Oh, oats. I love all kinds of grains, but holy smokes do I enjoy oats! Krisla doesn’t get it. She’s all, “Oats? What?”, and I’m all, “Oats! Yeah!”

That about sums up our feelings on the matter.

But I bet even she’d love this baked oatmeal!

Cell phone camera action. Do you see that sad-looking banana slice? Poor guy. Tasted great, though.

My dad loves oats, too. He may not have a catch-phrase (I’ll check), but darnit if he doesn’t happily scoot up to a bowl of oatmeal every morning.

Among the many health benefits of oats is fiber! Digestive aids like fiber are imperative in the diet of a Parkinson’s patient like my dad, who struggles with eating right (and enough) each day. One way I can help him live his life as fully as possible is by understanding his nutritional needs. I totally benefit from it! He’s a reason to learn how to make healthy food without sacrificing any taste (I come from a family of picky eaters). Baked oatmeal, friend, satisfies all of the above!

Picture source

Oats are up there on the list of the recommended foods for Parkinson’s patients. You know what else is? Coconut oil! There’s been recent research conducted on the effect of ketones (found in pure non-hydrogenated coconut oil) and people with Alzheimer’s. The studies have also been extended to various conditions like Parkinson’s, dimentia, autism and schizophrenia. For much more elaborate information on this, check out this short “documentary” based on Dr. Mary Newport’s findings of coconut oil and how it has deterred the symptoms of her husband’s Alzheimer’s disease!

http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/healthscience/2012/January/Coconut-Oil-Touted-as-Alzheimers-Remedy/

Just like I could ramble on about Parkinson’s, I would love to write pages and pages on the source(s) of this recipe. I’m in love. Green Kitchen Stories’ baked oatmeal was the perfect excuse to finally make one of their recipes!  I resisted making a post just about this Swedish family of vegetarian genius, but I can’t say it won’t happen in the future.

Oats, coconut oil, love- it’s all there and ready to go.

Baked Blueberry and Banana Oatmeal

total time: about 45 minutes-1 hour

makes one 10×8 inch or 9 inch round pan of baked oatmeal

adapted from: Green Kitchen Stories/So Good & Tasty, Cookie and Kate

Ingredients*:

1/2 ripe banana (although I didn’t totally cover my dish so a whole banana is coo, too)

1/2 cup blueberries (or whatever berry/fruit you wish to use!)

2 cups rolled oats

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground ginger

1/4 tsp ground cloves

2 cups almond milk (I used unsweetened vanilla)

1/4 cup maple syrup (I exchanged with agave)

1 egg (I opted for a flax “egg”: 1 tbsp flax meal mixed with 3 tbsp water)

1 tsp vanilla

pinch fine sea salt

1 tbsp coconut oil melted, plus more for greasing pan

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 cup chopped walnuts, toasted (although I did not toast them…slightly out of laziness)

I also omitted the following that are included in So Good & Tasty’s version:

1/4 cup pepitas (hulled pumpkin seeds), toasted

1/4 cup hazelnuts, toasted

*The great thing about baked oatmeal is that you can pretty much add, ignore and mess with whatever you want in making it!

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375˚F. Grease the bottom of a 10×8-inch baking dish with the coconut oil, set aside.

2. Place the rolled oats, nuts, baking powder, spices, and salt in a medium mixing bowl.

3. In a separate bowl beat the egg (or “egg”, or omit if you wish). Add to it the almond milk, syrup and vanilla. Stir well to combine.

4. Spread the sliced banana into an even layer in the baking dish, dotting berries in between and/or on the slices.

5. Pour the oat mixture to cover the fruit, then slowly pour the wet ingredients over the oats so everything is evenly soaked.

6. Drizzle the melted coconut oil over the top and bake for 30-35 minutes. When it’s done the oatmeal should be set and lightly browned on top and your kitchen smells like cinnamon (YUMS). Let cool slightly before serving.

7. Definitely consider a piping bowl of this stuff with some almond milk. Ahhh yeah.

-Bette Jane

P.S. If you’ve noticed an M.I.A. Krisla, fret not! She’ll return with a post on fats (woo science!) as soon as she gets a break from MCATs, homework, Mike Time…she should be back.

