A Balanced Diet is A Cookie in Each Hand....

Okay probably NOT but Remember Everything in Moderation!



Eric came home last week and informed me that we had been assigned to bring dessert to his work party on Saturday. My first question was "Is this a test, am I supposed to bring some healthy for dessert" Eric reassured me that I didn't have to bring something healthy. So I began to think....what will take up a lot of my time? (Sometimes being a Stay-At-Home Wife doesn't keep you the busiest, I know shocking)

A COOKIE TRAY!! As I mentioned in a previous blog my Aunt Kathy and family gave us "The Great American COOKIE Cookbook" and so it began....my search to provide a BALANCED COOKIE TRAY.


You may be asking yourself "What the heck is a Balanced Cookie Tray" well when making a cookie tray you should look for cookie recipes that have different ingredients in them. You wouldn't want to have 4 different cookies with chocolate in them (Back up...What's wrong with chocolate....there are a few people out there (crazy people) who don't like chocolate....probably of the male species) So my quest began to find different flavor profiles to make up my Balanced Cookie Tray.


The Winners were:
Surprise Middle Cookies (See previous blog)
Luscious Lemon Bars
Cranberry Cheese Bars
Autumn Apple Bars

Luscious Lemon Bars



Makes 2 dozen bars (depending how big you cut squares)

CRUST:
1/4 cup oil
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp skim milk

FILLING:
1 egg
1 egg white
1 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp grated lemon peel
3 T fresh lemon juice
2 T all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder

DRIZZLE:
3/4 cup confectioners sugar
1 T skim milk
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp grated lemon peel

1. Heat oven to 350. Spray bottom of 8-inch square pan lightly.

2. For CRUST, compine 1/4 cup oil, granulated sugar, and salt in large bowl. Beat at medium speed of electric mixer until well blended. Add flour and milk. Stir with spoon until well mixed and crumbly. Spoon into pan. Press evenly onto bottom.

3. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes. Do not overbake

4. For Filling, combine egg, egg white, granulated sugar, lemon peel, lemon juice, flour, and baking powder in medium bowl. Beat at high speed 3 minutes. Pour over HOT baked crust.

5. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes or until light golden brown. Do not overbake. Remove pan to cooling rack. Loosen from edge while still warm. Cool Completely.

6. For drizzle, combine confectioners' sugar, milk, vanilla, and lemon peel in small bowl. Drizzle over top. Allow to Stand before cutting into bars.

(These were DELICIOUS! I was just very nervous when making them because of all of the italicized "Do not overbake" comments. I mean I don't think the cookbook trusted me....this caused me to basically sit on the oven the whole time they were baking. I felt like a new mom who was constantly checking to make sure her sleeping baby was still breathing)

NEXT UP!!

Cranberry Cheese Bars (Eric's FAV pic)




Makes 32 bars (unless you cut the recipe in half like I did) But for the purposes of blogging I will give the recipe for the original amount.

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups quick-cooking oats
3/4 cup plus 1 T firmly packed brown sugar
1 cup butter, softened
1 3/4 cups mini m&m's (DIVIDED)
1 (8 oz) pkg cream cheese
1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 T cornstarch
1 (16 oz) can whole berry cranberry sauce

Preheat oven to 350. Grease 13X9X2 inch baking pan; set aside.

In large bowl combine flour, oats, 3/4 cup sugar and butter; mix until crumbly. Reserve 1 1/2 cups crumb mixture for topping. Stir 1/2 cup M&Ms chocolate mini baking bits into remaining crumb mixture; press into prepared pan. Bake 15 minutes. Cool Completely

In bowl beat cream cheese until light and fluffy: mix in condensed milk, lemon juice and vanilla until smooth. Pour over crust.



In small bowl combine remaining 1 T sugar, cornstarch, and cranberry sauce. Spoon over cream cheese mixture.



Stir in remaining 1 1/4 cups mini M&Ms into reserved crumb mixture. Sprinkle over cranberry mixture.

