Coconut Oatmeal Cookies

I went to New Hampshire this past week with some of my girlfriends and of course had to bake something for our travels. Nothing sounded better than coconut oatmeal cookies. These were super buttery and chewy, very much suggested.

Here's the recipe:

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened to cool room temperature
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1 cup shredded, sweetened coconut
• 1 cup quick oats

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl cream together the sugar, eggs, butter and vanilla until light and fluffy. Add the dry ingredients and mix until combined. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto a greased or lined (silpat or parchment) baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 9-11 minutes, until the cookies are set but not overly browned (bake a few minutes longer for a crispier version).

Yikes!! Haven't posted in forever. I got lazy with this blog which is to be expected with me, but! I got an iphone for Christmas which takes better pictures than my digital camera (<3technology), so I feel like with the start of this new year I'll have more posts and hopefully a prettier layout because this one is o0o0ouuugggly.

Here's some belated pictures of Christmas cookies:

chocolate chip ba-nay-nay (banana) bread.

Whoaaaa it's been a while! I've been baking wildly strangely, however forgetting to take pictures of my creations, thus there are no recent updates. I have an exam tomorrow on cardiovascular problems and I figured, screw that... I'm going to bake banana bread to procrastinate and it's going to be awesome.

This banana bread was made healthy due to a few tweaks to the recipe I use. I use the recipe of the famous Flour Bakery right here in Boston. I'm so inspired by the owner of it, Joanne Chang. She went to Harvard, studied management, was the head of a management firm, threw it all away and opened up her own bakery. I want to BE her. She was known around campus for being the "chocolate chip cookie girl." We are two peas in a pod, I tell ya. To all my Boston friends: GO to Flour and get a sticky bun, you life will be forever changed.

Also, this bread has consistently won the hearts of my co-workers and friends. This past summer I think I made over 15+ loaves due to all of the requests for it. Total crowd pleaser.

P.S. I realize this picture is uuuuugly. It's hard to take a solid picture with the terrible lighting at night in my apartment complex with a crappy digital camera.

INGREDIENTS--

• 1 & 2/3 cup flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup sugar (you can use Splenda to make it even healthier)
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup applesauce
• 3 & 1/2 very ripe bananas, mashed
• 2 tablespoons plain greek yogurt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2/3 chocolate chips (in her recipe she uses toasted walnuts which I HIGHLY recommend - there's just something so great about them being toasted)

DIRECTIONS--

Set oven to 350 degrees F. Spray loaf pan with cooking spray, heavily.

Sift together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Beat sugar and eggs with a whisk until light and fluffy, about 10 minutes. Mix in applesauce. Add mashed bananas, greek yogurt, and vanilla. Fold in dry ingredients and chocolate chips. Pour into a lined loaf pan and bake for about 45 minutes to 1 hour.

I'll leave you with some music too, music that I baked this to actually. I was told to take a listen to Ryan Gosling's band called Dead Man's Bones. It's a sort of creepy, dark, halloween-esque band where all of the songs are about ghosts or the dead.

pample, pumple.... pimple pie?

It's been a while, I thought this blog was going to be yet another unfinished project of mine, but alas I am back and ready to post another baked good. This pie is pumpkin apple with crumble topping. The real question I'm asking myself is, "what do I call this??" Pumpple pie, pample pie, pimple pie? I made it for my friend Brittany for her 23rd birthday. Her request was pie... something I am absolutely terrified of baking. I looked up some recipes and decided that October means pumpkins and apples so I combined the two pies in one. Making this jerk took me 4+ hours, fair warning. There was lots of Joanna Newsom and Leslie Feist to pull me through.

CRUST--

• 2 1/2 cup flour 
• 2 tablespoons sugar 
• 3/4 teaspoon salt 
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cold, cut into cubes 
• 5 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons ice cold water 
• 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

Directions: 

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, and salt.
2. Add cold, cubed butter and, using your fingers, work the butter into the flour mixture. Quickly break the butter down into the flour mixture, some butter pieces will be the size of oat flakes, some will be the size of peas.
3. Stir together the ice cold water and vinegar.
4. Create a well in the butter and flour mixture and pour in the water and vinegar mixture. Use a fork to bring to dough together. Try to moisten all of the flour bits.
5. On a lightly floured work surface, dump out the dough mixture.
6. Divide the dough in two and gently knead into two disks. Wrap each disk in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.

