recipes – gifts

giant double m&m chocolate chip cookies

05/04/2013 by Annalise · Leave a Comment

I needed to bake yesterday. Needed to. Like a fish needs water. My heart was aching for it.

Dieting may be good for my waist, but it sure is not good for my heart.

So, despite the beautiful, warm, sunshiney day, I tied on our aprons and we all got to work.

The boys took turns dumping, stirring and tasting. Maren watched and pigged out on Cheerios, and I breathed in the joy of my happy place.

Yesterday. Was a good day.

These fun, giant, plate-sized cookies are what came out of our fun! Because you can’t go wrong with chocolate chip cookies, and… well, m&ms just make everything happier, don’t they?

At least, they do for a 2 year old! (Haakon is obsessed with “MemEms” as he calls them!)

Use two kinds of m&ms for these cookies… regular and minis, dark and peanut butters, regular and pretzel, just mix it up for a fun little twist on the classic!

giant double m&m chocolate chip cookies

Ingredients

3/4 cup butter, melted & slightly cooled
2 cups + 2 tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 egg yolk
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup m&m candies
1/2 cup mini m&m candies

Directions

Melt the butter if you haven't already and set aside.

In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda & salt and set aside.

In a large mixer bowl, cream together the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg, egg yolk and vanilla until smooth.

Mix in the flour mixture until combined. Stir in the chocolate chips and m&ms. Cover the bowl and place it in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to chill.

Preheat the oven to 325ºF and line 3 baking sheets with parchment paper.

Scoop a full 1/2 cup of dough out, round it into a ball and then split it apart into two halves (like you're cracking a egg in half). Place each half craggly side up on a baking sheet, 4 or 5 cookies to a sheet.

Bake for 12-15 minutes, until the cookies are just golden brown around the edges. Don't overbake them!

Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets at least 10 minutes. Store any leftovers in airtight containers in the freezer (these are great make ahead cookies... but I guess most cookies are!).

http://sweetannas.com/2013/05/giant-double-mm-chocolate-chip-cookies.html

www.sweetannas.com

Filed Under: recipes, recipes - cookies and bars, recipes - dessert, recipes - desserts, recipes - freezer, recipes - gifts, recipes - kids, recipes - make ahead ·

cranberry almond streusel quick bread

04/02/2013 by Annalise · 2 Comments

My beloved Williams-Sonoma catalog came in the mail recently (drool) and as usual, I scoured it immediately for recipes. They always scatter a few great recipes throughout the catalog!

(Of course I spend plenty of time drooling over all the fun, cute, extravagant stuff in the catalog too, but I don’t torture myself for too long with the ‘wanting’. I tear out all the good recipes and toss the magazine after the kids play with it for a bit!)

I saw a beautiful quick bread recipe in this latest catalog and since I have been craving coffee cake for a few weeks now and I absolutely love almond extract, I decided to make a spin off of theirs.

My little sous-chef Bjørn had so much fun helping me (and he’s getting to the point where he’s actually more help than hinderance, which makes my heart so happy!) and did the streusel topping almost all by himself.

((I love sharing my love of baking with my kids. I wish it was easier for me to let down my OCD and let them help, but I am learning!))

Do you have any tips for me on sharing my kitchen with my littles? (Or with anyone who is not me, really!) :o)

cranberry almond streusel quick bread

Ingredients

for the bread:
2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup dried cranberries
2 large eggs
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup butter, melted & cooled
2 teaspoons pure almond extract
for the topping:
1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons flour
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 tablespoons butter, melted or room temperature

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Grease an 8x4" loaf pan and set aside.

In a large bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt & cranberries until well mixed.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, butter & almond extract until well blended.

Pour the wet ingredients into the large bowl with the dry ingredients and stir with a fork until just mixed. Do not overmix the batter!

Spread the batter into the prepared loaf pan and set aside.

In a small bowl, stir together the topping ingredients until well combined and crumbly. Scatter this topping evenly over the batter and place in the oven.

Bake for 55-65 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

http://sweetannas.com/2013/04/cranberry-almond-streusel-quick-bread.html

www.sweetannas.com

As with almost all quick breads, this freezes beautifully! Cool completely before wrapping in foil and placing in a labeled gallon ziploc freezer bag. Thaw on the counter overnight for a quick, delicious breakfast!

recipe adapted from Williams-Sonoma

Filed Under: recipes, recipes - breads, recipes - breakfast, recipes - dessert, recipes - desserts, recipes - freezer, recipes - gifts, recipes - make ahead ·

perfectly grown-up chocolate chip cookies

03/14/2013 by Annalise · 2 Comments

I am absolutely in love with this cookie recipe. I make all my chocolate-chip-ish cookies from this base and can’t really imagine anything else topping it.

I especially love that I don’t need to soften butter ahead of time for this recipe (I never remember to do that!) and that it doesn’t make a HUGE batch.

Two or three cookie sheets and I’m done, which is perfect for keeping me from eating too many cookies and/or wasting half a batch of cookie dough because I am too tired/lazy/distracted to finish scooping and switching out cookie sheets.

Also, my kids don’t usually let me have enough time for all that. So, this 2 sheet recipe is perfect for my everyday, I just need a cookie, baking needs!

I never can seem to leave well enough alone though (just ask my husband!) so I change these up often.

Yesterday, it was what I call “Grown Up Chocolate Chip Cookies”! A beautiful background of pure almond extract and a big hit of rich, dark chocolate chips.

Kids will love them too, but they are just a bit extra special for the grown-ups in your life!

perfectly grown-up chocolate chip cookies

Ingredients

2 cups + 2 tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup butter, melted and cooled slightly (still warm)
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 egg yolk
2 teaspoons pure almond extract
2 cups dark chocolate chips

Directions

Preheat the oven to 325ºF. Line 2-3 baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda & salt; Set aside.

In your mixer bowl, cream together the warm butter and sugars until light and fluffy, about 3-5 minutes. Beat in the egg, egg yolk & almond extract until smooth.

Beat in the flour mixture until just combined and then stir in the chocolate chips.

Take about 1/2 cup of the dough and form it into a ball in your hands. Hold the ball in both hands and gently break it apart (like you are cracking an egg!) and set the dough pieces craggly-side up on the baking sheet. (You now have 2 cookies from that 1/2 cup of dough).

Repeat until all the dough is gone, allowing plenty of space in between cookies on the sheets so that they have room to spread.

Bake for 12-18 minutes, depending on your oven and the size of your cookies – until the cookies are barely golden brown around the edges… being careful not to over-bake them.

Remove them from the oven, leaving the cookies on the baking sheets until they have firmed up enough to lift off the pans… around 5-10 minutes.

Enjoy as many as you want warm and freeze the leftovers!!

http://sweetannas.com/2013/03/perfectly-grown-up-chocolate-chip-cookies.html

www.sweetannas.com