Category Archives: Products We Love

“Skinny” Loaded Baked Potato Salad

* Posted on May 24, 2013 by Allie

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I can’t believe it’s Memorial Day weekend already!

a) because this school year just went by so incredibly fast, and
b) because it’s gloomy, cold, and raw out there today! It feels more like early March than like the unofficial kickoff of summer.

Well, hopefully it’s nicer wherever you are, and if not, maybe this riff on potato salad, that ultimate summer barbecue staple side dish, will put you in a sunny mood.

Making your own potato salad is not hard. Once the potatoes are boiled, it’s just a matter of throwing in your ingredients! My mom’s traditional potato salad, which I adore, is made with vinegar, mayo, onion, celery, hard-boiled egg, and spices. But for this recipe, I decided to mix up the flavors a bit, and trim some of the fat!

I’ve used plain Chobani 2% Greek yogurt, in place of the mayo. It’s so super creamy and rich tasting, you’d swear it was sour cream! And when I think of sour cream and potatoes, my mind goes right to that favorite guilty pleasure: Loaded Baked Potatoes. With the addition of some crumbled bacon, broccoli, shredded cheddar, and scallions, you get all that delicious flavor with a whole lot less fat, and more protien to boot!

“Skinny” Loaded Baked Potato Salad

Author: YinMom YangMom Allie

Prep time: 10 mins

Cook time: 20 mins

Total time: 30 mins

Serves: 6-8, as a side dish

Ingredients

2 large Russet potatoes, scrubbed
1 tablespoon Champagne vinegar
2 teaspoons kosher salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
4 slices thick cut bacon
1 cup broccoli florets
1 bunch (about 8) scallions, roughly chopped, green part only
1 cup shredded low-fat cheddar cheese
1 cup low-fat Greek-style yogurt
additional salt & pepper (optional) to taste

Instructions

Cover the potatoes in cold, salted water, and bring to a boil. Boil until fork-tender, about 20-25 minutes.
Drain the potatoes and chop them coarsely. Place the warm potatoes in a large bowl and sprinkle with vinegar, salt, and pepper. Toss to coat.
Slice the bacon and place it in a cold pan. Cook over a medium low heat until the fat has rendered and it’s brown and crisp. Remove from the pan with a slotted spoon, and drain on paper towels.
Add the bacon, broccoli, scallions, cheese, and yogurt to the potatoes and toss to coat.
Season with additional salt and pepper, if needed.

Are you ready for summer? Personally, I am super-psyched for warm sunny days, swimming, walking the boards, and long, lazy barbecues on the patio! This dish will definitely be on the menu, once the sun comes out from hiding!

Sweet Potato Oven Fries with Skinny Horseradish Dijon Dipping Sauce

* Posted on May 18, 2013 by Allie

10 Replies

Hi, friends! It’s been a while since I’ve posted…. sorry about that! Mr. Allie and I took the kiddos to Disney for a week! It was so much fun and so exhausting! Lol. We had four days just outside of Orlando (one day per park: Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Hollywood Studios, and Animal Kingdom), and then two days were dedicated to travel. It was a fabulous trip and we did it on a tight budget. I’m thinking about maybe devoting a post to it if you think that’d be interesting??? We know lots of people who do Disney pretty frequently, and they plan everything to the nth degree, but the idea of that just totally freaked us out! This was only my second time there since I was a kid, and I just had no idea where to begin. Mr. Allie and I kept remarking to each other that it felt like such a rite of passage for us to be there with our children. I think we may have been more excited about it than the kids were! After having been there, and experienced what it was all about, we now know how we’d maybe do things differently, that is, plan it a little more. Not that we had a bad time or anything! It was truly a blast and the only possible improvement would have been to do less backtracking around/walking and riding more rides!

I had every intention of coming home and jumping right back on the blog train, but once we settled back in and unpacked/washed everything, I decided to take a little time just to recharge my batteries. I think I really needed it! Just before we left I was feeling like I was spinning my wheels, but over the last week I’ve gained a lot of clarity and a lot of inspiration.

