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Posts Tagged ‘Recipes’

Sour Cream Coffee Cake

Posted in About me, Recipes, Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , on October 11, 2011| 1 Comment »

Tried-and-true recipes that are handed down from mother to child or shared from friend to friend are the jewels in every woman’s recipe collection. A tattered pink index card holds an all-time favorite sour cream coffee cake recipe of mine, and is a good example of a jewel in my collection. Even though I can’t recall the source of the recipe, the delicious ribbons of nuts, sugar and cinnamon swirling through a moist cake are unforgettable. Coffee cakes just don’t get better than that. That is, until now! From the Grand Central Baking Book comes this easy and well-written recipe that has several great things going for it. One – the recipe is from the Grand Central Bakery, a renowned bakery in the Pacific Northwest. Two – the coffee cake bakes in a 9 by 13-inch pan instead of a deep tube or bundt pan, thus decreasing baking time. Three – this coffee cake offers the versatility of adding a layer of fresh seasonal fruit on top of a delicate, moist cake. Four – a crunchy oat streusel covers the fresh fruit. The author likens it to a fruit crisp on top of a cake. You’ll want to add this “jewel” of a recipe to your own collection!

Sour Cream Coffee Cake
Recipe from the Grand Central Baking Book

Ingredients:

STREUSEL
½ cup (4 ounces, or 1 stick) cold unsalted butter
½ cup (3.5 ounces) granulated sugar
1 cup (7 ounces) packed light brown sugar
½ cup (2.5 ounces) all-purpose flour
Pinch of salt
¾ cup (2.75 ounces) rolled oats

COFFEE CAKE
3 cups (15 ounces) all-purpose flour
¾ cup (5.25 ounces) granulated sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
4 eggs
¾ cup (6 ounces, or  1 ½ sticks) unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 ½ cups (12.75 ounces) sour cream

2 cups diced fresh fruit or berries

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease and flour a 9 by 13-inch baking pan.

2. Dice the butter into ¼- to ½-inch cubes, then combine it with the granulated and brown sugars, flour, and salt. Use two knives, a pastry blender, or your fingers to mix the ingredients until crumbly, then mix in the oats. If you’re making the streusel ahead of time, cover and refrigerate it until you’re ready to proceed with the recipe.

3. Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt into a bowl with high sides. Make a well in the center.

4. In another bowl, lightly whisk the eggs, butter, and vanilla together. Pour the mixture into the well, then add the sour cream by evenly distributing large spoonfuls around the edges of the dry ingredients. Gently mix the batter, using a large spatula to fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Use big, slow, circular strokes that scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl with each motion. Don’t worry if the batter appears slightly lumpy, or if there are streaks of sour cream. The delicate texture of this batter is achieved through minimal mixing. (Some small patches of flour may still be visible; this is okay, as they’ll be absorbed during the baking process.)

5.  Scrape the batter into the prepared pan. Distribute the fruit in an even layer over the batter, then sprinkle evenly with the streusel. Bake for 45 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through the baking time. The streusel should be crunchy and brown, and a skewer inserted in the center should come out clean.

Serve the coffee cake straight from the oven with plenty of fresh, piping hot coffee.

Serves 12

Linnell’s Notes:
I used fresh blueberries that I tossed in a little bit of flour first to prevent them from sinking and turning the batter purple.

This cake stays moist for days – not that it would last that long, but there are only two of us at home to eat it!

Enjoy!

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Healthy Homemade Dog Treats

Posted in About me, Gift Ideas, Health, Pets, Recipes, Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , on October 4, 2011| 2 Comments »

Cardboard letters, strung across the fireplace mantle, spelled out a colorful “Happy Birthday!” Green, blue, and purple paw prints cheerfully decorated party hats and balloons. Guests, human and canine, filled the room and doted on the birthday boy who had dried mud on his nose. Buster, my son’s Black Lab puppy, happily celebrated his first birthday last weekend by eating special doggy treats and playing with all his new toys.

Wanting to make treats for all of Buster’s canine guests, I found two recipes online and asked my daughter to help me make them. Using only ingredients safe for human consumption, I figured these healthy dog treats had to be far better than the usual mass-produced ones. The ultimate test, though, was to see if the birthday boy and his canine guests liked these treats. They didn’t just like them, they devoured them! Reward your pet’s unconditional love by making him healthy homemade treats using these easy recipes adapted from Dog Treat Recipes.

