Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bars

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon pumpkin-pie spice
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup canned pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
1 package (12 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9-by-13-inch baking pan and set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda, and salt; set aside.

2. With a stand or electric mixer, cream butter and sugar on medium-high speed until smooth; beat in egg and vanilla until combined. Add pumpkin puree and mix well. The mixture will look somewhat curdled. Reduce speed to low, and mix in dry ingredients until just combined. Fold in chocolate chips.

3. Spread batter evenly in prepared pan. Bake bars for 35-40 minutes or until edges begin to pull away from sides of pan and a toothpick inserted in center comes out with just a few moist crumbs attached.

4. Cool bars completely in pan. Cut into squares and serve. Makes 24 bars.

Oatmeal Blueberry Cookies

Ingredients:

• ½ pound (2 sticks) butter, softened
• 1 c. firmly packed brown sugar
• ½ c. granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1½ c. all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• ½ tsp. salt (optional)
• 3 c. oats
• 1 c. dried blueberries
• 1/2 c. raisins

Method:

Heat oven to 350°F. In large bowl, beat margarine and sugars until creamy. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well. Add combined flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt; mix well. Add oats and dried blueberries.

Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.

Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until light golden brown.

Black Bottom Cupcakes

Stuffing cheesecake in a chocolate cupcake? Genius! This recipe comes from David Lebovitz (also a genius). I reduced the amount of sugar (because I ran out - how did that happen??) which I think actually made them taste better.

Ingredients

• 8 ounces regular or reduced fat cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar (I used 1/4 cup)
• 1 large egg, at room temperature
• 2 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
• 5 tablespoons natural unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch-process)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup water
• 1/3 cup unflavored vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon white or cider vinegar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method:

1. Beat together the cream cheese, granulated sugar, and egg until smooth. Stir in the chopped chocolate pieces. Set aside.

2. Adjust the rack to the center of the oven and preheat to 350°F . Line 12 cup muffin tin with paper cups.

3. In a medium bowl sift together the flour, brown sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl, mix together the water, oil, vinegar, and vanilla.

4. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and stir in the wet ingredients, stirring until just smooth.

5. Divide the batter among the muffin cups. Spoon a few tablespoons of the filling into the center of each cupcake, dividing the filling evenly.

6. Bake for 25 minutes, or until the tops are slightly golden brown and the cupcakes feel springy when gently pressed. These keep unrefrigerated for 2 to 3 days if stored in an airtight container (longer if stored in the fridge).

French Apple Cake

My brother loves anything apple paired with ice cream so for his birthday this year I baked a French apple cake. The recipe is from Dorie Greenpan's french baking cookbook and is fabulous. It isn't really a cake so much as a cake tin full of apple chunks with just enough batter to (sort of) hold things together. The key was to use different types of apples so there was different apple flavors and textures in each bite. It was awesome with a big dollop of vanilla ice cream.

Happy Birthday Vij. I love you!!!

Ingredients:

110g AP Flour

3/4 tsp Baking powder

pinch salt

4 large apples (different varieties)

2 large eggs

150g sugar

3 Tbsp dark rum

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

8 Tbsp (1 stick) butter, melted and cooled to room temperature

Method:

- Preheat oven to 350F and generously butter an 8" springform cake pan

- In a small bowl, whisk flour, salt and baking powder

- Peel and core apples. Cut them into 1 inch pieces.

- In a large bowl whisk eggs until frothy, add sugar and whisk to combine. Add rum and vanilla.

- Add half of flour to egg mixture then half of butter. Whisk until combined then add remaining flour and finish with butter. The cake batter should be thick

- Fold in apple pieces until they are all covered with batter. Pour into cake tin and smooth the top with spatula so it is relatively flat

- Bake for 50-60 minutes until a tester comes out clean and the top is nice and brown

- Serve with vanilla ice cream (or cinnamon ice cream if you can find it because that sounds like heaven)

Manicotti

Oh my gosh late summer tomatoes are the best!!! We served a late summer tomato (can you call them that when it's November???) salad with the tastiest Manicotti evah!!! And my Ironman is a Manicotti aficionado so I don't make that statement lightly. This recipe is an America's Test Kitchen recipe so of course it was awesome.

The only change I made was instead of fresh basil in the cheese mixture I added basil pesto because basil isn't in season. In the sauce I added some Italian seasoning.

