Note to Self

A Cookie to Save My World a.k.a. Peanut Butter Oatmeal Sandwich Cookies

When you feel like this, I have a cookie for you:

I actually remembered to take a picture
before eating this last one.

The Peanut Butter Oatmeal Sandwich Cookies recipe from Annie's Eats is ridiculously delicious. I was looking for a couple of recipes that could withstand the mail and turned to my trusty recipe to-do list when I remembered these babies. I don't make sandwich cookies all that often, mostly because the cookie ends up too puffy or crumbly or some other attribute that sounds whiny but just doesn't allow for cookie sandwich success.

After having a few good experiences with recipes on the Annie's Eats blog, I had a little faith and ended up thoroughly impressed. This is my favorite type of peanut butter cookie - not too hard, not to soft, a slightly chewy and not cakey. It was a perfect sandwich storm. The filling is appropriately sweet, and I look forward to making these again with small filling flavor tweaks like jam, chocolate and chopped candy bars. 

Here's the recipe - or get it right from the source:

Cookies:

¾ cup all-purpose flour

½ tsp. baking soda (1/4 for high altitude)

¼ tsp. baking powder (1/4 for high altitude)

½ tsp. salt

8 tbsp. unsalted butter, softened

½ cup creamy peanut butter

½ cup granulated sugar

½ cup light brown sugar, packed

1 large egg

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 cup quick-cooking oats (not old fashioned!)

Filling:

3 tbsp. unsalted butter, softened

½ cup creamy peanut butter

1 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted

3 tbsp. heavy cream

Directions:

To make the cookies, preheat the oven to 350˚ F.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.  In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.  Stir together with a fork to blend.  In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter, peanut butter and sugars on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.  Blend in the egg and vanilla extract.  Add the dry ingredients and mix on low speed just until incorporated.  Stir in the oats until evenly blended.

Use a small cookie dough scoop to portion out the dough (about 2 teaspoons), rolling each portion into a ball, and place them on the prepared cookie sheet, a couple inches apart.  Bake about 10 minutes, rotating the sheet halfway through baking.  The cookies will be light golden brown and slightly puffed.  Let cool on the baking sheet 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cook completely.  Repeat with the remaining dough.

Once the cookies have cooled completely, pair them up by size.  To make the filling, combine the butter, peanut butter, confectioners’ sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer.  Cream together until well combined.  Mix in the heavy cream until smooth and fluffy.  Use a pastry bag fitted with a plain round tip to pipe a swirl of filling onto the flat side of one cookie of each pair.  Sandwich together with the remaining cookie and press down so that the filling reaches the edges.

Recipes in Review: 2011 Part 2

As promised, here's post #2 of my 2011 fall/winter recipe round-up. Be sure to poke around of the blogs listed below, there's enough to keep you busy for years...

Puff Pastry Cream Cheese Cherry Danishes


I have really been wanting to dive into more advanced pastry, which is why I'm excited about my new copy of The Pie and Pastry Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum. I really enjoy baking for breakfast, but I feel like I've reached a point where stratas, muffins, and scones aren't very inspirational. This recipe was a fun way to branch out a little without making the leap into homemade puff pastry. I wouldn't suggest going the route I did, using canned cherry pie filling since I didn't have any preserves for the middle. That said, the pie filling tasted great, it just doesn't do well in the oven. If you decide to use something similar, consider adding it after the fact. These are visually impressive and a wonderful addition to normal breakfast fare. Click here for the recipe from Baking Bites.

Baked Doughnuts: Maple Cinnamon Sugar & Mexican Chocolate Sprinkle
Call me crazy, but I'm putting you on notice that doughnuts are going to take over cupcakes - especially when they are this easy and delicious. A 50% coupon in hand, I picked up a doughnut pan from Michael's for $5 and sought out some relatively healthy recipes for baked doughnuts. It didn't take me long to find this incredible recipe, which turns out so much better than any of the mixes I've tried since  - from texture to flavor. The ingredients are typical staples, at least in my world, and I can always whip up a quick batch in minutes and have them on the table 10 minutes after that. To make a Mexican Chocolate Glaze, melt 3 oz of semisweet chocolate with 2 tbsp of butter and add a dash or two of cinnamon. Click here for the recipe from Handle the Heat.

Mint Nanaimo Bars
I'm somewhat ashamed that I hadn't tried these out before now- I've certainly eaten plenty growing up! Of course, I wasn't going to try just any recipe, which is why I headed straight to The Best of Bridge for this Canadian classic. I decided to make it a little more festive for a work holiday party by making the creamy center layer minty fresh. If you'd like to so the same, just add 1 tsp of peppermint extract and a little green food coloring - or just make the top ganache layer minty with melted mint chocolate chips. And, if one of the reasons you're thinking of passing this recipe by is the custard powder, you might be pleased to know that you can usually find it at World Market stores or any store that has a decent international isle with British food items. Otherwise, use vanilla pudding powder! Another great trick is for cutting the bars - keep two knives warm in a glass of hot water and dry off to cut the bars without breaking the ganache. Alternate between the two as they cool. Click here for the recipe from The Best of Bridge.

Pumpkin Butterscotch Cookies
Dear Lord, this flavor combination is quite possibly my new favorite. (In fact, I'm scheming to make a baked pumpkin doughnut recipe with butterscotch glaze.) These cookies are soft and pillowy but not without substance. Unlike some cakey cookies that get a little sticky and overly moist, these will not disappoint. Go ahead and make a double batch, trust me. Click here for the recipe from Annie's Eats.

