Raspberry Linzer torte- and a giveaway

My Aunt Carol makes a bazillion cookies every year for Christmas. What is my all time favorite that she makes?

Yup, she let me have her recipe. And what do I do? I make it healthier, because I have a problem. My newest problem is realizing I can't control myself around linzer torte. Even though it's healthier, it's still not healthy for you. Yet somehow I kept saying, oh it's ok to have another square... and the next thing I knew 1/2 the torte was gone. WHOOPS.

Seriously. Amazing. I can't stop eating it. This can be served sliced like a cake, but she always cut them into little squares so I followed suit here.

Instead of using 1/2 POUND of butter, I used a 1/2 CUP of Melt. It's an organic butter substitute that uses healthy for you fats (think coconut butter). It gave the torte an amazing texture and this thing was so super delicious, I can't help myself... must go eat more...

Want to win your own Melt giveaway pack! (coupons to try melt for FREE, a cutting board, and a cool spreader). Just comment below and tell me what flavor you'd like to try first. US entries only, you have until Sunday Oct 6th to enter. Wow, when did October get here??

Linzer Torte- healthier
recipe adapted from Aunt Carol

1/2 cup Melt Original
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 tsp lemon powder (or 2 Tbs lemon zest)
1 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup ground walnuts
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup raspberry jam

Preheat oven to 350, lightly spray a 8" springform pan. Beat melt and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating each in. In a separate bowl mix together flour, lemon, walnuts and spices, salt, baking powder. Mix dry into wet and stir until incorporated. Place 2/3 of the batter into the spring form pan. Top with 1 cup raspberry jam, and then remainder of the dough. Bake for 50-60 minutes or until edges start to pull away from pan. Fully cool and then cut into bite sized squares.


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Thick chewy bad for you cookies

Long post title... I know. But it's true. These cookies are amazing!! Super thick and chewy and Sally's Baking Addiction gives all the reasoning for it in her post and why she uses the ingredients she does. One point she makes I would have never even thought of. When you roll the dough into balls, make them taller than wide, it makes the cookies fatter when they bake! WHY have I never thought to do this?? I always end up with thin cookies. I now know the secret!! YEAHH!!!!

Seriously, look at these things. PERFECT gift for Father's Day for the guy you don't know what to get. But, like the title says, these are NOT healthy. But that's ok people, you can eat not healthy things, just don't eat the whole batch at once ;) Which brings me to another awesome point she made. Roll up all the cookies and then freeze them on a cookie sheet. Once frozen toss them into a zip lock bag and BAM you get pre portioned cookies to make on the fly. This also means you can eat 2-3 warm out of the oven every time you feel like a cookie! No leftovers for this lady here!

The only changes I made to these were instead of the 1 cup chocolate chunks, I used 1/2 cup white chocolate chunks + 1/2 cup milk chocolate chips + 1/2 cup chopped macadamia nuts.

What tips do you have for cookie making? I feel like the most important is keeping the dough chilled, but she has some other great tips. Got any more tips for me?



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Gingersnaps

A satisfying crunch of a cookie, these are not of a healthy variety. Molasses, sugar, a little roll in raw sugar to top it all off. Perfect to send home with a friend with a super sweet tooth though. Even more perfect with a tall glass of milk!


I'm kinda wishing I saved some of this dough so I could make some more of these right now... *drool* Recipe is via Recipe Girl, only changed the topping to raw sugar instead of white.






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Christmas Cookies- not healthy

Friday's events are still on all of our minds. It's hard to think about moving on with normal life when so many are left shattered. I keep going back and forth between feeling so sad and not wanting to do anything to thinking we need to live and be happy for the sake of those lives lost and to celebrate the life that is still here. So many have said much more eloquent things but I felt like I wanted to say something, and not just ignore what is going on. Below is the post I wrote last week that was scheduled for today.

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One of the awesome things about blogging is you meet all these wonderful people, and sometimes if you are lucky, those people actually live near you! Such is the case with Tracy of Sugarcrafter, and Sarah of A Dash and Pinch. Sarah lives literally a mile from my house, and Tracy is just on the other side of town!


We decided to meet up and get our cookie making skills on! But first there was copious amounts of bread, meats and cheeses... and don't forget the marshmallow vodka to go in our hot chocolates *drool*.


Once we had our fill of chitchat and carbs we got into some hard core baking! I had just seen this recipe over at Cinnamon Spice and Everything Nice and knew I had to make it. No way John would eat these butter balls so making them for a cookie exchange was the best idea out there. These things are delicious! I brought some in for my boss and he basically went through them like potato chips, kinda impressive, and scary, all at the same time.



