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Oatmeal Cranberry White Chocolate Cookies

16 Dec

I love to make big batches of these and freeze them.  They are the perfect accompaniment to afternoon coffe or tea, tucked into a holiday gift box, or for breakfast!

The base of this cookie is TRULY the perfect oatmeal cookie.  Soft and chewy, with a bit of crunch around the outside.  This texture is achieved by chilling the dough and flattening the balls on the cookie sheets.  Don’t ignore these steps!

The flavor combinations abound:

- Rasins and chocolate chunks

- White chocolate chips and cranberries

- Dried blueberries with dark chocolate chunks

- Butterscotch chips and pecans

- Milk chocolate chips and chopped almonds

Get creative!  I have thrown in orange zest, maple extract and cocoa powder with great results.  Use the base of the recipe and play with the add-ins.  I promise you will have a new favorite oatmeal CCC in your arsenal!

Chilled balls of dough, waiting to be flattened and baked off

White Chocolate and Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies

Yield about 4 dozen cookies

Ingredients:

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

2 ½ cups old-fashioned oats

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon kosher salt

1 ½ cups brown sugar

½ cup butter at room temperature

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 eggs, at room temperature

1 ½ cups dried cranberries (or use raisins, dried strawberries or cherries)

1 cup white chocolate chips (or any chocolate chip or chunk you like!)

1 cup flaked coconut sweetened

Method:

  1. Combine flour, oats, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl.  Whisk to combine well.
  2. Put butter and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer and beat at medium speed until light and fluffy.  Add vanilla and eggs, beat well, scraping bowl to combine.  Add flour mixture, and dried fruit, chocolate, and coconut.  Beat on low until combined.
  3. Cover, and place dough into the fridge for at least 2 hours, but up to 2 days.  (If you must, you can skip this step, but it is what makes them crisp on the outside, but soft in the center- perfect oatmeal cookie texture!)
  4. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 375, and drop cold dough by the tablespoonful (or desired size) onto baking sheets lined with silicone baking mats or parchment paper.  Roll dough portions into balls, and flatten with your hand slightly.  They will spread a bit, so give them some room.
  5. Bake for 10-12 minutes, depending on size, until edges are golden brown.  Remove from oven and cool on sheets for two minutes before transferring to racks to finish cooling completely.
  6. These freeze very well, and keep nicely at room temperature for up to a week!  It makes them a great choice for shipping, as well.

From Carrie’s kitchen; adapted from Cooking Light and Martha Stewart

Perfect disks of dough!

 
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Reindeer Mix

11 Dec

This treat looks so humble and simple, but is often dubbed “crack” among friends and family as it is totally addictive! The sweet and crunchy snack is a favorite among kids and grown ups alike for its warm, rich flavor and the fun factor of all the goodies tucked into it.

I make it for parties, and am never surprised to find the big bowls empty, or fill kids’ treat bags with it- but the parents usually sneak most of it away!

Reindeer Mix

This batch is quite large, so feel free to halve it easily. Yes, you need the corn syrup or it won’t set up.

2 cups brown sugar
2 sticks unsalted butter
1/2 cup corn syrup
2 boxes Chex cereal (I use one corn and one rice)

Add in’s:
A bag of chocolate coated candies (I used red and green M & M’s)
A bag of miniature marshmallows
2 cups rasins or other dried fruit (I used dried apple clusters from Trader Joe’s)

Other ideas:
Honey roasted peanuts
Almonds or pistachios
White chocolate or peanut butter chips

1. Place Chex in a VERY large bowl (I used two bowls) and set aside.

2. Bring butter, sugar and corn syrup to a boil in a medium saucepan, and boil for about three minutes, stirring occasionally.

3. Working quickly, pour caramel over cereal and stir. Stir until your arm hurts, turning the cereal to ensure it coats all of it. The important thing here is that if you stop before it is completely cool, it will harden into a ginormous, tooth-breaking ball. You want individualized pieces, or at least clusters. I generally stir for at least ten minutes.

