Whip It!

While attempting to do away with the procrastination that has enveloped most of my life, I decided to begin building my repertoire of Christmas cookies early. This means some experimentation is necessary.



Shortbread cookies are holiday favorites, but I'm not really into putting so much time into just one cookie, especially something this simple. I perused some of my cookie books and found a recipe for Whipped Shortbread that claimed to have the same melt-in-your-mouth results with half the work.



I actually really enjoyed these cookies. With all of the sweets to enjoy during the holidays, these mild, buttery cookies give your palette a well-deserved break. They're perfect for tea time, if you happen to have tea time on a regular basis.


Whipped Shortbread
Makes 3 dozen cookies

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup superfine granulated sugar (I just used regular sugar; the book recommends that you put it in a food processor to make it superfine)
1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Combine flour and cornstarch in a small bowl.

In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat butter, sugar, and vanilla until light an creamy, about three minutes (very important!). On low speed, gradually add flour mixture, beating until blended.

Drop dough by tablespoonsfuls about 1 inch apart on cookie sheet. If desired, decorate top with cherry half or pecan. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until light golden around edges. Cool and enjoy.

20 Pounds of Bananas

My brother works as a manager at a nearby grocery store. This isn't a great lead-in, but there's no other way to explain how I came upon a 20-pound box of almost-ripe bananas for only a dollar (plus tax).

Do you know how many bananas are in a 20-pound box? I'm only asking because I didn't really realize how many that entailed. I didn't actually count them, but...I think it's a little more than 100 bananas.

Now, I like bananas; don't get me wrong. But I'm a busy lady and between school and work and a little bit of sleep, I can only use so many at a time for banana bread. And after about a week, 100 bananas on the counter of your laundry room start to smell quite strongly and to attract flies of the fruit variety.

In a last-ditch effort to waste...I mean, use the bananas as quickly as possible, I looked for a recipe for a banana cake, and my queries were answered by none other than Paula Deen, the southern belle herself.



I was disappointed, and I'm sorry because I always seem to be disappointed on here. Maybe it's because I'd been huffing too many bananas, but it just tasted like...banana bread with sugary cream cheese. Everyone else freaking loved it.

Also, in case you were wondering, I could not get any good pictures of the cake.



Banana Nut Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
Makes one two-layer cake

3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pans
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 eggs, beaten
3/4 cup vegetable oil
4 large ripe bananas, mashed
1 cup chopped pecans
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 pound confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Butter and flour 3 (9-inch) round cake pans; set aside. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a mixing bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Add the eggs and oil and stir just until the dry ingredients are moistened; do not beat. Stir in the banana, pecans, and vanilla.

Divide the batter among the prepared pans and bake for 23 to 28 minutes, or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool the cake layers in the pans for 10 minutes, and then turn them out onto a rack to cool completely. While the cake cools, make the frosting.

In a bowl, blend together the cream cheese and butter. Gradually add the confectioners' sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Beat in the vanilla. Stir in the pecans, or reserve them to sprinkle over the frosted cake. Fill and frost the cake when it is completely cool.

Criss-cross

Working at a coffeeshop offers ample oppurtunities to meet all kinds of people; if you're lucky, you'll come in contact with some that aren't completely insane (yet). Instead of focusing on the crazies who either like you a lot (for no real reason) or hate you so much (for no real reason), it's easier to thank the customers who are pleasant to be around. When one of these regulars remarked that his favorite cookie was homemade peanut butter and that his birthday was in a week, I accepted the challenge.

Usually when I put peanut butter into a cookie, it's combined with something else, like oatmeal or chocolate chips. Honestly, I don't have much experience with classic peanut butter cookies. Obviously, I turned to the master for help: Martha. Surely, I thought, she will not lead me astray.



All in all, I thought they were kind of...forgettable. Believe me, they were peanut-butter-y and crunchy and chewy, and the customer was really happy with them. I guess I just don't like plain peanut butter cookies.



