The best sugar cookie recipe

I made these cookies for the cookie table at the wedding of my very good friend and TH 9 roommate Catherine Bishop to Chris Ross.  It was a beautiful wedding!

I got the recipe for these cookies from another of my favorite blogs: Fat Girl Trapped in a Skinny Body and I couldn't have asked for a better tasting sugar cookies.  Ok, so I've never even made sugar cookies before so maybe they just all are so easy and delicious but I was so very impressed with these.  I also used Multi Purpose flour for these which I nevvvveeer use.  But I've come to the realization that not everyone likes whole wheat.  In fact, I'm surprised at the amount of people who hate the way it tastes. So I've decided that though I will always use whole wheat for John and I.  I will use multi purpose while making dessert for others...which is mostly when I make desserts

As a side note, one would assume that all I eat is sugar.  But really I'm making all of these desserts and cookies for events and other people so it's not all that bad.  But I DO really love sugar anyway.

Sugar Cookies:
 Recipe from  Fat Girl Trapped in a Skinny Body

1 1/4 c sugar (I used organic evaporated cane juice and it worked great)
2 sticks butter
3 egg yolks
2 tsps vanilla extract
2 1/2 c all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1/4 tsp salt
granulated sugar
 or sprinkles

Preheat oven to 350.  I used my stand mixer for this so it made mixing so easy.

Mix butter and sugar until it is nice and creamy.  Add egg yolks and vanilla extract.  Add flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt until cookie dough is all mixed.

Form dough balls, roll them in sugar or sprinkles and place them on cookie sheet.  Press down to flatten slightly.

Bake for 12-14 mins until cracked a little on the top.  Do not over bake or cookies will not be soft in the middle.  Place cookies on cookie rack to cool.  Makes about 3 dozen cookies.

Brownies with a pretzel base and buttercream frosting

I saw these on one of my favorite blogs: The Avid Appetite and knew immediately that I had to try them.  However, although I love sweets, I don't like baking for just John and I.  That would be a real problem for people like us who try to eat healthy.  So when I girl in our Bible study asked someone to make a dessert, I seized the opportunity.  These suckers were to die for!  I love that salty and sweet mix, and the icing was so easy to make!  Forget the fact that there is a ton of butter in these guys...it's ok to indulge every once in awhile.

P.S. My picture isn't very good...as this was the last brownie left.  I decided to take a quick picture before I gobbled it down.

Brownies with a pretzel base and buttercream frosting
Recipe from: The Avid Appetite

Pretzel crust:

4 cups pretzel
3/4 c unsalted butter
1/2 c sugar

Preheat oven to 400 degress F.  Line 9 x 13 pan with aluminum foil then spray with cooking spray.
Pulse pretzels in food processor until roughly chopped. Mix together with melted butter and sugar.  Press into 9 x 13 pan and bake for about 10 minutes
.
Brownies:

4 ounces (4 squares) unsweetened chocolate
3/4 c butter
2 c sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 c flour

change oven temp to 350 degrees F.

Melt butter and chocolate in microwave until butter is melted.  Then stir until all chocolate is melted as well. Mix in all other ingredients until blended well.
Pour and smooth brownie mixture onto pretzel crust. Bake for 35 minutes.  Do not overbake because you want the brownies to still be fudgy!  But not raw of course.

Buttercream frosting:

1/2 c butter at room temperature
3 cups confectioners sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp milk

Beat the butter until fluffy (I used my stand mixture with the paddle attachment but you could also use a hand mixture.  Gradually add sugar and keep beating, then add vanilla and milk.

Then spread over cooled brownies.  Put a pretzel on top of each brownie if desired.  It's helpful as it lets guests know what is in your dessert!

Black Bean Sweet Potato Burritos

I received this recipe from my beautiful friend Melanie.  She sent it to me after a discussion over how we like making vegetarian dishes but our husbands also like meat.  She said her husband even said about these burritos "it tastes like there is meat in here!" so that is a bonus!
I knew right away that I was going to love it due to the fact that it has two of my favorite ingredients in it: black beans and sweet potatoes.  I was not wrong in assuming this and knew I had to put it on my blog ASAP.  These will be a staple in the Marlowe house I know that for sure!

Black Bean Sweet Potato Burritos:

3 cups sweet potatoes, peel and diced
1/2 c onion chopped
olive oil

Saute sweet potatoes and onions in 1 tbsp olive oil until tender.  Add water as needed to prevent sticking.  About 10-15 mins.

