Egg-free French Toast

On Sunday morning I was craving French Toast.  Of course, the roommate is the only one who ever buys eggs in our house and, since he'd been gone for a week, we had none.  I told myself I wasn't going out until I had done a deep-clean of the house, so there was no going to the store or our usual brunch spot.  It was time to get creative.

I figured if anyone knew how to make French Toast sans eggs it would be a vegan, so I did a quick search and found a vegan French Toast recipe.  We all know I am not a vegan chef so I of course un-veganized it - adding back in milk and butter.  It's a great way to make French Toast if you're allergic to eggs or, like me, a lazy grocery shopper.  It's crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.  It would be awesome topped with fresh fruit or berries.  Basically, it's just batter-fried bread, and who can complain about that?  Certainly not me!



Egg-free French Toast
adapted from chef chloe

Ingredients
1/4 c skim milk
1/4 c flour
1 tbsp maple syrup (plus more for serving)
1 tbsp ground flax seed
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tbsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
6 slices, 3/4" thick, french bread
1 tbsp butter

Instructions
1. Whisk together the milk and flour with a fork in a small bowl until smooth.
2. Add the maple syrup, ground flax seed, salt, cinnamon, brown sugar and vanilla and whisk to combine.
3. Dip the bread in the batter until both sides are well coated.
4. Melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat.  Once melted, add the bread, making sure not to crowd the pan.  If you need to do it in two batches, that's better than squishing the bread.
5. Allow the bread to brown on one side, then flip and allow to brown on the other side.  I like to press the bread while the second side is browning.
6. Serve with additional maple syrup, warmed.

serves 2

Malted Maple Blueberry Muffins

Last weekend was the first weekend with really gorgeous weather.  The kind of weather that makes me force the Monkey Scientist out of the house to play in the sunshine with me.  I wanted to celebrate with a bright and yummy breakfast to start the day on Saturday, which to me always means muffins.  I bought a bag of frozen Maine blueberries at Trader Joe's a while ago and used the first half to make Easter muffins.  They were corn and blueberry muffins and well... they were not a hit.  So I decided to scrap that recipe and try something new.



Of course, I couldn't leave well enough alone and make the recipe as it was written.  I'm too obsessed with maple and malted anything to allow that.  So I winged it and added quantities I thought would work (reasons I am not usually a baker) and magically it worked out!  I was sort of afraid they'd end up super dry or un-risen or something, but somehow my additions didn't disturb the recipe too badly.  Saturday win!



These muffins turned out wonderfully.  Right after I put them in the oven I had to run to yoga class, so I left the Monkey Scientist to pull them out of the oven and make sure they were done.  When I got home an hour later, one muffin was halfway in his mouth and another had disappeared.  Looked like an upgrade from my Easter muffin fail for sure!  Next time, I'd love to increase the maple flavor - maybe even using maple sugar instead of regular.  But this recipe is an easy weekend go-to for now!

Here's to hoping this weekend is just as beautiful as last!



Malted Maple Blueberry Muffins
adapted from Taste of Home
makes one dozen muffins

Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/3 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup malted milk powder
1 stick butter, softened
1 cups sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1 tbsp maple syrup
1 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cups frozen Maine blueberries
topping
1 tablespoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Instructions
1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and malted milk powder.
3. In the bowl of your standing mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add in the eggs, milk, maple syrup, and vanilla extra and mix until combined evenly.
4.  Slowly add in the dry ingredients and mix until just incorporated.  Stir in the frozen blueberries with a spatula.
5. Evenly distribute the batter into a 12 muffin tin lined with muffin cups.  In a small bowl, combine the remaining sugar and nutmeg and sprinkle over each muffin.
6. Bake 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of a muffin comes out clean.  Allow to cool in the muffin tin for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack.

Peppermint White Chocolate MandM Cookies (Merry Christmas!)

This year, I'm spending Christmas with the Monkey Scientist's family.  His mom is an expert baker and I wanted to help contribute to the endless flow of Christmas cookies she's producing.  I picked up a couple bags of these MandMs at Target (uhh they were white chocolate and peppermint, of course I bought 2 bags) a few weeks ago but I'd been fighting not to eat them so I could make cookies! (I knew if I opened the bag without a plan, I'd eat it all in a day or two. I lack self-restraint.)




