I Like to Put Things That Are Orange In my Baked Goods

Hope everyone had an amazing weekend and wherever you are, the weather is as nice at is here in NYC!  The sun in bright, the air isn't too hot... and its almost the 4th of July long weekend. 

Last week I was "browsing the web" (surfing the internet?- geeze there is no non-nerdy way to say that) and found a recipe of carrot cake cookies on Eating Bird Food (Love her!) !! My boss has been raving about how he loves carrot cake and I have been dying to make something new and exciting (ie: not involving chocolate). I made a few slight tweaks and luckily had all the ingredients needed before I even decided to bake them (which, if you are a baker, you know is the best thing ever), so all I had to do was grate some mini baby carrots and I was good to go. I am sure this would have been so much easier if I had the big carrots but I thought, why go buy the big carrot when I've got a big pack a little carrots hanging next to the pickles in my fridge?

These cookies are a great treat because they are very flavorful and therefore, one really satisfies for a long time. Apparently, I like to add orange colored things to my baked goods because this one had two.

Ingredients:

1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/3 cup vanilla yogurt (I substituted this in to replace the vegetable oil)
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar (to replace dark brown sugar)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 large egg

Orange zest from an entire large orange (more than was orgiianlly recommended- gave great orange flavor)

1/2 cup oats, old fashioned 

2/3 cup shredded or grated carrots
1/2 cup raisins (you can do less but I love me some raisins!) 

Steps:

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2) Combine flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon in a small bowl

3) In a separate, larger bowl mix together the yogurt, granulated sugar, light brown sugar and vanilla. 

4) Add the egg and orange zest to the yogurt bowl and combine well. 

5) Add the dry mix to the wet mix and stir until incorporated. 

6) Add the oats, carrots, raisins (and some nuts if you like!

7) Put 12 mounds on a pam-ed tinfoiled baking sheet (maybe 2- they spread but not too much

8) Bake for 12 to 17 minutes.

9) Enjoy!

I definitely enjoyed these- as I said before they are very nice and powerful- the orange zest really gives them an extra kick. However, due to that, I have had 2 over the past 2 days and I am kind of all cookied-out (which is quite an accomplishment- I never get cookied out- not sure I like it!)

I would starfabulously rate them as 5/10 (this is with all my tweaks, I bet they would have been very different with the oil and the dark sugar and maybe some nuts!).  They are good- but not good enough for me to need to lock my cabinet.  They stayed on a plate on my kitchen counter all day and it was NBD.  Still- I did enjoy them ALOT and the idea of putting veggies into my cookie and having it still taste good really had me going!

Star Fabulous Rating: 5/10

What is your favorite seasonal fruit or veggie to try and sneak into a nom-nom.com baked good?

Oatmeal Granola Bars

Last night after work I had the most fabulous evening.  Met a friend in Bryant park for a little to soak up some rays.  Met Jvo for a great Sushi feast in Murray Hill.  Slowly walked my way home and got my life situated. I am trying to organize my life a little bit seeing as we are moving in just 2 short weeks... assuming we ever find an apartment (another post... another time).  Welp, organizing my life consisted of the usual.  You know how it goes, vacuuming, bills to pay.. and of course for this girl- BAKING!

I haven't baked in a while so I was very excited to do so! It is my college reunion this weekend and you know what that means- roadtrip!  So of course, snacks needed to be made.  Yesterday I reached out to the twitter community, specifically some lovely ladies over to help me think of a fun recipe for on the go granola bars to take with me in the car.

Well Anne never fails me and helped me out with these amazing Oatmeal Dark Chocolate Granola Bars.  I made some slight tweaks and they really hit the spot.  As you guys know, I really love my raisins.  More than that, the chocolate and dried fruit combo really hits the spot for me. Well, I guess I kind of failed at the whole Only Eat What You Have Challenge because 2) I didn't have chocolate chips and those were purchased and b) I don't know if going out to dinner with friends counts as following the challenge but I have a sneaking suspicion that it does NOT.  O well, if chocolate and dried fruit does the same for you as it does for me, check out the below!

Ingredients:
2 cups instant oats
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup chopped walnut
1/8 cup chocolate chips
1/8 cup raisins (I went with white raisins to mix things up)
1/8 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt

1 and 1/2 cup skim milk
2 tablespoons egg whites
1 teaspoon vanilla 

Steps:
1) Preheat oven to 375 degrees F
2) Combine all dry ingredients in a bowl
3) Combine all wet ingredients in a separate bowl
4) Pour wet ingredients into dry and mix until combined
5) Pour batter into a pam-ed pan (11×7).
6) To make it look pretty- sprinkle raw oats on top
7) Bake for 30 to 40 minutes (depending on how crunchy you want them to be)
8) Remove, let cool and cut into 15 squares.
9) Enjoy!

These are soooo good :)

Not sure how well they will travel but I will find out soon enough, I brought one to work for dessert after my lunch!

I would definitely give them a Star Fabulous Rating of at least 8/10! They are chocolatey and fruity and nice and gooey.

Star Fabulous Rating: 8/10 

My first granola bars with a success- Thanks Anne for sharing your recipe!

Pumpkin Walnut Raisin Muffins

Miss me? Its been a while! I was busy enjoying the amazing weather in the city this weekend.  Saturday was unbelievably beautiful and the great weather obviously brought me to Central Park for a nice long walk with the girls followed by an amazing Whole Foods picnic lunch on Sheep's Meadow. Sunday my sister and I decided to be children of the year and after an... eventful night... we voyaged to the Casino at the crack of dawn to surprise our Mom for Mother's day!   

This girl won big at Black Jack (thanks for your help dad!).  On the long trip back on the train I had plenty of time to commit to Tina's New Book!  She has some great advice and some amazingly easy recipes. 

While watching re-runs of desperate housewives I decided to finally use up the can of pumpkin in the cabinet that I got ages ago when I was on my pumpkin kick.  Tina goes on for quite some time about how fabulous these pumpkin muffins that she made were so I thought, what a better way to use the ingredient.  

Very simply recipe, which obviously makes everything better for me AND as you all know, I heart raisins and since those were incorporated I was good to go!  

I love raisins so much that my mom gave me one of those GIANT industrial size containers on Easter and its almost gone.  Nothing like some great trail mix and any cookie involving raisins to really make your raisin supply dwindle quickly!

Well now to this recipe.  My favorite kind of recipes are the ones were the steps are simple 1) put everything a bowl, 2) mix, 3) put in pan 4) bake.  This is one of those kind of recipes! 

Ingredients: (snagged from Tina)

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup oats

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 1/4 cup canned pumpkin pie mix

1 egg

1 tbsp canola oil

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 cup raisins

1/4 cup walnuts

Steps: 

1) Preheat oven to 375 degrees F

2) Coat muffin tin with non-stick cooking spray

3) Mix all ingredients into one big bowl with a spoon

4) Pour batter evenly into muffin tins.

5) Bake for 18-20 minutes.

These really hit the spot for me and I am not even really a pumpkin girl.  I bet they would  have been even better in the fall, I love to eat seasonal foods. 

I'd give these a Star Fabulous Rating of 6/10 because they are very delicious but I really do wish they were a smidge bigger! I bet they would be a solid 7/10 with some chocolate chips too.  Chocolate makes everything better (at least now a days, I am on a serious Chocolate binge!)

Star Fabulous Rating: 6/10