White Chocolate and Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies

November 11, 2019Leave a comment

1c AP flour

1c oats

2/3c brown sugar, packed

1/2c each craisins and white chocolate

1 stick cool but softened butter uns.

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/8 baking soda

Preheat to 350

Combine dry ingredients

On low, cream butter and sugar

Add egg and vanilla

Add dry ingredients

Add craisins and white chocolate

Combine with wooden spoon or spatula

Crumple parchment*

Form balls

Pro tip: Crumpling parchment paper makes it easier to manipulate when using baking sheets and pans

Bake for 10-15 minutes

Start checking for doneness around 10m

Edges should turn golden brown

Cool on cookie sheets before transferring to a cooling rack

Red Velvet Swirled Blondies

November 27, 2018March 16, 2019Leave a comment

Ingredients

1- 1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

2 eggs, lightly beaten

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/2 cup AP flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/2-1 tsp red coloring

1/4 cup cocoa powder, more to taste

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2. In the bowl of your mixer, beat together the sugar and butter until fluffy

3. Slowly add egg and vanilla

4. Scrape bowl as needed

5. Combine the dry ingredients

6. Carefully add dry to wet

7. Grease or line a 13×9 baking pan (11×7 for a slightly thicker cut)

8. Portion out about 75% of the batter into the baking pan

9. To the remaining batter, add the cocoa powder and food coloring

• Adjust this to your preference

• Easier to add than remove

10. Spread the plain batter to fit the pan

11. Dollop the red velvet batter around the pan

12. Using a knife, drag through the batter to create your swirls

13. Ensure the batter is evenly spread

14. Bake for 18-20 minutes, start checking around 15 minutes.

15. Use the toothpick method to determine doneness

16. Cool on a cooling rack

Brown Sugar Oatmeal Cookies

November 25, 2018March 16, 2019Leave a comment

I think these may the best cookies I’ve ever baked. It’s a user-friendly recipe and it is easy to customize with fix-ins.

My favorite part of the cookie is the sweet crunch when you bite in. We’re going to roll the dough in brown sugar before baking.

Exactly.

These cookies can be frozen easily! I love this trick because you can grab one or two dough mounds from the freezer and stick them in the oven. You don’t have to make a huge batch! Portion control, or something. Right? Right.

Ingredients:

1 cup oats

1 cup AP flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 cup packed dark brown sugar

1/4 cup light brown sugar, in a bowl to the side (more as needed)

1 large egg

1 stick unsalted butter (cool yet soft enough to handle)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
In a mixing bowl, add oats, flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt
Whisk dry ingredients together
In the bowl of your mixer, add the butter and the brown sugar
Beat until the texture is creamy
Slowly add vanilla and egg
Continue beating, scrape down the sides as necessary.
With your mixer on low, carefully add the dry ingredients until combined
You can add your mix-ins at this point (raisins, nuts, cranberries, etc).
DO NOT OVERMIX THE DOUGH
Line your baking sheets with parchment
Scoop the dough in approximately 1 ½ tablespoon drops
Roll the dough in that reserved brown sugar. Trust me.
Bake for 10-13 minutes
Start checking for doneness starting at 10 minutes
- Cookies should be golden brown around the edges
Allow to cool for a moment on the baking sheet before transfer to cooling racks
This dough can be frozen and baked cookies can be cooked
- Freeze the dough in mounds on the baking sheet then transfer to a freezer bag for proper storage

Crispy Ginger Lime Sticky Wings

March 4, 2017March 4, 2017Leave a comment

Tonight is Saturday night and mama really did not feel like cooking. I was pleased to hear a simple request of “asiany wings with the ginger and stuff”. This is a simple recipe with simple methods that can be applied to any flavor wings you’re going for.

This sauce is packed full of flavor and super easy to make. It’s easily adjustable; if it’s too sweet, use less sugar. If it’s not spicy enough, add more sambal (or peppers). More or less ginger? Easy fix.

Ingredients:

For the chicken:

Chicken wings

Water

For the sauce:

¼ cup soy Sauce

2 tbsp of oyster sauce

2 tsp sambal oelek

3 cloves of garlic, grated

Thumb of ginger (about 1.5”) grated

3-4 tbsp of light brown sugar

juice and zest of one lime, a pinch of zest reserved

For the chicken:

Using kitchen shears, cut your wings into flats and drums
Preheat your oven to 450 degrees.
You’re going to boil water like you’re making pasta aka heavily salted and a rolling boil.
Boil the chicken for 8-10 minutes.
Drain thoroughly.
Pat dry with paper towel.
Place the chicken pieces directly onto a cookie sheet (no added oil, no foil).
Bake for about 30 minutes.
While your chicken is in the oven, start your sauce.
- Grate the garlic and the ginger
- In a sauce pan, over medium heat, add all of the ingredients and stir.
- Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer.
- Keep an eye, the sauce will bubble and start to reduce.
- Taste and adjust as you see fit.
- When it’s perfect, remove from the heat.
The wings will begin to turn golden brown.
Flip the wings and bake for an additional 5-10 minutes.
Toss the wings in the sauce.
Sprinkle reserved lime zest over sauced chicken.

