Peanut Butter Cookies

I run. Not just for exercise or for the stress relief, but just because I really enjoy it. I haven’t always been a runner though. I’ve only been running for about 2 years It’s gone from being something that I just wanted to see if I could do… to something that I have to do.

Ever since I started kicking my mileage up to train for marathons, I notice that I crave salt so much. I contribute that to the fact that I always sweat buckets when I run, and I’m depleting my electrolytes and salt reserves when I run (who know if the salt part is really true, but it sounds good, doesn’t it?).

Previous to these random and serious salt cravings, I never really thought much about peanut butter cookies. They were never sweet enough for me. I preferred sweeter, chocolatey desserts. Not anymore. Now, I'll get these urgent and random salty, sweet cravings. I rummage around in my kitchen, I eat some popcorn (with extra salt added to it), then I immediately eat some hershey kisses. Salty and then sweet. In that order.

A couple of months ago, I made flourless peanut butter cookies Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies . I don’t even really like peanut butter cookies that much. But those cookies were so deliciously sweet and salty, that I have been craving them ever since. I keep opening my freezer hoping to see one that I forgot about, but alas, they’re all gone and have been for awhile now.

Since I started this blog, I hate baking the same recipe twice. Mainly because I feel like I can’t really blog about something more than once. It’s too boring. So, even though I’ve been wanting to make those cookies again, I’ve refrained.

So, this weekend, I really wanted those salty-sweet cookies, and I decided to make these cookies instead. Smitten Kitchen Peanut Butter Cookies

I chose to use half shortening instead of butter (and actually now that I type this, I think I actually forgot to add the water that you are supposed to add when you substitute shortening for butter in a recipe, ooops) and I didn’t use chopped peanuts. I used chocolate chips and m&ms.

These were really good cookies. But, honestly…. I still prefer the flourless ones. They did satisfy my salty sweet craving, though. At least for a time.

Savannah Cheesecake Squares

Yup, another Paula Deen recipe. I know, I should be cut off, but she makes such yummy, easy desserts! It's hard to say no!

This is what I made for Christmas at my Grandma's House. It's always an issue to figure out what to make to take there. Obviously, I want to take pictures and blog about the dessert. And that's fairly easy to do when you're only making 4-5 people wait on you (like in my immediate family gatherings) to take 31 pictures of your dessert, but when you've got 25+ people gearing up to hit the dessert line, it's a little harder to snap so many photos. So, I got smart this time. I decided to make a bar cookie. That way, I could cut them out, take pictures of them at home and then transport them to grandma's. Perfect!

These are good. Not WOW good. But, good. I opted to eat other things on the dessert table... pecan pie, white chocolate covered peanut butter cracker sandwiches (mmmmm.. I gotta make those), brownies. But, I did eat one of these while I was cutting them and plating them and they are good, rich cheesecake bars. I think they need a little more pizazz. Like some chocolate chips or nuts or fruit or something. But good for times when you just need something basic and creamy.

I did get a few compliments on them though... and they were even competing against a whole other cheesecake on the buffet line!

Savannah Cheesecake Squares

(What makes these "savannah" cheesecake squares instead of just regular cheesecake squares, I have no idea. I guess Savannah just sounds better).

Pecan Pie Cheesecake

Jennifer at Bake or Break has never let me down. I've made quite a few of the recipes that I've seen on her site and they always turn out delicious!

When I saw this recipe on her site a few weeks ago for Pecan Pie Cheesecake, I knew I had to try it for my family's Christmas Dinner. My favorite pie (maybe even dessert) is a pecan pie. And so this cheesecake immediately spoke to me.

Every Christmas, my family has a cheesecake. It used to be a turtle cheesecake that my mom bought. But for the past couple of years, I've been making the cheesecake. This year, I wanted to try something a little different... A little more special than your typical cheesecake and this fit the bill.

This cheesecake is absolutely amazing. I think I overcooked the pecan pie filling on the stove, because it turned out REALLY hard to eat. It had an amazing flavor, but it was just soooo hard and chewy. Next time (and yes, there will definitely be a next time) I will cook that filling less. But the texture and flavor of the cheesecake was delicious. I am also going to try this cheesecake as just a plain cheesecake sometime, without the pecan pie part. The filling is just so rich and decadent, I think it's the brown sugar. I had never made a cheesecake with a vanilla wafer crust, either and found it to be awesome, also!

