Grammy's Chocolate Cookies

And then I was  procrastinating and a little depressed, which can only lead to one thing: baking.  My mom and I were talking about what we do when we're sad; she eats, I bake.  I'm not sure if we're perfectly made to be depressed together, or if we're a dangerous, fat-enabling duo.  Unfortunately, my mom isn't here to eat these cookies, so the task has been left to me.  I am a dangerous, one woman, fat-enabler.

Moving on...I decided to choose a cookie that didn't require me leaving the house, and these soft beauties were it!

Grammy's Chocolate Cookies

From Martha Stewart

Hit the link for the recipe.  They're soft and delicious.  A few reviewers noted that they're perfect for add-ins: sliced almonds, mint chips, toffee bits.  Next time I make them, I'll have to spice them up a little.  I always prefer to experience a cookie for the first time without any fancy touches.

Did I mention they're rolled in sugar?  Reminds me of the Gingerbread Softies I made for the holidays.  The recipe calls for sanding sugar, but, come on, Martha, I ain't that fancy.

Not only am I getting great recipes out of my cookbooks, but I'm picking up tricks for my own food photography.

Baby Shower: Cranberry Orange Pinwheels

This baby shower was a great opportunity to try baking new recipes.  I had never made a cake that wasn't chocolate or from the box before this party and I had never made pinwheel cookies.  Something about rolling out dough, mixing the filling, chilling it, and cutting it down to size turned me off.  Too many steps for this self-professed lazy baker?  Probably.

This party made me face my pinwheel fears and attack them head on!  I was so wrong about pinwheels.  They were super easy and yummy.  They are a crunchier cookie, which usually I'm not a fan of, but these were good.  A few people who tried them said they'd be great for a Thanksgiving treat - apparently cranberry is only allowed out in public when the turkey comes out.

Give em a try!

Cranberry-Orange Pinwheels

From Better Homes and Gardens

I highly recommend buying the BHG cookbook. :)

1 cup cranberries

1 cup pecans

¼ cup packed brown sugar

1 cup butter, softened

1 ½ cups granulated sugar

½ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

2 eggs

2 teaspoons finely shredded orange peel

3 ¼ cups all-purpose flour

1. For filling, in a blender container or food processor bowl combine cranberries, pecans, and brown sugar. Cover and blend or process until cranberries and nuts are finely chopped; set filling aside.

Hidden bonus: you get to eat a whole orange while making the pinwheels!

2. In a large mixing bowl beat butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add granulated sugar, baking powder, and salt. Beat until combined, scraping sides of bowl occasionally. Beat in eggs and orange peel until combined. Beat in as much of the flour as you can with the mixer. Stir in any remaining flour. Divide dough in half. Cover and chill dough about 1 hour or until easy to handle.

3. Roll half of the dough between pieces of waxed paper into a 10-inch square. Spread half of the filling over dough square to within 1/2 inch of edges; roll up dough. Moisten edges; pinch to seal. Wrap in waxed paper or plastic wrap. Repeat with remaining dough and filling. Chill for 4 to 24 hours.

4. Cut rolls into 1/4-inch slices . Place slices 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake in a 375 degrees degree F oven for 8 to 10 minutes or until edges are firm and bottoms are lightly browned. Cool on cookie sheet for 1 minute. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool. Makes about 60 cookies

Valentine's Day Sugar Cookies

Happy Valentine's Day to all!

More importantly, happy birthday to my awesome mother and to my adorable niece!

In honor of Valentine's Day (and my apparent need to bake something every week) I made sugar cookies over the weekend.

The heart cookie cutters were a gift, but I believe they're sold at Target.

The sugar cookie recipe can be found here - I Am Momma Hear Me Roar

I used the same buttercream frosting recipe from the Cherry Vanilla Cake - Allrecipes Easy Buttercream Frosting

When you're baking these - err on the side of caution and pull them out as soon as you think they're ready.  I left my first batch in a little too long and they're crunchy.  I learned my lesson and the rest were happy and soft.

Baby Shower: Cherry Vanilla Cake

For the baby shower, I wanted all my baked goods to have pink or purple in some way.  An overkill of pink, one might say.

When I found this recipe for Cherry Vanilla Cake, I could not have been more excited.

Source Sprinkle Bakes

I'm not the biggest maraschino cherry fan, but they are barely perceptible in this cake.  I would say the cake is more Cherry Almond, as there is no vanilla in the cake itself, but almond.  The vanilla comes into play in the frosting.

I doubled the recipe since I had two 9" baking pans, and the recipe on the site is only for one 9" pan.  I also had made a test cake a few weeks prior to the shower and found out that splitting the single recipe into two pans yielded cakes that didn't create a tall cake.  I wanted a tall, dramatic cake, so doubling the recipe was a must!

