Chewy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

I don't make a lot of cookies. When I bake, I prefer being able to throw the whole thing in the oven and waiting for a half hour or so. Cookies take diligence and attention. However, these cookies are always worth the effort. They are chewy and chocolately with just the right amount of salt to make them stand out. Pair them with hot chocolate? Perfection.

Ingredients:

• 2 sticks unsalted butter (16 tbls), softened but still firm
• 1 cup light brown sugar
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1.5 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon table salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 3 cups rolled oats
• 1.5 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees
• Beat butter until creamy
• Add brown and granulated sugar; beat until fluffy
• Beat in eggs one at a time
• Mix flour, salt and baking powder together, then add to wet mixture
• With a wooden spoon add the oatmeal and chocolate chips
• Using a small ice cream scooper or spoon, form small mounds of dough on cookie sheets (they don't spread much, so they can be somewhat close together)
• Bake 15-20 minutes or until the edges turn golden brown
  

Adapted from Cook's Magazine

Banging Banana Bread

The Smitten Kitchen is one of my favorite baking blogs. Any time I'm in the mood to try something new, I immediately check out Deb's immense (and brilliantly organized) collection of recipes.

So when John mentioned that he's a big fan of banana bread, I went immediately to TSM and found exactly what I was looking for. This a great recipe for beginner bakers. All you have to do is mash some bananas, melt some butter and the rest is all mixing stuff together. Easy! Fun! Tasty!

The fella likes to slather his slices with butter, but it's pretty yummy just on its own.

Ingredients:

• 3 to 4 ripe bananas, smashed
• 1/3 cup melted salted butter
• 3/4 light brown sugar
  
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
  
• Pinch of salt
  
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
  
• Pinch of ground cloves
• 1 1/2 cup of flour

Directions:

• Preheat the oven to 350°F.
• Melt the butter
• Mash the bananas (I use a potato masher but you can you use a spoon)
• Add the butter and mash some more
• Mix in the sugar, egg, vanilla and bourbon, then the spices.
  
• Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture and incorporate into the batter
  
• Add the flour last and mix.
  
• Pour mixture into a buttered 4×8 inch loaf pan.
  
• Bake for 50 minutes to one hour, or until a tester comes out clean.
  

Note: I usually let it cool enough to take it out of the pan, but I think it tastes better if eaten fairly soon after that when its still somewhat warm. Or you could eat it straight out of the oven, just don't burn the top of your mouth.

Adapted from The Smitten Kitchen, natch.

The Laziest Apple Pie

Sometimes you just want a pie. And by sometimes, I mean all the times and by you I mean me.

This is the easiest and bestest of pies.

I know it's probably sacrilegious in the baking blogosphere to post a pie recipe using store bought crust, but I will refer you to my first sentence and gently remind the blogosphere that sometimes when the desire for pie hits, you don't want to wait the extra time to make that delicious homemade crust, you just want your pie and you want it NOW.

Ahem.

Back to the recipe.

This one I learned from my mom. She has a giant binder of recipes that she cut out of magazines (you know, in the times before pinterest and googlereader) where she has some of the most delicious and timeless of treats, but this is by far her greatest find. It is simple and perfect.

If apple pies are going to become a regular part of your life, may I recommend investing in this contraption which will peel, core and slice your apples? It makes the laziest apple pie even lazier.

Apple cookie cutters are a fun way to decorate and you won't have to cut slits in the top.

Ingredients

• 5-6 tart apples, depending on size of apple and desired fullness of pie. Granny Smith is my apple of choice
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 store-bought double crust, thawed until soft (Trader Joe's makes the best, in my humbles)
  
• 1 tablespoon butter (approximate)

Directions:

• Preheat oven at 450 degrees
• Peel and slice apples
• Sift dry ingredients together
• Mix dry ingredients with sliced apples
• Line pie pan with bottom crust
• Fill with cinnamon-sugared apples
• Dot with butter and cover with top crust, draw several slits across the top with a sharp knife
  
• Bake for 15 minutes at 450 degrees
• Reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake for another 45 minutes

Kumquat Marmalade

Our landlord has a big, beautiful kumquat tree in the yard between her home and our little guest house. It is currently full of wonderful orange fruits just begging to be used, but since I've never been an indulger of kumquats, I had to invoke the internet to figure out the best way to use them.

