Yeah, I'd Bake That's Not Favorite Things Because That Was Taken, But Things We Really Enjoy List! Part 2!

Wow, such a great response for Part 1 of Yeah, I'd Bake That's Not Favorite Things Because That Was Taken, But Things We Really Enjoy List! You guys had me all like

Seriously, I'm super flattered.

Potato Chip Cookies

I was reading a blog on the Philly Post today about Whole Foods, and how the author was never particularly excited to walk into the store and shell out large amounts of money for organic cheese and soy milk. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it, mostly because I have the same aversion towards the chain and whenever I can meet another person like me it gives me a false sense of security. It's not me. It's the aisles of wheat grass and ground chia seeds. Okay, I know I'm irrational. I don't go to Shop Rite because I think the parking lot is too small, but I know that walking through Whole Foods makes me hate myself.

Super Bowl Breakdown

As I mentioned in last week's post, this post is going to veer off in another weird direction. Nothing too weird and uncomfortable, just another post that doesn't necessarily only involve desserts. I know, I'm going to give you a minute to get it out of your system. Don't worry, it took me a minute.

The reason for all the veering is the big game. The big dance. The superest of bowls, and the best excuse you'll have until next Christmas to eat with reckless abandon. My family was never huge fans of football, but we always got together to watch the super bowl. Most of the time it started off with some kind of civilized meal; some angel hair pasta if we were at my aunt and uncle's. But as soon as the plates hit the dishwasher it was junk food o'clock. I'm talking foods that are best left to fingers, desserts that had the words "muddy" and "addicting" right in the title. My aunt (who I've mentioned before here) has always been a whiz at producing desserts that everyone wants to inhale, so this was her super bowl. I also remember a time when my Gramma let my sister and I run wild in her kitchen, which resulted in a cake that sort of resembled a football field but looked more like a green monster with the words bronco written in M&M's melting off one end. I know there's a picture of it somewhere..

Lofthouse Style Sugar Cookies

With the most super of bowls fast approaching, I've been trying to think of a way to weave a few different recipes into the same post. You can obviously just list them, but that's not clever. I want to be like the Lonely Planet guide to your super bowl refreshments. The Frommers of your food spread, if you will. This weeks post is going to be a short one in anticipation of next weeks. But although it may be short, it's still worth reading because it contains a knock off recipe for those super soft, usually pink-iced cookies that are always near the cash register at the grocery store.

You know those cookies I'm talking about. You can slave over the oven all day making homemade cookies and the moment someone walks in with those soft, pink cookies everyone can only talk about how soft they are. Because how could someone make a cookie that soft?! It's not a pillow.

12 Days of Christmas Cookies Wrap Up

Well we did it! We survived 12 Days of Christmas Cookies - it was a success! Below I've put a link for each day's recipe, that way you can forward this post link to your Grandma and tell her to get back in the kitchen! Not in that awkward women belong in the kitchen sense..it's just that Grandmas are normally good at baking.

Phew, it's time for me to take a break.

So here they are! Thanks to everyone for tuning in and checking out my little blog! It really was fun, and I hope we can do it again soon. If I don't see any of you before the New Year, have a Happy Holiday and come back to Yeah, I'd Bake That soon! 2012 holds some great recipes and what I can (safely) assume is more sarcasm.

Day 10: Chocolate Caramel Chews

It's not something that I've ever done, but I've always wanted to learn how to make candy for Christmas time. I've messed around looking for recipes online, and every time I find one I never do it because the recipe calls for roughly half a day. Sadly, I just don't the patience.

What I do have is a quick google finger, so I'm on to the next recipe before I get too depressed thinking about my lack of candy making abilities.

Day 3: Chocolate Dipped Shortbread

I just borrowed this. You know the drill.

I'm a big fan of shortbread cookies, but I don't think I've ever actually made them around the holidays. If it's not covered in sprinkles or green icing, is it really even a Christmas cookie? These are tough questions. If a sugar cookie tree fell in the woods would it make a sound? I don't know, but my dog grabbed a sugar cookie tree from the table the other day and I didn't hear it, so maybe.