Ingredients:

Tomato Sauce

2 28-ounce cans diced tomatoes (in juice)
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
4 medium cloves garlic , minced or pressed through garlic press (about 1 tablespoon)
1/2 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes , optional
Salt & Pepper
1 T Italian seasoning

Cheese Filling and Pasta

3 cups part-skim ricotta cheese2 cups grated Parmesan cheese

2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

2 large eggs , lightly beaten

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
1 tablespoon basil pesto
16 Barilla no-boil lasagna noodles

Method:

1. For the Sauce: Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees. Pulse 1 can tomatoes with their juice in food processor until coarsely chopped, 3 or 4 pulses. Transfer to bowl. Repeat with remaining can tomatoes.

2. Heat oil, garlic, and pepper flakes (if using) in large saucepan over medium heat until fragrant but not brown, 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in tomatoes and 1/2 teaspoon salt and simmer until thickened slightly, about 15 minutes. Stir in basil; adjust seasoning with salt.

3. For the cheese filling: Combine ricotta, 1 cup Parmesan, mozzarella, eggs, salt, pepper, and herbs in medium bowl; set aside.

4. To assemble: Pour 1 inch boiling water into 13 by 9-inch broilersafe baking dish, then add noodles one at a time. (NOTE: I used about 4 cups of boiling water — it was more than an inch high, but the noodles weren’t completely covered otherwise.) Let noodles soak until pliable, about 5 minutes, separating noodles with tip of sharp knife to prevent sticking. Remove noodles from water and place in single layer on clean kitchen towels; discard water in baking dish and dry baking dish.

5. Spread bottom of baking dish evenly with 1 1/2 cups sauce. Using soupspoon, spread 1/4 cup cheese mixture evenly onto bottom three-quarters of each noodle (with short side facing you), leaving top quarter of noodle exposed. Roll into tube shape and arrange in baking dish seam side down. Top evenly with remaining sauce, making certain that pasta is completely covered.

6. Cover manicotti with aluminum foil. Bake until bubbling, about 40 minutes, then remove foil. Remove baking dish, adjust oven rack to uppermost position (about 6 inches from heating element), and heat broiler. Sprinkle manicotti evenly with remaining 1 cup Parmesan. Broil until cheese is spotty brown, 4 to 6 minutes. Cool 15 minutes, then serve.

Mattar Paneer

My favorite Ironman requested paneer for dinner so I decided to try my hand at Mattar Paneer (without a recipe). The result was fantastic! Mildly spiced with lots of ginger and onion with enough coconut milk to balance the spice and give some creaminess. Costco sells paneer in sets of 2 14oz packages.

Ingredients:

- 1 medium yellow onion

- 2-3 inch piece of ginger

- 5 cloves garlic

- 2 Tbsp ground cumin

- 1 Tbsp ground coriander

- 1 Tbsp garam masala

- 1-2 tsp chili powder (or more to taste)

- 1 tsp tandoori masala powder

- 1 1/2 Tbsp sugar

- 1 can chopped tomatoes

- 1 cup coconut milk

- 14 oz paneer cut into cubes

- 1 cup peas

Method:

- Saute chopped onion until soft

- Crush garlic with ginger into a paste (we used a mortar and pestle) and add to garlic; season with salt and pepper

- Add all spices and cook for 1 minute

- Add crushed tomatoes and sugar and turn off heat

- Puree onion-tomato mixture with an immersion blender or food processor

- Return to heat and add paneer, peas and coconut milk

- Simmer for 10 minutes until thickened. Adjust seasoning

- Serve with basmati rice or naan

Quinoa Pie with Basil and cheese

I tried to follow this recipe. I really did. But as usual I went off on a tangent and started throwing extra things in the pan and substituting key ingredients. Thankfully the pie was delicious. Served with an end of summer tomato and cucumber salad it was a perfect protein packed vegetarian dinner. Thanks Leah and Vivian for providing excellent company and delicious dessert!

