Peanut Butter Lovers’/Converts’ Chocolate Oat Squares

Today, I want to introduce to you a new, critical, and really important new photoseries called:

TEN REASONS TO GET JIGGY WITH PEANUT BUTTER RIGHT NOW (MAYBE EVEN WHILE YOU READ THIS):

We all have that friend (or two, or ten) who, for some godforsaken reason, does not like peanut butter. Hopefully, you are not that friend (and if you are, I would recommend paying close attention to Reason #9 in this photostory–ahem).  I personally LOVE PEANUT BUTTER.

If you are adverse to this creamy concoction of the nut butter gods, however, or you have that friend and want to be an exceptionally nice friend and convert them into the ways of Peanut Buttery Enlightenment, I would recommend sharing any or all of the banners I have created for this sole purpose below. Here in Peanut Butter Kingdom, we do not judge–except, of course, if you don’t like PB. Then we treat you like the lost cause you are and send straight to Peanut-less Purgatory.

SO, without FURTHER ADO:

TEN REASONS TO GET JIGGY WITH PEANUT BUTTER RIGHT NOW (MAYBE EVEN WHILE YOU READ THIS):

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Reason #10:  It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single person in possession of a good palate must be in want of a Peanut Butter jar.

At least we all know that’s what Jane Austen should have written, bless her soul.

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Reason #9: Peanut Butter serves as a great way to test–or seriously question–your friendship choices.

How the Peanut Butter Friend Test works:

SCENARIO A: “Do you like Peanut Butter?” “Yes.” “Then I think we can be friends.” ❤

SCENARIO B: Conversely, “Do you like Peanut Butter?”

“No.”

“…….I have never said this before, but I hope this means you are deathly allergic to it.”

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Reason #8: When it comes to eating Peanut Butter from the jar, spoons are always optional. In case of emergencies, however, fingers will also do.

And nobody here will judge you for it.

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Reason #7: Peanut Butter is GOOD for you. If G.O.O.D. = Goddamn Overly, Obnoxiously Delicious.

And it contains protein. Or something like that.

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Reason #6: Peanut Butter fans are particularly good finders.

I hope somebody out there got the A Very Potter Musical reference that just went fo shizzle up there, because I am not doing that again.

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Reason #5: Peanut Butter pairs well with basically everything.

Apples, jelly, chocolate, bosses, emotional turmoil–existential crises…

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Reason #4: Most of us grew up eating Peanut Butter–and even if you didn’t, it’s never too late to start.

 

According to the National Peanut Board (yes, that’s a thing), the average child will eat 1,500 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches before he/she graduates high school. Also, the amount of peanut butter eaten in a year could wrap the earth in a ribbon of 18-ounce peanut butter jars one and one-third times.

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Reason #3: Peanut Butter has such a nutty sense of humor.

You can go NUTS over peanut butter.

You can polish off a jar of peanut butter in a Jiffy.

You can beg me to stop making peanut butter jokes by saying, “Pretty, pretty, PB please?”

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Reason #2: “Peanut Butter” means love in every language. (It is even the official phrase for “I Love You” in one language.

That language is Baker-ese, most commonly spoken in…well, I’ll let you guess.

~*~*~*~*~*~

And finally……..

Reason #1: Peanut Butter is what makes these chocolatey, oat-filled squares so goddamn delicious. Pardon our language. But they’re that f*-in’ good.

And what more proof do you need than that?

Print this recipe!

What makes you go NUTS over peanut butter?

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Will Cook For Smiles

Peanut Butter Lovers’/Converts’ Chocolate Oat Squares

Possibly the most insanely peanut butter-packed, chewy, satisfying squares I have ever invented, filled with plenty of brown sugar, peanut butter, oats, and chocolate. Perfect for an afternoon snack or a surprise dessert!

