Sweet Treats

That’s not a spaceship …it’s a sugar cookie?

Pardon the play on a Star Wars quote in the title… what can I say? I just love me some Star Wars. I generally keep this deep infatuation with the series a private love affair. Apparently though, others have figured out this fact about me because the other day my friend gave me a set of Star Wars cookie cutters! How could I not use them in my next baking adventure! This gift motivated me to find a recipe for sugar cookies that would keep their shape because the cookie cutters were extremely intricate and detailed. My mother always makes sugar cookies in the shape of Christmas trees for the holidays, but I wanted to find my own unique recipe for my endeavor!

After looking around Pinterest for a little while I finally stumbled upon a recipe that claimed to be able to do exactly what I needed. I liked this recipe a lot because it included almond extract which really bumped up the flavor of these cookies significantly. These cookies involve a lot of prep work. I’ve learned through my extensive sugar cookie research that chilling the dough for a few hours is essential in helping them keep their shape during the baking process. I also learned that when you don’t have a rolling pin, your roommates bottle of wine sitting on the counter is a perfectly acceptable substitution.

The cookies definitely retained their shape, and they were delicious! They didn’t dry out or taste too bland which were my initial concerns. The only changes I would make to the recipe in the future would be to add more sugar. However, I did not frost my cookies. I think if I had frosted them then they would have been more than sweet enough, but without frosting they were lacking in the sweet department.

Don’t believe me about these cookies? Well… I find your lack of faith disturbing…
…Sorry I had to!

SUGAR COOKIES

The Ingredients:
-3/4 cup softened butter
-3/4 sugar
-1 egg
-2 teaspoons vanilla extract
-1/4 teaspoon almond extract
-2 and 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
-1/2 teaspoon baking powder

The Method:
1. Beat the butter until creamed and smooth
2. Add the sugar and beat until combined
3. Add the egg, vanilla, and almond extract and beat
4. Combine the flour and baking powder together in a medium bowl
5. Add the flour mixture to the dough until thoroughly combined
6. Chill the dough for at least one hour, more if possible – SO IMPORTANT
7. Once chilled, preheat oven to 350F degrees
8. Roll out the cookie dough and cut into your desired shapes
9. Bake in batches in the oven for 8/9 minutes
10. Ice the cookies if desired
11. ENJOY!

Fall Into The Season – White Chocolate Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies

Ahhh Fall. The crisp air, the changing foliage, the emerging of sweaters and boots from the back of the closet, the warm apple cider, and the integration of pumpkin spice into every consumable good possible. At least that’s how my autumns were growing up in New England. In New Orleans, fall comes on a little differently. The weather stays hot and humid, the trees stay lush and green, people continue to wear shorts and crop tops, all drinks are chilled to cool you down, but at least pumpkin spice is still everywhere you look! That’s what I love about food trends, they are the great equalizer of all the very different regions of the country!

Yes, fall is here, and no matter what that may look like for you, I’m betting money that you have seen at least one pumpkin flavored item marketed at your face. So, who am I to buck a trend? That’s why today I have for you all my DELICIOUS White chocolate pumpkin oatmeal cookies!

I am particularly proud of these cookies because this is my first recipe that I have developed completely on my own. I did not follow someone else’s recipe nor did I tweak a previously written recipe. I took the knowledge that I’ve accumulated thus far in baking and I designed my very own cookie! The best part? They were a total success! Everyone really seemed to enjoy them and I must humbly say, they were very delicious. Well how could they not be? They were a beautiful combination of white chocolate and pumpkin in an oatmeal cookie base.

The only notes I have on the recipe is that the dough is a little bit oily because of the pumpkin, so make sure that when you’re forming them to put on the pan you construct them extra carefully into balls. Otherwise they melt out a little bit before they hit the oven and bake oddly. This happened to about 5 of my cookies before I figured out that I needed to take more care in shaping them. Also, take the time to let them cool and firm up a little bit. I was too anxious to wait and ate 3 straight out of the oven, but the ones I had the next day were much better. So try your best to be patient!!

