It's officially 95° degrees outside! All my hopes of having record lows of under 80 temps all summer long, are now dashed with an even hotter forecast in the upcoming week. And what am I doing right now?
Heating up my darn apartment, making cookies!
Why? To fill up some more space on this blog of course! Hopefully, someone will come along, and find something interesting to refer others to. Because if they don't, I just slaved over a hot oven for nothing!
These cookies are GREAT! They're buttery. They're sweet. And they make your home smell like you actually did something while your husband was at work. (Although mine probably won't appreciate the fact that our place is now a few degrees hotter than it actually is outside now. Oh well...) But I like making them, because they are quick (as in everything is already in the Bisquick-- making it a one bowl/ one measuring cup mess (which I can totally deal with).
Buttermilk Candy Chip Cookies (A Variation On What's Probably Already Out There)
Prep time: about 10 minutes Yield: About 2 1/2-3 dozen cookies
Level: So easy!
- 1/2 cup (a stick) of cold butter (As I'm making these, I am trying Golden Soft margarine for the first time, and they are looking really good coming out of the oven!)
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 2 Cups Reduced-Fat Bisquick
- 1/2 cups walnuts (optional)
- 1-2 cups candy chips (depending on how much your wisdom tooth is killing you at the moment--white chocolate, milk chocolate, m&m's, etc.)
- Parchment paper (I totally recommend this! It's a nonstick dream!)
Drop by teaspoonfulls (I got one of those ice cream scoopers, because it's a lot easier), onto a parchment paper-lined, or ungreased cookie sheet.
Bake 10 minutes or until lightly browned. (Best bet-- use a pointed pie spatula (over a squared one), to gently nudge the cookies onto a cooling rack.) And enjoy!
Toasted Cheese With A Little Protein
- 2 slices of sourdough bread (or more, if you have more kids or want one for yourself)
- I Can't Believe It's Not Butter Spray (because it's easy and fat-free)
- Sliced deli meat (such as turkey, roast beef, etc.), torn into pieces
- Parmesan Cheese
- 1 (or more) slices of Swiss, Provolone, or whatever
- Condiments (if your child's pallet is up to it) like honey mustard, etc.
This tends to throw the extra oomph of protein in my daughter's diet, so that she doesn't appear to be as malnourished as her little ribs seem to make her as. (She just has this insanely fast metabolism that is not at all from my side of the family, and has me totally jealous!) But add crackers or carrot sticks, and you have something that is quick and satisfying!
Amazingly Easy Low-Fat Cinnamon Rolls
Lucky for me, I was not born with the metabolism of my 5-year old daughter and husband. I cannot scarf down half a cheesecake, jump on the sofa for ten minutes, and then look in the mirror, suck in my gut, and have my ribs stick out like Skeletor.
After seeing the label on Pillsbury Cinnamon Rolls (and saying "HELL NO" when I saw Cinnabon's nutrition thing on their website), I decided to improvise on some of my own. I can't plaster butter on a slab of dough with a clear conscience-- or arteries at that matter. So after experimenting with some I Can't Believe It's Not Butter Spray, I came up with this. (And from what I've been able to come up with, they come in at 1.5g's of fat for each one, although it might be one or two more, depending on their size.)
And for those of you who don't bake, they are sooooooo easy to make! If you don't have a pastry mat (or have one-- but just don't want to go through having to clean it up afterward), just tape some parchment paper on the countertop, and flour the surface with it. When you're done, all you have to do is wad the paper up and throw it away. Plus, it's just a one-bowl recipe, so it's even less of a mess to clean up!)
Kimberley's Amazingly Easy Low-Fat Cinnamon Rolls
1. In a bowl, combine Reduced Fat Bisquick baking mix, with fat-free milk. Get a dough forming; not too thick, and not too sticky.
2. Roll out into a rectangle shape on a Bisquick dusted surface.
3. Instead of butter, spread I Can't Believe It's Not Butter SPRAY on the entire surface of the dough. Sprinkle as much as you want of the cinnamon and sugar, until it is covered.
4. Roll up, slice, and place into baking dish at 400°F for about 15 minutes, making sure the center rolls aren't gooey. (And if you don't have a baking dish, putting them out on a cookie sheet will do as well. (Line it with parchment paper, and you won't even have to dirty the pan!)
5. In a ziploc (I recommed ziploc, because if you are having your kiddo help, it prevents a major mess of frosting dropping onto your floor out of the other end, followed by an "oops! I'm sorry"), load your frosting in one corner. Grabbing the ziploc like a pastry bag, make a small snip in the corner, and swirl the frosting all over the rolls as desired.
You can also add raisins into the sugar cinnamon mixture, as well as frozen raspberries, etc., pictured below. But since I have a really finicky 5-year old, she likes them just made with the cinnamon, because any extras such as fruit, would make them too "healthy" for her, gawd forbid! :)
