Celebrating National Homemade Cookie Day!

Yesterday, I found out that tomorrow is National Homemade Cookie Day.  What a great excuse to enjoy some freshly baked cookies right out of the oven!  My hubby and I just started a new workout regime that includes implementing a healthier diet.  When I told him that I had to bake these cookies specifically for this holiday, he didn't think I was serious.  But we looked it up, and sure enough...it's tomorrow! 

I agreed, however, to bake some cookies and keep about half a dozen for the both of us to share and then give the rest to my friends.  I actually dropped off a batch to my friend, Jennifer, a few hours ago.

In any case, I chose this Oatmeal Cranberry White Chocolate Chunk cookies that I saw Rachel Ray's October issue of her Everyday magazine.  It was actually on an Ocean Spray Craisins ad and I thought they looked and sounded delicious.  So after a day of running errands with the hubby and our little one, I whipped up 2 1/2 dozen of these cookies.

They weren't the best cookies that I've ever had.  Admittedly, they were a little dry and I suppose I messed that up somehow.  Nevertheless, they were tasty and I'm happy to share them with my friends!

Oatmeal Cranberry White Chocolate Chunk Cookies

by Ocean Spray at www.oceanspray.com

2/3 cup butter or margarine, softened

2/3 cup brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 1/2 cups old-fashioned oats

1 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 6-oz. package of Ocean Spray Craisins Original Dried Cranberries

2/3 cup white chocolate chunks or chips

1.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Using an electric mixer, beat butter or margarine and sugar together in a medium mixing bowl until light and fluffy.  Add eggs, mixing well. 

2.  Combine oats, flour, baking soda, and salt in a separate mixing bowl.  Add to butter mixture in several different additions, mixing well after each addition.  Stir in dried cranberries and white chocolate chunks.

3.  Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets  Bake for 10--12 minutes or until golden brown.  Cool on wire rack.

Note:  recipe yields 2 1/2 dozen cookies.

So, just so I can keep up with other food holidays, I found this website that breaks down each month.  Looks like October is a fabulous month for foods.  I mean National Pasta, Chocolate, and Chocolate Cupcake Days in one month?  No way!

Bowties with Ham & Sweet Potato Spice Cookies

My friend, Laura, had her baby shower yesterday afternoon.  She hits her 36th week today and is having her second little boy!

The baby shower was a potluck, so I decided to bring both a main dish and a dessert.

Pasta casseroles are one of my favorite things to whip up for parties.  One, I'm a huge pasta fan.  You can't go wrong with it.  Just about everyone eats it!  This particular dish was so simple to throw together.  The asparagus gives it a delicious crunch, the sundried tomatoes kinda give it a nice hint of sweetness and the melted havarti cheese just really brings it all together very nicely.  It's simply called Bow-Ties with Ham, and I got both the recipe and this picture (below) from Pillsbury.

Bow-Ties with Ham

by Pillsbury

3 cups uncooked bow-tie (farfalle) pasta

1 jar (16 oz) Alfredo pasta sauce

10 medium asparagus spears, cut into 1-inch pieces (about 1 cup)

1/2 cup sundried tomatoes in oil and herbs (drained and chopped)

1 cup diced cooked ham

1 cup shredded Havarti cheese (4 oz)

1.  Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray 2-quart casserole with cooking spray.  Cook and drain pasta as directed on package.

2.  Meanwhile, in 3-quart saucepan, heat Alfredo sauce over medium heat, stirring frequently, until hot.  Gently stir in cooked pasta, asparagus, tomatoes and ham.  Stir in 1/2 cup of the cheese.  Pour into casserole.

3.  Cover; bake 35 to 45 minutes or until bubbly.  Top with remaining cheese.

I just love the fall.  I do a lot more baking at this time of the year because of the holidays and I love the aroma of vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg and pumpkin spice to completely saturate the house.  I found this recipe for Sweet Potato Spice Cookies in a Taste of Home Cookies & Bars book that I bought years ago.  Oh my goodness, the flavors in this cookie just meld so well together.  You've got sweet potatoes, cinnamon, nutmeg...and butterscotch chips, coconut and pecans to give it a nice crunch.  They were wonderful!  The kids especially loved them.  Even my husband gave it a rave review!  I am definitely going to make these again.

