Fork vs Spoon

Oatmeal Pecan Scotchies

Posted by Mal on May 8, 2013 in All Recipes | 4 comments

Food is quite the memory jogger. A trigger of sorts. Much like music. Or certain smells.

I don’t know if everyone is like this, but I want to think that a warm chocolate chip cookie takes everyone back to their childhood – I think my first memory of a chocolate chip cookie and looking back, probably the first time I took comfort from food or felt love through its simple preparation, was when our first childhood dog – ‘Puppy’ – original, I know…died.

I was curled up on dad’s lap in our old gray (it wasn’t old yet) recliner and I was sobbing and mom, from the kitchen, offered to make cookies – ‘maybe that will make us feel better’. I don’t remember the taste of the cookies or if we even ate them that night – I am sure we did, with large glasses of milk and spoons to fish out soggy lost bits and pieces. What I remember, as dad sat reassuring us that Puppy was in heaven causing ruckus up there, was that mom, while also mourning the loss of her beloved dog (even though she would holler and throw spoons in his direction from the back door when he would bark and howl), took time to bake us cookies – hoping they would ease our tears and cheer us up a bit. Which, I am sure they did.

Cookies have that sort of power. Especially if mom is making them.

Oatmeal Scotchies … guess what..you got it, comes with a memory. Like any cookie, they remind me of my grandma. As most things I bake do, but these are most definitely a Shirley memory. On Wednesday evenings, grandma had church choir practice or perhaps it was the Women’s Society meeting…all I know, is that she was at church on Wednesday nights and the church was just 2 blocks from our house. Therefore, Wednesday nights always guaranteed a visit from grandma and she normally brought a bake good ( and I wonder where I get this habit from). Cookies or pie. And if it was cookies…4 out of 5 times, they would be chewy oatmeal scotchies.

As grandma and mom sat and chit chatted and gossiped … we 3 kids scarfed down cookies, leaving just crumbs behind. Sore jaws and crumbs.

I hadn’t had an oatmeal scotchie in years. Years! Quite devastating, seeing how the recipe for these magic little guys are on the back of the bag of Nestle butterscotch chips. And when something is this good, there is really no need to tinker with the recipe. Well, I kinda did…I added roasted pecans, because pecans kind of rock in cookies. No?

Of all the cakes, cookies, and pies I have taken into work…I believe these cookies received the most hubbub. The container was returned with a pleading of it being refilled with more. People were hiding and stowing away cookies in lockers. They were being eaten 2 and 3 at a time. I wanna believe it was because these cookies were not only chewy and delicious, but because their flavor and texture and slight hint of cinnamon took them back.

Back to grandmas, school lunches, after school snacks, Wednesday nights.

Oatmeal Pecan Scotchies

Makes about 4 dozen cookies.

Ingredients

1 Cup (2 sticks) butter, room temperature
¾ Cup white sugar
¾ Cup, light brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1¼ Cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp salt
½ Cup Roasted Pecans, roughly chopped
3 Cup Old Fashioned Oats
One 11-oz bag butterscotch chip

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375F.
In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Set aside.
In a mixing bowl, cream together softened butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, until incorporated. Beat in vanilla.
With mixer on low, add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and mix until incorporated – the dough will be tacky.
With a wooden spoon, stir in the oats, pecans, and butterscotch chips.
Drop rounded spoonfuls of dough onto parchment lined (optional) baking sheets and bake for 7-8 minutes for chewy cookies or 9-10 minutes for crisp cookies.
Remove from oven and let sit on cookie sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to wire rack to cool.

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Adapted from Nestle TollHouse

Cranberry Vanilla Coffee Cake and a Guest Post

Posted by Mal on May 2, 2013 in All Recipes | 0 comments

Well, Hello there!

Katie from Katie at the Kitchen Door and I are joining forces today. If you have never been to her blog – you must, you just have to head over there. Katie is oh so talented…her talents in the kitchen and behind the camera are out of this world. When she asked me to write a guest post for her blog, while she is on vacation, I couldn’t but jump at the chance.

And if you are visiting my little space on the Internet because you are wandering over here from Katie’s blog….then you totally know what I am talking about. She is awesome, right?!? And welcome! I am so very glad to have you here today.

Let’s get going!

The sun is shining. The trees are budding. Daffodils are waving ever so slightly in the breeze. Tulips are testing the waters…soon to be in full bloom. The grass is growing fast and furious, aided by the April showers. Spring is starting to slowly and finally roll into Ohio. It has been a long winter and we want nothing more than warm afternoons and long lazy evenings. Spring in Ohio requires us to practice patience.