Fried chicken, cheesy dishes, rich pies: these foods tend to conjure up the sentiment of “comfort food”. It’s an excellent name, really. When you’ve schlepped through long work days (or, you know, lazy afternoons spent rolling around on your living room floor…just me?), you tend to crave companionship in the form of hefty fare.

But edible comforts, just like any, can totally be expanded! I know mine have. One day my heart was warmed by a bowl of hefty macaroni and cheese, the next I’m melting with every bite of equally delicious and nutritious food. For real!

Enter, vegan chocolate pudding!

Home is where the heart is. Most people have heard that, right? It sounds like a country song…is it? I think so. I also think one of my biggest growing-up-surprises is how true our corny clichés can be.

I just moved “home”. My first town, my first love. The ol’ parents, individually, are moving as well. These changes awaken a dormant fire in me, a spark that’s been stifled by words like “should” and “plan” and “identity” and “falafel”.

That last one’s not true, but what a fantastic word!

It took me a while, but I finally admitted that my heart was not where I was studying. No, sir. I gave it the ol’ college try, too (pun!). Although it’s been one of my most difficult decisions, and although I did have good times, good grades and good jobs, I am now…freed. Freed! I can live for greatness, not just goodness. It turns out that in acknowledging my unhappiness, I’ve discovered what actually composes my happiness. And how to pursue it! And, at the risk of sounding corny, where my heart is.

Let’s be real: corny is always where the heart is.

You know what else is? For this heart, anyway? Pudding. Chocolate, rice, tapioca;  man, am I a puddin’ person. Just as my personal comforts are evolving, so, too, are my culinary ones! It’s true. Mac-n-cheese can still get me hot and heavy, but I’m thrilled by a more multi-dimensional indulgence like vegan pudding.

That is my comfort food (among many others).

Vegan Chocolate Pudding

total time involved: 10 minutes prep and 1 hour (patience permitting) chill time

makes 2 large (ish) servings

Ingredients:

• scant 1/3 cup almond milk (the kind, i.e. vanilla, according to your sweetness preference)
• 4-5 tbsp agave nectar
• 3-4 tbsp cocoa powder or chocolate (vegan)
• about 3/4 banana (I suggest starting with 1/2 and slicing in more as the texture needs it)
• 1/2 avocado
• 1-2 tbsp almond butter, when things are lookin’ a little thin
• dash vanilla

Directions:

1. Mix almond butter, milk, banana and avocado together in a blender or food processor for a good minute or so. This sets the thickness tone, so watch your milk! I had too thin and too thick among my trials.
2. Add the cocoa powder until it reaches your desired chocolatey-ness. If the powder isn’t your thing, you can always melt unsweetened chocolate/chips and roll that way.
3. Be the most liberal with agave. It really makes this pudding a dessert!
4. Get in the vaniller.
5. Chill in the fridge for about an hour.
6. Top with coconut, vegan whip, powdered sugar or whatever comforts you!

-Bette Jane

One of the wonderful Christmas presents I received this year was the Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook from my dear friend Hanna. For those of you that are Harry Potter fans (it’s gotta be, what, 80% of the fortunate literate population?), you know what kind of a gift this is. And this delicious jam cake is just one of many magical recipes!

If I may quote the overly quoted quote of Ron Weasley: “Wicked”.

Perhaps you wonder why, of all the imaginative recipes in a Harry Potter Cookbook, would one select a rather simple jam sandwich cake? Because I freaking love jam and so does my other dear friend, Catherine, for whose birthday this cake was made.

Believe me, I will get to those Treacle Tarts.

As you can probably see, this cake was quite imperfect. The density threw me for a loop, despite the author’s warning that “sponge” is far from accurately descriptive. Indeed, she writes:

The name “sponge” is misleading because it’s actually a dense, rich cake, not an airy fluffy sponge.

Pretty straightforward. Yet, I panicked when my supposed cake dough looked much more like that of cookies. I don’t know about all the other bakers and cooks out there, but doubt is the greatest contributor to my culinary failures. That and impatience, chuckle.

But I’ve recently (new year recently) decided to quit the questions and create confidence! So I ultimately ignored my uncertainty and whipped up a darn tasty cake, if I do say so myself. Still odd in the slanted layers and (it’s true) cookie-like density, but a reassuringly appreciated birthday present. Whew!

