I don’t really cook anything for Carson that has no added sugars or is made with only whole grains. I don’t get locally grown organic fruits and vegetables at the farmers market. I don’t say “no” to fast food. I’m not anti health food and I don’t roll my eyes at people who do those things. I make sure Carson gets fruits and veggies every day. I don’t let the child skip dinner and then get cookies before bed. I’m not unconcerned with healthy eating, I’m just not overly concerned with it. But, if I see something that looks easy and healthy for my kids I will try it. And that is what led me to try these cookies.
When I saw these cookies on Pinterest I thought, “What a simple recipe! This person says they’re awesome! So they must be!” A couple of mashed bananas, oats and nuts. No added sugar. No butter or shortening. I gave them a shot. These are advertised as “cookies”. Sorry. They’re not cookies. Not cookies as I know them. I like sugar and butter, and I think they have their place. And that place is in cookies. So when I ate one of these after they came out of the oven I was really disappointed. Not because they were bad, they just weren’t cookies. I don’t know why I thought they’d taste like anything other than banana, oats and nuts. Maybe because I fell victim to another Pinterest post and its false promises. If there is one thing Pinterest has taught me it is to be skeptical. And that the options for IKEA furniture are endless. I gave one of the cookies to Carson. He took one bite, took the bite out of his mouth and left it all on the table. Fail.
I packed them in a tupperware after they had cooled and stashed them in the freezer because I cannot throw food away. It almost physically hurts me to do it. The next morning I saw them in the freezer and thought I’d try one again. I took one out and microwaved it for 15 seconds. It was surprisingly tasty, and a really perfect breakfast cookie. Not too sweet. Full of hearty oats. Nuts for protein. Cranberries for tartness. A touch of cinnamon. I ate these for breakfast the rest of the week.
So these didn’t turn out to be a great toddler cookies (not for my toddler anyway) but I enjoyed them after accepting that they were not sweet dessert cookies. These are breakfast cookies, and a couple of them with a cup of coffee and some fruit made for a lovely start to the day.
Granola is one of those foods I often see on lists with titles like, “Foods you Thought Were Good for You!” And I guess it’s true that many store bought granolas are full of sugar and other not-too-healthy ingredients. But if you make your own, then you have control over what goes into it. I’m not saying this is perfect health food or that it is “good for you”. But I do know that it is delicious.
This is my favorite granola. I brought a bag of it to Christmas with my family this year and everyone loved it. I’m pretty sure it was gone in just a couple of days. You can change the nuts and fruits in this to personalize it to your taste. If you like chocolate in yours, I’d suggest dark or semi sweet chips. My favorite combination is pecans, almonds, pumpkin seeds, cranberries, cherries and blueberries.
I like to eat this granola on top of some plain yogurt. Or I’ll mix a couple spoonfuls of it in with my Kashi cereal to make things a little more interesting.
This recipe came from a Bon Appetit magazine, probably 5 or 6 years ago. Since I started making it I’ve changed some things, but one thing I haven’t changed is the special instruction to store it in the freezer. By doing this the moisture from the fruit doesn’t soften the granola. I’ve never not done this. When I’m bringing the granola somewhere I keep the granola and the fruit separate until I find a freezer. If you’re brave enough to try storing it at room temp, let me know how it goes. Enjoy!
My Favorite Granola
Adapted from Bon Appetit
Ingredients
3 cups old fashioned rolled oats
1 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup dark brown sugar
1/4 cup honey
1/2-1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup roughly chopped pecans
1/2 cup roughly chopped almonds
1/2 cup green pumpkin seeds
1 cup dried cherries
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup dried blueberries
Directions
Preheat oven to 325°F.
Stir together oats, coconut, oil, sugar, honey, cinnamon, salt and nuts in a large bowl.
Spread mixture evenly on a large rimmed baking pan. Bake, stirring occasionally, until golden, between 25 and 30 minutes. Watch carefully after 20 minutes. You do not want it to get too dark.
Remove the granola from the oven and set the pan on a rack to cool, the granola will be soft. It will harden up as it cools.
After it is cool, stir in the fruit. Store in a sealed container in the freezer.