7. Roll the dough with a rolling pin to fit the size of a pie pan and place inside.

APPLE FILLING--

• 5 cups sliced, peeled and cored apples
• 2.5 tablespoon, unsalted butter 
• 3/4 cup, packed light brown sugar 
• 1/3 cup, water 
• 1 tsp, cornstarch 
• 1.5 tsp, ground cinnamon 
• 1/4 tsp, salt 
• 1 tsp, lemon juice

Directions:

1. In a 1.5 qt medium saucepan, combine butter, brown sugar, water, cornstarch, cinnamon and salt.
2. Stir over medium heat until mixture comes to a boil.
3. Stir in sliced apples; cook until tender - about 8 - 10 minutes - stirring occasionally.
4. Remove from heat and stir in lemon juice. Spread apple mixture evenly on the bottom of the piecrust.

PUMPKIN FILLING--

• 1/2 cup, sugar 
• 1 cup, canned pumpkin 
• 1 slightly beaten egg 
• 1 tsp, cinnamon 
• 1 tsp, pumpkin pie spice 
• 2/3 cup, evaporated milk

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl, combine sugar, pumpkin, egg, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice and salt. Whisk until blended.
2. Stir in evaporated milk.
3. Carefully pour pumpkin mixture over apples.

CRUMB TOPPING--

• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon oats 

Directions:

1. Combine flour, sugar, butter, oats, and cinnamon. 

2. Sprinkle over the top of the pie.

3. Cover the edges of the pie with aluminum foil and bake the pie at 375 degrees for 20 minutes.

4. Take the foil off and bake for another 25 minutes or until a knife comes out clean.

Enjoy :).

pumpkin cream cheese muffins.

My friends are driving in from Rochester today and came to me with requests for baked goods. Fall means pumpkin. Pumpkin means pumpkin muffins (with cream cheese in the middle what what). I'll marry a big fat pumpkin someday. My love is out of this world.

Here's the recipe:

Filling --

• 1 - 8 oz. block of cream cheese
• 1 cup confectioners sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Topping --

• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Muffin--

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 1/2 tablespoons pumpkin pie spice
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 15 oz can of pumpkin
• 3 eggs
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the Cream Cheese Filling: Beat the cream cheese and confectioners’ sugar until smooth. Add the vanilla, and blend to combine. Place the mixture in a bowl and put in the freezer until batter is ready.

For the Pecan Streusel: Combine flour, sugar, pecans, butter, and cinnamon. Set aside.

For the Muffins:

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 24 muffin/cupcake cups. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, lightly beat the pumpkin, eggs, oil, and vanilla.
3. Mix in the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and spices) into the wet mixture until just combined.
4. Remove the cream cheese from the freezer.
5. Evenly divide half of the batter among the muffin cups. Place about a tablespoon of the cream cheese mixture in the center of each cupcake. Fill with the remaining batter, completely covering the cream cheese.
6. Sprinkle some of the pecan streusel on top of each muffin.
7. Bake until a toothpick comes out clean, about 20 to 25 minutes. Cool on wire racks.

Besides pumpkin muffins, I woke up this morning to my apartment being a complete mess. Homegirl had to do some cleaning. My roommate and I blasted some La Bouche (I suggest this baby) and did work. La Bouche should always be played while cleaning, eating, sleeping, LIVING. It makes me want to rent a pair of roller skates and go wild on the streets of Boston. Speaking of that, it's time to go walk up to this park on the hill I live on and just lay in the sun. Today will be a good day (I didn't even have to use my AK - Warren G).   

first post!

Well, hey. I've decided to make yet another blog that I hope to stick to this time! This blog will mainly just contain a whole bunch of my interests and of course mucho baking (since it's my favorite past time).

First post? Music.

This. This is Warpaint and this song courses through my veins in the best of ways. I play it every night before I go to bed and I'm going to say it's safe to assume that my sleep has been significantly improved! The video is also beautiful. Bouta buy myself a white outfit, light some fireworks, and dance by a bonfire. LOVE. IT.