One of the main sources of inspiration came from the folks at Chobani. Shortly after we arrived home, we received a shipment that contained mass quantities of Chobani Greek Style Yogurt! I’ve loved Chobani for a while now, and have used in it lots of recipes. But now that my fridge is bursting with the stuff, I knew I needed to come up with some more great ways to use it.

I make oven fries all the time, and I especially love to do them with sweet potatoes! They are super-nutritious (read more about that here) but I particularly love them for their flavor. I always prefer to pair them with more savory flavors, to contrast with their natural sweetness.

If you toss the sweet potato fries with some heart-healthy extra-virgin olive oil, sprinkle them with sea salt, and roast them on a lined baking sheet, they come out so crispy-caramelized and roasty!

They are perfect for dunking in this flavorful horseradish dijon dipping sauce! I also add a little garlic powder and agave nectar, to fat-free Greek-style yogurt, along with a big bunch of fresh chives.

I just love how that sharp flavor plays against the caramelly sweet potato!

Sweet Potato Oven Fries with Skinny Horseradish Dijon Dipping Sauce

Author: YinMom YangMom Allie

Prep time: 15 mins

Cook time: 40 mins

Total time: 55 mins

Serves: 4

Ingredients

4 small sweet potatoes, scrubbed
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon sea salt
½ cup fat-free Greek-style yogurt
¼ cup finely chopped fresh chives
1 tablespoon prepared horseradish
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
½ teaspoon agave nectar
¼ teaspoon garlic powder
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
Cut the sweet potatoes into ¼” sticks and toss in olive oil and sea salt to coat.
Arrange in an even layer on a parchment-lined baking sheet, and roast for 20 minutes.
Flip with a spatula, and roast for another 15 minutes, or until evenly browned and crisp.
In a medium bowl, combine the Greek-style yogurt, chives, horseradish, Dijon, agave, garlic, salt, and pepper.
Serve the sweet potato fries alongside the horseradish Dijon sauce, for dipping.

These make a great low-fat snack, especially at this time of year, when we are all looking for a way to slim down for the summer!

**Disclosure: Although I was gifted Greek-style yogurt by Chobani, the opinions expressed in this post are entirely my own.**

Great Skin Giveaway with Sibu Beauty!

* Posted on May 7, 2013 by Mere

1 Reply

I have a confession. Big surprise, right?

I am completely ridiculously inconsistent. I change my mind at the drop of a hat. My husband frequently says, “you sure don’t mind changing your mind” .

All throughout my life, I was CERTAIN that when the time came for me to get older, and start getting wrinkles and flab, I would accept it. I would grow old gracefully. (I am not afraid, however of a little preventative maintenance, and also not opposed to surgery if I can afford it and do it in moderation.) So I’ve never really been overly afraid of looking older.

Well, that is until about 2 months ago. I turned 34, and it’s like something switched inside of me, and I found myself terrified at the prospect of
aging.

Suddenly I’m frowning at my frown lines, and worrying about the way my jaw is starting to look a little different, more like my grandmom’s, who is BEAUTIFUL let me just say, but… grandmom’s…

So the dabbling began. I did research. I am into natural stuff. I hate gross artificial fragrances. I have skin that starts out dry and gets oily by the end of day. Sometimes it’s a little flaky and oily at the same time, which is the WORST. I wear makeup, and I want to be able to wash ALL of it off without hurting my skin.

I found a few really lovely things that I plan to share (and offer for a giveaway, below!), starting with a cleanser. I can honestly say this cleanser has solved a lot of problems for me. It’s made by Sibu Beauty, and it makes me happy.

Being the natural-product-making mad scientist that I am, I really like the fact this one is natural. I get requests to make facial cleansers, and I’d like to someday, but do you know much work and money goes into new product development? OMG Let me tell you, it’s a lot. I can’t just wave my magic wand and POOF, cleanser (YET, we’re doing some R&D on a magic wand, which will soon be available on Etsy… just kidding).