This recipe has been bookmarked in my Pastry Queen cookbook for a couple years at least. The photo of these always makes me pause and swoon a little whenever I’m flipping through the pages. You’ll have to buy the cookbook to see it. My photo doesn’t come close.
I find it hard to resist the sweet, bready, ciannamony, yeasty goodness of a cinnamon roll. My favorite rolls are at The Upper Crust Bakery in Austin, Texas. They’re a totally different type of cinnamon roll with a crunchy cinnamon sugar coating instead of a gooey frosting. If you’re ever in Austin, you must go get one.
The problem with me and cinnamon rolls is the commitment (and the mess). Make the dough, let it rise, make the filling, roll and fill, cut and place in the pans, rise again, bake, frost or glaze, then enjoy…if you even have the energy at that point. And if you want to make these fresh for breakfast you have to either get up at a ridiculous hour or use some time management skills to get them ready for a morning rise and baking. So much work! But these are well worth the effort. You can even freeze them for later, which does require some work on the front end, but you get yummy cinnamon rolls straight from the oven without having to touch a bit of flour.
For some reason (could have been the 2 lonely potatoes on the counter) I just felt compelled to commit to these last week and am so very glad I did. I baked 2 pans of these rolls and there are 3 more in my freezer that are a mere overnight thaw and hour rise away from being enjoyed. Yes, this recipe makes 5 pans of cinnamon rolls. So make sure you either need to feed a hungry army, give these away as gifts or have room in your freezer and save them for later. Oh, and make sure you have 2 good sized bowls for rising. The recipe says to let the dough rise in one bowl and then divide it in half. Well, I do not have a bowl big enough for that and I don’t know who does…except for maybe my mother-in-law. So I divided the dough in half before rising and still had to use 2 of my biggest bowls.
The pecans are optional. I made one half of the rolls with and the other half without. If I’d really been thinking I would have baked one pan of the with and one pan of the without, but I wasn’t thinking. So all of my rolls with pecans are in the freezer. I am sure they’ll be delicious since most baked goods are better with pecans.
Using mashed potato in these rolls gives them a lighter texture than your normal roll. They don’t taste like potato. They are just slightly sweet, unless you drench them in frosting (like I do). If you bake and don’t eat all the rolls in the same day, cover and refrigerate the rolls. Warm in the microwave for 10-15 seconds to recreate the fresh-from-the-oven flavor. Store for 3-4 days at most in the fridge. They’re just not as good after that.
Jailhouse Potato Cinnamon Rolls
From The Pastry Queen by Rebecca Rather
Ingredients
Dough
2 medium russet potatoes, peeled, quartered, boiled and mashed
Reserve 3 cups of potato water
1 oz active dry yeast (4 pkgs.)
3/4 cup plus 1 tsp sugar
2 sticks butter, melted and slightly cooled
3 eggs
2 tsp salt
9 cups flour
Filling
4 cups toasted pecans, optional (I used 2 cups and made half with and half without pecans)
4 cups firmly packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons cinnamon
2 sticks butter, melted
Icing
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Directions
Grease two 9X13 disposable foil pans (you will probably need more pans, depending on how many rolls you end up with. I used 5).
Wash, peel and quarter the potatoes and boil until fork tender, 10-15 minutes. After boiling the potatoes, set aside 3 cups of the potato water and let cool to 110 degrees using a candy thermometer, or to the temp of hot water coming out of the faucet.
Mash potatoes in a large bowl, set aside. Sprinkle yeast over the water, stir until dissolved, add 1 tsp. sugar. Allow to rest for 5 minutes until foamy.
Whisk the mashed potatoes and 3/4 cup sugar together. Add the melted butter, eggs , salt and potato water and mix until smooth. Switch to a wooden spoon, and add the flour 3 cups at a time, mixing until combined. Mix until all the flour is incorporated.
Place the dough in 2 large greased bowls. Cover with a damp cloth and leave in a warm place until the dough is doubled in size, about 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
Leaving the dough in the bowl, flour your hands and punch it down until it deflates. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap. At this point the dough can be refrigerated until the next day. You can proceed from here, but it is easier to handle the dough after it has chilled.
With floured hands, remove one batch of the dough from the bowl onto a well floured surface. Using a rolling pin, roll into a 1/4 inch thick rectangle. About 20 X 10. Spread the rectangle with half the butter, then half the brown sugar mix, then half the chopped pecans.
