Maple Bacon Cookies

Nothing like friends sharing a recipe with you! My running friend, Sarah, (who has a lovely blog y'all should check out: The ImaginariYUM) posted this recipe to my facebook page last week. Earlier that day I was thinking about the next type of cookie I should bake. It was like Sarah KNEW what I was thinking. (Although, I'm thinking about cookies A LOT, so it was a good guess.)

 

My boyfriend and I had a chili cook-off to attend on Saturday. So while he was busy making his chili, I was busy whipping up these cookies. His kitchen was a hotbed of activity and yumminess.

 

I really enjoyed baking the bacon for this recipe. Yes. BAKING the bacon. Brushing maple syrup over bacon strips that were arranged on a wire rack on top of a cookie sheet was weirdly theruputic. It took longer for the bacon to cook in the oven than the recipe said, but after 35 minutes, it was perfect. The dough of the cookie is very sweet with all the maple syrup and brown sugar that was called for,  but the addition of salty bacon complimented it so well. It's like pancakes and bacon made love and birthed this cookie. People at the chili cook-off said the cookies were delicious and that they wished they had a cup of coffee to go with it.

 

Cookie Success! (Oh, and my boyfriend got first place in the cook-off. Chili Success! Maybe we should open up a restaurant!)

Maple Bacon Cookies recipe can be found here: refinery29

Bake well and prosper!

Orange Nutmeg Popover Rolls

It has snowed twice since last week's blizzard. It's actually currently snowing in NYC. Winter has definitely decided to stay around. However, I didn't get a snow day from work. No snow day from work = no time to bake.

 

Fear not! I still have something to post! I made these rolls last week during the blizzard along with the Chocolate Chip Cookie Brownies. My kitchen was THE PLACE TO BE during winter storm Juno. Just saying.

 

I was excited about these rolls because I love popovers. Also, I was nervous about using yeast. Isn't that silly? I've used yeast many times before and have baked lovely baked goods with yeast and yet I'm always nervous about using it. Probably because yeast is so finicky.

 

This recipe yielded more of a dinner roll than a popover. When I hear "popover" I think of something airy and eggy. This recipe yielded just a normal dinner roll with the added benefits of nutmeg, orange, cinnamon, and sugar flavors.

 

If you're intrigued by the combo or want a twist on the normal dinner roll, by all means feel free to try your hand at this roll. But if you want something more extraordinary, you can skip making this recipe.

Recipe found on Honest Cooking

Bake well and prosper!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Brownies because of Winter Storm Juno

When people in NYC hear of an impending blizzard, they rush to the store and buy wine and food such as meat, cheese, bread, and veggies to sustain them for a couple of days. I rush to the store and buy wine and chocolate chips.

A big blizzard was predicted to hit NYC last night and this morning. You can read all about it elsewhere.

(SPOILER ALERT: It didn't happen.) 

 

In preparation for being stuck inside due to snow, I decided to make this Chocolate Chip Cookie Brownie recipe. It's been in my "recipes to make" folder for almost two years! I've been avoiding super sugary and dense recipes recently, but something about the middle of winter and snow had me craving both these characteristics.

 

The blog that posted this recipe had problems with the cookie dough sinking to the middle of the brownies. So I looked for other options. I decided to do half pan, half muffin pan to see which worked the best.

Unlike the Pinch of Yum's blog post, I used a "from scratch" recipe and baked the brownies in the 4x4 pan for ten minutes before adding the cookie dough. This helped immensely! No sinking dough! And still a gooey brownie. (Altogether it was in the oven for about 40 minutes.)

 

As for the muffin pans, I put both the brownie batter and the cookie dough in at the same time. This worked smashingly as well! (Altogether it was in the oven for about 30 minutes.) 

 

If you like gooier brownie, go with the 4x4. If you like a more solid brownie, go with the muffin pans. Either way, this recipe is sure to please the brownie and cookie lover in your life!