But I digress. This stuff has a few ingredients that I had to Google, but from what I found the preservatives and agents pretty much come from corn, coconut, fruit sugars and/or fennel, and are considered generally safe, bonus!

I also really like that it has Sea Buckthorn Berry in it, because that’s actually one of my favorite skincare ingredients. This berry contains a large concentration of Omega 7′s, which are incredibly beneficial for skin. You can read about Omega 7′s on the Sibu website, here: http://www.sibubeauty.com/omega_7.php

Lastly, and importantly, it works well. It has little beads of something nice that give a very gentle exfoliation, it smells nice, it doesn’t quite foam, but doesn’t quite not foam. It feels good, and my skin looks clean, shiny and smooth, and not irritated in any way. It looks healthy, like you just had a good run. I like it.

It’s helped me to change my mind again, I don’t mind getting older. Yes I do. No I don’t…

SO, now for the important part. You can win one of your very own. There are multiple ways to enter, which you will do with this handy-dandy little widget from Rafflecopter, below. You MUST either like Sibu on Facebook, or follow them on Twitter. The tweeting option gives you a bonus chance to win. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

So… Frankincense.

* Posted on April 4, 2013 by Mere

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Last week I was in Pennsylvania to be on Good Day Fox Philly with Allie, which was surreal, and more on that another day. In between filming segments, I was going on and on about Frankincense essential oil, which I’ve been doing a lot of lately, and yes, I was getting some eye rolls because my claims are a little out there. When I’m in PA, everyone thinks I’m this big hippie, which is funny, because my hippie friends in CT think I’m the most mainstream person in their lives.

But, I don’t care, the stuff has literally been life changing for me, and I don’t claim to be sane.

So, what’s so great about this stuff? Let me tell you a little story…

As an entrepreneurial-type, I get hit up a lot to sell stuff. Mary Kay, Market America, that kind of thing. I always kind of roll my eyes, because it’s just never felt right to me. I know a lot of people make a good living selling that stuff, and I don’t judge, it’s just not stuff that I feel comfortable pushing people to buy, so I always politely decline.

When I got a message from my cousin recently, that he’s selling essential oils (doTerra), and that he thought I’d be a good candidate to be a reseller as well, I gave him my typical response, and said I’d take the samples, because I’ve always liked essential oils (clary sage really helped me get through natural childbirth), but I have no interest in being a reseller.

So, he sent the samples.

At that time, I was thisclose to launching my online store for my graphic design business. I’ve been talking about it and working on it for about a year. It was taking me forever to finish. I was my own worst enemy. I kept revising and re-revising. My head felt clouded and stressed. I was worried that once I launched, my life was going to change for the worst. I worried that I’d be so busy running that business that I wouldn’t have time for anything else. I’ve been a designer for 11 years now, so I’m kind of not that wowed by it anymore. BUT, ultimately, it’s good money, and I have a family to provide for, so I felt I needed to grow up and just do it, fulfillment be damned.

Being a pretty crazy meditator, I kept focusing on gaining clarity. Clarity, clarity clarity. Just unfog my brain so I can think clearly and ultimately run my life/career from a balanced perspective. It was coming here and there a little bit, but mostly I felt like I just couldn’t quite find what I was looking for. I didn’t even know what I was looking for, but I knew there was something in the back of my mind, waiting for me to find it. It was pretty frustrating, to be honest.

The essential oil samples arrived. I liked them. A lot. At home, alone every day, I would just sit there and breath the frankincense, non-stop. There was just something about that smell that just seemed to reach into my core and grab me. I was like an addict, it was crazy.

