Santa Would Love These Cookies!!!

    It’s finally the Christmas Season! I love it not for the gifts but for what the true Meaning of Christmas means to me the closing out another year, spending time with friends and family.  One last attempt to make the world a better place through charitable giving!  I also love what Christmastime brings around…. FOOD! I love the cookies, pies, cakes, casseroles, Mac and Cheese, and Candied Sweet Potatoes. I will admit it I was taught at a very early age to love and enjoy food.  I finally had a day off and I decide to make some cookies. I love baking cookies around Christmas, it makes the house smell yummy, its nice to nibble on during a Charlie Brown Christmas Special (thank you Hulu.com) and I always have to make cookies for Santa in hopes he would get me what I wanted usually an ant farm or a chemistry set. However, OLD Santa Nick (Mom) brought clothes and dolls that I would eventually dissect.  To me there are three traditional cookies you have to make for Santa Claus (aka the Parent buying the gift) they are Chocolate Chip, Sugar Cookies or Peanut Butter Cookies.  I decided to take a twist on traditional Peanut Butter Cookies add in A little banana and white Chocolate chips and Viola the recipe below.

Peanut Butter Banana Cookies with White Chocolate Chips

• ½ cup packed brown sugar
• ¾ cup peanut butter banana Spread (Harry and David)
• ½ cup butter softened
• 1 egg
• 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
• ¾ teaspoon baking soda
•  ½  teaspoon baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup of granulated brown sugar
• ½ cup~ 1cup White Chocolate Chips
• 30 ml 99 Banana Liqueur or ½ tsp of Imitation Banana Extract
• 1 teaspoon of Honey
• Splash of Vanilla extract

1. Heat oven to 350°F.
2. In large bowl, beat brown sugar, peanut butter, butter, banana liqueur, honey and egg with electric mixer on medium speed until creamy,for about 2~3 mins. Stir in flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt mix well( cause sometimes when not mixed properly you can get cookies that taste like baking soda)  Add in the White Chocolate Chips.
3. Refrigerate the batter for 30 mins.
4. Shape dough into 1 1/2-inch balls. Place balls, about 3 inches apart on lightly greased cookie sheet.
5. Bake until light brown, 9 to 10 minutes. Cool on baking sheets for a minute; transfer to rack to cool completely. For chewier cookies, bake at 300°F for 15 minutes.

*Next time I will attempt an egg free cookie by using just Banana’s instead of an egg.

*I accidently brought Granulated Brown Sugar but it worked just as well.

 Reference:

Rich Creamy Peanut Butter Cookies

http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/rich-peanut-butter-cookies/

Peanut Butter Cookies by Elise  Posted Dec 18, 2005

http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/peanut_butter_cookies/

Hey you get 2 for 1 deal I had Extra Peanut Butter so I made Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars.

 

Peanut Butter Toffee Bars

·         1 cup Peanut Butter Banana Spread

·         1/2 cup Crisco Butter flavored Spread, softened

·         3/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

·         1/2 cup brown granulated sugar

·         1 tsp. vanilla extract

·         1 tsp. 99 Banana Liqueur

·         2 eggs

·         2 cups all-purpose flour

·         1/2 tsp. salt

·         ½ cup  White chocolates Chips and

·         ½ cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips

·         Several Hershey Kisses

DIRECTIONS

1.      Preheat oven to 350°. Grease 8x8-inch baking pan; set aside.

2.      In large bowl, with electric mixer, beat Peanut Butter, Spread, brown sugar, brown granulated sugar and vanilla until thick and creamy, about 5 minutes.

3.      Beat in eggs, then flour blended with salt. Stir in 1 cup chocolate chips. Evenly spread into prepared pan.

4.      Bake 25 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove from oven to wire rack and immediately sprinkle with remaining 1 cup chocolate chips. Let stand 5 minutes.

5.      Evenly spread melted chocolate, then sprinkle with cool completely. To serve, cut into bars.

My co-worker demolished them before I knew it. 

Reference:

http://www.countrycrock.com/Recipes/9277/1/Peanut-Butter-Toffee-Bars.aspx

When Cooking Goes wrong!

When Cooking Goes wrong!

