Snickerdoodles

An easy classic that most everyone enjoys

It's Thursday, which means.... baseball night! Wooooo! Since none of you understand what "baseball night" is, allow me to explain. You see, my boyfriend has this hobby called "baseball." This particular hobby requires an entire night each week (and then some) to be dedicated to it, and Thursday happens to be the night. Being the needy girlfriend that I am, I now have no idea what to do with myself on Thursday nights. Typically, I lounge around feeling sorry for myself while being horribly unproductive. Tonight I decided to break the cycle (which really started just last week when the first official "baseball night" occurred, so I suppose I shouldn't really call it a cycle...) and bake some cookies. I honestly haven't had much motivation to bake anything this week because I'm still trying to cleanse my body of all the sugar I consumed over Halloween weekend. However, staying true to my promise of a weekly post, I decided to bite the bullet and bake something. So I hope everyone appreciates this post!

Since I lack motivation, I decided to keep it simple and go with snickerdoodles. Like the Mexican wedding cookies I made last week, snickerdoodles are delicious but I've only baked them a few other times. The first batch was pulled from the oven about ten minutes ago, and they look good! That's right, ten minutes ago. This is the timeliest blog post I've written; it's just about as close to live blogging as I'll ever get.

Since my phone proved easier to use than my real camera (and thanks to MobileMe I can almost instantly get the photos from my phone to my blog without the involvement of any cords), I stuck with the same system as last week as far as photos are concerned. In all honesty, taking pictures is probably one of my least favorite things to do when I'm baking. That's not to say that I don't enjoy photography, because I do (I even took a photography class during my sophomore year of college!); it's just that I find the combination of photography and baking to be much too arduous.

Not as messy as the Mexican wedding cake cookies! Also, you can check the accuracy of my recipe.

These cookies turned out really well and I am definitely satisfied with the recipe. My recipe card says that I obtained this recipe on food.com, but that was a while ago so I no longer have the direct link.

Snickerdoodles:

For the dough:

• 1 cup butter
• 1 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 3/4 cup flour
• 2 teaspoons cream of tartar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

For the cinnamon sugar:

• 3 tablespoons sugar*
• 3 tablespoons cinnamon* 

*This is what the recipe says, but I used less cinnamon and more sugar, because I didn't fancy this exact combination. I ended up with something that was more like two parts sugar to one part cinnamon.

Directions: Cream butter and sugar, add remaining ingredients. Chill dough for 5-10 minutes while preparing cinnamon sugar. Roll balls of dough in cinnamon sugar, bake at 350 for 10-15 minutes.
 

Ready to go!

Mexican Wedding Cookies!

With Halloween just around the corner, the majority of food bloggers are sharing their favorite Halloween treats, but here I am making these cookies that are typically eaten around Christmastime. Oops. But hey, it's my blog and I can bake what I want to, right?! I obtained the recipe for these fabulous little cookies several months ago when I went on a spree of going to bookstores and picking out recipes from various cookbooks. This actually turned out to be a pretty good method for finding new and interesting recipes, although this is only the second time I've used one of them (I assure you I have quite a few saved for later use). I have made these cookies before but it was a looooong time ago, back in the days of endless Toll House chocolate chip cookie baking that I mentioned in my last post. So, when I just happened to come across the recipe in one of the many cookbooks I thumbed through, I thought that it was a perfect opportunity to make them once again.

The best thing about these cookies is that they are ridiculously easy to make. They have only five ingredients and the longest part of the whole process is the baking itself, since they cook about twice as long as most cookies. Another great thing about these cookies is that they can be made with ingredients that I usually have already at home so I don't have to make a special trip to prepare for them.

The other day when I was slightly pressed for time but wanted to make something, I went for these. The recipe made about 20 cookies (even though it claims to actually make 48, I am notorious for making my cookies larger than your standard homemade cookie), which were gone the following evening. I had to make a second batch already because Tom and I have been eating these things nonstop. Luckily they're smaller than the cookies I usually make so we can feel less guilty about eating so many. Also, they're great with a cup of coffee in the morning. In fact, I totally skipped breakfast this morning and replaced it with a couple of these (super healthy, I know).