One morning, sitting on the floor meditating, breathing it in, I was overcome with something similar to a vision. Thoughts suddenly just filled my entire brain, it was like a voice telling me, “you don’t have to launch that graphic design website. You don’t want to, and why should you? You’ve been working as a business owner for 10 years, you know how to do it right, and you can do anything you want. You can do it on your own terms. There’s plenty of room for another successful entrepreneur in any field you choose”. It was staggering. THERE WAS MY CLARITY!!!! It was something I was so certain of, immediately, all my wishy-washiness was GONE! I became ecstatic, and honestly, a lot of that ecstasy is still running through me. It was an epiphany, and those are awesome, and should be listened to.

SO, (not to brag or anything) after working conflictedly for a year on a website that was never finished, I dove in, made skincare products (which I’ve been dabbling with and giving away to friends over the past few months), and opened my Etsy shop. It took me two weeks to design all the packaging, make all the products, and set up the website. Two weeks. I was like a girl en fuego. Now, a little over 4 weeks later, I’ve made 57 online sales, and 15 in-person sales. I’m set up to sell at several local shows/events in town here, and have 5 offers to sell in retail establishments. This is the kind of turn-around I’ve been wishing for my whole life.

All in all, after reading about the benefits of frankincense, I am convinced that all of this positive change was a result using it. I think it would have taken me at least another year of hard core reflection to even come close to the decisions that I came to in a few days. So, I don’t mind if people roll their eyes at me, because I feel like the proof is clear.

There’s my frankincense story. And to be honest, since trying out some other oils, I’ve had similar results. Patchouli gets rid of my nervous stomach. Rosemary gives me confidence and gets rid of self destructive thoughts and guilt. Grapefruit makes me feel like life’s just one big party. Seriously. It’s pretty awesome. I’ve successfully fought off several colds that went around my house, without Airborne. I could go on and on.

I did end up signing up as a reseller as well. The investment to do so is very low, compared to a lot of the multi-level marketing programs I’ve researched in the past, and the discounts you get on the oils are substantial, so at the very least, that’s enough for me. (I am in no way being paid by doTerra to write about any of this stuff, although that would be nice. Anyone want to pay me?)

So, if you’d like to learn more about frankincense, here are some interesting links.

http://doterralife.wordpress.com/2011/07/01/fabulous-frankincense-the-king-of-essential-oils/

http://www.organicfacts.net/health-benefits/essential-oils/health-benefits-of-frankincense-essential-oil.html

http://www.naturalhealth365.com/natural_healing/frankincense.html

If you’d be interested in checking out doTerra, which are super high quality, can safely be ingested, applied directly to skin with no adverse reactions, here’s that:

http://doterra.com

And for the science-minded: http://modernessentialoils.com/Resources/SAB_Compendium.pdf (particularly interesting is the part on page 3 about Vanderbilt University Medical Center).

And if you have any questions, or want to share a similar experience, please chime in!

xo,
Mere

Decorating Easter Egg Cookies with Kids

* Posted on March 30, 2013 by Allie

1 Reply

Hi, all! I was really hoping to get this post up a bit sooner, but with my kids being on Spring break things have been a little crazy around the YinMom YangMom Allie house! Like, three play dates in three days crazy! Makes it a little tough to get any work done, lol!

Well, hopefully it’s not too late for you to knock out this project before the Easter Bunny makes her appearance… Could be a great boredom buster this afternoon!

BTW, Easter Bunny: Him or Her? I always thought the Easter Bunny was a “her,” but I know a lot of people call her a “him”…???? What’s the verdict? Do I have it all wrong?

Ok, well, I whipped up these cookies last week using my Basic Vanilla Cookie Dough Recipe, which I adore, because I DOES NOT spread or lose it’s shape while baking. I did get a comment once from a reader who found her dough to be a little dry, so I want to take a moment to mention, that if you do not roll, cut, and bake it right away, it may dry out a bit, so add less flour, mmmkay? Or if it just seems to be that kind of day, where the humidity is very low, you might want to do the same. Basically, you’ll know you’ve added enough flour when the dough is not sticky, and has pulled away from the sides of the mixing bowl into a ball.