I didn't make the buttercream frosting that's on this site because it was WAY too many steps, and I just was not putting that much effort into frosting.  Whisking eggs over simmering water? No thanks.

I used this easy buttercream frosting recipe from Allrecipes.com and it turned out delicious.  I'm sure the Sprinkle Bakes recipe is delish and you won't be disappointed if you try it, but for those you who are lazy like I am, go with the Allrecipes one.

And then there was my bootleg copy of the Sprinkle Bakes cake.  Mine's not as pretty, but it tasted great!

I'm also looking to learn new tips and tricks for food photography.  I received a Canon EOS Rebel XS for Christmas/early birthday present (thank you again, Dad!), and I'm dying to take better pictures of everything I put on the blog for you, especially food.  If you know any tip sites or are a food photographer yourself, please email me or leave a comment!

Baby Shower: The Spread

Today's baby shower installment is all about the spread!  This will be mostly pictures, and I'll post recipes for a few of the treats made later this week.

Check out that spread!  The shower was at 2 in the afternoon, so I opted for desserts and snacks.  The fruit salads and tomato tarts (I think that's what they're called) were made by three of the party's attendees.  Thank you again, ladies!  There were a few other treats brought, unfortunately there were no photos of the table once everyone got there.  There was just too much fun being had to remember picture taking!

The flowers were inexpensive bouquets from Publix.  The paper lanterns were purchased at Hobby Lobby.  I had originally planned to hang them, but ran out of time, so they became giant "bubbles" on the main table.

It was very convenient that the shower happened to be around Valentine's Day.   I had no problem getting colorful M&Ms.

The mom-to-be requested something of the peanut butter and chocolate variety, so I whipped up some from-the-box brownies and drizzled melted peanut butter on top before baking.

It wouldn't be a party without oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.  Just sayin'.  I live and die by the OCCC.

This is the first time I've made a pinwheel cookie, and they were easy and yummy.  These have orange peel in the dough and crushed pecans, cranberries, and brown sugar in the filling.

This cake was my baby.  Cherry-almond cake with vanilla buttercream frosting.  Sadly, I have no pictures of the inside, but it's PINK, which was the whole reason I decided to make it.  It was seriously yummy, as was the frosting.  I'll post a recipe for this one later this week, fo sho.  The heart toppers are from the Dollar Tree.

So that's the food spread.  In case you're wondering, the little glass ornaments floating around the table are bubbles.  They were super easy.  I'll post a little how-to for those in this series, as well.

Sour Milk Blueberry Pancakes

I decided to whip up some pancakes the other morning, but I didn't want to make the usual plain pancakes.  Can you say boring?!  I opted to do a little variation on the plain old buttermilk pancakes recipe that's in Better Homes & Gardens.

Sour Milk Blueberry Pancakes
adapted from Better Homes & Gardens

1 cup white flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
2 tbs granulated sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 1/2 cups sour milk* or buttermilk
3 tbs melted butter (you can sub oil, but I love me some butter.  Paula Deen and I will soon have diabetes in common)
1 tsp vanilla
1/2-3/4 cup fruit

In a large bowl stir together flours, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, & salt.  In another bowl use fork to combine egg, milk, butter, & vanilla.  Add egg mixture all at once to flour mixture.  Stir in fruit.  Stir just until moistened (batter should be slightly lumpy).

For each pancake, pour 1/4 cup batter onto a hot, slightly greased griddle.  Cook over medium heat until pancakes are golden brown, turning to second side when pancakes are bubbly & edges are slightly dry.

Serve warm with whatever toppings make your heart sing.  For my husband, that means (homemade) whipped cream and maple syrup!  If you've never eaten homemade whipped cream, you're missing out.  It's 1000x better than store bought.

*MAKING SOUR MILK: For each 1 cup of sour milk, place 1 tbs of lemon juice or vinegar in a glass measuring cup.  Add enough milk to make 1 cup total liquid; stir.  Let it stand for 5 minutes before using.

Chocolate Cupcakes + Cream Cheese Frosting

Because, well, who doesn't love cupcakes?

This recipe may not be holiday related, but I've been craving these for a while now.  The Chocolate Cake and Cream Cheese Frosting recipes are both from the beloved Better Homes & Gardens Cookbook.

Chocolate Cake

Better Homes & Gardens Cook Book

3/4 cup butter
3 eggs
2 cups flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups sugar
2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cup milk

Allow eggs & butter to stand for 30 minutes.  Prepare cupcake pan or grease bottom of 2 round cake pans & lightly flour.  (As this is a chocolate cake, flour the pan with cocoa powder!)  Set aside.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a medium bowl stir together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.  Set aside

In a large mixing bowl beat butter on medium to high speed for 30 seconds.  Gradually add sugar, 1/2 cup at a time, beating on medium speed until well-combined.  Scrape sides of bowl; beat 2 minutes.  Add eggs 1 at a time, beating after each addition.  Beat in vanilla.

