Chanukah is just around the corner and I’m ready. (I think). I found my Chanuka decor thanks to my beloved new Brother Label Maker, and my tummy is ready too.

Of course I spent some time on Pinterest and found a few ideas to get me in the holiday spirit. In particular, I found this recipe for Chanuka Gelt Cookies!  The other day I made them and they were a HUGE hit. I’m sure I will be making another batch soon. It took only one bowl, a few ingredients and about 30 minutes to make (start to finish).

Chanukah Gelt Cookies (original recipe from www.bakingandmistaking.com)

Ingredients:

2/3 cup (150g) butter or margarine, softened (I used butter …of course)
3/4 cup (150g) sugar
1 egg
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 3/4 cups (220g) flour
1 teaspoon (5g) baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Unwrap the chocolate coins. (not as easy as it looks but easier than unwrapping candy canes!!)

Beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add in the egg and vanilla and mix until well incorporated. Add the flour, baking powder and salt and mix until the dough comes together. I then placed the dough into the fridge for an hour. (a tip I learned from Sally’s Baking Addiction)

Roll the dough into a ball and flatten into a disc. Then place the disc, well spaced apart, on an ungreased baking sheet OR  put the dough into a muffin tin sprayed with Pam. This is a new kitchen hack that I learned that will prevent the dough from spreading too thin.I then pressed the gelt (chocolate coin) into the centre of the cookie and placed it into the oven at 350 F for exactly 9 minutes. The edges were slightly brown but the centre was pale and puffy (and perfect)

Let them cool before removing them from the tin.

Other cool chanuka ideas (thanks Pinterest) that I’m going to attempt include these adorable Cheese Dreidels. How cute!! Loved this idea but something tells me I’m not going to be successful. Time will tell.

These cute napkin rings.

Wishing everyone who celebrates, a wonderful Chanuka. May light and peace fill these 8 days.

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I’m a big fan of making individual desserts. I truly believe if you serve a big cake to your guests everyone will say “I will pass”. But if you present them with their own dessert on a plate – they will accept it. Do you agree?

The dessert I served at a dinner party this past week was indeed “blog worthy” so here it is.

APPLE PIE BAKED APPLES (original recipe from Sally’s Baking Addiction can be found here)

Ingredients:

1/2 recipe homemade pie crust (ok I cheated and bought ready made pie crust)
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1 Tablespoon  warm water
8 firm apples  (Granny Smith, Honey Crisp, Gala) – 2 apples will be used for the apple filling)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 teaspoon milk
homemade salted caramel sauce, for drizzling (optional)

Directions

Prepare the pie crust, including allowing it to chill for at least 2 hours. Or if you are short of time (story of my life) – take the pie crust out of the box and cut it into 1/4 inch wide strips.

Make the apple filling: In a very small bowl, mix the cornstarch and warm water together until smooth, creamy, and the cornstarch has disolved. Set aside. Peel and dice 1 apple. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, cook the apple pieces, cornstarch/water mixture, cinnamon, and sugar. Stir constantly for 5 minutes. Switch to low heat and allow to simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat, stir in the vanilla, and allow to cool off for 20 minutes.

TWO APPLES GO A LONG WAY!

Assemble: Slice off the tops of the 4 remaining apples. Using a spoon (or melon baller), dig out the core. This takes some effort but its worth it.

Spoon the prepared apple filling into the cored-out apples.

Lay 3-4 strips of the pie dough on top of the apple. Then, working with one new strip at a time, alternate weaving it over and under the dough strips already in place. Repeat until the top of the apple has been covered in this lattice style crust. Using a sharp paring knife, trim excess pie crust around the edges. Repeat with remaining apples and pie dough strips.

Bake:
Place apples into an 8-inch or 9-inch square baking pan or pie dish– really any size baking pan works. In a small dish, whisk the egg and milk together. Lightly brush the tops with egg wash. I sprinkled a little bit of cinnamon on top of the egg wash before going into the oven.  Bake for 25-30 minutes in a 375 degree oven or until the crust is browned and the filling is bubbly.
If desired, drizzle each with salted caramel. Serve with ice cream!!

FINAL PRODUCT:

Happy Baking!!

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The other day, I was in the mood to do some baking. Therefore I took a look at what was in the pantry and decided that I was going to make Oatmeal Raisin Cookies. Then I sat on the computer and googled “Oatmeal Raisin Cookies”. Naturally a whole bunch of recipes came up but one recipe from Sally’s Baking Addiction caught my attention.

I’ve used recipes from this website before and I really trust Sally’s Baking Addictions’ knowledge and recipes.

She always seems to do something to the recipe that makes the end result “that much better”.

Once again – her recipe for Soft & Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies will now become my “go-to” recipe when I’m craving this cookie.

