Oatmeal Butterscotch Chocolate Chip Cookies

I love baking cookies. In fact, I think cookies might be my favorite type of dessert to make. Second favorite? Probably cupcakes. Give me either a cookie or a cupcake (or maybe both? :)), and I'm a

happy gal. 

Not sure if you read it or not, but in the Q & A on the Whole Foods blog earlier this week after I won the pecan recipe contest, I was asked the question: "Is there one ingredient you can't live without?" My answer? "Chocolate chips! If you need a dessert in a pinch, you'll have options so long as you have baking staples and chocolate chips on hand." This recipe of oatmeal butterscotch chocolate chip cookies is a perfect example of that.

Ingredients:

-6 oz. unsalted butter, melted

-1 cup packed light brown sugar

-1/2 cup sugar

-2 large eggs

-2 tsp. vanilla

-2 cups all-purpose flour

-1/2 tsp. salt

-1/2 tsp. baking soda

-3/4 cup quick or regular oats

-approx. 3/4 cup - 1 cup butterscotch chips

-approx. 3/4 cup - 1 cup chocolate chips (I used milk chocolate in this recipe but use your favorite or whatever you have on hand!)

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt butter in microwave and allow it to cool slightly. Using a whisk, combine the butters and both sugars together in a large bowl. Whisk in the eggs and vanilla. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, salt, and baking soda. Add the flour mixture to the sugar and egg mixture and fold until just combined. Fold in the oats, butterscotch chips, and chocolate chips.

Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Drop dough by tablespoonful on baking sheet, placing about 2 inches apart. Bake for 10 - 14 minutes. When the edges are slightly brown, remove from oven. Allow the cookies to cool for a couple minutes before removing to cool completely on rack. Makes about 30 cookies.

Hi Mr. Snowman! :)

If you read the recipe closely, you may have recognized that this is the same base recipe as my "award-winning" (it's just fun to say that!) pecan, cranberry, cinnamon chip cookies. I just changed the mix-ins; that's all! Just shows how you can be creative in baking yet still keep things very simple.

I highly recommend these cookies with a nice tall glass of milk or a mug of delicious hot chocolate. Now that's the stuff. ;)

P.S. If you're an email subscriber, I had some technical trouble earlier in the week with the two posts I published on Monday for my baked potato soup and my announcement that I won the Whole Foods recipe contest. Sorry if you missed getting those emails! Please be sure to check them out still!

Maple Date Bars

There are certain recipes that I look at and immediately know that I have to make them. This recipe for maple date bars was one of those. I first saw this recipe about a month ago in an e-newsletter I receive from My Recipes. I saved it on one of my Pinterest boards so I could easily locate it whenever I decided to make it. This past weekend was that time...and it was a happy time. :) Boy are these bars tasty! I love dates (I talked about my love of dates back when I made these layered oatmeal date bars. That was this past January and I hadn't baked with dates since then! Not good. It was about time they were incorporated into a delicious creation again...welcome, maple date bars! These are a Cooking Light recipe too (so less guilt!!).

Ingredients:

-1 and 3/4 cup finely chopped pitted dates

-3/4 cup water

-1/3 cup pure maple syrup

-1 tsp. grated lemon rind (I actually omitted this because I didn't realize I didn't have lemon on hand)

-2/3 cup sugar

-1/2 cup butter, softened

-1 cup all-purpose flour

-1 cup regular oats

-1/4 tsp. baking soda

-1/4 tsp. salt

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine dates, water, and maple syrup in heavy saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil; cook for 12 minutes or until most of the liquid has been absorbed, stirring frequently. Stir in rind; cool completely.

Beat butter and sugar together in mixing bowl on medium speed. Combine flour, oats, baking soda, and salt. Stir flour mixture into sugar mixture (mixture will be crumbly). Firmly press two cups of the flour mixture into the bottom of a greased 13 x 9 baking pan. Spread the cooled date mixture evenly over the bottom layer, and then sprinkle the remaining flour mixture on top. Bake at 400 for 20 minutes or until the top is lightly golden brown. Cool completely in pan before cutting. Store bars wrapped individually in an airtight container or place between layers of wax or parchment paper in an airtight container.

