Fruit Pizza

Delys had a birthday recently, and the children and I wanted to celebrate with something other than cake. So we decided to make fruit pizza. Easy, colorful, delicious, and--if you forget about the cookie crust and the frosting and just focus on the fruit--healthy :) A perfect addition to any celebration or holiday!

We were on a tight schedule, so we used a mix and purchased icing:

If you have time to make it from scratch, this is a yummy sugar cookie recipe from Our Best Bites. 

Pat the cookie dough onto pizza pan (I lined ours with foil because it has holes) and bake according to package or recipe directions. Let cool.

Choose your fruit, wash it and let it dry, and cut it into bite size pieces:

Frost your cookie. (Somehow I failed to get a picture of that step.) Again, you can use a mix, premade frosting, or make it from scratch.These can pizzas can be works of art, so use your imagination when arranging the fruit. The children wanted a modern art look, and they did a beautiful job:

Slice and enjoy!

A Week's Worth of Easy, Healthy, Before-school Breakfasts

Half of my children remember homemade breakfasts, prepared daily before school and early morning seminary (a daily 6:00 a.m. scripture class.) The other half remember cold cereal that they got for themselves. (Those were the years that I taught early morning seminary.)

For those of you who believe, like I do, that breakfast should be both filling and healthy but who are, like I am, on a tight morning schedule, here are five of my favorite, mostly healthy, quick and easy breakfast options. (It looks like we eat an inordinate amount of pancakes, but the recipes are all really quite different.)

#1: Oatmeal Pancakes
These pancakes are made from a homemade mix that I found online at Mel's Kitchen Cafe. They do require a little early prep to make the mix, but on the morning of, all you need is an egg, buttermilk, and a cup of mix. Here is the recipe:

OATMEAL PANCAKE MIX

INGREDIENTS:

• 3 1/2 cups rolled (quick) oats (optional: first grind oats in a food processor for a smoother mix)
• 3 cups whole wheat flour
• 2 cups all-purpose flour (or 2 more cups whole wheat for a heartier pancake)
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 3 tablespoons baking powder
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 tablespoon baking soda
• 1 cup vegetable or canola oil
• 
  

1. Using the paddle attachment of your mixer or gently by hand, combine all the dry ingredients together. Slowly drizzle the vegetable oil into the bowl while stirring. When all the oil has been added, stop and squeeze a clump of mix in your hand. If it stays together, it is finished. (If still crumbly, add another tablespoon of oil at a time until the consistency is correct.) Store in an airtight container for up to two weeks at room temperature or longer in the fridge/freezer.
2. To make the pancakes: whisk together 1 cup of mix, 1 egg, and 1/2 to 1 cup buttermilk (depending on how thick you want your batter). Though the mixture may seem thin at first, the oats will soak up the milk as it stands while the griddle preheats. Spoon the batter onto your heated griddle. When the edges look dry and bubbles come to the surface and don’t break, flip the pancake over to finish cooking on the second side. Enjoy!

I don't always have fresh buttermilk, so I keep a canister of powdered buttermilk in my fridge. Using the powdered milk does change the texture of the pancakes but doesn't alter the taste.

#2. Puffed Oven Pancakes

These are easy, delicious, look fun, and are loaded with egg protein. One of our eaters is not a fan of eggs (hence the lack of egg dishes on this post,) but he loves these:

The recipe is an old one from a Better Homes and Gardens cookbook that may have been a wedding gift. Prep is easy, but it takes 25 minutes to bake, so you have to plan ahead. I double the original recipe to feed four, so I am giving you the doubled version:

Puffed oven Pancakes

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

4 T butter

6 eggs

1 c flour

1 c milk

1/2 t salt

Place butter in a 9x13 glass or metal cake pan. Place in a 400 degree oven for 3 to 5 minutes. In a medium mixing bowl, use a wire whisk or rotary beater to beat eggs till combined. Add flour, milk, and salt. Beat till mixture is smooth. Immediately pour into the hot pan. Bake about 25 minutes or till puffed and well browned.

Top with fresh fruit or your favorite pancake toppings.

Here is a similar recipe from realmomkitchen.com that cuts your baking time to 15 minutes because you bake the batter in muffin tins: 

mini puffed oven pancakes

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

1 cup milk, 6 eggs, 1 cup flour, 1/2 tsp. salt, 1 tsp. vanilla, 1/4 cup butter, melted

Blend first five ingredients in a blender to smooth out flour lumps. Blend in butter a little at a time.

