White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies

...pure heaven.

So here's the story, I'm in band and we do fundraising for trips at the end of the year. Of course my mom does not want to pay for the entire trip so I have to raise some money myself. Well, my favorite way to do so is selling cookie dough. As much fun as it is selling to others, I enjoy the dough quite a bit myself. Yes! I could make my own cookies, but come on! These are really good cookies! Now I'm not talking about the oatmeal or the candy ones. The only kind my family bought are the white chocolate macadamia nut ones. Oh my goodness. These have been my FAVORITE cookies forever.
Until now.
Because I have a recipe that blows the socks off of those cookies!
Do cookies wear socks? No, but oh well! And why haven't I made them before? Well those nuts are darn expensive and hard to find!
... they are 5.99 for 250 grams at Quality Foods.

And if you have no idea what cookie dough cookies I'm talking about, they are the English Bay. You can get them in vending machines, at Costco, Quality Foods and at Subway. (Yes those giant cookies that everyone gets with a sandwich)

But you shall never have to buy frozen cookie dough again after making these!!!
So print this recipe, and start making them!!!


unbaked cookies...so tempting.

White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies
2 1/2 dozen

1 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups allpurpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 salt (I didn't use my salt because my nuts were already salted)
1 cup chopped macadamia nuts
1 cup white chocolate chunks

Preparation

Pre heat oven 350•F, line cookies sheets with parchment paper, grease or use a nifty silicon mat. (THEY ARE ABSOLUTELY AMAZING) I love my purple one and plan to buy another one very soon.

In a medium sized bowl stir flour and baking soda. Salt if using.

In a large bowl beat butter and sugars until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, and beat until light. Beat in vanilla.

Add flour and beat on low until a soft dough forms. Stir in white chocolate chunks and nuts.


Using an ice cream scoop or two spoons place 12 balls of dough on a baking sheet, 1 1/2 inches apart. Flatten slightly.



Bake for 5 minutes, then rotate pans. Bake for 5 more minutes. Remove from oven and let cool on the sheets for 5 minutes. Move to wire racks and cool completely.


Hmjofsdiojkra.
Ah.
Yum.

These will be gone in 2 days garenteed.

I made them last night and this morning I got an order to make some more. Yay!
Enjoy!!!

Pretty Strawberry Frosted Cupcakes

I made these cupcakes today for a lady who works with my brother. It is a different version of my strawberry dream cloud cupcakes, and I think I like it a bit better! It's the same cake and filling but with a strawberry whipped cream frosting.
o.m.g.
it is amazing.
I plan on making them at Valentines day...


Heeheehee!!! They are so cute! Strawberries in the shape of a heart


Pretty, pale pink colour is perfectly contrasted with the bright ripe red berries.

Strawberry Whipped Cream Frosting
Enough for 12 cupcakes (about 2 cups)

1 cup whipping cream
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup finely chopped strawberries.

Chill beaters and a 500 ml liquid measure until cool. Add the whipping cream, sugar and vanilla. Beat until just beginning to thicken. Add the strawberries and beat on high speed until quite thick. Pipe onto cupcakes.

Try it! You'll love it!

Anne's Banana Bread

Well, last week at SuperStore bananas were only 46 cents each and my mom went a little crazy. We already had 2 bunches at home but she then bought another 3! So here we had 30 bananas sitting on our kitchen table. I LOVE bananas but they don't like me so I can only eat them once and a while. Although that's not the case with my brother and dad, they don't want to live off them. So anyways! Last weekend I made these cookies using up one banana, muffins used up 3 bananas and by yesterday there was only 9 bananas left. You would think that we would be swinging along vines in a jungle by now. But no, there are still some left! So I felt the need to use some more up. And there is no better way than in our family's favourite loaf. It has tons of flavour and it's very tender. The recipe is from my Grandma's cookbook and it's from one of her friend's named Anne. That's where the name comes from. But we're kind of on a diet so I substituted some of the all purpose flour for whole wheat. I could have replaced the butter with applesauce but I didn't want to. There are no spices in this recipe and that's why we like it so much; your getting a no-frill-pure-banana-taste bread. Give it a try, it's probably the easiest recipe in the world! It doesn't last more than 2 days in our house.



