Oatmeal Craisin Cookies

My mom tore this recipe out of her Penzey's magazine and said she was going to try to have time to make them. So I made them for her. They were okay straight out of the oven, but I think I like them better after having cooled, maybe best a few days after they are baked.

Oatmeal Craisin Cookies
Recipe from Penzeys Spices

1 Cup butter, softened
3/4 Cup sugar
3/4 Cup light brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. PURE VANILLA EXTRACT
1 1/2 Cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1to 2 tsp CINNAMON (we used CHINA)
3 Cups cooking oats
1 6 oz pkg Craisins
1/2 Cup mini chocolate chips (optional)

Preheat oven to 350°.
Cream the butter and sugars until well blended.
Add the eggs and PURE VANILLA EXTRACT and blend well.

Sift together the flour, baking soda, and CINNAMON. Add to the creamed mixture and mix well.
Add the oats, craisins, and chocolate chips if you opt for them. Stir until mixed well.

Drop by rounded teaspoons onto ungreased cookie sheets about 2 inches apart.

Bake for 10-12 minutes.

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

This bread was great! I made it along with the quiche I posted last week, for father's day this year. Yes, regular banana bread is great, too, but I think that the chocolate chips in this one make it so that the bread tastes good even at room temperature. Sure, regular banana bread is fine, but in my opinion it tastes better warm or heated up...this one does, too, but you can enjoy it either way!

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread
Recipe from The Family Kitchen

1 stick unsalted butter
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon good vanilla extract
3 ripe bananas, mashed
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon cinnamon
¾ cup mini chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350. Butter and flour a standard 9×5 loaf pan*.

Mix together butter and sugar until fully combined. Add eggs and vanilla extract, mix well. Add mashed bananas, mix again until completely combined.

In a separate bowl mix flour, soda, nutmeg, cinnamon and chocolate chips. Stir this mixture a few times and make sure the chips are fully coated with flour.

Working slowly, stir flour mixture into egg mixture. Keep stirring until all flour is fully incorporated. The batter may still be a little lumpy from the bananas, this is normal.

Pour batter into prepared loaf pan. Bake for 45 – 50 minutes or until top is golden and a cake tester comes out clean.

Cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Then, carefully remove it from the pan and let it cool on a wire rack before serving.

*You can also divide the batter into smaller loaf pans, or mini loaf pans if you want to make smaller breads.

Freezer Tips: This bread freezes well. If you want to save it for later simply wrap it tightly in plastic wrap. Then wrap it again with an outer layer of aluminum foil. Make sure none of the bread is exposed to air. It will last in the freezer for 2-4 months.

Quiche

I made this quiche for father's day this year, so...a while ago. It was really good and very simple! For father's day breakfast I also made another recipe which I will post next week.

Quiche
Recipe from Allrecipes

8 slices bacon
4 ounces shredded Swiss cheese
2 tablespoons butter, melted
4 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups milk

Place bacon in a large, deep skillet. Cook over medium high heat until evenly brown. Drain, crumble and set aside.

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

Line bottom of pie plate with cheese and crumbled bacon. Combine eggs, butter, onion, salt, flour and milk; whisk together until smooth; pour into pie pan.

Bake in preheated oven for 35 minutes, until set. Serve hot or cold.

Red Velvet Cupcakes

For the 4th of July, my parents and I went to my mom's friend's party. My mom made a couple appetizers to bring, and I made the Nutella Cookies I made before, and these cupcakes. By the way, if you haven't seen those nutella cookies, MAKE THEM. Everybody LOVES them. These cupcakes were also a big hit. The FROSTING was the best cream cheese frosting I have ever made. I made a few changes to the original recipe for the frosting, which I show adapted below. This recipe made about 30 cupcakes for me. They were so cute!

Red Velvet Cupcakes
Recipe adapted by Saveur from Apple a Day, found at Annie's Eats

2½ cups cake flour
1½ cups sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tbsp. cocoa powder
1 tsp. salt
2 large eggs
1½ cups vegetable oil
1 cup buttermilk
2 tbsp. (1 oz.) liquid red food coloring
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. distilled white vinegar

Preheat the oven to 350° F. Line cupcake pans with paper liners. In a medium bowl, combine the cake flour, sugar, baking soda, cocoa powder and salt; whisk to blend. In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the eggs, vegetable oil, buttermilk, food coloring, vanilla and vinegar. Beat on medium speed until well blended. Mix in the dry ingredients on low speed and beat until smooth, about 2 minutes.

Divide the batter evenly between the prepared liners. Bake, rotating the pans halfway through baking, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 18 minutes. Let cool in the pans 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Cream Cheese Frosting
Recipe adapted by me, after being adapted by Annie's Eats from Confections of a Foodie Bride

12 oz. cream cheese
8 tbsp. unsalted butter, room temperature
3 tsp. vanilla extract
3 ¾ cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted

Combine the cream cheese and butter in the bowl of an electric mixer.

Beat on medium-high speed until well combined and smooth, about 2-3 minutes.

Mix in the vanilla extract.

Gradually beat in the confectioners’ sugar until totally incorporated, increase the speed and then beat until smooth.

Frost cooled cupcakes as desired.

Deep Dish Pizza with Mushrooms

Okay, so I'm still a little delayed on the father's day recipes, but I'll get those up soon enough. For now here's some new pictures of another attempt at the Chicago Deep-Dish Pizza (recipe found clicking this link). I should probably have kept it in the oven longer for the crust to get a little crispier, and I probably should have let it sit out longer than 5-10 minutes after the oven so that the cheese would settle, but overall it was delicious! This time I chopped up 2 mushrooms to spread on top. It got a little liquidy. My mom suggests quickly stirfrying the mushrooms before putting them on the pizza, to remove the extra moisture, but it was still fine: the water wasn't too bad.