Sweet Potato Spice Cookies

Yield: 7 Dozen

3/4 cup butter, softened

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 egg

1 cup finely shredded uncooked sweet potato

3 Tbsp orange juice concentrate

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

1-1/4 cups quick cooking oats

1 cup butterscotch chips

1 cup flaked coconut

1 cup chopped pecans

1.  In large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy.  Beat in the egg, sweet potato, and orange juice concentrate.  Combine the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, salt and nutmeg; gradually add to the creamed mixture and mix well.  Stir in the remaining ingredients.

2.  Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls 2 inches apart onto greased baking sheets.  Bake at 350 degrees for 14-16 minutes or until firm.  Remove to wire racks to cool.

Enjoy!

TWD: Buttery Jam Cookies

Good thing Heather of Randomosity and Girl picked another cookie for this week's recipe challenge. I needed more cookies to fill my Christmas jars. I have a meeting with my realtor tomorrow morning and it'll be the perfect gift to send her home with! These cookies were so simple to make and they were delicious! Since there was no picture in the book for them, I thought they were those cookies with jam thumbprinted in the centers. I had no idea we'd actually be mixing the jam in! The only jam I had in stock was strawberry,which explains the slightly pink tint to my cookies.

They were soft, moist and the hint of ginger made them simply wonderful. I woke up late today, so I'm having them for breakfast with some tea. Yummy! Thanks Heather for making this Tuesday easy and delicious. Skip on over to her blog for the full recipe!

TWD: Grandma's All-Occasion Sugar Cookies

This week's recipe was chosen by Ulrike of Kuchenlatein. The full recipe can be found on her blog. On Black Friday, I purchased these cute Christmas cookie jars and thought that these cookies would be perfect to go in them and give to my neighbors. I was right! Isn't Santa just cute? I am sure my neighbors are going to love these cookies. I tasted about three cookies and made myself stop, otherwise those jars would have been half full! They are really delicious!

The recipe is so simple, although I ended up with a pretty dry dough even though Dorie said that it should be soft and creamy. Oh well, they still came out great. I put some orange zest in mine and then sprinkled them with my Pampered Chef Cinnamon Sugar Sprinkles. Yummy! I think I'll be getting more jars and filling them up with these again. Next week, we've got more cookies on the menu. I'm happy about that. They make such perfect gifts for the holidays!

Operation Baking Gals: Round 4

First of all, since I just returned from a trip to Texas, I wasn't able to make this week's TWD recipe, Kugelhopf. I'd try to pronounce it the way my friend, Anna (who is German), says it, but I'd still mess it up. It sounds like "google-oopf" and she laughs when I try to say it. The recipe was chosen by Yolanda of The All-Purpose Girl. She has a beautiful blog, so check it out as well as the other TWD-ers who have turned out some beautiful Kugelhopf cakes! At any rate, this is my second round of Operation Baking Gals and I was honored to be a part of Team Angry Asian, hosted by Lan, whose blog, The Angry Asian, is just fantastic! Her blog features details of our soldier, PFC Amie McMillan. To sum up, Amie is a Public Affairs Specialist within a Military Police unit overseas. I am a huge fan, on the basis of her being in the ARMY, since both my husband and I are as well. I was so happy to bake her some Chocolate Chunk Pecan Cookies--a recipe featured on the Joy of Cooking website. Click here for the deliciously simple recipe. My cookies didn't come out as big and chewy as those on the website, but they were scrumptious!

Of course, the package would not have been complete without all other essentials, as seen below. I love putting these together! Shopping for the items is so much fun!

I don't know when the next round is, but I'm anxious to get people baking for Malu and his teammates! I've already told him to be prepared to received tons of packages!

Ghirardelli Ultimate Double Chocolate Cookies...My Final Sunday Post!

