First Time Baking Cookies

Thought of the Day...There are four basic food groups: milk chocolate, dark chocolate, white chocolate, and chocolate truffles. ~Author Unknown

The Offspring’s good friend Sarah, whom I affectionately call My Sarah, came over for a visit not too long ago. I had promised her that whenever she came over next we would make cookies. My Sarah said that she doesn’t do much baking, so I decided it was a good opportunity for the girls to make them on their own... I was nearby in case they ran into problems.

I remembered that a few weeks ago, Nicole over at That’s Life wrote about making Yummy Chocolate Chip Cookies. My Sarah loves oatmeal cookies and can’t, like me, can’t have chocolate, so I modified the recipe (sorry, Nicole) and they made it with white chocolate chips instead.

I explained to the girls that it is important to make sure they have all the ingredients as well as the correct amounts. I suggested they get prep bowls out and pre-measure everything. They did and then started following the recipe.

I forgot one thing... The Offspring hadn’t used my KitchenAid mixer. I forgot to explain turning it on slowly with dry ingredients and also to put on the pouring shield. Both of which are “second nature” (sort of) for me, but to the novice... not so much...

...As you can see, the dry mixture got everywhere, including The Offspring’s face.

My Sarah thought the powder looked like the Hawaiian Islands on The Offspring’s face.

At this point, I suggested putting the pouring shield and as she turned around...

... I got a smile from My Sarah!

I had the girls use my round Pampered Chef stone (as you suspect from the dark ring, yes, I use this for pizza).

You tell by the smiles they were having a lot of fun...

The cookies were soooo good!

...Just look at these proud smiles...

OK, now I’m hungry for cookies... too bad they’re all gone!

Grandma B's Banana Bread

Thought of the Day... Grandmas never run out of hugs or cookies. ~Author Unknown

My Grandma B was a wonderful cook. I have so many of her recipes. I want to share with you one of our favorites - her Banana Bread (with one small twist).

Cast of characters


½ cups Shortening
1 cup Sugar
2 whole Eggs
3 whole Bananas, Mashed
2 cups Flour
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
¼ teaspoons Cinnamon
¼ teaspoons Salt (OPTIONAL, I don’t use it)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190.5 degrees C).

Cream shortening and sugar


Add eggs and beat well.


Add bananas and mix. As you can see, I didn’t mash them beforehand. This is the first time I’ve made this bread since I got my KitchenAid mixer and I wanted to see how it did on mashing them.


Sift flour, baking soda and cinnamon together (and salt if you use it). Add to above mixture and beat well.


Pour mixture into 1 large loaf pan or 2 small ones. I didn’t grease the pan. Grandma didn’t say to on the recipe card so I didn’t.


Bake at 375 for 45 minutes or until toothpick in middle comes out clean. I had to use a knife to loosen the loaf, but it still came out cleanly.


Delicious alone or with butter on it. (By the time I got the photos off the camera and started writing this post, HALF the loaf is GONE!)

To get a printer friendly copy of the recipe, go here.

Grandma B’s Banana Bread
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Serving Size: 18     Yield: 1 large or 2 small loaves

Ingredients:
1/2 cups Shortening
1 cup Sugar
2 whole Eggs
3 whole Bananas, Mashed
2 cups Flour
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
1/4 teaspoons Cinnamon
1/4 teaspoons Salt (OPTIONAL, I do not use it)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F
2. Cream shortening and sugar
3. Add eggs and beat well
4. Add bananas and mix
5. Sift flour, baking soda and cinnamon together. Add to above mixture and beat well.
6. Pour mixture into 1 large loaf pan or 2 small ones.
7. Bake at 375 for 45 minutes or until toothpick in middle comes out clean.

Delicious alone or with butter on it.


NUTRITION FACTS with no salt (from MacGourmet)
Servings: 18
Amount Per Serving
Calories: 170

1. Total Fat: 6.13g
2. Cholesterol: 26mg
3. Sodium: 78mg (if you add the salt, then 110mg)
4. Total Carbs: 26.26g
5.     Dietary Fiber: 0.86g
6.     Sugars: 13.62g
7. Protein: 2.26g

No Knead Bread

When I bought my Le Creuset pot the sales lady mentioned making “No Knead Bread” in the pot. My interest was piqued so I did a Google search for “no knead bread recipes” and I clicked on the first link as it read “No Knead Bread: so easy a 4-yr old can make it!”

The article chronicled how her 4-year-old son makes the bread. It looked so easy. I knew I couldn’t mess it up.

I didn’t grab my camera at the beginning, but you know how to measure flour, yeast, salt and water.

Pour the following ingredients into a large bowl

• 3 cups bread flour (I used Bob’s Red Mill Organic Unbleached White Flour, I know “white four” isn’t good for you. But Hubby likes white bread. Maybe next time Whole Wheat.)
• 1/4 teaspoon instant yeast
• 3/4 tablespoon kosher* salt
• 1 1/2 cups warm water (mine was 80 degrees Fahrenheit)

Do you know the differences between the different kinds of salt? Admittedly, I didn’t until I read this.
*1 teaspoon table salt has more salt than 1 tablespoon of kosher salt

Mix these ingredients with a wooden spoon. You’ll get a big lump of dough. Cover it with plastic wrap and let it sit on the counter for 12-20 hours.

We had some stuff come up and I wasn’t able to get back to it for 36 hours.

After sitting for hours, the dough will be bubbly.


You’re supposed to put flour on the counter/mat and fold the ends in and then let it rest for another 2 hours... and other stuff, but I deviated from the recipe because I just didn’t want to wait and I thought... it rested for an extra 16 hours... what’s the harm... so I went for it...

I put my pot with lid in the oven and preheated both to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.

Again, I deviated... Recipe said to let oven and pot preheat for 30 minutes or longer... I didn’t wait. When oven beeped it was hot, I scrapped it into my Pam sprayed pot... (note: scrapping deflated it - I knew this would happen but didn’t care at this point).


I then put the lid on the pot and baked covered for 30 minutes. Then I removed pot from oven and took lid off and snapped this quick photo. It was flatter than it was supposed to be ... but I deviated so I didn’t care.

The smell was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!! (I teased my friend Rafael about how good it smelled... he wanted me to “FedEx” it him. I said, “No.”)



Then put it back into oven for 15 minutes uncovered. I checked the internal temp and it was 205 in the middle. The recipe said it should be 210, so I put it back in for another 5 minutes. At this point it was 210 and here’s what it looked like. (FYI.. that’s not a hair on it... it was on the camera lens.)


I then moved it to a cooling rack​.​


Didn’t wait very long (not sure how long...) I couldn’t wait... smell was really getting to me... So I cut into it...



Then enjoyed it...


From what I could tell... all my deviations didn’t matter. It was GREAT!It tasted as good as it smelled... Hubby and The Offspring loved it. YIPPEEE!

Next time, I will follow the directions and see how different it is. I will post the results. Then at a later date I will make it with whole wheat flour and report back.

The Offspring has requested I put whole garlic cloves in it... sounds like a plan! Rafael suggested rosemary... yet more good ideas..

Have you ever made “No Knead Bread”? If so, please share your results.

SteamyKitchen’s original recipe can be found here.