Week 12: Cinnamon Cookies

We made it! Can you believe it? It’s the last week of my blog postings and I’m sad to say that this will be my last post on this topic. L  This final week, I decided to try a new kind of cookie. It sounded pretty good so I printed up the recipe and got out all the ingredients. These cookies are actually really good, especially right when they come out of the oven and are really warm and soft. However, if you happen to be allergic to cinnamon or just don’t like it, I would not try this recipesince ity has cinnamon in it. You can really taste the cinnamon in these cookies, which is nice because sometimes you find a recipe that doesn’t taste even close to what it sounds like. I would recommend to anyone who likes cinnamon to try these cookies because they are really delicious. I’ve had a great experience blogging the past 3 months and I hope to maybe do it again sometime in the future but for now, goodbye blogging world.

Cinnamon Cookies

Ingredients:

·         ½ lb unsalted butter (2 sticks)

·         ½ cup brown sugar, packed

·         ½ cup granulated sugar

·         2½ tsp cinnamon

·         2 Tbsp milk

·         1 large egg

·         2¾ cups pastry flour, or 2½ cups all-purpose flour, sifted

·         ½ tsp salt (table salt, not Kosher salt)

·         Cinnamon sugar for rolling

Directions:

1.      Let all the ingredients come to room temperature before you begin.

2.      Using the paddle attachment of a stand mixer, cream the butter, sugars, salt and cinnamon on low speed.
Note: The longer you cream these ingredients, the more air you'll incorporate, giving you a lighter cookie. If you want a chewier cookie, cream only enough to combine the ingredients.

3.      Add the egg and milk and mix until blended.

4.      Add the flour to wet ingredients and mix until they're combined.

5.      Roll the dough into a cylinder about an inch thick. You can chill it for a few minutes if it's too soft to work with right away.

6.      Prepare your baking sheet pan by greasing it with butter or shortening or lining it with parchment paper. Or use a silicone baking mat, which is my favorite technique.

7.      Preheat oven to 375°F.

8.      Cut 1 oz portions of dough from the cylinder, roll in cinnamon sugar and place them onto your sheet pan. Leave about 2 inches between each cookie so that they have plenty of room to spread.

9.      Use something flat like the bottom of a glass to flatten the cookies onto the pan. If the glass sticks, you can dip it in cinnamon sugar between each cookie.

10.  Bake for around 10 minutes or until the edges and bottoms of the cookies are beginning to look golden brown.

11.  When the cookies are cool enough to handle but still warm, remove them from the pan and cool them on a wire rack. You can eat them as soon as they're cool enough that they won't burn your mouth. Or if you'll be storing them, make sure they've cooled thoroughly first.

Makes about 30 cookies. You can prepare the dough through step 6 and freeze some or all of it for later.

To freeze cookie dough, roll it into a tube and wrap it tightly in plastic wrap. Later you can simply unwrap the tube, cut the frozen dough into single-cookie slices and bake normally.

Week 11: No Bake Cookies

This recipe is the easiest recipe to make. All you literally have to do is mix the ingredients on a stove and plop them on wax paper. And they taste so good! Though these cookies make look absolutely disgusting and unappetizing, they are truly delicious. When I gave these cookies to my friends and family, they couldn’t stop eating them! These cookies are seriously delicious and addictive! You should all try them because if you don’t, you will be missing out on possibly the best cookie recipe ever. And plus, it doesn’t even need an oven to cook them, all they need are a few minutes to cool and harden! -hence the 'no bake' no bake cookies! :)

No Bake Cookies

Ingredients

• 2 cups sugar
• 4 tablespoons cocoa
• 1 stick butter
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 cup peanut butter
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 3 cups oatmeal
• Waxed paper

Directions

In a heavy saucepan bring to a boil, the sugar, cocoa, butter and milk. Let boil for 1 minute then add peanut butter, vanilla and oatmeal. On a sheet of waxed paper, drop mixture by the teaspoonfuls, until cooled and hardened.

Week 10: Chicken Broccoli Casserole

The recipe I tried this week was a main dish called Chicken Broccoli Casserole. This is absolutly my favorite dish ever! I would have this for lunch and dinner everyday of my life if I could. I recommend to everyone that you try this recipe because it will change your life. It is the best food on the planet. The chicken is cooked to perfection and the broccoli tastes great. My favorite ingredient in the dish is the corn bread stuffing on the top. It’s crunchy and delicious. And the recipe was really easy to make. All it takes is putting the ingredients together and putting it in the over to bake. This is my favorite dish of all time.

