Totally Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies—12 Weeks of Christmas Treats

Totally Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

These are at the top of my list of newly discovered, favorite chocolate chocolate chip cookies.  I’ve made them twice in about two weeks.  You know, had to test them a second time to make sure they were as good as I thought the first time. ;)  

And they are great—if you like chocolate—and who doesn’t?

I discovered these cookies on the blog I had this month for The Secret Recipe Club.  I made these because I saw Trisha from My Hobbie Lobbie’s post for them for the 12 Weeks of Christmas Treats from two years ago and I knew I had to make them.  Can’t resist a dark chocolate cookie with dark chocolate chips added.  The recipe is from Nigella Lawson, who has a few shows on the Food Network.  I’ve always liked her.  She is a chef from England.  Trisha has a few recipes from Nigella on her blog, so I assume she likes her, too.

Since today is our third week of 12 Weeks of Christmas Treats, I decided these were totally worthy of posting for another option for you for any holiday baking as a great treat, especially to give to any true chocolate lovers you know. 

Nigella’s recipe on the link above is written with all grams for the amounts of each ingredient—which I actually love—love using a kitchen scale to measure ingredients, but I know many don’t like using them or don’t have a kitchen scale, so I came up with the amounts as would be written with an American recipe for you.  While checking the grams amounts with what they would be in ounces or cups, I learned that they are all just slightly different from what we would use in the U.S.  For instance, the recipe calls for 125 grams of butter, which is just slightly more than 1/2 cup (1 stick).  I haven’t yet tried the recipe with just 1/2 cup, but I’ll bet it would be fine.  I stuck with the amounts in Nigella’s recipe, so there is 1/2 cup plus 1/2 tablespoon in these cookies.  All I know is using the amounts called for made a great cookie.

Totally Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies, adapted by Katrina, Baking and Boys! from Nigella Lawson

125 grams (1/2 cup plus 1/2 tablespoons or 4  3/8 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature

75 grams (1/3 cup tightly packed) light brown sugar 

50 grams (1/4 cup) granulated sugar

125 grams (3/4 cups or 4  1/2 ounces) dark chocolate, chopped (or good dark chocolate chips, like Ghirardelli 60% or Guittard 63% chips)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 large egg

150 grams (1  1/4 cup, lightly spooned and swept) all purpose flour

30 grams (1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons) natural cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

200 grams (7 ounces or 1 cup plus 2  1/2 tablespoons or so) dark chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 340 degrees F. (170 degrees C).  Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

Melt the 125 grams of chocolate using a double boiler or in a glass bowl in the microwave in 20-30 second intervals.  Let sit for about 5 minutes.  In the bowl of a mixer, cream the butter and sugars.  Scrape sides of bowl.  Add the melted chocolate and mix well.  Add the vanilla and the egg and beat until well combined.  Mix in the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt just until combined.  Stir in chocolate chips.  Scoop cookie dough onto the baking sheets about 2 inches apart.  Bake for 13-15 minutes.  (Nigella’s recipes says 18 minutes, which I found was too much.)  Let cool on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes then move cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

I love chocolate and raspberry together, so know what I did?  I took a little bit of the cookie dough and added about half a cup of my favorite freeze dried raspberries and made eight Chocolate Raspberry Cookies.  LOVE!

There you have it.  A great TOTALLY chocolate chocolate chip cookie recipe and another addition to 12 Weeks of Christmas Treats.  You can get more info on the link above which will take you to our host Brenda’s blog, Meal Planning Magic.

 

 

 

Apple Spice Cake with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

Apple Spice Cake with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

I’ve wanted to make this cake for a while now and with the it being autumn and perfect timing, I also realized it was perfect timing because I got the recipe for this (and the pleasure of first tasting it) from Paige and today is her birthday!  Happy Birthday, Paige!  She is the chef I took classes from in Kansas before we moved.  I’ve said it before, but how I miss her/her classes.  Every couple weeks I got to watch her cook and teach and then eat the things she made for the class.  Could anything be better?  And with every class, we were provided with the recipes.  I have a big 3-ring binder full of Paige’s recipes and I use many of the recipes often.  I don’t have to be the only one (well, me and all the others who took/take her classes) to have her expertise and recipes in my arsenal—she has a wonderful blog!  If you haven’t seen it—go!--For Love of the Table.  If you stop by today, wish her a happy birthday! ;)

One of the pleasures of her classes was every couple of months, she’d have a special date night class that was a full three course meal and was only allowed about eight couples.  I “dragged” Kevin to one of those classes and he liked it so much that during the time we were still in Kansas, I don’t think we ever missed one after that.  One of the date night meal classes we took had this cake for dessert and I loved it.  Not to mention, Kevin, who doesn’t really care for cake and really doesn’t like frosting, actually really liked the cake, too.

