Category: Dessert

Really Really Good Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

On By sarafillmerIn Cookies, DessertLeave a comment

After Christmas my husband and I went to purchase my favorite tea from a local restaurant and while we were waiting, we perused the bakery case. Front and center was an oatmeal raisin cookie and my husband immediately asks me to make some when we get home. The recipe I found proclaimed it to be the “best”, but according to the hubs we have not tried every single oatmeal cookie recipe and therefore cannot say that, hence the “really really good” moniker. Recipe and photo courtesy of http://www.thegeneticchef.com.

  • 1 1/2 cups raisins, I prefer golden
  • 2 sticks salted butter
  • 3 cups oats
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 cup dark brown sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla
  • 1 ¾ cups flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350°. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. In a medium saucepan (4 quarts works), melt the butter then stir in the raisins and oats. Set aside to cool. Whisk the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt in a medium bowl and set aside. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs with the sugars and vanilla. Add the flour and the oats to the sugar mixture and stir together with a spatula or wooden spoon. Scoop up golf ball size rounds (2 tablespoons) spacing about 2 inches apart onto prepared baking sheet. Bake for 11 to 13 minutes until cookies are light golden. Repeat with remaining dough and cool on racks.

Lemon Ricotta Cookies

On By sarafillmerIn Cookies, DessertLeave a comment

I found this recipe years ago and saved it on Pinterest but somehow never got around to adding it to my site. That oversight is now fixed and I don’t have to scroll through my Pinterest boards trying to find it any longer! The ricotta makes these cookies so soft, and the lemon flavor is just enough without being overpowering. It is a hit to whatever gathering I bring it to! Recipe and photo courtesy of justalittlebitofbacon.com.

Cookie

  • 2 cups all purpose flour
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp table salt
  • 8 tbsp unsalted butter, cool room temperature
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/2 cup ricotta, whole or part skim
  • 1 large egg
  • lemon zest from one lemon

Lemon Glaze

  • 1 tbsp cream cheese, room temperature
  • 3 tbsp lemon juice
  • 2 cups (8 oz) confectioners’ sugar
  • 3 tbsp colored sugar, optional

Whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside. In a standing mixer with the flat beater, cream the butter and sugar together on medium-high until light and fluffy, 3-4 minutes. With the mixer on medium, add the ricotta, egg, and lemon zest mix until thoroughly blended. Pour in the flour mixture and mix on low until just blended, but with some dry flour remaining. Use a large silicone spatula to give the dough a couple of quick turns. Transfer the dough to the refrigerator and chill for 20-30 minutes.

While the cookies are chilling, preheat the oven to 350. Using a medium cookie scoop, fill your cookies sheets, keeping in mind that these cookies won’t spread very much. Bake for 11-12 minutes, or until you see the edges just starting the brown. The tops won’t look very dark, but you want the bottoms to lightly brown. Let them cool on the pan for about 5 minutes, then move to a cooling rack.

Once the cookies have cooled, whisk together your glaze ingredients and dip the tops of the cookies into the glaze. You want the glaze to be on the thinner side, but not runny. Sprinkle with sanding sugar if desired.

Flourless Secret Ingredient Chocolate Cake

On By sarafillmerIn Dessert, Gluten-FreeLeave a comment

I saw this recipe on my Instagram feed, and since I was craving chocolate figured it was worth the shot. If you are intrigued by what the secret ingredient is I’m about to blow your mind. It’s BLACK BEANS! The recipe comes together super fast in a blender/food processor and doesn’t taste like beans in the slightest. I made our version with vegetable oil, but next time I’m going to try butter. This time I paired it with the one minute frosting from my Depression Cake, which was delicious, but perhaps a tad too rich so I’ll switch to a lighter frosting when I make it again. Recipe and photo courtesy of thepancakeprincess.com.

  • 1 15.5 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed* or 1 3/4 cups cooked black beans
  • 3/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 4 large eggs
  • 5 tablespoon melted butter or oil of your choice
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 5 tablespoon cocoa (Dutch-process preferred)
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease and line 2 6-inch round cake pans* with parchment paper. In a high speed blender or food processor, puree the beans, sugar, oil, eggs and vanilla until completely smooth. Add the cocoa powder, baking powder and baking soda directly to the blender and blend until smooth. Divide batter equally into prepared pans and bake for 30-35 minutes, or until the top springs back. Let cool for 5 minutes before flipping the cake onto a cooling rack. Make the frosting as the cake cools completely. Frost with the frosting of your choice.

*If you are like me and don’t have two 6″ pans, you can use a 8×8 or 9×9 and it works just as well.

The Best Coffee Cake

On By sarafillmerIn Bread, Breakfast, DessertLeave a comment

This is a recipe that I have been meaning to get on the site for a while and it’s finally happening! This is far and away the best coffee cake I’ve ever had, and I think that if you try it, you will agree with me. Once again, it comes from cookiesandcups.com who is my go-to for sure fire recipes. I have added some nonfat dry milk powder because I think it gives it that something extra. I also subbed full fat Greek yogurt instead of sour cream because it’s what I had in my fridge. I also left off the glaze because it doesn’t need it in my opinion, but I’ll include it here in case anyone else wants to try it.

