Toasted Almond & Chocolate Chunk Oat Cookies

This is an experiment that turned out fabulous. Salty toasted almonds and rich dark chocolate. Yum! The texture is perfect.

Toasted Almond & Chocolate Chunk Oat Cookies
1 cup unsalted butter
2 cups dark brown sugar
2 eggs
1 Tbsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups unbleached flour
2 cups old fashioned rolled oats
1 tsp soda
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate pieces
3/4 cup of slivered almonds, toasted and salted (toast on cookie sheet in oven until golden then cool before mixing into dough)

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Mix together butter and sugar until light and whipped. Add eggs and vanilla and beat until blended. Combine dry ingredients (flour, oats, soda, baking powder, salt) and add to wet. Mix until moistened. Fold in chocolate pieces and almonds (I actually do this with my hands. It's part of the fun of making cookies.) Roll by hand into large pieces the size of golf balls. Place on cookies sheet, spaced apart. Cook for about 12 minutes or until very slightly golden. Do not overcook!

Burnt Sugar Bundt Cake with Caramel Rum Frosting

This cake is it. Please make it, please eat it. Fabulous! This cake comes from this cookbook, and is published online here. It makes a great holiday cake! I made a few adjustments in the recipe for high altitude and it came out perfect. I used cake flour and increased the flour by 6 Tbsp. I used cream with coconut liquor rather than coconut milk and increased the liquid by 2 Tbsp. I decreased the baking powder by 1/4 tsp and baked the cake at 350ºF for 45 minutes (which is 25º higher than the original recipe). I also added 2 Tbsp of spiced rum to the batter.



making burnt sugar mixture


Mmmmmm!

Peanut Butter Cherry Bars

This recipe can be found HERE. The difference is that I substituted whole-cherry preserves for strawberry jam.

Sunday Cake

This cake is so simple and delicious! The recipe for the cake can be found in this book. The recipe for the frosting is found HERE.

Chocolate Butterball Cookies

The recipe for these cookies is found HERE.

Ginger-Molasses Chocolate Chip Cookies

The recipe for these cookies can be found HERE.

Mimsy's Caramel Apple Birthday Pudding

My birthday pudding!

Mimsy's Caramel Apple Birthday Pudding

Cake:
2 large granny smith apples, peeled and sliced
2 1/2 sticks unsalted butter (melted and cooled)
2 cups brown sugar
3 eggs
3 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda

Mix butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs and mix. Sift dry ingredients and add to butter mixture. Combine until wet. Fold in apples. Place in 9 x 13" pan and bake at 325ºF for 1 hour or until toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Poke holes in cake with skewer. Top with Apples in Caramel Sauce and allow cake to absorb the sauce.

Apples in Caramel Sauce:
3 large granny smith apples, peeled and sliced
1/3 cup water
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter
3/4 cup heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup brandy

Cover sliced apples in water , cinnamon and brown sugar. Cook until tender. Remove apples with slotted spoon. Add butter and cream and simmer until thickened. Return apples to sauce and add brandy and vanilla. Pour over hot cake. Serve warm.