Peanut Butter and Chocolate Oat Bars

I love baking.  I think that is pretty clear.  But one thing that adds to my love of baking is getting to bake with someone.  My sister was over the other day and mentioned she needed a dish to take to a work potluck.  I quickly suggested we bake something together.  She (thankfully) was up for it and we started brainstorming what we could make.  

I clearly am on an oat cookie kick (see here if you don't know what I am talking about) so I suggested some sort of oat cookie.  One part of the potluck dish decision down.  So with knowing we were going to make an oat cookie...we started thinking...what goes well with oats...chocolate, of course...and...peanut butter...and peanuts!! Yep, there we go!  We decided to make a peanut butter, peanut, and chocolate oat bar.  That's a lot of peanut action going on so I have decided to just shorten the name of this recipe to peanut butter and chocolate oat bar for the sake of writing out such a long name.

It was so much fun to bake with my sister! It took away some of the stress of needing more hands in the kitchen too.  She took the pictures while I measured ingredients.  She added the ingredients while I wrote everything down.  We were quite the team.  And I don't mean to be braggy but really, we are a good baking team.  These bars are delicious!  I love that they have so many textures going on.  You have the hearty oats, crunchy peanuts, and creamy dark chocolate.  They aren't overly sweet either which I really like.   And how did they go over at the potluck, you might ask?  Really well! My sister said when she arrived to get her food about 30 minutes into the party, they were already gone!  I consider that a success. 

         

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Peanut Butter and Chocolate Oat Bars

1/2 cup (1 stick) of unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup of peanut butter

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 1/2 cup of all purpose flour

2 cups of oats

1 teaspoon of salt

1 teaspoon of baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons od vanilla

1/2 cup of chopped peanuts

1-1 1/2 cups of dark chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Grease a 9x13 pan.

Cream together the butter, peanut butter, and sugar until lightened in color (about 2-3 minutes).  Add eggs one at a time.  Mix well.  Add vanilla. Mix well. 

In a separate bowl, mix together flour, oats, salt, and baking soda.  Slowly add flour mixture to butter mixture.  Mix until combined. Add peanuts and chocolate chips.  Mix well.

Pour cookie dough into greased 9x13 pan.  Use spoon (or hands, who are we kidding?) to gentle spread dough into pan.  Bake for 18-22 minutes.  They will be a nice golden brown when they are done.  Enjoy!

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Ginger Chocolate Chunk Oatmeal Cookies

Spring has sprung here in Ohio!  Praise the good Lord!  I have been trying to go on walks with Owen at least a couple days a week now that it has warmed up.  He loves being outside and just looks around as I push him up and down the streets of your neighborhood.  We are taking it all in- the smell of lilac bushes, the birds chirping, the trees sprouting their new leaves.  I am excited about experiencing this spring with him.  I think back to this time last year when I was anxious almost all the time thinking about me and Matt having a baby.  Owen is a part of our family we didn't know we needed.  I am glad I am not in charge.  

I have lots of things to be thankful for this spring.  One of those things is this cookie recipe. (See how I transitioned to food right there?) This recipe came about by accident.  I recently had a ginger butter scone at a local bakery and my mind was blown.  It was amazing.  Seriously, amazing. I have a goal to recreate a version of that scone one of these days.  I thought I was going to have time a couple weeks ago but alas, I didn't.  

However, before I realized I didn't have time, I went to Trader Joe's and bought the ingredients I needed.  One of the many ingredients was crystallized ginger.  I love ginger but have never eaten crystallized ginger.  I also bought some semi-sweet chocolate chunks just because.  When I got home I wanted to try the crystallized ginger to get a literal taste of what I was working with.  I tried the ginger (which was of course delicious) and then decided to try some of the chocolate chunks.  Umm...has anyone else tried this combination and fallen in love immediately?  Maybe I am the last one to experience this delicious combo.  Either way, I am just glad I did.

With the crazy good combo still on my mind, I decided to make some ginger chocolate chunk oatmeal cookies.  These cookies turned out so well!  The ginger gives a great pop of flavor against the smooth creamy semi-sweet chocolate.  And as a bonus, these cookies are quick to make.  I think I literally got the dough ready in less than 10 minutes.  I love myself some cookies and don't doubt this recipe will be made again very soon.  

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Ginger Chocolate Chunk Oatmeal Cookies

-recipe makes approximately 3 dozen cookies

3/4 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup white sugar

2 sticks butter

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 cups old fashion oats

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chunks

1/2 cup-3/4 cup diced crystalized ginger (depending on how much you like ginger)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Beat sugars and softened butter together until combined and lightened in color (approximately 3 minutes).  Add eggs and vanilla.  Mix until combined. Add flour, baking soda, and salt. Mix until combined.  Add oats until combined.  Mix in diced ginger and chocolate chunks.  

