October 2, 2009

I happened to find a bag of Coconut M&Ms at a random Kroger a couple of weeks ago, and decided to make cookies out of them.  I love M&M cookies!  I think it's because our grandmother in west Texas would make a batch whenever we came for a visit, and I just have warm memories of her with M&M cookies.  We only had one grandmother, and she was a good one!  😀

For an excellent cookie recipe, I looked to Anna the Queen of All Cookie Madness, of course!  She didn't let me down.  She recently did an M&M Cookie Roundup, and linked to a chocolate M&M cookie recipe from One Ordinary Day.  I made a few changes to that recipe, and came up with these beauties.

Chocolate Coconut M&M Cookies

(Adapted from One Ordinary Day)

2 c flour
3/4 c unsweetened cocoa powder (I used Penzeys Natural Cocoa)
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 c butter, softened
1/2 c shortening, at room temperature
2/3 c granulated sugar
2/3 c packed light brown sugar
1 tsp mexican vanilla extract (Penzeys Mexican Vanilla, of course!)
2 large eggs
1 bag Coconut M&Ms (1 cup for the batter plus the rest for the cookie tops)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Combine flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt in a small bowl.  Whisk to combine.

In a large bowl, beat butter and shortening with sugars and vanilla until creamy.  Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each one.  Beat flour mixture into butter/sugar mixture, in 2 or 3 additions.  Stir in M&Ms with a wooden spoon.  Drop by tablespoons (I used a tablespoon-size cookie scoop) onto ungreased cookie sheets.  Add a couple of M&Ms to each cookie.  Bake for 9 or 10 minutes.  Cool on cookie sheet for a minute or two, then remove to wire rack to finish cooling.

Makes 3 dozen cookies.

These were delicious, chocolatey, almost fudgy cookies.  The flavor of the mexican vanilla was awesome with the cocoa and the coconut.  The Coconut M&Ms worked beautifully!  Everyone gave them a big thumbs-up!  The cookies were best the first two days; after that they started to dry out a little bit.  Now there are only crumbs left and a couple of empty cookie containers…

One of the things I adore about M&M cookies is how the M&Ms that touched the cookie sheet have gotten all crispy-ish and kind of caramelized on the backs of the cookies.

If you see Coconut M&Ms, grab a bag and turn them into these scrumptious cookies!

PS:  We're going pink for the whole month of October for Breast Cancer Awareness, so enjoy the pink type!

~BigSis

September 28, 2009

I had a thousand things to do last night.  You know how it is on Sunday night.  There are things left to do and the weekend is running out.  I know that people think single people have oodles of spare time on their hands, but it doesn't work out that way for me.  Besides a stressful full-time day job, the bills have to be paid, the animals need care, the house needs cleaning, the laundry needs tending to, the car needs maintaining, meals needs preparing, and errands need to be done.  Oh, yeah, and then there is BigSisLilSis, exercising, and maybe a tiny bit of a social life, if I'm lucky.  But, that's just life, right?  We're all busy.

So with all of that going on, what did I do last night?  I baked cookies, of course!  😀  What the heck!  As I was stirring up a big mess in my kitchen, I started thinking.  Why do people bake?  Why am I baking?  Now I'm wondering…why do you bake?

• To alleviate stress? Some people, like LilSis, would say that baking is a stress-inducer, rather than a stress-reducer.

• To fill a need to fill tummies? Do you bake because your family needs food, and whipping something up is the easiest way to feed them?

• To save money? Depending on the ingredients, it definitely can be more economical to bake a batch of cookies or a loaf of bread from scratch than it is to buy something at the grocery store.

• To carry on a family tradition? Lots of families have vintage recipes that have been passed down for generations, so baking them and teaching them to children and grandchildren keeps the tradition alive.

• To have fun? Baking can be fun, when things work out right, and mastering a challenging recipe is really rewarding.  Spending time in the kitchen to me is just plain fun!

• To show your love for people? Lots of people, me included, love to bake something that pleases people.  For me, baking isn't just a task, it's something I put my heart into.  I want it to be perfect, and for people to know I did it for them because I care about them.

So, now that you know I bake for fun and love, please tell me.  Why do you bake?

~BigSis

September 23, 2009

Multigrain Sandwich Bread Up Close and Personal

I'm not a Wonder Bread kind of a girl. I like my bread grainy and seedy and nutty, but not too dense or clunky.  Sometimes those heavy breads can make fabulous toast; Ezekiel Bread is a perfect example. But in sandwiches they're just a little too much, you know?

