Daring Bakers--Twelve Days of Cookies!

Good morning, everyone!!
Its time for another Daring Bakers challenge!!! This month we were challenged by Peta of Peta Eats to bake some yummy cookies! One of the recipes needed to be from the 12 recipes suggested by Peta, and the other could be a family favorite or just any other cookie, bar, or candy.

For the first part of the challenge, I chose to bake coconut chocolate cookies!!! Originally, the cookies were supposed to be like little drums, but due to our different flour, my first batch spread out like regular cookies, so we baked the second batch in mini muffin tins. Not as cute as the original, but still yummy!

Recipe (taken from Baking Glory)

Ingredients

Coconut Filling
• 6oz / 175ml Cream Cheese, softened
• ¾ cup Sugar
• 1 Egg Yolk (the only thing that I changed was to omit the yolk, and the filling still came out great!)
• 1 ½ tsp Vanilla Extract
• 2 ¼ cup Coconut Flakes, unsweetened
Cookie Dough
• 1 ¾ cup All Purpose Flour (I ended up using about 2 1/4 cups and my dough still wasn't stiff enough)
• ⅓ cup Cocoa Powder, sifted
• ½ tsp Baking Soda
• ¼ tsp Salt
• 1 ½ sticks Butter, unsalted
• 1 cup Sugar
• 1 Egg

Preparation Instructions

Beat the cream cheese with the ¾ cup of sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg yolk, and vanilla extract and continue mixing for another minute.

Add the shredded coconut and continue beating until everything is well incorporated.

Preheat oven to 375° F / 190° C.

In a medium size bowl, mix together the flour, cocoa powder, salt and baking soda. In the bowl of a mixer add the butter and sugar and beat together until light and fluffy, add the egg and beat until smooth.

Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix until the mixture is stiff but still pliable.

Using a tablespoon, scoop some of the cookie dough into your hand. Flatten the dough into a circle that’s about 2in to 3in (5cm to 7.5cm) in diameter, add about a teaspoon of the coconut mixture into the middle of it and then fold the sides of the dough but do not seal it at the top.

Repeat this with remaining cookie dough.

Place the cookies on a greased cookie sheet and bake the cookies at 375° F / 190° C for about 18 to 20 minutes

Cool on a wire rack.

All in all, these coconut cookie s were fabulous and we all really enjoyed them!!!

Next up, I made two versions of pb cookies. My dad's birthday was this month, and he requested peanut butter!! The first recipe that I made was a traditional peanut butter cookie recipe, and the next, was a peanut butter cookie with peanut brittle that I found here. And here are the recipes:

Peanut Butter Cookies w/ Peanut Brittle (I halved the recipe and got 8 cookies)

Ingredients:
Brittle: 

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup chopped peanuts

Cookies:

• 6 T room temp butter
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 T corn syrup
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup + 3 tablespoons flour
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/16 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 recipe peanut brittle

Directions:

1. First make the brittle but pouring the sugar into a heavy bottomed saucepan and melting over medium heat, being careful not to stir too much in the beginning so that the sugar doesn't crystallize. Once it is more melted, start to stir so that it doesn't burn. Cook until deep amber, about 3 minutes. Once melted, remove from heat and stir in nuts, immediately pour onto a well-greased baking sheet. It will start to set really quickly so try to get it as thin as possible. 
2. Then, start on your batter by creaming the butter, sugar and corn syrup together for  2 minutes. Scrape the sides of the bowl and beat in the peanut butter, then the egg and beat for 30 seconds on high. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and beat on medium-high for 3 minutes. During this time, your batter should double. 
3. Reduce mixer speed to low and slowly add flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Mix no longer than 1 minute just until dough comes together. 
4. Crush half of your brittle by putting it in a ziploc and rolling with a rolling pin. Then add to your cookie dough, mix on low for 30 seconds. 
5. Using a a1/3 cup measure (I didn't fill mine up all of the way), portion out dough onto a parchment-lined cookie sheet at least 4 inches apart and refrigerate for at least an hour. 
6. Preheat oven to 375 and bake for 16-18 minutes. They should still be soft in the middle. 

