Carrot Cake Cookies

From Everyday with Rachael Ray



Ingredients:
2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1-1/2 cups flour
2 cups coarsly shredded carrots
2 cups fruit-and-nut granola
1 cup corn flakes
2 tablespoons granulated sugar

Directions:
1. Position 2 racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat to 375°. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper. Using an electric mixer, beat the butter and brown sugar until creamy, about 3 minutes. Mix in the eggs, vanilla and baking soda on medium speed until fluffy, scraping down the bowl as necessary. Mix in the flour on low speed. Stir in the carrots, granola and corn flakes.

2. Drop heaping tablespoons of dough about 2 inches apart on the prepared cookie sheets. Sprinkle with the granulated sugar and bake until golden, 15 to 20 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool.

Comments:
First off, these do not taste like any carrot cake I've ever had. That said, they're not bad. Just not at all what I was expecting. Secondly, I suspect 375 is too high a temp to bake these. All of my first batch burned on the bottom long before they were cooked through. I turned the oven down to 350 for the rest and they turned out a little better. I think my carrots were too big - I got matchstick rather than shredded - and this made it a little harder to get normal looking cookies. In any case, probably won't try this recipe again.

Layers of Love Chocolate Brownies

From the Copps ad in last week's newspaper. It's a Nestle recipe.



Ingredients:
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup Baking Cocoa
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, cut in pieces
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
3 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup chopped pecans
3/4 cup White Morsels
1/2 cup caramel ice cream topping
3/4 cup Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C). Grease 8-inch-square baking pan.

Combine cocoa, flour and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add 2 eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add vanilla extract; mix well. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Reserve 3/4 cup batter. Spread remaining batter into prepared baking pan. Sprinkle pecans and white morsels over batter. Drizzle caramel topping over top. Beat remaining egg and reserved batter in same large bowl until light in color. Stir in semi-sweet morsels. Spread evenly over caramel topping.

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until center is set. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Cut into squares.

Comments:
I could not get a decent picture of the individual brownie to save my life. I tried in the kitchen, by the window, in the living room. Adam tried. We failed. So yeah, you get the highly unattractive pan with one missing. Sorry...

Anywho, these are not for me. They have caramel and white chocolate, two things I do not like. But I did lick the knife I used to cut them and wow! they're chocolately. Very rich.

White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies

From Allrecipes.com



Ingredients:
1 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup coarsely chopped macadamia nuts
1 cup coarsely chopped white chocolate

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then stir in the vanilla and almond extracts. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt; gradually stir into the creamed mixture. Mix in the macadamia nuts and white chocolate. Drop dough by teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.

Bake for 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden brown.

Comments:
I had made these kind of cookies previously, but lost the recipe. Sorry person who emailed me about that a while back. I looked everywhere and couldn't find where it ended up.

Anyway, while we were at Fleet Farm this morning for a jerky gun (more on that later), I stopped by their candy and nut section to see if anything leapt out at me. Adam spotted macadamia nuts and when I asked if he wanted me to make cookies since he had just finished off the cake in the fridge he immediately grabbed the chance. So, white chocolate macadamia nut it was. He found this recipe and I made it. At the same time that I was making dinner. Talent...

I haven't tried one yet - and probably won't. Neither white chocolate nor macadamia nuts are really my thing. But Adam likes them and he's my target audience, so I'm satisfied.

Walnut Banana Bread

From Taste of Home



Ingredients:
1/2 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup mashed ripe bananas (2 to 3 medium)
1 tablespoon milk
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Directions:
In a bowl, cream shortening and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in bananas and milk. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well. Stir in nuts.

Pour into a greased 9-in. x 5-in. loaf pan. Bake at 325° for 65-70 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack.

Comments:
So, last week bananas were on sale but they were all very green. Adam got some anyway, but according to him "they ripened weird." He was going to toss them but I suggested perhaps they could be used to make banana bread. He said "go ahead."

Let me just say right now that I do not like bananas. At all. They smell gross, are mooshy. But yes, I made banana bread. That's how much I love him.

Anywho, pretty easy recipe. I doubled it since I had a lot of bananas to use up. It all worked up well, made the whole house smell like banana (yay!) and apparently tastes ok. He plans to take one loaf to work tomorrow.

Cheddar Scallion Drop Biscuits

From Everyday with Rachael Ray



Ingredients:
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons sugar
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
6 ounces cheddar, coarsely grated (1 1/2 cups)
3 scallions, finely chopped
1 cup well-shaken buttermilk

Directions:
Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, sugar, baking soda, and salt in a bowl, then blend in butter with your fingertips until mixture resembles coarse meal. Stir in Cheddar and scallions. Add buttermilk and stir until just combined.