White Chocolate Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies

The Ingredients:

2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
pinch of salt
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tbsp vanilla
1 cup pumpkin puree
2 cups rolled oats
1 cup white chocolate chips

The Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. In a mixing bowl combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, and salt and set aside
3. In a separate bowl cream together the butter and the 2 sugars
4. Add the egg, vanilla, and pumpkin to the egg mixture and mix thoroughly
5. Add the dry ingredients to the wet until they are all incorporated
5. Mix in the oatmeal and white chocolate chips
6. On a greased cookie sheet form balls of dough and bake for 14 minutes
7. This recipe should yield 3 dozen cookies
8. ENJOY!

More fun with Oreos – Chocolate Chip Oreo Cookie Bars

Do you have a favorite type of Oreo? Personally I like the ones that come out around Halloween time with the orange frosting. They don’t taste any different from the regular ones I don’t think, but for some reason the orange makes it easier to consume an entire package of them… I also like the double stuffed ones because there is nothing wrong with putting more of that mysterious frosting stuff in my mouth. I’m not really into the golden ones, or the uh oh oreos. I know there’s a myriad of other flavors such as mint, peanut butter, birthday cake, and cookie dough!? but I’ve never actually tried those ones. Let me know if any of them are worthwhile in the comments!

For these cookie bars I used double stuffed oreos. Like I’ve said countless times, you can never go wrong with double stuffed! From this endeavor I learned a few things about my new kitchen Including the fact that I have a pretty weak oven. These had to cook for nearly 40 minutes when the recipe I based them on only had them in for 25!

Also, because I don’t have an electric mixer I creamed the butter and sugar myself (cue your impressed faces at my powerful muscles) Either way they came out AMAZING and my sorority sisters devoured them at our chapter meeting!

CHOCOLATE CHIP OREO COOKIE BARS

The Ingredients:

BARS-
2 cups brown sugar
2/3 cup salted butter
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 cup flour
2 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
12 crushed oreos
1 cup chocolate chips

TOPPING-
2 crushed oreos
1/4 cup chocolate chips

The Recipe:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees
2. Soften the butter in the microwave then add to the brown sugar in a large bowl. Cream them together
3. Mix in eggs and vanilla
4. In a separate bowl mix together 1 cup of flour with the baking powder and salt
5. Pour the dry into the wet and mix together
6. Add in the rest of the flour
7. Fold in the oreos and chocolate chips
8. After baking for 15 minutes add the toppings and continue baking for another 10 to 20 minutes (depending on how useful your oven is)
9. ENJOY!

All for myself – Single Serve Microwave Oatmeal Cookie

Hello again everybody! Let me tell you something, I have been busy busy busy since I returned to school. I forgot how easily my life can become so hectic! Between the hours of classes, homework, extracurriculars, work, and attempts at socializing I have found that baking has really been placed on the back burner.

pictured: me prioritizing my social life #SINS

A secondary challenge is that I am surrounded by a bunch of sorority girls who have too much self control and won’t eat my baked goods quickly enough! I ended up eating about 1/2 of the Oreo bars I made and struggled to find other people willing to eat them. People are way too body conscious here and it’s kind of bumming me out. I’m far less motivated to bake when I know that nobody will eat my creations! However, after I got home from work and dinner last night I decided enough was enough! If nobody wanted to eat batches and batches of amazing cookies than I would simply focus on myself. Thus, my single serving oatmeal cookie was produced!