Also, I experimented a little with making funfetti cookies…! I added regular ice-cream sprinkles, I call them jimmies, into half the dough, and then put nonpareil sprinkles in the other half. I kinda liked the nonpareil! They were easier to cut with the cookie cutter, probably because they are smaller. And they added a little crunchy bite to the cookies! But the jimmies worked pretty well too, so feel free to use ‘em if ya got ‘em!

Just cut your cookies with an egg-shaped cutter, bake, and ice them with royal icing. Here’s my favorite royal icing recipe:

Royal Icing

Author: YinMom YangMom Allie

Prep time: 5 mins

Total time: 5 mins

Serves: about 3 dozen cookies

Ingredients

2 tablespoons meringue powder
5 tablespoons water
2⅔ cups powdered sugar

Instructions

Whip the meringue powder and water together until foamy.
Add the powdered sugar, and whip on high speed until stiff and fluffy.

I make it thicker, and then when I tint it, I add water by the 1/8 teaspoonful, until it gets to the proper consistency (where it will smooth itself out after around 10 seconds). I pipe it onto the cookies with a pastry bag and a #2 tip, give it a shake/jiggle to help it smooth out, and let it dry and harden for a few hours.

Here’s where the magic happens! Did you know you could buy markers that write with edible ink? It’s true! They work just like regular markers, only, duh, edible! In the past, I’ve used the Wilton kind (they are terrific), and for this project, I purchased the Ateco set, which has more colors and looks a little more Easter-y! I let my kids just go to town drawing all over the hardened surface of the royal icing…

…they had a blast! They came up with all sorts of designs and pictures, and even had fun writing their names and a few messages to the Easter bunny.

It was a perfect way to get them away from the tv/wii for a couple of hours, not to mention it got them into the Easter spirit!

Happy Easter!

Now they can’t wait for the Easter bunny to come so she (or he!) can taste their beautiful creations!

Strawberry Cupcakes with Strawberry Swiss Meringue Buttercream

* Posted on March 17, 2013 by Allie

19 Replies

Last time we hung out, I showed you the chocolate birthday cake I made for my little one’s fourth (!) birthday.

It was awesome! We had one happy little guy…

…and big brother, Mommy, Dada, Grammie, and Pop all loved it too.

The only down side to that recipe is, Schmoodle’s preschool doesn’t allow chocolate.

whomp, whomp…

I’ve mentioned in prior posts that there’s just something in my chemical makeup that won’t allow me to send my kids in to school with plain old vanilla cupcakes with vanilla icing. So I had a little talk with the birthday boy, and asked him what was his favorite fruit? I wasn’t too surprised when he answered “Strawberries.” (Mama ain’t raisin’ no fool.)

I did a lot of research on the best vanilla cupcake recipe, and I settled on this one, because it was voted the best by thekitchn.com, and those folks probably know thing or two about food…

I only made a couple of changes, one being, I didn’t have whole milk so I subbed a little cream into my lowfat.

I also added in a bag of freeze-dried strawberries. These freeze-dried fruits are quickly becoming one of my favorite ingredients, as they add loads of intense flavor into baked goods, without watering them down with heavy, juicy pulp, like fresh fruit would.

And finally, I don’t know if my oven is off, or what, but my cupcakes took waaaay longer to bake than the recommended 17-20 minutes cited in the recipe…(?)

Well, the cupcakes were perfectly delicious, with a crisp-chewy crust on top, a delicate, fine crumb, beautifully light, yet moist and buttery, lightly scented with vanilla and speckled with tart bits of strawberry.

