Cherry Kuchen Bars

I make a lot of desserts.  I go through pounds of sugar every month.  I love to bake, but I also love to fit into my jeans.  So here are the ways that I stay healthy and still make all these tasty treats.  Maybe my tips will help you keep off the pounds but let you enjoy time in the kitchen!

- For most of my recipes, I will make half batches.  Having fewer cookies around means fewer to eat.

- I make things that Boyfriend likes to eat.  As long as I leave fruit out of my dessert recipes, he'll happily chow down cookies, brownies and blondies.  He's six foot three inches and burns calories like a hummingbird.

- My coworkers often enjoy treats on Monday morning.  I once put an entire bundt cake in the lunchroom and left for an hour.  When I returned, I found an empty cake plate.

- Boyfriends coworkers also get to have sweets.  Things like cakes, cupcakes and pies stay in New Jersey because they are awkward to carry on the commuter train.  The most positive thing about sending them to work with BF is that I don't eat any extras.  The downside?  I've lost a few containers because someone forgets to bring them home.

- The freezer is full of dessert.  They are there if I really want something sweet.  At the end of the month I go through the freezer and clean out all the excess food.

Of course I also hit the gym several times a week and I'm on my feet a lot during the work day.  I generally eat the same thing for breakfast and lunch during the week (oatmeal for breakfast & a salad for lunch) and I make lean protein and veggies for dinner.  Repetition helps me maintain my healthy weight.

Or you could think about it this way.  The more cupcakes you feed your coworkers, the thinner you look in comparison!  It's a win-win.

Almond Cut Out Cookies

As a food blogger, I have decided that I must have strange, food friends.  No, not foodie friends.  Food friends.  Like this guy.

What?  You've never seen a stuffed hot dog before?  I have to say, he's one of the most hilarious stuffed animals I've ever seen.  As you can see, he's a native of New York City and hails from the Times Square Toys 'R' Us.  If you are in the city and feel like you need a strange food-themed plush toy, you can get one for only $9.  This particular stuffed hot dog is special.  He has his own blog.

Yes, this stuffed hot dog has a blog, which I am in no way a part of.  It's all the fault of the guy sitting next to me on the couch.  Life of Hot Dog chronicles the big (and not to big) events in Hot Dogs life and is the brainchild of Boyfriend.  He's a little bit crazy, but I love him, so it's all okay. 

For Christmas, BF got me several hot dog themed gifts.  This isn't new.  Last year someone went a little crazy at the Wal-mart photo lab and I got a pillow case, blanket, key chain and necklace, all adorned with pictures of this little hot dog. 

This year I was proud recipient of a hot dog ornament, calendar, pillow, 11x14 photograph and a hot dog shaped cookie cutter.  At some point I'm going to have to put a stop to it, or I'll be like one of those crazy cat ladies, but with pictures of this hot dog on everything I own.  (Hot dog PJ's anyone?)

Last week, Boyfriend and I (Hot Dog joined us too) tried out the cookie cutter.  Yes, BF was in the kitchen baking and decorating with me!  I've made a few changes to my almond cookie recipe and have come up with the best cut out cookie ever.  Easy to form and cut.  They hold their shape in the oven.  Soft, with a snap.  Not hot dog flavored.

If you want to make a cookie that will make you smile, get out your red and yellow food coloring and make yourself some smiling hot dogs.  They are perfect for a birthday party, picnic or just plain eating.  Decorate them with your favorite toppings.  We went with just plain mustard because stuffed hot dog only has mustard on!  So make some cookies and sit down and read BF's Hot Dog blog.  You won't regret a minute you spend in front of the computer screen!

Hey new friends!  Eat Me!  I'm so delicious as a cookie!

Eggnog Mallomars

Happy Holidays everyone!  Can you believe that we are less than a week until Christmas and two weeks until we bid adieu to 2012?  This year has gone by so quickly, I'm not quite ready for 2013 just yet.  I haven't really had a chance to enjoy the holidays and the end of this year!

Over the past four weeks I have been struggling with the cold that would not leave.  This past weekend I headed to the doctor who told me I had bronchitis!  I was hooked up with some medicine and have been crashing at home for the past few days.  I'm hoping to kick this out of my system before I head home to Buffalo this weekend.

