Cinnamon Oatmeal Cookies

Why do I love making messes so much??!

Will someone PLEASE explain this too me. I can't just enjoy my Saturday night. I can't just snuggle with a blanket and watch TV. NOOO I have to make a mess. Ugh.

Anyways, to explain my angry ramble, I made some cookies last night, if you couldn't already tell.

So, I was sitting on my couch watching some television and I started to think about how good a cookie would be right then. Now, it's not like I don't dream about eating a cookie all the time. Because yes, yes I do. Now today I actually put my thoughts into action, which I never really do. Usually I just sit and drool until I eventually go to bed. But the kicker here was that it was 9 o'clock at night. Also I knew I wouldn't want to clean up afterwards. (I didn't, whoops. . .)

Smooth Brooke, smooooth.

Everyone should know how much I "love" cleaning. So I don't really know what motivated me so much to make cookies. Maybe it's because I just wanted one so badly I couldn't wait. So long story short, I ended up making cookies. (Obviously)

Now, I have always loved the smell of brown sugar cinnamon oatmeal. Have I always liked the taste? Yeah. . .Not so much. Sometimes the smell entices me so much that I make some. Then I eat it and I realize how much I dislike oatmeal. To me, oatmeal tastes like baby food. Sorry to offend any of you oatmeal lovers, I just hate it. Now I just got a magazine with just cookie recipes in it. And while I was breezing through it I found this recipe and I thought, "I love the smell of cinnamon oatmeal and I love cookies. . . Hmm I should try this. . ."

Huzzah!


 Yeah I did. They are gooood. Now let me tell you, if oatmeal tasted like this, I would eat oatmeal every day for the rest of my life. No joke.

Now, who wants to clean my kitchen?

Cinnamon Oatmeal Cookies 
You will need:
1 C butter, softened
1 C sugar
1 C packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/2 C all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3 C quick-cooking oats

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs and vanilla.
3. Combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well. Stir in oats.
4. Shape dough into 1-1/2-in. balls. Place 2 in. apart on ungreased cookie sheets.

5. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Cool for 1 minute before removing to wire racks to cool completely.

Mexican Wedding Cookies

Sooo, I guess I could lie to you guys and say that I made these for a Mexican wedding or just because I was feeling festive.

But I'm not a liar.

Maybe.

But, I will tell you the truth about these cookies, which is pretty embarrassing. . .

I made them for Cinco de Mayo. You know which was at the beginning of the month. . . I just remembered that I made them.

Ouch. Sorry to offend you cookies.

 I was in charge of making them for a Cinco de Mayo party we were having at my school in Spanish Class. Now let me brief you on my Spanish Class experiences. I have been taking Spanish class for 6 year now.

*GASP* Has it really been that long?

But it seriously hasn't been ,what I call, "legit" Spanish class until this year. I've had my array of Spanish teachers. I've had ones who are always extremely mad at you, ones who just teach you songs, ones who teach you the same chapter the whole entire year, ones who don't give us homework, yadda yadda yadda. But this year's teacher really tops it. She actually taught us stuff.

Woah. CRAZY.

But if you want another truth, I don't remember a thing from this year. . .

Nope. Nothing whatsoever.

But I guess I breezed by enough to get straight A's, so all is good. . . uh I guess that's good. Eh, no it's not.  But. . .one thing I did learn that explains my entire life is this sentence: Me gusta comer.

That means: I like to eat.

Wow. That is PERFECT.

Anyways back to the cookies, as much as I can remember them, they were pretty good. I was actually surprised by how good they were.

So, if you need to make something for a Mexican wedding, make these. And if not. . .

Make them anyways.

Welp, Happy belated Cinco de Mayo!


Mexican Wedding Cookies 
You will need:
1 C butter, softened
1/2 C powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. almond extract
2 C flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 C raw pecans, toasted

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Place the pecans on a cookie sheet in a single layer and bake for 6-8 minutes or until they lightly browned and fragrant. Allow to cool. Turn off oven.
2. In a medium sized bowl, cream the butter, vanilla, and almond extracts together. Add the powdered sugar and mix in. Add the flour a little at a time until it is fully blended. Stir in salt.
3. When the pecans are cool, place them in food processor or chop with a knife until they are fairly fine. Measure 1 cup of finely chopped pecans. Fold pecans into batter.
4. Chill dough in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour.
5. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Shape dough into 1 inch balls with your fingers. Place on ungreased cookie sheet 1 to 2 inches apart. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until lightly golden brown on the bottom. Cool on wire rack. When completely cooled store in an airtight container.
*As an option, when cookies are out of the oven roll them in powdered sugar to look like snowballs.

Blueberry Orange Bread

So summer has officially started.
Well for me anyways. (Ha, losers!)

Just kidding, you guys rock.

Anyways, I've decided to start something new on my blog here. Because I will now officially have more free time, I'm going to make my blog a little bit more personal and interesting for my readers. So you can thank me later.

Or now.

That's cool too.

