Chocolate Almond Cookies

The month of April was been insane. With what seemed like hundreds of school assignments, a fake humanitarian crisis, figuring out U.S. visa regulations, and preparing for a much needed vacation, there was a great need to bake but little time for it. So I came home one evening and just started making cookies because I could and I needed to. Cookies can be such a comfort. They take little time and effort to make and are always so satisfying. Given the stress of the week I also needed chocolate. Chocolate almond cookies were made, and they did just the trick. Here's the recipe:

Ingredients
(Adapted from Joy the Baker)

1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cup white all-purpose flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
Sliced almonds

Preheat the oven to 350 F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In a bowl, cream together the butter and sugars until fluffy. Beat in the egg, vanilla and almond extract. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix until combined. Gently stir in the chocolate chips. Scoop approximately one tablespoon of cookie dough onto the baking sheet, about 1.5 inches apart. Take a few sliced almonds and stick them into the top of the cookie. Bake for 10-12 minutes, just until the bottoms are lightly browned. Allow to cool slightly before eating.

Homemade Almond Joy Bars

Sunday was one of those days where I woke up and immediately felt the need to make something. I get that feeling pretty regularly, but knowing I had a few other items to check off my to do list I got right to it - didn't even eat breakfast first! I've seen on a few of my favourite food blogs the creation of homemade versions of classic candy bars, and they always look ten times better than the plastic packaged original. As you know I am passionate about everything coconut, and though the closest Canadian equivalent is a Bounty bar, I decided to recreate our beloved American friend's Almond Joy Bar. These were so simple to make - even easier than marshmallows (which I know sounds hard but really isn't). If you're having a candy craving make your own! And everything is better fun sized so what's stopping you!? Here's the recipe:

Ingredients

1 cup sweetened shredded coconut

3 tablespoons coconut oil

1 tablespoon maple syrup

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon almond extract

Pinch of salt

12 whole, roasted almonds

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

In a food processor, ground together the coconut, oil, maple syrup, vanilla and almond extract. It should form a thick and sticky mixture (if it holds together in a ball then you're good to go). On a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, make approximately 12 rounded rectangles with the coconut mixture. Lightly press a whole almond on top and freeze for 30 minutes. In a small bowl, melt the chocolate chips (30 second increments, stirring in between). Using toothpicks, dip your solid coconut pieces in the chocolate, doing your best to cover it completely. Allow to dry on the parchment before serving

Note: I chopped up some additional almonds and sprinkled it on top of the melted chocolate to make them a little prettier.

I could eat these forever. Once you try them it'll be real hard opening up the plastic wrapper and knowing you won't be nearly as satisfied with your processed bar of gunk. Bring on the homemade-fun-sized happiness!

(Adapted from this recipe)

Carrot Muffins with Oat Streusel Topping

As mentioned in a previous post, I received the Bouchon Bakery cookbook for Christmas. It really is a beautiful book filled with lots of pictures and delicious sounding recipes. Wanting to try something simple to start, I decided to follow the carrot muffin recipe. Now, muffins are a seemingly easy thing to make. You mix the dry ingredients, add in the the wet, give a little mix and into the pan and oven it goes - piece of cake. However, Bouchon Bakery makes their recipe a little more complicated with awkward measurements and lengthy resting times. This being said, I tweaked the ingredients and measurements a bit to make them simpler, but kept the resting time in just in case. They were delicious! Not too sweet, very moist and a nice crumb to follow. If you have the time for muffin batter rests then follow through - I really think it took a leading role in the moist muffin that resulted. Here's the recipe:

Ingredients

1 1/4 cup All-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup canola oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 egg, beaten

1 3/4 cup shredded carrot

In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. In a separate bowl, mix the sugar and oil together with an electric mixer on low speed. Add the vanilla and egg and mix until just incorporated. Gradually mix in the flour mixture, on low speed, until combined. Gently scrape the bowl with a spatula to ensure all the ingredients are mixed, and stir in the shredded carrot. Cover and refrigerate up to 36 hours (or if you're really impatient I would wait at least three hours). Preheat the oven to 325 F. Pour the batter into a greased muffin pan. Sprinkle the oat streusel topping on top of the muffins and baked for 18-22 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Oat Streusel Topping 

(this recipe was way too big for my liking, so again the measurements were reduced)

1/2 all purpose flour

1/3 cup rolled oats

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 tablespoon granulated sugar

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Pinch of salt

1/4 cup unsalted butter (1/2 a stick)

Stir together all ingredients except the butter. Cut the butter into pieces, and using a fork, mix until it is well incorporated - the butter should be no bigger than pea-sized chunks.

