Tag Archives: baking

Pastor Phil’s Double Chocolate Brownie Cookies

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It’s pastor appreciation month. And I think my pastor pretty much rocks. He also likes my baked goods. Which makes him even more awesome. A few weeks ago he mentioned that he loves cookies that are the texture of brownies, with chocolate chips in them. He used to have them in Australia, but hasn’t found a really great one since he moved here. So – I’m on a quest to perfect such a cookie for him. Here’s my first attempt Pastor Phil. Zack will be dropping them by the church office in the morning. Please taste test and give me your feedback. As I’m no longer confined to cabbage soup, I did a taste test of my own. Oh. My. Goodness. They are rich, decadent, chocolate-y goodness. Totally brownie like and just really really good. Even my husband (who is not a baked goods/sweets fan) raved about these!

Pastor Phil's Double Chocolate Brownie Cookie

Pastor Phil’s Double Chocolate Brownie Cookies (Take 1)

2/3 cup shortening
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon water
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup baking cocoa
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

 

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 375°. Prepare two large baking sheets with parchment paper.
  2. In a large mixing bowl, cream shortening, sugar, water and vanilla on slowest speed. Beat in eggs. Combine flour, cocoa, salt and baking soda; gradually add to creamed mixture and beat just until blended. Stir in chocolate chips by hand. Put batter into a Ziploc bag and cut a large chunk from the corner. Pipe batter onto cookie sheets in large (about a tablespoon and a half each) dollops, flattening the tops slightly, spacing at least 2 inches apart. Bake in preheated oven for 7-9 minutes; do not overbake. Cookies will look underdone. Cool 2 minutes on baking sheets before removing to wire racks.
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Northwest Pumpkin Bread

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Sometimes, baking can help soothe the soul. A gentleman in my church died last week and it’s his funeral today. I won’t be able to go due to conflicting wedding things, but baked goods were requested for the gathering – and that’s the least I can do. The original title of this recipe was Downeast Maine Pumpkin Bread, but I changed several ingredients and added a couple more – including apple cider and applesauce. Since Washington is the home of the most delicious apples anywhere, I think this is now a Northwest Pumpkin Bread.

Northwest Pumpkin Bread

Northwest Pumpkin Bread

1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
4 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup applesauce
2/3 cup apple cider
2 cups white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 rounded teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground pumpkin pie spice

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour two 9×5 inch loaf pans.
  2. In a large bowl, mix together pumpkin puree, applesauce, oil, cider and sugar until well blended. Whisk slightly the eggs with the vanilla and add to the wet ingredients. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and pumpkin pie spice . Stir the dry ingredients into the pumpkin mixture until just blended. Pour into the prepared pans.
  3. Bake for about 60 minutes in the preheated oven. Loaves are done when toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Rich Chocolate Frosting

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Quick and simple, but so rich and creamy! Topped my Super Moist Chocolate Cake with this tonight! Happy Birthday sweet Maddie girl!

Rich Chocolate Frosting

Rich Chocolate Frosting

1 cup butter (no substitutes), softened
4-1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
1-1/4 cups baking cocoa
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup milk

Directions

  1. In a large mixing bowl, cream butter. Gradually beat in confectioners’ sugar, cocoa and vanilla. Add enough milk until frosting reaches spreading consistency.

Super Moist Chocolate Cake

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This is a really easy (one bowl!) chocolate cake. Nothing too fancy, but it’s deliciously moist and the perfect amount of chocolate. I cut each cake in half and put raspberry jam between the layers then frosted it with a rich chocolate frosting. Today we had it to celebrate my daughter’s 4th birthday. It’s the first year I’ve been able to make a normal cake for her – because up until last Christmas, she was allergic to dairy. I have to say, making this chocolate cake sure beats having to do a soy-butter/rice milk cake.

