Christmas Cookie Week - Peanut Butter Chocolate Bars

I wanted to make a new recipe for some bars to go with the Christmas cookies I was baking, so when I saw this recipe in the Kraft magazine, I thought they looked good.  

Peanut butter and our family go together like monkeys and bananas, like a wink and a smile, like ..., well like peanut butter and chocolate.  My father took a peanut butter sandwich to work for lunch every day of his teaching career.  Yep, that is an affection for peanut butter.  

These bars are delicious and easy to make.  I'm not convinced they need to be cooked in the foil, but I did what I was told and made them that way.  I changed a few things - like less salt; peanut butter without sugar or salt instead of peanut butter with honey; chocolate chips instead of chopped chocolate; and melted chocolate drizzled over the top with sprinkles to make them look festive.

Ingredients:
1 cup flour
3/4 cup quick-cooking oats
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup butter or margarine
3/4 cup peanut butter
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1 square semi-sweet chocolate to melt and drizzle over the top after they are baked

Method:
1. Heat oven to 350F
2. Line a 9 x 13 pan with foil extending the ends of the foil over the sides and spray with cooking oil
3. Beat the butter, peanut butter, and sugars together in a large bowl. 
4. Add the egg and vanilla and mix well
5.  Add the flour, oats, and baking soda and mix well
6. Stir in the chocolate chips and cranberries
7.  Press gently into the bottom of the pan
8.  Bake for 20-22 minutes or until the centre is set.  Cool completely in the pan before cutting into bars.

Angie from Echoes of Laughter

Julie from Sober Julie

Stacey from This Lil’ Piglet

Joann from Women In Real Life

Jo-Anna from A Pretty Life In The Suburbs

Grace from Sense & Simplicity

Donna From An Anglo In Quebec

Ricki Jill from Art@Home

Linked to Foodie Friday at Rattlebridge Farm

Christmas Cookie Week - M&M Chocolate Chip Cookies

Another favourite cookie around our house is chocolate chip cookies - my Mom's chocolate chip cookies to be exact.  I wanted to make some for Christmas, but I didn't want to bake ordinary chocolate chip cookies; I wanted them to look festive.  I decided that adding Christmas M&Ms would be the answer.  

I looked up on-line the best way to bake with M&Ms and one site recommended adding them to the top of cookies when there was about 5 minutes left of baking time and another sites added the M&Ms to the cookie batter.  What's a person to do with a dilemma like that!  So I did what any sensible person would do and I did both.  The ones on top are nice and clean which looks pretty and adding them near the end of the baking time meant that fewer cracked, but it is always nice to bite into a cookie and find an M&M.  Definitely a win-win solution.  

Ingredients: 1 cup margarine 1 cup brown sugar 1/2 cup white sugar 2 eggs 2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour 1 tsp baking soda 1/2 cup sunflower seeds 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips 1 cup M&Ms (plus extra M&Ms to put on top part way through baking)
Method: Mix first four ingredients together. Blend in the flour and baking soda. Add the chocolate chips, M&Ms, and sunflower seeds. Drop by teaspoonful onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 375F for 10-12 minutes. Makes 4 dozen delicious cookies   Enjoy!
And speaking of enjoying cookies, have you seen all the amazing treats being baked for Christmas Cookie Week.  Have a look at what these bloggers have been baking and prepared to be inspired.

Angie from Echoes of Laughter

Julie from Sober Julie

Stacey from This Lil’ Piglet

Joann from Women In Real Life

Jo-Anna from A Pretty Life In The Suburbs

Grace from Sense & Simplicity

Donna From An Anglo In Quebec

Ricki Jill from Art@Home

Linked to Foodie Friday at Rattlebridge Farm

Christmas Cookie Week - Shortbread Cookies

As soon as I smell the dough of shortbread cookies being mixed I know Christmas is just around the corner.  It is THE Christmas cookie for our family so I knew I wanted it to be the first cookie I posted in our Christmas Cookie Week.  

Speaking of Christmas Cookie Week - this year Angie from Echoes of Laughter and I have joined up with six other bloggers to bring you a super-sized Cookie Week.  Can you believe it - a whole week of cookies, not just from my kitchen, but from seven other bloggers as well.  