Whether or not they're Christmas staples, this recipe is a keeper and today is officially the third day of the 12 days of Christmas Cookies. So without any further ado, here is the recipe for Chocolate Dipped Shortbread cookies! 

Day 2: Spritz Christmas Trees

Living in our mini house in East Falls is difficult around Christmas time. Between moving out on our own, getting married and the occasional sidewalk shopping we do we have amassed a large number of  decorations. I think a normal couple would choose a few that mean the most and just display those, but we've crammed all of our decorations into this tiny place.

As was the case with yesterday's post, this picture is clearly just for demonstration purposes.
I just found it on google. Got it?

We even take out the back portions of the Christmas tree so it'll fit in the corner of the dining room. 

Because that's where Christmas trees go.

So while we're putting decorations on top of shelves that are packed with books, hanging hand made stockings and lighting cheap candles that smell like cinnamon - I'm also filling the house with Christmas cookies. It's what I'm best at.

Day 1: Peanut Butter Blossoms

..And you thought I forgot.

Welcome to Day 1 of the 12 Days of Cookiesssss!

^ That logo is just so good, I have to keep using it.

Today is the first day of my personal Christmas cookie challenge, posting one recipe a day for 12 whole days. Since the completion of my grad school finals I've been going over recipes in my head, and today is the day that it all begins.

A Special Announcement

Somehow in the past few days it became December, and the hunt for new kinds of Christmas cookies has officially eclipsed the final I need to finish by Wednesday night. Oops.

I started thinking about what I was going to make and what I would post and immediately I thought of at least 4984 kinds of cookies I wanted to write about. That's a ballpark, but it's pretty spot on. I convinced myself that I would need to post a lot, and often, to get them all out and to the masses so you can make them for Christmas too. That's why I decided to post 12 cookie recipes in 12 days. It's like the Amazing Race, only with less forms of transportation and no tears! (Actually, no promises on the tears).

Leftover Halloween Cookies Part 2: Lost in New York

Ahh, it’s almost that time again. Turkey, turkey sandwiches, apple pie, stuffing... Halloween candy. The anticipated follow-up to the leftover Halloween candy blog is here, and it’s intense so get ready.

I mean, it’s no turkey sandwich, but it’ll do.

Last night I finally had the opportunity to make these bad boys. They are an excellent alternative to throwing your leftover candy away and/or peddling it to people in your office who live in high rise buildings or out in areas where no one dares to walk from door to door.

I threw around some language in my last post, I think I called them “bars” once, “cookies” a few times. These baked goods are definitely bars, and they won’t yield a lot of return. HOWEVER, they are delicious and the EIGHT people you get to share them with will love you forever. Trust me, I’m beloved by some just because I know my way around a spatula. I’m not proud of it, but whatever.

Below are some shots from my before and after. For the candy I used chopped up leftover plain Hershey bars tossed with pecans. There’s also chocolate chunks and other pecans in the cookie dough. If I had the chance I’d definitely use snickers, kitkats, whatever I could get my hands on because these bars are awesome. The recipe, posted again below, warns you that you’ll just get 12 very large bars and they weren’t kidding. I actually only came away with 8.

For the inside of the cookies, the finer the the chocolate the better.
For the TOPS, keep the pieces big! 

Be sure to space the cookies far apart, because they'll spread. 

The final products up close and personal.

And because you’re all such beautiful people and you left comments on the last blog, I’m giving away Yeah, I’d Bake That Magnets! They look great on refrigerators, filing cabinets, cars…and they’re free! Seriously, I’ve been thinking about it and I just can’t think of a better present for your loved one than a Yeah, I’d Bake That Magnet. Don’t wuss out and get them a bathrobe like last year Brad, step your game up! [I apologize to all Brads whose wives love bathrobes]

If you too want a magnet, leave a comment on this blog and I’ll hook you up!



