Martian Cookies!

My cat is in Austin now and I have finally baked something.  I think that means I’m moved in!  We’re going to ignore those three boxes in my room (two and a half, really), okay?  Deal.

What to bake first in the new abode?  Cookies seemed like a no-brainer.  I almost went with oatmeal chocolate chip as they are an old favorite, plus I’ve never blogged them.  But then I remembered something a bit similar that Jill had told me about a few times: Martian Cookies!

What gives them the extra-terrestrial name?  Zucchini!  (Martians are totally green, duh.)  They’re not super green, though; you just see little flecks from the skin.  If you or anyone you’d feed these to are weirded out by the presence of a veggie in your cookies, don’t be.  It’s undetectable.  If anything, you’ll be like, “Mmm, oatmeal chocolate chip cookies!  But what’s that?  Ohh, butterscotch!”  That stuff is tricksy like that.

Meanwhile, the zucchini martians are on soft cookie patrol.  

Revisiting Macarons…

(Let the length of this post be a confirmation: making macarons is a sickness.)

Fire up the TARDIS, we’re going back in time!

In June, I made Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Brownies for Frosting for the Cause in honor of my Aunt Tammy.  While very delicious, they weren’t actually my original idea of what to make!

I had asked my Uncle Mark what his wife’s favorite dessert was, and he said she liked crème brûlée.  YUM!  The only problem was that whatever I made needed to be donated to a hospice center, and crème brûlée isn’t the friendliest dessert for doing so.  Some mental problem solving came up with the following: Strawberrry Macarons with Crème Brûlée Filling!  Not only would they have my aunt’s favorite dessert in them, they’d be pink.  Perfect!

Well, not so fast there, buddy.  Up until that point, I had only made four batches of macarons in two sessions.  They were quite good (I thought) for my first tries, but I had by no means mastered them.  (I posted about the first attempts here!) But then I ran across Stella of BraveTart‘s method via Mardi of Eat, Travel, Write.  Her no-fuss approach to macaron-making instantly appealed to me and gave me the confidence to be wild ‘n crazy.  Bonus: her recipe included a strawberry variation!  Macarons it was.  

Frosting for the Cause: Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Brownies

Remember how I was supposed to post a recipe at Frosting for the Cause on September 6?  Don’t worry…time didn’t really fly that quickly!  Two June dates opened up and I offered to switch to the later one because it was the day after my aunt’s birthday.

Anyway, that’s today.  (The posting date, not her birthday, silly!)

If you would like to read about my Aunt Tammy and also how I made these Chocolate Chip Cookie Brownies, then cruise on over!

Thanks to Paula for organizing such a great cause!

Basler Brunsli (Chocolate-Almond Spice Cookies)

Remember when I mentioned how I like baking cookies for backstage orchestra concert treats?  Musicians love to chow down on sugar during intermission, so it’s a good way to get rid of share a bunch of cookies.  This past weekend provided this opportunity, which I’m grateful for because it was also when my aunt’s funeral took place.  Baking can be very therapeutic, so I got to working on this batch of cookies when I got home.

The mighty viola section. (Photo from facebook, edited but not taken by me.)

When Victoria posted these brunsli cookies last December, they headed straight to my mental to-bake list.  (’tis the season to make her cookie recipes from that month, apparently.)   Technically they’re a type of Swiss Christmas cookie, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be enjoyed at any time of the year.  I had kept in mind that they were gluten-free as there are a few musicians in this orchestra with Celiac disease, one happening to be my stand partner for the week.  Before I made these, she even asked if I had known of a cookie that sounded really similar to these, but couldn’t remember the name.

Key Lime Raspberry Thumbprint Cookies

One of the things I’ve learned in life is that you can’t tell my mom anything.  I think this is just a personality quirk that my family has learned to accept, and it can be pretty amusing at times.

My parents have a quasi-retirement house up at Lake LBJ which they tend to go to on the weekends.  It’s in a neighborhood, but there are lots of wild animals around, most notably deer.  Now, to give you an idea of my mom’s compassion for animals, pretty much every pet we ever had was a stray that she rescued.  Naturally, with all the deer traipsing through the yard at the lakehouse, my mom has resorted to feeding them.  This is a big nono in that area and last year she was caught and fined a hefty fee.   Most people would learn their lesson from this situation and stop feeding the deer.

