Delicious Snickerdoodles

March 4, 2014March 3, 201410 Comments

A few weeks ago, I realized I eat salads pretty much every day for lunch and for a minute that depressed me. When you work in an office full of people who buy delicious smelling take-out everyday, eating a salad with some sort of protein, olive oil and lemon daily gets a bit depressing. Really it’s all a question of comparison.

But then I remember all the reasons I eat salads: health, tastiness, cost-effectiveness and of course, vanity– salads keep me in shape.

But that got me thinking: if I were a “naturally thin” person would I eat out all the time? Would I still go to crossfit?

I posed this question to my friend and her response was “But you love salads! You ate them every single day in school.”

Umm yeah, no. I’ve deluded myself (and led others) to believe that I love salad. I like salads just fine, but I don’t love salad. I love cookies. And pie.

But I make myself eat salad. Because being an adult means doing things you don’t love in the name of health. I don’t think that’s a bad thing. So I eat a ton of vegetables and I go to crossfit. I genuinely enjoy crossfit but I also genuinely enjoy my bed at 5:20am when my alarm goes off.

Vegetables and exercise are important. But let’s also remember that women cannot live on vegetables alone (although I know many try). Sometimes we just need a dang cookie. So I have one for you today.

This isn’t my recipe, but it’s a recipe that is awesome so I have to share it with you. If you’re looking for an awesome snickerdoodle recipe, look no further. I’ve got you covered.

Delicious Snickerdoodles

adapted from All Recipes

1/4 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup vegetable shortening, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/3 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp sugar
2 tsp cinnamon

Pre-heat oven to 400F. Cream together butter, shortening and 3/4 cup sugar. Beat until fluffy. Add egg and vanilla and beat another minute. Add flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, salt and beat until just combined.

On a plate, combine 2 tbsp sugar with cinnamon. Roll dough into walnut sized balls and roll into cinnamon/sugar mixture. Repeat until you get 24 dough balls

Lay dough balls on a parchment paper lined baking sheet a few inches apart. Bake 8-10 minutes. Remove from baking sheets and allow to cool. Serve and enjoy! This will make about 2 dozen cookies.

Remember that vegetables are healthy eats are super important in life, but there’s also room for cookies. So don’t forget to have one of those occasionally too.

What’s your favorite kind of cookie? I recently discovered this Molasses cookie with Apricot Chunks from Blackmarket Bakery that I’m in looooove with. I must try to recreate it soon.

Molasses Cranberry Cookies

December 12, 2013December 12, 20139 Comments

Christmas season is in full swing! Normally, I’m not that into holidays. But I’m not sure what’s wrong with me this year, all I want is a living room with a Christmas tree. If you remember back when I told you about where Foodologie happens, you’ll remember that I live in a studio that is teeny-tiny. That means I have zero room for a Christmas tree. So because I can’t be festive in my living space, I have to find other ways to make the most of the holiday season.

First, I bought a Christmas dress. A new dress for Christmas is a tradition in my family for as long as I can remember. Anyone else do that?

I’m thoroughly excited about it. I also bought myself another dress, because… well…

Christmas present to myself? (P.S. When will I get over sending my friends pics of outfits I’m thinking of buying?)

In addition to my Christmas dress, I’ve also been thoroughly excited about cookies. So cookie making has been happening, starting with these:

I don’t know about you, but I love chewy molasses cookies with lots of ginger. They’re pretty much the best, as are these cookies.

Molasses Cranberry Cookies

adapted from Blue Ribbon Cookies

1 stick of butter + 2 tbsp (10 tbsp total)1 cup sugar (plus extra for rolling)
1 egg
1/4 cup molasses
2 1/4 cup flour
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp mace
1 cup dried cranberries

Cream together butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat in molasses and egg until fluffy. In a bowl, combine flour, baking soda, salt and spices. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients. Just before ingredients are combine, fold in cranberries.

Chill dough for a few hours.

Once you’re ready to bake, preheat your oven to 350F.

Form dough into 1 inch balls and roll in granulated sugar. Place on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Bake 8-10 minutes. Allow to cool and serve! Makes about 4 dozen cookies.

I took these to work, shared with friends and a boyfriend. They were gone pretty quickly. I’ll definitely be including these in my Christmas Cookie Gift Tins. I have a few other awesome cookie recipes coming up, because seriously… I’m obsessed with cookies right now.

