Key Lime Bites

My dad's favorite words are "key lime". Key lime pie, key lime cookies, key lime bread (it exists), anything. So when I found this recipe, I immediately knew I had to try it out. 

One thing that's important to me in a dessert is "does it hold itself up or does it crumble into sad little dessert crumbs and make a huge mess." With two little brothers, it's a huge bonus to have a cookie be yummy AND  stable enough to hand to children without a plate.

These key lime bites held up wonderfully. It's like having a key lime pie without the stress and anxiety that comes with trying to cut and lift a piece of pie like someone from the food network. You can even eat it with your fingers, and if it isn't your dream to eat pie with your hands then I don't want you reading this blog anymore.

Key Lime Bites

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs

3 tablespoons sugar

6 tablespoons butter

3 beaten egg white

2 cans sweetened condensed milk

3/4 cup lime juice

a lime

1/3 cup Greek yogurt

Preheat your oven to 350.

First thing you're going to do is crush up those graham crackers. Place them in a plastic bag and aggressively smash them with weapon of your choice.

 It's actually pretty fun.

Melt the butter and pour it on the graham cracker crumbs. Add the 3 tablespoons of sugar to this mixture.

Get a muffin pan and some cupcake liners. Place 1 tablespoon of the graham cracker yumminess into the liners, then use a cup to press the crumbs down into an itty bitty pie shell (beware it's super cute).

Once you have your muffin pan filled up with makeshift pie crusts, bake them at 350 for 8 minutes.

While those bake, you're going to make the pie part of these delectable little devils.

Mix the egg whites, Greek yogurt, condensed milk, lime juice, and (sigh) lime innards. The recipe called for 'lime sest' and I have absolutely no idea what that is so I just scooped out the pulp from the lime into the mixture. 

And yes, I am that person that shows up to the checkout lane with a single lime in my hand.

Oh and hey in case you did not know, lime juice is extremely yummy (judge me).

Back tot he recipe. Mix all of these ingredients together and set aside while the graham cracker pie shells cool.

Once the pie shells have cooled, spoon the pie filling on top of them until the cupcake liners are filled 2/3 of the way full.

Bake for 15 minutes.

Side note; these will look exactly the same when they come out of the oven as when they went in. It phased me a little bit. Don't bake them for more than 15 minutes. Even though they don't look like it, they're done. 

Refrigerate them for a few hours so that they can harden all the way and then ENJOY THEM QUICKLY, or else your family (cough cough dad) will eat all of them. They are really good, and they hold up really well. YOU CAN EAT PIE WITH YOUR FINGERS, PEOPLE, THE FUTURE IS NOW.

Do Not Make These I Beg of You

Recently I asked some of my friends what brand name childhood treat I should try to make for them, and the vote came down to everyone's favorite sandwich cookie, Oreo. 

Do not try to make Oreos.

There is a reason that the Oreo cookie company is so successful. 

They have made their iconic recipe INCREDIBLY difficult to replicate. I have no idea what kind of black magic they're using over at the Oreo factory to so easily make millions of these little chocolate devils every day, but I can assure you it is nearly impossible to make these at home. It caused me a great deal of hair pulling, sweat, and tears, but in the end I (sort of maybe) prevailed, and I am proud to say that I have made homemade Oreos before.

I seriously do not recommend making these. It's going to save you a boat load of stress to just go to the supermarket and buy a pack of Oreos. Why don't you go do that now, you can have something to munch on as you laugh at my many near-failure experiences during the creation of these cookies.

Well.

INGREDIENTS;

For the cookies

1 cup melted butter

3/4 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup melted chocolate chips

1 egg

1 1/2 cup flour

3/4 cup cocoa powder

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

For the part that everyone eats first (filling)

1/2 cup of softened butter

1 2/3 cup powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1 tbsp milk

pinch of salt

FOR THE COOKIES

In a bowl, mix the butter and sugar together. Mix in the melted chocolate and the vanilla, then add the egg.

In another bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, salt, and baking soda.

Simple enough, mix the flour mixture into the wet mixture until a dough forms. You'll probably have to use your hands, like I did, which is why I don't have any pictures of the dough before this next step (it can get pretty messy).

Once the dry ingredients and the wet ingredients are completely mixed, cover the bowl with plastic wrap and stick it in the fridge overnight.

This step here is me trying to make it easier for you at home. The original instructions told me to roll the dough into logs, then to wrap the logs in plastic wrap and refrigerate them for 2 hours. Then to unroll the logs and cut them like a loaf of bread to make the sandwich part of the cookie.

