Tag Archives: Brown Sugar

S&B Holiday Recipe Ideas

21 Dec

Hey crew! If you’re anything like me around the holidays, you’re trying to come up with some new cookie recipes or find a new food to have out at the holiday spread. Or maybe you’re hosting a big group and you need some ideas for breakfast in the morning?

I wanted to have a short, but helpful post for you guys to help you find some great options within the Spatulas and Buttons archive. I would also LOVE to hear some of your favorites! Leave a comment below with one of the holiday classics that you enjoy making, I’d love to try out new ideas from you all!

Classic cookies that everyone will love…

You guys know my love for trying out and posting cookie recipes here on the blog, so we’ll start there. These are a few of my favorites…

Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies:

These ARE my favorite and was my choice for cookie exchange contribution this year. They’re chewy and wonderful, not overly minty (unless you’re heavy-handed with the mint extract…I recommend to not be) and truly PERFECT for the holidays. Whenever I make these, they disappear FAST.

IMG_0185
Sugar Cookies:

This is a classic at the holidays, am I right?! This sugar cookie recipe is one that I personally prefer as it produces chewy wonderfulness. I got have ’em chewy! They’re wonderful when frosted but still tasty if eaten plain.

IMG_0712

Brownie Roll-out Cookies:

These look festive, they can be made into all sorts of shapes and when dusted with powdered sugar, well, let’s be real – it looks like snow. Perfect. No more explanation needed.

IMG_4239

Snacks to bring to that party you’re invited to…

It’s always great to have a few go-to’s for when you’re asked to bring something to the holiday get-together with family. Or, if you’re wanting to be creative and give a hostess gift that will double as snacks. Here are a few options that I’ve found to be delicious…

Chipotle & Rosemary Nuts:

Mixed nuts seem to be a staple at the holidays and this recipe just gives a little pizzazz to the mixed nuts bowl you put out on the table every year. It’s a little spicy, a little sweet with a great layer of rosemary throughout. Yum!

CIMG3432

Cake Batter Dip:

When trying to find a sweet dip to balance out all of their savory cousins (are dips cousins?!), this will win over anyone with a sweet tooth. It’s great with fruit or with plain cookies (e.g. Nilla Wafers).

IMG_4773

Fruity Dark Chocolate Bark:

A different approach to the ‘bark’ that always seems to be out on the dessert table at this time of year. This one uses dried fruit to give a sweet and tangy flavor and a little crunch. It’s also very pretty and would work perfectly as a hostess gift!

IMG_4160

Breakfast for a crowd…

Are you planning on hosting family and friends throughout the next few weeks? If so, when it comes to breakfast, it’s essential to have a few plans in your back pocket. These options would be perfect to feed pajama clad folks and will be a tasty way to start your day…

New York Breakfast Casserole:

This casserole is a twist on the New York bagel, with everything bagels, cream cheese and endless possibilities to add your meat of choice (lox, sausage or bacon anyone?!) and/or veggies. I love this with the classic tomatoes and red onion combo, but you could add in some bell peppers, green onions, etc. It can even be prepped the night before, leaving you more time to snooze in the AM.

IMG_4112

Baked Oatmeal:

A fancier oatmeal that will warm everyone’s stomachs as they wake up for the day. You can add in whichever fruit strikes your fancy (raspberries and blueberries have worked well in my previous experiments). This goes well when paired with bacon and/or sausage (and makes your kitchen smell like the best breakfast restaurant in town).

IMG_6642

Raspberry Scones:

Looking for a bread/pastry (that doesn’t require you to wake up at the crack of dawn) to feed warm to your guests?! These scones are a cinch to throw together and you could easily make a few batches at once. They’d be great paired with some eggs in the morning, providing a perfect item to soak up those runny yolks. Sigh. Now I want one. AND a runny yolk for dipping.

IMG_6474

********************************

I’m finally going to get to try out some new recipes over the holiday season, with a break from work and plenty of time to experiment in the kitchen. Can’t wait to share these adventures with you!

And guess what?! This girl finally got herself a DSLR camera! SO excited to capture better and clearer pictures for you all in future posts. I know my iPhone photos won’t win any awards. But hey, I did the best I could with the technology I had. Looking forward to learning the in’s and out’s of the new camera so I can bring more mouth-watering pictures to the blog.

Wishing you all a wonderful holiday season, with time spent relaxing with those you love most, enjoying delicious treats and sipping libations that warm your belly.

Cheers!

Advertisement

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Oatmeal Cookie Granola

22 Nov

IMG_7034

So I realize to many, granola is not the most exciting thing. To those people I say, you need to try THIS granola.