I whipped these up yesterday so that I wouldn't be contributing to the chaos once the Christmas cooking really begins.  We have them in an airtight container (along with his mom's famous sugar cookies) and I think they might last through tomorrow!  There is never a lack of good food around here - especially baked goods.  I was glad I could contribute a little something.



This is my first year not heading up north in New Hampshire to ski over Christmas, I think in my whole life.  Things were just a little too crazy for me to travel over the holidays.  Luckily, the Monkey Scientist and I will get a good weekend of skiing in just after the New Year.  It doesn't sound like the skiing I'm missing has been very bad lately, anyways!  I'm certainly missing my family, but looking forward to seeing most of them in a few weeks. I'm also lucky the Monkey Scientist's family takes me in as one of their own!  It's my first Christmas with a tree, rather than a pile of presents at the bottom of the stairs or under the fireplace.



These cookies are super sweet and minty - just how I like them!  They would be perfect to leave for Santa under the tree as well.  They came out a little bit puffy for me, which I tried to fix with my rapping against the oven door trick, but I think you could also reduce the flour a bit.  I also left out the candy canes because the Monkey Scientist thinks they stick in his teeth too much.  Regardless, they taste wonderful!

Have a happy holiday!



White Chocolate Peppermint MandM Cookies
slightly adapted from Two Peas and Their Pod

Ingredients
2 1/2-3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 cup white chocolate chips
1 cup White Chocolate Peppermint MandM's

Instructions
1. Preheat the oven to 350.
2. Mix the flour, salt, and baking soda in a large bowl.
3. In the bowl of the standing mixer, cream the butter and sugars until blended. Add the egg and vanilla and mix to incorporate.
4. Slowly add the dry ingredients, mixing on low until fully incorporated. Mix in the white chocolate chips and MandM's.
5. On a baking sheet (I lined mine with a Silpat) drop the cookies in tablespoon-sized balls about 2 inches apart. Bake for 5 minutes, then remove from the oven. Bang the pan against the open oven door or your stove-top to flatten the cookies. Bake for an additional 5-7 minutes or until the cookies are browning around the edges (but still soft in the middle).
6. Remove from the oven and let rest on the cookies sheet for 2 minutes, then move to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Apple Cider Pound Cake with Apple Cider Glaze

Last week I had a very special treat. My former coworker was visiting Chicago and invited me and the Monkey Scientist to have dinner at her sister's house.  I used to eat lunch with her every day, but now I hadn't seen her in months!  It was great to be able to spend time with her and catch up.  I can't believe how many people I used to work with have had babies since I left.  I miss the flurry of baby pictures I used to get in my email.



As I've mentioned before, my coworker isn't a big chocolate person.  I dug through my recently starred recipes in Google Reader and it seemed like everything was chocolate!  Finally, I came across this cake and I knew it was perfect.  I love cakes that are sweet and this cider glaze was perfect. I knew she'd love it.



Besides that, the Monkey Scientist gave me a bundt pan last Christmas and I still hadn't used it until now!  His mom makes a few really amazing bundt cakes, so I never wanted to compete with her.  Fortunately, this cake was far enough from her chocolate chip cake that I wasn't too worried. However, after the first 70 minutes I could tell the cake wasn't going to keep its shape and was going to become a pool of dough.  I threw it back in the oven for another 20-30 minutes, though, and it really did the trick.  So even if your cake is starting to turn brown around the edges, don't fret! Let it cook all the way through! (Especially if you have a silicon bundt pan).



To no big surprise, this cake came out really delicious. It's sweet without being too sweet, and has a nice subtle apple cider flavor.  I love the warmth of the cinnamon throughout.  I didn't reduce the cider quite enough so the glaze looks pretty white compared to what it should have looked like.  It didn't matter though - I liked the white color and it tasted great.



