Category Archives: in the kitchen

22 recipes | snickerdoodle blondies

Snickerdoodle Blondies by My Own Sweet Thyme

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I think it seems like snickerdoodles have a very special place in my heart. The reason? They were one of the first cookies I remember learning how to bake. I had a Betty Crocker Cookie Recipe book and snickerdoodles were one of the things I kept making whenever I needed cookies. (Chocolate chip cookies are the exception to this, but let’s just focus on snickerdoodles for now, shall we?)

But I stopped making them after awhile, for some reason, and just never quite got to them again.

Then I came across this recipe for Snickerdoodle Blondies and they combined all the goodness of snickerdoodles into one easy bar! My friend and I made this for our baking date and I think they turned out pretty well – these blondies are soft and crumbly, pretty much all you could ever want in a snickerdoodle (: Plus, it came together in about fifteen minutes, which is definitely bonus brownie blondie points. No pun intended, ha.

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Fast and tasty recipes are always right up my alley.

1 down, 21 to go.

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The 22 recipes are part of my 22 list, a list of 22 things I’m working to accomplish while I’m twenty-two. Check out my other 22 recipes here.

Adelia Makes no. 016 // caramelitas

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First of all, I will tell you that I didn’t get pictures of these yummy yummy caramelitas. Adelia made these for friends. And right after they were fresh out of the oven, we cut them up straightaway, packed them up and sent them off to be enjoyed. But you do get one picture though. From the recipe book Adelia made these out of. That’s the closest I could get to taking of pictures of how these caramelitas actually look like.

But second of all, I will tell you that you have to take my word for how good these are. If you don’t believe me, just ask our friends because I think they all quite liked it. Imagine a layer of chocolate + caramel + nuts. Oh so good.

Try it and let me know how you like it!

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Caramelitas

Makes: 20
Baking time: 20-25 minutes

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups rolled oats
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 1/2 cups light brown sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup or 2 sticks unsalted butter, melted
  • 10 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
  • 1 cup pecans, lightly toasted and coarsely chopped
  • 1 cup caramel sauce (or Dulce de Leche)
  1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Base line a 12 x 12-inch shallow baking pan with parchment paper.
  2. Put the oats, flour, baking soda, sugar, and salt into a bowl and mix together. Add the butter and mix well. Spread half of the mixture in the base of the prepared pan. Press out evenly using the back of a spoon.
  3. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes. Remove and sprinkle the chocolate and huts evenly over the surface. Drizzle the caramel sauce evenly over the top. Sprinkle the reserved oat mixture on top and press gently with the back of a spoon.
  4. Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes until golden brown.
  5. Leave in the pan to cool completely and cut into bars to serve.

NOTE: Feel free to substitute the nuts for your favorites!

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Adelia Makes is a blog series featuring my very own little sister and all the fun things she makes. Read more about Adelia Makes here.

Adelia Makes no. 015 // maple glazed cookies

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Maple Glazed Cookies

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These were addictive and so, so good. We finished these cookies in just a couple of days, down to the very last crumb. They were that good.

Maple Glazed Cookies

Makes: 18
Baking time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

  • 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 6 tablespoons or 3/4 stick butter, cut into cubes
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • Scant 1/2 pecans, chopped (we used walnuts instead of pecans)
  • 1 egg, lightly beaten
  • 6 tablespoons maple syrup
  1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Lightly grease two baking sheets.
  2. Sift the flour, baking powder, and baking soda into a bowl. Add the butter and blend with your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine bread crumbs. Stir in the sugar and pecans.
  3. Add the egg and 4 tablespoons of the maple syrup and mix until well combined.
  4. Drop small heaping tablespoonfuls of the dough, slightly spaced apart onto the baking sheets. Bake until golden, about 15 minutes.
  5. Brush the cookies with the remaining maple syrup while still hot, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

NOTE: Adelia use less concentrated maple syrup so she made up for the flavor by adding more tablespoons of syrup in the batter. This made the cookies soft and chewy but we still liked them that way (:

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Adelia Makes is a blog series featuring my very own little sister and all the fun things she makes. Read more about Adelia Makes here.