These muffins are a great breakfast on-the-go, or the perfect companion to your mid-afternoon cup of coffee. The oat streusel topping adds an extra sweetness, to the slightly spiced muffin. Enjoy!

Pumpkin Spice Biscotti

Okay, okay, I know I just wrote about pumpkin taking over the world, and butternut squash still holds a place in my heart, I promise! Last night though, I just really need some of that deliciously spicy pumpkin tastes and I needed it in the form of biscotti. It was one of those nights where I needed to clear my head and make something. I needed a project. I've made biscotti a couple times before, with some success, and was inspired by Cupcakes and Cashmere to give this pumpkin spice version a try. Though the drying times were a bit tricky to figure out, this italian cookie is coffee's perfect match - especially in this rainy weather. What made the cookies even better was a light drizzle of white chocolate. Here's the recipe:

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

2 eggs

1/2 cup pumpkin puree

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

white chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350 F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and cloves. In a separate bowl, beat together the eggs pumpkin and vanilla. Mix together the flour and pumpkin mixtures. Use your hands to knead the dough in the bowl, combing all ingredients together, until it forms a ball of dough. On a floured surface shape the dough into two small logs approximately 1/2 inch thick and place on the baking sheet. Bake for approximately 20-22 minutes, until firm to touch. Remove from the oven, lower the temperature to 300 F, and allow the logs to cool for 10-15 minutes. Slice the logs, diagonally, into 1 inch pieces and lay face down onto the parchment. Bake for 15 minutes, flip the biscotti and bake for another 15 minutes. Allow the biscotti to cool for 15 minutes.

In the meantime, melt your white chocolate chips (I used about half a bag) in the microwave, in 30
second intervals. Pour into a ziplock bag, snip the corner, and drizzle over the biscotti. Allow to dry.

Grab your latte, cappuccino, espresso or whatever other hot beverage you're sipping and get dunking. One of the best parts of biscotti is they are a great excuse to have cookies for breakfast! If anyone questions it, say no words and pass them a biscotti, they'll understand.

Pumpkin Cranberry White Chocolate Cookies

As soon as October hits it seems like pumpkin flavoured everything comes pushing to the scene, however I have yet to find a pumpkin baked good that are quite as good as these. Rewind to last thanksgiving and I was looking for pumpkin-y things to make that weren't pie. I was too afraid of pie, and Mom doesn't like pumpkin pie so I figured something mild in flavour was my best option. Browsing through Pinterest, as I do, I came across this fantastic cookie recipe. Though skeptical at first I gave 'em a whirl and lo and behold a new Thanksgiving tradition was born! These cookies are the perfect middle-ground between cake and cookie, the right amount of sweetness from white chocolate, and the bestest (that's a word right?) addition of tangy with the dried cranberries. They have been forever deemed our Thanksgiving cookie and already have me counting down till next year! Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup pumpkin puree

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar 

1 egg

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon vanilla

2/3 cup dried cranberries

2/3 cup white chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the flour, soda, powder and salt until combined. In a separate bowl beat together the pumpkin, sugar and butter. Beat in the egg, cinnamon and vanilla. Combine the pumpkin and flour mixtures together, and mix in the cranberries and white chocolate chips. Drop small spoonfuls onto the baking sheet and bake for 8-12 minutes, until the bottoms are slightly golden.


These are the ultimate fall cookie, they have every flavour you could want from fall all in a little bite sized treat - I was even eating them for breakfast, they're soft enough that I think they could pass for a scone if you need the reason! Enjoy!

Rainbow Dipped Donuts

I've been seeing donut recipes pop up on Pinterest more and more lately and it just makes me feel more inspired to use my donut pan. It's only been used once before (on these chocolate beauties) and I figured it was about time it was dusted off. One of my favourite food bloggers, Joy the Baker, shared a fantastic recipe for a simple cake donut and it was exactly what I was looking for - Homer-simpson inspired, rainbow sprinkle donuts. These donuts are much lighter than my previous endeavour but they were still fantastic - the nuttiness from the browned butter is what makes these perfection. Here's the recipe!