4. Spread onto several cookie sheets covered with parchment or cooking spray to cool completely. No harm in giving it another stir when you walk by to grab a bite…

5. Once mixture is completely cool, add your goodies! Take care when stirring, as you can end up crunching up the cereal, and no one wants Pulverized Reindeer Mix! This mixture keeps in a sealed container, but has a tendency to stick together sometimes, so give it a squeeze to break up, if needed.

 
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Posted in No Bake, Recipe, Uncategorized

 

Auntie H’s Pumpkin Cookies

09 Dec

My Auntie H has been making these cookies for twenty years. I remember eating them with cold glasses of milk off of the cooling rack in her white kitchen as a child. It would not be autumn around my house if we did not make some of these cakey and spiced cookies. Their delicate crumb is almost like a muffin, but the brown sugar glaze lands them decidedly in the cookie category. Take them to a holiday celebration, to a new mommy or to thank someone to whom you owe something sweet. People will BEG you for the recipe.

Pumpkin Cookies with Brown Sugar Frosting

2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
Pinch cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup canned (or roasted, pureed) pumpkin
Brown Sugar Frosting (Recipe Follows)

1. Preheat oven to 350. Whisk together flour, soda, powder, spices and salt in a medium bowl.

2. In a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg, vanilla and pumpkin. Mix well until well blended.

3. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix until just incorporated. The batter will be soft, more like cake batter.

4. Drop tablespoons of dough (I use a small ice cream scoop) on Silpat-lined cookie sheets (or use parchment paper) 2 – 3 inches apart.

5. Bake at 350 for 10 – 12 minutes until cookies are firm, but do not brown. Cool on sheets for 10 minutes, then transfer to racks to finish cooling. Cool completely before frosting.

Frosting:
3 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup milk
½ teaspoon maple extract
2 cups powdered sugar

In a medium saucepan, melt butter, brown sugar and milk. Bring to a simmer and cook, stirring constantly, for three minutes. Remove from heat and whisk in powdered sugar until it is a thick consistency for spreading on the cookies. If it gets too thick, add a bit of milk.
Spread onto cool cookies, or drizzle over in a waffle pattern.

Cooling, pre-frosting…

Finished with the rich and creamy frosting.  I challenge you to just eat one!

Holiday baking is in full swing here!  What would you like next?   Cranberry White Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies or Glazed Peanut Butter Banana Bread?

 
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Perfect Cut-Out Cookies

01 Dec

This is a request from my friend Sylvia and her little baker, Sadie.

These are my favorite cut-out sugar cookies for a few reasons:

1. They taste AMAZING and the texture is perfect: easy to ice or decorate but not crunchy or dry.  I encourage you to get some ground mace… it gives them that special taste that makes them outstanding.

2. The dough is easy to work with.  If it gets too warm, pop it in the fridge.

3. The recipe relies on very simple ingredients to create a masterful dough.  Some sugar cookie recipes (and many of the store mixes) rely on shortening or other partially hydrogenated fats to keep the cookies tender.  Not this one!

Because of the request for the recipe, I don’t have any newer pictures of the cookies than these.  We made them for Adeline’s 4th birthday tea party, and my mom and I decorated them accordingly.  I assure you we also made them for Halloween and will be doing several batches for Christmas.  We love to have friends over to decorate them, but I find it very therapeutic to leisurely decorate a batch while watching “It’s a Wonderful Life” while the rest of my house sleeps.

Perfect Cut Out Cookies

Adapted from Martha Stewart

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

1 ½ sticks unsalted butter at room temperature

1 ¼ cups granulated sugar

¼ cup powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste, or sub extract

¼ teaspoon mace (you can substitute a pinch of nutmeg here)

2 eggs

No Fail Icing (recipe follows)