What about you? How are you preparing for Christmas? Do you have a Christmas dress yet?

Chocolate Chip Snickerdoodle Bars

July 18, 2013July 19, 20133 Comments

I somehow had the bright idea of joining the company softball team. If you knew me in real life, you’d be surprised that I would make such a choice. I’m not really a “team sports” kind of girl. Not because I don’t like exercise. No no. I love Crossfit. Running is fun. Spinning is amazing.

At first you might think, oh so you’re a solo rider. Well not really. What softball has that running, Crossfit and spinning don’t is that softball involves a hard object flying at your face. I’m not good at that. You see, I’m what we like to call “accident-prone.”

The truth is, if there’s an opportunity to get hurt, chances are I will. I’m set to hike the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu in November and my sister is already researching altitude sickeness and ways to prevent it. She’s not even going on the trip with me and she knows it’ll be an issue for me.

In fact, the last time I tried to play a team sport was a summer softball league the summer before 9th grade. I broke my finger mid way through the summer. Lesson learned.

But now I’m older, and conquering fears and trying new (ish) things is totally my thing. So why not. I’ll let you know how it goes.

In the meantime, let’s talk about these guys.

I know you’re drooling because any mention of the word “snickerdoodle” makes babies smile and men squeal in joy.

Ok I can’t take credit for these. I got this recipe from my favorite cookie cookbook given to me by my friend Rhoda (who also published an awesome cookbook!).

I want everyone to buy this book because I think it’s so awesome. What I didn’t think was awesome was the name of the recipe. Buttermilk Cinnamon Bars. Boring. So since I made some changes (like adding chocolate chips, among a few other changes, I decided to rename these to more accurately describe the taste.

Chocolate Chip Snickerdoodle Bars

Adapted from Blue Ribbon Cookies

2 cup sugar
2 cups flour
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1 egg
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla

Pre-heat oven to 350F. In a bowl, combine sugar, flour and butter. Using your fingers, combine until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Take two cups of that mixture and combine it with coconut and chocolate chips.

Press into a 9×13 baking dish lined with parchment paper. With the remaining sugar/flour/butter mixture, add egg, salt, cinnamon, baking powder, buttermilk and vanilla. Blend together. Pour mixture oven base and bake for about 45 minutes, or until fully cooked in the center.

Remove from oven and allow to cool completely. (I let it sit out overnight) Once cooled, remove bars from pan by lifting parchment paper. Cut bars into about 40 squares (or fewer large pieces…).

I promise these will be a hit. They’re like snickerdoodles and chocolate chip coconut cookies on a date, because that makes sense.

Either way, enjoy them, pin them and wish me luck on this softball endeavor.

How are you at team sports? Play any? Tell me!

P.S. Have you entered the Peanut Butter & Co Giveaway? You can earn entries daily! Get to it here: http://bit.ly/147k7k8

Peanut Butter Bacon Chocolate Chip Cookies

June 1, 2013July 21, 20139 Comments

When a friend comes to visit from across the country, they deserve a treat. When a friend says she wants a dessert with bacon, you oblige and make these:

My friend Liz loves bacon more than anyone I know. We have that bond of former roommates so I know the lady loves meat (no pun intended, get your mind out of the gutter).

Lucky for her, bacon in dessert is totally having a moment, or is that just me? If you haven’t had bacon in a dessert yet, you need to try it asap. Start with these cookies…

Peanut Butter Bacon Chocolate Chip Cookies

3 slices of bacon, fat reserved
1/4 cup softened butter*
1/2 cup peanut butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt (omit if using salted PB)
1 cup chocolate chips

In a pan, fry bacon over medium heat until very crispy. Reserve fat and allow to cool completely. Chop bacon and set aside.

Pre-heat oven to 350F.

Beat together butter, peanut butter and bacon fat (*note if you don’t want to use bacon fat, you can just use 1/2 cup of butter and omit the bacon fat). Add sugar and beat for an additional minute or two. Add egg and beat for an additional minute. Add flour and baking soda (and salt if using) and beat until almost combined. Lastly, fold in chopped bacon and chocolate chips.

