Monday, February 28, 2011

Slumber Party with my Best Friends= Cookie Dough!!

Friday nights are perrrfect for baking! Most of the time we just hang out in the dorm and goof off. And I always like to kick the weekend off with a dessert, you know, just want to start out on the right foot. At work the other day we made these 5 Chip Cookies, and I wanted some really bad!! So I decided to make some myself. They are super simple, but so delicious. I only used 4 different types of chips (morsels), but you can't even tell the difference! Here is what you need:
 Milk, flour, sugar, brown sugar, butter, vanilla, baking soda, eggs, peanut butter chips, chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, and white chocolate chips.
First, melt the butter :)
Add the brown and white sugar and mix.
Crack in the eggs and add the vanilla. Mix until just combined. Be careful, since the butter is melted the mixture tends to slosh around a bit.
At this point it looks much different than most cookie dough recipes, but I think the melted butter makes it SOOO much better!
Now it's time for the good stuff! Add in the flour, salt, soda, and all of the yummy morsels!! Stir until all ingredients are incorporated.
Best dough EVER! We definitely ate plenty of this before we actually baked them. After you have eaten what you would like, refrigerate for about 30 minutes.
Bake...sooooo delicious!
 Here are my lovely friends enjoying the cookies!!!
Um, you're going to want to try and make these :)


4 Chip Cookies

2 sticks unsalted butter
2 1/4 cups bread flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/4 cups brown sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2 tablespoons milk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 cup of each of the following: chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, and butterscotch chips

Melt the butter in a heavy-bottom medium saucepan over low heat (or in the microwave about 1 minute). Sift together the flour, salt, and baking soda, all the chips and set aside.

Pour the melted butter in the mixer's work bowl. Add the sugar and brown sugar. Cream the butter and sugars on medium speed.

Add the egg, yolk, 2 tablespoons milk and vanilla extract and mix until well combined. Slowly incorporate the flour mixture until thoroughly combined.

Chill the dough and preheat the oven to 375 degrees. After the dough has chilled for about 30 minutes, scoop dough balls onto parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake about 8 or 9 minutes.

Saturday, February 26, 2011

Sweet Tooth Sister Bakery!

I (Casey) have finally decided to start a bakery from home. I didn't see any harm in it and everyone's been pushing me to do it, so I just went for it! I can't wait to start getting orders! I wish sis number 1 (Rachel) could be here to tag team with me. Hopefully she will be coming home for summer and joining me! Right now I am selling cakes, cupcakes, cookies, and bars, but if you have a specific dessert you would like, then feel free to ask me about it! Please let me know if you have any suggestions/ideas for the bakery because I want to keep improving! Here's a link to the bakery menu http://kysweettoothsisterbakery.blogspot.com/

Chili Day

Growing up I had never tried or really even heard of white chili. The only chili we had was regular red chili. About a year ago, I discovered white chili and I fell in love. I fall in love with a lot of foods, but they usually involve sugar, so this was rare for me. Call me weird, but the forst thing I did after that potluck was look up recipes for white chili. I saw a yummy looking one, and went for it with some changes, it was perfect! So here's what you need for white chili
Onion, chicken, northern beans, green chilies, chicken broth, cumin, salt, garlic powder, oregano, and sour cream. Saute chicken and onion in a large skillet
Cook until onions are almost cooked through; set aside
In a large pot, combine beans, green chilies, chicken broth, cumin, salt, garlic powder, and oregano
Bring to a boil, then add the chicken mixture into the pot
Stir together, cover, and simmer for 30 minutes. Turn off the heat and add the sour cream
Combine until the chili turns white
Here's a close up, you can see all the ingredients 
Let sit about 5 minutes. Scoop into bowls and serve with shredded monterey jack cheese on top!

