Choc-Oat-Chip Cookies

My mom & I love to bake! So a huge bonus of living with my parents (besides the 24/7 help with Ben and overall good company) is getting to bake! These cookies are amazing...you can literally eat a million in one sitting. No lie.

Choc-Oat-Chip Cookies



Ingredients
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt (optional)
1 1/4 cups packed brown sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups quick or old-fashioned oats
2 cups (12-oz. pkg.) NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels
1 cup coarsely chopped nuts (optional)

Directions
PREHEAT oven to 375° F.

COMBINE flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat brown sugar, butter and granulated sugar in large mixer bowl until creamy. Beat in eggs, milk and vanilla extract. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in oats, morsels and nuts; mix well. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.

BAKE for 9 to 10 minutes for chewy cookies or 12 to 13 minutes for crispy cookies. Cool on baking sheets for 1 minute; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

Source: Nestle (Verybestbaking.com)

Fresh Strawberry-Peach Bread

I found this recipe on another blog & thought this would be a great use of fruit we buy at the market in little italy each week! This bread came out delicious...definitely the perfect dessert for a summer evening. Of course, since I'm 9 1/2 months pregnant, I also needed a few chocolate chip cookies along with this bread to complete my dessert...



Fresh Strawberry-Peach Bread

1/4 cup butter (half a stick), softened
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup sugar
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt
1/2 cup buttermilk
3/4 cup strawberries, chopped
3/4 cup fresh peaches, chopped

Grease and flour a 9×5 inch loaf pan.
With electric mixer cream butter, sugar and cream cheese until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time. Mix in vanilla.

In separate bowl, mix flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Blend flour mixture with butter mixture just until blended. Add buttermilk and only stir until just combined; do not over mix.
Carefully fold in strawberries. Dough mixture will be thick.
Bake in a 350 degree oven for 50 to 60 minutes.

Source: Sing For Your Supper

Mini Chocolate Cheesecakes

This is one of my favorite recipes of my mother's. We made this over Christmas & I am bored & decided to try it on my own. I overfilled the cupcakes & they aren't anywhere near as pretty as my Mom's but let's hope they taste just as good!!



Mini Chocolate Cheesecakes
Makes about 4 dozen

Cheesecake part:
8 oz cream cheese
1 egg
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup chocolate chips (you can use less)

Chocolate part:
1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup water
1/2 cup oil
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 tsp vanilla
1 Tbps vinegar
1 tsp baking soda

Directions: Mix the cream cheese, egg & sugar in a bowl. Mix with mixer & then add chocolate chips. Then mix the rest in another bowl.

Fill the cupcake tin halfway with the chocolate part, then top with the cream cheese filling.

Bake for 10 minutes at 350 degrees.

Source: MOM

Orange Chocolate Chip Cookies

This is a recipe from Dan's childhood that he wanted to make. I was skeptical of the orange & chocolate chips, but it was delicious!!


Orange Drop Chocolate Chip Cookies

Source: 1975 Betty Crocker Cooky Book

2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg, room temperature
1/2 cup orange juice
2 tablespoons orange zest, grated
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Directions
1)Heat oven to 400F
2)Mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
3)In another large mixing bowl, mix butter, sugar and egg thoroughly. Stir in orange juice and rind.
4)Sift dry ingredients into wet ingredients and blend together.
5)Drop rounded teaspoonfuls of dough about 2" apart on ungreased baking sheet.
6)Bake 8-10 minutes or until delicately browned on edges.
7)Remove from cookie sheets and cool completely. Store in an airtight container.

Christmas Spritz Cookies!!

We have gone a tad overboard with the Christmas Spirit, and have decided to make Spritz Cookies, just like the old days. I have so many wonderful memories with my mom making these cookies...I hope they come out just as good!!

Spritz Cookies

2 ¼ cups unbleached flour
¾ cup granulated sugar
¼ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
1 cup butter
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Mix flour, sugar, baking powder & salt together in a bowl.
With a pastry blender or 2 knives, cut the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture is full of fine lumps.
Measure the egg in a measuring cup. A large egg will measure ¼ cup. If it does not, add water to the ¼ cup line.
Add the egg & vanilla extract and beat the mixture very well.
Put through the cookie press on ungreased cookie sheets.
Bake for 10-12 minutes. Remove cookies from sheet at once.





Source: Mom's recipes

Zucchini Bread

After dinner we made Zucchini Bread, came out delicious!!