These tasted best on the second day because the texture of the brittle really came through by then!!! These were probably everyone's favorite of the three that I made and were really, really delicious!!! 

Finally, the traditional peanut butter cookies were delicious too!!!! I just used a recipe that was in our family Better Homes & Gardens cookbook....basic cookies, so I'm not going to share here but I really , really enjoyed this challenge and making two cookies that were so unique and different!!!

Can't wait til next month!

Two Years

So I just found out that today is my two year blogiversary!!! Wow! I can't believe it!!!!

I've definitely had times where I posted more than others....I've switched from wordpress to blogspot.....joined the daring bakers (!!)...the entire blog has changed and grown so much in the past two years that it is almost as if this weren't even the same blog. I've grown up some, and have learned a lot!

I may not have the biggest and definitely not the best blog ever, but I have loved the experience and "meeting" several people through the blog world!!! To celebrate my two years of blogging, here's a yummy smoothie recipe that I've been working on! I was inspired when I saw a post somewhere a while back on an orange push up smoothie, and adapted it to fit what is available here!!

Creamsicle Smoothie (makes two or three smaller smoothies...or one really huge one!)

Ingredients:

• 200g frozen citrus juice concentrate (ours comes in little pouches of 100 grams each...I used tangerine, though orange, mango or anything like that would work)
• 2/3-1 cup milk (depending on the consistency you want your smoothie)
• 1/3 cup sugar 
• 1/2 to 1 cup ice

Directions:

1. Combine your frozen concentrate, milk and sugar in a blender. 
2. Blend until fairly smooth and the sugar has dissolved.
3. Add ice and blend until smooth.
4. Pour into glasses and enjoy!!!! 

Microwave Brownie Cake

Heeeey! Long time no see, huh? I've been coming up with some recipes....and didn't want to post until I had at least a couple in the works.....

I'm sure everyone has seen those microwave mug cakes at some point before.....I know I sure have! I actually made a couple a few years back, and while we all liked them, I have been looking for something a little more brownie-like, since I'm actually not the biggest cake person. I tried out a couple basic recipes for mug cakes to see which worked best and tasted best and from those experiments, came up with a pretty decent fudge brownie cake. 

I've made it a couple of times so far and it has turned out well, one thing I will say is that a little bit of baking powder goes a long way...the amount in the recipe below makes a very dense treat, while just adding a little bit more makes it much more cake-like. So it really depends on personal preference. For example, I preferred this version, while some of my family thought that, while tasty, it was almost too dense. 

Fudge Brownie Mug Cake 

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1/4 cup flour
• pinch salt
• 1 heaping teaspoon cocoa powder
• 1-2 tablespoons sugar (depending on preference)
• 1/8 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 egg yolk
• 1-3 teaspoons milk (or until batter reaches a good consistency)

Directions:

1. Melt the butter in a mug or ramekin in the microwave.
2. Stir in the flour, salt, cocoa, sugar, baking powder, and egg yolk. Add milk until the batter reaches a consistency similar to that of a  thick brownie batter or cookie dough.
3. Place in microwave and cook for 45 seconds. If not done, cook in 5-10 second increments until it is. Top with some melted chocolate and enjoy!!

If anyone tries this out, let me know what you think!!!!

Recipe and Reviews

Heey!!!! Happy Friday!

My mom got in safely on Wednesday and we were all soooo happy to see her!!!!! She said that all of her flights went well and that her planes were mostly on time. She was really tired, but glad to be home. Funny story: while she was gone, dad wanted to get the couches reupholstered for her to surprise her when she got home. The real surprise is that when she got home, the couches hadn't been returned yet, so she walked in to an empty living room!

