Easiest Sugar Cookies

And they are. As easy as

1.

2.

3.

Go make them. Make up a holiday. Dye your frosting pink or blue or something appetizing. Sprinkle some sprinkles and then eat them. Because these won't take you 12 hours like normal sugar cookies do. And you'll be so pleased with the softy chewy crunchiness of them. In fact, you'll make them for your kids and then you'll eat them all yourself.

TGIP Rating--Easiest Sugar Cookies--KEEPER. I'm never using any other recipe. Ever.

Next up: Okay, so I didn't make the cake I was going to make. We had planned a gathering that got waylaid by sickness, so a fancy layer cake seemed like too much for our little family. Which still leaves me wanting cake. But something simple. A Sunday night cake, if you know what I mean. I think I'll try this one. 

Cookie Time!

It's cookie season at my house. Apparently. I've been making a big batch of oversize cookies every weekend to get my people through the week. I think mainly I'm just trying to keep them off the Oreo wagon. Although, speaking of Oreos, mr. mentioned the other day that he'd really like a salted Oreo. Ideas? Recipes you can fling my way?

Anyway, mostly I've been making regular Nestle Toll House Cookies, but adding a 1/2 cup of coconut and scooping the dough into double-sized cookies. A couple of weeks ago I gave these a try (and *shame* didn't take any pictures). My kids objected to the nutty flavor of the whole wheat, but my husband quite liked them. For my taste, the coconut oil made them a little greasy. So, I'm not sure I'm a fan. This last weekend I made these. They're really delicious. I think the salt is what brings the recipe together and makes the flavor unique. They get stale really quickly, though. So, if you are a person who restricts your kids to one (giant) cookie a day, (this is mainly a reminder to me) you might want to roll and refrigerate or freeze some of the dough to bake another day.

TGIP Rating--Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip and Coconut Cookies--MEH. Maybe just not to my taste.
Brown Butter Salted Caramel Snickerdoodles--KEEPER. Beware of quick-staling.

Next up: As cookie season continues, I'm going to give these a try. I cannot bear to refrigerate, roll out, and cut cookie dough. It's just dreadful. Bonus, I really like this blogger's recipes. Partly for deliciousness, but also partly because I don't have to make altitude adjustments.

AND, as I'm not one to let a holiday cake opportunity go to waste. I'm ALSO going to make this cake for the people I love on Valentines Day. I'm feeling a little daunted by it as I haven't made a layer cake in several months. But it looks too delicious to pass up.

Chocolate Chip Almond Coconut Bread

Remember how I told you to make this? Did you? Did you try any of the alterations I mentioned? Oh well, here. I've written out the recipe for one of them for you. NOW you can try it. It's probably the best quick bread I've ever eaten in its original form. But the addition of chocolate chips and toasted almonds makes it a little decadent. And there's just nothing wrong with that.

Chocolate Chip Almond Coconut Bread *click here for printable version*

adapted from smitten kitchen’s Coconut Bread

Ingredients:

2 large eggs

1-¼ cups milk

2 tsp vanilla extract

2-½ cups all-purpose flour

¼ tsp salt

2 tsp baking powder

1 cup granulated sugar

1-½ cups sweetened flaked coconut

½ cup semisweet chocolate chips

½ cup chopped, toasted almonds

6 Tbls unsalted butter, melted (and browned if you prefer)

Nonstick cooking spray or butter for baking pan

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a small bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, and vanilla

In a medium bowl, sift together flour, salt, and baking powder. Add sugar, coconut, chocolate chips, and almonds and stir to combine. Make a well in the center and pour in the liquid mixture. Stir until just combined. Add melted butter, stirring until smooth. Do not overmix.

Spray (or butter and flour) a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan. Spread batter in pan and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 60-75 minutes. Cool in pan for 5 minutes, then turn out onto a cooling rack to cool completely.

My favorite way to eat it? Toasted in the toaster oven with a little butter spread over it. But just sliced up and popped in your mouth is pretty amazing as well.

TGIP Rating--Chocolate Chip Almond Coconut Bread--KEEPER. More alterations on the original to come.

Next up: I've not used coconut oil in my baking at all yet. I'm giving it a try with these. I guess I'm on a bit of a coconut kick. Maybe I'm just longing to be someplace warm and wild.

2013 Year in Review

Who'd have guessed?! Snowcaps was my most visited post this year. Yeah, they're super delicious!

