The Perfect Breakfast Cookie

These are the best breakfast cookies. They're hearty and full of yummy AND healthy ingredients. I baked up a batch a few days ago and they're already gone. Definitely not just a breakfast 'breakfast' cookie! 


Recipe adapted from Simple Nourished Living.

Peanut Butter Breakfast Cookies

Makes about 2 dozen


Ingredients
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup peanut butter ( substitute sunbutter if you can't do nuts!)
1 cup packed brown sugar
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1/3 cup water
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 cups quick cooking oats
1/2 cup wheat germ
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 cup dried fruit ( I used cranberries and they were uber tasty!)
Sprinkles of raw sugar

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350F degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or lightly grease them.
In a large bowl beat together butter, peanut butter, brown sugar, and vanilla with an electric mixer until creamy. Beat in eggs and water.
In a medium bowl stir together flours, oats, wheat germ, salt, cinnamon, and baking soda. Mix flour mixture into peanut butter mixture. Stir in dried fruit.
Drop by ice cream scoopfuls (or 1/4 cup measuring cupfuls )2 1/2 inches apart on greased cookie sheets. Flatten slightly. Sprinkle raw sugar on top.
Bake for 18 to 20 minutes until golden but still soft.
Remove from the oven and cool on cookie sheet for 2 minutes, then transfer to cooling racks to cool completely

Chocolate Texas Sheet Cake- A Guest Post from Sweet Butter Bliss

Today we have a guest post from the lovely Anastasia of Sweet Butter Bliss (I mean, just the name of her blog... how could she be anything but lovely!)

Jen asked me to do a guest post and since I think she's fantastic I readily agreed. Too bad life wouldn't play along, the kids were sick, I got sick, then the hubs got sick. My father in law was in the hospital! Friend drama and kid drama. Basically life transpiring against me.  Jen had originally asked me to do some sort of healthy recipe. But after all that I was ready for some chocolate cake. So I am making some mental health food. Chocolate Texas Sheet Cake. Oh so good!

The recipe:

FOR THE CAKE:
2 cups Flour
2 cups Sugar
¼ teaspoons Salt
4 Tablespoons (heaping) Cocoa
2 sticks Butter
1 cup Boiling Water
½ cups Buttermilk
2 whole Beaten Eggs
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
1 teaspoon Vanilla


FOR FROSTING:
4 Tablespoons (heaping) Cocoa
6 Tablespoons Milk
1 teaspoon Vanilla
1 pound (minus 1/2 Cup) Powdered Sugar

The How to:
Your first step is to ignore my dirty kitchen. I don't clean before chocolate cake. Only after. Sometimes.

Enjoy today and get back on the wagon tomorrow.  Maybe.

Please visit me at Sweetbutterbliss, where I'm always hungry, especially for chocolate cake. 

-Anastasia @ Sweet Butter Bliss

Vanilla Almond Pancakes with Vanilla Yogurt Sauce

Oh boy, once you taste these babies, you'll be in love. They are fab-u-lous.
I have this pancake recipe that I use way too much, usually once a week. This morning I awoke with a hankering for pancakes... but not just any ol' pancakes. I wanted something a little different. Something with a bit more flavor. I searched through the freezer for some frozen berries, but I couldn't find any (and what did I find this evening, but those berries), so I headed for the spice cabinet and chose vanilla (a frequent addition to my pancakes) and my pancake newbie- almond extract. While I was whipping up the batter, I realized it'd be a shame to drizzle boring maple syrup on these breakfast delights. Whipped cream would have been awfully tasty, but I'm trying to lose weight. I threw together a suuuuper vanilla yogurt sauce to top them off and WOW was that a good choice! 

Pancakes

Ingredients

• 1 cup flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 egg
• 1 1/8 cups buttermilk (Don't have buttermilk? No problem! Use regular milk, for every cup of milk, add a tablespoon of white vinegar. Let it sit for 5 min. You can also use plain milk or your fave milk substitue- I've used soy and almond milk)
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon almond extract

Directions

1. Preheat and lightly grease a large skillet or electric griddle.
2. Mix the flour, salt, and baking soda together in a bowl. Add the egg, buttermilk, both extracts, and butter; stir together lightly, but keep it lumpy. The batter should look thick, spongy, and puffy.
3. Drop 1/3 cup of the batter onto the cooking surface, spreading lightly with the bottom of the cup. 
4. Cook until lightly-browned on each side, 1 to 2 minutes per side.