Starting with the long side, carefully roll the dough. Using a very sharp floured serrated knife, cut each roll crosswise in 2 to 3 inch slices. Place the slices, cut side down, in the foil pans spacing about one inch apart so they have room to expand. Make sure the end flap of each roll is set snugly against a side of the pan. Repeat with the other bowl of dough.
At this point the rolls can be tightly wrapped in plastic wrap and a layer of foil and frozen up to 3 weeks. Defrost in the refrigerator overnight or for one hour at room temperature and continue following the directions from this point. Leaving them covered, set the rolls in a warm draft free place and let them rise until they get puffy, about 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 375°F. Remove covering and bake the rolls for 20 to 25 minutes or until light brown.
Combine icing ingredients with a whisk and drizzle over warm rolls.
This is as easy as it gets folks. Well, unless you buy a pan of Sister Schubert’s cinnamon rolls and pop those in the oven. That would be easier. But these breakfast rolls are truly simple, and incredibly indulgent and delicious. With an ingredient list of 5 items, the luxury of preparing them the night before, leaving them on the counter all night, then baking for a mere half an hour the rewards are much greater than the work that’s put into them.
I’ve made these twice now, and was more pleased with the second batch. The first time I used only 1/2 cup of pecans, and this time I just covered the bottom of my dish and probably used close to a full cup. It was great to have the extra sugary coated guys to snack on from the pan. Feel free to use less or you could use walnuts. I used vanilla pudding the first time, and butterscotch the last time. Both were good, so use what you like.
A 9×13 pan is fine for these, but I used a smaller baking dish, 10×10, this last time. A smaller area meant more gooey goodness which is never a bad thing in my opinion. I only used 12 rolls for the smaller pan. If I do these again in a 9×13 I would add a little more butter and sugar. Because if you’re already going to eat these, what’s wrong with a little more fat and calories? Enjoy!
Gooey Pecan Breakfast Rolls
Ingredients
1/2-1 cup pecans, chopped
18 frozen dinner rolls
1 small box (3.5 ounces) Cook and Serve pudding
1 stick butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
Directions
Spray a 9×13 pan with cooking spray and spread pecans on the bottom of the pan.
Place rolls on top of pecans, spacing evenly.
Sprinkle pudding mix over the top of the rolls and pecans.
Cook butter and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat until sugar has dissolved, stirring frequently to avoid burning or boiling over.
Pour butter mixture over the top.
Cover with plastic wrap and let sit overnight, 8-10 hours.
Preheat oven to 350°F, remove plastic wrap and bake for 20-30 minutes.
Let cool for 5-10 minutes, then invert onto a platter or serve from the pan.
My sister worked at Half Price Books a couple years ago and got her hands on this neat cookbook from the Cook’s Country editors. It contains recipes that have been around for a while that have been shared by home cooks. Stories accompany each recipe telling who they came from, and how and where they originated. The goal of this cookbook is to bring back recipes that are worth remembering.
This simple chocolate sheet cake is called “Scotch Cake” in the cookbook. The note about this recipe says:
“The origin of the name of this simple sheet cake, with its unique pecan and coconut topping, was a mystery to Melinda and her mother, whose recipe card for it included a note that said: “I don’t understand the name of this cake. I just call it my “boil it” cake”.”
I brought this cake to a potluck dinner, and it received a few compliments. It’s a great potluck dessert because you can make it a day in advance and keep it in the fridge, it’s simple to prepare, you can take it in the pan and it cuts really nicely. After being refrigerated the cake becomes almost fudgy and the coconut pecan icing gets that nice sugary crunch. You know what I’m talking about.
Chocolate Snack Cake with Coconut Pecan Icing
From America’s Best Lost Recipes
Ingredients
Cake
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
2 sticks of butter
1 cup water
4 teaspoons cocoa powder
1/2 cup buttermilk
3 eggs
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt
Icing
1 stick butter
6 tablespoons whole milk
4 teaspoons cocoa powder
4 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup sweetened, shredded coconut
1 cup chopped pecans
Directions
For the Cake
Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease and flour a 9×13 pan.
Whisk flour and sugar in a large bowl.
