Please take a look at these links and have fun checking out all the cookies that everyone made!

Diana made Whiskey Molasses cookies, recipe by yours truly.

Rachel made pecan brittle bars.

Alyse made gingerbread cookies.

Jess made oatmeal cookies.

I made Italian Chocolate Meatball Cookies.

Also swing over to Lori’s site to see the rest of the roundup! She’s got a big list of recipes to share!

Thanks to everyone who participated this year! What fun to see all these cookies!

Comments: 3

My friend Lori, over at Fake Food Free has asked me to help her put on the International Blogger Cookie Exchange for this year!

Oh yes, it’s time to start planning our holiday cookies and holiday eats for the upcoming season. This is an extremely easy and low key event.  You will not be shipping cookies to someone, it’s a recipe exchange!

Here’s how it works:

Either let Lori or myself know by November 10th that you would like to participate, and you will be randomly paired with another blogger.

Each participant will create an original or an adapted holiday cookie recipe and send that recipe to the blogger that we’ve randomly selected for you. You must send that recipe via email by November 20th.

Once you receive a recipe we ask that you post about the recipe by December 11th. This means that you’ve created the cookie recipe and will be posting about the experience.

Lori and I will do a roundup of all the recipes so you know where all the cookies were baked and how all the cookies turned out.

We are aware that a few of you have dietary restrictions or allergies. When you receive a recipe you may alter it to fit your dietary needs, but please post the original as well. If you have any trouble altering a recipe feel free to contact Lori, at lori AT fakefoodfree dot com or Andrea at Andrea AT Foodembrace DOT com, for advice or suggestions.

The only guideline is that the recipe should be something you’d find on a holiday cookie plate, so anything from rugelach to alfajores to fudge squares to gingerbread men!

Just to recap, you’ll be doing three things:

1. Send a recipe to another blogger.
2. Make the recipe you get.
3. Post the recipe and the cookies you made.

Important Dates:

Let us know you want to participate by November 10th.

Send your recipe to the blogger randomly selected for you by November 20th.

Post about the recipe you received from a fellow blogger by December 11th.

Doesn’t this sound like fun! It’s a great way to build up your cookie recipes and meet a fellow blogger!

Now let’s exchange some recipes!

Comments: 10

Cheddar Chipotle Puffs that were paired with Rogue Chipotle Ale.  Cleverness!

To briefly recap, the idea behind the party was to pair a craft beer with a food item that you made.  I really wanted to bring a Rogue beer since it fit the criteria of a craft beer and it’s also easy for me to get my hands on.  Then I had to decide what to pair it with.  Once I knew that I was going to use the Chipotle Ale then a dish utilizing chipotles was the obvious choice.

I didn’t want the chipotles to be too overpowering though.  They can really bring the heat and I wanted to keep the heat level moderate enough that you could tell it was there but it didn’t blow your socks off.

I decided to make little “puffs” because they are bite size and would be super easy to transport.  After a few tweakings I got the recipe down.  It is a food of love type recipe which means it will take you some time but it’s totally worth it!

Andrea’s Cheddar Chipotle Puffs

• 2C Whole Wheat Pastry Flour
• 1C Unbleached All Purpose Flour
• 1/2tsp Baking Soda
• 1tsp Salt
• 2tsp Garlic Powder
• 1/2tsp Chili Powder
• 1/2tsp Smoked Paprika
• 1/2C Water
• 1/2C Light Olive Oil
• 2 Chipotle peppers + 2 tsp of the adobo sauce
• 1tsp Honey
• 1C Grated Cheddar Cheese

In a large mixing bowl add in the flours, baking soda, salt, garlic powder, smoked paprika.  Whisk until combined.  Place mixing bowl in fridge.  Also in the fridge place the 1/2C of water and 1/2C of olive oil.  Allow to chill for at least half an hour.

Then add the dry ingredients to a stand mixer bowl.  In a food processor, add in the water, oil, chipotles with sauce, and the honey.  Pulse until the chipotles are broken down and fully incorporated into the wet ingredients.  Add this mixture to the dry ingredients gently combining them all.  The dough will be dense and thick.  Once the ingredients are combined, add in the shredded cheddar until it is mixed throughout the dough.

Roll the dough out onto a flat surface sprinkled with flour and give it a few extra kneads.  Wrap in plastic wrap and place in fridge for an hour or until it sets back up.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Line a cookie sheet with parchment or a silpat.  Remove from fridge and split dough into two parts.  One part goes back in the fridge while you work with the remaining half.  On a floured surface roll dough out till about a 1/4 of an inch thick.  Using a small round cookie or biscuit cutter, cut dough into several pieces.  Rerolling out the dough as needed.  You should get several puffs just from one half of the dough.  Place puffs on cookie sheet and they can be relatively close together.  They “puff” up not out.  Bake for about 10 minutes.  The puffs should be “puffed” and springy to the touch.  Remove from cookie sheet and allow to cool.

Repeat with remaining half of the dough.

These are best served slightly warm but can be eaten at room temperature as well.  Depending on the size of the cutter you use will determine how many puffs you end up with.  I used a small biscuit cutter that was almost 2 inches in diameter which resulted in a ton of puffs!  YaY!

These puffs smell so so good as they are baking!  They are also mighty tasty too! Scott loved them and so did I.  These also freeze very well and can be pulled out when you want a quick snack or a quick appetizer for guests.

I also made these subbing in some spelt flour instead of the whole wheat and they worked just as well.  You can add more cheese if you like, just keep in mind that you want these to puff up, so too much cheese might inhibit that a bit.

Using cold ingredients helps make these puffs puff!  I have also made a batch with cold ingredients but did not put the dough in the fridge before rolling it out and baking.  It turned out alright and will work if you are short on time.  However if you have the time, allow the dough to chill for a bit first.  It makes the puffs a little more fluffy.

So how did these pair with the Chipotle Ale?  AMAZING!  A bite of puff followed with a swish of ale totally brought out the chipotle flavor of the ale a great deal.  The ale became spicy with some heat at the finish creating a very unique drinking experience.  Since the ale is cold, the spicy and heat give your taste-buds a sort of tingle that they weren’t expecting.

These little puffs are great for entertaining or bringing to your next potluck.  If you like savory flavors and cheese, you’ll love these!

Have fun guys, and remember, always play with your food!  Enjoy!

Comments: 7

Those were his exact words.

Dude.  I don’t even know where he pulled that from! But in this house, whatever my hunny wants is what he’s going to get.

I poured over some websites and several of my favorite cookbooks and came up with a game plan.

This is how I work. I review several recipes to get an idea of how something is done and then I make my own version.

I fully expect that everyone else operates this way as well.  In my head no one follows a recipe exactly, we are all just a bunch of Kitchen Rogues blazing a path with a chef’s knife in one hand and a kitchen blow torch in the other.

Or something like that.

Andrea’s Cinnamon Vanilla Cupcakes

• 1/2C Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• 1/2C Whole Wheat Pastry Flour
• 1tsp Baking Powder
• 1/4tsp Baking Soda
• 2tsp Ground Cinnamon
• 3TBSP Cane Sugar
• Pinch salt
• 2/3C Vanilla Soymilk + 1 TBSP
• 2 1/2tsp Vanilla Extract
• 2TBSP Light Olive Oil

Preheat oven to 350.  In a large mixing bowl, add all dry ingredients and whisk together until everything is combined and “fluffy” looking.  In a smaller mixing bowl, combine soymilk, vanilla extract, and olive oil.  Mix and then slowly add that to the flour mixture.  Gently stir the ingredients together.

Line muffin tins with cupcake liners.  Fill with cupcake batter about halfway full.  Bake for about 7-10 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.  Remove from oven and allow to cool

Makes about 10 cupcakes.

These were my first attempt at vegan cupcake making (remember I prefer to bake vegan).  I’ve been making cookies and such for a while now so I figured it was time to branch out.  Good suggestion Scott!

Aside from the fact that these stuck to the liners a bit more than I would have liked, they came out totally awesome.  Due to the WW flour they are slightly denser than a regular cupcake but that’s okay because we like that taste.

We ate them unfrosted but you could totally top them with a chocolate ganche of some sort.  I’m still working on making a great vegan icing that doesn’t include a ton of powdered sugar and fake shortening (ew).

Hooray cupcakes!

Have fun guys and remember, always play with your food!  Enjoy!

Comments: 4