My own flavors (Strawberry Lemonade Whoopie Pies)

I'm not really a crunchy mom.

I think that I wanted to be, back when I was pregnant, during those three weeks in the middle of my second trimester when I felt great.  I could cloth diaper!  I could only use organic!  I could do prenatal yoga!  I bought a Moby Wrap and an attachment parenting book and was ready to go.

Then, halfway through the prenatal yoga DVD, when I found myself cursing at the "pregnant" woman bending over backward and coaching me into positions my too-short hamstrings had no hope of ever reaching, I gave up.  I compromised by stowing a reusable shopping tote in my diaper bag and moved on.

Wacky Weekends (Espresso Cinnamon Shortbread)

I love being a nurse.  Aside from enjoying the actual work of "nursing", I love the schedule - 2 or 3 twelve hour days might seem long, but to have the other 4 or 5 days off every week to spend with the kiddo makes it all worthwhile.  Our scheduling at work is pretty flexible, but we're required to work every other holiday and every third weekend.  Since your weekends are assigned when you're hired, you spend each one with pretty much the same group of people.  My weekend peeps are awesome - we usually have a good time while we're there.  

To me, this is a great opportunity to try out new recipes and pawn them off on hardworking, unsuspecting co-workers.  This weekend, figuring we needed a little kick in the mornings, I opted for espresso shortbread from a recipe off Smitten Kitchen (one of the yummiest food blogs I read).  The first batch, the ones that I took to work on Sunday, I made with chocolate chips (like Deb does in her recipe) and toffee pieces.  Those, however, I didn't get a chance to photograph before they were snapped up by my husband and my co-workers - that's how amazingly good they were.  

Snuggles (Chai Shortbread)

One of my favorite nights of the year happened several weeks ago:  the night we put the flannel sheets on the bed.  I love flannel sheets.  There's something so incredible about snuggling down under the warmth and softness of cozy sheets.  It makes it super duper awfully hard to get out of them in the morning.  Especially when you're snuggled in flannel sheets with a cuddly little warm body.

The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap (Peppermint Kisses)

This year, I participated in the Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap of 2011 (typed in my best Madison Square Garden announcer voice), hosted by Julie at The Little Kitchen and Lindsay at Love & Olive Oil.  (Check out their blogS - love it!)  The idea was like any other cookie swap, that we would each bake a dozen cookies to send to 3 other bloggers and would receive 3 different kinds in return.  Except better, because these cookies come in the mail.  Finally, after weeks of online Christmas shopping, there's a package that comes for me!  Very exciting.

I decided to put a new twist on an old favorite cookie of my husband's, the peanut butter blossom.  For those of you not in the know, this is a peanut butter cookie with a Hershey's kiss stuck in the top.  Delicious.  Wonderful.  Traditional.

(Funny story:  the first time I made those for Bob, years ago, I forgot the baking soda, so they turned out to be peanut butter pancakes with a Hershey's kiss stuck in the top.   He married me anyway.)

Hennebaby watch: Week 33 (White Chocolate Cinnamon Cookies)

Things that give me heartburn:

Water.  Tea.  Milk.  Tomatoes.  Cheese.  Bread.  Apples.  Yogurt and granola.  Chocolate.  Cinnamon.  Pancakes.  Chinese food.  Macaroni and cheese.  Chicken and broccoli.   Sitting up.  Laying down.  Walking. 

Things that make my heart happy:

My hubby and my puppy. Feeling Hennebaby kick. 

Autumn Love (Almond Chocolate Chip Cookies)

We were lucky enough to survive Hurricane Irene with little damage around here, but my heart goes out to those who are dealing with the destruction.  Around here, it feels like Irene brought us autumn.

I love fall.  I love the warmth of the sun on the downslope of summer.  I love the richness of autumn veggies and fall recipes.  I love sweaters and jeans.  I love the chill in the air when I take the dog out in the mornings.  I love Halloween and wreathes of red and yellow leaves.  Summertime is all fun and games, but fall is really my favorite.

Sharing is Caring (Salted Caramel Shortbread)

As a brand spanking new nurse, I have a preceptor for several weeks who's there to make sure that I'm comfortable taking care of all my patients and to answer the 1001 questions that I have every day.  My preceptor, Kelly, is pretty awesome, and I'm very lucky to have her to learn from.  Plus, we eat lunch together and get coffee in the afternoons.

