Oatmeal Brownie Cookies

I was craving cookies and brownies yesterday so I came up with a combination

and the result is chewy oatmeal brownie cookies.

4 oz. Unsweetened Chocolate
1 1/2 Sticks of Butter
1 1/2 Cup Sugar
1/2 Cup Light Brown Sugar
3 Eggs
1 tsp Vanilla
2 Cups Flour
2 Cups Rolled Oats

In a double boiler (or microwave) melt together chocolate and butter.
Pour chocolate mixture into a large bowl, add sugars, stir well to combine.
Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition, stir in vanilla.
Add flour, stir until combined.
Fold in oats.
Place dough in refrigerator for 30 minutes or until dough is cold enough to roll.
Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Roll dough into 1 inch balls, place on parchment lined cookie sheet.
Bake 8-10 minutes until set and surface looks "dry".
Do not over cook, they will still be gooey in the middle when warm but will set up and have chewy centers when cooled.

Big & Chewy Ginger Molasses Cookies

These big cookies go great with coffee

2 1/4 Cup All Purpose Flour

2 tsp Ground Ginger

3/4 tsp Ground Cinnamon

1 tsp Baking Soda

1/8 tsp Salt

10 Tbsp Butter, room temperature

1 Tbsp Cream Cheese, room temperature

1 Tbsp Sour Cream, room temperature

1 Cup Sugar

1 Egg, room temperature

1/4 Cup Dark Molasses

sugar for rolling

Before preparing cookies, set out the ingredients that need to be brought up to room temperature (68-70 degrees).

Combine flour, ginger, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt in a bowl and set aside.

Beat butter on high with an electric mixer for 30 seconds until pale and airy.

Then add cream cheese, sour cream and sugar, beat until well combined and creamed.

Beat in egg and molasses.

Remove bowl from mixer, add the flour mixture, stir with a wooden spoon until no more white from the flour is showing.

Place cookie dough in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes, or until the dough firms up enough to roll into balls.

Roll 1/4 cup of dough into a ball (ice cream scoop works good), then roll in sugar to coat.

Place on a parchment lined baking sheet, 2 inches apart.

Bake at 350 degrees for 13-16 minutes.

makes one dozen 4 inch cookies

Fall Treats: Honey Caramel Apples

A favorite from my first blog that makes a great treat for fall and Halloween. This recipe is a "no high fructose corn syrup" caramel apple recipe since it uses honey instead of corn syrup.

You will need:

1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter (1 stick) cut into pieces
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
5 - 6 apples, I like Granny Smith
wood sticks
candy thermometer

Prepare apples for caramel dipping:
Remove stems from apples and insert stick into stem end.

For store bought apples, the wax coating will need to be removed so the caramel will stick.
Heat a large pot of water to a boil. Dip each apple for 3 seconds in boiling water, repeat so that each apple has been dipped twice. If you have non store bought apples there is no need to dip.
Let apples cool back to room temperature. This process may leave brown tinted skins, don't worry, it won't affect flavor or color inside the apple.

Prepare the caramel:
Combine first 4 ingredients in a small heavy-gauge sauce pan.
Stir constantly over medium-high heat until mixture reaches 248 degree firm-ball stage.
Tip: use the cold water test in addition to a thermometer.
Remove caramel from heat and let cool for 5 minutes until it thickens slightly if needed.
While caramel cools, grease wax paper with butter.

Holding apples by the stick, dip and roll apples in caramel until nicely coated.

Place apples on wax paper to cool.
Use a spoon to drizzle extra caramel over apples if desired.
Store caramel apples in the fridge, take out about 10 minutes prior to eating.

Suggestions:Add jimmies, nuts, chocolate or peanut butter drizzle.

