Showing posts with label cookies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cookies. Show all posts
September 5, 2013
OMG! Cookies
August 13, 2013
Whale look who's two!
It's been a long time since I've made my little whales and it was so much fun! I forgot just how cute these little whales were. This time around I made them for Konrad who was celebrating his second birthday. His party theme this year was All Things In the Sea and the whales were a perfect fit. You might remember these little guys from a few years ago when I first made them. It was then that I also invented my Sincere Strawberry Cupcakes which I also made for Konrad. I topped all the cupcakes with a very generous dollop of Vanilla Swiss Meringue Buttercream.
June 23, 2013
Pattern Play Baby Shower
A few weeks ago I received an email from Debbie to make a very special cake to celebrate the upcoming birth of her very first grandchild. The theme for the shower was "monsters" but the design of the cake was totally open. I wanted to find a good balance between being uber cute (like the one I made for Mikey's first birthday) and sophisticated. When Debbie showed me the invitation she made, I was instantly inspired.
May 24, 2013
Ava's Cheerleading Birthday Party
January 19, 2013
Mikey's Monster 1st Birthday
October 11, 2012
Easy Peasy Reese's Pieces Blondies
Several years ago, back when I first started blogging, I came up with a recipe for Snickerdoodle Blondies for one of my coworkers. This little recipe has been one of the my most popular, only second to my Better Than Starbucks Lemon Poundcake, and has a bit of a cult following. There are so many reasons to love this recipe: they take almost no time to make, their taste and texture appeals to the pickiest of palettes, they are inexpensive to make, they smell amazing when they are baking.. I could go on and on! Not only that but you probably have the ingredients for them in your kitchen right now. No pomp or circumstance needed! Just real butter, please but that should go without saying.
February 23, 2010
Big Birthday Brownie
I made this asymmetrical-on-purpose brownie birthday treat to celebrate little Aliana's 5th birthday. To help me get calibrated to the way she made her hearts, Aliana drew me several hearts just to help me get inspired. Big colorful, curvy, bubbly, slanted hearts filled several pages of paper and some even had smiley faces on them! Kristina, Aliana's proud mom, told me that sometimes Aliana liked to add a little bumpy border to the outside of hearts too.
September 1, 2009
Teensy-Weensy Turnovers
Aren't these darling? Kids of all ages can't help but fall head-over-heals in love with these little guys - they are just so adorable! And if cuteness wasn't enough, they are a breeze to make, relatively inexpensive, and you don't have to have any special equipment to make them. Wouldn't these would be a fun little project for the wee-ones to make the next time you have a rainy Saturday and nothing fun to do?
June 1, 2009
Adele's Peppermint Heart Cookies with Peppermint Buttercream Frosting
One Christmas season many, many years ago, I was invited to bake cookies with my friend Adele and her family. It was an annual tradition for them, something I found to be completely foreign. The only things I recall my mother ever baking were a lackluster lemon meringue pies at Thanksgiving and drop-biscuits that were super dry and literally tasted the way Bisquick smells. My mom could cook like no body's business, but baking was never her forte.
May 19, 2009
Dark Chocolate Chunk Chestnut Muffin-top Cookies
This cookie is so good, it's actually smiling! Do you see the face?
For a while now, my blog's name has worried me a bit. Not because I don't like the name, but because I've never really pushed myself to try baking with flour other than wheat, almond, or oatmeal, as the name might suggest. But today I'm proud to announce that all that has changed! I'm going to make an effort to regularly bake with a different flour at least once a month. And to kick things off, I decided to look for the most unusual one I could find: chestnut flour!
March 26, 2009
Pistachio, Cranberry, and Chocolate Chip Biscotti
Even though I'm usually thinking about baking the majority of my time, I do have a day job that's about as far away from baking as one can get. I work in the world of technology as a business analyst and one of the interesting things about my job and the company I work for is that each time I'm assigned to work on a project, I get to work with a different group of other IT professionals. These include functional analysts, developers, testers, product management professionals, designers, and information architects, among others. The majority of my teammates work in the same building as I do in Washington state, but several work in other branches as far away as Georgia and Texas.February 14, 2009
Chocolate Brownie Cocoa Sliders
Naming this recipe was a challenge for me. I came up with Three Wishes Cookies, Mollycoddles, M'oreos, and the predictable Brownie Sandwiches, but none of them sounded right. Since I was bringing these to work, I asked my coworkers for their ideas. They rose to the challenge and came up with "Cocoa Sliders". Considering how much these little cuties resemble little chocolate hamburgers, it made perfect sense.
October 26, 2008
Chris's Banana Pumpkin Muffin Top Cookies
Originally I had set out to make Chris my pumpkin oatmeal cookies, but when I reviewed the recipe, I knew he wouldn't like it. You see, Chris was very clear that he didn't want ANY raisins near his oatmeal cookie and my recipe was chock full of them.