Last week she had a handful of salted caramels from the gift shop.  Since she's a nice person, she shared one with me.  Since I'm pregnant and love caramel, it's all that I've thought about all week.

Soooooo, to satisfy my salted caramel craving, I decided to make some shortbread cookies topped with caramel and sea salt.  And since I had a few toffee bars in my cabinets, I figured that I would throw those in the cookie dough, too.  

Good things happen when we share.

The End, Finally (Homemade Samoas)

Well, folks, we did it.  My classmates and I are officially nurses!!  Last Saturday was our exit exam, and I passed with flying colors (not to brag, haha).  It was a crazy, wild ride, and while I can't honestly say that I enjoyed every second of it, I'm definitely grateful for the experience.  

So now that insanity is over, I'm recovering from a year of no sleep and mucho stress.  This past week has been blissfully relaxing.  I should start working in May, once I take the boards and get my license, but until then I have a few things going on that I'll share over the next few weeks.  I have some new ideas on where to take the blog, and I hope that my readers (all three of you, haha) will be excited.  More about that later.  On to the main event!

My Little Sister... (Homemade Tagalongs)

My little sister turns 21 today.  21.  The age of adulthood.  And drinking.  And gambling.  And generally having fun in a legal-ish type way.

But first, before all of that, I had to make her something to celebrate with.  Rachel loooooooves peanut butter.  Loves it with a capital L.  So, taking this all into consideration, I made her my homemade version of our favorite Girl Scout cookie, the Tagalong (also known as Peanut Butter Patties.  Original Tagalongs and Samoas, however are the best.  You can read about the GS cookie bakeries and varieties here, if you're so inclined.)

This had nothing to do with my love of peanut butter and chocolate.  This was solely for the purpose of making my little sister happy.  I'm pleased to report that these cookies are deliciously like the originals.  I only had one, just for testing purposes. 

Seriously, just one.

Handful.  :o)

Happy birthday, little sister!!!

Homemade Tagalongs

(from the wonderful Love and Olive Oil)

 1 cup butter, room temperature

1/2 cup sugar

2 cups white flour

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 tablespoons milk

1-1/2 cups creamy peanut butter

3/4 cup powdered sugar

pinch salt

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

12 oz milk chocolate or semisweet chocolate chips (your preference)

1-1/2 tablespoon vegetable oil

Preheat your oven to 350 and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.  Cream the butter and sugar and slowly add the flour, baking powder and salt (this way it won't make too much of a mess).  The dough will form a ball in the bottom of the bowl.  Chill the dough for 15 minutes, then roll out to 1/4 inch thickness and cut into 1 to 1-1/2 inch circles.  You could do this part by hand if you had a really good eye, but let's face it, I don't, so I used the cookie cutter.  Place on the lined sheets, close together because they won't spread very much.  Bake for 12-13 minutes, until the edges are browned.  Place the cookie sheets on a wire rack, and press a thumb-sized indentation into the middle (this is where the peanut butter will go), then transfer off the sheet onto the racks.  Save your parchment paper.

Once the cookies cool, stir together the peanut butter, powdered sugar, pinch of salt and vanilla into a microwave-safe bowl.  Microwave for 20-40 seconds, until the mixture is soft enough to pipe.  Put the peanut butter mixture into a pastry bag or a plastic baggie with the corner snipped off and pipe a small amount into the middle of the cookie (about 1 teaspoon, depending on the size of your cookies).  I used a knife to spread the peanut butter until it was flattened.  As the peanut butter mixture hardens,  in a small bowl, melt the chocolate chips in the microwave (usually 2 rounds of 30 seconds will do) or over a double boiler.  Stir in the vegetable oil.  Place your saved parchment paper under your wire rack.  Dip the top of each cookie into the chocolate, and place on the wire rack to harden.  

Store in a cool place, if you have any left to actually store.  :o)

It's that time again, folks (Flourless Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies)

Time for midterms!!

