Friday, March 6, 2015

Snow Day Baking: Procrastination of Housework edition

We've had quite a few snow days in our neck of the woods!  Usually, that'd be perfect timing...I could clean, pick up, vacuum, laundry, dishes..........but not this week!  I found some recipes on pinterest I wanted to try out...so, here they are!

Blueberry Cheesecake Cookies
These are super yummy!  They're like scones, except sweeter and in cookie form.

You need:
1 Stick, plus 2 TBS butter, softened
8 oz tub of Philedelphia Blueberry cream cheese, also softened
1 egg
1 cup of sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
a pinch of salt (I put in 1/4 tsp)
1 cup blueberries (I used fresh, but you could use frozen-just toss them with a little flour first)

Method:
-Cream the butter and cream cheese until fluffy (in my kitchen aid, it took about 4 minutes on medium speed)
-add the egg, vanilla, and sugar and beat until mixed together
-add the powder, soda and salt.  add the flour and mix together.
-gently fold in blueberries.
**you are going to want to use a parchment paper lined baking sheet for these cookies.**
-bake at 350, for 12 to 14 minutes.


Chocolate Snack Cake

This bread is yummy!  It's like a dense brownie.  We snacked on it by itself, warm out of the oven, but I bet it would be delicious with ice cream!

You need:
1/2 stick butter, softened
1 cup of sugar
2 eggs
1 cup of sour cream (I used plain greek yogurt)
1 3/4 cups of flour
1/2 cup of chocolate cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup chocolate chips (I used semi-sweet, but you could swap it for any kind of chip or even omit them....but who wants to do that?????)

Method:
-Cream butter and sugar
-Add eggs, one at a time
-Add the sour cream
-Mix in the powder, salt and cocoa powder
-Throw in the flour
-Fold in chocolate chips, if you're using them

Pour batter in a well greased loaf pan, and bake at 350 for 55-60 minutes.  Cool in the pan for 20 minutes before turning out on a wire rack.  Cool completely.