This cookie takes about five minutes total to assemble and bake. You can’t really tell from the pictures but after cooling for about three minutes, the cookie just popped right out of the bowl and I could hold it like a real cookie!! It was so cute and awesome. Actually, just baking it was really cute. I’m used to using cups and cups of flour and sugar for my large scale baking endeavors but this simply required small teaspoons of ingredients! It was adorable and really fun. The end result was surprisingly good. The cookie was a little but chewy, but it still reminded me very much of an Oatmeal cookie. Given that it was cooked in the microwave I was fairly impressed with the outcome. I ended up making two of them for myself (darn my oatmeal cookie addiction!) but they were the perfect night snack and a good way to practice portion control (if you’re into that kind of thing). Another thing I thought of after the fact is that these would be SO much better if some chocolate chips were thrown in them! Next time! (AKA every night ever)

ONE SERVING MICROWAVE OATMEAL COOKIE

The Ingredients:

1/4 cup oats
1 egg white
2 tsp brown sugar
2 tsp all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp baking powder
Cinnamon (as desired)
Chocolate Chips (technically optional but let’s be realistic… they’re never optional)

The Method:

1. Combine all of the ingredients in one (microwave safe) bowl and mix together well until a consistent dough forms
2. Scrape the dough from the sides of the bowl and form into a flat cookie shape on the bottom
3. Microwave on high for 45 seconds
4. Allow to cool for a few minutes
5. Pop the cookie out of the bowl and enjoy!

First week back in the Big Easy – Oreo Marshmallow Bars

Hello friends! Sorry that it has been almost a whole week since I have posted on here but I had to take a several day hiatus from any baking activity in order to move in to my apartment down here in New Orleans. Things have been a little hectic and I lacked the means to bake anything for the first few days down here.

I have since settled in though and I finally found the time to focus on mind on having some fun in the kitchen! I really enjoyed this first baking adventure in my new apartment for several reasons:
1. I didn’t’ have to use the oven, which is nice when the temperature outside never drops below 90 degrees
2. I had to be a little creative when deciding what to make because the ingredients I have available to me were limited to the small convenience store we have on campus

I was walking around the aforementioned convenience store trying to think of what I could make when my eyes landed on the marshmallows, “RICE KRISPY TREATS!” was my first thought and I grabbed the bag of mallows and some butter. Then I went to go get some Rice Krispy cereal and realized that they didn’t have any. I woefully stared at my other cereal options deciding which ones would be a good replacement for RK when my eyes landed on the Oreos next to the cereal on the shelf. I’m a big fan of Oreos. They’re crunchy, sweet, chocolatey, and vegan (who knew?). I picked up a box for myself and as I was standing there with the marshmallows and Oreos in my hand I knew at once that I was going to try a little experiment and combine the two for the ultimate treat. Thus, this magical indulgence was born!

I call them Oreo marshmallow bars because that’s what they are! I can’t think of a name more perfect for them. They’re incredibly easy to make and they take almost no time at all. You get to crush Oreos in a bag too, so they’re a great stress reliever for if you really feel like punching something. I mean, if you’re gonna punch something it might as well be a big bag of Oreos that you get to shove your mouth with later!

A few things to note from my experiment: After they set (and after I ate 3 straight from the pan… woops) I found that they were extremely difficult to remove smoothly from the pan, so maybe I would spray the pan before I put the mixture in. Also, depending on your crunch preference level you could mash the Oreos up a little bit more than I did. Or not, I liked em my way to be perfectly honest.

OREO MARSHMALLOW BARS

The Ingredients:
1 package of Double Stuffed Oreos (it’s like 30 Oreos I think)
1 bag of mini marshmallows (somewhere around 6 cups to be more accurate)
1/2 stick of butter

The Method:
1. Place all of the Oreos in a bag and smash with a rolling pin or other heavy object until they are smushed to tiny bits
2. In a large pot heat the butter and marshmallows and stir until the two have melted together and have reached a smooth consistency
3. Remove the marshmallows from heat and add the crushed oreos
4. Mix and mix and mix!
5. Pour into an 8×8 baking dish and let sit in the fridge for ~15 minutes
6. Cut into 12 sections and enjoy!