Ingredients

1 cup white all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/3 cup granulated sugar

3 tablespoons salted butter

1 large egg

1/2 cup buttermilk

1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 F and lightly spray a donut pan with oil Stir together the flour, powder, soda and cinnamon and sugar. In a saucepan on medium heat, melt the butter. Stir occasionally. It will slowly begin to crackle and then eventually begin to turn brown. As this happens very quickly, soon after it begins remove from the heat. In a bowl beat together the egg, buttermilk and vanilla. When the butter has cooled, whisk in two tablespoons (including some brown bits) into the egg mixture. Gently add in the flour mixture until just mixed. Scoop (or pipe, whichever is easiest) the batter into the pan and back for 8-12 minutes, until a toothpick comes out of the centre donut clean. Allow to cool.

To glaze mix together small amounts of powdered sugar, milk, vanilla extract and a dash of salt until your desired consistency - more milk for thin, more sugar for thick. Now you can add food colouring, a couple tablespoons of cocoa powder or leave it as is. Dunk the donuts into the glaze and sprinkle rainbow sprinkles over top!

Grab a drink for dunking, Instagram these beautiful creations, and enjoy!

Coconut Oat Chocolate Chip Cookies

After finishing up the first week of school on Thursday, I was up and ready to let out some creative energy and stress with a mini bake-a-thon on Friday morning (very mini in that I only made two items, the second of which will be on the blog soon enough). Earlier in the week I saw a post over on Ambitious Kitchen for these amazing cookies that contained one of my favourite ingredients - did you guess it? - coconut. I love how the texture and taste of a simple chocolate chip cookie can change by swapping in and out a few different ingredients. These cookies are made dense with oats and shredded coconut, slightly sweet with brown sugar and ever so chocolatey with chocolate chips. The best part? No butter. Coconut oil comes to the rescue as a healthier fat and I'm now finding myself needing multiple jars for the many things I use it for - face wash, hair mask, baking, I can't believe I haven't mentioned my love for this oil yet. Anyways, I'm just blabbering on now so here's the recipe:

Ingredients 

1 1/4 cup quick oats

1 1/4 cup all purpose white flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

3/4 cup melted coconut oil

3/4 cup light brown sugar

1 egg

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut

3/4 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

2 teaspoons milk (preferably dairy)

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Whisk together the oats, flour, baking soda, sea salt and cinnamon. In a separate bowl, mix together the coconut oil and brown sugar on medium speed for about 1 minute. Add in the egg, milk and vanilla, mixing on medium speed until well blended. Gradually add in the flour mixture until combined. Mix in the shredded coconut and chocolate chips. Spoon the dough onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and bake for 8-10 minutes, or until they just begin to brown along the edges. 

I'll be facing the battle of the books once again this week but will be much happier doing so with a cookie in hand! How could you seriously say no to a coconut chocolate chip cookie?

Apple Rhubarb Loaf

Fall is on its way and I couldn't be happier! Since getting tonnes of apples in our CSA share a couple weeks ago, I've been trying to find new recipes to help me get ready for fall and put them to good use. It took a little research to find some options that weren't a pie or a crisp but I can't wait to try making my own apple butter and apple chips in the next few months. I settled on this delicious recipe for apple rhubarb quick bread (slowly getting through my freezer bag full of rhubarb) and just peeling the apples made my taste buds go crazy with anticipation for autumn - the sweaters, the pumpkins, the leaves, all of it! This loaf will help you get your mind, mouth and belly into gear for fall with its tangy, sweet and slightly spiced flavour.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ginger

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

2 eggs

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup white sugar

1/4 cup light brown sugar

1 cup rhubarb, chopped

1 cup apples, peeled and chopped

Preheat the oven 350 F and lightly grease a loaf pan. Whisk together the flour, soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg. In a separate bowl beat together the eggs, oil, applesauce and vanilla on medium speed until combined. Add in the white and brown sugar and beat until well mixed. Gradually add in your flour mixture, mixing on low speed, until just combined. Fold in the apple and rhubarb. Pour the batter into your loaf pan and bake for  45-50 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool for approximately 15 minutes before removing from pan and slicing up to enjoy!

I suggest enjoying a slice warm with a little butter, a pumpkin spiced latte (they're back! huzza!) a cozy quilt and a good book - can't you just feel the autumn love?