Super Moist Chocolate Cake

Super Moist Chocolate Cake

2 cups white sugar
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour two nine inch round pans.
  2. In a large bowl, stir together the sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add the eggs, milk, oil and vanilla, mix for 2 minutes on medium speed of mixer. Stir in the boiling water last. Batter will be thin. Pour evenly into the prepared pans.
  3. Bake 30 to 35 minutes in the preheated oven, until the cake tests done with a toothpick. Cool in the pans for 10 minutes, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

Homemade Bisquick

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I don’t keep Bisquick in the house – mostly because I don’t really use it. Occasionally I find the need for it and am certainly not going to go buy a big box of it. This recipe saves the day. It yields about 3 and a half cups, which is usually enough for my purposes. It is easily doubled if you use Bisquick more frequently and would like to stop paying an arm and a leg for it.

Homemade Bisquick

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tablespoons baking powder
1/2 tablespoon salt
1/2 cup vegetable shortening

  1. Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl and stir with a whisk.
  2. Cut in shortening with a pastry blender until mixture resembles fine crumbs.
  3. Store mixture in airtight container in the refrigerator up to 4 months.
  4. Use whenever your recipe calls for “Bisquick mix”.

Snickerdoodles – Take Two

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Today was my second attempt at the perfect snickerdoodle. I changed my recipe just a bit, replacing some of the butter with shortening. I also used a bigger ball of dough to get a slightly more domed cookie. I think I have found perfection. Puffed and soft, with just the right texture – these are exactly what I was looking for. Don’t be tempted to substitute the cream of tartar for baking powder – the tartar mixed with the baking soda is what gives these cookies their fast lift. As they de-puff slightly, you get the signature cracks of a snickerdoodle.

Snickerdoodles - Take Two

Snickerdoodles

1/2  cup butter, softened
1/2  cup shortening
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons white sugar
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
  2. Cream together butter, shortening, 1 1/2 cups sugar. Add the eggs and the vanilla. Sift together flour, cream of tartar, soda and salt. Add to wet ingredients until just combined. Refrigerate dough for 30 minutes.
  3. Shape dough by rounded spoonfuls into balls. I wanted them a good size, so I used 2 T of dough per ball.
  4. Mix the 3 tablespoons sugar and the cinnamon. Roll balls of dough in mixture. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets.
  5. Bake only one sheet at a time for 8 minutes, or until set but not hard. The cracks should still look moist. Allow to cool 3 minutes on baking sheets then remove to cool on a wire rack.

Toffee Fudge Puddles

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Tonight, I was supposed to be making phallic shaped candies for my sister’s bachelorette party tomorrow night. But, I found out my cousin Shannon is making similarly shaped cookies, and felt that the candy molded “members” would be a little redundant. So, I made these babies instead. I combined parts of three recipes and added my own twist to come up with this awesome bite sized cookie with a name that almost sounds like…I dunno – like a profane exclamation. Which you might want to shout out when you taste them. They are that good.

Toffee Fudge Puddles

Toffee Fudge Puddles

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons milk

Filling

1 cup milk chocolate chips
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Topping

1/2 C toffee chips

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
  2. Sift together the flour, salt and baking soda; set aside.
  3. Cream together the butter, sugar, peanut butter and brown sugar until fluffy. Beat in the egg, vanilla and milk. Add the flour mixture; mix well.
  4. Shape into 40 balls and place each into an ungreased mini muffin pan.
  5. Bake at 375 degrees for about 8 minutes. Remove from oven and immediately press the back of a teaspoon into each cookie, creating a well. Cool 10 minutes in the pan then carefully remove to a cooling rack. Once all cookies are made and removed from the pan, start your filling.

For Filling:  Put chocolate chips in a double boiler over simmering water. Stir in milk and vanilla, mix well. Place a large ziploc bag in a tall glass, fold plastic over the glass and fill with chocolate fudge filling. Seal bag and snip corner – wrap bag in paper towel or hold it with a hot pad as the bag will be warm. Fill each well with chocolate filling and top with toffee chips.

Gruyère Beer Bread

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I’m making a delicious beef stew for dinner tonight, and thought this rich, cheesy bread would be a perfect complement to the hearty, savory stew. Gruyère is generally known as one of the finest cheeses for baking, having a distinctive but not overpowering taste. It also melts amazingly well. I’ve used mozzarella in this bread also, but nothing compares to the real deal sweet/salty Gruyère. Plus, it’s just fun to say…grü-ˈyer — rhymes with eclair. :)

Gruyère Beer Bread (America’s Test Kitchen)

2 1/2 C all purpose flour
4 oz (about 1 cup) Gruyère cheese, shredded
3 T sugar
4 t baking powder
1 t salt
1/2 t pepper
1 1/4 C beer – I used a Henry’s Private Reserve…but really any light ale, lager or pilsner will work great
4 T unsalted butter, melted and cooled, plus 1 T extra for brushing on top of bread

Heat the oven to 375°. Grease an 8 1/2 by 4 1/2 inch loaf pan.

