Vegan Rose Water Almond Milk Pudding « TGIF! Not that I care so much about weekends, but this one is kind of special for me. I’m one of those people who remember EVERYTHING. Everything, including exact dates and times of events that happened in the past. Like the day I got my first job. Some people find it a little annoying. So this weekend marks the anniversary of an experience that had a huge impact in my life. Ruth “… Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth. Don’t worry about the future, or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubblegum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind: the kind that blindsides you at 4pm on some idle Tuesday. Do one thing every day that scares you. Sing. Don’t be reckless with other people’s hearts; don’t put up with people who are reckless with yours. Floss. Don’t waste your time on jealousy. Remember compliments you receive; forget the insults. Stretch. Get plenty of Calcium. Travel. ENJOY!
Inside-Out Carrot Cake Cookies For cookies 1 1/8 cups all-purpose flour1 teaspoon cinnamon1/2 teaspoon baking soda1/2 teaspoon salt1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons packed light brown sugar1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar1 large egg1/2 teaspoon vanilla1 cup coarsely grated carrots (2 medium)1 scant cup walnuts (3 oz), chopped1/2 cup raisins (2 1/2 oz) For frosting 8 oz cream cheese1/4 cup honey Put oven racks in upper and lower thirds of oven and preheat oven to 375°F. Whisk together flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt in a bowl. Beat together butter, sugars, egg, and vanilla in a bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Drop 1 1/2 tablespoons batter per cookie 2 inches apart on baking sheets and bake, switching position of sheets halfway through baking, until cookies are lightly browned and springy to the touch, 12 to 16 minutes total. While cookies are baking, blend cream cheese and honey in a food processor until smooth.
10 Tasty Mug Cakes That You Can Make in Just Minutes By bellalimento | I’m sure you’ve heard of cakes that you make in a microwave in MINUTES. I have to admit the first time I saw a recipe for one I was skeptical. I mean how can you make a cake in just a few minutes in the microwave? So I set out to test the theory. Guess what? nggallery id=’120007′ Read more from bell’alimento {Paula} on her Food Blog, Twitter & Facebook. Want to whip up dessert in a flash? The 25 healthiest foods for under $18 breakfast recipes to make in a crockpot15 sinfully sweet dessert recipes in a jar8 homemade Girl Scout cookie recipes — Samoas, Thin Mints, and more17 drinks you wouldn’t guess are non-alcoholic More on Babble About bellalimento bellalimento Paula Jones started her blog, Bell'alimento, in 2009 as a place to share her recipes with her friends and family.
Blueberries n’ Cream Cookies I scored a fantastic deal on some dried blueberries a few months ago. I bought a bunch to eat on cereal and salads. But what I really wanted to make with them was cookies. There’s a cake we like that combines blueberries, lemon and white chocolate together in a magical way. I also wanted to share a few quick tips for cookie making. If you find that your cookies are spreading too much, like the cookie on the left in the picture below, add more flour to the dough. Sometimes dried fruit gets a little too dried out. Now go make some cookies! Blueberries n’ Cream Cookies Ingredients: 1 cup (8 oz.) butter, at room temperature 1 cup brown sugar 1/2 cup white sugar 1 large egg juice and finely grated zest of 1 large lemon 1 tsp. vanilla extract 2 3/4 to 3 cups flour (use less for thinner, crispier cookies) 1 tsp. baking soda 1/2 tsp. salt 1-2 cups white chocolate chips 1 cup dried blueberries (soaked in hot water and drained well before using) Instructions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Variations:
How to make macarons - some tips and tricks For those of you who read this blog regularly, you will know that macarons are one of my obsessions. Some of you may remember a couple of my early attempts (here, here, and here), then the epiphany of the class at Lenôtre in Paris. Following that class, I had a number of successes and I found the recipe to be very similar to Helene’s (of Tartelette blog) and I used a combination of the Lenôtre techniques with Helene’s recipe most of last year, with varying success. Being a Taurean (stubborn) and A-type (a planner) what bugged me about macarons was how unpredictable they were. Until recently. Encouraged by Stella, I tried my hand at these just before the end of my spring break. I followed Stella’s instructions to a T – even down to the timing of the beating of the whites. The next part that is tricky is the macaronage – the folding in of the dry ingredients to the egg whites. And voilà: The “lunch duty” macarons. Enjoyed by all on the first day back at work after the break.