Grease muffin tins well and fill slightly less than half full.

Bake 15 minutes or until puffy and golden on top. A crater will form on its own. Add your favorite toppings.

#3 Wednesday Waffles

I used to be a huge fan of  commercial mixes because they are so convenient, but as I learn more about what is in them, I rarely use them any more. However, I make an exception for this one:

I buy it at Costco, but I think it is available at other stores as well as online. Although I am not a nutrition expert, the ingredients in this mix seem simple and healthy. It is also a pancake mix, but I use it exclusively for waffles. The recipe calls for 1 cup mix, 1 cup cold water, and 1 T of oil. They are quick and delicious.

#4 Homemade Granola

I have no imagination and eat this every morning (almost.) It's delicious alone or mixed into yogurt. Find the recipe here on our blog.

#5 Wheat Muffins

I don't have time to make these in the morning, but they are great to make ahead to use later. They freeze well and can be pulled out of the freezer the night before. I don't know where I got this recipe, so I can't give credit where it is due.

Wheat muffins

1 c. all purpose flour
1 c. whole wheat flour
2 c. fresh or frozen blueberries
1 T baking powder
1/4 t salt
1/3 c butter, softened
3/4 c. sugar
3 egg whites
1/2 skim milk
1 t. vanilla

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line muffin tin with paper baking cups. Stir together flour and whole wheat flour. Measure out 1 T flour mixture and sprinkle over blueberries; toss to coat evenly and set aside. Stir baking powder and salt into flour mixture and set aside.

Beat butter and sugar together until creamy. Beat in egg whites until well combined. Stir in milk and vanilla. Stir in flour mixture, blending just until moistened. Stir in blueberries. Spoon into muffin cups, filling nearly to the top of each cup. Bake 25 minutes or until golden brown. Makes 12 muffins.

So here are five of our favorites. On the search for five more. . . .

Multi-Grain Waffles - That Taste Good

You know how mainstream breakfast foods are actually desserts? Don't get me wrong, breakfast is without a doubt my favorite meal of the day. But pancakes, waffles, french toast, scones, biscuits and gravy - you name it. And face the fact, if you haven't already, that all of these delicious breakfast foods are usually made with white flour (which equals bad carbs) and usually slathered in syrup (which equals starting the day with sugar). I love me some white flour and sugar. But I am trying to cook as much as I can with whole grains and naturally occurring sugars which means a lot of oatmeal, homemade granola, and eggs.

However, I came across this delightful multi-grain waffle recipe about a year ago that is really tasty and satisfies the requirements for my idea of a "healthy" breakfast. So if you want whole-grains but you still want waffles and you want them to taste good, this is the answer, my friend:

Whole Grain Waffles
Makes about 6-8 servings
Adapted from eatingwell.com

Ingredients

2 c buttermilk (or you can use 2 cups regular milk mixed with 1 1/2 Tbl white vinegar)
1/2 old-fashioned rolled oats

1 1/3 c white wheat flour (Use white wheat flour! The flavor and texture is lighter than darker wheat flours.)
1/4 c cornmeal
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon

2 large eggs
2 Tbl brown sugar
1 Tbl canola oil
2 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions

1. Pre-heat waffle iron.
2. Mix buttermilk and oats in large bowl and let sit for about 15 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, mix the next 6 dry ingredients together.
4. Add eggs, brown sugar, oil and vanilla to the oatmeal and buttermilk mixture and stir together.
5. Add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir together with a spoon or spatula until combined. Try not to stir too much. As you can see in the picture below, the mixture is going to be a bit lumpy with the oats and that is fine and dandy.

6. Pour about 1/2 cup to 1 cup (depending on how big your waffle iron is) onto the hot waffle iron and cook until ready.

Serve with butter, fresh fruit, cream, maple syrup, or whatever sounds delicious.

Sugar. Oh. Honey. Honey: Sugar Fast Anyone?

