Cookie Butter Granola (and a Moving Tip)

One of the best decisions we made when packing up the house in Missouri was to pack the food we had in our house.  All refrigerated/frozen items went into the deep freeze freezer and Scott hauled it 12 hours to Colorado.  All dry goods went into boxes and tubs.  Because one of the hardest parts of starting over in a new house is  making that first (very expensive) grocery trip, I wanted to avoid that.

Plus we had a lot of frozen duck in the freezer and Scott didn't want it to go to waste.

I was sure to bring my giant jar of natural Jif peanut butter (because peanut butter is both expensive and delicious), but I also had a jar of cookie butter hanging around.  I don't know why I buy that stuff.  I rarely eat it and only ever use it to bake with.  This jar had been in the cupboard since Christmas.

Since I eat homemade granola almost everyday, this gave me an idea.  I've been making peanut butter granola most weeks.  I make about 3-4 cups and then that lasts me for breakfast and snacks.  It's particularly tasty with coconut milk.

On this day, we were almost out of peanut butter, so I ended up using 1/3 cup of cookie butter (the chocolate swirled kind) and peanut butter.  The result was a grown-up, more filling version of Cocoa Pebbles.  

Sounds good, right?

If you don't have the chocolate swirled cookie butter (from Trader Joe's), you can use regularly cookie butter or biscoff.  Or maybe just add in some cocoa powder?  Sweetened or unsweetened, it's up to you!

Cookie Butter Granola

1/3 cup cookie butter

1/3 cup peanut butter

1/3 cup canola oil

1 t. vanilla

1/2 t. salt

3 cups to 4 cups of old-fashioned oats (depending on the consistency you want..and 3 cups first, stir, and then add more if you desire)

Melt the cookie butter and peanut butter together in the microwave for about 30 seconds.  Stir in the oil, vanilla, salt, and oats.  Mix well.

Spread onto a cookie sheet and bake at 250 degrees for 30 minutes.

Let cool and store in an airtight container for up to a week.  I recommend it with coconut milk (the kind the you buy in a refrigerated carton).

Cookie Butter Oatmeal Cookies

I'm not sure why I don't bake anymore.  It makes me sad, to be honest.  The simple truth is probably that when I don't have people to share the baked goods with, I don't want to make them.  For example, Scott doesn't enjoy it when I bake...simply because he knows he'll end up eating it all.  Oh, he enjoys it-enjoys it, but he doesn't want or need to eat 2 dozen cookies and that's what happens when I bake.  (We have very little self-control around desserts.  Good thing we found each other, right?)

In Alaska, I would take my creations into the faculty lounge.  They'd usually be gone before school started.  There was one teacher in particular who would always ask what I was bringing in next.  He was so grateful and appreciative of the products of this blog!  I would take in a pan of rice krispy treats and see half a dozen people eating them with their morning coffee.  That made me feel so good.  Like I was providing a service.  Food, I believe, is my love language.  I had an email exchange about this with Kate...people who get fulfillment out of feeding others have to have food as a love language right?  Didn't Jesus use food as love anyway?  With the bread, the fish, the wine, and all that? (excuse my less than eloquent wording)

Alaska was where I learned to cook.  Where I learned to use food to show people I cared.

In Missouri, I haven't had a chance to express myself through food.  It hasn't hit me until just recently that this has been the case, and it makes me really sad.  I don't work in a tight-knit building.  They may claim to be tight-knit, but there's over 50 teachers, and probably 70+ staff.  I don't know everyone's name.  I still, after 7 months, cannot match names to faces and I've never spoken to half the people there. I very much enjoy the challenge and professional growth I've gotten out of Missouri, but I can't say that I've ever felt particularly loved here.  I do have some sweet friends, but they are very much outside of my everyday routine and a treat to spend time with; I don't see them each day.
My only friends in Alaska, after that first year, were at work.  It was my community.  My support system.  My co-workers saw me laugh and cry.  They saw me frustrated and happy.  They knew me as a person and trusted me as a teacher. How is it possible that I could fit in better in the state of Alaska than I could here?  That's something I ponder almost everyday on my way to work...

Anyway, that's a lot of deep thought for a post about cookies.  

I baked these cookies for my dad, for his birthday.  Oatmeal cookies are his favorite.  

They get an added kick of gingersnap flavor from a giant scoop of cookie butter.  Feel free to try different kinds of cookie butter…next time, I'll substitute in the cocoa swirl.  

Cookie Butter Oatmeal Cookies
makes 4 dozen
1/2 cup of butter (one stick), softened
1/4 cup cookie butter (or biscoff)
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 t. vanilla
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 t. baking soda
1 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. salt
3 cups old-fashioned oats
1 cup chocolate chips

With an electric mixer, cream together the butter, cookie butter, and sugars.  Add the eggs and vanilla; beat well.
Combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt in a small bowl.  Add to the creamed mixture and mix to combine.  Add in the oats and chocolate chips.
Drop by tablespoons onto a greased cookie sheet. 
Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes.  Don't over bake.  They're best when chewy!

Best of 2013: Recipes

Your favorites from 2013…. 