The shortbread recipe I use is from my father's mother (who you can see in the photo below.) The recipe is a classic - just like my grandmother was.  She always wore a dress even when we went camping.  And although she lived in small towns in northern British Columbia for much of her life she always set a nice table, used serviettes, served dessert, and remembered the finer things of life.  

Lucy and Stanley Jones in 1955 (Maple Ridge, BC).

In 2009 I travelled with my parents to Smithers in northern British Columbia and was shown all the important sites of my father's childhood.  I was especially interested to see the houses they lived in.  The one in the photo below was the house they lived in the longest.  Isn't it the cutest!  The kitchen window is around the left side of the house and looks out across to the mountains that you can see in the second photo below.  I love thinking of my grandmother making her shortbread cookies looking out to the snow-covered mountains.

Since I make these shortbread every year - I  try and change things up.  This year I decorated the shortbread using coloured sugar in my two favourite colours - turquoise and green.  I decided to go with a modern Christmas tree theme with the trees coloured in bold stripes or colour-blocked.  I used a small piece of cardboard to keep each colour in the right section.  Worked like a charm.  I bet my Grandma's cookies didn't look like these!

Here is the shortbread recipe:

Ingredients:

1 lb butter (2 cups) at room temperature

1 cup light brown sugar

5 cups flour

pinch salt

Method:
1.  Mix all ingredients together in a bowl
2.  Knead until they form a ball
3.  Roll out on a lightly-floured surface to a thickness of between 1/4 and 1/2 inch
4.  Cut or stamp cookies with cookie cutters and place on an ungreased cookie sheet
5.  Bake at 350F for about 8-10 minutes or until they are lightly brown (do not overbake)

In previous years I have also made cranberry-orange shortbread which is a nice variation.

Is shortbread a Christmas classic for your family?

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Welcome to Christmas Cookie Week 2013! This year eight bloggers have come together to share a daily recipe for yummy and delicious cookies that we hope will inspire you during this season of Christmas baking! We come from different parts of Canada, with one friend joining us from Alabama, but we all share a joy of baking which makes for love…fresh from the oven!

Angie from Echoes of Laughter

Julie from Sober Julie

Stacey from This Lil’ Piglet

Joann from Woman In Real Life

Jo-Anna from A Pretty Life In The Suburbs

Grace from Sense & Simplicity

Donna From An Anglo In Quebec

Ricki Jill from Art@Home

Linked to Foodie Friday at Rattlebridge Farm

Strawberry-Lemon Shortcake

William turned 19 today. How on earth did that happen. Unfortunately it's proof positive that I'm no longer 29!

He's a bit of a foodie so I decided to try something a little different for his birthday cake (well different for our family anyway) - I made a strawberry shortcake with a lemon twist.  It was delicious and looked so pretty.  

I think lemons and strawberries were made for each other.  The sweetness of one balances the tartness of the other.  The red and yellow compliment each other in the nicest summer-picnic sort of way.

It was an easy dessert because I started with this lemon cake mix.  I mixed it according to the directions and baked it in my new bundt pan. By the way, I'm so excited to finally have a bundt pan that doesn't stick. This might lead to a complete and utter bundt cake addiction. Don't you think cakes look extra special when you bake them in a bundt pan?

I iced the cake with lemon icing glaze using the following ingredients:

• 1 3/4 cup icing sugar
• 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon butter or margarine

I mixed the ingredients together and then microwaved it for 45 seconds. I gave the icing a good stir so everything was blended. When the icing was cool, I drizzled it over the cake - which was a lot of fun as it poured onto the cake in thick folds making a pretty pattern.

I also grated a little bit of lemon rind to sprinkle on top of the icing.  Just before serving I filled the centre with sliced strawberries that I had mixed with some sugar so they were nice and glossy and juicy.

And I served it with whipped cream.  Yum!

We are firmly in the chocolate cake with chocolate icing camp (you can see an example of a previous birthday cake I made decorated with a Beatles image here), but I have heard there are people who prefer other kinds of cake for their birthdays. What does your family like for birthday cakes?  

