New Recipe--Apple Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Or Oatmeal Apple Raisin or Oatmeal Raisin Apple--I can't decide.

These are a cakey cookie, hee-hee, that's fun to say. They are very moist on the inside, while the oatmeal gets a little crisp on the outside. They are sticky in that good way. They feel wholesome, almost a breakfast cookie, except I've never had a "breakfast cookie" that I actually liked, so I won't call them that.
They use a can of Apple Pie filling which makes them the honor student of the apple cookies out there. They shame any applesauce cookies right into detention for lack of lusciousness.

AOR Cookies

1 Spice Cake Mix
1 21 ounce can of Apple Pie filling
1 cup quick oats
1 cup raisins

Mix everything together. The dough will be a little more moist than most cookie dough. Put ping pong size globs on the cookie sheet. You'll be tempted to make bigger cookies, but don't. They turn out better if kept smallish.

Bake at 350 for 25 minutes. Makes 2 dozen cookies.

New Recipe--Irish Stout Chocolate Cupcakes

Sorry, I don't have a photo for this recipe, I tested it quite a while ago and held on to it for March.

Don't let the beer snob in your life stop you from making these cupcakes. Yes, the recipe uses one of the "expensive" beers, but that's ok, they are worth it.

These are a great St. Patrick's Day treat, to be authentic, use Guiness Stout. Or if your refrigerator reads like the bar menu at the Horse Brass (famous bar in Portland, OR with over 100 beers on tap) use any "stout" or very dark--VERY dark beer.

The flavor of these cupcakes is rich and deep and a little complex--in a word, they are really yummy--ok, two words.

The alcohol bakes out of these, so they are fine for all ages.

Frost these with chocolate fudge frosting, or white chocolate frosting dyed with green food coloring.

Stout Chocolate Cupcakes

1 chocolate , or chocolate fudge cake mix--not devils food
1 cup plus 1 Tablespoon of stout beer
1 cup of mini chocolate chips--regular chocolate chips work too, but I like the mini ones better with this recipe

Mix cake mix and beer in a large bowl with an electric mixer. Mix for 2 full minutes.

Pour into greased cupcake tins, filling 2/3 of the way full. Bake for 24 - 27 minutes. Let cool for a couple minutes before removing from pan.

Happy St. Patty's day

New Recipe--German Chocolate Cookies

With a twist

I had to try a couple of versions of these before I got them right. The challenge for me was getting that butter/brown sugar flavor in a cookie. I tried wrapping the dough around "Sugar Babies" candy, but they just tasted like weird jelly beans in the middle of a cookie--no good. I also tried the plain square caramels, but they also ended up a little too hard once cooled. I finally landed on Rolos. That's right, Rolos--those little chocolate covered caramels that come in the tube, wrapped in gold foil--what's not to love.

German Chocolate Cookies

Recipe tip--you'll get dough all over your fingers making these, so unwrap 18 - 20 Rolos first (16 - 18 for the cookies, plus a couple to eat while the cookies bake).

1 box of German chocolate cake mix
1/2 cup of soy milk (or real milk)
1/2 cup sweetened shredded coconut
1/2 cup chopped pecans
18 - 20 Rolos, unwrapped

Preheat oven to 350
Mix the cake mix and the milk together first with a big spoon, then mix in the coconut and pecans. The dough should be just moist enough to stick together. Take a ping pong size glob of dough, stick a Rolo in it, then with your fingers, spread the dough around the bottom of the Rolo until there is no evidence that the Rolo is there.

Bake for 14 - 16 minutes. Let cool for a minute, then remove from cookie sheet to complete cooling. Eat at least 2 while still warm--they rock.

Makes 16 - 18 cookies