Lovin' From the Oven

Gingerbread Men

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I cannot wait for Christmas! It’s definitely my favorite holiday and I already bought a mini 4 feet Christmas tree for our apartment and put it up yesterday. 🙂 What goes best with a Christmas tree? Gingerbread men! It kind of looks like they’ve been decorated by a little kid, but keep in mind I have no cookie cutters at my apartment and no toothpicks to decorate with! I had to hand cut these out with a knife and wing it with the icing. I adapted a recipe to my liking.

Ingredients:
1 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 egg
2 tablespoons molasses
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:
1.) Cream the butter and the sugar together. Add the egg and mix well. Mix in molasses. Add the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, ground cloves and salt, mixing until well combined. Chill dough for at least 2 hours.
2.) Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Grease cookie sheets. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough out to 1/4 inch thick. Cut into desired shapes using cookie cutters. Place cookies 1 inch apart on the prepared cookie sheets.
3.) Bake for 10 minutes in the preheated oven, until cookies are firm and lightly toasted on the edges.

This really is my go-to gingerbread recipe. I like to under bake mine just a bit and let them sit on the cookie pan for a minute or two after they are taken out of the oven. I used a basic royal icing recipe to decorate the cookies with, but they taste marvelous plain! The cookie dough is delicious, too… that’s the best part of baking cookies!

Baked Mac n’ Cheese

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I know, I know, I haven’t posted enough desserts to be posting real food yet.. but mac n’ cheese is baked so I figured I’d be able to post it here. 🙂 Nothing beats good ol’ comfort food!

Ingredients:
8 oz Elbow Macaroni
1/4 cup of butter
3 tbsp AP flour
1/4 tsp dry mustard
1/8 tsp black ground pepper
1/8 tsp salt
2 cups milk
4 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
3/4 cup of Cheez-It® brand crackers
1/2 tsp paprika

Directions:
1.) Cook elbow macaroni for 5 minutes. Drain, cover, and set aside. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2.) In medium saucepan, melt the butter. Blend in flour, mustard, pepper, and salt. Cook mixture until smooth and bubbly. Gradually add milk. Cook and continually stir until mixture boils. Simmer for a minute.
3.) Gradually mix in 3 cups of shredded cheese. Stir over low heat until all the cheese is melted.
4.) Add pasta to melted cheese mix and stir together. Pour into 2 quart greased casserole dish. (I just used an 8×8 pan cause that’s all I had) Top with remaining cheddar cheese.
5.) Crush the 3/4 cup of Cheez-It®’s and spread evenly over the mac and cheese mixture. Sprinkle paprika over the top.
6.) Bake for about 30 minutes.

Peanut Butter Cupcakes, Vegan Style.

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Having vegan friends sure does make you step outside your normal comfort of baking. I mean, I would’ve probably never used flax seeds in my entire life if it hadn’t been for vegan recipes. I’ve had a lot of successful recipes from the PPK, and decided it was about time for me to attempt my first recipe from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. I topped it off with some melted vegan chocolate chips and dusted them with some powdered sugar. I love how something so simple can make desserts look so elegant. I’d give it 4 out of 4 stars… for being vegan. I just can’t seem to acquire the taste to love vegan desserts as much as I love my normal, full of dairy, desserts. But they definitely tasted a lot better completely cooled and left to sit for a couple hours rather than straight out of the oven. Anyways, without further ado, here’s the recipe:

Peanut Butter Cupcakes
Vegan Cupcakes Take over the World by Isa Chandra Moskowitz

Ingredients:
3/4 cup soy milk
2 tsp apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup natural chunky peanut butter (i used creamy)
1/3 cup canola oil
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2 tbs dark molasses
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp ground flaxseed
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons AP flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

Directions:
1.) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin pan with cupcake liners.
2.) Mix soy milk and vinegar in a measuring cup and set aside to curdle.
3.) In a large mixing bowl, cream the peanut butter, oil, sugar, molasses, vanilla, and ground flaxseeds until well combined. Add the soy milk mixture and mix until incorporated.
4.) Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a separate bowl and mix. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix until just combined.
5.) Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full. Bake for 23-26 minutes. Remove from oven and transfer to cooling racks.

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