Fried Oreos

Okay. I know that fried food is sooooo bad for you. Especially when the food you are deep frying is already unhealthy. BUT. If you are looking for a sleepover snack, or wanting to blow some calories on something that tastes amazing but will surely kill you if eaten excessively, I highly recommend these.

I saw the contestants on America's Next Top Model make them and I wanted to try it out, so I made these several months ago with friends, and am just getting around to posting about them.

what you'll need:

oreos, twinkies, snickers, milkey way, etc...
pancake batter (use whatever recipe you want)
vegetable oil (amount dependent on how much you are making- which is your personal choice)

The process:

1) make pancake batter

2) put vegetable oil into a pot or skillet with high sides so that anything you fry will be completely covered in oil. Heat it up until it is hot but not hot enough to spurt onto you and injure you...

3) completely coat your oreo in pancake batter and delicately put the coated oreo into the heated oil. Be careful because the oil will burn you and it will hurt. let the batter cook until slightly brown and remove using a spatula or similar utensil. The dough should be fully cooked.

4) put the oreo somewhere that it will cool down (we put some paper towel on a plate and then used the paper towel to soak up excess oil.)

5) let cool and enjoy!

note: we also tried this with fun-sized snickers and milkey way bars. Those were great. The chocolate melts and its all gooey and yummy. I think the oreos are the best though because the cream is all melty and the cookie gets really soft. WAY good. ;-)

note number 2: My friends and I made this recipe up, we googled possible ways to fry things and then just figured it out on our own.

Pita Bread

I've been wanting to try making pita bread for a while and I finally tried it! This is a pretty basic recipe, and it tastes pretty good. My only complaint (which could have been my fault) is that the bread is a bit more dense than I expected, but still, I'm enjoying some pita and hummus ;-)

here's the link I got the recipe from:

http://mideastfood.about.com/od/breadsrice/r/pitabreadrecipe.htm

Ingredients:

• 1 package of yeast, or quick rising yeast
• 1/2 cup warm water
• 3 cups all purpose flour
• 1 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
• 1 cup lukewarm water

Preparation:

Dissolve yeast in 1/2 cup of warm water. Add sugar and stir until dissolved. Let sit for 10-15 minutes until water is frothy.

Combine flour and salt in large bowl.

Make a small depression in the middle of flour and pour yeast water in depression.

Slowly add 1 cup of warm water, and stir with wooden spoon or rubber spatula until elastic.

Place dough on floured surface and knead for 10-15 minutes. When the dough is no longer sticky and is smooth and elastic, it has been successfully kneaded.

Coat large bowl with vegetable oil and place dough in bowl. Turn dough upside down so all of the dough is coated.

Allow to sit in a warm place for about 3 hours, or until it has doubled in size.

Once doubled, roll out in a rope, and pinch off 10-12 small pieces. Place balls on floured surface. Let sit covered for 10 minutes. Preheat oven to 500 deg F. and make sure rack is at the very bottom of oven. Be sure to also preheat your baking sheet.

Roll out each ball of dough with a rolling pin into circles. Each should be about 5-6 inches across and 1/4 inch thick.

Bake each circle for 4 minutes until the bread puffs up. Turn over and bake for 2 minutes.

Remove each pita with a spatula from the baking sheet and add additional pitas for baking.

Take spatula and gently push down puff. Immediately place in storage bags.

Puffy Pancakes

My sister gave me this recipe, and it is GREAT- super simple to make and a great "Saturday Morning" breakfast food. The ingredients are really simple, and it only takes a total of 15 minutes or so to make (including bake time). Also, you can always cut the recipe in half if you want a smaller portion/if you are only cooking for one.

Ingredients:

2 1/2 T butter

3 eggs

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup milk

1/4 t salt

(I add 1/2 tsp of vanilla too, but that isn't required)

toppings: powdered sugar, syrup, jam, fresh berries, etc. (whatever you like to put on it)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 450. While the oven is preheating, put the butter in the bottom of a glass pan (9 by 13 or whatever you have...). Put the pan with the butter in the preheating oven so that the butter melts by the time you are ready

2. mix together the eggs, flour, milk, salt, and vanilla

3. When the butter has melted, take the pan out of the oven and pour the batter on top of it (make sure the butter covers the entire bottom of the pan)

4. bake for 10-15 minutes. you know it's done when it has "set" and it is puffy (hence the name "puffy pancakes")

5. serve with toppings (I like powdered sugar, but anything is good!)

enjoy!!!

2 Minute Chocolate Cake

So often I think to myself "I want a little treat!" but I don't want to bake and end up with an entire cake or something similar. SO. When I saw this recipe, I had to try it. It's basically like making one slice of cake- so you can make yourself a little treat and not have to deal with leftovers :-) so yummy! and here is the link to the website I got it from: http://www.melskitchencafe.com/

INGREDIENTS: 1/4 cup all-purpose flour 5 tablespoons sugar 2 tablespoons cocoa powder 1 egg 3 tablespoons vegetable oil 2 tablespoons semisweet chocolate chips 1 tablespoon nutella Dash of vanilla and salt

DIRECTIONS: Whisk all the ingredients together in a large cocoa or coffee mug until smooth. Microwave the cake on high until puffed, about 2 minutes, watching carefully as microwaves can vary in strength. If desired, drizzle chocolate syrup or hot fudge sauce on top. Scoop cake onto a plate or in a bowl and serve immediately with a scoop of ice cream, if desired, but which I highly recommend.

Snickerdoodles (part 2)

I made these snickerdoodles for Relief Society on Sunday and everyone appeared to like them a lot :-) Personally, I think I prefer this recipe, so I'll post it (even though I just posted a different recipe) the dough seemed less-sticky... I may have put too much flour in, but I don't think it made that big of a difference. Make sure you don't overcook them- they are way better slightly underdone than overdone. :-) And here is the link to the website where I originally got the recipe: http://www.lovintheoven.com/2010/03/even-better-snickerdoodle.html

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup butter (1 stick), softened
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

For rolling:

• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugars with
an electric mixer on high speed. Add the egg and vanilla and
beat until smooth.

2. In another bowl, combine the flour, salt, baking soda, and
cream of tartar.

3. Pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix well.

4. Preheat oven to 300 degrees while you let the dough rest for
30 to 60 minutes in the refrigerator.

5. In a small bowl, combine the sugar with the cinnamon for the
topping.

6. Take about 2 1/2 tablespoons of the dough and roll it into a
ball. Roll this dough in the cinnamon/sugar mixture and press it
onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Repeat for the remaining cookies.

7. Bake the cookies for 12 to 14 minutes and no more. The cookies
may seem undercooked, but will continue to develop after they are
removed from the oven. When the cookies have cooled they should be
soft and chewy in the middle.

Makes 16 to 18 cookies.

Excellent Pancake recipe

I made pancakes a few weeks ago with a different recipe and I wasn't that impressed... On this lovely Saturday morning I was looking for things to do (my roommates don't get out of bed until 12 or 1 and I'm usually wide awake by 7:30 or 8... oh the joys of being a morning person who lives with a bunch of night owls... haha) so I decided to browse for a new pancake recipe. I looked at several, but honestly this one was one of the only ones that did not call for heavy cream or buttermilk (neither of which I have) and I didn't feel like going to the store. WELL. let me say that these are honestly the BEST pancakes I have ever had. Seriously amazing. and really simple too!

Ingredients

• 1 cup all-purpose flour, (spooned and leveled)
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup milk
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, or vegetable oil
• 1 large egg
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
• Assorted toppings, such as butter, maple syrup, confectioners' sugar, honey, jams, preserves, sweetened whipped cream, or chocolate syrup

Directions

1. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt; set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together milk, butter (or oil), and egg. Add dry ingredients to milk mixture; whisk until just moistened (do not overmix; a few small lumps are fine).
3. Heat a large skillet (nonstick or cast-iron) or griddle over medium. Fold a sheet of paper towel in half, and moisten with oil; carefully rub skillet with oiled paper towel.
4. For each pancake, spoon 2 to 3 tablespoons of batter onto skillet, using the back of the spoon to spread batter into a round (you should be able to fit 2 to 3 in a large skillet).
5. Cook until surface of pancakes have some bubbles and a few have burst, 1 to 2 minutes. Flip carefully with a thin spatula, and cook until browned on the underside, 1 to 2 minutes more. Continue with more oil and remaining batter. (You'll have 12 to 15 pancakes.) Serve warm, with desired toppings.

Snickerdoodles

Okay. Snickerdoodles are my absolute favorite cookie. I have a few recipes that I want to try out and compare, this is the only one I've made and it was really good. Next time I'll try something new but I would def make these again. :-)

Ingredients

1 3/4 cups sugar (12.25 oz), divided
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
2 1/2 cups (12.5 oz) all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon table salt*
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter* (not margarine) at room temp
8 tablespoons vegetable shortening
2 large eggs
*if using salted butter, just omit table salt

Instructions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Combine 1/4 cup sugar and cinnamon in shallow dish and set aside. Whisk flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt together in medium bowl.

Beat butter, shortening, and remaining 1 1/2 cups sugar together on medium speed until light and fluffy, 3-6 minutes. Beat in eggs, one at a time, until incorporated, about 30 seconds, scraping down bowl as needed.

Reduce speed of mixer to low and slowly add flour mixture until combined, about 30 seconds. Give dough final stir to ensure that no flour pockets remain.

Working with 2 tablespoons of dough at a time, roll into balls. Working in batches, roll dough balls in cinnamon sugar mixture to coat and set on prepared baking sheet spaced 2 inches apart.

Bake 1 sheet at a time until edges of cookies are set and just barely beginning to brown, but centers are still soft and puffy, about 10-12 minutes. The cookies should look raw between the cracks and seem underdone. Let cookies cool on baking sheet for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack and let cool to room temperature. Makes about 2 dozen 3-4 inch cookies.

If you want a slightly crunchier cookie, leave it in the oven until they flatten out more. If you like soft and chewy cookies (like I do) take them out before they flatten out completely (when they are solidified and fully cooked but still gooey). the ones in the picture above were crunchier than I would have liked, but my roommates all said they were amazing...