Archive for the ‘Cookies’ Category

After Tuesday’s confessions I forgot to add one more: I’ve hardly been cooking at all lately. True, we made some chilaquiles for Cinco de Mayo (which looked like dog food but tasted amazing) and I did make some homemade granola (which practically burnt), but I haven’t made anything really blog worthy…until last weekend.

On a whim I decided to bake after looking at some spotty bananas. Of course I could have made my trusty banana bread, but I was all breaded out after using my birthday coupons from the Breadsmith (If you sign up for their email newsletters they send you a free coupon for dessert bread during the month of your birthday. Since I subscribe to two different locations, I got two coupons :)

Instead I adapted the flavor of banana bread into an oatmeal cookie – my favorite. These cookies are definitely on the softer side, which makes them even more bread-like. So in other words, if you’re looking for a crispy cookie, these are definitely not it. But if you love oatmeal and bananas, these babies are for you.

Question: What’s your favorite cookie? It’s a toss up for me. I love a good old-fashioned oatmeal raisin cookie and those thick sugar cookies from Panera. Yum!

‘Tis better to give than receive. For cooks getting crafty in the kitchen, this couldn’t be more true. There’s just something about presenting someone with a gift you made yourself that means so much more than buying a gift at the store.

This was the premise behind an article I just wrote for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. I made a Homemade Bellini Bar, Cherry Almond Muesli, Peppermint Bark, Beer and Caramel Pretzels, Cowboy Cookie Mix, and Tangerine Curd.

Looking at some of my old recipes during my Blogiversary and Giveaway Post, I decided this would be the perfect topic for a recipe roundup. Here are a few recipes that would make excellent holiday gifts this season:

Eggnog Fudge

Homemade Marshmallows

Homemade Girl Scout Thin Mints

Caramels

Cookie Dough Truffles

Honey Lollipops

English Toffee

Other Recipe Roundups:

Pumpkin Recipe Roundup

Question: Do you like giving homemade gifts for the holidays? What types of things do you make?

Do you know what today is? National Peanut Butter Cookie Day! (Thanks for spreading the word, Averie!) What better day to share my review of PB Crave?

It seems like I’ve been hearing about PB Crave all over the place, so I was thrilled to be able to try it myself. Not only is it all-natural, each of the four flavors are infused with their own unique ingredients. I taste-tested their Cookie Nookie, Razzle Dazzle, Choco Choco and Coco Bananas.

Each flavor is over-the-top delicious and yet not overpowering. My favorite was the Cookie Nookie (which reminded me a tad bit of Trader Joe’s Cookie Butter). What I like is that their products are peanut butter, first and foremost. And you can eat them whatever way you eat normal peanut butter (like in Overnight Oats or in Protein Cookie Dough).  I think it’s safe to say that if you love peanut butter, you’ll love PB Crave.

My parents came over a few weeks ago and we had a peanut butter taste-test. My mom, who is the pickiest eater, loved the Razzle Dazzle. Both of them said they would buy the product if they ever came across it. Rght now, you can buy PB Crave on their website or on Amazon.

As far as the nutritional stats go, it’s comparable to regular peanut butter – 180 calories, 6 grams of protein, 120 mg sodium, 2 g fiber and 6 g sugar per 2-tablespoon serving.

I also love how PB Crave is giving back through Project Peanut Butter – a non-profit organization committed to helping malnourished children.

How great would it be to infuse peanut butter recipes with the extra flavor of PB Crave? Since it’s National Peanut Butter Cookie Day, I think it’s only fitting to include some of my favorite cookie and bar recipes. Enjoy!

Oatmeal Peanut Butter Banana Cookies

Peanut Butter Kitchen Sink Cookies

Peanut Butter S’mores Rice Krispie Treats

Disclaimer: I did receive free products from PB Crave, but the opinions expressed in this post are my own.

What’s your favorite thing to do or make with peanut butter?

I am a sucker for any banana/peanut butter combination. So when I saw these Oatmeal Peanut Butter Banana Cookies from Peanut Butter Fingers, I knew I had to make them.

I also looked at the ingredients and was surprised to find that these are actually healthy. Only 1/3 cup of canola oil in the entire recipe! (Sign me up!). As an avid baker, I’m so used to seeing 1-2 sticks of butter so this was like sticker shock. I also have never made cookies with oil before so I wanted to see how they would turn out.

Oh, and did they turn out. Even the batter was delicious (yes, I love batter too). I could see adapting these flavors into a batch of overnight oats. They smelled like warm banana bread coming out of the oven. Some changes I made from Julie were adding chocolate chips, subbing chunky peanut butter and using King Arthur Flour’s white whole wheat flour (I’ll never go back to regular whole wheat again!). Julie’s recipe made 4 dozen and mine only made 3 (I used a small cookie scoop). Here is the recipe:

You know someone who would love these cookies (minus the chocolate)? Oliver. He adores peanut butter and I always give him the butt-ends of my bananas. Speaking of which, this little guy is turning 3 tomorrow!