In the spring, we have this internal urge to clean out the old and bring in new. Start fresh – Spring, to me, has always represented a new year more so than January 1st ever has. Something takes hold and before we know it windows are being cleaned, floor boards scrubbed, closets sorted and organized, and if you are me – fridges and freezers are overhauled. It has been a long winter – heaven only knows what I have stocked and stored away over the cold months. I am like a squirrel hoarding nuts. So it was no surprise to me when I found 2 extra bags of fresh frozen cranberries in my freezer last week. Left over from Thanksgiving/Christmas. Stored away just in case. Just in case I needed to whip up a cranberry sauce. Or jam. Or needed a another loaf of orange cranberry bread.

Honestly, I had forgotten about them. Big Surprise. So, when Katie asked me to guest blog and I was scratching my head and standing in front of my refrigerator wondering what recipe I would offer her readers…I spotted the cranberries. And instantly thought…I bet there are more people out there like me. Spring cleaning and finding extra bags of cranberries (among many other things… why do I buy so many packages of frozen spinach?!?).

I know, I know…cranberries are generally eaten around winter holidays, but I think they are perfect this time of year ( and I am not just saying this because I have an abundance). They have a bright tart flavor, matching the feeling of an early spring afternoon. A coffee cake with a thin layer of sweetened cranberries and a coconut streusel top is just what a Sunday afternoon calls for. A lazy Sunday afternoon spent on your porch, soaking up the sunshine, getting lost in a good book, with baseball on the radio in the back ground. All while you nibble away on an extra large piece of coffee cake that is studded with little flecks of vanilla bean. And coffee. Lots of coffee. Always coffee.

Vanilla Bean Cranberry Coffee Cake and a Guest Post

Ingredients

½ vanilla bean, split lengthwise
1¾ cups sugar, divided
2 cups fresh or thawed frozen cranberries
2 cups All Purpose Flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
¾ teaspoon salt
1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
2 large eggs
½ cup whole milk
Topping
⅓ Cup Flaked Coconut, unsweetened
1 Tablespoon All-Purpose Flour
1 Tablespoon Unsalted Butter, room temperature

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375F.
Grease a 9 inch round cake pan with butter and line bottom with parchment paper. Grease parchment.
Make vanilla sugar: With the tip of a paring knife, scrape out the seeds from the vanilla bean and place in a food processor with 1+3/4 Cup of sugar. Pulse to combine. Transfer to another bowl – you will need the food processor again.
Place cranberries and ½ Cup of vanilla sugar in food processor and pulse until chopped but NOT pureed.
Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt – set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, cream together 1 stick of butter and 1 cup of vanilla sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Scrape down side and bottom of bowl.
With mixer on low, add flour mixture and milk alternately in batches, beginning and ending with flour. Beat until just combined.
Pour ½ of batter into bottom of prepare pan – the batter will be very thick, so spread it out with a butter knife.
Spoon cranberries over the batter, leaving a ½ inch border around edge. Spread the remaining batter over cranberries. (With the batter being so thick, the best way to do this is by dolloping spoonfuls of batter all over cranberry filling and very carefully with a buttered knife, gradually spreading the batter over the filling)
Prepare crumble topping : In a small bowl, combine remaining ¼ cup of vanilla sugar, flaked coconut, tablespoon of butter, and tablespoon of flour. Crumble with fingers or fork until pebble like.
Spread evenly over top of cake.
Place in preheated oven and bake for 45-50 minutes until toothpick comes out clean (don’t test into cranberry filling).
Let cool in pan for about 30 minutes before removing from pan and let cool completely on a wire rack before serving.
Serve with coffee and good conversation.

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Adapted from Gourmet December 2008

Ohio Tough Mudder 2013

Posted by Mal on Apr 29, 2013 in All Recipes | 1 comment

We did it. Again.

You may remember last year.

We are all a year older….and none the wiser.

Apparently we didn’t get enough of mud, dirt, and grime.

Didn’t get enough of the camaraderie and team work.

Didn’t get enough of the 20 foot walls and electrical shock.

First, as the picture above shows….we have added a member to our small crazy team.

Four strong.

Matt, Shawn, Me, and Jeff.

Second, if you aren’t familiar with the Tough Mudder. Check them out.

It always begins (and will end) with a bus ride.

Yellow school bus, bus ride.

Followed by packet pick up and baggage drop-off.

Then, bib numbers on forehead.

And always, me finding my inner-Elvis.

And this year, Jeff and I were chosen to record a bit for a Tough Mudder commercial.

Fingers crossed we make the cut!

To make it to the starting line…there is a wall to climb, or in my case, a wall to be boosted over.

Remember at the end…my socks were once PINK.

Overall, there are about 20 obstacles within the 10 mile course.

Monkey bars and rings ( I consider them swimming events) to muddy trenches and log carrying.

Andrea, my awesome sister-in-law, traipsed through the muck and the mud – along with Matt’s mom, girlfriend, and sister – and took all the pictures you are about to see.

Huge kudos goes out to them!!