Oatmeal Toffee Cookies

Two crawling babies. The MONSTER got these for Christmas, which will be demonstrated at a later point in this post.

Gather together all of your ingredients. Sometimes I measure them out. Today, yes, I had time! Wow! But then I realized that I didn't have any eggs and I had to go to the store. It happens.

Brown sugar. Why oh why do you always go straight to my thighs?

Salt & baking soda. I almost used baking powder, which it probably would've turned out fine anyway, but still. The baking soda...

Vanilla AND OLD FASHIONED OATS. I don't know why I bought this big container. Whatever. I'll just have to make them again!

Butter? Where?

Aha! It hides...

And toffee bits. Why not?

Pour flour in a bowl.

And oats.

And salt & baking SODA.

Then accidentally take a picture of your abdomen. Whoops.

And realize that you used the wrong bowl. Again.

Switch the dry ingredients into a different bowl.

Cream the butter and the sugar. On your counter that also doubles as the recycling drop off.

And I didn't cream it very well. But whatever. I'm on vacation. Add the egg and vanilla.

Mix together more.

And leave it lumpy. Why not?

Stir in the toffee bits.

Three quarters of a cup.

Totally off topic, but I enjoy this vanilla.

Scoop out onto a prepared baking sheet 1 tablespoon at a time.

The NOT correct way to fill a baking sheet.

The correct way to fill a cookie sheet.

See? Mostly nicely spaced.

And NOT nicely spaced. It happens. That means that someone just gets one REALLY BIG cookie.

What Bimmer Man does every time I start baking. And the MONSTER tries to work out too.

Even the crawling babies like cookies.

Mmmmm... cookies...

CRAWLING BABY DEMONSTRATION

By MONSTER

Sniff the head.

Bite the butt.

Observe.

Oatmeal Toffee Cookies Recipe

Ingredients

3.4 ounces all-purpose flour (about 3/4 cup)
1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
1/3 cup almond toffee bits
Cooking spray

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350°.

2. Weigh or lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, oats, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl; stir with a whisk. Place sugar and butter in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended (about 5 minutes). Add vanilla and egg; beat well. Add flour mixture; beat just until combined. Stir in toffee bits.

3. Drop dough by tablespoonfuls 2 inches apart on 2 baking sheets coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 11 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool on pans 1 minute. Remove cookies from pans; cool completely on wire racks.
Nutritional Information

Calories:
90 (34% from fat)
Fat:
3.4g (sat 1.6g,mono 0.6g,poly 0.1g)
Protein:
1.2g
Carbohydrate:
13.6g
Fiber:
0.4g
Cholesterol:
15mg
Iron:
0.5mg
Sodium:
88mg
Calcium:
9mg
Kathy Farrell-Kingsley, Cooking Light, DECEMBER 2008

Enjoy!

PSH

Faux Le Creuset, Here I Come!

My favorite - slow cooked chicken & veggies with wild rice. Uncle Ben's wild rice.
Here's my new faux Le Creuset dutch oven. It's not enameled. It's just, well, metal. And stinky when I seasoned it. Oh, well. What can you do?

Chop carrots, potatoes and garlic. I like to make carrots pretty. Now. Generally I'm a pretty careless veggie chopper, but not anymore!

Marinade for chicken. Well, let's just say it isn't rocket science. Soy sauce & Italian dressing. Yep, that's it!

And Grey Poupon for a kick. That's all. Bimmer Man likes soy sauce. Kikkoman, I don't think he can live without it! And I can't live without mustard so this makes both of us happy.

Whisk all together and dump the mixture over chicken & veggies in the dutch oven. Put in a preheated 350 degree oven for about an hour. Remember to chop the veggies smaller so everything cooks in the same amount of time too.

And voila! Chicken with veggies & Uncle Ben's Wild Rice.

Marinade

1/2 cup Italian dressing

2 - 3 tablespoons soy sauce

2 tablespoons grainy mustard

3 tablespoons olive oil

Salt & Pepper to taste

Mix all together with a whisk, pour over chicken, vegetables, etc... Use for whatever, especially when grilling, baking, slow cooking in a crockpot OR in a faux Le Creuset dutch oven.