the Diary of DavesWife: Molasses Pumpkin Kiss Cookies You will remember that a few weeks ago I picked up a bag of Hershey’s Pumpkin Spice Kisses. I heard about these kisses last fall, and wasn’t able to find them ANYWHERE! So when I spotted them at my local Walmart, you better believe I snagged a few bags, With baking plans in mind for them. The Result: These little pumpkin spice kisses, are delicious all by themselves, But when paired with a chewy molasses cookie, You better believe there were fireworks going off in my mouth!!! Make sure you have plenty of milk in your house though, if you plan on making these, because you will need a nice tall glass to finish them off! Here is the recipe: Molasses Pumpkin Kiss Cookies Ingredients 3 Cups Flour 2 tsp Ground Ginger 1 tsp Ground Cinnamon 1 tsp Baking Soda 1/4 tsp Ground Nutmeg 1/4 tsp salt 3/4 cups (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature 3/4 cup packed brown sugar 1/2 cup molasses 1 egg 1/4 cup granulated sugar 1 tsp. vanilla extract 1 Package of Hershey's Pumpkin Spice Kisses Instructions
Macaron Mythbusters As I wrote in my first macaron post, I make macarons every day at work, learning something new with each batch. The most important thing I’ve learned is this: Macarons don’t have magical properties and shouldn’t require quasi-spiritual rituals as part of their mise en place. You wouldn’t learn that from reading up on macaron-themed blog posts, though. Instead you’ll find bakers fervently insisting on an assortment of essential steps to prevent failure, while simultaneously conceding failure as both inevitable and incomprehensible. Everyone harps upon their fickle nature, making half-joking references to spiteful macaron gods. Um, guys? Yet uncertainty makes up a common thread among macaron blog posts. Did you age the egg whites long enough? Such tricks place the importance on ritual and obscure the role of technique, either good or bad. So I wanted to conduct an experiment (or rather, a series of experiments) to determine which factors “the perfect macaron” actually depended upon. 1. 2.
Brown Sugar Blueberry Cookies Certain things happen when you bake cookies that taste like muffins. Cookies become breakfast food. Midnight snacks too. You pass them off as two servings of fruit. Or three. You sleep-eat cookies. You closet-eat cookies. They somehow disappear. You weep. Face, meet cookies. Few things in this house bring excitement like a soft, fluffy cookie filled with bursting, plump blueberries. Yeah. Who wants a cookie? Brown Sugar Blueberry Cookies makes 12-15+ cookies 1 stick butter, at room temperature 3/4 cup packed brown sugar 1 egg 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon 1 tablespoon milk 3/4 cup fresh blueberries Preheat oven to 375. Beat butter and sugar with an electric mixer until smooth. Remove dough from fridge and roll into 1 1/2 inch balls or scoop out with an ice cream scooper. Cookies > muffins.
Salted Caramel Apple Pie If you’re looking to make new friends, salted caramel is a good place to start. Combine salted caramel with apples and put them in a pie? An even better start. This Thanksgiving is going to be the first T-Day I’ve ever spent away from home. This year I’m going to San Francisco with my dude (!!) I’m thinkin’ this salted caramel deliciousness will do the trick. This pie is my new love. I will admit that this one takes a little effort. Yes. The heart pie dough border is totally optional. I used the combination of Gala apples and one Granny Smith. The most glorious part about this pie is how the caramel actually ends up tasting like apple salted caramel. When the pie is in the oven the apples cook in the caramel and transform the caramel to tasting like apples. Can we talk about caramel for a second? 1. 2. 3. 4. The other thing with this pie, it’ll be goopy when you take it out of the oven. You might even curse my name a little. And I’m not talking like an hour cooled. Back to San Francisco!