I ended up deciding to make this cake for Kevin’s birthday celebration we recently had with some of his family.  He still got his usual, traditional cheesecake, but I also made this cake and a few other things as well, like the Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies I posted a few days ago. 

This cake is perfectly spiced and instead of having chunks of apples, has applesauce which makes for a great moist cake.  The maple cream cheese frosting—well, pardon the pun, IS the icing on the cake.  You’ll want this cake/recipe in your box.  I even think you might want to make it—today.

Apple Spice Cake with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting, by Paige Vandegrift

2 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon allspice

3/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

1  1/2 cups granulated sugar

2 large eggs, at room temperature

1  1/2 cups unsweetened applesauce

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Grease a 10-inch round cake pan, line with a round of parchment paper and grease the parchment.  Flour the pan!  Set aside.  Sift the dry ingredients together and set aside.

Using a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter with the sugar until light and fluffy, stopping the mixer once or twice to scrape down the sides.  This will take 2 to 3 minutes at medium-high speed.  Beat in the eggs one at a time, scraping down the sides after each addition.  Increase the speed to medium-high and briefly beat until the mixture lightens in color and expands in volume.  By hand, fold in the dry ingredients alternately with the applesauce (add the vanilla with the first half of the applesauce), beginning and ending with the dry ingredients.

Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top.  Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean—about 40 to 45 minutes.  Let the cake cool in the pan for 10 to 15 minutes.  Loosen the sides of the cake by running a thin knife around the edge of the pan.  Turn the cake out of the pan.  Cool the cake on a wire rack.  Frost with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting.

Frosting:

4 ounces unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons powdered sugar (4  1/2 ounces)

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

8 ounces cream cheese

2 tablespoons pure maple syrup

Using a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter with the powdered sugar, salt and vanilla until light and fluffy—about 2 to 3 minutes.  Add the cream cheese and beat until incorporated, about 20 seconds.  Scrape down the sides, drizzle in the maple syrup and beat until smooth, about 15 seconds.  (Paige has adapted a recipe from Maria Helm Sinskey’s The Vintage Kitchen)

Oh, and because it’s also another friend/neighbor’s birthday today, too, I made one and a half times the recipe and baked one 9 inch cake and two 6 inch cakes.  Then I weighed all the batter and put half of it in the nine inch pan and a quarter of it in each of the two 6 inch pans.  I stacked the two small cakes and have a great apple spice layer cake to deliver to my friend today!  Happy Birthday, Jackie!

And again, Happy Birthday, Paige!  (Thanks for having such a great impact on my culinary life, your wonderful classes, sharing your recipes and for being my friend!)

Corn Flakes Chivda (Savory Snack Mix)—Secret Recipe Club

Corn Flakes Chivda

It’s October Secret Recipe Club time!

Betcha when Trisha from My Hobbie Lobbie sees the little thumbnail with this photo and title, she’ll know instantly it’s a recipe from her blog! ;)  I had the pleasure of having Trisha’s blog this month.  Trisha’s lives in India and while she has a wide array of things to choose from on her blog, including many American recipes/foods, I wanted to pick something new-to-me and native to India, or at least foreign to America to make. 

After much scouring of her blog, I was torn—Trisha seems to like Nigella Lawson recipes, who is a great chef from London who has had a show on the Food Network and who I’ve always liked.  After seeing a few of her recipes at My Hobbie Lobbie, I decided to try one of her cookies Trisha has posted.

Well, those cookies, Totally Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies that I made after seeing Trisha’s post for them were made here and I LOVE them.  I couldn’t find, after looking on Nigella's website, any negative comments about these.  In fact, all of them that I read were in great praise of how wonderful the cookies are.  I will be posting about them soon!

But before I found and made those cookies, I was preparing to make the Corn Flakes Chivda (Savory Snack Mix) that Trisha posted.  She said it is her husband’s favorite snack.  I like that it seemed different with a mix of spicy, savory and sweet and I love snack mixes. 

I like that at the bottom of the recipe Trisha posted she said, “Please note, snacks like this should be tweaked to your liking.  Feel free to play around with the dry fruits and nuts added as well as the spice, sugar and salt levels.  After you make this once, you’ll have a better idea of what you’d like to do the next time.”