Enjoy!

PSH

Peppermint Cheesecake Brownies

MONSTER had hookworm and had to eat rice and cottage cheese for a week. He didn't really want to go back to regular dog food after eating people food.

So now every time you make chicken noodle soup, he thinks it's rice for him.

But now he's feeling better.

And the MONSTER sleeps in the kitchen.

Especially when he knows I'm cooking. MONSTER has a touch of separation anxiety. Go figure.

It asks for 1/4 teaspoon of peppermint extract. I used a 1/2 teaspoon instead. I'm daring like that. But I really like peppermint.

Beat the cream cheese mixture.

Keep beating it. You want it smooth.

But I don't have the patience to make it smooth. Did you know that if you beat the cream cheese first it'll be even smoother? I just learned that on Martha Stewart this morning. I like Martha. And I also like crocheting.

Mix the dry ingredients for the brownie batter.

And look at the mess I made. Bimmer Man is studying in the back ground. Did you know that he helps me photograph occasionally? He's an awesome assistant.

And then realize that you only have two bowls clean that are big enough to use the mixer with. And both are in use. So dump the dry ingredients into the smallest bowl possible and just, um, well, go on with the recipe without cleaning the bowl. What can I say? I'm a realist. I don't always wash the bowls. Oops, I let the cat out of the bag!

See? There's the dry brownie batter ingredients. They're hiding. From my mixer.

Finally. Dump the wet brownie ingredients into your dirty dry ingredient bowl.

But prepare a square baking dish. I have 4 square baking dishes and couldn't find one. I am The Organized McTatty, right? No. I'm not organized. At all. In fact, on the other side of the island, my bills are getting spattered by batter, cocoa powder and peppermint extract. I've found that cleaning releases tension.

See, look. Cheesecake mixture.

More cheesecake mixture.

And mmm... more... I could eat it out of the bowl...

Now look closely. I didn't wash these either. I'm trying to be eco-friendly by not wasting water. It's going in the same pan, right?

Drip. Drip. Drip.

Drip. Drip. Drip. Mmmm.... Chocolate....

Drip. Drip.

This is my most favorite tool in the kitchen when it comes to desserts. A rubber spatula. But use a butter knife to swirl the batter - it works better!

Whoops, I forgot to take a picture of the finished brownies! Well, that's ok - there's a picture in the link...

Peppermint Cheesecake Brownies

Yield
16 servings (serving size: 1 bar)
Ingredients

Cheesecake batter:
1 (8-ounce) block 1/3-less-fat cream cheese
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon peppermint extract
1 large egg
1 large egg white
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

Brownie batter:
4.5 ounces all-purpose flour (about 1 cup)
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1/4 cup canola oil
1/4 cup buttermilk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 large egg whites
1 large egg
Cooking spray

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350°.

2. To prepare cheesecake batter, place cheese in a medium bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until smooth. Add granulated sugar and peppermint extract; beat well. Add 1 egg and 1 egg white; beat well. Add 1 tablespoon flour; beat mixture just until blended.

3. To prepare brownie batter, weigh or lightly spoon 4.5 ounces (about 1 cup) flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Combine 4.5 ounces flour, cocoa, and salt in a medium bowl, stirring with a whisk. Combine brown sugar, oil, buttermilk, vanilla, 2 egg whites, and 1 egg in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium-high speed until well blended. Add flour mixture to brown sugar mixture; beat at low speed just until blended.

4. Reserve 1/2 cup of brownie batter. Pour remaining batter into a 9-inch square baking pan coated with cooking spray. Carefully pour cheesecake batter over top; spread evenly to edges. Dot cheesecake batter with reserved brownie batter. Swirl top two layers of batters together using the tip of a knife. Bake at 350° for 26 minutes or until top is set. Cool completely in pan on a wire rack.

Kathy Farrell-Kingsley, Cooking Light, DECEMBER 2008

Enjoy!

PSH