I topped them off with this delicious Swiss meringue buttercream, which is a little bit more labor intensive than the powdered-sugar-and-butter variety, but every bit of effort feels worthwhile when you taste that silky-sweet, rich-yet-light-as-air, intensely strawberry flavor…

Strawberry Swiss Meringue Buttercream

Author: YinMom YangMom Allie

Prep time: 20 mins

Total time: 20 mins

Serves: about 2 dozen cupcakes

Ingredients

1.2 ounces freeze-dried strawberries
3 egg whites
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

Instructions

Grind the freeze-dried strawberries to a fine powder, in a food processor or blender, and set aside.
In a large glass or metal bowl, combine the egg whites and sugar.
Set the bowl over a pot of barely simmering water, and stir continuously, until the sugar is completely dissolved. (Check by rubbing a small amount between thumb and forefinger; it should not feel grainy.)
Remove the bowl from the simmering water and whip on high speed until stiff peaks form and the mixture is cooled completely.
Add the butter in, a tablespoon at a time, beating well after each addition. If the mixture begins to look curdled, continue to beat until it comes back together, before adding the remaining butter.
Fold in the freeze-dried strawberries

These cupcakes got rave reviews all around from the preschool folks, kids and staffers alike! They were perfect for my baby’s birthday, but I think they’d also be great for an Easter or Mothers Day brunch…

So pretty and sweet, and full of ripe, Springtime strawberry flavor!

** Linking up on Sweet2EatBaking‘s Sugar & Slice Sunday Party **

Tips for Making an Ordinary Cake Extra Special

* Posted on March 14, 2013 by Allie

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My youngest is turning 4.

I can’t even believe those words! I guess he will just always be a baby to me…

While his big brother seems forever tortured by want for the latest toy (Disney cars, Toy Story toys, Transformers, Star Wars, and now, Skylanders; there’s always some new or rare figure that he’s dying for), my little one finds happiness with simple pleasures.

Friends. Running fast. His favorite tv show. Making a fort. Riding bikes. Building blocks. Chocolate.

You may remember My Labor of Love, from right around this time last year. Well, this year I’m doing my best to avoid a week-and-a-half-long cake project. I think I have a pretty good shot at that, at least with the little guy.

This recipe is not my own, and while the cake and frosting are my eternal favorite (the chocolatiest, moistest, simplest to prepare, most candy-bar delicious), this post is really more about just taking your own simple favorite, and elevating it with some special tricks to make it drop-dead beautiful.

This cake and frosting recipe has probably been around since my grandmother was a girl, and the recipe instructs that it should be baked either in two 9-inch round baking pans, as cupcakes, or as a 9×13-inch sheet cake. My first tip for making an ordinary cake special, is to ignore those directions, and try baking your cake in three 6-inch round pans.

You remember that old saying: “You can never be too tall, too rich, or too thin”? Well, that goes for cakes too! Set up high on a pedestal, a narrow and tall masterpiece of a cake will make jaws drop! Slice each layer horizontally and fill in between with more of that luscious frosting for additional richness and height…

Tip #2- Make that frosting look smooth as glass. I learned how to make cake frosting look smooth at the tender age of 17 and I’ve been using this method for the subsequent, ahem, couple of years. Start with a monster pile of frosting on top each layer of the cake.

Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle, your spatula over the icing to gradually ease the icing to the edge of the cake. Don’t wipe! Or you’ll get crumbs in the icing.

Let the icing overlap the edge a bit, and then wiggle, wiggle, wiggle it down the sides and around.

Now here is where the right equipment will do all the work for you. Using a long cake spatula and a cake turntable, spin the cake slowly, in a smooth motion, while swiping excess frosting from the sides of the cake.

You will now see there is a wall of excess frosting forming around the top edge. Swipe the cake spatula horizontally across it and towards the center of the cake, removing the excess (I’m sure you can find a good use for it!), and repeat all the way around.

Warming your spatula under hot, running water will create an even smoother finish.

