Brown Eyed Susans

When I put together my cookbook a year or so ago, I knew this recipe would have to be part of it. So old is this recipe, I can remember coming home from school and seeing a batch of these on the countertop. As busy as my mother was with four children, she somehow found the time.  If you own the book, you know that I featured this recipe in the dessert section by putting a picture of the original recipe from the back of a Parkay Margarine box. It was so stained and tattered, it tells a big tale, and a happy one too, of those little things that my mother did for us.  Today I went to visit her at her new "home" and brought her some of these cookies so she could decide which lucky resident would get one of them. I wonder if my mother realizes how this silly little recipe that has stuck with me for many years longer than I care to mention has had such an impact on me.  Try the recipe and see for yourself if you think this isn't one of the best shortbread cookies you've ever eaten.  Of course, Parkay Margarine is a thing of the past, so I've used butter here instead, and what's not to like about that?

BROWN EYED SUSANS

1 cup softened butter
3 Tbs. sugar
1 tsp. pure almond extract
2 cups flour
1/4 tsp salt

Cream the butter. Add the sugar, almond extract, flour and salt.  Roll this mixture into small balls the size of a walnut. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet. With your thumb or finger, make a deep indentation in the center of the dough. Bake in a preheated 400 degree oven on the middle rack for about ten minutes until lightly browned on the bottoms. When cool, frost with:

1 cup of confectioners sugar
2 Tbs. cocoa
2 Tbs. hot water
1/2 tsp. vanilla

Sift together the sugar and the cocoa. Add the hot water and vanilla and beat well. Make sure the cookies are completely cooled, then top each cookie with a small amount of frosting. If the frosting becomes thick or hardened while waiting for the batches to cool, add a drop of water and mix it up again. Don't overdo it with the frosting, as you want to end up with a nice little round blob of frosting atop each cookie!

The original recipe called for a blanched almond half to be placed in the center of the frosting, but Mom never did it this way, and we thought they were awesome. I did, however, have sliced almonds on hand and thought the addition of a small thin slice of almond on top would make the perfect decoration for these delicious shortbread cookies.

Makes about 2 1/2 dozen.

Buttery, melt-in-your-mouth Brown Eyed Susans

Banana and Ginger Snap Cupcakes

You know what they say about bananas, don't you? Umm, I don't either. I do know that if you're patient but a few days after purchasing them practically green you will have beautifully overripe fruit just perfect for baking.  Plus I really wanted to try out my new decorating tool, and as you can see by the pictures I could use a little more practice. Though they weren't all perfect looking (but they weren't too shabby either for my first time), I promise you they taste awesome. I took almost, that's right, almost all of them to my mother's place today and gave them to the gals working there. They loved them! Using a tried and true banana cupcake recipe from Martha Stewart, I kicked it up a notch with the addition of ground ginger. Here's the simple recipe for these light, moist and delicious treats.

BANANA AND GINGER SNAP CUPCAKES

1 1/2 cups flour

3/4 cup sugar

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. ground ginger

1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled

2 to 3 large ripe, thoroughly mashed bananas

2 eggs

1/2 tsp. vanilla

GINGER BUTTERCREAM FROSTING

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1/2 cup butter, very soft

1 1/2 tsp. milk

1/4 tsp. vanilla

1/2 tsp. ground ginger

1/4 cup crushed ginger snap cookies for the tops

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line a 12-cup muffin pan with regular sized paper or foil liners. In a mixing bowl, stir together the first six ingredients, the flour through the ginger. In another bowl, stir together well the butter, bananas, eggs and vanilla. Add all at once to the flour mixture and stir well. Divide the batter evenly between the 12 cupcake liners, approximately one-quarter cup of batter per cupcake. Bake for approximately 20 minutes, maybe a minute or two longer, until a toothpick comes out clean and dry. Remove immediately from pans to a wire rack and cool completely before frosting.

For the frosting, mix the sugar and butter together and add the milk, vanilla and ground ginger. You can always add more milk, so always start with less. Frost the cooled cupcakes simply or try your hand at decorating. Sprinkle the tops with the crushed ginger snap cookies. Enjoy!!!

I love comments. It makes me feel like I'm doing this for someone other than myself. If you stop by, and you have an extra second, say hi. Thanks!!!

Not too much, not too little....just perfect!

Orange and Raisin French Toast

Yesterday was a busy day. We had a birthday in the house. So starting with a great breakfast and ending with a fun evening in downtown Delray Beach, with probably the most perfect weather day we've had in months, it was an all around great day.  Here's the recipe that I whipped up using Pepperidge Farms Raisin Swirl Bread.  It was buy one get one at the store a couple of weeks ago, so there was a surplus of raisin bread around.  It came in handy this morning. I usually recommend a thicker sliced bread, like a challah (or egg bread) for making french toast, but the thinner sliced raisin bread was delicious. You gotta try it!