Ingredients:

1 cup quinoa (3-4 cups cooked)

6 oz baby spinach

1 zucchini (or a red pepper would work well too) diced

1 onion

3 cloves garlic

3/4 cup grated cheese (cheddar, jack, gruyere etc)

2 eggs

Half cup basil leaves cut into chiffonade

Grated Parmesan cheese to top (optional)

Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

- Preheat oven to 400F and oil a pie plate

- Rinse and cook quinoa in lightly salted water or stock until light and fluffy. Cool

- Saute onion and garlic and zucchini until soft and beginning to brown; add spinach until it wilts

- Season with salt and pepper

- Whisk 2 eggs and add to quinoa with onion mixture, basil and cheese; Mix thorougly and pour into pie pan

- Top with grated Parmesan and bake for 25 minutes. Let pie stand for at least 5 minutes before cutting. This would be great at room temperature for brunch or lunch as well.

Home made "KIND Bars" aka Lakshmi Bars

Lakshmi Bars!! Well, I had to make something to share with me excellent friend Leah on our bike ride. She was bringing her much hyped Leah Bars after all. Of course, after all the excitement and preparation of yummy snacks, Seattle turned on the taps and our ride was washed out :( Thankfully Lakshmi Bars store beautifully in the freezer! These don't hold together quite as well on day 1 but by day 2 they basically hold together like a regular granola bar but have the benefit of not having all the fat and sugar. I didn't measure anything (I mean eyeballing is so much easier and exciting :)

The most important thing to note is that these are infinitely adaptable. I completely made this combo up based on what looked good in the bulk section. Other good combinations might be macadamia and apricot; Cashew nut and date; Mixed nuts, dried pineapple and raisins etc etc etc!!!

Dry ingredients:
2 cups toasted pumpkin seeds
1 cup toasted pecans
1 cup raw almonds
1/4 cup grated coconut (unsweetened)
3/4 cup dried cherries finely chopped (raisins or cranberries would work well too)
3 Tbsp ground flax seeds
1 tsp cinnamon

Wet Ingredients:
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup molasses (giving a lovely almost coffee flavor to these bars)
1/4 cup peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp salt

Method:
1) Pulse almonds in a food processor to make a coarse almond meal. I stopped here to leave some texture but you could go all the way to almond butter if you want to.
2) Combine all Dry ingredients in a large bowl and mix together
3) Combine all wet ingredients, except vanilla) in a separate bowl and microwave until soft enough to easily combine
4) Add vanilla and then add wet to dry ingredients and mix thoroughly. It will look a bit like wet sand at this point and like it might not come together but fear not! It will!
5) Pour into a 8x8 or 9x9 square baking pan line with overhanging foil (for easy removal)
6) Use a piece of saran wrap and a lot of FIRM pressure to create and even layer.
7) Place in the fridge for a few hours or overnight (or the freezer if you're impatient like me).
8) Remove and cut into bars with a large and sharp knife. Its much easier to use a large knife and cut through the bars with one stroke. A serrated knife just makes a mess.
9) Wrap individual bars in saran wrap and store in the fridge for up to a week or in the freezer for a very long time. They won't last that long. I've already eaten two in less than 24 hours.

They were particularly delicious after my first mini brick (bike followed by run)...nom nom nom. I'm already looking forward to my next batch...

Cardamom Carrot cake

Once people know you like to bake, they like to ask you to make things for them. I find this annoying. Anywhoooz, that's how I got roped into making the birthday cake for my boss' suprise 50th birthday party. I know I should have made a layer cake but I thought the sheet cake would be better for a crowd. This carrot cake is fantastic. A great texture and the cinnamon, cardamom flavors give it a slightly exotic taste. The lemon zest in the frosting really adds a brightness that was perfect for a summer barbeque. It was polished off by a very happy crew. The recipe is slightly modified from one of my favorite baking websites, Joy of Baking.


Cake:

3/4 pound (340 grams) raw carrots (about 2 1/2 cups finely grated)

2 cups (260 grams) AP flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp cardamom

4 eggs

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

1 cup vegetable oil

2 tsp vanilla extract

2/3 cup raisins OR toasted walnuts (I did raisins but will use nuts next time for texture)

Frosting:

1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

8 ounces (227 grams) cream cheese, room temperature

2 cups (230 grams) confectioners sugar (I was too lazy to sift but YOU should)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest

To make cake:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C). Butter or spray 9x13inch cake pan. I used a pyrex dish. .

Peel and finely grate the carrots.

In a separate bowl whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and ground cinnamon.