Now, I’ve posted a previous granola recipe on here (which I still thoroughly enjoy and still recommend), but this is granola with a different sort of twist – sweet and kicked up a notch, with different crunch, different flavors (hello again, browned butter) and CHOCOLATE. Yes, there is chocolate in this granola and I know it shouldn’t be my favorite part as at the heart of it all, granola is supposed to be “healthy-ish” (right?!)…but it is. I’m not even sorry about it.

I made this a few weeks back and our apartment smelled soooooooo good. I would make this solely to make my apartment smell like THAT again. If for nothing else, make this to infuse your home with smells of cookies, oatmeal, and browned butter.

Gah.

So. Delish.

Ironic choice of words (and still true words) as this recipe is from Seriously Delish, the cookbook I’ve raved about a few times (the Baked Oatmeal from a few posts back is from here too). I want to make just about every recipe in this cookbook, so this will NOT be the last time you read about it on this blog. Jessica wrote a masterpiece that has the right amount of creativity, taste, coziness AND her hilarious commentary throughout; it’s the perfect cookbook compliment to her blog How Sweet Eats. I’ve read Seriously Delish cover to cover a few times. (P.S. is that weird? I read cookbooks cover to cover. Ok, ok. Yes, that’s weird. Please reserve your judgment.)

So about that granola…

…here we go, in a recipe adapted from Jessica’s recipe in Seriously Delish.

Ingredients:

  • 2 1/4 c old-fashioned rolled oats
  • 1 c slivered almonds (other nuts would work great – pecans or walnuts, etc.)
  • 1/2 cup whole flaxseed (you can do ground flaxseed too)
  • 1 Tbsp brown sugar
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/2 cup honey
  • 2 Tbsp unsalted butter, browned
  • 2 Tbsp melted coconut oil
  • 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
  • 1/4 c  – 1/2 c semi-sweet mini chocolate chips (sprinkle in as much extra chocolate-y ‘sweet’ as you want!)

How to Make:

This is super simple guys, you can whip it up in no time. Whether you do this the morning you plan to enjoy it for breakfast (it’s excellent with some Greek yogurt) or make it the night before.

Before you start mixing, preheat your oven to 325 and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Set the cookie sheet away for now and locate a large bowl. Now to mix!

In said large bowl, combine the oats…

IMG_6697

…slivered almonds…

IMG_6698

…flaxseed (and I went with whole flax seeds to add some extra texture and crunch, but you can use ground flaxseed if you prefer too)…

IMG_6699

…brown sugar…

IMG_6700

…cinnamon…

IMG_6702

…sprinkling of salt…

IMG_6703

…then stir that all together and set aside. On to the liquids!

IMG_6704

The liquids will all get poured into a saucepan over low heat. Start with the honey…

IMG_6706

…then the coconut oil…

IMG_6707

…and then vanilla.

IMG_6708

Before adding in the butter, you want to brown this up. In a separate small saucepan, melt down the butter over medium/low heat, whisking continually until wonderful brown flecks appear on the bottom of the pan.

IMG_6709

Once it’s at that point, remove from heat and pour it in with the rest of the liquids.

IMG_6710

This liquid concoction smells like HEAVEN right now. Take a moment to take a deep breath in and savor that.

IMG_6711

Sigh.

Ok, now all that’s left is to mix up those liquids in with the dry ingredients. Use a spatula to mix everything and ensure all of the dry ingredients are coated.

IMG_6712

IMG_6713

Spread this out on the parchment paper and pop it in the oven. Bake for 3o minutes, stopping to stir at the 10 min, 20 min and 25 min marks. Stir again at the end when you pull it out. The granola should be golden brown and have succeeded in filling your kitchen with delicious smells. (See the pics below to see how this darkens over the cooking time.)

IMG_6714

IMG_6715

IMG_6716

IMG_6717

But wait! As you recall, we have one last ingredient to add in…mini chocolate chip time.

Let the granola cool for a bit before sprinkling the chocolate over the top. To cool, I used the parchment paper to lift the granola out of the pan and set the parchment paper on the counter. Once the granola has cooled for about 15 minutes, I sprinkled the mini chocolate chips throughout the granola and let the chocolate melt a bit (as the granola is still warm). But, I let the granola cool for an hour or two with the chocolate chips.

IMG_6718

IMG_6719

IMG_6722

I just scooped this it into Tupperware to store. It’s been delicious on ice cream for a sweet and crunchy dessert or mixed with Greek yogurt for a fancy (but easy) breakfast. It’s also great all by itself for a snack.

