Peanut Butter Cookies

It has been quite a while since my last post.  I have been so bogged down with school, work, and trying to stay organized that I found myself buried underneath a pile of stress that only fashioning delicious baked goods could cure.  This weekend I'm going to the New York Comic Con and I wanted to make something for our hosts who are letting us crash with them, and also who got us passes in the first place!

I decided to make peanut butter cookies, and I used the recipe from the Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book.  Now, the peanut butter I enjoy eating on crackers, or in a sandwich, is Smucker's All Natural.

This peanut butter is very tasty.  It is slightly salty, which I enjoy in a peanut butter, and it is slightly crunchy.  I don't like sweet peanut butters, nor do I like crunchy and chunky varieties.  This butter is just right.

In a medium bowl combine 1 stick of butter with 1/2 cup of room temperature peanut butter.

Add 1/2 cup of white and brown sugars as well as 1/2 tsp of baking powders and soda.

Next beat in 1 egg and 1/2 tsp of vanilla.

Beat in 1 1/4 cups of flour, and your dough is complete!

Next scoop the dough into balls (I used my cookie scoop), and roll in granulated sugar.

Place on cookie sheet.

Once all your cookies are lined up, it's time to use a fork.

Press it into each cookie making a criss cross design.

Once all the cookies are finished, place in a 375 degree oven and bake for 9 minutes.

So pretty, and even better to eat!

Oatmeal Cookies

Ever go through your pantry and see something that needs to be used up?  I do, and this weekend, I found my tube of instant oatmeal.

This tube also included a good recipe for oatmeal cookies and just enough instant oats to bake said cookies.  

I really like oatmeal cookies, especially during this time of year.  They taste much heartier, and they have the illusion of being healthier.  However, when you start a recipe out with 1 cup of softened butter, you really should know better than that!

So, mix the cup of butter with 1/2 cup of white sugar and 1 cup of brown sugar.  Beat until combined.

Add 2 eggs and a tsp of vanilla extract.

Next, beat in 1 tsp baking soda, 1/2 tsp of salt, 1 st cinnamon and 1 1/2 cups of AP flour.

Instead of the typical raisin, I added my favorite chocolate chips, as well as dried cranberries.

And then the oats, 3 cups to be exact.

Stir to combine.

Bake at 350 degrees for 12 minutes.

But what's this? My cookies are all melty.

And resemble little piles of cat sick...

I'm not quite sure what happened with these...maybe the butter was too soft, and the fat didn't properly distribute in the cookies.  Or, it could be that I didn't full incorporate the oats in the cookies.  Who knows.  These cookies looked ugly...but they tasted great!

Upside-Down Plum Cake

Today was cold.  Bitter cold.  This weekend I'm going to a party to say goodbye to the summer.  I told the hostess that I would make some kind of dessert for the occasion.  I thought a dessert using a delicious summer fruit would be appropriate.  This is a recipe I first found on a knitting website of all places.  Ysolda Teague posted a recipe from Smitten Kitchen on her knitting blog.  Her's was slightly different from the recipe found on Smitten Kitchen.  The original is here, the one I used is here.

First melt 1 stick of butter.

Grind 1/2 cup of almonds.

Mix with 1 cup AP (all purpouse) flour, 3 tsp baking powder, and 1/2 cup brown sugar.

Add 1/3 cup of thick yogurt, I used 0% fat plain yogurt.

Then 3/4 of the melted butter

2 eggs and a "generous amount" of vanilla extract.  I used about 1 Tbsp.

Mix thoroughly.

Now, the rest of the butter gets poured into a 9 inch springform pan lined with parchment paper to reduce leakage.

Sprinkle 2 Tbsp of brown sugar on top of the melted butter.

Then it was time to handle the plums.

I bought these a couple of weeks ago, and kept them in the crisper for this recipe.  I wanted them to be ripe, but not spoiled.  And slicing them, you can see the beautiful difference in color which will show up in the final product.

Once they're sliced start lining the bottom of the pan with the plum slices from the outside in.  I did mine in circles.

Cover with the batter, and bake in a 350 degree oven for 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Looks good as is.

But flip it over...

And it's even more lovely!