Oatmeal Peanut Butter Banana Sandwiches

Hello again, friends of the baking community! It's been awhile, I know, and I wanted to give you an extra special gift for being patient! These are oatmeal peanut butter cookies, that happen to be gluten free, made into a sandwich that has pureed frozen banana in the center. 

I was not looking for a gluten free recipe but I came across this one which is lower in fat content and has no flour so I decided to try it out!  Be careful not to overcook these as they will get a weird consistency after cooling down but still yummy nonetheless. 

To update you on my life I have about one more week of classes, finals, and then I am finally headed home for a nice long summer which I am so excited about!  It has also been gorgeous weather in Portland, which is hard to believe, but it is so hard to sit inside and study when it is 75 degrees out!

My friends and I are huge Pinterest people and love to freeze pieces of frozen banana, throw them into the food processor or blender, and make it into a creamy ice cream that has just one ingredient: the bananas themselves! 

Beware: if cookies are just out of the oven they will be impossible to resist and sandwiches will be very messy.  So bring plenty of napkins. 

I used the peanut butter oatmeal chocolate chip cookies recipe from Ambitious Kitchen, which you guys should check out if you are interested. 

Ingredients:

This recipe makes 15-20 cookies.

1 cup creamy peanut butter
2/3 cup brown sugar
1.5 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs
2/3 oats
1 tsp. baking soda
2/3 cup chocolate chips
2 sliced frozen bananas 

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350.
2. In a small bowl combine oats and baking soda.
3. In a separate larger bowl mix together peanut butter, brown sugar, eggs, and vanilla with an electric mixer.  Then, add the dry ingredients and chocolate chips and mix until combined.

4. Roll into 1.5 inch balls and place 2 inches apart on a cookie sheet.  Press down lightly to flatten slightly before placing in the oven for 9-11 minutes.  Remove when the edges start to turn golden brown. 

5. While your cookies are baking, make the banana puree.  You should already have 2 frozen sliced bananas that have been in the freezer for at least 4 hours.  Place in a food processor and blend until creamy! 

   

6. Place between 2 cookies and INDULGE! 

These are not difficult at all so I hope you try it out and make again! Happy baking! 

Oatmeal Peanut Butter Heath Bar Cookies

It was a late night.  I could feel the need for baking rushing through my blood.  I spotted the Heath Bar bits in my freezer, the Quaker Oats staring me in the eye from the pantry, and the smooth peanut butter not far off.  The combination was meant to be! 

I quickly looked up some sort of recipe that I could go off of to get me started but exchanged the Heath Bar for the chocolate chips that were required in this recipe: Simply Scratch.

Right now I am sitting in my living room drowning in Kleenex and wishing that I could be going for a run in this beautiful California weather.  But I can't because I have one clogged ear, two runny nostrils, and a burning throat.  To top it off I was blessed with this state while on vacation in Cabo San Lucas with my mom!  I have to return to school in 2 or 3 days and really hope I am better because flying with this monster was no fun the first time around! 

Anyways... I would love to bake right now but everyone is afraid of me so sadly I guess that won't happen until I am healthy (it's probably for the best).  

So yes, these cookies were delicious and easy and fabulous and you must try them and I am sorry for my lack of imagination today as I am not feeling very zippy. 

Here we go:

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups of Quaker oats

1 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

2 sticks unsalted butter

1 cup smooth peanut butter

3/4 cup dark brown sugar, packed

3/4 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

3/4 tsp. vanilla

1 cup Heath Bar bits (or more if you want)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350.

Combine the dry ingredients in a medium sized bowl: oats, flour, whole wheat flour, baking soda, and salt.

Combine butter, peanut butter, and sugars in an electric mixer and mix until fully incorporated (a few minutes).

Add eggs one at a time followed by the vanilla.

While mixing on low speed, slowly add in the dry ingredients and mix until combined.  

Stir in Heath Bar bits.

Form round spoonfuls of cookie dough onto a lined cookie sheet and place evenly apart, allowing room for expansion. 

Press lightly down on each ball of cookie dough to flatten slightly.

Bake for 10-13 minutes and remove from the oven to allow them to cool on a rack.

Enjoy with milk while warm and gooey! Happy Baking and next time you hear from me it will most likely be from Portlandia!

Christmas Cookies Galore!

I apologize for the fact that I am posting a Christmas cookie recipe after the holidays but I actually made these cookies on December 26th and handed them out after that so I was a little late but who cares right? They still tasted delicious!

This is pretty much just a basic sugar cookie recipe with royal icing frosting.  I had a package of royal icing that you just add water too until you reach the desired consistency.  Unfortunately it did not make very much so I also just made a lot of plain milk and powdered sugar frosting (continue to add sugar until it is thick enough). 

