Tag: recipe ♥

recipes

oatmeal butterscotch cookies ♥

Raising up Rubies2 Comments
how are you all holding up during this crazy time?
we’re spending lots of time in the kitchen baking all the things and trying lots of new recipes
it’s been a bit of a strange feeling for all of us – my oldest was at the tail end of her senior year and we found out yesterday that the remainder of the school year here in upstate NY has been cancelled – along with senior trip, ball, exams & their graduation ceremony 😦
my youngest was in 8th grade, the last year of middle school here, her trip to Washington DC was also cancelled and her 8th grade formal, for which she had already picked out a dress (tear)


so even though all of that is disappointing – God is still good.
we’ve been using this extra time to do all the things we never seemed to have the time to do… crafts, water-coloring, watching lots of movies and doing projects around the house, actually my husband & my dad decided to finish our basement
no big deal.

if you’ve followed along here for a while you know my hubby loves cookies
cookies are actually the reason we met ♥
but that story is in a post somewhere if you scroll back ….
my dad also loves cookies.
my father-in-law too.
so i’ve been keeping the guys fueled up with plenty of cookies while they work on the house … 
butter, sugar & eggs are on repeat on the grocery list over here 

all three of them love these oatmeal butterscotch cookies – they’re definitely a favorite!
i’ve always made the toll house recipe on the butterscotch chip bag, but lately i’ve noticed that the cookies were coming out of the oven realllllly flat … and crunchy 😦
around here we all love a perfectly soft/done cookie with a bit of height and golden bottoms 🙂


with a little modification to the dry ingredients – i think i’ve finally got this recipe right where i want it – i upped the flour ratio and lowered the oats – i love the flecks of cinnamon in these cookies but if you’re not a fan of cinnamon you can leave it out, it won’t affect the recipe.

click here to save and print the recipe – then add to your recipe book ♥
make sure you don’t over bake these – they will continue to bake for a few minutes after you take them out of the oven so when you open the door and are trying to figure out if they are done or not? if they’re golden all around and *mostly* in the middle – they’re done. 

i’m also in the process of tearing apart my pantry so that i can move all of the baking ingredients down into this baking area cupboard in my kitchen – it makes life so much easier to just reach down and scoop instead of carrying all these containers back and forth to the pantry – i’m not sure why i haven’t done this sooner? #gamechanger i’ll come back here and talk about it in more detail when i’ve finished putting everything together 🙂 
it’s the little things friends.

a few weeks ago our trusty red kenmore toaster oven died on us – and it was then that we realized how much we use and depend on a toaster oven … i hopped online and this cuisinart popped up as one of the best rated, plus it’s a combination air fryer … so far we really like it.
and let’s be honest – i was sold as soon as i saw that it came in white 🙂


we also took some time this morning to decorate our front door for my daughter while she was at work – i got the idea from a friend who’s daughter is also a senior at the same high school – was a fun way to encourage & make her feel special ♥ so that’s what’s been going on around here these past few -strange but in a lot of ways nice and also peaceful- weeks …


i hope you enjoy these cookies as much as we do!
and if you make them tell me how it went in the comments – i love hearing from you all!
much love & sending hugs ♥

recipes

old-fashioned apple cake ♥

Raising up Rubies4 Comments

3 blog posts in 2 weeks? who am i? 🙂
so i posted about this old-fashioned apple cake on instagram two years ago and so many of you made and loved the recipe – it prompted me to do a little digging because the recipe i had was good, but something seemed a little different from what i remembered… i’ve been making this cake with my mom since i was a teenager, but we hadn’t made it for many years when i came across the recipe in my old cookbook


i followed that recipe exactly and shared it on instagram at that time – since then i’ve been talking about it with my mom and her sisters – the recipe came from their sister in law who has since passed away but my aunt found her original recipe card and we realized that the copy i had – had probably been copied so many times or the recipe was cut in half  – so basically it was still very similar to the origianl but not really the right recipe if that makes sense


after making it a few times since then, and evaluating it with them 🙂 we got it down to the original ingredients and method that we remembered it to be ♥ the cake is moist and so good + the cinnamon sugar on top gives it that yummy crunch – i recently took the cake on a visit with me to my aunt’s house with all of us there and this version got a thumbs up from everyone – especially my daughter jayla ♥ 


