Living in a Cereal World

 (The cookie shooting star was totally unintentional.)

 Because what else can you do? It snowed (but not as bad as predicted) and I made these  Chewy Ambrosia Biscotti : They're not as chewy as the name implies, though, or else they wouldn't really be biscotti. As for this year's cookie tin, I forgot to take pictures the first time, but I'll try to remember when I thaw out the rest. 😁 And now for a teensy mini-review:  I bought my brother some Elf cereal (not to be confused with Elf on the Shelf) and sampled it today just to get a sense of the maple flavor. Not very; not as much as I thought. And those fallback gritty corn balls...oh well, it's seasonal. And he's eating it, so...it served it's purpose. 👍

 I know, I know, it's been nearly a month. I had a very busy August and also nothing to review. I really want to try those new KIND cereals but not without a coupon. We had guests overlap last month--and no one got sick, thankfully--so here's what I've been up to on the baking front: I made Pinwheel Cookies (for the first time ever!) with this  Sugar Cookie Dough . It was super, super easy to handle but I had to go this  other recipe  to get the pinwheel instructions down (the description in the recipe version I tore out of Savory was very vague). You see I didn't quite separate the dough evenly so I took my leftover cocoa cookie scraps and made a cookie out of them. 😁 I also made this  Peach Custard Pie  while my brother was home. Why? Because peach season , duh. Also, hey, a custard I can handle! Finally, we're rolling again with these  Strawberry Sweet Rolls . But honestly, they were drowning in preserves and not very photogenic, so I didn't take a...

I know what you're thinking: Pumpkin? In summer? Especially this summer? Honestly, I had a good reason. My grandma requested cookies for her birthday, and since I can't see her right now, I was happy to oblige. So I had to find a cookie that was a) soft enough for her to eat, and b) would travel well by mail (and not totally melt in this heat!). I'd been planning on making these  Oatmeal Pumpkin Cookies  soon anyway, so, pumpkin challenge accepted. 👍 You know I  love   pumpkin , but pumpkin in the summer? I was thinking cold recipes. Starting with  Pumpkin Overnight Oats  from Cooking Classy (and I'll be making the other four recipes before the summer is over 😁). Next,  Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Granola Bars  from The Lemon Bowl. Yeah, I had to turn on the oven for these, but I've been eating them with yogurt! 😛 After that, a Pumpkin Pie Yogurt recipe from Eating Bird Food that I've  shared before . But this time I used regular yogurt...

(edited to add: finished cookies!) Maybe you're thinking, I know she's  been stress baking.  Maybe at first, but now it's back to regular baking. And I've only made one  banana bread! 😜 So I'm going to work my way backward, let's see how many I want to add to this post. For Mother's Day I made this:  Strawberry-Rhubarb Icebox Cake . It's like the simplest strawberry shortcake (my mom's favorite dessert) with no baking whatsoever! And since strawberries were BOGO, I also made these  Peanut Butter Strawberry Muffins  the day after that aired. Hopefully I'll remember to take a picture next time I thaw one. The weekend before I also bought two containers of strawberries. I ate one, but I used the other to make this: (You see I took the picture after  breakfast 😁) Strawberry Breakfast Pastries Let's see, what else? Almond Butter Snickerdoodles . I love an interesting snickerdoodle. Oh, I just made these today.  Whole Wheat App...

After December's Christmas cookie crush, I had to step away from the oven. But I slowly eased back into it with these  Harvest Cookies . I can never say no to a good oatmeal cookie. Some people don't like the chewiness of a cookie made with honey but I think that's a good quality for a oat-based cookie. Next my services were volunteered to make these  Healthy Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies . I find when you're tasked with making gift cookies you can't go wrong with chocolate!😋 (btw, I used the leftover pumpkin to make  these pumpkin pancakes ) Finally, I tried my hand at a birthday cake for my mom. Usually I make her an upside-down cake or a cake with fruit in it but this year I did this: She also loves gingerbread so instead of a traditional loaf I made this  Gingerbread Bundt Cake with Maple Glaze  (the unglazed part went in the freezer). I'd been having issues with under-baking last Fall so I may have erred on the side of caution and overbaked...

I know it's a week late but I still wanted to squeeze this in before the new year. 😁 Two new cookies this year:  Pumpkin Cinnamon Roll  from Minimalist Baker (which I didn't glaze because I thought they were sweet enough even though  that takes away from their cinnamon roll-ness) and  Easy Jam Thumbprints  from Delish. I can't believe I'd never made a thumbprint cookie before. Mine are filled with raspberry fruit spread and peach-apricot jam. The other ones are your basic Pillsbury sugar cookie dough, which was a last-minute swap. Otherwise I could've attempted one of the (too many!) sugar cookie recipes I have. So after making and freezing a cookie every Sunday I still made two pies on Christmas Eve. First, this  Pumpkin Pie  that I also made last year because it really is that good, and second, this: Brown Sugar Peach Crumble Pie  from Sally's Baking Addiction. I went one pie plate size too high for both pies but that didn't affect ...

