As I’ve mentioned many times before on this blog, I like sweets, especially baked goods! (When I was pregnant many years ago, I had what seemed like hours-long “bakery dreams” about pies, cookies, Congo bars, etc.) In recent years, I have become a big fan of the blog: Sally’s Baking Addiction. Virtually all of her cookie, bar, and muffin recipes come out perfectly. I also subscribe to her free newsletter, which recently highlighted some healthier options.
Her “One Bowl Baked Oatmeal” caught my eye, so I gave it a try this week. It’s really good—and so easy. These oatmeal bars are delicious hot or cold. Nonfat vanilla yogurt makes an excellent healthy topping (but vanilla ice cream works too).
As the recipe suggested, I used real maple syrup (thank you, Vermont). I also chose to use applesauce (rather than the mashed banana option) and no nuts, because I am allergic.
11 ingredients mixed together in one bowl and poured into an 11×7 sprayed baking dish
Sally’s suggested cooking time of 35 minutes at 350 degrees was perfect
After many years of saying no, I agreed to serve on the Executive Team of my church for this fiscal year (summer 24-summer 25). Typically, it’s a three year term, but I’m filling the final year of a term that was vacated by a gentleman who sadly became sick and died.
I didn’t really want to do this heavy lift of a volunteer role, but I had run out of good excuses to say no. (I’m not working and my kids are grown.) Plus, I only had to commit to ONE year (not the usual three).
I gotta say…I am good at leadership. I believe I have significant skills in this area. I have received a lot of positive feedback from the congregation and other members of the Executive Team. So that’s been nice, but the long meetings and endless emailing have led me to conclude that if I’m going to do this type of work-work, I should get paid. I should seek out a role for which I’d start getting paid again for my skills. I’m too young to fully retire. I want to limit my church volunteer roles to the fun stuff (ie singing in the choir, circle dance, helping organize the jewelry booth at the country fair).
One thing I did on the Executive Team this year is project management. We got a donation to create a “memorial garden” — a contemplative outdoor space where people can go to reflect. We set a goal of March 16 to dedicate the space (in honor of the donor’s late wife’s birthday) and by George—it is happening today!
Later this morning, after the service, we will gather on the side lawn of the church to dedicate our new space and dramatically unveil the new stone monument at its center. The weather is going to be warm (for Massachusetts) and people are excited. The donor’s extended family and the artist who created the monument will be joining us.
Here’s a group of us in front of the 1.2 ton stone monument, which got installed in the nick of time on Thursday.
I have made lemon squares from scratch for the reception afterwards because it’s a Big Day. (And Big Days require something a bit more special than brownies from a box.)
I taste tested my lemon squares last night and they’re good.
I’ve posted many times about the great cookies and other baked goods I’ve made with recipes from Sally’s Baking Addiction.
Although she’s mostly a baker, Sally does have a few other recipes and I decided to give one of them a try: Slow Cooker Creamy Chicken & Corn Soup. It’s really more of a stew or chowder (chow-dah, if you’re from Boston 😉).
If you have a large slow cooker (aka crockpot), this recipe is easy and good. The inner part of my slow cooker is safe to use on the stovetop, so I didn’t even need a second pan to cook the bacon. For me, it was truly was a “one pot meal.” The only other tools I needed were a cutting board, knife, and potato peeler (for the sweet potatoes).
The only ingredient that was a bit hard to find in the store was a can of cream style corn. I had to go to two grocery stores to find it.
It cooks on low for 7-8 hours and smells wonderful while it’s cooking.
I may turn this into a baking blog for the next four years.
As the holidays are over, I wanted to veer away from decadent cookies, and try some healthier stuff. I’ve always liked “morning glory” muffins and this recipe from Sally is a winner. They are moist and delicious. I never make recipes with 18(!) ingredients, but I happened to have most of them in the house already. The only things I had to go buy was ground flax seed and unsweetened apple sauce. I substituted coconut flakes for the pecans, because I am allergic to tree nuts.
Random thoughts from the past two days:
I didn’t watch the inauguration live, but the photos were unavoidable. Melania’s hat was a lousy choice for an indoor inauguration. Even if the inauguration had been outside, she did not need a brim that wide! She looked so severe and frankly, mean, in that navy blue get-up. Major Cruella de Vil vibes.
The Washington DC Episcopalian Bishop has balls, asking Trump to his face to have mercy on the people he attacks. Good for her!
I’m not sure when cookies with pieces of candy in them were invented, but I feel like they got very popular when I was a kid in the 70s. In fact, I’m just going to go ahead and claim them for GenX. We may not have invented candy cookies, but we sure made them very popular.
I fondly remember my first “hidden treasure” cookie—a powdered sugar-covered cookie ball with a Hershey’s Kiss in the center. My mom made those every Christmas. And remember those first M&M cookies? Those were my second favorite type of Mrs. Fields cookies to get warm at the mall.
As every American who has ever trick-or-treated knows, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups are the best mass-produced candy in the US, which of course leads to numerous recipes which incorporate them.
These Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup Cookies (recipe from Sally’sBakingAddiction.com) are perfect because you sink the candies into the hot cookies and then put them in the freezer for about 10 minutes to prevent too much of the chocolate melting. This results in the perfect integration of candy and cookie. The cookie dough itself has peanut butter in it and is rolled in granulated sugar before baking. It elevates the already perfect peanut butter cup to a whole new level.