Ahhh, an invitation to do whatever I want with a recipe! ;)  But I actually was intrigued by her recipe and tried to stay true to it as much as I could.  I actually tried to find chana dal (dalia), which are a roasted, split garbanzo beans, more available in India and I couldn’t find them and the price through Amazon was just too much, especially if I didn’t know if we’d even like them.  So instead of using those in this recipe, I used sunflower seeds.  I also couldn’t find curry leaves and was a little confused about the green chilies she has in the recipe.  Are they fresh ones, dried ones and what kind?  So instead of that, I used some ground red pepper.

I prepped all the ingredients, including getting some raw cashews and raw peanuts for this snack mix. 

All set.  This snack mix is made in a large skillet with a few of the ingredients added at a time.  The nuts needed roasting (though you can use nuts that are already roasted and then just not roast them in the pan as long) and the mustard seeds needed to toast and pop.  It was a really fun thing to watch.

Ready for some spices and the corn flakes.

  After a short time with the rest of the ingredients, a little sugar for some sweetness was added.  I must say, the way I made it, it is just a little spicy for me, but not so much so that I couldn’t keep snacking on it.  I really like it.  One of my boys, Taylor, kept snacking on it, too.  I plan to make it again and tone down the spice just a little and I think it will make a great snack time and again.

Corn Flakes Chivda, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!, adapted from Trisha at My Hobbie Lobbie

1 teaspoon mustard seeds

2 tablespoons canola oil

pinch of ground red pepper (or to taste)

pinch of curry powder (or to taste)

1/4 cup raw peanuts

1/3 to 1/2 cup raw cashews

1/4 cup sunflower seeds

2 tablespoons raisins (about 20 raisins)

salt, to taste

1 teaspoon tumeric powder

3/4 teaspoon chili powder (or to taste)

2 cups corn flakes cereal

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat.  Add the mustard seeds and stir them around a bit.  Don’t let it get too hot, but when you start hearing them pop, lower the heat to about medium-low.  Add the pinch of ground red pepper and the pinch of curry powder.  Add the peanuts and cashews and let them roast in the pan, stirring it often so they don’t burn.  When they are beginning to brown (3-5 minutes), add the sunflower seeds and stir it around some more until they are toasty as well.  Then add the raisins and stir the mixture in the skillet for about 30 seconds. 

Next add the salt, tumeric, and chili powder and stir well to coat everything.  Add the corn flakes and carefully stir well to coat them with the spice mix.  Remove the skillet from the heat.  Let it cool slightly (just a couple minutes), then sprinkle the sugar over it and toss it gently until everything is thoroughly mixed.  Let it cool completely and store in an air tight container, if you didn’t eat it all in one sitting and there is some left. ;)

Thanks, Trisha, for the fun snack recipe and I’m glad I got to bake from your blog this month!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

It’s that time of year.  I know, I’ve already started plugging holiday baking, but the time of year I’m referring to right now is autumn!  Probably nothing says crisp, fall weather like pumpkin!  Kevin’s birthday was on Friday.   He went on a scout overnight camp out with Parker on Friday, so we didn’t do much for his birthday then.  Kevin and I were able to go to brunch.  Today, Sunday, we are having his special dinner (steak) and some family over for desserts. 

I’ve made Kevin his “usual” plain cheesecake, which he seems to want every year and just likes having canned cherry pie filling on the top.  I’ve made a spiced applesauce cake (stay tuned for a post about that soon!) and because these pumpkin chocolate chip cookies are one of Kevin’s favorite cookies, I made some yesterday.  Though they aren’t my favorite cookies in looks and I always think I don’t like them THAT much, they are very good and I end up snitching more of them than I think I will.  While making the cookies, I had just taken the first batch off the baking sheets, left the kitchen for a second and came back to this—one was missing.  No, it wasn’t me—it was Kevin. ;)

These ARE the best pumpkin chocolate chip cookies I’ve made or eaten.  I've tried a number of recipes and always come back to this one.  I blogged about them years ago, but back then I used to put 3-4 recipes on one post, so I decided these needed to be posted again and have their own place on my blog. ;)  I mention in that post of long ago that I got this recipe oh, about 20 years ago, from a neighbor in the apartment complex I lived in at BYU.  Loved this gal, Kathy Merrill (maiden name, she’s married now).  Kathy was always happy, fun and funny.  She called these “Punkin” Cookies.  To this day, I still call them and just about everything else with pumpkin “punkin”.  I don’t know if these are the same or similar to the ones everyone makes this time of year, but of all the recipes I’ve tried, these are always the best.  So here’s the recipe you’ll want for your files.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies, adapted by Katrina, Baking and Boys! from Kathy’s Punkin Cookies

3/4 cup granulated sugar*

3/4 cup light brown sugar*

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

1  1/2 cups pumpkin puree

3 large eggs

3 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

2-3 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoons cloves

2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

In the bowl of a mixer, cream together the butter and sugars.  Scrape sides of bowl.  Add the eggs and mix until well combined.  Beat in the pumpkin puree.  In a medium bowl, combine the flour, spices, salt and baking soda and whisk together.  With the mixer on low, beat in the dry ingredients.  Stir in the chocolate chips. 