Yeah, it's been a week, but you know I always share what I make for Thanksgiving (and may have finished Wednesday 😁). I had every intention of making this  Apple Cheddar Pie  correctly but I knew I was going to run out of time to make the pie crust. So it's a apple pie with a teensy bit of cheddar inside. 😜 (Please excuse the phone shadows; I didn't have time to set this up better!) Second dessert, not the same as the first. I made my belated birthday cake this year's other offering:  Pumpkin Cream Cheese Coffee Cake . It's dessert, it's breakfast, it's the best . Oh, and I swapped out the pecan topping for this  Oat Streusel . It was the perfect amount for this springform pan size.

Apple-ade isn't a thing, so what was I to do? I'm a problem solver and I enjoy a challenge, so of course I'd figure something out. Right away I thought of this  Crockpot Applesauce  recipe that I printed, literally, that morning. I'd never made applesauce before and this seemed pretty hands-off, so I was willing to give it a try. If you're willing to chop up apples and blend the finished product in batches, it's really not complicated. I even left the peel on, which I never do for pies and such. But everything cooks down and is totally edible. The best part? It tastes like apple pie. Exactly  like apple pie but without any crust or butter.👍 We ate it for dinner the first night and I used the rest in yogurt. This is definitely a make-again. So that was the Galas. But then I still had the golden delicious. I had a taste for waffles so I went with this  Apple Cinnamon Waffles  recipe from Minimalist Baker. I think I already had a copy of this recipe but never ...

As peach season was winding down I thought this should finally be the summer I try my hand at peach pie. Not any of the  peach-berry   combos  I've made over the years. Not my mom's favorite  Peach-Mango . Just peaches. Peaches and pie crust. Not even a crumble to disguise any faults. So I made this  Peach Pie  from Eating Well. And okay, I didn't make the pie crust from scratch. Next time. Still, who could turn down a pie that looks like this? I could have used one more peach, but no matter. We ate it. And two weeks later, because I wasn't quite ready to let go of the peaches, I made these  Peach Pie Oatmeal Cookies . And then forgot to take a picture. You know how it is after a trip, trying to get back into your daily rhythms--then I add baking to my tasks for the day. So these cookies: again, I could've used more peach chunks, or at least cut them smaller, but when you get a bite of everything it really does taste like peach pie.👍

It seems like a lot of blogs have been getting their Zucchini Weeks in lately. I didn't mean  to; I just had a taste for zucchini. It started with these  Zucchini Cookies with Chocolate Chips  from Well Plated that I've made before and wanted to make again. You can only make oatmeal raisin cookies but so many times, right? You should know, though, that the texture isn't for everybody. Even with most of the liquid squeezed out of the zucchini shreds they're still going to be soft and almost... fluffy. I love them. I store them in the fridge and then reheat in the microwave. Chocolate gooey goodness. Then I made this  Cinnamon Sugar Zucchini Coffee Cake  from Pinch of Yum. I was trying to finish up some buttermilk and I wondered, hmm, is there a zucchini coffee cake that calls for buttermilk?  There's almost always a recipe out there for whatever criteria I come up with. Thanks Google 😉. I did cut back on the brown sugar but it wasn't noticeable. Finally...

If Goldilocks was critiquing peanut butter cereals, she'd say this one's juuuust right . You know, I don't think I've had a peanut butter cereal since Peanut Butter Multi-Grain Cheerios (oh, wait, here's  one I don't even remember!) because everything's always peanut butter and chocolate. Don't get me wrong, I love Reese's Peanut Butter Cups but that's where it ends. Candy. Not cereal. So as soon as I found out about Peanut Butter Chex last month I started looking for it (and found it at Target last week). I find the success of a peanut butter cereal depends on the grains involved--in the aforementioned Cheerios the different grains added varying levels of sweetness, but in a pleasant way. This Peanut Butter Chex is made of corn, which for some reason makes the peanut butter flavor linger after a bite--but not in a gross aftertaste kind of way. It's more peanut butter-y than sugary-sweet, and that's what I'm looking for in a pea...

You know I had to bring the strawberries for Mother's Day. And I just happened to find rhubarb at Wegmans. So I made this  Strawberry-Rhubarb Upside-Down Cake . Check it out: I have no idea why the photo worked this time, but yay me. And I didn't lose a single strawberry upon flipping. Annnnd this was my first olive oil cake. It's super, super moist and doesn't taste of olive oil at all. Just add a little whipped cream and you're good to go. 👍

Maybe one adventure. Or one and a half. Anyway, it all started back in February when I bought one too many acorn squash. I baked one half for a yogurt bowl (which was delicious and I really should go back and find/link to it) but didn't know what to do with the other half. Then, for some reason, I thought I'll just puree it and figure it out later . I should point out here that I've never pureed a squash before; I just figured I could do it. And thanks to this  handy blog post I was able to do so. Not gonna lie, it's kind of tedious. You have to have the time to do it and also want to do it. And yes, if like me, you only have a blender, this process still works. I did add a little bit of water just to be on the safe side--it would be strained out later anyway. How do I know I successfully pureed? Because yesterday I thawed it and made this  Roasted Acorn Squash Bread . Do not be deceived. It may look small but it's filling --I'm guessing from all of...