Yield: 9×13-inch baking pan

Ingredients:

• 1 cup butter or margarine, softened
• 1 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup peanut butter (I used smooth)
• 2 eggs, room temperature
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 1/2 cups quick-cooking oats
• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips, divided in half
• Assorted chopped candies or nuts, optional (but a great way to use up those Halloween leftovers!)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9×13-inch baking pan and set aside.
2. In a large mixing bowl, cream together softened butter and brown sugar. Add peanut butter and mix in well, until smooth.
3. Beat in eggs and vanilla extract until mixture is no longer clumpy.
4. Add remaining dry ingredients (flour, oats, baking powder, and salt) and stir in until just incorporated. Be sure not to overmix–overmixing will result in tough batter and bars!
5. Gently fold half of the chocolate chips (3/4 cup) into the oats batter.
6. Place remaining 3/4 cup chocolate chips in a medium microwave-safe bowl. Melt chocolate in microwave in 30-second intervals, stirring vigorously between each interval to prevent chocolate from scorching. (Note: You will want to stop microwaving at the point when your chocolate is just melted–at this point, stir it vigorously some more until all of the chocolate is smooth and melted.)
7. Scoop half of the peanut butter oat mixture into your prepared baking pan and pat into an even layer. Pour melted chocolate over this layer, then scoop the remaining peanut butter mixture over the chocolate layer. Pat down peanut butter oats as well as you can–it’s okay if some chocolate peeks through! (It’s actually cuter this way.)
8. Bake bars in preheated oven for 25-30 minutes, until bars begin to set but are still soft and slightly underbaked in appearance. Remove bars immediately from oven and allow to cool on stovetop for an addition 15-20 minutes. During this time, your bars will continue baking for a nice chewy texture, and you will continue salivating while you stick your spoon into the peanut butter jar for yet another consoling bite.
9. After your bars have completely cooled, cut into squares and enjoy the bliss!

Chewy Brown Sugar Cookie Butter Graham Cracker Cookies

Recently, I took a two-week long trip back to school. It involved meetings with professors, tete-a-tetes with friends I hadn’t seen since the end of last term, and lots of sleepless nights. Maybe in CAPITAL LETTERS.

It was a wild, tiring, crazy trip, but the amazing thing about having so many friends is the incredible support they provide. Sometimes I seriously think they could put Wonderbra out of business…and at other times, I’m tempted to give in to the overwhelming desire for us all to just quit grad school together and start our own company called WonderBrowse, the book fanatic’s haven and bookshop. Serving up double-D-good lit and baked goods (because you know we’ve got to worm those in there somehow) since the 300th anniversary of Pride and Prejudice, 1st ed. (yes, that’s 1813!).

And the Queen of Digression strikes again.

Of course, I’ve never been one to stay in one place for long twiddling my fingers–I am most definitely a work-hard, play-hard kind of gal. And, well, thanks to my very good friends, this trip witnessed the epic collision of playing and working.

For example:

Reading Out of This Galaxy: Two English grad students poring over an epistemological novel on Space Mountain, Disneyland. Please note that the upside-down-ness of the book does not affect our ability to comprehend it–in fact, it actually augments our appreciation for the novel’s epistemological crisis. We even donned our hipster glasses.

STUDYING AT DISNEYLAND: One of my favorite parts about studying at Disneyland was that you get to sit in one spot for the entire day and watch the world of Disneyland whirl around you. Think about it–how many of us charge into Disneyland at 8 AM, hit up a Space Mountain fast pass first thing (the only way to do it), and then run clear across the park to Adventureland so you can make your way around the park clockwise and avoid most of the traffic that starts at Tomorrowland? (Yes, according to Chris Strodder, the author of the Disneyland Encyclopedia, most people do go through Disneyland counter-clockwise!)

Outside the Lines: We stayed at the fountain in Disney’s California Adventures reading for nearly four hours. During that time, we were winked and waved at by dozens of performers who kept coming back to the spot–one friendly worker even came over to inquire about what we were studying! A perfect moment in time and place.

SURPRISE, SURPRISE!: I also flew down to surprise my good friend for his birthday, which basically meant I spent the entire lead-up to the trip squirming like a ticklish inchworm because I couldn’t announce my visit to the world via social media, and I love plaguing my entire f-list with that sort of thing (speaking of which, you should check out Wallflour Girl’s new Facebook page!). But despite my near-implosion from secret-keeping, we ended up with a great surprise and, what’s more, a great homemade vegan chocolate raspberry cake that nearly melted because I lit the candles wayyy too early before my friend walked in the door:

A Sweet Surprise: Despite not having my own oven for the full two weeks, I was still able to get my bake on at least four times during the trip, including for my friend’s favorite dee-lish chocolate birthday cake!

CAMERAS, SUN, INACTION! Did I mention the day I spent with a friend reading at the beach and getting massages afterwards? We even stopped by an adorable place called Lenny’s Diner on our way back to his place for the night, and had the most amazing matzo ball soup.

Literary theory and beach bums.