2 c black beans
1 tsp cumin
3/4 ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
A shake or two of cayenne red pepper

(since I love spices, I always tend to add more than recipes call for...so do what you think is right)

Add all of the above ingredients and cook until heated through.

8 flour tortillas (I actually used whole wheat, low carb tortillas from Trader Joes. Low cal, plus lots of fiber. Bonus!)
1 1/2 c shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat Oven to 350.

Divide bean mizture and cheese among tortillas and roll up. Place in a pan.  Cover pan with foil and bake for 20-25 mins.

Garnish with sour cream, salsa, and fresh cilantro!  YUM!

whole wheat "healthy" cinnamon buns

So I love cinnamon buns.  A lot.  And this morning, while thinking of ideas to make for breakfast, I thought to myself, I have one more packet of yeast left soooo....I searched for "healthy" cinnamon bun recipes.  I found several and kinda mixed and matched them.  The result was delicious.  And I mean come one, it's Sunday, I'll eat healthy tomorrow.  Besides, Friday we went on a mountain bike expedition in the afternoon, and in the evening we rode our bikes downtown for dinner, then Saturday went on a killer hike.  And although we had ice cream and Pizza last night, well I think we warrant this cinnamon bun breakfast.

As a side not to the above picture, I have a problem when it comes to eating...I just can't wait to eat so I forget to take a picture until I am done.  Resulting in a more than half eaten pan of cinnamon rolls....oooh well.

Whole Wheat "Healthy" Cinnamon Buns

Dough:

-1 c skim milk
-1 packet yeast
-2 c whole wheat flour plus more for kneading and rolling
-2 tsp baking powder

-1/4 c sugar or honey (I used a little sugar, a little honey)
-1/4 tsp salt
-several shakes of cinnamon
-4 tbsp applesauce

Put the skim milk in the microwave for 30 seconds to a minute, until warm.  Add yeast packet and stir (Note: Do not smell this mixture unless you want to gag.  I made the mistake....) Let sit for several minutes while you combine the other ingredients.

Mix flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, and cinnamon together.  Add yeast mixture, then applesauce.  Combine until formed into a ball (I used my KitchenAid stand mixer with the hook mixing fixture.)

Set on Floured surface and knead a few times, then roll it out until it is about 1/4 inch thick.

Filling:

-2 tbsp butter
-4 tbsp brown sugar or other (I used organic sugar, evaporated cane juice..that's what I use a lot as my white sugar substitute)
-2 tsps cinnamon (I hate measuring cinnamon so I just shook it a lot and made sure it was covering the dough

Melt bummer, pour over dough and spread so it evenly covers it with a spatula.  sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon.  Roll into a log, and cut (about 1 inch) place in pan (I used an 8x8 but it was a little to small I had Enough to fill a small pyrex bowl with 5 small cinnamon buns,  You might want to use the next size up)

And here's the rising deal,  I didn't look up this recipe until the morning I wanted to eat them so I didn't have a lot of time or patience to let them rise.  If you make these the night before, you can cover them and put in the refrigerator overnight.  But if you make them the morning of, turn your oven to 200 for about 2 minutes, then turn it off.  Put cinnamon buns in the warm oven for 30 minutes or so, and TADA! they have risen.

Then, preheat your oven to 350 degrees (After you have taken the risen cinnamon buns out) if you refrigerated overnight bake for 20 minutes, if the cinnamon rolls are still warmish, bake for 15 minutes.  You do not want to overcook your cinnamon rolls or they will be very dry.

Icing:

-2 Tbsp butter
-1 tbsp milk
-1/4 tsp vanilla
-Enough powdered sugar to get it to the consistency you want

Mix all ingredients together.

After taking cinnamon rolls out of the over, pour mixture over top.  Let cool for a couple of minutes then enjoy!

Potted Herb Garden

Living in Pittsburgh in a townhouse without much space for a garden, you do what you have to do.  Although I would love a vegetable garden it is pretty unrealistic right now, so I figured I could at least grow some fresh herbs in pots on our small deck.  I waited longer than i wanted to because herbs don't do well if they get to much water, and being in pittsburgh that is certainly a problem...with all of the rain and such.  But now they are done and the weather has really been great.  Sun! and just the right amount of rain.  Now I just need to find recipes to use my herbs in which shouldn't be a problem.