Drop dough in 12 equal mounds about 2 inches apart onto a buttered large baking sheet. Bake in middle of oven until golden, 18 to 20 minutes.

Comments:
I don't really do biscuits. But these didn't require and cutting in of the butter so I think I did ok. I didn't have the scallions so I left them out, but I really think they would have added another level of flavor. I'll use them next time.

White Chocolate Raspberry Bars

From Recipezaar



Ingredients:
butter
white chocolate chips
eggs
sugar
flour
salt
almond extract
strawberry jam
sliced almonds

Comments:
I saw this recipe on a blog that I read and immediately thought Adam would like these bars. I showed the recipe to him and he agreed. So I went out and got the almond extract and almonds and went to work. I was afraid they were going to bomb when the first layer seemed so thin, but they bake up well. They were a lot sweeter than I expected, but Adam loved them and declared them to be addictive. They're all gone.

Soft Pretzels

From Alton Brown via foodnetwork.com



Ingredients:
sugar
salt
yeast
flour
butter
vegetable oil
water
baking soda
egg wash
pretzel salt

Comments:
Watching the Food Network is dangerous around here. We see something interesting and it's so easy to go print off a recipe and make it. :) Adam made these this morning. It seemed pretty easy and they turned out great. I can't really comment too much since all I did was wash the mixing bowl (I used it to make snickerdoodles last night) and separate an egg.

White Chocolate Chip Macadamia Nut Cookies

From the back of the Mauna Loa macadamia nut package



Ingredients:
butter
sugar
brown sugar
egg
vanilla
flour
baking soda
salt
white chocolate chips
macadamia nuts

Comments:
I was originally going to adapt my dependable chocolate chip cookie recipe for white chocolate chips but when Adam saw me buy said white chocolate chips he suddenly had a desire for macadamia nut cookies. So I went and got some macadamia nuts later in the day when I was out shopping and just used the recipe on the back of the bag. Now, the cookie dough managed to break both of my small cookie scoops, but Adam says the ratio of cookie to nuts and chocolate is great so I guess these cookies are meant to be scooped by spoon, not scoop. Meh.

Adam Makes Beignets

From Emeril Lagasse via foodnetwork.com



Ingredients:
corn oil
flour
baking powder
salt
sugar
eggs
canola oil
milk
powdered sugar

Comments:
Obviously I did not make these. We were watching a "Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives" episode and they made beignets. So Adam's like, "Those look good, we should make them." And I was like, "Have fun!" So I found him a recipe and he made them. They are pretty good. Bigger than I expected, but that's ok.

Adam Makes Donuts

From Alton Brown via Foodnetwork.com



Ingredients:
milk
shortening
instant yeast
water
eggs
sugar
salt
nutmeg
flour
vegetable oil

Comments:
Adam's been wanting to make donuts for awhile now but whenever he's in that mood he is somewhere inconvenient and can't find a recipe. Finally he searched for one online, we picked up the yeast he needed, and he went to work. He got a little creative with the second round of dough, creating some donut holes and some twisty looking ones.



Overall, they turned out great. They also reheat well in a few seconds in the microwave.

Soft and Chewy M&M Cookies

From Recipezaar



Ingredients:
brown sugar
shortening
sugar
eggs
vanilla
flour
salt
baking soda
M&Ms

Comments:
Well I think I may have found my stock M&M cookie recipe. After my last attempt I was hoping for the best. They really are chewy and I used mini M&Ms and dumped in probably twice the amount called for in the recipe. Woo! We'll see how they hold up in the container while they last.

Toasted Butter Pecan Cake

From Taste of Home February/March 2008



Ingredients:
butter
chopped pecans
sugar
eggs
vanilla
flour
baking powder
salt
milk
cream cheese
confectioners' sugar

Comments:
I don't usually bake anything more complicated than drop cookies. But Adam spotted this in the magazine and so I tried to make it. It's fairly basic and simple until you get to the whole frosting thing. I don't have a turn table and I couldn't remember where I'd put my lazy susan since it didn't fit in the cabinets so I ended up just using the cake container. I also didn't have a spatula so I used a butter knife. Gah. I admit it wasn't the best result, you can totally tell the cake layers slid out of alignment, and I could have used some more frosting between the layers. Oh well. It still tasted just fine. Perhaps I'll invest in some more appropriate cake-making supplies before my next attempt.