Cinnamon Filling

  • 3/4 cup light brown sugar
  • 3/4 cup all purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Crumb Topping

  • 6 tablespoons butter, melted
  • 1 cup light brown sugar
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
  • 1 cup all purpose flour

Cake

  • 1 cup butter, room temperature
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 2/3 cup light brown sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 3/4 cup sour cream (or Greek yogurt)
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 3 teaspoons baking powder*
  • 2 teaspoons nonfat dry milk powder
  • 1 1/4 cup milk
  • 3 2/3 cup all purpose flour

Icing

  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 2–3 tablespoons milk

Preheat oven to 350°F. Coat a 9×13 baking dish with nonstick spray. Set aside. In a medium bowl prepare the cinnamon filling by whisking together the brown sugar, flour, and cinnamon until combined. Set aside. To prepare the crumb topping, mix together the melted butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, and flour in a medium bowl until it resembles coarse crumbs. Use your hands to mix to form larger crumb pieces. Set aside. For the cake, mix the butter, granulated sugar, and light brown sugar in the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment on medium speed for 2 minutes until light and fluffy.  Add in the eggs, vanilla, sour cream, salt, baking powder and nonfat dry milk powder and mix for 1 minute until combined and smooth, scraping the sides of the bowl as necessary.  Turn the mixer to low and add in the flour and milk in alternating portions, beginning and ending with flour. Mix until just combined and smooth, again, scraping the sides of the bowl as necessary. Spread half of the cake batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle the cinnamon filling evenly on top of the batter. Carefully spread the remaining cake batter on top of the cinnamon layer.  Evenly sprinkle the crumb topping on top. Bake for 40-45 minutes, or until the cake is set and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove cake from oven and place pan on a wire rack to cool completely. If making the icing, whisk together the powdered sugar and milk until smooth and drizzle on top of the cooled cake.

*If you are like me and live at high altitude, reduce the baking powder to 2 1/2 teaspoons and increase the flour by a 1/4 of a cup.

Banana Bread Brownies

On By sarafillmerIn Bars, Dessert4 Comments

I have a problem. I buy way too many bananas, and then end up with more overly ripe bananas than I can use. On one such occasion, I decided to make a bunch of banana desserts and take them to work so my co-workers would eat it all up for me. While scouring Pinterest for ideas, I saw this recipe and it was a huge hit. It took my a few months, but here it is on the website at last. Recipe and photo courtesy of 100krecipes.com

For the Brownies:

  • 1 1/2 cups sugar
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • 1/2 cup butter, softened
  • 2 eggs, room temperature
  • 3 bananas, mashed
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 2 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup pecans, chopped

For the Frosting:

  • 1/2 cup butter
  • 3 cups powdered sugar
  • 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
  • 3 tablespoons milk

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Grease a 9×13 inch baking pan with non-stick cooking spray. In a mixing bowl, mix together sugar, sour cream, softened butter and eggs using an electric mixer. Beat until well combined. Then, add mashed bananas and vanilla extract. Mix until combined. Add the dry ingredients to the batter. Mix until combined. Then, add chopped pecans. Pour the banana batter into the prepared baking pan. Bake in the preheated oven for 20-30 minutes or until ready. Check the readiness of the brownies using a toothpick inserted in the center, if it comes out clean – the brownies are ready. Remove the baking pan from the oven. Let it cool slightly. While the brownies are cooling, prepare the frosting. In a saucepan, melt butter and heat until medium brown color. Turn off the heat and add powdered sugar (1 cup at a time), stir until combined after each addition. Then, add milk and vanilla extract. Mix until combined. Pour the frosting over the brownies. Spread evenly. Let the banana bread brownies cool completely.

Summer Strawberry Cake

On By sarafillmerIn Bread, Breakfast, Dessert1 Comment

I started following a food blogger named Smitten Kitchen about 6 months ago and one of the things I like about her is that she makes recipes with simple ingredients, but they have a sophistication to them that takes it to the next level. This recipe is one such example. Very simple, but very tasty. Add to that the fact that our strawberry harvest was excellent this past June and you have a winner.

  • 6 tablespoons butter, softened
  • 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup granulated sugar, plus 2 tablespoons for the top
  • 1 large egg
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 pound strawberries, hulled and halved

Preheat oven to 350. Butter a 10″ pie pan, or 9″ deep dish pie pan. Whisk flour or flours, baking powder and salt together in a small bowl. In a larger bowl, beat butter and 1 cup sugar until pale and fluffy with an electric mixer, about 3 minutes. Mix in egg, milk and vanilla until just combined. Add dry mixture gradually, mixing until just smooth. Pour into prepared pie plate. Arrange strawberries, cut side down, on top of batter, as closely as possible in a single layer (though I had to overlap a few to get them all in). Sprinkle remaining 2 tablespoons sugar over berries. Bake cake for 10 minutes then reduce oven temperature to 325°F and bake cake until golden brown and a tester comes out free of wet batter, about 50 minutes to 60 minutes. (Gooey strawberries on the tester are a given.) Let cool in pan on a rack. Cut into wedges. Serve with lightly whipped cream.

