marbled sugar cookies

as i type, right around 63% of my life is in boxes. the remaining 37% is mostly a combination of shoes and baking supplies. if i were a math person i would come up with some kind of equation or pie chart to determine the length of time something spends in a box (let's say y) as directly correlated to my need to use it on a daily basis (should this be x? z? something squared?).

can you tell i was more of an arts & humanities girl?

in an attempt to use up some of the flour and sugar i have before we move next week, i decided to make a batch of marbled cookies. my co-worker has the most adorable baby on planet earth (seriously, i'm not even a baby person!) who is turning one on saturday and i was recruited to make the desserts for the party.

the party is spring garden themed so i ended up making a batch of butterflies cookies and a batch of "a" and "n" cookies (featured above!), which conveniently spell out the baby's name. i'm honestly not sure if i would have the patience to spell out a name with more than two letters, but you could always go the initials route!

i apologize in advance for there not being any new recipes until next week when i finally get to half-unpack. i may try to coerce my very talented sister to do another guest post since her last one was so popular!

as always, thank you for reading & happy baking!


amanda 

homemade oatmeal creme pie!

disclaimer: these are not healthy. that being said, they are so addictive that i gave myself a stomach ache before the gooey filling had even been made. 

my second admission is that i've never actually had a real-deal little debbie oatmeal creme pie. some people might consider this good parenting and others might consider it child neglect, but my snack of choice as a child was a little thing called a pastelito de guayaba (sweet puff pastry filled with guava, or quince). but, i've decided to give this little debbie a chance considering how many people confused my zebra cake with one of deb's concoctions. since the most requested snack was her oatmeal creme pie i decided to whip up a batch! 

first, like with any good recipe, you start by creaming a ton of butter and sugar. granted, i got five dozen cookies out of this recipe, so feel free to cut the recipe in half.

the batter is this gorgeous peanut-buttery color and makes delicious oatmeal cookies on its own. i honestly couldn't keep my fingers out of this batter and am guessing 3-4 cookies worth of dough fell victim to my cravings. 

(side note: i didn't realize you could see my rolled jeans & flip flops reflected in the bowl! it was almost 80 degrees in michigan today and i broke out my favorite shoes for the event.)

to pipe my delicious filling between my cookies i used a large sized round piping tip, but you could just as easily use a knife and just spread it on. the icing might seem a little unruly as you're making your sandwiches, but don't worry! it does set after about an hour, which then makes it super easy to put in baggies or stack for portability. 

not to brag, but i think i gave debbie a run for her money with these babies. the cookies themselves are hearty, delicious, and soft without falling apart. the addition of the marshmallow-vanilla filling takes it to a whole new level of fantastic. though making these is not a particularly fast process, i think it's totally worth it to relive your childhood and bring on the nostalgia.

homemade oatmeal creme pie

yields 30 sandwiches (plus 8-10 leftover cookies!)

adapted from beantown baker

for the cookies:

3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened

2 cups packed light brown sugar

2 eggs

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups flour (i used 1 cup all-purpose & 1 cup whole wheat pastry)

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon

2 cups quick oats

2 teaspoons baking soda

3 tablespoons boiling water

for the filling:

1 stick unsalted butter

1 jar marshmallow fluff

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/4 cup confectioner's sugar

1. cream butter and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer. once light and fluffy, add egg and mix until combined.

2. in a separate bowl, whisk together salt, flour, and baking power. add to creamed mixture. add cinnamon and oats and mix well.

3. in a small dish, add baking soda to boiling water and stir mixture into batter. mix well.

4. chill dough for 1-2 hours in fridge to let cool. 

5. preheat oven to 375 degrees and lined cookie sheet with parchment. 

6. drop tablespoons of dough onto sheet about two inches apart and bake for 8-9 minutes or until cookies are firm and golden around the edges. let cookies stand on sheet for 5 minutes and then transfer to wire rack.

7. to make filling, whip butter in a stand mixer to soften. add jar of marshmallow and beat until fluffy. add powdered sugar 1/4 cup at a time until combined. add vanilla and combine.