Creamy White Chili
1 rotissere chicken or 3 chicken breast, cubed
1 onion
1 (14 oz.) can chicken broth
2 (15-1/2 oz.) cans Great Northern beans, drained and rinsed
2 (4 oz.) cans chopped green chilies
1-1/2 t. garlic powder
1 t. salt
1 t. ground cumin
1/2 t. dried oregano
1/2- 1 cup sour cream
shredded Monterey Jack cheese (optional)

In a large skillet, saute chicken and onion in oil. Cook until chicken is cooked through or onion is almost cooked through. Remove from heat and set aside. In a large pot, combine beans, broth, chilies, garlic powder, salt, cumin, and oregano. Bring to a boil, then add in the chicken and onion mixture. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes. Remove from heat, stir in sour cream 1/2 cup at a time (you may not need all of the sour cream). Let sit for 5 minutes. Serve with shredded cheese on top!

Thursday, February 24, 2011

National Banana Bread Day

So we're a little behind on the national food days, and I had planned on doing more, but it's a whole lot more time consuming then I realized. I didn't want to make just plain old banana bread, so I went with Blueberry Banana Bread. I adapted the recipe from Amy's Bread in New York. I loved this bread, because you get a taste of blueberry, then banana and it's SO moist! Here's what you need for the bread
Eggs, oil, milk, oats, flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, vanilla, sugar, ripe bananas, and blueberries. Whisk together eggs, oil, and some of the milk; set aside
In a separate bowl, mix together the remaining milk and oats; set aside
In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt
Pour egg mixture and vanilla over the flour mixture
Fold in until just moist
In a small, separate bowl mash the bananas
Add mashed bananas, blueberries, and oat mixture to the batter
Gently fold in until completely combined
Pour into two greased loaf pans
Bake and cool in pans about 5 minutes
Then take out of the pans and cool completely on a wire rack. I was so excited the loaves puffed up and cracked on the top. I've always known bread is supposed to do that, but I've never made bread that does that like I want it to. Here's the inside of the bread
I read some reviews that this bread wasn't that sweet so I added some sugar to the batter and on the top of one of the loaves.. and I liked it the best, but that's up to you! 


Blueberry Banana Bread
5 large eggs
3/4 cup plus 3 Tbs. vegetable oil
1 1/4 cup plus 2 Tbs. milk
1 3/4 cup old fashioned oats
4 1/8 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 Tbs. plus 2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. baking soda
2 cups ripe mashed bananas
3 cups fresh blueberries

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, oil, and 1/4 cup plus 2 Tbs of the milk; set aside. In a separate bowl, pour the remaining 1 cup of milk over the oats and soak for 5 minutes. In a very large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and baking soda. Pour the egg mixture and vanilla onto the dry ingredients and stir until partially moistened. Add the oat mixture, bananas, and blueberries. Gently fold together until just combined. Divide the batter evenly into 2 greased loaf pans.  Bake for 10 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 350 degress and bake for 45 to 50 more minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the middle of a loaf. Let the loaves cool in the pans for 5 minutes, then turn out of the pans and place on a wire rack until completely cool. Slice and enjoy!

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Mint Chocolate Craze!

Hello all of my lovely bloggers! It has been a long time since I (Rachel) have posted anything, my apologies. This past Saturday was National Mint Chocolate Day! Mint Chocolate has always been one of my most favorite flavors because it is so delicious and refreshing, and for some reason I can justify that it is not that bad for me because it is mint :) Casey and I were reunited this weekend because she came to visit me at school! So of course we had to make something together. We decided to make a mint chocolate ice cream dessert, because who doesn't love ice cream? Let me just say that we made this dessert late Saturday night, and it is Monday night and the dessert no longer exists!!! Here is what you need for this vanishing, refreshing, mint-chocolatey goodness:
Oreos, butter (which we forgot to put in the picture), mint chocolate chip ice cream, cool whip, thin mints, semi-sweet chocolate chips, and andes baking mints. First, melt your butter
Pour into some crushed oreos and combine well
Press into a 9x13 pan. Freeze while making the ice cream layer
Put the mint chocolate chip ice cream in a large bowl
Whip up until fluffy and smooth
Add in about half of the cool whip and mix well
Crush some oreos and thin mints
Add to the ice cream mixture and gently fold in
Pour over the frozen oreo crust
Spread out evenly and let harden in the freezer about 15 minutes
Add leftover chopped oreos to the left over cool whip
Dollop on top of the ice cream layer and spread out 
In a small bowl, melt chocolate chips and andes baking pieces until smooth
Drizzle over the cool whip layer
Freeze until completely hard, then serve
Normally, we would get a picture of a piece of the dessert.. BUT, it was gone before we got the chance. We didn't really have a recipe for this, so we'll do the best we can for yall!

