cookies and cream cookies (plus blizzard 2013)

I'm back!
And I can say I survived the blizzard of 2013!
As most of you know, cape cod got hit pretty bad with the blizzard, or was it called storm nemo?
My area got hit hard.
Thankfully we survived it ok with minimal tree damage and house damage, but we lost power for three days.
For three days in 30 degree temperatures during the day and teen temperatures during the night.
You can only imagine how hard that was, mentally and physically.
I can honestly say it was one of the hardest things I've ever done in my life.
By day two our inside home temperature was 43 degrees!
Hubby and I would lay in bed at night with 7-8 blankets, fully clothed, listening to the house creak and moan with the declining temps.
We could see our breath inside our home.
We didn't have a fireplace, but we did boil water over the gas stove every three hours.
Granted this is not safe and I don't recommend it to anyone, but we have high ceilings and only did this a few times to raise the temperature up a bit.
On day two and a half with no heat, we looked everywhere for a hotel room--they were snatched up fairly quickly and the waiting list was about three pages long.
The only communication we had was the radio and our iphones with which I got updates via the NStar website that said we had another three days to go until power was completely restored.
You can imagine the freak out factor I had with this news.
I wasn't so worried about us making it in the cold, my biggest fear was our pipes.
It was only a matter of time before the pipes would freeze.  We did wrap a few pipes that were closest to the outside walls with clothes and towels, and blocked up the doors and windows with sofa cushions.
During the day we'd go to a local grocery store that was partially open, running on generators and eat whatever they had and use the restrooms to wash up.  It was hard to come home to the house at night knowing it would be dark and cold.
There were two homes on our street that had whole-house generators, driving by these homes every night seeing them inside watching TV, using the computer, or cooking away in the kitchen was surreal--strange to say the least.  It leaves you desperate in a way; longing for any kind of normalcy---again.
On our third day of no power we decided I would go the next day and stay with friends.
My husband was not leaving the house--under any circumstances.  I didn't like this, and had zero say in the matter, but he did have a lot of army training so he was quite familiar with handling extreme conditions and weather.
You know how there are certain moment-like life events that happen to you that you never ever forget?
The time the power came on was in my top five.
We were just coming home for the night, driving down our road, seeing some lights on in houses that we were confused on whether or not those were the ones with the generators--we weren't sure because it all looked different.
Then we drove onto our street, and noticed the entire street was lit up like a christmas tree!  When you're used to seeing black and then you see everything illuminated it's quite a change.
I remember screaming the whole way down our street to our house, saying 'oh my god, oh my god....!"
And then we got to our house and it was all black!
I didn't know hubby had turned all the lights off so that when the power did come back on we won't blow a fuse--he forgot this too!
So we both weren't sure if the power was on.  Then I remembered that above the garage door is a motion detector light that glows red laser light when there is movement in the driveway which in turn turns on the outside lights.  And POOF, the little red laser light started moving as I drove closer to the garage door and the lights on the garage door clicked on!!
I screamed "yes, the power is on!"
I screamed again, opened my truck door and started to get out, forgot to put the truck in park, caught myself and put it in park, got out and ran towards to the gas meter to hear for the sound of hissing to validate my curiosity again of whether the power was truly on.  It was-- It was hissing away!
We both ran inside and were almost crying with happiness.
Hubby remembered the vent to the heater was blocked with a 4-5 foot snow drift, he ran around to shovel it out, while I ran around the house in shear happiness, turning on this or that light, and checking the all the heat panels.  Finding my cat sitting on one of the floorboard heat panels--how he managed that balance act I'm still not sure, but porr thing he was cold too.
That night taking a hot shower-- well there are no words really for that; how do you describe that?
I mean it had been three days without hot water; your body just does a collective 'sigh' when the hot water hits your back for the first time.
We did lose power again the next day for six hours--what's six hours though when you've been through three days?  Nothing.
As of today, thursday, my town still has about less than 100 homes still without power.
These are the places that are farther out from the main grid; homes that lost a lot of power lines and have older power lines/systems.
But thankfully today, thursday was the day that everyone in my town would be restored according to NStar. Happy Valentines Day indeed.
I haven't been cooking or baking for a while, cleanup is first, but I did find a recipe from the archives that I hadn't posted yet.
Happy Valentine's Day!
I know I'm happy--very happy and VERY grateful.