This cheesecake was so good, that even those non-sweet eaters in my family were raving over it. Oh my god. Go out and make this cheesecake immediately. You will not be sorry.

I can't even write a coherent post because just thinking about this cheesecake makes my head spin.

Thank you, Jennifer.

Especially Dark Chocolate Cake

My parents have taken a couple of european extravaganza trips the past couple of years and one of the places that they visited was Versailles. Now, they took about 13 thousand pictures on that trip, but the pictures of Versailles and the stories they had to go along with it was incredible. It is now at the top of my list. Definitely.

So, that started a little interest in Versailles and the French Revolution... now, I'm also a really big Sofia Coppola fan and after a recommendation from my friend April, I checked out the movie Marie Antoinette. And now, I want to read this book. I mean, I'm pretty sure I know just about everything about Marie Antoinette, cause I'm sure the movie is completely historically accurate, right? Of course!

Okay, so I know... who cares that I'm into this french history stuff, right? Well, when I think of cake, I always think of Marie Antoinette.... Let them eat cake! (Which according to the movie, she actually never said... which contradicts my 7th grade history book which emphatically said that she did say that). Regardless... I love the quotation, because I love cake. And I'm loving it more and more the more I make it.

Seriously. Cake has to be the easiest baked item to make. Easier than the box, even! As I've mentioned before, I dont get the opportunity to make cakes very often, as you kind of need a big crowd to bake a cake for(although, stay tuned, I'm working on changing this). And I had just such an occasion this week! Hooray!

I hosted an Ugly Christmas Sweater Dinner Party for my family! And I decided to bake a glorious chocolate cake!

First of all, let me just say, that I'm probably going to get killed for posting this picture, but I can't resist, we just all looked so damn snazzy in our Christmas Sweaters...

So, for the cake, I decided to just make the recipe on the back of the Hershey's Cocoa Special Dark box.


It is delicious! So moist! So chocolatey! So rich! Yum. And, it's pretty forgiving, too. I left out a full cup of sugar and didn't realize it until I had already poured it into my two baking pans. I happened to taste the batter before I put it in the oven and I thought... hmmm.. that isnt very sweet at all. So, I referred back to the recipe and realized... I only measured one cup! Yikes! So, I put a half cup in each pan and stirred it around in the pan. I was a little nervous that it wouldn't dissolve very well, since it hadn't been mixed with the mixer. But, you couldn't tell!


Now, that's my kind of recipe.


The only change I made was I used buttermilk in the cake instead of regular milk.

Hershey's Especially Dark Chocolate Cake

2 cups sugar
1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water (I think some people use hot coffee)
Especially Dark Chocolate Frosting (recipe follows)

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two 9 inch baking pans.
Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl.
Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer for 2 minutes.
Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared Pans.
Bake 30-35 minutes (I think I only baked mine for about 25 minutes, so start watching it at 25) or until wooden toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely and frost. Serves 10-12

Especially Dark Chocolate Frosting

1/2 cup butter
2/3 cup Special Dark Cocoa
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup milk (might need more)
1 tsp vanilla extract

Melt butter. Stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating to a spreading consistency. Add small amount of additional milk, if needed. Stir in vanilla. About 2 cups of frosting.

Thanks Jason for the photos!

Homemade Oreos

So, I totally love baking, right? (obviously, or I wouldn't dedicate a whole freaking blog to it!). But that whole... baking a whole bunch of the same things (booooring) and then that wrecking a bunch of recipes (frightening) will dishearten a girl a bit.

I mean, I loved making the cookies and the brownies, but when you have recipe after recipe not turn out the way you wanted... you get a little depressed and then you realize you don't have time to be depressed, because you've got to make another kind of cookie for the party and ASAP.

Enter Homemade Oreos.

Screw the fruit cookie, let's make something kitchy instead. Right?