IMG_6724

Hope you guys give this a try, let me know what you think! And definitely encourage you to get creative and add any other little tidbits to the granola (ideas: spices [nutmeg], nuts [pecans or walnuts], dried fruit, etc.).

To print off this recipe for easy reference in the future, click here

Image

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Mama’s Sour Cream Apple Pie

6 Sep

IMG_6122

I preface this post that it may indeed be double-post Saturday. We’re enjoying a relaxing Saturday watching football, reading, cooking/baking (ok, that’s just me and not my husband) and all in all, decompressing from the week. So enjoy this post and be excited as I hope to have another post coming along to follow it!

I am in that mindset of late summer, where I’m starting to really crave fall. Not to be confused with wishing for snow, I’m simply ready for crisp weather, apple picking, cozy comfort foods and watching the leaves change. Sigh. Fall is the BEST.

However, I know fall weather will quickly become snow and then I’ll be wondering why on earth I didn’t cherish the last few weeks of summer. So, I’m going to do my best to enjoy what’s left of the hot and humid sunshine. In the meantime, I’m going to start in on some of my fall favorite foods. Luke and I are sipping Pumpkin Spice Dunkin Donut coffee (which he had the fantastic idea to sprinkle with pumpkin pie spice and nutmeg. Gosh, I love that guy) and are planning on making a big batch of his mama’s chili with some Bacon Beer Cornbread (um, right?!) tomorrow to celebrate fall in food form. Yes, we’re early but heck, fall foods are so tasty.

(How many more times can I use fall in this post?!)

Now, the classic that I must share with you today to kickstart fall foods is from MY mama – it’s her recipe for Sour Cream Apple Pie!

This is a pie that I remember eating as a little kid, loving the crumbly sweet bits on top and the creamy, tangy apple filling. It’s a slight twist on a classic apple pie, but in the very best way. This pie doesn’t take a lot of time and you can easily whip one up for any occasion! Luke and I made it when we had my parents up for dinner a few weeks back, and it was a hit! We even got to enjoy a few slices as leftovers and I can tell you, this pie is just as good a few days after the fact.

Note – This pie is always best served warm and with some melty, sweet vanilla ice cream. Just trust me.

Ingredients:

Pie:

  • 1 refrigerated pie crust (because I just didn’t have time or energy to make from scratch, and the store ones taste just as delicious to me. Your choice!)
  • 3/4 cup of sugar
  • 2 Tbsp flour
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 2-3 cups (or more!) of chopped apples (any kind of sweeter apple will do)

Crumble Topping:

  • 1/2 cup of brown sugar
  • 6 Tbsp flour
  • 1 tsp cinnamon (I like cinnamon so tend to be very liberal with my 1 tsp)
  • 1/4 cup of cold butter, chopped

How to Make:

First things first, prep your pie crust. Bake as directed for one pie crust filled pie and let it cool. Optional: stare at it and dream about the finished pie (is it just me that does this?!)

IMG_6095

Next, combine all of your pie filling ingredients. Yup. Just combine it all. Told you it was simple!

IMG_6100

IMG_6101

IMG_6102

IMG_6107

Pour the whole shebang into the cooled pie crust…

IMG_6108

…and bake at 350 degrees for 30 min, or slightly less if needed. Key thing here is to make sure the pie filling is almost set.

IMG_6111

While your pie is baking you can make the BEST PART – the crumbly delicious topping. (I remember picking this part off of my pie as a kid, and being devastated when it was all gone.)

To make the crumble topping, combine the brown sugar, flour and cinnamon in a bowl and then add in the chopped up butter. Using your fingers, work the butter into the dry ingredients until it’s crumbly. You don’t want the butter so warm that it becomes mashed in with the dry ingredients so really try to maintain crumbles and not mush. (Apologies for no pictures, fail. Fail. Fail. But trust me, it’s really easy to do and it looks like delicious sugary crumbles if you’re doing it right.)

Spread the topping evenly across the top of the pie (snagging some bits to taste, you know, to make sure it tastes as good as it looks) and bake the pie for 10-20 more minutes, watching for the top to JUST get browned.

Take it out, let it cool a bit and then serve warm with heaping scoops of your favorite vanilla ice cream. (Any ice cream will do, Edy’s was the choice of the ice cream selector in our family – Luke.)

IMG_6117

 

NOM nom nom nom….

IMG_6119

IMG_6120

Close your eyes, take a big bite and savor that tangy mix of sour cream and apples, sweet brown sugar and melty ice cream.

Sigh. SO GOOD.

Tags: , , , ,

%d bloggers like this: