Prefer Baking to Basketball? Skip March Madness and Dunk a Macaroon
Recipes at lizellyn
Cookie
Peanut Butter Oatmeal Balls
Looking for a semi-healthy snack/cookie where no baking is involved? Peanut Butter and Oatmeal make a great combination. I’ve been combining these two ingredients for years. I started by melting 1/3 c honey and 1/2 c peanut butter in a sauce pan on the stove. I removed from the heat and immediately added, 1 c oatmeal, 1 tsp vanilla, and 1/4 c coconut flakes. I waited 12 minutes for mixture to cool and added 1/2 c chocolate chips. I used a cookie scoop to divide the batter into cookie-sized portions and placed the scoops in a covered container in the freezer for 30 minutes. I removed the container from the freezer and rolled the scoops into balls and placed the balls in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
Eat and Enjoy!
The recipe is easily adaptable to ingredients that you have on hand. Chopped nuts or raisins would make great additions, too.
Flourless Chocolate Cookies
I had to bake today. It was just one of those days and I had to bake. However, I’m living with a chocolate chip thief. Once again, my stash of chocolate chips was gone. Luckily I found this recipe that required very few ingredients, little effort, and more importantly didn’t require chocolate chips. So when life swipes your chocolate chips, make these cookies.
Absolutely intense chocolate flavor. Great for those that are gluten free. And, only 5 ingredients: 2 1/4 c powered sugar; 1 c cocoa powder; pinch salt, 3 egg whites, & 2 tsp vanilla. Bake on greased sheets at 350 for 8 min.
Macaroon Madness
No, I didn’t say March Madness. This is not a post about NCAA basketball. I may not be crazy about basketball, but I definitely can get behind the idea of macaroons. I decided to bust out all my favorite macaroon recipes for a little comparison baking.
French Macarons (It is spelled with only one “o”). This is a little variation I did to coincide with spring. Most French macarons that I have seen have a similar color creme filling that matches the cookie part. Instead, I decided to make a yellow cookie with a pale blue, green, and pink buttercream in each sandwich cookie.
This is a very basic macaroon. Because it was St. Patrick’s Day, I dyed half the batch green. These were outstanding the first day I baked them. They seemed a little too moist the second day.
This was an older macaroon recipe that I adapted by adding 3/4 cup of melted chocolate. These tasted okay the first day, but after they rested one day they were absolutely fabulous. These were all eaten before the vanilla ones.
Bailey’s Chocolate Macaroon. Like the standard macaroons it is spelled with 2 O’s. The texture of the cookie portion reminds me of an italian cookie. If you like Bailey’s and chocolate ganache, you’ll love the filling.
Here are links to the recipes that I used:
Beth’s Foolproof French Macaron Recipe – YouTube
Baileys Chocolate Macaroons
Basic Macaroon Recipe:
1 egg white, 1 c. sweetened condensed milk, 1 tsp vanilla extract, & 16 oz shredded coconut; Bake in preheated oven on parchment-lined cookie sheets at 325 for 15-20 minutes (until golden brown). Allow to cool on pan for at least 10 minutes before removing.
Older Macaroon Recipe:
3/4 sugar, 2 1/2 c shredded coconut, 2 large egg whites, 1 tsp vanilla, 3/4 c melted chocolate chips; Bake in preheated oven on parchment-lined cookie sheets at 350 for 15 minutes. Allow to cool long enough that the macaroons can be removed by hand and not with a spatula.
See Related Posts:
Warm Cookies or Cookie Dough?
Which do you prefer: warm chocolate chip cookies or chocolate chip cookie dough? It is an even split in my house; two prefer the dough and two prefer the warm cookies. In order to appease all the members of family, I baked one tray of cookies and placed cookie size portions of cookie dough in a sealed container in the freezer. That way my cookie-dough eating daughter can grab a chunk of cookie dough when she so chooses. And, I can pop a tray of dough in the oven when the males in the house want some warm and gooey chocolate chip cookies but I don’t have time to whip up a new batch. Hopefully, when I dig in the freezer, I won’t find an almost empty container of cookie dough. 🙂
If you are a fan of cookie dough, my daughter found the following cookbook. These recipes do not use eggs. So, you don’t have to worry about any bacteria issues.