Form dough into walnut-sized balls, place on a parchment paper lined baking sheet and bake for 10-13 minutes or until golden on the edges. Allow to cool completely and serve! Makes about 2 dozen cookies (or maybe more… I wouldn’t know because I ate a ton of the cookie dough).

If your friend loves bacon but isn’t a fan of peanut butter… not to worry, I have a solution for you:

Bacon Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies

Not into cookies (we won’t talk about how blasphemous that is…) but feeling the need to put bacon in a dessert? How about this Chocolate Pudding with Peanut Butter Mousse and Maple Candied Bacon?

Equally delicious and bacon-y.

How do you feel about bacon in desserts? Do you love it? Hate it? Is it over-rated? Never tried it? Tell me!

Banana Birthday Cake for My Mom

May 27, 2013May 26, 20139 Comments

Today is Memorial Day, but it’s also my mother’s birthday. While you’re all probably grilling and pie-making, I made a cake to celebrate a very special lady.

My mom claims to not like cake and dessert, but really I know she’s just picky. She loves certain desserts and she loves everything banana. No crazy combinations here, because of her picky palate, I went the simple route.

I made a simple banana cake like the little banana cake I made before (recipe doubled for a full cake), but with a few changes to the filling

I whipped up a ton of whipped cream with sugar and a touch of vanilla for filling and frosting, fried some bananas with rum and added some slivered almonds.

and ta-da! A birthday cake just for my mother. I added some fresh flowers for a pop of color.

Happy Birthday Mom!

Is your mother picky about desserts like mine? I feel like that’s one thing my children will never have to worry about. I’ll pretty much enjoy anything.

Epic Banana Bundt Cake

April 16, 2013April 17, 201310 Comments

I’ve rewritten this post about three times, trying to come up with something as epic as the recipe to come. But I can’t. My brain is asking me for a rest.

Between work and blogging, my creative juices are dried up, in terms of writing that is. Because recipes… I’ve got sooooo many for you to look forward to. But first let’s talk about bananas.

I’m a banana fiend. I eat one daily. I learned it from my mother, she probably eats two daily. That’s ok.

Bananas are on the top of my list of things I think are out of this world, let’s talk about my other favorite thing on the planet: cake.

And combine the two… Banana Cake! Why not? In fact, this cake was so good it had to be made twice. It really was THAT good.

Ok I’ll be honest. I really made this twice, because the first time around I hated my pictures. It was a labor of love (or gluttony or vanity?) to make it again, but that just means I know the recipe is extra perfect for you.

I know everyone and their mother has a recipe for banana cake (and no, this is NOT banana bread).

Even if you think it looks similar, trust me. This is definitely banana cake. What’s the difference?

Texture. Banana bread is dense. This is lighter, and it has an icing. Icing goes on cake. True story.

Epic Banana Bundt Cake

2 cups + 2 tbsp all purpose flour
2 tbsp corn starch
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon plus pinch of salt
1 1/3 cup sugar
1 cup canola oil
2 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 bananas, very ripe and mashed
1/2 cup milk (I used almond milk)
1 package vanilla instant pudding (3.4 oz)

Icing/Glaze:

3 tbsp butter, melted
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
3 tbsp heavy cream (or milk)
1/2 tsp vanilla (optional)
1-2 tsp of water for thinning, if necessary

Pre-heat oven to 350F.

In a bowl, sift together flour, corn starch, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside. Grease and flour a bundt pan (or any other pan you choose to make this in, I’ve also made this in two 9 inch pans, baking times adjusted).

Using a mixer beat together sugar and oil. Beat in eggs, one at a time until fluffy (about 2 minutes). Beat in vanilla and bananas. Start adding some of the flour mixture, about 1/4 cup at a time, alternating adding milk. Once all the flour is in the batter, beat in the instant pudding. Once combined, pour batter into prepared bundt pan.

Bake 45 minutes. Then turn the oven down to 325F and continue to bake until golden and cooked through (usually another 15-20 minutes, but this will depend on your oven). Once fully baked, remove from oven and allow to cool completely.

Once cooled, make glaze by combining all ingredients. The pour glaze over cake.

I didn’t actually pour, I did the spoon/drizzle method, because I think it looks better than pouring.

Serve and enjoy!

This cake goes great with a cup of coffee and a good book. It’s also fantastic served to a friend with a little bit of gossip.