Another great thing about baking with other bloggers is they take awesome action shots of you baking.


Thanks Sarah! So pretty!

Sarah made Chanukah Oreo Balls. So festive! Tracy made these polish/hungarian deliciousness things who's name I forget... filled with her very own delicious jam to boot! Amazing!!

Do you live near other bloggers? Ever done a meet up? What's your favorite go to cookie recipe for an exchange?



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Quick turn me right side up!

No no no, it's much more fun to be upside down! I can now check "make pineapple upside down cake" off my bucket list. I'm not sure how I've never made it before considering I love pineapple, but it took baking for a friends dad to remedy this situation! He's been going through a rough time so I asked what his favorite dessert was (since we all know a little something special always lifts your spirits). She told me he loves anything with pineapple, so after some google searches I decided on this bad boy.

My friend said he ate it over the course of two days, so I'm guessing that meant it was good! That's the worst part about giving someone a cake... there is no easy way to taste test it without it looking like a mouse got into the cake!

What do you do when making a cake to bring somewhere for the first time? Bake two so you can test it? Or plan ahead and test drive the recipe? I seem to like to fly by the seat of my pants and hope for the best :)

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Amaretto Chunk Cookies

These are my favorite cookies ever. Seriously, they are delicious, and horrible bad for you. No fudging your way around this one, they are white flour, sugar, butter, liquor, delicious. OH and I should note this recipe makes 4 dozen. You see I took the recipe out thinking it only made 2 dozen... so I doubled it, and as I filled my 5qt kitchen aid to the brim I realized... there is no way I'm only making 4 dozen cookies here.

8 dozen later, and a trip to a few friends houses to drop off cookie surprises I was ready to head off to a BBQ with my original wanted amount. No worries though, the friends were ecstatic for the surprises. The people at the BBQ were pleased as punch too.

Now you might be wondering what's up with those two cookies pictured. Same recipe, same oven time and temperature... so what gives? You see this is the perfect example of why it's good to keep your dough chilled. The right cookie was the first batch in, the one on the left, had been sitting out a good 30 minutes before hopping into the oven. Big difference right? The moral of this story is if you are baking with butter make sure to keep that dough cold! Unless you like super thin spread out like mad cookies that is :)

Amaretto Chunk Cookies
recipe from The Sweets Life (she's awesome go visit her and say hi!)
Makes 4 dozen

Ingredients:
-2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
-1 tsp baking soda
-1 tsp baking powder
-1/2 tsp salt
-1 cup butter, softened
-1/2 cup granulated sugar
-1 cup brown sugar
-2 large eggs
-1 tbsp amaretto liqueur
-2 tsp almond extract
-2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
-1 cup sweetened flaked coconut
-1 cup sliced almonds

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375F. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
2. In a separate bowl, beat butter and sugars until creamy. Beat in eggs, amaretto, and almond extract. Reduce speed to low and carefully beat in flour mixture, just until blended.
3. With a large spoon, stir in chocolate chips, coconut, and almonds.
4. Using a cookie scoop or a tablespoon, drop dough onto ungreased cookie sheets, 2 inches apart. Bake 10-12 minutes (mine were good after 9!), until golden around the edges. Cool on wire racks.
5. Store cookies for 1 week in an airtight container, or freeze for up to 3 months. 


PS. The winner of the mini-wheat contest is Jen Butler! (Congrats! I'll be emailing you!)

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Saltine Peanut Tofee

Don't be fooled, this recipe is not one ounce healthy. Butter, sugar, corn syrup... yeah... no redeeming qualities here, but I'll tell you, you will be a super hero for bringing this to your mom on Mother's Day, or to a house warming... lets face it, wherever you bring this you'll be loved!

Best served in a shot glass portion, this is stick to your teeth sweet. If you're not a super sweet fan, pass on this one, but for you sweet fanatics this recipe is gold. The only change I made this time was to use roasted peanuts instead of almonds.

What's your go to, not at all healthy treat?


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Paying for taxes with Cookies

Yup, that's what John and I do! A good friend does them for us, his price, home made cookies. This year I asked him what kinda and he requested German Cinnamon Twists (hence my post Friday asking for a recipe). I did get a great suggestion but already had the dough rising on Saturday at that point, so there was no turning back. This recipe comes from a yeast package from the 60s. That must mean they will be good right?