Vanilla Yogurt Sauce

Ingredients

• 1 cup plain Greek yogurt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar

Directions

1. Mix together yogurt and vanilla extract.
2. Slowly stir in powdered sugar. Add more sugar if it's still too tangy for your taste buds.

And just in case you want to drool over these yummy treats a bit more, I'll leave you with a few more shots. 

The official taste tester. Hers had PB too and were a total hit!

Blueberry Dumplings with Whipped Cream

I was bored the other night, and trying to think of -something- to bake. I had a lot of heavy whipping cream left in my fridge that needed using and I have 30, yes, 30 pounds of frozen organic Maine blueberries in our freezer..so let's just say it had to be blueberry and I had to use my whipping cream, so I had a little thinking to do. A new challenge, I love it! I was sitting and talking to my Husband while sifting through ideas and having every recipe I came across or thought up shot down because I was lacking an ingredient...until a stroke of genius hit me..dumplings! I hunted for a recipe that was quick and easy..and I found one over at Paula Deen's website.
This recipe is to die for delicious. I wanted to just inhale the entire lot of them...however they are very rich.  They melt in your mouth, they make your eyes roll, and your taste buds overdose...and all from a very very easy recipe. Go Paula, she's one heck of a cook!
Here's the scoop on these mouth watering bite sized delights:

Servings: 8 servings
Prep Time: 10 min
Cook Time: 30 min
Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients 

Vanilla ice cream or fresh cream, for serving
2 cup water
1 quart fresh or frozen blueberries
1/4 cup milk
Pinch of salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon sugar, plus 1 1/2 cups
1 cup all-purpose flour

Directions

Stir flour, the 1 tablespoon sugar, baking powder, and salt together in a bowl.  Cut butter into dry ingredients, using a pastry cutter or fork.  Add milk to form dough.  Mix berries, the 1 1/2 cups sugar, and water together in a saucepan and bring to a boil.  Drop dumplings into hot boiling berries by the tablespoonful.  Cover pot, reduce heat, and cook slowly for 20 to 30 minutes.  Do not remove lid before 20 minutes has passed. Do not stir dumplings. Serve with vanilla ice cream or fresh cream, I made my own whipped cream. Also, be *very* careful when taking out the dumplings, use a small kitchen spoon to take them out to plate them. Drizzle some blueberry juice over the plate, plop a bit of whipped cream and be ready to devour this amazing treat. 

Apple Pie Egg Rolls

Apple Pie fried Egg Rolls! yum!

The name says is all. These treats are amazing, and fairly simple. I had been blog browsing a few weeks ago (like I do every day!) and came across this sweet little recipe over at Miss in the Kitchen's blog. I gasped and knew I *must* make these and many of them! So, I had a friend over one evening and we got to baking. Per usual with her, we put on the tacky music, danced around the kitchen and sang without abandon while we created these little delights. 

Here's the Recipe:

Apple Pie Egg Rolls

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon butter

3 cups apples, peeled, cored, and diced (I used Granny Smith)

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

5 egg roll wrappers

vegetable oil for frying (Be careful!)

for garnish:
1 tablespoon sugar mixed with 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Cooking Directions:

In a medium size pan, melt butter, add apples, brown sugar, and cinnamon.  Cook over medium-high heat, stirring often until apples are tender.  Pour into a bowl and place in the refrigerator to cool, about 30 minutes. 

Place about 2 tablespoons of apple filling into each egg roll wrapper, wet edges of wrapper with water, roll up sealing edges.  Repeat with remaining ingredients.
Heat oil to about 350 degrees, add egg rolls two at a time, turning to cook all sides, remove to paper lined plate and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Repeat with remaining egg rolls.

Serve with vanilla ice cream and caramel sauce...or even a nice toffee sauce would be amazing!