I adopted him from the Wisconsin Humane Society when he was 8-9 weeks old. I actually bought him during my lunch hour at my previous advertising job. They had about 10 beagle/shepard puppies that were the cutest things you’ve ever seen. Oliver was the runt and the only tan one with a black mask (all the others looked more like traditional beagles with the brown/black patches). The volunteer asked us if we needed time to make a decision and I said, “No, I want that one.” I think when it comes to picking a dog, you just know.

Question: Do you celebrate your pet’s birthday? Oliver got a coupon in the mail for $5 off at Pet Supplies Plus, so someone will be getting a present! His favorite toys are ropes from the pet store, Nylabones and surgical rags (courtesy of Brenton’s dad).

I’ve been seeing this food survey popping up everywhere (most recently on Erica’s blog). Since I was always a sucker for surveys in high school, I couldn’t resist doing one again.

1) Coke or Pepsi?

Diet coke! (if I’m feeling naughty, if not, it’s water, coffee or tea)

2) Lemonade or fruit punch?

Lemonade. Fruit punch makes we think of Whop (remember that!?)

3) Caramel apple or cotton candy?

Caramel apples! I have to buy these every year.

4) Butterfinger or Snickers?

Butterfinger (too bad they don’t make BB’s anymore!)

5) Pudding or Jell-O?

I’m going gourmet and saying homemade custard – like that used in my Whiskey Tiramisu.

6) Turkey or chicken?

Chicken, because it’s so versatile. In fact, this Mexican Chicken Chowder is one of my favorite soups.

7) American or Provolone?

Neither – Cheddar! (I am from Wisconsin)

8) Crackers or cookies?

Cookies. I love baking them and decorating them (I made these for my sister’s baby shower)
9) Pretzels or chips?

Who am I kidding, chips!

10) Mexican food or Japanese food?

Mexican!! I got my enchilada/tamale/chimichanga fix last week.

11) Chinese food or Italian food?

Italian food is awesome (lasagna, homemade pizza, gnocchi), but I can’t say no to the occasional Chinese takeout.

12) Ice cream or cookies?

Both. Cookies in winter, ice cream in summer.

13) Pasta or pizza?

Homemade pizza

14) Soda or juice?

Trop 50 orange juice

15) Chocolate bars or chocolate truffles?

How about Chocolate Cookie Dough Truffles – my fav!

16) Apples or bananas?

I can’t live without either. Bananas are awesome, especially in Chocolate Overnight Oats.

17) Salad or soup?

Soup (except now when it’s 80 degrees and 100% humidity)

18) Cauliflower or broccoli?

Broccoli

19) Onion rings or French fries?

Cheese fries!

20) Blizzard or McFlurry?

Blizzard (especially their xs size)

21) Fried or poached eggs?

Scrambled with cheese

22) Crepes or pancakes?

Pancakes – regular and potato/ Zucchini, Carrot, Potato Pancakes

23) Hashbrowns or roasted potatoes?

I’m on a sweet potato kick

24) Oatmeal or cereal?

Oatmeal when it’s cold, cereal when it’s warm

Your turn…

Pasta or pizza?

Italian food or Chinese food?

Ice cream or cookies?

America’s best loved cookie – the Oreo – turned 100 on Tuesday.

Although it’s quite a celebration for anything to turn 100, it’s really amazing that we’re eating the same snacks as people did in 1912. With so much changing all the time (like technology and pop culture), food evolves at the pace of a snail in comparison.

So when I saw this post on Cookies & Cups for Nutter Butter Krispie Treats, I immediately thought of Oreos.

These treats are an ooey gooey, lick every last bit out of the pan, delicious treat. I made this for my friend Hillary’s birthday because she LOVES Oreos (and kid food). No joke, her favorite cake is the Funfetti mix from a box :)

Question: How do you eat your Oreos? I love licking out all the filling before eating each individual wafer. When we were kids, we’d roll our filling into a ball and save it for the end. Those were the days…

-Alysha

Remember dirt pudding? That creamy pudding. Those chocolatey cookie crumbs. The fun gummy worms on top.

If you’re like me, it’s probably been about 15 years since you’ve had this child-like concoction. In fact, I forgot all about this treat until I saw an episode of The Chew last week. Carla Hall made dirt pudding as part of their trubute show to the 1970s.

I immediately looked for the recipe online so I could make it myself. Although it looked delicious and received rave reviews from the other cast members on the show, I was disappointed in the ingredients. True, it’s a dessert. But I thought I could swap the butter, heavy cream (2 cups!) and brick of cream cheese for ingredients that are a little more waist friendly.

Here is the version I came up with, and I can’t imagine how it could be any tastier.

Question: What foods did you love as a kid?