The taste of cookies and cream literally in a cookie.  Seriously these are good.
Any type of Oreo will work and flavor-wise you can mix and match too.

Eating the dough is just as tasty too, plus there are no eggs so it's fairly safe.

cookies & cream cookies

print recipe

2 cups + 2 TB flour

1/2 ts baking soda

1/2 ts (oversized) salt

12 Tbsp (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted & cooled

8 oz. cream cheese softened

1 cup light brown sugar, NOT packed

1/2 cup sugar

1 ts vanilla extract

2 cups crushed Oreo’s (not fine crush but not big chunk either)

Cook notes: I made my cookies larger than normal, about golfball size.

So make them whatever size you like.  If you make them smaller you should reduce baking times.

Whisk all dry ingredients together; set aside.

With stand mixer, or by hand mix butter and cream cheese together until smooth.

Add in both sugars and beat until thoroughly combined.

Beat in vanilla extract until combined.

Add dry ingredients & beat at low speed just until combined.

By hand, add in the crushed Oreo’s.

Cover dough securely with plastic wrap and chill two hours or overnight. 

When ready to bake cookies preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Drop dough onto parchment lined baking sheets and bake for 12-14 minutes or until edges are set and bottoms are light brown. Do NOT overbake!

Cool cookies on sheets until able to lift without breaking and place on wire rack to cool.

Should make about 30-32 cookies.

ginger crunch bars

Whenever I see a recipe that calls for using pure coconut or pure ginger in it's all natural form I'm in.
I love baking with ginger, love eating it when I get sushi and love using it at home in stir fry dishes.
And ever since I finally invested in a good ginger peeler, it's been a lot easier to slice and dice it up.
Sure I used to be lazy about using fresh ginger because it was a pain to peel, but if you get a small peeler or even one that's made for ginger you'll see how much more you use fresh ginger.
And it's still one of those produce items that hasn't gone way up in price, and has a pretty good shelf life in the fridge.
When David Lebovitz made these he warned us of how addicting they were.
He wasn't kidding--these are seriously good.
Just the right amount of ginger to butter to icing ratio.
Tastes like a shortbread with a fresh, clean burst of ginger and a nice gentle caramel undertone--heavenly I tell you.
Be warned!
I followed the recipe exactly, but added in some salt and also topped them off with toasted
ginger on top.
I highly suggest adding on the toasted ginger on top,  if not for the smells the toasting ginger leaves in the house.

ginger crunch bars

From davidlebovitz.com 

print recipe

cook notes:

I used an 8-inch tart pan with removable bottom.  You could use another size tart pan with removable bottom.

cookie base

9 TB unsalted butter, room temp

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 1/2 cup flour

1 ts baking powder

1 1/2 ts ground dried ginger (I used 2 TB)

(I added a giant pinch of sea salt)

icing

5 TB unsalted butter

2 TB golden syrup

3/4 cup powdered sugar

1 TB ground dried ginger (I used 1 & ½ TB)

Toasted ginger for decoration, optional but wonderful

(I toasted about 1/8 - ¼ cup of sliced/grated fresh ginger on parchment paper in the oven (350 degrees) for about 5-10 minutes until “just” golden brown).

Preheat the oven to 375ºF. Butter and/or spray up a 8 or 13-inch rectangular tart pan.

You can use a stand mixer—I mixed by hand.  

In a large bowl cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

In a separate bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, salt, and ginger.

Mix the dry ingredients into the creamed butter mixture until well combined. Turn the dough out onto the pan and spread it out, making sure to get into all the corners.  It’s not a sticky dough, so this part should be relatively easy.

Bake the dough for 18-20 minutes, until it’s light golden brown or if you want really crunchy then golden brown --  I did somewhere in between.

When the dough is almost done baking, make the icing by heating the butter and golden syrup over low heat in a small pan; add in the powdered sugar and ginger.  Keep stirring until it’s all smooth. Take off heat.

Once the cookie dough is done baking pour the icing over the top (I used about 3/4 of it).  When smoothing out the icing try not to let it get into the edges.  You want the edges to be seen as it gives a nice decorative appeal when it’s all cooled.

Decorate with the toasted ginger, optional.

Let this sit for at least 30 minutes to let the icing harden up/set up. 

If your kitchen is hot, then pop in the fridge.

Use a sharp knife to slice into bars or squares.

gluten free peanut butter-coriander snack cake

After only having done a handful of gluten free recipes, I'm actually quite shocked at how good these are tasting.
Sadly I was one of those people that firmly believed that if it was gluten free it meant taste free.
Thankfully only after a handful of creating gluten free recipes (more posts coming) I'm happy to find that gluten free easily means very tasty.
I hope this same theory holds when I start making breads, pastries, cupcakes, and rolls.
Getting gluten free breads to taste just like real bread is a challenge I'm willing to accept!

When I made those gluten free salty peanut butter cookies using that peanut butter powder--I had plenty of powder left.  That is where this cake came into play.
If you don't have peanut butter powder you can easily use peanut flour.

Found at whole foods and most health food stores.  They have a website: bettylousinc.com
This peanut butter powder is wonderful; just like peanut flour, BUT it has sugar in it.
So if you use this in baking make sure to watch how much sugar you use.

This snack cake is very light, not heavy in texture. In the photo it looks like it's moist and under-done--it's not.  It's just moist and almost delicate like.
But the flavor is wonderful.  If you've ever had peanut butter with coriander you'll know what I mean.
Those two flavors work so well together.

gluten free peanut butter-coriander snack cake

print recipe

1 cup peanut butter powder (or peanut flour), not packed

1 ts baking powder

¼ ts baking soda

¼ ts salt

1 ts coriander

1 large egg, room temp

½ cup sugar

½ half & half or whole milk

½ cup peanut butter (creamy or chunky) I used an all-natural pb

8 TB unsalted butter, melted & cooled

1/2 ts pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

Lightly grease an 8 - 9" cake pan and line the bottom with parchment. (I’m certain a loaf pan would work too, just might need to bake it longer).

In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, coriander, and salt.

In another larger bowl, whisk the egg, sugar, half & half, melted butter, peanut butter and vanilla.  Next add in the dry mixture, and mix until just combined.

Pour into prepared pan, and bake about 18-25 minutes.

You’ll know the cake is done when the middle no longer jiggles, and the edges are golden brown.

Let cool in pan at least 30 minutes.

This is a delicate cake, so use some caution when turning it out onto plate to slice.

Makes about 6-8 slices depending on how you slice them.

friday links + giveaway!

Happy Friday!
I was asked to review The Old Farmer's Almanac Everyday Baking cookbook and immediately said 'yes'!
It's a great cookbook, recipes by Ken Haedrich, featuring 118 recipes, baking tips, time-saving advice, step-by-step tips for easy preparation, and beautiful color photos. Cookbook categories include: breakfast baking; quick bread; cookies, bars; sweet pies; crisps, cobblers; cakes for every occasion.
Ken Haedrich developed and personally tested these recipes for Everyday Baking.
Haedrich is a winner of the Julia Child Cookbook Award and author of 11 cookbooks, including Pie, which was named one of the best baking books of the past 25 years by Cooking Light magazine.
If you go to their website, there is a free recipe download.

They sent me two copies: one for me and one for a friend.
I'd rather give one away.


It's really a great little cookbook for the price.
All you have to do to enter is just leave ONE COMMENT telling me if you've ever heard of any of the
farmer's almanac cookbooks.
And which one you have and/or like or want.
REMEMBER: there has to be an email address in your signature line or your comment.
Let's do the drawing next friday (2/8/13).

Around the web, healthy & tasty alternatives to super bowl eats:
bean & beet dip from macheesmo.com
kale pesto & white bean dip from annies-eats.com
buffalo roasted cauliflower from closetcooking.com
sweet potato sliders w/ roasted garlic cream from eatswellwithothers.com
5-minute pizza dough (way better/healtheir than pizza takeout) from injennieskitchen.com
fire cracker chicken skewers w/ lime cream sauce from aroundmyfamilytable.com
baked cannelini beans w/ sage & proscuitto from brooklynsalt
great roundup of dips & dippers from wholefoodsmarket.com
roasted cauliflower & aged white cheddar dip from closet cooking
buffalo & blue cheese veggie bake from bakeyourday.net
31 guilt-free superbowl snacks from greatist.com
margherita pizza w/ cauliflower crust from sixtyone45.com
raisin-rosemary crisps from flourarrangements.org
cal-mond cookies (raw) from bakingandboys.com
baked honey-mustard panko chicken fingers from savoryingthethyme.com
salt & pepper prawns from theperfectpantry.com
blue cheese stuffed buffalo turkey meatballs from onceuponacuttingboard.com
peanut butter-brown rice crispy balls from ahouseinthehills.com
healthy "ring dings" from pbs.org
skinny buffalo chicken bites from eat-yourself-skinny.com
gluten free chocolate-peanut butter cookies from vanillasugarblog.com