Adelia Makes no. 014 // chocolate pistachio fingers

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Chocolate Pistachio Fingers

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With the array of pinterest recipe boards and online recipes nowadays, recipe books hardly make an appearance in our kitchen anymore. But once in awhile, they show up and we get to try some yummy recipes from them (:

These chocolate pistachio fingers came together in no time at all and the salty pistachios gave a nice contrast to the chocolate.

Chocolate Pistachio Fingers

Makes: 12
Baking time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

  • Scant 1 cup unsalted butter
  • 1/2 cup golden superfine sugar
  • 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1/4 cup shelled pistachio nuts, coarsely chopped
  • Unsweetened cocoa powder for dusting
  1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Line a shallow square 7-inch pan with parchment paper.
  2. Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Sift together the flour and cocoas powder. Add to the butter mixture and work in using your hands until the mixture is smooth. Add the pistachios and knead until soft and pliable.
  3. Press the mixture into the pan and smooth the top using the back of a tablespoon. Prick with a fork and mark into bars.
  4. Bake in the oven for about 15 minutes. Do not allow to become too brown or the cookies will taste bitter.
  5. Allow to cool slightly then cut through the marked sections and remove from the pan. Cool on a wire rack and dust sparingly with cocoa powder.

Try it and let me know what you think.
Happy Tuesday!

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Adelia Makes is a blog series featuring my very own little sister and all the fun things she makes. Read more about Adelia Makes here.

Adelia Makes no. 013// chocolate mint brownies

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Chocolate Mint Brownies by Joy of Baking

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Chocolate + mint have always been one of my favorite combinations. So I absolutely loved these chocolate mint brownies. They especially make a good post-dinner dessert, like those After-Eight mints. Mmm.

These were pretty simple to make – the brownie was nice and fudgy, and the balance of all three layers was good. Adelia used more peppermint extract than was stated in the recipe but really, I think it’s up your personal preference and how minty you like your brownies to be. And instead of chocolate glaze, Adelia used a chocolate ganache (cream + melted chocolate) since we already had some of those on hand.

I think these make a fancy-looking dessert, which actually isn’t as hard as it seems. That, is always a plus.

Let me know what you think if you try this out!

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Adelia Makes is a blog series featuring my very own little sister and all the fun things she makes. Read more about Adelia Makes here.

21 recipes // creamy lemon crumb squares

Before we jump into today’s post, the winner of my 100 followers giveaway has been announced in the post! Click here to find out if you won. THANK YOU to everyone who participated (:

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Creamy Lemon Crumb Squares by The Girl who Ate Everything

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The first time I made this, almost all the taste-testers raved about it and emptied the entire box I made. So I’m assuming they really, really liked it. Which I’m so glad they did. Because just for the record, the last time I tried making lemon squares for my twenty list, they hardly turned out like they should’ve. And the rest of my family members have rather, uhm, fond memories of my last failed attempt. So I’m really glad things worked in my favor this time around.

Okay, so back to all the yumminess that is creamy lemon crumb squares: they are a nice twist on traditional lemon squares. And I especially like how the crumbly top and base, together with the oats, give a nice texture contrast. Of all the twenty-one recipes I’ve tried this year, I think this one ranks pretty high on the top of the favorites list.

A note on the original recipe: I actually tasted the filling as I went along and added the lemon juice accordingly. I ended up using 2 1/2 to 3 lemons (not sure how much this is in cups) because I like my lemon squares slightly tart.

21 down, and we’re done! Over forty recipes and two years later, trying out these new recipes is still one of my favorite parts of my annual list (:

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The 21 recipes are part of my 21 list, a list of 21 things I’m working to accomplish during my twenty-first year. Check out my other 21 recipes here.

Adelia Makes no. 012 // nutella and sea salt stuffed sugar cookies

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Nutella and Sea Salt Stuffed Sugar Cookies by Cookin’ Canuck

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My love for Nutella really isn’t a secret. So these sugar cookies were just right up my alley. And they were SO GOOD.

Imagine all the goodness of a sugar cookie combined with the goodness that is Nutella, with a hint of saltiness, oozing from the center when you bite into it. Oh so yummy. Just talking about it makes me crave some Nutella cookies right now.

With the humidity that is typical of Singapore, it helped to leave the Nutella balls in the freezer the whole time and take out a couple of pieces as you go along. Otherwise, they start melting and it gets a little too messy. Also, a cookie scoop, or a mini ice-cream scoop really helps with assembling the cookies – put a little dough at the bottom of the scoop, sprinkle some salt, place the Nutella ball, and scoop up more dough to fill up the scoop. This makes it very easy to release the cookie dough into the sugar to coat.