Apple Cider Pound Cake with Apple Cider Glaze
very slightly adapted from Buns in My Oven

Ingredients
For the cake:
3 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups butter, softened
6 eggs
3 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1 cup apple cider
1 teaspoon vanilla
For the glaze:
1 cup apple cider
1/2 - 1 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
dash of salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon

Instructions
1. Preheat the oven to 325 and grease a bundt pan.
2. In the bowl of a standing mixer, cream the butter and sugar.  With the mixer on low speed, add the eggs one at a time until incorporated.
3. In a large bowl, whisk to combine the dry ingredients.  In a measuring cup, combine 1 cup of apple cider with 1 teaspoon vanilla.
4. With the mixer on low speed, add the dry mixture and cider a bit at a time, alternating between which you are adding.  When everything in incorporated, spoon the batter into your bundt pan.  Bake for 70 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean (I used a silicon bundt pan and it took closer to 90 minutes).
5. Remove from the oven and let the cake sit for at least 20 minutes in the bundt pan.  Remove from bundt pan and allow to cool completely.
6. Add the remaining 1 cup cider to a small saucepan and bring to a boil.  Allow to boil for at least 10 minutes or until the liquid reduces by half (I don't think mine reduced enough, so it wasn't dark in color).
7. Add the butter, salt, cinnamon, and powdered sugar.  If it isn't thick enough, continue to add powdered sugar until it reaches desired consistency.
8. Allow to cool slightly, and then pour over cake.  I recommend doing this over a jelly roll pan so you can collect the drippings and pour it over again if you like (I did this 3 times).  Serve at room temperature.

Lobster Mac and Cheese

I'm pretty sure the thing I miss the most about living in New England is the seafood.  The ability to go to the grocery store, grab a lobster or some fish without spending a week's grocery budget (or fearing digestive disaster) is a luxury I took for granted growing up in Massachusetts.  Now, when I'm back home, I take any advantage to enjoy all the seafood there is to offer.



We had my little cousins over for dinner on my last night home and decided to make mac and cheese.  Of course, this meant I had to get some lobster in there.  It was the right thing to do.  It's the bacon of the ocean, after all.



I was mostly inspired to eat lobster because of my camp friend.  She grew up a pescatarian, so she's never had meat or poultry at all.  For Thanksgiving, her family has lobster and oysters.  How amazing is that?  I am not a turkey person so I'd take lobster and oyster Thanksgiving over the traditional any day!



By the way, why does anyone still eat mac and cheese out of the box?  I mean it serves its purpose, and sometimes I crave it, but man it does not COMPARE to homemade mac and cheese. Sure, it's more expensive to make it from scratch, but it's easy to do and the taste is night and day.  This is the serious comfort food I need in the middle of winter.  Plus you can change it up in so many different ways - using different kinds of cheese or any mix in from lobster to bacon to pumpkin.  It's a versatile dish that guests of all ages love.



Oh right, the recipe. I don't think I even need to tell you how good this was.  My little cousins scarfed it down despite being sometimes-picky eaters (we conveniently didn't tell them there was lobster in it) and I couldn't resist taking a second helping.  We doubled the recipe and used meat from 2 small-ish lobsters and I'm not sure how many ounces it actually was, but I'd use more next time.  I'm sure it was way less than 24 oz though so I think you'll be OK using the recipe as is below.  I might need to go home soon so I can make some more!



Lobster Mac and Cheese
from Annie's Eats

Ingredients
8 oz. pasta (I used cavatappi)
4 tbsp. unsalted butter, divided
3 tbsp. all-purpose flour
2 cups milk
6 oz. fontina cheese, shredded or finely diced
4 oz. white cheddar cheese, shredded
½ tsp. kosher salt
¼ tsp. ground black pepper
Dash grated nutmeg
12 oz. cooked lobster meat, cut into ½-inch chunks (claws and tail)
½ cup Panko breadcrumbs
Minced fresh chives, for garnish

