Fall is acting strange... Let's bake some cookies!

Fall is my favorite season. Although this fall has been super strange with the thunder, snow, and rain all in the same day... I still love it. I enjoy  watching  as the leaves transform, baking goodies that involve apples and pumpkin, and generally just getting back to cooking all the things my apartment is too toasty to make during the warm summer months.

Linking my leaf with Flowers on Saturday!

This week, I baked some delicious white chocolate, cranberry, oatmeal cookies. I was super excited to bake them as I was able to try out my new vanilla beans! One word, YUM!  If you'd like a new recipe to add to your baking repertoire, read on!

Yummy White Chocolate, Cranberry, Oatmeal Cookies...

What you'll need: 

1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup (packed) light brown sugar
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 large egg
1/4 cup apple butter
1 vanilla bean pod or 1 tsp of vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups rolled oats  

1/2 cup dried cranberries

1/4 cup white chocolate morsels

Instructions: 

• Preheat oven to 375
• Line your cookie sheet with foil
• whisk  the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in a bowl.
• Beat the butter and granulated sugar until smooth. Mix in the brown sugar,egg, apple butter, and vanilla.
• Stir in the dry ingredients, oatmeal and then add cranberries and white chocolate morsels

 Make sure all  dry ingredients become moistened.

• Take a spoon and scoop batter out , drop onto your cookie sheet. Lightly flatten top with back of spoon. (Do not smoosh them, just lightly press.) 

 

• Bake until golden brown. About 10 minutes. 

• Cool.

ENJOY!!!

The cookies stay nice and chewy!

TIP: To keep cookies moist, add a slice of bread to the bottom of your cookie jar/air tight container. My mama taught me that one! heheheh.

That's my 2 cents!

-Kimba

Vanilla Beans and info on how to help raise Awareness!

Vanilla doesn't always = BLAH!

For my last birthday my awesome neighbor and cooking buddy Sarah, presented me with some whole  Madagascar Vanilla Beans. My first thought was, I need to run and google some things I can bake/cook that involve real vanilla! Upon looking up the uses for Vanilla Beans, I became even more excited.

 Vanilla beans can:

-be used in any recipe that calls for vanilla extract

-be used to make your own vanilla extract

-be placed into your glass jar of sugar to add a hint of vanilla flavor(dried pods)

-be placed into your coffee beans to add a hint of vanilla flavor (dried pods)

Not only are the whole vanilla pods beautiful to

look at, they smell delicious.

I'm really excited about my vanilla beans. I can't wait to share recipes and other fun ideas and uses for vanilla beans with you all!

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RAISING AWARENESS

As many of you may know October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. 230,480 women will be diagnosed with Breast Cancer in 2011. Many of us here in the blog world, have been aaffected by Breast Cancer. Whether you are a survivor, daughter/mother of a survivor, husband/brother of a survivor, or a best friend/co-worker of a survivor. Or, perhaps you have lost loved ones to a battle with breast cancer. Let's all help raise awareness.

I am the daughter of a Breast Cancer survivor. My mother and I are both down for the cause! Self exams, exercise, and yearly visits keep us on the path toward  healthy breasts. We are aware of the risks, and take the steps necessary to be ahead of the game.

On Sunday, October 30th, let's remind others to open their eyes and be aware!  Let's paint the blog world pink. Join in and submit projects, stories,recipes, or any other ideas that will help raise awareness around the issue of Breast Cancer.  PROJECT PINK is a fun and creative way to send a message out to the world! Women and Men battle this deadly cancer every day. Let's show our support and let others know, we care!

Thanks for stopping in today!

That's my 2 cents!

-Kimba