Lovin' From the Oven

Sour Cream Apple Bars

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I just look at these pictures and think of how much I took my life for granted when I enjoyed these bars. Now, I’ve been quarantined from my room and am living out of two laundry baskets. I even had to deal with no running water for a night… pouring buckets of water into the toilet to help it flush. Here’s the door to my room:
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Why? Well, a water pipe burst in my house. It just so happens that my room is the only one downstairs, so it was the only one that got slightly flooded. I walked into my room and noticed my carpet was damp. Then, I saw a water stain on the wall in my bathroom. No bueno. I told my dad and then had to leave to go to a law fair at UCLA with the DB. When I came home, a chunk of my wall had been punched out. Straight up, punched out with a hammer.
My dad had shut off all the water for the night and wouldn’t turn it on until we got the pipe checked the next day. It turns out that the pipe was underneath the cement in my floor. They had to rip out my carpet, drill a hole in the cement, and temporarily fix the pipe until the insurance company could come and look at it. So, this is what my room looks like when you walk in:

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There are three huge fans constantly running– one in my closet, one in my room, and one in my bathroom. The other half of my bedroom was sealed off (as you can see) so that it wouldn’t be affected. You can’t even walk on the other side of that plastic sheet because everything is crammed over there. My bed, my desk, my nightstand, everything in my closet, entertainment stand…. everything.
If you were to go into my room now, your hair would be flying into your face and your shirt would be drenched with sweat from the heat. It’s like that to keep mold from growing. After the insurance sees it tomorrow, it’ll take an additional four weeks to do the drywall, fill the cement, fix the baseboard, and repaint. Until then, I’ll be dreaming of my bed and baking out my eagerness to get my room back.
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This recipe is best out of the oven. I’ve had it cold from the refrigerator, and although it’s not bad by any means, nothing beats an apple dessert straight from the oven. I haven’t baked anything with oatmeal in a while because my DB’s not a fan, but these babies just refreshed my memory. Oatmeal is delish! I forgot that I can bake for myself, sometimes.
The sour cream melts into the middle layer and you never would’ve guessed it was sour cream. The crust is crunchy and strongly resembles granola. Ummm.. LOVE! The recipe is slightly adapted from Your Home Based Mom.

Crust:

  • 1 C butter, softened
  • 1 C firmly packed brown sugar
  • 2 C uncooked quick cooking oats
  • 1 C flour
  • 1 C chopped pecans
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 2 tsp ground cinnamon

Filling:

  • 1 C sour cream
  • 3/4 C sugar
  • 2 Tbsp flour
  • 1 egg
  • 4 apples, unpeeled and diced
  1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Cream together the butter and brown sugar. Add the remaining crust ingredients and beat until well mixed.
  2. Press HALF of crust mixture onto bottom of ungreased 9 x 13 pan. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until light golden brown.
  3. While crust is baking, combine the filling ingredients; mix well. Gently pour the filling over the hot, partially baked crust. Crumble the remaining crust mixture over the top of the fill and press down lightly.
  4. Bake for an additional 25-30 minutes or until the top is golden brown and the center is set. Cool & cut into bars. Store refrigerated.

White Chocolate Chip Oat Cookies with Dried Cranberries and Slivered Almonds

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I had a weekend full of meat. Have I ever told you how my boyfriend doesn’t eat any vegetables? Like, zip. nada. zelch. He won’t touch anything that’s green, with spinach being the only exception. Even so, he’ll only eat like three bites of spinach and he’ll be done for the month. Our relationship works out perfectly because I eat all of his vegetables and he finishes all of my meat.

What’s even better is that he fits into my family perfectly. My dad made a comment to my older sister and me that we couldn’t find normal boyfriends.. we had to find ones with weird eating habits (joking, of course). But it worked out in the end because my older sister’s boyfriend is vegan. Everything he doesn’t eat, my boyfriend eats. Everything my boyfriend doesn’t eat, my sister’s boyfriend will eat. Put the two together and they can finish an entire plate. Works out perfectly, right?