In regards to the Harry Potter relevance of this cake, Bucholz gives us some context:

Ah, sweet revenge! The summer that Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia put Dudley on a strict diet, Harry revels in the knowledge of the good food hidden upstairs in his room while Dudley starves in the kitchen. When Harry informs his friends of the severe diet imposed on the whole family, they loyally send him fabulous birthday cakes (see Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Chapter 3).

Awesome.

“Accio cake!”

Victoria Sponge Sandwich Cake (from Ron)

total time: 45 minutes to an hour

makes one lovely cake

recipe from Dinah Bucholz’s The Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 sticks (12 tblsp) butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1/2 cup raspberry jam (I definitely eyeballed this)
• powdered sugar, for dusting
• optional whipped cream for serving

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease two 8-inch round cake pans and line the bottoms with parchment paper.
2. Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl and set aside.
3. Using an electric mixer of some kind, beat the butter and sugar in a large bowl until light and fluffy, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed, about 5 minutes.
4. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each until well incorporated.
5. Add the flour on the lowest speed until combined; scoop in the excess around the bowl and fold the batter together with a rubber spatula.
6. Divide the batter evenly between the two pans (*this is where I struggled – if you do, too, just know that the idea is to   distribute the batter as equally as possible, but it’ll still taste smashing in the end!).
7. Bake for 20 minutes until the cakes are golden brown around the edges (the tops will be pale). They will feel soft but set when touched lightly in the center, or a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean (I’m sorry but…a little dirty. Am I right?)
8. Let the cakes cool in the pans for 10 minutes, then invert onto a wired rack to cool completely.
9. To assemble the cake, place one cake on a cardboard round top-side down and spread with the raspberry jam all the way to the edges. Top with the second cake, top-side up, and dust generously with powdered sugar.
10. Serve with whipped cream and have it with tea!

Willy, too, is a fan of jam. He’s a jam-fan.

-Bette Jane

Nướng loosely means “grilled” because we bake it in the oven. Another way you can make this cake is to steam it (called bánh bò hấp). That technique doesn’t form a crispy layer, which is my favorite part. The coconut and pandan flavored dessert has a jelly-like texture that looks like honeycomb with a light and crispy crust. The jelly texture comes from the tapioca flour and the gazillion eggs that went into the cake. As a kid, I wasn’t a huge fan of it. I don’t know why because I think it’s super delicious now! It can be tricky to make, but my mom has some tricks up her sleeve that she shared with me.

Lots of eggs.

Mix with your hands!

Heat the greased pan before you put in the batter! Also, pour the batter through a fine mesh strainer to get the clumps out.

***Tip: When we baked the cake in a cast iron skillet, it turned out way better and fluffier.

Bánh Bò Nướng

Makes one big cake!

Ingredients: You can find these ingredients at your local Asian markets.

• 10 eggs
• 1 can of coconut cream
• 5 tsp baking powder (2 packets of Alsa brand baking powder found in Asian markets. My mom has always used this kind and haven’t tried regular baking powder. Alsa is single acting baking powder, the regular one is double acting. You may want to search out the Alsa.)
• 14 oz of tapioca flour (This is sold in pre-measured packages at Asian markets)
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp of pandan extract
• 2 heaping cups of granulated sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven at 370 degrees. Place a greased 10-inch round (or square) pan/cast iron skillet in the oven while you heat it up. This will make the crust really nice and crispy.
2. Put all the ingredients into a bowl. With your hands, mix the batter together squeezing and breaking up all the tapioca flour clumps. DON’T use a hand or stand mixer. If you overmix the batter, the cake will fall flat. The batter will resemble the slime in old Nickelodeon shows.
3. When the oven and pan is preheated, pour the batter through a fine mesh strainer directly into the heated pan (see picture above). You want the batter to fill up about half of the pan.
4. Bake for 40-45 minutes until golden brown on the top. The cake will puff up and form a pretty dome. Let the cake cool and rest before removing it from the pan or else it will flatten.

Enjoy!

-Krisla

I grew up with the notion that homemade is bettermade (which is sort of ironic since my mom has never been a “from-scratch” kind of cook; Kraft macaroni & cheese with hot dogs 4 lyf). In living the cliché lifestyle of Poor College Student, however, I am surrounded by boxed items, especially baked ones. Even cookies…from a box! Eh.