In bowl of your hndy dandy kitchen aid, beat the eggs until frothy (about 1 minute). Gradually add the sugar and beat until the batter is thick and light colored (about 3 - 4 minutes). Add the oil in a steady stream and then beat in the vanilla extract. Add the flour mixture and beat just until incorporated. Fold in the grated carrots and raisins (or chopped nuts). Pour batter into buttered pan and bake 30-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. It took closer to 40 minutes in my oven.

Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack. After about 5 -10 minutes invert the cakes onto the wire rack, remove the pans and parchment paper, and then cool completely before frosting.

To make Frosting:

In bowl of Kitchen Aid, beat the cream cheese and butter, on low speed, just until blended with no lumps. Gradually add the sifted powdered sugar and beat, on low speed, until fully incorporated and smooth. Beat in the vanilla extract, and lemon zest. Make sure lemon zest is evenly distributed as it can lump together on the Kitchen Aid paddle.

Slice Cake and soak up adoration of fellow cake eaters :)

Monkey Cake!

So this cake was made quite a while ago with my friend Debby for Alex's 1st birthday. The best thing about baking for infants is that you get to eat the cake and they get stuck with Milk and possibly pureed peas :)

We had ridiculous amounts of fun making our monkey (especially giving it a butter cream Afro...yep you heard it) and I just found the photo so I thought I'd post it. The recipe is from the domestic goddess herself, Martha Stewart and can be found here.
Note what the original is supposed to look like. Well, ours had personality and a tasty hairstyle. Whatever...

Ice cream Sandwiches!

OMG Home made ice cream sandwiches are the greatest thing ever! Take extra thick and chewy oatmeal raisin cookies and sandwich them with haagen daas vanilla bean ice cream and get ready for happiness. So much better than the store bought variety. I originally just planned to make oatmeal raisin cookies for my favorite Ironman. The recipe is from Smitten Kitchen and I should say that the cookies are great on their own. But, like bacon, Ice cream makes everything better.

Red White and Blue Trifle

My friends Brenda and Craig are moving across the pond so for their 4th of July BBQ I thought I'd make a very English dessert: Trifle! But of course it had to have a bit of patriotic spirit cause you know I love guns and freedom too.

A trifle can be made in a million different ways. The three key parts are: Cake/biscuit layer; Fruit; and Pudding layer (custard, creme anglaise, whipped cream etc.). In MY trifles there is a key 4th ingredient: Booze :)

Berries: - 2 lbs strawberries sliced thin
- 1 pint blueberries
- juice of one large lemon
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp cornstarch

Cake: - Pound cake (store bought or even better make your own). I used a recipe from one of my favorite websites, The Joy of Baking: http://www.joyofbaking.com/PoundCake.html
- 1/4 cup Amaretto

Whipped Lemon Curd: - 1 cup lemon curd
- 1 pint heavy whipping cream
- 1 Tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract

Combine the berries, sugar, cornstarch and lemon juice in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring to a simmer and cook just until the berries begin to break down and give up their juices, about 3 minutes. Take the berries off the heat and let cool; the mixture should thicken up as is cools. Slice pound cake into 3rds and brush a liberal amount of amaretto onto each layer. Cut up cake into large cubes.

In a clean bowl, whip the cream with the sugar and the vanilla to soft peaks. Put the lemon curd into a second bowl and stir in a little of the whipped cream to loosen it. Then fold in the rest of the cream.

To assemble, spoon a layer of the lemon cream into a large glass bowl. Add a layer of pound cake pieces. Then soak the cake with a layer of berries and their juices. Keep going to make 3 or 4 more layers, depending on the size of the bowl, finishing with a layer of lemon cream. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.I left it for 5 hours in the fridge but I think overnight would be perfect.

This was soooooo great. Make it while there are lots of berries around!

Mac and Cheese

The most important part of a good mac and cheese is the crunchy top (yep, dogmatic food statements are my forte). Of course I don't normally eat Mac and cheese (it just never made it big in Australia). But I decided to make mac and cheese for some loved ones. Mostly to get more love. And it worked! This recipe is a keeper. It makes enough for 6-8 people or if you're like me, enough for 2 people who then have to eat it for days after. Sorry Pat and Shawn. At least it has a bad ass crunchy top...