ORANGE AND RAISIN FRENCH TOAST

Whisk Together:

4 eggs

2/3 cup of milk

3 Tbs. orange juice

Grated peel of half an orange

1 tsp. sugar

1/4 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. vanilla

pinch of salt

Place your slices of bread in a baking dish (13x9). Eight slices fit pretty okay but will overlap slightly. Pour the egg mixture over the bread, turn once, and allow them to soak up the mixture for a good few minutes, turning occasionally.

My tip for turning and getting them out of your baking dish in one piece is to use a spatula. If you use your hands, they're going to tear and fall apart. Use a spatula and save yourself the aggravation!

In a skillet, heat equal amounts of butter and vegetable oil, a spoonful or so of each. Fry four at a time if it's a large pan on medium to medium high heat until golden brown, a few minutes each side. Remove to a platter and cover with foil to keep warm. Add extra butter and oil for the next batch. This makes eight slices. 

Now I know I've made jokes about using a good old jar of Spice Islands orange peel or lemon peel in some of my recipes, but I gotta say that when you've got the real thing around it's so much better, and pretty easy to do.  That's what I did here. Tammi and Marvin were right, "Ain't Nothin' Like The Real Thing Baby...." 

Enjoy, and let me know how it turned out.

P.S.  This recipe and more than a hundred pages of other great recipes, stories and pictures can be found in my book Singingirl Cooks! If you don't own a copy and would like to, let me know.  Thanks!

Cranberry, Pistachio and Cardamom Oatmeal Cookies

Red and green spotted cookies. I was thinking Christmas, festive, attractive, soft, delish. I came up with this mix for oatmeal cookies, and guess what? You guessed. I snuck in the cardamom again. Oh, they ARE really good.  Unfortunately I have posted this after the fact, that being in time to put these colorful cookies on a platter for the guests. But I recommend you try these anytime, right now, tomorrow maybe, and feel good knowing the oats are in there to help lower your cholesterol, and the pistachios are one of the fewest calorie nuts you can eat! 


3/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup quick cooking oats
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup light  or dark brown sugar
1/2 cup shelled pistachios
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 egg


Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Stir together the flour, cardamom, baking soda and salt and set aside. In another bowl, beat the butter and the sugars together. Stir in the vanilla and egg and mix well. Add the flour mixture all at once and stir to combine. Add the oats and mix again. Lastly, add the cranberries and pistachios which have been chopped, either by hand or in your food processor, leaving nice sized pieces of fruit and nut.


You can chill this mixture now until later, or start baking now.  


Spray a cookie sheet with cooking spray. Drop cookie dough by the tablespoon, 12 on a sheet, and bake for ten minutes. Remove to a rack to cool. Makes about 3 dozen. 

Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

Could I eat just one of these cookies? I think not. That's why I made some of them with semi-sweet dark chocolate kisses.  I figured dark chocolate is good for you, right? So I feel half as guilty by having eaten one with dark chocolate and one with an unbelievably yummy Reese's miniature peanut butter cup. Oh, whoever came up with this idea, one thousand thank yous!!!  Now, I only changed the recipe up a bit, I can never leave well enough alone. I used a favorite peanut butter cookie recipe of mine, and rolled the dough in sugar before baking. That's all!  Get to the store and buy these ingredients and start baking. You'll be happy you did. I  don't want to get graphic, but I brought these to my hair salon, and the response was that these cookies rivaled a sexual experience.  S'all I'm sayin'.


PEANUT BUTTER CUP COOKIES

1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
1 egg
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 1/4 cp. flour
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
40 Reese's miniature peanut butter cups OR
half and half Reese's and Hershey's Kisses


Cream together the softened butter and sugars. Mix in the vanilla and peanut butter, then the egg. Mix together all the dry ingredients (flour through salt) and add all at once to the creamed mixture, mixing very well. Refrigerate for at least an hour, overnight if you want to do this at another time.


When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Shape dough into balls about the size of a walnut, maybe a little smaller. Roll in a dish of granulated sugar and place each ball into an ungreased mini muffin pan. Bake for 8 to 8 1/2 minutes. Remove from oven and immediately place a peanut butter cup into the center of the cookie cup, pressing down gently so the candy is flush with the height of the cookie cup. Allow to cool in the mini muffin pan for a few minutes, and they will come out of the pan much easier. You can give them a nudge by sliding a knife carefully around the outside of the cookie to help it out, but you shouldn't have any problem. If you're using Hershey's Kisses, follow the same instructions for placing the candy into the cookie cup. This recipe makes around three dozen, give or take a few. 


Big Tip Here! Unwrap the candies and place them in the freezer while preparing the dough. It makes a big difference to have the candy be slightly or completely frozen before placing on the hot cookie. 

I thought twice about posting a picture with this reeeealllly old mini muffin pan, but I couldn't bring myself to PhotoShop out the worst of it right now, and I wanted you to see what the cookies looked like in the pan. If anyone wants to send me a new mini muffin pan, I'll give you my address ;-)