Easy chocolate chip scones

This recipe is super easy, quick and uses one bowl. I've used chocolate chips in it here, but you can just as easily substitute other stuff like 1/2 cup dried cranberries and 1/2 cup white chocolate chips, or 1/2 cup (or more) raisins, etc.

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/4 cup white sugar

1 tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/3 cup margarine or butter

7/8 cups of milk

1/2 cup chocolate chips

Blend dry ingredients in a large bowl.

Cut in margarine with a pastry blender. 

Dump milk all at once into bowl and combine with a fork to form a ball. Turn out on a floured board, need a couple of times. Flatten with a rolling pin to make a circle about one inch thick. Score round into 8 or 10 pieces. Place onto a greased pan or use parchment.

Bake at 400 for 12-15 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean

Dad's kitchen sink cookies (my version of)

Saw this recipe in the National Post this past weekend: Dad's kitchen sink cookies from Eat What You Want for Father's Day by Gaby Dalkin.

It sounded interesting so I decided to make them. Upon reading the ingredient list I thought good grief these are sweet. So I cut back on the sugar which called for 1 cup brown and 1 cup white sugar. I used 3/4 cup brown and 1/2 cup white. I also cut out the M&Ms as there was also a cup of chocolate chips in them. The fruits were apricots and cranberries, which are also laden with sugar. That is a lot of sugar. One of my bugaboos about sugar is that gobs of of sugar does not make something taste better. For instance, I find most commercial cereals way too sweet. Which is why I make my own granola. Homemade also tastes way better. (Will post recipe next time I make it.)

So these cookies as I made them, still have 1 1/4 cups of sugar plus a cup of chocolate chips, 1 cup of apricots and 1 cup of sweetened cranberries. That's enough sugar. They were good but not spectacular. Now I also substituted the butter with margarine, which I realize reduces the buttery taste which I love. Next time I'll try exchanging the 3/4 butter with peanut butter. Will report back later once I try that.

UPDATE: For some reason these cookies taste better than when I first made them. I orginally thought they were kind of boring. I froze them, and thawed out they are actually pretty darned good. Still too sweet, so I think the sugar could be dropped by another 1/4 cup maybe.

Ingredients I used:

1 cup (225 g/2 sticks) unsalted butter margarine
1 1/2 cup (100 g) granulated sugar
1 3/4 cup (220 g) packed brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp (10 mL) vanilla extract
2 cups (250 g) all-purpose flour
2 1/2 cups (225 g) old-fashioned oats, pulverized in a blender for 30 seconds until smooth
1 tsp (5 mL) baking soda
1 tsp (5 mL) baking powder
1 tsp (5 mL) kosher salt
1 cup (200 g) M&M’s
1 cup (175 g) semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup (140 g) dried cranberries
1 cup (130 g) chopped dried apricots

Step 1
Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Step 2
In a large stand mixer (I used a hand mixer), cream together the butter and both sugars for 2 to 3 minutes, until fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a spatula in between additions. Add the vanilla and mix to incorporate.

I baked for about 12 minutes until they started to brown.

Granola bars, part deux

Put in large bowl and microwave to soften and combine:
3/4 cup honey (use 1/2 cup honey or maybe brown sugar?)
3/4 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup apple sauce (use 1 cup to hold together better)

Incorporate dry ingredients into wet ingredients:
3 cups old fashioned rolled oats
3 cups rice krispies
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cup slivered almonds
3/4 cup raisins
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Press into 9 X 13 inch greased pan.

Put in 350 degree oven for 30 minutes.

They were good but too sweet. Next time I'll reduce honey to 1/2 cup and increase applesauce to 1 cup. They also were too crumbly so the additional applesauce should hold them together better.

Peanut butter oatmeal cookies

I made peanut butter oatmeal cookies one day while in Victoria. I can't remember what my motivation was. Anyway they were pretty good.

In Victoria our condo had cable TV service. At home we don't have TV service, we only watch Netflix. We don't feel the need to throw money at Bell or the other cable providers, and Netflix is way better anyway.

The only channel I did watch sometimes was the Food Network. I do like to watch cooking shows. But I would record the shows first so I could fast forward past the commercials, which seem to have increased exponentially since I last watched commercial TV.

Mind you, most of the shows on the food network are fairly useless, like Food Factory. This show tries too hard to be cute. It also shows how some products are made in a factory. I don't really care how they're made. I want to know what the recipe is. Plus, many of the products they showed being produced contained 90% sugar. Gross.

Then there were other shows that showed competitions like Chopped, which wasn't bad, but very stressful to watch. I don't want to get stressed when I watch TV.

Then there were food shows (as opposed to cooking shows) where almost no actual cooking takes place. Like one guy who goes into diners or whatever, and makes all kind of noise as he inhales big greasy gobs of whatever concoction being served. Gross times two.

I want to watch actual cooking shows. You know where someone cooks food and tells you how much of each ingredient is in it?

One show which I liked was the Spice Goddess. Bal Arneson is from India and cooks food using Indian spices. She made a macaroni and cheese recipe that I want to try. I love macaroni and cheese, and I love Indian food. Though it sounds like a weird combination to me, but I will try it.

Anyway back to the Peanut Butter Oatmeal cookies

1 cup flour (whole wheat or all purpose)
1 cup rolled oats
1/2 tsp soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 cup raisins (chocolate chips would be even better but it was lent and I gave up chocolate)

1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup natural peanut butter (or regular peanut butter)
1/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg (I would probably increase to 2 eggs as the mixture was very crumbly)

Mix first seven ingredients into a small bowl.

Mix remaining ingredients into a large bowl.

Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and incorporate. Use your hands if you have to.

Make smallish balls of dough and place on greased cookie sheet. Press down with fingers or a floured fork.

Cook for 10-12 minutes at 350 until the cookies start to brown.