For what is hopefully the last time, my classmates and I are cramming for midterm week.  This quarter (hopefully our last) we have fluffy classes like "Leadership and Management" (which strangely reminiscent of a corporate training seminar), Ethics (what is the answer to life the universe and everything?) and "Research and Nursing" (a hypothesis is an educated guess).  We're also taking an NCLEX and skills review class to get us ready for the final comprehensive HESI exam (read: giant pretend nursing licensure exam at the end of the term that we have to pass to graduate) and review our clinical skills, like IV medications and dressing changes.  On top of all that fun, we have two serious classes, Critical Care Nursing and Gerontology (elderly) Nursing. 

Due to some curse by the scheduling gods and the Philadelphia area meteorologists, both our heavy class midterms are scheduled for tomorrow.

Which is Friday.

Starting the year off right (Cinnamon Yum Yums)

OK, folks.  Here it is.

The moment you've all been waiting for.

Here is my secret to Life, the Universe and Everything.

Put a little love in your heart (Sugar Cookies with Eggnog Icing)

Merry Christmas to you and yours!

Sugar Cookies with Eggnog Royal Icing

Real Simple's Basic Sugar Cookies

Royal Icing

1 egg white

4 cups powdered sugar

3 tablespoons eggnog

3 tablespoons milk

Beat the egg white into the powdered sugar.  Beat in the eggnogg until smooth - mixture will be very stiff.  Beat in the milk until you get the desired consistency.  Because I wasn't flooding my cookies, just outlining them, about 3 tablespoons worked perfectly.  Decorate with icing and sugar. 

Haul out the holly (Cranberry Pecan Oatmeal Cookies)

Because we need a little Christmas, right this very minute...

I'm back!  Lest you think that I failed all my finals and jumped off the Ben Franklin Bridge, I've returned.  Finals actually went better than expected, a pleasant surprise.  For my first week of vacation, the husband, pup and I drove from New Jersey to the Keys.  

We're going in the car?!?!  The car!!!!!

Take two and call me in the morning (Sugar Cookies)

We're halfway done with exams.  I've actually done really well on them so far, so here's hoping that the stream of luck will continue.  During a study break on Sunday, I decided that my classmates and I needed something to help us get through these stressful and anxiety-ridden times.

So I made Valium cookies.

Or rather, the generic version, diazepam cookies.

Over a hill... (Puppy Chow)

My birthday is on Monday.  I'll be 27 years old.  Somehow 27 seems so much more grown up than 26.  When you're 26, you're still in the mid-twenties, you can still get away with being a "retired college kid" (as my husband calls us) and the life is all ahead of you.  By the time you're 27, you're closer to 30 and to figuring out how to be good at this thing called life.  I'm 27 and starting over with a new education and (hopefully!) a new career.  It's been a long road, this 26th year, but I think it was one of my best.  I made some great friends, found furry love, grew a new marriage with my wonderful husband, took some huge risks (like quitting my job for something completely different), discovered new parts of me (like this blog) and learned to trust myself.  When I look back to the turning 26 me from the me who is turning 27, I think I did good by the old me.  I think I can honestly say that I took stock of my life and then made it better.

I guess we'll see if that's true when grades are posted.  :o)

Happy birthday, happy birthday (Giant Cookie Cake)

Last night we celebrated my friend Kristen's birthday with a surprise dinner celebration at Benihana.  When her husband Tony and I were planning the dinner, I asked what kind of cake she would like.  Tony suggested that I get a cookie cake from Mrs. Field's at the mall.  Buy a cake?!?  That is essentially a big cookie??  I self-appointed myself to the challenge of once again recreating a homemade version of a store bought classic.

This was a task with high expectations.  I was slightly nervous.  Especially when Husband, after seeing my nervousness, said "You should have just bought a cookie cake."  

Fork - for scale.

(Yeah, sometimes his brain-mouth filter has a large hole in it.  I love him anyway.)

New Beginnings (Peanut Butter Cup Cookies)

Something very exciting happened this week.  One of the integral parts of this blog was replaced.

No, it wasn't the girl.

Let me out, let me out!!

And it wasn't the dog, either.

So that leaves....the oven!!

Yay!!