Almond Rocca Cookies

More sweet treats from my mother's recipe box

Preheat Oven to 350 degrees

Cream together with mixer:

1 Cup Butter, softened

1/2 Cup Light Brown Sugar

1/2 Cup Sugar

Then Add and mix:

1 Egg, lightly beaten

1 tsp Vanilla

2 Cups Cake Flour (see how to make your own cake flour)

Spread the batter about 1/2 inch thick on an ungreased cookie sheet. (batter will be stiff)

Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until golden and cooked through.

As soon as the cookie is removed from the oven, while still on the cookie sheet, drop 4.5 oz. of chocolate chips evenly over the cookie.

In about a minute they will soften. Use a butter knife to spread an even layer of chocolate over the cookie.

After spreading chocolate, while still warm, sprinkle 1.5 oz of chopped almond slivers on top.

When chocolate has cooled slightly, so it doesn't run, cut cookie into squares and place on cooling rack.

Coming Soon: When I get back home and cooking in my own kitchen again I'll be working on getting some more main dishes posted :)

Question: Does anyone else have problems with blogger making up it's own spacing and alignment? Sometimes it just goes to double spacing on it's own, grrrr.... and this is the last time I try to left align photos

Rhubarb Pudding Cake

A cheap and easy fruit dessertSo here I am house-sitting at my parents and I decided to go through my mom's recipe box snooping for something yummy. I found this recipe for rhubarb pudding cake and promptly went to whacking down some fresh rhubarb. I also picked a few strawberries for topping.

For the "pudding"
4 Cups Rhubarb, diced about 1/4 in. thick
1 Cup Sugar
3/4 Cup Water
1/4 Cup Light Brown Sugar

Combine rhubarb, sugar and water in saucepan, heat uncovered, over medium heat until it comes to a slow simmer, then add brown sugar and stir. Continue to simmer over low, stirring occasionally while preparing batter. Cook until translucent, tender and syrup thickens slightly.

For the batter:
1/4 Cup Butter, Softened
1/2 Cup Sugar
1 Egg
1/2 Cup Milk
1/2 tsp Vanilla
1 Cup Sifted Flour
2 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 tsp Salt

Cream the the butter and sugar, then beat in egg and vanilla.
Sift together dry ingredients.
Add the sifted dry ingredients and milk alternately to the creamed mixture, ending with flour.
Pour into a greased 9x9x2 inch pan.
Spoon hot rhubarb sauce over batter.
Bake at 350 for 40 minutes.

For great recipes and crafts from contributors all around the blogosphere , check out this weeks edition of Make it from Scratch.

Lemon Lime Bars With a Coconut Macadamia Crust

I wanted to put a little twist into traditional lemon bars and this is what I came up with.

Start with the crust:

Turn oven on to 350 degrees

1/4 Cup Macadamia Nuts
1/4 Cup Coconut
1/3 Cup Butter, cold
1/4 Cup Sugar
1 Cup All Purpose Flour

Finely dice nuts and coconut, set aside.
Work the butter and sugar together using your fingers or a pastry blender and then add flour and work together until it forms a small crumble.
Fold in nuts and coconut gently.
Dump mixture into a 8 1/2 in greased square pan, even-out crumbles, then press down firmly.
Put pan into 350 degree oven, bake for 15-18 minutes until lightly golden brown.
*Turn pan half way through baking if your oven heats unevenly as mine does.
*This can also be used as a "no-roll" crust for other desserts, with or without coconut and nuts.

While the crust is cooking prepare filling:
2 Large Eggs
2 Tbsp Flour
Zest of 1 small lemon
3 Tbsp Lime juice, (Fresh is best, bottled is good too)
1/4 tsp Baking powder
3/4 Cup Sugar
1 Drop Green food color (optional)

Add all ingredients to mixing bowl, whisk until well blended.
Pour over hot crust.
Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes until edges are browned and center is set.
Place pan on cooling rack to cool.
When cooled dust top with powdered sugar.
Push a thin, sturdy spatula around all sides of the pan to loosen edges before cutting.

See more great recipes, See this weeks edition of Make it From Scratch hosted at Frills in the Hills!