One final hurrah – Chocolate Sugar Cookies

I’m pretty much an expert on saying goodbye. At least three times a year I bid adieu to my home, my family, my boyfriend, and of course, my cat. Now it is once again time for me to pack up and head down to school in New Orleans. Once again, I must say goodbye. Missing my loved ones is not something I have an easy time with, and now I have added one more beloved item to my long list of things I will miss irrevocably. My mother’s beautiful Kitchenaid electric mixer! They all but had to drag me kicking and screaming away from that magical machine. Baking will never be simple again without it in my kitchen.

However, before I left it all behind in New Hampshire I made sure to get in one last chance to use it. I decided that whatever my last baked good in my mom’s kitchen was going to be needed to be my best yet. This way, no matter what disasters await me in my ill-equipped and dangerously tiny kitchen at school, I would have one final delicious memory.

For this special treat I decided to put a fun spin on an old classic. Plain sugar cookies are some of the most wonderful tasting morsels that we can experience on this earth, add chocolate to them? Well, forget about it! People were swooning for these cookies (myself included) and it will not be the final time that I make them. I made mine pretty big, because I was not settling for any bite sized cookies. You could probably get more cookies out of this recipe by rolling smaller balls of dough and shortening the baking time by a minute or so. I recommend making them jumbo though, you’re gonna want to eat a lot at once anyways! Besides the fact that these cookies simply tasted amazing, they also had that chewy and soft texture that just makes cookies perfect. Seriously, I can’t brag about myself enough with these cookies. You’ll just have to try them for yourself and see what I’m talking about!

CHOCOLATE SUGAR COOKIES:

The Ingredients:
2 cups + 2 tbsp flour
¾ cup cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
¾ tsp salt
2 ½ sticks unsalted butter
2 cups sugar, plus 1/2 cup
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla

The Method:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Mix flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt together
3. Using a standing mixer (#BAE), cream the butter and 2 cups sugar together
4. Add the eggs and vanilla to butter and sugar
5. Add the flour mixture in slowly until it is all combined
6. Roll dough into balls and roll balls in sugar
7. Bake for ~12 minutes
8. Enjoy!

Gluten free goodies – Maple peanut butter cookies

I have to be honest with you all about something, I have absolutely no idea what gluten is. Nada. None. Zilch. I know that people with Celiacs can’t eat it, I know that it’s in pizza & beer, and i know that to get products without it costs you almost double your money. Beyond that, what exactly gluten is is a complete mystery to me. Once I found out it was in flour and that basically everything delicious in the world is made of it, I counted my lucky stars that I’m not intolerant of this mysterious compound. (Is compound the right word? Is it an element? who knows!?) However, two of my very good friends are. Intolerant, that is. In honor of them I decided to incorporate some flour-less baked goods into my repertoire. After doing a bit of searching around on the interwebs, I discovered that for flour-less baking to successful (and delicious), peanut butter needs to get involved. Okay you guys, I’m about to drop another bomb on you – I hate peanut butter. Fortunately, these cookies weren’t for me so I decided to go ahead and make them anyways regardless of my interests. I’m not the gluten-free one here, this project was not about my own desires!

Here’s the thing, I don’t own regular peanut butter. The only peanut butter that I have is Mighty Maple peanut butter from Peanut Butter & Co. While I hate regular PB, this company’s flavored stuff is much more tolerable and I can actually be found eating it from time to time. That’s the secret ingredient to this cookie – it’s what gives them the subtle (and wonderful) maple-y aftertaste.

The results of this gluten free adventure were wildly successful. The cookies didn’t last long at work, and people who didn’t even care about gluten free baking were munching down on these things like they were the best cookies in the world. (Actually, I was told that they might be!) Honestly, I think because I decided to go flour-less instead of using a replacement flour, these cookies are accessible to a number of crowds beyond just the gluten free folk. My only recommendation would be to double the recipe, otherwise the cookies won’t last long!