Our new stove/microwave finally came this week!  Our old stove was about 1000 years old, and the front two burners didn't work.  The oven space was tiny and the attached microwave hood was about 12 inches above the burners.  Not exactly the easiest thing to work with.  

In celebration of my newest toy, I decided that cookies were in order.  What better way to break in your new oven and use up extra Halloween candy while simultaneously ensuring the love of your Friday clinical classmates?

 

Enter the Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Cookie.

I was going for more of a chocolate chip meets peanut butter cup feel, but ended up with a more peanut butter infused cookie taste.  I think where I went wrong was to throw the pieces in the stand mixer instead of folding them in by hand.  That would have probably helped with the pieces staying intact, which is what I was going for.  However, still delish!

Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 cup white sugar

1 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspon vanilla

3 eggs

3-1/2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cream of tartar

10 Reese's peanut butter cups, chopped (5 packages)

There they go!

In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugars, then add the vanilla and salt.  Mix in the eggs until completely combined.  In a small bowl sift together the flour, baking soda and cream of tartar.  Add gradually to the sugar/butter mixture.  Gently fold in the peanut butter cup pieces.  Drop by the teaspoon (or tablespoon) on parchment lined baking sheets.  Bake at 350 for 9-10 minutes.  Share with people you have to spend all day with.  :o)

Jack-o-Cake Balls (Cake Balls)

There's a chill in the windy air, the smell of smoky leaves and a nearly bare tree outside my window.  

There are also bloody hand prints on my door.

Maybe Dexter was here?

This can mean only one thing.  It's Halloween!!

In honor of Halloween and a good friend's 30th birthday, we're throwing a party tomorrow night.  Dessert is one of my contributions, so I've been busy this week.  I'll post all the recipes over the next few days, but these were so cute that they needed to be posted first.  

Inspired by Bakerella's Cake Pops, I thought that the cake-ball shape was perfect for jack-o-lanterns.  Unfortunately, I couldn't find any fine tipped writing icing, so some of the pumpkins have what look to me to be snowman faces.  No one will ever mistake me for an artist.  Or a face painter. 

These are actually very time consuming, but not difficult, per se.  After my artistic struggles with basic jack-o-lantern faces, I whole heartily applaud Bakerella's abilities to make her balls o'cake absolutely adorable!  Check them out on her website - she actually came out with a whole cookbook for them.  Most inventive things on a lollipop stick since someone put a tootsie roll inside hard candy.

Jack-O-Cake-Balls

(redecorated from Bakerella)

1 box white cake mix (or make your own sheet cake)

1 can cream cheese frosting (or make your own with 8 oz cream cheese, 1 cup powdered sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla)

2 bags orange candy melts

50 green jelly beans 

Black writing icing/pen

Bake the cake according to the directions and allow to cool completely.  Crumble the cake into a large bowl and scoop the frosting on top.  Mix with a fork or your hands until all incorporated.  Shape into golf ball sized balls and chill in the refrigerator for several hours or overnight.  Melt the candy melts in the microwave or a double boiler and dip each ball into the candy.  Push a jelly bean vertically into the top of each ball.  Allow to harden, 1-2 hours.  Decorate as desired.

What I found in my empty fridge... (Fudgy Chocolate Cookies)

I've stopped buying food.  By that, I mean, I've stopped buying a week's worth of groceries that seem like a good idea at the time, but inevitably lose their excitement or appeal by the time I do with them whatever I had planned.  Like the broccoli that sits in the crisper until I remember that it's there and think that broccoli and red pepper calzones would taste yummy...and then when I go to take it out, it looks like I'm trying my hand at making penicillin.

I'm not proud to admit that this happens a lot.  With only two of us (two and a third, if you count when Sis is here for dinner), it's been a challenge for me to plan an entire week's worth of meals that has some variety and uses up all the things I bought in the appropriate amount of time.  Maybe it's lack of imagination or something, I don't know.  But what I do know is that even if  it means that I end up at grocery store every day, or every other day, I'm going to teach myself to cook without wasting enough food to feed Luxembourg.  The hope is that eventually I'll stop buying impulse things (but that cheese looked so pretty in the package!) and buy things that will get used.  So, once a week, I go to the store for things I know I'll use:  milk, flour, eggs.  Whatever I will cook in the next two days. 

