Oatmeal Cream Pies {recipe}

I've been wanting to try to make these oatmeal cream pies for a long while.. and I decided to make them this past week to take to work.  They were gone by the time I left, so I think they were a hit.  ;)  I did save some for us to keep at home too, and of course those didn't last long either.  They taste very similar to the well-known store bought version.. even better, actually.. because homemade is always better.  Don't let the ingredient list scare you.  These cookies aren't that much work, and they're worth it!  When I first saw the ingredient list, I thought how strange that cocoa powder and dried apples were in it.. but they looked so good, so I stuck it out.. and I don't know how, but everything just meshes so well together.  I have to eat mine with a big glass of milk.  :)

Oatmeal Cream Pies
recipe from Annie's Eats

For the cookies: 
8 oz. (1½ cups plus 2 tbsp.) all-purpose flour
4 oz. (1¼ cups) old-fashioned oats
½ ounce (2 tbsp.) unsweetened cocoa powder
2 oz. (1 cup, packed) dried apple rings
3 oz. (6 tbsp.) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2¼ oz. (¼ cup plus 1½ tsp.) canola oil
7 oz. (1¾ cup plus 2 tbsp.) sugar
1½ oz. (3 tbsp.) molasses
3 oz. (6 tbsp.) corn syrup
1½ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. kosher salt
¼ tsp. ground ginger
¼ tsp. ground cinnamon
1 large egg
2 ounces (¼ cup) milk

For the filling:
2 cups marshmallow creme
4 oz. (8 tbsp.) unsalted butter, at room temperature
¾ cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted
Pinch of salt
½ tsp. cream or milk

Preheat oven to 350 F.  Line baking sheets with parchment paper or a silicone mat.  Combine the flour, oats, cocoa powder, and apples in a food processor (I used my Ninja) and pulse a few times, then process about 2 minutes, until no large apple bits or full oats remain.  Set aside.

Combine the butter, oil, sugar, molasses, corn syrup, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices in a bowl of a mixer.  Beat on medium-high speed until well combined, about 2 minutes.  Mix in the egg and beat 1 more minute.  Blend in the dry ingredients and the milk just until incorporated.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl and beat 30 seconds more.

Use a dough scoop to portion out the dough onto the prepared baking sheets, about 1 tablespoon per cookie, leaving ample room as the cookies will spread while baking.  Transfer the pans to the oven and bake, rotating halfway through, until the cookies are set around the edges and puffed up in the center, about 4-6 minutes depending on your oven.  They may seem too soft but remember that the original is a very soft cookie so that is the desired texture here.  Also remember the cookies will continue to bake a bit longer once they are out of the oven.  Do not overbake, this will result in a hard cookie instead of a soft and chewy one.  When cool and set enough to move, transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

For the filling, combine the marshmallow creme and butter in a mixing bowl and beat on medium-high speed until smooth.  Blend in the confectioners’ sugar and salt and whip until the mixture is light and fluffy, about 1-2 minutes more.

Pair up the cookies by size.  Then transfer the filling mixture to a pastry bag fitted with a medium round tip.   Or you can do what I did and just use a spoon to dollop some in the center of the flat side of the cookie, then sandwich together with the other cookie and press gently so the filling goes to the edges.  Store in an airtight container.  Yields 2-3 dozen cookies, depending on size.

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies {recipe}

This is one of my favorite chocolate-y cookies.  You know those cookies that you just can't stop eating, and need a huge glass of a milk to go with it?  Yep, these are the ones (ok, maybe that's most cookies for me).  They are chewy and soft.. perfectly perfect.  I've made these cookies quite a few times in the past, but this time I made just a couple changes.  I used white whole wheat flour, instead of all-purpose... I've switched completely, and now use white whole wheat for everything.  So far, so GOOD!  I love the taste and chewiness it gives.  It's lighter than whole wheat, but has 100% of the nutrition.  Also, I used dark cocoa and dark choco chips instead of the traditional semi-sweet.  I have a love for dark chocolate.. and I think it works perfectly for these cookies.  Of course, you can switch out whatever kind of chocolate suits your taste.  :) 

These are also Clara approved, of course.  The kid takes after me - major sweet tooth!  Yes, she was sneaking chocolate chips while helping me and my mom make these..