Peanut Butter Cookies
Makes 4 dozen cookies

1 1/2 cups crunchy peanut butter
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 large egg
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour and baking powder; set aside.

In a large bowl, beat peanut butter, sugar, and butter until smooth. Beat in egg. Gradually add flour mixture, beating to combine.

Pinch off dough by the tablespoon; roll into balls. Place 2 inches apart on parchment-lined baking sheets. Using a fork, press balls in a crisscross pattern, flattening to a 1/2-inch thickness.

Bake cookies, rotating halfway through, until lightly golden, 18 to 22 minutes. Cool cookies on a wire rack.

Double Decker Chocolate Cake

For the record, this chocolate cake was a complete disaster. I was trying to put it together in the two hours between class and work and...well, I finished it, but I broke things, burnt chocolate, and melted a plastic measuring cup.



On top of this, I have a bad habit of not reading completely through recipes, so when I got to the frosting, I panicked - I've never done anything with custard before. Besides melting a few things, though, it turned out well.



I'm not a fan of chocolate cake, but I was craving one and this one satisfied my craving. It got better after a night in the refrigerator in terms of moistness, but other than that, it was a keeper.

Chocolate Layer Cake with Milk Chocolate Frosting
Makes one two- or four-layer cake

2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch-process)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup packed dark brown sugar (I used half dark, half light)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
4 large eggs
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1 1/2 cups well-shaken buttermilk (or 1 1/2 cups milk mixed with 1 1/2 tablespoons vinegar)

2/3 cup whole milk (I used 1%)
3 large egg yolks
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon all-purpose flour
1 1/3 cups confectioners sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups unsalted butter, cut into tablespoon pieces and softened
8 ounces milk chocolate, melted and cooled
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled


Put the oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter 2 (9- by 2-inch) round cake pans and line bottom of each with a round of parchment or wax paper (I actually skipped this part and the cake popped right out of the pan still). Butter paper and dust pans with cocoa powder, knocking out excess.

Sift together flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt into a small bowl. Beat together butter and sugars in a large bowl using an electric mixer at medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes in a standing mixer or 4 to 5 minutes with a handheld. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add chocolate and vanilla and beat until just combined. Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture and buttermilk alternately in 3 batches, beginning and ending with flour mixture and mixing until just combined.

Divide batter between cake pans, spreading evenly, and bake until a wooden pick or skewer inserted in center of each cake layer comes out clean, 25 to 35 minutes. Cool cake layers in pans on racks 10 minutes. Run a thin knife around edge of each layer, then invert onto racks. Peel off paper and cool layers completely.

While waiting for the cake to cool, make the frosting. Heat milk in a 1- to 1 1/2-quart heavy saucepan over moderate heat until hot. Whisk together yolks, flour, 1/3 cup confectioners sugar, and a pinch of salt in a bowl, then add hot milk in a stream, whisking. Transfer custard to saucepan and bring to a boil over moderate heat, whisking. Reduce heat and simmer, whisking, 2 minutes (mixture will be very thick), then transfer to a large bowl. Cover surface of custard with a buttered round of wax paper and cool completely, about 45 minutes.

Add vanilla and remaining cup confectioners sugar to custard and beat with cleaned beaters at moderate speed until combined well, then increase speed to medium-high and beat in butter, 2 tablespoons at a time, until smooth. Add chocolates and beat until combined well.

If you want a four-layer cake, halve each cake layer horizontally using a long serrated knife. Layer cake, using a heaping 1/2 cup frosting between each layer, then frost top and sides with remaining frosting.

Ginger-iffic

When I make a batch of cookies, I usually have to split it in half or in thirds because I don't really have anyone that I can push three dozen cookies on once a week. Since my grandpa got out of the hospital, he has steroid-induced diabetes, so the number of baked goods I have been able to give him has decreased significantly.



Anyway, I made these ginger cookies because I really like molasses-based goodies and it originally makes 18 cookies, which meant that I didn't have to deal with weird measurements like 5/16ths of a teaspoons.