 Anyone else love sugar? I sure do. I love Skittles and Sour Patch Watermelons for the straight-up sugar cravings and chocolate chip cookies and cinnamon rolls for my lots of sugar + lots of lard cravings. Luckily, while I was in college, my lovely sister-in-law Rachell started doing sugar fasts and I jumped on that wagon. We basically didn't eat any sugar (that didn't occur naturally in fruits and honey and the like) 6 days of the week, but were allowed 1 sugar day where we could have some legitimate delicious treats that came our way. We could choose to have our "sugar day" for the week, any day. That way if someone brought you a chocolate milk from the creamery (that literally tasted like liquid chocolate ice cream) and set it right in front of your desk at work-- you could take your sugar day and drink that baby.

For me, the great thing about doing the "sugar fast" thing for several months is that I stopped craving sugar. In fact, things started tasting too sweet and my body didn't want the amounts of sugar it used to want.

Fast forward several years and here I am now: a breastfeeding, busy mom. These days, when I  make my favorite orange-glazed poppyseed bread (or cake if you want to call things by their proper name), I basically want to eat the entire loaf . On top of that, my 3-year-old asks for candy all the time. I don't give it to her very often, so I'm not sure why she constantly asks...but what is it about us that wants sugar from the time we are 2 years old? 2 YEARS OLD! Sheesh.

This is the birthday cake I made for my 3-year old this year. It is based around a Daniel Tiger episode where two of the characters play on Jungle Beach. My little girl requested a pink cake- so it is a strawberry cake on the inside with tons of frosting on the outside--and only 3 people to eat it. Let's just say I tossed most of it in the garbage after the big day.

So I have been working really hard at satisfying my sweet tooth by using healthier, happier methods than chocolate milk and colored candies and entire loaves of cake. I know there are wonderful natural sugar substitutes out there. But most of the time I just want something very simple and easy that I can grab out of a bag or whip up in a blender in 3 minutes. So here are my go-tos:

http://livelighter.org/27-natural-allergy-solutions/

1. Fresh Pineapple

This stuff tastes better than candy to me.

2. Chocolate Banana Peanut Butter Shake

You must try this.

3. These Pretend Chocolate Chip Cookies from Chelsea's Messy Apron. They have a tiny bit of brown sugar and are actually gluten and dairy-free as well. I call them "pretend" cookies because there is just no real substitute for chocolate chip cookies made with 2 sticks of butter. mmmmmm....good.

4. Guittard Extra Dark Chocolate Chips

These babies are rich, non-dairy, non-soy, and low sugar. Just a few of them will satisfy the chocolate cravings.

5. Fruit Smoothies: I really, really like Walmart's Great Value Mixed Frozen Fruit. We stick a cup and a half of that in a blender with a ripe banana and some orange juice and spinach: Voila! You get sugar but you also get a bunch of nutrients.

Or try this deliciousness:  Blend 1/2 cup frozen pineapple, 6 frozen strawberries, 1 ripe peach, & 1 ripe banana. Add some orange juice until it is your preferred consistency. If you want to go a step farther, add a cup of fresh spinach to pack in some extra nutrients.

6. Marilyn's Homemade Granola

When I don't eat this granola for breakfast,  I've started making a muesli of sorts. You soak a cup of whole oats in unsweetened, vanilla almond milk (just pour in enough to barely cover the oats), sprinkle a bit of salt and drizzle a bit of honey over it. Then cover and refrigerate it overnight. In the morning, add some fresh berries and chopped almonds or walnuts, or just cut in a ripe banana. It is the perfect oatmeal for hot summer months, because you don't have to cook it!

7. Hot Cocoa

1 cup milk (or almond milk)
1 Tbl cocoa
1 Tbl honey

Heat milk in microwave for a minute and a half. Stir cocoa and honey into milk until combined.

8. Happy Munchies Apple Rice Cakes 

I like the idea of rice cakes but I hate all the added sugar and salt in the stuff you find in the snack aisle. And I don't love the plain jane rice cakes either. So I got these for my 8-month old to try. When I nibbled on one myself, I found it was the perfect rice cake! And they seem to only make them for babies. That doesn't stop me though. I just ordered myself a huge box of them. They are rice cakes with a hint of apple juice and no added salt or sugar. A perfect snack that is just the right amount of sweet.

p.s. Here's some nutritionist jargon about sugar that I read recently:

"Don't get the idea that because the sugar composition is the same in fruit and cake, they're interchangeable. (Seriously, they're not.) For one thing, fruit offers good stuff like vitamins, antioxidants and water, while candy and desserts are nutritionally void. Fruit also tends to have less sugar by volume. Half a cup of strawberries: 3.5 grams of sugar. Half a cup of strawberry ice cream: 15 grams.

