Oatmeal Chocolate Apricot Cookies and a a mini-revelation

Sometimes you need a fruit.

It's not really what I would call a craving, because those can get kind of intense (hello, chocolate and peanut butter!), but it's one of those things that you KNOW will make your whole evening just fall into place perfectly. I was driving home after cashing my paycheck (cha-ching! $$$) and I couldn't get these cute little dried apricots out of my head. I wanted one. But I really wanted to share my mini-craving somehow, so here you go. My take on Martha's Dried Apricot and White Chocolate Cookies.

On another note, I really have not been satisfying my Indian food quotient this year. Thinking about it now, I believe I haven't had a taste of the stuff ALL YEAR. I know! Horrible, right? Especially since I have such a love affair with curry. But today I finally got myself to an Indian restaurant and had some incredible naan and Aloo Gobi and lentil soup. It was just spicy enough that it left my mouth wanting more, but the complex combination of tomato and sauteed onion and turmeric, with the cauliflower and potatoes in the Aloo Gobi was heaven on my tongue. So... now I know what savory dish I'm trying to make next. ;-)

Back to the really good stuff, these cookies. Which are smelling up my kitchen. Right before dinner....Must...resist....sugary....smell.... Well. I tried. :)

(Who could resist?)

Oatmeal Chocolate Dried Apricot Cookies

(adapted from my friend Martha)
Yield 1 dozen

Ingredients:

• 6 tbsp whole wheat pastry flour
• 6 tbls old-fashioned oatmeal
• 1/8 teaspoon baking soda

• 2 ounces (1/2 stick) salted butter, softened

• 1 tbsp granulated sugar
• 4 tbsp packed light-brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 large egg
• 2 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
• 2 ounces dried apricots chopped

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix flour, oatmeal, and baking soda in a medium bowl. Cream butter and sugars with a mixer until light and fluffy. Reduce speed to low. Add salt, vanilla, and eggs, and beat until well combined, about 1 minute. Add flour mixture gradually, beating until just combined. Stir in chocolate and apricots. Cover, and refrigerate until cold, about 30 minutes.

2. Drop heaping tablespoons of dough onto parchment-lined baking sheets, spacing 2 inches apart. Bake until cookies are golden brown around the edges but still soft in the center, 14 to 16 minutes. Let cookies cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes. Transfer cookies to a wire rack; let cool. Cookies will keep, covered, for up to 1 week.

Happy Baking!

Jessica

Banana Bread, Cherry Tart and a Garage Sale!

Super fast post again, sorry! I made my favorite Heavenly Healthy Banana Bread, which you can find the recipe for here. I made this for my wonderful neighbor Leila, who was busy having a garage sale outside all day Saturday and Sunday, with some old bananas she so wisely froze.

Later, I decided something needed to be done about the state of our fridge. It was PACKED with Rainier cherries and they were practically begging to be used in a tart. So I whipped up a very simple cherry tart that I hope you'll enjoy for its simplicity. :)

Jessica's Simple Cherry Tart

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 4-5 tablespoons ice water
• 40-50 cherries, pitted and halved
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 2 tablespoons raspberry jam

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, stir together 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour and 1/4 teaspoon salt.
2. Cut in 1/3 cup shortening until pieces are peasize.
3. Dribble 1 tablespoon cold water over part of the mixture; gently toss with a fork.
4. Repeat moistening dough, using 1 tablespoon cold water at a time, until all the dough is moistened (4 to 5 tablespoons cold water total). Form dough into a ball.
5. Roll out dough and fit to a 9-inch, buttered and floured, pie plate.
6. Pierce the dough with the tines of a fork liberally all over.
7. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until light, golden brown.
8. In a small saute pan, melt butter on medium heat and add cherries. Coat well in butter and stir in 2 teaspoons sugar and jam.
9. Continue to cook for about 5-8 minutes, until slightly tender.
10. Pour cherry mixture onto cooled tart crust and let cool for a few minutes.
11. Slice and enjoy!

Happy Baking!

Jessica

Peanut butter makes the world go round... :)

Today was amazing. What started out as a tough day - no more coffee left at home and an injured back so no running - ended up being perfect. This morning I lazed around and watched some Food Network before making these delicious cookies for my friend Lea's birthday. :-)

I got to see my best friend Ka for his birthday too - same day! - and got to see some of my favorite people at the party. These cookies are quite simple but totally delicious- and addicting!

