Lately, baking has been my go-to hobby.  It really should be exercising, but nope, baking has been keeping me sane for the past 7 months.

During those months, on top of making cookies and cakes for some of the locals, Dad’s mobility was going downhill, and most of my free time was spent with him, which was putting a strain on my family/work life.  My brother lives 4 hours away, and all this going down while school was in session was tough on him too.  That’s when we scrambled to get Dad into a nursing home.   Things went from great, to okay, to kinda okay, to not so okay, and then okay again.  So in between my work life and family life, keeping up with Dad’s bills as well as my own, selling his car and trying to figure out a plan to clean out his house (Breathe, Lori, breathe!), I somehow managed to find wiggle room to bake these fantastic cookies, three times!!

On a grocery shopping trip shortly after Easter, I found packs of salted caramel morsels.  I picked up a bag, thinking they were to be added into the leftover Easter candy cookies, but instead, along with a bag of white chocolate morsels, they ended up in these cookies.  I used the same recipe from the chocolate chip cookies.  In fact, I use it as a base recipe when I want to use different morsels and toppings.  Same goes for the Easter cookies!

The labeling says they’re salted, but they’re not too salty.  Thanks to my mother, I never add salt to any of my desserts (she was all about watching the sodium!), but this is a first for me.  After the first dozen were baked I decided to test something out: I grabbed the box of kosher salt, poured some in a small mug, and sprinkled a little bit onto the cookies, then let them cool.  The salt adheres to the cookies the moment they come out of the oven before transferring them to the cooling racks.  After they cooled, I tried one, and it changed my life!  I’m going to sprinkle salt on all my cookies now (sorry, Mom)!!  Maybe not all of them, but these ones are by far my favorite!  The sweet ‘n salty taste is the best, especially after a stressful day or night!

SALTY CARAMEL CHIP COOKIES

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
12 tablespoons softened margarine
1 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 package of salted caramel chip morsels
1 package of white chocolate chip morsels*
Kosher salt

• Preheat oven to 350-degrees.
• In a large bowl, mix together the flour and baking soda; set aside.
• In a mixing bowl with paddle attachment, mix well the margarine and sugars together.     Then add eggs and vanilla extract; blend well.
• Gradually fold in the flour mixture until ingredients are mixed well.  Add morsels.
• Drop by tablespoonfuls onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or with a silicone mat.  Bake for 10-13 minutes until a light golden brown, depending on the size of your cookies.
• When baked, remove from oven and immediately sprinkle each cookie with a little bit of kosher salt.  Transfer cookies onto a wire rack to cool completely.

I have many July 4th memories growing up.  One in particular was repeated for 13 years straight.  Yes, 13 YEARS!

My parents were not travelers.  We never went on big vacations when I was young, so 4 hours was the farthest I’ve ever been away from home.  Staycation?  In this case, yes, I consider it that.

A trip to my grandfather’s cabin in the woods for 1-2 weeks was always my summer vacation.  To be honest, I was jealous of my elementary school friends when they gushed about their trips to Disney, or to the beach.  Our 4th of Julys were celebrated at a state park with a cookout and swimming, then a parade at the nearby town, which was always much anticipated.  I’ll always remember the large crowd lining up along the main street, the beautiful Victorian homes, the balloons my parents would buy me, the rifles going off which scared the poop out of me, and the cotton candy.  Then there was the really big park that was like the size of Central Park.  Well, maybe not that big, but it was big to a child’s eyes.  That was where we watched the town’s fireworks, and I remember how close and impressive they were.  Then we drove back to the cabin and lit sparklers and threw snappers on the rocks.

Staying in a cabin in the woods was not really my thing, especially when I got older, but the July 4th celebration in small town, USA was awesome!

Another thing my brothers, cousins and I would do is roast marshmallows.  We did this at every cookout we had, but I don’t recall ever making s’mores.  The gooey chocolate melted on a hot marshmallow sandwiched between 2 graham crackers was probably something my mother didn’t want to mess with.  It makes me think this is why she always made these s’mores bars because the mess is confined in a baking dish.  As for myself, I don’t mind the mess.  Eventually I’ll introduce Alex to the real campfire method, but she does love this version.  This alternative to a cookout staple is real easy to make, and it still provides you with the ooey-gooey when you pick up a slice out of the pan.

So raise up your s’mores, messy or not so messy, and here’s to a great-American treat on a great-American holiday.  Enjoy the parades, the fireworks, the food!