Put cookies on baking sheets using a cookie scoop, spaced about 2 inches apart.  Bake for 12 minutes.  Remove from oven and let sit on baking sheet for a couple minutes.  Then move them to a wire rack to cool.  Makes 48 cookies!

*If you look back and the original recipe I posted, that recipe has 1 cup of both sugars, but I lowered it for these and you can’t tell and they are great!

I always think I don’t really like cakey cookies, but these are the exception.  They really are good!  Try them.

Maple Glaze Drizzled Maple Pecan Cookies—12 Weeks of Christmas Treats

If you can’t believe we’re counting down Christmas already, having started with the first of 12 Weeks of Christmas Treats last week with Individual Apple Crisps, try to imagine how I can’t believe it’s already been a week since that post!  The holidays will be here before we all know it!  Just trying to help you out here. ;)

I ran across a recipe this week for these Glazed Maple Pecan Cookies and they just sounded so good that I knew I had to make them for the 12 Weeks of Christmas Treats.  Love the maple, which for some reason I think of as a fall flavor.  After making these, I’ve decided—maple is good any time of year!  And I think these would be a great addition to any part of your holiday baking.

I found this recipe on a magazine website for all things going on the the LDS community, LDS Living Magazine, but the recipe is from the gals at Our Best Bites.  I couldn’t find the recipe on their blog, but it is in their new cookbook, Savoring the Seasons with Our Best Bites.  I did change just a few slight things from the recipe, so here is how I made the cookies.

Maple Glaze Drizzled Maple Pecan Cookies, adapted by Katrina, Baking and Boys! from Our Best Bites

Cookies:

1  3/4 cups all purpose flour (210 grams)

1/4 cup cornstarch (32 grams)

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar (110 grams)

1/4 cup powdered sugar (27.5 grams)

1 large egg yolk

1 teaspoon maple flavoring

1 cup toasted, chopped pecans (112 grams)

Glaze:

1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1 cup powdered sugar (110 grams)

1 tablespoon real maple syrup

pinch of salt

around 2 tablespoons milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Line baking sheets with parchment paper.  In a medium sized bowl, combine the flour and cornstarch and whisk together.   Beat together the butter and sugars until light and creamy.  Add the egg yolk and maple flavoring and combine.  Scrape the sides of the bowl.  Add the flour mixture and beat on low just until almost combined.  Add the pecans and continue beating until all combined.  Roll dough into walnut-sized balls of dough.  Once they are on a baking sheet,  press each ball of dough down slightly with your fingers.  Bake for 11 minutes.  Let cool on wire rack.  Makes about 30 cookies.

Make the glaze by combining the melted butter, maple syrup, powdered sugar and the salt in a medium sized bowl.  Whisk together.  Add milk one tablespoons at a time until it is the desired consistency.  Put the glaze in a zip top bag and snip of a small corner of the bag.  Drizzle the cooled cookies with the glaze.  

Brenda at Meal Planning Magic will have all the info about 12 Weeks of Christmas Treats.  She’s hosting the blog hop again this year.

Caprese Sticks and Tomato Mozzerella Pesto Puff Pastry Spirals---For A Virtual Bridal Shower

Today I’m joining with some other bloggers for a Virtual Bridal Shower for Jessica from My Baking Heart!  She’s getting married—soon!  Nikki at Pennies on a Platter is hosting Jessica’s bridal shower.  She’ll have a round up with all the bloggers’ posts with links to their delicious contributions for the shower.  I can’t wait to see it!

I’ve known Jessica in the blogging world almost the whole time I’ve been blogging, since she has always been involved with Tuesdays With Dorie even all through Baking From My Home to Yours.  She is also faithful with the French Fridays With Dorie group who are cooking and baking their way through Dorie Greenspan’s Around My French Table cookbook.  I tried to keep up with that group, but was finding it too hard to keep that up weekly along with all the other things I’m doing.  Jessica almost never seems to miss a post.  Now we both continue Tuesdays With Dorie as this year we’ve started baking our way through Baking With Julia.

I decided to make an appetizer for the shower.  Actually, I ended up making two.  First of all, with my always blooming AeroGarden full of basil, I kept thinking about these little tomato-mozzarella-basil sticks—perfect bites sitting on a plate drizzled with balsamic syrup. 

