Friday, October 29, 2010

Cookies!

I love baking cookies.

One of the more interesting cookie recipes I've made were these Black Forest Cookies. Aside from being very photogenic, they also tasted delicious! I got the recipe from the Company's Coming Most Loved Cookies book by Jean Pare.



Probably the cutest cookies I have ever made were these Tiny Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Buttons from 17 and Baking.


I got sick of rolling out cookie dough by the teaspoon though, so I made the rest into normal sized cookies.


These Gingersnaps turn out beautiful and perfect every time! Thanks again 17 and Baking :)



And of course, chocolate chip cookies can't be beat! I don't remember where the recipe for these came from....


I know this post wasn't that interesting, but to be honest, I haven't baked anything interesting lately, so I thought I'd share some of my best cookie pictures!

Saturday, October 16, 2010

White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies

My job is pretty sweet.  I admit when I first started lifeguarding, I was a nervous wreck who couldn't do shifts longer than about four hours.   I complained and wanted to quit my job and so on.  I'm glad I didn't quit, because after a while I started to realize how lucky I was to have such a great job.  The people I work with are all really cool, and the actual work part of it isn't so terrible either.

We have staff meetings about once a month.   In our staff meetings we practice lifeguard fitness and first aid skills, talk about things we need to change/start doing/etc. and we eat.  More often than not, our meetings are "potluck" meetings.  It's always fun to see what the other lifeguards bring.  We've had everything from lasagna to cupcakes, homemade potstickers to brownies, spinach dip to.... you get the picture!

Last night for our staff meeting I made the white chocolate macadamia nut cookies from Joy The Baker. I was supposed to "brown the butter"... but my butter never got brown... Maybe I didn't cook it long enough. Oh well, they still turned out great!

White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies
From Joy The Baker's recipe here.

1/2 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
2 tbsp. milk
1 large egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1 3/4 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/8 tsp. salt (I omitted this since my macadamia nuts seemed really salty)
1/2 cup coarsely chopped macadamia nuts
1 cup white chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350F. In a medium saucepan, melt the butter. Stir it around and cook it until brown bits appear in the bottom of the pan. Again, this never happened for me... maybe you'll have better luck! Anyhow, when you're done cooking the butter, set it aside to cool for a moment. Measure out the flour and baking soda and set aside.

Combine the butter and brown sugar and beat together for about two minutes. Add the egg, and beat for another minute. Then add the milk and vanilla, and mix it all together. Dump the flour/soda mixture into the egg/sugar/butter mixture and mix until just combined. Stir in the nuts and chocolate.

Take chunks of dough (however big you want your cookies), roll them into nice balls and arrange them on a cookie sheet. Flatten them slightly. Bake for approximately 9-15 minutes, depending on the size of your cookies. When they are golden brown, take them out and let them cool for a few minutes before transferring them to a rack to cool completely.

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Coconut Cream Pudding

There's not much to say about this pudding. It's creamy, coconutty and absolutely fabulous :)  You can pour it into a baked pie crust and top with whipped cream, or eat it straight from the pot while it's still so hot it burns your tongue. Either way, it's irresistible!


Coconut Cream Pudding
Adapted from Mrs. Goossen's recipe in Kitchen Treasures.

2 cups milk
4 tbsp. cornstarch
3 tbsp. sugar
2 egg yolks
1 cup coconut
1 tbsp. butter
1 tsp. vanilla
2 egg whites
4 tbsp. sugar

In a medium pot, whisk together milk, cornstarch, 3 tbsp. sugar and egg yolks. Cook until thickened. Add the coconut, butter and vanilla. In a small bowl, whisk egg white until foamy, then add 4 tbsp. sugar. Whisk again until sugar dissolves and then add to pudding. Stir it all together and cook until it's thick and smells like heaven.

Let cool, then either pour it into a baked pie shell or into dessert dishes. Chill to set.

Enjoy!