My third and final tip is to just go ape with the garnish! I can’t really take credit for this idea, since I’ve been seeing it all over pinterest and various baking blogs, but when you just go super generous with the sprinkles, it really makes a gorgeous statement. My kids LOVE rainbow, so I’ve used multicolored nonpareil sprinkles…

Sprinkles can be bought cheaply in bulk so there’s really no reason to hold back! Particularly for a special occasion like a sweet, lovable little Schmoo’s 4th (!) birthday…

Perfectly Chocolate Cake & Perfectly Chocolate Frosting

Author: slightly modified from the back of the Hershey’s cocoa can

Prep time: 20 mins

Cook time: 25 mins

Total time: 45 mins

Serves: 10-12

Ingredients

For the Cake:
2 cups granulated sugar
1¾ cups all-purpose flour
¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1½ teaspoon baking powder
1½ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
½ cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water
For the Frosting:
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
1⅓ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
6 cups powdered (confectioners) sugar
⅔ cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon kosher salt

Instructions

For the Cake: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and line (3) 6-inch round cake pans with parchment. Combine first six ingredients in a large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla; beat on medium speed for two mins. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour into pans and bake 25-30 mins or until cake bounces back and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool 10 mins; remove from pans to wire racks.
For the Frosting: Melt butter, stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating on medium speed to spreading consistency. Add more milk, if needed. Stir in vanilla. Makes about 4 cups.

Happy Birthday to my Sweet Baby Boy! I love you SO MUCH!

…PS- Click on the highlighted text and you’ll be taken to my shop, where you can purchase the items I’ve recommended.

Decorated Biscoff Cut-Out Cookies for St. Patrick’s Day

* Posted on March 4, 2013 by Allie

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I made you cookies!

Rainbows, Gold Coins, and Shamrocks.

My kids are finally eating my cookies!

Yay!

I guess it was just a matter of time until they came around…

I mean, what’s not to like???

I made these cookies with Bake at 350′s recipe. They are Biscoff cut-outs! Do you know about Biscoff? It’s cookie butter. Like, as in, cookies, not peanuts, crushed up into cookie butter, not peanut butter. I mean… what evil genius came up with that idea? Can you even???

So, the cookies have a creamy kind of texture, like a peanut butter cookie, but the flavor is more caramelly, cinnamony, brown sugary. They are insane! I luuuurrrrrrvvvvve them…!

I’ve made a few minor tweaks to the recipe, as per my scientific findings (see also: How to Bake Cookies that Don’t Spread). You have to try these! Make them ASAP, they will not disappoint!

Decorated Cookies for St. Patrick’s Day

Author: bakeat350.blogspot.com, adapted by YinMom YangMom Allie

Prep time: 10 mins

Cook time: 10 mins

Total time: 20 mins

Serves: about 2½ dozen cookies

Ingredients

½ cup (1 stick) cold, cubed unsalted butter
½ cup Biscoff Spread (a.k.a. speculoos or cookie butter)
¾ cup light brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 cups all-purpose flour
¼ cup cornstarch

Instructions

Cream the first three ingredients together.
Add the egg and mix until well-combined.
Mix in the last three ingredients until incorporated.
Roll between two sheets of parchment, cut out shapes, and bake on parchment-lined baking sheets for approximately 10 minutes at 375 degrees.

By the way, the gold coins get their shimmer from Gold Wilton Color Mist. It works like spray paint, only you can eat it!

Thanks for reading all my St. Patrick’s Day ramblings over the last few posts…! I know it’s kind of a minor holiday that not everyone bothers with, but I think there’s a lot of food fun to be had around the Irish theme.

Stop back over in the coming weeks for some great Easter and Passover ideas!

** Shared on Whipperberry.com Friday Flair Link Party **

Our Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookie

* Posted on February 19, 2013 by Allie

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I’m titling this post “OUR Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookie,” because there are just so many recipes floating around cyberspace for THE ultimate CCC, and I mean, come on, CCC’s can be done in so many different ways, and everyone has their own kinda favorite, right?

Mr. Allie is a big fan of the flat, crispy CCC, a la Tate’s:

source

I, personally, love the LeVain style CCC; thick, soft, and gooey inside:

source

And, not surprisingly, (although infuriatingly), my kids always beg for the hard, candy-colored, loaded with preservatives and triglycerides version:

source

Sigh. It’s all about compromise, right?

