C & C in the Kitchen: Apple Roses

This weekend we had some friends over for dinner...which means I got to tablescape - one of my favorite hobbies. When my mom came to visit a few weeks ago she brought with her my great grandmother's China. I inherited her obsession for dishes and it was so fun to mix and match them with our own Bernardaud "Athena" wedding China. 

My mom has been the bearer of all sorts of good gifts lately - including the dessert recipe I tackled for the first time. It was a good departure from my go-to flourless chocolate cake (blogged about here). And, there's a step-by-step video to boot! 

These Apple Roses will wow your guests, and you don't need the skills of a pastry chef - or even any skills at all really. 

Heading to the oven

Dessert is served

I didn't have powdered sugar with which to top them - they would have looked prettier, but paired with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, I'm pretty sure no one noticed. A few tips I'll be making sure to follow next time I make these. 

- Make sure to slice the apples as she shows in the video (I did the other way and it made them narrower).

- Thin slices are better. It will help make them more malleable when they come out of the microwave. You need them to be able to curve when you roll them up without breaking. 

- I prepared mine ahead of time, stored them in the refrigerator, and then popped them in the oven right before we sat down for dinner so I could serve them warm. 

- Don't forget the powdered sugar! It makes them look even more fancy! 

Enjoy! 

C&C in the Kitchen

I've been in the kitchen a lot lately. First it was almond milk and banana bread and today I'm sharing another recipe. I'm pretty sure the "time of the month" directly correlates with the amount of baking I do on any given week...

Last week I had the sudden urge to bake chocolate chip cookies for a Junior League meeting. My plan was derailed when I realized that I had only 1/2 stick of butter in my refrigerator. Since I was on a mission, I wasn't going to let that stop me...so I started thinking...what else could I use? And from that came my first, and certainly not my last, time baking chocolate chip cookies with coconut oil. 

Here is the recipe I came up with!

Coconut Oil Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

1/2 cup coconut oil

1 cup coconut sugar (you can also use 1/2 brown and white sugar)

1 large egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

3/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

pinch of salt

1 cup chocolate chips 

Instructions

- Preheat oven to 350.

- In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat coconut oil and sugars together until fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla.

- In another bowl combine flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

- Slowly mix into wet mixture. Stir in chocolate chips.

- Scoop by rounded tablespoon onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. 

- Bake at 350 for 10 minutes.

And here is what you get....tasty, moist and healthy-ish chocolate chip cookies. 

They were definitely a hit at my meeting, and I will without a doubt be making them again soon!

C & C in the Kitchen: Belly Buttons

At Thanksgiving I was introduced to Belly Buttons. No, not the odd body part (I'm not a fan), these little amuse bouches of deliciousness. And, to top it off, they're crazy easy to make and the perfect treat to wrap up and give to teachers, colleagues, babysitters, friends, hostesses, neighbors…you name it. 

Belly Buttons:

Ingredients:

Square or round pretzels (Synder's of Hanover calls them Snaps)

Bag of Hersey's Kisses of your choice (I used half peppermint and half regular)

Bag of regular M & Ms (I used dark chocolate)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 250.

Line up all the pretzels on a cookie sheet. 

Place one kiss in the middle of each pretzel (the unwrapping is the prefect job for a child or your +1 - Dr. by was my assistant). 

Place in the oven for 4 minutes (or until the kisses are at the very beginning of losing their shape and melting)

Take out of the oven, place one M & M on top and push down to spread out across the pretzel.

Place in the refrigerator for 10 minutes to cool. 

Enjoy!  

XO

Katie

C & C in the Kitchen

In last week's "My Favorite Things" post I promised to share what I baked for the sweet swap. You know we're big fans of health treats, but this was no occasion to keep it healthy. And Regan found me just the indulge-worthy recipe - dark chocolate, pistachio, and sea salt cookies from Two Peas & Their Pod. This cookie delivers big time. They have all the components of pure baked goods bliss. 

One of my friends is gluten free, so I had to make sure she could indulge in the sugar mania. If this is your first introduction to The Detoxinista, consider your life changed. She has awesome recipes and the raw brownie bites are no exception. All you need are walnuts, cocoa, vanilla, dates, sea salt, and water! I put mine in the freezer after I made them giving them that little extra je ne sais quoi. 

And finally, while I didn't bake these...they are worth the mention - i.e. a trip (or order) to Baltimore. Hilary brought the most delicious salted caramel brownies from Charm City Cook. I'm not really a caramel fan....until now. These are hands down the best brownies I've EVER had. No joke. 

I saved one for Dr. B...but didn't have enough self control to leave it until he got home. Now I've got an excuse to have them again!

I hope you try out some of these treats! You won't regret it. 

C&C in the Kitchen

On Saturday we hosted adults and kids for the Mini Fashionista's birthday. It was an ice cream themed party, and everyone had a great time. After spending far too much time on Pinterest searching for ice cream party ideas, I decided to make two varieties of ice cream sandwiches and ice cream cone cupcakes.

Here was the end result!

While I didn't make the classic ice cream sandwiches (I put sprinkles on them), I did make the others. I found this recipe for cake batter chocolate chip cookies and then added vanilla ice cream.