RIGHT!! Sure these things have 2 sticks of butter, a cup of sugar, and a cup of sour cream... there is nothing at all healthy about them, but they ARE delicious :) As for our friend he said he had them for dinner that night and breakfast the next day and that they were perfect! Score!

If you are looking for a decadent, delicious cinnamon twist, look no further.



Sour Cream Twists
Fleischmann’s Yeast Booklet (1961) (found via Pragmatic Attic)

These cookies are yeast risen and given turns like puff pastry, only cinnamon sugar is sprinkled over the dough instead of spreading it with butter. (There's two sticks of butter in the dough though... so don't worry my butter loving friends)

Makes 4-5 dozen

Dissolve 1 pkg. yeast (2 1/4 tsp.) in 1/4 warm water
Combine the following ingredients to make a dough, then mix in the dissolved yeast, and beat the batter until it is smooth: (I used a kitchen aid for this part)
4 C. sifted flour
1 C. margarine (I cut unsalted butter into the flour)
1 C. sour cream (I used reduced fat sour cream)
2 eggs
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla

Cover dough and let rise in fridge for 2 hours to 2 days. (my dough was very sticky but don't worry all the sugar you roll it out with makes it the perfect consistency later)

Mix together 1 C. sugar and 1 tsp. cinnamon (I used 2 tsp) and sprinkle some over counter or pastry board.

Roll dough over cinnamon sugar into 15″x18″ rectangle. Turn over to coat both sides in sugar. Fold into thirds, like a letter. Roll 1/4″ thick, using rest of sugar. Cut into 1″x4″ strips. Twist and place on greased sheet and bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes.

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Fudge + animal crackers + booze =

Sorry I missed a post on Wednesday. Things have been crazzzzy busy YIKES! Can't wait to take a breather this weekend and just enjoy relaxing!! Speaking of which...

Fudge + animal crackers + booze = amazing delicious nostalgic adult fudge!!

Boozy fudge has turned into a christmas gift tradition for me. Exhibit A: Captain Morgans SMORE fudge. Exhibit B. Coconut Malibu fudge

And now to add to the list. Amaretto Animal Cracker Fudge. Over the top easy to make... over the top decadent and delicious. Don't fool yourself, there is nothing healthy about this... unless you are my cousin Ann who would say... well it's got chocolate, which comes from beans, and beans are vegetables... therefore it's a vegetable!

OK who else loves my cousin's logic? Pretty fun right? :)

Amaretto Animal Cracker Fudge

by steph chows

1 14 oz can fat free sweetened condensed milk

about 2 cups (12 onces) semi sweet chocolate chips

1 oz amaretto

1 cup animal crackers (plus some to stick in the top)

Pour condensed milk into a medium sauce pan and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Once simmering add in the chocolate chips. Stir occasionally until chocolate is melted and creamy. Pour in booze and stir until incorporated. Remove from heat and stir in animal crackers. Pour into a wax paper lined 8x8 baking square and refrigerate until set (I normally leave it overnight). Once set remove from pan and cut into 1 inch squares.

Happy Holidays everyone!!! What are you all doing? Going anywhere fun? Any fun and exciting traditions?

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Cashew Oatmeal Cookies

Dear Matt-

Thanks for going to pick up that saw off of craigslist with the husband. You rock. By the way, I hear you shoot archery, want to go shoot some foam animals sometime? Hope you like the cookies.
~Steph

Yup that's pretty much the gist of the note I sent along with these cookies. I've never met Matt, and that note to him doesn't sound creepy at all as a first time intro... ok yes, yes it does.


Do you buy stuff off craigslist? We totally have, although sometimes you meet some seriously interesting people... apparently the guy selling the saw was one of them... glad I wasn't there! :) Thanks again Matt!

mmm leaning tower of cookies

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies
recipe found on Food Fitness Fun

Ingredients:
½ cup all-purpose flour
¾ cup whole wheat flour
1 cup quick cooking rolled oats
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
¾ cup brown sugar, packed
1/3 cup butter, softened
1/3 cup creamy peanut butter (truth be told I used cashew butter)
1/3 cup nonfat buttermilk
1 tablespoon olive or canola oil
½ cup dark chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Spray a cookie sheet with nonstick spray.
Combine the first five ingredients [through salt] in a medium bowl.
In a large mixing bowl, beat sugar, butter, peanut butter and buttermilk together.
Stir in flour mixture until a soft dough forms.
Add chocolate chips.
Roll dough into walnut-sized balls and place on prepared cookie sheets, 2 inches apart.
Flatten gently with the back of a spoon.
Bake 10-14 minutes.

