Cake pops!

   We all have this one food that if we could, we would eat it all the time. For some it could be pizza, or doughnuts, or bagels, but for my son it's cake pops, hands down! He knows where all the nearby Starbucks are located and whenever we drive by one, he goes: let's go for cake pops (no matter what time of day, or night, it is)! It's to the point that he got a Starbucks gift card for Christmas from his friend, just so he can get cake pops whenever he wants to (or whenever we are willing to take him to get one)... the kid is four years old and already owns a gift card to Starbucks... the world we live in!
   So it was just a matter of time before we made our own cake pops at home... and I will be honest, they were way better than the store bought ones! We were pretty happy with the outcome!

Ingredients:

*  cake mix (I used Lemon Supreme Cake Mix, Duncan Hines)
*  3 large eggs
*  1/3 cup vegetable oil
*  8 oz cream cheese, room temp.
*  1/2 cup powdered sugar
*  2 tbsp lemon juice
*  chocolate candy melts, different colors
*  sprinkles
*  cake pop sticks

Directions:

1. Bake a cake following directions on the box, let it cool.

2. While the cake is cooling, prepare the frosting: combine cream cheese, powdered sugar and lemon juice and mix until smooth and fluffy.

3. Transfer the cake into a large bowl and crumble it until it resembles fine crumbs.

4. Add 3/4 of the frosting and using your hangs mix it with the cake crumbs until it gets moist and can form a ball without falling apart. Add some more frosting if needed.

5. Use a medium ice cream scoop to scoop uniform balls of cake mixture. Roll the cake in your hands to create tight balls, place them onto a plate.

6. Melt 2-3 ounces of candy melts in a microwave, dip the cake pop sticks into the melted chocolate and insert into the cake balls about half-way. Freeze for 15-20 minutes.

7. Melt remaining candy melts in a tall bowl. Remove cake pops from the freezer and carefully dip them into melted chocolate until completely covered. Remove excess chocolate by swirling or gently tapping them.

8. Sprinkle the cake pops with sprinkles immediately (it will harden fast), stick them into a styrofoam block and place them in the fridge until chocolate hardens.

   Don't use the entire frosting at once. Depending on how moist your cake came out, you might need less or more of it, so I would add a little bit of frosting at the time and see how the mixture feels like. You don't want it to be too dry, but you also don't want to add too much frosting and create a mush. You also don't need colorful candy melts, milk or white chocolate will do just fine and as for the decorations, you can get as creative as you want!

Enjoy,
Magda

Behind the bars!

   So I promised that I would bring something sweet to work for my coworkers and I was planning on making good old oatmeal cookies until I saw this recipe on TV. Giada was making oatmeal bars with apricot jam and some nuts and I thought that it just sounded delicious. And it's super easy to make as well. They are not your typical bars, they came out much softer and more resembling a cake, but that is not a bad thing at all!

Ingredients:

*  1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
*  1 cup packed light brown sugar
*  1 tsp cinnamon
*  1 tsp baking soda
*  3/4 tsp fine salt
*  1 3/4 old fashion oats
*  1 cup (4oz) pecans, chopped
*  3 tbsp sesame seeds
*  1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted
*  2 eggs
*  1 tsp vanilla extract
*  1 13oz jar apricot preserves

Directions:

1. In a bowl whisk together flour, brown sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.
2. Stir in oats, pecans, and sesame seeds. Add eggs and vanilla extract and mix until combined.
3. Add melted butter, mix everything together until the dough forms.
4. Line up the bottom of a 9 by 13-inch baking dish with parchment paper. Using your fingers spread and pack half of the dough in the bottom of a baking dish, top with apricot preserves, and cover with remaining oat dough.
5. Bake at 350F for 30-35 minutes until golden brown.
6. Let them cool completely before cutting to avoid crumbling.

   Unfortunately I won't be able to tell you how they taste, because I don't eat sweets during lent, but looking at how quickly they disappeared, I assume they were pretty good. I know that they smelled awesome. Everybody who tasted them really liked them and came back for more... so I think I did good.

Enjoy,
Magda

Want some more cookies?

