NPR tells you how to DIY gourmet food in your own kitchen

As you all probably know from reading Creation Sunday Posts, Hillary is a huge fan of cooking and DI.Y  Very recently, NPR posted an article on how to make fun things like ricotta cheese and chocolate hazelnut spread in  your very own kitchen with standard kitchen tools.  We thought we would share it with you so you could learn the joy of creating in your kitchen.
Here it is.

Creation Sunday - Oatmeal Roundup

Today Hillary is going to share some oatmeal recipes she has been into lately.

I love oatmeal as an ingredient because it adds some fiber and a unique flavor to anything you cook with it.  I had been ignoring it for a while, but recently I went through most of a canister of quick oats in about 2 weeks because of all the yummy oatmeal treats I made. So today I am going to share with you two indulgent recipes I made recently, and a healthy creation of my own from many years ago.

The first one is a super simple no-bake recipe for Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies.  My mom made something very similar for me when I was growing up and I remember it being a staple among treats I made for many years (before weight watcher's).  When I was trying to come up with something indulgent and super easy, the other day, I remembered these and whipped up a batch while fixing lunch.  Without further ado, here is the recipe on food network's website.  I do this recipe completely without modification. They're perfect, even for picky me, exactly the way they are.  Although, on occasion, I have wondered what a variant made with almond butter would be like... hmm...

The second one is a Fabulous Banana Pancake Recipe By Racheal Ray called Oatmeal Cookie Pancakes.  I did make some modifications due to my husband's tastes, my preferences, and according to what I had in the pantry.  I made a 1.5 batch because we had three bananas.  I used a mixture of turbinado sugar and white sugar instead of brown sugar because it's what I had. Because I had some cake flour and I thought it might add a little fluffiness to the pancakes, I replaced about a quarter cup of the all purpose flour with cake flour. Because hubby doesn't like sour cream, I used 3/4 C of buttermilk and 1 cup of whole milk to replace the sour cream and milk in the original recipe.  I intentionally used a little less buttermilk than the amount of sour cream called for because I didn't want the batter to be too thin.  Instead of putting the walnuts in the batter, I set them to the side and added them in to individual pancakes.  In some of the pancakes, I used chocolate chips instead of walnuts.  No one in my house likes raisins at all, so I left them out (we eat oatmeal chocolate chip cookies and are thoroughly offended by the idea that in many people's minds, oatmeal cookies=oatmeal raisin cookies, hehe).  I added a pinch or two of salt, but other than that, I made no modifications to the seasonings.  Hubby said they were excellent, which is a big compliment from him because he tends to like pancakes a specific way (at least from my standpoint).

The pancakes I made turned out thick and flavorful (the way we like them in my house).  If you wanted a thinner pancake, I'm sure adding a little more liquid would be okay and if you wanted to go thinner than that, replacing some of the oats with flour might be the way to go.

The last recipe is one I made for low-calorie multi-grain chocolate chip muffins many moons ago when I was on weight watchers.  When I make chocolate chip muffins, I often go for this recipe rather than a standard one because they are more flavorful and unique than most recipes on top of being more healthy.  They can even be made into pina colada muffins with some minor alterations.


Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Muffins
1 C whole wheat pastry flour
1 C quick cooking oats
1/2 TSP salt
1 TSP double acting baking powder
1 egg
1 TBL white sugar
1 TBL Honey
1/2 C lowfat yogurt
1/4 C apple juice
3/4 C chocolate chips or peanut butter chocolate swirl chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Spray muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray or place muffin cups in tin.
Whisk together first 4 ingredients.
In a separate bowl, lightly beat egg and then add sugar while continuing to beat.
Stir in yogurt, honey and apple juice.
Stir dry ingredients into wet until just moistened evenly. Add additional apple juice or water if needed for consistency.
Stir in chocolate chips until just evenly distributed.
Spoon into prepared muffin cups.
Bake for 10-15 minutes or until fork/knife/toothpick inserted into muffins comes out clean.

Piña Colada Variation:
Substitute 1/2 C shredded coconut and 1/2 C chopped dried pineapple for the chocolate chips 



One more quick note on this recipe: Yes, I know this method is different from the standard, traditional muffin method but I promise it works.

We hope you enjoyed the recipes.  Stay tuned for exciting interviews and updates soon!

(Belated) Creation Sunday - Pretzel "Turtles"

Last week, The mother of the children I nanny for suggested I make Pretzel Turtles with the oldest child.  Being unfamiliar, I asked how to make them. I was immediately intrigued... something sweet, salty, chocolatey and nutty all at the same time for all of 10 minutes of hands on time? "Awesome" I thought.  I was right.  We made exactly this recipe using Rolo candy. It tastes like something that came from a gourmet chocolate shop, is easy enough for a 3 year old to help, and takes no time whatsoever.  It's perfect.
This would actually be an excellent "home made gift"-- make a bunch of these, put them in pretty boxes and tie it up with a bow.  Everyone will think you spent tons of money at a boutique or spent hours in the kitchen getting the exact right balance of flavor, when, in fact, it will have taken you more time to wrap them than it did to make those oh so perfect bites of decadence.  Trust me.

"Creation Sunday" - Creating "boutique bakery" style cookies from a mix

In an effort to bring more regular and varied content to the blog, we are going to start a regular segment called "Creation Sunday" in which Hillary talks about what she has been creating recently.  We show off pictures of new merchandise all the time, but this will be a chance for people to see other projects such as recipes, drawings, paper crafts, etc.  Today's "Creation Sunday" is about creating "boutique bakery" style cookies in your own kitchen, with minimal fuss.