  1. Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl.
  2. Beat butter, sugars, vanilla and spice in the bowl of an electric mixer with the paddle attachment until light and fluffy.  Add eggs and mix until well combined, scraping down the bowl.  Add flour slowly, mixing until just combined.
  3. Turn dough out onto plastic wrap and form into two disks.  Wrap each separately in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, about an hour.
  4. Preheat oven to 375.
  5. Working with one disk at a time, roll out dough on a floured surface to about ¼ inch thickness.  (If you go thinner, the cookies will be crisp, but if you maintain this thickness, you’ll have a perfect sugar cookie- a bit chewy but firm.)
  6. Cut out using your favorite cookie cutters and place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment or a silicone baking mat. Reroll scraps once, and continue cutting.  If the cookies need to wait to be baked while the others are in the oven, refrigerate the cookies while they wait, otherwise they will spread too much in the oven.
  7. Bake cookies for 8-10 minutes, until pale golden, lifting with a spatula to see the bottoms becoming golden.  DO NOT BROWN.  Transfer cookies to racks to cool immediately.
  8. Repeat process with remaining disk of dough, or freeze for up to two months in plastic wrap and a zip top freezer bag.

No Fail Icing

This icing is AWESOME.  It sets up well so you are able to stack the cookies, once iced, at room temperature for several days.  It can be hard for kids to spread, so you may want to use a buttercream for younger bakers.  Of course, buttercream is gooey and messy and must be refrigerated after frosting the cookies.

6 cups powdered sugar

1 tablespoon corn syrup

Water, for thinning

Food coloring

1. In a large bowl, combine powdered sugar, corn syrup and1/4 cup cool water.  Whisk, and add more water, as needed a little bit at a time until you have your desired consistency of icing.  It will set up once it sits, so add your coloring and work quickly in decorating your beauties!

 
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Posted in From Martha's Cookie Book, Recipe, Uncategorized

 

Pumpkin Cupcakes

22 Nov

Happy Thanksgiving Week!  A pumpkin recipe seems deliciously appropriate, yes?

As requested, friends, here is the recipe for these little goodies! I made these Pumpkin Muffins (yes, it is a muffin recipe!) for Halloween, and frosted them with a warm and yummy Spiced Maple Frosting. They were a huge hit, and I did not tell a soul that the “cupcakes” are actually a very healthful muffin recipe topped with frosting and sprinkles. I hope you will make a batch, whether to serve with honey for breakfast on a chilly fall morning (sans frosting, of course) or as a celebratory dessert. Kids seem to go wild for them, so they are handy to have in the freezer to pull out for a play date or to take as a class treat.

Pumpkin Muffins or Cupcakes

I usually double this recipe as they are so versatile and keep so well in the freezer.  You can make mini-muffins or regular sized ones, or some of each!  The frosting recipe below should frost a double batch.

Makes about 12-16 regular sized muffins

1 cup all purpose flour
½ cup whole wheat pastry flour
½ cup brown sugar, packed
½ cup granulated sugar
1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
Pinch of cloves
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup canned pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
½ cup low fat buttermilk
2 eggs
2 tablespoons canola oil
1/4 cup applesauce
½ cup light vanilla yogurt or light sour cream

1. Preheat oven to 375.
2. Combine flours, sugars and remaining dry ingredients in a large bowl. Whisk until well-combined.
3. Combine pumpkin, buttermilk, eggs, oil and applesauce in a medium bowl. Pour over flour mixture and whisk together until just smooth.
4. Spoon into muffin tins sprayed with cooking spray or lined with muffin cups and bake until muffins spring back when touched in the center. This would be 15-22 minutes for regular sized muffins, or 10-15 for miniatures. Cool in pans for five minutes before turning out to finish cooling on racks.
5. Can be frosted with Spiced Maple Cream Cheese Frosting or served with maple butter or honey. These freeze well, unfrosted, for up to two months.

Other fun variations:
Stir in mini-chocolate chips
Add chopped pecans to the tops before baking
Serve with maple butter
Use them to make a unique stuffing or bread pudding

Spiced Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

This is a recipe I sort of “feel”- add more of anything, and as long as you beat it until it is fluffy and delish, you CANNOT go wrong!

1/2 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 8 ounce block of light cream cheese, at room temperature
1 pound confectioner’s sugar
½ teaspoon each cinnamon and freshly grated nutmeg
2 tablespoons to 1/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon both vanilla and maple extracts

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and cream cheese on high speed, until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes, scraping bowl down.

