Orange Berry Muffins

I got the baking bug at work today so I stopped at the store and picked up an orange and some blueberries. These were fun to make... quick and I got to use my zester and my juicer!

I am not a fan of berries and though I will drink orange juice I won't eat an orange. Yup... weird.

I just tried one and the muffin was actually really yummy. Warm blueberries however are disgusting... to me. I'm sure there are a lot of people who think it's a very fine berry.

I think I may make these again but put chocolate in place of the yucky berry...chocolate orange muffins!

Cocoa-Nana Bread

Chocolate and banana... yes please! This is still cooling so I have no idea how it's going to taste but I'm hoping I've capped the afternoon with something yummy.

The recipe was easy to follow... I hope I cooked it long enough.

Chocolate Biscotti

I had some pretty high hopes for this recipe. I've made the almond biscotti twice and I thought they were superb. My co-workers shared my opinion so I thought these would be the same. Unfortunately I was disappointed. The recipe called for chopped almonds. I bought salted almonds and chopped them myself. I used milk chocolate instead of bittersweet.

I believe I baked them a little too long. You are supposed to bake for 25 minutes, cool for 20 and bake for an additional 10. I think the first 25 was too much. They had a hard outside and soft inside which made cutting them pretty hard. 

The almonds overpowered the whole thing and I thought the biscotti itself tasted too bitter. I am not a fan...

Peanuttiest Blondies

First I must re-name these because I didn't use peanuts... I shall call them Peanut Butteriest Blondies. That might need some work.

The recipe calls for chunky peanut butter, chopped peanuts and semisweet chocolate. I used creamy peanut butter, peanut butter chips and chopped up some semisweet chocolate. I should have baked them longer. Especially because I'm supposed to be learning something through this process and I had to bake the Chewy Chunky Blondies an extra 15 min for them to cook through. Either way they came out good... but if you are not a fan of chewy cookies you are not going to like these.

Allspice Crumb Muffins

Well before I begin talking about these muffins let me take a moment to complain about pantry bugs. EW!

I saw one in the sugar, checked the pantry and we were infested. I had to throw all my baking supplies out, vacuum, clean, vacuum, clean, vacuum, clean... you get the idea. They just won't go away. So for now I bought all new supplies along with some OXO Pop Containers so everything stays air-tight and bug free. Until the pantry is ready all my stuff is stacked on a table. I don't like things out of place so this is driving me nuts. Luckily our pantry is all by itself in a corner so the whole kitchen wasn't infested!

Now onto better things... baking!

The dough seemed kind of cakey when it was all  mixed but they seemed to bake just fine.

The crumbs were yummy before baking.

I haven't tried one but they look good. Jeremy tried one and I'd ask him what he thought but he's napping. Might be a little rude to wake him from a perfectly good nap just to ask if he liked a muffin he ate 4 hours ago, right? Right.

Update: He's awake and said they were ok... didn't really taste like anything. Crumb topping was crumby. Glad I didn't wake him for that review!

Lenox Almond Biscotti

This is definitely a new favorite! For some reason I was afraid of biscotti. I thought it sounded like it would be hard to make. It wasn't at all. Super easy to mix and then you form into two logs to bake. Bake for 15 min, cool on rack for 30, cut into slices and bake again with them standing up for another 15-20 min. I've made these twice so far and they are just great. 

So this was my fourth recipe on October 7th. I'll be baking again this weekend and I cannot wait... this has been so much fun!

Cornmeal Shortbread Cookies

I went to Florida last weekend to see my family. I had a great time with my nieces and now I'm going to show them off. They are awesome! I was hoping to bake with them but it wasn't in the cards this time. I left some recipes down there and hopefully my sister will bake them!

These cookies rocked! I was having trouble with shortbread so I was kinda concerned but I think the cornmeal helped with the consistency so much... pretty sure I'll always be making them with a cornmeal base from now on. I also kept in the fridge for 4 hours instead of the 2 she suggests. She also has you lower the temperature to 300 degrees after you preheat to 350 and I think that really makes a difference.

Don't they look good? They kept their shape and they tasted so good. I also got to us my zester for the first time. That was exciting and I took a really cute picture but as I explained in my earlier post my phone fell and took my cute pictures with it to phone heaven.

Chockablock Cookies

Holy Yummy! The ingredients call for chopped nuts, dried fruit, chopped chocolate and coconut. I tweaked it slightly to suit my tastes and they came out amazing. I used honey roasted peanuts, 12 oz of semisweet chocolate bars chopped, milk chocolate chips and coconut. 

Jeremy was not a fan because of the peanuts but I thought they actually made it even better.

Sugar-Topped Molasses Spice Cookies

I had a super fun baking day on October 7th... I baked 4 things. They all came out as they should... and I took really awesome pictures and I was excited to show everyone.

And then I dropped my phone, cracked the screen and lost my pictures. So... yeah that was fun.

It took me a while to get back into the baking groove but it's all good now.

About those cookies...

The dough seemed to come together pretty well and then you split in half and put in the fridge for an hour. The first batch spread a bit too much. The second batch that stayed in the fridge longer came out pretty well.
I wasn't a big fan because of all the spices but the people who ate them thought they were yummy.

That's them in the back... glad I took these pics to post on FB.