See my other posts with desserts from this book:
Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Truffles
Triple Cookie Dough Cheesecake
I probably love cookie dough as much I do romance books. In Mystery Man (Book #1 Dream Man Series by Kristen Ashley) the main character, Gwen, is a fan of cookie dough, too. Hawk, Gwen’s fat-free-eating perfectly sculpted boyfriend, loves Gwen’s cookie dough curves.
Kristen Ashley is a fabulous author; I recommend both her Chaos Series and Dream Man series.
Chaos: Own The Wind
Tough biker dudes were a bit hard to warm up to, but once I did – oh my my. A great exploration of balancing of whether you can like someone in spite of their faults. Now that I’ve developed a greater understanding of the biker world – can’t wait to read more of Kristen Ashley’s books.
Dream Man: Mystery Man, Wild Man, Law Man, Motorcycle Man
Badass Commando, sexy DEA Agent, honorable police officer, and righteous biker make for some hot tales. It is very difficult for me to decide which highly protective character should win the most desirable. However, in Wild Man, Brock’s appreciation for Tessa’s cupcakes (not a euphemism) earns him my vote. Gotta love a guy that has a sweet tooth and an amazing body.
Frozen Chocolate Pastry Cream Sandwiches
Sometimes great concoctions come from extra ingredients. I was making Napoleons for New Year’s Eve and had some extra filling. I piped it onto a graham cracker and stuck it in the freezer. New Year’s Day – best frozen dessert sandwich ever! The graham cracker was soft and the rich chocolate filling was decadent. It was like an ice cream sandwich with the most premium ice cream. It was so good that it was requested as a birthday dessert in lieu of a birthday cake.
Napoleons may be a French pastry that have an origin in Italy, but this frozen dessert is all American.
Banana-Chip Oatmeal Cookies (gluten free)
It’s been a while since I’ve done anything gluten-free and I was jonesing for dessert. Once again, I bought too many bananas. (Actually, I think I bought the same number of bananas that I normally do, but no one in the family ate them this week. Maybe it is a conspiracy to encourage me to have to come up with banana dessert recipes). Well, I wasn’t in the mood to make banana muffins. I really don’t like repeating recipes too many times. I checked my pantry. I found some milk-chocolate chips. Score! In the end, Banana-Chip Oatmeal Cookies.
Oreo in a Cupcake
If you look, the Oreo is smiling at you. After everyone ate these, they were smiling, too. This is a really well-balanced cupcake – just enough vanilla and just enough chocolate. The cookie becomes soft inside the vanilla cupcake. To top it off, is a chocolate buttercream with crushed Oreos for decoration.
Thanks again to my daughter for photographing the cupcakes!
Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies
Cold days require comfort foods. The windchill today is -22. Nothing says comfort food more than warm chocolate chip oatmeal cookies. No, they are not fancy, but not all desserts have to be a culinary masterpiece. Sometimes, just good old traditional cookies do the trick. It’s all about the love in the tummy.
Macaroon (not French Macaroon)
I just baked macaroons. No, they are not the French kind, which are a meringue-based cookie with almond flour (sometimes spelled Macaron).
The above is the typical kind of macaroon and is made of coconut, egg, sweetened condensed milk, and vanilla. I usually make them during Easter in multiple pastel colors. For Passover, I will make both vanilla and chocolate. (I believe in equal opportunity celebrating and eating) These are a lot easier to make than French macaroons.
I don’t believe either Macaroons or French macaroons are a substitute for one another. While the name might be confusing, the tastes are distinct. Both are delicious!
Indulge in Life's Guilty Pleasures 