My mom, my sister and I spent the whole night making these and it was quite fun and quite the project! We had a variety of cookie cutters such as snowflakes, Christmas trees, Santa Claus, birds, bells, hearts, candy canes, gingerbread men, and more!

                 

                               

I used Ziploc bags for piping and had a different bag designated for each color.

Tip: If you are going to do multiple layers of color (which most cookies do have), first outline the cookie, fill it in several minutes later, and allow this base color to dry most if not all the way before moving on to secondary colors.

    

     

Feel free to search the internet to get inspired, use sprinkles, create unique colors, and use your imagination!

I am just going to provide a sugar cookie recipe and provide you with this great royal icing recipe from the blog Bake at 350: Royal Icing.  My mom has been making these cookies since I was a little girl so it is definitely a family recipe that will be passed down.

Ingredients:

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1 stick unsalted butter

1.5 cups sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp. vanilla

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350.

Combine dry ingredients in a small bowl: flour, baking powder, and salt.

Cream butter and sugar in a mixing bowl with an electric mixer and once it is thoroughly combined add eggs and vanilla.

Slowly add the dry ingredients until blended.

Divide the dough in half and roll out each one between 2 sheets of parchment paper to form a 15' x 11' rectangle about 1/8-1/4 inch thick. Refrigerate until firm.

Remove dough from parchment paper and cut out desired shapes.

Bake on cookie sheets lined with parchment paper.

Baking time varies based on cookie thickness and size so try to bake cookies of apprx. the same size together.  Remove from the oven when the edges begin to turn golden brown.  

Let them cool completely and then go ahead with your decorating!  

These cookies can be used for any occasion, it does not have to be for Christmas... I hope you try them regardless! 

Happy New Year and Happy Baking!

Easy Apple Crumb Pie

My aunt kindly invited me over for dinner last Friday night and offered up her kitchen for me to make whatever my heart desired.  It was so unbelievably nice to have a healthy home-cooked meal for the first time in awhile as well.  This is my go-to easy dessert that I make for last minute dinner parties, etc and it is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!

The apple crumb pie is super simple and I always cheat and buy a pre-made pie crust from the store because I never seem to be able to make the dough far enough in advance.  So sorry to the puritans out there but this was some good old Marie Callendar's frozen pie crust.

It requires 5-6 decent sized apples of your choice.  My aunt Kim had some apples that she was given by a friend from their garden, so they were very organic!  The apples are coated with flour, cinnamon, brown sugar, allspice, vanilla, and lemon juice.  Then, instead of the standard crust topping I used a crumble topping, which I love. 

This pie does not take long at all to make.  Probably about 30-45 minutes to assemble and additional cooking time.  This recipe is from a blog I really enjoy called, Baked by Rachel.

I also apologize because as I was making this at my aunts I did not have my camera and had to use my iPhone so sorry if the picture quality is terrible. 

Ingredients:

For the filling: 

5-6 medium-sized apples

1/2 cup of brown sugar

2 tbsp. flour

1 3/4 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. allspice

1 tsp. vanilla

1/2 tbsp. lemon juice

For the crumble topping:

1 1/4 cup flour

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 cup melted butter

Directions: 

For the pie crust:

I bought a pre-made frozen pie crust that does not need to be pre-baked, but it is smart to poke the crust with a fork to avoid creating air bubbles. 

For the filling: 

Peel the apples, core them, slice into small pieces and place in a large bowl.  

Prepare the dry ingredients in a separate bowl: brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, and allspice. 

Pour the dry ingredients in with the apples slices and mix in well so that the mixture is evenly coating the slices. 

                                          

Pour the lemon juice and vanilla over the mixture and stir in well. 

For the crumble topping:

Prepare the oven to 425. 

In a medium-sized bowl combine the dry ingredients: flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt.  

Melt the butter fully in the microwave, let it cool, and pour it over the dry ingredients.

Mix thoroughly (using hands if necessary) to reach a crumbly consistency.

Assembly:

Pour the apple slices into the pie crust and pile up high! They will shrink down so don't even worry.

Then crumble the topping on top of the apples until you are satisfied with the coverage amount. 

Bake at 425 for 20 minutes, covered with foil.  After this amount of time remove the foil, reduce the temperature to 375 and bake for another 30-35 minutes.  When it is done, when you stick a toothpick into the pie, the apples should be soft. 

Enjoy! Again, this is super easy and super delicious and I hope you all try it out! The pictures do not do justice to how amazing this really is, so you will just have to take my word for it.

Happy baking!