Plus, whole fruit has a lot of fiber, which actually slows down your body's digestion of glucose, so you don't get the crazy insulin spike (and subsequent crash) that candy causes. That also means your body has more time to use up glucose as fuel before storing it -- as fat. Even dried fruit, a notoriously sugary treat, has all the fiber and nutrients of its plump forbear. But do watch out for dried fruits with added sugar(check the nutrition label), and don't eat a ton just because they're smaller. Picture how many pieces are in a handful of raisins compared with a handful of grapes. See what we mean?

On average, Americans don't eat enough fruit, so don't cut it out of your diet in an attempt to limit your sugar intake! Sugar itself isn't toxic. But getting too much of it from cookies and cake is." ("Is Sugar From Fruit Better For You Than White Sugar", The Huffington Post, Posted Online 6/29/2013)

Strawberry Freezer Jam

The distressing thing about being a mother is the realization that mothers are supposed to know everything. I know this because my mother knew everything when I was growing up, especially all things relating to food. My mother-in-law knows everything, too: how to make the perfect roast, the perfect gravy, the perfect chocolate drop cookies, and the perfect strawberry-peach jam.

In fact, my hubbie and I have had a few conversations about our mothers' jams. I'd talk about how wonderful my mother's strawberry jam was, and he'd add that his mother's strawberry-peach jam was the best jam ever (which implies it is superior to the peach-less jam of my childhood). We'd carry on about the sweet, flavorful, deliciousness of these jams for a while, trying to one-up each other in our profuse praise.

Then a few weeks ago, as I was bragging to my mother about the cartons of strawberries on sale for $1, she immediately asked if I got enough to make jam. Shoot. I blew it. Mothers should know that $1/lb strawberries mean that it's time to make jam, and I totally missed my chance. I was pretty chagrined.

Nonetheless, the very next week, these sweet berries were on sale at a different store for the very same price, and I promptly bought 4 lbs! As I know nothing about jam making, I called up the source of wisdom to ask her to share her secret recipe, and now I'm going to share it with all of you.

Our phone conversation went something like this:

Me: Great news! I found some more cheap strawberries and am going to make some of your fabulous jam!

Mom: Oh good! I'm glad you were able to find another great sale.

Me: Me too. Would you mind sending me your recipe when you have the chance?

Mom: Oh, just look on the back of the pectin box, dear. It will tell you what you need to do.

Me: No, you don't understand. I want to make your special version of strawberry jam.

Mom: Yes, yes. Just follow the directions on the back of the pectin box like I always do. It will be delicious.

Me: (stunned silence.)

Are you serious?!? All this time, all that arguing with my husband, and your recipe is from the box??? I couldn't believe it. Yet now that I've made the jam, I can. And you know what? It is still incredibly good. Amazingly delicious and ridiculously easy. So this is a post to demonstrate that you, too, can make absurdly easy strawberry jam.

Here's what you need:

Something to hold five cups worth of finished product. Plastic containers are great for freezer jam, but I already had these glass jars on hand and wanted to make this jam experience as inexpensive as possible. I sanitized my jars by boiling them (or you can rinse your plastic containers in boiling water).

One box of pectin. Actually, I wished I'd purchased 2 boxes, but this was my first time and I had no idea what I was doing. As promised, the box has instructions for both freezer jams/jellies and cooked jams/jellies. My mom always made strawberry freezer jam. It has a softer set than cooked jam and is prepared in half the time. It is also crazy-good. Win-win-win.

One box of pectin needs 4 cups of strawberries or 2 cups of crushed strawberries. I basically bought twice as many strawberries as I needed (or half as much pectin, really; we're going through this jam super-fast!) 2 lbs of strawberries was ample.

So, remove the stems, thoroughly wash, and crush your strawberries!

My parents-in-law bought me this beautiful Cuisinart food processor which I used for the crushing.

Next, you need 4 cups of sugar. That's right, jam has twice as much sugar as fruit. Let's not dwell on that fact. Stir sugar into fruit and let stand 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Then, stir your pectin and 3/4 cup of water together in a saucepan. Bring to a boil on high heat, stirring constantly. Let boil one minute while you continue to stir. Then, remove from heat.