So not every cooking adventure turns out as a culinary masterpiece, sometimes

they are just disasters. Well about two weeks ago everything from the ingredients or idea

I had turned into a failure. Even though it was a tasty failure, it was a failure none the

less. So my goal on Labor Day weekend was to cook some Jambalaya, cornbread, and

the Chocolate-Cherry cupcakes that I wanted to cook all summer. I figured with Labor

Day signaling the end of summer for many, I thought it would be fitting to finally create

this meal. Also, two of my Good Friends allowed me to use their kitchen. So I made a

checklist to make sure I had everything. I knew I was good on the Jambalaya because I

was using the Base mix from Harry and David just wanted to add meat and some extra

items. I checked to make sure I was good on eggs and Milk for the Cornbread. I made

sure I had the Chocolate Cake and Cherry stuff to make the Chocolate Cherry cupcake. I

still haven’t made Chocolate Cake from scratch but that will be my Birthday treat to me.

After getting off from work I went to my aunt’s house to get the tomatoes,

chicken, and sausage. So you may wonder why I going to my aunt’s house for some of

the ingredients. Well I have unique circumstances and it works to my benefit to store

food at my aunts since I am usually over there it’s easier for me to cook while over

there. So I go to here Freezer and start searching for my Italian Chicken sausages. After

5 minutes, I ask my Aunt “Where are the sausages I brought over last week?” are her

response “If they are not in the freezer, well then we ate them”. The chicken Sausages

were gone, plus they were unhappy because they were spicy. (They are Italian Chicken

sausages; they are seasoned but not spicy.) Ok, so I shift gears and search for my Veggie

Crumbles, I was like “I can make a vegetarian Jambalaya with Vegetable stock instead.”

Well I couldn’t find the veggie crumbles either. This was beginning to look like an epic

fail.

So I headed to my friends house to make some tortellini pasta salad, cornbread

still and the Chocolate Cherry Cupcakes. Everything was going along smooth. Pre-heated

the oven mixed the cornbread together added some Charred- Grilled Pineapple relish.

Next I, started cooking and began with the pasta. While going through my friend’s pantry

I found Cherry syrup which I thought would make the Cupcakes pop! I couldn’t find any

red wine vinegar or any vinegar for that matter; for the vinaigrette for the pasta salad. I

asked both of my friends, and they responded they didn’t have any vinegar. (I feel this

was an epic fail on my part) o_O? No vinegar. So the tortellini was just that tortellini.

My timer for the cornbread dinged. I went over to pull out the corn bread to find out it

didn’t quite bake. I felt like that was weird, until I looked into the egg carton and saw all

the eggs I brought were still in the carton. Yes I had baked cornbread with no eggs…

.

Let’s just say it was nothing short of wet non-congealing type pudding. So I decided

something that may make all people question if I should even write about cooking and

baking. I poured the baked corn sloop into a clean bowl added two eggs and mixed than

re-baked it. Hence the creation of twice-baked cornbread. (I mean if you can twice bake

a baked Potato than why not cornbread.) (There are several reasons why you should

not do that but I am not getting into them today.) So the only thing that appeared to be

a success was the Chocolate- Cherry cupcakes/Cake. I was too lazy to make 2 dozen

cupcakes so I made 12 cupcakes and 8x8 square cake. The recipe is below, I used a cake

mix that was on Target Clearance section for $.88 cents. Also my icing totally failed so

I ended up with Vanilla-Spiced Butter cream Glaze. But everyone who ate the cupcakes

seem to love them (one of my co-workers ate three of them). So all’s well that tasted

Good and was moist.

Chocolate-Cherry Cupcakes (p.s. these are not from scratch)

• 1 box of Duncan Hines Butter Recipe Fudge Chocolate Cake Mix
• 2 Tablespoons of Harry and David Cherry Conserves
• 1 teaspoon of Cherry Syrup
• ¾ cup of Vanilla Milk
• ¾ cup butter
• A splash of Vanilla extract
• 3 Eggs

Follow the directions as listed on the box. Substitute the water for the Milk. Mix for at

least 10 minutes adding in air as you go. Oxygen will help with certain chemical rations

but it’s the Hydrogen that helps with creating the bonds in the reaction.

Add the batter to each cupcake liners. Than add an extra cherry to the center.

Place in the Oven and bake for 25 minutes on 350*F. Or as the box directs you to bake.