Before I left for my trip, though, I made sure to step into my kitchen and whip up a batch of perfectly transportable, perfectly storable sweet treats for all of my hosts. These were probably the most popular cookies I have ever baked and distributed among my unsuspecting guinea p–I mean, my friends. And the best part is, it’s an original recipe!

The keys to a perfectly chewy cookie in this recipe are:

1. Cornstarch: Believe it or not, the addition of this strange ingredient prevents cookies from getting too crumbly or dry.

2. Underbaking: Allowing cookies to finish baking on the cookie sheet on the stovetop rather than in the oven keeps them nice & chewy!

3. Brown sugar and extra cookie butter: Using LOTS of brown sugar gives these cookies a great, soft caramelized texture and taste, while swirling in an extra generous dollop of cookie butter before baking keeps them gooey and chewy. You might even fold an extra spoonful of cookie butter into each cookie dough ball before baking, like I did with my Best Biscoff Chocolate Chip Cookies!

Whether you’re embarking on a long voyage like a Senior Wilderness Explorer (there is, by the way, a really fun story that I will save for next time’s post!) or simply looking for a simple way to leave your friends more impressed than an 18th-century English navy sailor, these perfectly chewy cookies are it. Print this!

Off to rest up–these two weeks really did take a toll on me. Whew! See you on the flip side of lucidity!

Have you checked out my Pinterest and Facebook pages yet? ❤

Chewy Brown Sugar Cookie Butter Graham Cracker Cookies

Adapted from my Best Biscoff Chocolate Chip Cookies and Best Chewy Biscoff Chocolate Chip Blondies recipes–check them out!

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup butter, softened to room temperature
• 1 1/4 cup cookie butter
• 1 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 1/4 cup flour
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• dash of nutmeg
• extra 1/3 c. cookie butter, melted
• 3/4 cup graham crackers, roughly chopped

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a cookie sheet and set aside.
2. In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter, 1 1/4 cup cookie butter, and both sugars.
3. Beat in egg, egg yolk, and vanilla, until well combined.
4. Add dry ingredients (flour, cornstarch, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg). Stir into wet ingredients until just incorporated to avoid dry or stiff cookies. Note: Your dough will be very crumbly at this point. Just keep working with it! If you have trouble holding it together, add a bit of margarine or butter in teaspoons until the dough comes together, but avoid adding too much or the taste of the recipe will change.
5. Gently fold in melted 1/3 cup cookie butter and chopped graham crackers. You’ll want to swirl gently in order to keep nice cookie butter ribbons in your cookie dough.
6. Roll dough into 1-inch balls and place them, evenly spaced, on prepared cookie sheet.
7. Bake in preheated oven for 8-10 minutes, until edges are set but centers are still nice, fluffy, and slightly gooey. Remove sheet from oven and place on stovetop so that the cookies continue to cook on baking pan for at least another 10 minutes. This last step is important, and will ensure that your cookies are both fully cooked and chewy!

Monday Morning Mocha ‘n Chocolate Cheesecakes

  I have been productive lately. That means a lot of productibaking, which means wading through a really, really big pile of reading. Check.

I also have another photo-story for all of you. Did you see my last one for the very best chewy Biscoff blondies? I don’t have too much time these days to write, but I still want to share my stories with all of you.

I don’t drink coffee or mocha, but I love coffee-flavored anything. And since caffeine and productivity are the order of the day, these mocha ‘n chocolate cheesecakes were born–perfect for your Monday morning. Or Tuesday. Or every any day of the week, really.

I hope you all enjoy, pin, share, and love these quaint coffee banners!  These creamy mini cheesecake smell like you’re sitting in the middle of your favorite hipster cafe with a cuppa fresh brew–you won’t even know the difference.

Which coffee saying describes you best?  (I’m definitely feeling the “productivity” one right now!)

OR What do you wake up to in the morning?

Don’t forget to pin/share/print/like! 🙂

Monday Morning Mocha ‘n Chocolate Cheesecakes

Yield: 12 mini cheesecakes

Ingredients:

