White Chocolate Chip-Macadamia Nut Cookies

This post is dedicated to every girl who has ever gone through a break-up. I feel like I can write a book on the topic and if you happen to be going through one right now, know that someone else out there feels your pain. I just went through (another) one, and the one thing that I've learned is that you will move on. It may take a day, a week, or even a year and a half (true story), but you will always move on.

Unfortunately, you can't control most things about a break-up, but you can control how you deal with it. Here are my suggestions. First, let yourself be sad. There is no use fighting the feeling. Spend a day crying to your best friend. Eat a cookie, heck, eat four cookies. The trick is to limit the amount of time you let yourself be sad because there is no using wallowing in misery. Next, it's time to do a reality check (right about now would be a good time to stop sleeping in his old t-shirts). At some point, you are going to have to pull yourself together and trust me, pulling yourself together is easier to do sooner rather than later.

Now, go do something that makes you happy (thanks K.S.). For me, it was blaring Taylor Swift and dancing around my kitchen while I baked the heck out of my emotions. The point is to take your mind off things and remind yourself that you can, and will be happy again. The final and most important thing to do is to start looking toward the future. It's going to be great and you deserve every second of it :)

Okay, so now that my pep talk is out of the way, lets get down to business. The cliche break-up food is chocolate. Something about that doesn't sit well with me. Chocolate is the ultimate indulgence and I believe you should eat chocolate only when you are happy. It's so decadent, that it's meant to be savored; it's meant to be enjoyed. Come on, how much can you enjoy chocolate if you are upset? For that reason, I opted to bake something aromatic and textured. White chocolate chip cookies dotted with macadamia nuts. The buttery smell from the nuts combined with the sweetness of white chocolate sets these cookies apart. This is also a chewy cookie, and the contrasting textures from the nuts and chips make sure you take a moment to stop and taste the cookie. Take that chocolate!

White Chocolate Chip Macadamia Nut Cookies 

• 1 cup butter 
• 1 cup sugar 
• 3/4 cup brown sugar 
• 2 tsp vanilla 
• 1/2 tsp salt 
• 2 eggs 
• 2 1/2 cups flour 
• 1 tsp baking soda 
• 1 cup macadamia nuts-chopped 
• 2 cups white chocolate chips

Cream butter and sugars in the bowl of an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in vanilla and eggs until well combined. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. Gradually add flour mixture to dough mixture. Stir until just combined. Fold in chopped nuts and white chocolate chips. Drop rounded tablespoons of dough onto parchment paper lined baking sheets. Bake at 375 degrees for 8-10 minutes or until cookies are lightly golden brown. Recipe from Allrecipes.

-The Honey Nut

Kitchen Table Centerpiece

I think it is about time to pump life back into this poor blog of mine. It's hard to believe my last post was back in November. I've had a lot of exciting changes in my life over the past few months, and unintentionally took a 5 month hiatus from blogging. One of the biggest changes in my life was moving into my first apartment. Yes, I my very own apartment, and guess what?! It came with a brand new kitchen! Ah, I can't wait to start baking in it! However, my apartment also came with lots of empty, blank and boring spaces. One such empty, blank, boring space was the center of my kitchen table, and a boring kitchen table is not a happy place to eat breakfast.

If I channeled my inner Oprah, and made a list of my favorite things, I would place pink roses near the top. They would go right after mid-morning naps and a strong cup of coffee. Unfortunately, filling my apartment with fresh roses would be expensive. That is why I made this fake flower alternative. The whole center piece cost less than $10 to put together, and I got everything I needed in one quick trip to Wal-Mart.

Supplies:
1 glass bowl
1 bag of small rocks or pebbles 
1 bouquet of fake roses 
Wire cutters
Scissors
A few spritz's of rose perfume

Directions:
Use scissors to separate the petals of one or two flowers. Fill the bowl half full with rocks. Place several petals along the side of the bowl, using the first layer of rocks to keep the petals in place. Fill bowl with remaining rocks. Place additional petals along the sides of the bowl as needed. Cut the stems of four flowers down to size. Arrange in flowers in bowl. Place remaining petals on the top of the centerpiece. Spritz flowers with perfume (if desired).

Now go eat a happy breakfast, sip on a cup of hot coffee, take a mid-morning nap and call it a day.

-The Honey Nut

M&M Cookies

Sometimes life needs a little extra color. This is a cookie for that "blah day" when, despite your best efforts, the world gets the better of you. Today was one of those days. Maybe it was because all of my football teams lost this weekend. Maybe it was because my car is in the shop. Oh well, life happens and enough of my venting. I decided to turn things around with some baking therapy. As a kid, I loved M&M cookies, and some things never change. Candy and cookies still bring a smile to my face!