Heat butter, water and cocoa in a saucepan over medium heat until it comes to a boil. Pour over the four mixture and stir to combine.
Stir in the buttermilk, eggs, baking soda, vanilla and salt until combined.
Pour into prepared pan and bake for 35-40 minutes until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
For the Icing
Heat the butter, milk and cocoa in the same saucepan over medium heat until the butter melts.
Take it off the heat and stir in the powdered sugar, vanilla, coconut and pecans.
Spread over the warm cake and let cool completely.
Serve or refrigerate for up to 3 days. Bring the cake to room temperature before serving.
When I came across this recipe I practically ran to the kitchen to begin making it. I took out a stick of butter, 2 eggs and buttermilk to bring them to room temperature. Since my little guy was asleep, I couldn’t make it to the store to get the one ingredient I lacked…fresh peaches. So I used…canned peaches. Did you just cringe? I’m embarrassed, especially when there are fresh, juicy peaches available about a mile from my house. While I am sure fresh peaches would have been better, the cake still turned out wonderfully. That means you can make this in the dead of winter, when peaches aren’t so abundant.
Thanks to Ina Garten, one of my favorite Food Network people, for this recipe. Her recipe calls for sour cream, which I did not have. I substituted 3/4 cup of buttermilk and 1/3 cup softened butter. I think it would have been fine to use 1 cup of buttermilk without the additional butter.
This cake can be eaten for dessert with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, or for breakfast. Enjoy!
Preheat the oven to 350° F. Grease a 9-inch-square baking pan.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the all the butter and 1 cup of the sugar for 3 to 5 minutes on medium-high speed, until light and fluffy. With the mixer on low, add the eggs, one at a time, then the buttermilk and vanilla, and mix until the batter is smooth.
In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. With the mixer on low, slowly add the dry ingredients to the batter and mix just until combined.
In a small bowl, combine the remaining 1/2 cup sugar and the cinnamon.
Spread half of the batter evenly in the pan. Top with half of the peaches, then sprinkle with two-thirds of the sugar mixture.
Spread the remaining batter on top, arrange the remaining peaches on top and sprinkle with the remaining sugar mixture and the pecans.
Bake the cake for 45 to 55 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Serve warm or at room temperature.
This recipe is from a Junior League of Austin cookbook that I borrowed from my mom’s house. Thanks, mom : )
These cookies are called English Toffee Cookies in the cookbook, but I took the liberty of changing their name to be more descriptive. They are a little like toffee with their salty sweetness, but not sticky or chewy like toffee. These cookies are crispy and light. They are sweet, but not too sweet. The cinnamon is wonderful. I think a little nutmeg would be nice as well. They are quite tasty on top of vanilla or coffee ice cream, next to a cup of coffee or tea, or all alone.
So very easy. Mix up the dough, roll it out in one big slab on a cookie sheet (use parchment or a silpat to avoid sticking) brush with egg white, sprinkle with pecans, bake, cut and enjoy!
Crispy Cinnamon Pecan Cookies
Courtesy of The Collection from the Junior League of Austin
Ingredients
1 cup shortening
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg, separated
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 cup ground pecans
Directions
Cream shortening and sugar.
Add beaten egg yolk and vanilla.
Sift dry ingredients together and blend into creamed mixture.
Roll dough out onto a cookie sheet to 1/4 to 1/8 inch thickness.
Coat with egg white then sprinkle with pecans.
Bake at 300°F for 25-30 minutes.
Let cool, then cut into squares or break into pieces.
Finally. I have missed more than one of the Daring Bakers challenges in the last few months. I am glad that I got back on track with this one!
The March 2011 Daring Baker’s Challenge was hosted by Ria of Ria’s Collection and Jamie of Life’s a Feast. Ria and Jamie challenged The Daring Bakers to bake a yeasted Meringue Coffee Cake.
I managed to get the coffee cake made this week despite the fact that my son has not been a fan of napping for more than 30 minutes at a time. At the moment I am trying to get this post written before he wakes up! So, forgive me if this one is short and sweet.
The dough wasn’t too difficult to put together, but even after an hour and a half rise it hadn’t really doubled in bulk. I do not have a great relationship with yeast. I added 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon and 3/4 teaspoon of cardamom to the flour mixture.