Soo yesterday morning I whipped up a batch of muffins so that mom wouldn't have to worry about breakfast. I based them off of my coconut lemon muffins, and made banana coconut muffins! Here my recipe:

Banana Coconut Muffins

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cup flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 2 ripe bananas, mashed
• 1 egg, slightly beaten, 
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup shredded coconut

Directions:

1. In a small bowl, combine flour, salt, baking powder and cinnamon.
2. In another bowl, combine bananas, egg, butter, vanilla and sugar. Add dry ingredients to wet. 
3. Stir in about 1/2 cup of coconut.
4. Lightly grease or line 8 muffin tins, and divide the batter between them. Sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup of coconut on top of the muffins. Bake at 325 for about 25 minutes, or until done in the center. If you want, serve with a powdered sugar glaze. 

These muffins were super easy to throw together, and tasted good too!! They were even better today, because the banana flavor really had some time to get stronger. What is your favorite fruit to combine with coconut? I like banana-coconut, but I think that my all time favorite combo is pineapple coconut. Tastes like the beach! :D

One of the things my mom brought back was a gift bag from the awesome people over at Larabar!  I got several different flavors to try out, including the new chocolate chip cherry torte, which I'm going to review here!

I was sent four of these bars, and my entire family has tried them. According to the website, the ingredients are dates, chocolate chips, almonds, cherries, cashews, and sea salt. Here are our reviews:

Mom: Not a huge fan of cherries anyway, she just had a bite of my sister's bar. She was really surprised at how strong the flavors were in the bar, and said that if you do like cherry flavored things, than you'll probably like this. 

Sister: Tried it two different ways, straight out of the package, and slightly heated in the microwave. She said that the cherry flavor is strong both ways, but that when the bar isn't warm, the texture is a little bit crumbly and the chocolate flavor isn't in every bite. After heating it, she said that she loved the bar and it was a great snack! 

Dad: It's tasty! (believe me, he only says this when he means it. :P)

Me: I took my sister's advice and heated up my bar before eating it! Definitely the right decision to make!!!! :D This bar seriously tasted like dessert, but I knew that I was eating whole foods that are super nutritious at the same time! 

So there's our review, hope its helpful! 

Now, I've got a couple of tests take, and than its the weekend!!!!! What are your weekend plans? 

Muffins

Guess what I made for breakfast? Muffins. Shocker, I know. Sadly enough, I didn't have the ingredients for a lot of the recipes, and others I only saw this morning. Which just means that I now have a huge list of things to bake for breakfast =D. Not a bad thing. Plus, I slept in a little, so I woke up and whipped up a batch of my banana muffins because I knew we all liked them. I did stir in some chocolate chips, and crumbled up some of my flourless chocolate cookie crumble into the batter. They came out so, so good! =D

Yesterday, I went into my sister's room and guess who was on my bed (we have a bunk bed...I sleep on top because her room has air conditioning and mine does not)? My crazy cat! Here he is:



Yeah, he's got it hard.

Anyway, yesterday was pretty quiet. We now only have two more Lost episodes until we finish the season!!! Whoo! =D I'm actually pretty upset by the fact that in one episode, Jin and Sun are reunited and in the next, they drown. Grrrr. I might have cried....just a little bit though.  =P

I got in a good cardio workout, can't remember the video that I used exactly except for the fact that its definitely on my workout page. hahaha. The most important part of the workout however, was what I refueled with after it. I didn't have any kale, but I made a banana/honey/coffee smoothie that was pretty stinkin' fabulous. Simple, but yummy is how I roll. =D I actually forgot to take a pic.....I froze the milk while I was working out and my smoothie was sooo thick n' creamy that I ate some of it with a spoon!!!

Well, I had better go....time to study for finals!

 

 

The Return of the Green Monster

Once again, thanks for all of your support on yesterday's post. I haven't felt tired this morning, and mom and I talked about possible reasons last night. We're thinking that it could be emotional stress from the effort that went into gaining weight last week, and when I didn't gain any, I just "shut off". Anyway, I'm (hopefully) back on track and woke up feelin' great this morning!

