Watermelon Slice Cookies

YOU GUYS.

I don't even know what to say about these cookies.  Really.  I should probably just let the pictures speak for themselves.

These are little butter cookies.  Not just any butter cookies, though.  No.  These ones look like watermelons.

WATERMELONS.

But they're cookies.

And, they're awesome.

I brought them to a family cookout and the little kids could not. stop. eating them.  Sometimes I don't know where to put things at family parties, so I just put my dessert on the table and walk away, knowing that somebody else will know the right place for it to be.  This time around, about 5 minutes after I walked away, one of Joe's little cousins saw the cookies and asked her mom if she could have some.  When desserts finally came out, she kept running over to get a couple at a time.  OK, so then she turned to the brownies and chocolate chip cookies - smart girl.

Actually, Joe liked these too.  Which, actually is hilarious.  Here, let me give you a mental image so that you can enjoy, too: Joe has a big beard and looks like he's a real tough guy.  Got a good picture?  Ok, now imagine that guy eating a handful of these:

Seriously, though. These cookies are awesome.

They're time consuming, but really easy.  Most of the time, the dough is in the fridge or freezer and you're just waiting for it to firm up a little bit so you can work with it without making a mess or getting the colors mixed up.

The log gets misshapen everytime you slice a cookie, so make sure to keep rolling it so that it stays somewhat round.  It doesn't have to perfect, because you're going to slice the cookies in half once they come out of the oven, anyway.  Do this part immediately so that you get a nice, clean cut.  You might also want to sprinkle a little bit of sugar on top of these before you bake them.  I didn't do this, but I think it would add a nice touch and a little extra flavor.  The sugar crystals would help them look like glistening, juicy watermelon slices.

Man, watermelon's my favorite.

I left these cooling on the counter while I went to the dollar store to find something to put them in to bring them to said cookout.  When I got home and saw these cuties sitting on the counter, I squealed with delight.  The only bummer is that I forgot to set some cookies aside for me and I forgot to bring them home when we left the cookout. 

I mentioned making these to Joe again and he's going to see about getting me some watermelon extract (Google and Amazon say this exists - anyone ever tried it?) so that they can look AND taste like watermelons. 

What's the last food you made that looked like a different food?

Watermelon Slice Cookies

3/4 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
 2 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
red and green food coloring
mini chocolate chips (I did not measure these - maybe about 2-3 Tbsp)

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Stir in egg and vanilla.  Add baking powder and flour and beat well.  Measure out 1 cup of dough and set aside

Tint remaining dough red and shape it into a roll approximately 3 1/2 inches long.  Wrap it in plastic wrap and put in freezer to firm up - about 10-15 minutes.

With the 1 cup of dough that you set aside,  tint 1/3 of it green.  Wrap it in plastic wrap and put it in fridge or freezer until firm.  The 2/3 of the remaining dough will be left its natural color. Wrap in plastic wrap and put in fridge until firm.

On a lightly floured surface, roll the plain dough into a rectangle, approximately 3 1/2 inches by 8 inches. Unwrap the chilled red dough and roll it up into the plain dough.  Make sure you wrap it snuggly.  Roll it around on the counter to seal the two layers together. Wrap back up and freeze until firm.

On a lightly floured surface, roll the green dough into a 3 1/2 inch by 9 inch rectangle.  Roll the chilled dough up snuggly in the green dough.  Roll to seal the layers together.  Wrap back up in plastic wrap and chill in freezer until firm.

Preheat oven to 350°F.  Unwrap dough and cut into slices about 1/4" thick.  Every few slices, roll dough so that it doesn't get too out of round. Place cookie slices on an ungreased cookie sheet.  Press mini chocolate chips into the red part of each cookie slice, pointy side down.

Bake 9 to 11 minutes or until firm.  Remove from oven and immediately cut cookies in half while hot.  I used a small paring knife.  Let cool on cookie sheet for a couple of minutes, then carefully transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

One Banana Cake

One of my guilty pleasures is frosted banana cake.  It's one of those pre-packaged cakes that you can buy at the store.   I don't want to say the name, but it's white with blue script.  There are a few problems with loving this frosted banana cake.  For one, when I can find it, it's super expensive.  Notice how I said "when I can find it"?  Yeah, it's basically impossible to find.  I think it's one of those flavors that they only have for a "limited time" and then they bring it back for awhile just to put it in hiding, etc.

