Tag: Baked Goods
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
It was bound to happen. Today is the first day of fall, so you knew this was coming, right? I’m not talking about sweater weather (which at this point in Phoenix is just a glint in a hopeful–or delusional–eye), or even the upcoming election (which at this point is hovering like a black cloud of doom, let’s be honest).
I’m talking about Pumpkin Juggernaut.
I won’t abuse you by listing all the places you’re likely to see pumpkin products this fall. I’ve already done that, and I’m sure you’ve already seen the evidence seeping like an orange fog into your local Target…and Starbucks…and Starbucks-inside-Target.
This fall, I think we could all use a pumpkin public service announcement: pick your pumpkin products wisely, lest you experience Pumpkin Burnout. It is of course a wonderful flavor that can set a festive autumn mood, but you may have to pace yourself so you don’t end up wanting to hide in your home like a paranoid seasonal xenophobe, screaming “NO MORE GOURDS!!!” until the Christmas decorations roll out.
These pumpkin chocolate chip cookies make a great choice if you’re trying to be selective, pumpkin-wise. They happen to be my husband’s favorite. He’s asked me to make batches of them for work (his company has an annual pumpkin bake-off) and I’ve served them to neighbors and friends. A larger-than-usual amount of baking powder makes them puff up fluffy and cake-like, and if you store them in the fridge, the cold chocolate-chewy pumpkin combination will convince you that straight out of the fridge is the ONLY way you will ever eat them again. They also freeze beautifully, just in case you get overwhelmed and need to save some for later, like February, when you’ve recovered from Pumpkin Juggernaut.
But for now, on the first day of fall, let’s just bask in the glow of dreams of changing leaves, apple cider, …or…wait…is that the glow of something giant and orange headed our way?
P.S. If you think you can handle more pumpkin without burning out, here are some other great ways to enjoy it!
Pumpkin Chocolate Swirl Muffins
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
(Adapted from Allrecipes.com)
Ingredients:
1 c. pumpkin puree
1 c. white sugar
1/2 c. vegetable oil
1 egg
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 c. all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. milk
2 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease two large baking sheets.
- In a large bowl, combine pumpkin puree, sugar, vegetable oil, egg, and vanilla.
- In a smaller bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt.
- Dissolve the baking soda with the milk and stir into the dry ingredients.
- Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and stir to combine. Fold in chocolate chips. Drop by tablespoonfuls on prepared cookie sheets.
- Bake 12-14 minutes or until tops of cookies look dry. Cool, then store in the refrigerator for best results.
Makes 2 1/2 dozen cookies.
Cherry Almond Muffins
It’s been two and a half weeks since my kids–even my baby–started school. Full-time, big kid, real deal school. And since the last rotation of my nutrition internship doesn’t start until tomorrow, I’ve spent the last nineteen days feeling a little lost. In one sense, this is the moment I’ve been anticipating for nine years since my oldest child was born. When I chose to stay at home with my kids, there was always the sense that it was temporary, that I would get back to “real life” if these kids would just hurry up and get to school age. When someone was screaming because they didn’t get the pink plate at lunch, when someone dropped nap time and suddenly added ten hours to my “work week,” or when I had to play yet another round of “Chocolate, Dirt, or Poop?” with the brown stain on the carpet, I could say to myself, “Someday they will all go to school and I can live MY OWN LIFE again.” But the truth is, after you’ve spent almost ten years serving, providing for, and nurturing three little people, your OWN LIFE feels like kind of a contradiction in terms. Not that I don’t have hobbies or pursuits of my own I enjoy–I do–it’s just that my kids are, in many ways, my life. And having no particular agenda while they’re all away at school from 8:00-3:00 has been distinctly strange. (Though also, at times, distinctly awesome, like when I get to blog uninterrupted and grocery shop by myself.) Still, these last few weeks have forced me to look into the face of the question, “Who am I when I don’t have a job and my kids no longer need me as much?” It’s a healthy exercise, but a tough one, too.