I've been a baking fool lately...mostly sweet stuff. You know, gotta keep the sweet teeth happy--not to mention I have tons of lady friends who share the same passion for all things CHOCOLATE! It's no wonder we all complain about the weight we can't seem to lose! Whatever, gotta live life to the fullest right? The recipe came from a Ghirardelli ad in this month's Better Homes and Gardens issue and in all honesty, comes real close to Dorie's Chocolate Chunkers recipe. It was perfect because for the past week or so, all Ghiradelli baking chocolates have been on sale at Wal-Mart for $2.00 a bag. I stocked up--I mean STOCKED UP--on bags and bags of these, from bittersweet, to white, to milk and semi-sweet chocolate chips. You name it, I got it! Maybe you can rush on over to your local Wal-Mart to see if you can snag some.

Anyway, the recipe yielded about two dozen moist, chocolately, nutty cookies. I'll be using this recipe to send a couple dozen to my soldier for this month's round of Operation Baking Gals! And get your tall glass of milk ready...they're pretty darn rich!

Ghirardelli Ultimate Double Chocolate Cookies

(from November 2008 issue of Better Homes and Gardens)

1 bag (11.5 oz) Ghirardelli 60% Cacao Bittersweet Chocolate Chips

6 Tbsp. (3/4 stick) unsalted butter

3 eggs

1 cup sugar

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 bag (12 oz) Ghirardelli Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips

1 cup (4 oz) chopped walnuts

1. In double boiler over hot water, melt the bittersweet chocolate chips and butter. In large bowl with electric mixer, beat eggs and sugar until thick; stir in chocolate mixture. In small bowl, stir together flour and baking powder; stir into chocolate mixture. Gently mix in semi-sweet chocolate chips and walnuts.
2. Using a sheet of plastic wrap, form dough into two logs, each 2 inches in diameter and about 8 inches long. As dough will be very soft, use plastic wrap to hold dough in log shape. Wrap tightly. Refrigerate at least 1 hour or until firm.
3. Preheat oven to 375 degreees. Unwrap dough; with sharp knife, cut into 3/4-inch slices. Place slices 1 1/2 inces apart on greased or parchment-lined cookie sheet. Bake 12 to 14 minutes or until shiny crust forms on top but interior is still soft.
4. Cool on baking sheet.

Yields 2 dozen cookies.

P.S. I found that 375 was too hot. I ended up with some slightly burnt cookies on the bottoms. The next batch, I lowered the temperature to 350 and they came out much better.

TWD on Friday: Lenox Almond Biscotti

I finally made the biscotti! After a week of emotional turmoil, caused both by midterms and my husband's departure, I finally made some time (and mustered the energy) to make these yummy treats! When I was in Iraq, my mom sent me economy-sized containers of biscotti. Most were chocolate-dipped, which my roommate and I practically had to battle for. Since then, my love for biscotti has only deepened. Can you imagine how excited I was to find that it would become this week's recipe challenge? And I have Gretchen of Canela & Comino to thank for it. She chose the recipe and if you want it, you're going to have to run over to her blog. And by the way, her blog is totally smokin'! She's got great pictures on there and so much more!

I was actually pretty nervous when I started out. I've had a few baking mishaps the last few weeks and I really didn't want to jack this one up! So after reading the directions a thousand times, I got to it! Since I had neither almonds nor almond extract in the house, I substituted the almonds with a mixture of Ghiradelli white chocolate chips and macadamia nuts and the almond extract with vanilla extract. I also found it a little strange that the recipe called for so much corn meal. Anyway, I was so nervous for the part with the logs, but I made sure I had them rolled/laid out to a tee at 12 inches long and 1.5 inches wide, as you can see above. I'd read on others' blogs that the batter spread, but I found that mine didn't as much, about 4 to 5 inches, as you can see here.

I was so anxious to get them going, I didn't wait the full 30 minutes for them to cool, which ended up being okay. I was able to actually lift the entire logs with my hands and onto my cutting board where I was able to arrange my "marching band" of cookies and send them back into the oven.