• 1 (8 oz.) package cream cheese, softened
• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon Kahlua (or other coffee-flavored liqueur, or espresso or strong brewed coffee)
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 4 tablespoons instant coffee granules, divided and finely crushed
• 1 egg, room temperature
• 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with liners and set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, cream together cream cheese and white sugar until nice and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
3. In a separate small bowl, combine Kahlua and vanilla. Mix in 2 tablespoons coffee granules and stir until dissolved.
4. Add Kahlua mixture, egg, and remaining finely-crushed coffee granules to cream cheese mixture. Beat in until completely smooth.
5. Divide cheesecake batter equally between 12 tins.
6. In a microwave-safe bowl, heat chocolate chips at 20-second intervals, stirring rapidly between each interval until chocolate is melted and smooth. (Be careful not to overheat your chocolate–you will want to remove the bowl from microwave and stir when the chocolate is just beginning to turn melty.) Pour a dollop of chocolate into each filled cheesecake tin and swirl using a toothpick.
7. Bake in preheated oven for 12-15 minutes, until just set. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely before transferring to fridge. Allow to chill in fridge for at least one hour–or you can let it sit overnight and wake up the next morning to a perfectly “brewed” Monday morn mocha cheesecake!

Best Chewy Biscoff (Cookie Butter) Chocolate Chip Blondies

(Did you know: this is the 100th blog post to appear on Wallflourgirl–thanks to all my readers for helping make this possible!)

With love from,

Do you have a particularly special photograph that tells a story about a person, place, or event? Please share!

(Psst! Have you seen and liked my blog’s brand new Facebook page yet? Juuust checking.)

Have you seen my Biscoff Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe? It uses a similar dough and is the perfect cookie version of this recipe.

Best Chewy Biscoff (Cookie Butter) Chocolate Chip Blondies

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 heaping cup cookie butter (What is cookie butter?)
• 1 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1 egg, room temperature
• 1 egg yolk, room temperature
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3 1/2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/4 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9×13-inch baking pan and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream together softened butter and cookie butter spread. Add sugar and continue creaming until light & fluffy, about 2 minutes.
3. Beat in egg, egg yolk, and vanilla extract.
4. Add flour, baking soda, cinnamon (optional), and salt. Mix until just incorporated. Gently fold in chocolate chips.
5. Spread batter evenly into prepared baking pan.
6. Bake in preheated oven for 15-20 minutes, depending on your oven’s temperature. You will want to remove them from the oven while they still look soft and slightly underbaked–place baking pan on top of oven and allow blondies to cool. They will continue baking in the pan for that great, perfect chewy factor.

 

Peanut Butter & Cookie Butter Fudge Truffle Brownies

Think this recipe name is a mouthful?

Wait until you actually EAT one of these. Talk about one mouthful after another…and another…

So here’s a gif, since gifs need no words. (Note: I’ve noticed that the gif takes some time to load, so it may appear slow the first time you watch it–but just wait for the second loop, it should play just fine after that!)

Please. Don’t speak. Just print and share this recipe, pronto, kay?

These are insanely fudgy brownies. So. Fudgin’. Good.

Dump in peanut butter buckeye-style truffles, melted cookie butter swirls, a whole load of chocolate chips, annnnd…

Seriously, do I need to come over to your kitchen with a spatula and tell you to pin these, print these, share these with all of your friends and enemies?

Because I will.

You have been warned.

So FUDGIN’ good. Gifs do not lie, and neither do my taste buds. Go shove one (or two, or an entire pan of these) into your mouth right now.

Don’t forget to print, pin, and share away!

Peanut Butter & Cookie Butter Fudge Truffle Cookies

Adapted from Bakergirl

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup peanut butter (you may substitute cookie butter)
• 1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
• 1 1/2 cups butter or margarine
•  2 1/2 cups white sugar
• 1 1/2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon water (or you may substitute an equal amount of coffee or Kahlua)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 4 large eggs
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips or chunks
• 1/2 cup cookie butter

Directions:

1. Start by making your delicious peanut butter (OR cookie butter) truffles: Combine 1/2 cup peanut butter or cookie butter and confectioners’ sugar in a small bowl. Roll dough into 1/2-inch-sized balls and place them separately on a parchment paper-lined cookie sheet. Place in freezer for at least half an hour before baking, or until firm.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9×13-inch baking pan and set aside.
3. Melt butter in a microwave-safe bowl. (Alternatively, you may brown the butter by placing it in a saucepan over medium-low heat and allowing it to cook until it turns an amber brown, goldenish color. Just be careful to remove it from the heat when it reaches this stage–otherwise it will burn! Browning butter adds a wonderful nutty aromatic flavor to baked goods, and I highly recommend it.
4. Pour cooled butter into a large mixing bowl. Add sugar and cocoa powder; beat well until completely smooth. (The mixture should not be gritty at all.) Add salt, water (or coffee, or Kahlua–YUM), and vanilla, and mix until combined. Beat in eggs one at a time, then add flour and mix in until just combined. Gently fold in chocolate chips.
5. Pour batter into prepared pan. Press in frozen peanut butter (or cookie butter) truffle balls.
6. Place 1/2 cup cookie butter into a microwave-safe bowl and heat for about 15 seconds, or until melted. Drop by dollops into brownie batter and swirl a knife through to create a marble pattern.
7. Bake in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in center comes out pretty much clean. Remove from oven and allow to cool in pan before cutting brownies into squares.
8. Serve, and fudgin’ enjoy!