Bake at 375 degrees for about 8 minutes.  These cookies brown quickly so make sure you are watching your bake time closely.  Enjoy!

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Our go-to list for our almost six month old baby

As I am looking at this picture, I can't help but think "What does someone do when they have a child this adorable?!" The person clearly can't eat, sleep, or even properly function from the straight up sweetness this child is giving off.  Those cheeks!  They kill me! I am obsessed.  I am fully aware. 

I have had very little time to cook the past two weeks.  I don't know what I have been doing.  Oh yeah, taking care of our baby that is now getting closer to being on the move.  He isn't crawling but he is definitely rolling.  Rolling everywhere.  He likes to roll under chairs, roll off the bed, roll off the couch, roll off his changing table.  Clearly with all this rolling going on, we are having to watch him like a hawk.  Today he got up on his hands and knees and started rocking back and forth.  I started crying.  How is our baby growing so quickly?!?

So instead of posting about cooking, I thought I would post about things my sweet obsession is enjoying these days.  He is a little shy of six months old now.  His little personality is showing up more and more every day.  Besides being unbelievable sweet, I am also noticing he is really brave.  Can a person actually describe an almost six month old that way? Well, I am.  I truly believe in speaking positive words over children and my little boy is definitely a brave one.  I can't wait to see where this character trait of bravery is going to take him.  (I have a feeling it might be visits to the ER on some occasions...)

Here are some things that Owen (along with me and Matt) are digging right now.

1- Bright Starts Snuggle Teether Giraffe.  Owen loves this little giraffe.  It has that crinkle paper stuff in it so every time he messes with it, it makes noise.  He loves that.  

2- His WubbaNub pacifiers.  He has two WubbaNubs, a fox and a frog, and he loves them.  When he isn't using them for their proper intention, he is chomping on the legs, face, and arms of these little things.  He is teething right now so basically everything goes directly into his little mouth. 

3- His high chair. I am obsessed with this high chair more than Owen is.  It attaches right to the dining room table so that your baby can be a part of your evening meal.  I love that because of...

4- This book. I am pretty sure we are going to be doing Baby Led Weaning with Owen.  It makes so much sense to me.  I am currently in the process of reading the book that is linked, The Baby-Led Weaning Cookbook.  (Just FYI-this book isn't about letting your child breastfeed until he or she is 10 years old.  It's about introducing your child to whole foods instead of pureed from the very beginning of eating solids.)  

5- This Graco Jumper.  Owen loves this thing!  Like I have said before, because I work the weekends, I normally do all the prep work for our weekend evening meals on Friday.  Matt puts all the ingredients together and has dinner ready to go when I get home.  Most nights when I walk in the door, I hear Owen jumping his little heart out in the doorway of our kitchen.  He just jumps jumps jumps while Matt gets dinner ready.  He loves it!  

6- The "It's Okay to be Different" book.  I LOVE this book.  The message is wonderful and totally one we want Owen to grow up knowing.  It's okay to be different!  God made everyone different and that's what makes this world so beautiful.  I am digging this book.  I literally read it to him at least once a week. 

7-O'Ball Rattle.  Matt and I got Owen this rattle for his Christmas stocking.  He was about two months old at that time and had no real interest in it at all.  Now he loves it.  He will look at it for long periods of time, toss it around, push it with his feet, and shake it really hard.  Because of the big holes, he can easily grab it and move it around.  

8- Cloth diapering.  We use Flip cloth diapers and they are amazing.  We started using cloth diapers regularly when Owen was about 3 months old.  I can honestly say using cloth diapers is one of best baby investment decisions we have made thus far in our parenting.  We have saved SOOO much money by doing cloth diapering.  I was thinking about it the other day and I am pretty sure the last time we bought disposable diapers was either the end of January or beginning of February.  We use cloth diapers for Owen about 90 percent of the time.  He sleeps in a disposable diaper.  We also put him in disposable diapers if we are going out for a long period of time (i.e. visiting a friend out of state).  Other than that we are cloth all the way! 

9- Charley Harper Mobile. When Matt and I were dating, one year Matt got me a calendar and postcards by Charley Harper for Christmas.  Charley Harper's art is very geometric, looks slightly Scandinavian in design, and is nature-focused.  The other day I came across this mobile and knew it would be perfect for Owen's room.  Owen doesn't really look at it much yet but I really like it.  The color and playfulness of the mobile adds a lot to his room.  