8. spread or pipe filling onto cool cookies and allow to set for 1-2 hours.

nutritional information:

calories: 213, fat: 6.67g, cholesterol: 23mg, sodium: 74mg, carbs: 18g, sugars: 13g, protein: 1.7g.

thanks for reading & happy baking!

amanda

top secret recipe: my sister's chocolate chip cookies

prepare yourself. this recipe is going to change your life. but first, a totally adorable childhood photo and a story:

my little sister sarah is actually the baker in the family. she's been coming up with delicious recipes since before she was old enough to safely use an oven and her chocolate chip cookies are, by far, the most addictive of them all. when she came to visit me this weekend she whipped up a batch and it has taken every ounce of willpower i have not to eat them all in one sitting.

before we made these this weekend she had always kept the recipe super secret. she never wrote it down, did the entire thing basically by sight, and the cookies always came out perfectly. luck? magic? genius? all of the above?

in her debut as a guest blogger - and let's be real, it was only a matter of time - she is bequeathing the recipe to you all. i know, i'm psyched too. to be honest, i'll be making triplicates and opening a safe deposit box just to keep them. i suggest you all do too. 

for someone who is a total control freak (me) and measures out everything (me) i was astounded when my sister just started pouring measurements out in her hand. she's a total professional. 

my favorite job since day one has always been mixing in the chocolate chips and this weekend was no exception. there is just something about folding in these morsels of goodness into an already outstanding dough base. 

i'll warn you, these cookies are spreaders. i ended up doing six to a sheet to make sure that i didn't get a giant cookie blob, so make sure to leave your cookies some room to breathe.

another warning, these cookies take on these amoeba shapes that i find completely endearing. this is a homemade-looking cookie. no chips ahoy circle perfection in this recipe, which is reason #92832 why it is fantastic.

and, as if you need another excuse to make these cookies, i'm going to end with a gratuitous close up. just try to resist.

sarah's top secret chocolate chip cookies

yields 4 dozen

ingredients:

1 cup unsalted butter

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup white sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda 

1 1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp cinnamon

1 1/2 cups chocolate chips 

1. preheat oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit and line baking sheet with parchment paper.

2.  cream sugars and butter in the stand of a mixing bowl until light and fluffy. add egg and vanilla and mix until evenly combined.

3. add flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon to mixing bowl and combine.

4. add chocolate chips and stir by hand until evenly distributed.

5. drop cookies six to a sheet and baking for 8-12 minutes or until golden brown, rotating halfway through.

6. let cookies rest for 2-3 minutes on baking sheet before carefully transferring to wire rack.

nutritional information:

calories: 108, fat: 5.21g, cholesterol: 14mg, sodium: 102mg, carbs: 15.06g, fiber: 0.46g, sugars: 11.51g, protein: 0.78g. 

thanks for reading & happy baking!

amanda

homemade graham crackers

these homemade graham crackers were the perfect next step in my battle against perfection. i mentioned in my quiche post about how tempting it can be to only post professional-grade cakes & cookies, but to me that takes away from the heart of baking and i'm determined to show you all everything - the gorgeous, the yummy, and everything in between. 

instead of using a cookie cutter i just free-handed the cutting process and i am kind of in love with how unique they each are. i may have to eventually cave and buy a scalloping tool to give the edges a little pizazz, but they are equally adorable cut with a sharp knife.

this dough came together quickly and with almost zero effort. i was careful not to over-mix, which would make the dough tough, and combined dry with wet until it was 90% mixed and then did the rest by hand. 

the heat of your hands will help smooth out the dough before you stick it between two pieces of floured parchment. sandwiching dough between parchment is something i do for every roll-out cookie i make, i wouldn't tackle the process without it! 

one of my favorite parts of this whole process was poking the traditional graham cracker holes in these suckers. the surprise was finding out that this step happens post-freezing. who knew! 

i ended up using these cookies as a make-shift spoon for my coffee ice cream a few nights ago. do i own spoons? yup. are they as delicious as cookies? nope. what i learned, but was too lazy and impatient to actually do, was that these would make an absolutely perfect cookie for ice cream sandwiches. summertime, here i come!

homemade graham crackers

pretty seriously modified from martha's recipe

yields approximately 30

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 cup cake flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon all spice

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 cup butter

1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar

1 tablespoon honey

1. preheat oven to 350 degrees. whisk flours, salt, baking soda, and spices in a medium bowl, set aside.

2. in the bowl of stand mixer, cream together butter, brown sugar, and honey. add flour mixture and beat until just combined.

3. using your hands, shape dough into a smooth-ish ball, and place between two sheets of floured parchment. roll out to about 1/8 inch thick. (note: mine are obviously thicker and i sort of like them like that, it's this cracker-shortbread-biscuit hybrid, but you can choose your own adventure with this one.)

4. cut out desired shapes and place on another sheet of parchment. chill in freezer until firm, about 20 minutes.