So I got online and started looking for an alternate. I found several but was intrigued by this recipe on for banana oatmeal cookies on Allrecipes.com. It was well reviewed and I was really curious to see how the banana would influence the cookie's flavor and texture.
A strange thing happened with these cookies: they morphed into mini muffins tops! They retained their cookie-scoop dome-like shape while they baked and were rather dense and cake-like inside. The oatmeal gave the cookies a slight nut-like texture. Even though these cookies only had one mashed banana, it gave them a distinctive banana flavor but not much that you couldn't taste the pumpkin. I almost frosted the tops of these little guys because they looked so plain but I'm really glad I didn't. These weren't overly sweet and very breakfasty.
Normally I don't eat a lot of what I bake, maybe a bite or two but I hate seven of these cookies yesterday. Seven. Maybe I liked these a little too much!
Banana Pumpkin Muffin Top Cookies
Yield: 48 cookies
Adapted from Allrecipes.com
1 1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup white sugar
1 egg, at room temperature
1 small banana, mashed
1 cup pumpkin
2 cups old fashioned oats (not quick cooking)
Preheat oven to 400F.
Sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, nutmeg and cinnamon.
Cream together the butter, shortening and sugar; beat until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add egg, banana, pumpkin, and oatmeal. Mix well.
Add dry ingredients, mix well and drop by the teaspoon on ungreased cookie sheet (use Silpat mat or parchment paper).
Bake cookies for 9 minutes or until edges turn lightly brown. Cool on wire rack. Store in a closed container
Yield: 48 cookies
Adapted from Allrecipes.com
1 1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup white sugar
1 egg, at room temperature
1 small banana, mashed
1 cup pumpkin
2 cups old fashioned oats (not quick cooking)
Preheat oven to 400F.
Sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, nutmeg and cinnamon.
Cream together the butter, shortening and sugar; beat until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add egg, banana, pumpkin, and oatmeal. Mix well.
Add dry ingredients, mix well and drop by the teaspoon on ungreased cookie sheet (use Silpat mat or parchment paper).
Bake cookies for 9 minutes or until edges turn lightly brown. Cool on wire rack. Store in a closed container
October 21, 2008
The New York Times Chocolate Chip Cookies
Guess what? I'm in love with birthdays. I love how it's a holiday that is super personal and can't be overly merchandised. I love that there is one day a year that I can have permission to spoil a friend or even an acquaintance. I can honestly say that birthdays are my favorite holiday; I even look forward to it more than Christmas.
September 16, 2008
Three Great Dog Biscuit Recipes
Before I left for vacation last month, I volunteered to make something for the United Way Giving Campaign at work. At first I assumed I could just bake a few dozen cupcakes or some caramel dipped pretzels but quickly learned that home-baked goods for humans were prohibited for company sponsored events. Um...what? The kind woman who was organizing the event had to break the bad news to me and suggested that I consider making dog or cat treats instead. What an incredibly awesome idea!
August 22, 2008
Cinnamon Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
Yesterday was my friend Matthew's birthday and he said he wanted cookies, with chocolate chips, and cinnamon. Not too terribly difficult a request except I have been a whirling dervish all week and waited until the last possible minute to make them. Since I didn't have time (or patience!) to make 7 or 8 dozen cookies, I opted for a short cut and made bars instead. He was very pleased with my newest invention and didn't feel cheated at all. In fact, I think he might have liked them better!
July 25, 2008
Chocolate Cashew Raisin Oatmeal Cookie: A Tribute
Back in October of last year, I stumbled upon a website that featured a video with the title, “Dying 47 year-old Professor Gives Exuberant ‘Last Lecture'”. The premise of a dying professor giving his last and final lecture intrigued me so I decided to check it out. As it started to play I realized the video was over an hour and a half long. I figured I’d watch the first ten or so minutes and move on but I ended up watching the entire thing! What I didn’t expect was to find Randy Pausch so likeable, humble, and funny. I thought I'd see a frail, bitter man but instead I saw someone who looked healthy, with a beaming smile and kind eyes. Within moments of arriving on stage he said, “If I don't seem as depressed or morose as I should be, sorry to disappoint you” and then starting doing push-ups! I was hooked.
July 3, 2008
From Hellas with Love: Baklava
Ever since I was in kindergarten, I wished I was Greek. My mom, my sister, and my sister's boyfriend all worked at the same Greek restaurant and they made the BEST Greek food. The owners had a daughter my age and we were best friends. I spent a lot of time over her house and loved being surrounded by her Greek culture. Her Yaya (grandma) lived directly behind her and she was the sweetest woman! She made the most delicious avgolemeno soup I have ever had. I wanted a Yaya of my own so badly that one of my mom's good friends let me call her Yaya -- and I still do, a good 25 years later!June 24, 2008
Behemoth Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake
June 23, 2008
30 Calorie Chocolate Chip Meringue Cookies
Please allow me to present the thirty calorie cookie... you know you want one, don't you? Go ahead, indulge! The best part of this cookie aside from the fact that they taste heavenly, is that you don't have to feel guilty eating them. 