Chicken-Broccoli Casserole

Ingredients:
            6 to 8 chicken breasts, cooked and chopped
            2 boxes broccoli, chopped, cooked crisp and drained
            2 cans cream of chicken soup
            1/2 cup mayo
            1 TB lemon juice
            1/2 cup chicken broth
            1 cup mild cheddar cheese, grated
            2 cups Pepperidge Farms corn bread stuffing
            1 1/2 sticks margarine, melted

Directions:
Layer broccoli in a 9 x 12-inch baking dish. Layer chicken on broccoli. Mix and spread chicken soup, mayo, lemon juice and chicken broth. Cover with grated cheese. Mix stuffing mix with butter and pour on top of dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes.

Week 9: Banana Bread

This recipe is absolutely fantastic. Banana bread is most definitely my favorite kind of bread to eat. And the great thing about it is that you don’t even have to like bananas to enjoy banana bread. Plus, this bread I really god as an appetizer for a meal or just a snack.  When I make banana bread, it is gone within a day or two because everyone loves it so much and t is soo good! I would most definitely make this recipe again and again. I would also recommend everyone to try this recipe. Seriously, it is soo good!

Banana Bread

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs, beaten
2 1/3 cups mashed overripe bananas

Directions:

1.    Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan.

2.    In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar. Stir in eggs and mashed bananas until well blended. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture; stir just to moisten. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.

3.    Bake in preheated oven for 60 to 65 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean. Let bread cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack.

Week 8: Original Nestle Toll House Cookies

The recipe I used this week was the original recipe of Nestle Toll House Chocolate chip cookies. These cookies were absolutely fantastic! They are the best chocolate chip cookie you will ever put in your mouth. They are especially great right when they come out of the oven and cool for 2-3 minutes. That way, they have their shape, are really soft, and they are still warm, so the chocolate chips melt at the touch of your mouth. After they have been out for a while, they get harder and crunchier but they are still good. However, I wouldn’t recommend you to make them one day for another day, these cookies should be eaten within a day or two because that is when they are the best. I would without doubt try this recipe again and recommend anyone to try this recipe.

The Original Nestle Toll House Cookie Recipe

Ingredients:

                2 ½ cups flour
                1 teaspoon soda
                1 teaspoon salt
                1 cup (2 sticks) margarine, softened
                ¾ cup white sugar
                ¾ cup packed brown sugar
                1 teaspoon vanilla
                2 large eggs
                2 cup (12-ounce bag) chocolate chips

directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Beat margarine, white sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla in kitchen aid mixer.  Add eggs. Beat well.

Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in small bowl. 

Gradually add in flour mixture.

Stir in chocolate chips.

Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheet.

Bake for 9-11 minutes or until done.  Let stand for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks or paper towels to cool completely.

Makes 36-48 cookies.

Week 7: Fresh Basil Pesto

The recipe I tried this week was fresh basil pesto. I used it on pasta but it can also be used over baked potatoes or spread over toasted baguette slices. I didn’t enjoy it as much as I thought I would so I would probably never try this recipe again. However, it wasn’t terrible so I might recommend it to someone that I thought would like it. It just wasn’t my kind of food. If you are not a fan of pine nuts or walnuts, you can take them out of the recipe and it might still work. Or you could add another nut of your choosing. But overall, it was an okay kind of meal.

Fresh Basil Pesto

·Print (with photos)

Ingredients:

1 cups fresh basil leaves, packed

1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan-Reggiano or Romano cheese

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

2 T  pine nuts or walnuts

1 medium sized garlic cloves, minced

Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

directions:

1 Combine the basil in with the pine nuts, pulse a few times in a food processor. (If you are using walnuts instead of pine nuts and they are not already chopped, pulse them a few times first, before adding the basil.) Add the garlic, pulse a few times more.

2 Slowly add the olive oil in a constant stream while the food processor is on. Stop to scrape down the sides of the food processor with a rubber spatula. Add the grated cheese and pulse again until blended. Add a pinch of salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.

Makes 1/2 cup.

Week 6: Cinnamon Rolls

The recipe I used this week was homemade cinnamon rolls. These cinnamon rolls were fantastic. It tasted almost like a biscuit with cinnamon and sugar topped. I would most definitely try this recipe again. They are great for a bedtime snack, morning meal, or just a snack in the middle of the day. I would recommend that everyone try this recipe because it was so good. These rolls were much better than anything you can buy from the store or what you get at other places. Homemade cinnamon rolls are the best. Once you try them, you will never be able to eat one from a store again! And who doesn’t like a good cinnamon roll anyways?