Caprese Sticks, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

cherry/grape tomatoes

fresh mozzarella pearls

basil

balsamic vinegar

First, in a small saucepan over low heat, reduce some balsamic vinegar.  About 1/4 cup of vinegar will reduce to 1-2 tablespoons and will thicken into a syrup consistency.  Let it cool while preparing the caprese sticks.  First add a tomato to the stick, then a small basil leaf and end with a mozzarella pearl.  Make as many as you’d like.  Drizzle some of the syrup on a plate or serving platter (it looks the best on a white plate).  Set the prepared sticks on the syrup.

*If you find one whole basil leaf too strong on each stick, you can tear them smaller or use smaller leaves.  I think they are good, but some might think it a little strong.

Love that balsamic reduction!  Caprese is one of my favorite flavor combinations.  These were super simple to make.  I love that the mozzarella pearls aren’t round, but look more like gems. 

I also recently made some pesto puff pastry spirals for a baby shower I hosted.  I actually make them for all kinds of occasions.  Sometimes the spread on them is a little different, in the past I have spread them with some sauteed spinach with garlic, cooled and chopped finely, but they are almost always sprinkled with chopped roasted red pepper, mozzarella cheese and parmesan cheese.  Roll up each side of the puff pastry and slice into spirals. 

Love the light, crisp, flakiness of these and the pesto and cheese flavor is delicious!

Tomato Mozzarella Pesto Puff Pastry Spirals, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

2 sheets of puff pastry, thawed

about 4 tablespoons prepared pesto (or store bought)

1/4 cup finely chopped roasted red pepper

1/4 cup tomatoes, chopped small (optional)

1/2 cup grated mozzarella cheese

1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

*Other times, I have also added some finely chopped artichoke hearts and/or some finely chopped sauteed spinach with garlic (cooled before spreading over the pastry).

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Lay one puff pastry out flat on a lightly floured counter.  If any of the seams are slightly torn, pinch them together with your fingers.  Roll with a rolling pin the puffy pastry (which will also help seal any tears) until it is a little thinner than it is originally. 

Spread evenly about 2 tablespoons of the prepared pesto (or sauteed/cooled spinach, may use or need more per sheet of pastry, it’s really to taste) onto the puff pastry.  Next sprinkle on the red pepper and if using, the tomato and artichoke.  Sprinkle on half the mozzarella cheese and parmesan.  Roll from the long ends of the pastry each side to half way.  Slice the rolled pastry into 15-17 slices and lay each spiral flat on the baking sheet.   Bake for about 20 minutes until golden and crispy and the cheese is melted.  While the first sheet is baking, prepare the second sheet the same way.  Serve slightly warm.

I always eat way too many of these.  ;)

So fun to be part of Jessica's virtual bridal shower!  Thanks again for inviting me, Jessica, and for hosting the party, Nikki.  Check out what everyone brought to the party at Nikki’s blog!  Congratulations on your upcoming marriage and wedding, Jessica!  Enjoy your day! 

 Love this picture/invitation!

Mama’s Bollos con Chocolate (Orange Rolls with Chocolate)—Special Tribute to Daniel from The Haggis and the Herring

Today’s post is done with a heavy heart.  Recently, on September 14, 2012, the food blogging world, and especially The Secret Recipe Club unexpectedly lost one of our bloggers.  Daniel from The Haggis and the Herring passed away suddenly.  He left behind a wonderful wife who is pregnant with their third child and two young boys.  His wife, Meredith, wrote a heartfelt eulogy about him which you can read at the above link to his blog. 

I didn’t really know Daniel very well, but through a couple of food blog forums and The Secret Recipe Club, I was certainly acquainted with his blog and his expertise in many things concerning computers, blogs, html, etc.   He even emailed me about a week before he passed with a simple question about the German Chocolate Chip Cookies I posted.  While I keep thinking about him and the loss his passing must be to his family, I believe he left quite a legacy, especially concerning food.  His blog will always be a way for his family (and everyone else, like a simple virtual acquaintance like me) to connect with him and his love of food.  Thank you for sharing so much, Daniel, and as well, his wife Meredith, as I know they cooked, baked and blogged together.  She mentioned that Daniel’s last act was making dinner for his family before he passed.  My deepest sympathies go out to all his family and friends.  He will truly be missed at The Secret Recipe Club!