Personally, I can't pick a favorite. But here are some highlights:

Stuff I altered/combined from other people's amazing recipes...

          

Excellent pies/tarts...

     

Super delicious cookies...

Yummy bread I'm about to alter for a Sunday morning breakfast treat...

Best birthday cake ever...

Favorite new frosting technique...

TGIP Rating--2013--A good year. Not very much inventiveness on my part, but I loved a lot of what I baked.

Next up: I'm going to alter that Coconut Bread with some toasted almonds and lime zest. See how that turns out!

Linzer Torte

This is my last baking project of 2013! And it sort of sums up where I think my baking is headed. I think.

I have never tasted a Linzer Torte before now. I've had cookies that are sort of reminiscent of it (in both flavor and design), but that's the closest I've come. It has always seemed like an exotically European dessert and, it turns out, that's exactly what it tastes like. In all the best ways. Yes, the crust is a little difficult to handle. But other than that, it's a very easy recipe. And frankly, the fact that the crust behaves the way it does isn't really a big deal. By the time it's all put together and baked, you can't tell what is crust and what is filling, and whether your lattice is an honest-to-goodness lattice or a cheat (spoiler, mine was a cheat).

The taste is sweet, but not too sweet. The texture is complex and nutty and crunchy. It tastes distinctly European, and I don't even know how to describe what I mean by that. Just trust me.

And here's why I think it's a good summation of my baking style--it's rustic. Not particularly fancy-looking. But the taste is perfect. A little tart, a little sweet, a little complex. The more I bake the more I discover that I'm just not one for fancy desserts. I think they have their place. But that place is decidedly not in my kitchen.

TGIP Rating--smitten kitchen's Linzer Torte--KEEPER. It might become a Christmas tradition. Festive and delightful.

Next up: I feel like I didn't do much baking this year, but I'm going to do a 2013 Year-in-Review anyway. Revisit and see what stands out.

P.S. In other news, I filled my first pie order. One cherry and one apple (plus some pie dough cookies) for a dear woman I was fortunate to share the stage with this year.

Eggnog Pie

Remember how easy Buttermilk Pie was? This is the same thing. Literally. Okay, I made a couple of adjustments because of the extra sweetness of eggnog. You'll want to taste the mixture before you pour it in your pie crust, because different brands of eggnog have varying levels of sweetness. Add a little more sugar if you need to, a little more spice, a pinch of salt to punch up the flavors that are there. Do it! It's easy! And festive!

Okay, this is a cheat. I forgot to take a picture. So this is from last Christmas when I made eggnog pie but it wasn't as good as I wanted it to be. 

Here's the recipe.

Eggnog Pie *click here for printable version*

1 stick butter (melted)

1 cup sugar

3 Tbls. flour

3 eggs (beaten)

1 cup buttermilk

1-¼ tsp. vanilla

1/4 to 1/2 tsp. cinnamon (or nutmeg, depending on tastes) (extra pinch/shake or so, to taste)

1/4 tsp salt (extra pinch or so, to taste)

Whisk ingredients together and pour into a 9 inch pie crust (I prebaked my crust and was happy with how crispy it stayed, but you don’t have to). Bake at 350 for 45 to 50 minutes.

TGIP Rating--Eggnog Pie--Now that I've made adjustments (mainly in the amount of sugar), it's a KEEPER.

Next up: I'm doing only the smallest amount of holiday baking this year. This. That's it. And maybe a pie order for a woman who played my mother on stage. Only for her.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake

This cake is easy. And tasty. And moist. But not gummy like pumpkin things can sometimes be. Some of us ate it as breakfast cake. Some of us ate it as dessert cake. Some of us ate it as both. All.

Pretty, too, right?

Take a look at the other side:

Here's what you need to know...Baker's Joy is a superior product to Wilton Cake Release (even when carefully used according to directions). I'll give the Cake Release one more chance (because, frankly, I prefer the idea of brushing pan coating on to spraying it on) to prove itself and if it doesn't play nicely then...never again. No time for cakes not coming out of pans.

TGIP Rating--Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake--KEEPER. I might even try it as muffins. Perfect for breakfast, right?!

Next up: It's Chocolate Adventure Contest time again! This time around it's bars. Time for me to put my thinking/inventing/baking hat on! Ideas are welcome!