Chocolate Chip Cookies

                Chocolate chip cookies are one of those classic homemade goodies that I think just about everyone has a nostalgic love for. Though I don't remember when I first tried baking them myself, I do have many memories of flipping through my Mom's and Nana's recipe collection for cookie recipes, whipping up the recipe on the back of the chocolate chip bag with my mom, and slicing up those rolls of Pillsbury cookie dough at sleepovers (and eating a whole lot more dough than actual cookies). Though the dough rolls are pretty darn good sometimes it can be hard to find a recipe that never fails - a recipe that can be deemed "the best chocolate chip cookie recipe ever". In the mood to make cookies I was browsing through the Smitten Kitchen and found what she says is her favourite chocolate chip cookie recipe, so I obviously had to try it out for myself! With some minor adjustments I can definitely say that these cookies are a keeper. Crispy edges, soft inside and just the right amount of sweetness make these milk's perfect partner.

Ingredients 

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1 stick of cold, salted butter

1 egg

1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/4 cup all purpose flour

3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup white chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 300 F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Cream together the sugars and the butter. Beat in the egg, vanilla and baking soda until smooth. Whisk or sift the flour and then mix into the batter. Stir in the chocolate chips. Scoop small balls of dough onto the baking sheet (appx. 8-10 per run) and bake for 15 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove and allow to cool.

I made these bite-sized because I love just popping one in my mouth when my sweet tooth is around! I can't wait to make these again in the fall - sometimes theres nothing better on a cool day than a small snack of warm chocolate chip cookies, enjoy!

Peanut Butter Frosted Brownies

A couple weekends ago, we spent my friend Amanda's bachelorette weekend up at the cottage relaxing, laughing, and stuffing our faces. We managed to eat half a watermelon in less than a day, a whole lot of chips and of course some (necessary) baked goods. Amanda had mentioned on her own blog that she didn't think there were any recipes that could beat out the fudgey brownie box mixes - I accepted the challenge! I looked through my pins and favourite food blogs and decided on a recipe deemed "the best peanut butter brownies you'll ever have" on A Cup of Jo. She was not kidding. These brownies are dense, rich, fudgey, and of course chocolatey - everything you want in a brownie. All the girls loved them and we were sneaking slivers out of the fridge until they were gone (which didn't take very long). If you need something for a girls night, a family night, a games night or you just want some chocolate - make these, you will not be disappointed.

Chocolate Brownies

6 oz. semi-sweet baking chocolate

3/4 cup salted butter

1 1/2 cups white sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 tbsp of brewed coffee, room temperature

2 tsp vanilla extract

3 eggs

1 cup white flour

1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line a 9x9 square baking pan with aluminum foil and lightly spray with oil. Melt the butter and chocolate together in a small saucepan over a pot of boiling water, stirring continuously until smooth, then remove from heat. Whisk in the white and brown sugar. Mix in the coffee and vanilla. Beat in the eggs. Gradually add in the flour just until it is combined. Gently fold in the chocolate chips and pour the mixture into the pan. Bake for 20-25 minutes until a toothpick comes out (mostly) clean and let them cool.

Peanut Butter Buttercream

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter 

(not natural)

1/4 cup salted butter, softened

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups icing sugar

1/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate, chopped

Beat together the peanut butter and butter until combined. Add in the vanilla and icing sugar and beat until smooth. When the brownies have cooled frost and sprinkle with chocolate. Store in the refrigerator for 4 days.

If you haven't figured it out yet, these brownies definitely came out as victors in the boxed-brownie-mix challenge. They were a great post-dinner, pre-board games treat that made our bachelorette weekend extra special. These brownies are best straight from the fridge and washed down with the drink of your choice - either milk, or some red wine perhaps?

White Chocolate Coconut Cookies

When I'm feeling frustrated I usually need to create something in order to settle my nerves. As strange as it may seem, having a kitchen fail one morning (let's just say not every recipe is a good one) led to a very big kitchen win with my favourite ingredient, coconut. I followed this recipe and tweaked it a little to better suit my liking. To quote my mother "This is the best cookie I've ever had. You need to make more. We're so making these at Christmas. You could sell these!" They're great people, really really great. I hope you like coconut because they're coming at you.

Ingredients

75 mL solid coconut oil

1/2 cup + 1 tbsp granulated sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon coconut extract

1 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup shredded, sweetened coconut

2 tbsp coconut oil

3/4 cup white chocolate chips

1 cup unsweetened, shredded coconut (toasted)

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Cream together the coconut oil and the sugar. Beat in the egg and coconut extract. In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Mix it into the oil mixture on medium speed. Gradually add in the sweetened coconut until it is well distributed. Place small drops of the batter onto a non-stick cookie sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes, until the bottoms are a light, golden brown. Allow them to cool

In the microwave melt together the coconut oil and chocolate chips. Lightly dip the tops of each cookie into the chocolate glaze and next into the toasted coconut and allow them to set.