Blueberry, Caramel and White Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies In the mood for cookies today? I am :) Let me introduce you to my latest cookie with dried blueberries, caramel bits, white chocolate and oatmeal. I am thrilled with how these came out over the weekend. I found these cute little Kraft caramel bits at Target, hope you guys can find them. Basic line up of ingredients Mmmm, caramel and blueberries Hard to see, but there are white chocolate chunks in the back of the bowl, love white chocolate in Oatmeal Cookies! You know a cookie will be good if you can’t stop eating the dough right? There’s that crunchy bit of caramel on the edge, LOVE it Blueberry, Caramel and White Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies 2 sticks softened butter 3/4 Cup granulated sugar 1 Cup packed brown sugar 2 eggs 1 1/2 Tablespoons pure vanilla 2 1/2 Cups all purpose flour 2 1/2 Cups oatmeal, I used quick oats 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon kosher salt 2 Cups Caramel Bits, by Kraft 1 1/2 Cups dried blueberries, found mine at Costco 1 Cup white chocolate chips or chopped white chocolate 1. 2.
Simple Sundays | Lemon Curd Today’s post comes by way of a special request from a reader comment when I published my recipe for No Bake Lemon Curd Cheesecake Bars a few weeks ago. When I made the bars, I used the convenient (yet divine) lemon curd from Trader Joe’s. However, we don’t all have a Trader Joe’s nearby, and the truth is, Lemon Curd is really very simple to make. Thanks to Stef the request! Lemon curd – I could eat it by the spoonful. But, it really is so easy to make; store bought lemon curd isn’t exactly time saving. Simply put, lemon curd is a custard, but take a look at all the recipes in the books and online, and you will see that there can be quite a variation when it comes to the critical ingredient (other than the lemon, of course) and the methodology. Have 15 minutes? Yield: Makes 1 cup. Leave a Comment
Lime-Raspberry Thumbprint Cookies Time for a quick post. Hurricane Irene is approaching (ugh) and there's no time to lose; we're about to evacuate, but not before I publish a quick post. I present to you, delicious lime-raspberry thumbprint cookies. Yum. I clearly have my priorities straight. These cookies are unbelievably simple to prepare. Enjoy, and if you're expecting to be hit by the storm like I am, take care! Lime-Raspberry Thumbprint Cookies Ingredients 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour1 teaspoon baking powder1/4 teaspoon salt1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature2/3 cup sugar2 large egg yolkszest of one limejuice of one lime1 teaspoon vanilla extract1/2 cup good raspberry jam (seedless if possible)powdered sugar, for dusting (optional) Directions Position an oven rack in the middle of the oven, and preheat to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt, and whisk together until fully incorporated. Break apart the cookie dough, and roll into small 1-inch balls.
The Ten Commandments Recently, I’ve gotten to know fellow Kentuckian Victor Sizemore. While his photography business has him in Los Angeles most weekends, Monday through Friday he’s a Lexingtonian and (convenient to my purposes) a consummate foodie. He bought my desserts-for-photos pyramid scheme hook, line and sinker. When I sent him a text along the lines of, “hey, if you want to turn a box of pastries into photography, let me know!” I thought maybe we’d get together the next week or something. I had Victor Sizemore, of Mad Men in Vegas fame, en route to Table 310 to do free photography and nothing but laminated dough, a vat of caramel, and unbaked profiteroles on hand. Victor arrived at the restaurant just as I finished boxing these rhubarb St-Germain macarons, altogether about fifteen minutes after my first text. Which got me thinking about how I reached the point where I can say, “macarons save the day” when so many people experience the exact opposite. 1. What kind of quirks does your oven have? 2. 3.
Shortbread Hearts with Raspberry Jam Oh hey there. My name is Nina, and I like to bake. Like is probably not a strong enough word…and neither is love…I’m actually sort of obsessed with it. The problem with baking is always finding some sort of justification for it. I mean, if I could, I would bake cookies and muffins and cupcakes every day, but then comes the “I-can’t-possibly-eat all-of-these-myself” problem…but no worries. I have found a solution. Ambrosia is my solution. Let’s start with some cookies. These cookies are nothing more than basic shortbread cookies that have been sandwiched together with some seedless raspberry jam and dusted with powdered sugar. Once you learn the basics of working with this dough, you can roll it out and cut it into any shape to fit the season, holiday, or occasion. Shortbread Cookies with Raspberry Jam Adapted from Williams-Sonoma 2 cups all-purpose flour ½ teaspoon of salt 1 cup of unsalted butter (2 sticks) at room temperature ¾ cups powdered sugar, plus extra for dusting