Instructions
1. Preheat the oven to 400˚ F.
2. Lightly grease a 2-quart baking dish with butter.
3. Bring a pot of water to boil. Cook the pasta for about 2 minutes less than the package directions say is "al dente". Drain well into a large colander.
4. While the pasta is in the colander, return the pot to the medium heat. Melt 3 tablespoons of the butter in the pot. Whisk in the flour and cook, stirring constantly, until light golden brown, about 1-2 minutes.
5. Slowly whisk in the milk in small additions until completely added and no lumps of flour remain. Stir in the salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Continue to heat, stirring frequently, until the sauce bubbles and thickens, about 5 minutes.
6. Once bubbling, cook for 2 more minutes, stirring constantly, scraping the bottom of the pan to prevent burning. Remove the pan from the heat.
7. Stir in the cheese one handful at at time and mix until completely melted.
8. Return the pasta to the pot and mix to coat well with the cheese sauce. Gently fold in the lobster meat. Transfer to the prepared baking dish.
9. In a small bowl, melt the remaining 1 tablespoon of butter in the microwave. Stir in the Panko and toss until the crumbs are evenly coated. Sprinkle the crumb mixture over the pasta in the baking dish.
10. Bake uncovered for about 20-25 minutes or until the top is browned and the cheese is bubbling. Serve warm topped with fresh minced chives, if desired.

Salted Caramel

Now that autumn is in full-swing, all I want to do is go apple picking. Unfortunately, the weather has not cooperated between the drought and early heat this spring - which led to a small harvest this year - and the rain storms we've had lately. I tried to plan a big trip and we had tornado warnings all weekend. Such a bummer. Still, there have been great Honeycrisps from Michigan at the grocery store and I've really been enjoying them!



This weekend, I decided that if I was going to eat apples inside in the rain, I needed to dip them in caramel. This recipe was SUPER easy. I think I could have let the sugar get a little bit deeper caramelization, but I was so afraid of burning it that I pulled it off a little early. Next time I'll let it get a little darker. This recipe is fantastic though! I brought the leftovers to the Monkey Scientist's parents - I'm hoping his mom uses it to make some spectacular baked goods. It would be wonderful swirled in brownies or cake!



Salted Caramel Sauce
slightly adapted from Lick My Spoon

Ingredients
1 cup sugar
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into chunks
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup water
1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt
1 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions
1. Heat sugar and water in a 2-quart or 3-quart non-stick saucepan over medium-high heat. Stir to help the sugar dissolve, but stop stirring when the sugar comes to a boil. You can swirl the pan a bit if you want.
2. When the liquid sugar hits a dark amber color (I don't think I waited quite long enough), add all the butter to the pan. The mixture will foam up and thicken. Whisk until the butter has melted. Once the butter has melted, take the pan off the heat.
3. Add the cream to the pan (the mixture will foam up again) and continue to whisk to incorporate.
4. Add the sea salt and vanilla and whisk until caramel sauce is smooth.
5. Let cool in the pan for a couple minutes, then pour into a glass jar and let cool to room temperature. Don’t worry if the sauce seems a bit too thin at first, it will thicken as it cools. Store in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. Warm before serving to loosen it up again.

Pumpkin Shortbread with Caramel and Pretzels

This weekend there are lots of events going on in our neighborhood!  I woke up to lots of barking from the 9th Annual Mutt Strut.  It took a LOT of restraint to not adopt the adorable 3 year old black pug the Chicago Canine Rescue group brought.  He was so cute and sweet.  Luckily I have my dad to call and bring me back down to reality instead of adopting puppies on a whim!

Then, the Lakeview Chamber of Commerce hosted a dessert potluck just around the corner.  I wanted to bring a fun fall dessert and I'd been eyeing this recipe all week.  It was the perfect excuse!



We all thought these were a delicious treat, and based on their tweet, I think the Chamber of Commerce and my neighbors enjoyed them as well.  They were sweet and a little bit salty, and plenty buttery.  I had these adorable apple napkins left from Rosh Hashana, which made them perfect for serving on.  Speaking of Rosh Hashana, I've been holding out on you with some really great recipes.  I promise, I will be posting my new favorite brisket recipe soon. It's amazing!!



