Fallen Souffle

The Money-Free weekend was a success. I was able to accomplish just about everything I wanted to do and some extras like taking Bella on a 3+ mile walk and setting up/organizing the 3rd bedroom. The pantry isn’t as full and I was able to try a few new recipes!

I found this recipe on The Nest message board which came from Eating Well. It uses tahini which is a sesame seed paste. It is used in place of most of the oil/butter and adds a slight nuttiness to the cookie. These were great out of the oven but were a tad crunchy the next day, which could be due to over baking. I will certainly make these again as I have a full container of tahini and a girl can only make so much hummus.

I only made half of the recipe as I was limited on rolled oats, so I just used one whole egg. You could also make these with chocolate chips and walnuts instead of the raisins which I may try next.

Tahini Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Makes about 45 cookies

2 cups rolled oats (not quick-cooking)
½ cup all-purpose flour
½ cup whole-wheat pastry flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup tahini
4 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
2/3 cup granulated sugar or ½ cup Splenda Sugar Blend for Baking
2/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 large egg white
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 raisins

1. Position racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven; preheat to 350°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

2. Whisk oats, all-purpose flour, whole-wheat flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl. Beat tahini and butter in a large bowl with an electric mixer until blended into a paste. Add granulated sugar (or Splenda) and brown sugar; continue beating until well combined-the mixture will still be a little grainy. Beat in egg, then egg white, then vanilla. Stir in the oat mixture with a wooden spoon until just moistened. Stir in raisins.

3. With damp hands, roll 1 tablespoon of the batter into a ball, place it on a prepared baking sheet and flatten it until squat, but don’t let the sides crack. Continue with the remaining batter, spacing the flattened balls 2 inches apart. (I just scooped these with a small ice cream scoop)

4. Bake the cookies until golden brown, about 16 minutes, switching the pans back to front and top to bottom halfway through. Cool on the pans for 2 minutes, then transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely. Let the pans cool for a few minutes before baking another batch.

Per cookie: 101 calories; 5 g fat (2 g sat, 1 g mono); 7 mg cholesterol; 13 g carbohydrate; 2 g protein; 1 g fiber; 45 mg sodium.
Per cookie with Splenda: 97 calories, 12 g carbohydrate.
1 Carbohydrate Serving
Exchanges: 1 other carbohydrate, 1 fat

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Evan has been in a bit of an indecisive mood recently. As I went to the grocery store Monday he asked me to pick him up “something good” for him to eat for lunch. So I picked up some pre-seasoned chicken breasts so he could grill them up for a sandwich. He went to Chick-fil-a instead. For dinner last night I made some pork chops cooked in beer and barbeque sauce, he grilled a burger instead. We have been limited on dessert options in the house so I felt bad and made some cookies hoping he would like what I made. I scored big time with these cookies. Easy to put together, soft and chewy, a real hit with the big man. I made thee cookies larger than the originally recipe called for because I used a 1 1/2 oz cookie scoop. The originally recipe said it made 4 dozen but I only made 2 1/2 dozen.

These would freeze beautifully, just roll them and freeze then in a ziploc. Allow them to thaw in the fridge before baking.

Soft and Chewy Sugar Cookies
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
*toppings

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a small bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, and baking powder. Set aside.

2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in egg and vanilla. Gradually blend in the dry ingredients. Roll rounded teaspoonfuls of dough into balls, and roll in topping of choice. Place onto ungreased cookie sheets.

3. Bake 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden. Let stand on cookie sheet two minutes before removing to cool on wire racks.

*I rolled our cookies in raw sugar and did some in cinnamon sugar. You could also do colored sugar or add chocolate candies. The sugars add a nice slight crunch when they bake. A lovely contrast to the soft, chewy cookie.

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I feel like we have been celebrating Valentine’s Day for a week but I could not let the day pass without making something sweet for my hubby on our first V-Day as man and wife. I spotted these cookies on Alicat’s site a while back and quickly filed them under the ever growing “Must Try” list. What better time than now to whip up a batch of cookies.

These cookies are truly heavenly. They are light not only in color but texture with no heavy aftertaste so you don’t have to run for a glass of milk. But they are also addicting, I have already had 3! Yikes! The trainer won’t like that tommorrow!

Instead of posting the recipe, check it out at Something So Clever. And thanks to the Domestic Diva for the original recipe!

And a quote for today….
NELSON MANDELA in his own words . . . ON LOVE

The world is truly round and seems to start and end with those we love. I am not nervous of love for love is very inspiring. To be in love is an experience that every man must go through. One should be so grateful at being involved in such an experience. I am in love with a remarkable lady. She has changed my life. Holding Graça’s hand is the one thing I love most in the world.