And the result? The most delicious homemade biscotti. I actually gave myself a pat on the back for not messing it up. Once they were cooled, they were so crunchy and the white chocolate and macadamia nut combo--classic! I love these. They were so simple to make. I'm definitely going to make them again, perhaps chocolate-dipped next time...or even to hand them out as Christmas gifts in December! Too cool! And just a note, I don't think I'll be using as much cornmeal next time. They may have been a little too grainy for my liking, but hey...my whole family didn't even notice, so whatever!

Once again, scoot on over to Gretchen's blog and check out the recipe! And thanks for the great pick for the week!

Operation Baking Gals: Supporting the U.S. Marines!

This was my first assignment with Operation Baking Gals. I was a part of a team hosted by Susan Whetzel of She's Becoming DoughMessTic and it was so much fun! With the help of my sister and friend Anna, I was able to send at least two dozen White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies (along with chocolate chip cookies) to 1LT Jarrod Robinson of the United States Marine Corps. We didn't get too much information about this officer, other than the fact that he worked in Air Traffic Control and that there were 50 other Marines in his Detachment expecting some delicious baked goods from our team.

Being in the military myself, having a brother-in-law in the Marines working in just about the same specialty, and having served in an Air Traffic Control battalion before and in an aviation brigade for years myself, I felt a strong bond to these guys and I couldn't wait to show them my appreciation and support for their service by sending them these cookies along with some other goodies.

Well, I only had enough stuff and time to put two boxes together. Each box held about two dozen cookies, which I placed in plastic containers and affixed Colorado postcards to. I included some other stuff like sunflower seeds, tuna packets, granola bars, and hard candies--the essentials! I didn't think to send toiletries or anything this time around. Maybe next time, but if this unit is anything like mine when I was deployed, there was one room in the unit dedicated to excess package inventory. Much like a mini-PX, this little room housed all the extra baby wipes, toothpaste, hand sanitizer, and other toiletries that so many people sent in bulk. So it's not like that stuff isn't readily available.

I met my husband while deployed in Iraq over three years ago and we can attest that there is nothing that beats home-baked goods--NOTHING! I mean, you can only eat Girl Scout cookies for so long. I mean, I devoured so many boxes of them over there that I can't even stand to look at a box anymore! So these little "tastes of home" really mean so much and I am glad that I could be a part of this wonderful service!

Here is the recipe for the cookies that we made:

White Chocolate and Dried Cranberry Cookies
(from quickandsimple.com magazine)

1 1/4 cups (2 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature
1/2 cup white sugar
1 cup light brown sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
1 large egg yolk, at room temperature
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
1 cup quick cooking or old-fashioned oats, pulsed well in a food processor
2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. kosher salt
12 oz. white chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 cup dried cranberries

1) Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

2) In the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or using a hand mixer, beat butter and both sugars until smooth and creamy. Scrape down the sides of bowl, then add egg, egg yolk, and vanilla, one at a time, mixing well between additions. Scrape down sides of bowl; add oats, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, and mix until well incorporated. Scrape down sides of bowl; add chocolate and cranberries, and mix again.

3) Drop dough by heaping teaspoonfuls, about 2 inches apart, onto prepared cookie sheet. Bake until cookies begin to brown at the edges, 12 to 15 minutes. Cool on cookie sheet. Transfer cookies to a wire rack and repeat with remaining dough.

Yields 3 to 4 dozen.

These cookies were a cinch to prepare and so delicious! I'm definitely going to make them again. I'm crossing my fingers that they'll arrive overseas intact and still edible, and most importantly that the troops will like them! I can't wait until the next round! Oh, and once my husband gives me an address for his unit (because he's still mobilizing in NJ right now), he'll be added to the list and I'll get to bake cookies for him too!

Tuesdays With Dorie: Chocolate Chunkers

And were they ever so chunky! This week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe challenge was so nicely chosen by Claudia of Fool for Food. If you take a peek at her blog, you'll be able to find the recipe for these delicious cookies. This is my third week with TWD and all three weeks have been cookie recipes. These cookies are, by far, my favorite cookie to date! And why? Because I am a total chocoholic and this cookie had so much chocolate in it! Yummy!