GF Maple Peanut Butter Cookies

The Ingredients:
1 cup maple peanut butter
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup sugar
1 egg

The Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Beat the maple peanut butter & sugar in a bowl, then mix in the baking powder and add the egg. Mix well until well combined
3. Roll the dough into small balls and place balls on a baking sheet (this is where I chose to make a pretty design on top of the cookies with a fork!)
4. Bake for 10 minutes
5. Enjoy!

Gotta catch ’em all! – Pokeball Sugar Cookies

Nostalgia. That sentimental feeling of remembrance for a time long in the past. Recently I experienced a great wave of nostalgia when I decided to bake these Pokeball cookies. These adorable sugar cookies were not for me, they were for a friend of mine who absolutely LOVES Pokemon. He refuses to outgrow the little Japanese cartoon animals and so I decided to make these special treats for him.

While I was making these cookies, I couldn’t help but remember Pokemon’s place in my own childhood. Every Saturday morning I would jump out of bed at an hour that seems obscene to me now. I would run downstairs and search endlessly for the remote until I could turn on the television to my Saturday morning lineup. This always included Power Rangers, Recess, Doug, and of course, Pokemon! I watched all of my shows and waited for my mom to come downstairs and pour me my cereal (frosted mini wheats of course!) These memories all came rushing back to me during the course of this baking adventure. Oh how I wish my life was still that simple…

Anyways, these cookies were a gift for my friend, but I can imagine they would also be good for a Pokemon themed birthday party, or if you also simply want to relive the simpler times… The process to make these cookies is a bit more involved than usual, but each step is important to achieve that perfect taste and texture! They tasted lovely and my friend was overjoyed with his present!

POKEBALL SUGAR COOKIES

The Ingredients:
3/4 cup butter
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp water

The Method:
1. In a large bowl, mix together sugar and butter until smooth. Beat in vanilla and 2 eggs until smooth
2. In a medium bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, and salt till well blended
3. Add the flour mixture to the wet mixture slowly one cup at a time to blend well. Once blended, take out half of the dough and set aside
4. To the remaining half, add red food coloring and mix until a deep red color is achieved
5. Cover both halves and chill dough for an hour
6. Once chilled, roll both into logs about the size you want your cookie
7. Place these logs into the freezer for about a half an hour
8. Make an egg wash by mixing one egg and water in a bowl
9. Cut each log down the middle, long side and match each red half with a white half
10. Paint the halves with the egg wash so they stick to each other and place back in freezer for 15 minutes
11. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F
12. Take dough from freezer and cut into 1/2 inch thick cookies
13. Place cookies 1 inch apart on a cookie sheet and bake for 6 to 8 minutes
14. Cool cookies completely then take out your black icing and draw a line down the center where the red and white dough tough. Then in the center of the line, make a dime size circle, fill it in and place a white chocolate chip in the center of the circle
15. Enjoy!

My morning miracle – White Chocolate Coconut Scones

I think that the Gods and Goddesses of baking are watching over me. Why do I think this? Well, this morning I made coconut white chocolate scones and almost everything that could have gone wrong, did go wrong. However, in the end, they still turned out INCREDIBLY scrumptious! It’s kind of a miracle.

I woke up extra early to make this morning time treat for my friends. That was my first problem, I had barely wiped the sleep from my eyes when I began pulling ingredients. The second problem arose when I was jolted awake by the realization that I didn’t have enough flour! While that might deter the ordinary baker from continuing, I remained determined to see these scones through! I was only about 1/4 cup short of flour so I began scouring my pantry for something I could potentially use as a filler. I found cake flour. I won’t lie, I have no idea what the difference between regular flour and cake flour is, but I decided they were similar enough that the cake flour could be used to make up for the little bit I needed. I continued mixing all of the ingredients and hoped that the risk would pay off.

are they not the same thing? — are these not the same thing?