LAME.

For awhile now, I've been trying to recreate it.  The problem is that it's pretty tricky because I have NO IDEA how they flavor the frosting.  The frosting is part chocolate, part banana-ish but not really banana.  Probably it's fake banana flavor and that's why I can't recreate it.  Instead of trying to recreate the wheel, I thought that I could put the same flavors into something uniquely my own.

But, as we all know, the only time you can actually eat all of the bananas before they start to go brown is when you're planning to use them.  Plus, Joe gave me an awesome tip for helping to slow down the ripening process: put something over the top part of the bananas where they all connect!  You can use plastic wrap, but I used foil since that was all I had.  It worked great - they didn't start browning until after I started eating them, and I just re-tightened the foil every time I took a banana.  Obviously, it's not totally preventative, but it will at least get your bananas to make it through the week so you can eat them!

Last week, I found myself with one lonely, measly banana left on the counter.  It was brown and squishy - perfect for baking.  But, I didn't want banana bread or cupcakes and I didn't really feel like making cookies.  So, I decided to try to make a banana cake.

You guys.  It came out perfectly!  The chunks of chocolate were slightly melty and soft and offered a nice contrast to the bananas and cake.  It could have used more banana to increase that flavor a little bit, but hey - I had to work with what I had!  I just finished the last 4 few small slices, and they are perfect with a cup of coffee on a quiet Sunday morning.

Banana Cake

1 c. flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 c. butter, room temperature
1/3 c. granulated sugar
1/3 c. brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 banana, mashed
1 egg
1 c. chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350°F.  Grease an 8" x 8" cake pan and set aside.

In a medium bowl, beat butter, sugars and vanilla until creamy.  Add banana and eggs.  Stir in flour and baking powder until combined.  Fold in chocolate chips.

Bake 20 minutes, until top is lightly browned and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.  Top will be slightly moist when pressed.   Remove from oven and let cool completely before cutting.

Raspberry Lemon Quick Bread

As the weather (finally!) start to get warmer, I like it when my flavors get bolder and pack a bigger punch.  Bonus points if they reflect seasonal tastes, like this raspberry lemon quick bread.

I like quick bread recipes because they're a cinch to throw together and if you decide you want muffins at the last minute instead, no big deal! 

This bread is full of raspberries and complimented by a bright lemony flavor throughout.  I used lemon juice and lemon zest in the topping and in the dough recipe, so it's a really bright and sunny flavor - it kind of reminds me of raspberry lemonade.

I used frozen raspberries because that's what I had on hand when I decided to make this.  If you decide to use frozen, you'll want to let them thaw about halfway - all the way thawed and they're a little soggy, too frozen and they'll make the dough too wet when they cook.  I threw them in the batter with their juice to get a little more of the raspberry flavor throughout, but you can drain them too if you prefer.  The batter was a little bit pink when mixing it, but it didn't affect the final outcome.  Like most things, though, fresh berries are probably best - rinse them well and carefully pat dry.  The batter is dense, so you shouldn't have to worry about them sinking. 

The topping gets really nice and crunchy, adding a contrasting texture to the bread that's surprisingly delicious.  My bread fell apart a little bit when I was slicing it, partly because it was still warm (I was impatient) and also because the topping made the top of the bread heavier than the rest. 

The topping recipe below is half of what I actually used, which should resolve any issues.  You'll want to make sure the bread is completely cooled before you try to flip it out of the pan and the sharper your knife when you slice, the better.  I realized while I was cutting this that we don't have any type of bread knife in this house - weird, I know. 

I've still not gotten one, but I think I can pretty easily get one at the dollar store or something.  If your not serving the bread right away and you don't want to deal with the mess, feel free to leave it in the pan.  Just make sure to cover it tightly so it doesn't get stale.  Although... I bet leaving this out to harden for a day or so would make an incredible french toast!  Mmm.

Normally, this is where I would tell you what other people think.  Alas, I couldn't tell you, because I didn't share!  *I* thought it was delicious though, and my fiance seemed to enjoy the one or two bites that I let him have, so I think that's good enough :)

Raspberry Lemon Bread

For the bread:
2 c. flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 stick butter, room temperature
1 c. sugar
2 eggs
1/2 c. full fat sour cream
juice from half of a lemon
2 c. raspberries

For the topping:
2 Tbsp. flour
2 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp. rolled oats
1 Tbsp butter
zest of 1 lemon

Preheat oven to 350°F.  Grease a loaf pan and set aside.

