Oatmeal Carmelitas

This is yet another fabulous recipe from Jadi's blog. These are so chewy and delicious, and they kept for several days. I made them on a Tuesday and the following Sunday they were still really good. The only thing I did differently here was that I didn't add nuts because Ryan doesn't like them. You will love these! Thanks again, Jadi!

For the Crust:

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups quick-cooking rolled oats
1 1/2 cups firmly packed brown sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/4 cups butter, softened (2 1/2 sticks)

For the Filling:

1 (12.5 oz) jar caramel ice cream topping
3 tbsp all-purpose flour
1 (6 oz) pkg semi-sweet chocolate chips (or a little more)
1/2 cup chopped nuts

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x13-inch pan. In a large bowl, blend all crust ingredients on low speed until crumbly. Press half of crumb mixture (about 3 cups) in bottom of greased pan. Reserve the remaining crumb mixture for the topping. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine caramel topping and 3 tbsp of flour. Remove partially baked crust from the oven; sprinkle with chocolate chips and nuts. Drizzle evenly with caramel mixture; sprinkle with reserved crumb mixture. Bake an additional 18-22 minutes or until golden brown. Cool completely. Refrigerate 1-2 hours until filling is set. Cut into bars. Enjoy!

No Bake Cookies

I learned how to make these cookies at a church activity when I was a teenager, and I've been making them ever since. They are so easy to make and really yummy.

1 stick of butter
1/4 c. cocoa
1/2 c. milk
2 c. sugar
1 Tbsp. vanilla
1/2 c. peanut butter
2 1/2 to 3 c. oats (depending on how dry you want the cookie. I prefer using 2 1/2 cups.)

Mix butter, cocoa, milk and sugar into a large pot, stirring frequently. Bring to a boil and boil for one minute without stirring. Take the mixture off of the heat and add the peanut butter, vanilla, and oats. Spoon out onto wax paper. The cookies take about 15-30 minutes to set. Enjoy!

Banana Cake

If you like warm banana bread, you'll love this moist, delicious cake. This is yet another great recipe I found on Jadi's recipe blog. I had some overripe bananas I needed to use and this was a scrumptious way to do it.

2 sticks butter
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
4-6 smashed bananas
1 cup milk
3 cups flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt

Cream butter, eggs, and sugar until fluffy. Stir in bananas and milk. Combine dry ingredients and stir into the creamed mixture. Pour into a greased and floured 9x13 pan and bake at 350 for 40-45 minutes.

Frosting

1 stick butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup hot milk
3 1/4 cups powdered sugar

Melt butter in sauce pan and add brown sugar. Bring to a boil for 1 minute over medium heat. Cool 15 minutes and add milk. Whip until smooth. Then add powdered sugar. Let cool before serving.

Jadi pointed out (and I agree with her) that the frosting is rich so you only need a thin layer. I stored mine in the fridge afterwards since there is milk in the frosting. This was really yummy--I highly recommend it!

Hawaiian Haystacks

This dinner is so easy to make and is a big hit at our house. It's definitely one we keep as a staple.

Rice (I used 2 cups uncooked and it was perfect for the 4 of us)
Chicken, shredded (I used about 3 breasts)
Chicken gravy (I used a mix and made about 3 cups worth)
Shredded cheese
Canned pineapple or pineapple bits
Canned mandarin oranges
Raisins
Crunchy chow mein or rice noodles (I like the rice noodles better because they're smaller and I love the texture)
Green onions, chopped (I didn't use these this time but Ryan said he would have loved these on top)

Cook the rice. Put the chicken in a pan of shallow water, cover, and boil until cooked. Put the cooked chicken on a plate and break apart (or shred) using two forks. Salt and pepper chicken to taste. Make the gravy. Serve everything buffet style so people can pick and choose what toppings to add to their haystacks.

My parents used to serve this with broccoli as a topping as well. I love this dish because you can be so creative and use whatever toppings you like. Yum!

Cookie Tips

I have been doing a couple of things differently with my cookies lately, and they've been turning out consistently better. So here are some tips for chocolate chip:

Soften your butter at room temperature rather than melting it in the microwave. If you need to pop it in the microwave for 10-15 seconds just to get it a little softer it seems to work fine, but going from frozen to melted in a minute (something I was doing) does not give you the best results. (With cookie bars this doesn't seem to matter as much. You can microwave your butter and the bars are fine.)

Add almost three cups of flour. Not quite 3, as I think that's too much, but closer to 3 c than 2 1/2. At 2 1/2 your cookies will probably not have enough and be too flat.

To spruce up your chocolate chip recipe, add M&M's, mini M&M's, or peanut butter chips to your regular semisweet chips.

Dough refrigerates well. I've been making a batch of dough, only baking one tray, and then doing another tray each day for the next several days. That way we have fresh, warm cookies whenever we want them instead of a huge batch sitting around getting stale on the counter. You can let the dough thaw on the counter for 15-30 minutes and it should be good to go. I roll my dough into balls with my hands to get a nice round cookie.

Pull the cookies out of the oven just before they look done to you, and let them finish baking for a few minutes on the cookie sheet.

Anyway, those are just some thoughts. It's a process, perfecting cookies, and a yummy one at that!

Click here for my chocolate chip cookie recipe. Happy baking!

Ice Cream Sandwich Suggestion

I have always made chocolate chip cookie ice cream sandwiches with a vanilla-based ice cream. Maybe vanilla, maybe chocolate chip cookie dough, or cookies n' cream...something like that. But the other day all I had was mint chocolate chip so we used that, and they were SO GOOD! I like to look at another recipe blog called Stephanie's Kitchen, and she does a lot with chocolate and mint. I am usually not a fan of mint, but I loved these little ice cream sandwiches (and so did Grayson). These are to die for when the cookies are still warm and gooey right out of the oven.

Apple Sour Cream Cake

After baking:

Before baking:

I made this recently with a recipe from Cooks.com. The recipe says to spread the batter into 2 round cake pans, but I wanted to use a 9x13. I put all the batter in and it did not come even close to filling the whole thing. So I ended up tripling the recipe to fill a 9x13. I'll post the tripled recipe here.

We liked this cake. It had a coffee-cake taste and feel, with a dense cake and a cinnamon-sugar top. You can't really taste the sour cream, but it makes the top stay nice and moist. I shared some with friends and they dunked the cake in hot chocolate.

3 c flour
3 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 sticks butter (12 tbsp)
3-4 apples, peeled and cored
3 eggs
1 1/2 c sugar
3 tsp vanilla
6 tbsp milk
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
3/4 c sugar, for sprinkling

Allow butter to sit at room temp for about 15 minutes, or until it softens slightly but retains its shape and is not oily or soft. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Wipe a 9x13 pan with melted butter or oil; dust lightly and evenly with flour and tap our the excess.

Peel and core two apples. Slice into thin, round slices.

In a large bowl, stir together baking powder and flour. Crumble the butter into the flour (using your hands) and stir until a lumpy mixture is obtained.

In a separate bowl beat the egg, gradually adding the 1 1/2 cups sugar. Add the vanilla and milk and stir in.

Mix together the contents of both bowls and stir until thick.

Transfer batter to pan. Place apple slices on top of batter. Using a spatula, cover entire cake with a thin layer of sour cream and sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon.

Bake at 400 degrees for 30 to 45 minutes or until cake tests done. Remove from oven and allow to cool for a few minutes.

Dust with confectioners' sugar if desired. Serve with milk or ice cream. (My note: This is yummy warm out of the oven or warmed up in the microwave the next day!)