egg, and vanilla. Beat with an electric mixer on low speed until combined. Beat on medium speed for 1 minute. Spread into the prepared pan.

3. Bake about 30 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan on a wire rack about 30 minutes. Serve warm with berries and, if desired, whipped cream.

(Busy-Day Cake with Broiled Coconut Topping:)

Prepare as above, except omit berries and whipped cream. While cake is baking, mix 1/4 cup packed brown sugar and 2 tablespoons softened butter. Stir in 1 tablespoon milk. Stir in 1/2 cup coconut and, if desired, 1/4 cup chopped nuts. Spread over warm cake. Broil 4 inches from heat 2 to 3 minutes or until golden. Cool on wire rack 30 minutes. Serve warm.

Crustless Spinach Quiche & Whole Wheat Drop Biscuits

Quiche.  It's what's for dinner.  Well, here at the Sickler home, at least.

Wednesdays should just be relabeled Maddashday.  I get home from work around 4, totter the dog outside (it's my pregnant walk), throw together a hot meal, then race to campus to share a 20 minute dinner date with Jarod before he heads to a night class. Then I usually sit at the empty table and recover for awhile before packing up the picnic.

But tonight however, was nice, that is, while I was sitting at the table with my two loves (Jarod and Taiga).  The weather was perfect.  We sat outside the Talbot Building, watched the sun drop behind the palms, shared a meal and rested for a few minutes before parting our separate ways.  Ahh, it was lovely.

Anyway..  tonight, dinner, recipe.

So... I threw together a quiche, and it was super dee dooper good!  It's a pretty basic recipe that you could alter with your particular whims, tastes and fancies.  But I'll share what I assembled today.

Crustless Spinach Quiche


olive oil (for sauteing)
1/2 large chopped onion
3 big handfuls of fresh chopped spinach (6 cups?)
1/3 cup chopped green olives [optional]**
1 chopped chicken sausage (precooked kind) [optional]**
7 eggs
several dashes of fresh ground pepper
dash of sea salt
two dashes of garlic powder
2 cups fresh grated parmesan
1 cup grated mozzarella

1. Heat oven to 350.  Prepare a 9" pie plate.
2. Saute onion in olive oil.  Add spinach to pan for the last 1-2 minutes.
3. In large bowl, mix eggs, olives, sausage, cheeses and spices.  Add sauted onions and spinach.
4. Pour in pie plate.  Bake 30 minutes, until eggs have set.  Let set 10 minutes before serving.

**I think mushrooms or tomato or zucchini or broccoli or artichokes or jalapenos or peppers could all be added in fun combinations too.  Also, I think as long as you use 3 cups of cheese, you could vary the kind of cheese depending on your 'add-ins' theme.


Whole Wheat Drop Biscuits
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup all purpose flour
2 TBS (or so) milled flax seed
1 TBS baking powder
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 cup melted butter
1 cup milk

1.  Heat oven to 450.  Prepare cookie sheet.
2. Mix dry ingredients together in medium bowl. Stir in butter and milk until moistened. Drop large spoonfuls on cookie sheet.
3.  Bake 8-12 minutes.  Serve warm!  **Especially good with apple butter, cherry preserves or lemon curd)

Banana Cake with Banana Butter Frosting

So what to do with my fruit bowl full of bananas that are starting to round up fruit flies like a herd of cows?  Make Banana Cake!  Then peel and freeze the rest for morning smoothies.

I was thoroughly, THOROUGHLY impressed with this recipe.  Ultra moist, so banana-y, and a 4th of July hit!

Banana Cake with Banana Butter Frosting

Ingredients:

     cake

3/4 cup butter

1 cup white sugar

1 cup turbinado sugar (or white)

3 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

1 cup whole wheat flour

2 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp sea salt

1 1/2 cups buttermilk ---> just add 1 1/2 Tbs lemon juice to milk, mix and set for 5 min

2 tsp lemon juice

1 1/2 cups mashed bananas (about 4 medium)

     frosting

1/4 cup butter

1/2 cup mashed banana (about 1 medium)

1 tsp lemon juice

1/2 tsp vanilla

3 cups powdered sugar

Directions:

     cake

1. Preheat oven to 275 (YES, NOT a typo!!)  Grease 9x13 pan. 

2. Mash bananas with lemon juice in small bowl, set aside.  In medium bowl, mix flours, soda and salt.  

3. In large bowl, cream butter and sugars together.  Add eggs and vanilla.  Stir.  

4. Add dry mixture alternately with buttermilk to the large bowl of butter/sugar mix and combine well.  Finally, stir in mashed bananas.  