Anne's Banana Bread
8 slices

1/2 cup margarine, room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
3 ripe bananas
2 cups all purpose flour (or half whole wheat, the loaf will be denser)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda

Preparation

Preheat oven 375•F and grease a loaf pan

Put all the wet ingredients in a medium large bowl and beat until smooth. Add the flour, baking powder and baking soda and mix until completely combined. Pour into the loaf pan and bake for 1 hour.

Leave in pan until completely cool and remove with a knife. I like to warm mine up in the microwave and top it with butter. Enjoy!

A weekend of Cakes

What a busy weekend! I had 2 BIG orders. Well I actually had 3 but I couldn't make the cheesecake because I knew I would be taking a long time to decorate these cakes. What cakes? STRAWBERRY DREAM CLOUD CAKES! If you would like the recipe, here is the link.

I just wanted to share all the new pictures I have.

Cake number 1:

Belgium Chocolate dipped Strawberries
Bavarian Cream atop a lovely light vanilla cake
Layers of delicious cake! Strawberry Filling too

The finished cake! It is just a tinsy bit funny shaped, but that's okay!

Cake number two!
Better shape

I like this view!

Cake number 3! It's so funny because I made the first cake and the lady who got it, wanted another! That made me feel so good! She said nobody believed a teenager made this. She also doesn't eat cake, and she said she'll eat this cake any day! What a compliment!

I loved the roses, so I put them together.

That's all until October when I make my mom's birthday cake... shes so excited!

Breakfast or "Energy" Cookies

I've been having a major urge to make cookies lately, so stay tuned for lots of new recipes! I found this one a few days ago, and I knew I needed to make it. It's a lot healthier than your typical cookie, so I'm in love with it's nutrition and taste. It's got bananas, pecans, oats, whole wheat flour and raisins that provide amazing texture. I edited the original version by adding some spices. Unfortunately... I forgot the butter. I had put them in the oven for one minute, and was like OMG. I forgot the freaking butter! Apparently my grandma used to do this all the time. But not to worry! I managed to mix it in, and produce a very yummy end product! Yes, they are kind of ugly. But no, they don't taste bad! I prefer 'trail-mix' cookies over chocolate chip cookies, so I replaced those with raisins. (Which also provide even more nutrition.)I highly suggest these! I'm going to use them this week as my energy boosters for dance!

I'm also working on a Strawberry Dream Cloud Cake right now... whipping cream and beaters are chilling in the fridge. Look for pictures tomorrow!
OH... and this week... White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies... they might be gone before I can even take a picture. And no I won't forget the butter this time ;)



Breakfast or Energy Cookies
Adapted from this lovely recipe
Makes 1 dozen BIG cookies. Like HUGE. And I like em that way.

Ingredients:

1 ripe banana
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup BUTTER, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
2 cups quick cooking oats
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt (I always omit salt)
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon gingerbread
*I'm thinking 1/4 teaspoon of cloves would be good too
3/4 raisins (milk chocolate chips if you prefer)
3/4 pecans (I just broke the halves into smaller pieces with my hands)

Preparation

Pre-heat oven 350•F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

In a medium sized bowl beat the banana, sugar and butter. Beat in the vanilla extract and egg. Set aside.

In another medium sized bowl combine the whole wheat flour, oats, baking soda, salt, (if using) spices, pecans and raisins or chocolate chips.

Using a spoon, stir the dry ingredients into the wet. Using an ice cream scoop, make large round balls on the baking sheet. 12. Your sheet should be pretty full, but the cookies don't spread much.

Bake for 15 minutes, rotating the pan halfway. Cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes, then move to a wire rack to cool completely.



Yum yum in my tum tum! Enjoy!