Pumpkin Shortbread with Caramel and Pretzels
slightly adapted from Sugarcrafter

Ingredients
pumpkin shortbread
cooking spray
1 3/4 c AP flour
1/4 c sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
5 tbsp pumpkin puree
10 tbsp unsalted butter, cut into 1″ pieces
caramel
12 tbsp butter
1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
4 tbsp honey
topping
1 c crushed pretzels

Instructions
1. Preheat the oven to 325F. Line an 8" square baking dish with foil and spray with cooking spray.
2. In a food processor, combine the flour, sugar, cinnamon, pumpkin, and butter. Pulse until combined and when you press the mixture together with your fingers it sticks together like dough.
3. Press into the prepared dish and pierce all over with a fork. Bake 5 minutes, then lower the oven to 300F and bake and additional 30-40 minutes or until light golden brown. Remove from oven and allow to cool.
4. In a deep glass bowl, melt the butter. Stir in the condensed milk and honey. Whisk until well combined. Heat in the microwave 7 minutes until boiling, stirring every 30 seconds. Don't walk away, because it can boil over! The caramel is ready when thickened and light golden brown.
NOTE: If you are multitasking and put the microwave on for 7 minutes and totally forget about it and don't stir it every 30 seconds, and when you remove it from the microwave it looks like butter with brown clumps at the bottom - don't think you TOTALLY ruined it. Sure it isn't perfect, but if you stir constantly with a spatula for long enough, it will still turn back into caramel. Not that I would know from experience or anything... oops.
5. Pour the hot caramel over the cooled cookie layer. Sprinkle the crushed pretzels over the caramel layer.
6. Cool to room temperature, then place in the fridge and allow to cool completely. Cut into small square and serve.

S'mores Cookies

Today is the birthday (and a special one at that) of one of my favorite people in the whole world - my mom.  I think a lot of people probably say this, but I am completely convinced I have the best mom in the whole world.  A lot of moms have trouble finding the balance between being a friend to your child, letting them make their own decisions, and teaching them to make good choices, even if that means acting strict at times.  My mom (and my dad for that matter) were able to find this balance really well, and I think it helped me to become the person I am today.  I am lucky to always be able to call my mom for advice and trust her to guide me when I have trouble making decisions on my own (even if it's just silly things like picking a moving company). She really is the best!!

In honor of my mom, I wanted to share this recipe for cookies in her favorite variety - s'mores.  Anyone who has ever been near a campfire (or even just a charcoal barbecue) knows my mom loves s'mores.  Mom isn't even a big dessert eater, but there are a few trips to Sebago Lake where I remember her eating quite a few s'mores.  The Monkey Scientist and I are headed to the beach this weekend, so I wanted to bring some s'mores for a beach snack.  This recipe was the perfect way to think of my mom all day at the beach!  Happy birthday, Mom!

This batter, by the way, is ridiculously tasty.  I definitely spoiled my dinner by tasting the dough.  You know, to make sure it wasn't poisoned.  Plus, look how cute the cookies came out!

S'mores Cookies

slightly adapted from Tracey's Culinary Adventures

Ingredients

1 cup graham cracker crumbs

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 oz (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar (I used dark but the original called for light)
1 large egg, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups milk chocolate chips
1 cup mini marshmallows (approximately, I didn't exactly measure how many I used)

Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 350. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or a silpat.
2. In a medium bowl, mix together the graham cracker crumbs, flour, baking soda, and salt.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (a beater blade is great here), cream the butter and both sugars on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the egg and vanilla. With the mixer on low, add the flour mixture and beat just until combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.
4. Drop heaping tablespoons of the dough onto the prepared baking sheets, spacing them about 2 inches apart. Bake for 8-9 minutes (I did 1 tray at a time), then remove from the oven and quickly, but gently push a few marshmallows into the top of each cookie. Return the cookies to the oven and bake for an additional 2-3 minutes, or until the edges are set.
5. Cool the cookies on the baking sheets for about 5 minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.



PS - don't worry, I brought some cookie variety to the beach.  I also used my last bag of Cadbury Mini Eggs stored over from Easter to make Cadbury Mini Egg Cookies.  YUM!