Ok, so as anyone who knows me can attest, when it comes to cookies I am dedicated to the task. I’ve experimented with a lot of different recipes, trying to nail the perfect balance. After tireless research, I think I’ve hit the sweet spot with this one. It’s perfection, for my family. The trifecta:

1. Crisp Edges
2. Gooey Center
3. Rainbow

…and,

4. Homemade!

Cold, cubed butter goes into the mixer, with both brown and white sugars.

Beat just until well combined. If you overdo it, it will whip a lot of air into it, which will make the cookies spread too much in the oven. Check out this post for more tips on how to keep your cookies from spreading and losing their shape.

In go the eggs and vanilla…

…and the flour, oats, cornstarch, salt, and baking soda.

Now add in a really good quality chocolate (I love the Ghirardelli semisweet chips)…

…and scoop them out onto parchment-lined baking sheets, using a cookie scoop.

“But Allie,” you might be wondering, “did you forget about the rainbow part?”

Child, please. You gotta trust.

As a part of my tireless research and practice, and as a true testament to the level of my food nerdiness, I have determined that mixing the rainbow candies into the cookie dough results in a melty mess of bleeding color that renders the final result completely unappealing. No, friends. Not on my watch. This will not do.

After scooping the dough, enlist the help of your rainbow-loving children to adorn the cookie exteriors with Dark Chocolate M&M’s.

That’s right. The M&M’s must be of the dark chocolate variety. I ain’t tryin to put no wimpy milk chocolate in my CCC’s!

Bake them for 10 minutes at 375 degrees, and cool on the baking sheet.

These are absolutely ridiculous, warm from the oven.

So much so, that they have planted the seed of food snobbery in my three-year old. Now, he only wants “HOT cookie.” “Mama, can you make this cookie HOT?”

These CCC’s are just begging to be bitten. Crisp, tender edges, lightly golden, and soft, chewy interior, with just a hint of rich and gooey, intensely chocolaty, and so pretty and fun to look at. Give them a try! I have a funny feeling that OUR Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookies are going to be YOUR Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookie.

Our Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookie

Author: YinMom YangMom Allie

Prep time: 10 mins

Cook time: 10 mins

Total time: 20 mins

Serves: 3 dozen cookies

Crisp, tender edges, soft, gooey centers, and rainbow!

Ingredients

¾ cup (1½ sticks) cold unsalted butter, cubed
½ cup granulated sugar
½ cup slightly packed light brown sugar
1 egg
1½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1¼ cups all-purpose flour
¾ cup oats
¼ cup cornstarch
1 teaspoon baking soda
¾ teaspoon salt
(1) 12 ounce bag semi-sweet chocolate chips
about ¾ cup dark chocolate M&M’s, for garnish

Instructions

Cream the butter and sugars.
Mix in the egg and vanilla.
Add the flour, cornstarch, oats, baking soda, and salt, and mix until combined.
Fold in the chocolate chips.
Drop onto parchment lined baking sheets, using a cookie scoop.
Garnish the tops with M&M’s.
Bake for 10 minutes at 375 degrees.

Happy Valentine’s Day

* Posted on February 14, 2013 by Allie

Leave a reply

Wishing all our readers a very Happy Valentine’s Day today!

Click here for All-Natural Red Velvet Cupcake Recipe
Click here for Fluffy Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe

…and, if you haven’t already seen this brilliant idea all over Pinterest, here’s one for your Tip Jar! Chinet Crystal Cups are a great way to keep your beautifully iced and decorated cupcakes intact during travel. It’s a perfect fit, and placing them in a Wilton Treat Bag makes them even more portable!

**I’ve not been compensated by any of the companies mentioned in this post and have no affiliation with these products.**

yinmomyangmom

Two Sisters With Kids

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