5. remove dough from freezer and pierce crackers using a fork. transfer to baking sheet lined with parchment and bake, rotating halfway through, until dark golden brown (8-9 minutes, depending on thickness). let cool on wire racks.

nutritional information*

calories: 63, fat: 2.9g, cholesterol: 8mg, sodium: 41mg, carbs: 8.3g, sugars: 3.27g, protein: 0.64g

*this information is totally dependent on how many you yield. if it helps, the total caloric amount for the entire batch is 1890 cals, which you then can divide by how many cookies you end up getting for a more accurate number.

thank you for reading & happy baking!

amanda

vegan oatmeal raisin lace cookies

let me take you all on a quick trip down memory lane. since what i understand as being the beginning of time, my favorite cookie in the world has been a super-thin-but-still-chewy cookie my little sister has made. the recipe is completely in her head and obviously top secret, but if i'm really lucky she will whip up a batch for me and they will be gone in less than a day. 

let's fast forward on this journey a bit to a few months ago when my lovely boss brought me back a cookie from a local coffee shop. it didn't look like anything special in its little cellophane baggy, and it was my first experience with a vegan baked good, but as soon as i took my first bite i was in love. 

these oatmeal raisin lace cookies are gorgeous, golden-y brown, and vegan-tastic. they are the perfect combination of my two favorite cookies and, i can now officially say, my cookie trifecta is complete. 

these cookies have two kinds of fat (earth balance and vegetable oil) and three different sugars (raw, brown, and a little bit of granulated). these all get creamed together until they're light and fluffy before the next surprise ingredient gets added. 

flax! yup, my favorite ground meal makes a return as a substitute for eggs. all it takes is a 3:1 tablespoons water to flax meal ratio and around two minutes of time for the magic to happen. 

here's what the batter looks like after the fats and sugars have been creamed and the flax meal has been added and beaten in. the batter will get a little fluffier at this point, just like if you had used actual eggs. cool, huh?

while you dream about how good these cookies are going to make your kitchen smell, here are some quick tips on how to maximize the deliciousness of this particular recipe. 

tip #1: soak your raisins in tap water for about an hour before you start baking. this will bring them back to life and make their flavor more pronounced. 

tip #2: these cookies spread a lot. like, a lot. my standard two teaspoon portion spread to cookies with about a four inch diameter, which fit around six to a cookie sheet. you could do tablespoon-sized cookies for a jumbo version, just make sure that you give these babies a little room to breathe. 

tip #3: i always find my vegan cookies to get soggy, a problem i'm still trying to figure out, but my solution to keep these crunchy was to leave them out in a single layer overnight. i actually never ended up bagging these at all because i was afraid their thinness would lead to quick breakage. if you have any ideas on how to prevent this minor issue i would love your advice!

vegan oatmeal raisin lace cookies

yields 30 cookies

ingredients:

1/4 cup margarine

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup raw sugar

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 tablespoon flax meal

1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ginger

1/4 teaspoon allspice 

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cup oats

3/4 cup raisins

directions:

1. preheat oven to 350 degrees and line baking sheets with parchment paper. 

2. place raisins in small bowl and soak in room temperature water for the duration of the preparation process. in another small bowl stir together 1 tablespoon flax meal with 3 tablespoons water and let sit for 2 minutes. 

3. cream margarine, oil, and sugars with a stand mixer until light and fluffy. add flax mixture and continue to beat until fully incorporated. add vanilla.

4. in a medium bowl whisk together flour, spices, baking soda and salt. 

5. gradually add dry ingredients to wet ingredients until well blended. stir in oats and raisins. 

6. drop dough onto lined baking sheets with enough room for spreading and bake for 10-12 minutes or until the edges brown and centers are set. 

7. remove from oven and let stand on baking sheets for 4-5 minutes. using an off set spatula, run blade between cookie and sheet to loosen and transfer to wire baking rack to cool. 

nutritional information:

calories: 100, fat: 3.77g, sodium: 54mg, carbs: 16g, fiber: 1.14g, sugars: 8.35g, protein: 1.74g. 

thanks for reading & happy baking!

amanda

oatmeal dark chocolate chip cookies (with flax!)

after an extremely long week, i wanted to make a comforting-yet-healthy treat to compensate for the half dozen mini-cupcakes, white wine, and pizza i've consumed recently. i went straight to a crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside cookie with dark chocolate chips (delicious & healthier than the milk version), oatmeal and my secret ingredient - flax.

now that i have you hooked, let's talk about flax. this stuff is one of those hippy foods that i never thought i would have in my kitchen, much less try to somehow pack into everything i eat. seriously - a substitute for bread crumbs, sprinkled in oatmeal and yogurt, it can even be used as an egg substitute! its got omega 3s (lowers cholesterol & blood pressure), works as an antioxidant and has tons of fiber. it's win-win - promise. you can get a big bag at trader joe's for a few dollars. you won't regret it!