Of course, they do still need me, but as my children get older, the ways they need me are evolving, and so are the ways I can serve them. So on their first day of school a couple weeks back, I wanted to do a little something special for them: I made a batch of cherry almond muffins. In a sense, cooking wholesome food for my kids is a way I see my continued purpose in the life of our family. If I can send my children off to school in the morning with something lovingly made filling their bellies and fueling their minds, I can know that I have done well by them until I see them again in the afternoon.
As for the existential angst of “who-am-I-when-I-have-all-this-time-on-my-hands,” my imminent internship rotation will probably push that question out of the picture for now (to be dealt with again ten weeks from now when it’s over). And as for this new era with my kids, I was on a walk the other day when into my mind popped a beautiful e. e. cummings poem. (Remember him from high school English? The guy who wrote in all lower case with unconventional punctuation?) The last several lines sum up the connection I will always feel to my children:
here is the deepest secret nobody knows(here is the root of the root and the bud of the budand the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which growshigher than soul can hope or mind can hide)and this is the wonder that’s keeping the stars aparti carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)
Cherry Almond Muffins
(Adapted from Pretty Simple Sweet)
Ingredients:
1 1/4 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 c. white whole wheat flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
2/3 c. sugar
1 egg
1 c. plain yogurt
1/3 c. vegetable oil
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. almond extract
1 1/2 c. fresh or frozen cherries, pitted and halved
1/2 c. slivered almonds (or sliced almonds broken into pieces–I like to put them in a plastic bag and smash them a few times with the rounded end of a tuna can–how’s that for specific recipe instructions?)
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Grease a 12-cup muffin tin.
- In a large bowl, mix all-purpose flour, white whole wheat flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar. Make a well in the center and add egg, yogurt, vegetable oil, vanilla, and almond extract, stirring until just combined. Fold in cherries and almonds.
- Scoop batter into muffin cups, filling almost to the top. Bake for 3 minutes, then reduce oven temperature to 375 degrees and continue to bake another 15-17 minutes or until tops of muffins spring back when touched.
Makes 12 muffins.
Red Velvet Brownies with Cream Cheese Frosting
Have you ever smelled so bad it was actually almost good? Like, you were embarrassed to be in the presence of other human beings, but when you were by yourself, you were like, “YEAH, MAN, THAT’S WHAT I’M TALKIN’ ABOUT. THIS LADY CAN SWEAT WITH THE BEST OF THEM!”
No?
Well, that was me today. It’s been a weird kind of day, to be honest. It started last night, actually, when, in anticipation of the last day of my summer community nutrition internship, I woke up at 4:00 AM feeling like an agitated chimpanzee was bouncing off the walls of my brain. Was I prepared to have my supervisor sign off on the 16 competencies I was supposed to meet by today? What about the final group presentation next week? Are we ready? What more needs to be done? These and about 900 other concerns went tornado-ing around in my head, preventing me from falling back asleep until about 45 short minutes before my 6:15 alarm. As you may have experienced, sometimes you almost feel worse getting that small amount of sleep before your alarm. Sometimes it’s actually better just getting up ridiculously early and toughing it out.
Feeling the drain of a craptastic 4 1/2 hour night of sleep, I dragged myself out of bed by sheer willpower and somehow made it to my internship site by 7:30, where a morning of outdoor work awaited me. The community center where I’ve been interning offers a once-a-month food box pickup, and this time I was assigned to direct traffic, pass out surveys, and help with set-up and tear-down of the event. By about 8:00, I would describe my mental/emotional state as “Not Enough Coffee In The World.” I’m pretty sure in my exhaustion I was gruff, if not actually rude, to the sweet fellow intern I was working alongside. (Did I mention it was over 100 degrees before 9:00 AM?) When 10:30 rolled around and we were finally done heaving extra cabbages into grocery bags, determining where a particularly foul smell was coming from–ah, yes, it was the potato sack dripping with rotten goo!–and wrestling pop tents back into their bags, the smell on all of us was INTENSE. (Probably rivaling the rotten potato goo, as a matter of fact.) Hence my secret satisfaction at just how terrible I can smell. Aren’t you glad you’re reading this from the safe distance of your computer screen and/or phone?