The only problem I ever really have with ginger and molasses is that I can never really tell when they're done, which can lead to some overcooking. I think these were just about perfect though; the crunchy sugar topping really brought out the spice of the actual cookie.




Ginger Nuts
Makes 1 1/2 dozen cookies

1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 tablespoons molasses
1/2 cup unrefined dark brown sugar
1 egg
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
Granulated sugar, to decorate

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Mix the butter, molasses, brown sugar, and egg in a large bowl. Sift the remaining dry ingredients together and sitr into the butter mixture.

Using about 1 1/2 tablespoons of dought at a time, form the dough into balls. Place the balls 2 inches apart on a non-stick baking sheet or a standard baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Lightly press the cookies into 1 1/4-inch rounds.

Refrigerate the cookies for one hour before baking. Then, sprinkle with granulated sugar and bake for 10 to 12 minutes; the cookies will puff up, then settle when cooked. Transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool.

Chewy and Egg-Free

In case you haven't noticed yet, some of my favorite things in cookies include oatmeal, peanut butter, and nuts in general. So, when I stumbled across these Peanut Butter-Oatmeal cookies, I began salivating immediately. Not only do they contain all three of my favorite cookie ingredients, they're also vegan, which is a field of baking that I have been wanting more experience in. Also, I bought a big thing of soy milk and vegan butter to make gb's frosting and now I need to use all of it up as quickly as possible.



I added butterscotch chips to mine because those are my favorite chips, and these cookies were going to be just for me. (Don't worry, I ended up sharing a couple of them.) Unfortunately, the butterscotch was a little more sugary than I remembered and ended up being the lower point of the cookies.



Overall, these cookies were so good. It was my first experience of baking without eggs (with one exception of some brownies), and I was quite impressed. I definitely recommend these if you want a small batch of thick and chewy cookies.



Gigantoid Crunchy Peanut Butter-Oatmeal Cookies
Makes about 1 dozen large cookies

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups rolled oats
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoons salt
3/4 cup canola oil
3/4 cup natural crunchy peanut butter
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup vanilla soy milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup chocolate or butterscotch chips (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees; lightly grease two cookies sheets. Stir together the flour, oats, baking powder, and salt in a medium mixing bowl. In a large mixing bowl, mix together the oil, peanut butter, sugars, soy milk, and vanilla.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix. Stir in chips, if using. The dough should be extremely difficult and moist. Pack a 1/3-cup measuring cup with dough, pop out and roll into a firm ball. Flatten just barely on a prepared cookie sheet, spacing the dough balls well apart.

Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until cookies have puffed a bit and are lightly-browned. Allow to cool for at least two minutes before moving off the cookie sheet.

Still in School

Sometime last year, I found a recipe on Recipezaar for Maple Muffins. gb loves maple syrup, but he loves bacon even more, so I decided to add that into the mixture. They were a pretty big hit; he likes to add extra maple syrup to them and eat four or five in the morning, and the bacon provides manly protein to keep him going until lunch.



He also helped me make these muffins by cooking the bacon while I assembled the yummy muffin-y parts. Then he crumbled it up, still cracklin' with his bare hands and didn't wince once. He sure is tough.



These are surefire for people who like bacon and/or muffins, and they would be a great addition to a brunch buffet. They have a texture that is reminiscent of cornbread, but the syrup adds sweetness while the bacon adds a combating little jolt of savory.



Maple Bacon Muffins
Makes 12 muffins

2 cups all-purpose flour
10 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
3 teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
1 egg
½ cup milk
½ cup vegetable oil
2/3 cup maple syrup

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a large bowl, combine flour, bacon, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, whisk the remaining ingredients together. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened.

Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups two-thirds full. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack.

Back to School

Breakfast really is the most important meal of the day, especially if you're in college. What's the point of getting up and going to class if you're just going to be exhausted and hungry by the middle of it?