M&M Cookies
• 1 cup brown sugar
• ½ cup white sugar
• 1 cup shortening
• 2 eggs
• 1 ½ tsp vanilla
• 2 ½ cups flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 ½ cups M&M’s- divided

Combine sugars and shortening in the bowl of an electric mixer. Beat until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs and vanilla. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. Gradually add to sugar mixture. Stir until just blended. Fold ¾ cup of M&M’s into batter. Drop rounded teaspoons of batter onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Press several M&M’s into the tops of the cookies. Bake cookies at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes.

-The Honey Nut

Chocolate Bonbon Cookies

The other day, I found myself searching for a recipe to take to a football party. Decisions, decisions! The last time I baked something for a football party, I decorated brownies in the shape of footballs. Football brownies fit the theme, but for this party I wanted to try something new. Chocolate bonbons! Here is the semi-logic that I used to justify bringing bonbon cookies to tailgate. Bonbons sound like pom poms. Pom poms are used by cheerleaders. People at tailgates will cheer. They probably won’t have pom poms. Enter Bonbons. Now, go double fist some cookies.

Chocolate Bonbon Cookies
• ½ cup butter
• ¾ cup confectioners’ sugar
• 1 tbsp vanilla
• 1 ½ cups flour
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1 oz. unsweetened chocolate-melted and cooled
• Maraschino cherries-patted dry
• Hershey Kisses

Icing
• 1 cup confectioners’ sugar
• 2 ½ tbsp cream
• 1 tsp vanilla

Beat butter and confectioners’ sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in vanilla and melted chocolate. Gradually add flour and salt. Stir until dough forms. Shape rounded teaspoons of dough around either a maraschino cherry or an unwrapped Hershey kiss. Place dough on parchment paper lined baking sheets. Bake at 350 degrees for 12 minutes. Remove cookies and cool completely on a wire rack.

To make the icing, combine confectioners’ sugar and vanilla in a small bowl. Gradually add cream, 1 tablespoon at a time. Add just enough milk to give the icing a spreadable consistency. Spread icing over cooled cookies. Garnish with sprinkles if desired. Recipe from Betty Crocker’s Best Cookies cookbook.

I have a confession. I lied about this being a new recipe. Chocolate bonbons are one of my favorite cookies! I really made them because I had a hankering for a chocolate cookie with vanilla frosting (random I know). What I love about these cookies is how they manage to be fudgy yet have crumbly texture. This is because of the confectioners’ sugar and melted chocolate in the batter. Powdered sugar makes a delicate cookie, and well, chocolate just make a delicious cookie.

I also love how versatile this cookie can be. I filled half of the cookies with maraschino cherries and half with Hershey’s Hugs. I am not sure which one I liked more. On one hand we have the classic flavor combo of chocolate and cherries (think cherry cordials), but on the other we have a white chocolate and chocolate topped with…more chocolate.

This is my final verdict. The chocolate-cherry filled cookies taste better with time as the cherry flavor infuses throughout the cookie. However, if you can snag a Hug cookie about 2 hours out of the oven, you might never want to eat another cookie again. At that point, neither the icing nor chocolate has completely hardened. You get a mouthful of amazing! But play around with the recipe and let me know if you have a personal favorite bonbon filling (Rolo’s maybe???).

-The Honey Nut

M&M Blondies

M&M’s are one of my favorite types of candy, both to eat and bake with. Pretzel M&M’s are so addicting it’s not fair. I love baking when M&M’s because of all the different colors. They add flair that brightens up a simple cookie recipe. Plus, Mar’s makes life easy and puts out pretty seasonal colors. Using orange and brown M&M’s would make for a pretty Halloween dessert!

Since these blondies were not for any special occasion, I used a variety of colors, but they really livened up my blondies! I tossed pecans into the dough for double the crunch, but any kind of “mix in” would work. I’m thinking toffee bits, almonds, dried fruit, butterscotch chips…..ahhh the possibilities!

M&M Blondies
• 1 cup flour
• ½ tsp baking powder
• 1/8 tsp baking soda
• ¼ tsp salt
• ½ cup butter
• 1 cup dark brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla
• ½ cup chopped pecans
• ½ cup M&M’s

Spray an 8x8” pan with cooking spray. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Melt butter in a small saucepan. Remove from heat and let cool slightly. Stir in brown sugar. Beat in egg and vanilla. Stir in dry ingredients until just blended. Fold in pecans. Spread dough into prepared pan. Sprinkle M&M’s over the top of the dough before baking. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Recipe from Two Peas and Their Pod blog and can be found here: http://www.twopeasandtheirpod.com/mm-chocolate-chip-blondies/.