Blackberry Cream Cheese Coffee Cake

HAPPY LABOUR DAY!!! I hope everyone has had a super summer! I know I have! From riding the sand dunes in Oregon, to soaking up sun beside my pool, this vacation has been the best to date! Although the weather didn't warm up until August, it's scorching here now! 30 degrees by the end of the week! Woo! But then there is the downside to today... school tomorrow.
BLAH.
I am looking forward to spending time with my friends and begin dancing again but I am not looking forward to homework. There is so much more I could be doing! And with this nice weather, it's going to be hard to consenstrate! Oh well! I'll get through it.

So I've been busy baking this weekend, cupcakes, cheesecakes and muffins (Will be posted tomorrow). But none of these we're for my family. So I knew I needed to make something for us! I had already made this cake 2 times this week, and both times my family had been drooling over it. So I thought, perfect! It has a vanilla cake base, with a cheesecake like center. Blackberries create a third fruity layer while a cinnamon sugar strussel top it off! Boy did it smell good coming out of the oven. I suggest making this cake soon while blackberries are in season because then all you really need to buy is the cream cheese! Enjoy!!!



Blackberry Cream Cheese Coffee Cake
Serves 10-12

Topping:

1/3 cup all purpose flour
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup cold butter

In a small bowl whisk together the flour, sugar and cinnamon. Cut in the butter with a pastry cutter or two knives until the mixture is crumbly.

Cream Cheese Filling:

250 grams cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg at room temperature
1 tablespoon flour

Pre-heat oven 350•F

In a medium bowl beat the cream cheese until light and creamy. Add the sugar and beat until smooth. Add the vanilla extract and beat until combined and lump free. Beat in the egg until just combined. Beat in flour.

Vanilla Cake Layer:

1 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
Pinch of salt (I don't like adding salt)
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg at room temperature
1/3 cup milk (I used skim)
1 cup fresh blackberries (These could be substituted for blueberries, cherries ect...)

In a small bowl whisk the flour and baking powder (salt if using) Set aside.

Cream the butter and sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla extract and beat it in. Beat in the egg for about 30 seconds until well combined. Alternating with the flour mixture and milk, add to the batter in 3 additions. Beating until just combined after each addition. Begin and end with the flour.

Pour into a 9 inch springform pan and bake on the middle rack for 50 minutes or until the top is light golden brown.

Let it cool slightly or completely.



I appreciate you reading my blog! I hope everything had as good a summer as I did. The blog might not be as busy as usual due to homework and dance, but I will try to post often! Next weekend I'm making 2 strawberry dream cloud cakes.

Lemon cheesecake with blackberry topping

After my lemon cupcake debut, I got a birthday cake request for a lemon cheesecake! The person who ordered it is a really good friend from dance and it's her moms birthday. She said the only request was for it to be lemon, and have blackberries incorporated. I love having freedom when making cakes! I started off the cheesecake with a Dad's oatmeal cookie crust which has nicer spices than a regular graham cracker crust. I then remixed my new York cheesecake recipe to make it lemon. I added the zest and juice of one large lemon. Finally for the blackberries! I cooked down some fresh blackberries that I picked up the street. I then strained them and thickened them to make a sauce. Tossing fresh blackberries in the sauce, I made a sweet blackberry topping. Whipped cream and tiny coke balls complete the cake!
A simple and refreshing dessert for the end of the summer.


Lemon Cheesecake!

Lemon cheesecake with blackberry topping
Serves 12

New York cheesecake
Zest and juice of one large lemon

Preparation

Make the cheesecake according to the recipe above, but before mixing in the eggs, beat in the lemon zest and juice. Bake as indicated.

Release the cheesecake once it has completely cooled. Place topping on middle of cake, spreading until about 1 inch away from the edge. Pipe whipped cream around the edge and add coke balls.


Fresh picked berries!

Blackberry topping

Enjoy!!! PS because I had to make this cake, I will be making the coffee cake tomorrow :)