recipe

oatmeal cookies

by Lara on December 13, 2011

in geek

This recipe has now been in my family for four generations and it’s THE BEST. Seriously. Not even trying to humble brag.

I can’t tell you how many it makes though because I eat so many as I go and I really don’t count. I’d say at least a few dozen. I usually double or triple this recipe though since I give a ton away.

Get a big bowl!

MIX TOGETHER:

2 sticks butter (when I bake, I usually do half margarine, half butter – keeps things moist and prevents dark bottoms)

1 cup dark brown sugar

1 cup white sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

2 eggs

ADD and MIX:

1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 teasp. baking soda

1/2 teasp. salt

1/2 teasp. cinnamon

FOLD IN:

3 cups Quaker quick oats

1/2 cup raisins

1/2 – 1 cup walnuts

PREHEAT OVEN to 350 and put the dough in the fridge until the oven is ready. I like to keep the bowl in the fridge to keep it firm while a batch is in the oven.

Parchment paper on cookie sheets is my favorite.

Drop dough the size of golf balls (or a bit bigger) onto a cookie sheet (about 8 for a standard pan to give enough room) and bake for 10 minutes.

The cookies may look a bit wet and raw in the center but if the edges are browning, take them out and cool on a rack anyhow. They’ll be chewy and perfect!

 

Here are my fave recipes for easy fudge, pound cake and apple pie!

 

{ 4 comments }

easy chocolate fudge

by Lara on November 29, 2010

in crafty

Fudge at a candy store sells for at least $8 a pound. This is a super easy & inexpensive recipe that just requires just a bit of stirring and makes 3 pounds!

I like making this around Christmas. I can fill a few small tins from the dollar store and those random gifts for your neighbors, coworkers, etc are covered!

Here’s what you need:

13″ x 9″ glass baking dish (glass since you will cut the fudge in the pan)

medium sized pot

wooden spoon or heat safe spatula

  • 3 cups sugar
  • 1 1/2 sticks of butter or margarine (margarine has a longer shelf life, if you’re making this a week or so in advance)
  • 5oz can evaporated milk
  • 12oz bag of semisweet chocolate chips
  • 7oz jar of marshmallow creme
  • 1+ cup of nuts (walnuts, pecans, almonds, black walnuts, hazelnuts… it’s up to you – if you want to sprinkle some on top of your finished fudge, get a bit more.) Or, leave the nuts out! You can get creative with toppings after it’s in the pan, like butterscotch chips, mini marshmallows, coconut flake, etc.
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Grease your glass pan with butter. Set aside.

Add the sugar, milk and butter into a pot and bring to a boil. STIR FOR 5 MINUTES while boiling. Set your timer and just stir like a zombie. (This set time eliminates candy thermometers and all that mess.)

Take off the heat and add marshmallow creme, morsels, nuts and vanilla. Stir some more, until it’s a consistent rich brown with no marshmallow swirls.

Dump and spread out into your glass pan. You can add some more nuts to the top if you like, while it’s still hot.

Yup, I just made this!

Let cool completely. Get a sharp knife, a bowl of hot water and a towel. Slice in 1 to 2″ squares, cleaning your knife off after each slice for clean cuts.

Line tins with plastic wrap or wax paper, and add wrap between layers.

You’re done!

Also check out my pound cake and apple pie recipes!

{ 6 comments }

pound cake

by Lara on November 22, 2009

in crafty

I hope this is going to be my last food post because honestly, I don’t like them on my blog. I just really want to share this recipe with you. I don’t like keeping good things a secret. It’s catty. This recipe for pound cake has been in my family for 4 generations (at least) and it’s killer and so damn easy. 

First, this is the kind of cake pan you need. It’s a two piece tube cake pan (or angel food cake pan) with a removable bottom. I have never tried this recipe in loaf pans but I don’t see why it wouldn’t work. You would just have to figure the cooking time out for yourself. You can also use a bundt pan but the best part (the crunchy top) ends up getting smooshed on the bottom.

So here goes (a hand mixer is fine) -

2 sticks of butter (at or near room temp in a big bowl) (you can also use 1 stick of butter and one stick of margarine)

Cream the butter with 3 cups of sugar and 6 large eggs.