so we’re passing this cake down to the next generation and i’ve printed a copy for both of my girls’ cookbooks – i have binders for each of them filled with our family favorites and that i add to whenever we try somthing new that we decide is a keeper – i’ll try to do a blog post on that sometime with more info and pictures




i made a cute printable recipe sheet for you to print out at home – fit it into a 8.5×11 recipe binder with a plastic sleeve or resize it to fit a 5×8 binder, which is what my recipes are in here pictured below – these binders were project life recipe binders that i believe are no longer in print but any 5×8 binder will work with plastic inserts from an office supply store



click here to print recipe!

 take note that in this new revised recipe i used an angel food pan like this one – with a higher & thicker cake, this pan comes apart in the middle making cake removal very easy – just make sure to grease & flour both pieces as i mentioned in the instructions – don’t skip that part!

♥ ♥ ♥

now… and i hope i haven’t lost you yet … but the original recipe i shared from 2018 (pictured below) was made in a bundt pan like this one, is close to half of the size of the revised recipe and is pictured here with step by step pictures and the recipe from my cookbook – it’s reminds me more of an apple danish (because of less batter) but is just as delicious!



click here to print the previous bundt pan recipe


make either version of my family recipe and you won’t be disappointed – they’re both so yummy… and thanks for following along with me on this one! it’s caused me to really think about how we document our family information/memories/stories and about how we pass information down to the next generation – i’m sure so much gets lost in translation! i think that’s why it’s SO important to write down as much as we can and ALSO to get into the kitchen with our kids and show them how we cook/bake these recipes so that they have first hand knowledge of how their family traditions are carried on! showing them face to face (mixer to mixer 🙂 what was taught to the generation before them ♥
(me & my aunt 1999 ish)
(jayla & my aunt this last Christmas)
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heart shaped sugar cookies ♥

Raising up RubiesLeave a comment

Valentines Day has always been my favorite holiday – i think it’s all the hearts, sprinkles, and pink stuff that’s on everything 🙂 so when it comes to making heart cookies i always get excited … maybe about eating them as much as making them ♥



make a batch of these cookies for your family or to put into cute bags/containers
 to give to friends or neighbors – i promise they will love them!


this roll out cookie dough recipe has been my go-to recipe for twenty years 
um. wow. that makes me feel really old
 anywayssss…… this recipe has never failed me! the cookies are soft, buttery 
and at the perfect thickness when rolled out to a quarter inch

but the real game changer was when i learned to roll the dough out onto parchment paper first 
(light bulb moment) and THEN chill it in the fridge right on the cookie sheets! 
it makes so much more sense than chilling the dough in a big lump then trying to handle and roll it out when it’s too cold to work with anyways right? 


i always double this recipe, plus i use extra large cookie sheets for a larger rolling surface for the dough and for more cookie space when baking – this rolled chilled dough bakes up so nicely and the cookie shape holds perfectly


for the simple icing i combine 2-3 cups of powdered sugar with a few tablespoons of milk – just add slowly until it reaches desired consistency & add a few drops of red food coloring for pink frosting – spoon the icing into a ziploc bag and cut off a small tip from one of the corners – pipe in a zigzag pattern and sprinkle with nonpareils right away before it sets. SO GOOD.


get the recipe here, print and add it to your recipe box
i hope you love them & happy Valentines Day friends ♥ 

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our favorite chocolate chip cookies