I usually buy Sprouts' delicious whole grain bread, but I thought it would be fun to make my own.  Months ago, I saw a recipe for a multigrain bread that used Bob's Red Mill 7 Grain Cereal, and I bought the cereal in anticipation of making the bread.  I never got around to making it though…til now! Ta da!

Multigrain Sandwich Bread

This is the best bread!  I absolutely love the way it came out.  It's light enough for sammies, but it's still a substantial whole grain bread.  It's not too sweet or too bitter as some multigrain breads can be.  This is Goldilock's multigrain bread…it's just right.

Was it easy to make?  Ummm, yeah, I guess, but it took all day to make 2 loaves (without a bread making machine).  I actually enjoyed the process, but it was a process so be prepared to tend to it off and on all day.

You can find the recipe on Bob's Red Mill site.  I followed it exactly except for adding 1/2 cup chopped almonds, and using salted roasted sunflower seeds instead of raw ones.  I'll definitely make this again.  Do any of you have a favorite multigrain bread recipe I should try?  Think about it while I go make some toast and find some butter.

~BigSis

September 13, 2009

Banana Snickerdoodles

What to do with overripe bananas?  That's the age-old question, isn't it?  And it seems like I ask it every time I buy a few, since bananas go from green to overripe in about 2 days here in our Texas summer.  I can't stand to eat them after they get the first freckles, and I'm not a big fan of banana bread.

So, where does that leave me? Looking for new recipes, and I think I found a good one!  Lisa is Cooking recently posted on Noble Pig's Banana Snickerdoodle recipe that was adapted from Going Berserk.  Get all that?  No worries; all you need to know is that these cookies are fabulous!  Just follow the links to the recipes.

I only changed one little thing.  The recipe called for baking the doodles at 400 degrees for 9 minutes.  I did that for the first batch but they were a touch too toasty for me.  I  lowered the temp down to 375 and the cooking time to 8 minutes for the rest of the batches, and they were perfect.  This recipe made a whopping delicious 4 dozen Banana Snickerdoodles.

Stack o' Snickerdoodles

~BigSis

September 9, 2009

The New Basics Cookbook has been on my shelf for a long time, but I don't think I've ever made anything from it, until I heard last week that one of its' authors, Sheila Lukins, had passed away after battling cancer for only 3 months.  I decided it was time to put the cookbook into use by baking something from it in Sheila's memory.

I've been on a lemon blueberry kick lately, hence the two batches of Lemon Blueberry Cheesecake Bars, so I gravitated toward Sheila's Lemon Blueberry Bread.  It's described as a classic tea bread, but I would describe it as more of a cake or coffeecake.  I would also say that it's delicious!  It's so good that after I ate two slices, it became clear to me that it had to go in the freezer if I didn't want the whole thing to end up in my mouth and then on my butt.

This bread is chock-full of blueberries and has a nice subtle lemon flavor in the background.  The topping tastes like cinnamon toast to me; don't leave it off!  It makes the bread really special, I think.  I only made once change, since I don't buy milk and didn't have any almond milk in the house.  Instead of 1/2 cup milk, I used 1/4 cup orange juice and 1/4 cup water, and it seemed to work fine.

Thanks for the recipes, Sheila.  This one's for you.

Lemon Blueberry Bread

Lemon Blueberry Bread
(The New Basics Cookbook by Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukins)

3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup milk
4 tablespoons butter, room temperature
1 egg
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups fresh blueberries
1 tablespoon grated lemon zest

Topping:
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup flour
4 tablespoons butter, room temperature
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Oil a 9×5 loaf pan (I used pan spray with flour included).

Stir topping ingredients together in small bowl until smooth and set aside.

In medium size bowl, combine sugar, milk, butter and egg until smooth.

In another bowl, toss flour with baking powder and salt. Stir this into wet ingredients; then gently fold in blueberries and lemon zest.

Spoon batter into prepared pan and sprinkle with topping. Bake 50 minutes, until topping is deep golden and has formed a thick crust. Cool in pan 5 minutes; transfer to wire rack for cooling.

Lemon Blueberry Bread

~BigSis

June 16, 2009

Have you heard about these new mixes for fat-free brownies called No Pudge?  All you add is non-fat vanilla yogurt. Since I fessed up to being a bake-from-scratch snob, but then had a raving disaster with my homemade cherry pie, I figure I'm obligated to humble myself and try some mixes.  I've heard that these brownies are good, but I'm so skeptical!  A brownie with no butter?  And it's supposed to be worth eating?  I say prove it!