   Recently I really got into cookies, it's a lot of fun. I actually prefer making them much more than eating them (which is not too bad either), coming up with new recipes and refreshing the old ones! How can somebody not like cookies? They keep forever, they are perfect as a gift, as a dessert, or just as a snack (if you suddenly crave a quick, sweet bite). Here is one of my recent creations, which is a perfect example of a new twist on an old recipe:

Ingredients:

*  2 sticks of butter (room temperature)
*  1 cup white sugar
*  3 cups all-purpose flour
*  2 tsp vanilla extract
*  1 tsp baking powder
*  1/2 tsp salt
*  1 lime (juice and zest)

Directions:

1. Cream together butter and 1 cup white sugar until light and fluffy.
2. Beat in vanilla extract, baking powder, salt, lime juice and lime zest.
3. Beat in flour, 1 cup at a time.
4. Using a tablespoon, scoop a dough and form uniform balls.
7. Place on a baking sheet and flatten with a fork.
8. Bake at 350F for 14 minutes. Cool completely on a wire rack.

   Super simple and super delicious. Lime zest has a very unique flavor and makes the cookies fresh and tangy. Just pack them in air tight container and they will be good for a while.

Enjoy,
Magda.

Favorite cookies ever!

   One of my very good friends developed a small addiction ... every day we go for coffee he can't help buying a white chocolate and macadamia nut cookie (or two). Every day he says he is not getting any, and then we walk by a cookie stand and somehow he ends up with one in his hand. I can't blame him, though... those are my favorite cookies as well. It just happens that it's his birthday the day after Xmas and I came up with the best birthday gift that man could wish for (besides a super duper fancy camera, but I can't afford to buy him that!). You know what it is, right? Macadamia nut and white chocolate cookies! Here is the recipe (makes 2 dozen):

Ingredients

*  2 sticks butter, softened
*  3/4 cup light brown sugar
*  3/4 cup white sugar
*  2 tsp vanilla extract
*  2 eggs
*  2 1/3 cups flour
*  1 tsp baking soda
*  1 tsp salt
*  1 cup macadamia nuts, chopped
*  1 1/2 cups white chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Beat butter, sugars and vanilla extract until fluffy.
2. Beat in eggs, one at a time until light and fluffy.
3. Beat in flour, baking soda and salt. Add macadamia nuts and chocolate chips, mix with the wooden spoon to combine.
4. Using an ice cream scoop, drop dough on a greased baking sheet and bake at 375F for 8-10 minutes until the edges are golden brown. Do not bake longer then 10 minutes, to make sure cookies are soft and gooey. 

   I absolutely agree with my friend that these are the best cookies in the entire word! Gooey and crunchy, sweet and salty... delicious! What could be a better birthday gift for a cookie lover than a box of homemade cookies?

Happy Birthday Chris,
Magda.

Spotted cookies!

   OK, I am going to do something really bad... I will skip the introduction and go straight to the recipe! I promise I will do better next time! Here is the recipe for delicious, double-colored, vanilla cookies:

Ingredients:

*  2 sticks of butter (room temperature)
*  1 cup white sugar
*  3 cups all-purpose flour
*  2 tsp vanilla extract
*  1 tsp baking powder
*  1/2 tsp salt
*  1/2 tsp cinnamon
*  1/4 tsp nutmeg
*  1 tbsp cocoa powder

Sugar coat:

*  3 tbsp white sugar
*  1/2 tsp cinnamon

Directions:

1. Cream together butter and 1 cup white sugar until light and fluffy.
2. Beat in vanilla extract, baking powder, salt, 1/2 tsp cinnamon and 1/2 tsp nutmeg.
3. Beat in flour, 1 cup at a time.
4. Divide the mixture into two equal part (in separate bowls) and add cocoa powder to one of them. Mix until combined.
5. In a shallow bowl combine 3 tbsp of sugar with 1/2 tsp of cinnamon.
6. Using your hands combine 1 tsp of brown dough with 1 tsp of white dough and form two-colored balls.
7. Place on a baking sheet, flatten using bottom of a glass.
8. Bake at 350F for 14 minutes. Cool completely on a wire rack.

   Cute and delicious! I think I will stop here, I don't even think I need to convince you to try them... I know you will!

Enjoy,
Magda.

Pooch Love!

   We love our dog and our dog loves... peanut butter!!! Every time I open a jar of this creamy goodness his ears stand up like one of NASA's antennas and he stares at it until he almost melts the jar with his laser eyes! Look at him!

   How can you resist? No matter how hard you try to ignore the "peanut-butter-stare", you know you will give in sooner or later, and he will get his way! He always gets his way... he wants to go for a walk - we go, he wants to sleep in our bed, taking 80% of the space - he does, he wants to eat Justin's chicken nuggets when nobody is looking - he eats them! And you know what, we don't care! We love him, we spoil him, and we would do anything for him! So to spoil him even more, I made crunchy peanut butter dogy treats, so he can enjoy his own guilty pleasure!  Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

*  1 cup wheat germ
*  3 cups whole wheat flour
*  1/2 cup oats
*  1 cup all-natural peanut butter
*  3 tbsp canola oil
*  1 egg
*  1 cup water

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, mix all ingredients together and using your hands knead the dough until no longer sticky.
2. Divide in half and then on a lightly floured surface roll out dough to 1/4 inch thickness.
3. Cut into desired shapes with cookie cutters and bake at 300F for 40 minutes.
4. Turn off the oven and leave biscuits inside until crunchy for at least 1 hour.
5. Store in a sealed container.

 

   Hmm, how am I going to describe the taste? Well, I just had to try a piece. If you ask me, a little bit tasteless and bland, but if you ask Spikey he would say: "freaking delicious"!!! I though he would bite my fingers off, he couldn't wait to sink his teeth in those peanut butter goodies!

Woof, woof,
Magda.

Lemon and vanilla!

   Don't those two things sound delicious together? Perfect in a cookie, right? My friend from the lab went home to Mexico last week and she brought me some delicious, aromatic Mexican vanilla extract. So what is a better way to say thank you than bake some vanilla goods and bring it to the lab? Since it's such a exquisite ingredient you don't have to go crazy and add too many things, actually the simpler dish, the better. So I decided to make some vanilla lemon cookies - simple, clean flavors that will satisfy any sweet tooth. Here is the recipe (makes 24 cookies):

*  2 cups all-purpose flour
*  1 stick of butter (softened)
*  3/4 cup sugar
*  1 egg
*  1/2 tsp baking soda
*  1/4 tsp baking powder
*  1/4 tsp salt
*  2 tsp vanilla extract
*  1 tbsp lemon zest
*  2-3 tbsp lemon juice

1. In a bowl, mix together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
2. With a mixer, cream butter and sugar until smooth and fluffy. Add egg, vanilla extract, lemon juice and lemon zest and mix all together.
3. Add half of the flour mixture to the butter and mix in. Add another half and mix until combined.
4. Layer the baking sheet with a parchment paper, scoop the cookie dough (about 1 tablespoon size) into your hands, form balls and arrange on a baking sheet spacing evenly.
5. Bake at 350F for 13-15 minutes until edges are lightly browned.

   Soft and lemony, that's the best description of these cookies. You can taste the lemon zest without overpowering a delicate vanilla, just the perfect combination. What am I going to do when I run out of this great vanilla? I guess I will just have to go to Mexico myself and get some more! Oh, well... another vacation!

Enjoy.
Magda.

Cookie Monster!

   Who doesn't love cookies? Even if you tell me you don't, I still won't believe you! You might not like all of them, but I'm sure everybody has their favorite cookie. For me the real "cookie love" started when I came to the US and discovered the absolutely amazing and irresistible oatmeal cookie! Whoever came up with the recipe deserves a Nobel Prize, or even two! Sweet, crunchy, gooey, and delicious. Of course the most famous oatmeal cookies are chocolate chip, but I don't really like chocolate, so for me the real treats are either macadamia or cranberry cookies. The recipe couldn't be simpler and here is what you need to make dried cranberry oatmeal cookies:

*  1 stick butter (room temp)
*  1 cup all-purpose flour
*  2 cups old fashioned oats
*  1 cup dried cranberries
*  3/4 tsp cinnamon
*  1/2 teaspoon baking powder
*  1/2 teaspoon baking soda
*  1/2 teaspoon fine salt
*  1/2 cup light brown sugar
*  1/2 cup white sugar
*  1 large egg
*  1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

   In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl beat the butter and sugars together until light and fluffy for about 1 minute. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until smooth. With the machine running, gradually add the flour mixture. Add the oats and cranberries, mix until just incorporated (dough will be stiff). Using a 4-ounce cookie scoop, scoop slightly rounded mounds of the dough into 12 (2-inch-diameter) balls, arrange them on a baking sheet spaced evenly apart and bake at 350F until the cookies are slightly golden on the edges, about 13 to 15 minutes. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 20 minutes before serving. This is very important that you take the cookies out of the oven after 15 minutes and let them cool completely. They will seem a little bit underdone but it's exactly how they should look if you want them to be moist and gooey!

