Whitney's French Bread

This is my favorite French Bread recipe. No kneading required but it comes out fluffy and delicious. The multiple rising times make this bread take a lot of time but most of it is just wait time and doesn't require your attention. I used to skip the second two rises but the bread comes out much better if you let it rise all the times required. The egg white helps the loaf turn an appetizing shade of brown.
Half the recipe for one loaf.

Ingredients:
2 Tbs dry yeast
1/2 C warm water
2 C hot water
3 Tbs Sugar
1 Tbs salt
5 Tbs vegetable oil
6 C flour

1 egg white + 1 tsp water for top

Directions:
Dissolve yeast in 1/2 C warm water. Let stand 10 min (if you use instant yeast you can skip this step and just toss the yeast in with all the other ingredients).
Combine all ingredients (except egg white) and beat well. Allow the dough to rise until double (about 1 hr). Punch it down and then allow it to rise again (about 1 hr). Roll into 2 long french loaves and put on a baking sheet. Gash the tops diagonally with a knife and brush with egg white. Let rise for 30 minutes. Bake at 400 for 16 minutes or until golden brown and delicious.


Ingredients for 1 loaf:
1 Tbs dry yeast
1 1/4C hot water
1 1/2 Tbs Sugar
1/2 Tbs salt
2 1/2 Tbs oil
3 C flour

Best Cornbread

I got this cornbread recipe from my friend Stacie, who got it from this site.

My husband says this is the best cornbread he has ever eaten. I think the secret is the sugar. And the butter.

Ingredients:

½ C cornmeal
1 ½ C flour
2/3 C sugar
1 Tbs baking powder
½ tsp salt
1/3 C oil
3 Tbs butter, melted
2 eggs, beaten
1 ¼ C milk

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350. Combine dry ingredients. Make a well and add wet ingredients. Mix until just combined. Bake in a greased 8x8 pan for 35 minutes. (I like to bake in muffin tins for about 25 minutes - it makes automatic portions and cooks evenly. But it is more dense in an 8x8 pan if you prefer it that way.)

Orange Creamsicle Cookies

I know I have been posting desserts almost exclusively lately. I will try to post a few main dishes soon. But these cookies are so tasty that I needed to add them to my collection. My friend Jessica brought a few of these to me when I was sick and I have already made them twice since. They are a citrus-y cookie that is a nice something different if you aren't feeling like chocolate chip cookies.

I usually have to add extra flour to keep them from spreading out to much while baking.

Ingredients:
2 1/2 C flour
3/4 C white sugar
3/4 C brown sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 C butter, softened
1 egg
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 Tbsp orange juice concentrate, melted
2 Tbsp orange zest (between 2 and 4 oranges) - (I just added extra concentrate instead of the zest)
1 1/2 C white chocolate chips

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375. Cream butter and sugars several minutes, until light in color. Add egg, vanilla, orange juice concentrate, and zest. Mix until well combined. In separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Add flour mixture to wet mixture and blend just until combined. If dough is too sticky, add flour a little bit at a time until more of a play-dough consistency. Stir in white chocolate chips. Scoop dough balls onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes until edges are slightly brown. Do not over bake. Cool on cookie sheet for a few minutes until no longer soft and squishy. I enjoy these room temperature or even cool. I actually don't think I have tasted them warm.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Bars

I made these tasty bars for a family gathering. I enjoyed them most when they were still warm but they were good the next day too. My husband really enjoyed these. I think it was because the ratio of batter to chocolate/peanutbutter chips was so low. Probably 1:1

Recipe Source

Ingredients:
1½ C flour
½ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
¾ C brown sugar
¾ C peanut butter
½ C butter, at room temperature
½ C sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 C semisweet chocolate chips
1 C peanut butter chips

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 and spray a 9 x 13 inch pan with Pam. In a small bowl combine flour, baking soda, and salt. In large mixing bowl cream sugars, peanut butter, and butter. Add egg and vanilla until combined. On slow speed, mix in dry ingredients until just combined. Turn off mixer and fold in chips with a spatula. Spread evenly into prepared pan. Bake 16-20 minutes or until set.