Zucchini Bread

3 large eggs
2 cups granulated sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. baking soda
1 cup oil (no olive oil)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups grated zucchini (2 medium, peeled)
1 tsp. salt
¼ tsp. baking power
3 cups flour
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Beat eggs until foamy. Add in the rest of the ingredients, flour & nuts last. Grease 2 medium loaf pans, or 4 small ones.

Bake 1 hour for 2 medium loaves, 45 minutes for small loaves. Use toothpick in center to test for doneness. Remove from pans & cool on rack.



Source: Mom's recipe

Simple Fudge Tarts

This is an easy quick dessert Mom had cut from a magazine in 2000!! haha.

The pictures were not so great, but they were delicious! Here's the recipe:

Simple Fudge Tarts

24 tarts

Nonstick cooking spray
9 ounces refrigerated peanut butter cookie dough
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate piece
1/4 cup sweetened condensed milk


Spray 24 1 3/4 inch muffin cups with cooking spray; set aside. For tart shells, cut cookie dough into six equal pieces. Cut each piece into four equal slices. Place each slice of dough in a prepared cup.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 9 minutes or till edges are lightly browned and dough is slightly firm by not set. Remove tart shells from oven. Gently press a shallow indentation in each tart shell with the back of a round 1/2 teaspoon measuring spoon.

Bake 2 minutes more or till the edges of tart shells are firm and light golden.
Let tart shells cool in cups on a wire rack for 15 minutes.

Carefully remove tart shells from cups. Cool completely on wire racks.

For filling, combine chocolate pieces and sweetened condensed milk in a small saucepan.

Cook and stir over medium heat till chocolate is melted.
(WATCH CAREFULLY) Spoon a slightly teaspoon of filling into each cooled tart shell. Cool, allowing filling to set.



Source: Better Homes & Garden 2000

Cooking with Mom - Part 1; Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins

My mom's in town!!! So we are doing a lot of baking & cooking, and trying a few new recipes.

After a few drinks out with Dante dressed up as Peter Pan, we came home to tackle these muffins. They were DELICIOUS!!!

Making the cream cheese filling...





Putting the filling in...




All done! With Dan's jack-o-lantern :)



Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins

Yield: 24 muffins

Ingredients:

For the muffins:

3 cups flour
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. ground cloves
1 tbsp. and 1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
4 eggs
1 ¼ cups vegetable oil
2 cups sugar
2 cups pumpkin puree

For the filling:

8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 cup powdered sugar

For the streusel topping:

½ cup sugar
¼ cup and 1 tsp. flour
4 tbsp. butter, cubed
1 ½ tsp. cinnamon

Directions:

To prepare the filling, combine the cream cheese and powdered sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and whip until smooth. Form into a log on plastic wrap or foil, making sure that the diameter is small enough to fit into the well of a muffin pan. Wrap the log up tightly and freeze until slightly hardened, 1-2 hours. (We used foil, but we think wax paper would work best!!)

To make the muffins, combine the flour, spices, salt and baking soda in a medium bowl. Mix well and set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the eggs, vegetable oil, sugar and pumpkin puree. Mix until well combined. Add in the dry ingredients and mix on low speed until just combined.

To make the streusel topping, combine all ingredients in a small bowl. Mix together with a pastry blender or two forks until crumbly.

Preheat the oven to 350°. Line two muffin pans with paper liners. To assemble the muffins, fill each muffin well halfway with batter. Remove the cream cheese log from the freezer and slice into 24 equal slices. Place a slice in each muffin well. Divide the remaining muffin batter evenly among the muffin cups, on top of the cream cheese. Sprinkle the streusel topping over the top of the batter. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Let cool completely before serving.

Mangia!!



We got this recipe from this blog

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Muffin Disaster

So Dan really wanted peanut butter chocolate chip muffins. He was practically begging me to make them. So we start making them only to realize we don't have any baking powder. No big deal, right?? Apparently it is. Unless you have a handy baking powder substitute such as molasses or cream of tartar (um, what?) you are screwed!!

We still ate them.



The finished product!!



Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Muffins
Ingredients:

2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder - very important!!!!
½ tsp. salt
2/3 cup brown sugar
6 tbsp. butter, melted and cooled
½ cup peanut butter
2 large eggs
1 cup milk
¾ cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375°. Line a muffin pan with 12 paper liners.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and brown sugar. Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the melted butter, peanut butter, eggs and milk until smooth. Add in the flour mixture and stir until just combined. Stir in chocolate chips. Divide batter evenly between prepared muffin tins, filling each to the top.

Bake for 17-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool for 5 minutes in the pan, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.