This evening I made a batch of oatmeal coconut chocolate chip cookies. My sweet tooth is in rare form and I literally have no candy or anything sweet at all in the apartment. Needless to say I threw together this recipe from cooks.com that I found here. It just called for oats and I wasn’t sure if it meant quick or rolled oats but I only had rolled so that’s what I went with. I figured it would be fine since rolled oats usually makes things more chewy and I love them aspect of them. These made my apartment smell amazing on this chilly night too. The roomies aren’t home so I am hanging alone and I am kind of loving it. School work, TV, and warm cookies in bed = not a bad Sunday night. I hope my busy week goes by with just as much balance. Yayyy for my new favorite cookie!! Please try them, you won’t regret it ;)
Oatmeal Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies January 22, 2012
Christmas Cookie Dough Truffles December 28, 2011
This morning I made a batch of cookie dough truffles from Jessica at How Sweet It Is. I saw these a while back and bookmarked them but never got around to making them. I actually wasn’t tired late last night so I made the cookie dough filling/rolled them in balls and then refrigerated them. Today I coated them in semi-sweet and white chocolate and then dyed some white chocolate red and green to be festive for the holiday. I put the colored chocolate in baggies and cut off the tip to pip it on messily ha. I figured these would be dangerous to make in my apartment so I’m glad I made them at my parents house where I can share. Andddd we just happen to be having company tomorrow and Friday nights so hopefully my taste testers will approve and I can serve a few. They look soooo delicious, of course I want twelve haha. Hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season! Clearly, I will blog more regularly once it’s over :)
Christmas Cookies! December 25, 2011
Every year for Christmas my mother, grandmother, and I bake about 20 different kinds of cookies. This is the plate I put together to bring up my aunt’s for Christmas day. My uncle is Italian (like my mom and grandma) so he really appreciated all the different kinds of cookies we make. I think he might have tried every single one even afterrrrr our huge dinner. I forgot a few kinds of cookies I was later told but I figure this was good enough ha. I so miss being home to make all of these every year, I usually only get to help with the tail end of them since I moved out of town. There is nothing like being home for Christmas! I am soo thankful for all the wonderful people in my life — my family, my friends, and my amazing boyfriend make my life complete :)
Winter Tree Sugar Cutout Cookies December 17, 2011
This evening I made a batch of the best sugar cutout cookies ever!! My mom and I have the best recipe and it works just great every time, in fact I am going to add it to my favorite recipes page. It makes an awesome dough and always tastes so delicious. Tonight I made my cookies into trees. Since I don’t have any cookie cutters and was too lazy to go buy any, I made my own from cardboard haha. I was unsure about it, but it totally worked. It was just tedious since I had to cut each side of each tree. The recipe ended up making a little more than 3 dozen, although it depends on the size of your cookies how many the batter yields. I contemplated making a double batch but I am glad I didn’t, only because my back actually hurt a little from leaning over to cut every tree lol. Then I piped on some green icing nice and simple. I wasn’t going to go all crazy with the icing after my adventure with the cookies :)
Chocolate Gooey Butter Cookies December 15, 2011
Today I made a small batch of Chocolate Gooey Butter Cookies by Paula Deen. I absolutely love these cookies and they are super easy! They just call for a box of Devil’s food cake mix, 8 ounces of cream cheese, and 1 stick of butter — and that’s it!! Then top them off with powered sugar! I wish I had a sift to make it look light and pretty haha but my finger tips will have to make due, even though they are clumpy. Taste is the same right? ;) These cookies are soooo good that I only made half a batch since I knew I would eat them all and the more I have the worse off ha. I had a super long day at least today and just wanted something sweet. I think my test today went better than the last few so that is kinda nice. I really want to take a nap this afternoon after Ellen. Then I need to study a little bit for Hematology tonight since I have a test next week booo. At least it is the last one before Christmas, thank God!
Blueberry Crumble Pie December 11, 2011
Last night at the boy’s we made a blueberry crumble pie. We meaning I made it, he ate it haha. Anyway, as part of the Foodbuzz Tastemaker Program, I received a free coupon from Duncan Hines for a Comstock Wilderness filling. We decided to go with the blueberry since we are both fans. My grandma makes a killer blueberry buy with fresh berries so I was nervous this wasn’t going to stand up at all. I topped it with this crumble recipe from Williams-Sonoma. I think the crumble made it! I also used a pre-made graham cracker crust, so very Sandra Lee of me ha. I have to say it came out really well. I think in the future I would mix in some fresh berries with the filling for some extra berries, but I was delightfully surprised. I would definitely buy this again if I had to whip up a pie quick, now that I know the crumble makes it look and taste homemade anyway. Glad I could try it!
Peppermint Bark December 10, 2011
This afternoon I made some peppermint bark! I needed a little break from studying and I knew just the way to occupy my time. I made peppermint back with white chocolate chips and crushed up candy canes. I know most people add a little peppermint extract to the chocolate but I didn’t have any and it still came out great. I absolutely LOVE peppermint bark and I wait until the holiday season every year to make it. One of my friends at school loves it at well so I am going to pack up a little box for her on Monday too. I feel like this would be just a good little housewarming gift to bring someone with a bottle of wine of something! I wish I had friends who had real jobs and lives so I could attend things such as this ha. Oh well, someday soon hopefully! Back to studying pulm :/
Chewy Fudge Brownies December 6, 2011
Today I made Duncan Hines chewy fudge brownies. As part of the Foodbuzz Tastemaker Program, I received free coupons from Duncan Hines to try any of their products. I am a huge brownie queen and these did not disappoint! Honestly, I made brownies from scratch a few months ago and I really like these better. I think everyone enjoys a good brownie (except the boyfriend.. but he doesn’t count here). I will bring these to school tomorrow since it is dangerous to have something I love so much around the apartment, especially when I am trying to eat healthy and exercise more. I didn’t get to the chance today because my computer got a virus and I spent 3 hours on the phone with my brother trying to get rid of it. Thankfully my brother is amazing and it was successful. Back and better than ever. Love you bro :)
Pumpkin Pie Dip with Apples, Pears, Gingersnaps November 24, 2011
Tonight I made a pumpkin pie dip with sliced, apples, pears, and gingersnap cookies (in a separate bowl). I have been seeing a lot of recipes for this lately so I wanted to try it today. I figured it would be something nice to pick at after such a large and deliciously filling meal. I might actually just eat this and pass on the pies haha. I didn’t even finish all my dinner! It is actually a surprisingly light dip, beyond easy to make, and super flavorful — if you enjoy pumpkin that is. This is definitely something I will make again. Yayyy for new holiday recipes!!
Apple Pie, Pumpkin Pie November 23, 2011
Well this evening my mother and I slaved away preparing for tomorrow. I am always on pie duty so here are two of them — an apple pie and a pumpkin pie. Classic Thanksgiving! We also prepped almost all of the side dishes, set the table, and cleaned up the house. I absolutely love this holiday. I have my cinnamon roll dough in the fridge to roll out for breakfast tomorrow. It is my first attempt at making homemade ones and I am super excited about it, especially because I am following a classic blog world recipe that I will share tomorrow. The boyfriend loves these amazing cinnamon rolls from a place back home so I am hoping these can be half as good and maybe I will make them again. Off to dry my hair and head out for the evening!!