Luckily, my friend Steph came over the night that I finally gave up on the Rugelach Pinwheels and I think she probably just had the intention of letting me borrow some of her cookie sheets, sitting down at my bar and cracking up at me covered in flour, lamenting about the woes of baking. Little did she know... she was going to help me make Homemade Oreos. And by "help" I mean, measure all the ingredients, mix them and put them on the baking sheet while I supervised.
Fellow bakers shouldn't be so slim and cute and have cute victoria beckham haircuts, right? Right.

So, she really helped me out that night. I was at my wits end and I just finished putting a whole batch of those pinwheel cookies down the disposal when she got there. It was nice, because she helped me just kind of have a "who cares?" attitude and not worry about wasting all that money and time on those damn cookies that I screwed up.

We had fun. She's one of my oldest and dearest friends and it's nice to get to spend a tuesday night baking with your best friend.

So, back to the cookies. These are exactly like oreos, y'all!!!!! They are crunchy and the icing in the middle is dry-ish and they are perfect! Although, I must admit, I kind of liked them a little softer (I put some white bread in the ziploc back with them to soften them up a bit). YUM YUM YUM.

And thanks to Steph and Homemade Oreos.... Christmas was officially saved (or at least my parents christmas party).

Christmas Party 2007

So, for the past... 4-5 years my parents have thrown a big christmas party at their house. It's become an annual thing and every year my parents bust their asses to throw this really fabulous party. One of these years, they are going to realize that it's not really worth all the hardwork. But the rest of us are glad they do it, because it's a lot of fun.

I volunteered to make the baked sweets and made, Homemade Oreos (post on those to come later), Rich and Dark Brownies, Hidden Kiss Cookies, and I also put out the leftover Razmatazz Bars (which, incidentally, were a big hit) and a few of the Raspberry Lemon Thumbprint Cookies.

The rest of the menu included:
Meatballs
Pulled Pork BBQ
Spinach Artichoke Dip
Hummus
Stuffed Mushrooms
Spanakopitas
Cheese Tray
Veggie Tray
Shrimp Cocktail
Mini Quiche
Cheese Ring

There were probably other foods but I can't really remember.

All-in-all, it was a big hit. Even with the rain and the threat of snow, they still had about 70 people there.


My dad looks a little frazzled here, but it was a long day... Pictures of the table...
More food...
The Sweets Table...
And yes, even more food...

And last but not least... the fully stocked bar.

Hidden Kiss Cookies

There's comfort in those recipes that are tried and true. They're kind of like that one pair of broken in jeans that you always want to wear, even if they're a little bit dirty. (Oh come on, you know you wear them sometimes when they are dirty... don't give me that look). This is one of those recipes, I've made it a bunch of different times and it always turns out perfect. Okay... well, not always... I did accidently mess a batch up a couple weeks ago. I was making multiple recipes some of which I was halving and so I accidently halved the flour amount in the cookies and they turned out.... well.. super greasy and unedible. But that was my fault, not the cookies fault. Don't you hate it when you do something stupid like that and waste all those ingredients and the time! Ohhhhh the time wasted!

This is a recipe that I saw Paula Deen make awhile back on her show. It's basically a buttery meltaway cookie with a hershey's kiss snuck inside. The first time I made them was to test them out for my friend April's Shower and they turned out really well and were really easy to make. My mom loves these cookies (I think it's her favorite cookie recipe), and so when I asked her what she wanted me to make for her Christmas Party, she requested these specifically.

I have made them with all different kinds of hershey kisses... the regular ones, ones with peanut butter inside and caramel and I've found that using the regular hershey kisses doesn't make the best cookie. The kiss stays VERY hard inside the cookie, whereas if you use a kiss that is filled with something else, the kiss gets softer and melts a little into the cookie, making it easier to eat.

The only adjustment to the recipe I make is that instead of chilling the dough before you actually make the cookie balls, I go ahead and form the dough around the kisses while the dough is still pliable and then refrigerate the balls of dough for an hour before baking. It's too hard to form the cookies when the dough is hard and cold.

So, if you like mexican wedding cookies, italian wedding cookies, danish wedding cookies, butter meltaways, russian tea cakes, etc... and you love hershey kisses, you will definitely like this recipe.

Recipe here