Just being true to my word, huh? well, at least it's still the second week of the year so I guess I have no reason to slack off just yet... Well, last weekend, I started to fulfill another vow I made to myself and my kids - to return to baking!!! And besides, I still have a few friends whom I haven't given gifts for the holidays so I'll just bake some goodies for them, wrap them in special packaging and voila! edible yet special presents for special people, no less! (my other unique gift ideas will be the subject of another blog...)
OATMEAL COOKIES WITH NIPS
I saw this recipe in an on-line site, I guess it was from a chocolate company like Nestle or something like that. What I really like about this cookie is that I am able to feed my little girl fiber-rich oatmeal which she otherwise would not have eaten if it were served in a traditional bowl with hot water, milk and fruits. She thinks it's yucky when oatmeal is served that way but she just adores oatmeal cookies, not knowing they're made from the same stuff she hates so much. I don't really remember the recipe much (even if I have done this for countless times already, I still need to have my recipe card file on hand) so I guess I'll just recount the procedures I followed...
First I creamed the butter using a standard mixer, added sugar (I used moscovado by the way, some say it has less of the artificial stuff found in most white sugars), egg and vanilla. Then, I added the pre-mixed and sifted dry ingredients - flour, baking soda, cinnamon, salt and nutmeg. Finally, I added about 3 cups of oatmeal ( a mixture of instant and bran oats to make the cookies chewy). Then, I formed them into balls, placed them about 2 inches apart in lined cookie sheets then my daughter placed some nips onto the cookies and popped them into the oven for 10-15 minutes.
CORN MUFFINS
This one's a recipe I got from sassy at pinoycook.net (you may check her website). What I like
about most of sassy's recipes is that they're very easy to follow and she gives very detailed instructions that even a dimwit in the kitchen like me can easily follow. I won't anymore give details of the recipe... just take my word for it, go visit her site. I'll just post photos of what I did. [BTW, her pics are better than mine coz I think she uses a 10 megapix camera while I only use my celphone's 2 megapix cam, so there!] Anyway, I can assure you, they taste better than how they look... proof of this is the way I almost didn't get to taste them coz my kids ate them as soon as they were out of the oven. Good thing I saved a few to give away to a friend...
BAKED CHICKEN
Well, this is one recipe that didn't really come out right but I promised to post even those that became kitchen disasters so that I would remember not to do them again... You see, I decided to bake something for lunch coz I figured I'm already baking cookies and muffins, why not save myself a little time and just pop something in the oven after I have finished baking sweets. But I didn't have a baked chicken recipe on hand so I decided to use instead a bbq chicken recipe I found from an old newspaper file. I thought it would turn out the same but I was dead wrong! While the chicken was being baked it smelled great! But after about 30 minutes, I began to notice that it wasn't cooking as fast as I wanted it to and when finally I took it out after about 40 minutes, it still wasn't cooked through. So into the fryer it went and we ended up having fried chicken instead... I guess it was wrong for me to place it in an oven-proof baking dish, like what I use when baking fish. Maybe it would have turned out better if I just placed it in the oven's griller and never mind if I had a whole lot of mess to clean up afterwards... anyway, I guess I've learned my lessons well...
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