Tips:

Do not take your egg roll wrappers out of the fridge until it is time to wrap them up, they will grow hard and break apart if you do. Be sure to wrap them tightly as well- when you're frying with oil if a bit seeps out it tends to crackle a bit more and could splash you. Also..be very careful as always when you're frying anything. The oil can burn and start a massive cloud of smoke in your kitchen, or worse a fire- very quickly. Just stay at the stove and be careful and you will be fine. I heated these little buddies in a large wok for ease...also the sides of the wok are very tall and prevent most of the oil from spitting at my forearms. If you've got a wok- use it. 

Enjoy!

English Sticky Toffee Pudding

I made this traditional British sweet treat last weekend (among another that will be posted, ASAP! I promise!) for a friend's birthday. It was a total surprise for her- I had no idea if she, or the other guests would even like this ..but it's worth a try and who doesn't LOVE toffee? I know I do.
I had been watching none other than The Food Network (If you know me at all, this is the ONLY station on in my house.) I saw this talked about on an episode of  "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives" I believe..don't quote me. 


Anyway..so here's the skinny on this super rich, super jaw dropping dessert- get ready to wow your friends with the intense rich flavors!

Ingredients

• 1 cup plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/4 cup pitted dates
• 1 1/4 cups boiling water
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

TOFFEE SAUCE:

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 cup heavy cream, whipped

I made my own Whipped Cream:

1 cup heavy whipping cream

About 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract ( I didn't measure, just start low and add to taste)

1/2 Cup of Granulated Sugar

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 10-inch round or square baking dish. Sift the flour and baking powder onto a sheet of waxed paper. Chop the dates fine. Place in a small bowl and add the boiling water and baking soda; set aside. In a bowl of electric mixer beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla; beat until blended. Gradually beat in the flour mixture. Add the date mixture to the batter and fold until blended with a rubber spatula. Pour into the prepared baking dish. Bake until pudding is set and firm on top, about 35 minutes. Remove from oven to a wire rack. Toffee Sauce: Combine the butter, heavy cream and brown sugar in a small heavy saucepan; heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Boil gently over medium low heat until mixture is thickened, about 8 minutes. Preheat broiler. Spoon about 1/3 cup of the sauce over the pudding. Spread evenly on top. Place pudding under the broiler until the topping is bubbly, about 1 minute. Serve immediately spooned into dessert bowls. Drizzle with toffee sauce and top with a spoonful of whipped cream.


This is a VERY rich dessert and makes a ton. I also just baked it in a 9x13 Pyrex glass baking dish. The moans, groans and finger marks left in the whipped cream, and the toffee sauce was a sign it was pure success!


Enjoy! Let me know if you enjoy this as much as I do!

 

Brie en Croute

I'm sitting here looking at some of the photos from this year's Christmas Party, and I passed a few shots of one of my favorite recipe's. I must share it with you! It's so easy, quick and so savory. Brie en Croute. For all of you who may not know what that is. It's brie cheese baked inside a pastry puff. Oh so yummy! Who doesn't love cheese? Also, it's SO easy.
You must be wondering what you will need for this decadent little hors d'oeuvre. As a side dish for this little treat I made a cranberry chutney and placed out some sliced bread. It was a perfect pairing. I also used crackers.

Ingredients

• 1 sheet frozen puff pastry, pre-packaged 
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup walnuts
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 (8-ounce) wheel Brie
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 egg, beaten
•  Crackers, for serving
• 
  

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Defrost puff pastry for approximately 15 to 20 minutes and unfold.

In a saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Saute the walnuts in the butter until golden brown, approximately 5 minutes. Add the cinnamon and stir until walnuts are coated well. Place the walnut mixture on top of the Brie and sprinkle the brown sugar over the mixture. Lay the puff pastry out on a flat surface. Place the brie in the center of the pastry. Gather up the edges of the brie, pressing around the brie and gather at the top. Gently squeeze together the excess dough. Brush the beaten egg over top and side of Brie. Place Brie on a cookie sheet and bake for 20 minutes until pastry is golden brown.

Serve with crackers.

To give a special look, cut extra pastry into heart or flower shapes and bake until golden.
Also, I got this little recipe from the always lovely Paula Deen.

So, it was pretty tasty!