At any rate, somehow I stumbled through the rest of the morning, my eyes glazed with fatigue, my clothing revealing sweat stains in inappropriate places, and got everything squared away to wrap up my last day of internship. When I finally found myself on the freeway heading home, I had but one thought in my sweaty, stinky head: that there was one last red velvet brownie with cream cheese frosting awaiting me in the fridge at home. It would be my reward for toiling through a morning of labor in the blazing sun on next to no sleep. I could almost taste its fudgy richness, the cold give of creamy frosting against my teeth as I bit into it.
I got home, paid the sitter, took a shower, had lunch, and went looking for my reward.
And this is what the kids had left me:
There may have been tears at this point. Mine, then theirs. Just (sort of) kidding.
Still, even this jagged leftover morsel of red velvet brownie with cream cheese frosting was the little something I needed to keep me going the rest of this day. These things are THAT good. As a nutritionist, I know all the pitfalls of rewarding myself with sweets, but I’m only human, and I’m telling you, there would have been weeping and gnashing of teeth and possibly day drinking had there been absolutely zero of these brownies left for me this afternoon. And now here we are at 5:00 PM and the day is winding down, the kids are watching their Nth Pokemon show of the day, and I’m still thinking of those tasty two bites that tided me over. Thank goodness for brownies–especially red velvet brownies with cream cheese frosting. (And thank goodness for showers, because, holy deodorant commercial, did I need one after this morning.)
Red Velvet Brownies with Cream Cheese Frosting
(Brownies adapted from Allrecipes.com, Frosting from an old Betty Crocker recipe)
Ingredients:
For the brownies:
1 c. white flour
1 c. cocoa powder
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1 3/4 c. sugar
1/2 c. sour cream
1/4 c. butter, softened
2 eggs
1 1/2 tsp. red food coloring
1 tsp. vanilla extract
For the frosting:
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/4 c. salted butter, softened
3 tsp. milk
1 tsp. vanilla
4 c. powdered sugar
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9 x 13-inch baking dish.
- In a small bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt.
- In a larger bowl, beat together sugar, sour cream, butter, eggs, food coloring, and vanilla. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and stir to combine. Pour evenly into prepared dish.
- Bake 30-35 minutes, or until texture reaches desired fudginess. Cool completely.
- Meanwhile, beat together cream cheese and butter until no lumps remain. Add powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla and beat until smooth and spreadable.
- Once brownies have cooled, spread evenly with frosting. Store tightly sealed in the refrigerator.
Whole Wheat Granola Muffins
Have you ever heard one of those pop song mashups, where they take two songs with similar chord progressions and meld them together? It probably just goes to show how similar all pop music is, but I still get a kick out of how cool it sounds to layer one song on top of another. (Don’t tell my husband, who is all about music being unique–have I mentioned his website, MakeWeirdMusic.com?) There are a few mashups I’ve heard and really enjoyed, though, like one that matched Katy Perry’s “Last Friday Night” with “Stand by Me”:
or this one that layered Beyonce’s “Halo” with “Walking on Sunshine”:
Anyway, the point is that sometimes two things can go together in unexpected ways that just work…
…which brings me to these whole wheat granola muffins, which I like to think of as a Breakfast Mashup. Take two breakfast items that don’t seem to go together–granola and muffins–and meld them into one! It’s a breakfast pop hit! But wait, you might say. Isn’t putting the crunch of granola into a soft-and-chewy baked good kind of counterintuitive? Won’t the granola create an unpleasant harshness? That’s certainly what I would have thought, but having made these muffins twice now, I can attest that is not the case. The magic of baking softens the granola just enough to add a crunch that is pleasantly noticeable, but not tooth-breakingly obvious. Plus, the warmth of cinnamon and heartiness of whole wheat flour go hand in hand with just about any pre-made granola you can name. I chose an apple-cinnamon variety with great results.