Cute little storefronts with stripey green or pink polka-dot logos, sparkling cookies, cutesy cupcakes and unusual flavors like "strawberry soda pop", "banana split", and "mocha with sea salt and caramel" are all the rage these days.  But you don't have to go to a pricey bakery or spend hours in the kitchen to get uniquely flavored treats with a professional flare, you can easily make them in your own kitchen in almost no-time.

Before I dive right into the recipes I created for a couple of different "boutique style" cookies, I wanted to share a few secrets and pointers so that, if you're so inclined, you can think about how you would create your own:

-I almost always cook with a mix.  Scratch baking produces results like no other and is generally healthier than anything made with a mix, but, if I want to make something good, fast, using a mix saves a lot of time and effort.

-Any time I cook with a mix, I add flavor somehow.  Even if I am just making a yellow cake with the yellow cake mix, I add vanilla or rum.  For "boutique bakery" style treats, the flavors are usually unique, but they range from wildly unusual to simple, slight twists on classic flavor.  For example, you certainly could make "bacon and dark chocolate cookies", but you could also simply take a classic combination like chocolate and raspberry and kick it up a notch.  How?  What about orange Liqueur or Amaretto or Fresh mint?

-For flavors, any variety of things could be your inspiration: the season, a favorite ingredient you have in the cabinet, your favorite alcohol, something you picked up at the farmer's market, a random craving you've had or the herbs you have growing in your back yard.

-When you add flavors, the less artificial, more fresh, and more "real" you can make the ingredients, the better.  We're starting with a mix, so to get it to taste less "mix-like", it needs to taste less processed and pre-packaged.  A good way to do that is to make sure you use real vanilla, and actual juice, herbs, fruit or liquers instead of "flavoring".  "Rum flavoring", "Raspberry Flavoring" and the like all have their place in the baking world, but, for this project, we're starting with something processed and artificial tasting and trying to make it taste as much like homemade as possible.

-You can substitute ingredients that a mix calls for if you're careful.  If you substitute liquid for liquid, fat for fat, etc. you can generally get away with switching things up.  Why would you want to do this?  Because you can either add flavor (try lemon or lime juice in your sugar cookie mix) or change the consistency a little (try substituting something like half and half if you want a recipe to be richer).

-Experimentation is not a bad thing.  Don't be afraid.  The worst thing that could happen is that you have to eat cookies that aren't quite what you intended, which means OMG BAKING MORE COOKIES!

Now, On To the Recipes (these are actually recipes that I came up with, but, great minds think alike, so if this looks a lot like anyone else's recipe, it's totally unintentional):

Recipe #1: Mega-Peanut Butter Cookies

Ingredients:

-1  (17 oz) Package of Peanut Butter cookie mix (I used Betty Crocker)

-1/4 Cup Peanut Butter

-2 Tablespoons Half & Half (not fat free)

-3/4 Teaspoon Real Vanilla extract

-1 Egg

-1/2 Cup peanut butter chips

-1/2 Cup Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips (I used Ghirardelli)

-1/2 Cup Mini Peanut Butter Cups

Directions:  

Preheat oven as directed on package.  Put cookie mix, peanut butter, egg, half & half and vanilla extract in bowl.  Mix until well combined.  I usually stir with a large spoon or spatula until it gets too hard to mix and then finish mixing with my hands.  Add peanut butter chips, chocolate chips and peanut butter cups.  Mix until candy bits are evenly distributed throughout.  When you add them, you will think that there are too many candy bits for the amount of dough and you'll almost be right, but if you keep working it until everything is even, you shouldn't have any candy "left over".  Use a tablespoon or small disher to scoop cookies on to sprayed (or greased) baking sheet.  Smash each cookie flat with your fingers or a spoon (using a fork like the cookie mix calls for won't quite work with this variant).  Bake as directed on the bag of mix.  Cookies are done when bottoms are brown and very edges of cookies have barely started to brown.  Cookies may look underdone but will solidify by the end of cooling.  Makes A LOT of cookies.

This recipe doubles nicely.  In theory, you could triple it and use all of the candy bits in each bag, but I have not tried it that way yet.

Recipe #2: Chubby Hubby Inspired Cookies

Ingredients:

-1  (17 oz) Package of Double Chocolate Chunk cookie mix (I used Betty Crocker)

-Oil, Egg and Water called for by the mix

-3/4 Teaspoon Real Vanilla extract

-1/2 Cup peanut butter chips

-1/2 Cup Pretzel M&M's

-1/2 Cup Malt Crunchies I used Wilton brand,  but I can't find a link to theirs online.  Here is a link to a similar product.

Directions:  

Preheat oven as directed on package.  Put cookie mix, oil, egg, water and vanilla in large bowl.  Mix until well combined.  Add peanut butter chips, pretzel M&M's and Malt Crunchies.  Mix until candy bits are evenly distributed throughout.   Use a tablespoon or small disher to scoop cookies on to sprayed (or greased) baking sheet.  Bake as directed on the bag of mix.  This recipe also makes A LOT of cookies.

This recipe also doubles nicely. 

Aside from their full and interesting flavor, the best part of the above recipes is that they only take 25-45 minutes from start to finish, and only about 15 minutes of that is baking time.  If you wanted to add to the "boutique" feel of your cookies, you could buy or make a cute box to put them in and even label them.  I know that "boutique style" cookies in 30 minutes without spending an exorbitant amount of money doesn't seem possible, but I just had a friend tell me today that she thought the cookies I brought the last time I was at her house were from a specialty bakery when, in fact, they were the chubby hubby inspired cookies above in a cute fall colored "treat box" that I got from a chain craft store.