I used my favorite Supernatural Brownie Recipe for the brownies and I used A Pinch of Yum's suggested cookie recipe. I got the muffin pan idea from Very Best Baking by Nestle.

Bake well and prosper!

Gooey Butter Cookies

I've finally been getting around to my "Recipes to Make" Pinterest board. These Gooey Butter Cookies always caught my eye while visiting my Pinterest boards. Their bright and cheerful yellow color piqued my interest.

Guess what! You just have to use a yellow cake mix to get the yellow color.

This recipe is very simple to put together and is a huge crowd pleaser. These look a little like biscuits but taste like a cake with a slightly firm exterior. What's not to love about a dessert with the labels "cookie, cake, butter"?! Every one at the party I went to (a Festivus Party...yes, FESTIVUS) loved them. (As did I seeing I ate so many of them!)

Gooey Butter Cookies

recipe found by clicking here: How to Nest for Less

Bake well and prosper!

Apple Croustade

This past weekend my roommate had the urge to bake. He had a big bag of apples that he needed to use so he decided to make a crispy/flaky apple pie. He layered the phyllo dough along with a bunch of melted butter in my spring form pan since I didn't have a tart pan.

 

Even though the butter flowed onto the bottom of the oven and created a smoky apartment for a little bit, this tart turned out beautifully. My roomie asked if he could put his pie on one of my cake stands and I said yes.

 

It looked so pretty on my sturdy, white ceramic cake stand that I just had to snap some photos. After I was done, he went to the kitchen to clean up and I went to my room to get ready to head out for the evening.

 

Then we heard a pop. We couldn't figure out what it was at first but then my roomie saw that the cake stand had two cracks in it. I went over to touch the stand and *CLINK* *CLUNK* *WHAM*! The whole stand started crumbling in front of our eyes.

My roommate ran to get another cake stand but it was going to be too late so I did what any baker would do: I put both of my hands under the pie so the masterpiece wouldn't join the ranks of the broken cake stand. I moved it via my hands to another cake stand and then we just looked at the broken cake stand in bewilderment.

The pie had cooled before it went on the ceramic, but we're guessing the heat that was left bugged some weak spot and *POP*!

 

RIP cute vintage cake stand. Hello yummy phyllo dough and butter encrusted apple pie! It was SO delicious. I highly suggest using this recipe for a different take on the normal apple pie. (Just don't put it on an old ceramic cake stand!)

Apple Croustade (Flaky Apple Tart)

recipe found here: saveur.com

Bake well and prosper!

Dark Chocolate, Pistachio, and Sea Salt Cookies

The first cookie you make in the new year should be this one. Seriously. Dark chocolate chunks mixed with pistachios and slight saltiness all in a cookie?! Incredibly good.

 

Maybe the fact that I baked these in my boyfriend's new oven helped with making these cookies my favorite of 2014. These were one of those desserts that I didn't want to share. I wanted to eat them all by myself. It's been a while since I've felt that way about something I baked. Usually I'm more than happy to share the sweet calories, but I wanted to hoard these.

 

But I did share. And I strongly suggest you share these in 2015. They are a crowd pleaser! (That is if you can resist eating them all by yourself!)

 

Have a happy and tasty new year!

Dark Chocolate, Pistachio, and Sea Salt Cookies
Recipe found here: Two Peas and their Pod

Bake well and prosper!

Orange Pecan Icebox Cookies

I made these lovely cookies at the beginning of December and then forgot all about the pictures I took of them. It was a nice surprise to see them in my blog post cue. It was like I was tasting the intricate flavors of these orange pecan icebox cookies all over again.

These cookies are "adult" cookies. No, it's not because they have alcohol in them. As one friend asked, "Is it because they don't contain chocolate or tons of sugar?" Exactly! As a kid I would have passed these over for more chocolatey types. But now that I'm SLIGHTLY older... I love these! I love how the orange and butter flavors blend well together while the pecans help enhance that mixture. If you still have time to bake for Christmas and you have a lot of "older people" visiting, I suggest you consider making these delightful cookies.