A big group of Secret Recipe bloggers decided to make a recipe from his blog as a special tribute to him and all post together.  I spent quite a long time looking through his blog for just the right recipe to make.  When I ran across Daniel’s post for his Mama's Bollos con Chocolate (Orange Rolls with Chocolate, I decided they were what I had to make when he said his grandmother made them and they were always his favorite dessert.  He wrote in his post, which was almost a year ago, how he struggled to get the recipe from different family members, and then his aunt discovered it written down by his grandmother in Spanish.  After having it translated, he and his wife made the rolls and he was happy with them being just like he remembered his grandmother used to make.  

The recipe Daniel shares is huge—with eight eggs, lots of milk, orange juice, sugar and 11 cups of flour—oh, and at least a pound of chocolate!  While that would be fun to make sometime for a big crowd, I knew we didn’t need that many here.  I ended up quartering the recipe.  I loved these rolls.  They didn’t “need” the chocolate hiding in the center, but it was certainly good!  I actually think the dough is great for “plain” orange rolls or I’m also thinking about a rolled roll like cinnamon rolls.  The dough was sticky yet simple to work with. 

Please get the recipe for these rolls from the link above.  The halving and quartering of the recipe were quite simple.  If you do decide to make a smaller batch and have any questions, feel free to ask me.  I did end up using about a half of cup extra flour in the quartered recipe, but that is the only difference to Daniel’s posted recipe.  I used Lindt 70% Excellence chocolate in the center of the rolls. 

Brushed with an egg wash, they were ready for the oven after letting them rise for about 30 minutes.

 

Once the rolls were baked and cooled, they were sprinkled with some powdered sugar.  I ate a few more of the rolls than I had planned (no, not all in one sitting).  ;)  Thank you so much, Daniel!  You will truly be missed!

Thanks to Tandy from Lavender and Lime for Daniel’s Tribute Day logo.

Pumpkin Bars---Happy Birthday, Shelby from The Life and Loves of Grumpy’s Honeybunch—Virtual Party!

Pumpkin Bars for Shelby’s Birthday!

Today is Shelby’s birthday---you know, the mastermind, baker and cook extraordinaire from The Life and Loves of Grumpy's Honeybunch.  HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SHELBY!  Shelby is a fun gal who blogs mostly about the delicious food she makes for herself and her husband, Grumpy.

A few of her fellow blogger friends and I got together (virtually) and thought it would be fun to surprise her with a virtual birthday party, just to show her a little bloggy linky love and besides that if/when I ever meet Shelby in person, she’s the type of person who would be like my BFF ;), or we’d at least be fellow food-lovers and we have just having boys in common.  Shelby has raised two boys who are in their 20’s. I learn a lot from her wisdom.  We all decided to make something from Shelby’s blog.  YUM!

I had a hard time deciding, but thought since it’s her birthday, it would be fun to do one of the cakes she has posted.  There were a lot to choose from, but fitting for the time of year and the fact that Shelby changed the cake she originally took this recipe from and made it a little healthier, I decided on these pumpkin bars.  For my own good, I halved the recipe she posted.  Good thing, because the bars are really good and I would be stuck eating a whole 15x10 sheet pan of pumpkin bars! ;)  Just kidding.  But my boys won’t eat it, Kevin will though, and probably Scott.

 

When I saw that the pumpkin bars were made in a 15x10 sheet pan, I knew it would be easy to halve the recipe because I have a 1/4 sheet pan.  In case you didn’t know, the 15x10 sheet pans are called 1/2 sheets.  Get the link above to look at Shelby’s pumpkin bars and the recipe, I didn’t change anything.  Okay, well, something small—it was just with the cream cheese frosting—I added more powdered sugar.  But other than that, I followed the recipe (halved) exactly.  Those pumpkin bars are great!  I was tempted to add chocolate chips or nuts.  But wanted to stay true to the recipe.  I will be kicking it up with both the next time I make this super-easy cake.  As bars in a sheet pan, this is perfect for a crowd and they came out of the lightly sprayed pan like a dream.

Check out all the other posts on behalf of sweet Shelby’s birthday!

Megan from Megan's Cookin'

Jenny from Mad Rantings of Andrew's Mom

Suzanne from Thru the Bugs on My Windshield 

Pam from Living Rancho Delux 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SHELBY!

Individual Apple Crisps—12 Weeks of Christmas Treats

Individual Apple Crisp

Don’t freak out, but today is the start of 12 Weeks of Christmas Treats!  I know, you’re all thinking the same things as me.  Yes, it WAS just Christmas.  Yes, it IS that time of year again.  Look on the bright side, you still have 12 weeks, well, really more like 14 since we’ll finish posts for the 12 Weeks of Christmas Treats a couple weeks before the holiday.  You’ve got all the time in the world! ;)  

In thinking about what to post first and my mind not really on Christmas treats just yet, I had what I think is a great idea for holiday gift giving or any time, really.  Everyone I know seems to love food gifts.  I had in my pantry some of these cute, little 5 1/2 inch pie tins and it came to me that they would be great for making individual treats.  Having a basket full of apples we needed to use, I decided to make apple crisps.  I made enough to use the four little tins I had.