5. Bake for 60 min or until toothpick comes out clean, (mine took close 80 min).

6. Immediately place in freezer for 45 min or longer, after removing from oven (!) (Makes for one amazing moist cake)

     frosting

1. Cream butter until fluffy.  Use hand mixer to combine banana, lemon juice and vanilla to butter.  

2. Slowly add sugar.  (This frosting is almost like a banana glaze)

3. Frost cooled cake.  

Serve immediately with hot coffee.  Or as in my case, it was for a post-fireworks gathering with friends on the patio at 10pm, so we had banana cake and ice water.  :)

Cookies, Cookies & More Cookies

What could be better than baking on a warm, sunny Saturday morning?  Baking with a friend on a warm, sunny Saturday morning.

My dear friend, Heather arrived at 9:30am at my gate, holding a big red bowl of cookie cutters.  Together, we conquered dozens of Sugar Cookies and Mint Chocolate Crinkles.

First the laborious task of Sugar Cookies- Mixing the dough, running to Albertson's when you realize you left your baking powder and almond extract in Utah, chilling the dough, understanding and using the role of parchment paper correctly and effectively, adding the proper amount of flour to avoid stickiness, and also avoiding overworked dough, etc., etc.  Needless to say, a big task.  But, one that is aided with Egg Nog, also from mid morning run to Albertson's, and laughs from a friend.

 

Sugar Cookies

2 cups white sugar

1 1/2 cups shortening

3 eggs

1 tsp almond extract

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 small carton sour cream (8oz)

5 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 salt

1. Blend sugar and shortening until there are no lumps.  Stir in eggs individually.  Add extracts.  Gently fold in sour cream. 

2. Combine dry ingredients. 

3. Add dry ingredients to wet, mix thoroughly.

4. Refrigerate 2-3 hours, or place in freezer 30-45 minutes.

5. Work only 2 cups of dough at a time to keep stiff and workable.  Keep remaining dough in fridge.  Generously coat with flour while rolling out dough, also roll dough between parchment paper to minimize sticking.

5. Bake 6-8 min. at 350 degrees on ungreased cookie sheets.  Remove from oven before edges are light brown.

6. Allow complete cooling before frosting.  Can be frozen until desired frosting date.

 Now onto Mint Chocolate Crinkles.  Relatively easy compared to the multi steps of Sugar Cookie-ing.

Mint Chocolate Crinkle Cookies

1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

2 cups white sugar

1/2 cup vegetable oil

4 eggs 

1 tsp mint extract

2 tsp vanilla extracts.

2 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

powdered sugar

1. Stir together cocoa, sugar & oil. Add eggs one at a time. Stir in extracts.

2. In separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt.

3. Add dry mix to wet and mix thoroughly.

4. Refrigerate dough 2-4 hours or place in freezer 45 minutes.  

5. Roll dough into 1 in balls, coat thoroughly in powdered sugar and place several inches apart on baking sheet.  (My cookies weren't spreading as nicely as I wanted, so smashed balls with a spoon before placing in oven.)

6. Bake 10-12min at 350 degrees.  Let cookies set a few minutes on pan before removing to cool.

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

This is a very quick (start to finish: 20 min) and easy cookie recipe I stumbled across tonite.  They are fairly airy, light chocolatey cookies... but still very sweet and requires a big glass of milk or strong cup of coffee.  Enjoy!

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies 

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cps butter, softened

2 cps sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

2 cps flour

3/4 cps cocoa powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 cps chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350.  In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar (I used the food processor - QUICK).  Stir in eggs, then stir in vanilla.  Combine dry ingredients in separate bowl and stir into wet mixture.  Fold in chocolate chips.  Drop large spoonfuls on ungreased cookie sheets.  Bake 8-10 min.  Let cool on sheet 5 minutes before removing.

I also think you could spruce up this recipe with adding some coffee grounds to the dry mixture - yum.

Strawberry Pie

I had the best intentions of healthily eating the large carton of fresh strawberries I bought last week.. you know, a few sliced with some plain yogurt for breakfast, blended with a banana for a smoothie or just eating chilled as an after the pool snack.  

Well, my great intention did not come to fruition.  My carton of fresh strawberries sat untouched in the fridge for a few too many days.  Instead of resorting to freezing them all and be left with the only option of future smoothies, I made a pie.  Haha.  A very non-healthy alternative to my first wishes, but a tasty one, none-the-less.