Hope everyone has a very happy and safe Independence Day!

S’MORES BARS
3/4 cup (12 tablespoons) softened margarine
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
20 whole graham crackers, crushed*
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
7 chocolate candy bars
4 cups mini-marshmallow

– Preheat oven to 350-degrees.  Spray a 13×9-inch baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.

– In a mixing bowl with paddle attachment, beat margarine and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy.  Blend in egg and vanilla extract.  Fold in crushed graham crackers, flour and salt.

– Take 2 or 3 cups of graham cracker mixture and press down into baking dish, covering the entire bottom of dish.

– Place the chocolate bars side-by-side, over the graham cracker mixture.  Sprinkle the mini-marshmallows on top of the chocolate bars.  Crumble the remaining graham cracker mixture over top of the marshmallows.

– Bake 20-25 minutes or until the marshmallows are a little golden brown.  Cool completely before slicing into bars.

The banana/pecan craze continues…

After the chocolate-nut banana bread, I was in the mood for banana muffins.  Besides, there are still 647 bananas left…LOL!!

Any muffin with a glaze or frosting on top is heaven to me.  I found one with a caramelized glaze, but you got to turn on the stove. *groan* There are days while I bake that I’m just not in the mood to grab a saucepan and cook on the stovetop prior to, during or after baking in the oven.  I almost skipped this part completely until my conscience kicked in, telling me how lazy I’m being wanting to leave out the best part, and it needs to stop!

While doing the glaze I wrote on the recipe card 1/2 cup of sugar.  Now this is a great example on why you should ALWAYS read your recipe first before you begin baking something you’re not quite familiar with!   I put in the sugar, then turned the card over to continue reading the directions.  That’s when I read POWDERED sugar.  I didn’t write down POWDERED on the other side of the card!  *facepalm*  So now, I got all kinds of sugar in this glaze!  But then I thought, maybe it will still work, so I removed the pan from the heat and added the POWDERED sugar, stirred, and poured it over the muffins.

These muffins are fantastic!  So from now on I’m keeping that extra 1/2 cup of granulated sugar in there for the glaze.  Sugary, but perfect!

BANANA & PECAN MUFFINS WITH CARAMELIZED GLAZE

1/4 cup softened margarine
1 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 cups mashed, ripe bananas (about 3 of them)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
Dark brown sugar, for sprinkling
Chopped pecans, for sprinkling

CARAMELIZED GLAZE:
2 tablespoons margarine
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon milk
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup powdered sugar

• Preheat oven to 350-degrees.  Place muffin cup liners in 2 muffin pans.
• In a small bowl, mash your bananas; set aside.
• In a mixing bowl with paddle attachment, cream margarine and sugar.  Add the egg, and beat well.
• Add bananas and vanilla extract; mix well.
• In another small bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt; add to creamed mixture.
• Fill paper-lined muffin cups three-fourths full.  Sprinkle some dark brown sugar and chopped pecans on top of batter.  Bake for 23-28 minutes or until toothpick inserted into one of the muffins comes out clean.
• Allow muffins to cool for about 5 minutes before removing them from the pan to wire rack to cool completely.

For the Glaze:
• In a small saucepan, melt margarine over medium heat.
• Stir in the sugars and milk; bring to a boil.  Remove from heat to cool slightly.  Whisk in the powdered sugar.
• Drizzle the glaze over top of the muffins, and then immediately garnish with more chopped pecans if you’d like.  Allow the glaze to completely set.

In the past three years, bananas have become a large part of our daily consumption…well, for our daughter’s consumption.  When she was younger she would ask for a banana at breakfast, lunch, dinner, and for a snack.  I always bought them weekly at the store, or the grandparents would send us home with some in a grocery bag.  Sometimes one or two would go uneaten, and they’d get so soft and so ripe that I threw them out.  The husband and I excluded ourselves from eating bananas just so the tot could have that extra one, or two.

Now that she’s older there’s no need to buy 835 bananas every week…thank goodness she’s out of that stage!!  Unfortunately, it seems my banana buying habit remains, and we’d be left with too many bananas on the countertop, just going dark and gooey.  I can’t stand a soft, gooey, super-ripe banana…eww!  I love to eat them when they just turned yellow, like the moment they’re still green, but almost to full-on yellow.  The only time you’ll ever see me eat a real ripe banana is when they’re mashed into something, like breads or muffins.