Raising up Rubies2 Comments
it’s national chocolate chip cookie day &
i couldn’t let this day pass without sharing our favorite chocolate chip recipe!!
I’ve tried so many recipes over the years and have had many favorites along the way …
but this tried & true recipe (that I’ve adapted & tweaked just a tiny bit) from a bountiful kitchen has stuck with us for a few years now and is on speed dial in my recipe book 🙂

my husband and I met in college, we actually started talking because one day in class i was telling my girlfriend about a care package i had received from home that contained cookies (up until that day he was only known to me as the cute guy who sat in front of me in Bible class) his head spun right around when he heard ‘chocolate chip cookies’ … the rest is history ♥

we’re celebrating our 20th anniversary this summer and the guy still loves his chocolate chip cookies … even at Christmas time that’s his primary request.
 we sound something like this:
me: babe gonna make Christmas cookies this week
babe: oh ok, chocolate chip right? and oatmeal butterscotch?
me: no. babe those are regular during the year cookies
i’m making Christmas cookies now…
babe: oh ok. whatever. 
sooooo can you make chocolate chip for me. for Christmas. 
you know cause that’s what me and all the guys in the office like. 
oh and we like sugar cookies too. with no sprinkles. please.
me: no sprinkles = blasphemy
but ok babe. sure.
🙂

a few things i always do when i make these and pretty much any other cookie recipe …
1. i ALWAYS use parchment paper – it makes for a more evenly baked cookie 
and prevents sticking, it’s magic.
2. i ALWAYS use a cookie scoop – i mean i don’t even know what people did before the cookie scoop. 
it makes for less mess, uniform cookies & is pretty much an overall game changer.
3. for this recipe i use bread flour instead of regular flour – this substitution really happened by accident one night when i ran out of flour and only had bread flour on hand, i used it since i was in a pinch and it turned out to be the best accident ever! since the bread flour has a higher, more dense gluten composition, it makes for the PERFECT cookie – soft & chewy in the middle, slightly crispy on the outer edges … YUM.
4. i ALWAYS use milk chocolate chips – it’s really whatever your chocolate preference is, but if you like semi-sweet or dark … i’m not sure what your problem is.
🙂
if you make these cookies, pop into the comments below & let me know!
i’m pretty sure you’re going to have this recipe saved to your favorites too.
oh! and if peanut butter is your jam – this is my go-to peanut butter chocolate chip cookie recipe!
these are MY personal favorite ♥
the recipe page i created from Si’s recipe with my minimal changes can be downloaded  below
again, to read her original recipe you can find it here.  print this page for your recipe binders & books and pop it into a clear plastic sleeve – enjoy!
download page 1 here
download page 2 here

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drop sugar cookies ♥

Raising up Rubies1 Comment
just popping in to share a favorite cookie recipe 😉
school starts tomorrow so there’s lots to do, but over the weekend i filled the cookie jar with
these cookies that we found on pinterest a few years ago…
they’ve been a family favorite ever since!

these cookies are so soft and yummy AND easy to make as far as sugar cookies go … i mean don’t get me wrong, we love us some basic roll em out frost & sprinkle take all day and a half to make sugar cookies – but when it’s not Christmas and you’re just in the mood for a basic sugar cookie without all the fuss – this is it.


add a little frosting and pop these in the cookie jar for the week! 
they won’t last long i promise 🙂

download my recipe page here!

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game day chex mix ♥

Raising up Rubies3 Comments

With sports season in full swing, we’re at so many games during the week – between field hockey and volleyball – it seems like we’re forever looking for game time munchies to hold us over till we get home to dinner…


My girls & I made this fall snack mix a few weeks ago and it was really good –
we found the recipe here and adapted it just a little bit 


we had trouble finding the caramel bugels that the recipe called for 
so we used regular ones and doubled the brown sugar topping instead


mix the chex, pretzels & bugels all together in a really big bowl
spread it all out on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper


mix the melted butter, vanilla, brown sugar & pumpkin pie spice 


pour the topping over the dry mix and bake!
add candy after it’s cooled – as much or as little as your heart desires ♥




put your snack mix in a cookie jar, add a cute scoop and enjoy! 






we munched on it the whole week and took snack bags full with us to enjoy with a cup of hot chocolate at all the outdoor games 🙂


Enjoy!