Source: Best Ways to Use Halloween Candy 79
Author: Lela Davidson
Link: http://leladavidson.hubpages.com/hub/Best-Ways-to-Use-Leftover-Halloween-Candy

Topical: Leftover Halloween Candy Cookies

If you're anything like us, you now have a mountain of Halloween candy on your dining room table that may or may not cause your friend Ben to catch diabetes. Every year on Halloween our block of row homes gets assaulted with little pirates, Michael Jacksons and regular teenagers who dressed up and went trick-or-treating as regular teenagers. But for some reason, this year we over prepared (I think it was the freak snow storm and the stock piling mentality) and now we have a table full of candy that's got to go. I mean, it's got to go.

So today when I was supposed to be writing lesson plans I was scouring the internet for ways to use these leftovers. I came away from the search with two ideas: 1. I'm not sure I want to use too many collaborative writing assignments in my classroom and 2. The following Pampered Chef recipe is an amazing way to pile up all that candy, throw it in a bowl and eat it all at once so you don't have to bother with the wrappers. Obviously, my thoughts on collaborative writing do not apply here.

The website I got the recipe from says you'll make a killing if you sell these at some kind of bake sale, so if you're looking for some extra cash you're welcome:

Coffee House Cookies
Link: http://leladavidson.hubpages.com/hub/Best-Ways-to-Use-Leftover-Halloween-Candy

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts or pecans, divided
2 bars (1.5-2 ounces each, or the equivalent of mini bars) of your leftover chocolate goods*

*I haven't made this recipe yet, but I would think adding more to the recipe can't do a lot of harm. Just don't load up on too much caramel or rice products.

*This recipe makes 2 batches of 6 big cookies


Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350. Combine flour, baking soda and salt and mix well. In another bowl or mixer, beat butter and brown sugar until creamy. Add egg and vanilla and beat well. Gradually beat in flour mixture.

2. Stir 2/3 cup of the nuts and 2/3 cup of the chocolate chucks into dough. Cut candy bards into small pieces and set aside for later.

3. Scoop 1/4 cup of dough onto cookie sheet and flatten slightly. Leave plenty of space (about 3 inches) because cookies will spread as they bake. Press nuts and candy into cookies.

4. Bake 14-16 minutes or until cookies are almost set. Don't over bake. (Like you would on purpose?) Centers should be slightly soft. Cool on baking sheet for 7 minutes before putting on a cooling rack.



I'm going to be making these some time this week, so check back for pictures! And leave a comment below if you have any other ways to get rid of halloween candy!

This is our friend Ben. He loves candy corn.

Source: Best Ways to Use Halloween Candy 78
Author: Lela Davidson
Link: http://leladavidson.hubpages.com/hub/Best-Ways-to-Use-Leftover-Halloween-Candy

The Greatest Sugar Cookie Recipe

I have a soft spot for baking sugar cookies because it reminds me of Christmas time, so in the summer months I always decide to bake them. But while I'm busy being all nostalgic, I completely forget that making sugar cookies starts off fun, becomes a pain in the ass, and then ends with me yelling at my sister for wandering off and quitting on me. The memories.

So I had lapsed into my sugar cookie feelings last week, and found myself home alone for a while with an acceptable excuse to bake some goods. I decided to make some sugar cookies, and remembered that I was given one of the greatest recipes for this kind of cookie. The Wilton Roll Out Cookies recipe is one of the best I've ever found because it's easy, you don't have to chill the dough, and they taste like you just picked them up from the bakery.

Now, normally I'm not the biggest fan of Wilton recipes - I've been burned by their icing a few times (literally, of course) - but this one is a keeper.

The best part of this blog post is my clear disregard for the holidays. As you can see above, I have three sugar cookies shaped like pumpkins, decorated for the fourth of July sitting in the most patriotic dish I think I've ever seen. When I brought them out at a tailgating event, I told everyone they were shaped like summer squashes. I don't know anyone who knows what a summer squash looks like.

Here's the link to the official recipe: http://www.wilton.com/recipe/Roll-Out-Cookie-Recipe

Ingredients:
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract (which I've never used, so you can do without it if you'd like)
2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

In mixing bowl cream butter with sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla and almond extract.