The exact same thing happened last year, I got sick just before the holidays.  I was laid up for weeks and missed out on so much fun while I was napping.  I think that BF and I went to sleep around 10:30 on New Years Eve. 

After three days on my medication, I'm feeling much better.  Hopefully I'm on the mend for real this time.  I was feeling healthier this Saturday and made some holiday mallomars!  Last year was peppermint, this year I made you some eggnog flavored sweets.  Though I am concerned about feeding them to anyone, what with my bronchitis diagnosis a day after I made them!  I can tell you that these guys were tasty and I was the only one to have any.  Maybe being sick while making cookies is a good thing?  All for me!

Hope you are all enjoying these last few weeks of the year.  With my recent illness, the last few weeks of my 2012 challenge have fallen to the wayside.  I've pushed the final challenges into the new year, to be sure that I complete them all!  And don't worry.  A new 2013 challenge will be announced soon!  Stay warm and bright everyone!

Pinata Cookies

Clear your calendar, because you are going to want to make these cookies and it is going to take a while!  Boyfriend and I spent the week making these treats for his companies holiday bake sale.  BF is the creative mind behind these cookies.  He saw this post from "She Knows" and thought they would make a great holiday cookie.  We also thought that they would bring a pretty penny at the bake sale and raise lots of money for Hurricane Sandy Victims.

The process was simple, but involved.  It took us three days to complete these cookies.  You could finish these in one day if you devote the whole day to it.  BF and I worked on these at night after work for a few hours.  For someone who does little to no baking/cooking, he was a great kitchen helper.  I made the dough on my own and he helped will all the remaining steps.  Give these cookies a try if you are looking for a fun project!

Here are a few step-by-step instructions for preparing these steppy treat!

Not shown, prepare your dough and divide it up into three balls.  Place each dough ball between two sheets of  plastic wrap.  Roll out dough to 1/4-inch thickness.  Place dough on a cookie sheet and put dough in the fridge for 1 hour.

Line your baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.  Preheat the oven to 350 F and grab your chilled dough from the fridge.

Lightly flour the countertop and remove plastic wrap from the dough.  Stamp out dough with your desired cookie cutter.  Be sure to choose a cookie cutter that is large enough to punch a hole in the middle.  And remember, for each pinata cookie you will need three cookies, so stamp out cookies in multiples of three.  Using a circular cookie cutter, punch a hole in the middle of every third cookie.

Place cookie dough cut-outs on the prepared baking sheets.  Chill the baking sheets in the oven for 30 minutes.  Bake the cookie sheets for 10-12 minutes, depending on the size of your cookie.

Remove cookies from the oven once they just begin to turn golden brown.  Let cool for 1 minute on the baking sheets on a wire rack.  Remove from the baking sheet and let cool completely on a wire rack.

Now would be a good time to call it a day.  You don't want to ice the cookies until they are completely cooled.  Once you are ready to design and draw, make a batch of royal icing (I used Bridgets from Bake at 350, no changes required because it's an amazing recipe!)

Since BF and I went with snowmen and snowflakes, we didn't have to worry too much about icing colors.  We piped and flooded the cookies with white icing.  The snowmen got black hats too!  Day two was completely taken up by piping and flooding the cookies.  Let them sit overnight or a few hours until the icing has dried.  Remember, you only need to decorate a third of the cookies.  Do not decorate the cookies with a hole in the middle.

We used parchment paper cones to add the final touches to our snowmen.  Check out this helpful video if you want to make parchment cones for icing too.  I made tiny ones and we used them to pipe the carrot noses.  Okay, to be honest...  I piped the scarves and noses.  BF gave them eyes using a toothpick.

While your final decorations are drying, begin the cookie sandwiching.  Take the completely undecorated cookie and the cookie with the hole in it.  Pipe some royal icing on the back of the holey cookie.  Place the holey cookie on top of the undecorated cookie.  Do this for all of your cookies.  Let the icing dry for 30 minutes.  Now fill the hole with mini M&Ms.  Don't overfill, just a single layer of M&Ms should do it.

To finish your pinatas, pipe some more royal icing on the top of the holey cookie.  Place the decorated cookie on top and gently press down.  Ta Da!  Sandwiched, snowman, pinata cookie!

Maybe you want to see it done with the snowflakes?  These bad boys were edged and flooded with white royal icing.  Once the white icing was dry, some stiff icing was tinted blue and piped onto the tops of the cookies.  You don't have to be perfect, remember, every snowflake is unique!