The next hitch in the plan came when the recipe called for the use of a pastry knife to mix in the butter. A what? I thought about looking up what that was and figuring out the proper way to use one. I thought about doing that, I really did, but then I just used my hands to mix it in instead. I really hoped that whatever a pastry knife was worked in a similar way to fingers! After that, the only problem was that I didn’t cut the scones into even triangles so some of them were HUGE! While some were teeny tiny! I don’t truly consider that a problem though because in the end, people just had size options!

After the entire baking adventure was complete and the scones were done, I felt good about the outcome. The last step was to “drizzle” white chocolate over the top of them. We all know how good I am at doing that… NOT. So I didn’t even try, I just melted the chocolate and smeared it on top with a knife! Nobody complained. Everybody loved them. One of my co-workers told me that they were, “the best scones I’ve ever had!” Wow! I tried a bite and I won’t lie, they are amazing.

I’m telling ya, I’m being watched by the mysterious Gods and Goddesses of baking!

WHITE CHOCOLATE COCONUT SCONES

The Ingredients:
2 cups flour
3 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup butter, cold and cut into cubes
3/4 cup heavy cream
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup +2-3 tablespoons coconut
1/3 cup white chocolate

The Method:
1. Preheat oven to 375
2. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl
3. Mix in cold butter with your hands (or the mysterious pastry knife) until butter is mixed in and the dough is crumbly
4. In a separate bowl, mix egg cream and vanilla
5. Add the wet into the dry ingredients and mix just until combined
6. Stir in 1/2 cup coconut
7. Form dough into a flat round disk, about 8-9 inches in diameter
8. Place on a baking sheet and cut into 12 triangles
9. Brush each triangle with a a little bit more cream (just enough so the coconut will stick) and then sprinkle with the coconut
10. Bake for 20 minutes
11. Melt white chocolate in the microwave
12. “Drizzle” melted chocolate over scones
13. ENJOY!

We all scream for ice cream! – Multi-layered Ice Cream Cake

This weekend is my good friend’s birthday! Since I’ve been so inclined to bake lately I asked him, “If you could have any kind of cake in the entire world for your birthday what would it be?” Much to my surprise, without a thought, he responded, “ICE CREAM CAKE!” This man is turning 34. Regardless, I was excited by the unexpected challenge so I began doing some research on ice cream cakes.

It seemed relatively simple, just layers of ice cream and cake! Pretty much exactly what I expected. I, however, was having a particularly busy week and the amount of work seemed like it would very time consuming. A project for the weekend perhaps. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a weekend since the party was planned with only a few days notice. Instead, a neighbor of mine told me about a really simple way to assemble a delicious ice cream cake in no time at all and thus, this method was conceived!

Making this ice cream cake for him and enjoying it with the company of my friends reminded me that there is no age limit on the pure, unadulterated enjoyment that ice cream cake can give. Who says adults can’t act like kids from time to time? I’m certainly not mature and responsible most of the time anyways! The night was a blast, we all dressed up and went out to a local Nepalese restaurant for dinner. Then we drove to my house for cake, a bonfire, and swimming! I love happy summer nights like that – what a treat.

SUPER SIMPLE AND QUICK ICE CREAM CAKE

The Ingredients:
18 generic grocery store ice cream sandwiches
cool whip
food coloring (optional)
sprinkles (NOT optional)

The Method:
1. If desired, dye the cool whip the color you want the outside of your cake. The cool whip is the “frosting”
2. Begin by laying down six of the ice cream sandwiches side by side in a large baking dish
3. Cover the 6 sandwiches in a layer of cool whip
4. Lay down six more sandwiches on top of the cool whip layer in the opposite direction (see pictures)
5. Cover those sandwiches with another layer of cool whip
6. Continue this process with one more layer of sandwiches
7. Frost the entire outside of the cake with cool whip
8. Top with sprinkles
9. Freeze for at least a few hours, overnight if possible
10. Allow the cake to thaw for 15 minutes before serving
11. Enjoy!

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