Add the pectin mixture to the fruit mixture and stir for 3 minutes until the sugar is dissolved and the jam is not grainy. Except a few sugar crystals will remain, which sounds like a few "grains" to me. Whatever.

Fill containers immediately, leaving 1/2 inch at the top for it to expand when frozen.

Cover and let stand for 24 hours or until set.

Oh-my-yum, that was easy. Slather onto delicious homemade bread like mama's artisan hazelnut bread.

Perfect Chicken Seasoning

So I'm not historically that girl who makes her own seasonings. I don't care how "quick and easy" your taco seasoning recipe is; it certainly isn't as quick and easy and tearing open those little taco seasoning packets, n'est pas?

Yet I've joined the dark side and regularly have a shaker on hand of my very own, pre-assembled, Perfect Chicken Seasoning. And by "very own," I really mean that I got it from another blog which has unfortunately been MIA for over a year now! Should the Crayon Recipe Box blog ever resurface, I want to give a shout out for this mix, because it's awesome. Now, I normally mix up a big batch to have on hand and sprinkle generously on chicken breasts to add to a number of recipes. Our favorite is Lemon Angel Hair with Chicken and Spinach, but we also add chicken strips to marinara sauce for chicken spaghetti (except never with actual spaghetti noodles, because Jeffrey has some angst towards that particular pasta). They also taste wonderful in chicken quesadillas. Mmm-mmm.

But I digress. The point I was going to make is that if you want to make a lot or a little, it's pretty easy as the spice ratio is one to one to one to one to one. Also, although I left in the pan-searing part of the instructions, in the interest of full disclosure, let me admit that I often feel pressed for time and put the coated chicken straight into a baking dish minus the browning. It still works and still tastes delicious. Yet if you have the time, the extra steps on the stove help give the chicken a subtle, seasony-crust on the outside and tender, soft interior.

Perfect Chicken 

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp onion powder

1 tsp paprika
2 Tbl olive oil

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Mix generous teaspoons of all the spices in a bowl. Dip both sides of each chicken breast into the mixture for a generous coat. If you're feeling really super and thorough, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a skillet on med-high heat. Once hot, brown the chicken for 2 minutes on each side. Place oven-safe skillet in oven (or transfer chicken to a baking dish) and bake uncovered for 40 minutes or until juices run clear. Remove chicken from oven and rest on cutting board for 5 minutes before slicing or serving.

Pumpkin Gnocchi

I am not a very inventive cook. I tend to prepare the same dishes over and over. (My husband is so kind and uncomplaining.) Occasionally, however, a recipe jumps out at me, and I just have to try it. That was the case with this recipe for Pumpkin Gnocchi. I expected it to be hard; it wasn't.  It does take some time, but it makes a fairly large batch, and I think it is delicious. And it has pumpkin in it!

The recipe suggests serving it with a special sage butter, but I loved it with my absolute favorite homemade pasta sauce, Kit Jensen's Chicken Pasta Raphael. 

Pumpkin Gnocchi

Ingredients:

1 1/2 c russet potatoes, peeled, then boiled until tender

1 c pumpkin or squash puree

1/4 c grated Parmesan

1 egg

1/4 t freshly grated nutmeg (I used about 1/8 t dried)

few twists freshly ground pepper

1/2 to 1 t salt

1 1/2 to 2 c unbleached, all purpose flour

Instructions:

In a large bowl, mash the potatoes and allow them to cool. With a fork, gently mix in the remaining ingredients except flour. Add flour a little at a time until you have a smooth, sticky dough. Briefly knead the dough in the bowl just until the last bits of flour have been incorporated. (I just used my KitchenAid.)

Bring a pot of salted water to a rolling boil while you divide the dough into 6 pieces. On a floured surface, roll each piece into a long rope, one-half inch in diameter. Cut the rope into half-inch pieces. Roll each piece of gnocchi down the back of the tines of a floured fork to make sauce-holding shallow grooves. (I'm not very good at grooving, but it held the sauce just fine.) Set the pumpkin gnocchi on a floured baking sheet. Repeat the process with the remaining dough.

