Oatmeal Scones with Cinnamon Sugar

Thanks to Good Housekeeping for this one!


I really love scones, and have been looking for a healthy-ish recipe for a while.  My parents visited this weekend, and I wanted to have something for breakfast that wouldn't require much effort on my part the morning of, so I could spend more time hanging with them (and my childhood dog, Sophie!) instead of being in the kitchen.


I typically make a breakfast casserole (recipe forthcoming!), but wanted to change things up a bit.


You'll need:


2 cups old-fashioned oats
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, cut up
3/4 cups buttermilk
1 large egg
cinnamon and sugar


Begin by preheating your oven to 425 degrees F.  In a food processor, combine the oats, flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg.  Pulse to blend.  Add the cut up butter and pulse until coarse crumbs form.


In a cup, beat the buttermilk and egg.  With the food processor running, add the egg mixture and pulse until a dough forms.  The dough is pretty sticky, so make sure to use some flour on your palms and 1/4 cup measuring cup when handling the dough.


Scoop the dough, by the 1/4 cup, onto a cookie sheet.  Flatten each mound into a 2 1/2-inch round.  Sprinkle the tops with cinnamon and sugar.  Bake 15-17 minutes or until golden on the bottom.  I baked mine for 16 minutes, but found that some were a wee bit overdone on the bottom.  Just make sure to keep an eye on them toward the end.


I managed to get 9 scones out of this recipe.

Sophie, intently staring the scone down.

They're a bit crumbly, and aren't nearly as dense as regular scones, but also aren't overly sweet, which is nice.  The top is crusty and crunchy from the cinnamon and sugar.  All in all, these ended up being pretty tasty, and I don't feel terrible about eating them since there isn't a ton of sugar in them, and they have some oats.  Enjoy!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

I've decided that it's official: Fall is here.  The high temperature yesterday was only in the 60s!  And this weekend it's only supposed to get up to about 70, and should be partly sunny.  I am absolutely loving it.  Bring on the cooler, non-humid weather, beautiful leaves, and sweaters.  


Since fall is here, it's time to start cooking and baking with pumpkin!  Admittedly, I've never been a humongous fan of pumpkin, but I've seen so many recipes on other blogs that use pumpkin, and they all look so delicious.  I figured it couldn't hurt to give pumpkin another try.  


My parents (Who I now know are regular readers of my blog; Hi Mom and Dad!!) are visiting this weekend.  I usually like to bake a little something for my guests anyway, so these Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies seemed like a natural choice.  


After doing a little perusing of the interwebz, I came across this recipe at My Baking Addiction.


You'll need:


1 cup canned pumpkin (NOT pumpkin pie filling)
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp milk
1 tbs vanilla extract
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips


Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Combine your pumpkin, sugar, vegetable oil, and egg.  In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.


Dissolve the baking soda with the milk and stir into the flour mixture.  Add the flour mixture to the to the pumpkin mixture and mix well.  Add in the vanilla and chocolate chips.

Drop by the spoonful onto greased cookie sheets and bake for approximately 10 minutes, or until lightly browned and firm.

The verdict: My first foray into baking with pumpkin was a success!  The cookies were really light, and almost fluffy, and the chocolate and pumpkin flavors worked together really well.  You can definitely expect more pumpkin recipes from me in the future!

Teriyaki Chicken

The weather in Bmore is finally starting to cool down and feel more like Fall.  Walking home after school, I even felt a little chilly as the damp breeze blew!  I am definitely not complaining about this.  Autumn weather is most definitely a welcome change from the boiling hot, surprisingly humid summers that we have here.  I'm really starting to look forward to doing some more baking, and cooking with seasonal Autumn ingredients.  After a trip to the grocery store tomorrow morning I should be able to do just that =).  Anyway, on to the latest post!


Recipe originally found at A Sweet Pea Chef.  And just like Lacey said, this teriyaki sauce is a-freaking-making.  I'll definitely be making the sauce all the time from now on!  It's waaaay better than any store bought teriyaki sauce.  Trust me.  Or make it yourself if you don't believe me!


