Chewy Cherry Oatmeal Cookies

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Matt's favorite cookies are Oatmeal Raisin, so I decided to switch it up and make Oatmeal Cherry cookies. These are chock full of fruit and nuts, but adjust the quantities depending on your preference.

*The best thing about these cookies is that you can pre-form the cookie dough and freeze the unbaked cookies, then bake as many as you need at a time!


Chewy Cherry Oatmeal Cookies
adapted from Smitten Kitchen
makes about 1 dozen large cookies

Ingredients
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, soft
2/3 c. light brown sugar, packed
1 egg
1/2 t. vanilla extract
3/4 c. ap flour
1/2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. cinnamon
1/4 t. salt
1 1/2 c. old-fashioned oats
3/4 c. dried cherries (or other dried fruit)
1/2 c. walnuts, chopped

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 deg. Cream the butter, brown sugar, egg and vanilla in a mixer. In a separate bowl, whisk the dry ingredients: flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the creamed butter/sugar mixture. Stir in the mixer on low, until combined. Add the oats, cherries and walnuts, fold into the mixture until evenly dispersed.

At this point, you should refrigerate the cookie dough. After 30 minutes, take the dough out and pre-scoop depending on when you'd like to bake the cookies. I like BIG cookies, so I use a standard ice cream scoop. They can be scooped and baked immediately. Or they can be scooped and put back in the fridge and kept up to a few hours until you bake them off. Or you can scoop and roll the dough into balls, place in a freezer Ziploc and freeze until desired! So many choices...

To bake, line a baking sheet with parchment paper and place the cookies 2" apart. Bake at 350 for 10-15 minutes, baking times will vary depending on the temperature of the cookie shapes. Read more!

A Bakery Briefing- Continued

The glorious Orange-Ginger Muffin Cupcake at Empire Baking Company.

And as we all know, you can't go to a bakery for lunch without getting something sweet. At which point, the Orange-Ginger Muffin (as pictured above) comes into play.

So about the muffin - I must digress, I think the term muffin is used very loosely in this case, something this sweet, this good, deserves to be called a cupcake.* After all, in today's society muffins are most commonly associated with muffin tops and well, lets be honest, no one wants to think about this when they are eating. If only muffin tops were still associated with this (!), Otis Spunkenmeyer may sleep soundly six feet under. - it was not something I would normally order, but Heather, being the cupcake connoisseur that she is, did and let me a have bite or two. With its soft, orange cream cheese icing, it is a treat whether it's morning or nigh. The cake itself was very dense, as we often think of muffins, but it had retained much moisture (due to obscene amounts of butter, I'm sure) like a pound cake. The flavor was full, with orange zest and a balance of ginger; it was not overpowering just sublimely enjoyable. At $1.99, this is a muffin to feed two people. I am thankful that Empire Bakery opens at 8am, it will save me pounds and pennies as I have to be at work by 8am.

* If you are further interested in the muffin vs. cupcake debate (as I know I was), check out this wonderfully informative post.

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Birthday Brownies for Birthday Boys

Peanut Butter Brownie, a corner piece.

We had two birthdays in the office today; happy birthday, Bruce and Victor! I love birthdays, giving gifts and any excuse to bake for other people. I did a little research for this birthday. I asked my dear friend and wife of Bruce, Mary, about Bruce's favorite sweet treats. Her reply, "Everything: Chocolate, Peanut Butter..." and that was all I needed to hear.

I have been eyeing the delectable Peanut Butter Brownies from Smitten Kitchen for quite some time now. Admittedly, my version did not turn out quite as beautiful as Deb's (that's right, we're on first name basis) but they were pretty tasty, if I do say so myself. I still get nervous taking baked goods to the office. What if they hate them? Will anyone touch them?

Alas, I am pleased to report, they loved them!! Come 5 o'clock, there was only one brownie left on the plate. Try these. And if you have an allergy to nuts or chocolate, pull out the Epi Pen or go ahead and place a 9-1-1 call. They are worth it.

The following recipe is from Smitten Kitchen.

Peanut Butter Brownies

Makes 32 brownies, more or less, depending on how you cut them.

For brownies

2 sticks (1/2 pound) unsalted butter, softened

1 3/4 cups sugar

1 cup creamy peanut butter

2 large eggs plus 1 large yolk

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips (9 ounces)

1/2 teaspoon salt, depending on saltiness of the peanut butter

For ganache

1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips (9 ounces)

1/2 cup heavy cream

1 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened

Make brownies: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F with rack in middle. Butter a 13- by 9- by 2-inch baking pan, then line bottom of pan with parchment paper and butter parchment.
Beat together butter and sugar with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until mixture is light and fluffy, then add peanut butter and beat until incorporated. Beat in whole eggs, egg yolk, and vanilla. Reduce mixer sped to low, then mix in flour until just combined.

Mix in chocolate chips (1 1/2 cups) then spread batter in baking pan, smoothing top. (It will be thick, almost like cookie batter.)

Bake until brownies are deep golden, puffed on top and a wooden pick inserted in center come out with some crumbs adhering, 40 to 45 minutes.
Cool completely in pan on a rack, about 1 1/2 hours.

Make ganache: Put chocolate chips (1 1/2 cups) in a heatproof bowl.
Bring cream to a boil in a small saucepan, then pour over chocolate chips and let mixture stand for one minute. Gently whisk in butter until it is incorporated, chocolate is melted, and a smooth mixture forms. Spread ganache on cooled brownies and let stand until set, about 15 minutes.

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Non-Dairy Should be Scary.

memaw's chocolate frozen pie
(we anderson girls like to pretend this is a "lowfat" dessert)

1 pkg cream cheese or neufchatel, my "healthy" preference
1/2 c. sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
combine the above ingredients in a medium mixing bowl.

1/3 c. cocoa

1/2 c. milk

combine the two ingredients.
then add to the cream cheese mixture.

8 oz. cool whip, light ** See Update Below.

1 c. (or so) semi sweet chocolate chips

stir into the cocoa-cream cheese mixture.

pour into a chocolate cookie crust.* and freeze.

*You will have extra mixture, put the extra into a freezer- friendly container

freeze and enjoy as 'fool-proof ice cream'.

It's been at least three years since I've made this family favorite frozen pie. I can remember Mom, Ash and I serving up unusually large slices of this dessert "because it's lowww-fat." Ha. But seriously, I am now reminded why it has long held its place in the my favorites stack.And it's composed of such uber-processed ingredients. (What is Cool Whip? Non-dairy whipped topping seems oxymoronic.) Enjoy!

**UPDATE: My kitchen savvy sister, Ashley, has advised me that she still makes this dessert, too. However, she replaces the Cool Whip with homemade whipped cream! A bit more caloric, but in the long run much more healthy than HFCS and hydrogenated coconut oil, yum.

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