To ensure these muffins don’t turn out dry (as can sometimes happen with whole wheat-based baked goods), I’m going to let you in on a little secret I’ve found helpful: break out the food scale. Accurately measured flour always makes for better baking, and measuring cups can be deceiving. The white whole wheat flour I used was 120 grams in 1 cup, and my measuring cup weighs 26 grams, so this is what an accurately measured 1 cup of flour looked like for me:
So, what breakfast mashups can we come up with next? Egg-flavored cereal? Sausage smoothies? Just kidding. Stick with granola muffins for a sure bet for a delicious, whole grain-packed breakfast mashup to start your day off right.
Whole Wheat Granola Muffins
(Adapted from King Arthur Flour)
Ingredients:
2 c. whole wheat (or white whole wheat) flour
2/3 c. brown sugar
3/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. cinnamon
1 c. prepared granola
1 tsp. vanilla
1/3 c. vegetable oil
1 c. plain Greek yogurt
1/2 c. milk
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease a 12-cup muffin tin.
- In large bowl, whisk together flour, brown sugar, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and granola.
- In a separate bowl, combine vanilla, vegetable oil, yogurt, and milk. Add wet ingredients to dry and stir until just combined.
- Divide batter evenly between muffin cups and bake 18-20 minutes.
Makes 12 muffins.
Cranberry Apple Pie
Does your family have classic holiday foods? Things you or your mom or your Aunt Gladys have been making for Christmas for years that everyone still looks forward to? (Or maybe doesn’t look forward to, depending on the dish and its maker? *cough* blueberry Jell-O salad *cough*) For our family, there are a handful of foods I’ve been making for years, even as far back as our first married Christmas eleven years ago. Back then, food blogs weren’t really a thing and Pinterest was just a glint in some now-millionaire’s eye, so people still mostly relied on cookbooks for recipes. Hard to remember that time, right?
One of my first cookbooks was one I got at my bridal shower: Betty Crocker’s Bridal Edition Cookbook. Somehow I ended up trying this cranberry apple pie from the Dessert chapter of Betty Crocker that first year of my wifehood (probably because it only calls for 6 ingredients), and it was such a hit I’ve been making it ever since. I’ve taken it to playgroup potlucks, served it for neighbors, and made it for Thanksgiving, often getting requests for the recipe. The tartness of fresh cranberries as they burst their juice onto sweet baked apples in a gift wrap of flaky crust is pretty irresistible. If you’ve got a New Year’s party you want to squeak a tasty Christmasy dessert into, here’s your chance.
Cranberry Apple Pie
(Adapted from Betty Crocker’s Bridal Edition Cookbook)
Ingredients:
2 store-bought or homemade pie crusts
1 3/4 c. sugar
1/4 c. all-purpose flour
3 c. peeled Granny Smith apples, sliced thin
2 c. fresh cranberries
2 Tbsp. butter
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line the bottom of a 9-inch pie pan with one pie crust.
- In a small bowl, stir together sugar and flour. Arrange one third of the sliced apples in a layer on the crust, followed by half of the cranberries. Sprinkle with half the sugar mixture. Repeat this process once, then add the remaining one third of the apples.* Cut butter into small pieces and dot over the top of the apples.
- Cover with the remaining pie crust, cutting slits in the top with a sharp knife to allow steam to escape. Seal and flute crust. Cover the edges of the crust with aluminum foil to prevent excessive browning.
- Bake in the preheated oven 30 minutes. Remove aluminum foil and continue to bake another 15 minutes or until crust is golden brown. Cool on a wire rack and least 2 hours.
*Note: Feel free to go easy on the sugar mixture if you prefer a tarter pie.
Serves 8.