Ingredients:
- 1/2 lb elbo macaroni (it's the classic; don't try using any fancy Italian shapes!)
- 3/4 stick of butter (divided into 1/2 and 1/4 sticks)
- 3 Tbsp AP flour
- 4 cups cheese (I used 2 cups of sharp cheddar cheese, 1 cup colby and 1 cup Monterey Jack)
- 21/2 cups whole milk warmed
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp seasoned salt
- 1/2 tsp dry mustard ( I think I might also add paprika next time just to get crazy :)
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- Hunk of day old baguette


Topping:

- Pre heat oven to 400F
- Cut up baguette into cubes and pulse in food processor until you have a pile of coarse crumbs
- Add 1/4 stick of butter (melted) and pulse until all the crumbs are happily covered in butter
- Mix bread crumbs with 1 cup of sharp cheddar cheese and set aside.

Macaroni and Sauce:

- Cook macaroni until it is UNDERDONE (nobody likes soggy elbows)
- Melt 1/2 stick butter in high sided skillet or wide pot and whisk in 3 Tbsp flour. Cook the flour but don't allow it to get brown
- Add the warm milk a little at a time (don't...stop....believin'....ummm I mean whisking) and bring to a boil (it needs to boil to get thick).
- Keep whisking until it is the consistency of heavy cream and then turn off and add salt, pepper, mustard and cheese and combine until you have a thick sauce. Add macaroni and pour into 2 quart baking dish like so:
- Sprinkle topping over macaroni and sauce and bake for 25 minutes until the top is crusty. Let it stand for 10 minutes before serving so it firms up. Salivation be damned.

Samosas (Faux-mosas)

Well these tasted like samosas and were very pretty but true Indian samosas are deep fried (not to mentioned served in a piece of newspaper from a street food stall). These little beauties were baked and were made with puff pastry. That had 2 major advantages: They were quick and easy :)

I didn't measure anything for the filling so the following is just a basic guide. The squeeze of fresh lemon juice at the end is important. You could also add a tablespoon of freshly chopped mint in addition to the cilantro. I served these with some mango-jalapeno chutney. Yum Yum!

- 4 small potatoes diced

- 2 cups frozen peas

- 1 large garlic clove

- half medium onion, finely diced

- 11/2 tsp grated ginger

- 1 1/2Tbsp ground cumin

- 1 1/2 Tbsp ground coriander

- 1 Tbsp madras curry powder

- 1 tsp chilli powder

- t Tbsp chopped cilantro

- juice from half a small lemon

- 1 lb puff pastry

- 1 egg

Method:

- Preheat oven to 400F

- Fry onion and garlic in olive oil until soft, add ginger and spices and cook until fragrant

- Add potatoes and a splash of water and cook until just soft

- Add peas and turn off heat (heat will cook peas)

- Stir in cilantro and lime juice and adjust seasoning

- Roll out puff pastry into large rectangle and cut into 12 squares

- Place a small mound of filling into the center brush egg wash on two sides of the square and seal the filling in the shape of a triangle (or close enough because some of mine looked a bit like an amoeba).

- Brush them with egg wash and bake for 20-25 minutes until brown and crisp.

- Serve warm or at room temperature.

Spice Cupcakes with Bourbon-Cinnamon Frosting

If you like bourbon then this is the recipe for you (or if you are like me and can't stand bourbon but loves a man that loves the brown juice). The Pumpkin spice cupcakes are technically muffins (they are mixed like a quick bread) but they are so soft and moist that I thought they would go well with a big dollop of frosting. The frosting recipe is a mix of a bunch of recipes that I looked at when trying to find the perfect bourbon frosting. The bourbon compliments the cinnamon perfectly and isn't overpowering at all. All these years I thought I didn't like Bourbon and it was only because I hadn't mixed it with butter and sugar first :)

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup canned solid-pack pumpkin
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pumpkin-pie spice
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

4 oz cream cheese
1/2 stick butter
2 1/2 Tbsp Bourbon
2 cups confectioners sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
Method:

Put oven in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F. Put liners in muffin cups.

Whisk together pumpkin, oil, eggs, pumpkin pie spice, 1 1/4 cups sugar, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl until smooth, then whisk in flour mixture (flour & Baking powder) until just combined.

Divide batter among muffin cups (each should be about three-fourths full). Bake until puffed and golden brown and wooden pick or skewer inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean, 25 minutes.