The filling. Oh my goodness. The filling. How can you argue with this? Sweet meringue, chopped pecans, cinnamon sugar and chocolate chips. I did one ring with chocolate, and one without. I prefer the one without if I’m enjoying this for breakfast. I found that the chocolate hides the other flavors too much.
Rolling this up was easy, but when I went to form the ring I couldn’t get the edges to completely seal together. I also didn’t have much filling on the edges, so a section of my ring was just bread…which still tasted delicious.
After baking, the meringue puffed out of the vents and got nice and brown. It is so lovely! I couldn’t resist breaking off a piece of it to enjoy. Yummy.
I made the coffee cakes the day before and sent half of each one to work with Ben the next morning. I was worried that it wouldn’t stay fresh overnight, but I had a piece the next afternoon and it was quite good.
Here is the link to the recipe. I am too pressed for time to put the recipe on this post! Ok, now off to get the kitchen cleaned before the little man wakes! Enjoy!
What has happened to me? Why did I make Kraft macaroni and cheese for Ben and a frozen Healthy Choice meal for myself for dinner last week? Because I am a new mommy, and that means I am kind of a mess. To all those mothers of newborns who have it together, I envy and admire you. Everyone is telling me it will get better…I hope they’re right.
I’m not cooking anything really worth posting about. And even if I was, I don’t really have time to post! I really miss my kitchen.
This recipe caught my eye on allrecipes.com a few weeks ago, right after Carson was born. My mom even bought a box of Nilla Wafers that day so that we could make it, but we didn’t have a chance. Ben and I were having company last night, so I decided to try it out.
I wasn’t too impressed with this, but the people who ate it were very nice to be complimentary! It wasn’t very sweet, and the texture was quite dense and a little rubbery.
So, I went and looked at the recipe again. I FORGOT THE SUGAR! 2 C UPS OF SUGAR! Maybe the lack of sleep is catching up with me. Maybe it was just a result of my haste to get this made while Carson slept. Whatever the explanation for my mistake, it was a bad one. This ranks up there with making a cup of coffee at my parents house over Christmas with one of those Tassimo makers and putting the mug upside down. I have lost my mind.
I might try it warmed up in the microwave or possibly toasted with some butter. I will probably try this again sometime. I like the idea of the using the cookie crumbs as the flour, and I am interested to see the difference 2 cups of sugar makes.
Nilla Wafer Cake
Ingredients
6 whole eggs
3.5 oz can of coconut (if you use bagged sweetened flaked coconut, just use 1 cup)
1/2 cup milk
12 ounce box vanilla wafers, crushed
2 C sugar
1 C chopped pecans
Directions
Beat eggs well.
Mix wafers and all other ingredients into eggs.
Pour into greased and floured tube pan.
Bake at 350 for one hour or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
This is the second time around for me and these bran muffins from Ina Garten. The first time I made them I followed the recipe exactly…well, I did leave out the orange zest. They were terrific. There wasn’t a real need to change anything. You will not be disappointed if you try the original recipe. Here is the link.
I had some blackened bananas that needed to be put to good use, and fast. So I decided to try them in these muffins instead of the firmer chopped banana I’d used the first time. Here are the other changes I made.
Added 1 teaspoon of cinnamon to the dry ingredients
Used skim milk (mixed with lemon juice) instead of buttermilk
Used half whole wheat and half AP flour
Used half golden raisins and half regular raisins
Substituted pecans for the walnuts
Used the orange zest
The result was yet another yummy bran muffin. They do not photograph well though, so I used this photo courtesy of foodtv.com. I liked the subtle flavor of the orange zest. I definitely like the pecans better than walnuts…but that’s just a personal preference. The texture was a bit heartier with the wheat flour. The skim milk might have made the texture or moistness of the muffins a bit different, but not to a degree that I really noticed. The combination of golden and regular raisins is nice, but not necessary. I had some extra golden ones left over, so I used them. I wouldn’t buy them just for these muffins as the plain raisins are great.
You can change a lot of things in these muffins to make them your own. I would not leave out the banana though since I am sure that gives some necessary moisture. Next time I might use cranberries instead of raisins. I think that would be nice with the orange flavor, which I might bump up more by using more zest and some orange juice. If you think of or try anything else, let me know. Enjoy!