So to speak. 😉 So how was your weekend? I decided to switch things up and make one of my go-to pies for Easter:  Peach-Mango . This time I had the foresight to buy frozen mango in case I didn't have enough fresh. Good thing, because I was still a cup short. And I finally tried Reddi Wip's coconut milk variety. It's thicker than the regular kind and took some work to get it to spray out, but the flavor really adds something to pie. We also had these  Apple Buttermilk Pancakes . They were pretty good; my only (barely) complaint is that it made just enough for three. If you want leftovers or are feeding a lot of people, you'd have to double the recipe, at least . ******** In cereal news, Blueberry Cheerios are out! I got mine for the low, low introductory price of 99 cents. It remains to be seen if they were worth the 99 cents. 😜

(And I thought I had a picture of it, but apparently not.) Anyway, I was out of town for a few days (and brought back a cold!) so I'm just now getting caught up on life stuff, including blogging this Whole Wheat Sunflower Honey Oatmeal Bread I made two weekends ago. Let me tell you, making bread is definitely a weekend project. It's an all day project. Maybe it doesn't take as long for bread machine-based recipes but this isn't one of those. Second thing, I omitted the sunflower seeds. I don't think anybody in my family likes them at all , let alone in bread. Thirdly, I didn't have white whole wheat flour so I mixed regular whole wheat flour with all purpose. Did it make the bread more dense, as the recipe suggests? I can't say for sure, since I can't compare it to the original recipe bread, but it was definitely filling. I may have eaten the end- and next-to-end pieces the first morning. So. Much. Bread. 😵  So yeah...stick to one piece at time. On...

Anybody else hunkered down, waiting for this latest snow dump? Hopefully it's the last one. 👎 And now something more 👍: remember the  coffee cake   I made back in January? I needed only a little bit of Grape Nuts for the streusel, which left me with nearly an entire box of Grape Nuts. They may be small but those boxes contain a lot of those little wheat nuggets. What to do? Obviously I went to the Post website and looked up all of their Grape Nuts recipes.   Here's what I made: Mini-Frittatas. It says "Kale and Mozzarella" but I used spinach and cheddar because that's what I had. The cereal makes them more filling than your typical mini-frittata. Sweet Potato Chocolate Chip Cookies. This is the only recipe I made where you don't notice the Grape-Nuts at all. Also I may have had too much sweet potato. It would have been nice if the recipe had a more specific measurement. Banana Crunch Muffins. You can guess where the "crunch" comes in. I...

Why do cranberries and oranges work so well together? You would think, tart on top of tart? Nah. More like, yeah, sweet-tart. If Kellogg's was smart they'd make a Raisin Bran with orange-soaked dried cranberries. And now that I've tied this into cereal, here's these  Cranberry Orange Scones . I still have holiday cranberries in the freezer and I felt like making scones, so, there you go. Why this recipe? Most importantly, I needed a cranberry scone recipe that didn't call for heavy cream. Buttermilk optional; in this case, milk was even better. I didn't want to get stuck with buttermilk, either. For maximum orange-iness, don't skip the glaze! I did skip the dusting with sugar because I didn't think both sugar toppings were necessary. One thing I would've done differently is flatten my dough disk out a little bit more (as opposed to stopping at a 7-inch round). Some of my scones were larger than others and didn't quite get baked all the wa...

Not mine, of course. You know I always  do something for my mom for  her birthday . This year I combined two of her favorites--a peach-blueberry combo and icing-less cake--to make a  Peach and Blueberry Upside Down Cake (you can probably guess I just substituted blueberries for the raspberries). Mom ate hers with whipped cream; I ate mine unadorned. It really doesn't need anything extra--that's how good it is. 😋 I failed to take a picture because my peach placement wasn't nearly as photogenic as Erin's. Also I had waaay too many blueberries. A strong hint: if you make this cake, arrange the peach slices first , then scatter your berries. Two other things my mom loves: gingerbread and buttermilk pancakes. She claims she wasn't ever a big fan of pancakes until I started making recipes with buttermilk. I guess she just Aunt Jemima'd us to death in our childhoods. So I found this  Gingerbread Pancakes recipe that called for just the amount of buttermilk I h...

Are we really doing this again? It's almost February! Well, I did. Also, wow, it's cold. Why not warm yourself with a hot beverage of choice and a  Pumpkin Banana Biscotti with Maple Syrup Glaze ? This is what happens when you have leftover pumpkin and a banana in the freezer. Baking magic. Oh, and just enough maple syrup to glaze one batch of biscotti (I froze the other half). I will note that the texture of this biscotti starts crisp and ends chewy. Don't worry, they didn't go stale overnight--that's just the banana moisture. And maybe also the pumpkin, but I know I've made firmer pumpkin biscotti. That's not a knock on this biscotti by any means. I don't think I've made one yet that I didn't like. 😁 Or, hey, maybe you're more of a coffeecake person. I also made this  Pumpkin Streusel Coffeecake over the weekend, mainly because it called for a cup of pumpkin. The cake itself was moist and tender and pretty much perfect. You know I...