Slowly add 3 cups of all-purpose flour (sift if you want… or not) and one cup of milk (or heavy whipping cream, or 2% milk…)

Here’s the fun part: You can add a splash of vanilla extract and leave it at that or, you can add lemon extract and lemon zest, orange extract and orange zest, vanilla-almond-rum-coconut-lemon-orange extracts all together for a super tasting poundcake, any of the above flavored extracts and 1/2 cup or more of any type of chopped nuts (dust with flour first and then fold them in at the end, pour into pan and sprinkle some on top- black walnuts are weird)… really do whatever the heck you want to with this thing.

Spray the pan with some Pam (or grease however you like) and pour the batter (which should be thick) into your pan. (My pan has never leaked but you may want to put some aluminum foil on the shelf under the cake the first time.)

Pop into a cold (non-preheated) oven at 325 degrees and bake for about 1 hour and 15 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. The top will get golden and crunchy and it’s almost like candy.

Let it cool for about 15 minutes then gently run a knife along the edge of the cake. Put a plate on top of the pan and flip it. If the removable bottom part of the pan sticks, use a knife for that too. Place whatever stand or plate you want on the bottom of the cake and flip again.

This cake can get dry fast. I use a glass domed cake stand and put the lid over it and let it steam until it’s completely cool. You may want to wipe the condensation out of the lid at least once so that it doest drip down the sides of the lid and make the bottom soggy, or just edge the cake with rolled up paper towels under the lid until it’s cooled off.

If you don’t have a cake stand, plastic wrap it up on a plate.

If you want to make one well in advance, they freeze and thaw beautifully under plastic wrap and aluminum foil. They make great gifts. It’s awesome with coffee, great for strawberry shortcake in the summer… I pretty much have one baked at my folk’s house every couple weeks and amazingly, they’re not huge.

Could not be a more simple and forgiving cake. They are so hard to mess up. Hope you enjoy!

This isn’t my pic but basically this is what it will look like… only mine looks better! Ha! (photo via myrecipes.com)

{ 2 comments }

apple pie

by Lara on November 14, 2009

in crafty

Well, I’m doing something I didn’t want to do… a food post! I just can’t help it! It’s so exciting to try something new and apple pie was unchartered territory. I make some killer mini pecan tarts with cream cheese crusts, chewy walnut raisin oatmeal cookies, a 4th generation 6 flavor pound cake, and snackable pecan cheddar cookies that get requested every Christmas. No apple pie… until today.

The bf said he wanted one and who am I to deny giving it a shot? We browsed through my favorite recipe site – Epicurious. (It’s all the recipies from Gourmet and Bon Appétit magazines.) We settled on a good old fashioned apple pie. The recipe we used was for a mix of different types of apples but I like Golden Delicious so, off to the grocery store we went. I didn’t even have a pie pan and I don’t have a food processor so, I bought a pastry blender as well. Oh, and a makeshift rolling pin was fashioned out of a wine bottle.

The changes I made to the recipe: all Golden Delicious apples, added a 1/4 teasp. of cinnamon, didn’t use graham cracker crumbs in the bottom, did not glaze with milk or top with raw sugar. There’s enough butter in this pie to kill a horse but hey, it’s the weekend, and I’m allowing myself a small break from my diet.

Just a note - before you roll your dough out, pop it in the freezer for a bit after you’ve blended it and made two separate balls. Also, flour the hell out of your countertop. The butter warms up fast and makes it sticky and brittle so move quickly. I had to learn from my mistake, ball it all up and pop it in the freezer to start over 10 minutes later. Either way, I had to do quite a bit of patch work for the bottom and top crusts.

It was pretty labor intensive but it helped to get an organized strategy down.

Measure out and freeze your Crisco first. Cube your butter and measure out the rest of the crust ingredients and put them in a big bowl and place in the fridge until you’re shortening is frozen. Get your ice water ready.

Blend your crust mixture well until it’s fine and crumbly. Form two equal balls and place in the freezer.

Mix up your filling ingredients in another bowl. Peel and cut your apples and mix with the coating. Preheat your oven and let your apples sit for 15 minutes on your countertop while it’s warming up.

Roll out your first layer of crust (tons of flour on your countertop!) and line your pie pan and pop back in the fridge until that 15 minutes are up.

Dump your filling in the pie pan, dot with that 2T butter.

Roll out your top crust (more flour!), roll it onto your rolling pin and roll out on top of your huge mound of apples. Crimp the edges with a fork, decorate and pop it in the oven, following the rest of the baking instructions.

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