What's Cooking Kristen

Sinful Oreo Chocolate Chip Cookies

2010-04-25T16:50:00.000-07:00

I found these wonderful cookies on the blog Lovin’ From the Oven several days ago. The author of this blog always has delicious cookie recipes, so I highly recommend checking out her blog!

Ever since I was a little kid eating Oreo Cookies was an art. It seems as if everyone has their own unique style of eating them. I personally enjoy twisting off the top and dunking each half into the milk separately. However you decide to eat them, Oreos are one very fun cookie. This recipe offers yet another interesting way to eat your Oreos. I never even thought of crushing up cookies to put into another cookie, but now that I’ve been introduced to it the possibilities seem endless.

These Oreo Chocolate Chip Cookies taste exactly how they sound, like a Chocolate Chip Cookie with a hint of Oreo creaminess. The recipe calls for 11 crushed up Oreo Cookies, but you can add 1 or 2 more if you want a stronger flavor (I’ll probably do this next time).

I’ll definitely be making these again... and again... and again! Next time I want to try crushed Girl Scout’s Thin Mint Cookies, or some sort of peanut butter sandwich cookie as an experiment.

Here is the recipe for all of you Oreo addicts like me:

1 stick softened butter
6 Tablespoons sugar
6 Tablespoons brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 ¼ cup flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
11 broken pieces Oreo Cookies
1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat your oven to 350F.

Cream together the butter and both sugars in a medium sized bowl. Mix in the egg and vanilla extract.

In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, salt, and baking soda until combined well.

Slowly add the dry mix into the wet until the dough is formed.

Mix in the chocolate chips and 11 crushed up Oreo Cookies.

Spoon the dough 1 inch apart on a cookie sheet and bake for 10 minutes. Let the cookies cool on a wire rack before enjoying with a cold glass of milk :)

Travel Food: Washington DC

2010-04-11T17:12:00.000-07:00

Today I came back from a long weekend in Washington DC. It was such a great time! I can't believe how much my feet hurt from all the walking, but there was just so much to see and in so little time. One of my favorite parts of traveling is being able to try out some new restaurants. Some of the time during my trip I was too busy to have a real sit down meal, but I did have some lovely dishes throughout the weekend too!

Here are some photos of all the food I had... I even included some of the sandwiches. The only time I didn't take a photo of my food was the last night when I had a tasty brick-oven pizza because I was just so overly famished at that point I ate it right up haha.

So here are the yummies:

Pumpkin Ravioli in Brown Butter Sauce

Chocolate IceBerry with Blackberries and Original with Granola

Quick Cosi Lunch of Turkey and Brie Flatbread Sandwich

Shrimp Tikka Masala (Even though I ordered Chicken)

Mini Lemon Tart for me Chocolate Cake for Bryan

Mozzarella and Tomato with Pesto on Focaccia Bread

Such Good Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies!!!

2010-03-23T16:49:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I really wanted some oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. Since it was already late in the day I decided to be lazy and pick up a package of ready-to-bake cookie dough, so I could have them right away. After I baked the cookies I was not impressed AT ALL. They tasted like plain old chocolate chip cookies with a few oats sprinkled into them. Not what I was going for. The cookies didn’t even spread out the way normal ones do into a nice flattened circle. They were just weird haha.

A week later, I searched high and low for a recipe so I could make the cookies the right way. I found (almost) the perfect one on the bottom of the Quaker Oats container. The only thing I did to make it even better was substitute the raisins for chocolate chips, an obvious improvement! These cookies came out so good that I don’t think I’ll ever go back to buying ready-to-bake ones—Even if I’m having a lazy day.

I’m not going to post the exact recipe on here because it’s under every container of Old Fashioned Quaker Oats, which you’ll need to purchase in order to make this recipe anyway. I will give you a heads up on what you should also have on hand so you are fully prepared to make these awesome cookies:

2 Sticks (1 cup) Butter All-Purpose Flour

Brown Sugar Baking Soda

Granulated Sugar Cinnamon

2 Eggs Salt

Vanilla Chocolate Chips

Quaker Oats

Just so you know… The recipe makes about 4 dozen cookies!! So you may want to cut it in half, or do like I did and share the love with some good friends!

Irish Soda Bread

2010-03-20T17:57:00.000-07:00

Photo by Bryan Kremkau

One of my favorite things about St. Patrick’s Day is the Irish Soda Bread. I love having it during our traditional Irish dinner and then again in the morning with melted butter and a cup of tea. Usually the bread runs about $3.95 in stores and then $1 the day after St. Patty’s (what?!), so I always try to stock up afterward!!!

This year I decided to make the bread on my own. It was a lot easier than I thought it would be, so I have another one in the oven at this very moment. I wasn’t going to post this since it’s after St. Patrick’s Day already, but who says you’re only allowed to be Irish one day of the year.

Here is the yummy recipe I found:

3 Cups All-Purpose Four

1 Tbs Baking Powder

1/3 Cup Sugar

1 Tsp Baking Soda

1 Tsp Salt

½ Cup Baking Raisins

1 Egg, lightly beaten

2 Cups Buttermilk

¼ Cup butter, melted

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees.

In a large bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar and salt. In a separate bowl, mix together the lightly beaten egg and buttermilk. Pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture’s bowl and combine all at once—The batter will be lumpy. Then add the melted butter and raisins and mix them in well. Pour into a greased 9x5 bread pan. Bake for 65-70 minutes.

When the bread is finished baking, use a toothpick and see if it comes out clean from the center of the loaf. If it’s still too wet, then you need to bake it for a few more minutes.

Tip: Bake this bread either the day before, or in the morning the day you will serve it.

Banana Breakfast Cake

2010-03-01T19:14:00.000-08:00

Every now and then I wake up in the morning and NEED something sweet! I’m not in the mood for the traditional breakfast route of eggs, cereal or toast, but something a bit more exciting. Now since it’s still breakfast I don’t want to go all out and have a piece of double chocolate cake, so I decided to create a recipe that satisfies my morning sweet tooth without being too reckless.

This banana breakfast cake is perfect for those mornings where you have some extra time to get creative. I decided to make it the morning of the snow storm. By using traditional breakfast items in this recipe like bananas and Bisquick Pancake Mix you can still have a pretty healthy breakfast, but in a form that’s a lot more exciting.

Here is the recipe:

2 Cups Bisquick Pancake Mix

½ Cup Sugar (You may use less if you want)

1 Cup Milk

1 Tsp Cinnamon

¼ Tsp Nutmeg

1 Tsp Vanilla Extract

2 Bananas

Thinly slice both bananas into small pieces. Set aside half of the bananas to be placed on top of the cake later on. Mix together all ingredients in a large bowl and pour into a cake pan. Then, take the remaining banana slices and place them on top of the cake batter. You can also add other fruit or sprinkle some more cinnamon and sugar over the top as well.

Bake the cake at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes. The top will be a golden color. Let the cake cool for a few minutes and then dig in. I poured some syrup on mine—It tasted delicious with it since the cake is made from pancake mix! Whipped cream would be great too! Happy eating : )

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Note: I wouldn't make this cake a day in advance. It will be perfectly fine to eat, but the bananas turn a grayish color after being cooked so it won’t look as appealing.

Coconut Macaroons with Chocolate Drizzle

2010-02-19T16:15:00.000-08:00

Photo By Bryan Kremkau

I’ve been searching for a good macaroon recipe for a very long time now. If you do a little research, you’ll notice there are many different versions of them on the internet and in cook books. Some just seem too sweet, while others I’ve tried have not come out well for one reason or another. This recipe for coconut macaroons was perfect. They have a great taste (not overly sweet) and a chewy center. What’s even more perfect is that they’re not very difficult to make.

Here is the recipe I used:

1 1/3 Cups Shredded Coconut (I used sweetened, but unsweetened would also work)

1/3 Cup Sugar

2 Tbs Flour

1/8 Tsp Salt

2 Egg Whites (At room temperature)

½ Tsp Vanilla Extract

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees.

In a large bowl mix together the coconut, sugar, flour, and salt. Set the mixture aside.

Separate your eggs and put only the whites into a medium sized bowl. You can either save the yolks for another recipe or discard. Using a stand mixer or hand mixer start whipping the eggs on a medium speed. Once the eggs start to form bubbles (similar to the consistency of bath water) add your vanilla extract to the bowl. Continue to whip the eggs until they are able to form stiff peaks (about 3-5 minutes). You’ll know you have stiff peaks when you can dip your whisk into the egg mixture and the peaks it forms do not fall down.

With a spatula, add the egg mixture into the bowl with the coconut. Gently fold the eggs into the coconut until they are completely incorporated.

Spoon the dough onto a greased cookie sheet an inch apart. For each cookie use about a tablespoon of the dough. Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until the cookies are a golden brown. Cool on a wire rack when they’re finished baking.

Optional: To make the look of these cookies a little fancier you can drizzle some melted chocolate over the top. Another idea is to dip half of the cookie in the melted chocolate and leave the other side plain. If you decide to do this, be sure to buy a good chocolate. If you just melt some chocolate chips the chocolate may turn a grayish color when it cools because of the stabilizers they often add to the chips.

Sweet Hearts

2010-02-13T18:44:00.000-08:00

For Valentine’s Day this year I decided it would be fun to bake some cute heart-shaped shortbread cookies with a pink glaze over the top. These were incredibly easy to make! Probably the most difficult part was cutting them into evenly shaped hearts without the use of a cookie cutter, but improvising is always much more fun for me.

These cookies are made from an classic shortbread recipe that can be altered for any number of other cookie variations. For instance, I think it would also be great with some toasted pecans added to the dough and formed into a drop cookie.

Here is the recipe if you’re interested in making some of these for yourself or your sweetie :)

Shortbread Cookies:

2 Cups Flour

½ Cup Powdered Sugar

½ Teaspoon Salt

1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

1 Cup (2 Sticks) Unsalted Butter at Room Temperature

1 Teaspoon Water

Add flour, salt, and powdered sugar to your food processor and give it a quick pulse to combine. Add the vanilla extract, water, and butter (cut up into chunks) into the food processor and pulse until a dough forms. Take the dough out and knead it together into a log. Wrap the dough in some plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour. NOTE: Especially if you’re making cut-outs you want to work with a cold dough so it doesn’t melt or loose it’s shape easily.

Heat oven to 375 F. After you’re done shaping your cookies, bake them for 11-14 minutes on a non-stick cookie sheet. Cool the cookies on a wire rack for at least 30 minutes before decorating.

For the Powered Sugar Glaze:

½ Cup Powdered Sugar

2 Teaspoons Milk (Add more or less depending on how thick you want your glaze)

¼ Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

Food Coloring (Add however many drops until you get the desired color)

Mix powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla extract together until there are no lumps in the glaze. Add food coloring drop by drop until you get the desired color.

Now it’s time to get creative and decorate your cookies! Have a Happy Valentine's Day and enjoy!