5.  Brownie Batter Fudge

An extra-rich chocolate fudge that gets its punch from some boxed brownie mix.

4.  Easy Peanut Butter Cookie Cake

I still remember the day I OD'd on this.  HIGHLY recommended.  Just make it.  Maybe you should share it though.  

3.  Brownie Batter Rice Krispy Treats

Again, extra-richness from some boxed brownie mix and a drizzle of chocolate frosting.

2.  Cookie Butter Muddy Buddies

Ironically, this was my first recipe of the year, posted on January 1st.  Something about powdered sugar, peanut butter, and then the crunchiness of Chex just equals a trifecta of perfection.

It's been awhile.  I need to make some muddy buddies again soon.

And, #1 on the list of favorite desserts this year……

1.  Cake Batter Rice Krispy Treats

Your favorite was my favorite too!  Some of my recipes, I never repeat because I didn't love them enough or they weren't practical.  THESE are Rice Krispy treats that I've made again and again.  They would be excellent for a New Year's get-together.  Even as a gluten-free birthday treat if you use GF cake mix.  I'm so glad you all love these Rice Krispy treats as much as I do :)

Thank you so much for reading, pinning, and trying my recipes.  Even though I don't do it nearly enough, I love to create in the kitchen and I'm so happy to have a place to share these treats.

Here's to more sugar in the new year!

Here's the list of favorite desserts from 2012.  Any requests for 2014?  

Cookie Butter Pumpkin Bread

I thought about putting chocolate chips, caramel bits (that I've quickly been eating, handful by handful, out of the bag), white chocolate chips, nuts, etc. into this quick bread.  

Then I could call it "Double Chocolate Caramel Butterscotch Walnut Cookie Butter/Biscoff Pumpkin Bread".  Because that is the kind of captioning I'm seeing on Pinterest these days.  Am I guilty of it?  Maybe.  But really now, the more ingredients a recipe has, the less likely I am to make it.  

This bread is a variation of one I made last year.  I subbed cookie butter for applesauce/apple butter.  I like it.  It's especially tasty with cream cheese icing spread on it (homemade or canned).  It's got a bit of a crumbly, cookie-ish texture to it and isn't super moist like banana bread, but that's okay with me.  Scott called it "dry".  Hmm..

I liked it.  Which means you will too.

It's not fancy.  It's not over the top.  It's just a slight flavor twist on pumpkin bread.  The Cookie Butter from Trader Joe's has a very ginger-snappy taste to it.  If you use Biscoff, it will probably be sweeter.  Let me know what you think if you try it! 

Mix-ins optional :)

Cookie Butter Pumpkin Bread

makes one loaf pan

1/4 cup cookie butter

3/4 cup pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie mix)

2 eggs

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup vegetable oil

Mix together well with a wooden spoon in a big bowl.

1 3/4 cup flour (I used white.)

1/2 t. baking powder

1 t. baking soda

1/2 t. salt

1 T. pumpkin pie spice

Mix together in a smaller bowl.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients slowly, mixing well.

Grease a loaf pan (I used metal), pour in, and bake at 350* until a knife comes out of the center clean.  Mine baked for about 45 minutes.

And this is what was going on while I was trying to get a picture in the last traces of daylight...

Biscoff Chocolate Chip Pie

Thanks for your kind thoughts yesterday!  I admit: it was a bigger deal for me than for him.  It was *just* PRK eye surgery.  But eyes gross me out.  And as he was explaining what they did and the difference between that and LASIK, I may have started gagging a little.  Like, I can't look him in the eye, so it's a good thing he has to wear sunglasses for a few days (recovery takes awhile compared to LASIK).  The idea of the surface of your cornea being scratched away is odd and kinda yucky to me.

Also, I may have feared the laser accidentally blinding him.

Or, like, an earthquake happening during the procedure.

---------------------------------------

Today is Pi Day.  

I am bad at math.  Like, not good at all.  

Last year, the kids knew that Scott was better at math than me.  They knew this because I told them, but that's not the point...

One day, last spring, during a particularly difficult problem, they said that maybe "Mr. Darhower could come teach that one to us?".

I wish, kiddos.  Math is my least favorite part of any given school day.

Last week, there was a word problem that they were asked to "try".  It was new material, and I just wanted them to give it a go and see what happened.  Well, when it came time for me to explain it, I needed to study the explanation in the answer key for several minutes a bit and practice it until I was ready to explain it.  

For the record, it was algebra and we are all really bad at algebra, right?

So when Dorothy has her Pi/Pie Day Party each year, I feel like quite the fraud linking on up to it.

However, luckily, you don't need (much) math to make a good cookie pie.  At least not math of the algebra sort.

This is a warm, ooey, gooey chocolate chip pie.  The top was just a little crunchy and the inside was almost blondie-like.  This was amazing.  If I eventually decide to buy another $7 jar of Biscoff, I'll be sure to try it again. 

Two years ago, I made this Tollhouse Pie and I didn't like it.  This time, I decided it needed more "depth of flavor" (or something fancy like that).  Biscoff provides just the right amount of richness.

I'm not a fan of fruit pies.  So I'm really liking that I could get creative and bake a cookie pie for the Pi Day Pie Party.