You'll need:


Teriyaki Sauce
1/3 cup soy sauce
2 tbs honey
1 tbs brown sugar
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp fresh ginger, minced (I didn't have any ginger on hand, so I omitted it)
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1/3 cup water
1 tbs cornstarch


Chicken
1 tsp olive oil
Boneless skinless chicken breasts (Original recipe calls for 4, but I only used 2)
Kosher salt
Black pepper
Optional garnish(es): sliced scallions or sesame seeds


Preheat your oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.


To make the sauce, combine the soy sauce, honey, brown sugar, garlic, ginger (if you have any, unlike me), and vinegar over medium heat in a small saucepan.  Stir frequently.


Dissolve the cornstarch in water in a small bowl and add to the saucepan.  Cook for 6-8 minutes until thickened, stirring frequently.


To make the chicken, heat the olive oil in a large, oven safe skillet or pan over high heat.  Season the chicken breasts with salt and pepper.

Place the chicken in the heated skillet and cook on one side until golden-brown (~5-6 minutes).  Flip the chicken over, pour the teriyaki sauce over and in between the chicken and slide the skillet into the oven.


Bake the chicken for 15-20 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through.


Drizzle the chicken with the teriyaki sauce left in the skillet.  Serve with steamed rice (I went with brown rice) and garnish with scallions and/or sesame seeds if you'd like.

Next time (and there will definitely be a next time) I think I'll steam up some veggies to go alongside the chicken.  Other than that, I wouldn't change a thing!

Sour Cream and Roasted Red Pepper Dip

Believe it or not, this is adapted slightly from a Weight Watchers recipe!  You'd never know it, though.  


I made this as part of the Welcome Home/Football Party that we had over the weekend.  I felt sort of obligated to prepare some lighter fare, since most of the other food was pretty heavy, and because I currently only have one pair of jeans that I can comfortably sit down in. <hangs head in embarrassment>

Maeby perched in my (clean) laundry basket, supervising everything going on in the kitchen.

You'll need:


15 oz. jar roasted red peppers, drained (approximately 2 cups)
1 cup reduced fat sour cream
1/2 cup basil, fresh
1/4 cup flat leaf parsley, fresh
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp salt, or to taste
1/4 tsp black pepper or to taste


Place all of your ingredients in a food processor, mini chopper, or blender.  Let 'er rip, and puree until smooth.  

Make sure to taste it after pureeing.  I almost always feel like this needs more salt.

It ends up being a light pink color.

This dip is really good with some fresh veggies, pita wedges, crackers, and on and on.  It's a nice, light alternative to the usual sour cream and onion dip that often gets served at tailgating parties.

Homemade Funfetti Cupcakes

I am so disappointed.  Initially I intended to make these cupcakes "Pittsburgh Style" for the football party we had over the weekend.  Pittsburgh Style isn't anything fancy; I just thought it would be cute to dye the frosting gold (or yellow, for the non-Yinzers out there), and use only black, gold, and white sprinkles.  But neither Walmart (a.k.a. the 7th circle of Hell) nor Safeway had a very good selection of sprinkles.  Oh well.  They're still super cute!  Next time I make them, I'll put in a little extra effort and head to Michael's and hope that they have a better assortment, and larger tubs of sprinkles.


The cupcake recipe originally comes from Simply Scratch, and the frosting can be found at Best Cupcake Recipes.


You'll need:


Cupcakes (makes 24)
4 whole egg whites
1 cup whole milk
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups cake flour, sifted
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar, sifted
1 tbs plus 1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp Kosher salt
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup sprinkles plus more for garnish


Vanilla Buttercream Frosting (enough for ~24 cupcakes)
2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
6-8 cups powdered sugar (I only needed 7 cups)
1/2 cup milk
1.5 tsp vanilla extract
Food coloring, yellow


To make the cupcakes, begin by preheating your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.  Line your cupcake pan with paper liners.


Combine the egg whites, vanilla, and whole milk in a bowl.  Whisk together and set aside.


