I am oh so happy that the holiday baking season is here... like I need an excuse to bake. It's just that now I do so without guilt because we all know that calories consumed during the holidays don't count, right? Besides, with two weeks off from school Taylor and I have to fill the chilly days somehow. I've been bookmarking recipes all week so that we have plenty of new ones to try. And the warmth from the oven keeps the house's heater from working so hard.
See? It's the just right thing to do.
I don't really have any cherished family recipes or baking traditions from my childhood really, so Taylor and I are making our own. It just so happens that Santa and I share a favorite cookie... crispy oatmeal chocolate chip. We make these fresh on Christmas Eve because Santa also loves them warm from the oven. (I coulda sworn I had a picture of us baking them together, but I guess not. You get this cute picture from baking 4th of July sugar cookies instead :)
Anyway, I thought I'd share the recipe with you all.
First Mixture:
1 c butter 2 eggs 1 tsp vanilla
1 c granulated sugar 1c brown sugar
Second Mixture:
2 c flour 1/2 tsp baking powder
1tsp baking soda 1/2 tsp salt
Sift together and add to the first mixture.
Add 1c quick cooking oats and 1c chocolate chips (or anything else you'd like in there, like nuts).
Mix together and drop by spoonfuls on a greased baking sheet (important because these are thin and can stick really easily). Bake at 350 for about 8 minutes.
There you have it... easy peasy!
A friend of ours gave us the tastiest chain letter ever for Christmas.... Amish Friendship Bread. I knew nothing of this bread before a couple of weeks ago, so I had no idea what I was in for. She presented us with a beautiful box with a loaf of the most delicious "bread" ever, a bag of starter, and some instructions. First, this is no bread... it's cake. Delicious cake, full of cinnamon and sugar. And, it's not terrible Amish, at least not this version it's not. I mean, it calls for using a plastic bag for storage and mixing and instant pudding mix as one of the final ingredients. For 10 days, you mush the bag of starter, add some stuff, and mush some more. On the 10th day, you add lots more stuff and you end up with 4 more bags of starter and enough batter for two more loaves of "bread". The instructions say that you are supposed to give away 3 of the starters and keep one for yourself because it's a secret Amish recipe that may never come back around to you again... dah dah dummmmmm. Of course, a quick google and you'll have the recipe for the starter in about 2 seconds - along with a host of websites praising and complaining about the AFB. It hadn't occurred to me that not everyone would be as thrilled as me to get it. There were plenty of blog posts from people who weren't, including a not-so culinary inclined woman who had been given a starter that was several days along and it exploded on her desk. So, since most of the people I think would enjoy it live not so close by, I just gave one bag to my mother in law (she rocks at baking) and froze the rest. I could potentially have this stuff the rest of my life. Forever.