Immediately begin boiling small batches of gnocchi. They should rise to the surface after a couple of minutes. Once they rise, boil for 2 to 3 minutes more. Test a piece from the first batch to make sure it is cooked through and not gummy, and adjust cooking time accordingly. 

Remove the pieces with a slotted spoon and add them to a lightly buttered bowl. Cover to keep warm.

(Source of the recipe and picture above: http://www.motherearthnews.com/real-food/pumpkin-gnocchi-zmrz1209zmar.aspx#axzz3PKZoIBOA)

Kit Jensen's Chicken Pasta Raphael

2 chicken breasts

1/4 c olive oil

1/2 t salt

Red pepper flakes to taste

3 8 oz, cans tomato sauce

2 16 oz cans diced tomatoes

2 16 oz cans artichoke hearts

2 c chopped onion

2 T minced garlic

1/2 t dried oregano

1/2 t dried basil

1/4 c grated Parmesan cheese

1/4 chopped fresh Italian parsley

1 t black pepper

Rinse the chicken and pat dry. Cut into bite-size pieces. Brown chicken in olive oil. Add garlic and onion and saute 1 minute. Drain the artichoke hearts. Add tomatoes, tomato sauce, oregano, basil, black pepper, salt and red pepper flakes to the chicken. Cook over medium low heat for 10 minutes. (I often let mine simmer longer.) Stir in the artichoke hearts, Parmesan cheese and parsley just before serving. Heat to serving temperature. Serve over gnocchi (or angel hair pasta).

Delizioso!

Slow Cooker Baby Back Ribs

Fact: My non-chicken repertoire continues to grow. Can we talk about how expensive groceries are in Silicon Valley? I mean seriously, I'm only shopping for three! And yet my bill seems colossal. In an attempt to cut costs, I've been more vigilant about checking the discount meat when I shop. And if I find a good deal, I tend to buy it, despite having no recipe in mind.

Thus was the case when I bought a half rack of baby back ribs. I think ribs are delicious; they're my go-to meat when I'm at a steak place and want to conceal the fact that I don't know much about picking steak (always medium-rare, but I don't really know how to pick the cut.)

I was a little skeptical that we could possibly make yummy ribs without a grill. However, I found a few recipes online suggesting that I could make moist and tender ribs in a slow cooker.

Oh. My. Goodness. So delicious. So simple. It's a keeper.

Slow Cooker Baby Back Ribs

1.5 lbs baby back ribs
1/2 cup water
Salt and pepper
Barbecue sauce (Sweet Baby Rays, anyone?)

Step one: Put the water in the crock pot.

Step two: Salt and pepper the ribs to taste.

Step three: Put the ribs in the crock pot. I thought they might not fit, but they did!

Step four: Cover and cook. I cook on high for 4 hours. I'm sure low for 8 will work as well.

Step four: Preheat your oven broiler. Take the ribs out of the slow cooker. Appreciate how tender, fall-off-the-bone they are! I put them on an aluminum lined baking sheet (which is good for cleaning, not-so-good for the earth...)

Step five: Brush the ribs with your favorite barbecue sauce. My college roommate McCall introduced me to Sweet Baby Rays. I'm a big fan.

Step six: Broil until the sauce caramelizes and gets bubbly, about 3 minutes.

Step seven: Enjoy! Sooooo good.

So I realized I have no finished product picture. It makes me sad inside. It makes Jeff happy inside; apparently we need to have these again, and soon!

Christmas Cookies Part 3: The Best Chocolate Cookies Ever

So my friend Amber once gave me the ultimate gift: a cookbook devoted to cookie recipes. And in this cherished recipe book, my sister Laurel and I found the best chocolate cookie recipe. And I am going to share it with you.

The thing I like about these babies is they are moist and almost brownie-esque in consistency. The recipe book suggested adding things to them like chocolate chips and nuts or white chocolate. But it was Laurel that truly came up with the best addition: chopped up Hershey's Cookies n' Cream bar. Yes. It is delicious. I didn't happen to have a cookies n' cream bar in my house, so I just used chocolate chips for the pictures shown below (which is still delicious)...but if you are going for out of this world good, purchase a Hershey's Cookies n' Cream chocolate bar, chop it up, and add it to the cookie dough.

Double Trouble Chocolate Chip Cookies
from Got Milk? The Cookie Book by Peggy Cullen
(I get about a dozen cookies from this recipe and I make my cookies on the big side.)