2. SLOWLY (to avoid a cloud of sugar!) add powdered sugar, beating in a cup at a time, until it is well-combined. Add spices and extracts, and beat well.

3. This is where you have to use your judgment: Add milk, a tablespoon at a time, beating after each addition, until it is the desired consistency. It should stand up but not be too stiff. Taste it here! If it seems too sugar-y tasting, then beat it longer so the powdered sugar will dissolve further.

4. Use to frost cupcakes. I use a pastry bag with the fluted tip, or spread on with an offset spatula. Any leftovers (if you do not eat it straight out of the bowl like I do!) will freeze for a month in a zip-top bag by spooning it into the bag and freezing it flat. Defrost at room temperature, and beat again before using.

Other ideas for this bowl of heaven:
Put it between gingersnaps for a fun sandwich cookie
Smear it on slices of banana bread
Serve scoops of it atop pumpkin or gingerbread waffles for a treat
Frost cut-out sugar cookies with it; tint to your desired colors
Use as your glue to assemble an edible gingerbread house

I hope you will try this recipe- I know it will become one of your favorites.

Next up: Pixie Dust Cookies and Harvest Pie!  And, just in time for Holiday baking season, Perfect Fudge.

 
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What to do with all those bananas!

19 Nov

We love bananas in our house.  The boys love them diced in their cereal, and Addie eats at least one a day, usually out of hand.  Still, sometimes, this happens:

Forget banana bread- try baking up a batch of these amazing nutty, chocolate-y cookies that have a perfectly mild banana flavor.  They always make me think of fall, and are the perfect treat for a lunchbox.  Play with the add-ins here.  I have used all kinds of chocolate chips and chunks, thrown in some shredded coconut and used pecans, walnuts or omitted the nuts altogether.  The chill-before-baking method is what makes their texture chewy, a little cakey, and perfectly scrumptious.

Chunky Banana Cookies

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour (or sub whole wheat)
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 1/2 cups old-fashioned oats
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3/4 cup mashed, very ripe banana (about 2, depending on size)
1 cup chocolate chunks or chips (I use a mixture of milk and dark, but semi-sweet chips would work. Try white, too!)
1 cup chopped, toasted nuts (Pecans and walnuts are perfect here.)

1. Preheat oven to 375. In a large bowl, whisk together flours, soda, salt, cinnamon and oats.

2. Beat butter and sugars in a standing mixer until fluffy and light, about 2 minutes. Reduce speed to low, add egg and vanilla, scraping bowl as you work. Add dry mixture, and mix until just combined. Add chips, chunks and nuts. Chill dough for 30 minutes.

3. Using an 1 1/2 inch ice-cream scoop (or a large spoon), drop dough onto parchment or Silpat-lined baking sheets, two inches apart. Bake, rotating sheets, halfway through, until cookies are golden around the edges and set in the center, about 10-13 minutes. Let cookies cool on sheets on racks for 10 minutes before transferring them to a rack to finish cooling. Cookies are great for a few days, or can be frozen in zip top bags for a month.

I have been a terrible blogger, but a faithful baker for the last few months. I have some yummy recipes and photos to share with you very soon and cannot wait to bake my way through the holidays. On our Thanksgiving menu is a Maple Pumpkin Pie and an Lighter Apple Pie with Crumble topping. Hungry?

Here is a teaser of our Halloween goodies I created:

What do you want to read about first? Pumpkin Cupcakes with Spiced Cream Cheese Frosting? Easy and Perfect Fudge? Monster Cookie Bars? Leave me a comment and let me know!

 
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Posted in Fruit cookies, Recipe, Uncategorized

 

Browned Butter Cereal Bars

26 Jul

These cereal bars come together quickly, most likely from things in your pantry, and you do not have to turn on the oven! Sound like the perfect treat to take to a summer picnic, don’t they?

