August 8, 2013 - Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

The same night I was whipping up the Irish Brown Soda Bread for my fam, I figured I'd make a dessert quick too.  I had a bunch of peanuts, and looked for what I could do with that.  I had already made the Peanut Butter Cookie recipe, but I saw there was a variation.  The only thing better than a peanut butter cookie is one with some chocolate in it.  And that is exactly what I found with this recipe.

These are made identical to the peanut butter cookies, just with chocolate chips added in at the end with the ground nuts.  But wow, what an amazing addition that one simple ingredient is!

Yet again, this was a basic cookie recipe of whisk they dry ingredients, mix the sugar, butter and other ingredients (in this case, peanut butter), and then mixing them all together with some ground peanuts and chocolate chips.

After the batter was mixed, the cookies were rolled up and flattened out with the fancy criss cross pattern.

These cookies were really awesome.  Yet again I loved the crunchiness of the peanut butter and chopped peanuts, mixed with the chewiness of the cookie.  Then, the combo of adding the chocolate chips just put them over the top.  Another winner.

August 8, 2013 - Irish Brown Soda Bread

Another case of family coming over for dinner and requesting a bread.  Unfortunately, I had about an hour and a half.  Of course I went to the Quick Breads recipes to see what I could whip up quick.  I had already made the Classic Irish Soda Bread recipe, so I decided to go with a variation of this, and went with the Irish Brown Soda Bread.

The amazing this about this recipe is how quick you can pull it together.  The biggest difference in this variation versus the original was the addition of whole wheat flour, toasted wheat germ, and some brown sugar.

This bread was a major hit, especially with my dad, who loved the dense, almost biscuit like center, and I loved the flavor the whole what a bit of brown sugar added.  And, like the classic version, the crust gets an amazing crusty exterior.  This is such a great recipe for a quick bread to go with basically any meal.  Heck, we had it with lasagna!

August 3, 2013 - Pecan Pie

I had a hankering for Pecan Pie.  I don't know why, or where it came, but I really wanted some.  So the same day I made my dad his lemon shoofly pie, I figured I would double up and make a Pecan Pie as well.

This was a pretty time consuming pie to make actually.  I guess most pies are when you factor in the dough/crust process.  For this pie, I first had to make the Pie Dough for Prebaked Pie Shell recipe (which luckily let me know another one off my list!).

The dough mixed up and chilled very similarly to the Basic Pie Dough.  Obviously, the biggest difference came at the end of the process.  Instead of putting the filling in the raw shell, you bake the crust partway first.  This was where things got a little tricky, mostly because for this recipe the filling has to go in when the crust comes right out of the oven.  This recipe was all about timing of things.  While the crust was chilling/doing it's thing it was time to mix up the filling.

The first part of this process was to toast and chop up the pecans.  Then, it was a matter of whisking a combination of butter, sugars, eggs, and other minor ingredients and heating them to about 130 degrees.  Then, after that was done, the pecans went in.  I have to say the look and smell of this filling was unbelievable.  I was very excited for this pie.

Amazingly enough, I timed things pretty well perfectly, and just as my filling was finishing up, the pie shell came out of the oven.  In the filling went, and back in the oven.

 

After the pie came out of the oven, it had to finish cooling and setting up.  Then, it was time for a slice.  Wow.  So so good.  Unbelievable combination of the richness of the filling and pecans, and the flaky crust.  It was truly amazing, and a definite winner for everyone!

 

 

August 3, 2013 - Basic Pie Dough

This update will be short and sweet.  We were out to eat one night and my dad saw the restaurant had Shoofly Pie on the menu for dessert.  He then started to reminisce about a Lemon Shoofly Pie he had eaten before.  Of course, I took this as a hint of sorts and set to finding a recipe (I knew this wasn't a pie I would find in my book).  I found one, and decided I could still check off a recipe off my list:  Basic Pie Dough.  Basically, it was a matter of mixing some basic dry ingredients with some butter and shortening, balling it up and chilling for a bit. 

 

The crust really turned out great.  It was flakey and light, with a nice color once baked.  The pie itself turned out great, and my dad was very happy.  It was so good, in fact, I made another one 3 days later!

July 23, 2013 - Chewy Oatmeal-Raisin Cookies & Nut Oatmeal Cookies

I have come to realize that the Oatmeal Cookie recipe (and all the variations of it) is probably one of my favorites so far.  The cookies come out so thick and chewy, and the flavor is always fantastic.  So I figured it was time to make some more of these bad boys, and I went with these two variations: Oatmeal Raisin & Nut Oatmeal.  For the sake of space and time, I will combine these two recipes into one update and only include pictures of one of them.

The other thing I love about this recipe is how easy and quick it is to mix up and get in the oven.  Just a quick whisk of the dry ingredients, beat the butter, sugar and eggs, and then mix it all up and stir in the oatmeal and raisins/nuts.

Once the batter is mixed up its just a matter of rolling it up and baking.  Let me just say, Oatmeal Raisin cookies were never one of my favorites before, but after making this version I think I have officially changed my stance.  I love these cookies!