We got a little fancy with these cookies and piped the holey cookie too.  Just a little...

Here comes the M&Ms!!!

This time we offset the cookies when sandwiching them together.  The icing on the center cookie shows through to the top and makes our snowflakes extra special!

I hope all of BF's coworkers like these cookies and they help raise lots of money for Hurricane Sandy victims!  All I know is they smelled delicious and I wanted to eat all of them.  It was difficult to let them leave the house without me!

Triple-Peanut and Chocolate Chip Cookies

I'm sure I'm not the only one who thinks the following...  This is the best time of year because you have such a great excuse to bake dozens and dozens of cookies.  Seriously!  You bring a batch of cookies to the office in June and people are all "Cookies?  Were you bored this weekend?"  Even holiday-themed cookies through the year (heart cookies in February, pumpkin cookies in October) raise an eyebrow of some people. 

It's in December that I can freely bake to my hearts desire without question from my coworkers.  No, I'm not trying to slowly poison you/make you fat.  It's the holidays!  You're supposed to eat lots of cookies.  Although, I think that if I feed my coworkers lots of cookies, I will eventually look thinner in comparison... 

I was very happy to take part in the Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap again this year.  It gave me yet another reason to bake cookies... and raise money for charity!  Be sure to head over to Love and Olive Oil or The Little Kitchen and check out the whole group of cookie swappers!

For the cookie swap, I decided to make use my favorite flavor combination - chocolate and peanut butter!  Happy Holidays everyone and I hope you eat lots of cookies!

Brookie Sandwiches

Things are getting back to normal in the Wilde household.  Last week I stayed with friends on Long Island so that I could get to work without spending more than six hours a day commuting.  I learned how to play Texas hold-em (I know, I'm the last person in the world to learn), got to sleep until 7:30am and baked banana bread at night. 

This week, the Long Island trains normalized and boyfriend offered to drive me to Secaucus junction.  It meant that he had to wake up an hour early and work an extra long day to pick me up on the way home.  Isn't he sweet?  By Tuesday, New Jersey transit opened up the Midtown direct connection and trains were running only three miles from my house and come Wednesday I was taking my normal train, albiet at an unusual time. 

I'm excited to be back in my apartment and sleeping in my bed.  Boyfriend in enjoying his extra shut eye.  Hopefully my Long Island friends will be happy when I bring them cookies.  My kitchen is happy to have me back, or sad because I'm going to make it messy again.  I'm not really sure.  Come by this weekend for the nut butter "Why Bother 2012" challenge post.  With living in Long Island and weekending in Montreal, I haven't had a chance to get back into my kitchen!

If you have been affected by the hurricane, I hope that things are getting back to normal for you.  So many of my friends just got power back this Sunday!  If you were outside of the storms path, I hope you are almost ready for Thanksgiving.  I can't believe it's next week!

Pumpkin Cookies with Chocolate Chunks

Things around here are slowly getting back to normal. Yes, I've only been to work two days out of the past seven. Sure, my train line was washed out and will take weeks to fix. And yeah, BF had to wait in a long line this morning to get gas (it's an odd day, so he could fill up today). I can't complain because so many others are so much worse off.

Since I live in New Jersey and work on Long Island, I wasn't able to get to work last week. The one day I tried it took me four and a half hours to get there in the morning and five and a half hours to get home. Not a recipe for a happy girl. I was forced to work from home. Which, if you're a lab scientist, is very difficult to do. You run out of things to do rather quickly. I spent some of my work hours baking and working out. Between thinking about science and reading literature of course.

I made it to work yesterday in a record breaking tree hours. I have since taken a friend up on their offer to stay at their place on the island until train service becomes tolerable. I've been told that it's okay and encouraged for me to bake while at their house.

It's kind offers like these that I've seen throughout this disaster. Friends, neighbors and strangers helping each other. Humanity really shines when times are tough and people in the tri-state area are looking pretty bright. Stay tough everyone out there, things aren't great right now, but they'll get better.

Key Lime Whoopie Pies

There are four things that made this weekend just perfect.