Mint Chocolate Ice Cream Dessert

1 pkg. Oreos
1/2 stick butter, melted
1/2 gallon mint chocolate chip ice cream
8 oz cool whip, soft
1 roll thin mint cookies, chopped
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted
1 cup andes mint baking chips, melted

Crush 28 oreos pretty fine and combine with the melted butter. Press into the bottom of a 9x13 pan. Freeze while making the ice cream layer. In a large bowl, beat the mint chocolate chip ice cream. Add half of the cool whip and whip until fluffy. Fold in the crushed roll of thin mint cookies and 8 chopped oreos. Pour and spread out evenly over the oreo crust. Freeze about 15 minutes, or until not runny on the top. In a small bowl, combine the remaining cool whip and the remaining (about 5) chopped oreos. Spread over the hardened ice cream layer. In a small microwavable bowl, melt together the semi-sweet chips and andes baking pieces. Stir and melt until smooth. Drizzle over the cool whip layer. Cover and place in the freezer until completely hard. Serve after the ice cream has hardened. Enjoy! 

Thursday, February 17, 2011

PB&J

Im pretty obsessed with a lot of things, including peanut butter and jelly anything. So why not make a peanut butter and jelly cupcake? I'm also kinda obsessed with filled cupcakes at the moment. If you love pb&j sandwiches, then these guys are for you. Kids love these too! Here's what you need for the peanut butter cupcake
Yellow cake mix, water, oil, vanilla, eggs, and of course peanut butter. Put all ingredients in your mixer and mix up until well combined, like this..
Pretty easy. Scoop batter into a lined muffin pan
Pop them in the oven until they puff up nice and pretty
Once the cupcakes are cooled, cut out the center, scoop the jelly of your choice in the hole, and place the top back on, covering the jelly. By now, I think you might have the routine down
Now prepare the frosting! More peanut butter. You'll need butter, peanut butter, vanilla, powdered sugar, milk
Beat together butter, peanut butter, and vanilla until smooth
Add powdered sugar. It will thicken up, so you'll need to add the milk
Whip that up until fluffly and creamy
Yes.. this is what I call peanut butter heaven. Now pipe the frosting on the cupcakes! Just for decoration I heated up a little bit of jelly in the microwave and drizzled on top of the cupcakes. Then added some pb chips
Here's what the middle looks like
pretty cool, huh? If you are not a jelly fan, no worries. Just leave it out and do all peanut butter. I made a couple of these for my mom
Peanut Butter & Jelly Cupcakes
(adapted from cake doctor)

18.25 ounces plain yellow cake mix (1 package)
1 1/3 cups water
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/3 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla

Combine all ingredients in your mixer. Mix on low until combined. Stop the mixer, scrap down the sides of the bowl and mix on medium until the lumps are gone, but do not overmix. Scoop into a cupcake lined muffin pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Cool in pan for 2 minutes, then take out of the pan cool completely on a wire rack/foil/wax paper. Prepare the frosting while cupcakes are cooling.

Peanut Butter Frosting:
1 stick butter, soft
1 1/2 cups peanut butter
2 tsp. vanilla
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar

6-8 Tbs. milk

In a large bowl, beat together the butter, peanut butter, and vanilla until smooth. Add in the powdered sugar. Then slowly add the milk until the desired consistency is reached. Cut a hole in the cupcakes and fill with your choice of jelly. Put the top back on, covering the jelly. Pipe on the peanut butter frosting. Decorate and serve!