Perfectly Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies
from Hershey's

• 2-1/4 cups white whole wheat flour (or all-purpose)
• 1/3 cup special dark cocoa (or cocoa of your choice)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2  eggs
• 2 cups (12-oz. pkg.) dark chocolate chips (or chips of your choice)

Heat oven to 375°F.  Stir together flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt.  Beat butter, sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla in a large bowl on medium speed until creamy.  Add eggs; beat well.  Gradually add flour mixture, beating well.  Stir in chocolate chips.  Drop by rounded teaspoons onto ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake 8-10 minutes (9 minutes is the magic number for my oven), or until set.  Do not overbake.  Cool slightly, then remove from cookie sheet to wire rack to cool completely.  Makes about 5 dozen cookies.  Eat warm with a huge glass of milk.  ;)

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Cheesecake Just Makes Life Better

Lately, I hate cooking.  I just don't have any desire to be in the kitchen unless I'm baking something.  And I haven't even been baking as much lately.  I've been so tired, and my feet hurt and swell if I'm on them for more than 15 minutes at a time it seems.  I'm so glad I have such an understanding and helpful husband.  He's been helping a lot with the cooking lately.  But this week was our anniversary and I wanted to make something yummy (not that I need an excuse to bake -- life is short, so I say bake when you want!), so I made Sopapilla Cheesecake bars a few days ago.  I love cheesecake and I love sopapillas, so I figured there's no way I could go wrong here.  It will probably be a while before I get to be in the kitchen again, since I'll be up in Seoul for at least 2 weeks starting next week.. so I had to make one last (maybe) thing before the trip.  My mom made this recipe a while ago and said it was good, so I figured I had to try it out too!

Sopapilla Cheesecake
recipe from Food.com

• 2 (8oz) packages of cream cheese
• 2 (8oz) packages refrigerated crescent dinner rolls
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup margarine or butter, melted
• 1/2 cup cinnamon sugar

Grease a 9x13 pan.  Unroll one package of crescent rolls and line the bottom of the pan.  Mix together the cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla extract until well blended and spread over the crescent rolls.  Then, unroll the second package of crescent rolls and place on top of the cream cheese mixture.  Melt 1/2 cup (1 stick) of butter and pour over the top, then sprinkle with about 1/2 cup of cinnamon sugar.  Bake at 350 F for 30 minutes.

Let it cool.  You can serve it slightly warm, but I prefer it chilled!  Then drizzle a little honey on top and you are good to go!  Or you can serve it with fresh strawberry sauce.. or even.. chocolate..

I really enjoyed this recipe.  It was easy to make, and it was satisfying!  When I made it, I did cut the recipe in half and used an 8x8 pan instead -- because that is plenty for just my husband and I.  Anything more would have been too much for just the two of us. 

Tomorrow I have my baby shower (a second one.. lucky me!) and then my husband and I are going to head out of town for the weekend to 'get away' and celebrate our anniversary.  Can't wait!

Sugar Attack...

My weekend consisted of some pretty awesome things.  Shopping trip to Namdaemun Market, baby shower, baking, naps, and the company of great friends.  Kind of sounds like the perfect weekend, right?  Now if only the pool would open so I could go lounge around and get some sun on my legs before baby girl gets here!

To the left is walking through part of Namdaemun Market (it's huge) and to the right is just a portion of all the beautiful wrapping papers and tissue papers.  Seriously - there was so much and they are amazing.  You can't find wrapping paper this pretty in the states anywhere.  I'm definitely going to stock up on their wrapping paper, tissue paper, and greeting cards before we PCS out of here next year (oh, and fabric too) !!

Just 3 more weeks until I head up to Seoul and wait for baby girl to be born.  I can't believe it's coming up so fast -- so many things I want to do, yet I just want to relax and enjoy this last bit of time that we have of it being 'just us'.  It's hard to do both, ha ha!

