Ritz Bark Cookies (with Holiday Pizzazz!)

Some of you might remember that I posted this Ritz Bark Cookies Recipe last year along with pictures of my kitchen "friends."

Well, I just HAD to make them again since this is one of my favorite cookies during the holidays (or any time of year). I had a fun idea to give them a little Christmas pizzazz.

I made them like usual...

And then decorated with some candy coating on top.

Now, I've never been able to color within lines and drawing is not my forte. So please, can some really great artistic person make this recipe and do a good job designing with candy coating and then send me a picture? That would make my day. As will eating one of these cookies. Right. Now.

Ritz Bark Cookies (from My Mother's Best Recipe Book)

Ingredients needed:

Ritz Crackers
Peanut butter (creamy, not chunky)
Chocolate Bark (chocolate candy coating can be a substitute)

Melt chocolate bark in a double boiler. Spread a dab of peanut butter between two crackers and then coat with chocolate. Place on wax paper to cool. Melt candy coating and decorate tops of cooled cookies.

Erika's Extras: Prep by making all the cracker and PB "sandwiches" first. Using two forks to move and flip the crackers around is quite helpful. Put in freezer to cool faster.

Bake well and prosper!

Apple Cinnamon Walnut Muffins

This is the 4th recipe out of a promised 12 before Christmas. That leaves me 12 days to make 8 more desserts. Mmmm...I love a delicious challenge.

I know I did a whole "An Apple a Day Recipe" back when it was more fall than wintery outside. BUT, I found the recipe for these delightful muffins on a great newbie food blog, Bake for Happy Kids. (It's fun following a blog from all the way around the world -Australia.) They looked too good not to try for a holiday treat (and ended up being a hit at my morning choir rehearsal!)

Apple Cinnamon Muffins with Crunchy Walnuts Toppings  

2 eggs

1/2 cup (110g) brown sugar

1/2 cup (125ml) olive oil (I use a stick (125g) butter, melted)

1/2 cup (125ml) apple juice (I didn't have any apple juice but these still worked fine)

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

2 1/2 cup diced apples (2-3 depending on size of apples) (I used 2 Pink Lady apples)

1 cup (160g) wholemeal plain flour

1 cup (150g) plain flour
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
3/4 cup (90g) roasted nuts (I use raw walnuts instead)
1/2 cup (85g) raisins

Crunchy topping
1/2 cup (110g) caster sugar (I used normal white sugar)
1/2 cup (70g) roasted nuts (I used raw walnuts that ended up "roasting" in the oven)
1 1/2 ground cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 190°C (375°F). Line or butter a 12 hole muffin tin.
2. In a bowl, whisk together eggs, brown sugar, oil, apple juice and vanilla extract. Then, stir in the diced apples.

3. Combine both flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg into another bowl. Whisk all together for a min. Add nuts and raisins and toss them so they are completely coated in flour mixture.

4. Pour the apple mixture into the flour mixture and site them together into a chunky batter. Do not overdo the mixing. Divide the batter equally between the muffin holes.

5. For the crunchy topping, mix together all ingredients and sprinkle the topping evenly onto each muffin.

6. Bake for 20 min or until skewer inserted come out clean. Let the muffins rest in the tin for 2 min and then transfer them to cool further on wire rack. Great to eat while they are warm either as is, or with butter or Ricotta.

Note: I made 12 standard sizes muffins and 8 mini ones from this recipe. The mini ones are extra nice to pop into your mouth when still warm.

Bake well and prosper!

"No Pressure" Blondies

I know you aren't going to believe me, but I've never made blondies before. (Don't worry, I've eaten my fair share of them so I was well acquainted with their awesomeness.) Seeing I bake a lot, there should be no pressure for the first time I make them, right? RIGHT?!

Wrong. Enter my boyfriend. First of all, his last name is Baker! Then, to make things even more pressure-y, he sent me his grandma's recipe for blondies. A recipe he grew up loving. Blondies he says are the best. He begged his Grandma for the recipe. And little ol' me gets the duty of recreating them.

So, last night I rolled up my sleeves and "dug in" to the making of "THE blondies."

Ha! Just kidding. The pressure didn't drive me to drink. In fact, I really enjoyed making these. I DID have to question my boyfriend about the lack of chocolate chips. I'm used to chocolate chips in my blondies but he informed me that they are so good that no chocolate is needed.

He was right. I had 4 pieces last night alone. These are great and I was super relieved and happy that they turned out so well!

Grandma Baker's Brownies

1 cup all purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
8 tblspn of butter
2/3cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 tblspn light corn syrup
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup chopped pecans (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8x8 baking pan with tin foil. In a large bowl mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and set aside. In a large saucepan melt the butter and bring to a slight boil stirring constantly (about 4 minutes.) Remove from heat and stir in the brown and white sugar until completely blended. Let the butter mixture cool until barely warm and then add the egg, egg yolk, corn syrup, and vanilla all at the same time. Once blended, add mixture to the flour mix and add pecans. Stir until blended and pour into the prepared pan and bake 30 minutes or until golden brown. Cool before eating.

Bake well and prosper!

Erika's Compost Cookies

Wanna know more about me and my NY? Well, I compost. Yep. In a huge city where hardly anyone has a yard or garden, I contribute to making soil out of "trash." It's so easy. Here, come along on a quick pictorial tour of the process.

I keep items that can be composted in my freezer - egg shells, pears and apple cores, a squeezed lemon...

