Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I hope everyone had a great St. Patrick's Day weekend and is out there wearing green today! I celebrated by going to a potluck brunch with friends and then heading downtown to see the Chicago River in all of its green glory. The river is really as neon green as it appears in the photos (check out this nifty time lapse of the river being dyed green if you don't believe me).

I went a little nuts with the St. Patty's Day baked goods this weekend, but I think my favorite recipe out of all of them was this one for Bailey's Chocolate Chip Cookies. Unlike some recipes that say they contain an ingredient but don't actually taste anything like said ingredient, these cookies are chock full o' Irish creamy goodness. The smell of Bailey's will absolutely permeate your house while the cookies are baking. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did!

Bailey's Chocolate Chip Cookies

From Gimme Some Oven

Makes about 6 dozen cookies

Ingredients

1 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 2/3 cups flour (I used 2 cups all purpose and 2/3 cup whole wheat)
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
8 Tbsp. Bailey's Irish Cream
1 cup white chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt until well combined.
3. Using an electric mixer, cream together butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla until fluffy. Add in the Bailey's one tablespoon at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl to be sure that everything is well combined.
4. Gradually add the dry ingredient mixture, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed, and continue mixing until well-mixed. Fold in white chocolate chips.
5. Drop the dough by the tablespoon onto a greased baking sheet, spacing the cookies 2 inches apart. Bake for 8-10 minutes (center will still be slightly soft but will set as the cookies cool). Let sit 3 minutes on cookie sheet before transferring to a cooling rack.

I enjoyed them so much that I could barely keep it together for the photo shoot.

Pumpkin Season is Here!

The temperatures are a bit cooler, the days a bit shorter, and the trees a bit crunchier. That snap in the air can only mean one thing... 

Pumpkin. EVERYTHING.

I know some people out there are very anti-pumpkin and think the pumpkin-flavored trend is overrated and overdone.

Let me tell you up front that I am not one of those people.

This weekend, Andy and I headed to Trader Joe's for my annual pumpkin-flavored stock up. The results were epic.

For those of you keeping score at home, that is TWO jars of pumpkin butter and TWO containers of pumpkin yogurt. 

I purchased so much pumpkin-themed stuff in one swoop that even the guy at the register commented that I wasn't messing around with the pumpkin. I got the last can of chai, which I wasn't able to get at all last year, but I was merciful and left one jar of pumpkin butter on the shelf for some other like-minded individual. This stock up is on top of the things I've already amassed so far this season (pumpkin flax granola from Costco, Dunkin' Donuts pumpkin spiced coffee, etc.). I may have a slight addiction, but now, I am set for the rest of the year. 

I also learned that this is a thing and is conveniently located next to the pumpkin butter. Apple butter is another fall favorite of mine, and I'm excited to try this version.

Om nom nom.

In honor of the beginning of pumpkin spice season, I experimented with this twist on a traditional snickerdoodle, one of my favorite cookies of all time, which substitutes pumpkin pie spice for the mix of cinnamon and a hint of nutmeg that I use normally. I thought that the recipe as written was a little dry, so I added some more liquid to make the dough easier to handle and a bit more moist. They were a big hit at home and at a housewarming party that I attended this weekend. Happy fall!

Pumpkin Spiced Snickerdoodles

Adapted from Skinnytaste
Makes 24-30 cookies

1 cup whole wheat flour (I used white whole wheat, but either is fine)

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp cream of tartar

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup butter, softened

1 tbsp honey

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 large egg

1/4 cup milk (or water)

3 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp pumpkin spice

Preheat oven to 375°F.  Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or spray generously with cooking spray.

Combine flour, baking soda, and cream of tartar in a medium bowl, stirring with a whisk.

In a large bowl, combine 1 cup of sugar and butter; beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended. Add the honey, vanilla, egg, and milk; beat well.  Gradually add the flour mixture to the sugar mixture, beating until just combined.  Cover and chill for at least 10 minutes. (The chilling step is very important and will make your cookies and your life better, so don't skip it!)

The dough after chilling. 

In a medium bowl, combine 3 tbsp sugar with pumpkin pie spice, stirring with a whisk to combine. With moist hands (also very important!), shape dough into balls about 1 inch in size. Roll balls in sugar/pumpkin pie spice mixture until covered. You will probably have some of the sugar/pumpkin pie spice left over after this step. 

Place balls 2 inches apart onto baking sheets.

Slightly flatten each ball by pressing down gently with a fork.