4 oz (1 stick) butter, softened to room temperature
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa (preferably Dutch-process)
1 large egg
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips or 1 chopped up Hershey's Cookies n' Cream bar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Beat the butter, sugar, salt, and vanilla until combined. Beat in cocoa and then the egg. Add flour and baking soda and mix on low speed until combined. Stir chocolate chips or cookies n' cream bar chunks into the dough.

The consistency of the dough is almost homemade fudge-like. Try not to taste the dough because you may eat it all before you get around to putting it on a cookie sheet.

Drop by spoonful onto an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 10 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Leave on pan for 5 minutes before removing.

Merry Christmas!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies: Holiday Cookies Part 2

I love baking--not cooking, necessarily. Baking. Cookies, bread, muffins, scones, biscuits, pastries, pies....all the stuff that isn't very good for you (with the exception of whole wheat bread, I suppose). During the Christmas season, I want to be baking all the time (while listening to my favorite Christmas tunes) and I have visions of making delectable treats to put on festive plates to deliver to everyone I can think of. It never turns out as good as I want it to be. But I thought that I would post my favorite holiday cookie recipes this week to go along with the holiday cookies Laurel posted here.

First up, pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. These are moist but cake-y cookies and I love, love, love them.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup canned pumpkin
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup canola oil
1 egg
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tbl vanilla
1-2 cups semisweet chocolate chips (depending on how chocolate-y you want them)

Directions:

Mix together pumpkin, sugar, oil, and egg. In a separate bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, and baking soda. Add flour mixture to wet mixture and mix until everything is combined. Mix in vanilla. (See picture below for an idea of the batter's consistency.)

Stir in chocolate chips. Drop heaping tablespoons onto a greased cookie sheet (if your cookie sheet is a dark metal, you may want to cover it in aluminum foil and then spray the foil and then drop the cookie dough on that). Bake at 350 degrees F for 10 minutes. Makes about 2 dozen cookies. (adapted from this allrecipes.com recipe.)

Eat them warm and melty and every day after until they are all gone. Or stick them in a ziploc and freeze them. They freeze really well. Enjoy!

Sugar and Spice Cookies

Let me start with a disclaimer: we have actually been really healthy eaters as of late. I have mostly limited my baked-good making to healthy muffins and breads. I feel all warm and fuzzy when I send Jeffrey off to school with a blueberry oatmeal muffin or pumpkin pancake rather than a poptart. True, we usually add chocolate chips to the pancakes, but still...

Yet this recipe is definitely a dessert, no other way of looking at it. Yet it's also a wonderful, Christmasy cookie, and ever since our storage unit got flooded, prompting me to put up our Christmas tree several weeks early, Christmas has been on my mind.

Now, Jeffrey isn't usually much of a cookie-eater, but this recipe is possibly his favorite. It comes from his childhood best friend's mother, and it is super quick, easy, and delicious. AND it makes your house smell wonderful! So without further ado:

Sugar and Spice Cookies

Look at me! I totally did one of those "I'm going to take a picture of all the ingredients" pictures! Mostly I wanted to take a picture of the shortening sticks to comment on how I LOVE that they exist! I don't often bake with Crisco, but I would never use it if I still had to scrape it out of the giant tin cans.

• 3/4 cup shortening
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup molasses
• 2 cups flour
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 3/4 tsp cloves
• 3/4 tsp ginger
• 1/4 tsp salt

Cream together the first 4 ingredients: shortening, sugar, egg, and molasses (isn't molasses gloopy?)

Sift together the dry ingredients and then add to the creamed mixture. Combine well. (Full disclosure here: I rarely actually sift the dry ingredients together. Ergo there's no picture. I just added them individually to the same bowl. I just haven't ever noticed a difference from when I do sift and don't, you know?)

Form into walnut-sized balls and place on cookie sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for 7-8 minutes. If using a dark or coated pan (like I did), reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees. Actually, I reduced mine to about 360, which was perfect. But since when does a recipe ever tell you to bake things at 360? Never. Better not start now. Something drastic could happen.

They should come out cracked on the top and soft. I removed mine fairly promptly from the pan to cool, and they came out perfect. This recipe usually yields 20-24 cookies.

They're so good, I promise, and are disappearing embarrassingly fast from our house. Mmm...