Smore’s Cookies

On By sarafillmerIn Cookies, DessertLeave a comment

I was perusing Pinterest a couple of days ago and found a recipe for Graham Cracker Chocolate Chip cookies that looked intriguing. After reading the ingredient list and seeing the 3 cups of graham cracker crumbs I knew I needed to add in marshmallows and use chocolate chunks and make this a smores cookie. It was a super delicious cookie and knew it needed to be saved here on the website.

  • 3 cups graham cracker crumbs
  • 1 1/2 cups flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2 sticks butter, softened
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chunks
  • 1 cup marshmallows

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line cookie sheet(s) with parchment paper. Set aside. In a bowl, whisk together graham cracker crumbs, flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside. In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and sugars on medium-high speed until light and creamy. Add vanilla and eggs to butter mixture and beat again until well combined. With the mixer on low speed, gradually add the flour mixture to the wet mixture, increasing speed as needed. Mix only until just combined. Fold in chocolate chips and marshmallows, mixing to evenly distribute. (The cookie dough may feel drier than most other chocolate chip cookie batters, but it should hold together if you press it with your fingers.) Using a 2 tablespoon scoop, place balls of cookie dough onto the prepared cookie sheets. Fold a marshmallow on top of the cookie dough to make it look pretty. Bake 8 to 10 minutes. The edges of the cookies will be slightly golden and the centers still soft. Cool cookies on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to finish cooling. (The cookies will firm up as they cool.)

Dutch Butter Squares

On By sarafillmerIn Bars, DessertLeave a comment

One of the very first cookies I made growing up was snickerdoodles, and the recipe came from a Southern Living Christmas Cookies cookbook. The other day I took it out and decided I would try a recipe from it. The very first recipe in the book was this shortbread recipe and boy is it good. I had to give it all away otherwise I would’ve eaten the whole pan. I dipped half of the batch in chocolate, but they are equally good on their own.

  • 2 sticks butter, softened
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 2 cups all purpose flour

Cream butter in a large mixing bowl; gradually add sugar, beating until light and fluffy. Add egg, and beat well. Gradually stir in flour, blending well (dough will be sticky). Evenly press the dough in a lined, well-greased 9×13 pan. Place pans in a cold oven. Bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes, or until lightly browned. (Mine took 30 minutes) Remove from oven and cut into 2″ squares while warm.

Cream Cheese Pound Cake

On By sarafillmerIn Bread, Dessert1 Comment

My husband and I enjoy watching home renovation shows and one of the ones we enjoy is Home Town. A couple of episodes back they shared a recipe for pound cake that I knew I had to try. It was super delicious but make sure to cook it long enough. I pulled mine out after an hour and a half and it still wasn’t quite done in the middle. I think next time I’ll put it in loaf pans instead of a Bundt pan.

  • 3 sticks of butter, room temperature
  • 3 cups sugar
  • 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
  • 6 eggs, room temperature
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 3 cups flour

Cream together the butter, sugar and cream cheese until well combined. Add in the eggs and vanilla. Mix in the flour and salt until well combined. Put in a well-greased Bundt pan or two loaf pans. Put in a cold oven and cook at 300 for at least an hour and a half or until done.

Browned Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

On By sarafillmerIn Cookies, DessertLeave a comment

This recipe comes out of the Joy the Baker cookbook. I know, you’re thinking, another chocolate chip cookie but the thing that intrigued me about this recipe was the addition of some more uncommon ingredients, like molasses. I made it my own by adding in nonfat milk powder like I have been doing in all my other baked goods, which just pushed it over the top. This cookie was super delicious and while it was slightly more involved than some of my chocolate chip cookies it was totally worth it.

  • 1 cup (2 sticks), plus 1 tablespoon of butter, softened
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1 teaspoon molasses
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
  • 1 large egg, plus 1 egg yolk
  • 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 heaping teaspoon nonfat dry milk powder, optional
  • 1/2 cup pecans, chopped
  • 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Brown 1 stick plus 1 tablespoon of butter over medium heat in a shallow sauce pan, stirring constantly. Once browned, transfer to a bowl and stick in the fridge or freezer to cool off. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the remaining 1 stick of butter with sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add in the vanilla extract and molasses and beat until incorporated. Once the brown butter has cooled slightly (I found it had cooled enough in the freezer that by the time I had mixed in the ingredients preceding this), add to the mixer along with the brown sugar and mix for about 2 minutes. Add in the egg and yolk and beat for 1 more minute. Add in your dry ingredients and mix until just incorporated, then add in your chocolate chips and pecans. Cover the bowl and refrigerate while your oven preheats to 375. Once the oven has preheated, line your baking sheets with parchment paper. I used my 2 tablespoon scoop and got 24 cookies. Bake for 12-14 minutes, rotating halfway, until the cookies are lightly browned on the outside, but still a little soft in the center. Cool on the pan for 5 minutes, then move them to a cooling rack to finish cooling.

*If you are like me and are wanting to bake cookies but don’t have softened butter, just grate your butter straight out of the fridge with a cheese grater. You will almost instantly have softened butter!