To kick off the beginning of the Fall semester, I made gb some doughnut muffins, which covered both his love of doughnuts and my muffins. Also, they are easy for him to pop in his mouth as he runs out the door to drive to school.



After baking these, I melted the soy butter in a small glass bowl and dipped the tops of the muffins in the butter. I then dipped the buttery tops into a bowl of cinnamon sugar. This proved to be only slightly foolproof - I ended up with a lot of cinnamon sugar ground into the paper cups that I had lined the pan with. Oh well, more sugar means more energy, right?



I insisted that gb help me make these, just because it was nighttime and I like it when he bakes with me because he's pretty good at following directions. He mixed the dry ingredients while I combined the wet and he ate the first one after it was topped.



These turned out to have an dense texture, which was good for a while, but they dried out after a few days and, as this recipe makes such a large batch, this led to quite a bit of waste. However, if you are having a large breakfast/brunch get-together or if you halve this recipe, I think it will turn out perfect. And while they may not be a part of your complete breakfast, they're still pretty damn good.



Doughnut Muffins
Makes about 2 1/2 dozen muffins

½ cup butter, softened
¾ cups sugar, plus 1/8 cup of sugar
2 large eggs
3 cups flour
½ tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon nutmeg
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla
¾ cup milk (I used soy)
¼ cup heavy cream

¼ cup butter, more if needed (I used soy)
½ cup sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a standard muffin pan with muffin cups.

In a large bowl, cream the butter and the sugar. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, until just mixed in. In another bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Combine the vanilla, milk and heavy cream.

With a spoon, mix a quarter of the dry ingredients into the butter mixture. Then mix in a third of the milk mixture. Continue mixing in the remaining dry and wet ingredients alternately, ending with the dry. Mix until well combined and smooth, but don't overmix.

Scoop enough batter into each tin so that the top of the batter is even with the rim of the cup, about 1/2 cup. Bake the muffins until firm to the touch, about 25 to 30 minutes.

To finish, melt the butter for the dipping mixture in a small bowl. Combine the sugar and cinnamon in another bowl. When the muffins are just cool enough to handle, remove them from the tin, dip them into or brush them all over with the melted butter, and then roll them in the cinnamon sugar.

Reverse Dominoes

I don't really eat very many chocolate-based baked goods - I tend to just put chocolate into my cookies and such as an accent. I had some white chocolate chips, though and decided that I would make the recipe on the back of the bag for the chocolate cookies.



These were also for my grandpa. He loved them. He is pretty easy to please and quite well-fed when it comes to cookies.



They turned out alright. It was hard to know when they were completely finished and I'm not the biggest fan of white chocolate. It tastes kind of fake and oversweet to me.



Chocolate White Chip Cookies
Makes 4 dozen cookies

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup Baking Cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter or margarine, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 cups white chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy.

Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels. Drop by well-rounded teaspoon onto ungreased baking sheets.

Bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until centers are set. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

Milk-Free Birthday

I have always wanted to make milk-free icing for my boyfriend, but I don't usually make him frosted cakes and thus have never had a chance to do so. However, today is gb's 20th birthday and to celebrate, I made him a yellow cake with Vegan Vanilla Buttercream Frosting. Unfortunately, the original recipe was...somewhat off. It called for 1/8 cup of soy milk right off the bat and I just measured it out without questioning it; anyway, it turned out to be way too much and the frosting was much too wet; plus, I was afraid to add more powdered sugar because it was already extremely sweet. Even though the frosting was runny, gb loved it anyway and told everyone about the "awesome birthday cake" that I had made him.



Vegan Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
Makes enough to frost two-layer cake

1 cup soy margarine, softened
1 to 3 tablespoons or more soy milk, rice milk, or other non-dairy milk of choice
6 cups Veganized Powdered Sugar
3 teaspoons vanilla

Using an electric mixer or in a large bowl with a hand held mixer, place the soy margarine and soy milk, and cream them together. Add half of the sugar, and beat well to combine. Add the remaining ingredients and continue to beat the mixture until light and fluffy.