Pumpkin Muffins

About a month ago I saw a recipe for muffins that looked delicious (here). The recipe called for an entire large can of pumpkin puree and since I love pumpkin anything, I figured I had better give it a try. Well let me tell you they are so fantastic I've made the recipe three times since I found it.
I made several changes to the original recipe as we are trying to eat along the lines of the Mediterranean diet. (which I plan on learning and writing more about in the near future.)  One of the struggles for me with eating healthier is finding good alternatives for snacking so I was happy to find a healthy snack food recipe.
The Mediterranean diet encourages you to eat lots of olive oil, so I substituted olive oil for the margarine/butter in the recipe.  I also decreased the sugar by a cup and substituted whole wheat flour for white.  When I made them today I also added raisins with the chocolate chips which was met with happiness all round.

Here’s how to make our new favorite pumpkin muffins:

Combine: 

2 c. sugar 

1 1/2 cups olive oil

Then add: 

6 eggs 

Mix, then add: 

1 tablespoon cinnamon 

1 teaspoon cloves 

1 teaspoon ginger 

1 teaspoon allspice 

1 teaspoon nutmeg 

1 tablespoon vanilla 

1/2 teaspoon. salt 

1 tablespoon baking soda 

1 tablespoon baking powder 

Mix, then add: 

4 1/2 cups whole wheat flour 

1 large can pumpkin puree 

3 cups chocolate chips

(and about 2 cups of raisins if desired) 

Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes

This makes a lot, as you can see - one tray of mini-muffins, one tray of regular muffins, and two square pans full.  They freeze well in case you want to stretch out the snackfest.

What's your family's go-to favourite snack food?

p.s. This tastes fantastic with cream cheese icing (recipe here) - we tried it out for you at Easter dinner.

Linked to The Scoop at On Sutton Place,
Make the Scene Monday at Alderberry Hill

Pretzel Love

Last week Malcolm sent us a pretzel recipe that he and Christie had made together on Valentine's Day (Awww!  Isn't that sweet) ... and this afternoon William and I made them.  It was our first time making pretzels.  They are not difficult at all and are delicious warm from the oven - and even better with peanut butter spread on each bite.

Here's the recipe so you can give it a try if you are in the mood for fresh warm soft salt-topped pretzels.

Pretzel recipe
2 1/2 tsp yeast dissolved with 3 tsp sugar in 1 1/2 cups warm water

Blend in 4 cups white flour and some salt

Kneed dough until smooth (don't let rise) - add drops of water as needed if the dough is breaking apart

Cut into 16 even pieces 

Roll and twist into pretzel shapes

place on a greased pan
Glaze with milk and sprinkle with salt

Bake in a preheated oven at 425 degrees for 12-15 minutes

We usually eat the skinny crunchy store-bought pretzels and I can't think I've ever had homemade ones before.  They are as different as night and day and now I love both.  Have you eaten homemade pretzels?  Which do you prefer?

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Update:

My husband found the plate hangers for the missing fruit plates, but still no plates.  So in the meantime I have hung three pairs of other random plates that fit the space and the hangers. They are nice for a change and I'm sure the fruit plates will appear much sooner now that they know they have competition for the wall space.

Healthy Delicious Orange Oatmeal Cookies

It was a snow day today so that meant I had to bake something delicious.  I was inspired by the cookies that Ann made at On Sutton Place.  I can never leave a recipe alone so, of course, I tweaked and changed the recipe quite a bit and have posted my version below.  I was on a super duper healthy cookie kick so I put all the nutritious things I could think of into these cookies along with some orange and cinnamon to make them interesting.  We all loved them - so delicious.  I do think they look a little 'healthy', which is why I arranged them on this pretty plate which I always think looks so happy, don't you agree?

I hope you get a chance to make them. They are the perfect snack when you are hungry or just when you want a little something with a cup of tea.

Orange Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients:

• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup butter or margarine
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 1/2 cups oats
• 1/3 cup sunflower seeds
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 banana, mashed
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• 1 teaspoon orange zest
• 1/4 cup orange juice

Cooking Directions:

1. Mix together wet ingredients.
2. Mix together dry ingredients and add to the wet.
3. Drop onto greased cookie sheet.
4. Bake at 350 for about 12 minutes or until just beginning to brown along edges

Do you make super healthy cookies?  What do you include to make them palatable?

Christmas Cookie Week: Chocolate Magic Bars

This week seems to have flown by.  Here we are on the last day of Christmas Cookie Week already. 
I made some bars for today's post - the recipe is written below, but be sure and keep reading to get my assessment of them.