I actually had a super yummy breakfast, it was so awesome that my sister wanted some, too! =D I made some corn grits, but instead of stirring in plain milk, I used our Aerolatte to whip the milk into a nice creamy, frothy cup of goodness and then stirred it into our grits. Then I microwaved each bowl for a little while so that the grits and the frothy milk would combine, put some butter in each bowl and voila! a simple, but fun brekkie! =P

I also tried a new cardio workout today.  Its bootcamp-style which I love, and only 30 minutes. Its not super hard, so its great if you're not used to the bootcamp style of workout. Anyway I enjoyed it, so here's the link:

Cardio Bootcamp:

http://www.exercisetv.tv/workout-videos/cardio/bootcamp-calorie-burn-1434

Post workout, I was feeling sweaty and thought that a smoothie sounded absolutely wonderful. Aaand we happened to have some fresh kale in our fridge, so I whipped up my favorite banana/coffee green monster. Here's a pic of it in all its ugly glory:

[caption id="attachment_369" align="alignnone" width="455" caption="I'm not pretty, but I taste goooooood!"][/caption]

Definitely not the most picturesque of smoothies, but probably one of my all-time favs! I've been drinking a lot of smoothies recently (like the one I posted about yesterday) because its so stinkin' hot here, but I've missed my green monsters!

Now, I have a couple of questions for ya'll:

What's your favorite warm-weather snack?

Smoothies or yogurt parfaits

Is there any topic that you would like me to post about on my blog?

I looved when Alex asked me why we're in Brasil and I got to do a post about that. Soo I was wondering if anyone else out there had a specific post that they would like to see on here. =D

Got to go now....school is calling.

Hope you have a great day!

Revisiting Some Old Friends

Hey everyone!!!!!

First off, I tried a new granola bar right now! Its watermelon and lemon flavored and tastes like summer!!!!



Its light so I paired it with a cup of yummy fruit salad yogurt for my morning snack! So good!! =D

This morning I also visited my old school friends. I found out when their break was and walked over. It was so great to see everyone and I can't wait to visit again!!!!! I think that being around other people keeps me from worrying about everything else so much. One of the downsides to homeschooling is that I don't get out as much, which normally, is just fine by me. =P I did miss seeing people my age though, so I'll definitely be visiting my school again soon!!!!

Thank you all so much for your supportive comments on yesterday's post! I love you guys! =D It helps so much to know that ya'll are supporting my as well as my awesome family!!!! =D I do have a protein powder related question or two:

Is there a way to make it dissolve better? When I mixed mine up in the smoothie, it was super-grainy. The flavor was great, though, so I was wondering if the graininess was due to something that I did wrong or  if that's just a side-effect of protein powders.

Also, what are some good protein powder recipes for one? I am really trying to supplement my diet, so that I get all of the minerals and vitamins that I need, and I was wondering what other ways there are to use my protein besides just smoothies. Its strawberry flavored, by the way.

In keeping with the treat yourself generously theme of the week, I'd say that today, my treat was spending time with friends that I haven't seen in at least 6 months. =D What about you?

Hope you all have a wonderful day!


 

“Did the programs of the New Deal or World War 2 end the Great Depression?  Support your answer.”

Running Around

First of all, Happy Groundhog Day! =D

Yesterday we did a LOT of running around. You see, when you go to downtown Recife, you have to go to at least 10 different stores to find what you're looking for! =D So we ended up spending the entire afternoon out! It was fun, but we were STARVING when we got home! So we got a quick bite to eat out, and then dad took us to the acai place again! I even brought my camera, but forgot to take pictures. =( Sorry!!!!!