Anyway, here you have the Mexican wedding cookies! So delicious and so easy, I don't see why we only eat these at Christmastime. Also, since I was pressed for time and my camera had died, I took all of these photos on my phone. However, I don't think they turned out half bad and I might just use my phone from now on since it's way easier.

The second most time consuming part of the process is chopping up the pecans

Almost ready for the oven...

Mexican Wedding Cookies:

For the dough:

• 1 cup finely chopped pecans
• 1/4 cup powdered sugar
• 1 cup butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 cups flour

For the coating:

•  1 to 1 1/4 cups powdered sugar

Directions:

Combine pecans and 1/4 cup powdered sugar and mix until both are evenly distributed. Cube butter and soften then add to nut and sugar mix along with the vanilla. Lastly, add the flour and mix until dough holds together well. Roll into small 1-2'' balls on baking sheet and bake for 20-22 minutes at 325. While cookies are baking, pour remaining 1+ cup of powdered sugar into a bowl (I just eyeballed it). Once cookies are out of the oven and cool enough to pick up but still hot, roll in powdered sugar and place on cooling rack. Once completely cooled, roll through powdered sugar a second time (I have trouble being patient enough for this last step). Enjoy!

Mmm, after their first coating of powdered sugar

Peanut Butter Cups

I promise that Beluga Bakery will eventually hop on the cookie train, but I couldn't resist sharing these delicious treats. Whenever I have that oh-so-familiar chocolate/peanutty craving, I make these. So simple and so scrumptious. I followed this recipe the first time, but decided to make some slight personal changes to my subsequent efforts, which I think created a much more satisfying result. The best part about these is that they require no time in the oven, just some time in the fridge or freezer.  I was addicted to Reese's throughout my first semester of college and if I'd known how easy it was to make my own peanut butter cups then, I probably would've made these weekly. Back then I could afford to stuff my face since I was rowing crew, now it's probably better that I have to go through the slight effort of making these goodies instead of simply buying a bag of Reese's at the store. I'm still active, I'm just not up at 5 AM every morning burning obscene amounts of calories. Now I try to justify indulgence by making it myself because mentally it seems better; ultimately it's all the same.

 I truly believe that silicone cupcake liners are one of the best inventions ever.

 I am a huge fan of all things crunchy, so crunchy peanut butter is a must!

It's a good idea to let these sit out for a little bit before enjoying so that they aren't as difficult to sink your teeth into.


Beluga's take on the peanut butter cups (makes a dozen):
For the chocolate:

• 16 ounces of semisweet baker's chocolate (although chocolate chips would do the trick as well)
• 1 heaping spoonful of peanut butter (do yourself a favor and buy the all natural/organic kind, it's a little more expensive but has no nasty stuff like hydrogenated oils, so it's better for you!)
• dash of salt

For the peanut butter filling:

• 3/4 cup of peanut butter (I used crunchy!)
• 1/3 cup powered sugar
• dash salt

Directions:
 Melt the chocolate in one minute increments in the microwave, stirring the chocolate after each interval. After all of the chocolate has melted, mix in the spoonful of peanut butter and pinch of salt. Set aside. Combine the remaining ingredients in a separate bowl, stirring until the mixture is nice and creamy (if you store your peanut butter in the fridge it helps to stick it in the microwave for a few seconds to soften for easier mixing). Use about half of the chocolate to fill the bottom of the cupcake liners. Next, add the peanut butter; if you're concerned with aesthetics avoid letting it reach the edges of your liners. Use the remaining chocolate to cover the peanut butter, then place the finished peanut butter cups in the fridge or freezer to harden. (I'm impatient so I put mine in the freezer, where it only takes about 20 minutes for them to harden.) After they've hardened, remove the cups from the cupcake liners and enjoy! Tip: keep them stored in the fridge to avoid any loss of form.