Baking Reunion

After about a four month break, I finally reunited with some old friends: my hand mixer, flour, sugar, vanilla, eggs, etc. I baked TWICE this week!  

First Baking Adventure: care package of Deluxe Oatmeal Chocolate Cookies for a friend who's run into a bit of bad luck.  Best way to cheer him up?  Bake/Send him The Best Cookies Ever!  I dunno where this recipe came from but the Chungs came across this recipe in the mid 90s and I've been a fan ever since. 

My temporary home in Houston is actually the condo of my friend Erin.  I moved without many of my baking supplies and started making the cookies before I realized there was no cookie sheet in the kitchen.  Too lazy to go out and buy one, I decided to pull a MacGyver and use what was available to me.  There was a glass Pyrex pan and a muffin tin.  I first tried the Pyrex and made six very flat pancake cookies.  FAIL.  

Then I decided to put the cookie dough in the muffin tins to make Accidental Cookie Cupcakes.  With some extra baking time, these cookie cupcakes actually worked!  

Deluxe Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Ingredients:

1 ¼ c flour

1 tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

¾ tsp ground cinnamon

1 c (2 sticks) butter

3/4 c granulated sugar

¾ c brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

3 c old fashioned oats

1 1/3 c (10 oz package) chocolate covered raisins

1 c chopped nuts

Directions:

Combine flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in small bowl.  Beat butter, sugar, brown sugar, eggs and vanilla in large mixer bowl until creamy.  Gradually beat in flour mixture.  Stir in oats, raisins and nuts.  Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.  Bake in preheated 375 degree oven for 7-8 minutes for chewy cookies or 9-10 minutes for crisp cookies.  Let stand.  Makes 4 dozen.  

Second Baking Adventure: Erin's Birthday Cupcakes!  A few days ago, Erin actually emailed me with a link to the Baking Bites Recipe for Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich Cupcakes saying they sounded interesting.  This was the perfect opportunity to try out a new recipe and surprise Erin with these cupcakes!  

I made my first cupcakes in four months and I'm sad to say, they would not have faired well in my cupcake ratings.  I think I overmixed the batter so the cupcakes were pretty dense.  BUT these actually tasted good.  There was a subtle peanut flavor in the cake since ground up peanuts were added to the batter.  The jelly in between the cupcakes was also subtle but tasty and the cream cheese frosting, well anything is better with cream cheese frosting!  Happy Birthday, Erin!  

(On a side note, if you're gonna bake these cupcakes, I would beat the eggs separately in a bowl before adding them to the batter.  This would probably prevent overmixing the batter and then prevent a dense cake).