1. Dogs in costumes.

This weekend was the 22nd annual Tompkins Square Halloween Dog Parade!  (procrastinate for a few more minutes and check out more pictures of the event!)  BF and I spent a good hour watching adorable golden retrievers in alien costumes, yorkies dressed up as bees, French bulldogs waddling about as hot dogs, hamburgers and lobsters.  It was hilarious to watch and there was not a gloomy person in the park.  How could you be anything but happy? 

2. Movies about food!

This past weekend was the Food Film Festival in New York City (it's coming to Chicago in November!) and BF and I got tickets to the Saturday afternon "Edible Adventure."  Short films about food and foodies paired with the very foods seen in the films!  I had a delicious apple dessert from Sidesaddle Kitchen and some of the smoothest maple syrup I've ever had from The Sugar Shack in Quebec.  Oh yeah, I had a few Bark dogs as well.  Maybe a few too many hot dogs, which made it difficult to eat...
3. S'Mac for dinner!

Saritas Mac and Cheese on 12th street is my favorite place to eat in the entire city.  It's not fancy pants food, with aged meats and hoity toity sauces.  It's good old comfort food.  Mac and cheese at its grandest.  You want four cheese?  Done.  How about cheeseburger?  Easy.  My favorite?  What else but Buffalo mac and cheese.

This place is always busy, from when the doors open until the shoo the last person out the door.  If you're lucky enough to see a table open, grab it!  Since there are only about seven tables in the little place, it is most likely that you won't find a place to sit.  Luckily, they have a take-out place right next door.  BF and I usually get it to go during the summer and eat it in the park down the street!

4. Key Lime Whoopie Pies.

Mmmm, super easy and my favorite flavor for desserts.  So, if you missed the doggy parade and aren't anywhere near 12th and 1st, you can still have a great day!  Just whip up a batch of these!

Caramel Buttercream and Cookie Dough Dip

Every once and I while, you get lucky.  Recently, I was lucky enough to be chosen to test out some of Ghirardellis newest "Intense Dark" chocolate creations.  You should have seen me when I picked up my package of chocolate from my apartment office.  First, I thought how heavy it was (heavy with deliciousness).  Next, I wondered what exactly they sent me!  I'll tell you...

The Intense Dark line of Ghirardelli chocolates are as follows.  Sea Salt Caramel, Cabernet Matinee, Toffee Interlude, Hazelnut Heaven, Evening Dream, Twilight Delight and Midnight Reverie.  As a taste tester, I was asked to pair these chocolates with different foods and beverages, rather than use the chocolate in a baked good.  Boyfriend and I decided this would be the perfect thing for a dessert buffet.

I chose three of the chocolates and paired them with different dips, trying to play off of the flavors in each chocolate.  Midnight Reverie (86% Cacao Dark Chocolate), a rich and classy bar, was paired up with a homemade blackberry marshmallow fluff.  The sweet and tart blackberries really went well with the deep, dark chocolate.

Evening Dream (60% Cacao Dark Chocolate) went exquisitely with cookie dough dip.  The reason behind this pairing?  Chocolate chip cookie dough usually used a semi-sweet chocolate chip and the 60% Dark bar was like having a cookie with the best possible chocolate chips.

Hazelnut Heaven (Dark Chocolate with Hazelnuts), a semi-sweet and crunchy bar, went perfectly with a sweet, homemade caramel buttercream.  Caramel and hazelnut was the perfect pairing and this plate of chocolate was devoured first.

The remaining flavors were tested with less auspicious pairings.  I allowed a square of Cabernet Matinee (Dark Chocolate with Blackberry and Cabernet) to melt slowly over a warm piece of French bread.  Sea Salt Soiree (Dark Chocolate with Sea Salt and Almonds) was a surprising treat with leftover bacon from breakfast.  And Toffee Interlude (Dark Chocolate with Toffee)?  I just had that one with a bottle of sparkling water.

So next time you have a dinner party, don't worry about a tricky dessert.  Set out plates of chocolate and a few different dips and let everyone choose their favorite!

This post is brought to you by Ghirardelli Intense Dark™ Chocolate.

Oreo Cupcakes

Did you know that New Jersey is actually quite hilly?  Up until a few weeks ago, I didn't realize this either.  I came to this revelation after boyfriend and I decided to take a ride to the zoo on our new bikes.

