A Cookie Contest Emergency

So, I know my last post was about food and this one is going to be a post about food too. Some people eat to live and some people live to eat. I live to eat. (And thank heavens I am a self proclaimed distance runner too or else who knows what I would look like!) But this one is more interesting. I promise.

Jacob has a drawing for an iPad at work this week and you have to earn the tickets for the drawing. Today they had a cookie making contest. If you brought in cookies you got a few tickets and if you won, you got more tickets for drawing, plus some kind of gift card.

Jacob forgot to make cookies. He called me a little after four and asked me to bring him winning cookies by five. Okay, he didn't say winning, but I know he wants that iPad. I said I would bring him what ever I could find, probably chocolate chip cookies. But I just didn't feel like doing that. I just opened my cupboards and let inspiration take the lead.

We had a Betty Crocker Cake mix so I thought CAKEYS! (Cake cookies. I am not sure how to spell it but Cakie looks wrong to me so I am sticking with my way.)

I knew just a cakey wasn't going to cut it so I decided to make frosting while the cakeys were in the oven. I opened the lazy susan for some frosting inspiration and found lemon extract so lemon frosting it was. Then I found my old decorating kit and piped one huge drop flower on all the cookies.

The cakey was satisfactory, but definitely NOT a winner... So I dropped them off, glad that I had made Jacob feel better about forgetting to make cookies.

AND WE WERE 2nd PLACE!

Can you believe my silly cakey made second place? No gift certificate, but I will take second place out of 14 people. Jacob said the cakeys received lots of compliments though. He also said the winner made some kind of chocolate meringue. Well maybe... this is how he described it in his text. "They were made with chocolate and egg whites. They looked funny but they were super moist on the inside." Does that sound like a chocolate meringue type thing to any one else? Maybe not the part about being super moist inside.

So, for the next time you realize at the last minute that you said you'd make a treat for your next ward activity, or you need a quick dessert any occasion I left the recipe below.

I think the trick here is to make them as fast as you can.

On your mark. Get set. Go.

I'm pretty sure everyone can make a cakey, but here is what I did.

1 box Betty Crocker white cake mix.
1 egg
1/2 c. vegetable oil

Mix it up. It might seem a little on the dry side but that is okay. The dough didn't look smooth when I used beaters so I switch to a spoon. Make cookie dough balls as big as you'd like. Put them in the oven at 350 for 9 minutes. Around 7 minutes the cakeys still looked like balls so I opened the oven door and patted them down with a spatula. A little more liquid in the mix probably would have helped, but whatever works, right? :) At 9 minutes I turned the oven off and let them sit in there for one more minute. I don't know why I did that. Then I took them out and put the cookies on a cooling rack.

Frosting:
1 tsp. lemon extract or grated lemon rind.
cream that in with 1 1/2 T. room temp. butter.
1 1/2 c. powdered sugar
2 T. lemon juice mixed with 1 T. water

Add 1/2 a cup of the powered sugar to the butter and beat it until its all mixed in. It will be very very dry.
Add a teaspoon of the lemon-water mixture and beat it in.
Keep adding the powdered sugar and the lemon- water mixture one at a time until you get the consistency you want to frost your cookies.
I didn't use anywhere close to the amount of lemon-water mixture I mixed together, so scale it down if you want to. And if you want it extra lemony add more grated lemon!

Sorry that there is no picture. But I had to be out the door.

I also have had cakeys with a strawberry cake mix and vanilla frosting that were really good So use what you have and remember the trick is to do it as fast as you can and not think too much. In fact, don't measure anything.

Best of luck in your next cookie emergency!

Vegan Exploration

Today I was inspired to try some vegan cooking. Just to be clear right now, I do not want to be a vegan. With all this free time I have I thought I would try something new. It all started because I am throwing a bridal shower for my friend Cari who has a vegan friend so I googled vegan party food and stumbled upon a vegan recipe blog and decided to try at least 25 new recipes. Nothing with tofu. Not a fan of the tofu.

I told Jacob about this venture over a text message and I knew that he would be very hesitant. His response, "I am raising our kids on meat and that is final," followed by a few more confused and upset responses. Well, I am not going to let Jacob stop me and I know he wont mind being a taste tester, vegan food or not.