I bought a box of the original flavor of No Pudge at Central Market for $4.59.  They also have mint, raspberry and cappuccino varieties but I wanted to start off with the basic chocolate.  The nutritional label says each brownie has 110 calories, 0 grams of fat, and 22 grams of sugar (!).

The No Pudge brownies couldn't be easier to make.  You add 2/3 cup of non-fat vanilla yogurt to the mix, which includes sugar, flour, cocoa, egg whites, cornstarch, wheat gluten, salt and baking soda.  You mix the yogurt in thoroughly and smooth it into an 8″ square pan.  The instructions say to bake for 30 to 35 minutes, but I only had a 9″ pan, so I baked for closer to 25 minutes.

After chilling overnight, I took these to work for an informal taste test and these are the results:

• Everyone agreed that the flavor was very chocolaty, and two people thought you couldn't tell the difference between these and a full-fat brownie. I could tell!

• The consistency was very fudgy and pretty gooey.  I wonder if I underbaked these, and if they would be less gooey with more baking time, although they tested done and I hate to overbake brownies.  I'd rather slightly underbake than overbake.

• My opinion was that the texture was a tad spongy and gooey at the same time.  I also thought the first note on my tongue was sugar, which makes sense since non-fat baked goods usually compensate with extra sugar.  I could totally tell that something was amiss with these little guys, although the chocolate fix was there.

Would I bake these again?  Nah.  I'd rather have half of a Barefoot Contessa Outrageous Brownie than several of these.  It was a fun experiment, but that's just how I roll.  I have to say that I like that there aren't a bunch of artificial ingredients and sweeteners in these brownies, but I'm not really into non-fat versions of real food.  Perfect examples are the grossness of non-fat mayo and non-fat cheese.  Blecch.

I can see these “brownies” being served at a baby shower or spa party hosted by one of the “ladies who lunch” in Dallas.  I imagine they'd be cut into 1/2″ squares.  Give me a regular brownie, even if it means more time on the treadmill!

Oh, and P.S.  My camera is on the critical list, so these craptastic photos may be the last you see from it!  I took well over 100 photos to even get a couple that were usable.  If you love your camera, please send me your recommendation of any models I should look at!

~BigSis

April 7, 2009

Are you baking for Easter?  The essential Bunny Cake with coconut decoration automatically comes to mind, but how about something a little different?  Here are some ideas from the brilliant minds in Blogdom!

• Easter Egg Shortbread Cookies from Baking Bites
• Bee Hive Honey Cupcakes with Honey Buttercream Frosting topped with Peanut Butter Crunch from Culinary Concoctions by Peabody
• Strawberry Easter Desserts from Spatulas, Corkscrews & Suitcases
• Carrot Cake with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting from The Kitchen Sink Recipes
• Matzo Toffee from Noble Pig
• Spinach Brownies from My Baking Addiction
• German Chocolate Cake: Inside Out from Sass & Veracity
• Easter Cookies from Joy of Baking
• Strawberries and Cream Cake from CookieMadness
• Easter Pie from Cooks.com
• Blueberry Lime Angel Food Cake from Cast Sugar
• French Yogurt Cake from She's Becoming Doughmesstic
• And last but not least, don't miss the adorable sheep, chickies, bunnies and Easter eggs that Bakerella has created!

Happy Easter, and happy baking!

~BigSis

February 24, 2009

Well, I have to say that my Cooking Bucket List is nothing as specific or fun as yours, BigSis! These days, I'm just struggling to stay on top of weekly meal planning and shopping for the family. We have too much going on right now for me to carve out any extra time in the kitchen. Maybe one day things won't be quite so hectic.

If I could have just one thing on my Cooking Bucket List, it would be to try to become a better baker. I'm going to have to get past the fact that I don't like to measure ingredients! Actually, I have lots to learn! I think it will just require some time and patience. Hopefully, the day will come when I have time to experiment.

I've been working on my ‘other' Bucket List, ever since I saw the movie. Some things are more trivial than others and some are bigger wishes, but I thought I'd just share a few. (They're more fun than my cooking list.)

This list is not necessarily in order by priority, but I think the likelihood of me getting front row tickets to Elton John's Red Piano concert might happen before I get to go to Egypt or spend a month in Maui.