Creamy Goat Cheese Polenta

Have you ever made polenta?  It sounds so fancy and looks so impressive but honestly it's one of the easiest things to make!  And, you probably have everything you need on hand - cornmeal, water, butter, and maybe some goat cheese?  You've got it?  Alright, then you have to make this!



I first made polenta under red meats.  It's wonderful to catch the juices from slow cooked pot roast or short ribs. But this week, I actually ate the polenta under healthy salmon!  When you're tired of mashed potatoes, rice, and pasta, polenta is a great and versatile alternative.  It's so easy, the Monkey Scientist made it this time while I was cooking the fish.



This tastes so wonderful.  Polenta is creamy but with much more flavor than pasta or rice.  It's a little bit sweet, and tangy from the goat cheese.  The butter adds the perfect amount of richness.  If it's just the 2 of us, I'll halve this recipe.  I'd say it should serve about 4, which works perfectly with my cherry salmon recipe!  There are so many ways to enjoy this polenta - what would you serve it with?



Creamy Goat Cheese Polenta
from the Pioneer Woman

Ingredients
1 c yellow cornmeal
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp butter
4 oz (by weight) goat cheese

Instructions
1. Bring 4 1/2 cups water to a boil.
2. Add cornmeal to the water in a thin stream, whisking constantly to avoid lumps.
3. Reduce heat to a simmer, and cook for 15 minutes, adding salt and extra tablespoons of water as needed.
4. When polenta is done, stir in butter and goat cheese. Check seasonings, and add salt to taste.
5. Serve under your meat or fish main course and allow to soak up any juices.

Basic Oatmeal Cookies

On Saturday night, the weather was icky which made going out sound dreadful.  We've been pretty obsessed with Draw Something lately, thanks to my brother (it's a terrible addiction don't even start!) which inspired me to want to play Pictionary.  At the last minute, I was able to organize a few friends to come over and join us for an exciting game night!




We had such a wonderful time.  We started with CatchPhrase (if you have an iPhone, download Phrase Party and you don't actually need to buy the game!), and then moved onto Pictionary, Charades, and a game I'd never played before - Chinese Telegraph.  You can find a great explanation of how to play the game on Jenna's Everything Blog.  Next time you gather a bunch of your friends, I highly recommend playing this game.  I had to pull out a box of tissues because I was laughing so hard.  It was one of my favorite Saturday nights in a long time - I hope we'll get to have another game night again soon!



Since I threw the gathering together pretty quickly, I felt bad that I hadn't made many treats for my guests.  I am usually pretty good about keeping the ingredients for baked goods in the house, so I decided to throw together some cookies.  I wanted a pretty basic recipe so I went to my reliable Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook.  My college roommate always used this cookbook, so when a Border's was going out of business I picked up a copy of my own and I love it!  I had all of the ingredients for these Oatmeal Cookies, as well as about 1/4 bag each of chocolate and butterscotch chips, so I quickly threw a batch together.



What a great recipe!  They're super easy to make and tasted delicious!  These are chewy cookies, but I bet if you took them out halfway through baking and gently banged the cookie tray on the oven door before putting them back in, they'd flatten out and turn out crispy if you're into that.  I don't usually add cloves or cinnamon to my oatmeal cookies but I will from now on.  They added a new level of flavor that we all really enjoyed.  Even though I only had 1/2 cup combined of chocolate and butterscotch chips, I thought they were the perfect amount to prevent the cookies from being too sweet or too chocolately (yes, I just said that.  I'm not a huge chocolate lover).  These were a great cookie that I could throw together in no time with the ingredients I had on hand!