 

Related articles

• Warm Brie in Puff Pastry (charlotte.news14.com)
• Beyond Baked Brie: New Uses for a Wheel of Cheese (thekitchn.com)
• Savory Pastries to Wow Holiday Guests (well.blogs.nytimes.com)

Easy Apricot Oat Bars

The bars mid party! They are SO delicious!

Every year my Husband and I host a formal Christmas Party- and we always have way too much food.(Which I suppose is a good thing really!) This year I was trying a lot of new recipe's, and tried to add a few healthy choices to the mix of things. I am addicted to The Food Network, and one of my favorite Chef's is Giada DeLaurentiis. I love to watch her show. One afternoon I saw her make these *fabulous* apricot oat bars. I thought I'd give them a whirl for the party this year. Turns out- they were amazing- and again- EASY! Which when your making around 10 dishes for an evening, is something that really helps out, of if your a busy Mom like my co-blogger Jen is! They are perfect for a quick healthy snack, school lunch, bake sale, or picnic!
Let's get into the thick of it.

Ingredients

• Vegetable oil cooking spray
• Filling
• 1 (13-ounce) jar apricot jam or preserves (about 1 1/4 cups)
• 8 dried apricots, chopped into 1/4-inch pieces (about 1/3 cup)
• Crust
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 packed cup light brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 3/4 cups old-fashioned oats
• 1 cup (4 ounces) coarsely chopped walnuts
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted
• 1 egg, at room temperature, beaten
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

They look so good at every stage of baking! This is pre-topping.

Put an oven rack in the center of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9 by 13 by 2-inch metal baking dish with vegetable oil cooking spray. Line the bottom and sides of the pan with parchment paper. Spray the parchment paper with vegetable oil cooking spray and set aside.

Filling: In a small bowl, mix together the jam and the apricots. Set aside.

Crust: In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, cinnamon, salt and baking soda. Stir in the oats and walnuts. Add the butter, egg and vanilla and stir until incorporated.

Using a fork or clean fingers, lightly press half of the crust mixture onto the bottom of the prepared pan. Using a spatula, spread the filling over the crust leaving a 1/2-inch border around the edge of the pan. Cover the filling with the remaining crust mixture and gently press to flatten. Bake until light golden, about 30 to 35 minutes. Cool for 1 hour. Cut into bars and store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

I am going to give this a try with other dried fruit and jams, raspberry is definitely on my list!

Related articles

• Apricot Crumble (notecook.com)
• 10 Healthy and Kid-Friendly Recipes (friendseat.com)
• Oat Soda Bread (101cookbooks.com)

Chocolate Mint Christmas Cookies

Cookies all packed up and ready to go, Sophie helping mommy, Cookies ready for baking, Mommy and Sophie baking up treats!

These Christmassy cookies are so oh em gee delicious. As soon as you're done reading this post, run and grab the ingredients- you'll thank me later. Oh, a warning, I left my camera in the car. The car that hubs took to work today. Iphone cam had to do, I apologize.

Chocolate Mint Christmas Cookies
Ingredients:
1 cup soft butter
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp peppermint extract
3 cups flour
2/3 cup cocoa
Pinch of salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
6 candy canes, crushed

1. Preheat oven to 350. Using your mixer, cream together butter and sugar, like so:

 

2. Mix in egg, vanilla and peppermint. Add in next four ingredients and 4 of the crushed candy canes (reserve two for later). It should look something like this.

3. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and roll dough into small balls (see pic) and smush with your choice of smushing object- I used a measuring cup.

Pre Smush

Post Smush

4. Bake at 350 for about 6 min. I like cookies soft and just a tad undercooked, if you don't- cook em longer. Right after taking them out of the oven, sprinkle the last bits of candy cane on top and kind of poke them into the cookies with your fingers so they stick.

5. Stick them into cute little cello bags and print these adooorable little taggies out to stick on the bags. Give them to people you love to spread a little holiday cheer!

Related articles

• Healthy Baking Recipe: Best Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies (blisstree.com)
• 12 Days of Christmas Cookie Recipes: Mint Chocolate Thumbprints (blisstree.com)
• "5 Must-Make Christmas Cookie Recipes" and related posts (bakingbites.com)