So, recipe number 1: Low Fat Peanut Butter Banana Cookies (with my comments). I chose it because I had all the ingredients.

1/2 cup natural peanut butter, chunky or smooth1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar (I left about an 1/8 of room left at the top of my measuring cup and filled it with corn syrup. Higher moisture percentage in cookie recipes makes them more chewy and I think for this it worked.)
3/4 cup mashed banana (I used 1/2 a cup and thought that was plenty)
1 cup unbleached flour (What difference does it make?)
1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour (I used white cake flour. I grew up on white bread and white everything. Wheat bread isn't bad, but I avoid using wheat flour for baking anything but bread. I think wheat flour in this type case would be a great compliment to the peanut butter and banana flavors.)
1 teaspoon baking powder1 pinch salt
1/4 cup non-dairy chocolate chips (optional)

Preheat oven to 375. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or a silicon baking mat.

Cream together the peanut butter and sugars. Add the mashed banana and mix until creamy.

In a separate bowl, combine the flours, baking powder, and salt. Add the flour mixture to the peanut butter a little at a time until totally absorbed. Add the chocolate chips, if desired, and mix until well-blended, but do not over-mix.

Drop by rounded tablespoons onto prepared pans, about 2 inches apart. Flatten with a fork dipped in water. (These cookies will not spread as they cook, so the shape they’re in when they come out of the oven will be about the same as when they went in.) Bake for about 10 minutes, until bottoms are golden brown. (Don't wait for the whole cookie to look done, I promise.) Remove and let cool before serving. (http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2008/12/lower-fat-peanut-butter-banana-cookies.html)

All in all, these were not too bad. Obviously not your Otis Spunkmeyer or your grandma's secret recipe. I would do this again if I had kids with an insatiable sweet tooth. Its fun and different and not too fatty. And that is saying something because I forgot the salt.

Jacob just walked in the door and is giving it a try. He is pacing and doesn't look pleased that he wasn't welcomed with a normal cookie. Not much to say from Jacob. He likes his animal products. Animal Killer. (But I like him so we'll let it slide.)

Let Them Eat Cake!

Here is a picture of my final cake for my cake decorating class. It is a lemon cake with butter cream icing. I am not 100% happy, but my teacher gave me some compliments. The leafs I am definitely not all the way happy about, but I did like the extra color.
I think that the most valuable thing I learned in my cake decorating class is how to make a mean frosting.

• 1/2 cup vegetable shortening
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine softened
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar (approximately 1 lb.)
• 2 tablespoons milk

Cream the fat together. Add powdered sugar while beating in thirds. Add liquids. Add some almond extract too. My teacher did this and I craved her frosting every single day this semester. As with any frosting, keep balancing the the liquid and sugar out until you get the right consistency. Its so smooth and spreads nicely on a cake. And this is so easy to cut in half too because this recipe makes way more than enough for a normal size cake.

A Run in and Chocolate Chip Cookies

This evening I took my friend Annalise to the grocery store. When I was parking back at home in our parking lot I gave the fence that divides the property a good nudge. The fence is no longer standing straight up where it was hit and the car has nice scratches on the passenger side corner of the front bumper. I sheepishly told Jacob what happened when he came home from work and I made it sound really bad so when he saw the scratches he wouldn't think they were so bad. And it worked!

Thankfully Jacob is a good sport and just laughed it off. He was more concerned about getting spider guts off his shoe after he stepped on a hobo spider in the parking lot.

And while I fully support Jacob in his P90x workouts, I do think it would be easier to watch if Tony, the instructor, had a tan and the girl in the ab video needs longer shorts.

Now for the cookies! In my nutrition class we made low fat cookies and these are the best low fat cookies I have ever had. EVER. I personally can't tell the difference. I shared them with the other secretary at work and she asked for the recipe. So, if you ever get the urge to make cookies with out the guilt, make these ones. (Well maybe a little guilt, no matter how healthy you try to make a cookie, it still wont be all that great for you.) I promise they are amazing and stay soft for days! I cut the recipe in half. You'd have cookies for a year with the original recipe.

Cream Together:
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup apple sauce

Add:
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 cups flour
2 cups oatmeal
1 cup ground flax
6 ounces mini chocolate chips

Bake on an ungreased baking sheet for 9 minutes at 350 degrees.