After a delicious dinner we treated ourselves to a hot cup of tea and a couple cookies. I would suggest doubling this recipe because it doesn't make nearly as many as you'll want to be eating (about 16 cookies total).  They are light, soft on the inside and crispy on the outside and oh so coconutty - this cookie is a keeper.

Adapted from this recipe.

Honey and Oat Chocolate Chip Coookies

If there is one thing to get me in the baking mood it's a thunderstorm. With grey skies, cool winds and rain drizzling outside there were few things left I could do (or even wanted to do) with a day off. After completing some chores I felt a real urge to make cookies - something classically comforting. Another recipe, aside from banana bread (as mentioned in this post), that I nailed in my high school days was oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. They're chewy, sweet, dense and just plain good. Since I was also feeling creative I decided to experiment a little bit and make some adjustments to the classic recipe I had grown to love. After swapping in and out a few ingredients I came up with a recipe that out did my previous one with the simple addition of honey. Honey never fails people, honey never fails.

 Ingredients

1 cup white flour

3/4 cup whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

2 cups rolled oats

1/2 cup salted butter, softened

1/4 cup full fat greek yogurt

1 cup brown sugar

5 tbsp honey

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup dark chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Sift together the flours, baking powder and baking soda. Stir in the oats until combined. In a separate bowl, cream together the butter, greek yogurt, brown sugar and honey on medium speed. Beat in the egg and vanilla. Gradually add in the flour mixture until the dough is well mixed and finally stir in the chocolate chips until well combined. Put tablespoons of the dough on a baking sheet, approximately 1 inch apart and bake for 8-10 minutes until the bottoms are golden brown.
Makes approximately 3 dozen.

These are definitely milk dunking cookies. Whether you're drinking whole milk, soy milk or almond milk get on dunking because these cookies deserve it! Baking these cookies made my rainy day off much better and when paired with a good book (I'm currently reading this one) the goodness grows!

Tip: Why not also try a combo made in heaven (peanut butter and honey!) by swapping out the chocolate for some peanut butter chips, sounds perfect right?

Chocolate Brownie Cakes

The past couple weeks have been very chaotic and so a baking/blogging break was needed as I try and get into a rhythm of working two jobs, keeping up with hobbies and maintaining some form of a social life. I've also been trying to find recipes that aren't super indulgent but are a little on the healthier side. I saw this recipe for Whole Wheat Brownies on Martha Stewart's Pinterest boards a few weeks ago and decided to give it a go. Given that there is still a decent amount of butter and sugar in these, they are in no way a healthy snack. However, compared to the brownie recipes I've tried before, there are fewer eggs, and less butter and sugar overall - I will definitely use the reasoning "but they have whole wheat flour!" to deem them slightly nutritious. All this being said, they are not your typical dense, fudgey brownie, and lean a little towards the cakey side, while still give you that much needed chocolate fix!

Ingredients 

3/4 stick salted butter (6 tbsp)

1/2 cup white flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1/3 cup cocoa powder

1 1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1 cup brown sugar

1 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce

1 egg

8 ounces semisweet chocolate

Preheat your oven to 350 F. Grease a 9-inch square pan and line it with parchment paper. In a bowl mix together the flours, cocoa, baking powder, and baking soda. In a second bowl combine the sugar, applesauce and egg. Melt together 6 ounces of chocolate and the butter (either in the microwave or using a double-boiler). Combine the chocolate with the sugar mixture. Gradually add in the flour mixture. Pour into the pan and sprinkle the remaining 2 ounces of chocolate on top - I actually used some milk chocolate chips instead. Bake for 30-40 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.

These are perfect with a glass of milk and could be made even better with some peanut butter chips or walnuts sprinkled in!

Banana Nutella Granola

Going along with my granola kick of November, I went ahead and tried out a few kinds that we're probably less on the healthy-hippy-granola side and probably more on the I'm-calling-it-granola-even-though-it's-covered-in-chocolate side. Either way the recipe I followed for Banana Nutella Granola was delicious.

