Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

One night I got a craving for oatmeal raisin cookies.  I wanted warm, chewy, fresh from the oven cookies.  I went to Pinterest and found a recipe.  Lucky for me I had all of the ingredients.

They were just what  I wanted.  In the comments, someone said that they added some chocolate chips.  After baking half the batter with just raisins, I added some chocolate chips.  They tasted good, but I loved plain raisin ones the best.  I will definitely make these again and again.

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
From: Food.com

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour 

1 teaspoon baking soda 

1 teaspoon baking powder 

1 teaspoon kosher salt 

1 cup unsalted butter, softened 

1 cup sugar 

1 cup dark brown sugar, firmly packed 

2 large eggs 

2 teaspoons vanilla 3 cups oats (not instant) 

1 1/2 cups raisins

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°. 

Whisk dry ingredients; set aside. 

Combine wet ingredients with a hand mixer on low.

To cream, increase speed to high and beat until fluffy and the color lightens. 

Stir the flour mixture into the creamed mixture until no flour is visible. 

Now add the oats and raisins; stir to incorporate. 

Scoop dough balls and drop 2-inches apart onto baking sheet sprayed with nonstick spray. Bake 11-13 minutes (on center rack), until golden, but still moist beneath cracks on top. Remove from oven; let cookies sit on baking sheet for 2 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool.

This makes a lot of cookies.  I would probably half the recipe in the future.

Baked S'more

For Memorial Day we went to a barbeque at Crissy Field in San Francisco.  We were supposed to bring something to share, so I decided on another baked s'more.  This was different than the first one that I made and I liked it way better.

Baked S'mores
 From: The Apron Gal

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla 
1 1/3 cups flour
1/4 tsp salt (optional)
3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs (approximately 5 full graham crackers)
1 tsp baking powder
2 or 3 super-sized (5 oz.) chocolate bars (e.g. Hershey’s)
1 1/2 cups marshmallow creme/fluff* (or mini marshmallows if you must!) 

This is not marshmallow topping.  See previous post about fluff.
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350. Grease bottom of  pan.

In a large bowl or stand mixer, cream together butter and sugar until light. Beat in egg and vanilla.

In a small bowl, whisk together flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking powder and salt.

Add to butter mixture and mix at a low speed until combined. 

Divide dough in half and press half of dough into an even layer on the bottom of the prepared pan. Place chocolate bars over dough. Two 5 oz. Hershey’s bars should fit perfectly [for 8 by 8] side by side, but break the chocolate (if necessary) to get it to fit in a single layer. [use 3 Hershey's for 12 by 8 pan]

Spread marshmallow fluff evenly over the chocolate layer.

Place remaining dough in a single layer on top of the creme. This is most easily done by putting the second half of the dough in a gallon size freezer bag. Use your palms or rolling pin to flatten it out, and then use scissors to cut down both long sides of the bag, so it will open up book-style. Open it up carefully, and the dough will stick on one side of the bag. Then place the bag, dough side down, on the other three layers. From there peel the bag up and carefully spread the dough where it is uneven.

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until lightly browned. Cool completely or almost completely for the melty factor before cutting into bars.

Mine was a little extra gooey.  I sent my husband to the store to get the ingredients.  He bought marshmallow topping instead of fluff.  They were still very yummy.  We just needed lots of napkins.

I only got one picture of the the dessert, but here's a shot of us with the Golden Gate Bridge in the background. 

For My Nieces: Pinafore Dress and Simple Skirt

My sister sent me a link to a pattern for a cute little outfit that she wanted me to make for my niece.  I knew that I had seen something similar and I found a tutorial at Smashed Peas and Carrots.

I went shopping and found some great fabric at Joann's.  It was near the end of the bolt so if I bought the restI got a discount.  I figured why not.  With the fabric I made the dress and a matching skirt for her older sister.  I also made a skirt for other niece. Everything turned out so cute.

 
To go with the dress I made a little diaper cover also.  I used a tutorial from MADE.

The skirt is also a tutorial from MADE. She calls it a Simple Skirt and it really is.

Everything turned out really great and it looks so cute on them.

S'more Cobbler

It seems that there are S'more inspired recipes all over the Internet.  I love S'mores and with summer approaching, it seemed appropriate to try one of the baked S'more recipes.

This was pretty quick and easy to whip up.  It uses cake mix and chocolate pudding.  I brought to a famiy pot-luck and everyone agreed that it was yummy.

S'more Cobbler
From: Tablespoon.com

Ingredients:
1 box chocolate cake mix
1 cup whole milk
1 5oz chocolate pudding (cook and serve)
1/2 cup butter
6 whole graham crackers

1/2  cup mini chocolate chips

40 marshmallows

 

Directions:

Combine milk and pudding mix and place into greased 13x9 baking dish.

 

 

Place graham crackers (broken in half) on top of pudding mixture with space in between each one.

Add 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips. (I forgot chocolate chips, so I had to pick out the chocolate chips and M&M's from a trail mix).

 

Spread DRY cake mix over top and place the butter by tablespoons on top of dry mixture. Make sure it is really spread around.  This is what moistens the cake. 

Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Mix slightly so there aren't large areas of dry ingredients.

Add marshmallows and bake for 8-10 minutes and if needed 1-2 minutes under a high broiler to brown.

 

 

 

Strawberry Margarita Cupcakes

On Pinterest, I saw a super cute flower pot cupcake.  I thought it would make a great Mother's Day treat for my mom. I also wanted to try a new cupcake recipe, strawberry margarita cupcakes.  They tasted great, but didn't work for the flower pot.

I didn't make her frosting.  I tried to make my usual cream cheese frosting and added the puree to it, but it was too runny and wouldn't hold its shape.  Also, they are filled cupcakes, so that made the them less sturdy.

I guess next time I'll just make the cupcakes and no flower pot.

Strawberry Margarita Cupcakes
From: The Baker Chic

Cake:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tbsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs, at room temperature
3 limes, zested and juiced
½ tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk (can use 1 tbsp. lemon juice + 1 cup regular milk and let sit for 5 min.)

Strawberry Tequila Puree:
1- 8 oz container of strawberries
Juice and zest of 1 lime
1/2 cup of tequila
2 tablespoons of sugar

Frosting:
1 cup organic non-hydrogenated shortening
2 sticks un-salted butter slightly chilled
4 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup strawberry tequila puree
 (This is her frosting recipe, not the one I used)

Directions:
To make the cupcakes:  preheat the oven to 325˚ F.  Line two cupcake pans with paper liners.  In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt; stir with a fork to blend.  In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 3-5 minutes.  Blend in the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.  Beat in the lime zest, lime juice and vanilla.  With the mixer on low speed, mix in the dry ingredients in three additions alternating with the buttermilk, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients.  Beat each addition just until incorporated. Divide the batter between the prepared cupcake liners, filling each about ¾ full.  Bake 20-24 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Let cool in the pan 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely

Meanwhile make the filling:
In a bowl of a food processor, add the strawberries, lime juice, tequila and sugar. Puree the mixture until there are no chunks of strawberry. Set aside.

Filling the cupcakes:
Using a small paring knife, cut a cone out of the top of each cupcake. Remove the cut-out cake and spoon a tablespoon of strawberry puree into each cupcake. Replace the top part of the cone, cutting the tip to leave room for the filling.

Frosting: In a large mixing bowl, cream together the shortening and butter on high until well mixed and fluffy.  Add the powdered sugar one cup at a time alternating with tablespoon at a time of the strawberry puree.  Mix until the frosting in thick and cream, the like consistency of ice cream.