It's Peanut Butter Jelly Time

My little sister has always loved peanut butter and jelly. I, however, don't eat it. I didn't when I was little and still won't. I don't like the combination of flavors, nor do I enjoy how sticky and squishy it is. However, these I will actually eat! They're a bit addicting, even though they are very dense. I would suggest keeping 1/2 for your family and giving the rest to another family. Share the love!

Recipe: Peanut Butter and Jelly Bars

Makes: ~ 36 bars

Recipe originated from: Martha Stewart Cookies ( http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/peanut-butter-and-jelly-bars )

Compliments: A tall glass of milk! And a napkin, because they are pretty messy.

Ingredients:
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pan
- 3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pan
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 1/2 cups smooth peanut butter
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups strawberry jam, or other flavor
- 2/3 cup salted peanuts, roughly chopped

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9-by-13-inch pan with butter, and line the bottom with parchment paper. Grease the parchment, and coat inside of pan with flour; set aside. Place butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on medium-high speed until fluffy, about 2 minutes. On medium speed, add eggs and peanut butter; beat until combined, about 2 minutes.
2. Whisk together salt, baking powder, and flour. Add to bowl of mixer on low speed; combine. Add vanilla. Transfer two-thirds of mixture to prepared pan; spread evenly with offset spatula. Using offset spatula, spread jam on top of peanut-butter mixture. Dollop remaining third of peanut-butter mixture on top of jam. Sprinkle with peanuts.
3. Bake until golden, about 45 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool; cut into about thirty-six 1 1/2-by-2-inch pieces.

Now, I used raspberry jelly, but you could use any kind! It took me about 10 minutes standing in front of all the jellies at the store to decide, too. I just love raspberry flavor, so I decided it would mean I might actually eat these. It worked! It's salty and sweet and oh so good. Now, I will say the 'dough' is actually pretty crumbly, so you can't really spread it when you put the last bit on top of the jelly. I ended up flattening pieces out and laying them on top. It's also very crumbly. Careful when feeding to small children- you will have a mess on your hands. However, its a cute idea when you need to bring a dessert to like a picnic. So here is a quick tip that I learned from school- if using the 'creaming method' (aka cream together the butter and sugar) go ahead and throw the vanilla in. It wont hurt the mixture, and you're using Mise en Place (Remember? Everything in it's place!) you can put the vanilla up at the very beginning and don't even have to worry about it! So try these- they're great for the summer. Kind of a cheeky rendition of a child's favorite.

Abby xx

If She Doesn't Teach It, I Don't Need to Know It

You knew it was coming. You couldn't have not known. I've been waiting, trying to decide which recipe to impress you with. I stressed over disrespecting her by posting a recipe that isn't on her website for general knowledge, but rather in a book that you should buy to get. Pouring through one book led to me spending several hours catching up on all her books that I own (which happens to be 8).

Martha Stewart has all my admiration. I think that her brand is brilliant. I honestly mean if she doesn't teach it, then I don't need to know it. She covers all the things I want to be good at: cooking, cleaning, organizing, gardening and crafting. Her books/magazines/tv shows/collections encompass all of my interests. If I could do half the things she teaches I would be exactly where I want to be. If you ever doubt about a gift to get me look no further than Martha. If it has her name on it, I'm sure I need it.

Ok, back to matters at hand. The recipe. Honestly I stressed about this. I didn't initially want to post anything that is in one of her cookbooks, lest her legal team come after me (ha, as if there's someone besides me who reads this), but after realizing I own 8 of her books, subscribe to her magazine, and always request Martha products for holidays, I think she can lend me one recipe. I ended up deciding on a cookie that I love. I don't care if no one else likes it, but this is my cookie.

Recipe: Chocolate Mint Sandwiches

Makes: 3 dozen cookies

Recipe originated from: Martha Stewart's Cookies Cookbook (page 284). Honestly, this book is amazing. Get it if you don't already have it. I love her Cupcakes cookbook too, but I feel like this one gets more use. You can get it for $8 on Amazon. How could you say no?

Compliments: A hot summer night filled with fireflies or a cold winter night filled with firelight.

Ingredients:
for the cookies:
- 1 cup unsweetened Dutch-processed cocoa powder
- 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 large egg
- powdered sugar for work surface

for the ganache:
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- 6 oz semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
- 3/4 teaspoon pure peppermint extract