these cookies came together super quickly in just a few steps. you can totally adjust the spices to your liking with these, which makes the recipe a great and healthy base that you should keep in your back pocket. a crucial part of this recipe is using sea salt, which i think adds oomph to anything with chocolate - especially cookies.

i used brown sugar in these because, well, i think it's like sugar - but better. i went light brown, but you could totally use dark brown and up the molasses-factor. (side note: this is a half batch that made around 15, so if you do a full batch prepare for about double this size!).

whenever trying a new cookie recipe i like to bake them at different times and with different strategies (i.e. chilling, flattening, etc.) to see what works best with the dough. these i baked in rounded 2 teaspoon portions and in 9 minutes they turned into this gorgeous golden brown. i like mine a little crispier, so i would probably go 10 minutes next time.

these cookies are delicious, wholesome, and for around 90 calories a pop they are a caloric bargain.

onto the recipe!

oatmeal dark chocolate chip cookies (with flax meal!)

makes about 30 cookies
adapted from the nourish network

ingredients:

3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup ground flaxseed
1/2 cup oats
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
4 ounces butter, softened
2/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips

directions:

1. preheat oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit.

2. in a medium bowl whisk together flour, flax, oats, baking soda, spices and salt.

3. cream together butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. add egg and vanilla and combine.

4. add dry ingredients 1/2 cup at a time until incorporated but not over-mixed. stir in chocolate chips.

5. drop rounded scoops onto a lined cookie sheet and bake for 9-10 minutes.

nutritional information:


calories: 90, fat: 5g, cholesterol: 12mg, sodium: 39mg, carbs: 11.24g, fiber: 1g, sugar: 7.8g, protein: 1.15g.


thank you for reading & happy baking!


amanda

valentine's day cut out cookies with marbled frosting

if you obsessively follow baking trends online like i do, i'm sure you know that really beautiful & elegant cutout cookies have been making the rounds for valentine's day. the general consensus on these cookies are that they are painstakingly difficult, specifically the icing, so of course i needed to give them a try.

to be honest with you all, i didn't think these were going to be successful at all and i went into the project with the notion that this batch would be my pre-documentation test run. i was happily mistaken and i think these, by and large, came out pretty well. 

i wanted to make sure that these cookies didn't just look pretty, but that they tasted great too. i spent a lot of time researching and adjusting recipes to come up with one that was delicious and that baked flat and evenly enough to ice. 

this batch of around two dozen took me, all together, around six hours to make. the icings are all hand-tinted with gel colors and each of the cookies had to be dammed, filled, and the marbled. needless to say, this is not an every-day cookie. but, for someone whose ideal saturday morning is staying in her pajamas, sipping iced coffee, listening to npr and decorating twenty four cookies by hand it was wonderful. plus, i think the results are pretty impressive.

there's no recipe this time around, mostly because i'm still tweaking and i want to have photographs to go along with the instructions.

to aid in forgiveness, i will divulge that tomorrow i'm making vegan funfetti cupcakes from scratch, so please come on back!

amanda

vegan ginger cookies with lemon royal icing

okay guys, i have a confession to make. it's not something i'm proud of, but admitting you have a problem is the first step.

i am not an inclusive baker.

in a world ripe with food allergies and ethical eating i still throw as much butter, flour, eggs and nuts into a recipe as i possibly can. it's not right, but it is delicious.

part of my foray into vegan baking has been as an attempt to make my baked goods available to more people. other bonuses include being forced out of my ingredient comfort zone and being able to make stuff when i use up all the butter & eggs and am too lazy to buy more.

 

i'm really still getting the hang of things - my last few attempts have been quite embarrassing - so any tips & tricks you can throw my way would be amazing.

equal parts molasses, oil, and sugar. i used brown instead of white because..well, it's how i roll. perk: these cookies come together in one glorious bowl. speaking of bowls, i got a new set as an early valentine's day present and i am in baking heaven.

let's veer slightly off topic for a minute. so, like i said, i'm new at this whole vegan-baking thing. to get these cookies the way i wanted them i had to adjust several parts of the recipe. the cookie on the top left-hand side was made according to instructions, but turned out way too mounded and dense for me. 

the next couple i smooshed a little with a glass and they were closer to what i was looking for. the bottom cookie, which i think turned out the best, is the last and final version and the recipe i have posted at the bottom of this entry. 