Take out the oven and allow cooling for at least 15-20 minutes. I usually forget I have

cupcakes are cooling.

Vanilla-Spiced Butter cream Glaze.

● 2 cup confectioners' sugar

● 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

● 1 tablespoon Vanilla Milk

● 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon- sugar or (nutmeg-sugar mix)

● A splash of vanilla extract

Refrigerate for 20 minutes. Than pour over the cupcakes and cake. It will absorb into the

cake or maybe becoming an icing like topping. For me it looked like a glaze more than an

Icing.

• 

Black Pepper Bellavitano Cheese Scones

I know the name sounds fancy but pretty much these are just cheese scone with pepper. I got the idea while studying; I wanted something savory and delicious. Also the morning after Hurricane Irene there was a slight chill in the air. I decided I wanted to make a something that that reminded me of Fall. When I think of fall, I think of Scones. I must confess these scones are not made from Scratch I used Harry and David Original Scone Mix. I love this mix because by itself it makes simple scones with no extra frills. If you want to get creative than this is the mix for you it lends itself to sweet or savory scones. Before I describe the recipe I would like to give a little history on the origin of scones.

Scones are British quick bread more specifically Scottish in origin. Scones are popular in the United Kingdom, and countries colonized by the UK (ie United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Ireland), but are also eaten in many other countries. They are usually made of wheat, barley or oatmeal, with baking powder as a leavening agent. The scone is a basic component and complimentary portion of the cream tea. The original scone recipes were round and flat, usually the size of a medium size plate. Originally scones was made with unleavened oats and baked on a griddle, then cut into triangle-like quadrants for serving. When baking powder became available to the masses, scones began to be the oven-baked, well-leavened items we know today. Modern scones are widely available in bakeries, grocery stores, and supermarkets or (overpriced at Starbucks). As of 2005 market report estimated the UK scone market to be worth 104 million dollars. The increase is partly due to an increasing consumer preference for impulse and convenience foods. But instead of purchasing Scones here is a recipe to make them at home.

Black Pepper Bellavitano cheese Scones
1 package of Harry and David Scone Mix
1/3 cup ice cold water
½ cup of Heavy Cream or half and half
2 tsp of Course Ground Black pepper
¾ cup of Bellivanto Cheese (if you don’t have this type of Cheese than you can try this with another rich, nutty, creamy artisan cheese or Parmesan)

1. Preheat the oven to 425*F. Grease you cookie sheet and set on the side.
2. Mix the Scone mix, cold water, and Heavy cream together in the bowl. I like to mix it for at least 2 minutes. While mixing slowly add in the black pepper so it can be evenly distributed. Due to the fact that the cheese also has black pepper you may want to add less black pepper.
3. Begin to slowly add in the Bellavitano cheese, you can save some of the cheese to place on the top of the scone.
4. Bake for 11-13 minutes. I suggest 13 minutes for a nicer golden brown scone. But 11 minutes is sufficient also.

Serve these scones by themselves or with an evening dish. I made these on Sunday and my little cousin decided to eat the scones with his tortellini. I did find that they tasted amazing fresh out of the oven. The cheese and black pepper will play with your senses and is very delicious. The day after, the cheese flavor dissipates and the black pepper is more pronounced. Next time I make these scones I will use less pepper and let the pepper from the cheese be enough to give hints of a peppery flavor.

If I rated this recipe it would be 3 out of 5. There is always room for improvement.

--Deaverster

References

1. ---

Harper, Douglas (2001). "Scone". Online Etymology Dictionary. Dictionary.com. Retrieved 2009-11-19.

2. Weiner and Albright. "Simply Scones." St. Martin's Press, 1988, p. 3.
3. Ingram, C., Shapter, J. (2003). Bread: the breads of the world and how to bake them at home. (Originally published as The World Encyclopedia of Bread and Bread Making.) London: Hermes House. p. 54.
4. "The History of Scones". Food History. The Kitchen Project. 2001-03-01. Retrieved 2008-09-09.
5. "History of Scones and Griddle Cakes". CakeBaker.co.uk. Retrieved 2008-09-09.
6. Goldman, M. (2007). A Passion for Baking. Birmingham, Alabama: Oxmoor House, Inc.. pp. 85.

