Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

*aren't they gorgeous? I took this picture right before inhaling half the cookies. So.Good. 

I get into these obsession-loops… basically, where I fixate on a particular ingredient or recipe and I can't stop thinking about it until I make it... especially when sweets are involved. Normally, I'm a regular old chocolate chip cookie kinda girl, but I went out for lunch with my sister-in-law recently and tried an oatmeal chocolate chip cookie.

It was ok, but just ok, and I thought for sure I could find a better recipe to make at home. I obsessed about it for a week before finally looking around, and this one from Allrecipes is really fantastic. Here is my take on oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.

What you need:

1C butter, softened

1C brown sugar, lightly packed

1/2C white sugar

2 large eggs

2 tsp vanilla

1 1/4C flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

3C oats (I used old-fashioned)

1/2 C semi-sweet MINI chocolate chips (I add my chips by sight, you should too. Most recipes call for WAY too many chocolate chips.)

What you do:

Start by preheating your oven to 325 (or 350 if you're me and don't pay attention to anything ever).

Cream butter and sugars together until smooth, then add vanilla and eggs. Keep mixing until everything is nice and smooth.

In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking soda,  and salt.

Add flour mixture to butter mixture, stirring until just blended.

Add oats and chocolate chips, again stirring until just blended.

Drop heaping spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until edges start to look golden.

Cool on baking sheet for five minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling (if you can resist eating them immediately…).

These cookies freeze and reheat very well!

Apple Spice and Everything Nice Muffins

*Yes, those are my muffins... a variation written below for your baking pleasure. Sidebar: don't buy those recipe cards! They're too thick and awkward... I really don't like them. 

About a thousand times a year, I lament the fact that I can never find really good muffin recipes. Like, you know those muffins you get at the coffee shop, or even from McDonald's... the big, fluffy, slightly sticky ones that are always way tastier than they probably should be? Like that. Every muffin recipe I have at home has been kind of meh. So I was really pleased when I had an insane apple-muffin craving last week and stumbled upon this wonderful recipe by Once Upon a Chef. 

My friend Kali over at Kali Kat Corner both made these on the same day, with different results (all good, though). Kali's (mostly) a vegetarian, and her blog is chock-full of amazing veg-oriented recipes. Please, take a moment and check her out. 

(...Don't worry, I'll wait. You'll be back for these amazing muffins, after all...)

Ok. Ready?

What you need:

1/2C butter
1/2C white sugar
1/4C packed brown sugar (dark)
1 egg
1C sour cream or plain yogurt
2C flour (I used AP, recipe suggested 1C each of AP and WW)
1tsp b.Powder
1tsp b.Soda
1/4tsp salt
1tsp cinnamon
1/2tsp nutmeg
1/4tsp cloves
2C peeled and diced apples (dice 'em how you wanna eat 'em)

A bit of extra brown sugar for sprinkling purposes

  

What you do:

• Preheat oven to 375
• Blend butter with both sugars until fluffy
• Blend in egg, then blend in sour cream / yogurt. Batter will look grainy.
• In separate bowl, mix dry ingredients and spices
• Add dry ingredients to wet, stirring just until blended
• Add apples and stir until blended
• Scoop batter into cupcake papers
• Sprinkle each with brown sugar
• Bake 20-25 mins or until tester comes clean
• Cool on wire rack (but eat at least one while it's warm)

Variations:

• use 2C of mashed banana instead of apple
• use a combination of mashed banana and diced apple, 2C total
• add mini chocolate chips (to taste) to any of the above
• use a combination of banana and apple AND add mini chocolate chips (I did, as pictured... So good!!)
• use mashed banana and add peanut butter chips (to taste)
• make something up and tell me all about it!

I really think this is going to make a great base recipe for all sorts of muffin types... Carrots? Berries? Mangoes!? You can always leave out the spices, too, and you'll have more of a white-cake style base... which would be great for all kinds of other applications. The sky is the limit here... enjoy! 

Banana Chocolate Chip cake

Yes, this is my photo. This recipe is likely the most-used in the book... as evidenced by its disreputable state in the photo!

You know when you have this great idea, and then it all goes awry? About a year ago, while I was visiting my mom in Ottawa, I took a pile of photos of her old recipe book, thinking I would transcribe them to put them here... they're all recipes I grew up with and still make today. Anyway, I took all these pictures and had all these plans and then... well, I forgot where I filed them. 

I came upon them the other and and I was so excited! So I guess now I'd better get them uploaded and shared before I lose them again! 

This recipe was an absolute staple of my childhood lunches. My mom used to make this at least once a month, and a full batch could last us a whole school week, which was awesome. This cake is moist and delicious without being soggy... and the chocolate chips are such a decadent treat for a school lunch (or a snack at home when you're all growed up).

Literally all of my mom's recipes list margarine or shortening instead of butter. Needless to say, I always use butter. I also prefer to use frozen bananas... mostly because I'm too lazy to remember to take them out of the freezer and thaw them before I start baking lol. Normally, I'll toss whole frozen bananas on a paper towel in the microwave for 30 seconds, or until I can get the peel off. Sometimes they need a little more warming before mashing... sometimes not. And of course, there are other substitutions. For example, you can see I scrawled on the bottom that you can use apple cider vinegar to sour the milk... which is delicious and I recommend it. Also, this recipe is g-r-e-a-t if you substitute pumpkin puree and some pumpkin spice for the bananas. Yummo, I promise. 

So without further ado, here is my childhood favorite. 

What you need:

1/2 C butter (or margarine if you must)
1 1/4 C white sugar
2 eggs
1 1/4 C mashed banana (or pumpkin)

1 tsp vanilla
2 C flour
1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 C sour milk

2/3 C chocolate chips (My mom used more, I prefer a higher cake-to-chip ratio. You decide what you want.)

How to sour  your milk:
I normally measure out about 2/3 cups of milk (I almost always use skim, since that's what I keep in the house, but it doesn't really matter). Then, pour enough vinegar (white or cider) to bring the liquid up to 3/4 cups. Stir with a fork, and let it rest for a minute or two until it starts to get nasty. I always give mine another stir before I pour it into the batter. 

What you do:
In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until they're nice and smooth. Add eggs, vanilla, bananas (or pumpkin), and mix well. 

In a separate bowl, mix flour, soda, powder and salt. 

Add 1/3 of your dry ingredients into your creamed mix, stirring well. Add 1/3 of your sour milk and stir well again. Keep alternating until all of the dry mixture and the sour milk are mixed into the creamed bowl. Stir in chocolate chips. 

Pour into greased and floured 13 x 9 pan. Honestly, I never even knew I was supposed to flour the pan... haha... so it's not absolutely necessary but it might help? Also, this works well in muffin tins lined with papers, for a more portable snack. 

Bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes, or until it pokes clean.

Let it cool before cutting. Haha. Kidding. You'll never be able to let it cool first. Eat it while the chips are melty and gooey, you'll be a happy camper. Mmmmm.