Baking the weekend away

So maybe you live somewhere like I do. Somewhere that seems to think it's February, not May.. nearly June. We're enjoying our Memorial Day weekend inside. What do I do during a three day weekend when I'm stuck inside? Bake.
I've got a scrumptious loaf of streusel topped banana bread in the oven as we speak (type, read?).

Photo from Allrecipes.com

In case banana bread isn't your thing, I've taken the liberty to dig up some other tasty treats. Let the drooling commence!

Chocolate Hazelnut Biscotti recipe courtesy of joyofbaking.com

Strawberry Shortcake recipe courtesy of Nigella Lawson

Honey Wheat Loaf recipe courtesy of thefreshloaf.com

Now go bake up something tasty!

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

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!

Healthy Oatmeal Cookies

 

These cookies are so tasty. I make them fairly often and they're always a huge hit! I've made them with yummy sweet additions (chocolate chips, heath bits) and more healthy options (dried cranberries, nuts). They're super delicious both ways.

Healthy Oatmeal Cookies
(Adapted from Henry and Maudie's Oatmeal Cookies)

Ingredients

• 1 cup sifted whole wheat flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 cup applesauce
• 1 1/2 cups brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 cups rolled oats
• Optional: 1 cup extra goodies (dried cranberries, chocolate chips, heath bits.. etc.)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets. Stir together the whole wheat flour, salt, cinnamon and baking soda; set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, mix together the apple sauce and brown sugar. Stir in the egg, water and vanilla. Mix in the flour mixture, then stir in the oats. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto the prepared cookie sheets. Cookies should be about 2 inches apart- they will spread a lot!
3. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes in the preheated oven. Remove from baking sheets to cool on wire racks.

Related articles

• 10 Healthy and Kid-Friendly Recipes (friendseat.com)
• Healthy Baking Recipe: Best Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies (blisstree.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)