Charisse (above on right), as you probably met in earlier posts, wanted to take some cookies to her co-workers this week, which was perfect! I didn't want to get stuck eating tons of cookies during the week. After all, I've been doing that for the past two weeks! After eating a few of them, however, I kinda wish I hadn't sent about two dozen of the cookies with her. Because today, I was craving them and I didn't have any. Even my mom complained that we hadn't baked her enough. Now there's a learned lesson....keep more for us and less for others! Nah, just kidding. We'll just have to bake more now, won't we?

Anyway, the recipe called for four kinds of chocolate, which you see below. For the bittersweet and unsweetened chocolate we used the Ghiradelli brand and used baking squares for the white chocolate and Nestle's Tollhouse semi-sweet chocolate chips.

The cookies are called Chocolate Chunkers for a reason! In addition to all those chocolate chunks, we had to add raisins and toasted pecans! So the batter ended up being sooooooooo, well, chunky, and looked like this. It definitely made for an easy transfer to the baking sheets though. At least we thought so!

And after a few minutes, we had the most delicious chocolate cookies I've ever had in my life! Now I'm not a huge fan of raisins, but it made such a nice accompaniment to the chocolate and pecans. Even more so, I didn't think that all that chocolate made the cookie so overwhelmingly chocolatey. Does that even make sense? They were just so perfect, gooey, and soft--and went so nicely with my glass of milk.

Since I'm busy with classes during the week, we usually do the TWD baking on Sundays after church. So today, Charisse sent me a text message saying the cookies were a huge hit at her office. My mom even asked if I could make them this weekend. I have to admit--I might be making them tomorrow! They're just that great. So, Claudia, thanks for choosing this cookie recipe, although I probably won't be thanking you weeks from now after I've gained ten pounds making and eating them over and over again!

I'm very much looking forward to next week. I think I'm ready to move on from cookies and on to something else. Next week's Dimply Plum Cake looks like just the recipe I need to take on! So bring it!

Tuesdays With Dorie: Chocolate Whopper Malted Drops

Thanks to Rachel of Confessions of a Tangerine Tart, my sister, Jolene (my brother's fiance), and I were able to whip up a few batches of delicious Chocolate Whopper Malted Drops. This is my second TWD recipe and happened to be another cookie recipe which we all enjoyed very much. Here's a picture of Jolene getting her elbows greasy, stirring the batter!

I am sure that chocolate runs through my veins and I was sure these cookies were going to soothe my sweet teeth. The recipe calls for cocoa, chocolate chunks (we used the Ghiradelli Bittersweet Chocolate Chunks), and 2 cups of chopped Whopper balls (a favorite!), so it was a total chocolate overload! You would have expected the cookies to be so rich, considering the chocolate content and the batter being so thick. There was so much of it that I have a container in the freezer to use later on.

Surprisingly enough, the cookies ended up being absolutely delicious, soft, chewy, and light (at least I thought so), especially with a tall glass of milk! If you want to take a sneek peek at the recipe for these awesome cookies, check out Rachel's blog and thanks to her again for picking such a delicious recipe!

Tuesdays With Dorie: Chunky Peanut Butter & Oatmeal Chocolate Chipsters

Okay, so the reason why I'm posting this just a few minutes late since, by my clock it's 12:03 a.m., is because I didn't find out until about 6:30 p.m. this evening that I was officially made a member of Tuesdays With Dorie (TWD). And where was I when this happened? You got it--in the middle of a most exciting corporate finance class! The class didn't end until 8:30 and didn't get home until about 9:15 since I live about 37 miles from the University. At any rate, I waited for my sister, Rosalynn, to come over (she's been spending the nights with me since my husband left) with some of the ingredients for today's recipe. It was well worth the wait! Because now, we've got about a dozen or so yummy cookies to eat!

Today's Chunky Peanut Butter and Oatmeal Chocolate Chipsters recipe was chosen by Stefany and is listed on her blog entitled Proceed With Caution. The cookies were extremely easy to make and are so yummy, I'll definitely be making them again. What's also great is that you're left with so much cookie dough to freeze for use later on. I was able to pack and chill containers of the cookie dough--one for me and one for my sister to take home to share with the fam-bam! So thanks, Stefany, for choosing a great recipe!