So about my first day of summer. . . So I went to bed the following night at 10:30, right? Yeah, I woke up at eleven the next day. Seriously I don't even know how that was even possible. Usually I can barely sleep till like maybe 9, on a good day? So I woke up looked at the clock and you can say I kinda freaked out.

Okay, I did freak out.

And after my "spaz-tastic" moment I realized that I was hungry. Like EXTREMELY hungry. After not eating since like six o'clock the day before I started to believe that my stomach was digesting itself. No, not good. So I slugged my crippling body downstairs to the kitchen and did a usual hunt of the cabinets, and then of course the fridge. And then when I didn't find something appetizing, I did that all over again. . . Still nothing. So I guess I got the engenius idea to make a mess.

Nice idea Brooke. You love cleaning.

Sike.

I was really craving some bread. So yeah, no bananas. (Of course.) We had pineapple and watermelon, but um, ew. Gross. But I did end up finding some frozen blueberries. Yes, not the best, but seriously who cared at that point? I was going to do blueberry lemon bread, but just my luck that I found one lemon in the back of the fridge . . . covered in delicious mold.

Yay! Food Poisoning!

No, that wasn't going to work. But we had oranges . . . and I thought why not? So I did. Yeah. . .It's good stuff. Yes, it is kind of a funky combination. When I told my family they were all like "Hmm? Sounds. . . interesting. ." You know with that grossed out look on their faces. Then they tried it.

Now let me tell you, I showed them who's boss.

And yes, disappointingly my bread did fall apart. Sad to know that all food doesn't turn out perfectly. So does Paula Deen's food always look that good kids?

No, no it does not.

Were your minds just blown?

Blueberry Orange Bread 
You will need:
2 C all-purpose flour
1 C sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg
1/2 C orange juice
1/3 C water
2 Tbsp. butter or margarine, melted
2 Tbsp. grated orange peel
3/4 C fresh or frozen blueberries

1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease and flour a 8-in x 4-in x 2-in loaf pan.
2. In a large bowl whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt: set aside.
3. In another bowl, combine egg, orange juice, water, butter, and orange peel. Add to dry ingredients until just combined. Fold in blueberries.
4. Pour into prepared loaf pan and bake for 60-65 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes in pan, then remove and cool completely on wire rack.

Caramel Pecan Bars

I absolutely love pecans. I mean I will eat them anyway they are served to me. Roasted, in an entree dish, in a dessert, ANYWAY. One thing I especially love with pecans is pecan pie. It's such a classic dessert. It's something you think about when you think about thanksgiving and Christmas. That's one thing I wanted to change. I wanted to have pecan pie in more of casual gathering, like a barbecue. I wanted you to think of this when you think about pecan pie.  Let me tell you, when I found this recipe, I fell in love. It was just what I was looking for! It even said in the description 'Tastes like pecan pie." Score one for team Brooke!! Woo!
Caramel Pecan Bars
You will need:
1 C butter, cubed
2-1/4 C packed brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1-1/2 C all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
2 C chopped pecans
Confectioners' sugar, optional

 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. In a large saucepan, combine butter and brown sugar over medium heat until sugar is dissolved. In a small bowl, beat eggs and vanilla. Gradually add hot sugar mixture, stirring constantly. Combine flour and baking powder; gradually add to the butter mixture and mix well. Stir in pecans.
 2. Spread into a greased 13-in. x 9-in baking pan. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out with moist crumbs and edges are crisp. Cool on a wire rack. Dust with confectioners' sugar if desired. Cut into bars.

Hidden Kiss Cookies

I bet that if you were just looking at the outside of these cookies you would never know that there was something inside of them. But guess what? There is. There is a secret little gem inside of there just screaming to get out. OK the kisses probably aren't screaming (Or talking at all) because you know it's chocolate. But whatever! Who cares?! These cookies are such a good surprise! Now let me tell you the walnuts are totally not optional. I think the walnuts are actually what make this cookie. Now if your allergic to walnuts that's a whole other story, but if not, you shouldn't be leaving them out. PLEASE trust me for once. Thank you.
Hidden Kiss Cookie 
You will need:
 1 C butter, softened
1/2 C sugar 1 tsp. vanilla
 2 C all-purpose flour
1 C finely chopped walnuts
30 milk chocolate kisses
2/3 C confectioners' sugar
2 Tbsp. baking cocoa

 1. In a large bowl, cream the butter, sugar, and vanilla until light and fluffy. Gradually add flour and mix well. Fold I walnuts. Refrigerate dough for 2-3 hours or until firm.
 2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Flatten balls with the palm of you hand and place a chocolate kiss in the center of each; pinch dough together around kiss. Place 2 in. aparton ungreased baking sheets.
 3. Bake for 12 minutes or until set but not browned. Cool for 1 minute; remove from pans to wire racks.
 4. Sift together confectioners' sugar and coca.nwhile cookies are still warm, roll in coca mixture. Cool completely. Store in airtight container.