Mix flour, baking powder and salt in a separate bowl. Add to butter mixture one cup at a time, mixing after each addition.

Do not chill dough (you don't have to, that's the best!)

On a floured surface, roll dough out. Dip cookie cutter into flour before each cut.

Bake cookies on an ungreased cookie sheet for 6-7 minutes or until light brown.
*This dough/cookie comes out very white, so keep an eye on them to make sure they're not burning around 5 minutes



You really can't go wrong with this sugar cookie recipe, specifically because they don't have many ingredients and they don't take long to make. Give 'em a shot!

And by the way,

I was dead on about the summer squash. Dead on.

Source: Wilton Roll Out Cookie Recipe

http://www.wilton.com/recipe/Roll-Out-Cookie-Recipe

Cookies and Creme Cupcakes

When I first decided to start chronicling my baking ventures in a blog I promised myself that I wouldn't say things like "hubby approved!" and "kevin loves it!" Thats just not me. And if Kevin knew what were good for him he'd like everything I baked - which he does with the exception of anything with mint. (i rediscovered this fact when i made these) The reason I even mention it is because this story all started with a slip of Kevin's tongue. <-- that's the last time I'll mention him by name, I promise!

We were driving home from the movies the other day when my spouse said "i'm looking forward to your first real fail." This came at a break in the conversation, and while I first thought he was talking about general life fails, he was really talking about baking and my blog posts. There are a few things wrong with this sentence. 1. Why would you say that to someone?! Actually, that's about the only example I need. You just don't wish failing upon people spouse, you just don't.

So somewhere in the back of my mind, in a little cob-webbed corner I hid that thought away. But in reality, I was just waiting for it. It was only a matter of time. Spouse had cursed me, cursed me good.

I was making cookies and creme cupcakes for a friend's birthday, and was looking forward to trying out this recipe because there's oreos inside. Even the icing has oreos in it! The party was hinging around a game of frisbee golf, so I decided early on that I would make the icing look like grass and lodge one half of an oreo in the top of the cupcake to look like a frisbee. This is what I was going for:

It's not the clearest image, but it worked.

The plan was simple enough. The recipe for the cupcakes worked out great, and the icing was extremely complementary. The problem was that the recipe said you should just spread the icing on the cupcakes, and now that my icing was green there was no turning back from piping it to make it look like waves of grass. This is where the problems started, THIS is where my fail began.

Behind the cupcake you can see my icing gun - this thing does everything. I have about 6 different tips I can put on it that will make different designs. I opted for the second largest one because I wanted smaller pieces of grass. Fail. The cookies that were in the icing were getting lodged in the tip, so I put the bigger one on. Bigger fail. There was actually a minute where I thought of aborting the whole mission and throwing all of the cupcakes in the garbage.. because I have a temper.

It's these kinds of situations where I have to walk away and figure out why it's not working. But in this case- I yelled to my spouse that he better come to the kitchen and help me out of this jam because he jinxed me. Not the fun kind of jinx where we laugh and owe each other cokes - I was on the edge and had to finish 28 cupcakes with icing that just wasn't working the way I wanted it to. Fast forward an hour later, and we had iced them all one. at. a. time. We'd ice one, clean out the cookies and then move on to the next. An awful lot of work just to see one fail. I hope you're happy you who shall not be named.

In reality, this really wasn't a huge fail. It could have been a lot worse. The recipe is actually pretty great, and the cupcakes certainly tasted good. They were a little dry for my taste, but I'm chalking that up to the amount of crushed oreos that were inside. Not my anger.

You can find the recipe I used here: http://javacupcake.com/2009/12/cookies-n-creme-cupcakes-2/
There are a lot of other cookies and creme cupcakes I'd like to try, but this was a good beginner one.

Here's a few pictures of the final product:

Here's the pink cupcake stand I made.

I wanted to give a cupcake to my neighbor, and found these little cupcake boxes on Amazon. 

Give them a try! And if you have better results than me, just don't tell me.


Source: Java Cupcake: Cookies-n-Creme Cupcakes
http://javacupcake.com/2009/12/cookies-n-creme-cupcakes-2/