Because of this, our fridge looks frighteningly empty.  One of the nice things about this, though, is that you never forget what you have in there.  For instance, yesterday I found a jar of sweetened condensed milk.  I'll spare you the details of the ridiculousness that caused it to migrate from a can on my shelf to a jar in my fridge.  Either way, there I stood.  A table full of pediatric nursing study guides behind me and a small jar of sweetened condensed milk in front of me.  It stared at me with it's ooey goodness.  It dared me to eat it right from the jar with a spoon.  I should have turned around and walked away.

Brownies?  Cookies?  Brookies?

What I did instead was make chocolate fudge cookies.

Milk and chocolate:  a match made in my mouth.

I promise, these won't go bad.

Check out the brownie like texture.

Fudgy Chocolate Cookies

(From The Eagle Brand website)

These cookies are incredibly easy and take very little hands on time.  Perfect for a study break!

2-1/2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips

1 can sweetened condensed milk

3 tablespoons butter

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

2 cups flour 

1/2 cup peanut butter chips, chopped (optional)

In a medium saucepan, melt the chocolate chips, butter and milk until smooth.  Pour into a medium bowl (or leave in the saucepan, if you so choose).  Mix in the egg, vanilla and baking soda.  Add the flour one cup at a time, stir well.  Allow to cool for a few minutes, then mix in the peanut butter chips.  The longer you wait to mix, the less the chips will melt.  For streaks of peanut butter, mix immediately.  For chips, wait a few minutes until the mixture is cooled.  Move the dough onto wax paper and shape into a log or square or dodecahedron, or whatever shape you desire.  Chill in the fridge for 2 hours.  Remove and slice into 1/2 to 1/4 inch slices.  Bake at 350 for 9-11 minutes.  Remove to wire rack.  Sprinkle with powdered sugar, if desired.

Peanut butter chunks can be so beautiful...

Pumpkin Cinnamon Cookies - Finally!

Last post, I tried to tempt you with a little teaser about pumpkin cinnamon cookies.  Did it work?  Like on Law & Order, where the murder victim is just minding her own business, and then bam - cut to crime scene!  Insert Briscoe and Green!  Briscoe wisecrack.  Bum BUM bumbum bumbum bum...

Yeah, I love Law & Order.

Fact:  If you type "Lenny Bris" into the Google search bar, the second search that comes up is "Lenny Briscoe oneliners".  Apparently others share my love of L&O justice.

These cookies need further investigation...

Can you feel the procrastination in the air?  I have my second exam today in a couple hours.  I should be reviewing study guides and taking practice tests.  And I will, but first things first - cookies.  Priorities!

Cuddling cookies

I had some pumpkin left over after making the maple pumpkin muffins, and I wanted to try something different with it.  There is no dearth of pumpkin recipes in the world, but I wasn't looking for pumpkin pie (which accounts for about 98.2% of them in some form or another).  These cookies intrigued me.  The original recipe called for butterscotch chips, but in the store I spotted these cinnamon chips (which I'd forgotten all about until this point) and thought they might do nicely.

They did.  Nicely.  :o)

Distractions = good.

The texture is really more like a little cake top, rather than a cookie.  (Cakies?)  And since pumpkin is a vegetable and these contain no butter, well, it's just  like a side of veggies, right?!

Right?!?

Pumpkin Cinnamon Chip Cookies

(borrowed with endless adoration from Joy the Baker)

2 cups all purpose flour

1-1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

1 cup sugar

1 cup pumpkin

1/2 cup canola oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup cinnamon chips

Bake us, please!

In a small bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and soda, cinnamon and salt.  In a medium bowl, beat eggs and sugar until fluffy and light yellow.  (I used a hand mixture for this because it gave me more control over the amount of air I was adding then the stand mixer.)  Add pumpkin, oil and vanilla, beat until combined.  Add the flour mixture and mix until combined.  Stir in the cinnamon chips.

Line your baking sheets with buttered parchment paper.  Drop the batter onto the paper in 1/4 cups (for large cookies) or heaping tablespoons (for smaller cookies).  Bake on the middle rack at 325 for 16 minutes (large cookies) or 12 minutes (small cookies).

OK, OK, study time...