Bake 375°F for 6-8 minutes (cookies will be slightly soft but the edges should have started to set).  Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes.  Remove from pans to cool completely on wire racks.

Post-Qual & Baking with Ricotta

Hello, good people of the internet!

I know, it has been a good long while since I've posted anything. I have an excuse, I promise. At the beginning of February, I had my qualifying examination, which basically determined whether or not I got to become a PhD candidate. Gulp. I wrote a 20+ page qualifying document and presented a 30 (plus interruptions) min talk on what I've done, what I plan to do, and why I should be kept around for the duration of my PhD. Also, I shamelessly bribed my committee by making my crowd-pleasing whole wheat cherry scones.

I am happy to report that I passed(!) my exam, and Northwestern is stuck with me for a few more years. Woo! Since then, I've been keeping busy with lots of research stuff. There's no rest for the weary!

While I was working on my qual, I developed a habit of "stress baking" where when I just couldn't look at my paper anymore, I would go bake something. My research group gratefully accepted my offerings, as you can imagine.

The most exciting adventures during this time involved, of all things, ricotta cheese. I had a bunch of ricotta leftover from a Skinnytaste baked pasta recipe because when you buy ricotta cheese, it has to be in a half pound container or larger, even if you only need a 1/4 cup. Blah. Fortunately, I was inspired to use up the cheese, which led to the two recipes below.

I brought the orange ricotta muffins with me to Bloomington, IN where I visited my friend Lindsay for a weekend post-qual. They were met with rave reviews, so you have assurance that they are delicious from a non-biased source. The lemon cookies were one of the offerings that my lab received, and the cookies I brought in were gone in a matter of hours. I hope you enjoy these recipes as much as I did!

Side note: I finally joined Pinterest against my better judgement. I'm addicted. :) Click on the link above to follow me!

Orange Ricotta White Chocolate Chip Muffins

Yield: 12 muffins
Adapted from Two Peas & Their Pod

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup granulated sugar
Zest of 1 orange (I bought navel oranges, so I had A LOT of zest. To me, this is a good thing.)
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup low-fat ricotta cheese
1 large egg
1 tablespoon orange juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup white chocolate chips

For the glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon orange zest
2 tablespoons orange juice

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 12 muffin cups with paper liners. Set aside.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. In a small bowl, add the sugar and orange zest. Rub the orange zest and sugar together with your fingers.

3. Using an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar and orange zest mixture together until light and fluffy, about two minutes. Add the ricotta cheese and beat until smooth. Beat in the egg, orange juice, and vanilla extract.

4. Add the dry ingredients and mix until just blended. Stir in the white chocolate chips. Divide the batter evenly between the 12 muffin cups.

5. Bake muffins for about 18-20 minutes, or until the tops are slightly golden brown. Let muffins cool completely.

6. While the muffins are cooking, make the glaze. In a medium bowl, whisk together powdered sugar, orange zest, and orange juice. Drizzle glaze over muffins. Let the muffins sit until glaze hardens.

Lemon Ricotta Meltaways

Yield: About two dozen cookies
Adapted from Secret Life of a Chef's Wife


Cookie:
1/2 cup unsalted butter
3/4 cup gran­u­lated sugar
1 large egg
1/2 tea­spoon almond extract
2 tablespoons lemon juice
3/4 cup low-fat ricotta cheese
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tea­spoon bak­ing powder
1/2 tea­spoon bak­ing soda
1/4 tea­spoon salt
zest from 1 lemon

Lemon glaze:
1 cup pow­dered sugar
2 table­spoons fresh lemon juice
Instruc­tions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.

Cream together the but­ter and gran­u­lated sugar in a mix­ing bowl fit­ted with a whisk. Add the egg and mix well. Add the ricotta cheese, almond extract, and the lemon juice. Blend well.

Mix the dry ingre­di­ents and lemon zest together in a separate bowl, and and add them to the butter mixture. Mix until incor­po­rated without over-mixing.

Roll dough into balls, and place about two inches apart on cookie sheet. Using the bottom of a glass covered with flour, flatten each cookie into a circle.

Bake for 14 minutes. (The original recipe only called for 8 minutes, but my cookies were raw at that time. I needed a much longer baking time, but be sure to check on your cookies periodically for doneness!) The cook­ies will begin to brown on the bot­toms, but not the tops.

Let rest 2-3 minutes on sheet, and then remove to cooking rack. Let cookies cool completely.

For the glaze:
Mix ingredients together in a bowl, and driz­zle on cooled cook­ies.

(Source)