Snickerdoodles - Say it 5 times fast

As I began to type out this post, I thought to myself: "Why in the world are these cookies called snickerdoodles?"
Because as most of you know, there are no Snickers inside these cookies. And thank goodness for that [no, I will never "Grab a Snickers"].

Good thing there's the internet so we can figure this out. Except the internet doesn't know. Or at least Wikipedia doesn't. And let's face it, if Wikipedia doesn't know then there probably isn't an answer, right? No no no, of course I don't believe that, I am in graduate school, and pride myself with a little more brains than that.

But all this boils down to the fact that I cannot provide you with an answer, and you shall have to suffer through just enjoying the deliciousness of these cookies without knowing the etymology of the name.

Without further ado...

Snickerdoodles [from 1,001 Cupcakes, Cookies, and Other Tempting Treats]
1 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp ground or grated nutmeg
pinch of salt
For coating: cinnamon sugar

Beat butter and sugar together, followed by the eggs and vanilla extract. Mix in the remaining ingredients.

My friend Amanda and I had no patience for the recipe's recommendation of letting the dough sit in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. But it turns out that it's totally necessary because the dough is extremely sticky and hard to roll. So even though you want to hurry up and make them so you can hurry up and eat them, you have to pause and do something else for about 30 minutes.

Scoop the dough out [I used a melon baller, Amanda used her hands] and form into balls. Roll each ball in the cinnamon sugar. Make sure to set them on the pan far enough apart so they have room to spread while baking.

Bake in a 375 degree oven for 10-12 minutes or until golden. Then let the cookies sit for a few minutes to set up before you take them off the pan.
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And OH MY GOODNESS. I think 4 of us ate that whole plate in 15 minutes. The best way to describe them is that they were very pillowy, and seemed to almost melt in your mouth.

Note: they were much better right out of the oven and within a few hours than they were the next day. I mean, my boyfriend devoured them no matter what, but in my personal opinion I would recommend that these be eaten the same day as making them.

Also, I'd like to thank my old roommates, Allie and Amy, for providing me with the cookbook from which this recipe was pulled. It was a great Christmas present and will definitely be mentioned here again and again :)

An Addictive Candy

I have eaten about 2 bags of Hershey's Candy Cane Kisses since I first laid eyes on them in the store. This is very bad. First of all, I actually do not really enjoy chocolate. So the fact that I literally cannot stop eating these little candies is just astounding to me. Also, I'm not a big candy person. I'd rather snack on some fruit.

However, being as obsessed with these things as I am, I wanted to bake something using them. Being a college student, and having no money, means that I often have a pretty pathetic pantry. Luckily, I always keep baking things on hand [sometimes its just better/cheaper to eat cookies for dinner]. On this particular day, I was running out of baking items, so I turned to store-bought brownie mix. True story, this is a way to make a mix look like its a really fancy treat!


I used my Pampered Chef hand chopper to get the kisses into tiny pieces, and then sprinkled them on top of the brownies. They were good, with just a hint of minty taste here and there. If I made them again, I'd probably put them in the middle of the brownie batter, so they'd be a surprise when you bit it, and hopefully would retain a bit more chocolatey texture.


But hey, you can't go wrong with brownies :)

I don't mess around when it comes to cheesecake

If you're like me, you could eat cheesecake for any meal. I am not ashamed somewhat ashamed to admit that I have indeed eaten cheesecake out of the pan, and for breakfast. Has anyone seen that episode of "Friends" where Rachel and Chandler keep stealing the cheesecakes from outside a woman's apartment? I would be right there with them when they did that, and later I'd grab my fork to eat that cheesecake off the hallway floor.

Just in case you couldn't tell, I'm serious about cheesecake.

I fell in love with food blogging because of Bakerella, and so when I found a cheesecake recipe on her website, I KNEW I had to make it. And [un]luckily for my roommate at the time, I enlisted her help [thanks Allie!].

I bought a hand mixer solely for this purpose. I called my mom up from several hours away and wheedled and whined until she let me borrow her German cheesecake pan [that I later broke, by the way]. I was going all the way. I was going to make the most impressive first cheesecake ever.

And it was. Ok, maybe not the most impressive, but by to my pasta 6 meals out of 7, potato chip snacking, cheap beer drinking self...I was a cheesecake goddess. My favorite thing about this recipe: its not too sweet. It has that rich authentic cheesecake taste that downplays the sugar. Which makes it a great dessert. And also a bad one. Because you end up eating way more than you should, because you convince yourself that its good for you since its really not too sweet.

Please. Go get the ingredients. Now. I know that it seems like an indecent amount of cream cheese, but even a college girl can afford to splurge to buy cheesecake ingredients. And considering this will feed you for like 3 days straight, its honestly a bargain.

*Sidenote: For a quicker, and still pleasing version, I sometimes use a store-bought crust and then just make the filling. That way I can get my fix faster. I mean...