TOO BAD THE COOKIES WERE LIKE SAND BY THE TIME THEY WERE DONE REFRIGERATING AND JUST CRUMBLED WHEN I TRIED TO CUT THEM.

I became very frustrated with these dumb cookies. I spent, not exaggerating, half an hour repeatedly trying to cut these stupid little logs into cookies and it just was not happening. Eventually I got fed up and was just about to quit, when I got the idea to take a glass cup and simply press down on a ball of dough to flatten it.

What do you know, that seemed to have done the trick. Also, I didn't have to feel like a failure as I crumbled yet another log of cookie dough in my hands. I suggest this method.

So once your dough has been refrigerated overnight, flour your counter top and start forming it into little balls, then use a cup to flatten it. If the dough seems too hard, don't worry, it softens up really quickly just sitting on the counter top. In fact, you might want to keep some of it refrigerated while you're forming the rest into cookies.

Preheat your oven to 325 and cover a baking sheet with wax paper. Place your flattened cookies on it the baking sheet and bake them for 20 minutes.

 After baking;

While the cookies are cooling down, prepare everyone's favorite part of an Oreo, the filling.

Here are the ingredients again so that you don't have to scroll all the way back up to the top;

Filling

1/2 cup of softened butter

1 2/3 cup powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1 tbsp milk

pinch of salt

Mix the butter and powdered sugar together. Add the vanilla, milk, and salt, and mix until it's all smooth and creamy.

Once the cookies have cooled, spoon some of the filling onto a cookie and simply place another cookie on top and squish.

Yes, I turned my filling hot pink with the help of food coloring to make these a little less painful to look at.

Unfortunately, this is the only picture I got because my little brothers heard the word "Oreo" and immediately inhaled every cookie in site. 

So I suppose they were yummy. I still say go out and buy your Oreos, do not make them at home.

Chicken Enchiladas

About a month ago I was looking for a tasty Mexican dish to make for Cinco de Mayo when I came across a recipe for chicken enchiladas on Pinterest. This was on the 5th of May and since then I have made these enchiladas SIX TIMES.

There have been days when the family and I were just out running errands and my dad has spoken up and said, "Do we have everything you would need to make enchiladas at the house?" and if I didn't, we would go out of our way to the grocery store to get whatever I needed to make them.

They never last more than 24 hours. They're gone. An entire dish of enchiladas vanishes before your eyes like magic.

I almost don't want to give this recipe to you. Let me warn you that it is dangerously easy to go into a food coma from eating these. It's like a virus. We've caught the chicken enchilada fever and the only cure is more chicken enchiladas.

But I also feel as if your life is not complete until you have had these enchiladas, so I will share them with you.

INGREDIENTS

4 cups of cooked chicken, shredded chicken breast 

1 cup sour cream

1 cup shredded cheese
1 tablespoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup of either canned tomatoes or salsa
an avocado or 2 (optional)
1 teaspoon garlic powder
8 8 inch soft tortilla shells (for a 9x13 baking dish)
3/4 cups of MORE shredded cheese

This may seem like a lot of ingredients, but I assure you it's not. I don't like doing recipes that require me to buy 30 different things from the store and hike the Andes for goat fur and gold coins from a leprechaun.

The first thing you're going to do is cook your chicken. I get those big bags of frozen chicken in the freezer aisle and grill them on our Forman grill, then completely mutilate them with forks once they're cooked through. It doesn't really matter HOW you cook them, you could boil them or bake them or whatever you like best, as long as by the end they're cooked through and shredded.

Bro tip; don't use a blender to try to shred the chicken. Just trust me.

While your chicken is cooking, get out a medium sized bowl. In the bowl mix your sour cream and 1 cup of shredded cheese together. Add your chili powder, 1/2 teaspoon oregano, pepper, and salt to the sour cream/cheese mixture and mix until all of those spices are incorporated.

Once the chicken is cooked, you'll need to shred it. When I shred the chicken, I either put a portion of it in a bowl and use two forks to rip it apart, or a take a knife and cut the chicken into little pieces. Whichever way you 'shred' it, it's going to take a while, so you'll have to be a little patient with it.

After shredding all your chicken, grab a very large skillet and dump all of the chicken inside. Dump your sour cream mixture into the skillet as well, and mix the two together.

Put the skillet on the stove and heat the mixture until the cheese starts to melt. Once the cheese has melted, pour in the salsa OR the canned tomatoes (whichever you decided to use) and mix well.