While these sandwiches may look complicated, they were actually really easy, and boy were they good. So good that I ate two...yes, that's 4 cookies! And I may have sampled the dough too. My father-in-law is NOT a dessert person, and even he enjoyed more than one of these yummy little sandwiches. They are so good I am already thinking about when I can make them again. 

The ice cream cone cupcakes were equally as tasty and a big hit with the kids. They are easier to eat than normal cupcakes and make less of a mess. For the cupcakes I used yellow cake mix and this quick vanilla buttercream frosting recipe. I will never use another frosting recipe again. This one is so easy and so good. 

For anyone who wants to tackle these fun treats, I highly recommend getting a ice cream cone baking tray. This made the baking process so easy, and it keeps the cupcakes upright to cool and be served.

One quick baking tip, once you remove the cones from the oven, poke a hole in the bottom of the cones. This will prevent them from getting soggy in the cooling process. Even if you do this, they will eventually get soggy (after a matter of hours), but the cupcakes are still fresh and tasty for a few days. 

C&C in the Kitchen

Okay, so I know that this is the second "in the kitchen" post of the week, but I have people waiting for this recipe, so I didn't want to hold off on sharing it!

On Sunday I woke up with a sore throat, so instead of going for our planned trip to Mt. Hood to XC ski, I spent the day mostly indoors. After a lazy morning in bed, I decided that The Mini Fashionista and I should make blueberry muffins. 

I went to Pinterest and searched "greek yogurt blueberry muffins".  I found a recipe that was pinned as " healthy power muffins", so I opened it. Upon reading the recipe I had to just shake my head. The author's justification of it being "healthy" was the inclusion of whole wheat flour and oats. What about the fact that it contains sugar and 1/2 stick of butter? Pretty sure that's not my definition of healthy. 

So, like with most baking recipes I find, I decided to use it as inspiration to develop my own recipe. I chose to make the recipe gluten free so that I could share the muffins with my gluten intolerant friends. I keep GF oats and flour on hand just for that reason. 

Greek Yogurt Blueberry Muffins (gluten free)

Coconut oil cooking spray

2 cups flour (I used gluten free but you can use regular or whole wheat)

1 cup oats (gluten free or regular)

1/3 cup coconut sugar (maple sugar is also a good substitute to white sugar)

3 TBS Trader Joe's Flax ground seed with blueberries (you can use regular flax or omit this ingredient)

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1.5 cups Greek yogurt

2 tablespoons honey (you can also use agave)

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

4 tablespoons coconut oil, melted and slightly cooled

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup fresh blueberries (you can also use frozen)

Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees. Grease a cookie sheet with the cooking spray. I don't recommend using muffins cups as they will stick to the paper.

There are two ways to do this 1) mix all your dry ingredients and then mix the "wet" ingredients and then add the dry to the wet or 2) throw everything (except the blueberries) in the order as listed above into your mixer and mix it all together. This is the way I did it. Clearly not the "proper" technique, but it works! Finally, fold in the blueberries. 

Scoop into the muffin tin and bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown on the top. You will nearly fill each muffin tin.

Here is the end result! 

These muffins are good, crazy good! I hope you find the time to bake them and enjoy sometime very, very soon!

C&C in the Kitchen

I love to bake. I love to eat. I love to eat baked goods. Unfortunately, eating baked goods in moderation is not my strong suit. Given this baking/eating addiction, nothing gets me more excited that finding healthy baking recipes.

Recently a friend and fellow barre3 instructor (thanks Jessica C.) introduced me to this amazing recipe for Healthy Cookies. Like I often do, I used the recipe as a base to create my own version of these tasty and healthy treats.

These are probably my most favorite healthy treat ever...they might even be my favorite cookies EVER!

image via

I will call these C&C Cookies. Here is my recipe.

3 large, ripe bananas, well mashed (about 1 1/2 cups)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup coconut oil, barely warm - so it isn't solid
2 cups rolled oats
2/3 cup almond meal
1/3 cup coconut (I use sweetened)
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup walnuts
2 Tbs chia seeds
2 Tbs flax seeds

Directions:
- Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees
- Mash bananas and mix with vanilla coconut oil.
- Add oats, almond meal, coconut, cinnamon, salt and baking powder. Mix until fully incorporated.
- Add chocolate chips, walnuts, chia and flax seeds and mix on low.

Bake on a non-stick cookie sheet or silpat liner for 13-14 minutes!

Here is what my cookies look like from start to finish!

Try this recipe! You won't be disappointed!

C & C in the Kitchen

I love to bake. Cooking is fine, but baking is my thing. I like that it's a science. I'm type A like that. And did I mention I'm a HUGE fan of the end result. So when Regan sent me a recipe for strawberry coconut chia seed banana bread from the Ambitious Kitchen and told me that the mini fashionista's response was "Java" (it's our fav coffee place at home with the BEST muffins), I knew I had to try it. And because it's so good, I also knew it had to be shared with you! I'm no food blogger, but here are some photos of the baking in action. 

This is a crowd pleaser, and it's pretty healthy too. That's a win-win in my book.