I think these would be great teacher, friend, or neighbor gifts for any time of the year.  Love the lids with each tin.

What else would you put in them?  Cute little pies?  What else?

For the apple crisps, I used this crumble topping recipe, which is a recipe from Paige at For Love of the Table who is a chef I took classes from when we lived in Kansas.  It is a perfect crumble and my go-to for crisps.  I halved her original recipe, since I knew I was only make four crisps.  Then I made up the apple part of the recipe and came up with what to put in it as I went along.  I think it turned out great.  Apple crisp is pretty basic.

Individual Apple Crisps, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

Crumble:

1/2  cup plus 1 tablespoons packed light brown sugar

6 tablespoons all purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

4  1/2 tablespoons (2 ounces plus 1/4 ounce) unsalted butter, cold and cut into pieces

3/4 cup old-fashioned oats

1/4 cup lightly toasted and chopped walnuts

Apple Filling:

6 apples, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch chunks (any type of apple you’d like)

a squeeze or two of fresh lemon juice

3 tablespoons granulated sugar

1 teaspoon all purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Have individual 5  1/2 inch tins or ramekins set on a baking sheet ready to fill.  Spray them lightly with cooking spray.

In a medium sized bowl, combine the brown sugar, flour, salt, nutmeg and oats.  Add the butter and begin rubbing it in to the dry mixture, pinching it between your fingers, until it is well incorporated and it feels like all of the mixture is moist.  Add the nuts and stir together.  Set in the refrigerator until ready to use.  *If you really don’t want to use your hands, you can put the ingredients in a food processor and pulse a few times until it is all combined.  Don’t over process it if you do it this way.  Add the nuts at the end and stir them in. 

In another bowl, add the apples and toss them with the lemon juice.  Add the sugar, flour, cinnamon and salt and stir to combine.  Scoop an equal amount (about a cup) of the apple filling into each tin.  Next put equal amounts of the crumble evenly on the tops of each tin full of apples.  Bake for about 30 minutes, until topping is golden and crisp.  Let the crisps cool until warm.  Or if giving them as gifts, let them cool completely, put the lids on and label them.

*Have an abundance of another fruit?  Use that instead and add sugar according to the sweetness of the fruit.  You can also add some dried fruit, cranberries, cherries to the apple crisp if you’d like. 

Brenda from Meal Planning Magic is hosting the 12 Weeks of Christmas Treats round up this year (again).  Check out her blog for more information.   Check out all the other recipe from the other participants.  I know I’ll get some great ideas for the holidays this year and you will, too, I’m sure.

Grapeseed Oil Brownies—From Cookie Madness, a Dark, Dense Brownie and Fairly Low in Fat

Grapeseed Oil Brownies that should be called Dense, Dark Brownies That You Won’t Be Able To Stop Eating

My baking pal, Anna, at Cookie Madness, recently asked me if I wanted to try a brownie recipe she came up with that uses grapeseed oil.  Not only that, but there isn’t very much oil or butter in the brownies, but you really wouldn’t ever know that they are fairly low in fat.  These brownies have a deep chocolate flavor and are dense and perfectly brownie-like.  They aren’t too fudgy and they aren’t cakey.  I find it hard to explain what they are like.  I just think everyone should try them and see if they are your kind of brownie. 

I first tasted the brownies and thought, “Hmmm?”  Not sure what I thought.  Went back a bit later and tasted them again.  I kind of liked them better with the second taste.  And still again a little later, when the boys all decided to taste them, I had another bite or two and decided that I REALLY like them.  Instead of tasted gobs of butter/sugar, grainy chocolate, which often some brownies are like, you can just taste a deep, dense chocolate flavor with these.  They are good.  Try them!   Kevin liked them.  He thought they looked like they’d be cakey, was pleasantly surprised they are not, but they aren’t gooey, fudgy like some brownies.  They are just stand-out brownie kind of brownie.  While the boys were eating one, Scott said with his mouth stuffed full of his last bite, “How many can we have?”  We let him have a second one.

I followed Anna’s recipe exactly!  Here's the recipe at Cookie Madness.  Thanks, Anna!