Easy Peanut Butter Dog Treats

Ingredients:
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 cup oatmeal
1 cup peanut butter (smooth only)
1 cup milk

Directions:
1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F and lightly grease or cover a baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. In a medium bowl, add flour, baking powder, and oatmeal. Thoroughly mix and then add peanut butter and milk. Stir it all together until a dough forms.

3. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead the dough.

4. Roll out dough to 1/4-inch thick. Use cookie cutters or a pizza cutter to cut the dough into desired sizes and shapes.

5. Bake treats on prepared baking sheet for about 20 minutes or until golden brown.

6. Cool. Store in airtight container.

Note: Depending on desired thickness, these could be rolled out thinner than specified. They puff up during baking due to the baking powder.

Low Fat Carrot Dog Treats

Ingredients:
1 medium ripe banana
1 cup shredded carrots
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/8 cup water (more, as needed)
1-1/2 cup whole wheat flour (additional will be needed for rolling dough)
1 cup rolled oats

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and lightly spray or cover a baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. Whether you use store-bought shredded carrots or you grate your own, give them a coarse chop first. This will make it easier to cut the dough with the cookie cutters. If you grate your own carrots, wash them first and grate them with the peel on for added nutrition.

3. In a medium bowl, mash up banana and mix in shredded carrots. Add water and applesauce. Stir to combine. Add flour and oats. Stir until all ingredients are thoroughly combined.

4. Using you hands, knead the mixture until a dough forms. Dump the dough onto a lightly floured surface. Roll out dough until it is a 1/2-inch thick. Using cookie cutters, cut dough into treats and place on prepared baking sheet.

5. Bake for 25 minutes. For crunchier treats, turn off the oven at the end of the baking time and let cool overnight before storing in an airtight container.

6. Makes about 24 low fat healthy dog treats. They last about 3 weeks if stored in the refrigerator and up to 6 months in the freezer.

Note: You may have to add additional flour or liquid to get the right consistency of dough.

“Bone” Appétit!

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Kate’s Cheese Squares

Posted in Recipes, Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , on September 27, 2011| 3 Comments »

The invitation read, “Last names: A-M hearty appetizer, N-Z dessert.” I sighed, put the invitation on my desk and thought, “Appetizers, again.” With a last name that begins with a letter in the first part of the alphabet, I’m pretty much destined to bring appetizers to every group party I’m ever invited to attend. Although, just once, I’d like to bring a dessert, I’m thankful that my situation has caused me to test and build up a pretty nice collection of appetizer recipes!

This recipe for Cheese Squares comes from my friend Kate, who got the recipe from her mother. Kate recently made these for a pre-wedding bash she hosted for her daughter. Helping Kate in the kitchen that evening was my strategy to be closer to the food – someone had to keep an eye on and sample all of the hot appetizers coming out of the oven! Kate outdid herself, as usual, and all her appetizers were delicious, but this one was a standout. If you like cheddar cheese, butter, and cream cheese, you will like these delicate puffs of bread dipped in a frothy mixture of those sinfully rich ingredients and then baked to a delicious, light golden brown.

Cheese Squares

Ingredients:
1/4 pound Tillamook cheddar cheese, grated
1 cube butter
13 ounces cream cheese
2 eggs
Unsliced loaf of bread, such as Challah or 1-inch thick slices of Texas Toast bread

Directions:
1. Cut crust off bread and cut into 1-inch cubes.

2. Melt the first three ingredients in a double boiler. Let cool for a bit.

3. Separate egg whites from the yolks. Beat egg whites until stiff and add to slightly cooled cheese-butter mixture.

4. Dip cubes of bread into the egg white-butter-cheese mixture and place on a greased or parchment-covered baking sheet.

5. Refrigerate cubes overnight. Kate has had the best luck when she quick-freezes the squares on a cookie sheet – both if she wants to cook them right away or if she wants to freeze them for future use. If she’s going to freeze them for future use, she makes sure they are completely frozen on the cookie sheet before placing them in a zip-type plastic bag or else they will stick to the inside of the bag.

6. Bake at 400 degrees F for 10-12 minutes.

Linnell’s Notes:
1. Obviously, the better the ingredients, the better the flavor. Buy flavorful bread and good cheese.

2. I made some Cheese Squares several months ago and froze the extra. Surprisingly, when my freezer went out recently and I was forced to bake these, they still tasted good!

Enjoy!

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Mini Monkey Breads

Posted in About me, Recipes, Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , on September 20, 2011| 6 Comments »

Neighborhood coffees bring people together who otherwise just wave to each other from their cars. Sharing the three c’s – coffee, cake, and conversation – makes a neighborhood a better one. Putting faces to names and names to homes increases neighborhood awareness and safety. But really, it’s just a nice way to welcome new neighbors and to catch up with familiar ones!