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Game day chex mix ♥
by Jaime Favor October-9-2017
Ingredients
  • 4 cups Honey Nut Chex cereal
  • 1 bag original flavor Bugels
  • 2 cups pretzels
  • 1/2 cup butter
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 2 tbsp pumpkin pie spice
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1 cup peanut m&m’s
  • 1 cup caramel m&m’s
  • 1 cup candy corn
  • 1 cup candy corn pumpkins
Instructions
1. Combine dry ingredients (cereal, Bugels & pretzels) in a large mixing bowl, set aside.2. In a medium glass measuring cup melt butter in microwave, add brown sugar, vanilla & pumpkin pie spice, stir together.
3. Pour butter mixture over dry mix, stir to coat well.
4. On a large baking sheet lined with parchment paper spread mixture out in a single layer
5. Bake at 275 for 45 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes.
6. Let cool completely, sprinkle with candy and store in a pretty glass container on your container – add a measuring cup or scoop for easy snacking 🙂
Details

Prep time: Cook time: Total time: Yield: 10 cups

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Amish Sugar Cookies

Raising up Rubies3 Comments

it’s no secret around here that i loooooove cookies
i mean put a slice a cake in front of me and i’m like no thank you.
donuts are good, but i’m partial (like religiously partial) to Krispy Kreme
and since there’s no KK here in upstate … well then there’s not too much donut consumption happening 😦 but cookies … give me cookies everyday anyday and i’m so happy 
like really happy – weirdly happy 🙂
i digress alot

scrolling the insta last week and stopped dead in my tracks for these


there’s so many good things about taste of home so i’m always inclined to try their recipes
and man these did not disappoint! they were so good we made a double batch


and then we made them again


the second time around i realized we were out of cream of tartar – and after a little research on the world wide web i learned that baking powder is a combination of cream of tartar and baking soda (how did we ever live without google?) so i substituted the baking soda and cream of tartar with 2 teaspoons of baking powder and we actually liked that batch better than the first! a very slight difference really but lotsa cookie experts over here at out house so we can tell these things 🙂


these bake up so light and fluffy, they practically melt in your mouth if you eat them after a few minutes out of the oven … two things i always do when baking cookies: 1.use parchment paper ALWAYS. it just makes for better cookie bottoms & 2. use a cookie scoop ALWAYS it makes for perfectly shaped cookies and all uniform in shape & size. both of those items are #gamechangers trust me.


this batch was going in a glass cookie jar from walmart
and over to a friends new house that she just moved in to ♥


cut some ribbon from my stash and wrote home sweet home on a paint swatch





it’s always the simple little things that we have laying around
that make the best unexpected gifts dont you think? 




make these cookies guys! i know you will love them as much as we do
much love ♥

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Amish Sugar Cookies
by Jaime Favor July-31-2017
(adapted from Taste of Home.com)
Ingredients
  • 1 cup softened butter
  • 1 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 4 1/2 cups all purpose flour
  • 2 teaspons baking powder
Instructions
– With the paddle attachment of an electric mixer cream butter, oil and sugars– Add eggs & vanilla mix until blended well– In a separate bowl combine flour & baking powder then gradually add to creamed mixture– Using a 1.5 inch cookie scoop, drop batter onto parchment lined cookie sheets– Bake @ 375 (or @350 with a convection oven) for 8-10 minutes or until bottom edges are golden brown– Let cool for one to two minutes then transfer to a wire cooling rack. Yeilds approx 5 dozen
Details

Prep time: Cook time: Total time: Yield: 5 dozen

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layered chocolate brownie trifle

Raising up Rubies1 Comment

one of my favorite go-to crowd pleaser desserts is this layered chocolate brownie trifle
my cousin gave me the recipe a long time ago when we were still young and our kids were just babies
thanks cousin 🙂
i’ve made it so many times over the years
it’s always well received and there’s rarely any leftovers

here’s what you need:
2 & 1/2 cups of milk
2 packages of instant chocolate pudding (4 servings size)
1 package brownie mix
1 – 16oz tub of whipped topping
strawberries or raspberries for garnish


bake the brownies as directed on the box the night before 
and the day of, all you have to do is assemble … which takes less than 30 minutes
so the next day or whenever the brownies are cool 
cut them into one inch squares and set aside


to make the chocolate mousse part
whisk together the milk and both boxes of pudding then fold in half of the whipped topping
use the other half to layer between the mousse and the brownies


layer brownies on the bottom of a trifle dish
then layer half of the chocolate mousse
then half of the remaining whipped topping




then repeat all that once more 🙂


you can also switch the strawberries on top for raspberries, shaved chocolate, heath toffee bits or really anything you can think of 






i added this recipe to my project life recipe book using the PL app that you can download right onto your phone for a dollar or two … i use it to document all our family photos and i’ve started organizing my recipes with it as well, i love it!


