Banana Bread

My banana bread recipe... which Matthew claims is the best banana bread he has ever had.

He might be biased, but I'll take the praise!



Ingredients:

1/3 cup applesauce (unsweetened)
1/4 cup spread margarine
1 and 1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup white sugar
3 small ripe bananas. Mine had been dropped on the floor by a seven month old, so they were not just ripe, but a tad bruised as well.
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/3 cup chopped pecans

Directions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Lightly grease a regular bread loaf pan.

In a large bowl, cream the applesauce, margarine  and sugar. Add vanilla. Sift in the flour, baking soda and salt. Blend in the mashed bananas. Stir in the pecan pieces. Pour batter into prepared pan. (I used a medium spatuala to do the mixing and smooshing etc)

Bake in preheated oven for 60 minutes, or until it tests done with a toothpick. It was almost exactly 60 mins for me

Cool in pan for 10 mins, then transfer to wire rack and cool upside down.

It is dense and sweet and oh so yummy!

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

A favorite! 

Ingredients

1 and ½  cups packed brown sugar

1 cup butter or margarine, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 egg

2 cups quick-cooking oats

1 and ½ cups Gold Medal® all-purpose or unbleached flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

1 package semisweet chocolate chips (12 oz)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350.

Mix brown sugar and butter until smooth. I like to nuke my butter sticks in the microwave for thirty seconds and then add the big ol’ block of packed brown sugar.

Once it is smooth, add in the vanilla and the egg and mix again.

Next comes the salt and baking soda.

And now the oats!

And now the flour!

And now the chocolate chips!

Roll dough into little balls and place on ungreased cooking sheet.

Bake for 10 minutes

Allow to cool on sheet for 5 minutes before moving to wire rack.

Notes:

·        

I use a fork to do all the mixing until the end, then a spatula works perfectly.

Again, 30 seconds for the two sticks of butter to soften it up… I usually have it out during the brown sugar packing part of the process too… and when I pack the brown sugar, I mean I pack it full and tight.

This recipe makes 58 cookies, although this number varies due to cookie size.

Peppermint Sugar Cookies

These cookies come out with just a lovely peppermint glaze on top... a tid bit of peppermint to go along with your cookie! What's not to love?

Ok... so you can either buy a bag of sugar cookie dough mix at the store or use my sugar cookie recipe .. (just don't add in the sprinkles).

Either way you will have sugar cookie dough.

Grind up candy canes in your food processor (hooray for the Magic Bullet!).

Pinch the dough out to form little one inch balls and roll them through the peppermint powder.
Bake as normal!


Now... wasn't that simple?

And delicious!

M&M Christmas Cookies

These are pretty much chocolate chip cookies with red and green M&Ms instead of chocolate chips.
But… but I have the best chocolate chip cookie recipe and therefore here goes!

(I have no photos because I totally forgot to take any. Also, these cookies tend to disapear very quickly.)

Ingredients

1 cup butter (softened)
1 cup white sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons hot water
½ teaspoon salt
1 bag holiday red and green M&Ms


Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
2. Cream together the butter, white sugar, and brown sugar until smooth.
3. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla.
4. Dissolve baking soda in hot water.
5. Add to batter along with salt.
6. Stir in flour,
7. Add M&Ms.
8. Roll into small inch balls and place on greased cookie sheets
9. Bake for about 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until edges are nicely browned.


These cookies are always a hit… and this recipe can be doubled very easily… just make sure you are using a bowl big enough for 6 cups of flour plus everything else.

Kay’s Joyful Sugar Cookies!

There is a bit of prep work to these.... but I find that it is worth it.

 Yes, you can buy the bag of sugar cookie mix that just needs water or oil or whatnot.... but I promise you that these taste better.

Ingredients:

1 cup butter softened (not melted)
1 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
Dash of nutmeg
¼ cup milk
Red and Green Sprinkles!



Directions:

In large bowl beat softened butter with electric mixer on medium until mostly creamy.
Add sugar and blend.
Add vanilla and egg and blend until smooth

In another bowl combine flour, baking powder, and dash of nutmeg (I used 2 shakes)

Pour half flour mixture into butter mixture
Add milk
Stir in the rest of the flour mixture

Mix well, the dough will be thick and sticky.

Here’s where it gets fun.

Scoop out half the dough and place in the bowl you had used for the flour etc.


Pour green sprinkles into dough ball one and red sprinkles into dough ball two… mix each dough ball well (I use a spatula).

Once mixed separate each dough ball into two to three mounds or logs or clumps… whatever you want to call ‘em. Place these in foil lined baking pan (lasagna sized 9 by 13) or casserole dish.

Cover the dish with plastic wrap and pop in the fridge overnight.

The next day….

Roll each mound of dough into a small snake like log and then use a sharp knife to cut into , err slices. You may need to re-roll the dough and pat it down at the ends to make it the right shape.

I make small cookies because I like them tiny and crispy.