Orange Pecan Icebox Cookies
recipe found here: One Perfect Bite

Bake well and prosper! 

Stained-Glass Christmas Cookies

Hello! I can't believe Christmas is a couple of days away. I've been baking tons this month but just haven't had the time to blog about my creations!

This weekend I went to THREE parties all within 24 hours of each other. Tis the season...to be exhausted.

The first party was a surprise birthday party for my dear friend Doug. Doug likes lemony treats. In the past I've made the normal lemon bars etc, but I wanted to do something special this year.

I saw stained-glass cookies on the Chew last week when I was visiting family in AZ. I figured Lemon Heads would work well in the middle of these cookies. I was right. I also added lemon frosting on the edges and sprinkled edible glitter on the frosting. I was feeling so Martha Stewart-y...

Speaking of being a crafty home-maker, I made Christmas cards again this year.

I'm already receiving lovely feedback from the folks who received them so far. Yay!

 

These cookies were very yummy and pretty, but fair warning: the middle is VERY hard seeing it's made of melted hard candy. Don't chip a tooth!

Stained-Glass Christmas Cookies

recipe found here: recipes.com

Bake well and prosper!



Balsamic Roasted Cherry Brownies

It's not cherry season right now so imagine my surprise when I saw these cherries in a local grocery store! I grabbed them right away because I wanted to try my hand at these brownies.

Unfortunately they weren't great. They felt weak. Yes. Weak. They weren't the normal, healthy texture of cherries. They also weren't very flavorful. But not TOO big of a deal seeing they were about to get a bath in balsamic vinegar and sugar and then be placed in delicious brownies.

I shared these brownies with my wonderful friends who came to my opera performance followed by birthday drinks for moi. One friend asked in amusement, "YOU brought desserts? Aren't we supposed to bring you desserts?"

What can I say? I have lucky friends seeing that this recipe didn't disappoint. I suggest waiting until it's cherry season though so you can get more of a prevalent cherry flavor when baking these.

Balsamic Roasted Cherry Brownies (adapted from Glazed and Confused)

For Cherries:

1 cup cherries, pitted and halved

1 1/2 teaspoon balsamic vinegar

2 Tablespoons sugar

Preheat oven to 450 F. Place pitted cherries on a parchment-lined baking tray and sprinkle with sugar and balsamic vinegar. Roast for about 10 minutes until the cherries start releasing their juice. Remove from oven and let cool while making the brownie batter. Turn oven down to 350 F.

For Brownies:

1 stick (8 tablespoons) butter

4 ounces bittersweet chocolate

2 eggs

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup dark brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In top of a double boiler set over barely simmering water, melt butter and chocolate together. Cool slightly. In a large bowl or mixer, whisk eggs. Whisk in salt, sugars and vanilla. Whisk in chocolate mixture. Fold in flour just until combined. Stir in cherry mixture. Pour batter into an 8x8 pan. 

Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until shiny and beginning to crack on top. Cool in pan on rack.

Yield: 9 large brownies

Bake well and prosper!

White Chocolate Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Wow! The name for these cookies is quite a mouthful! White Chocolate Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies. Say that five times fast.

 

As you can see, I haven't baked in a really long time. I just haven't felt like it. Also, most of my precious free time has been spent AWAY from the kitchen (and on dates with my boyfriend. Aw.)

 

But the holidays are upon us and I felt like baking (not to mention it's cold here in NYC so turning the oven on is quite nice.)

I wanted to make something with peanut butter and then I saw this White Chocolate Wonderful peanut butter and decided that I had to try it as the base for cookies. It's really sweet so I added chunks of dark chocolate on top to even out some of the sweetness from the white chocolate.

 

They are pretty good, but in the long run I prefer regular ol' peanut butter. What can I say? I'm a traditionalist.

White Chocolate Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

You can find the base recipe here: rachelschultz.com

Just substitute white chocolate peanut butter for the peanut butter and then add dark chocolate chunks or normal chocolate chips

Bake well and prosper!