Saturday, October 30, 2010

Pancake Syrup


Homemade pancake syrup, stored in an old Nutella jar. :-) I got this recipe from AllRecipes.com, and while it's extremely sweet, it's pretty good when you can't buy syrup in the store (or aren't willing to pay the equivilent of $15 for a bottle).

yield: almost 2 cups

2 cups sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup water
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp maple extract

1. Combine sugar, brown sugar, and water in a saucepan, stirring with a whisk. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Boil for 3 minutes. Remove from heat; stir in vanilla and maple extracts. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Zucchini Bread


Zucchini muffins make a great snack! They're even better if you freeze them first...

yield: 2 loaves (or 1 loaf and 18 muffins, which is what I usually do)

3 cups shredded zucchini
2 cups oats
2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
1/4 cup brown sugar
5 tsp baking powder
1 Tbsp grated lemon rind
1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1-1/2 cups skim milk
6 Tbsp vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Press zucchini on several layers of paper towels. Cover with additional paper towels; set aside.
3. Combine oats with flour, sugar, walnuts, and next 6 ingredients (walnuts through nutmeg) in a large bowl; make a well in center of mixture. Combine milk, oil, vanilla, and eggs in a bowl; stir with a whisk. Add zucchini; stir. Add to flour mixture; stir just until moist. Divide batter evenly between two 8 x 4-inch loaf pans coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 1 hour and 10 minutes or until a knife inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 5 minutes in pans on a wire rack; remove from pans. Cool completely on wire rack.

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Chocolate Chip Cookies


Nothing makes you feel quite like you're at home like good old fashioned chocolate chip cookies!

yield: 4 dozen

1 1/2 cups white flour
1 cup whole-wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup brown sugar
2 Tbsp sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla
2 egg whites or 1 whole egg
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Combine flour, baking soda and salt, stirring with a whisk.
3. Combine sugars and butter in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended. Add vanilla and egg whites; beat 1 minute. Add flour mixture and chips; beat until blended.
4. Drop dough by level tablespoons 2 inches apart onto baking sheets coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool on pans for 2 minutes. Remove from pans; cool completely.

**NOTE**
I just made these for the second time in America and this recipe STINKS! It's wonderful for overseas, but in America DO NOT follow as above. Instead, use 1 cup white flour and 1/2 cup whole wheat flour, or maybe 3/4 of each. 2.5 cups of flour total is way too much. The flour in America is different…more dense…so you don't need as much.