Cinnamon Rolls

Ingredients:
            3/4 cup whole milk, warmed (110 degrees)
            1 envelope (2 1/4 teaspoon) instant or rapid-rise yeast
            3 large eggs, room temperature
            4 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
            1/2 cup cornstarch
            1/2 cup granulated sugar
            1 1/2 teaspoons salt
            12 Tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 12 pieces and softened to room temperature

Filling Ingredients:
           1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar
            1 1/2 Tablespoons ground cinnamon
            1/4 teaspoon salt
            4 Tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

Cream Cheese Frosting:
            8 oz cream cheese
            1/2 cup butter
            1 teaspoon vanilla
            3 cups confectioner's sugar
            1 Tablespoon milk
            **To make frosting, mix all ingredients until smooth.

Directions:
            1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 200 degrees F. When the oven reaches 200 degrees, turn off.
            2. Line a 13-by-9-inch baking pan with foil, allowing excess foil to hang over pan edges. Grease foil and a medium bowl.
            3. Whisk milk and yeast in measuring cup until yeast dissolves, then whisk in eggs.
            4. In the bowl of stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, mix flour, cornstarch, sugar, and salt until combined.
            5. With mixer on low, add warm milk mixture in steady stream and mix until dough comes together, about 1 minute.
            6. Increase speed to medium, and add butter, one piece at a time, until incorporated. Continue to mix until dough is smooth and comes away from the sides of the bowl, about 10 minutes.
            7. Turn dough out onto clean surface and knead to form a smooth, round ball.
            8. Transfer dough to prepared bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and place in warm oven. Let rise until doubled in size, about 2 hours.
            9. Combine brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt in small bowl.
            10. Turn dough out onto lightly floured surface. Roll dough into 18-inch square, spread with butter, and sprinkle evenly with the filling.
            11. Starting with the edge nearest you, roll dough into tight cylinder, pinch to seal seam, and cut into 8 even rolls.
            12. Transfer rolls cut-side up, to prepared pan. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in warm spot until doubled in size.
            13. After rolls are done rising, heat oven to 350 degrees F.
            14. Discard plastic wrap and bake rolls until deep golden brown and filling is melted, 35 to 40 minutes.
            15. While rolls are baking, make the frosting.
            16. When cinnamon rolls are done baking, transfer pan to a wire rack and cool 30 minutes.
            17. Using the excess foil overhang, lift rolls from pan and frost with cream cheese frosting before serving.

Week 5: Spam Musubi

The recipe I tried this week was called Spam Musubi. It is a Japanese food. It is a lot like sushi; however it has no raw fish. Spam Musubi is a popular snack in Hawaii. It is a type of sushi that has marinated cooked spam in sushi. When I first decided to try this food, I knew that I would not like it. However, when I tried it, it was surprisingly very good. I would most definitely try this recipe again because it was so delicious. The rice in the wrap was my favorite and the spam really made a difference in the flavor. You should try this recipe because it was so good and its great to try foods from different cultures.

Spam Musubi

Ingredients:

2 cups uncooked short-grain white rice

2 cups water

6 tablespoons rice vinegar

1/4 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup oyster sauce

1/2 cup white sugar

1 (12 ounce) container fully cooked luncheon meat (e.g. Spam)

5 sheets sushi nori (dry seaweed)

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Directions:

1. Soak uncooked rice for 4 hours; drain and rinse.
2. In a saucepan bring 2 cups water to a boil. Add rice and stir. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes. Stir in rice vinegar, and set aside to cool.
3. In a separate bowl, stir together soy sauce, oyster sauce, and sugar until sugar is completely dissolved. Slice luncheon meat lengthwise into 10 slices, or to desired thickness, and marinate in sauce for 5 minutes.
4. In a large skillet, heat oil over medium high heat. Cook slices for 2 minutes per side, or until lightly browned. Cut nori sheets in half and lay on a flat work surface. Place a rice press in the center of the sheet, and press rice tightly inside. Top with a slice of luncheon meat, and remove press. Wrap nori around rice mold, sealing edges with a small amount of water. (Rice may also be formed by hand in the shape of the meat slices, 1 inch thick.) Musubi may be served warm or chilled.