And what would be a weekend without baking?  My husband wanted me to make these this weekend.. Can you guess what these beautiful little brownies have inside them?  Can ya, can ya, can ya?

Golden Oreos!!

I just love goodies that have little surprises in them.  So much fun.  Although I could only eat a few because I would have gone into a sugar-induced coma if I had any more.. they were delicious!  Especially good while warm with a little vanilla ice cream.  :)  It's a miracle I haven't gained more than I already have during this pregnancy... so I'm trying to quit while I'm ahead, ha ha!

Oreo Stuffed Brownies

• 1 box brownie mix (or make your own, if that strikes your fancy)
• 1 package oreos 

Preheat oven to 350 F & generously coat cupcake/muffin tins with nonstick spray.  Prepare brownie mix according to package.  Dip oreos in brownie batter then place in bottom of cupcake/muffin tins.  Bake 12-15 minutes, or until brownie is cooked through.  As soon as you remove them from the oven, run a knife around the edges so they are easier to get out once they cool a little.  Let cool 5 minutes, then remove from tins and enjoy.  :)  It should make the whole package of oreos. 

Red Velvet Cookies (the easy way)!

Because sometimes it's okay to do things the easy way!  Especially when you're pregnant, exhausted, and grumpy... but still want to bake something.  ;o)  And when my cousin showed me this recipe, I had to make them because I love red velvet.  And I just couldn't get these cookies out of my head.  Then when I made a quick trip to the store to grab a few things, I passed some summer sausage and sweet & hot mustard.  After seeing that, that's all I wanted and could have cared less about the cookies.  Pregnancy brain = easily distracted.  But I knew I would regret it if I didn't make these cookies.. so, here they are.


Red Velvet Cookies
recipe from here

• 1 pouch of Betty Crocker sugar cookie mix
• 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
• 1/4 cup butter or margarine, softened 
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 1 tablespoon red food coloring
• 1 egg
• Betty Crocker cream cheese frosting (or you can make your own.. even better.  I'm lazy.  I did not.)
• Your topping of choice (chopped nuts, sprinkles, etc)

Heat oven to 375 degrees F.


In a large bowl, stir cookie mix, cocoa, butter, sour cream, food coloring, and egg until soft dough forms.  It is a very sticky dough, and I ended up using my hands to mix it.  It will get messy... and you may or may not get your hands tinted red.  If you want to use gloved to protect your hands, you can.

Roll dough into 1-inch balls and place on an ungreased cookie sheet.  The dough does not spread, so I actually formed my cookies into the shape that I wanted them... flattened them out a bit.


The recipe says to bake 8-9 minutes, but I baked mine for 6 minutes and they were perfect.  Let them cool for a few minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to let them cool completely before frosting.  After frosted, store tightly covered at room temperature.

Before baking... I pressed them into the shape I wanted them.

Cooling!

I made some with green frosting, too.. but my husband inhaled them before I could take a picture!

MMM... the husband approved!

I think they turned out well and were very delicious.  I had about 3 of them and then I let my husband take the rest to work so  the guys could have at'em.. and they ate them all!  So happy they liked them.  :)


Now.. what to make next?  Hmm.. guess you'll just have to wait and see.  :o)  Love Christmas baking!

Chocolate Pudding Cake

Because when you want something chocolately, there's nothing better than Chocolate Pudding Cake.  It's like one big heaping pile of chocolate.  Mmmmm...

Chocolate Pudding Cake
slightly adapted from allrecipes.com

3/4 cup all-purpose flour
2/3 cup white sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, divided
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
2/3 cup brown sugar (that's what the recipe called for.. I used a little less than that)
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups hot water

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Stir together the flour, white sugar, 1/4 cup of cocoa, baking powder, and salt.  Add milk and oil; mix well.  Pour into an ungreased 8x8 square pan.  Sprinkle brown sugar, remaining (1/4 cup) cocoa, and chocolate chips over the mixture.  Add the vanilla to the 1 1/4 cups hot water, then pour the water over the top.