Overall these bars were suuuper simple to make. The most time consuming part was cooking the dates on the stove, but that definitely wasn't difficult. Truly, these were very easy to make, and they got rave reviews! I made them for a beer tasting event Mike was hosting. Friends who come to his beer tastings have quite the refined palates, so if they liked them, they've got to be good, right?! ;)

Flourless Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

I've been very excited to share this recipe for you (along with the several others patiently waiting to go on the blog!). This recipe for flourless peanut butter oatmeal chocolate chip cookies was soooo easy. And the cookies tasted soooo good. Need I say more? Didn't think so. ;-)

This recipe was adapted from Amandeleine.

Ingredients:

-1 cup peanut butter (any kind will do, I think)

-3/4 cup granulated sugar

-1 large egg, slightly beaten

-1/2 tsp. baking soda

-1/4 tsp. salt

-1 cup chocolate chunks or chips (any kind; I used semi-sweet because that's all I happened to have on hand)

-3/4 cup quick oats (this was my addition; the original recipe did not call for oatmeal)

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. In a large bowl, stir the peanut butter, sugar, egg, baking soda, and salt until combined. Stir in the chocolate and oats.

Place the dough on prepared pans by the teaspoonful, placing the balls about two inches apart. Bake for about 10 to 12 minutes, or until slightly browned.

Simple (takes less than 5 minutes to mix the ingredients together!), delicious (pb & chocolate - always a winner, and the cookies were super soft and chewy), and on the healthy side as far as cookies go (oatmeal? pb? totally justified as health food)... ;-)

Egg Over Oatmeal

Egg over oatmeal? I bet you're wondering what kind of recipe this is going to be... Well, to be honest, it's not really a "recipe" but more of a suggestion to add a new idea to your breakfast options. :) I actually don't remember where this idea came from, but I had heard about someone else making this and I thought it'd be fun to give it a shot! I've made this several times for a tasty and filling weekend breakfast over the past few months. I never take the time during the week to actually cook breakfast. This would really only take about 10 minutes more on a weekday morning, but that's 10 more minutes I could sleep... ;-)

Here's what you do:

1) Cook oatmeal on the stove.

I typically make regular, old fashioned oats according to the directions on the container. You could use steel cut oats as well. I suppose you could use instant oatmeal but I prefer cooking regular oats myself... Oh, and I tend to put in half milk and half water for the liquid when I cook oatmeal.

2) Cook an egg.

3) Put the egg on top of the oatmeal.

4) Eat and enjoy.

:)

As you probably noticed in the pictures, I put some ground pepper on my egg (and a teeny bit of salt too). I like to keep my egg pretty simple; I usually cook it over medium (so that it's slightly runny) on the stove and add s & p - that's about it. I like to have a little bit of egg and oatmeal in each bite I take. It's kinda fun to mix it all together...

I realize that when you do mix it together though it isn't the most aesthetically pleasing breakfast :), but it really does taste great. I promise! It's difficult for me to describe why this tastes good though. To many people, egg and oatmeal probably seems like a weird combination. I initially thought it might not taste all that great, but I was so very pleasantly surprised the first time I had it. The flavors really blend well together!!

This is generally a pretty healthy and filling breakfast too. You could probably add ketchup or salsa or any other condiments that you normally would like on eggs... So far I haven't done that though. I tend to stick to what I know (in general in life!), but maybe one of these days I'll change it up.

Give this fun, new breakfast a shot and let me know what you think! I really think you'll like it! :)

Banana Oat Breakfast Cakes

Over the years, breakfast has become one of my favorite meals to "play around with" and create yummy, fun recipes. Especially on the weekends if/when I have a little extra time, I enjoy spending more time in the kitchen to try a new recipe or create a slightly more elaborate breakfast than I typically have time for on the weekdays. A couple weekends ago I tried a recipe for "banana oat cakes" that I had bookmarked from a great blog I recently discovered, "Running Around Normal."

Here's the recipe for you. Note that it only makes enough for two cakes, so you'll need to double or triple this if you're making it for more than one or two people!