other fun eats:
snickerdoodle bars from tasteantellblog.com
homemade fruit roll ups from iambaker.net
california breakfast sushi rolls from farmgirlgourmet.com
how to make chocolate bars from davidlebovitz.com
peanut butter snickers brownie skillet from picky-palate.com
adorable mini "play food" from bakerella.com
british raisin tea cake from seriouseats.com
cheesy artichoke bread from vanillasugarblog.com
biscoff gooey butter cake from bakeyourday.net
salted caramel pineapple tart from cookingcontestcentral.com
momofuku crack cookies from thymeoftaste.com
crawfish beignets w/ cajun dipping sauce from cookingbride.com
creamy crawfish dip from thekitchn.com
shrimp queso flameado w/ ranchera salsa from homesicktexan
some of the best burgers I've ever seen from thefoodinmybeard.com
ground beef gyros from vanillasugarblog.com

Happy Weekend!

chocolate cupcakes stuffed with cookie butter crunchies

One bowl baking, one bowl cuppycakes?  What's not to love?
I finally got around to making/testing the wonders of one-bowl baking.
And guess what?
It's all in one bowl!  I know duh right?
But I decided to take this whole one bowl mixing to another level and try one of Martha Stewart's chocolate cupcake recipes to see if it would hold up to the theory of one bowl.
It did.
Not truly shocking, but I kind of figured it would.

Oh and I wanted to see if it all could be made by hand, without the use of a mixer, so I mixed it all by hand. Yes by hand.
I know the crazy things we do when the perils of winter cabin fever hits.
Or rather let's call it a better foodie term like "will the recipe stand up to one-bowl mixing".
With Martha's recipe, using one giant mixing bowl, I mixed all the wet ingredients first, then added in
all the dry ingredients and mixed again.  Perfect.

And they came out perfectly.
So if you're ever crunched for time and need a fast chocolate cupcake recipe keep this one in mind.
The idea of adding cookie butter comes from my obsession on baking with cookie butter.
If you don't like cookie butter you can use peanut butter or use a cadbury egg, a hershey kiss?
You get the idea.....

I also used some of the batter to make mini loaves.





Isn't the mini loaf adorable?

chocolate cupcakes filled with cookie butter crunchies

cupcake base from martha stewart

print recipe

3/4 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 1/2 ts baking soda

3/4 ts baking powder

¾ ts s alt

2 large eggs

3/4 cup buttermilk

3/4 cup warm water

3 TB safflower oil

1 ts pure vanilla extract

for the filling:

½ - ¾ cup cookie butter

¼ cup or more (depending on your desired level of crunch) of finely crushed graham crackers

hefty pinch of salt

for the ganache:

6-8 ounces of semi sweet chocolate chips

a teaspoon or 2 of heavy cream

Cook notes:

You can do as I did and make this all in one bowl or you can follow Martha’s original instructions.  I used semi sweet chocolate for the ganache, you can use milk if you want, but it might be too sweet. 

Also, save a little bit of the cookie butter filling to top the tops of the cupcakes as decoration.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Make the filling by combining all ingredients in a bowl and mixing well. Set aside.

Make the cupcakes by lining 12 – 18 muffin cups with baking cups.

Sift cocoa, flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and 3/4 teaspoon salt into the bowl of a mixer. Beat on low speed until just combined.

Raise speed to medium, and add eggs, buttermilk, water, oil, and vanilla. Beat until smooth, about 3 minutes.

(or do as I mentioned above and do this all in one bowl).

Fill each baking cup halfway with cupcake batter, add in a round ball of the cookie butter filling. Don’t press down.  Fill the baking cups with remaining batter, almost to the top. Cupcakes will rise a bit so don’t overfill the cups.

Bake until tops spring back when touched with a finger, 20 to 23 minutes. Let cool completely.

To make the ganache, melt the chocolate chips with the heavy cream until glossy and smooth. 

Using a spoon dollop the ganache over each cupcake and top with a couple crumbles of the cookie butter filling as decoration.

Should make 16-18 cupcakes (or as I did 12 cupcakes and 2 mini loaves).