Back in Business

September 10, 2012September 1, 2012 Sadie1 Comment

So I’m back in Virginia in my own cozy apartment. I really missed my apartment when I was in Connecticut. I was living with just the bare necessities in Connecticut so I was so happy to see all of my stuff when I got home to VA.

After dumping the contents of my car into the middle of my living room, it took me just over a week to dig myself out of my own mess and clean up my apartment. In addition to unpacking from the summer I also cleaned out my closet so I could actually fit my clothes back into it. It felt so good to get rid of five large shopping bags filled to brims with old clothes that I don’t wear anymore. I hope I do this on a more regular basis in the future.

As I settle back in, I am slowly restocking the ingredients in my kitchen, and I jumped back into baking with a cookie recipe I found while perusing blogs. It’s definitely a great one for peanut butter lovers. It’s a twist on a traditional peanut butter cookie with the addition of chocolate chips and peanuts!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Yields 2-3 dozen depending of size from Confections of a Foodie Bride

Ingredients

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter room temp
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups + 2 Tbsp flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
16 oz semisweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup unsalted peanuts chopped

Method

Preheat oven to 375.
Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
Cream together butter and peanut butter. Add sugars and beat until fluffy.
Add in eggs one at a time and vanilla extract.
Slowly add in flour mixture. Mix until just combined, and then fold in chocolate and nuts. The dough will be kind of crumbly.
Form large balls of cookie dough and allow to chill for 20 minutes. (I smushed them down before I put them in the oven so they would end up flatter)
Bake at 375 for 18-22 minutes or until golden brown. Allow to cool and enjoy!

Bananas Over Bananas

June 11, 2012June 11, 2012 Sadie3 Comments

Before our regularly scheduled post today, major shout out is in order. Carrie’s bakery (The Bread and Cheese Cupboard in Stone Harbor, NJ), was highlighted by South Jersey Magazine in a Best Of article about the Jersey Shore. If you’re in the Stone Harbor area this summer, the bakery is a required field trip for coffee and morning treats for the fam. She also has a ton of cheese (obvi), and gourmet packaged food like chip dips, snacks, spreads, the list goes on… Ok now, back to bananas:

The opportunity to bake with bananas is contingent on poor planning. I rarely get extra bananas at the grocery store, so I never have really ripe bananas that are only good for banana bread. This week, I bought extra bananas so I could wait for the extras to get too ripe to eat. And then I made banana bread. I forget where I got this recipe, but I think it’s a good one.

Banana Chocolate Chip Bread

Yields 2 8 x 4 loaves, or 4 mini loaves

Ingredients

2 1/4 cup AP flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 stick unsalted butter
3/4 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/4 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 3)
2/3 cup plain yogurt
8 oz chocolate chips
1 cup walnuts (chopped and toasted)

Method

Preheat over to 375. Prepare loaf pans with non-stick spray and/or parchment.
Cream together butter and sugar. Add eggs, banana, yogurt, and vanilla.
Add flour and the rest of the dry ingredients. Fold in chocolate chips and nuts.
Portion the batter evenly into prepared loaf pans of choice.
Bake 35-40 minutes for mini-loaf pans. Longer for larger loaves, until tester comes out clean.

I’m curious, do you prefer the mini loaves or an 8 x 4?

I go back and forth between the two. Mini loaves if I’m giving them to friends, larger loaves if I’m making it for a breakfast crowd at home. My pet peeve, however, is when recipes just say “loaf pan” and they don’t specify the size: 8 x 4, 9 x 5, mini? Godspeed…