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until the surface appears dry.  Serve warm with a spoon.  Goes good with a big glass of ice cold milk or even a scoop of vanilla ice cream!!  Roughly serves 4 people (depending on your serving size... uhh.. my husband and I almost ate the whole thing in one night...)...

Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

I was in the mood for something with pumpkin - it's one of my favorite things about this season!!  I found this recipe here and immediately had to make them.  I've made pumpkin cupcakes before, but I thought I'd try a recipe that was a little different.  This one is perfect!

Pumpkin Cupcakes
from Tracey's Culinary Adventures 

• 1 stick unsalted butter, at room temp.
• 1 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 2 cups cake flour  (tip:  if you only have all-purpose flour on hand, you can substitute 1 cup minus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour for 1 cup cake flour)
•  2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 cup buttermilk mixed with 1 teaspoon vanilla (tip:  if you don't have buttermilk, mix 1/2 cup regular  milk with 1 1/2 tablespoons of white vinegar and let it sit for about 10 minutes)
• 1 1/4 cups canned solid-packed pumpkin

Preheat oven to 350 F and line cupcake pans with 18 liners.

Beat butter and both sugars with a mixer on medium until fluffy, about 5 minutes.  Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, and salt into a separate medium bowl.

One at a time, add the eggs to the butter/sugar bowl and mix.  Alternate adding the flour and milk mixtures, beginning and ending with the flour.  Lastly, add the pumpkin and beat until smooth.

Fill cupcake liners until about 3/4 full.  Bake cupcakes about 25 minutes (or until a toothpick comes out clean).  Transfer cupcakes to a wire rack to cool before frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting
from Martha Stewart

• 2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temp.
• 12 ounces cream cheese, at room temp.
• 4 cups (1 lb.), confectioners' sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Beat butter and cream cheese with a mixer on medium until fluffy, about 2 minutes.  Reduce speed to low and add sugar, 1 cup at a time, and then vanilla extract.  Mix until smooth.

Refrigerate until needed (can be made up to 3 days in advance).  When ready to use, bring to room temperature and beat until smooth.  Makes about 4 cups.

I have some leftover pumpkin from these that I had to throw in the freezer... now I just need to figure out what else to make with it!

S'mores Cupcakes

Graham crackers, chocolate, and marshmallows... the perfect combination!  I saw this recipe on Bakerella and knew I had to try this one out.  They looked amazing!  And trust me, they are.  One of these and a big, cold glass of milk had me satisfied!  I haven't really baked much of anything since being in Korea (3 months... it's been THREE MONTHS and I have only baked one cake).. I've been in the baking mood, and I was bound and determined to make something that made my sweet tooth happy.  I'm proud to say they turned out pretty darn well, too!

Cupcakes

• 1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 cup cocoa
• 3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
• 1 cup milk
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1/2 cup oil
• Bag of jumbo marshmallows

Graham Cracker Crumb Topping

• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs
• 1/4 cup butter, melted

Ganache

• see recipe here (I cut it in half)
• 4 oz. semi-sweet chocolate
• 4 oz heavy cream

Preheat oven to 350 F.
In a bowl, mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, and baking soda.  Separate the mixture in half, into two bowls.

Stir cocoa into one bowl and the graham cracker crumbs into the other.
Add 1/2 cup milk, 1 egg, 1 teaspoon vanilla, and 1/4 cup oil to the cocoa mixture and beat until combined.
Repeat, adding the same ingredient to the graham cracker crumbs bowl.

Now to make the graham cracker crumb topping! Mix the brown sugar and graham cracker crumbs into a small bowl and  pour in the melted butter.  Stir until combined and crumbly.

Pour a little graham cracker cake batter into your baking cups and then sprinkle the topping mixture lightly on the surface.  Place a marshmallow half on top and then cover the marshmallow with the chocolate cake batter until it's about 3/4 full.  Sprinkle more of the topping mixture over it.

Bake the cupcakes for about 15 minutes.  This recipe made about 16 cupcakes for me.  Let the cupcakes cool and then top with the chocolate ganache.

Now EAT!  MmmMmMmmmmm.

Doesn't it just look pretty???!