Strawberry Pie Crust

1 1/3 cp flour

1 tsp salt

1/2 cp shortening

3 Tbs ice cold water

Directions:

In a food processor, blend flour and salt.  Add shortening, blending until course crumbles.  Add the ice water and blend until dough forms.  Chill in fridge.  Meanwhile, I de-stemmed the strawberries and halved into a large bowl while the dough chilled.  After 30 min, remove dough, roll out on floured surface.  Place in pie pan, pinching edges to form even, decorative crust.  Bake at 425 for 15-18 min.  Let cool, before adding strawberry mixture.

Strawberry Pie

Prebaked 9 in pie crust (see above)

1 qt fresh strawberries

3 Tbsp cornstarch

1 cp sugar (or less)

3/4 cp water

1/3 cp chocolate chips (melted)

Directions:

First off, melt chocolate and "paint" inside cooled pie crust (strawberry pies are notorious for becoming soggy, and by having a chocolate lining, no more wet crust!)

Pour a fourth of the berries, cornstarch, sugar and water in a small pot.  Cook on med-high heat until mixture boils, stirring constantly!  Allow mixture to boil 2-3 min, until thick and gel like.

In cooled crust, place the remaining (3/4) berries and top with stove top, berry mixture.  Spread evenly in crust and refrigerate for a few hours.  (You can check if it's chilled through by feeling bottom of pie dish).

Top with whipped cream and chocolate drizzle if desired.  Serve with dark espresso roast coffee.

Banana Oat Muffins

Muffin success this morning!  My fabulous friend, Heather, came over this morning for coffee, and after noting the browning bananas on the counter, we decided to try out a new recipe...  And it was so tasty.  
These muffins go great with Vanilla Nut Coffee.  

Banana Oat Muffins
1 cp oats

• 1 cp flour
• 1 tbs rolled oats
• 1/2 cp chopped walnuts or almonds
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 Tbs cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cp butter, softened
• 1 cp white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 cp+ mashed bananas 
• 1 tsp vanilla 
• 1/2 cp plain yogurt or sour cream
•  
• Muffin Topping
• 1/3 cp rolled oats
• 4 Tbs brown sugar
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 2 Tbs butter, chilled or frozen
• 1/4 cp chopped walnuts or almonds

Directions:

 
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease 6 large muffin tin.

Place 1 cup oats in a food processor and process until ground. In a large bowl, combine ground oats with flour, 1 Tbs rolled oats, chopped nuts, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.

In a separate bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, then stir in banana and vanilla.  Finally, add yogurt or sour cream. 

Mix dry oat/flour mixture into wet mixture. Spoon batter into prepared muffin tins.

For Topping: In a small bowl, combine oats, brown sugar, cinnamon. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs; stir in nuts. Generously sprinkle muffins with topping.

Bake in preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes, until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into a muffin comes out clean.

A Pie Sort of Day

Today I was back to baking in the kitchen.  Was feeling the "pie" mood, so I made Spaghetti Pie for dinner and a Blueberry Pie for dessert.  I think we have some winners.

First off, Blueberry Pie - it needs time to cool, so it takes priority.  Jarod has brought up pies quite frequently over the past few weeks, so I thought I would surprise him after a long day grading papers, with a home baked, old fashioned pie! 

The recipe for the pate brisee (pie crust) was surprisingly easy with the help of a food processor. 

Pate Brisee (Short Crust Pastry)

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cps flour

1 tsp salt

2 tbs sugar

1 cp chilled (frozen) butter, cubed

1/4 cp - 1/2 cp ice water

Directions: Spoon dry ingredients into food processor, pulsing a few times to mix ingredients.  Add butter, pulse until dough resembles crumbles.  Add water, a tablespoon at a time until dough stays together when pinched. Do not over process (30 sec. max)  Divide dough.  Refrigerate to relax gluten and chill butter.  Roll out into 12'' circle. (To prevent sticking, roll from center out to edge, turning quarter of a turn each time).  Place in 9'' pie pan.  Return to fridge.  Take second dough, roll out into 12'' circle.  Cut out stars.  Place stars on wax paper on cookie sheet.  Place in fridge.  

Blueberry Filling

Ingredients:

4 cps blueberries

1/2 cp white sugar

2 tbs cornstarch

2 tbs lemon juice

1 tbs lemon zest

Directions: Mix sugar, cornstarch, lemon juice and zest.  Add blueberries.  Stir until berries are covered with sugar mixture.  Pour mixture into bottom pie shell.  Cover with stars.