Well, that's all I have for now.  I am excited to see what other things Owen begins to enjoy as he gets older.  I love suggestions so please feel free to share!

Red Velvet Cake with Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting

I love red velvet cake with cream cheese icing.  Now that I think about it, I don't know if I know anyone who doesn't love it.  There is really no reason not to.  Who wouldn't like a deliciously moist cake in a fun red color covered in icing that has the perfect hint of cheese? Yes, please and thank you! I will take a slice of that.

I have been baking a lot of cakes recently because we have been having life events.  By life events I mean, 1) friends have been coming over for dinner, 2) I had a birthday celebration for a co-worker, and 3) we recently got to visit family.  Clearly all these life events are wonderful reasons to make some cakes!  I have blogged about the Honey Cake I made when friends came over.  (I still dream about that cake. It's so good.) I made this red velvet cake for my co-worker's birthday.  When trying to figure out what cake to make her, I decided to just ask her what her favorites were.  She said three types.  I can't even remember what she said because as soon as she said "Red Velvet" I knew what I was making.  I also knew where I could go to find a fabulous recipe.  My tried, true, and tested friend, Joy the Baker. Okay, she's not really my friend but I feel like we could be friends.

Joy did not let me down.  If you haven't clicked on the link to her website yet, you really should.  I literally spend 30 minutes looking over her dessert recipes when I need to find something to bake.  Every recipe I have made from her website is magical.  (I swear this isn't a paid endorsement although it sounds like it might be.) I quickly found the Red Velvet Cake with Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting recipe and knew I had another winner on my hands. This cake was ridiculously moist and delightfully dense.  This frosting was so light and fluffy.  It was really the perfect cake and frosting pairing. Although I am still working on my cake icing skills, I think from the pictures below you can tell how rich and delicious the cake was.

This cake was also so much fun for me to make.  Having lived in Atlanta for eight years, I am used to seeing red velvet cake everywhere.  It's a staple on most menus and in most bakeries.  Although I have eaten it many times, I had never actually made red velvet cake from scratch.  Making this cake was pretty nostalgic for me.  It reminded me of the Atlanta restaurants we visited, fun times with friends, and sweet memories Matt and I had made.  If you make this cake recipe, I hope you enjoy the experience of making it.  Turn on some music. Make it with a friend. Spend time reflecting on why cake is so magical to share with people. Then I hope you enjoy eating the cake.  Yes, definitely enjoy the eating part.

PS-Just in case you were wondering, the third cake I mentioned (the "visiting family" cake) is going to be featured in a post soon.

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Red Velvet Cake with Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting
-Cake recipe and instructions from The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook on Joy the Baker's website. Cream cheese frosting and instructions from Joy the Baker.

Red Velvet Cake
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cup of sugar
2 eggs
5 tablesspoons unsweetened cocoa powder
4 tablesspons red food coloring mixed with 2 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 teaspoons distilled white vinegar

Preheat over to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour two 8 inch or 9 inch round cake pans. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fit with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about three minutes. Turn mixer to high and add the eggs. Scrap down the bowl and beat until well incorporated.

In a separate bowl mix together cocoa, vanilla and red food coloring to make a thick paste. Add to the batter, mixing thoroughly until completely combined. You may need to stop the mixer to scrape the bottom of the bowl, making sure that all the batter gets color.

Turn mixer to low and slowly add half of the buttermilk. Add half of the flour and salt and mix until combined. Scrape the bowl and repeat the process with the remaining milk and flour. Beat on high until smooth.

Turn mixer to low and add baking soda and white vinegar. Turn to high and beat a few more minutes.

Spoon batter into prepared cake pans and bake for 25-35 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean.

Let rest in the pan for 20 minutes, then invert onto a cooling rack to cool completely before frosting.

Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting
1 1/2 cups butter, softened (3 sticks)
8oz cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 teaspoons vanilla extract
pinch of salt
4-6 cups powdered sugar
2-4 tablespoons milk depending on desired consistency

Cream the cream cheese in an electric mixer for 1 minute. Scrape down the bowl and add the butter, beating for 1-2 minutes, or until incorporated. (Be sure that the two are at room temperature. Cold cream cheese or butter can make your frosting lumpy.) Add the brown sugar, pinch of salt, and vanilla extract and beat until incorporated. Turn off mixer and add 2 cups of powdered sugar. Turn the mixer on a low speed so the sugar doesn't fly out of the bowl. Slowly add more sugar alternately with the milk until you reach your desired consistency.