As my son says, these are FIRE.
This batch of cookies officially concludes my 2024 Christmas Baking Extravaganza, which may or may not have been partially motivated by election-related escapism. I hope you’ve enjoyed it!
Fortunately, my son has been home to help eat all these cookies.
I am baking up a storm over here in the land of incredulous liberals who are (to a person, I believe) avoiding the news. (I did take a quick peek at Facebook earlier and saw that the incredible Randy Rainbow has just dropped a new video, which basically says it ALL.)
Back to baking…the holiday spritz is a tradition for my family. I received a fine Italian-made cookie press from my childhood friend Bethanne at my bridal shower 30+ years ago and have been making these cookies pretty much every year since. (My mother had a cookie press and she made them for years too.) They are strictly a holiday cookie. I’ve never made them at any other time of year.
I also received a cookie cookbook from Bethanne at my bridal shower (we had baked many batches of cookies together as girls), and I still use the recipe from that very same cookbook:
If you’re not familiar with how a cookie press works, you stuff a pump/barrel full of cookie dough and then squeeze it out through little silver discs, which form various decorative shapes. (There are about 12 shapes to choose from.)
Based on input from my son, the fleur-de-lis 🇫🇷 was added to the more seasonal snowflake and tree shaped cookies this year.
Voilá
And just for fun, here’s a photo of Bethanne (top right) and me (bottom right) with my mother and two other friends, circa 1977.
I know that nobody really cares about my baking besides me. But hey… it’s my blog and I like to have a record of stuff I’ve made, with a link to the recipe and photos.
In case you’ve been lying awake at night wondering what I did with the rest of those white chocolate chips after I made Sally’s White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies, rest assured. I used them up in yet another holiday cookie recipe from Sally: Snickerdoodle Blondies.
Studded with white chocolate chips and ribboned with sweet cinnamon-sugar, they’re a bit like thick and chewy cinnamon-vanilla brownies. No dough chilling or individual cookie making required.
I didn’t have a 9×9 pan, so I used an 8×8 pan and baked them at a lower temperature (325 degrees) for about 6 minutes longer than the recipe said – about 41 minutes.
Here’s how they looked before I cut them.
I got 16 square bars from my 8×8 pan.
Yum. Especially good with a glass of milk. I’m going to bed now and I’ve only had one. My self-control is off the charts tonight…but I’m pretty sure they’re going to make a delicious breakfast cookie.
I’ve posted about Sally’sBaking Addiction.com before. It’s a great website for free cookie recipes. I’ve tried many of Sally’s recipes over the years and they always come out great. It’s where I discovered my amazing real maple syrup cookie recipe, which people absolutely love!
Last night, I tried making her Soft White Chocolate Cranberry cookies. They looked so pretty for the holidays in her “Cookie Palooza” newsletter. And doesn’t the inclusion of dried fruit make them a tiny bit healthy?
Anyway, they came out great and they are delicious. My only comment is that the dough is pretty crumbly. I needed to use my hands to knead it like bread before refrigerating.
Here’s the recipe in photos, in case the link above doesn’t work:
Here’s how mine came out. I will definitely make them again.
Do you or your family make any special dishes for the holidays?
We officially took over hosting Thanksgiving from my parents a few years ago, as they are now both 85+. The two things I make the day before Thanksgiving (today) are sweet potato pies and sausage stuffing.
Since my sweet potato pie recipe (with photos) is linked above, I’m going to write up my sausage stuffing recipe for posterity. It comes from my mother, who got it from her mother, who probably got it from her mother. Long live the matriarchy.
Mom’s Turkey Stuffing
Brown two 16oz roll packages of pork sausage (Jimmy Dean, Jones Farm, etc) with one large cut-up onion in a Dutch Oven.
This type of sausage is found in the frozen foods section. You need to thaw it in the fridge before you make the stuffing.
Break up into small pieces a stale-ish loaf of bread and combine it with the sausage mixture. (If the bread is too fresh, it doesn’t work well. You can leave your bread out the night before to dry it out a bit.)
Add 1-2 teaspoons Bell’s poultry seasoning and salt & pepper to taste.
“Since 1867” (wow, that’s an old company)
Add water, if needed, to moisten the mixture.
Keep in the refrigerator overnight and stuff the bird in the morning.
Whatever doesn’t fit in the turkey, can be baked in a casserole dish until hot.
This is how the stuffing looks before I stick it in the fridge for the night.
I have the best blueberry muffin recipe for you today. It’s pretty easy and the muffins come out really well—every single time. They are moist and delicious.
The recipe makes a dozen full-size muffins. I bake them for exactly 28 minutes in my oven. I use paper muffin cup liners.
Bonus photo of my double-jointed thumb
I got the recipe from my mother originally because everyone always loves her blueberry muffins. She may or may not have got it from The Boston Globe many years ago.
Anyway, it’s a keeper.
Don’t forget to sprinkle the sugar on before baking.
It says 2.5 cups of blueberries, but I always just use one dry pint (the way they come in the store). I’ve only ever made it with fresh blueberries, so I’m not sure how it would work with frozen ones.
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