i hope you try this next time your have to feed a bunch of people dessert!
enjoy ♥
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pumpkin candy pretzel treats … and a free printable ♥

Raising up Rubies4 Comments
a few weeks ago i found these on pinterest
my girls and i put them together last weekend.
packaged them up to give as teacher & neighbor gifts. it was fun!
the instructions were very simple but we hit a couple of road bumps along the way …

three things you’ll need:
waffle pretzels
HUGS hershey kisses
and mellowcreme pumpkins 
(the same as candy corn just in pumpkin form 🙂

line your cookie sheets with parchment paper 
spreadthe waffle pretzels out on the cookie sheets 
then put an unwrapped kiss on top of each pretzel
(space the pretzels out a little bit… the pictures of ours here i’d say were a little too close together. when you press the kiss down it spreads and you don’t want them to touch each other)

bake them in a 350 degree oven for about 2 minutes.
really no more than that.
here’s the bumps in the road i was talking about.
we waited 20 minutes for them to cool, but the pumpkins were so heavy it really wasn’t enough time … we waited another 20. still not ready. and another 20. nope.
each time the pumpkin crushed the kiss and turned it into a puddle of chocolate all over the parchment paper (wish i took a picture of it)
so i tried another cookie sheet and started a new batch from the beginning while we waited for the others to cool…. here’s the little trick i discovered that worked:
take them out of the oven, let them cool for the first 20 minutes and then pop them into the freezer, the whole sheet – everything, for maaaaaybe a minute – no more!
and that stiffened them up enough to withstand the ginormous weight of the pumpkin 🙂
it worked! try it and lemme know how it goes for ya.


we put our goodies in plastic punch cups
filled them up and put clear basket wrap over top 
(the kind on a roll, like wrapping paper style)
used some bakers twine, washi and tada! 
add my little label to the top and get ready to make some little (and big) people very happy.




  
i used a two inch circle punch to cut these out … they fit perfectly on the top of the cups.
oh! and the cute clipart? it’s from my bestie’s etsy shop here
you can get this little birdie and a whole woodland set as an instant download!




happy fall!
and happy #eatallthethings!

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magic dream bars ♥

Raising up Rubies5 Comments

i say it all the time on IG that i love to bake
my family knows i bake
the guys at the hubby’s office know i bake. so i’m baking a lot
spoiled rotten people
well really i just love to eat cookies … so that’s why i bake.
this is a go-to really quick company’s coming and you don’t have all day to bake kinda recipe
and they’re really so yummy you might just eat a lot of them before the company comes.
so put away your sad granola thingy and your sad lettuce and make some of these.



raid your pantry or go to the store and get this stuff…

(this cute recipe card? and a bunch more are from my bestie’s shop here)
(print this one out by clicking on the image and then go get some of your own. hurry. go now.)

heat your oven then melt the butter right in the pan you’re going to use
add the graham crumbs and spread them evenly on the bottom after you mix it together


this recipe is really so easy and fail proof … so all the steps can be done by your kids if it’s a day you want to get them into the kitchen to bake with you



just pop open the can of condensed milk and let them pour it evenly over the crumb layer



add all the good stuff … i usually do coconut first then the chips
my girls ate more chocolate chips than they put in the dish



grab a fork and have them press down a little just to smoosh it all together



this was the original recipe i clipped off the back of the milk can fifteen years ago when i first got married
wow. fifteen years. 
this month.
 we’re like, old people



i forgot to take, ya know those staged food blogger pics, that everyone takes and their cookies look like betty crocker herself was at their house and made the cookies with them, and then they took a picture kinda pictures? well this isn’t that kinda recipe.



so here’s a picture of the bars in their truest form.
messy gooey and broken up on a pedestal dish in my kitchen 
where we keep eating them from
real life. that’s all

much love ♥ be back soon!
linking up here!