Egg Wash

Ingredients:

1 egg yolk

1 tbs cream

Directions: Beat yolk and cream together.  Use pastry brush to paint over stars and edge of crust.   Place pie in 400 degree oven on rack on the bottom third of oven.  Bake 20 minutes.  Reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake additional 45 minutes or until juice is bubbling and thick and crust is golden brown.  Cool several hours.

Now that the pie was cooling and my oven was freed up, I started my entree, Spaghetti Pie, which should have also been in a pie plate/pan... however, I thought I owned more than one.  So, next best thing - Pyrex!

Spaghetti Pie

Ingredients:

• 1 lb ground beef 
• 1/2 cp chopped onion
• 1/4 cp chopped green pepper
• 1 cp canned diced tomatoes, undrained *
• 1 can (6 ounces) tomato paste 
• 1 tsp oregano *
• 3/4 tsp salt *
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder *
• 1/4 tsp pepper *
• 6 ounces spaghetti, cooked and drained
• 1 tbs butter
• 2 egg whites
• 1/4 cp Parmesan cheese
• 1 cp cottage cheese
• 1/2 cp mozzarella cheese
• * items can be omitted and replaced with about 2 cps jar spaghetti sauce if need be

Directions:

Cook beef, onion and green pepper until meat is no longer pink; drain. Stir in the tomatoes, tomato paste, oregano, salt, garlic powder, and pepper (or spaghetti sauce); set aside.

In a large bowl, combine the spaghetti, butter, egg whites and Parmesan cheese. Press onto the bottom and up the sides of a 9-in. deep-dish pie plate. Top with layer of cottage cheese and beef mixture.

Bake, uncovered, at 350° for 20 minutes. Sprinkle with mozzarella cheese. Bake 5-10 minutes longer or until cheese is melted and filling is heated through. Let stand for 5 minutes before cutting. 

Yield: 6 servings.

It was a busy day in the kitchen, and I did not make it through unscathed.  There was one injury and one fire.  However, all is well.  My fingernail was sliced open by the potato peeler while I was digging for the pastry brush. 

 

And then, I managed to lay the wooden spatula in the fire on the front range of the oven.  After seeing 5 in flames and smelling something burning, did I then think to move the spatula.  But, phew, I made it.. and we had a pretty fantastic meal! 

Mocha Chip Muffins at Midnight

My poor hubby is having to stay up late to finish his LAST paper for the semester! Hooray for last paper, boo for staying up late! So, I just put some home made Mocha Chip Muffins in the oven, and am brewing some Dark Roast Espresso for Jarod. Thankfully, I dont work Wednesdays, so I am going to try and stay up with him as long as possible :) I just got my June Book for my club this evening, so I'm reading the opening chapter of "Cold Mountain" by Charles Frazier, on the couch beside my worker bee.

So the muffins - wow, dangerously easy!! If you're craving some mocha, coffee taste and not a lot of sweet - these are the treats for you :)

Mocha Chip Muffins

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup chocolate chips, and more for sprinkling on top
3 Tbsp good quality cocoa powder
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup strong coffee, room temperature
1/3 cup, plus 2 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions: Mix all dry ingredients together in medium bowl. In large measuring cup (2 cp) whisk together wet ingredients. Pour wet mix into dry ingredients bowl. Stir JUST until moistened (over stirring on quick breads makes them very tough)

Pour into greased muffin pan (6 LARGE muffin tin works very well). Fill 3/4 full. Sprinkle a few chips on top of each muffin. Bake 20 min at 400 degrees.

Apple Strudel Muffins

I baked Apple Strudel Muffins this morning. They turned out SO yummy, that I had to share them. They're pretty quick, especially if you have the butter set out ahead of time, so it's soft. I added more cinnamon than recommended. I also cooked them about 5 min longer because I used a large muffin pan. Jarod and I had these with a cup of vanilla nut coffee this morning by the pool. So fun :)

Ingredients:

• 2 cps flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cp butter
• 1 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/4 tsp vanilla
• 1 1/2 cps chopped apples
• 1 tbs cinnamon
• 1/3 cp packed brown sugar
• 1 tbs all-purpose flour
• 1 tbs ground cinnamon
• 1 tbs butter

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease 12 cup muffin pan.
2. Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.
3. In a large bowl, beat together butter, sugar and eggs until smooth. Mix in vanilla. Stir in apples, and gradually blend in the flour mixture. Spoon the mixture into the prepared muffin pan.
4. In a small bowl, mix brown sugar, flour and cinnamon. Cut in butter until mixture is like coarse crumbs. Sprinkle over tops of mixture in muffin pan.
5. Bake 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Allow to sit 5 minutes before removing muffins from pan. Cool on a wire rack.