That is how we got a huge jar of kumquat marmalade in our fridge. And oh my god is it good. Tart and yummy and perfect with a little butter on a piece of toast. Even better if that toast is from a loaf of handmade french bread.

(note: I adapted this from a recipe that did the boiling process in the microwave so the stove top process here is only an estimate. It worked just fine for me, but using a candy thermometer to get it to the soft ball heat might make it thicken even more.)

(note 2: I doubled the original recipe because I had a basket-full of kumquats, but you could easily halve it and just add equal parts sugar to the amount of blended fruit you have.)


Ingredients

• 2lbs of kumquats
• 2 medium oranges
• 4 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 3 cups of sugar (adjust to match resulting fruit puree)

Directions

• Wash kumquats and remove stems
• Slice ends off each kumquat, cut in half and cut out white pith and seeds; discard
• Peel oranges, remove seeds and chop into chunks about the same size as the kumquat pieces
• Add the lemon juice
• Add fruits to food processor and blend until it is more finely chopped (depending on your preference fruit chunk size)
• Measure out fruit mixture - you will need an equal amount of sugar
• Mix sugar and fruit in a pan on medium heat
• Let boil - if you have a candy thermometer you want it to be at the soft ball stage
• Remove from heat and allow to cool at room temperature. It will firm as it cools.
• Transfer to an airtight container. It will keep for two months in the fridge and six months in the freezer.
  

Adapted from Recipe Girl

Shrimp with Cilantro and Lime

I know what you're thinking. ANOTHER shrimp recipe? Didn't you just post one?
Well, yes. Yes I did.
But shrimp is delicious. It's delicious and healthy and super easy to make. It's amazingly flavorful and requires absolutely no salt (perfect for anyone trying to cut down on sodium). Plus, it's fairly cheap to make, with only five ingredients, two of which every cook should already have in their home (I'm talking about olive oil and garlic).


Make it with my favorite brown jasmine rice and you'll have a happy.

Ingredients

• 2 tsp olive oil
• 1 lb shrimp, shelled and deveined
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
  
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• Half a lime

Directions

• Heat oil in a large pan on medium heat
• Add shrimp and cook for about two minutes
  
• Add garlic
• Saute until shrimp is cooked
• Remove from heat
  
• Squeeze lime juice onto shrimp
• Toss with cilantro
• Serve hot with rice
  

Adapted from Gina's Skinny Recipes

Paprika Shrimp with Vegetables and Rice

Paprika is wonderful. It's this lovely little spice that had gone unused and unloved in my spice cabinet for far too long. And it smells amazing, especially heated with olive oil and garlic. Yum!

This is one of my favorite things to make for dinner during the week. It's fast, easy, healthy and utterly delicious. I'm fond of making it with jasmine rice but last night I tried brown jasmine rice. Usually I'm the first to wrinkle up my nose at the mere idea of substituting brown rice for white rice but it was quite good - less chewy than regular brown rice but definitely healthier then white.

We like our plates heaping but you could easily add a little more vegetables and make this a perfect meal for four.

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 cloves minced garlic
• 2 teaspoons paprika
• 1 pound raw shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 1 head broccoli, chopped into bite sized pieces
• 1/2 head cauliflower, chopped into bite sized pieces
• salt to taste

Directions

• Heat the olive oil in a large pan with a lid
• Add the garlic and paprika, reduce heat to medium, stir to spread the paprika evenly
• Add the shrimp and stir making sure to coat each shrimp with oil and paprika
• Add the broccoli and cauliflower, stir
• Cover the pan to steam vegetables*
• When shrimp is completely pink and vegetables are no longer crisp, remove from heat, add to rice and serve.

Recipe loosely adapted from EatingWell

*If you're making rice, which I highly recommend, you can start cooking it at this point. After years of being too intimidated to try rice, I finally found a very simple recipe that seems to work well for both white and brown rices. For every cup of rice (I usually only need one) add a cup and half of water.