To make up for it, here's a pic of my cat:

[caption id="attachment_286" align="alignnone" width="455" caption="What? You didn't get me any acai?"][/caption]

So today, I don't even have a lot of school to do, which is super nice! =D All I really have left to do is work on my webpage design project, read Act IV of Julius Caesar and do an Algebra II lesson. Technically I'm supposed to have Algebra every day of the week, but I've got it worked out to where I take mondays off, do an Algebra lesson on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, study and do any extra work on Friday and then take the test! What can I say, I'm the queen of procrastination! =D

Oddly enough, our fridge started back up and the little red alarm light went off last night, but we're still having someone come look at it, because who knows how long it'll keep working.

In a little while, mom and I are heading to the grocery store because I am out of snacks and if I don't have something to eat later on the world as we know it will end! Just kidding, but we really do need some stuff. I tag along because I can be helpful if I set my mind to it! =D We can walk to the store, and take a cab back if we have a lot of groceries. Of course, being in Brazil, our grocery store doesn't always have everything we're looking for. Like ground beef. or vanilla extract. or powdered sugar. We've had to make our own powdered sugar in the food processor because we made cinnamon rolls and needed glaze for them. =D It was like a science experiment!!!! And tasty, too!

How has your week been going so far?

What's your favorite way to wind down after a super long day?

No cooking + giant fruit salad + family time= relaxation!!!! =D

Is there anything that you HAVE to have every day or you'll miss it?

Chocolate. And snacks every two hours! Otherwise I turn into a grump! =D

Hope you have a great Wednesday!!!!

A Taste of Home

First of all, thanks for all of the book suggestions!!!!!!!!! I'm going to start looking into them today! =D

Well, taco night was a success!!!! We had a great time visiting with the family! =D

I have a quick question for those of you who are reading this:

What are some of your faaaavorite snacks?

I usually eat granola bars, yogurt (greek or yoplait....it just depends =P), fruit, cottage cheese, and fruit w/ pb. I guess I just want a little something different. Oh and does anyone have a good homemade granola bar recipe for when I'm in Brazil? I mean, we have these really awesome granola bars that have chocolate on the bottom and fruit-y granola on the top, but I don't think that they're the best-ever workout fuel.

So, speaking of workouts, here's the one that I'm about to do:

KBC (Kickbox, Booty and Core =P):

http://www.exercisetv.tv/workout-videos/cardio/kbc-kickbox-booty-and-core-3433#

And then I'll probably just do the 10 minute jump rope. I've been trying to work up the nerve to do this workout that Lindsay posted not too long ago. Tell me if you manage to complete this! =D



Well, tonight, we're going to visit some people from church. The cool thing is: They're Brazilians!!!! So we're going to have a brazilian-style meal! =D They're relatively new at our church, so we've only met them recently, but they're super nice!

Well, that's about all I've got for now....

Have a great Thursday! =D

Why Were 4-hour Tests Invented Anyway?

Guess where I am riiiight about now???? If you said sitting in a room with a bunch of other people, taking my SAT, you were right! I prewrote this post, so that the good ol' blog wouldn't be unupdated (not a word, I know =D) this morning.

Well, I got up at 6 this morning, left at 7, so I could be at the school where I'm taking the test at 7:45. I figure that I'm just about as ready as I'll ever be....I mean you can't really study for the SAT a whole lot, except to review some stuff. I'm just taking it now to see where I am, you know, because South American schools don't exactly offer English and U.S. History classes. Now, ask me any Portuguese or Brazilian history questions, and I'm good to go. Anyway, its a whole lot easier to take the SAT in the States than it is in Brazil.

Now on to my new favorite snack!!!!!!!!! Cocoa roasted almonds in a cup of plain greek yogurt!!!! Yuuuummy!!!!! I promise, this is an amazing combo, especially for those of you who don't like the flavor of plain yogurt. The cocoa sweetens it up just enough, and the combined protein of the yogurt, fiber and healthy fats of the almonds keep me full for a good long time!! =D

Well, for right now, that's really all I've got!!!! I'll update ya'll after the test!!!! =D