Bake on greased sheets for 8 minutes (longer if you have thick slices), cool for 4 minutes then transfer to wire rack.

If you make ‘em small like in the photos, you will end up with around 80 cookies.

Mother Milk Helper Cookies

I can't vouch if these "lactation" cookies actually do anything for milk production or supply... but it was fun to make cookies with my mom and they are delightfully yummy. I think they are probably healthier than "normal" cookies so, there you go.

Mother Milk Helper Cookies

* 1 cup butter
* 1 cup white sugar
* 1 cup packed brown sugar
* 12 teaspoons water
* 6 teaspoons flax seed meal
* 2 eggs
* 1 teaspoon vanilla
* 2 cups white flour
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 3 cups oats
* 1 cup chocolate chips
* 6 teaspoons brewer’s yeast

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350°.

2. Mix the flaxseed meal and water and let sit for 3-5 minutes.

3. Beat butter, sugar, and brown sugar well.
4. Add eggs and mix well.

5. Add flaxseed mix and vanilla, beat well.

6. Sift together flour, brewers yeast, baking soda, and salt.

7. Add dry ingredients to butter mix.
8. Stir in oats and chips.

9. Scoop onto baking sheet.

10. Bake for 12 minutes.

Note: the dough will look loose, but it is fine. They didn;t spread out all that much at all (used an ice cream scoop -about half- to make them.)

Did 12 on a sheet per bake and made at least 6 sheets... in other words, tons of cookies!

Brownie in a Mug

Haven't been here in a while... partly because my cooking has sort of dwindled to the point of "frozen dinners + pan + dinner" and partly because I have been doing lots of writing in lots of other places.

But...

This was just too good to not share... and to place in a place where it is easy to find again.

I can't wait to try it! Doesn't it look like a fun project to do with kids? Or during a "girls night in"? Or on a date?

Or... you know... now.

Rosemary Bread

I am a big fan of fast and simple cooking. This isn’t all that fast (it has to bake after all) but it was easy and it was quite the hit with even some of the more discerning pallets.

Rosemary Bread (Made in the Bread Machine)

Ingredients

·         1 cup warm water

·         2 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast (I measured, this was almost two packets but not quite)

·         3 tablespoons white sugar

·         1 1/2 teaspoons salt

·         3 tablespoons olive oil

·         1/2 teaspoon ground thyme

·         1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

·         2 teaspoons crushed dried rosemary

·         3 cups all-purpose flour

Directions 

Pour the water into the pan of a bread machine, then sprinkle in the yeast and sugar. Let the mixture sit in the bread machine until a creamy foam forms on top of the water, about 10 minutes. 

Sprinkle in the salt, then add olive oil, thyme, garlic powder, rosemary, and flour. Set the machine for light crust setting, and start the machine.

(On my machine that means it was mixed and baked on the white bread setting)

Cool and enjoy!

The cookies in the background of this photo are awesome! You can read about them over here!

Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Cookies

I wanted to make cookies that would be yummy and yet wouldn’t be that hard or time consuming. I adapted a recipe I found online and created these.

By far the easiest cookies to make and they were a HUGE hit with the family.

Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Cookies 

Ingredients

·         1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened

·         1 egg

·         1 (17.5 ounce) pouch sugar cookie mix

·         ½ bag of chocolate chips

(See what I mean... only 4 ingredients!)

Directions 
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

In a bowl, beat the cream cheese until soft and fluffy with an electric mixer, then beat in the egg until thoroughly combined. Mix in the cookie mix, then stir in the chips.

Drop the dough about 2 inches apart onto the sprayed baking sheets. Lightly pat the cookies to flatten. (They won’t flatten or spread out at all)

Bake in the preheated oven until the edges of the cookies are lightly golden 12 minutes.

Cool before serving. Enjoy!

(Makes 44 cookies)

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies


Ingredients
1 cup butter (soft)
1 cup packed brown sugar
½ cup white sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
1 and ¼ cups flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups quick cooking oats (Like the Quaker kind, in the cylinder container)
1 cup chocolate chips.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees

Cream the butter and sugars until smooth (I use a fork). Add the eggs and vanilla. Mix. In separate container combine the flour, soda, and salt. Stir it in slowly until blended. (Still using the fork works best)

Add the oats, stir well. Add the chocolate chips and stir.

Use a regular spoon to scoop out bits and bake on an ungreased* sheet for 12 minutes.
When you take them out of the oven, let the pan sit for about 5 minutes before sliding them off. You don’t need a wire rack, a plate works just fine.


(*Note: when I say ungreased, I mean it. Despite the fact that my mother told me to always grease my pans… cooking spray, butter, foil, and any combination of such things only result in badly burned and oddly tasting cookies. Don’t Grease That Pan.)

(Another note: why is “ungreased” not a word? Microsoft Word needs to be updated.)

Time: Give yourself an hour and a half and you should be fine.

Recommended music would be KT Oslin’s Sounds from an Aging Sex Bomb, and Frank Sinatra’s Greatest Hits.