Ingredients

3 1/2 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup of ground flax (and/or chia seeds)
1 cup almonds, roughly sliced
1 tsp cinnamon
1 banana, mashed
1/4 cup Nutella
1/4 cup honey
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup banana chips

Preheat your oven to 350 F. Mix together the oats, flax, almonds and cinnamon. In a saucepan on medium-low heat, combine the banana, Nutella, honey and salt. Boil for one minute, remove from heat and combine with the oats until well coated. Evenly spread over a non-stick baking sheet and bake for 30-40 minutes, stirring occasionally for even baking. Once cooled store in an airtight container for at least 2 weeks - though mine lasted for much less, I really love snacking okay? Overall a delicious take on granola that was perfect atop a bowl of vanilla yogurt - or I imagine even on ice cream but I suppose that would take me even further away from the healthy-hippy side of things now wouldn't it. Happy snacking!

Vegan PB+J Thumbprint Cookies

Another cold and blustery day outside, what else is new? After a quick step outside to run some errands, I knew exactly what I wanted to do when I got home - bake. Warm cookies do wonders to warm up your belly, and an oven turned on makes your apartment nice and toasty too - a great bonus. After reading one of my favourite blogs I was inspired to try out their PB+J Thumbprint cookies, but feeling a little crazy today I decided to experiment a bit. I followed this recipe and swapped a few ingredients just to see how things would turn out. Lucky for me they turned out great and now I've got a yummy batch of cookies ready to be eaten!

Ingredients

1/2 cup oat flour (I just ground up some oats in a food processor)

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/4 tsp salt 

1/3 cup chopped pecans

1/2 cup natural peanut butter

1/2 banana, mashed

jam of your choice + a few chocolate chips

To start (after grinding up the oats) I mixed together the flour, sugar, salt and chopped pecans. Next I mixed in the peanut butter and banana until well combined. This took a little extra arm power to make sure it was all mixed, but if yours is too dry add in some more peanut butter, and a little more mashed banana (maybe not the whole other half though). Roll the dough into 12 balls and place on a cookie sheet. After lightly  pressing the tip of your thumb into each, top each cookie with either a little bit of jam or a few chocolate chips. Bake in the oven at 325 F for 10-12 minutes.

These bite sized cookies are a great "sweet tooth satisfier" without feeling too guilty. I love the hint of banana taste (though this could be replaced with an egg if you're not into banana) and the jam and chocolate treats on top make them extra special. They're perfect with a glass of milk or cup of tea and a warm blanket to cozy under!

Pumpkin Cranberry Almond Granola

For the month of November I was on a big granola kick. I found it to be the perfect start to my morning when added to some greek yogurt and fresh fruit, or the perfect pick-me-up snack in the late afternoon. After trying a few store-bought varieties, I decided that it was about time I made my own to ensure it had all the extras and added crunch I was looking for. I loosely followed this recipe for guidance.

Ingredients
2 1/2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
dash of salt
3/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/3 cup honey
1/3 cup pumpkin puree
2 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup chopped almonds
1/2 cup dried cranberries

Preheat your oven to 325 F (or a little lower as my oven tends to be a hot one).

In a large bowl add the olive oil, salt, pumpkin pie spice, honey and pumpkin puree and mix until well combined. Stir in the oats and almonds until coated. Evenly spread out mixture onto a nonstick pan (or one lined with parchment paper). Bake the granola for approximately 40 minutes, or until lightly browned, stirring occasionally to ensure even baking. Store in an airtight container and it should last you for at least a week - assuming you're able to control your munching!

Just A Few Cookies

If there is one thing I am for sure, it is a homebody. My idea of a perfect night is one where I'm cozied up in a blanket, watching a movie and munching a delicious baked good - even better if it's hot out of the oven. Simliar to my previous post, it's much nicer if I can make these treats one-person sized and so when my friend Amanda suggested this recipe, my nights were changed forever! Of all the baked goods out there, nothing beats a warm chocolate chip cookie, especially when paired with a cold glass of milk. This recipe was perfect.

Now, as usual I have my own little notes. This recipe claims to make two cookies however I found that it made three quite large ones. I can understand the difficulty in figuring out a recipe for just a couple cookies, however being a person that prefers them in bite sized form, I would say this recipe makes enough cookies to be shared with a friend or two. My cookies also didn't turn out at all like the picture in the recipe, and not to toot my own horn, but I think they turned out better! I did not do the requested instruction of "deflating" the cookie, I thought they looked perfect coming out of my (cooler at 325 F and longer timed at 10 minutes) oven and left them be. These cookies were exactly what I needed for my cozy night in.