The original recipe, by Ms. Dorie Greenspan (first recipe I'm making from her cookbook- my newest addition to my collection!!) is supposed to yield 40 cookies, but somehow I managed to make 62! Perfect however, since I wanted to bring them to a party and save a few for myself as well ;) I made only a few slight adjustments to the recipe; I skipped the nutmeg, baked them for 10 minutes per sheet rather than 12 since they were a bit smaller, and since the recipe calls for salted peanuts and I only had roasted UNsalted, I toasted them in the oven for about 10 minutes with an initial sprinkling of salt and then another round after being toasted. Finally, the recipe suggests rolling the balls of cookie dough in granulated sugar before pressing down the crisscross pattern on them, and I passed on that too. The combination of chunky peanut butter and fresh toasted peanuts adds all the flavor I think these cookies need and there is DEFINITELY enough sugar in them to not really require extra. :)

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 8 ounces unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup crunchy peanut butter
• 1 cup light brown sugar
• 3/4 cup granulated white sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/2 cups chopped salted peanuts

Directions:

1. Position the racks to divide the oven into thirds and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment.
2. Whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
3. Beat the butter on medium speed for a minute or two, until smooth and creamy. Add the peanut butter and beat for another minute. Add the sugars and beat for 3 minutes more. Add the eggs one at a time, beating for 1 minute after each addition. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl and, on low speed, add the dry ingredients, mixing only until they just disappear. Mix in the chopped peanyts. You'll have a soft, pliable dough.
4. Roll into 1-inch balls and place on a cookie sheet, leaving about 2 inches between each cookie. Press a fork onto the top of the cookie in one direction, and then perpendicularly, so you have a beautiful crisscrossed pattern.
5. Bake for about 10 minutes rotating the sheets from top to bottom racks at the midway point for even browning. When done the cookies will be lightly colored and a little soft. Let the cookies sit on the sheets for a minute before transfering to cooling racks with a wide metal spatula. Cool to room temperature.
6. Repeat with the remaining dough, making sure to cool the baking sheets between batches.

With no refrigeration time needed either, these cookies can go from separate ingredients to mixing bowl to oven and then to your mouth in less than 30 minutes, so give 'em a try!


Happy Baking!
Jessica

PB & J Bars

Today I knew it was time to tackle a dessert that had been teasing me since January when my friend Danielle's mom made them for our a cappella group. I remembered them being just the right amount of sweetness and delicious peanutty-ness (that's a word right?) that made me want to eat the whole pan. But let's establish something first. Peanut butter. It can be crunchy, creamy, organic, reduced fat and everything in between. But one thing I know? I LOVE IT. It's seriously a problem. I will eat it on anything and with anything, any time of day. If there's a jar in the house, no matter what kind, know that it won't make it through the week. Although I am partial to Trader Joe's organic crunchy salted variety, I do not judge. :-) So, when I found not one but TWO full jars of peanut butter in my house upon my return, I knew it was the perfect time to bake this yummy dessert.
Thank you Martha Stewart for satisfying my peanut butter addiction!

Peanut Butter and Jelly Bars

~

Ingredients

1/3 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar (I only used 1/4 cup since peanut butter and jelly are both so sweet already)
1 egg
3/4 cup smooth peanut butter (I used a combination of smooth and crunchy, but don't use an organic variety because the PB will separate, Skippy and Jiff are good picks)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup jam (I used raspberry)
1/3 cup salted peanuts, roughly chopped

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 8 x 8 in. pan with butter and line the bottom with parchment paper. Grease the parchment, and coat inside of pan with flour; set aside. Place butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Beat on medium-high speed until fluffy, about 2 minutes. On medium speed, add eggs and peanut butter; beat until combined, about 2 minutes.
2. Whisk together salt, baking powder and flour. Add to bowl of mixer on low speed; combine. Add vanilla. Transfer two-thirds of mixture to prepared pan; spread evenly with offset spatula, spread jam on top of peanut-butter mixture. Dallop remaining third of peanut-butter mixture on top of jam. Sprinkle with peanuts. (Make sure you alternate dalloping the dough and peanuts, or they'll fall off the bars after you bake them)
3. Bake until golden, about 40 minutes (for 1/3 recipe like I made). Transfer to wire rack to cool; cut into about 12 bars.

Happy Baking!

Jessica