Ingredients:

-2/3 cup regular oats

-1 egg

-2 - 4 Tbsp. water or milk (I used skim milk)

-1/2 tsp. cinnamon

-1 banana, sliced

-almond butter or yogurt, for toppings

Simple ingredient list! :)

Instructions:

Heat a non-stick skillet over medium heat. In a small bowl, mix together the oats, egg, milk or water, and cinnamon; set aside. Add the sliced banana to your skillet to grill it to bring out its natural sugars, about 3 minutes per side. After letting the oat cake mixture sit for about a minute, form it into two "patties" and place them in your pan, grilling for about 3 minutes per side and until they're very lightly browned on the outside. Top each breakfast cake with some grilled bananas and any desired toppings (almond butter, yogurt, sprinkled cinnamon, etc.).

I don't think this could be any easier, friends! It'll take you no time to make this recipe, AND you'll enjoy it. It's quite tasty, especially with the grilled bananas and yogurt on top. The grilled "nanners" (yes, sometimes I refer to bananas as nanners) are so yummy! If you love oatmeal, this is a nice healthy twist on your typical bowl of oatmeal. I love finding new ways to eat the foods I love. :)

Homemade Granola "Bites"

Greetings, all! Hope everyone is doing well. I'm back from sunny CA where temperatures were in the 60's during the day....this bitter cold weather in Boston is a shock to the system, I tell ya! We had a great time running the Surf City half marathon (below is a picture of my sister and me after the race :)) and seeing some of the sites on the west coast. And now it's back to reality! And you know what that means...another yummy Barbershop treat for you!

I made homemade granola bars (or "bites" - you'll see why I call them bites later on) to bring along on our trip because I actually forgot to buy some granola bars at the store to bring! Luckily I had all the necessary ingredients on hand, so I whipped up a batch before we left. I decided to use the Food Network's Barefoot Contessa's recipe for homemade granola bars since it received such high ratings online. I would have to agree with the ratings too, as these were quite the delicious snack!

To start, in the oven, you toast oatmeal, almonds, coconut. Meanwhile, on the stove, cook the butter, honey, brown sugar, vanilla, and salt (note: I did not have quite enough honey so I used molasses to make up the difference).

Once the toasted mixture of dry ingredients come out of the oven, you combine them with the liquid mixture just cooked on the stove...I also added flaxseeds (maybe 1/8 to 1/4 cup). You can see them in the bottom of the dish below!

And the rest of the dry ingredients...

Once that mixture is well coated with the liquid mixture, add your other ingredients. The recipe I followed calls for dried cranberries, chopped dates, and chopped apricots... I added some craisins that I had on hand (but it was probably only 1/3 cup or so) and some chopped dates. I did not have apricots though. As a substitute for the items I didn't have, I added sunflower seeds and chocolate chips. :-D I figured chocolate would be a great addition. Wouldn't you agree? Oh, I also forgot to mention that I did not add wheat germ since I didn't have it on hand.

Once all the ingredients are well-combined, everything gets baked in a 13 x 9 pan at 300 degrees. The recipe says to bake it for 25 to 30 minutes, but mine was a nice golden brown after just 20 minutes so check yours early!

Pre-baking...

Post-baking!

The mixture needs to cool for at least 2 or 3 hours, so feel free to spend that time doing something else fun or productive while you wait. ;-)

I read some of the online reviews of this recipe that it was difficult to cut them into bars. I tried to at first but also found it challenging to cut them evenly... So instead, I just broke them into pieces of various sizes with my hands. I think I'll call them granola "bites" as a result. They're a bit more fun sounding that way too, don't you think?! No matter the shape, they're super tasty - I promise!

These granola bites are definitely on the crunchy side, so if you're expecting a chewy texture you'll be surprised! I looooved the flavor combo of the different ingredients added...craisins, coconut, almonds, chocolate, etc. Delicious! Unfortunately, the recipe online did not provide nutritional stats, so I can't tell you how many calories, grams of fat, etc. are in these. However, most of the add-in ingredients have great nutritional value on their own (e.g., dates, oatmeal, almonds) so I think these can certainly be a guilt-free snack. ;-) We definitely enjoyed them on our trip! They helped us run FAST in our race, I'm convinced of it!!!

See you again soon!