there are just some recipes that will never get old. the tollhouse chocolate chip cookie recipe is a great example. another is the quaker oats “vanishing oatmeal raisin cookie recipe.” you don’t have to look far for a good oatmeal cookie recipe; just flip over the lid to a can of quaker oats. it’s been there, unchanged for as long an anyone can remember. i tried doing a little research on the history of the recipe, but i couldn’t nail anything down. anyone out there know anything?

the only change i make with the quaker oats recipe is to completely melt the butter instead of just softening it and slightly underbake the cookies so they are simultaneously chewier and crispier. raisins are great and all, but i love using chocolate chips in these cookies. the best part is that since they have oats in them, you feel like you’re eating something healthy.

there’s good reason to call these “vanishing” cookies. i brought a batch to an election results watching party and they disappeared long before obama was officially declared the 44th US president. you might want to make more than one batch. just throwing that out there.

continue reading and get the recipe »

no doubt about it - it’s time to start breaking out the pumpkin recipes. there’s no wrong time of year for it, but there’s just something about the chill of the fall and the colors of the trees that makes every pumpkin flavored thing more magical. and while pies are going to be dominating everyone’s lives over the next month, i wanted to try something new.

these cookies are like taking tiny pumpkin pies with you wherever you go, and there’s definitely nothing wrong with that. the combination of white chocolate and pumpkin is surprisingly refreshing - i can’t believe i haven’t seen more recipes featuring both.

i based this recipe on the never-fail tollhouse chocolate chip cookie recipe, with the ingredient amounts slightly tweaked to adjust for the moisture of the pumpkin. there are 2 things that happen as a result: the cookies have to bake for almost twice the amount of time, and the texture becomes much more moist and cakey. they’re irresistible with a giant glass of milk.

i’ll be honest: these cookies are ridiculously amazing. i cannot stop eating them. if you’ve got weak self control in the presence of delicious sweets, you might want to make these and give them to your best friends as halloween or thanksgiving gifts. and if you’re already overloaded on pumpkin recipes, save this one for later and bring back the flavors of the fall all year round.

continue reading and get the recipe »

when’s the last time you’ve been to the library? it had been more than a few years for me, not counting the five or so times i went during my college career. i’ve gotten into the habit lately of just buying books when i want them, and while i like owning and displaying them on my bookshelf, the practice has gotten a bit expensive. so the girl and i ended up at the west end library last weekend in search of recipes. it’s funny, after spending so much time in bookstores, you forget how amazing it is to walk into a library and just take a book home for free. for two hours i ran around the place like a kid in a candy store, realizing they stocked both cookbooks and comic books. walking out, my backpack bursting at the seams, i felt like a thief.

this is how i ended up with a copy of dori greenspan’s Baking: From My Home to Yours. her name should sound familiar if you spend any time reading food blogs. i’ve only got the book for a few weeks, so i’ve been studying it intensely for new and interesting treats. she provided both (that’s right, a double dose of goodness) recipes this time. which brings me to the ice cream. the girl got an ice cream maker (still on sale at amazon if you’re interested) for us to share, and surprised me with it last week. we decided the first ice cream had to be refreshing seasonal fruit, and peaches are amazing right now. i really wanted to bake something to go along with with the ice cream and the girl found these tuiles while flipping through the book.

they are virtually idiot-proof. the recipe calls for pure maple syrup, and while i don’t think the syrup that comes out of a giant log cabin shaped bottle is pure, the finished product was incredibly delicious and paired up well with the honey in the ice cream. my advice while baking is to stay on the conservative end of the 5-7 minute span. my first batch burned literally in a matter of seconds. that said, once they come out the oven, these little guys are fun to mold.  you can wrap them around anything and they’ll harden in seconds. and although they look brittle, the taste is buttery and rich. now to experiment with new ice cream flavors. i definitely see basil ice cream in our immediate future…

continue reading and get the recipe »

i don’t know if you noticed, but it’s HOT outside right now. so hot, in fact, that when people ask what i’ve made in the kitchen lately, i’ve actually found myself saying “it’s too hot to even think about making food.” while i wish i was a bit more motivated, i’m having a pretty good time just snacking on fresh fruit constantly because it’s easier and more refreshing. fact: i can eat an entire watermelon without even realizing, and with juice still dripping off my chin, ask for another. bananas, strawberries, oranges - there are few lazier foods for hot summer days.

kids aren’t really troubled by the heat. they’ll stay outside all day playing just because they can. meanwhile, i’m racing from one shady air-conditioned place to another in a desperate attempt to stay cool and keep from getting skin cancer (my skin has two settings: pallid white and lobster red). wow, i’m sounding really old here. anyway, the kids in my neighborhood have taken to selling lemonade on the corner, and while i haven’t indulged them yet (2 bucks a glass?!), i found myself thinking, during my sprint from the bus stop to my apartment door, about how delicious lemon bars would be.

the girl pointed me to this recipe, and i’m eternally grateful. they have oatmeal in the dough, which is something i’ve never seen before. it’s a great excuse to eat oatmeal, since the only time i use it is in baking. i got my fill of mushy hot oatmeal on boy scout camping trips growing up. it’s also an incredibly simple recipe that doesn’t require any eggs. really, you can have this in the oven in less than 10 minutes.

what’s so great about lemon bars? how about the combination of sweet and sour, the refreshing bite of the filling, the realization that you are going to finish the entire tray of bars before they make it out of the kitchen…

continue reading and get the recipe »