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Maple Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

A few weeks ago my boss walked into my office and said "hey want to go see the lion king? I've got 4 tickets and I can't go anymore" ummm YES!!! My coworker, her boyfriend, another friend and myself found ourselves sitting in the 5th row in total amazement just hours later. (John was invited but he politely declined wanting to go - silly man) It was memorizing, the choreography, the costumes! And grown up Simba was a hottie! (bonus points since he was shirtless the whole time)... what? is that wrong to say? Can't a girl appreciate some man meat? Have you ever been? You would have thought he was hot too.

Anyway.... to thank my boss I made him a batch of Maple Oatmeal Raisin Cookies. And they were amazing!! Crisp on the outside with a nice chew in the middle these things are not on the healthy list. No sir, these are on the butter and sugar list.

Remember how I went to Trout Brook Sugarhouse a few weeks ago for a 24x24? While there I picked up a bag of their pancake mix and a cookie recipe. (both created by the son of the owner). The cookies they had out to sample were delicious so I knew I wanted to buy some of the pancake mix so I could make them up too. (The raisin addition was all me... I know I'm just so inventive sometimes I can't help it...)

Maple Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
recipe by Trout Brook Sugarhouse
Makes 2 dozen

1 stick butter (1/2 cup) softened
1/2 cup sugar
2 Tbs maple syrup
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1.5 cups Trout Brook Peter's Pancake mix (ingredient lists includes: flour, oats, oat flour, molasses powder, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, natural flavor)
1/2 cup raisins (my addition)

Beat together butter and sugar, add in vanilla maple syrup and egg. Slowly mix in pancake mix and fold in raisins. Drop tablespoonfuls of dough onto a greased cookie sheet and bake in a preheated oven at 350 for 10-15 minutes.

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Opera Cake

When John and I went on our honeymoon we had Opera Cake for the first time (image above), and it was delicious!! We haven't been able to find any in Rochester (anyone know of somewhere??) So I decided to make some myself. You basically make a thin almond sponge and then layer it with coffee butter cream and top it with a chocolate ganache.

We have recessed lighting in our kitchen which makes it wonderfully bright, sometimes too bright for food photography though as you can see by this picture. You will also notice my cake looks nothing like the professional one from the bakery *whomp whomp* yeah it looked pretty darn sad... and I scorched the chocolate... which is never a good thing (it came out totally lumpy).

Things I learned... leave Opera Cake to the professionals, guess we'll just have to go on another vacation to get some... don't mind if I do! If you want to try I found the recipe here.

Oatmeal Choc Chip Cookies

Warning: these are NOT HEALTHY. So don't go trying to justify, "oh they have oats in them, that makes them healthy" cause these bad boys are nothing close to healthy. Taken directly from the back of the nestle chocolate chip bag I made these for the insulation crew that was at our house last week.

Oh no! The insulation guy wasted away since he didn't eat enough cookies!! Where did he go?

Is it just me or are we in a constant state of construction/fixing up at my house? I know I know the "joys" of home ownership right? I think that' just bull if you ask me... I bought a house that was in "move in condition" so said that crafty shark like real estate agent (not ours, ours was freakin awesome). But that woman selling the house... oooo I just get mad thinking about her. Is that bad? Want to know what is bad, the fact that when I see said lady's picture on signs in front of other houses I want to stop my car and draw a mustache and glasses on her (yes I'm 12 years old). Admit it, you would laugh if you went past a house with a picture drawn on like that.

Ok enough with the nasty, back to the sweet delicious cookies! The guys who actually do the installation of stuff aren't making that big check you hand over to them unfortunately. Plus they were there all day crawling around in the attic fixing holes and blowing in insulation all over the place. Now who can say no to baking those hard working guys a batch of cookies? Certainly not me, plus well fed happy workers do a much better job than cranky hungry ones :) Don't you agree?

Slacker Tendencies and Smore brittle

I was talking (emailing) with Jeanne the other day about my slacker tendencies. I don't know about you, but I can't go full on all the time. I need to to, well, do nothing. As you can probably tell I did a lot of that over the holidays, and it was wonderful. I felt bad leaving you all without anything to read, but at the same point... you were probably all to crazed with the holidays to be reading my little old blog right? Here's how my time off from work played out.