Recipe: Soft & Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookie (from Sally’s Baking Addiction)

Ingredients

1 cup (230g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
1 cup (200g) packed light or dark brown sugar
1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar
2 large eggs 1
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract (yes, Tablespoon!)
1 Tablespoon molasses….(Um I didn’t have this in my pantry and the recipe still came out)
1 and 1/2 cups (190g) all-purpose flour (spoon & leveled)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 and 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups (240g) old-fashioned rolled oats
1 cup (140g) raisins
1/2 cup (64g) chopped toasted walnuts (optional)

Directions:

Cream the softened butter and both sugars together on medium speed in your mixer, until smooth. (about 2 minutes).

Add the eggs and mix on high until combined (about 1 minute). Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add the vanilla and molasses and mix on high until combined. Set aside.

In a separate bowl, toss the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt together. Add to the wet ingredients (this is important that you get this step right) and mix on low until combined.

Beat in the oats, raisins, and walnuts (if using) on low speed. Dough will be thick, yet very sticky. Chill the dough for 30-60 minutes in the refrigerator (do the full hour if you’re afraid that the cookies will spread too much) This is an important step!

Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. (Always recommended for cookies.) Set aside.

Roll balls of dough (about 1.5 tablespoons of dough per cookie) and place 2 inches apart on the baking sheets. Bake for exactly 10 minutes until very lightly browned on the sides. The center will look very soft and undone but that’s OK.

Remove from the oven and let cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. The cookies will continue to “set” on the baking sheet during this time.

FINAL PRODUCT

More tips from Sally’s Baking Addiction:

Room temperature eggs preferred. Good rule of thumb: always use room temperature eggs when using room temperature butter.
Soak your raisins in warm water for 10 minutes before using (blot very well to dry them) – this makes them nice and plump for your cookies. OR even try them with Raisinets!

Happy Baking!

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T’is the season that pumpkins are everywhere!! I’m not complaining as I adore pumpkin pie but didn’t want to go thru the process of making crust. Know what I mean? So I went online (for a change) to see what other options are out there and naturally I was inspired.

I bought a can of Pure Pumpkin and made two recipes with it and still have some left!!

Recipe #1…Pumpkin Pudding (for the original recipe please click on www.myrecipes.com). This recipe is super easy and only required 6 tablespoons of sugar. #loveit.

INGREDIENTS

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I knew that there would be a snow storm on Wednesday and it would be the perfect reason to STAY HOME  and cook/bake/clean and work!! It wasn’t hard to figure out what to bake, seeing as I received a recipe that peeked my interest in my inbox the other day. This is what happens when you subscribe to a food blog!! The recipe is from Sally’s Baking Addiction and it’s called ” Banana Chocolate Chip Crumb Cake”.

It’s easy to make, moist and a great way to use up those ripe bananas!!

Banana Chocolate Chip Crumb Cake – from Sally’s Baking Addiction

INGREDIENTS:

Directions

1.Preheat oven to 350F degrees. Spray an 8×8 or 9×9 baking pan with nonstick spray. p.s I don’t own an 8×8 baking pan (can u believe) but my oval CorningWare worked out just fine.

2. In a medium bowl, toss the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together. Set aside.

first step – easy enough

3. Using a handheld or stand mixer with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on high speed until creamy, about 1 minute.  Switch the mixer to medium speed and beat in the sugar until combined. Beat in the egg and vanilla extract, scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed. Add the mashed banana and yogurt and turn the mixer on high and beat until creamy, about 1 minute.

4. Turn the mixer off and pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. (repeat – put the DRY INGREDIENTS INTO THE WET INGREDIENTS) .Turn the mixer on low and slowly beat until combined. Do not overmix.

5. Make the streusel by combining all of the streusel ingredients into a small bowl.

I made a “nut free” version

6. . Layer half of the batter into the prepared baking pan. Top with half of the streusel. Repeat with the rest of the batter and streusel.

7. Bake for 40 minutes, covering the cake with aluminum foil after 25 minutes to prevent the edges from browning too quickly. Bake until the center is baked through.

FINAL RESULT

Allow to slightly cool for ten minutes before cutting and serving. Not that this cake stays fresh  if you cover it tightly at room temperature for up to 4 days.

I also put half of it in the freezer as I’m sure it freezes well too. (time will tell).

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I’ve been using the same chocolate chip recipe that I cut out from the Toronto Star for years. It served me well however the results were never consistent. One day, I googled “chocolate chip cookie” recipe and a few recipes came up. (just a few..HA). I realized that many of the recipes had the same ingredients but the measurements are slightly different. Plus the technique can be different too!!

After clicking on a few websites, I came across a recipe that was posted on a blog called: Sally’s Baking Addiction! 

Her recipe stood out for these three reasons:

1. the photos (seriously…they couldn’t get any better)

2. she explained each component of the recipe.

3. the addition of CORNSTARCH intrigued me.

I tried out the recipe and then continued to make about 5 batches. I COULD NOT STOP MAKING THIS RECIPE!! Thank you Sally’s Baking Addiction for this perfect recipe.

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