Cool in pan for five minutes, then transfer muffins from pan to rack and cool to room temperature before frosting.

To make frosting combine cream cheese, butter and bourbon and beat until fluffy. Add 2 cups of confectioners sugar and cream until there are no lumps.

Apply large amounts of frosting for maximum happiness and general fat-assiness :)

Peanut Butter & Chocolate Cupcakes

Specifically: perfectly moist chocolate cupcakes with a ridiculously decadent peanut butter frosting. What's not to love? They ended up tasting like giant peanut butter cups.

Ingredients:

- 1/2 cup cocoa powder

- 1 cup boiling water

- 1 1/3rd cups AP flour

- 2 tsp Baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt

- 1/2 cup unsalted butter

- 1 cup sugar

- 2 eggs

- 2 Tbsp vanilla extract

- 1/2 cup butter

- 1 cup smooth peanut butter

- 2 cups confectioners sugar

- 3 Tbsp milk

Method:

- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line 12 muffin cups with paper liners
- Mix cocoa with boiling water and stir until it forms a smooth lumpless paste
- Whisk flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl
- Beat butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time. Beat in the vanilla extract.
- Add flour and beat until just combined then stir in cocoa and mix completely
- Fill muffin cups until 2/3rds full and bake for 16-20 minutes.

Make Frosting:

- Beat butter and peanut butter until combined
- Add confectioners sugar and milk and beat until thoroughly combined and fluffy

- Try not to eat all the frosting with a spoon...just sayin'

Then distribute to people who you want to love you and/or need massive favors from :)

Frittata Madness!!!!

Well we all know how I heart MRS (Martha Rose Schulman to those not in the know). She wrote about frittatas this week in the NYTimes. So I had planned to make one of her scrummy recipes (spinach and ricotta or carrot and leek??). Of course at the last minute I decided to use what was in my fridge and just wing it. I don't want to brag but it was perfect and so I'm sharing...

Ingredients:

2 large russet potatoes

4 spring onions

1/2 large onions

10 eggs (Cholesterol is my BFF)

1/4 cup milk

1/2 cup grated cheese (I used cheddar) plus more for topping

Method:

- Pre heat oven to 400 degrees

- Cut potatoes into 1" dice, toss with S&P and olive oil and roast for 30 minutes

- Slice onion thinly and saute over low heat until they begin to caramelize. Mix with potatoes and allow to cool.

- In a separate bowl mix 10 eggs and 1/4 cup milk; Season with S&P; Add cheese and spring onions finely chopped.

- Heat non-stick skillet and melt 1 Tbsp butter with a splash of olive oil. Pour in potato and onion mixture and then pour in egg mixture

- Cook in skillet until edges are set and then throw into oven until cooked (for me this took about 15 minutes). Dont forget to sprinkle with cheese before putting in the oven for maximum tummy loving goodness :)

Try to share with loved ones. If this fails eat the entire thing yourself and be happy.

Oatmeal chocolate chip cookies

I know I know they're supposed to be oatmeal raisin cookies but what would you rather eat: a raisin or chocolate??? Point proven. This recipe is a total winner and as usual it is from the America's test kitchen baking book (bible??)


Ingredients:

1-1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
16 tablespoons (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
3 cups old-fashioned oats
1-1/2 cups chocolate chips

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 325° F.

2. In the medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon.

3. In the bowl of the stand mixer, mix together the butter and sugars on medium speed until it is light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.

3. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing for about 30 seconds each time.

4. Slowly add the flour mixture while mixing on low, just until the ingredients are combined.

5. Stir in the oats and the raisins gently, just until combined. Make sure that the oats are evenly distributed throughout the dough, otherwise you’ll have clumps of oats that don’t hold together when baked.

6. Scoop a ball of dough and roll it in your hands, then drop on the baking sheet, spacing about 2 inches apart. Continue with the remaining dough. Dampen your fingers with water and lightly press down on the top of each dough ball, flattening it slightly.

7. Bake in the preheated oven for 22 to 25 minutes. The cookies should be golden, but the center should be soft and puffy. Allow the cookies to sit on the baking sheet for 10 minutes, then remove to a wire rack and cool.

Now try not to eat them while the chocolate is all melty delicious..I dare you :)