Snickerdoodles

My second favorite cookie of all time, second only to oatmeal chocolate chip, is the snickerdoodle. I've mentioned before how much I love cinnamon sugar, particularly when it is of the Auntie Anne's variety. I made these snickerdoodles a couple of weeks ago for our OCF snack, and I did not get to bring any home! Good thing I stashed one at home for desperate times.

1 cup butter, softened

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp cream of tartar (key ingredient for taste)

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

2 tbsp sugar

2 tsp ground cinnamon

Beat the butter and sugar until smooth, and then add one egg at a time, followed by the vanilla. Blend in the flour, cream of tartar, soda, and salt. Shape the dough into round balls. Combine the remaining sugar and cinnamon in a shallow dish. Roll each cookie ball in the cinnamon/sugar mixture. Bake them on an ungreased cookie sheet for 8-12 minutes at 400 degrees.

 



Chocolate Cake with Marshmallow Cream Cheese Frosting

I made this a couple of weeks ago to take to some friends' house. I looked around my pantry and refrigerator to figure out what I could make without going to the commissary on a Sunday (death wish?), and this is what I came up with. It was super delicious - I will definitely make this cake again. You may be thinking that this doesn't really look like cake, and you're right. I assure you it looked much more like cake before I tried to transfer the leftovers to tupperware and dropped it heavily in the container. But, it tasted just as delicious crumbled as it did whole.

For the cake:

5 oz semisweet chocolate, finely chopped

1 1/2 cup hot brewed coffee

3 cups sugar

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder

2 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp baking powder

1 1/4 tsp salt

3 eggs

3/4 cup vegetable oil

1 1/2 cups buttermilk

3/4 tsp vanilla

For the icing (random compilation of ingredients I had on-hand):

6 oz Nuefchatel cream cheese

1/4 jar marshmallow cream sauce

2 1/2 cups powdered sugar

2 tsp vanilla

Place the finely chopped semi-sweet chocolate in a bowl, and pour the hot coffee over it. Stir it occasionally until the chocolate is melted and smooth. In a large bowl, sift dry ingredients. In yet another bowl, beat the eggs with an electric mixer until they thicken. Slowly add the oil, vanilla, and buttermilk, followed by the melted chocolate. Slowly add the dry ingredients until well blended. Divide the batter into 2 greased round cake pans. Bake at 300 for about 45-55 minutes. To make the icing, beat the cream cheese until smooth, and add the marshmallow cream sauce. Slowly incorporate the powdered sugar, and then add the vanilla. Blend until smooth. I left the icing off of the cake since it was so sweet and just let each person drizzle the amount she wanted over her piece of cake.

Lemon Garlic Chicken & Veggies

This was a really simple dinner I made a couple of weeks ago (when there was a man appetite around my house). I just juiced a couple of lemons, minced some garlic, added olive oil, salt, and pepper, and tossed some green beans, red potatoes, and chicken in the mixture, and I baked it for 45 minutes at 350 degrees.

3 chicken breasts

1/2 lb green beans

4 lemons, juiced

10 red potatoes, quartered

7 tbsp olive oil

6 garlic cloves, minced

salt and pepper to taste