Sweet, pull-apart Monkey Breads are favorites to serve at coffees for three simple reasons: they are easy to make, they serve many guests, and they taste delicious. In anticipation of a neighborhood coffee I’m helping to host in a few months, I “monkeyed” around with my Monkey Bread recipe. With so many people watching their diets these days, I opted to make mini monkey breads and substituted Splenda for sugar with great results! Assembling these little ones took no time at all and the baking time was quick, but the very best thing about these Mini Monkey Breads is that each one has more crispy-crunchy, sweet-cinnamon surface area than you’d get picking apart a regular-sized one! The results weren’t as “mini” as I thought they would be, but that didn’t stop me from devouring a whole one all by myself!

Mini Monkey Breads
Adapted from a recipe by Blue Eyed Bakers

Ingredients:
3 Cans of Pillsbury Grands Buttermilk biscuit dough
1 Cup Splenda
1 T cinnamon
3/4 Cup (1-1/2 sticks) butter
1/2 Cup brown sugar
Sweetened condensed milk, optional
1/2 Cup chopped walnuts, optional
1/2 Cup dried fruit – such as raisins, chopped dates, blueberries, optional

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Place paper liners in each cup of your muffin tin and set tin aside.

2. Remove biscuit dough from the containers and cut each biscuit into six wedges. Roll each wedge into balls.

2. In a large reusable plastic bag or large bowl, combine Splenda and cinnamon. Stir or shake to combine.

3. Place balls into the bag and shake well until all balls are evenly coated with the cinnamon-Splenda mixture. If you are using a bowl gently toss the balls with your hands until evenly coated. Set aside.

4. In a small sauce pan, melt together butter and brown sugar over medium-low heat, stirring until sugar is dissolved (about 5 minutes).

5. Place a spoonful of the butter-brown sugar mixture into each muffin cup. Take three coated dough balls and put into bottom of cup. If you are adding nuts and dried fruit, this is the time to tuck some in between the balls. Top with two or three balls and a few more nuts and fruit bits. Repeat, filling each muffin cup with remaining dough balls (and fruit and nuts).

6. Pour a spoonful of the butter-brown sugar mixture over each Mini Monkey Bread and bake for about 15 minutes or until golden, puffy, and bubbling.

7. Serve Mini Monkey Breads warm from the oven. If desired they can be topped with ribbons of sweetened condensed milk. They can also be made ahead – cover with foil and reheat in a 300 degree oven, for about 10 minutes.

Makes about 18

Linnell’s Notes:
1. I used Splenda to cut back on sugar, but you could substitute 1 cup white sugar if you prefer.

2. I added the dough balls a handful at a time into the container of cinnamon-Splenda to make sure all surface areas were well-covered. A word of caution: do not let the coated dough balls sit in the plastic bag or bowl too long or else you will have one, big, doughy mass!

3. I made three different types. In one batch I sprinkled dried blueberries and walnuts. Another batch I added chopped dates and walnuts. The third batch had just chopped walnuts. Each type was in a different colored paper liner, so I could easily tell them apart. For better flavor, toast the walnuts in the oven first for about 15 minutes.

4. I used a punch-type can opener and poured squiggles of sweetened condensed milk right out of the can onto the Mini Monkey Breads.

Enjoy!

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Corn and Couscous Salad

Posted in Recipes, Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , on September 6, 2011| 2 Comments »

Sweet summer corn is the key ingredient to this salad. Throw in some couscous, sweet onion, spicy curry, fresh red chili, and aromatic cilantro and you have an easy summer salad. Serve this flavorful salad with grilled lamb chops, fresh slices of vine-ripened melon, and a bottle of good wine. Sit back and enjoy your summertime feast. Better yet, invite some friends over to share the meal and enjoy the last days of summer together.

Corn and Couscous Salad
Recipe by Martha Stewart

Ingredients:
1 tsp curry powder
2 tsp grainy mustard
1 T white-wine or sherry vinegar
Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
4 T extra-virgin olive oil
3/4 cup couscous
1 Vidalia or other sweet onion, diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 red chili, minced (optional)
3 C fresh corn kernels (about 4 cobs)
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together curry powder, mustard, and vinegar. Season with salt and pepper. While whisking, slowly drizzle in 3 tablespoons oil; whisk until emulsified. Set aside.