One boxed baked good that I have to praise, though, is Ghiradelli Fudge Brownies. Oh man. They straddle the lines of food and sex. So chewy, so chocolatey, so moist! Yes, moist. And I am just one member of the huge fan club. A brilliant magazine called Cook’s Illustrated took notice of this popularity and investigated the decadent situation. What did they uncover? Genius science, of course, and how to remaster it into a homemade recipe. Who jumped at this greatness? Well, my mom, actually, but me too! Now I’m here to extend the invitation to you folks: perfect brownies, RSVP immediately.

There are so many brilliant strategies to these brownies. Cook’s covers the different outcomes of white and brown sugar (have you ever debated over their superiority?) as well as the varieties of espresso powder. But, for our purposes, their most groundbreaking discovery is the rather simple (yet significant) role of fat. Yes, fat! The word that gets hearts pounding and feet running in a way much like ex’s do.

Before you start to worry, though, consider this: there are so many, many components to fat. Similar to sugar, there are different kinds with varying effects. Many of us are familiar with the terms saturated and unsaturated. Do you visualize the strong, fortified bonds that make up saturated fats? Can you picture the more lucid unsaturated bonds? Now, this is Krisla territory (and I am far from a scientist), but with the help of rudimentary biology classes and Cook’s Illustrated, I can enlighten you with some handy (albeit commonplace) information!

What it all comes down to is hydrogen atoms. Saturated fats (i.e. shortening, butter, lard) have maximum hydrogen atoms attached to their carbon atoms, which creates tight building blocks that form highly compacted carbon chains. Unsaturated fats have fewer hydrogen atoms, and therefore produce “holed” structures that are liquid at room temperature. The balance of these two is what beautifully blends liquid and solid into the right chew of a brownie. And who but the wonderfuls at Cook’s achieved just this, sans “the aid of high-tech fats used by brownie mix manufacturers”. Typical homemade brownies have more saturated than unsaturated fat, with a ratio of 64% sat to 36% unsat (so generally more butter or shortening than oil). Ghiradelli’s is 28% sat to 72% unsat, and Cook’s Illustrated is a slightly altered 29% sat to 71% unsat fat (with no highly processed powdered shortening but just butter and vegetable oil). An increase in oil promotes moisture, which is why oil-based cakes are more moist than those of butter or shortening.

Boxed brownies, besides offering seemingly exclusive chewiness, also have an appealing, broken-up sheen to their surface. The breakage is accomplished through white granulated sugar’s molecules, which hold less moisture than its brown counterpart, and dry out to form a crisp crust. Plus, the pure sucrose of white sugar creates a glass-like sugar top (vs. brown’s mussed up, corn syrup-infused sucrose that forms crystals; these crystals reflect light differently and result in a matte-like texture).

As far as espresso powder in brownies and all baked-goods chocolate, its flavor-enhancing powers are stronger than instant coffee’s. But many powders out there are a fair combination of the two. Some brands that Cook’s offers include: Caffe D’Vita Imported Premium Instant Espresso, $1.40 per oz (for a shot of flavor that brings “dark, deep, fruit-y, roast-y” tastes to brownies); Cafe Bustelo Espresso Instant Coffee, $1.37 per oz (“rich fruitiness”); Medaglia D’Oro Instant Espresso Coffee, $1.68 per oz (for a kick and “good complexity”).

Whether your homemade brownie recipe needs tweaking or not, I definitely think this one deserves a shot. Maybe you’ll make some changes, maybe you won’t! This certainly is a complex way to go…but, shoot, is it worth it!

Also, there are multiple types of chocolate involved…!

Yum yum yum yum.

Chewy Brownies

total time involved: 45 minutes to 1 hour

makes about twenty-four 2-inch brownies

Ingredients:

1/3 cup Dutch-processed cocoa

1 1/2 tsp instant espresso

1/2 cup plus 2 tbl boiling water

2 oz unsweetened chocolate, finely chopped (Cook’s prefers Scharffen Berger unsweetened chocolate)

4 tbl (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted

1/2 cup plus 2 tl vegetable oil

2 large eggs, room temperature

2 large egg yolks, “

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 1/2 cups granulated (white) sugar

1 3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

3/4 tsp table salt

6 oz bittersweet chocolate, cut into 1/2-inch pieces (Ghiradelli the recommended bittersweet)

Directions:

1. Adjust oven rack to lowest position and set the oven to 350 degrees. The recipe suggests creating a foil sling (one sheet of foil cut at 18 inches, folded lengthwise to 8 inch width, and fit into 9 x 13 inch pan, allowing for excess to overhang pan edges; cut another sheet 14 inches and fit into pan in the same manner as before, then put in perpendicular to the first sheet; finally, spray with nonstick cooking spray). But! I did not do such things. Go for it, though, if you have the patience!