Truth be told, I’m not sure if I’m half monkey or something, but I want to keep making this cake, over and over and over. It’s a good idea, because I seriously think this might be my new favorite cake.

Stay tuned for lots of good new recipes and other fun things… like maybe some trip planning. How does that sound?

Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

April 8, 2013April 10, 201312 Comments

Until about 5 days ago, I thought “brown butter” was a crock of shit.

I hate to be crass, but let’s be honest, food bloggers are some of the best bullshitters I know. Don’t worry, I’m include myself in that sweeping comment.

I mean really, we love to make basic things and give them a fancy name that hipsters will repin like crazy and drive traffic to our sites.

Examples:

Chocolate Pudding with Peanut Butter Mousse and Maple Candied Bacon = Chocolate Pudding with stuff sprinkled on it

Spinach-Quinoa-Peach Salad with Honey-Sage Vinaigrette= a salad with fruit and grains

You’re welcome.

I’m just calling it like it is. And you know what hipsters love?

Butter. Especially brown butter.

So for a long time, I avoided anything with brown butter, because it just sounded sort of silly, but then on Friday I was bored and I needed to make dessert for the next day. So I thought to myself, why not give it a shot?

At worst it, it’s still just a damn cookie. At best, it’s an amazing cookie.

I won’t lie. It’s a pretty amazing cookie.

Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

adapted from Food and Wine

1 stick of butter
1 cup + 2 tbsp all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup dark chocolate chips

In a pan, melt butter over medium heat. Allow to brown, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat, transfer to large bowl and allow to cool to room temperature. In the meantime, combine flour, salt, and baking soda in a bowl and set aside.

Once the butter has cooled, cream together butter and sugar until fluffy. Add 1 egg at a time, then vanilla and continue to be beat for about a minute. Add in flour mixture. Mix until almost combined. Fold in chocolate chips until dough is just combined.

Place dough in the freezer while oven preheats to 350F.

Once oven has pre-heated, form dough into walnut sized balls. Place on parchment paper-lined pan and bake for 8-10 minutes, or until golden around the edges.

Remove from oven, leave on pan for a few minutes then transfer to a cooling rack until cool. Then serve! This recipe makes about 20-24 small ish cookies. If you want larger cookies, bake longer and you’ll probably get about 10.

So I’m going to go ahead and tell you that these are great.

I’m going to swallow my pride and admit I was wrong. Brown butter is pretty tasty. They weren’t lying when they said it gives it a nice nutty flavor.

Ok now be a hipster and…

Crazy Good Biscuits

January 27, 20133 Comments

My boyfriend confessed to me that one time, I ate his biscuit.

That sounds totally gross. Let me back up. Once night, we had a crazy hankering for KFC. So like any normal couple, we satiated the craving with a bucket, 4 biscuits and 2 sides. Apparently, after dinner, I wrapped up the leftovers and told him to take them. When he went home, he forgot them.

The next day, lunch rolled around and I ate the last biscuit, but left Jesse the remaining chicken and sides. At least that’s how I remember it.

Yesterday, he confessed. I ate the last biscuit and he was silently sad about that for a while.

Naturally, I laughed and apologized profusely. Then, of course, made some biscuits to make amends for my biscuit-devouring habit.

Crazy Good Biscuits

adapted from Epicurious

2 cups flour (plus extra for rolling out)
2 tbsp baking powder
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
5 tbsp butter, cold
1/4 cup plain greek yogurt
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup milk
1-2 tbsp melted butter (for brushing)

Preheat oven to 425F. Combine dry ingredients in a bowl. Add butter and using your fingers work the butter into the flour until you get coarse crumbs. Next, add yogurt, cream and milk and stir with a spoon until combined. Turn onto a floured surface and knead 2 or 3 times, then form into a disk shape. Pat it down with your hand until it’s about 1 inch thick. Using a biscuit cutter or the bottom of a cup (I used the bottom of a mason jar I use to make pies in jars, so mine were small biscuits), cut out biscuits and place onto a parchment paper lined baking pan. Repeat until all dough is used up. Brush with melted butter and bake 10-15 minutes (this will vary depending on the size of your biscuits) until golden brown. This will make about 2 dozen biscuits (depending on size).