-The Honey Nut

Chewy Sugar Cookies

When I think of sugar cookies, I think of two things: Christmas and Subway. It isn’t Christmas without a batch of thin, buttery, cut out sugar cookies. It’s comfort food! Sugar cookies take me back to being a kid, and making them with my grandmother. Unfortunately, I only make those cookies around the holidays. I am guilty of avoiding recipes that require me to rolling out cookie dough whenever possible. Plus, there is something a little odd about eating a Santa Clause shaped cookie in September. During the other eleven months of the year, I get my sugar cookie fix by indulging in those soft and chewy circles of deliciousness that Subway makes. This was my attempt to create “Subway-esque” at home.

Chewy Sugar Cookies
• 2 ¾ cups flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp baking powder
• 1 cup butter-softened
• 1 ½ cups sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 3-4 tbsp milk
• Colored sugar for decorating

Combine flour, baking soda and baking powder in a medium bowl. In a separate mixing bowl, cream softened butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla. Gradually add flour mixture to mixing bowl. Add enough milk until the dough is just moistened. Shape teaspoonfuls of dough into balls. Place balls on parchment paper lined baking sheets. Flatten dough slightly. Lightly brush the tops of dough with remaining milk. Sprinkle with sugar. Bake at 375 degrees for 8-10 minutes.

I found the recipe on Food Networks website, and you can find it here http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/gale-gand/chewy-sugar-cookies-recipe/index.html. It is a solid recipe if you are looking for quick, homemade sugar cookies! Another benefit is the recipe is fairly straight forward. Lightly brushing the tops of the cookies with milk is the key to getting a chewy texture. The original recipe calls for using buttermilk, but I was lazy and used regular milk. I think it worked just as well!

Final thought, why does a place that advertises healthy fast food make such good cookies?

-The Honey Nut

Banana Bread II

Banana bread is a favorite in our household, but my family can never quite agree on how it should be done. There are several schools of thought on the matter, and I have tried numerous times to find a recipe everyone agrees upon. My brother is old school, and likes it plain with no frills. My mother and I like it all jazzed up, and our taste buds go crazy over a recipe with cream cheese to moisten the batter, topped with pecans and an orange glaze.

The last time posted about banana bread, I focused on trying to find a recipe everyone could agree on. I had some success using and sour cream based recipe. The sour cream added moisture and tang, but the problem with the recipe was that it did not keep well. It tasted delicious that day, but things started to get funky by day two.

Time to go back to the drawing board. This time, I thought I would try a no frill recipe. This one is about as no frills as you can get. I was hoping to find magic by getting back to the basics. What I got was a recipe that underwhelmed. I thought the bread was lacking. I think the recipe needed more sugar and cinnamon. Next time I would try adding ½ cup of brown sugar, doubling the cinnamon, and adding a pinch of nutmeg. I guess this proves that sometimes when you try to please everyone, no one ends up happy :( I might give this recipe another go, or just put the favorites into a rotation. Here’s to having better luck next time!!

Banana Bread II
• ½ cup butter- softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 ½ cups bananas- mashed
• 2 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp cinnamon

Grease and flour a 9X5” loaf pan. Cream together butter and sugar using an electric mixture. Beat in eggs. Stir in bananas. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda and cinnamon. Gradually add to banana mixture. Stir until mixture is just moistened. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

-The Honey Nut

Peach Frangipane Tart

Almonds & Vanilla have struck again! This time we took on a frangipane tart. Let me explain. Almonds & Vanilla was the name of my first, but now defunct, baking blog. I started it with my best friend and favorite baking partner, Almonds. She was the one who introduced me to blogging, which added a new dimension to my baking. It also sparked my interest in photography. This past weekend we combined our engineering and artistic skills for another baking adventure.

Every summer, my grandmother makes a trip to the country to purchase fresh peaches. The peaches she comes back with are absolutely amazing! They are sweet, juicy, fresh and delicious! We paired some of these peaches with blueberries, almonds, and citrus flavors to make a summery treat.