   Do I really need to say how good they are? After all it's cookies we are talking about... they are good no matter what! You can add different fruit, chocolate, nuts, or whatever you desire and have a different kind each time.

Enjoy.
Magda.

Expect the unexpected!

   I love to experiment in the kitchen. The more bizarre the combination of ingredients, the more I want to try it out and see how it works together. I found this great recipe for cookies made out of something you would never expect. When I told my friends that I'm planning to make them they looked at me with a "what-a-lunatic" facial expression and they couldn't believe that I said that. I did not understand them, because for me "Potato Chip Cookies" just sounded like an amazing and delicious idea. And trust me, I wasn't wrong about it, they turned out to be awesome, and I think they made my top-ten-desserts list! Here is what you need:

*  1 cup (2 sticks) room temp. butter
*  3/4 cup light brown sugar
*  1/3 cup white sugar
*  1 tsp vanilla extract
*  3 eggs
*  2 cups all-purpose flour
*  1 tsp baking soda
*  2 cups crushed potato chips
*  1 cup chopped pecans

   In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs and vanilla extract, add flour, baking soda, potato chips and nuts, and mix to combine. Drop tablespoon size of a cookie dough onto a baking sheet (about 2 inch apart) and bake at 375F for 10-12 minutes until golden brown. Don't worry about the shape of the dough, they are going to spread and make a perfect round cookie.

   They are so yummy! Super crunchy, sweet, and salty, just the perfect combination! Don't be scared of potato chips in a dessert, they fit right in! If you don't believe me try it for yourself.

Good luck.
Magda

Practicing for Santa!

   It's only one week left until Christmas and you know what that means! Yes, Santa Claus is coming to town! I am really excited for Santa's visit, but all I can think of is if I was naughty or nice and I came to the conclusion that I better bake a lot of cookies for him because I might not get anything otherwise. And they better be perfect and delicious! I hope I didn't start practicing too late and that I will be able to optimize my cookie protocol by next Sunday, otherwise I will have to ask my mother-in-law for some help (she is Xmas cookies extraordinaire). Many cookie recipes are very similar to each other and you can use one dough, modify it, and get few different cookies. I made three or four different variations using only two different doughs. First was thumbprint cookies, and the recipe calls for:

1 stick unsalted butter (room temp)
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 egg yolk
1 and 1/4 cup of all-purpose flour
3/4 cup of finely chopped walnuts
1 teaspoon almond extract
pinch of salt

   Using an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg yolk, vanilla, almond extract, salt, and walnuts, reduce mixer speed to low, and beat in flour. Continue mixing on low until dough comes together. Roll dough into 1-inch balls, transfer to baking sheet, and using your finger, make a hole in center of each ball. Well, I used a small measuring spoon to make a hole and it worked just fine. Fill it with your choice of a fruit jam (I used the black cherry jam) and bake for 10-15 minutes at 350F.

The second recipe I used was for butter cookies and what you need is:
3 cups of all-purpose flour
2 sticks of unsalted butter
3/4 cup of white suggar
1 cup of sour cream
orange zest

   In a large bowl, cut butter into flour as you would for a pie dough. Add sugar, sour cream, and orange zest, and bring it all together. Wrap dough in plastic and refrigerate for about 2 hours. After the dough is chilled, roll it thinly, and cut out different shapes with cookie cutters, sprinkle with white or colored sugar, and bake for 10-15 minutes in 425F (until they start to brown).

   Those are your regular, not too exciting cookies, and I decided to spruce them up a little bit. I cut out two different types of circles (full and empty), baked them as before, and after they cool down I made a cookie sandwiches using different fruit jams. You know how they say that necessity is the mother of invention? Well, I needed round cutters in different sizes and I got really inventive... I used the top of the cooking spray as a big circle and a Dr. Pepper bottle cup as a second. Worked better then fancy and expensive cookie cutters!

   I think that fruit jam makes everything taste much better so I definitely like these cookies better that the previous ones, even though its the same recipe. Try it and find out for yourself which one you prefer. 
Everybody loves Christmas cookies. If you have no idea what to get for some of your friends, put the cookies in a nice box and you have a great gift.

   In my case I have to make sure that I put a huge box of them in front of our Christmas tree so that Santa will forget about all the naughty things I did last year. Do you think it will work?

   Well, we will see... I will let you know next week if Santa liked my cookies and if he left me something in return!

I hope everybody was nice this year.
Magda.