In a large mixing bowl (preferably the bowl on your stand mixer), sift the dry ingredients.  Fitted with a paddle attachment, blend the dry ingredients with the butter and half of the egg and milk mixture.  Scrape the sides and bottom of the mixing bowl and then slowly add the remaining mixture.  Stop mixing once everything is combined.

Fold in the sprinkles and fill the paper liners halfway.  Bake for 17-20 minutes, but keep an eye on them so as not to over bake.

To begin making the frosting, you'll either need to wash the bowl and paddle attachment on your stand mixer, or break out your electric hand mixer and another bowl.  


In either the stand mixer or with your electric hand mixer (or by hand!), mix the butter until smooth and creamy.


Add 4 cups of powdered sugar, the milk, and vanilla on low speed until combined.

Yep, that's 8 cups of powdered sugar right there.

Add 2 more cups of powdered sugar and on low speed mix until light and fluffy.  If necessary, add the remaining 2 cups of powdered sugar.


Now that you've made your cupcakes and buttercream frosting, you can decorate your cupcakes!  It would be perfectly fine (and certainly delicious) to leave your buttercream as is, but I'm opting to jazz mine up a bit.  I took mine and added some yellow food coloring until achieving this rich gold color.


Now it's time to frost these bad boys!  I'd advise acting fairly quickly, since the buttercream can stiffen up on you in no time.  Frost 'em and add some more sprinkles and you're done!

How cute!  Thank you to my husband for serving as a hand model =)

Please check out Best Cupcake Recipes for tips on how to care for your buttercream, and for different variations.


*Post-baking notes: This frosting is SUPER sweet.  I know, I know... what did I expect?  It has like 7 cups of powdered sugar in it.  Just wanted to warn ya ;). 

Jalapeno Popper Dip

Recipe originally appearing on the nomlicious Brown Eyed Baker.


You'll need:


16 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
1 cup mayonnaise
8 pieces bacon, cooked and chopped up
6 jalapenos, minced (or use a 4 oz. can of jalapenos, diced)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp cumin
1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese


Topping:
1 cup panko breadcrumbs
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
4 tbs unsalted butter, melted


Begin by preheating your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.


Combine the cream cheese, mayo, bacon, jalapenos, garlic, cumin, and cheddar cheese in a mixing bowl.  Pour the mixture into a casserole dish or a 9x13 baking dish.


Combine the panko breadcrumbs, Parmesan cheese, and melted butter in a small bowl, tossing with a fork until the mixture is evenly moistened.  Sprinkle on top of the cream cheese mixture.


Bake in the preheated oven for 25-30 minutes, until the top is golden brown and the dip is bubbly.  Let it rest for 5 minutes before serving.  Serve with tortilla chips, crackers, veggies, etc.

One bit of this dip elicited an "Oh my God, is is this good!" from my husband.  I'd say it's a keeper!  It's cheesy, with a slight kick from the jalapenos.  Perfect for tailgating or football parties!

Welcome Home/Football Party

Sean started a new job about a year ago.  As luck would have it, one of his co-workers, Melissa, lives right down the hall from us with her fiance, Kevin.  They're both really nice people, and it's been great getting to know them.


Shortly after we met Kevin, he was sent overseas for work reasons and has been gone since the end of May.  Thankfully, he was able to come home this weekend!  Melissa decided to have a welcome home bash for him this weekend (that somehow ended up being held in our apartment... =P).  It just so happens that the date she chose coincides with the Steelers vs. Ravens football game.   


I'm no football fan, but I understand the significance of the Steelers/Ravens rivalry.  Whenever I meet a native Baltimorean for the first time, and they find out that I'm from Pittsburgh, their first question is "You're not a Steelers fan, are you?!?".  The ask this with obvious disgust and audible trepidation in their voices.  Their fears are allayed when I assure them that I don't watch much football.  I know, I know... I'm like the only Pittsburgher who doesn't worship the Steelers.


Anyway, I'll take every chance I get to do some entertaining.  I'll be making the following blog-worthy noms:


Homemade Funfetti Cupcakes
Jalapeno Popper Dip
Roasted Red Pepper Dip
and, of course, my pasta salad

Look for these recipes this week, starting tomorrow!