These cookies have some great ingredients that work well together. They were crispy on the edges and the oats made it chewy on the inside. I just wish that they were turned out a bit thicker. A bit of tweaking and this recipe could do wonders. Recipe’s from Dash and Bella.

ingredients:
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups white chocolate chips
3/4 cup dried sweetened cranberries
3/4 cup slivered almonds
1/2 cup oats
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 eggs
directions:
Place butter in the bowl of the electric mixture and allow to soften for a few hours if it’s not room temperature already.
Preheat oven to 375°F.
In a new bowl, mix together chocolate chips, dried cranberries, almonds, and oats. Set aside. Sift together flour, baking soda, and salt. Mix with a whisk to make sure baking soda and salt are evenly distributed. Set aside.
Add both sugars to the butter and beat like crazy for a few minutes. Scrape down the sides. Add 1 egg. Mix for a few seconds. Scrape down the sides. Add the 2nd egg and mix for a few seconds. Scrape down the sides. Add the vanilla. Mix for about 3 seconds. Scrape down sides. Add 1/3 of the flour mixtures, mix for a few seconds, scrape down the sides. Add the 2nd 1/3 of the flour mixture, mix for a few seconds, scrape down the sides. Now add the final 1/3 of the flour mixture PLUS the chocolate chip/oat/cranberry/almond mixture. Mix briefly until flour is just incorporated. At this point all the chips, nuts, oats, and cranberries should be evenly distributed as well.
Use an ice cream scoop. Scoop out balls of dough (a bit bigger than a golf ball). Don’t flatten them. Keep them spherical. This way the center will stay gooey and the edges while the edges get crisp. Place a few inches apart on the cookie sheet. Bake in the middle rack of the oven.
Bake 10-12 minutes. But don’t go according to time. Instead, keep an eye on the cookies. When the center (quarter-sized) is still raw, take the cookies out. Leave them on the sheet pan for a few minutes. Move to a rack and let cool. Or just cool them on the cookie sheet.

Freeze balls of dough for up to 6 months in a ziploc bag. You can place the frozen cookie balls onto a cookie sheet and right into a preheated oven.


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Copycat Momofuku Cornflake Marshmallow Cookies

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I just arrived today in Big Bear and the weather is beautiful! I love being away from the LA smog and out in this fresh outdoor scenery. It’s quite refreshing, really. Unfortunately, I had a terrible headache the entire evening and was stuck in bed dealing with it (good thing I had formspring questions to keep me entertained!). Perhaps it’s because I didn’t drink enough water. I really suck at doing that. I somehow always forget to drink water or when I do, it takes me hours to finish a glass. I’ll work on it.

Ever since my use of cereal in everything cookies, I’ve always been very open to the idea of using cornflakes in cookies. Lucky for me, I stumbled across this recipe on tastespotting or foodgawker and just had to give it a go. My second cereal cookie. Was it as good as the first? They’re good, but not as good as my first. Maybe I’m biased, but that’s just my opinion. I do admit I really like the idea of using marshmallows in cookies, though. Then again, these marshmallow cookies totally blew these out of the water. Hmmm… so much competition!

I SLIGHTLY adapted the recipe.. testing with the marshmallow method. For my first batch, I baked the cookies for a little bit before putting on the marshmallows (as listed in my slightly adapted recipe). For the second batch, I followed the original directions exactly and placed the marshmallows onto my cookie dough balls before baking them. What happened with the second batch was that the marshmallows all got pushed to the edges when baking and were practically falling off the cookie. I liked the first method much better, which resulted in the cookies pictured. I adapted the recipe from The Cookbook Chronicles, even though my cookies don’t look like hers.

  • 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
  • 1 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1/3 cup white sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 3/4 cups AP flour
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
  • 3/4 cup oatmeal
  • 1 1/4 cup lightly crushed cornflakes
  • 2/3 cup mini chocolate chips
  • about 3/4 cup mini marshmallows
  1. In a mixing bowl, beat together the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes on medium speed. Add the eggs and vanilla extract, and beat until combined.
  2. Add the flour, baking soda, and salt and beat on low speed, just so the dry ingredients become incorporated. With a wooden spoon, mix in the oatmeal, crushed cornflakes, and chocolate chips. Refrigerate dough for at least 2 hours.
  3. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
  4. On a baking sheet, scoop up and roll the dough into golf ball-sized spheres. Give them room to spread!
  5. Bake for 4 minutes. Pull them out and quickly press 4 mini marshmallows into each cookie. Bake for an additional 6 minutes**. The cookies will still look soft in the middle when you take them out of the oven. Allow them to cool directly on the tray for a few minutes before moving them onto a platter.

**If the marshmallows aren’t the color you want them to be, you can always put them under the broiler for a couple of seconds to get that nice glow. Make sure to keep an eye on them!

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