Basic Oatmeal Cookies
slightly adapted from Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook

Ingredients
3/4 c butter, softened
1 c packed brown sugar (I used light)
1/2 c granulated sugar (or Vanilla Sugar)
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4-1/2 tsp ground cloves
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 c whole wheat flour
1 c all-purpose flour
2 c rolled oats
1/4 c milk chocolate chips (optional)
1/4 c butterscotch chips (optional)

Instructions
1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
2. In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (or, even better, a beater blade) beat the butter on medium speed for 30 seconds.
3. Add the brown sugar, granulated (or vanilla) sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and cloves and beat on medium speed until combined.  If you don't have a beater blade, make sure to scrape the sides down with a spatula. Beat in eggs and vanilla.
4. Add in the whole wheat flour and beat on low until incorporated.  Add AP flour, 1/2 c at a time, and beat on low until incorporated.  Add the oats and beat for 15 seconds or until incorporated.  If desired, add chocolate and butterscotch chips (or anything else, like raisins or craisins) and stir with a spoon until mixed throughout.
5. Drop dough by rounded teaspoons 2 inches apart on a cookie sheet (optionally lined with a silpat mat or parchment paper).  Bake 8-10 minutes (mine actually needed closer to 12 min but they were a little big) until the edges are golden brown.
6. Cool on cookie sheet for 1 minute then transfer to a wire rack to allow to continue to cool.

Vanilla Bean Scones

I had been promising the Monkey Scientist for a few weeks that I'd make a nice breakfast one weekend morning, but I kept rushing out early to go to weekend Stroga class and hadn't followed through.  Finally, I came through with a special treat - scones.  This was my first scone adventure, so I'm not sure how "typical" this recipe is, but it certainly was a learning experience.



First of all, grating butter?  I grate all my own cheese, but this was a new one for me.  It makes sense though!  Trying to cut butter into flour is a pain, but mixing in little flakes of butter is easy!  Totally weird, not changing my mind on that, but I think it works really well!



On the other hand, this recipe doesn't cut the pain of layering the dough.  Do all scone recipes have layered dough?  I felt like I was making croissants.  But then when they baked up, I didn't notice the layers at all.  Was all this rolling and folding worth it?  What was I really doing?  I need a baker pro to explain to me a little bit better!





Can I just throw out there that'd I'd love a nice wood pastry board.  Like this one.  It's on my wish list and sometime I'll take the plunge and buy it myself.  My counter is just never clean enough to work directly on, and my cutting boards aren't cutting it (no pun intended).  If you have a pastry board, this is a great recipe to use it for, since you roll out into all different sized square and rectangles.



We really enjoyed these scones.  They were a bit doughy (did I over mix?) and not quite as flakey as they could have been, but delicious nonetheless.  The vanilla flavor was strong throughout and I love the cinnamon sugar topping.  I saved the rest as a quick bite to grab on the way out the door in the morning and they stayed delicious all week.  As much as we've enjoyed waffles and scones, the next weekend breakfast may be an egg dish - I haven't made a quiche in a long time!

Oh! One note!  Save your pod from the vanilla bean after you scrape it.  I have something you can do with it! Stay tuned!



Vanilla Bean Scones
from Pink Parsley

Ingredients
8 Tablespoons cold butter, plus more for brushing
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup + 2 Tbs granulated sugar, plus more for sprinkling
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 vanilla bean, split open and seeds scraped out (save the pod!)
1 Tbs vanilla extract
1/2 cup vanilla Greek yogurt
1/2 cup milk or buttermilk

Instructions
1. Grate the butter on the large holes of a box grater onto a plate lined with parchment paper, and freeze.
2. Preheat oven to 425, and combine the dry ingredients. Stir in frozen butter. Whisk together the vanilla bean, yogurt, vanilla extract, and whole milk, and stir into the dry ingredients with a wooden spoon until just combined. The dough will be crumbly, but that's okay.
3. Turn out onto a well-floured surface, and knead a few times until it forms a ball. Roll out into a 12x12 inch square. Using a bench scraper, fold the dough into thirds, then fold into thirds again in the opposite direction to form a square. Place on the parchment-lined plate, and freeze for 5 minutes.
4. Roll out to a 12x12 inch square again. Carefully roll up, as you would cinnamon rolls. Press the roll into a 4-inch wide rectangle. Using the bench scraper, cut into 4 equal-sized rectangles. Then cut each rectangle diagonally to make 2 triangles.
5. Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. At this point the scones can be baked or refrigerated overnight. Brush with melted butter, then sprinkle with sugar. Bake 18-25 minutes, or until golden-brown.