Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Our Sweet Teeth

I have had a real sweet tooth lately. After every meal I eat I want something sweet. Luckily chewing gum sort of fills my craving. I was very excited tonight when Jonathan said, "I've had a sweet tooth lately. I want something sweet." I knew just the thing to make that always satisfies my sweet tooth. Or satisfies anything really. If you make these you should eat some of the dough. I won't be surprised if it never turns into cookies. The only bad thing about these cookies is they never last long enough.

Chocolate Chip Cookies (from the Food Nanny)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, beat until light and fluffy:
1 cup softened butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar

Add and beat for about 1 minute:
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs

Slowly add to the butter mixture:
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt

Stir in:
1 cup chocolate chips

Drop tablespoons of dough onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake 8 to 10 minutes. Cool on a cooling rack. Makes 5 dozen.

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Another Breakfast Option

We love english muffins for breakfast but I hate buying them because they are expensive and they don't have coupons. So I usually don't buy them because they aren't a necessity like milk. Luckily for us, and you, there is a great recipe to make your own english muffins. They are so good! I could eat the whole batch in one day. Try them!

1 3/4 cups milk, warm
2 TBS sugar
2 tsp instant yeast
3 TBS butter, softened
1 1/4 tsp salt
1 egg, lightly beaten
4 to 4 1/4 cup flour, all-purpose or whole wheat
1 tsp baking powder

Combine the warm milk, sugar, and yeast. Cover with a towel and let proof for 5 minutes. In a electric mixer with the dough attachment add remaining ingredients and mix throughly for about 5 minutes. Do not add more flour, the dough will be sticky. When mixed scrape dough from the bowl one a lightly floured counter top. Fold dough over a few times until it forms a smooth ball. Place in a greased bowl and allow to rise in a warm place for about 1 hour.

Punch down dough and lay out on a surface sprinkled with corn meal. Roll out to desired thickness. (The muffins rise a little so roll them about 1/4" thinner than what you would like the finished product to be.) Cut out circles with a 3" cutter. Re-roll and cut out the leftover dough. Cover the muffins with a damp cloth and let rest for 20 minutes.

Heat frying pan to low-med heat. Sprinkle pan with cornmeal. Cover pan and cook muffins for 6-7 minutes on each side.

Cool on a cooling rack. Store muffins in fridge or freezer.