Creamy Dreamy Oreo Cheesecake Swirl Cookies

Hang on. Let’s talk about dreamy for a minute.

The best thing about being a single gal is that you get to dream about dreamy all day long. That new Star Trek movie with Chris Pine? Saw it. That album cover with Hunter Hayes? Downloaded it. Google searches of a young Michael Vartan? Did it. Multiple times.

     

But these cookies? Creamy AND dreamy. I mean, seriously. Because they’re filled with cream cheese, creamy Oreos, and–yes, you guessed it, more cream cheese. Cheesecake swirls, to be exact. And that incredibly soft, puffy height!

Sorry, Hunter babe.

 

Granted, the only men I get to think about these days are William Wordsworth and occasionally the studly Lord Byron. As you can probably tell from the stack of critical texts that made it into my photoshoot today. I’ve basically read 5 critical texts in about a week, along with most of Don Juan.

Sexy. Yeahhh. (In Lord Byron’s case, I’m not kidding, either.)

Fortunately, you don’t need to be amorously engaged to whirl up a batch of these cheesecake-swirled, unbelievably dreamy Oreo cookies. And that’s exactly what I did. Beating the eggs while reading about Byron’s sex-capades.

Sorry. It’s been a long last few days.

Love the dreaminess? Print this!

Creamy Dreamy Oreo Cheesecake Swirl Cookies

Slightly adapted from the lovely Sally’s Baking Addiction

Ingredients:

• 10 tbsp butter or margarine, softened
• 5 heaping tbsp full-fat cream cheese, softened, divided*
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar + 3 tbsp white sugar, divided
• 1 large egg, room temperature
• 2 tsp vanilla extract + 1/2 tsp vanilla extract, divided
• 2 cups 2 tablespoons flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 15 crushed Oreos

* Note: Please make sure you use FULL-FAT cream cheese! As Sally points out, you’re subbing butter fats with cream cheese, so reduced-fat will not work in this recipe.

Directions:

1. Cream together butter, 2 heaping tbsp cream cheese, and sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla extract. Add flour and baking soda; mix until just incorporated. Fold in crushed Oreos,
2. To make cheesecake swirl: In a small bowl, combine remaining 3 tbsp cream cheese, 3 tbsp white sugar, and 1/2 tsp vanilla. Gently drop blobs of remaining cream cheese swirl throughout batter and swirl in (make sure you don’t overmix, otherwise you won’t have any swirls left!).
3. Chill dough in fridge for at least one hour (and up to 5 days) before baking.
4. 30 minutes before baking, preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Lightly grease cookie sheet and set aside.
5. Roll cookies into balls about the size of a golf ball (you can make them bigger or smaller as preferred, but make sure you make them nice and tall so they get that lovely height!). Place on prepared cookie sheet and bake in preheated oven for 8-10 minutes. Remove cookies from oven and allow to cool on baking sheet. The centers should appear soft, puffy, creamy, and dreamy 🙂

Summer Lemon Blueberry Cupcakes with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

Am I the only one who not only does not want autumn to come, but would happily embrace summer (and all its fruity, sunshiney glory) the whole year round?

If you’re following other food blogs, you’ve probably seen hints of pumpkin and warm cinnamon spices creeping slowly but steadily into recipes in recent weeks. I mean, I’m all about individual choice and stuff, but here, at least…

NO WAY. And more summer please.

Hence these prototypically summery lemon blueberry cupcakes during the last week of August. Because I’m a summer rebel and I’m trying going to convert y’all with these, too.

I love summer berries and all of nature’s sweet fruit,and I firmly believe that they appear between the months of May and August (or even longer, if you’re lucky like me!) for a reason. Summer is the best seasons, so let’s not quibble.

Don’t get me wrong–I love fall. But I am the kind of girl who either likes seasons and holidays when they’re supposed to come (i.e. no Christmas music in November, please), or writes a pumpkin dessert post in the middle of April because heck, nobody else is doing it. And if I want pumpkin in springy April, I’m going to make it. I’m sure I’m not the only person on the planet who has completely atemporal taste buds.

But that whole summer-is-ending-and-hooray-for-fall-thing? Again, personal preference–but I’m not buying it.

So you get lemon. And blueberry. And REALLY GREAT MOIST CUPCAKES.

You will become a summer re-convert, I promise.

Aside from the obvious perks, another reason why I love summer is because it allows me to do proper photoshoots in summer lighting. 

If you’ve seen my last few posts, you may have noticed less props and way, way less photo prep. As a result, I haven’t been able to submit a lot of my photos to Foodgawker and Tastespotter like I usually do, which makes me a little sad. This is because by the time I get home from work and finish my study quota for the day, the daylight has usually faded and the result is lots of crappy photos shot under our kind of anti-photo florescent kitchen lights.

So basically, sunlight rocks. Although so would having a pair of literarily-inclined elves who could do my reading for me. That would also rock very much.

After reading through nearly ten consecutive pumpkin posts on other blogs, I finally ran home from work on Friday and sat down to photograph these cupcakes. They look yummy, don’t they? Trust me, they taste even better.

(On My Kitchen Table:  Assorted poems by Romantic authors such as Blake, Wordsworth, Coleridge, and–most recently–Lord Byron. Don Juan is longer than my mom’s rants, period. Somebody get me a cupcake and a massive paper shredder, please.)  

So what do you think: is it time for summer, or fall?

Love,

The Weekend Potluck

Market Yourself Mondays

Summery Lemon Blueberry Cupcakes with Lemony Frosting

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup butter or margarine, room temperature
• 1 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons lemon zest (I used the zest from one HUGE lemon)
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 tablespoons (or more) lemon juice, depending on taste
• 1/3 cup fresh blueberries

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Cream together butter and sugar until light & fluffy, about 3 minutes with vigorous beating by hand.
3. Beat in eggs and vanilla extract.
4. Mix in flour, baking powder, and salt until just incorporated.
5. Add lemon zest, milk, and lemon juice. Stir in slowly until well combined (note: make sure not to stir vigorously, though–doing so will toughen up the gluten and create a much tougher cupcake).

Fold in fresh blueberries.

1. Line muffin tin with 12 cupcake liners and fill each liner 3/4 way with batter. Bake in preheated oven for 18-20 minutes, until toothpick comes out clean. Meanwhile, make lemon frosting (recipe below).
2. Remove from oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool. Cool completely before frosting; top with blueberries. Then sit back, take a bite, and enjoy your gorgeous summer!

Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 (8 oz.) package cream cheese, room temperature
• 1/4 cup butter or margarine, room temperature
• 1 cup confectioner’s sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1-2 tablespoons lemon juice, as needed

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl, beat together cream cheese and butter until fluffy. Mix in sugar (you may need more or less, as desired). Gradually add vanilla and lemon juice, stirring until you reach the desired consistency. You may not need all of the lemon juice. Frost your cupcakes and delight your summer guests!

Soft, Chewy Graham Cracker Chocolate Chip Cookies

The results are in!

The results for my birthday/FB page giveaway last week, of course. Annnnd…

Congrats to our two lucky winners, Crystall and Crescent!! 🙂

(Want to follow Wallflour Girl on Facebook for more fun giveaway & recipe updates? You know you do! Don’t forget to follow me on Pinterest as well!)

The lucky pair will receive a homebaked batch of sweet goodies, straight from my kitchen to theirs ❤ Congratulations again, girls!

Things have been so busy lately, from finishing up outside work to trying really hard to finish up at least one set of readings for my qualifying exams this fall. Finding time to sit down and do a proper photoshoot after I get home in the evenings is like trying to convince a five-year old that celery sticks taste better than these really, really amazingly soft and chewy graham cracker chocolate chip cookies…

Yeah. Good luck with that one.

(On my kitchen table: Adeline Mowbray, by Amelia Opie–actually, I’ll be honest. This was from sometime last month! Since then, I’ve read quite a few other books and long collections of poems, but I’ll have to post as it comes.)

If you’re looking for the softest imaginable chocolate chip cookies, the crushed graham crackers in this recipe are absolutely heavenly and add a great flair to your traditional CCC’s. Don’t wait–print this now!

Yours in semi-sane solidarity,

Soft, Chewy Graham Cracker Chocolate Chip Cookies

Recipe adapted from Bakergirl

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup margarine, room temperature
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 1/4 crushed graham cracker crumbs
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Lightly grease cookie sheet and set aside. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In a large bowl, cream margarine and both sugars until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
3. Beat in egg and vanilla.
4. Add flour, graham cracker crumbs, salt, baking soda, and cinnamon. Stir in until just combined.
5. Fold in chocolate chips.
6. Roll into rounded tablespoonfuls and place on prepared cookie sheet.
7. Bake in preheated oven for 8-10 minutes, until lightly golden in color. Remove from oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes on cookie sheet before transferring to wire rack (or consuming them right then!).

 

Kahlua Espresso Cookies and a Special (Birthday) Giveaway on Facebook!

So before I get to these amazing boozed-up birthday cookies, I have an exciting announcement to make. No, Trader Joe’s didn’t sell me the rights to their amazing cookie butter, but it’s nearly as good.

 I’m celebrating my birthday this year with the launch of my very own Facebook page AND MY FIRST GIVEAWAY! (Read on for details, mateys.)

With my blog’s Pinterest board racking up some major repins these days (check it out!), it felt like the vine-ripened time for a Facebook page where I can keep ALL of my readers connected. You can explore the brand new page here.

More importantly: Have you seen a photo on my blog (or any other food blog!) and wanted to take a huge bite–right out of your screen?

If so, today is your lucky day! As a bonus celebration, I will be running a From My Kitchen To Yours Giveaway, where you will have the chance to win one of TWO packages of fresh baked goodies straight from my at-home bakery–just like you see here!

Because please: tell me we’re looking at the same photos here. You know you’ll want to get in on this.

HOW TO ENTER THIS FACEBOOK GIVEAWAY:

1.  Log into your Facebook account. Visit my brand new shiny Facebook page and click “Like.”

2. Leave a comment on the most recent post titled “GIVEAWAY” with your favorite type of dessert.

That’s it. You’re entered to win! 

Giveaway details: One entry per Facebook user. Must have a valid, active Facebook account with messaging-capabilities to enter. 2 winners will be selected using an online third-party random selection generator. Winner will receive one small-size flat rate USPS standard box of fresh baked goods. Participants must live within the continental U.S. and be willing to provide a valid mailing address. Giveaway ends on Sunday, August 18th at 11:59 PM. Winners have 7 days from the time they receive notice of their win to respond; otherwise, another winner will be selected. Note: Fresh baked goods that accommodate your specific dietary needs will be included in the giveaway. However, as with any perishable and homemade food product, please keep in mind that I cannot be held responsible for any unspecified food-related allergies, illnesses, and/or other consequences that may occur as a result of this giveaway. Not that we anticipate any problems 🙂 

(On My Kitchen Table: The Last Man, by Mary Shelley.)

This is my first giveaway and I’m very excited to see all of the familiar–and new–faces over on Facebook! I’m still keeping my fingers crossed that technology doesn’t get the best of me since it is my first time…but we should be fine. 😉 For those of you who don’t use Facebook–sorry, this is a Facebook giveaway. However, look out for similar giveaways related to this blog soon. And of course, don’t forget to tell your friends (hey, if THEY win, you still get a share of the profits, right?)!

See you on the dark–er, Facebook side. (We do have cookies!)

Kahlua Espresso Cookies

Adapted from Recipegirl (Have you heard of her? She’s great!)

Ingredients:

• 2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 tablespoon espresso powder (OR up to 2-3 tbsp instant coffee granules)
• 1 tablespoon Kahlua
• 1 cup butter or margarine, room temperature
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted and cooled
• 1 (12 ounce) package semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a cookie sheet and set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, mix together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Set aside.
3. Dissolve espresso or coffee granules in Kahlua in a small bowl. Set aside.
4. In a large bowl, cream butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until creamy and fluffy, approximately 3 minutes. Beat in eggs, vanilla, and Kahlua mixture (you may sub MORE Kahlua for vanilla extract if you want a stronger Kahlua flavor). Stir in melted chocolate. Mix in flour mixture until just incorporated. Fold in chocolate chips.
5. Drop by rounded tablespoons onto prepared cookie sheet and bake in preheated oven for 8-10 minutes, until just set. Remove from oven and allow to cool on cookie sheet for at least 10 minutes (the cookies will continue to cook during this stage). Transfer cookies to wire rack and allow to cool completely.

Don’t forget to enter the giveaway on Facebook!