2. Whisk cocoa, espresso and boiling water together in a large bowl until smooth.

3. Add chopped unsweetened chocolate and whisk until it is melted.

4. Stir in melted butter and oil (it may look curdled).

5. Get those eggs, yolks and vanilla in therr until smooth and homogenous.

6. Whisk in sugar until fully combined.

7. Add flour, salt and mix with rubber spatula until thoroughly incorporated.

8. Fold in bittersweet chocolate pieces – they make for deliciously chocolatey centers!

9. Scrape into pan and bake until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out with a few moist crumbs, roughly 30-35 minutes.

10. Using the flaps of the foil hang (once completely cooled, 1-1/2 hours) lift the brownie rectangle onto a wire rack.

11. Cut, serve, share and savor the chewy excellence!

-Bette Jane

Geary, Andrea. “Cracking the Code to Chewy Brownies.”Cook’s Illustrated. Mar 2010: 21-23. Print.

Nanaimo bars. Nah-nay-mo. Have you heard of them? Yeah, don’t worry I hadn’t either until I had one at a Christmas party this year (The same party Bette Jane and I made the gnome santa cookies for!). But everyone should try them. I vote these the most underrated dessert in the history of ever. Well, I guess they can’t be underrated if no one has ever heard of them. So that’s what I’m here for. To tell you about these Nanaimo things.

And get this: they are from a foreign land called Canada. Nanaimo, British Columbia to be specific. And thank god they were invented, because these are the best no-bake cookie bars I’ve ever had. It’s composed of a chocolate-y, coconut-y, graham cracker-y cookie layer, a custard-y buttercream frosting layer, and then topped with chocolate ganache. Three layers of awesome. Apparently you can find them at grocery stores up in Canada. So jealous. We should have them in grocery stores here. Even better, someone should open a bakery based on these bars. I’ll get on it.

Serious YUM.

Nanaimo Bars

Makes about 64 small pieces

Ingredients:

Cookie layer:

• 1 stick of unsalted butter
• 5 tbsp. of cocoa powder
• 1/4 cup of sugar
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 1/4 cup of crushed graham crackers
• 1/2 cup of crushed nuts (I used almonds)
• 1 cup of sweetened coconut flakes

Custard layer:

• 1 stick of unsalted butter, softened
• 2 cups of powdered sugar
• 3 tbsp of instant vanilla pudding mix
• 3 tbsp of heavy cream or milk

Chocolate ganache layer:

• 4 oz. of semisweet chocolate
• 2 tbsp of butter

Directions:

Cookie layer:

1. Melt butter, sugar and cocoa powder together on a double boiler. Mix until smooth. Take it off the heat, and beat in the egg. It’ll look slightly lumpy/grainy– don’t freak.
2. In a food processor, pulse the graham crackers, coconut, and nuts together until the graham crackers are fine.
3. Mix the chocolate mixture with the graham cracker/coconut/nut mixture until it comes together. Press this mixture evenly in a parchment lined 8×8 baking dish. Put in the fridge for 30 min while you make the next layer.

Custard layer:

1. Beat the butter, sugar, pudding powder, and milk together until light and fluffy. It’ll be pretty thick, like buttercream frosting. Spread this on top of the cookie layer as evenly as possible.
2. Put in the fridge for 30 min while you make the next layer.

Chocolate layer:

1. Melt the 4 oz. of chocolate and butter in a double boiler and mix until smooth. Careful not to burn the chocolate!
2. Pour the melted chocolate over the custard layer as evenly as possible. It helps to shake the baking pan to make it more even. The chocolate layer will be thin.
3. Put in the fridge and chill for at least an hour. I did it overnight.