Cookie pies are probably the best kind of pies.  Don't you think?

Biscoff Chocolate Chip Pie
makes one 9 inch pie pan

1 unbaked pie crust
3 T.  butter
1/2 cup Biscoff (or cookie butter of any sort!)
2/3 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 T. vanilla
1/4 t. salt
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup white chocolate chips (I added these for variety. You can add whatever kind of chips you'd like.)

Melt the butter and Biscoff together in a microwavable bowl for 30 seconds.  Stir until smooth.
Beat the two eggs with a mixer until frothy. Add in the flour, sugars, vanilla, and salt slowly while mixing.  When it's all combined and fluffy, mix in the butter/Biscoff. When that is well combined, stir in the chocolate chips. Pour the mixture into the pie crust, which should be in a 9" pie pan. Bake at 325 degrees for about 55 minutes. A butter knife should come out clean in the center.

Cookie Butter Fudge

An observation:  My recipe posts don't get a whole lot of hits.

Recipe posts are the one thing I really work at on this blog.  Planning them, shopping for ingredients, baking/cooking, finding the light, taking the pictures, and so on.

But the posts that get the most hits are usually a picture of me... standing in a pile of snow on my cold deck.  I'm not complaining at all.  I'll take what I can get, but still...I think it's funny.  I'm so not the food blogger I used to desperately try to be.  As long as I can take pretty pictures of said food, I'm happy with just doing a recipe every now and then.

Another observation:  I skipped Amber's 52 Weeks of Kindness Link-up last Friday.
I'll remedy that.  I sent some cookie butter to Angi in Sitka.  I think she liked it.

Cookie Butter Fudge

1 cup Cookie Butter
1 cup chocolate chips, semi-sweet (You can use half or all white chocolate too...it will just be really sweet)
1/2 can sweetened condensed milk
1 t. vanilla
2-3 crushed graham crackers

In a large microwaveable bowl, melt together the cookie butter, chocolate chips, and sweetened condensed milk.  Use 30 second intervals, stirring in between, until smooth.  Stir in the vanilla.

Line an 8x8 pan with foil.  Spread the melted fudge into the pan.  Press graham cracker into the top.  Freeze until set (about an hour).

Sharing at:
Chocolate Party @Crazy for Crust

Cookie Butter Blondies and #52WeeksofKindness

*First, yesterday's post may have made it seem like I'm some sort of Grammar Nazi.  I'm not.  I let multiple grammar mistakes go everyday...in my classroom.  It's not worth the battle.  The "yea/yeah" thing had just been bugging me for years because, in my experience, everyone thought I was the one with the problem.  I needed to get it off my chest.  

Also, I wrote that post in 20 minutes, proofread it thrice, published, re-read...and still saw mistakes.  Clearly we all have our strengths and writing on a whim is not mine.*

Anyway...

These blondies are an oxymoron.

There's a lot of "treats" out there that use healthy ingredients but usually the blogger baker insists it "doesn't taste healthy at all!"

That's nice, I always think.  They always taste healthy.

These blondies taste like they could be healthy....but they're not.

So I have no tagline to pull you in.  I was looking for something to do with a jar of Cookie Butter.  This  is what happened.

Easy? Yes. Tasty? Sure. Healthy? Eh. There's no added sugar or oil, so I suppose that's a plus.

Actually, yes, they are healthy.  They have eggs in them.  Protein.  We can call them healthy.

Cookie Butter Blondies
inspired by Nutella Brownies (Not a Nutella fan, so I used Cookie Butter.)

1 cup cookie butter
1 t. vanilla
2 eggs
10 T. all-purpose flour

In a bowl, whisk together the cookie butter, vanilla, and eggs.  You can warm the cookie butter first to make it easier, but not too hot or the eggs will "cook".

Slowly incorporate the flour until well-combined.

Spoon into a greased mini-muffin pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes until browned on top.

Makes about 18 mini-blondies.

I'm early this week.  Kindness is kindness, no matter the day you publish it, right??

Speaking of baked goods, this week I took something to school for my co-workers.  Someone asked me last week if I was ever going to bring anything in to share again.  I took the hint.

Apple Butter Banana Bread went to school with me to be shared.  Because I buy bananas with the intention of consumption.  And then that doesn't happen. So I freeze them or bake with them.

Along with that, I made what I'll call Cookie Butter Fudge.  It was an experiment and turned out quite well (how can sweetened-condensed milk go wrong?).

Also, I gave away a Target gift card on Mrs. K's blog last week.  Abbey won and I was more than happy to send it her way.  Congrats Abbey!

Also, I need to start sharing some inspiring blog posts.  Kelly and Greg's paleo story was an awesome read.  Totally inspiring.  Check it out!

Did you do anything randomly kind this week?  This 52 Weeks project is changing my way of thinking, but it's not making me happier on a daily basis.  You'd think I'd be more willing NOT to curse the cold/snow/darkness or NOT to yell at the person driving 15 mph in an attempt to show my inner happiness and gratitude.  But that's not happening.

I think this is more than a mindset change.  Maybe I'll figure things out when I'm 51 weeks in.