• Had a bunch of coffee drinking and reading time
• Baked the staples, but had no motivation to take pictures (it's winter and grey out...)
• Watched a TON of movies and watched bad reality TV (lost some brain cells in the process)
• Took an awesome sewing book out from the library, have been staring at it ever since and dreaming about making said patterns... haven't picked up the scissors yet... total slacker.
• The one non slacker thing I did was go for some runs/spin class/ and cross country skiing... I'm not a total blob apparently (good for me right?)
  

Since you've been so patient with me and my slacker tendencies I wanted to treat you with this amazing not healthy smore brittle recipe. It's like crack people, so beware when you make it.


Smore Brittle

2 sticks butter (yikes)
1.5 cups sugar (more yikes)
2 Tbs corn syrup (only 2 tbs.. that's not bad)
enough sheets of graham crackers (I used cinnamon sugar) to fully layer a large rimmed cookie sheet
1/2 pound bittersweet chocolate, chopped into 1/2-inch pieces
2ish cups of mini marshmallows

1. Line a 12-by-17-inch rimmed baking sheet with a silicone mat or lightly buttered parchment paper. Arrange the graham crackers on the baking sheet in a single layer, patching any holes with cracker bits; slight gaps are okay.

2. In a medium saucepan, combine the sugar, butter and corn syrup and cook over low heat until the sugar is melted. Brush the side of the pan with a moistened pastry brush to wash down any sugar crystals. Cook the syrup over moderate heat without stirring until it starts to brown around the edge, about 5 minutes. Insert a candy thermometer into the syrup and simmer, stirring with a wooden spoon, until honey-colored caramel forms and the temperature reaches 300°, about 6 minutes longer.

3. Slowly and carefully pour the caramel over the crackers, being sure to cover most of them evenly. Using an offset spatula, spread the caramel to cover any gaps. Let cool for 3 minutes, then sprinkle the chopped chocolate evenly on top. Let stand until the chocolate is melted, about 3 minutes, then spread the chocolate evenly over the toffee. Spread the mini marshmallows evenly over the chocolate. Freeze the toffee until set, about 15 minutes.

5. Invert the toffee onto a work surface and peel off the mat or paper. Invert again, break into large shards and serve.

Sweet Moments

First off, if you haven't already don't forget to vote for me being the next food blogger star so I can make it onto round 2! Just click the button at the top of the page in the left hand column to vote! Or click here. Then you click the heart at the top of the page where it says "vote for this page" Thanks all!

Now onto some tasty treats! MyBlogSpark sent me a package the other day... it was filled with all types of relaxing things... like bubble bath, foot scrub, a loofah...

And new Pillsbury Sweet Moments.

It was for a spa night in and it was fabulously relaxing. You can find the sweet moments in the refridgerator section where they sell cookie dough. You know me and my love of home made... but I admit these were a fun treat. The little brownie chunks are dangerous though... each chuck is 60 calories, a serving size is 3 chunks, and there are 4 servings in a package.

Buy these if you have friends to share with or if you have good self control... otherwise you might need to talk yourself out of these. Four chunks went down pretty quick and as I reached in for my 5th... I stopped myself and said ok girl put DOWN the bag of brownies!!

Moist with a thin layer of caramel in the middle and covered in a thin layer of hard chocolate these things are described correctly on their packaging "Decedent and Delicious" No false advertising there!

Seriously though... if you are one without good self control... only get this if you have come to terms with that fact that you WILL be eating the full bag in one sitting :)

Birthday Cookies

First off today is the LAST day to sign up for the jam exchange... so if you want in do it now!


Today I turn 29 for the first time! I'd also like to say Happy Birthday to my birthday twin Jeanne who turns 29 for the second time today! Why is it that 29 is the number people always joke they are? Hopefully this means it's going to be an awesome year!!

It was a friends birthday just this weekend and she had a rocking party to celebrate her ummm 9th anniversary of being 29 ;) I brought these cookies along for the ride. And oh it was a fun ride!! Hi to all the new friends I made, some of them who make very tasty cocktails ;)

Onto the bad for you cookies!!! Umm I mean... they are so healthy... whole grain... dark chocolate... almond butter... just ignore the stick of butter and cups of sugar will ya :)


Almond Butter No Bake Cookies
recipe by who the hell knows... someone made it up a billion years ago

1 stick butter (1/2 cup)
1 3/4 cup white sugar
2 Tbs dark cocoa powder
1/2 cup almond butter (I used maranatha YUM)
4 cups oats

In a sauce pan bring butter and sugar to a boil, boil for 1.5 minutes, remove from heat and stir in almond butter, vanilla, and oats. Plop tablespoonfuls onto wax paper and allow to cool.

chow your little heart out.