Week 4: Pumpkin Cookies

My absolute favorite cookie of all time is the Pumpkin cookie. My family and I are absolutely obsessed with these cookies. This recipe comes from my family. It is the perfect blend of both pumpkin and chocolate, however, you are welcome to add as much chocolate or as little chocolate as you prefer. These cookies are great after any meal and at any time of the day. Both kids and adults will love these cookies, as will you. Try this recipe, because it will change your life! Once you try one of these delicious cookies, you will be begging for more. J

Pumpkin cookies

Ingredients:

                4 1/2 cups flour
                2 tsp. baking soda
                1/2 tsp. ginger
                1/2 tsp. ground cloves
                2 tsp. cinnamon
                1 tsp. salt
                1 tsp. nutmeg
                1 cup shortening
                2 cups sugar
                4 eggs
                15 oz. can pumpkin
                12 oz. pkg. choc. Chips

Directions:

1.    Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2.    Cream together the shortening and sugar, then add eggs, mixing in well.

3.    Add pumpkin

4.    Add baking soda, ginger, cloves, cinnamon, salt, nutmeg, and flour.

5.    Add chocolate chips.

6.    Drop onto ungreased baking sheets and bake for about 10 minutes

Week 3: Krautburgers

The recipe that I tried this week was a burger from Germany. It is a common food that you would see at German restaurants. They call it a Krautburger and it doesn’t look or taste like a normal American Burger. When I made these Krautburgers, I didn’t think they were going to be that good. When they came out of the oven, they looked almost like a messy roll but when you bit inside of it, it had meat and lettuce in it. The bread was soft and delicious and the meat was cooked to perfection. Surprisingly, I really enjoyed this recipe and would repeat it in a heartbeat if I ever get the chance again. I suggest that you all at least try this recipe because it truly was fantastic.

Krautburger

Prep Time: 40 Minutes Cook Time: 40 Minutes Ready In: 1 Hour 30 Minutes Servings: 4

Ingredients:

1/4 pound lean ground beef 1/4 onion, chopped 1/8 medium head cabbage, shredded 1/8 (1 oz.) package dry onion soup mix 1/4 (8 ounce) package mild Cheddar

cheese, sliced black pepper to taste 1 recipe of yeast bread butter flavored cooking spray 1 tablespoon margarine, melted

Directions:

1.	Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Place ground beef in a large, deep skillet. Cook over medium high heat until evenly brown. Drain fat. Stir in cabbage and onion soup mix; cook 5 minutes longer, or until lightly browned. Set aside.
2.	Roll one loaf of bread dough into a 16x8 inch rectangle, then cut into eight 4 inch squares. Spoon cabbage mixture into center of each square, top with 1 small slice cheese and bring up diagonal points, pinching edges closed. Place krautburgers on a cookie sheet coated with cooking spray.
3.	Bake for 20 minutes, or until brown. Brush tops of warm rolls with margarine.

Week 2: Grandma's Gingersnap Cookies

The recipe I tried this week was a dessert called Grandma’s Gingersnap cookies. These cookies taste absolutely amazing either after a good meal or just as a nice snack. They taste like gingerbread cookies, only better!  I find that they are best when they come right out of the oven because they are still warm and soft. If you follow the directions of the recipe, you will definitely be satisfied. These cookies are great for absolutely any occasion, not just Christmas time and they will be a family favorite because both kids and adults will love them! However, over time, keeping these cookies in a jar will not do because they get hard and crunchy. So unless you plan on eating the whole batch of cookies you make within the first day or two, I suggest putting a piece of white bread in the cookie jar or bag to keep them moist and soft so that they will stay delicious for a couple of weeks. I recommend to all of you out there to try these cookies because they are truly fantastic!

Grandma's Gingersnap Cookies

Ingredients: 2 cups sifted all-purpose flour 1 tablespoon ground ginger 2 teaspoons baking soda 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon salt 3/4 cup shortening 1 cup white sugar 1 egg 1/4 cup dark molasses 1/3 cup cinnamon sugar Directions: 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). 2. Sift the flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt into a mixing bowl. Stir the mixture to blend evenly, and sift a second time into another bowl. 3. Place the shortening into a mixing bowl and beat until creamy. Gradually beat in the white sugar. Beat in the egg, and dark molasses. Sift 1/3 of the flour mixture into the shortening mixture; stir to thoroughly blend. Sift in the remaining flour mixture, and mix together until a soft dough forms. Pinch off small amounts of dough and roll into 1 inch diameter balls between your hands. Roll each ball in cinnamon sugar, and place 2 inches apart on an ungreased baking sheet. 4. Bake in preheated oven until the tops are rounded and slightly cracked, about 10 minutes. Cool cookies on a wire rack. Store in an air tight container.