 

Cookie Butter Snickerdoodle Thumbprints

For those of you who have been following my recent “adventures” (or lack thereof), you’ll know that I’ve been dabbling in the cool–and more than a little creepy–world of marketing.

The first thing I learned was to frontload important things. For example: I’m considering making a Facebook page for my blog and need your feedback!

So if you could take the 10 seconds it takes to click a few buttons for my “What would you like to see on my blog/Facebook page” poll at the bottom of this entry (right before the recipe for these deliciously unique cookies), I would really, really appreciate it.

THANK YOU!

Moving on…

Most of you are probably aware that every make you move on the internet is more closely tracked, watched, and targeted than the white whale from Moby Dick. You’re not in the Stone Age if you don’t use technology–you’re in the Stone Age if you think that privacy actually exists on the internet.

For instance: You know those mass emails you get from department stores or other businesses with the annoying tagline, “Click here if images do not display”? Now, if you are like me, I used to think this was just another weird mystery from the dark nebula of Internet Enigmas that I never managed to figure out.

Not so.

I don’t know all the specific details, and I’m sure you can Google this yourself, but apparently many email tracking programs require a pixel to be fired before they can gather your location and other information. 
So the instant you click that innocuous-looking little link, a pixel will fire from your specific address, allowing the tracker to log what device you’re using, your global coordinates, and a whole slew of other stuff about you that you didn’t even know you were doling out.

So….is it restraining order time or what?

(On my kitchen table: The Adventures of Caleb Williams, by William Godwin, father of Mary Shelley and husband of Mary Wollstonecraft. This novel is considered one of the first modern mystery novels.)

The bad news is that there isn’t much you can do about it, except be more wary when you click to random links from emails and stuff. It’s similar to that annoying function Facebook now uses to show other people when you’ve read their messages. I mean, what if I just want to sit there and ponder my response without somebody messaging me 5 seconds later to say, “So I saw that you saw my post–well?”

 The good news is that you can use the very technology marketing companies use to track and stalk other people. Er, I don’t condone this technology. At all. No sirree.

Anyway, this is one of the many things I’m doing these days besides studying and productibaking. Right now, I believe I’m something like four books ahead of my baking.

Oops. Or do I mean yay?

The lucky thing is that when I do bake these days, all of my baked goods turn out, really, really good and really, really special–like these most amazing COOKIE BUTTER SNICKERDOODLE THUMBPRINTS.

Because let’s be honest: What goes better with cinnamon sugar cookies than cinnamony crushed ginger cookies, stuffed with more cookie butter, and topped with even more cookie butter?

Yeah. That’s what I thought.

Enjoy the recipe below–and please don’t forget to take this quick poll about what you’d like to see on my Facebook page!

 

Cookie Butter Snickerdoodle Thumbprints

Note: Oops! I made an error the first time ’round and accidentally posted another recipe I had used. While that one’s also great, this is the one I actually used for these unique cookies. Enjoy!

Original Recipe from gimmesomeoven–yum!

Ingredients: 

• 1/2 cup butter or margarine, room temperature
• 3/4 cup cookie butter (creamy or crunchy–whichever you have on hand)
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• For rolling: 1/2 cup white sugar, 3-4 tablespoons ground cinnamon

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a cookie sheet and set aside.
2. In a large mixing bowl, beat together 1/2 cup margarine, 3/4 cup cookie butter, 1/3 cup white sugar, and 1/3 cup brown sugar until light and fluffy (about 3-4 minutes). Beat in egg and vanilla, then add in dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, and salt) and stir until just combined.
3. In a small bowl, combine 1/2 cup white sugar and 3-4 tablespoons cinnamon (more or less according to your own preference–I like more!). Roll dough into 1-inch balls and roll in cinnamon-sugar until generously coated. Place balls about 1 1/2 inches apart on prepared cookie sheet. (Note: The cookies won’t spread much, so you can place them closer together if you want to fit more cookies on one tray.)
4. Bake cookies in preheated oven for 8-10 minutes, until golden brown. Remove from oven and immediately press the back of a spoon lightly into the top of each cookie so that it becomes flat. Spoon approximately 2-3 teaspoons of cookie butter onto the top of each indented cookie. If you’re hankering for another topping (and I’m not sure why you would be, but just in case), you can spoon basically any other type of nut butter or chocolate on top of each cookie.
5. While you’re waiting for them to cool, don’t forget to take my quick poll above. Thanks, and enjoy!