Peach Frangipane Tart
• 4 peaches
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 2 tbsp sugar
• ½ cup blueberries
• Honey and sugar for garnish

Frangipane
• ½ cup ground almonds
• ¼ cup sugar
• Pinch kosher salt
• 1 egg
• ½ tsp almond extract
• ½ tsp vanilla
• 3 tbsp butter

Almond Shortbread Crust
• 1 cup flour
• 1/3 cup powdered sugar
• ½ ground almonds
• 1 tsp orange zest
• ½ cup butter-cubed

To make the tart, begin by preparing the crust. Combine flour, powdered sugar, ground almonds and orange zest in a large bowl. Add cubed butter and cut butter into flour mixture using a pastry blender. Knead dough to form dough. Turn dough into a 9” tart pan. Press dough into pan and then set aside.

Prepare the frangipane by combing the ground almonds, sugar, salt and butter in a medium bowl. Add egg, almond extract and vanilla extract and stir until smooth. Spread frangipane over prepared crust.

Thinly slice the peaches and toss with lemon juice and 2 tbsp of sugar. Arrange peaches over frangipane. Sprinkle with blueberries. Drizzle honey over fruit and sprinkle with granulated sugar.

Bake tart at 375 degrees for 30 minutes or until frangipane is puffed and set. The crust will turn golden brown. Recipe from Sweet Sensations Blog and can be found here http://www.thesweetsensations.com/?p=1266.
 
-The Honey Nut

Coconut Date Macaroons

This is a cookie recipe for the lazy baker in all of us. Sure, we bakers love to make layer cakes, decorate cookies, and let our imaginations run wild in the kitchen, but some days, it can seem like too much. This is a cookie for those days, you know, the days where you want to make something special and delicious, but don’t feel like spending all day in the kitchen, or worse of all, wash a sink full of dishes. My old solution to a day like that was to eat a half a sleeve of Oreo’s, but this recipe for Coconut Date Macaroons is my new answer!

The cookies are so simple to make, you literally throw everything in a big bowl and stir. Plus, they seem fancy and delicate, but don’t be fooled. They are filled with flavor and texture. Now that is my kind of cookie!

Coconut Date Macaroons
• 2/3 cup flour
• 14 oz. sweetened coconut
• ¼ tsp salt
• 14 oz. sweetened condensed milk
• 1 cup chopped dates
• 1 cup chopped pecans

In a large bowl, combine flour, coconut and salt. Stir until coconut is coated. Stir in sweetened condensed milk. Fold in dates and pecans. Drop batter by the rounded tablespoon onto parchment paper lined baking sheets. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes, or until coconut is lightly toasted.

To be honest, when I first took the cookies out of the oven, I was disappointed. I thought the coconut had made them dry, but oh boy, I was wrong! The taste was amazing! The sweetened condensed milk made the cookies taste like candy, and the texture from combination of dates and nuts made the cookies highly addicting. I ate 3 of these in one sitting the night I realized the recipe was a keeper.

I loved the macaroons made with dates and pecans, but my brother suggested swapping out the dates for dried cranberries and then dipping them in chocolate. I think this recipe definitely potential for versatility! Aw, I love being reminded that lazy baking can be just as delicious!

-The Honey Nut

Butterscotch Gingerbread Cookies

Whew, it’s been a little while since I’ve posted on here! The reason for my baking hiatus is that I started my first big girl job and have had a lot less free time. The good news is that I love my job!! I’m so happy I stuck out the four years of misery that is engineering school because being a real engineer is awesome! Unfortunately, it took a hurricane to get me baking again. I went on a baking binge to prepare for Hurricane Irene. My family may lose power, but at least we will have cookies!

Butterscotch Gingerbread Cookies
• 3 cups flour
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1 ½ tsp cinnamon
• 1 ½ tsp ginger
• ¾ tsp cloves
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 cup butter
• 1 ½ cups brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup molasses
• 11 oz. butterscotch chips

In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves and salt. Stir until combined and then set aside. Using an electric mixer, cream together butter and brown sugar until mixture is creamy. Beat in egg and molasses. Gradually add flour mixture, stirring until just combined. Fold in butterscotch chips. Drop batter by the rounded tablespoon onto parchment paper lined baking sheets. Bake at 350 degrees for 9 minutes or until lightly browned. Recipe from Allrecipes.

This is one of my favorite cookie recipes! I am a sucker for butterscotch, and that flavor contrasts wonderfully with the spices in this recipe. The sweetness form the butterscotch balances the ginger and cloves, which all combine to excite your taste buds! Sometimes cloves can overpower a recipe, but no so in this recipe! The flavors alone are enough to make these cookies highly addicting, but it is the texture that puts them onto my list of all time favorite cookie recipes. They are soft, chewy and delicious!  Yum!

-The Honey Nut

P.S. Stay safe if you are in the path of Hurricane Irene :/