Tag Archives: baking

Evil Cookies

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Hello everyone!

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Photo courtesy of Smitten Kitchen

Those of you who know me, know I enjoy my baking endeavors. However, unlike many savvy bakers I know, I’m the kind of baker that can’t be bothered with certain things. If a recipe involves rolling, cutting, or, heaven forbid yeast, you can count me out. I live in fear of messing those recipes up, even though my friends insist they’re like any other. So, when I came across simple, yummy-sounding cookie recipes mentally stash them away for a rainy day, or a relaxing afternoon.

These potato chip cookies from my favorite food blog Smitten Kitchen seemed like they could either be odd or totally amazing- I’m glad to say that they were, hands down, the latter. I would go out on a limb and say that they were slightly evil as well. After all, how could something that consists primarily of butter, sugar, and potato chips not be delicious?

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1 cup (2 sticks or 225 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup (200 grams) granulated sugar, divided
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon table salt (optional, see note above)
1/2 cup chopped and toasted pecans
1/2 cup finely crushed potato chips
2 cups (250 grams) all-purpose flour

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees, and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. In a medium size bowl, cream butter and a 1/2 cup sugar together. Mix in salt and vanilla. Add the chopped pecans and crushed potato chips. When fully combined, stir in flour until solid dough forms. Place remaining sugar in a small bowl, roll small balls of dough in sugar, and place 1 inch apart on baking sheet. Flatten each cookie slightly (I used my hands, because I’m totally uncool and don’t have fancy tools like this), and sprinkle with any leftover potato chip flakes. (The original calls for a “potato chip salt,” but I couldn’t help but cut corners.)

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Bake cookies until edges brown lightly- about 15 minutes. The final result is not unlike a pecan sandie, except exceptionally light and pleasingly salty.

I ate about two of these and suddenly realized that I had a problem. Being left alone in the house with over a dozen of these cookies, I could have easily eaten every single one; they were so good.  I started frantically giving them away in batches to friends and family in an attempt to stop myself from overindulging! While some people were skeptical at the thought of potato chip cookies, everyone did agree that they were amazing. I think I’ll have to make another batch very soon.

Happy baking!

EVA♥

Kitchen Experiments

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Hello everyone!

I hope all of you had a good Monday. Recently, I had an evening free and decided I was going to see what all the fuss over coconut oil was about. I haven’t been baking all that much as of late, simply because, when I do, I find myself eating the same cake/brownies/cookies nonstop for a week. Not the best plan of action. I did, however, have some aging bananas sitting on my dining table that I just had to do something with, and figured that bananas and coconut would be a good mix.

I was correct.

I had a surprising amount of trouble finding a recipe that involved coconut oil in banana bread, but was glad when I stumbled upon this No-Fail Banana Bread from All Things Simple. I tweaked the recipe a bit- substituting vanilla bean yogurt for sour cream, and adding extra-large pinches of cinnamon and semi-sweet chocolate chips.

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Ingredients ready to go.

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The required banana mash. Looking frightful.

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I’m a horribly impatient person, especially when it comes to dirtying “necessary” dishes, but I forced myself to separate the wet and dry ingredients this time around.  What I was not so successful at doing was fully melting the coconut oil. Yes, I used my blow dryer to do this. And yes, when I got too impatient, I just threw it in there. I did have to give a disclaimer to people eating the banana bread that should they come across rare “doughy” bits that it wasn’t underdone, merely clumps of oil. Not making that mistake again.

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I purchased this little silicon loaf pan recently. While I initially wasn’t sure as to how well it would work, I was pleasantly surprised by the outcome! It’s just a little tricky to get in the oven when filled full of wobbly dough.

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Before.

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After.

IMG_2460The end result!

I must say, I was quite happy about it. My house smelled lovely, and I enjoyed my warm banana bread with a big glass of milk.

So…that’s basically what I did the other day instead of going to a yoga class. I feel no shame.

EVA♥