White Chocolate Apricot Scones

2 Cups all-purpose flour
1/3 Cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
3 Tbsp chilled margarine
1 Cup (8 oz.) non-fat vanilla yogurt
1/4 Cup orange juice
2 tsp grated orange peel
1/2 Cup white chocolate chips, chopped
5 dried apricots, chopped

Combine first 5 ingredients
Cut in margarine with pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse meal
Stir in rest of ingredients until just moistened (dough will be sticky)

With floured hands (remove rings, trust me!), pat dough into a 9 inch circle on baking sheet coated with cooking spray.
Cut dough into 8 wedges, cutting into dough but not through it.

Sprinkle with 1 Tbsp sugar

Bake at 400* for 16 minutes or until golden

The scones will be a bit 'mushy' straight out of the oven because the white chocolate chips will be melted. Once the chips cool and firm up, the texture will be more scone-like.

This recipe is from a lovely lady at our church and they are always a hit. Enjoy!

Dough

Licking large amounts of dough off of the spatula doesn't actually constitute as eating raw dough, does it?

Gingerbread House

"Moses, do you like gingerbread?"

"Nope, the box is better!"

Construction complete.

"Can we eat the candy now?"

The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies, Ever!

1-3/4 Cups all-purpouse flour


1/2 tsp baking soda

14 Tblsp unsalted butter (1-3/4 sticks)

1/2 Cup granulated sugar

3/4 Cup packed dark brown sugar

1 tsp salt

2 tsps vanilla

1 egg

1 egg yolk

1-1/4 Cups semisweet chocolate chips (I splurge and use the 60% cacao Ghiradelli chips--so good!)



Preheat oven to 375* with rack positioned in middle. Line baking sheets with parchment if you wish. I usually don't and they turn out fine.
Whisk flour and soda together, set aside

Heat 10 Tblsp butter in skillet over med-high heat until melted. Continue cooking, swirling pan constantly until butter is dark golden brown and smells "nutty", about 2-3 minutes. Transfer butter into large, heatproof bowl. Stir in remaining butter until that is all melted.

Add both sugars, salt, and vanilla to butter. Whisk until well incorporated. Add egg and yolk, whisk until smooth. Let stand 3 minutes, whisk for about 30 seconds. Let stand & whisk 2 more times. "Caramel" mixture will now be thick, smooth, and shiny. (Don't skip this standing & whisking step, it really enhances the flavor.) Stir in flour by hand, then add chocolate chips. Be sure there are no flour "pockets".
Scoop balls of dough onto cookie sheets. These cookies spread a lot, so don't crowd the cookie sheet. Bake one tray at a time on middle rack about 10-14 minutes until golden brown. Edges should be set with soft centers. Makes about 16-20 large cookies.
 
Tips:
1) Use fresh, moist, dark brown sugar. It helps the cookies stay moist and soft.
2) Don't brown the butter in a non-stick skillet, it's very hard to assess if the butter is actually brown in a dark pan.
 
Enjoy the yummy-ness!

Cookies

Sugar Cookies are some of my favorites. I have cookie cutters for almost every season/holiday. Yesterday I made cookies for Valentine's Day. Yum! My husband helped me to decorate some of them.

Notice the "I Love My Wife" cookie above? See the one next to it? Um, yeah, my husband loves my cooking.

Erica's Favorite Sugar Cookie Recipe:
1 1/2 Cups sugar
1 Cup (2 sticks) softened butter
2 eggs
2 Tablespoons vanilla
1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

~4 Cups all-purpose flour

Cream butter and sugar until smooth. Add in the eggs, vanilla. Sift salt, baking powder, and flour together. Slowly add in. If dough is too sticky to roll out, slowly add more flour to right consistency.

Roll out flat on floured surface, cut out shapes. Bake approx. 8-12 minutes at 375* until edges are turning golden brown.

Wait until completely cool to frost/decorate. Yields ~ 2 dozen medium-sized cookies.

(I made a 2x batch= LOTS of cookies)

For all you procrastinators

Do you need to bring a side to dinner tomorrow? Not sure what to do? Make Sweet Potato Souffle--it's the best dish ever!



Sweet Potato Souffle

3-4 Cups (per 4-6 servings) of cooked, skinned, mashed sweet potato or yams
1/2 Cup melted butter
2 eggs, beaten
1 tsp vanilla
1/3 Cup milk
1/3 Cup orange juice
Dash of cinnamon and nutmeg if you like

Pre-bake sweet potatos or yams, peel and mash. Mix potatos with butter, eggs, vanilla, milk, and orange juice.

Place in pretty flat baking dish or pie pan.

Mix up topping:
1 Cup brown sugar
1/2 Cup self-rising flour (regular is fine if you don't have self-rising)
1 1/3 Cup softened butter
1 Cup chopped pecans (if you like)
(Add mini-marshmallows, and coconut shavings on top if you like)

Sprinkle topping over potato mixture and bake for 30-45 minutes at 350*F. Topping should be nicely browned when done. Serve hot.

Busy, Busy!

It's not even 12 o'clock noon yet, and I already feel like I've put in a full day's work!
Got up early and baked up a storm--Vanilla Spice Muffins and Chocolate Chip Cookies as a Thank-you gift to the nurses at my clinical site tomorrow. Barely had time to grab a decent shower (let alone blow-dry!) before I was running out the door to take my final ATI of the semester (I passed!). Got home, packaged my goodies, packed my overnight bag, and talked to my boss. Phew!

In 20 minutes I'm leaving to go shoe shopping with my cousin. Yay! So excited, but like I really need more shoes! HA! What I really need is a girl's afternoon out! and maybe a treat from Moonstruck Chocolate! Yum! Then this evening, I'm watching my 3 month old Niece! She's so adorable, I can't wait to cuddle all evening!

Phew! Busy day, for anyone else living each day like this would probably be really stressful, but my secret is that I actually LIKE this kind of life. I like to be busy and surrounded by the people I love. I think that may be part of why I chose to be a nurse--BUSY and lots of human contact. Plus, you work 3 on and 4 off--leaving me LOTS of time to spend with those I love!