This pot has thyme, cilantro, and lavender in it.  The cilantro is a little out of control, growing taller and even flowering but it still seems to be doing well.  I hope this is normal?  And I'm very excited about the lavender although everyone keeps asking "What are you going to do with it?"  Well for starters there is this awesome place in squirrel hill on Murray called Te-Cafe that I absolutely love.  And they make a delicious lavender lemonade.  So refreshing.  I found several recipes online for that and am looking forward to trying it at home.  There are also lavender baked goods I'm dieing to try along with lavender chocolate like I have tasted at Mon Aimee Chocolat in the strip district.

This pot has sage, basil, and rosemary.  I'm thinking I will end up freezing a lot of the sage once the colder weather comes and that is something I use a lot in butternut squash dishes.  The basil I will use all the time so I am so glad it is doing so well!  And the rosemary is something I love to throw in chicken dishes so I know I will find a use for it.

We have a dirt "garden" area in front of our house where bushes are planted right under our mailbox so I also planted mint out there.  Mint spreads like crazy and I heard it can live in even the worst conditions.  However mine is not doing so well.  Hopefully it come back to life or no mojitos for me :(

Anyway, the moral of this post is: Even if you live in a place with no yard, if you have even a tiny space in the sun you can still plant an herb garden. 

Sweet Potato Quinoa Patties

Sweet potatoes and quinoa are a staple in the Marlowe house.  When I am just at a loss for dinner ideas, I either make some kind of chicken with sweet potatoes done some way, or mix random ingredients with quinoa. However, I actually did find a recipe for these and it couldn't be more fitting for my tastes.  It was pretty time consuming so I can't say that I would make it all to often but it was really delicious as a final result.

Sweet Potato Quinoa Patties


1 large egg

1 tbsp curry powder
1/2 tbsp dry ginger
 3 small cloves minced garlic
1/4 c flour
3/4-1 c cooked quinoa
1 c grated sweet potato
salt to taste
pepper to taste
canola oil

Salsa for on top

 1/2 c diced pineapple
1/4 c diced bell pepper (whatever color you would like)
1 tsp chopped fresh cilantro
1 tsp brown sugar

Combine all of the ingredients for patties minus the canola oil and refrigerate for a half hour.

In the meantime, combine all of the ingredients for the salsa and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Heat oil in pan and form small patties.  No more than 3 tbsps in each for optimal cooking and sticking together.  Cook in pan about 3 minutes per side, sort of flattening it with the spatula a little as it cooks.

Serve with salsa on top


This recipe sounds like a weird combination but it really is good with the sweet salsa offsetting the spicy patty.

Someday I might just combine all of the ingredients for the patties and make a casserole type dish without.  I think it would shave off a little time and still taste delicious.

chicken mozzarella roll ups

So John's friend was coming over to dinner.  Well...I guess he's kinda my friend too.  It's weird.  John seems to have more highschool/college friends in the area, and they are all nice enough to include me in everything.  So anyway,  I wanted to make him at least a semi good dinner because he lives by himself and goodness knows what he normally eats.

I had some fresh mozzarella and tomatoes I had to finish before they got moldy along with my ever present pesto that I thawed out the night before.  So I decided on these roll ups and they were quite good.

Chicken Mozzarella Roll ups:

-chicken tenderloins
-mozzarella cheese
-pesto (store bought or homemade recipe at the bottom of this post)
-roma tomatoes
-salt
-pepper
-olive oil

Depending on how many people you will be serving use as many tenderloins as you think you will need (I used 11: 4 roll ups each for the guys, and 3 for me)
Smash them a little bit so they are thinner and easier to roll.
Put a small spoonful of pesto, a piece of tomato, and a piece of cheese on each.  roll up and place on baking sheet seam down.
Put olive oil on top (I have one of those olive oil sprayer things that work really well, but you could also brush it on) then top with salt and pepper.
broil for 8-10 minutes until slightly browned on top.

I served these with a big salad and homemade garlic breadsticks (I would post the recipe but they really weren't that good)

I just love basil, tomatoes, and mozzarella together.  So I thought this would be a good combo and I was right.  There are so many ways you can make these chicken roll ups so I might be posting more recipes.  And if you come up with any other delicious ideas, please let me know!