2. Place couscous in a large bowl. Bring 1 cup water to a boil; pour over couscous; stir to combine. Cover with a plate; let steam until water is absorbed, about 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork; set aside.

3. Heat remaining tablespoon oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion, and cook, stirring, until softened, about 4 minutes. Stir in garlic and chili; cook, stirring, until softened, about 2 minutes. Add corn, and cook until bright yellow and just tender, about 2 minutes. Stir corn mixture into couscous. Add curry vinaigrette and cilantro; toss to combine. Serve warm or over at room temperature.

Serves 4.

Linnell’s Notes:
1. I don’t know what size portions Martha serves, but this certainly makes more than four servings. My guess is at least six plus.

2. To make this dish healthier, quinoa could be substituted for the couscous.

3. I used sweet white corn. Each corn cob yielded 1 cup of kernels. Because I had husked four ears of corn, I used 4 cups of kernels in the salad instead of the specified 3. I liked the additional corn in the salad and will make it again with this amount.

Enjoy!

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Watermelon: Beginning and End

Posted in Recipes, Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on August 16, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Summer isn’t summer unless watermelons are on the menu. There’s nothing quite like biting into a slice of crisp, juicy-sweet watermelon on a hot summer day. To that end, I double your delight by presenting two recipes that highlight the qualities of watermelons and create surprising melon moments at the beginning or at the end of your meals!

Recipe Number One: The Beginning
Watermelon for appetizers? You betcha! This appetizer has it all: a salty and tangy dip juxtaposed against the sweet crunchiness of melon, with an added a kick at the end. So unexpected, but so delicious!

Watermelon Appetizer with Asian Dipping Sauce
Adapted from an August 1992 Sunset Magazine recipe

Ingredients:
1 small (6-8 lb.) or 1 cross-cut piece (4-5 in. long) watermelon
1/3 cup lime juice
1/3 cup seasoned rice vinegar*
1 T minced pickled ginger
1 T sugar
1 T fish sauce (nuoc mam or nam pla) or soy sauce
About 1 T crushed dried hot red chilies

Directions:
1. Cut melon into small 1-inch wedges (with rind) and place on serving platter.
2. Make Asian Dipping sauce by mixing together the lime juice, rice vinegar, pickled ginger, sugar, and fish sauce.
3. Place dipping sauce in a small, shallow serving dish next to watermelon platter.
4. Place crushed red chilies in another small, shallow serving dish and place this next to the watermelon platter as well.
5. To eat, dip melon into sauce, then into chilies, as desired.

*or 1/3 cup rice vinegar and 2 teaspoons sugar

Recipe Number Two: The End
Eating watermelon for dessert is not unusual, but this recipe for Watermelon Icicles shines because of its simplicity. It’s a perfectly refreshing and low-calorie treat for a hot summer day.

Watermelon Icicles
Adapted from a 1992 August Sunset Magazine recipe

Ingredients:
Wooden ice cream sticks or “Popsicle” sticks
1 Seedless watermelon

Directions:
1. Cut watermelon into triangular-shaped pieces about 1-inch thick and 3-inches wide at the base. Remove rind.
2. Push an ice cream stick into the wide part of the slice, almost all the way through.
3. Cover a flat baking sheet with wax paper or parchment paper.
4. Lay the watermelon wedges in a single layer on the baking sheet.
5. Cover with plastic wrap.
4. Freeze until solid, about four hours.
5. Serve, or transfer to a freezer container and freeze up to 1 month.

Enjoy!

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Pepper Pizzas

Posted in Recipes, Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , on August 2, 2011| 2 Comments »

If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers, where’s the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked? Well, just maybe Peter made some of these light, summer-fresh, pepper pizzas and ate them all up!

Pepper Pizzas
Adapted from a recipe in the July 1989 Sunset Magazine

Ingredients:
6 English muffins
1 small yellow bell pepper, stemmed, seeded, and thinly sliced
1/2 cup thinly sliced onion
2 cups (1/2 lb) Pepper Jack cheese, shredded
1 small fresh Anaheim green chili, stemmed, seeded, and thinly sliced
Olive oil
Pinch of both salt and pepper

Directions:
1. Split English muffins in half and lay, cut side up, on a baking sheet. Broil 4 to 6 inches from heat until lightly toasted, then turn muffins over and toast other side, about 4 minutes total. Remove and set aside.

2. Put a little olive oil in a small fry pan and when the oil is hot, add the onion slices. As soon as the onion becomes golden-brown, add the yellow peppers. Stir. Add salt and pepper and then stir until onions are caramelized and peppers are just slightly limp. Remove from heat and set aside.