Once baked, these cookies turned out to be quite big. But hey, the bigger the cookie, the better right? (:

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Adelia Makes is a blog series featuring my very own little sister and all the fun things she makes. Read more about Adelia Makes here.

Adelia Makes no. 011 // salted caramel chocolate cupcakes

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Salted Caramel Chocolate Cupcakes by Annie’s Eats

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As I’ve mentioned before, Adelia can be pretty ambitious. In a totally I-can-do-this-because-I-put-my-mind-to-it sort of way (which is good!). While I, on the other hand, much prefer to well, take things easy sometimes.

So while I’ve made several cupcake recipes in my life, Adelia decided to tackle this salted caramel chocolate cupcake recipe all by herself, for her very first cupcake recipe attempt. For that, I have to give her major props because I most certainly wouldn’t have picked this slightly complex recipe. But because she’s determined like that, she did.

This cupcake has a filled center that oozes caramel when you bite into it. But piping it in takes a little bit of work, especially if you don’t have a pastry bag (which we didn’t). Adelia tried using a regular disposable plastic piping bag. But with hot caramel and all, things got a little messy. So the pastry bag is mucho importante. She eventually settled on just using the cone method – using a knife to cut out some of the cupcake, adding some of the caramel, and then putting the cone back on top. This method was much better and much less time-consuming. Sometimes, you gotta improvise to make things work.

In addition to the caramel filling, this chocolatey cupcake had a Swiss Meringue buttercream, which is more buttery than the usual American buttercream. The butter taste isn’t as strong if you stick it in the refrigerator, but then your caramel filling hardens up. So it’s a little bit of a dilemma. But it’s probably best to store it in the fridge, then take it out to room temperature for a bit before eating.

Adelia made a mini version of these instead of using regular-sized cupcakes. And personally, I think the mini-size was just right – a perfect amount of goodness without making you feel (too) guilty.

Overall, the salty caramel + buttercream + chocolate cake made for a pretty tasty combination.

Until next time!

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Adelia Makes is a blog series featuring my very own little sister and all the fun things she makes. Read more about Adelia Makes here.

21 recipes // cream cheese apple bread

Cream Cheese Apple Bread by Today’s Creative blog

Cream Cheese apple bread recipe

The day I made these, I was in a hurry to pack and go so I wouldn’t be late for my Bible Study meeting. Hence, the lack of photos. Again. I promise this wasn’t intentional for the last few food posts.

Despite the lack of photos, I assure you that this was yummy indeed. And oh, did I mention that it’s also super simple to make?

Contrary to the name of the recipe, I’m more inclined to call this recipe a cake than a bread because of the texture. But regardless of what you call it, this cake/bread tasted good and I think all the ladies liked it! We enjoyed ourselves in a little circle, with our tiny boxes of apple juice and slice of cake, bonding + talking about life. Good times.

The recipe doesn’t state measurements for your baking tray, so I just used a regular loaf pan for mine (which measured 8x5x3). It turned out that the loaf needed a little more time in the oven than what the recipe stated, but that was fixed in no time. I also used a combination of cinnamon and nutmeg, instead of pumpkin spice seasoning

This one’s going on my list of “Recipes to make again”!

20 down, 1 to go!

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The 21 recipes are part of my 21 list, a list of 21 things I’m working to accomplish during my twenty-first year. Check out my other 21 recipes here.

Adelia Makes no. 10 // creamy lemon squares

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Creamy Lemon Squares by Martha Stewart

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These were certainly tart and lemon-y but OH SO YUMMY. Definitely a refreshing break for this chocolate-loving family. The Baker (aka Adelia) says these were simple to make so I think these are going on my list of “Recipes to try someday”, which indubitably seems like it’s getting longer each week. But that probably isn’t a bad thing.

Anyhow, if you aren’t big on too much lemon, just taste the filling while adding to the lemon so the sourness is just right and to your liking!

Hmm, just thinking about these makes me hungry for some lemon squares now. Happy Tuesday!

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Adelia Makes is a blog series featuring my very own little sister and all the fun things she makes. Read more about Adelia Makes here.