Since there were a few bananas sitting on the countertop getting soft and really dark, I didn’t want to throw them out; I decided to make banana bread.  With all the bananas I threw out, I probably would’ve been able to make 2 or 3 loaves a week for the past 2 years and started a banana bread business!  This recipe is from my mother’s recipe stash, but I added a couple things to it: chocolate chips and nuts.  Now FYI: I normally don’t include nuts in my food, and I have a peanut allergy anyway.  The only time you’ll ever see me eat anything with walnuts or pecans or almonds is if they’re chopped very fine; I just can’t do whole or large pieces.  Having leftover chopped pecans,  I decided to throw them in with the chocolate chips; just a cup, and I fell in love with this bread.  The combination of the two make this bread less boring, and the chocolatey sweetness is just the perfect touch, along with the banana flavor.  This recipe should definitely be on your must-bake list!!

CHOCOLATE-NUT BANANA BREAD

3 1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups mashed ripe bananas (3 medium-sized bananas should do)
2 tablespoons lemon juice
3/4 cup softened margarine
1 1/2 cup granulated sugar
3 eggs
3/4 cup milk
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup of chopped nuts (walnuts, pecans, whatever tickles your fancy)

• Preheat oven to 350-degrees.  Grease and flour 2 loaf pans.
• In a large bowl, mix together the dry ingredients; set aside.
• In a medium bowl, mash bananas and add lemon juice; mix well.
• In a mixer bowl with paddle attachment, mix margarine and sugar.  Add the eggs and beat well until light and fluffy.
• Alternately fold in dry ingredients and milk.  Beat after each addition and then fold in bananas.  Add the chocolate chips and nuts.
• Pour into loaf pans and bake for 50-60 minutes.  Cool in pans for about 10 minutes, then remove from pans to cool completely on wire racks.

Happy National Chocolate Chip day!!  Oops…..I’m two weeks late!!  Oh well, every day is chocolate chip day at my house!   On the actual day, after the tot went to bed, I whipped up a quick batch to fill the cookie jar.  If you’re like me, I know the old Hershey’s recipe without opening the book.  Chocolate chip cookie baking is like second nature to me.   Every week when Alex and I head to the grocery store, we always pick up two bags of semi-sweet chocolate chips.  2 bags x 52 weeks = 104 bags…that’s a lot of chocolate!!

 I remember helping my mom make chocolate chip cookies when I was little.  She never had her own recipe; she always used the recipe from the back of the chocolate chip bag.  But the only thing different about her cookies is that she would add 1 cup of raisins.  Yes, raisins.

Now think about that for a moment…raisins are not chocolate chips, but being a concerned parent wanting to make sure her children get some nutritional value out of cookies she would put something healthy in them, just like adding broccoli to mac and cheese, or blueberries to pancakes.  To a kid’s point-of-view…you gotta be kidding me…I’m being cheated out of more chocolate chips!!   It’s like having trust issues with your cookies, or with the baker!!  When I ventured out on my own I omitted the raisins and started adding a second bag of chocolate chips.  Yep, I use 2 whole bags, and somehow it made the cookies a whole lot better!  The ratio between dough and chocolate chips seemed to work out; rather than having more dough why not have a little more chocolate chips than dough?  Sometimes I’ll mix it up and add 1 bag of semi-sweet and 1 bag of white chocolate chips, or a bag of mint chocolate chips around the holidays.  Choose whatever combination of morsels you prefer, and you’ll be a happy camper.

 This recipe is my all-time favorite go-to from the classic Hershey’s recipe book.  The recipe was doubled to accommodate for the second bag of chocolate chips.  It’s the perfect amount of chocolate chips for this perfect recipe!!!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

(Adapted from Hershey’s Classic Recipes Book)

In the book they’re called “Three-in-One Chocolate Chip Cookies.  You can make a cookie cake out of this recipe, as well as refrigerated cookies and miniature cookies.  I saw that Hershey’s has a new recipe online, but this recipe is from the old book, which you can still buy here.

12 tablespoons softened margarine

1 cup packed dark brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 packages of semi-sweet chocolate chip morsels (or whatever combination of morsels you choose)

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

• Beat butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar in a large mixing bowl until fluffy.  Add eggs and vanilla; beat well.

• In a separate bowl, combine the flour and baking soda.

• Gradually combine both wet and dry ingredients; add morsels.

• Scoop dough onto an ungreased baking sheet and bake for 10-13 minutes, depending on the size of your cookies.  Remove from baking sheet and cool completely on wire racks.