This was a few weeks ago, just after boyfriend and I had assembled our brand new bikes.  Personally, I like to just go out and ride my bike.  Boyfriend is more of a destination rider.  He likes to have a goal, rather than an open-ended ride.  It helps him strive to get there faster, since he knows there is an end in sight.  It was a hot and sunny Sunday afternoon and boyfriend suggested we head to the zoo for an afternoon of animal watching and llama petting.

The ride looked totally feasable, just over five miles, pretty direct route and wide sidewalks, this would be a breeze.  Too bad we didn't plan properly for the ride we were about to take.  First, the temperature quickly topped ninety-five degrees over the course of our ride.  Next, to make the extreme heat even worse, we managed to leave our water bottles on the counter. 

Things only got worse as we continued biking away.  With the mercury in the thermometer bursting out the top, our final right turn brought us onto a freshly black-topped road.  Heat was emanating off of the dark road, you could see waves in the air.  And there was one last bit of torture for the ride...

That's right, a big, scary hill.  I just about died.  We kept thinking that the hill would eventually come to an end.  Or that we would find a convenience store where we could buy some water.  Or that someone would be watering their lawn and we could lay down in the sprinklers.  Sadly, the hill went on and on. 

Yet when we made it to the top (not without stopping to walk our bikes for a good portion!) we were proud to make it to the top and happy to see a McDonalds.  These days we are sure to bring lots of water with us when we hit the road and to check a topographical map before we leave home!

PB&J Mallomars

Welcome to Summer.  I'm very excited for this coming summer because it is my first real summer in eight years!  It's not a summer vacation like we had all those years ago in elementary school, filled with nothing but bike riding and ice cream truck chasing.  Yet, it's also not a graduate school summer vacation, which is actually non-existant.  Summer this year is all mine.  Well, mine and boyfriends.

Last summer was kind of a lost cause in terms of fun and relaxing.  It was also a very exciting time in the Wilde household.  In June I accepted a job offer and a start date only four weeks away.  In those four weeks I had to finish my current project, pack up my studio apartment and move to New Jersey!  According to my posts last year, I spent so much time in the lab that I subsisted on cereal as my main food source.

Not this year!  Boyfriend and I have plans!  A weekend touring our nations history in Washington, DC.  A long Saturday at the New Jersey state fair, eating as much fried food as we can find.  Late nights in New York, trying as many new restaurants as we can.  As well as many nights spent walking around our town and weekends sitting by the pool.  We're going to see blockbuster movies and go for long bike rides around town.  Am I too old to chase the ice cream man down the street?  Because that's what kind of summer this feels like.

What are you planning for this summer?  Have your kids got you scheduled to the max already?  Or are you sitting pretty with nothing but empty weekends ahead?

With school out and a long summer ahead, I thought that it was time to share with you my PB&J mallomars.  A fluffy, raspberry marshmallow sits atop a moist peanut butter cookie.  I chose to coat the marshmallow in sprinkles, rather than chocolate, to keep the flavors classic.  Now is the time to get those freshly picked raspberries, so try to get the freshest and most flavorful berries.  These cookies are super moist due to the fact that I went with shortening as my fat.  If you want a crisper cookie, swap out some or all of the shortening for butter!

Wedding Weekends

It's been over a decade since I started my first day of college as a bright eyed art major. Those of you who know me are aware that I was not always on the path of science, not forever lab-bound. I spent the entirety of my freshman year dedicated to becoming a photographer. I'm always reminded of my photography roots whenever I head to a wedding, like boyfriend and I did this weekend.

It all started in high school, with my first photography class and senior year internship at a local photo studio. My simple internship of checking people in, organizing the studio and calling customers turned into a four year job. I graduated from desk duty to becoming an active member of the awesome photo team.

My second summer working at the studio, I started to go with the photographers to weddings, shooting as a candid observer. Black and white film loaded into my camera, I enjoyed being a fly on the wall for many a wedding. And I do mean many. Over my four years at the studio I attended at least fifty weddings (This is actually the reason I don't want to get married in my hometown!).

Come my junior year in college,I accepted an internship at a chemical company and said goodbye to my friends at the photo studio. Even though I'm a chemist through and through now, the wedding photographer in me always comes out whenever I attend a friends wedding. Boyfriend asks me why I'm taking pictures of the confetti-strew aisle and half-empty champagne glasses and I just say "I can't help it."

I also made some cookies this weekend and took their picture.  They were delicious.