Bake 40 minutes. Let cool; chill before cutting. Store covered in refrigerator!



Do you see how many dishes I had to get dirty? I would say that was my only complaint about making these cookies. HOWEVER, I didn't think about the need for refrigeration and so I started to get REALLY nervous about taking them to this event because I knew they would sit out on the counter (therefore coming into the Temperature Danger Zone) OH NO!! What if I make all these people sick. I could just see it All of the Industrial Engineering Department out sick with Food Poisoning because of ME (the person trained not to give people food poisoning) I braved my fears and decided to take them (Eric called me at lunch today and I casually asked if everyone was in the office today. They were WHEW!!)

Last BUT not least.....

AUTUMN APPLE BARS (my FAV)



Makes about 3 dozen bars (Minus the corner that I just couldn't wait to try :-)

CRUST:

Milk
1 egg yolk (reserve egg white)
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 cup butter, softened

Filling
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
8 cups tart cooking apples sliced to 1/4 inch thickness
1 cup plus 2 T granulated sugar, divided
2 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon, divided
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1 egg white
1 tsp ground cinnamon

DRIZZLE
1 cup powdered sugar
1-2 T milk
1/2 tsp vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 350. For crust, add enough milk to egg yolk to measure 2/3 cup; set aside. Combine flour and salt in medium bowl. Cut in butter until crumbly using pastry blender or two knives. With fork, stir in milk mixture until dough forms ball: Divide into 2 halves. Roll out one half to 15 X 10 inch rectangle on lightly floured surface. Place on bottom of ungreased 15X10X1 inch jelly-roll pan.

2. For filling, sprinkle graham cracker crumbs over top of dough. Combine 1 cup granulated sugar, 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon and nutmeg in small bowl. Mix with apple slices. Layer apple slice
mixture over crumbs.

3. Roll out remaining dough into 15X10 1/2 inch rectangle; place over apples. With fork, beat egg white in small bowl until foamy; brush over top crust. Stir together remaining 2 T granulated sugar and remaining 1 tsp cinnamon in another small bowl; sprinkle over crust. Bake 45 to 60 minutes or until lightly browned.



4. For drizzle, stir together all ingredients in small bowl. Drizzle over top; cut into bars.

I had a Hard time following directions with this recipe and made a few mistakes while baking these but I recovered from all the mistakes and no one would know if I hadn't told you. I just wanted to let all you readers out there that we all make mistakes (even a stay-at-home wife) and its okay not to be perfect. As I was typing the recipe I realized that I was supposed to peel the apples (OOPS) I think they turned out just fine with the peel and the peel adds fiber so my suggestion would be to keep it on!


No I haven't turned into a closet alcoholic (I know some of you are worried about me as I search for a job) I realized I don't have a rolling pin! NEVER FAIL, my roommate in Nashville and I came up against this problem and the solution.... A BOTTLE OF WINE!! It's perfect! My pastry cloth even came with a rolling pin cover, or in my case a wine bottle cover! Another thing to add to the Christmas List, a rolling pin!

Do you see the Hudson Cream Flour in the picture??? I LOVE this flour (no I'm not biased since its made about 10 miles from my house in Stafford) I was so EXCITED to find that they sold it here in Big Red Country. I almost jumped for joy in the baking aisle of the grocery store but I restrained myself (I mean I didn't want to scare the other shoppers with my excitement)



And there you have it....A BALANCED Cookie Tray!

The cookie tray was a hit! After leaving the work party Eric and I went out with some of his friends from work! We went to a local piano bar



I know hard to see the piano players but I promise they were really there! I made Eric take the picture I thought he had a better chance of getting the camera above the crowd. Not that I'm short or anything.


I'll leave you with a picture taken at the piano bar during the song My Girl.... I would hope so since I AM married to the guy otherwise The Adventures of Stay-At-Home Wife might be in jeopardy! Then what would all of you blog stalkers do....