To serve: Cut the bars using a hot, clean knife. I ran the knife under some hot water. This method worked okay, I still got some streaks of chocolate that ran into the custard layer, but at least the chocolate didn’t crack! I thought it helped a bit to let the bars sit at room temperature before cutting.
-Krisla

Hope you all have a great holiday! Thank you for making the first few months of our food blog awesome.

Love, Krisla and Bette Jane

P.S. Sorry for the lack of posts lately, finals and Christmas took over our lives the last month. You’ll hear from us soon!

Did your jaw drop and drool spill out of your mouth when you read the title? Because that’s what happened to me when I found this recipe. It’s absolutely genius! Peanut butter filling smushed between two salty pretzels and all of that deliciousness dipped in chocolate.  Bette Jane doesn’t like peanut butter and pretzels so she wasn’t a huge fan. Weirdo. But I know someone who is…

I sent a couple dozen of these delectable bites to Mike in a care package along with snickerdoodles, Nutella cookies, and other treats. Not the healthiest cardboard box to arrive at your doorstep, but definitely filled with love. So it’s okay, right? Right. Love in packaged forms is totally awesome. Especially when chocolate peanut butter pretzel bites are involved. Mike and his roommates  pooped their pants in amazement! (That’s a direct quote.)

P.S. Ignore the missing pretzel bite in the picture… I couldn’t resist.

How freaking cute are these? Well, it kind of looks like a 4-year old made and decorated them. Don’t judge us. They definitely take time to make. They are also very messy if it’s your first time working with chocolate (as it was for us). You’ll need patience, self-control, and a friend (Bette Jane) to help. Well, you can make these by yourself, but assistance and companionship is always a bonus.

Make them. I urge you. Put them in cute bags with bows and give them to friends and family for Christmas, send them to significant others, or eat them all yourself. I seriously thought about it.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel Bites

recipe adapted from Baked Perfection

Makes 80-100 pretzel bites

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups creamy peanut butter
• 1 stick of butter, softened
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 scant cups of powdered sugar
• 1  1-lb bag of pretzels (I didn’t use the whole bag. And I would’ve used the window shaped pretzels, but I couldn’t find them.)
• about 6-7 cups of chocolate chips
• 6 tsp of shortening

Directions:

1. Cream the peanut butter, butter, vanilla, and salt together until creamy and smooth. Then add in the powdered sugar one cup at a time until its at the desired sweetness and consistency. You want the filling to resemble that of a Reese’s peanut butter cup.
2. Take a little bit of the peanut butter filling (maybe 1/2 a tsp) and roll into a ball and squish it between two pretzels. The filling is really sticky, so I would advise putting it into the refrigerator for an hour until it’s more solid and easier to work with. Place bites on wax paper or plastic wrap. You won’t regret it.
3. Once assembled, place in the freezer for 30-40 minutes until hardened.
4. Add 1 tsp of shortening per cup of chocolate chips. Melt the chocolate in the microwave in 30 second intervals, mixing in between. You can use a double -boiler, too. Chocolate can be burned so be careful! For tips on how to melt chocolate see this link.
5. Dip the pretzel bites in the chocolate. You can also get fancy and make cool decorations on them. We tried.
6. Let the chocolate set for at least an hour. Enjoy the awesomeness!

-Krisla

Sure, Halloween is over. Green bean casseroles and mashed potatoes loom in the distance. And I even turn my car radio on to hear Delilah playing Christmas music like every song will save some floundering soul.

Not that I’m complaining! Holidays are totally the cozy, somewhat drunken, classic American times for me. But I’m not done with pumpkin. I mean, I bought it at Costco.

So get ready. I’m bringin’ pumpkin back.

At university (I wish Americans actually said that), I am fortunate enough to have two wonderful jobs: I work at the Art Department’s darkroom/lab as well as (primarily) the Writing Center. Both totes coincide with my interests!

Last week, our WC had a staff potluck; I was so excited to have the opportunity to bake! No halving recipes here, people. And what did I deem necessary in this transition into November-y fallness? What did I have a rather excessive amount of? You know it. Pumpkin.

Woo! This recipe worked greatly to appease a variety of taste buds. Pecans, walnuts, chocolate, powdered sugar, hemp (chea) – whatevs you want! Hence: multifaceted pumpkin cookies.

