Five-Chip Cookies...and a BABY!

We welcomed little Charlie to our family on the 13th of October, and the last two weeks have come and gone in the blink of an eye. Josh and I felt like we were ready for a family and had always planned on it, but didn't realize just how ready we were until we held our 7 pound 5 ounce baby for the first time. I always knew Josh was meant to be a father, and I fell in love with him all over again seeing him hold and snuggle our boy.  

I didn't realize how HARD it was to have a newborn in the house, and I have a whole new respect for all the moms out there. It's one thing to read the baby books and conceptualize life with a newborn, and another to live it in real time. It's a 24/7 job, and most days just taking a shower and putting on a little makeup feels like a small victory. I also didn't realize how much joy a baby would bring to our lives. It's exhausted bliss. 

We are all doing great, our pediatrician described Charlie as "perfect" on our last visit and Josh and I are adjusting to the erratic sleep that comes with a newborn. I'm taking my own advice to focus on what really matters, and up until today the blog has been far from my mind. 

Last night Josh was telling me about a five-chip cookie he had years ago while hunting in Massachusetts, and it was served crumbled over vanilla bean ice cream drizzled with maple syrup. Since I haven't made a new cookie in awhile, I found this recipe and spent my "me hours" in the kitchen today baking these delicious treats. The combination of peanut butter and oats in the cookie along with all the chips is divine. 

Five-Chip Cookies
from Taste of Home magazine
Yield: 4 1/2 dozen

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup peanut butter
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup old fashioned oats
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup EACH milk chocolate chips, semisweet chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, white chocolate chips and butterscotch cups

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl cream the butter, peanut butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition. Beat in the vanilla.

Combine flour, oats, baking soda and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well. Stir in chips. 

Drop rounded tablespoons two inches apart onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned. Cook before removing to wire racks. 

Banana Cream Pudding Cookies

Tonight I'm baking batches of cookies for the guys in my husbands family. This Saturday is the annual target shooting and survival extravaganza, and I am a firm believer that our best performance occurs when are bellies are full of good food! They are a competitive bunch, and I'm steering clear of the place until the awards ceremony at the end. I'm sending Josh with containers of cookies, and decided to add a new one to the list of old favorites. 

If you claim to be Southern, I just assume that you grew up eating banana pudding, barbecue, and homemade biscuits. I'm not born and bred Southern, but boy have I fallen in love with the South. I like fancy Southern food, simple Southern food, fried chicken on Sundays, and grits with any meal. I'll eat them with butter and salt, or I'll eat them jazzed up with gouda cheese and chicken broth. YES. 

While this is a cookie version and lacks the creamy pudding and crunch of the wafers, it's perfect for tailgating, gatherings, or camping. If you're looking for the real deal, I'd suggest Paula Deen's recipe. 

Banana Cream Pudding Cookies
from the recipe critic

1 cup unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
3.4 oz package banana cream instant pudding mix
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups white chocolate chips

1. Preheat your oven to 350 and prepare baking sheets by lining with parchment paper or a Silpat baking mat.
2. In a large bowl mix together flour, baking soda, salt, and banana cream pudding mix. Set aside.
3. In your mixer cream together butter, sugar and brown sugar. Add eggs and vanilla and mix together. Add the bowl of dry ingredients, and mix until just combined. Finally, add the white chocolate chips.
4. Bake for 10 minutes or until slightly golden. 

Homemade Peach Ice Cream (& lessons from the kitchen)

The kitchen is a magical place for learning life's lessons. Let me share with you a recent example, along with one of my favorite Henry Ford quotes. 

This week, I was served a big lesson on reading instructions carefully before you begin. I made homemade ice cream for the first time in this Kitchen Aid ice cream attachment. I did freeze the ice cream bowl for 15 hours, however I did NOT chill the batter. I followed the recipe below and poured the cool (not cold) batter right into my ice cream bowl. What resulted was a delicious tasting batch of softer than soft serve cream. Woops. 

                       

I brought my failed effort over to my father-in-law's house for his birthday present and we had a nice little laugh. 

The next batch I made was perfect, and I think it's important that when we face failure, rather than throwing our hands in the air we decide to try again and do better. 

I plan on making lots more homemade ice cream so please share your favorite recipes with me! 
Homemade Peach Ice Cream
from Glorious Treats

2 cups heavy cream
2 cups whole milk
1/4 cup honey, warmed slightly
6 Tablespoons (1/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp) sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 large (or 3 medium) peaches

1. Prepare peaches by peeling, and removing the pit. Puree ONE of the peaches (in a blender or food processor) until smooth. Dice the other peach into small pieces (about the size of a pea). Set peaches aside.

2. In a large bowl add the cream, milk, honey, and sugar. Whisk a minute or so, until the sugar has dissolved.

3. Add vanilla.

4. Add peach puree and diced peaches and whisk or stir until well combined.

5. Taste for sweetness and if desired, add additional sugar (1-2 tablespoons), then whisk until dissolved.

6. Pour ice cream mixture into an ice cream maker and follow the freezing directions.

Katherine's Pecan Sour Cream Pound Cake

Today is a happy day, because I realized that I have already found the two pound cake recipes I will need in my life! This one, and Elvis Presley's Favorite Pound Cake. I just don't think you can trust anyone that does not like pound cake.

This pound cake recipe may not be world famous, but it is famous in our house and likely the state of Louisiana where Katherine grew up. This is the quintessential Southern pound cake and it belongs in every cooks repertoire. My husband loves it so much. Thank goodness Katherine shared her recipe with me so I can keep my sweetheart happy.

The first time Katherine made this for us, she did not use a glaze, and it was equally delicious, so I will leave it up to you to decide if you want to glaze the cake. The pecans though, unless you have an allergy, I would never leave out. You can layer the pecans on the top, middle, or bottom depending on your mood.

Katherine's Pecan Sour Cream Pound Cake
1 stick butter, softened
2 eggs
2 cups sugar
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 cup sour cream

Topping:
1 cup chopped pecans
4 tsp sugar
1 tsp cinnamon

Glaze:
1 cup confectioners sugar
3 Tbsp orange juice
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 10-inch Bundt pan. Sprinkle half of topping on bottom of pan, and set aside. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Fold in sour cream. Mix in flour and baking powder. Pour half of batter into bundt pan. Sprinkle remaining topping onto batter. Pour remaining batter into pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 55 to 60 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.

If glaze desired - combine 1 cup confectioners sugar, 3 tablespoons orange juice, and 1 teaspoon of vanilla, and drizzle over cake while still warm.

Cherry Torte

Our memories are powerful forces, especially when it comes to those we have loved. My grandma Shirley passed away when I was in college, yet I still have crystal clear memories of baking with her. The first sweet she taught me how to make was this simple cherry torte.

 I learned how to make it and carefully copied down her instructions when I was just a little girl. As I read over my writing today, I laughed at how I pointed to Shirley McLean and noted "Grams", my name for her, giggled over my misspellings (suger, ingrediants, judgment), with my favorite grammatical error appearing at the bottom "poor cherries on top". 

Though this is one of the most simple and easy recipes, it brings back such fond memories for me, such that I've included it in our McLean family cookbook. I decided to make this dessert for us tonight, the night that we are decorating our Christmas tree, and love that continuing to make her recipes keeps her memory alive in me. 

Cherry Torte

Copied as written when I was young - for laughs!

pie cherries (1 can)

2 eggs

graham crackers - 14 squares

half a stick of butter

1 packet of whole cream cheese

3/4 cup sugar

bowl and blender

 - Cut butterstick in half

 - Put butterstick in bowl and mic. for 30 sec.

 - Put 7 gramcrackers in blender and grind for two times

 - Dump in the melted butter (graham crackers) 

 - Take fork and stir crackers into butter

 - After stirring dump in square pan and pat down bring up a little on the sides

 - Preheat oven to 350

 - Break two eggs in blender and blend

 - Put 3 quarters cup of suger in blender, open little top and pour suger in slowly

 - Put all of the cream cheese in blender (cut in chunks)

 - Mix all together

 - Pour on top of crust

 - Put in oven and bake for 25 min. or by my judgment

 - Take out, let cool, poor cherries on top, put in fridge before eating. 

Cinnamon Sugar Almonds

Warning: these almonds are highly addictive. I was picking them up warm off the baking sheet and popping them right in my mouth! The warm almonds and cinnamon flavor took me right back to the Renaissance festivals I went to as a child, with the carts that sold almonds in the clear plastic cones. They are so delicious! 

I am testing recipes for my Christmas baskets, and this is an absolute winner! Josh was sweet enough to take the photos as I was busy working this week, so I cannot take the credit for this one. 

Slow Cooker Cinnamon Almonds

 from Six Sisters website

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar

3 Tbsp cinnamon

1/8 tsp salt

1 egg white

2 tsp vanilla

3 cups almonds

1/8 cup water

In a bowl, whisk egg white and vanilla until frothy. Stir in almonds until all are coated with egg white mixture. In a separate bowl, mix together sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Add almonds to cinnamon mixture and toss until completely coated.

Spray your slow cooker with non stick cooking spray. Cook almonds on high for 2 hours, stirring every 20 minutes. After 2 hours pour water over the almonds and mix very well to make sure there are no clumps. Reduce heat to low and cook for one more hour, still stirring every 20 minutes. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and evenly spread out the almonds to cool and dry on the paper. Store in air tight container until ready to serve.

Rolo Stuffed Ritz Crackers

In one weekend, I ran out of chicken stock, sugar, and milk in my house. I declared a house emergency, and vowed to never allow this to happen again. We are a house that will never again run out of the above said ingredients, or butter, or vodka. Thank goodness there is a convenient store a mile up the street, and our dinner tonight was saved by a can of their chicken broth. Phew. 

With that being said, on Friday night I needed a quick dessert and since we were out of sugar, I started shuffling in the pantry. I bought Rolo candies for our s'more station and didn't use them, and we had a couple sleeves of Ritz crackers. Bless Pinterest since I pinned this cookie recently, and realized I had everything on hand. Crisis aborted and new super easy cookie discovered! 

Rolo Stuffed Ritz Crackers
Rolo candies (as many as the number of cookies you want to make, by other reviews the mini size works as well, though I used the original)
Ritz Crackers

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Place Ritz crackers on a cookie sheet (salted side down) and top each with a Rolo candy. Bake for 3 to 5 minutes to soften the Rolo. Remove from the oven and immediately top the Rolos with a second Ritz cracker. Cool completely and store in sealed container. 

Peach and Blueberry Crisp

 A warm scoop of fruit crisp topped with vanilla bean ice cream is one of the simplest pleasures in this life. I think of myself as a (dark) chocoholic, until moments like tonight when I remember how much I love the old-school classic desserts.

I turned to the trusted Joy of Cooking for this simple and scrumptious treat. My friends, this is a definite keeper. Just ask the Salmon men, you would have thought their spoons were shovels!

 Peach and Blueberry Crisp  
4 cups fruit (can mix - blueberries/peaches/blackberries)
1 stick cold butter
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup quick (not old fashioned) oats
1 cup lightly packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 375
2. Rinse the berries in a colander and set aside to drain. Remove paper wrapper from butter and set wrapper aside. Cut the butter into teaspoon size pieces and place in a mixing bowl. 
3. Add the flour, oats, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Using 2 knives or a pastry blender, cut the butter into the flour mixture until it is chunky, with pieces resembling small peas.
4. Use the wrapper from the butter to lightly grease an 8-inch square baking pan. Shake any remaining water from the berries and pour them into the baking pan. Sprinkle the vanilla extract over the berries and stir to blend. 
5. Sprinkle the flour-sugar mixture over the berries. 
6. Bake for 30 minutes or until bubbly. Serves six. Perfect with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream on top! 

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

This is the only oatmeal raisin cookie recipe I will ever need. It's absolutely perfect, and I have the recipe committed to memory. There are a lot of things I struggle to remember (song lyrics/key and wallet location/birthdays) but this recipe is not one of them. I speak with a proud sense of knowing the "important" things in life, which are often the most simple. 

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
¾ cup butter (must be room temperature)

½ cup white sugar

¾ cup packed brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1¼ cup flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
2 and 2/3 cups rolled oats
1 cup raisins (soak in boiling water)

1. Preheat oven to 35o degrees
2. In a bowl, whisk together dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, oats)
3. Soak raisins in boiling water until ready to strain into mixture to plump up
4. Cream butter and sugars in mixer.
5. Add eggs and vanilla, mix well.
6. Add dry ingredients and mix until well combined but do not overmix. 
7. Strain raisins and add to dough.
8. Drop cookie dough onto baking sheet lined with Silpat (or parchment paper) and bake for 10 minutes. Cook on cooling rack. 

Preacher Cookies

You want to know what I did this weekend? I baked lots and lots of cookies. My house is short four sticks of butter, and the few straggler cookies are now in Josh's truck to take to work in the morning. 

I owe the inspiration for this post to my new hiking friend for pulling out a bag of preacher cookies at the midpoint of an 8 mile hike. I used to make these in PA school, and have not made them in ages. The taste of gooey peanut butter and chocolate melded together with oats is glorious. After that cookie, I walked a little faster with my chin a little higher. Just Friday, I had to call a local emergency when I realized one of my surgeon's sons had NEVER tasted or heard of a preacher cookie. That gave me just the excuse I needed to whip up a batch. 

Not to worry, I remedied the situation and he is now a devout fan.  I took a bagful to my father-in-law for his birthday, and he is convinced that eating a few of these cookies is equivalent to hearing a good sermon. Amen! 

Preacher Cookies
1/2 stick butter
1/2 cup milk
2 cups sugar
1/3 cup cocoa
3 cups oats
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla

1. Mix first four ingredients and bring to a boil in a saucepan for one minute - stir continuously while sauce thickens, then take off heat
2. Off heat, add remaining three ingredients (oats, peanut butter, vanilla)
3. Stir and drop on wax paper until cool

Reese's Nutella Banana Bread

If you're thinking what I'm thinking, then you're wondering how in the world can so many HAPPY words exist in the title of one recipe. Especially considering I left out the words "peanut butter". The combination of peanut butter with bananas and nutella is simply divine. 

I followed by own birthday advice and ate a thick slice of this bread, while sitting at the kitchen table, doing nothing but enjoying all of the flavors. No phone, no book, no TV, just my fork and my smiling face. As I'm typing, I'm reminding myself to slow down and enjoy each moment without hurrying or being constantly distracted. I'll call it the Nutella Rule. Stop and enjoy. 

Reese's Nutella Banana Bread
from backforsecondsblog.com

1 and 1/4 cup flour (all purpose)
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup softened butter
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
3 bananas, mashed
2 eggs
1 and 1/2 tsp vanilla 

TOPPING: 1/4 cup peanut butter, 1/4 cup Nutella, 1/2 cup Reese's Pieces

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda, and salt
3. In a mixer, beat together butter, sugar, and bananas. Add eggs and vanilla and mix again. Add the flour mixture and blend until well incorporated. 
4. Pour batter into a greased loaf pan (bake 45-50 min for standard loaf pan or 20 min for mini loaf pan) or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.
5. Cool in the pan for 20 minutes, then run a knife around edges and place the loaf of bread on a cooling rack. Cool completely before topping.
6. Melt the peanut butter and Nutella and stir together. Carefully spoon over the bread and sprinkle with Reese's Pieces. Store covered at room temp. 

"I Love You" Pie

I believe that you can express love through actions - and baking and cooking are at the very top of my list. My other favorite love actions include giving a big hug, making a perfect jack & coke, and just being quiet and listening at times. When Josh does little things like put my coffee mug under the Keurig with a little note, bring home flowers just because, or snuggle up with me, my world lights up. It's the little things. 

I think my Grandma Shirley would smile from Heaven if she knew that I greeted Josh as he walked in the door from work today with a homemade apple pie fresh out of the oven. The entire house smelled amazing. My grandma would always bake your favorite cookies or cake, and sit there and smile as you took the first big bite. She was a love action person, and there was never any doubt that she loved us so much. 

I may have committed a sin in the culinary world, as I combined Ina's perfect pie crust with "Grandma Ople's Apple Pie" from Allrecipes, which featured a pretty lattice with a perfectly golden top. It's my very first pie, and I was thrilled that it came out of the oven very pretty and photogenic! Of course, I served my pie "a la mode" with vanilla bean ice cream. Now that my friends is pure love. 

before

after

Perfect Pie Crust

click here for recipe

12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) very cold unsalted butter

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 tablespoon sugar

1/3 cup very cold vegetable shortening

6 to 8 tablespoons (about 1/2 cup) ice water


Dice the butter and return it to the refrigerator while you prepare the flour mixture. Place the flour, salt, and sugar in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade and pulse a few times to mix. Add the butter and shortening. Pulse 8 to 12 times, until the butter is the size of peas. With the machine running, pour the ice water down the feed tube and pulse the machine until the dough begins to form a ball. Dump out on a floured board and roll into a ball. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.



Cut the dough in half. Roll each piece on a well-floured board into a circle, rolling from the center to the edge, turning and flouring the dough to make sure it doesn't stick to the board. Fold the dough in half, place in a pie pan, and unfold to fit the pan. Repeat with the top crust, either as lattice or one piece cut with slits. 

Apple Pie by Grandma Ople
click here for recipe

1 recipe pastry for a 9inch double crust pie (I used Ina's, shown above)

1/2 cup unsalted butter

3 Tbsp all purpose flour

1/4 cup water

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

8 granny smith apples (peeled, cored, and sliced) I used 6

*1 tsp vanilla

*1 tsp cinnamon

*dash of nutmeg

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Melt the butter in a saucepan. Stir in flour to form a paste. Add water, white sugar and brown sugar, and bring to a boil. Reduce temperature and let simmer. I simmered for 5 minutes, then off the heat add vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
2. Place the bottom crust in your pan. Fill with apples, mounded slightly. Cover with a lattice work crust. Gently pour the sugar and butter liquid over the crust. Pour slowly so that it does not run off.
3. Bake 15 minutes in the preheated oven. Reduce the temperature to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Continue baking for 35 to 45 minutes, until apples are soft.