Sunday, September 29, 2013

Brown Butter Snickerdoodles

Still hate to bake cookies. Made the dough on Sunday, thinking I would bring them to a potluck at lunch, but didn't read the line in the instruction that said to let them chill in the fridge for an hour. So I stashed the dough in the fridge and didn't manage to actually bake them until Thursday. And then, all of the sudden, the friggin cookies all disappeared.

Loved these! They baked up nice and thick, and are super chewy.


I only wish I had scooped them before putting them in the fridge. When I got the dough out to bake them, the dough was super hard and it was a huge pain to scoop the cookies and roll them into a ball. Always, always, scoop first, then chill.

For the recipe, and to see how the other bakers enjoyed these cookies, visit the Baked Sunday Mornings webpage.

Friday, September 6, 2013

jam filled muffins

These muffins taste like my childhood. My mom used to make them often when I was a child, and I have been craving them for a while now, ever since I made strawberry jam I think. I just knew I had to use the jam in these muffins.


But I couldn't find my falling-apart Muffins Mania recipe book to save my life. So I asked my mom for a copy of the recipe and finally got to kill my craving.

Tasted just like a remembered them! A moist vanilla scented muffin with a jam center. And I still had some leftover crumble topping from back when I made Strawberry Swirled Muffins, so I went ahead and topped the muffins with some of the crumble topping. Added a nice crunch and extra texture to the muffins.



Jam Filled Muffins
Recipe source: Muffins Mania

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup white sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 cup plain yogurt
1/4 cup milk
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla
jam or jelly

Preheat oven to 375.

Blend dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, combine melted butter, yogurt and milk. Beat in egg and vanilla.

Add butter mixture to dry ingredients and stir until moistened.

Spoon half of the batter into 9 well greased muffin cups. Place about 1 tsp jam or jelly in each muffin and top with remaining batter.

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes.


This recipe only makes 9 muffins, but they don't keep very well. So find a few friends, and devour as soon as they are cool enough to handle.

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

coconut toffee chocolate chip cookie bars

These bars are super easy, don't dirty too many dishes, and incredibly delicious. It's like a magic bar meets a chocolate chip cookie. The cookie portion acts as base and topping, and there's a caramel layer topped with toffee and milk chocolate between the two layers. We practically inhaled them.


Coconut Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
recipe source: Mom on TimeOut

CRUST:
1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup old-fashioned oats
2 cups flaked coconut
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup butter, softened
1 egg, lightly beaten
12 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips

FILLING:
1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk
1/4 cup Karo® Light Corn Syrup
8 ounces toffee bits

Preheat oven to 350°F.

CRUST:
Combine flour, oats, coconut, and brown sugar in a large bowl of electric mixer and mix at low speed.
Add butter and continue mixing until a crumbly dough forms. Add egg and continue mixing well. Stir in chocolate chips.

Reserve 1-1/2 cups of dough for topping. Press remaining dough into bottom of a lightly greased 13 x 9-inch baking dish.

Bake 10 minutes.

FILLING:
Combine sweetened condensed milk and corn syrup in a small bowl and mix until combined.

Pour evenly over hot crust.

Sprinkle with toffee bits.

Top evenly with reserved crust mixture.

Bake 25 to 30 minutes until golden brown. Cool and cut into bars.


Not surprisingly, these bars are really, really sweet. I loved them sprinkled with a pinch of salt flakes. So good!

Next time I will be making these in a glass pan instead of the foil in a metal pan route I took this time. The glass pan will allow me to cut these and scrape the sides of the pan without fear of scratching the metal pan, or having to peel away small pieces of foil from the sugary goodness!