I have used regular Cheerio’s, gluten-free oat cereal and crisp rice cereal, all with great success. You can easily substitute dried cranberries, or chopped dried apricots for the blueberries. These are so fun and easy to have in your recipe book because you can add nuts, chocolate chips (they might melt a little, though!) or anything else that sounds good to you that day! Really take the time to brown the butter, though- that makes these bars spectacular.

Browned Butter Cereal Bars

5 tablespoons unsalted butter
10 ounces marshmallows (one standard bag)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Zest of one orange or lemon
6 cups O-shaped cereal
1 cup dried blueberries
1/4 teaspoon sea salt or kosher salt, for sprinkling

1. Spray a 9 x 13 baking dish with non-stick cooking spray. Then line it with parchment or wax paper, leaving an overhang on the ends, enabling you to pull the bars out in a big block for cutting. Spray the paper, and set aside.

2. In a large pot, melt the butter over medium-high heat, and cook, about 5-8 minutes, until it begins to brown. The butter should smell nutty and fragrant, and beginning to turn a caramel color. Add marshmallows and mix in with a silicone spatula until smooth. Add vanilla and zest, if using.

3. Working quickly, add the cereal and dried fruit, and mix until it well-coated. Dump into prepared pan and smooth immediately with a spatula, pressing down firmly to compact bars. Sprinkle with sea salt or kosher salt while still warm.

4. Pop into the fridge to cool. Then carefully remove entire block of bars from the pan. Place on a large cutting board and cut into squares, or for fun, into triangles or other shapes. These will keep well at room temperature for up to five days, but I promise they will not last that long!

Adapted from Martha Stewart

 
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Marbled Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk Cookies

11 Jul

If I had to choose only one cookie to eat for the rest of my life, an oatmeal chocolate chunk cookie it would be! I love the chewiness oatmeal lends to a cookie dotted with chunks of milk and bittersweet chocolate, with a little warmth from cinnamon or maple. When I saw the recipe for these beauties on the Quaker Oats site, I knew they were right up my alley.

Instead of making their recipe, I chose to make my absolute favorite oatmeal chocolate chunk cookie recipe that I have been perfecting, divide the dough, make half chocolate and marble them. I learned a couple tricks after making them more than once, and think I have a pretty good version.

Marbled Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk Cookies

This recipe makes A LOT of cookies, but they freeze beautifully, if they are not all devoured. Freeze in resealable freezer bags for up to two months.

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour (or substitute all-purpose)
3 cups old-fashioned oatmeal
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 sticks of unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup applesauce, drained (Unsweetened is best, but f you only have sweetened, reduce the white sugar by 1/4 cup)
1/3 cup unsweetened dutch-process cocoa powder (Or use natural, but the color will lighter)
1 tablespoon hot water
1 cup your favorite chocolate chunks (I use a mixture of milk chocolate and bittersweet or dark chocolate)

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Prepare cookie sheets with silicone baking mats (such as Silpats) or line sheets with parchment.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together flours, oatmeal, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Set aside.

3. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter and sugars on medium high speed until light and fluffy. Scrape the sides of the bowl down and mix in eggs, vanilla and applesauce until well-combined.

4. Add dry ingredients and mix on low speed until thoroughly combined.

5. Remove half of the dough from the mixer, place in another bowl, and stir in chocolate chunks with a sturdy spatula or wooden spoon. Then, to the dough remaining in the mixer’s bowl, add the cocoa powder mixed with the water, and mix until the chocolate is blended well.

6. Using a small ice cream scoop or a tablespoon, make balls of each kind of dough, and line them up on waxed paper. When finished, take one of each kind of cookie dough, chocolate and regular, and twist them together to get a marbled look. Roll into a ball and place on the cookie sheet, flattening with your hand. Repeat, and fill sheets, with about two inches of space between cookies.

7. Bake, rotating sheets halfway through, for 8-11 minutes, careful not to over bake. Because the cookies are dark, it can be hard to tell when they are done, so look for golden edges and almost-set centers. Better to err on the side of under baked, in my opinion.