Alternatively add flour mixture & milk to butter mixture, beating on low speed after each addition until combined.  Beat on medium to high speed for 20 more seconds.  Spread into prepared pans or scoop into cupcake tins.

Bake 30-35 minutes for cake, 20-25 minutes for cupcakes or until toothpick comes out clean.  Cool in pans on cooling rack for 10 minutes.  Remove from pans and cool.

Cream Cheese Frosting

Better Homes & Gardens Cook Book

1 8-oz package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 tsp vanilla
4 1/2-5 1/2 cups powdered sugar

In a large mixing bowl, beat cream cheese, butter, & vanilla on medium speed until light and fluffy.  Gradually beat in powdered sugar to reach spreading consistency.  This time I used about 5 cups, but I prefer a little bit sweeter frosting, so you may want less.  Don't be afraid to taste test while you're mixing!

This also makes way more frosting than I have ever used, so I suggest topping off your regular snacks with it: ice cream + frosting, chocolate chip cookies + frosting, and my personal favorite stew + frosting.  Just kidding...or am I?

Your eyes don't deceive you, that is a hammer, bottle of rubbing alcohol, and the lining of a helmet in the background.  Our kitchen counter tends to have a random assortment of junk on it.  Don't judge me.

I have already eaten far too many (7...okay maybe 8) of these in 48 hours, again, don't you judge me.  They're delicious.

In yo' face!

Holiday Baking Line-up

I am thisclose to being done with the third quarter (out of five) of my Master of Library and Information Science!  Very exciting, but even more exciting is the holiday baking that is about to take over my kitchen.  Cookies, cupcakes, bars, and dog treats are all on my to-do list.  (Too bad I don't have a fancy Kitchenaid Stand Mixer....yet...)  Tomorrow, I will be hitting up the store for all my baking needs, so today I'm sharing the starting line-up for Christmas 2011.

Dog Treats
Shadow rolls with a pretty tight crew of pups, so a few homemade treats with a nice Christmas bow will be perfect gifts.
1. Cinnamon Bites
2. Peanut Butter Cookies
3. Puppy Power Treats
All three recipes come from Throw Me a Bone by Cooper Gillespie with Sally Sampson.  It was an impulse buy over a year ago that I just found sitting with the rest of my recipe books.  This will be my first venture into homemade dog treats and I'm pretty excited.

Human Treats
1. Peppermint Bark
2. Graham Bars
3. Candy Cane Cookies
4. Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies
5. Sugar Cookies
6. Pinwheels
7. Gingerbread Softies
8. Plain, old Chocolate Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting (Because I'm a fatty, and have been craving them for weeks.)

Our lovely (fake) Christmas tree.

Here's hoping I can:
1. actually whip all of these up
2. not gain 30 pounds in the process.

Enjoy your week, INM readers.  Keep an eye out for recipe posts with pictures and a new Words on Wednesday.

Green: Homemade Laundry Detergent

Thanks to StumbleUpon, I've discovered a bunch of great recipes (as I discussed in my last post), but I've also discovered a bunch of great "Go Green" ideas.  Today, I decided to try out one of the many I've bookmarked - Homemade Laundry Detergent!

I used this recipe from diy Natural.  I meandered over to my local Publix grocery store, partly for the ingredients, but mainly for some not-yet-a-mother Mother's Day present to myself (okay, mayyybe I let Tyson have one or two).  I was shocked and super pumped at how inexpensive the ingredients were.  If this stuff really works then we could save a TON of money on laundry detergent!

For all three ingredients I paid: $8.87 (which will end up making me 4 batches, since I only bought a 4-pack of Ivory, but the Borax & washing soda will last for more than that) versus $10-$20 for one jug of brand name detergent filled with chemicals and other harmful ingredients.

Jabs' recipe calls for:

1 shaved bar of bar soap
1 Cup Borax
1 Cup Super Washing Soda

Stir it all up and use a tablespoon per load (use another tablespoon if the load's extra nasty).  Could it be any simpler?  I mean, come on!  Simple, earth-friendly, AND wallet-friendly?  I'm in Heaven.

I've already used the detergent on a load of delicates, and can say that they smell fresh and clean and were not harmed in the wash (I was convinced they'd come out horribly splotched and ruined - why I tried it on my delicates first, I cannot say...).  I'm waiting for the hamper to fill up with workout clothes, so I can give the detergent a real test of stink-removal. I won't lie, I sweat a lot when I work out, and Tyson is a stink machine -- our children are definitely out of luck in the smell department if genetics have anything to do with it)

I'm thinking about adding a little fragrance oil to make the detergent smell extra nice to give as a gift in a nicely decorated jar.  DIY GIFT!



This post brought to you by: grad school procrastination!