Whole Wheat Loaves—Tuedays With Dorie—Baking With Julia

Fresh from the oven, Baking With Julia—Whole Wheat Loaves

We made bread for Tuesdays With Dorie this week.  The bread recipe was simple (the mixer did all the kneading), and it rose up nicely.  It tasted great, too! 

Can I tell you, I am lucky to be able to record old Baking With Julia shows on PBS every Saturday.  And one of the things I love most of all is Julia’s cute little snort-laugh in almost all the episodes.  If you are able to catch any of the episodes, look for her laugh.  Makes my day!

What is a gal to do with two loaves of fresh bread?  Give one to a neighbor who is having a birthday.  Worked perfectly this time. 

Told you it rose nicely.  Baked it for exactly 35 minutes. 

The bread was easy to slice with a perfectly crisp outside and soft inside. 

Here’s where someone will need to help Kayte at Grandma's Kitchen Table sit down, she might pass out when she hears that I didn’t do anything with chocolate for this one.  I know, I could have at least spread some Nutella on a slice or something.  You’ll never know, maybe I did and just didn’t photograph it. ;)    I’ll never tell.

Butter—yes.

Raspberry jam—check.

Everyone liked the bread around here.  I have a question or just a little something that I don’t’ get—why can some bread be called whole wheat when it doesn’t only have whole wheat in it?  This bread has about half whole wheat and half bread flour.  So in my book, it’s not really whole wheat bread.  This bread is whole wheat.  100% whole wheat, I guess that’s how some recipes get away with just calling them whole wheat is by not saying 100%.  Just a little beef, I’ll get over it. 

This is a great bread, not too whole-wheatty for those who don’t want that much fiber in their diets.  My only other issue with it was by rolling up the flattened out dough, it left big air holes through the loaf.  I did just what the recipe said to do.  Hmm.  Oh well.

Want the recipe?  Teresa from The Family That Bakes Together and Michele from Veggie Num Nums are the hosts this week and will have the recipe on their blogs. 

Coconut Delight Oreo Fudge Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Coconut Delight Oreo Fudge Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Have you seen the newest member of the Oreo Cookies family?  Coconut Delight Oreo Fudge Cremes.

If you like coconut, you’ll like these Oreos.  I like to take things like this and make something else with them—kind of like Anna at Cookie Madness did recently with brownies.  She put these cookies inside some brownies.  They look great!  After seeing her post about them, I was on a mission to find them and make chocolate chip cookies with them.  That is my go-to treat to play around with—well, that and Rice Krispies Treats and brownies.  You can do so much with them.  I’ve added all kinds of things to those three goodies.  Yet Kevin has said to me, “Can’t you just make regular boxed brownies or plain Rice Krispies treats?”  How boring is that?  And how unethical of me?  Like it would look good to post here on my blog boxed brownies!  Like I’d ever even entertain the idea of posting plain Rice Krispies treats.  Anyway, let’s not get in to all of that!

Cookies—I made cookies.  I used my favorite chocolate chip cookies recipe, but to make things a little bit easier, instead of the “fancy” flours those cookies use, bread flour and cake flour, I used all purpose flour.  Oh, I changed up a few other things, but knew by using that favorite recipe as a base, these would come out great, too.  They are good enough that I ate a few bites of the cookie dough (I think I like cookie dough more than a cookie!  Shhh!), but after that, I’ve steered clear of the cookies because I’m, once again/still, trying not to eat too many things like that.  Boring!  I know.

At least I’m here to share the cookies (photos and recipe at least) with you. ;)  That and I was practically yelled at by a friend and fellow blogger, Suzanne, at Thru the Bugs on My Windshield, for not getting the post up for these as soon as I posted a teaser photo of them on Facebook on Saturday.  So here you go, Suzanne. 

Coconut Delight Oreo Fudge Chocolate Chunk Cookies, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons light brown sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cup plus 2 tablespoons all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon coarse salt

1/2 cup sweetened, shredded coconut

5 ounces (12 cookies) Coconut Delight Oreo Fudge Cremes, chopped

4 ounces (3/4 cup) dark chocolate chunks or chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

In the bowl of a mixer, cream together the butter and sugars until light and fluffy.  Scrape sides of bowl.  Add egg and vanilla and beat until well combined.  Scrape sides of bowl again.  In a medium sized bowl, whisk together to sift the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.  Add the dry ingredients to the wet and beat just until combined.  Stir in the coconut, cookies and chocolate with a spatula.  Scoop cookie dough into desired-sized balls on baking sheet.  Bake for 10-12 minutes.  Let cookies sit on the baking sheet for a couple minutes before moving them to a wire rack to cool completely.