Here's just part of my Bucket list:

• Go to Vegas and see Elton John's Red Piano concert again and get front row tickets so I can get onstage
• Go on a hot air balloon ride
• Take my dream trip to Italy
• Learn to speak Spanish fluently
• Learn a little bit of  Italian before the dream trip to Italy
• Go back to Magens Bay in St. Thomas with SirHoney
• Swim in the French Riviera
• Visit Egypt, tour the Valley of the Kings, and see where they discovered the tomb of Tutankhamen
• Watch the sunrise at Haleakala, take the 28 mile bike ride down the mountain, and then spend a month in Maui

Haleakala Sunrise

Oh, how I would love to be there right now! I'm looking forward to the day when I can start scratching some of these off my list.

Come on…I'd love to hear what's on your Bucket List!

~LilSis

January 4, 2009

Once again, I think we're on the same page, BigSis!  Those are all favorite topics of mine.

• MAC is definitely one of my favorite topics to discuss. I can't get enough MAC! I'm not sure if anyone enjoys reading about our little obsession as much as we like talking about it, but I hope so, because we will keep talking about MAC Cosmetics in 2009!

• Maybe in 2009, we can share some great ideas on color combinations and more instructional videos. I loved the videos that you shared from MissChevious. And I definitely think most women our age are looking for good skin care and beauty products that actually work! We need to continue on our quest to discover the best anti-cellulite product!

• For 2009, I can't decide if I'm going to leave all the baking to you, or if I'm going to challenge myself to improve on my baking skills. I do get inspired when I read some of our favorite food blogs like  Cookie Madness, Culinary Concoctions by Peabody, The Recipe Girl, Baking Blonde, Bakerella, and Martha but baking doesn't come natural to me. I need to decide if I'm up for the challenge! (Oh, by the way, is a bee in the bonnet kind of like ants in your pants?) tee hee

• But seriously, I am on a mission to find lots and lots of healthy, low fat, tasty recipes to start off this New Year. I'm much better at substituting and revising recipes in cooking versus baking!  I also need to make sure that I'm not trying to take the photos with HayHay standing over me with a plate and fork in hand! It doesn't make for good photography when you're in a rush!

• I definitely want to talk about fitness and getting healthy for 2009! I want to eat as healthy as possible, kick up the exercise a notch or two and take my vitamins and supplements every day. I really want to continue to look for new ways to work on improving brain health. Anything we can do as “forty somethings” to keep our ‘mind' alert and the ‘ole bod' from going south is a good thing.

Oh, and we can't forget that we'll be talking about BlogWorld 2009 since we WILL be attending this year!

I'm really happy with what we've accomplished with our blog during the short time we were “live” in 2008 and I'm very excited about 2009.  I know we would both love to hear comments from any of our readers about their favorite topics.

~LilSis

January 3, 2009

Hey LilSis, and Happy New Year!  How funny that many of your resolutions were mirrors of my thoughts.  Not so surprising after all though, I suppose.  We do have a lot of similar experiences with similar responses to them.

We haven't talked about this offline, but I can give you some of my thoughts on what I'd love to talk about in BigSisLilSis in 2009.

• More MAC, more skin care, more beauty product info! I think we're all looking for the thing that works best for us, and if we put our heads together, we can compare notes and maybe save each other some time and money,  I have some leads on some interesting products that I'm working on already.
• More food and more recipes! I've got a bee in my bonnet to try some baked goods using agave nectar and coconut oil, since these two are touted as healthier alternatives to traditional ingredients.  Overall, I want to bake more and post more recipes and photos.  I have a whole bunch of new baking cookbooks that I need to break in, and baking just makes me happy!
• More tips and thoughts on achieving the healthiest state we can reasonably attain, as opposed to just trying to look good. Not that there is anything wrong with looking our best; I'm just focusing like a laser beam on getting healthy healthy healthy this year, God willing.
• More cats in hats, of course! My furkids didn't get a new chapeau this Christmas since their Meowmy was busy with the SPCA bake sale (sorry, kitty pies, sometimes you have to sacrifice for the good of your fellow felines).  But I promise more hats on more cats in 2009!  And that isn't just an empty campaign promise!  Since we agree that we need to laugh more, one of the best ways I know of is cats in hats!
• In the category of “materialistic”, I'd like to talk more about shoes! Buying shoes, organizing shoes, wearing shoes…you know, just talk about shoes.  I REALLY want to share my love (obsession or fetish may be better terms) for t-strap shoes!
• Last but not least, I'd love to do more Sister Showdowns, Sunday Suppers, and What the “L”s. I get a kick out of doing those, and I hope I'm not the only one who does.

Those are my off-the-cuff thoughts, LilSis.  What are your thoughts for the year ahead?

~BigSis