8. Cool on sheets for two minutes, and then cool completely on wire racks.

 
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Peaches and Cream Cookies

25 Jun

Adapted from a Martha Stewart Recipe

You know summer has rolled around when farmer’s markets smell like sweet, bright peaches. This recipe always seems like the perfect thing to make in June; they are full of ripe peaches and are a light dessert which goes great with all things eaten outside.

These are really soft and cakey- almost like a muffin top. If you are looking for a traditional cookie, these are not it, but they are delightful! I would serve them for an afternoon tea or this dough could be easily poured into a madeleine pan as well. They keep well only for a couple days, stored at room temperature with the lid NOT all the way on- they need a bit of air. Definitely refrigerate the dough between batches or it gets too warm. Bake them on Silpats or parchment.

Peaches and Cream Cookies

2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups ripe peaches (about 2-4 peaches) peeled and diced into 1/4″ pieces
1/3 cup strawberry, peach or apricot jam
1 1/2 cups white chocolate, cut into small chunks

1. Preheat oven to 375. Whisk together flour, salt, baking soda and cinnamon.

2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the sugars and butter together until light and fluffy, around 3 minutes on high. Add egg and vanilla and mix on low until well-blended. Scrape down bowl. Add peaches and jam. Add flour mixture until just combined. Mix in white chocolate chunks.

3. Using a 1 inch ice cream scoop or a tablespoon, drop dough onto sheets lined with parchment or baking mats, spacing 2 inches apart. Refrigerate dough between batches.

4. Bake until cookies are golden brown and set, 9-12 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through. (These cookies may get dark or “burned” looking on the bottom, but that is just the fruit sugar setting up.) Allow to cool on pans for five minutes, then completely on wire racks.

 
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Posted in From Martha's Cookie Book, Fruit cookies, Recipe

 

A(nother) baking blog is born!

21 Jun

My name is Carrie and I am addicted to baking.  Mostly cookies.  I buy flour and sugar in bulk at Costco and cannot believe my stand mixer still works.  Every night after my four children are safely in their beds, snoozing away, my kitchen comes alive and I fill it with the warm smells of butter, vanilla and sweetness.  It is my time to create, reflect and indulge.  I pull out my Silpat-lined sheets and unwrap the butter, already at room temperature, to create some goodness.

A bit about me:

  • Baking is my passion, and I love to write; a baking blog is long overdue!  While I love to make all things baked; quick breads, cupcakes and pies are all fun, cookies are my favorite thing to make, night after night.
  • I am the lucky mother of 8-month-old triplet boys and a four-year-old girl.  These children light my life up, making each moment FULL and busy.  They also drive me to create and eat ridiculous quantities of baked goods after they are asleep.  Mostly cookies.
  • I have been baking ever since I can remember, starting in my mom’s kitchen, wearing one of her aprons tied around my chest.  Her almond biscotti and banana bread are unparalleled. Those recipes will be revealed with my mother’s notes- promise!
  • If I could only eat one thing for the rest of my life, it would be cookie dough.  Probably oatmeal chocolate chunk, but I think most any would do.
  • I love to try new recipes and methods, have no training except my kitchen and cookbooks, but hope to one day go to pastry school.  Even if I am 75, I am going!  I will learn how to make perfect croissants and layer cakes!  (Hand on hip, foot stomping.)
  • I have embarrassingly little experience with yeasted doughs, and am working to remedy that.  I prefer to bake SWEETS, but feel I should know how to make bread dough.  I should, shouldn’t I?
  • I have been working my way through Martha Stewart’s Cookie Book and have made about 50 of the 140 recipes.  I love the variety the book has and love to hand it to someone and tell them to pick one out for me to make.  A recent favorite, is the Banana Walnut Chocolate Chunk Cookie.  Delicious!  But better with pecans and extra bananas.  As always, I love to tinker with recipes and will tell you what I did differently, and how it worked out.

Hopefully this blog will pull me out of my kitchen a little, get me taking good pictures of the offerings, and allow me to make other aspiring bakers- no one else wants to listen to my feelings about ideal butter temperature.  Thanks for following along!

 
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Posted in Introduction