Plain Cheesecake
This is Bakerella's exact recipe. Please feel free to visit her site for much better photography, and no cracks around the edges.

For crust:

2.5 cups graham cracker crumbs
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 cup butter, melted

For filling:

4 (8oz.) packages cream cheese
1.5 cups sugar
3 tablespoons flour
5 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 tablespoon lemon juice

Optional:
Toppings [such as syrup, whipped cream, fresh fruit, melted jam, Oreo crumbs, etc]

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees
• Combine graham cracker crumbs and sugar.
• Stir in melted butter until moistened.
• Pour the mixture into a 9 inch springform pan that is at least 3 inches tall. Press the crumb/butter mixture into the bottom and up 1 inch on the sides
  
• Bake for about 10 minutes. Remove and cool to room temperature. [You could also substitute this for a cinnamon graham cracker crust, or chocolate graham crackers, or if you're really bold...Oreos!]
  

• To make the cheesecake filling, cream the sugar, cream cheese and flour with an electric mixer on medium until light and fluffy.
• On medium low, add eggs one at a time, mixing well with each addition.
• On low, add sour cream, lemon juice and vanilla just until combined. [I would like everyone to know that you can definitely do all this without a mixer, as I do now, ever since my mixer started smoking and lit on fire after making too many desserts...true story]
  
• Bake for about 1 hour and 15 minutes at 325.
• Make sure to take it out of the oven before the center looks done. It will be kind of wobbly and it will move in one piece. The center will look more shiny than the edges. That’s ok because it will continue to cook a little while it’s in the pan.
• Remove from the oven and let cool completely to room temperature.
• Hope that it doesn’t crack. [As you can tell, I did not follow this step. Don't be alarmed, it will taste just as delicious, and you will comfort yourself with the fact that of course nobody will want to eat a cracked cheesecake, and you will be left with no other choice but to eat it yourself.]

• Separate the cheesecake from the sides of the pan. Let it chill overnight for the best flavor. This will of course be the hardest step, so you may allow yourself one slice, but honestly it is infinitely better if you allow it to chill overnight because magical cheesecake fairies come do magical delicious things to it in your fridge or something :)
  

I had an extra pie crust!

I've decided my pictures are in the same vein as the Domino's campaign. They post real pictures, sent in from pizza consumers [if we believe what they tell us], on their commercials. That way you know what you're really getting. As much as I would love a fancy camera, and a nicely arranged plate of food, that's just not what happens in reality. You make a dish, and you barely have time to step away from the pan before the boy in your life pops out of nowhere to devour it. Oh, well, that's my reality anyways.

But let's get to the pie!

I had an extra pie crust left over from making a quiche a few weeks ago. Yes, I will tell you all about the quiche in my own time. Focus on the pie, people. I don't know about you, but I normally make pies that have a top and bottom crust. So I was unsure of what to do. Luckily, I have a cobbler that I frequently make, and it is usually a huge hit. I decided it was time for a pie adaptation.

Cranberries. Apples. Cinnamon. Streusel. Pie crust. Heaven?

In case you are squirming in your seat, yes, that combination is heavenly.

The boyfriend positively jumped in excitement when I told him that I use his opinion of the food on this quite-unknown blog [I guess now we know he needs more excitement in his life, poor guy]. His opinion of this pie, and I quote: "neither fruit overpowers the other", and "the texture of flavors all combine to make it wonderful experience in my mouth." How poetic.

In my own opinion, as my biggest critic of course, I need to work on my streusel recipe. Perhaps I needed less, or maybe I need more butter [I vote this option!] because the top layer of the streusel was still dusty and not completely crisped over. Don't worry, once you mix it in with the fruit it still tastes fantastic.


Cranberry Apple Streusel Pie
adapted from a cobbler recipe that I'm pretty sure is from Pampered Chef

1 pie crust
3 Granny Smith apples, peeled and finely sliced
1 can WHOLE cranberry sauce [make sure its not just the jelly stuff!]
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 heaping tablespoons flour

Streusel:
1/3 cup flour
1 cup oats
4 tablespoons butter
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice [you could also use nutmeg if you have that]
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt [I normally never use salt, but this helps cut down on the sweetness]

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Place pie crust in pie pan, fluting the edges if you desire. It probably won't matter what it looks like, as the pie ingredients will reach pretty high on the crust. Spiral apple slices on top of the pie crust.

Mix cranberry sauce, brown sugar, and flour together, and pour on top of the apples. Make sure every apple piece is covered in at least a little cranberry.

Because the ingredients mixed in with the cranberries were all safe, you can just rinse that bowl out and pat dry, and make the streusel in it. This cuts down on the dishes to wash! Once the streusel is made, pour evenly over the top, in the amount that you desire.

Bake at 350 for 40-45 minutes. If your pie crust is peeking out and starts getting too brown, cover the edges in foil and keep baking.