3. With cut sides up, evenly cover each half of English muffin with bell pepper and onion mixture. Top with shredded cheese and then Anaheim chili slices.

4. Return to broiler until cheese melts, about 4 minutes.

Makes 12.

Linnell’s Notes:
1. For a less spicy pizza, shredded Swiss cheese can be substituted for the Pepper Jack.

2. The original recipe called for raw onions and peppers to be placed on top of the English muffins. I’m not a fan of raw onions, so I sauteed the onions to caramelize them and then added the peppers to cook them slightly. Caramelizing onions brings out their flavor.

3. Of course I used more onion, yellow pepper, and cheese than the recipe called for!

ENJOY!

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Berry Brown Betty

Posted in Recipes, Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , on July 26, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Grumble, grunt, slump, cobbler, crisp, and brown betty . . . oh my! Without a doubt, juicy summer berries tempted more shoppers than the peach, their summertime rival, at last week’s outing to a farmer’s market. With high nutrient and fiber levels, who could ignore these sweet gems of summer. I couldn’t! After purchasing three pints of blackberries and three pints of yellow and red raspberries, the only thing harder than trying not to eat them on the drive home was trying to decide what to make with them.

My husband’s East Coast origins cried out for me to make a grumble, grunt, slump, cobbler or crisp, but never having made a brown betty before, I wanted to try making one. With its origin dating back to colonial days, a traditional and popular brown betty is made of alternating layers of buttered crumbs (bread or graham crackers) and layers of sweetened and spiced apples. That sounds perfectly delicious, but after reading Martha Stewart’s recipe for Berry Brown Betty, with its two types of raspberries and brioche breadcrumbs, this recipe won hands down. Who could resist the rich butter and egg flavor of brioche combined with fresh-picked berries? Not me!

Berry Brown Betty
Recipe by Martha Stewart

Ingredients:
3 cups fresh raspberries (red and golden, if available)
1-1/2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
2 cups fresh brioche breadcrumbs (about 6 ounces)
1/3 cup packed light-brown sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
Sweetened whipped cream, for serving

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a medium bowl, mix all but 1/4 cup berries with lemon juice, and set aside to macerate. Brush four 6-ounce ramekins with 1 tablespoon butter; coat inside of each with granulated sugar, and set aside.

2. In a small bowl, combine breadcrumbs with remaining 4 tablespoons butter, and set aside. Sprinkle the brown sugar, flour, and nutmeg over raspberries, and gently toss to combine. Divide one-third of breadcrumbs evenly among ramekins. Top with half the berries, and then with another third of breadcrumbs. Repeat with remaining berries and breadcrumbs. Gently press down on layers.

3. Bake until the crumbs are golden and berry juices are bubbling, about 20 minutes. Remove from oven, and let cool 5 minutes.

4. Invert ramekins onto serving plates. Remove ramekins, and top each dessert with whipped cream; garnish with reserved berries.

Serves 4.

Linnell’s Notes:
1. I purchased fresh brioche rolls at Whole Foods and made breadcrumbs out of them using my food processor.

2. Taste your berries before adding the sugar. If they are deliciously sweet, you will not need to add all the sugar specified. If they are not as sweet as you’d like them to be, you may need to add more sugar than specified.

3. It required more than one tablespoon of sugar to coat all four ramekins.

4. Although not necessary, I combined the brown sugar, flour and nutmeg in a bowl before sprinkling them over the berries. Doing this allowed for more even distribution of the dry ingredients.

5. I needed more buttered brioche breadcrumbs than the recipe specified – probably because I’m not good at estimating amounts!

Enjoy this simple summer dessert!

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Bloomin’ Onion Bread

Posted in Recipes, Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , on July 6, 2011| 3 Comments »

Rereading these words on the recipe “Serve warm or cold,” made me laugh. There’s zero chance that this fantastic appetizer could be served cold. Go ahead and try taking a crispy loaf of Bloomin’ Onion Bread out of the oven and see how long it lasts. Chances are good that it will be devoured before the green onions can finish their descent on the oozing cheese. It’s so good that it disappears right before your eyes – a sure sign of a winning recipe!

Bloomin’ Onion Bread
Recipe adapted from Buns In My Oven

Ingredients:
1 round loaf of sourdough bread, unsliced
12-16 ounces thinly sliced Monterey Jack Cheese
1/2 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup finely diced green onions
1 teaspoon garlic powder
4 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Cut the bread lengthwise in rows about one-inch apart without cutting through the bottom. Turn the bread and repeat to create a grid-like pattern. This can be challenging, but just hold the bread together with your other hand as you slice across your first cuts. You should end up with little cubes of bread still attached to the bottom.