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So I included these cookies in my latest BBM4 package. I got the recipe form a cookbook I received at my bridal shower, it’s a Junior League Cookbook and it has typical southern staples. I wanted to represent more of NC in this package so I thought only the best would do.

This is the first time I have made this cookies, and I re-read the recipe many time because there is no flour in the recipe, only rolled oats. I was really nervous that these would never set and be a big puddle of mush, but they firmed up nicely and created a soft, chewy cookies.

These are by no means low fat cookies, and I didn’t even try to skimp with low fat peanut butter- only the best would do for these cookies. Though this recipe made about 5 dozen cookies, so use it for a bake sale or your Super Bowl party because you don’t want all of these in your house at one time…too dangerous!

Raleigh’s Best Ever Cookies

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup white sugar
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 eggs
3/4 teaspoon light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups (18 ounces) crunchy peanut butter
4 1/2 cups rolled oats
1 (10 ounce) bag M&M’s or Reese’s pieces
1 cup semi sweet chocolate morsels

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Combine first 9 ingredients and mix well. Mix in oats. Stir in chocolate and candy.

3. Drop by tablespoonfuls, about 2 inches apart, on a greased baking sheet.

4. Bake for 10-13 minutes until golden brown around the edges.

5. Transfer to cooling rack to cool completely.

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I know…ANOTHER cookie recipe. But I can’t help it, I am addicted to cookies right now. And I am trying to find some of the best cookies to bring to Virginia for Thanksgiving. Oh and I am participating in the Sugar High Friday/Is My Blog Burning Cookie Sweep. So see, I have a reason for the cookie madness!

I made some wonderful coconut cookies earlier that were really fabulous but I was still wondering what else I could come up with. I flipped through my binder of recipes I have had for about 5 years now and found a cookie recipe I have had since 2003 and have never tried. After reading through the ingredients my mouth watered and my mind began racing with new ideas for this cookie. I knew then these cookies were it…and I was SO right!

After a bit of tweaking I have a cookie that is the perfect autumn cookies; cranberries, oatmeal, honey and walnuts…what could be better. Nothing…except some hot cider or cocoa to wash it down. I can’t wait for you to try them!

Cranberry-Oatmeal Cookies
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup shortening
2 eggs
1/3 cup honey
2 cups rolled oats
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. With a mixer, beat sugar, shortening, eggs and honey until smooth.

2. Add flour, baking powder, and salt and mix until just combined, dough will be thick. With a wooden spoon and some elbow grease, mix in oats, walnuts and cranberries.

3. Drop by rounded tablespoons onto a cookie sheet, I lined mine with a Silpat. Press down cookies ever so slightly with your fingers. Bake for about 10-12 minutes until browned on top. Transfer to a cooling rack. Makes about 3 dozen cookies.

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I love when I have a Eureka! moment in the kitchen. It happens every once and a while, more so now that I have become more comfortable experimenting with baking recipes. I have been trying to come up with a great cookie recipe for Thanksgiving this year as well as the Virtual Cookie Swap. I wanted to stay away from the gingerbread and chocolate chip so I thought I would do coconut. My Mom loves anything with coconut, as do I…though we are probably the only two in the family that like coconut, so I thought I would try and find a great coconut cookie recipe. I made an Ina Garten recipe last year that was a butter cookie rolled in coconut and dotted with fruit preserves. It was labor intensive and used alot of butter. So I found a recipe in my favorite cookbook, the All New Good Housekeeping Cookbook from 1991 , I know I probably need to update.

The recipe is as follows:

Coconut Cookies
2 3/4 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 stick of butter softened
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon coconut extract (originally called for vanilla)
1 1/2 cup flaked sweetened coconut

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. In medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt.

2. In large bowl with mixer at medium speed, cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat in egg, milk and extract. Reduce speed to low and beat in flour, until just blended, the mixture will be crumbly. With a wooden spoon stir in coconut.

2. Drop dough by rounded teaspoon, I actually used a small ice cream scoop that was about a tablespoon. With fork, make crosshatch pattern in each cookie, flattening to 1/4 inch thickness. Bake until lightly browned on edges, about 15-17 minutes. Transfer to wire rack to cool.

Sounds like a pretty simple, basic recipe. Well when I was trying to create the cross hatch marks, the fork was getting all gunked up and I was losing my patience so I just used my thumb to mash them down. After baking two batches, one with cross hatch and one with thumbprints, I then realized that these babies would be awesome with some preserves in the thumbprint I made. So the third batch got a dollop of raspberry preserves. These cookies are great plain, but so much better with the preserves in them. I am going to try apricot preserves next…mmm. I think I found a winner to take to VA!

As a side note, I love using kosher salt in baking. I love getting a nice bite of salt, it mixes so well the sweetness of the sugar and creaminess of the butter…drool!

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