J@H - Brownie Donuts with Peanut Butter Glaze

I have been looking forward to making my own donuts all year. Yes, I realize that I could have made donuts at any time, but it's been a crazy year and I haven't made breakfast once this year. I really need to make myself some French Toast this weekend.

A few years ago, I made a classic fried donut. This time I decided to go with a healthier cooking option and baked them. Rather than going completely healthy, I packed these with chocolate and covered them in peanut butter.

These donuts are dense and chocolatey, I can't responsibly tell you to eat these for breakfast.  I would suggest that you should make these and have them for dessert under a big scoop of vanilla ice cream.

I think that I need to make another batch of donuts. Something that is a little lighter and more breakfast appropriate. Maybe something packed with oranges or bananas?

Who am I kidding? These are delicious and probably just as good for you as having Pop Tarts for breakfast! The peanut butter frosting is the perfect topping to these dense brownie donuts. Get yourself a whole bunch of chocolate and butter and make these donuts! Then bring them to work and make all your coworkers happy (and fat).

One Year Ago: Loaded Potato Soup
Two Years Ago: Halloween Mallomars
Three Years Ago: Butternut Squash Cake
Four Years Ago: Pumpkin Raisin Muffins
Five Years Ago: Pear Cake with Pine Nuts

OXO Good Cookie - No-Bake Cookies

Today I am partnering with Oxo and this blog post is dedicated to Cookies for Kids Cancer. In my professional life I work in oncology research and see the impact that cancer has on not only the patient, but all the people in their circle. The organization Cookies for Kids Cancer raises funds for research to develop new, improved treatments for pediatric cancer. As a researcher, I could spend this entire post talking about the genetic drivers of pediatric cancer, but instead we are going to discuss how cookies can help.

The OXO Good Cookies program is partnering up with bloggers this month to raise awareness about pediatric cancers. For each blog post, OXO donates $100 to Cookies for Kids Cancer! In addition to this, OXO has brought out a special line of bakeware to help support the cause. Look for OXO products with the Cookies for Kids Cancer logo. For each item purchased, they will donate $0.25 to the cause. Specifically, you can get this adorable cookie spatula! For this recipe I used their non-stick half sheet pan, medium cookie scoop and cookie spatula.

I was happy to join the cause this month and create a blog post about cookies. There was only one problem - my oven. Since we bought our house last year, the oven has been acting up. Specifically, the controller board for the oven has been randomly shutting off. This first happened just before Thanksgiving last year. We were able to fiddle with it and it would turn back on, until last month it finally died. What to do? Make no-bake cookies!

These cookies take about five minutes to make, especially with use of the cookie dough scoop. There are just three steps - 1. Bring sugar syrup to a boil  2. Stir in oats and flavors 3. Scoop out cookies.

Seriously, it's that easy. Once that's done you just need to walk away for 30 minutes! These are the easiest cookies to make, especially when you have no oven!

Be sure to get involved in aiding research for pediatric cancer. You can either buy OXO products, donate directly to the fund or even host a cookie sway of your own! Every cent helps with research in the field and those cents add up to improved survival for the patients.

One Year Ago: Rigatoni with Pepperoni, mozzarella & arugula
Two Years Ago: Dulce de Leche cookies
Three Years Ago: Apple Pie Ice Cream Topping
Four Years Ago: Caramel Brownies
Five Years Ago: Thin Mint Ice Cream

Disclaimer - OXO provided me with a set of bakeware to use in this blog post.

• Cookies for Kids' Cancer is a recognized 501c(3) public charity duly incorporated under the laws of the state of New Jersey. Your donations are tax deductible to the fullest extent allowable by law. 100% of proceeds raised by Cookies for Kids' Cancer fund pediatric cancer research.
• OXO will be donating $100 to Cookies for Kids’ Cancer for each blog post dedicated to this campaign in October (up to our $100,000 commitment*.)
• *In 2015, OXO will donate up to $100,000 to Cookies for Kids' Cancer through product proceeds, bake sale matches and other fundraising efforts

Pumpkin Mallomars

With the return of the fall weather, something else is returning to our lives - Mallomars! Mallomars are too delicate and meltable to ship to grocery stores in the summer, so we always see the return of these sweet treats right around Labor day. Seeing them on the grocery store shelves made me want to whip up another batch myself.

If you've been a long time reader of WITK, you may remember that I made pumpkin mallomars several years ago. I think it was three years ago... Feel free to go back into the archives and check those out too, they're totally different from these pumpkin mallomars. The old recipe has a pumpkin marshmallo, vanilla cookie and they're coated in white chocolate.

Rather than getting fancy with the marshmallow, I stayed super traditional with a vanilla marshmallow. Where the pumpkin comes in is the cookie! A pumpkin cut-out cookie? How did I not think of this years ago? Adding pumpkin to a cookie recipe is so much easier than trying to balance the flavors and texture of a candy. These cookies came out of the oven smelling like Fall and so delectable, even without the marshmallow topping.

The marshmallow on top really brings these cookies to a whole new level. Actually, they taste just like pumpkin pie. Seriously! The delicate flavors of the pumpkin cookie and vanilla marshmallow taste just like you popped some vanilla whipped cream on top of your pumpkin pie.

Of course these aren't exactly like a traditional mallomar. Most importantly, they aren't covered in chocolate. I coated my first few mallomar recipes in chocolate. I came to realize that the chocolate flavor was covering up the mild flavors I was infusing into the marshmallow or cookie. Therefore, we will call these "Naked Mallomars" from here on out.

Also, don't let the homemade marshmallow scare you off. Personally I've made marshmallows at least two dozen times. It gets easier and easier each time you put a batch together. This vanilla recipe is simple, quick and takes no more than 15-20 minutes to go from ingredients to piping bag. Have marshmallow questions? Leave them in the comment section and I'll try to be of assistance!

One Year Ago: Watermelon Mallomars
Two Years Ago: Pumpkin-frosted, caramel-filled, vanilla cupcakes
Three Years Ago:Ramen Vegetable Soup
Four Years Ago: Pomegranate Ice Cream
Five Years Ago: Apple cake with Brown sugar icing