Banana- Honey Cupcakes CMD Style

Yesterday was one of those days where I wished I could hit the re-do button, but I can’t – I have to move forward. So to cope with this feeling, I decided to bake for my job’s summer picnic. I wanted to try this recipe I came across in my 500 Cupcake calendar from March 7th, 2011. I was slightly shocked at the fact that I didn’t need eggs or milk. I have a friend that is a vegetarian and figured he would like it. Before I made them, I wanted to do some research on banana honey cupcakes. So I went to Martha Stewart's Website:

http://www.marthastewart.com/314063/banana-cupcakes-with-honey-cinnamon-fros

to see her take on banana-honey cupcakes were; I also went to the Bread & Honey Blog.

http://bread-and-honey.blogspot.com/2008/07/honey-banana-cupcakes.html

The author of the Bread & HoneyBlog used the same recipe that I had from the 500 cupcakes. So I proceeded forward, As with any baking I usually do: I tasted the batter first and found it ok. But I don’t want just OK baked goods - I want baked goods that make people smile, so I added more “bananas.” I added some 99 Banana liqueur (49.5%) and vanilla in the batter, and the batter tasted heavenly!!!! I whipped the ingredients into submission; I had to get my feelings out, since I was upset and angry!!!!! Plus it good to add as much air as possible to the batter for lighter cupcakes ( I may be wrong), I blended for at least 10 minutes, changing the speeds on the mixer.

Earlier that day, I got some news that made it seem like everything I am working for was being taken away. I decided to relieve the stress by cooking in a full house, which is always fun - especially when my little cousin decides she wants to stand over my shoulders and cook ramen noodles in the microwave. On top of that, cooking in my Aunt’s kitchen around dinner time was like doing the Electric Slide. Boogie Woogie Woogie!

Near the end of baking, my Darling Mom called and asked me to pick her up from the light rail stop. I wanted to scream because I had 18 minutes and 32 seconds to get her and come back to the house why was time such an issue? Because I had just put the cupcakes in the oven I like to stay around and make sure they don’t explode. ( Yes Food can explode it is still a chemical reaction)

So my cousin and I sped down Druid Hill Ave to fetch my mom. I am pretty sure I gave my cousin a heart attack with the way I drove, but we got there in record time - 6 minutes. Of course, trying to get my mom to get in the car was an issue, and performing an illegal u-turn is always fun. Suffice it to say, I made it back just as the timer for the cupcakes went off.

I have been thinking a lot and these cupcakes helped me clear my head. My Aunt, being ever so wise and not looking a bit close to her age, reminded me that we as people are blessed with a multitude of talents and sometimes we should explore those talents that have been bestowed upon us. But I don’t know…I just know that I made some kick ass cupcakes with PICTURES!

PS: So no my cupcakes did not win the Dessert Competition at my Job's picnic. But that okay cause I can try again another time. Also if you don’t have time to bake these, email me and I will bake them for a fee plus delivery charge, but only to residents in the Central MD area. Why Cause I am a genuine legal hustler!

Until Next time, Deaverster

My Wonderful Aunt eating a Cupcake!

Banana and Honey Cupcakes: ( This is my take of an adapted recipe)

Ingredients:

2 cups (about 6) mashed ripe bananas

1 cup packed light brown sugar

1/2 cup honey

6 tablespoons butter, melted

2 cups self-rising flour

1 teaspoon Pure Vanilla Extract

1 teaspoon Cinnamon sugar

75 ml of Banana Liqueurs (Imitation Rum or Banana Extract)

Pinch of salt

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit
2. Line muffin pans with paper liners.
3. In a large bowl, combine the bananas, sugar, honey, and butter.
4. Beat with an electric mixer until well blended. ( I mix the batter for 10 mins)
5. Slowly add the flour, baking powder, and salt, and mix well.
6. Spoon the batter into the cups.
7. Bake for 20 minutes.
8. Remove pans from the oven and cool for 5 minutes
9. Remove the cupcakes and cool on a rack than cool for another 10 mins.
10. When completely cool, frost or sprinkle with powdered sugar ( if you want to keep it low fat)

Cinnamon- Honey Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 tablespoon honey

1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon milk

1 teaspoon Southern Comfort Bourbon ( it more like 2 splashes of Bourbon)

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl using an electric mixer, beat confectioners' sugar, unsalted butter, honey, and ground cinnamon until smooth for 4 to 5 minutes.