Pumpkin Spice Cookies

Adapted from Naturally Ella

Follow her recipe for the inclusion of hemp!

Makes about 18 spoon-sized cookies

Total time involved: 40 minuets to an hour

Ingredients:

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 tablespoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup natural sugar

1 cup pumpkin puree

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

handful walnuts, pecans (any nuts, really), broken up pieces of baking chocolate

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375˚.
2. Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Whisk together and set aside.
3. In a mixer attached with a paddle, beat butter and sugars together (if you don’t have a mixer, beat by hand- just make sure your butter is soft but not melted). Add in pumpkin and continue to mix until pumpkin, butter, and sugars are combined.
4. Next, add in egg, vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg. I like a heavier cinnamon taste and if you don’t, you may want to cut back to 2 teaspoons of cinnamon instead. Continue to beat, scrapping sides if need be.
5. Finally, add in flour mixture and beat until dough comes together and the mixture is incorporated. Do not over-beat, you should only need less than a minute.
6. Cover a baking tray with a piece of parchment paper. Using a cookie scoop (or a regular spoon) scoop cookies and place two inches apart from each other. Add nuts or chocolate (I used just one per cookie) by carefully placing them on top of dough balls.
7. Bake for 15-20 minutes (for large cookies) or until cookie springs back slightly (as if baking a cupcake.) Remove from oven, let cool for five minutes then transfer to a rack to finish cooling.
8. Bring to potlucks! Or your couch with some eggnog, if you’re into eggnog. I’m into eggnog. Soy is pretty good!

I had to take an online Biochemistry quiz on Friday when I got home from school. Friday. The quiz is open from 6 am on Friday to 9 am on Saturday. Who’s bright idea was it to have students spend their Friday nights studying enzyme kinetics? Sooo not cool.

So of course, the first thing I did when I got home was start studying… Ha. Yeah, right. I actually just sat on the couch, watched The Ellen Degeneres Show and looked at recipes on the internet. I thought about making fortune cookies pretty much the entire day. And that I did. But I made them fortune-less because I was too lazy to write and think of witty things to say. If I was giving them to someone I definitely would have!

They are a little tricky. But definitely easier than you would think. And even if they don’t turn out looking like the ones from your favorite Chinese restaurant, they will still taste pretty darn fantastic. If you want to attempt perfection, make sure you have your fortune-cookie-folding stance ready. They will burn your pretty fingers and then harden too quickly so you get  misfortune cookies. Heh. Cheesy.

I didn’t spend as much time as I should have studying for my quiz, but least I got to eat delicious fortune cookies while I answered questions about Lactaid and lactose.

Fortune Cookies

Recipe from Kirbie’s Cravings

Yields ~24 cookies

Ingredients:

• 2 egg whites
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp almond extract
• 3 tbsp vegetable oil
• 8 tbsp flour
• 8 tbsp fine sugar (I thought they were a little too sweet, so next time I’ll only put in 7 tbsp)
• 1 1/2 tsp corn starch
• 3 tsp water

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
2. Beat the egg whites, vanilla and almond extract, and vegetable oil together in a medium bowl until frothy.
3. Sift the flour, fine sugar, and cornstarch together in another small bowl. Then add it the water. (I accidentally added in 3 tablespoons of water. Don’t make the same mistake!!)
4. Then add in the flour mixture to the egg white mixture and whisk until  you get a completely smooth batter.
5. On a greased baking sheet, pour about 1 1/2 tsp of the batter and spread it out so that it forms a nice circle. Try to make it as thin as possible. Unless you like thicker fortune cookies.
6. Bake for 14-15 minutes until the edges start to brown. Remove from oven.
7. Here’s the tricky part: folding. Quickly remove each circle from the cookie sheet (careful, they’re hot!). With the bottom of the cookie on the inside, put the written fortune in the middle of the cookie and fold the circle in half. Then using a cup or glass, push the center of the fold over the edge of the glass (shown in the picture above). Place in a muffin tin so that it keeps its shape while cooling. You have to work quickly!! They cool super fast and won’t be very foldable. And then break.

* Tip: Start by baking only 2 or 3 circles at a time until you get the hang of folding or have some extra hands. Also, you can dip these in chocolate and sprinkles and make them all pretty like!

-Krisla