No Molasses Gingerbread Men

 

      Every holiday season I find myself wanting to make gingerbread men. It is a conundrum because I don't really like the taste of gingerbread. I am not sure what it is but have suspected molasses is the culprit. Call me childish but I think the flavor is too strong. So when I found this recipe for gingerbread men that did not call for molasses, I had to try it. I was very pleased with the result. It is a mild gingerbread cookie with a very kid-friendly taste while still reminding me of Christmas. And I got to decorate cute gingerbread men!

Recipe Source

Ingredients:

1 (3.5 oz) package butterscotch pudding mix

½ C butter

½ C brown sugar

1 egg

1 ½ C flour

½ tsp baking soda

1 ½ tsp ground ginger

1 tsp ground cinnamon

 

Directions:

 In a medium bowl, cream butterscotch mix, butter, and brown sugar. Stir in the egg. Combine the rest of the ingredients in a separate bowl; stir into the pudding mixture. Cover and chill until firm (1 hour).

 

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease baking sheets. On a floured board, roll dough out to about 1/8 inch thickness, and cut into desired shape. Bake 10 to 12 minutes until the cookies are golden at the edges. Cool on wire racks.

I used regular cake icing in a plastic bag to pipe on the decorations.

Ranch Dressing

 

       Just a warning before you make this: YOU WILL NEVER GO BACK. This is amazing homemade ranch dressing. Don't make it unless you want to never be satisfied with the Hidden Valley stuff again. So yummy! Credit goes to my sister Katie for the recipe.

Ingredients:

2 C. Mayo
1 1/4 C. Buttermilk
1/2 TBS onion powder
1/2 TBS Accent (you can omit if you don't have)
1/2 TBS garlic salt
1/2 TBS pepper
1/2 TBS parsley flakes
1/2 tsp onion salt (note that's 1/2 teaspoon!! Don't put too much in or it will be gross)

Directions:

Mix together and enjoy. You can half the recipe if you don't go through ranch dressing very fast.

Oatmeal Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookie

YUMMMM!!! This is an amazing cookie. I had purchased about a cup of unsweetened shredded coconut from the bulk bins at my local grocery store. I had been planning on blending it up to make coconut butter as I had seen from several online sources. However, my blender was clearly not powerful enough for the said transformation. I did not want the coconut to go to waste so I began looking for a cookie recipe.

I found this recipe and was a little skeptical because there was no picture. And the recipe called for oil instead of butter, making it sound more like a muffin recipe than a cookie one. Add to all this that I do not particularly care for a strong coconut flavor and I am surprised I even tried it. But I am soo glad I did. This might be my new favorite cookie recipe. I kid you not, the dough is to die for. Maybe even better than plain chocolate chip cookie dough (if that is even possible). I think next time I might even fore-go the chocolate chips because this cookie has enough flavor and texture without them.

The dough was a little crumbly when I was scooping it out to put on the cookie sheet. I ended up using my hands to press the balls together. But the cookies came out moist and chewy. Please try this recipe if you ever find yourself with some shredded coconut! I only baked up a dozen cookies and saved the rest as dough to eat or bake later. However, I am pretty confident that I could have made 30 cookies total from the recipe.

Ingredients 
1 1/4 C oatmeal 
1 C flour 
1/2 C sugar 
1/2 C brown sugar 
1 C. flake coconut (mine was blended up into really small pieces) 
1/2 C. chocolate chips (I consider this optional) 
1/2 tsp. baking soda 
1/2 tsp. salt 
1/2 C oil 
1 egg 
1 tsp. vanilla 


Directions
Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl. Then mix in egg, oil, and vanilla. Drop onto a greased cookie sheet. Bake at 325 for 12 to 15 minutes.