One word. BOOM!

Homemade Mini-Monkey Bread

December 25, 2016Leave a comment

Tis the season for coming together and eating everything that you really shouldn’t. And that includes yummy, homemade baked goods. This weekend we hosted a holiday gathering and I decided to whip up some yummy mini-monkey bread! This is not a last-minute recipe; you have to plan accordingly to allow for enough time for the dough to proof. Be mindful that you want to allow the dough to proof a minimum of eight hours.

Little hands really enjoy rolling out the balls so call them in to be sous chefs!

Ingredients

Dough

1 package of yeast

1/4 cup warm water

1 and 1/4 cups warm milk

1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted

1/4 cup white sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon salt

5 cups all-purpose flour

Sauce

3/4 cup unsalted butter

1 cup white sugar

1 tbsp ground cinnamon

2/3 cup packed light brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Glaze

1 Cup powdered sugar

3 tbsp milk

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

In the bottom of your bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Stir and allow it to rest for a few minutes. It will be fragrant and a bit frothy.
Slowly add the milk, cooled melted butter, sugar, salt, and eggs one at a time. Slowly incorporate 3 cups of flour.
Using the dough hook, beat on medium for a few minutes. Slowly add remaining dough until the dough forms a firm bowl.
Put the dough onto a floured surface. You want to knead until it just smooth and elastic. Be careful not to over knead the dough. The dough is ready for proofing when you poke it and it springs back to you.
Turn the dough out into a greased bowl, toss to coat and cover with plastic wrap.
Refrigerate the dough for at least 8 hours or overnight.
Remove your dough from the fridge, punch it down carefully. Allow the dough to rest.
Set up your coating station. Melt ½ c of the butter in a small bowl and in another bowl you want to combine sugar and cinnamon.
Spray your muffin pan with cooking spray (alternatively, you can do this in a bundt pan, but this recipe is generally for mini monkey breads).
Pull apart pieces and roll into balls about the size of a peppermint ball. You’ll want to fit 3-4 balls in the muffin wells.
Dip each ball into the butter, gently shake off excess butter. Then roll in the cinnamon sugar, shake off excess. Then pop your balls into the muffin well.
After filling the wells, allow the muffins to rest while you make the sauce.
Preheat oven to 350F.
On the stove, melt 1/4 cup of butter and whisk in the brown sugar and vanilla until it is well combined.
Pour the mixture over the dough balls.
Bake for about 30 minutes or until the top is golden. (Cover loosely with foil if the top browns too quickly)
Allow to cool before carefully removing and placing onto a large serving plate.
Optional: Whisk all of the glaze ingredients together and pour it over the bread.

Store in an air-tight container in the fridge. Will keep for a few days.

Fresh-Picked Apple Danish

October 30, 2016October 30, 2016Leave a comment

Autumn is my favorite season. This weekend my family and I went apple picking at Larriland Farms in Maryland. It was a wonderful afternoon and we got a lot of goodies. Including a ton of fresh-picked apples. Pink Ladies, Granny Smith and Stayman were the varieties that my little boy picked.

I spent two days trying to figure out what to make and I settled on an apple danish. This recipe was super fun to make and actually really relaxing. I can’t wait to play around with this again with a different filling.

These were so tasty fresh out of the oven. Will keep for a couple of days in an airtight container in the fridge.

Ingredients:

5-7 apples (I used Pink Ladies and Granny Smith)

Half stick of unsalted butter

¼ cup of white sugar

1/3 cup of light brown sugar

¼ teaspoon of cinnamon

Pinch of salt.

Egg Wash

1 large egg, room temp

2 tbsp of milk, room temp

Follow the recipe for homemade Danish pastry dough.

Preheat oven to 400 deg

While the dough rests in the fridge, slice your apples.

Melt butter, allow it to brown not burn over medium heat.

Add apples

Add Add ¼ cup of white sugar and 1/3 cup of light brown sugar.

Simmer until crisp-tender. The apples will be soft but have some bite to them. A sauce will form.

Remove apples from pan and allow to cool in a small bowl.
Pour the sauce that formed into a a bowl and allow it to cool.

Remove dough from fridge

Flour your work surface and roll the dough out into a rectangle that is about 12×6-12×7”.

Slice the corners off of one side and two small triangles off of the other side.

Place dough onto your parchment lined or cooking sprayed baking sheet. (It will be very hard to move the braid if you form the braid on the counter.)

Using a sharp knife or pastry blade, create angled slices. This will form your braid.

Spread the sauce down the center of the rectangle and layer your apple slices.

Alternate dough-strands to form a braid

Fold up the end and create a seal

Brush braid with egg wash

Bake the Danish for 15-20 minutes until golden brown. You will want to rotate the pan every 4-6 minutes to ensure the Danish browns evenly.

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The Danish will be crispy and flaky on the outside and moist on the inside. For a bit of added decadence, brush any remaining sauce onto the Danish fresh out of the oven. Super NOM!