Lovin' From the Oven

Red Velvet Oreo Pudding Cookies

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You know what the worst is? When your fire alarm goes off when you’re just preheating the oven for the first time. Yup, that totally happened in our new place. And yup, it totally sucked. IMG_5524

I guess when we looked at the new place, I didn’t open the oven and stick my head in there to see how it really was. Note to self: always open ovens and thoroughly investigate before moving into somewhere new. Ours was FILTHY inside! I’ve never seen so much grease built up. The racks were layered with black sludge with no silver in sight. IMG_5525

The sides of the oven were splattered with everything that you could imagine. When the oven started to warm up, you could smell old food and oil. Our whole downstairs smoked up in a matter of minutes. It was a hot mess. IMG_5526

As I frantically looked for a step stool to unplug the fire alarm, my DH was opening windows and manually fanning the air out. Needless to say, we ordered takeout that night.IMG_5568

After that, I spent a good hour googling ways to clean your oven. I pulled out the baking racks, threw them in the bathtub, and soaked them with two different dish detergents. I made a baking soda and vinegar paste and smothered that all over the inside of the oven. I let the mixture sit overnight to do its magic.

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After scrubbing for what seemed like forever, I finally got the baking racks back to their original color: silver and shiny. The oven, on the other hand, still needs a lot of work. The paste helped, but there’s a lot more that could be taken off. Does anyone have any oven cleaning tips? I’m desperate because this girl needs a CLEAN working oven!

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These cookies were made at our old place. That oven was a dream. *sigh* I stumbled across red velvet Oreos at Target (of course) and bought them without hesitation. They’re pretty good on their own, but nothing compares to the original Oreo. Throw them in cookies, though, and you’ve got a whole other story. Another solid cookie from Two Peas and their Pod.

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Red Velvet Oreo Pudding Cookies

Ingredients

  • 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
  • 3/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 (3.4 oz) package vanilla instant pudding mix
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2 cups chopped Red Velvet Oreos, crushed

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet a Silpat and set aside.
  2. Cream together butter and both sugars. Beat in pudding mix, eggs, and vanilla extract.
  3. Gradually stir in flour, baking soda, and salt until just combined. Stir in the crushed Oreos.
  4. Drop cookie dough by rounded tablespoons onto prepared baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes.
https://lovintheoven.com/red-velvet-oreo-pudding-cookies/

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

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There are a lot of things to do living in Los Angeles that I still haven’t gotten around to. Last night, I was able to cross another “to do” off of my list. My DH took me to the Zelda symphony at the Disney Concert Music Hall downtown.

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Obviously, it was more for him than me since I never played Zelda growing up and he played every single game. I went as his plus one because that’s what spouses do. We support each other’s interests. My DH reminded me of the time he went with me to a Mae concert when we first started dating. He had no idea who they were and didn’t know any of the songs, but he went for me.

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First of all, the outside of the music hall is impressive. No matter how many times you see it, it still blows your breath away. It’s mesmerizing. Secondly, I’ve never seen so many…. unique people in my life. I’m talking about die-hard Legend of Zelda fans. Some even came in full costumes! I even saw a girl with a full on Zelda tattoo on her back. That’s intense.

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I guess that’s an obvious for most people, but I don’t know! It’s not part of my world so I’m oblivious. I don’t understand why people would stand in line for an hour to buy a ten dollar program. TEN DOLLARS for a little paper book? My DH was totally one of those people, btw.

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But the overall experience was fun. The venue itself is very intimate and smaller than I expected. I would say that I enjoyed it, even though I didn’t know any of the songs that they played. Would I go again? Only if it was for something that I was totally into. It makes a difference when you know the songs.

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I loved these cookies. I’m normally not a fan of peanut butter and chocolate, but the texture and balance in these did it for me.

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Not only that, but they’re beautiful! I’d call this a perfect cookie. IMG_4619

Recipe from Annie Eats

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Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

Ingredients

  • 1½ cups plus 2 tbsp. all-purpose flour
  • 6 tbsp. Dutch-process cocoa (I use Rodelle)
  • ½ tsp. baking soda
  • ½ tsp. coarse salt
  • ¾ stick (6 tbsp.) unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • ¼ cup plus 2 tbsp. creamy peanut butter
  • ½ cup sugar
  • ½ cup brown sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 2 tsp. vanilla extract
  • 2 tbsp. milk
  • 1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped peanut butter cups, divided

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
  2. Cream together the butter, peanut butter, and both sugars. Mix in the egg, vanilla extract, and milk.
  3. Gradually stir in the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt until combined.
  4. Mix in 1 cup chopped peanut butter cups by hand.
  5. Form into large 2-tablespoon sized balls and place onto baking sheet. Gently press the remaining 1/2 cup onto the top of each dough ball.
  6. Bake for 12-14 minutes.
https://lovintheoven.com/chocolate-peanut-butter-cup-cookies/

Chewy Sugar Cookies

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Whoa mama, I just came back from my first “real” cruise (I went on a three night one before, but I don’t count that since it was so short) and can now say I am five pounds happier. No, not really… but that’s what all you can eat 24:7 for a week does to you. We went on Oasis of the Seas with Royal Caribbean. We visited Nassau, St. Thomas, and St. Maarten.

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My verdict? Ehhhhh, I don’t really care for cruises! I know some people are crazy for them, but it just gets a little boring when you’re at sea for so long. My DH and I are explorers. We want to move, move, move while on vacation. We’re not very good at the lounging and relaxing part.

Plus, our cruise didn’t have any good dessert! That’s supposed to be the best part! The buffet food was also a little grim. I will say that it was extremely clean and had wonderful staff, though.

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I think those little three days are the perfect length for a cruise. Just enough to get a little taste before you get bored. IMG_3051

These cookies are a little bland. I prefer my sugar cookies to be on the sweeter side, and these weren’t. The consistency was soft and crinkly, though. Perhaps I’ll add some vanilla bean flecks next time or up the amount of vanilla extract. Recipe from Baking Away.

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Chewy Sugar Cookies

Ingredients

  • 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup butter, softened
  • 1 1/2 cups white sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup sugar for rolling cookies

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
  2. Cream together the butter and sugar. Add in eggs and vanilla.
  3. Gradually mix in the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
  4. Roll dough into rounded teaspoonfuls and roll in sugar.
  5. Bake 8 to 10 minutes. Let the cookies cool on the cookie sheet before moving.
https://lovintheoven.com/chewy-sugar-cookies/

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