for the glaze:
- 6 oz semisweet chocolate, finely chopped

Directions:
1. To make cookies: Whisk together cocoa powder and flour in a bowl. Put butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy- about 3 minutes. Mix in egg until well blended. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture; mix until just combined. Divide dough in half, and shape each half into a disk; wrap in plastic. Refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Transfer dough to a work surface lightly dusted with powdered sugar. Roll out dough to 1/8 inch thick. Cut out cookies using a 2-inch round cookie cutter; space 1/2 inch apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Repeat with remaining scraps of dough. Bake cookies until firm, 10 to 12 minutes. Let cool completely on sheets on wire racks.
3. Meanwhile, make ganache: Place chopped chocolate in a large bowl. Bring cream to a boil in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Once cream has come to a boil, pour over chopped chocolate. Let sit for 30 seconds, then stir with spatula until chocolate is melted and smooth. Stir in peppermint extract. Let cool slightly, 10 to 15 minutes.
4. Spoon 1 teaspoon ganache onto the bottom of one cookie; sandwich with another cookie. Repeat with remaining cookies and ganache. Refrigerate until firm, about 10 minutes.
5. Make glaze: Melt chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water, stirring constantly. Let cool slightly. Dip one flat side of each sandwich into melted chocolate to coat; gently shake off excess. Place sandwiches, chocolate sides up, on wire racks set over baking sheets. Refrigerate until set, about 15 minutes. Store in an airtight container.

So they take a while, but to me they are totally worth it. Homemade thin mints. Freeze them and they're perfect. Makes me wish Christmas was here in less than 159 days.

Abby xx

On a Roll

Since I've already done one cookie recipe I'll begrudgingly give this one up too, I suppose. This is probably my most successful cookie, although any of you could have found it online. Any time I make these I get the best compliments. I'm not big on sugar cookies, but Snickerdoodles have my heart. They have that extra yummy aftertaste from the cream of tarter, and rolling them in cinnamon-sugar makes them perfectly sweet (Do you get the title now? On a ROLL? You roll the cookies in cinnamon-sugar?? HA!). Interesting story- there are several people I know who had never heard of Snickerdooles! Actually all of them are from Florida. I made them for work and for bible study while living there and none of them knew what they were. Don't worry- I converted them. Strange, though, don't you think?

Recipe: Mrs. Sigg's Snickerdoodles

Makes: about 4 dozen cookies

Recipe originated from: Allrecipes.com ( http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Mrs-Siggs-Snickerdoodles/Detail.aspx )

Compliments: Coffee! These are great 'after dinner coffee and cookies' cookies.

Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 1/2 cup shortening
- 1 1/2 cups white sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons cream of tartar
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons white sugar
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon


Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
2. Cream together butter, shortening, 1 1/2 cups sugar, the eggs and the vanilla. Blend in the flour, cream of tartar, soda and salt. Shape dough by rounded spoonfuls into balls.
3. Mix the 2 tablespoons sugar and the cinnamon. Roll balls of dough in mixture. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets.
4. Bake 8 to 10 minutes, or until set but not too hard. Remove immediately from baking sheets.

I usually just make my own cinnamon-sugar and don't use the last 2 measurements. And same as the last cookies- keep these in the fridge between baking times! In fact, before you even start to roll them, stick it in the fridge while you clean up for 15 minutes. Then you can have a clean kitchen and firm dough!

Abby xx

A Balanced Diet is a Cookie in Each Hand

So I'm pretty sure every family has a version of this cookie, but we call ours 'Urban Legend Cookies'. Usually the background story is something like a women tries a cookie at a great restaurant and asks for the recipe. The waiter tells her she can buy it and it costs 'two-fifty' or 'three-fifty', etc etc. She thinks it's $.2.50, but it's actually $250, and she can't get her money back, so she sends the cookie recipe to everyone she knows to get revenge. Unfortunately, the story that goes along with it isn't true, but the cookie is AMAZING. It is a bit time consuming, but 100% worth it!

Recipe: Urban Legend Cookies

Makes: about 5 dozen cookies

Recipe originated from: My grandmother, however it's all over the internet

Compliments: Milk. When these are straight out of the oven you can not resist them. The smell is intoxicating and the look of them make your mouth water.

Ingredients:
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups flour
- 2 ½ cups rolled oats
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 4 oz milk chocolate, grated
- 1 ½ cups chopped walnuts (optional)


Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375º
2. In large bowl, cream together butter and sugars. Beat in the eggs one at a time, and then stir in vanilla.
3. In a separate bowl, mix together flour, oats, salt, baking powder and soda. Stir dry ingredients into creamed butter and sugar.
4. Add chocolate chips, grated chocolate and nuts.
5. Drop by rounded teaspoons onto un-greased cookie sheets. Bake for 6 to 8 minutes in the preheated oven.

The grating of the chocolate usually takes a while, and it will get all over your hands, but it's worth it. It makes ribbons of chocolate that run through the whole cookie. Also, the first time I made this recipe on my own (I was probably about 11 while visiting my grandparents vacation home in Kentucky) I didn't realize you were supposed to put the oats in a Cuisinart and make then into a flour like powder, so I just dumped them all in. We ended up liking the cookies that way better, so it stays that way in my recipe. These cookies work much better as small cookies, rather than large, and they stay pretty round. Make sure to refrigerate the dough between baking! Otherwise it gets mushy and runny. Just stick the mixing bowl in the fridge and only pull it out to put cookies on the cookie sheet. I know 5 dozen seems like a lot, but they really are little and they are so delicious they won't last that long.

Abby xx