Sunday, September 28, 2008

operation baking GALS - 1st round

yay...it's finally here! the sending period of my first round in operation baking gals! i've been waiting and waiting to bake for my soldier and i finally was able to. i really wanted to go plain and simple, will something that he would almost definitely enjoy [even if he got multiples of the same kind] so i went with chocolate chip and peanut butter.


just to mix it up a little bit, i opted to do baking blonde's brown sugar chocolate chip recipe. they turned out good...i didn't really notice that big of a difference except that they were softer and a little less buttery. i think i'd stick to my normal chocolate chip cookies from now on, but i'm glad i tried them.

for the peanut butter cookies, i decided to try out delightful delicacies' "incredibly easy pb cookies" and hey, she wasn't lying. by far the easiest cookies ever...and they came out wonderfully. will definitely use again.


i wanted to toss in something a bit different so i made some chocolate whopper cookies. for the chocolate base, i used cookie madness' "jessica's marshmallow clouds" with two boxes of whoppers in lieu of the chocolate chips. i didn't chop them up and they turned out fine.


that's a lot of cookies! too bad i still don't have my box to ship it in! oh well, i'll take care of that tomorrow.


brown sugar chocolate chip cookies
[from bakingblonde]

ingredients:
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
3 cups flour
3/4 teaspoon Kosher salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup semisweet or milk chocolate chips

directions:
Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix flour, salt, and baking soda together in medium bowl; set aside.

Beat the butter and brown sugar until thoroughly blended. Add eggs, and vanilla and mix to combine. Add dry ingredients and mix just to blend. Gently fold in chips.

Place dough onto parchment paper-lined cookie sheet using a scooper. Bake 10-12 minutes (depending on the size of your cookies and your oven) or until cookies are pale brown.

Cool cookies on cookie sheets for 5 minutes. Transfer to cooling rack until cooled completely. Serve or store in airtight container.


incredibly easy pb cookies
[from delightful delicacies]

ingredients:
1 cup peanut butter; organic is fabulous
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ c. chocolate chips; optional, of course

directions:
Preheat oven to 350°F.

In a small bowl mix together all the ingredients, except chocolate chips, with a wooden spoon. Then when it’s mixed well, add the chocolate chips.

Drop dough by teaspoonfuls (or tablespoonfuls;) on an ungreased cookie sheet. Don’t flatten them.

Bake for about 9 minutes or until puffed and golden. The cookies will be very soft, cool on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes; then take cookies from sheets to cool completely.


chocolate whopper cookies
[based on jessica's marshmallow clouds]

ingredients:
3 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
¾ teaspoon salt
2/3 cup unsweetened natural cocoa powder
2 sticks (8 oz) unsalted butter (soft)
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup brown sugar, packed
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 boxes Whoppers

directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degree F. Line a couple of cookie sheets with parchment.

Mix flour, baking soda, salt and cocoa powder together in a medium bowl. Set aside.

Cream butter and both sugars. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Add flour mixture to butter mixture and stir until blended. When ready to bake, mix in the Whoppers.

Place dough balls on cookie sheets, spacing about 2 ½ inches apart. Bake for 12 minutes. Cool on cookie sheets for about 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool. They firm up a bit as they cool.

Makes about 3 ½ dozen


UPDATE: the chocolate chip ones wouldn't fit in the box :[ and i'm an idiot and forgot to put in the postcard i wrote for my soldier. i guess i'll have to mail that separately. i can just imagine him getting the postcard first and being like "whatchu talkin bout lady?" all confused and whatnot. oh well, cookies are cookies...even if they are confused cookies. hey, i kinda like that name. i'm going to come up with something that is worthy of that title. stay tuned.

the sweet 100

i got this from cakespy [another one of my favorite bloggers!]

1) Copy this list into your site, including the instructions!
2) Bold all of the sweets you've eaten!
3) Cross out any of them that you'd never ever eat.
4) Consider anything that is not bold or crossed out your "To Do" List.


1. Red Velvet Cake
2. Princess Torte
3. Whoopie Pie
4. Apple Pie either topped or baked with sharp cheddar
5. Beignet
6. Baklava
7. Black and white cookie
8. Seven Layer Bar (also known as the Magic Bar or Hello Dolly bars)
9. Fried Fruit pie (sometimes called hand pies)
10. Kringle
11. Just-fried (still hot) doughnut
12. Scone with clotted cream
13. Betty, Grunt, Slump, Buckle or Pandowdy
14. Halvah
15. Macarons
16. Banana pudding with nilla wafers
17. Bubble tea (with tapioca "pearls") [we call this boba tea in cali]
18. Dixie Cup
19. Rice Krispie treats
20. Alfajores
21. Blondies
22. Croquembouche
23. Girl Scout cookies
24. Moon cake
25. Candy Apple
26. Baked Alaska
27. Brooklyn Egg Cream
28. Nanaimo bar
29. Baba au rhum
30. King Cake
31. Sachertorte
32. Pavlova
33. Tres Leches Cake
34. Trifle
35. Shoofly Pie
36. Key Lime Pie (made with real key lime)
37. Panna Cotta
38. New York Cheesecake
39. Napoleon / mille-fueille
40. Russian Tea Cake / Mexican Wedding Cake
41. Anzac biscuits
42. Pizzelle
43. Kolache
44. Buckeyes
45. Malasadas
46. Moon Pie
47. Dutch baby
48. Boston Cream Pie
49. Homemade chocolate chip cookies
50. Pralines
51. Gooey butter cake
52. Rusks
53. Daifuku
54. Green tea cake or cookies
55. Cupcakes from a cupcake shop
56. Crème brûlée
57. Some sort of deep fried fair food (twinkie, candy bar, cupcake)
58. Yellow cake with chocolate frosting
59. Jelly Roll
60. Pop Tarts
61. Charlotte Russe
62. An "upside down" dessert (Pineapple upside down cake or Tarte Tatin)
63. Hummingbird Cake
64. Jell-O from a mold
65. Black forest cake
66. Mock Apple Pie (Ritz Cracker Pie)
67. Kulfi
68. Linzer torte
69. Churro
70. Stollen
71. Angel Food Cake
72. Mincemeat pie
73. Concha
74. Opera Cake
75. Sfogliatelle / Lobster tail
76. Pain au chocolat
77. A piece of Gingerbread House
78. Cassata
79. Cannoli
80. Rainbow cookies
81. Religieuse
82. Petits fours
83. Chocolate Souffle
84. Bienenstich (Bee Sting Cake)
85. Rugelach
86. Hamenstashen
87. Homemade marshmallows
88. Rigo Janci
89. Pie or cake made with candy bar flavors (Snickers pie, Reeses pie, etc)
90. Divinity
91. Coke or Cola cake
92. Gateau Basque
93. S'mores
94. Figgy Pudding
95. Bananas foster or other flaming dessert
96. Joe Froggers
97. Sables
98. Millionaire's Shortbread
99. Animal crackers
100. Basbousa

thanks to this list i think i'll be making some buckeyes purdy soon :]