In a medium sized bowl, combine butter and sugar.  Add eggs on at a time, beating well after each one.

Add the flour, baking powder and sour cream.  Mix until everything is incorporated.

Carefully fold in raspberries.  Be careful not to overstir.

Scoop batter into prepared pan, gently evening it out with the back of a spoon.

To make the topping, combine flour, sugar, oats and lemon zest in a small bowl.  Cut in butter until crumbly.  Sprinkle on top of the bread before baking.

Bake for 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.  The oats will be toasted and golden.

My favorite way to eat this was with a cup of coffee, listening to the birdies chirp away.  What's your favorite springtime recipe?

Kosher for Passover: Chocolate Chip Cookies

Passover is literally hours away, and I started cooking some things yesterday.  I've probably mentioned this before, but now that I have a real grown up job, it's difficult for me to bake and cook during the week, so I try to do what I can over the weekend.

If you're anything like me and my family, you find that the hardest part about Passover is noshing, or finding a good snack.  Sure, I have 2 containers of macaroons in the closet, and yeah, they're alright, but after a few days of them? Bo-ring!  The only problem is that those box mixes or pre-packaged things are equally pretty terrible.  Sometimes, the flavor is there, but man, they're so dry!

I cobbled this recipe after finding some online that had things about them I didn't like or couldn't use.  Like flour.  Since I'm writing this on Sunday morning, my family has yet to try them.  However, I ate a few yesterday - quality control and all that - and I was pleasantly surprised.  While they don't quite taste or behave like your normal cookies, these are the best tasting Passover cookies I've ever had.

Let me say that again, just so we can be clear: do NOT compare these to your favorite, everyday chocolate chip cookie recipe.  If you compare them to that recipe, they will fall far short of your expectations.

However, if you look at these compared to other Passover treats, you will be pleasantly surprised.  Yes, you can still taste the matzah, but for me, it's more of a muted, nutty flavor than an actual matzah flavor.  I made some of these as chocolate chip cookies and some as double chocolate chip cookies, and while the flavor is a bit more muted in the double chocolate, you will not get rid of it altogether.  Frankly, I gave up trying to hide the matzah flavor years ago.  I don't really mind the taste of matzah, so why hide it when I can embrace it instead?

These aren't going to bake up or behave quite like your regular cookies, either.  You can fit more of these on a pan because they don't really spread out.  I used my cookie scoop, and they pretty much just stayed in that round ball shape.  To remedy this, I just gently tapped them with the bottom of a glass.  You can do this before or after they come out of the oven.  Out of the oven is a little easier, though you may want to grease the glass a little bit just to make sure you don't lose any good chocolate chips.

Also, if you don't have molasses in your cabinet, no big deal.  You can substitute the granulated sugar + molasses combination for the same amount of brown sugar (in this case, 1 1/2 cups).  The flavor will be the same, but I found that the molasses gave the cookies some extra moisture that was lacking when I used just brown sugar.  If your family prefers nuts in their cookies - go ahead and add those too!  The great part about this is that it's pretty customizable to whatever tastes and flavors you prefer.

I am sure my family will enjoy these, and I hope your family does, too.  Chag Sameach!

Kosher for Passover Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 sticks butter, room temperature
2 Tbsp honey
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 c. granulated sugar
3 Tbsp molasses
2 eggs
1 1/2 c. matzah cake meal
1/4 c. matzah meal
10 oz. bag (2 cups) kosher for Passover chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350°F.  Grease cookie sheets and set aside.

In a large bowl, combine butter, honey, vanilla, sugar and molasses until smooth and creamy.

Stir in the eggs and mix well.

Add cake meal and matzah meal; stir until combined.

Fold in chocolate chips.

Drop by rounded teaspoon onto prepared cookie sheets.  Bake 10-12 minutes, until cookies are set and tops are lightly browned.  Remove from oven and gently tap cookies with the bottom of a glass to round them out.  Let cool for a few minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Pour a tall glass of milk and enjoy!

