Cozy Tummies Warm Hearts: cookies

Helpful Hints

Clean As You Go : less mess, more efficient, more time to enjoy your food!
Don't Bite Off More Than You Can Chew : start with small, simple recipes until you feel comfortable and confident.
Have Fun! : No matter what you're cooking, always have fun. You're food will taste better, you will be confident and comfortable with your cooking and yourself!
Know Your Space : get to know the ins and outs of your kitchen; where things are, what works best for you, even the small things like the corks in your oven.
Simplicity Is Always Good : you don't need to make a feast out of a grain of rice, use what you have and be creative!
Stay Organized : gather what you need before you start, including ingredients, bowls, measuring cups, the whole shebang!
Worry About Fiber, Not Fat : make sure you're eating plenty of fiber-rich food and you'll find yourself craving healthy rather than sweet.

Oh Shoot, I'm Out Of...

Wine – I know there are people out there that don’t use wine in their cooking, I’m one of them, so you can use apple juice in an equal amount instead. You can also use water instead of beer, or orange juice instead of liquor.
Unsweetened Chocolate Bars – For each square of chocolate, use 3 Tbsp cocoa with 1 Tbsp butter.
Molasses – It seems like fewer and fewer recipes call for molasses so it’s common to not have this ingredient. Just substitute an equal amount of honey and enjoy!
Flour – Don’t sweat! In breads, you can substitute the amount of regular flour with an equal amount of bran, cornmeal, or whole wheat flour. It works best if you have at least half the called for amount in regular flour.
Cream of Celery – The great thing about all those ‘Cream of’ soups is that you can interchange them! Whether it’s Mushroom, Chicken, Celery, you can pick your favorites and the recipe will be that much tastier!
Butter – Substitute ½ cup of butter with ½ cup shortening plus ¼ tsp salt. This also works both ways, if you don’t have shortening, use butter instead!
Baking Powder – For every 1 tsp baking powder you can use ½ tsp cream of tartar with ¼ tsp baking soda. You can also use regular baking powder if you don’t have double acting baking powder, just add ½ tsp more for every 1 tsp

Friday, February 26, 2010

Cake Cookie Experimentation

Today in the kitchen, I experimented with cake cookies. They are super easy to make, take no time at all, and are really yummy. You can use any cake mix you want, most of them now come with cookie recipes on them, but they all basically call for the same things: cake mix, oil, water, and an egg.

I made two different cake mixes: yellow and chocolate, just a generic brand, nothing fancy. The yellow cake cookies called for ¾ cups oil, ¼ cup water, and an egg. I added mini chocolate chips to it to give it a little umphf. You just mix it all up, role them into balls and throw them in the oven (350 degrees, 12 minutes). Wham, bam, you’re done. Easy, simple, yummy. Little advise, the recipe I looked at said to bake them for 14-16 minutes, but I always shave off a minute or two just so they’re a little softer but not too gooey.

Now, the chocolate ones gave me a few fits. It called for ½ cup oil, ¼ cup water, and an egg, so there’s a little more oil in this recipe. I split the dough in half to make plain chocolate cookies and chocolate butterscotch cookies and man, those little butterscotch chips were a pain in the butt! They did not want to mix in with dough. I swear it was like being in junior high again, boys on one side of the gym, girls on the other and no one wanting to mix it up in the middle. I finally had to get rough and mash it all together with my hands. I showed them scrawny teenagers. :) Only bake these ones for ten minutes on 350 and they are delicious.

Happy cooking!

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Cookie Perfection

I don't know about you guys but cookies are Life!! When you feel down or when you just need that little bit of sugar to get you going, cookies are the answer. The only problem is, it's really hard to find the perfect cookie; it's not too crunchy, not too gooie, the right amount of chocolate chips. Well, my friends, the first recipe that I want to share with you is one that I have come up with that makes the perfect cookies.

Yummy, Delicious, Super Special Awesome Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 1/2 Cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

a pinch of salt

1-2 tbsp cinnamin

Mix well in a medium size bowl and set aside.

3/4 cups Sugar

3/4 cups Brown sugar

2 eggs

1 stick (1/2 cup) butter

1 tsp vanilla extract

Beat well. You can microwave the butter for about ten seconds so it's really soft, but not melting, that way it mixes better in the dough and doesn't cause your cookies to melt in the oven. Add the dry ingredient mixture a little bit at a time, mixing well. Add a 12 oz bag of mini chocolate chips and mix well. You can use regular size chocolate chips, but the mini ones provide a better cookie-to-chocolate ratio.

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Make little two inch balls and place them on a lightly greased cookie sheet and bake for ten minutes. When you pull the cookies out, they will just barely be turning a rich golden brown but DON'T put them back in!! They continue cooking when they come out and you don't want them to burn.

You can also substitute the 2 1/2 cups flour for 1 1/4 cups flour, then add 3 cups oats when you mix in the chocolate chips for a more healthy alternative. However, don't sweat too much over health because the secret to my cookies is not what's in it - though the cinnamin is a great addition - it's what's missing. There is half the amount of butter than is usually used in cookies, and they actually keep their shape better and you get nice firm cookies instead of the flat blah cookies.

So, get in the kitchen, get cooking, and enjoy!!! : ) I promise you, they are to die for!

Happy cooking!

Cozy Tummies Warm Hearts

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