so, i know that there is a spoon in this shot and that would lead you to believe it was used. honestly? i barely touched it. by the end of the mix-a-thon i was using my hands to get everything combined. it was awesome.

these cookies are dark and spicy and right up my alley, but i couldn't resist adding a little sweetness and acidity through a few squiggles - the technical term - of vegan lemon royal icing. i had to figure this one out, since royal icing is traditionally made with eggs, but i managed!

note: there was no way that for a one-bowl cookie recipe i was going to break out the piping tips. no way, no how. i just grabbed a ziploc bag, poured the icing in, sealed it up, cut a tip hole in the bottom corner and got to icing. painless!

these cookies are actually very delicious, and not even "for vegan cookies". they are great alone, but the icing dresses them up a little bit. alternatively, i think they would be great rolled in some raw sugar. or, not to get crazy, lemon-infused raw sugar!

onto the recipe!

vegan ginger cookies with lemon royal icing

yields 2 dozen

adapted from veggie revolution

preheat oven to 350 degrees f

for cookies:

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup molasses

2-3 tablespoons hot water

1 3/4 cups flour

2 teaspoons ginger

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/3 teaspoon salt

1. in a medium-sized bowl combine oil, sugar, molasses & hot water.

2. stir in flour, ginger, cinnamon, baking soda & salt. combine with spoon/hands.

3. if batter is too dry/sandy add a teaspoon of water a time until it reaches a workable consistency.

4. bake on a parchment-lined baking sheet for 8-9 minutes. cookies might appear under-done, but will harden as they cool.

for lemon icing:

1 cup confectioner's sugar

juice from half a medium lemon

2 teaspoons light corn syrup

1. in a small bowl mix sugar and lemon juice until smooth. 

2. add corn syrup and beat until smooth and glossy. if icing is too thin, add more sugar. if it's too thick, add more juice or corn syrup. 

3. pour into ziploc bag, seal, and cut small hole in bottom corner. decorate away!

nutritional information:

calories: 120, fat: 4.4g, sodium: 80mg, carbs: 19.22g, sugars: 10g, protein: 1g.

thanks for reading & happy baking!

amanda

lemon ricotta cookies

after a week spent with the entirety of southeast michigan freaking out about blizzards and whiteouts, i innocently thought i could have a weekend to relax and run errands and avoid scraping off my car multiple times a day. boy, was i wrong.

i decided i needed a reminder that summer will eventually come, so i grabbed some lemons and leftover low-fat ricotta cheese and went to work on a giada delaurentiis recipe i had bookmarked.

 no offense to giada, but i bumped up the lemon-factor in both the cookie and the glaze - about double what the recipe called for. i also made them a bit smaller, which lowered the calories and made them way cuter.

giada, with all the brains in her giant forehead, says to ladle the glaze on and spread it over the cookie. i decided to take a different route and just dip these suckers in the glaze and wiggle off the excess.

just make sure to put something underneath your drying racks before you start the glazing process or prepare yourself for a messy table.

 

if you're a cakey-cookie person, these are for you. the only trick to these is to make sure you don't over-bake them. i kept an eye on the bottoms and when they were golden brown i took them out of the oven, despite the fact that they looked completely under-done on top.

lemon ricotta cookies

yields about 3 1/2 dozen

adapted from giada de laurentiis

cookies:

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened 

1 cups sugar

1 egg

8 ounches low-fat ricotta cheese

3 tablespoons lemon juice

1 lemon, zested

glaze:

3/4 cups powdered sugar

1/4 cup lemon juice

1 lemon, zested

(note for glaze: you can adjust the consistency of the glaze by adding more sugar if it's too runny & more juice if it's too thick!)

preheat oven to 375 degrees f.

1. in a medium bowl combine the flour, baking powder, and salt.

2. in a large bowl, cream butter and sugar using an electric mixer until light & fluffy. add the egg and beat until incorporated. add the cheese, lemon juice, and zest. beat until combined.

3. add the dry ingredients until just combined - don't overmix!

4. line baking sheet(s) with parchment and spoon dough, about two teaspoons for each cookie, onto the sheets. bake for ten minutes, until slightly golden at edges. remove from the oven and let the cookies rest for fifteen minutes.

5. while cookies cool, combine powdered sugar, lemon juice, and zest in a small bowl and stir until smooth. dip cooled cookie tops into glaze and let glaze cool and harden for about two hours.

nutrition information:

calories: 67, fat: 1.7g, cholesterol: 5mg, sodium: 49mg, carbs: 11.71g, fiber: 0.13g, sugars: 7.8g, protein: 1.27g.

thank you for reading & happy baking!

amanda