Sinful Cookies

A fan of chocolate chip cookies?  Oatmeal cookies?  Peanut butter cookies?  Why not combine the three?  That's what Leah and I have done.  These are lovely cookies, adapted (and, of course, improved) from a recipe we found online.  Enjoy!

1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup flour
1 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. salt
1 cup rolled oats
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375F.

Cream butter, peanut butter, and sugars together.  Add egg and beat until...well until you get tired of beating it, be that ten seconds or ten minutes.  (I don't think it actually matters.)  Add in vanilla.  Sift flour, soda and salt together.  (Once again, I think this is a useless step and usually just add them all at once.)  Add flour mixture and oats to batter and mix well.  Add chocolate chips and hand stir, just until mixed.

Roll dough into balls and put on cookie sheet (I know, duh).  Bake for 8 minutes until edges turn golden brown.  Remove and eat.  (Oh fine, you can cool on a wire rack if you really want to.)

Yield about 3 dozen cookies.  Each is about 125 calories.  Enjoy!

Strawberry Shortcake Cookies

These cookies are divine.  They're not exactly healthy (at all), so the trick here is moderation.  Hahaha.  Easier said than done...

I do think they're about 130 calories a piece though, depending on size.

Cookies


3 cups white flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 cup salted butter, room tempterature
1 cup granulated sugar
1 egg + 1 egg white
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
3/4 cup sour cream

1. Sift together flour, baking soda and baking powder.  Set aside.
2. Cream butter and sugar.  Beat at medium speed for a couple minutes until light and fluffy.
3. Add egg and egg white to butter/sugar.  Beat until smooth.  Add vanilla and sour cream.  Mix until combined.
4. Add dry ingredients to batter and mix until just combined.  Refrigerate for 2 hours.
5. Preheat oven to 425.  Roll out dough to 1/4" thickness.  Cut in small (2" diameter) circles.  Put cookies on cookie sheet and bake for 8 minutes.  Cookies should be lightly golden with light brown bottoms.
6. Cool completely.

Strawberry Buttercream


1 cup strawberries
1/2 cup salted butter, room temperature
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1. Slice strawberries and puree them.  Put in small saucepan on stove over medium heat.  Reduce to about 50% (about 10 minutes).  Let strawberries cool completely.
2. Beat butter on high speed until very fluffy.  Add vanilla and 1/2 cup powdered sugar.  Beat on high.  Slowly add the remaining cup of powdered sugar, carefully so that you don't make a gigantic mess.  Beat frosting until light and frothy.
3.  Add cooled strawberry puree.  Beat on high until frosting is fluffy.  (You can add milk or powdered sugar to achieve desired consistency.)
4. Frost cooled cookies.

Yum.

Salted Caramel Nut Cake

Leah and I sorta made this up as we went, combining recipes and mixing things around.  In the end, it was sort of to die for.  Just FYI, it is about 540 per sixteenth, but it's really rich, so that's all you'd want anyway!

1 recipe of your favorite chocolate cake, enough for 2 9" round pans

1 1/2 cup of your favorite homemade caramel sauce, separated
1/2 cup cocktail peanuts, coarsely chopped

1 cup salted butter, room temperature
1/2 tsp. salt
2 cups powdered sugar

Easy enough - prepare the 9" round pans and bake cake according to directions.  Remove from pans and cool thoroughly.

When the cakes are cool, mix 1 cup caramel with the peanuts.  Spread peanut mixture on top of one of the cakes.  Layer the other cake on top of the peanut layered cake.

When cake layers are assembled, beat the butter until it is light and fluffy.  Add salt and powdered sugar.  Mix until combined (still fluffy).  Beat in remaining 1/2 cup caramel.  Frosting should be light and lovely.  Spread over cake.

Put entire cake in fridge for 1 hour until it is all set.  Enjoy!

Strawberry Dream Cake

Good and pink. The website calls it decadent. The only think I know is that it got eaten up pretty quickly at dinner tonight.

• 1 (18.25 ounce) package white cake mix
• 1 1/2 cups frozen sweetened strawberries, pureed
• 12 ounces cream cheese
• 8 (1 ounce) squares white chocolate
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1 (8 ounce) container frozen whipped topping, thawed
• 1/2 pint sliced fresh strawberries

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease two 9 inch round cake pans.
2. Make cake per directions except substitute the 1 1/2 cups of strawberries for the water and add 1 extra egg, (if cake mix calls for 2 eggs add 3), and 8 ounces of the cream cheese at room temperature. Beat well and pour into the prepared pans.
3. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for about 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown. A toothpick inserted in the center will not come out clean when this cake is done since it is so moist. Let cake cool fully before frosting.
4. To Make Frosting: Heat the heavy cream until just beginning to boil. Pour it over the white chocolate (chopped) and the remaining 4 ounces cream cheese. Mix well and let cool. Once cool fold into the whipped topping. Use to frost cooled cake and garnish with sliced fresh strawberries.