Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Belated Post from Mother's Day Baking Activities

On the morning of this recently past Mother's Day, it started better than expected. My husband brought me a cup of hot steaming Starbuck's coffee and the Sunday paper while I was still in bed and told me I'm appreciated.

After a few hours of false starts I decided to bake a batch of cookies. So Nick Malgieri's Peanut Chocolate Chip cookies from his Chocolate book was the first.

This was how they looked after each ball is flattened with the bottom of a glass.

The baking itch was still there so I thought, why not bake another batch. My husband could bring it to his friend's house later. So I started the Vanishing Oatmeal Raisin Cookies from Quaker Oats... and then moved onto the Cinnamon and Sugar butter cookie recipe from the Mrs. Fields Cookies cookbook because I realized that my son didn't like either of the first two cookies.

Topping:
3 tablespoons Sugar
1 tablespoon Ground cinnamon
COOKIES
2 1/2 cups Flour
1/2 teaspoon Baking soda
1/4 teaspoon Salt
1 cup Dark brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup Sugar
1 cup Salted butter -- softened, room temperature
2 Large eggs
2 teaspoons Pure vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 300~F.
In a small bowl combine sugar and cinnamon for topping. Set aside.
In a medium bowl combine flour, soda and salt. Mix well with a wire whisk and set aside.
In a large bowl blend sugars with an electric mixer set at medium speed. Add the butter and mix to form a grainy paste. Scrape sides of bowl, then add eggs and vanilla extract. Mix at medium speed until light and fluffy. Add the flour mixture and blend at low speed just until combined. DO NOT OVERMIX. Shape dough into 1-inch balls and roll each ball in cinnamon-sugar topping. Place on ungreased cookie sheets, 2 inches apart. Bake for 18-20minutes.
Immediately transfer cookies with a spatula to a cool, flat surface.

But there's one more! Why not round it out with a batch of brownies??? So I cheated and baked up a batch from one of those that come out of a box. It was still good since I kicked it up a notch with some coffee powder.




As it turned out, my coworkers enjoyed the fruits of my labor the next day. And my husband built his Great Wall in our backyard.

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