Well…I was up there this past weekend, and guess what?  My mom didn’t listen and has resumed her devious/compassionate behavior.  It’s really obvious too because there will be up to 30 deer in the yard!  There’s a pregnant one that will even eat out of her hand.  After the couple of times I saw her feed them, she said, “You guys are making me look bad!  Go on, get outta here!” and then proceeded to feed them some more.  haha, oh my… 

Vegan Ginger Cookies

Do you have a friend who you can always count on to show up late?  Like they don’t even have to try, they’re just gifted with the skill of tardiness?

Hi, that’s totally me.

I really don’t like being like this, though.  In fact, I’ve checked out a time management book for people like me, as lame as that sounds.  And in an effort to be less high maintenance, I’m attempting to accept my hair in its natural state, meaning no blow drying or flat ironing.  (Ever wondered how Ron and Hermione’s offspring would look?  Now you know.)

I made these cookies a long time ago, as in a week before the Easter bunny made his rounds.  They’ve been on my mental to-bake list and I finally had a party to go to, and therefore a reason to make and share them. 

One Hundred! and Striped Jelly Bean Shortbread Cookies

9 months.

Probably the first thing that comes to mind is the amount of time it takes for a baby to cook.  It turns out that that’s also how long it takes for me to generate 100 posts!  (Annnd, I’m one person shy of I now have 100 followers on twitter! )  One could call this blog my baby, I suppose, so it’s all connected in some bizarre-o way.

I’m not sure that I ever thought I’d go this far with this endeavor, but honestly believe that I wouldn’t have without the amount of support, enthusiasm, and encouragement I’ve received from you.  /sappy moment  And a special shout out to my trusty little camera: I thought I’d lost it last week while making my dish for the last Daring Cooks’ challenge, but am so relieved to report that uncooked rice is a miracle grain.  Phew!!!

In honor of this occasion, I’m going to share something that I made a year ago which I’ve been saving up for this time of year.  Perfect timing for Easter this weekend! 

Chocolate Stout and Irish Cream Whoopie Pies

I think this marks my first time posting a festive recipe several days before the actual holiday.  Shocking, right?  Unsurprisingly, this was kind of an experiment that I thought about doing awhile ago.  I didn’t come up with the recipe, but did try a different execution of it.

Did you know that I made a wedding cake almost a year ago?  It was this already huge chocolate stout cake recipe tripled and it was ridiculously delicious.  If you’ve never had chocolate stout cake, I think you should change that very soon.  It doesn’t taste beer-y, but has an even deeper chocolate flavor.  And just so you know, even beer haters like it.   By the way, all three winners of that Scharffen-Berger Chocolate Adventure Contest (remember?) incorporated stout into their cupcakes.  That’s saying something.

Anyway, I think Deb basically halved that cake recipe (she’d made it into a bundt before), so I knew what I was getting myself into taste and texture-wise.  I didn’t know if one could make whoopie pies simply by scooping cake batter without any alterations onto a cookie sheet, but luckily for me, it pretty much worked with this recipe!

Ice Cream SADwiches

My dad’s birthday was a few days ago.  If you recall, I made a black forest cake for him last year.  Even though it’s his favorite kind of cake, I didn’t want to make the same thing two years in a row because that thing was a ton of work that’s boooring!

Since ice cream is another Dad Favorite, I came up with the brilliant (if I do say so myself) idea of black forest ice cream sandwiches!  The plan was to make cherry ice cream and sandwich it between chocolate cookies brushed with a cherry/kirsch syrup.  Simple enough, right?

Chewy Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

When I got back from New Zealand a year ago, I was dirt poor and said this on facebook: “Sooo…anybody aware of places currently in need of a musician with mad office and baking skills?  I’ll submit my resume with a cookie attached.”  True.

These are the cookies that would be attached to copies of my resume.

I’ve made Alton Brown’s The Chewy Recipe quite a few times now that this time I decided to play with it a bit.  Since melted butter is involved, my mind went to the uber trendy, super tasty brown butter.  The first time I browned butter was for Smitten Kitchen’s Peach Shortbread (tasty and gorgeous, by the way!), and the second was for these yummy muffins.  If you haven’t ever done so, it’s easy as long as you keep an eye on it!