Mix and set on the stove, uncovered on low heat. When it starts to boil, add the lid, but only covering half the pot. Mix often. When the water is almost gone, cover it completely for a few minutes. Usually at this point the moisture is gone but the rice is still a little crisp. Turn off the heat and cover the pot allowing it to steam until the rice is fully cooked.

Fresh Rosemary Bread

I love bread. There is something so wonderful and comforting about a firm crust and a soft, chewy interior, especially fresh out of the oven. And the smell! If they made a perfume called "French Bread", you can bet I'd be dabbling that behind my ears every morning.

And it's surprisingly easy to make. My advice for a good loaf of bread? Patience and a warm kitchen. Since our little guest house has no insulation, it gets really hot in the summer and really cold in the winter. So cold, that during the winter months my past bread attempts have fallen flat (get it?)

So I have a new trick. I've taken to leaving my oven on while I'm waiting for the loaf to rise. Just 200 degrees with the covered dough on the stove top where it's the warmest.

So here you go - an easy bread recipe that goes exceptionally well with pasta. Yum!


Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups bread flour
• 1 cup AP flour
• 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary
  
• 1 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup warm water
• 1 tablespoon honey
  
• 1 tablespoon olive oil

Directions:

1. In your standing mixer with the dough hook mix the flours, salt, yeast and rosemary
2. In a separate bowl mix the warm water, honey and olive oil
3. Add to dry ingredients in the mixer. Combine on medium speed until everything comes together
4. Let rest covered with saran wrap in the mixer for 15 minutes
5. Knead on medium speed until dough forms
6. Gently mold dough into a smooth ball and transfer to a lightly oiled bowl
7. Cover and let rise for one hour
8. Shape your dough: Flatten the dough into a circle by pressing your fingers into it and dimpling it. Once flattened, bring the edges into the center of the dough. Lift the dough by those edges and shape it into a smooth round roll, placing the seams down.
9. Preheat oven to 500 degrees - place baking stone or upside down baking sheet in the center rack
   
10. Place dough on a rimless baking sheet or upside down baking sheet on the counter and cover. Let rise for one hour
11. Scour top with sharp knife
12. If you have a spray bottle, spray the loaf with water before putting it in the oven. Repeat this ever minute for the first three minutes and then let back for another eight minutes. If you don't have a spray bottle, the recipe says you can place an empty loaf pan on the bottom rack of the oven and fill it with two cups of boiling water when you put the bread in the oven.
    
13. Reduce heat to 400 degrees and bake for another 15 to 20 minutes. I never check internal temperatures (bad baker, bad!) but if you do - this bread is ready when the internal temperature is 200 degrees
14. Place on a wire rack to cool

Adapted from: Bakingdom (with instructions on a vegan substitute for honey. Hint: it's sugar)

Butter Brownies

There is a lot of butter in this recipe. But if you're like me and your brownie preference leans towards fudgy over cakey then butter is a necessity.

Having said that: these are RICH and therefore best enjoyed in small pieces. If you feel the need to add them to a bowl of mint chip ice cream, so be it.

Ingredients

• 10 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter
  
• 1 1/4 Cup Sugar
• A Dash of Cinnamon
• 3/4 Cup Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
• 1/4 Teaspoon Salt
  
• 2 Teaspoons Water
• 2 Teaspoons Vanilla
• 2 Eggs
• 1/2 Cup Flour
• 1/3 Cup Chocolate Chips
  

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325. Line a brownie pan with parchment paper and spray with cooking spray.
   
2. Mix together the sugar, cocoa, cinnamon and salt. Set aside
3. Mix together the water and vanilla. Set aside
   
4. Place the butter in a medium sized saucepan (the rest of the ingredients will be added to it, so make sure it's large enough) and melt over medium heat. Stir and watch for it to foam. It will be about 6-8 minutes before it starts to brown and smell nutty.
   
5. Once browned, remove from heat and immediately add the dry mix from step 2 and the wet mix from step 3
   
6. Cool for about 5 minutes, then add in the eggs one at a time.
7. Add flour
   
8. Add chocolate chips.
9. Bake for 20-30 minutes - start checking at 20 minutes. Toothpick should have some small crumbs on it, not be completely clean.

Adapted from: Goddess of Baking