3. Place loaf on a parchment-lined baking sheet.

4. Insert cheese slices between the cuts of bread. Fill in the spaces as much as possible.

4. Combine melted butter, green onions, garlic powder and Parmesan cheese.

5. Pour evenly over bread.

6. Cover the bread with foil and bake for 15 minutes first. Uncover the bread and bake 10 minutes longer.

7. Serve warm or cold.

Linnell’s Notes:
1. For best results use a good quality, rustic, sourdough round.

2. I used at least 16 ounces of sliced cheese. I stacked the slices and then cut them into 6ths. I put two slices in between each cut, starting at one end and working to the opposite end. I then turned the loaf around and put 2 slices in each cut going crosswise.

3. Instead of pouring the butter-onion-cheese mixture over the loaf, I spooned it into the crevices around each cube for better distribution.

4. I sprinkled a light dusting of Parmesan cheese over the loaf before putting it in the oven.

5. This recipe is very versatile. Experiment with cheeses or toppings. What about sprinkling bacon bits over it? What about using brie? Have fun and let your imagination go wild!

ENJOY!!

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Carrot Cake Sandwich Cookies

Posted in Husbands, In The Kitchen, Recipes, Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , on June 14, 2011| 3 Comments »

What could be better than a moist, spicy, carrot cake slathered with cream cheese frosting? Not much! But what if all that delicious goodness could be held in your hand in the form of a cookie? A portable carrot cake – how perfect! Since carrot cake is my husband’s favorite type of cake and since Father’s Day is this coming weekend, I whipped him up a batch of wholesome carrot cake cookies and sandwiched them together with a rich, not-too-sweet, cream cheese filling. After wrapping them individually in plastic wrap and freezing them, he can now have his “cake” (whenever he wants) and eat it too!

Carrot Cake Sandwich Cookies
Recipe by Martha Stewart

Ingredients for Cookies:
1 cup packed light-brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1 1/2 cups finely grated carrots, (about 3 large carrots)
1 cup raisins

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with Silpat baking mats or parchment paper, and set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine sugars and butter; beat until light and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes. Add eggs and vanilla, and beat on medium speed until well combined.

2. In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger; stir to combine. Gradually add flour to butter mixture; mix on a low speed until just blended. Mix in oats, carrots, and raisins. Chill dough in refrigerator until firm, at least 1 hour.

3. Using a 1/2-ounce ice-cream scoop, scoop dough onto prepared baking sheets, leaving 2 inches between cookies. Transfer to oven, and bake until browned and crisped, rotating pan halfway through baking to ensure even color, 12 to 15 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. Repeat baking process with remaining dough. Once cooled completely, use an offset spatula to spread about 2 teaspoons of cream-cheese filling onto a cookie. Sandwich together with a second cookie. Repeat with remaining cookies. Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days in the refrigerator.

Makes about 25 sandwiches

Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients:
8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into pieces, room temperature
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions:
Place cream cheese in a medium mixing bowl. Using a rubber spatula, soften cream cheese. Gradually add butter, and continue beating until smooth and well blended. Sift in confectioners’ sugar, and continue beating until smooth. Add vanilla, and stir to combine.

Makes about 2 cups

Linnell’s Notes:
1. To make the cookies more wholesome, I used whole wheat flour instead of all-purpose flour.
2. Because I like the smaller size of currants, I used them instead of raisins.
3. For a bit more texture and some added nutrients, I added 1 cup of chopped walnuts.
4. Although it is easier to buy a bag of grated carrots, the moisture content and fresh flavor of freshly grated carrots add much to this recipe.
5. I used a smaller ice-cream scoop for the dough and made 72 perfectly round 2 1/2-inch to 3-inch cookies.
6. These cookies spread – allow the specified 2 inches. If cookies seem to be spreading too much, chill the dough a little longer.
7. I doubled the cream cheese frosting which was the perfect amount to fill 36 cookie sandwiches.
8. These cookies absolutely have to be refrigerated! Not only because they have a cream cheese filling, but primarily because they will become too soft and will fall apart easily if left out at room temperature.
9. As mentioned in the introduction, I individually wrapped my sandwiched cookies with plastic wrap, placed them in Ziploc-type plastic bags, and froze them for future cravings.

Enjoy! Enjoy! Enjoy!

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