Football Brownies

The last time I shared this recipe with you, I took out the chocolate chips and threw in huge chunks of peanut butter cups to make some incredible peanut butter brownies.

For Superbowl Sunday, I nixed the chocolate chips altogether and turned the brownies into footballs!  This was actually really easy.  Mix everything up as noted in the recipe, but instead of putting it in a regular 9 x 13 pan, I baked them on a foil lined cookie sheet.  I didn't actually measure it, but it was the biggest one I had - probably about 15 x 10 x 1 or thereabouts.  Obviously the bake time gets reduced too.  I baked mine for 12 minutes and they came out perfect.  There were a couple of crispy edges that I couldn't use for this particular project, but I have my brownie scraps in a ziplock bag and I have something in store for them this weekend.

After the brownies come out of the oven, let them cool in the pan for a little while.  Once cool to the touch but still a little warm (you don't want to burn yourself!), slowly and carefully lift the foil out of the pan and transfer to a wire cooling rack (or two) and let cool completely.

From there, I slid the racks out from underneath the brownies.  I pulled the foil away from the edges and started cutting away with my cookie cutter.  I cut the brownies really close to each other so I could get as many as possible.  I ended up with 20 brownies, though this amount will really depend on how big your cookie cutter is and what size pan you end up using.  The brownies are really fudgy in the middle, so I found that I had to cut a couple of times to get them to pull away enough for me to be able to separate my little footballs from the scraps.  With a little patience though, this was no big deal at all.

I transferred the football shapes back to the cooling rack and let them hang out for a little while.  They were already cooled off and ready for frosting, but since these are really fudgy, I wanted to let the tops harden a little bit more first to make sure I had a smooth surface for decorating.

I had originally wanted to use marshmallow fluff for the decorating, and if you look closely, you'll notice that some of the decorations are brighter and whiter than the others - those are the ones that had fluff.  Unfortunately, this was only a great idea in theory and not in practice, as the fluff was way harder to work with than I was anticipating.  I also wasn't working with a "fresh" jar, so the fact that it had already been opened may have impacted the squeezability of it when I was trying to pipe it on.

Instead, I decided to just make a simple confectioner's sugar glaze.  I knew I didn't need much, and even though it thickens up the longer it sits, I knew I wanted it to be a little bit thicker to start with.  I looked online to get some ratios (I am pretty terrible at math and can figure it out the relationships once I see the amounts/ingredients, but have a difficult time doing it by myself), then decided I was all in.

We had friends over while I was putting the finishing touches on these, and as soon as I was done and everything was cleaned up, I pretty much ordered the boys into the kitchen so they could take a look at my handwork.  It was only seconds before they started asking when they could eat them.  At the end of the night, there were only a few left.

Score!

Football Brownies

3/4 c. Hershey's unsweetened cocoa
1/2 tsp. baking soda
2/3 c. butter, melted and divided
1/2 c. boiling water
2 c. sugar
2 eggs
1 1/3 c. flour
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350°F.  Line a 15" x 10" x 1" cookie sheet with aluminum foil, leaving overhang.  Grease the corners and sides.

In a large bowl, combine cocoa, baking soda and 1/3 cup butter.  Add boiling water and stir until mixture thickens.  Mix in sugar, eggs and remaining 1/3 cup butter; stir until smooth.  Add flour and vanilla and stir until thoroughly combined.  Evenly pour batter into prepared pan.

Bake 10-12 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.  

Cool in pan for about 10 minutes, then carefully transfer foil to a wire rack to cool completely.  Using a football shaped cookie cutter, cut out football shapes.  Decorate with icing.


Simple Sugar Glaze

4 Tbsp confectioner's sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 tsp. milk


In a small bowl, combine sugar and vanilla. Mix in milk, 1 teaspoon at a time, until desired thickness is reached.  Carefully transfer to a piping bag or a zip-top bag with a small hole cut in the corner and decorate brownies as desired.

Elvis Phyllo Cups

This recipe is really delicious and SO easy to make.  My brother found it in the newspaper a few Sundays ago and called me up to tell me about it.  He was SUPER excited that I immediately knew where he was going with this:

Me: do you want to make it together?
Josh: yes that would be so awesome!
Me: ok, I'll get the few things that we need, check your work schedule and let me know when you can come over.

