26 Feb
Triple Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies
Posted by Michelle as Cookies | 19 Comments
Traditionally, oatmeal cookies are made with the addition of raisins and not much else. I have occasionally come across recipes that will include nuts or chocolate chips in addition to the raisins, but for the most part oatmeal cookies and raisins are bosom buddies and an exclusive clique. My thinking changed drastically over the Christmas holiday when I was asked to try a chocolate chip cookie made by my Chief Culinary Consultant’s mom. As soon as I bit into it I could taste oats, and although it wasn’t a full-fledged oatmeal cookie, the flavor and texture greatly enhanced the entire cookie. I was immediately sold on trying to come up with a hybrid chocolate chip and oatmeal cookie that wasn’t merely chocolate chips added to an oatmeal cookie recipe, and I think I achieved exactly what I was looking for with this cookie.
23 Feb
Celebrating 2 Years of Blogging with Italian Walnut Pillow Cookies
Posted by Michelle as Cookies | 23 Comments
Apparently I’m a bad partner to myself because I totally missed my own blogging anniversary! It was actually back on February 11th, which marked two years since my very first post of Italian Wedding Soup. Well, we’re still in the anniversary month, so it’s not too late to celebrate, right? It’s hard to believe how far my blog has come since that first post. It started out on Blogspot, moved to Wordpress, and finally settled in to its own domain. I think my photography has greatly improved, and that my blog has a greater sense of focus and provides readers with useful information and not merely a collection of recipes.
Stay tuned, because I have some changes in mind for Brown Eyed Baker that I think will only improve the experience for you the readers. With that being said, I’d also love to know what YOU would love to see from my blog. I want you to enjoy coming to Brown Eyed Baker, so let’s hear it! Suggestions, recommendations, anything. Do you want to see more recipes, more step-by-step instructions, more photography, Q&A’s, podcasts, informational (non-recipe) posts, etc? Give me your wish list!
Now, on to the celebrating. I started this blog with an Italian starter (soup), so why not celebrate with an Italian dessert?! (Actually, is a cookie dessert? I think it’s more of a snack, myself.)
19 Feb
Ham and Split Pea Soup
Posted by Michelle as Soups, Stews and Chili | 7 Comments
Let’s be honest – split pea soup is by far one of the least appetizing dishes to look at. My grandma always made this when I was a younger and I would never dare go near it – it looked far too unappealing for my underdeveloped taste buds. As a result, I had never tried the soup, instead being turned off by its looks. My grandma recently returned home from a stint in the hospital and rehabilitation center and I thought that making her a pot of soup for when she got home would be a nice gesture. Knowing that ham and split pea soup has long been one of her favorites, I took the opportunity to try something new and work with an ingredient I had never used before (dried peas).
16 Feb
For the Love of Peanut Butter and Cinnamon
Posted by Michelle as Candies and Confections, Cookies | 27 Comments
Any of you that know me in real life or who have followed my blog for any significant length of time are well aware that I’ve been plagued by food allergies for the past 5 years or so. I started having seemingly random reactions and after undergoing a few rounds of allergy testing I found that I was indeed allergic to many things, the most severe of which were: peanuts, tree nuts, turkey, cinnamon, shellfish, and other seafood. Talk about debilitating! It took some serious time for me to adjust and get used to reading labels, asking questions when going out to eat or eating in someone else’s home. I actually never got used to it – food allergies can be very stressful and the ones I tested allergic to were many things that I was used to eating on an almost daily basis. I was basically told to avoid all of these foods and then underwent about a year and a half of weekly allergy shots to deal with the environmental allergies that were uncovered as well.
Fast forward five years…
I recently decided that since I had the great misfortune of “growing into” these allergies that I had never had before, that perhaps it was possible for me to “grow out” of them as well. I scheduled an appointment with my allergist for re-testing and started the process two weeks ago. During the first round of re-testing I found that I had absolutely NO indication of an allergy to peanuts or cinnamon. I came home and ate a spoonful of peanut butter and bought Cinnamon Struesel Frosted Mini Wheats. I admit to being a bit nervous to try these, as I had been pretty much programmed to fear them for so many years, but after many successful tests, I can indeed tell you that I appear to be cured! During the second round of tests last week I also found that I have absolutely no indication of an allergy to tree nuts, turkey, shellfish, or seafood either!
Now, celebration was indeed in order. Brown Eyed Baker’s Chief Culinary Consultant presented me with a whole box of Reese’s Big Cup peanut butter cups. Oh boy! It didn’t take me long to dig in and I savored each and every bite. These were the one thing I was most looking forward to eating after getting the all-clear for peanuts. Mmmmm…
The celebrating didn’t stop there. Next up was trying a snickerdoodle cookie that the CCC had been raving about. Holy crap! These were by far, hands down, one of the best cookies (not just snickerdoodles) I have EVER had. First of all, they’re huge. Second of all, perfectly chewy. Thirdly, a wonderful, not-too-overpowering cinnamon/sugar flavor. And last, but certainly not least, these have little cinnamon-sugar nuggets baked right into the cookie. I’m not sure exactly how that’s done, but I’m determined to figure it out.
I’m sure you all want to know where you can find these cookies… they are sold at Noodles & Co. – take a look at their website and see if there is one near you!
Stay tuned for many recipes featuring all of these wonderful ingredients!
05 Feb
Sugar Cookies for the Super Bowl
Posted by Michelle as Cookies | 19 Comments
Okay, first things first… I’m from Pittsburgh and I love my Steelers. I couldn’t be more excited about their Super Bowl win – it’s a wonderful time to be from the Steel City!
Alright, my gloating over, I had a large cookie order for a Super Bowl party that consisted of 4 dozen of my gourmet chocolate chip cookies, and 3 dozen decorated football sugar cookies. While I’ve spent a lot of time practicing and perfecting the art of cake decoration, this was my first time doing fully decorated sugar cookies, and I have to say – I think they turned out pretty well!
I used a basic royal icing recipe to decorate these cookies and the method I used was to outline the footballs with a #2 tip and then flood the inside with thinned icing. Once dry, I outlined and flooded the white stripes on the sides and then used a #2 tip to add the laces at the top. I think I might be addicted to this and am looking forward to finding excuses to make other cookies to decorate!
If you haven’t decorated sugar cookies before, please check out the “Decorating with Royal Icing” tutorial that I have since posted. It is a step-by-step guide (with pictures) on how to decorate sugar cookies with royal icing.
03 Feb
Classic Vanilla Ice Cream
Posted by Michelle as Ice Cream and Frozen Desserts | 23 Comments
I’m sure it’s a bit bizarre to see ice cream recipes popping up during the winter months, but when you are lucky enough to receive the KA ice cream maker attachment for Christmas, there really isn’t an alternative to churning out new ice cream recipes! After a successful Blueberry Cheesecake Ice Cream, I definitely got the bug to keep trying new recipes and after hearing rave reviews, I ran out and picked up The Perfect Scoop
Vanilla ice cream is a classic that just about everyone loves, so mastering it was on the top of my list. A short list of ingredients ensures a rich, smooth, and fresh-tasting ice cream that melts in your mouth (slight pun intended). Using real vanilla beans gives the ice cream robust flavor and infuses it with speckles of vanilla bean, which I just love.