Orange Blueberry Rolls with Citrus Frosting
Here's another recipe from Annie's Eats that was a fun experiment and nice change to the normal breakfast options. I substituted orange for lemon and heard no complaints! The only reason I would hesitate to make these again is that I always have the same problem when making a large tray of cinnamon or other breakfast rolls - the middle is way too doughy. I think I'll give these another go and try splitting the rolls into 2 square pans and see what happens! That's me, the problem solver. Click here for the recipe from Annie's Eats.

Bacon Scones with Maple Glaze
When it comes to scones, this is the recipe for me. Yes, bacon is trendy and has been completely over-hyped (I like to blame hipsters). However, bacon is also pretty delicious and even more so with a hint of maple on a fall morning. I've made these several times now, including making the dough in advance, freezing it, and dropping it off with instructions for baking and a little bag of glaze. They are flaky, robust and can even convince the burliest of bison wranglers to forgo his typical bacon and eggs. That's saying something in my book. Click here to get the recipe from How Sweet It Is.


And that just about does it! If you need me, I'll be spending lots of quality time on Pinterest finding new recipe inspiration: http://pinterest.com/piebirdkate.

Recipes in Review: Winter 2011

I know this is the time of year that bloggers look back at the past year and post their favorites. Examples: Annie's Eats, Brown Eyed Baker, Bake or Break, and Love & Olive Oil.  However, this is also the time of year that I post a list of all the recipes I've taken on in the last few months and have been too lazy to post! I don't know what it is about this time of year that gets me so behind other than the combination of 2 things - my absolute adoration of fall flavors (pumpkin, ginger, apple) and the inevitable slide into the holiday season and lots of homemade food gifts. 

While this list isn't totally comprehensive, it captures some of my favorites from the last few months. I plan to post more thorough run-downs on a select few of them in the next few weeks, but this is my insurance policy that I have at least shared the recipes to my dear friends. And if you notice that the photo quality dramatically improves over time, it's because I scored a sweet deal on a new Canon Rebel T3i (Merry Christmas to me!) and have just started playing around with it. 

In this first of two posts, let's start with 4 recipes that were my go-to's this Christmas - complete with ridiculously cute boxes that I picked up on clearance:

Clockwise from top right: Vanilla Bean Caramels, White Chocolate Gingerbread Blondies, Molasses Cookies with Orange Sugar, Pistachio Cranberry Shortbread Rounds

Pistachio Cranberry Shortbread Rounds

These cookies are not only festive but also completely addictive and a nice compliment to more traditional holiday flavors. I ended up making 4 batches of these so I can pretty much assure you that they are worth the investment in shelled pistachios. As icebox cookies, they require very little prep - and best of all, no cookie cutters! I made mine into rounds and didn't need the egg wash at all. After letting your dough soften just a little, roll it in the decorative or turbinado sugar and go on your merry way! Click here to get the recipe from Epicurious. 

Molasses Cookies with Orange Sugar

I've had these bookmarked forever! I made the mistake of leaving them to the last of my holiday baking, which meant that I in no way felt like messing with rolling out the dough. It turned out to be a good decision because this dough is super STICKY. I ended up sticking it in the freezer to get it to a point I could slice it with a heavy knife, essentially turning it in to an icebox cookie. The orange sugar is well worth the tiny bit of extra effort, and the slightly adult flavors made them a perfect recipe for coworkers. Click here to get the recipe over on The Kitchn.

White Chocolate Gingerbread Blondies

Just the sound of this recipe screams delicious. I ended up making 3 trays of these, the final version being my favorite after a few small tweaks. Be sure to make them in a 9x13 pan (much easier to spread thin enough) and cut the butter down to 2 cups. I baked mine for an extra 5 minutes as this seemed to ensure that the center was cooked a little more thoroughly. These were really easy to cut with the help of a pizza cutter and packaged up nicely in the box as well as stacked in cellophane bags. Click here for the recipe from Martha Stewart.

Vanilla Bean Caramels

2011 was the second year I tried my hand at caramels for the holidays. It's a relatively simple process that doesn't require much more than a candy thermometer and a little patience for stirring constantly. While it was probably the 6th time I'd made the recipe, I did manage to screw up one batch by overheating. Not to worry, though. If you make the same mistake and your caramel becomes much to hard, just cut it up and put it in a sauce pan with some heavy cream and you'll have some delicious caramel sauce to gift instead! Here's the recipe I've used - substituting the vanilla with vanilla bean paste and sprinkling the tops with a little sel gris. Click here for the recipe from Allrecipes. 

In addition to the box of deliciousness, I also decided to branch out of the baking arena with a huge batch of roasted mixed nuts. 

Chipotle and Rosemary Mixed Nuts

I'm not sure if I would have attempted this recipe without having access to a store where I can buy nuts in bulk due to cost. However, they are sooo delicious and perfect for gifting and snacking that I highly recommend them. You can use any combination of nuts that you like - I used pecans, walnuts and cashews - and really really really use fresh rosemary. Not only is the rosemary beyond tasty combined with the hot spice, it also adds some nice color. I packaged up 2 cups per gift in tin tie kraft bags (wax lined) and sent them on their way. Click here for the recipe from the Barefoot Contessa.

Here's the basket that went to my office -

and earned me the title "Baking Ninja."