You wanna know what I had to purchase?  A banana and some phyllo cups.  Oh, and I bought more peanut butter, mostly because I wasn't sure how much we had left and it was on sale when I was at the store. That's it.

At the store, I couldn't find the pre-made phyllo cups, but I was able to find phyllo dough which ended up being a better deal for me.  For probably the same price as what the cups would have cost, I was able to make them myself and now I have a ton of phyllo dough sheets left over.  I don't know what I'm going to do with them, but that's another story.  Actually, I'd love to try making baklava, but I think I'm the only person I know who eats it, so that's probably out.

I googled the crap out of it, but making the cups was super easy!  You have to work quickly but carefully to make sure the dough doesn't rip or get dried out, but it's pretty much impossible to ruin them.

As for preparing the "Elvis" part of these?  It was easy.  Easier for me, because I had Josh do it while I supervised.  I don't know if I've mentioned it, but we've been giving him cooking lessons so that when he doesn't have to survive on pizza delivery and McDonalds... or that if he does, it's by his own choice, not because he doesn't know what to do in the kitchen.  We've taught him fairly basic things so far: mashed potatoes, chop suey, shepherd's pie, cheeseburgers, pork chops, kielbasa.  He and I haven't gotten to do much baking, so I figured this was the perfect opportunity to help him read a recipe and put it all together.  I did make the cups ahead of time, but that's because I was planning on it being a lot more complicated than it really was.

The banana makes the cups soggy if they hang out for too long, so put them together right before you plan to serve.

For real, though, these little cups have everything you'd want in one little bite-sized dessert: crunchy, salty, sweet.  No wonder Elvis loved this combination!

Elvis Phyllo Cups

15 phyllo cups, pre-baked and cooled*

1/3 c. peanut butter
2 Tbsp. confectioner's sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 banana, sliced
3 slices of bacon, cooked and cooled

*I was unable to find frozen phyllo cups at the grocery store, but I was able to find sheets of phyllo dough.

To make the cups:
4-5 sheets of phyllo dough
2 Tbsp melted butter
sugar

Lightly grease a muffin tin and set aside.  Preheat oven to 350°F.

Cover your work surface with aluminum foil or parchment paper.  Lay down one sheet of phyllo dough.  Lightly brush the sheet with a little bit of the melted butter.  Dust a little bit of sugar on top of the melted butter.  Top with a second sheet of phyllo dough.

Repeat until you have a stack of 4 or 5 sheets of phyllo dough.  Using a sharp knife (I used a paring knife), cut the sheets into squares that are slightly bigger than the muffin cavities.  Press each little stack of phyllo dough into the muffin tins.

Bake for 5-7 minutes, until lightly browned.  Babysit them, as they will cook quickly.

Remove from oven and let cool.

In a small bowl, stir together the peanut butter, sugar and vanilla.

Place 1 slice of banana into the bottom of each phyllo cup. Top the banana slice with 2 tsp. of the PB mixture and garnish with a chunk of bacon.

Serve immediately.

Triple Chocolate Chip Cookies

By now, it should be a well known fact that I'm a chocoholic.  If it's got chocolate, I'm interested.  At the same time, Joe is pretty much the human version of Cookie Monster.

So, what do you when you're craving something seriously chocolatey and you know that your future husband would like something in cookie form?

Make these babies.

Chocolate cookies with semi-sweet, white chocolate and dark chocolate chips.  Go ahead and pour yourself a tall glass of (chocolate) milk to go with them - you'll need it.  YUM.

I told Joe that I only made a half batch of these because I wasn't sure if he would like them (turns out there is such a thing as "too chocolatey"), but I really only made a half batch because I knew I would literally inhale these.  It's too bad, because now I wish I had more.

Guess I'll have to make some!

Triple Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 stick butter, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 c. flour
1/2 c. white chocolate chips
1/2 c. milk chocolate chips
1/2 c. dark chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350ºF.  Grease cookie sheets and set aside.

Combine all ingredients except for flour and chocolate chips.  Mix in flour until combined.  Fold in chocolate chips.

Drop by rounded teaspoon onto cookie sheets (I used a cookie scoop that makes cookies 2"-3" diameter).  Bake for 9 minutes.  Allow cookies to cool for a few minutes on cookie sheets, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely