Another Cast Party...Another Yummy Treat!

For our final cast party, I decided to make Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies with a Brown Butter Icing Drizzle. Woah! Say that five times fast! While you're at it, try saying "Toy Boat" five times fast. Tricky! And hilarious for those who listened to you try.

Onward to the cookies! A special person in my life over at Eating, etc. used to make these cookies for me awhile back. From the first day I tasted them, I decided to forgo all other oatmeal cookie recipes for I had found the one to love forever and ever 'til death do us part. I think she found this recipe on All Recipes and tweaked it to her liking. Darn tootin! These cookies are awesome. The drizzle added that special flair because who wants to bring plain cookies to a cast party?

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
Adapted from All Recipes

1 cup butter
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon cardamom
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups rolled oats
1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Cream the butter and sugars together in a large bowl. Add the eggs and vanilla and stir well. In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves and salt. Add to the sugar mixture and mix well. Stir in the oats and chocolate chips.

Spray a cookie sheet with cooking spray and drop cookies by tablespoons on the sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes.

Brown Butter Icing
Paula Deen

1/2 cup butter
3 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 to 4 tablespoons of water

Heat the butter in a large saucepan until golden brown. Remove from heat and stir in the powdered sugar and vanilla. Stir in enough water (mine took about 4 tablespoons) to make icing of drizzle consistency. Drizzle on warm cookies.

Chocolate Oreo Overload

We had another cast party this weekend (actually we had two, but I will post the other goodie I made on a later day), and I made Oreo Brownies. I wanted to combine two of my favorite things, and boy did they come together well!

I brought this to the theater on Friday and I was still getting compliments on Sunday! So that should tell you how delish these puppies were. I found the recipe I used on Eat Me, Delicious blog. Although these were awesome, I think they could be even better! I used store bought oreos, but next time I am definitely going to make my own, which I have done before. I figured, though, that being short on time and with a theater full of ravenous and highly liquered cast and crew members, no one would know the difference! I will also decrease the amount of coffee grounds I use to probably 1/2 tablespoon. I would also like to try and make these fudgier, but I am not sure how. If anyone has any ideas, please let me know!

Oreo Brownies

From Eat Me, Delicious

1 cup butter

1/2 pound semi-sweet chocolate chips

3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped

3 eggs

1 1/2 tablespoons instant coffee grounds

1 tablespoon vanilla

1 cup + 2 tablespoons granulated sugar

1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons flour

1/2 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups chopped oreos (about 25)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a 9 by 13 baking pan.

In a medium saucepan, heat butter, chocolate chips and unsweetened chocolate until everything is melted. Let cool for a few minutes.

Mix eggs, coffee grounds, vanilla and sugar in a large bowl. Add the chocolate mixture and let cool completely.

Mix the flour, baking powder and salt together in a separate bowl and then add it to the chocolate mixture. In a separate bowl, stir the oreos and remaining 2 tablespoons of flour before adding it to the chocolate mixture. Pour into the prepared baking pan and bake for about 35 minutes. Allow to cool.

A Breakfast of Champions...or a breakfast for muffin lovers

Either way, I woke up yesterday morning and HAD to clean the apartment. My consolation prize to myself: Blueberry Muffins. Yum!

I found this recipe on Joy the Baker's blog. They turned out well for me (good little muffin-wuffins!), and they were pretty light for a muffin too. Blueberries were plentiful in our grocery store so I was able to use fresh ones (!!!!! = me being really excited about fresh fruit starting to come into season). Next time I make these, I think I will try a berry combo with perhaps blueberries, raspberries AND blackberries. I know. You think I've probably gone nuts, but I just LOVE me some fresh berries!

Oatmeal Blueberry Muffins
adapted from Joy the Baker

1 1/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 1/4 cups rolled oats
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup skim milk
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons molasses
1 large egg
3/4 cup fresh blueberries

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Spray a muffin tin with non-stick cooking spray.

Combine the flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. In a separate bowl combine the applesauce, milk, brown sugar, molasses and egg.

Add the wet mixture to the dry and mix well. Fold in the blueberries.

Fill each muffin cup about 2/3 full with batter. Bake 16-18 minutes.

My Favorite Potluck Recipe

Do you have one of those recipes that you use frequently when you attend a potluck-type gathering? I do...and this is it!

Many years ago (and by many I probably only mean 5 years), I found a recipe for Cheesecake Cookie Cups on Nestle's Website. I made them once and they were delicious and transported well and were so neatly individually sized, that I just make them every time now! We had a cast party last weekend and, of course, this is what I made.

The only things I change on the recipe is I exclude the pie filling because it would get too messy and instead, top the cups with a few chocolate chips. I also make my own chocolate chip cookie dough because it is always more delicious that way!

Cheesecake Cookie Cups
Nestle Tollhouse

1 recipe of your favorite chocolate chip cookie dough (my favorite)
2 8-oz. packages of cream cheese
1 14-oz. can sweetened condensed milk
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

Line a muffin tin with paper muffin cups. Place a large spoonful of cookie dough on bottom of cups. Bake in oven for about 8 minutes.

Meanwhile, beat the cream cheese, sweetened condensed milk, eggs and vanilla together in a large bowl.

Pour about 4 tablespoons of the cream cheese mixture over the baked cookie and return to the oven for about 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and immediately place a few chocolate chips on top of the cupcake. Allow to cool on wire rack before refrigerating for at least one hour.

Don't forget to bask in the glory of all the compliments you will be getting =)

Chocolate Fix

Since I eat so much sugar, when I bake for myself, I try to make things a bit healthier than they usually are. Usually I try to cut down on the sugar, butter and use whole wheat flour. I find lots of recipes that cater to this on 101 Cookbooks. Recently, I decided to give a go at Biscotti, and found a great recipe that I decided to base mine on at 101 Cookbooks.

Instead of making almond chocolate chip, I gave myself more of a dose of chocolate with simple Chocolate Biscotti. I found this to be a great base for something more to come. Maybe next time I will add dried cherries, or apricots or even white chocolate. Hmm. So much to bake and so little time to do it in.

Basic Chocolate Biscotti
adapted from 101 Cookbooks

2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1/3 cup wheat germ
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon fin grain sea salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup applesauce
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, wheat germ, cocoa powder, salt and baking powder. Set aside.

In another bowl, combine the butter and sugar. Add the applesauce, eggs and vanilla and mix well.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix until combined. Divide dough in half and shape each into a log. I made mine smaller (about 2 inches wide by maybe 6 inches long), but you can shape them however you would like. Place on a baking sheet and bake for about 25 minutes, until it is firm to the touch. Remove from the oven and let cool for ten minutes.

Slice dough to desired thickness and lay each cookie face down on the baking sheet. Return to the oven for 20 to 30 more minutes until the cookies are firm.