Stir the flour Gruyère, sugar, baking powder, salt and pepper together in a large bowl. Stir in the beer and melted butter until just combined. Do not overmix.

Scrape the batter into the prepared loaf pan, smooth the top and brush lightly with extra melted butter (about 1 T). Bake until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean with just a few crumbs attached, 40-45 minutes. Rotate the pan halfway through baking.

Allow to cool 10 minutes in the pan, then turn t onto a wire rack and allow to cool for 1 hour before serving.

Snickerdoodles

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A wonderful friend at church paid me a very sweet compliment on my Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes – and mused about what my snickerdoodles must taste like…posted on facebook no less. What a great guy. So, now I am in search of the perfect snickerdoodle recipe for him. Nathan, here’s my first effort. Not good enough for you yet. But I shall keep trying.

I think the combo of shortening and butter (when the right ratio is achieved) will give me the puffed cookies I want with the flavor I’m looking for. I’m thinking next batch will be half butter/half shortening, because this batch was a little flat for me. It’s important to take your cookies out of the oven when the cracks still look a little moist – they will look underdone, but as they cool they’ll harden and if you wait til the craggy parts look dry…that’s exactly what your cookies will be. D.R.Y.

Snickerdoodles

Snickerdoodles

3/4 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup shortening
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons white sugar
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
  2. Cream together butter, shortening, 1 1/2 cups sugar, the eggs and the vanilla. Blend in the flour, cream of tartar, soda and salt. Shape dough by rounded spoonfuls into balls.
  3. Mix the 3 tablespoons sugar and the cinnamon. Roll balls of dough in mixture. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets.
  4. Bake 8 minutes, or until set but not too hard. Allow to cool 2 minutes on baking sheets then remove to cool on a wire rack.

Pumpkin Pie Poppers

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I love pumpkin pie. L.O.V.E. it. Usually I make the Libby’s Pumpkin recipe – and bump up the spices. But today I decided to do a twist on pumpkin pie by making it bite sized. I’ve heard of pumpkin pie recipes using sweet and condensed milk, and always kind of figured they’d be too sweet. I didn’t want to make a whole pie only to find that one piece was all anyone would eat. These babies solved my problem. I wanted to try the condensed milk version – but make it small enough that the sweetness wasn’t overwhelming. Here’s my recipe for pumpkin pie poppers. They are bite sized pieces of pumpkin pie heaven. And, as a side note – I’ll probably be trying the full-sized version with this recipe too. Because it is awesome pumpkin-ness.

Pumpkin Pie Poppers

Pumpkin Pie Poppers

1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin
1 (14 ounce) can EAGLE BRAND® Sweetened Condensed Milk
2 large eggs
1 rounded teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 rounded teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 (9 inch) unbaked pie crust (I just used some refrigerated Pillsbury crusts today)

1. Preheat the oven to 350°. Spray non-stick cooking spray over two tartlet pans. (mini-muffin pans)
2. Roll out dough slightly larger than it comes packaged. Using a 4 inch round biscuit cutter, cut out as many circles as you can make. Re-roll the scraps and continue with remaining pie crusts. Press circles of dough into the mini-muffin holes.
3. Combine with whisk or wooden spoon the sweet and condensed milk, pumpkin puree, spices and salt. Beat the eggs together then incorporate into pumpkin mixture.
4. Spoon pumpkin mixture into the prepared mini pie crusts until 3/4 full.
5. Bake in preheated oven 18-20 minutes until pumpkin has puffed up and edges of crust are beginning to golden.
6. Remove and allow to cool in pans for 5 minutes. Slide a butter knife along one edge and pop each mini pumpkin pie out. Place on cooling rack to completely cool. Serve topped with a bit of whipped cream.

Makes about 5 dozen poppers.