Once I have a bag full, I take a ride on the subway down to Union Square Farmer's Market...

 And dump my bag of compost in a garbage bin...

Which is found surrounded by other bins ready to receive compost as part of Lower East Side Ecology Center's Composting program.

I can even put my plastic bag with other plastic bags being recycled! :)

Then, JUST as cool, I turn around and donate clothing and scraps of material to GrowNYC's Clothing & Textile Recycling Program.

That's my jean capris I haven't worn in a year and an old race shirt! GrowNYC will either resale/donate good usable clothing or will send them to recycling markets where they will be made into insulation etc.

After having completed what I came for, I enjoyed Union Square's Holiday Market. There are great wreaths being sold...

Along with bangles and bobbles galore!

At this cute and eco-friendly shop...

I bought this angel for the top of my Christmas tree.

It is made out of banana tree husk and a dried nut that can be dried and carved to look like ivory. (See the hanging birds in the previous picture.)

Since I am into composting (and hey! It's not just a holiday activity. It's a year round thing!), I figured I would dabble with Momofuko's Compost Cookie Recipe to make my own type of Compost Cookie.

Enjoy!

Erika's Compost Cookies (base recipe found at The Amateur Gourmet)

Ingredients:

1 cup butter (that's two sticks, unsalted)

1 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup light brown sugar
1 Tbsp corn syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
2 tsps baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsps Kosher salt
1 1/2 cups your favorite baking ingredients (options: chocolate chips, Raisenettes, Rollos, Cocoa Krispies)
1 1/2 cups your favorite snack foods (chips, pretzels, etc.)

To make Erika's Compost Cookies variety, use a mixture of mini chocolate chips, mini marshmallows, and crushed up Ritz crackers.

1. In a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream butter, sugars and corn syrup on medium high for two to three minutes until fluffy and pale yellow in color. Scrape down the sides with a spatula.
2. On a lower speed, add eggs and vanilla to incorporate. Increase mixing speed to medium-high and start a timer for 10 minutes. During this time the sugar granules will fully dissolve, the mixture will become an almost pale white color and your creamed mixture will double in size.
3. When time is up, on a lower speed, add the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Mix 45 - 60 seconds just until your dough comes together and all remnants of dry ingredients have incorporated. Do not walk away from your mixer during this time or you will risk over mixing the dough. Scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl with a spatula.
4. On the same low speed, add in the hodgepodge of your favorite baking ingredients and mix for 30 - 45 seconds until they evenly mix into the dough. Add in your favorite snack foods last, paddling again on low speed until they are just incorporated.
5. Using a 6 oz. ice cream scoop and portion cookie dough onto a parchment lined sheet pan.
6. Wrap scooped cookie dough tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for a minimum of one hour or up to 1 week.
DO NOT BAKE your cookies from room temperature or they will not hold their shape.
7. Heat the oven to 400 F. Take the plastic off your cookies and bake 9 to 11 minutes. While in the oven, the cookies will puff, crackle and spread. At 9 minutes, the cookies should be browned on the edges and just beginning to brown towards the center. Leave the cookies in the oven for the additional minutes if these colors don't match up and your cookies still seem pale and doughy on the surface.
8. Cool the cookies completely on the sheet pan before transferring to a plate or an airtight container or tin for storage. At room temp, they'll keep five days.

Erika's Extras: I was skeptical about baking the cookies at 400 degrees. The first batch burned on the bottom and then I lowered the temperature to 375. This created bottoms that were baked a little more than the tops, but not burnt. Maybe it's because I don't use parchment paper.

Bake well and prosper!

Boston Brown Bread

Are you ready? Ready for all the holiday baking? No? Well, have no fear! I, Erika Beth the Messy Chef, am here and presenting the 12 Recipes of Christmas.

You've heard of the 12 Days of Christmas. In fact, I did 12 Days of Christmas posts last Christmas. This year I will post 12 recipes in December leading up to Christmas. That's about 3 posts a week compared to 1 a week. How excited are you?! Now you can get great ideas for treats to make for the season.

First up: Boston Brown Bread. Wikipedia describes it as "somewhat seasonal, being served mostly in fall and winter." PERFECT!

The recipe uses molasses. I think this is the first time I've ever used molasses. It was so pretty in my goose measuring cup!

What's even better about molasses is that when you pour it in a bowl, it can double as a spirograph!

This recipe also uses some wheat flour to help it keep its brown color. I think it's the first time I've used wheat flour too! And yes, I have the same problems with wheat flour as with white flour: a mess is made.

The other awesome thing about this recipe is that you bake the bread in soup cans! So, save up some empty cans and then bake away this great winter recipe!

Boston Brown Bread (from My Mom's Best Recipes Cookbook)

1/2 C molasses

1/2 C sugar

2 1/2 t baking soda stirred into
2 C buttermilk
1 t salt
1 egg
2 1/2 C wheat flour
1/2 C all-purpose baking flour
1 t baking powder
1 C raisins plumped

Combine ingredients. Stir. Grease and flour 5 15 oz cans. Fill about half full with batter. Put cans on a baking sheet or a large pan and bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes with a cookie sheet covering cans. Uncover. Bake for another 10 minutes. Once done baking, remove from oven and then remove bread from cans when still hot. Use a knife around the edges to gently pry out.

Erika's Extra: BBB is best served warm and with butter on top and makes an especially good treat for breakfast. Mmmm!

Bake well and prosper!