INGREDIENTS:
Base - 
2 cups (500ml) coconut, toasted
2 cups (500 ml) rolled oats
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted

Topping -
1 1/2 cups almonds or mixed nuts (I used a mixture of almonds, walnuts, and peanuts)
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 1/2 cups milk chocolate chips
2 cans (300 mls each) regular or low fat sweetened condensed milk

METHOD:
1.  Preheat oven to 350F
2.  Toast coconut by spreading on a cookie sheet and baking for 8 - 10 minutes at 350F or until it starts to turn brown, tossing halfway through
3.  Butter the bottom and sides of a 9 x 13 inch pan.  Line with parchment paper for easy removal (and believe me, it is necessary)
4.  In a large bowl combine toasted coconut, oats, sugar, and melted margarine.  
5.  Press into pan in an even layer along bottom and up the sides
6.  Bake in preheated oven for 18 - 20 minutes until golden brown
7.  Sprinkle cooked base with nuts, then with chocolate chips, and then pour the condensed milk evenly over the filling
8.  Bake for 30-35 minutes until golden brown and bubbly
9.  Cool completely for at least 4 hours before cutting into squares

If I were to rate these bars they would get a 5 out of 5 for taste.  They were scrumpdelicious.  However, and this is a big however, I had a very difficult time getting them out of the pan in nice looking pieces.  They were sticky on the bottom and the top sometimes broke apart.  The pieces in these photos were sort of pushed back together so they look okay, but that doesn't really work well when they are part of a plate of cookies and squares.  So they would rate a 2 out of 5 in terms of appearance.  

I have to tell you that it was mighty frustrating to have them not work out as I had already made a pan of maple-walnut bars last weekend and they just wouldn't come out of the pan and the centre was runny so I scrapped them (and we were forced to eat them).  To have two fails was a bit of a bummer.

My mom and I take dessert to Christmas dinner and I like to have a mix of cookies and bars on the platter - thus far I only have cookies.  So my friends, I'm sending out a plea for you to share your tried-and-true bar recipes.  What is your go-to recipe for squares?  Do tell.  I'm hoping that the third times the charm.

Don't forget to pop over to my friend Angie at Echoes of Laughter and see what yummy recipe she has for you today.

Linked to Flaunt it Friday at Chic on a Shoestring,
Foodie Friday at Rattlebridge Farm,
Friday Block Party at Curb Alert,
Overflowing with Creativity at It's Overflowing

Christmas Cookie Week: Rudolph Cookies

It's Day 3 of Christmas Cookie Week and I have a cookie recipe for you that came with a rather plain name - Cottage Cheese Thumb Prints. Yawn!  I first made these cookies years and years ago and when the hubster saw them he said they looked like Rufolph's nose.  And so they were christened Rudolph Cookies.

Ingredients:
1 container (16 oz, 500 gm) cottage cheese
2 cups (4 sticks or 1 pound) butter or margarine, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
granulated sugar
1 cup seedless raspberry preserves

 Method:
1.  Puree cottage cheese
2.  Add butter and vanilla and beat until light and fluffy
3.  Stir in flour and salt until well blended
4.  Shape into a ball, cover, and refrigerate 30 minutes to firm
5.  Preheat the oven to 400F
6.  Spray cookie sheets with vegetable cooking spray
7.  Roll pieces of dough into balls the size of small walnuts 
8.  Roll dough balls in sugar and place on cookie sheets 2 inches apart
9.  Make indentations in the middle of each cookie with your thumb
10. Fill each indentation with about 1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon of raspberry preserves
11. Bake for 12 minutes or until cookies are lightly browned (watch them carefully as the sugar likes to brown quickly) and remove promptly to a rack to cool.

I love thumb print cookies.  They always look fancy and yet are so easy to do - mix the batter, roll the balls, shove your thumb in the middle, and fill 'er up with something yummy.  I've made ones filled with chocolate kisses, M&Ms (like I did yesterday), and jam.  Have you ever made thumb print cookies?  What did you fill them with?

Don't forget to check Angie's blog at Echoes of Laughter to see what cookies she has baked today.

Linked to Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage,
Flaunt it Friday at Chic on a Shoestring,
Foodie Friday at Rattlebridge Farm,
Overflowing with Creativity at It's Overflowing,
Weekend Bloggy Reading at Serenity Now