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Quinoa Zucchini Egg Muffins-A Breakfast Delight!

Because I head to work at 7am and work 12 hour shifts, I basically take a refrigerator's worth of food to work with me each day.  Matt seriously makes fun of me sometimes because of how large my breakfast/lunch/snack bag is.  And I will be the first to admit, my breakfast/lunch/snack bag is really large.  I mean, it's seriously huge some days.  Recently I came across a recipe for Pecan Quinoa Zucchini Frittatas in The Forest Feast, a book I mentioned in a post on Carrot Zucchini Ribbon Pasta a couple weeks ago. (BTW- this recipe is still in the weekly rotation in our home. It's still that good. We had it tonight.  I am not kidding.  It's really good.)  I immediately knew that these egg muffins would be a fine addition to my workday weekend food bag.  

Man, I was not wrong.  They were a mighty fine addition.  These little egg muffins of joy are hearty, delicious, and full of protein.  I have made several varieties of these egg muffins and have enjoyed each of them.  I basically sautee any vegetables I have in the fridge, add the veggies to two cups of quinoa and 4-6 eggs, add some additional spices to the mix, and bake these beauties up for 20-25 minutes in a 350 degree oven.  And they aren't bad for you (as long as you don't add a block of cheese or anything.) I am currently doing Weight Watchers to help loose some of my baby weight.  According to the recipe guide, these sweet little breakfast cups of protein range from 2-3 points per muffin depending on what you put in them.  The ones pictured are 3 points each.  Recently I have been sticking with quinoa, veggies, and egg which keeps each muffin at 2 points each.  Heck yes!  I will have ten, please.  (Okay, maybe three instead.  I need to keep myself in control of the breakfast/lunch/snack bag overload a little bit at least.)

These muffins have now joined my Friday-prep-for-the-weekend-meals routine.  I have been enjoying these with a banana or raspberries and on special days, a decaf soy latte.  I have definitely noticed I am not starving approximately two hours later like when just eating cheerios or oatmeal for breakfast.  This recipe is super easy to adapt to whatever you have in your fridge.  If you try a variation on this recipe, let me know.  I am always looking to try something new!  I hope you enjoy!

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Quinoa Zucchini Egg Muffins
-Adapted from Pecan Quinoa Zucchini Frittatas from The Forest Feast by Erin Gleeson

1/2 cup of dry quinoa (approximately 2 cups when cooked)
2 zucchinis, grated
4 eggs
1/2 cup of fresh grated parmesan (or your cheese of choice)
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/8 teaspoon of ground pepper
1/4 teaspoon of garlic powder

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all of the ingredients together.  Spoon into greased muffin tins or into paper liners. Bake for 20-25 minutes until egg is set.  Makes 8-9 muffins.

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Five Layer (or Four Layer) Honey Cake

Oh man!  I have found the cake of my springtime dreams.  This Five Layer Honey Cake from Love, Cake is blowing me away right now.  It is light, airy, fluffy, crazy good, and just the right amount of sweet.  And it tastes just like a Honey Teddy Graham in a grown-up cake form!  I made this cake when we had some friends over for dinner last night.  These friends really appreciate good food and I really appreciate their appreciation for it.  It is a wonderful circular relationship of appreciation.  When trying to figure out what I was going to make for dinner, I came across this Five Layer Honey Cake on Love, Cake.  I wasn't sure what we were going to have for the actual dinner but I immediately knew we were having this cake for dessert.  

This cake went over like a dream.  I cannot wait to make this cake again soon.  It would be perfect for Easter dinner now that I think about it...  The link to the recipe is listed above.

In the first part of the recipe, you add baking soda to warmed honey.  When you add the baking soda to the honey, it will instantly become really foamy.  It is an amazing reaction to watch.

Look how fluffy and golden this honey and baking soda mixture is!

I ended up making four layers instead of five layers.  In order to get all the layers the same, I measured out equal amounts, two in my baking pans and two in separate bowls to bake in the second round of baking.   I only have two 8 inch baking pans so I baked in two rounds.

And for the filling portion of this cake...

This is the cream cheese and honey mixture. 

Below is the whipped heavy cream.  I am still amazed that if you whip heavy cream it can turn into this magnificent creamy delight within minutes.  I used my immersion blender to whip this cream up.

Look how light and fluffy this looks!

And when the cake and filling are put together you get....

Seriously, this cake is amazing.  I would highly recommend trying it if you are needing a spring cake (or Easter cake) to impress.  I hope you enjoy!