At this point you can add your avocados (if you want). My family is avocado crazy and we had some ones that needed t be used up, so I threw them in there.

Preheat your oven to 350.

Next, grab some tortillas and a 9 x 13 baking dish.

Start filling the tortilla shells with the enchilada mix and rolling them up, placing them side by side in the baking dish.

Every single time I've made this I've wound up with a ton more enchilada insides than I was able to fit into the tortillas, so I put a little Mackenzie twist on it and;

Spread it all out

Sprinkle 3/4 cup of cheese over the whole ensemble and pop it in the oven for 20 minutes.

20 minutes later;

You've got yourself  a dish of enchiladas worthy of the queen of England's dinner party.

Have fun eating them :)

The Brownies That Made The Village Weep With Joy

'Mkay, so usually the only thing I ever bake is cookies and I can give you 6 legitimate reasons for their superiority among all things dessert;

1) They are (usually) not messy to eat

2) They are (usually) not complicated to make

3) They don't need frosting or anything else to go on them 'cause they're just naturally good looking

4) They're super easy to store

5) I have never heard someone say "Nah, I'm not really in a cookie mood."

Bottom line: cookies are amazing and they are my favorite. But I can't JUST do cookies, this blog needs a little more flair than that. And you know what I realized the other day?! I HAVE NEVER MADE BROWNIES BEFORE. What a convenient time for that realization to hit, as the house was suffering from a severe lack of sugared treats.

SO HERE ARE SOME GREAT BROWNIES THAT WERE SO AMAZING EVERYONE CRIED (they were dry tears and the were slightly invisible but I swear to you they were there).

INGREDIENTS:

2 sticks of butter

2 1/4 cups sugar

4 eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla

1 1/4 cup cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 1/2 cups flour

chocolate chips (optional)

sprinkles for pizzazz (optional pizzazz)

HOW TO MAKE THESE SLICES OF CHOCOLATY PARADISE;

Preheat your oven to 350.

Spray a 9x13 inch baking dish with cooking spray and set it aside. This will soon be the throne for the King of the Brownie Kingdom.

Get your butter and cut it into chunks (this will make it easier for melting). Place butter in a microwave safe bowl. A LARGE microwave safe bowl, it's a ton of butter.

Add the sugar to your bowl, then place in microwave. Heat at 30 second intervals, mixing after each interval until the mixture is smooth and vaguely starts to bubble.

Hash tag healthy baker.

You may want to consider transferring this to an even BIGGER bowl, but if you think your bowl can contain the rest of the ingredients, continue on.

Add in the eggs and vanilla, and if you have an electric mixer, get it out. If you don't have an electric mixer, I hope you've been making good use of the gym membership you bought on January 1st.

Mix this until it is nice and smooth.

In another bowl, mix together the flour, cocoa, salt and baking soda. 

Start adding it to the wet mixture.

Okay, this was my first time making brownies and they make a WEIRD mixture compared to most things I make. The mix was almost, I don't know, I want to say stretchy? And it made huge air bubbles when I started mixing in the dry ingredients which momentarily freaked me out.

Ooooookaaaayyy then.

Once you have all of your dry ingredients and wet ingredients mixed together, pour it into your pan.

HERE COMES THE FUN PIZZAZY PART!

Once you've poured the mix into the pan, sprinkle chocolate chips over the top. I ran out of chocolate chips about halfway through (hmmm I wonder why *unsubtle cough* DAD WHO EATS THEM BY THE HANDFULS WHEN HE THINKS I'M NOT LOOKING *unsubtle cough*). I decided that half of the chocolate chips just wasn't going to cut it for me, so naturally, what do I reach for?

SPPRRIIINNKKLLLEEEZZZZ

Before, a dull, mundane pan of brownie mix.

After: HOLY CRAB CAKES WHO FLIPPED ON THE PARTY SWITCH 'CUZ THESE BROWNIES BE PARTYIN' LIKE IT'S 1999

You could add whatever you wanted to these actually. Nuts, raisins, hard boiled eggs, guacamole, whatever your weird little heart desires <3

Pop the pan into the oven for 28 minutes and when you pull it out you'll have a marvelous dessert that everyone will love (if someone doesn't love these I suggest you delete them from your BFF list immediately).

You're welcome, enjoy the brownies my friends.

Hehe Hi

Hello there.

Been a while, hasn't it?

Like five months WHOOPS NO IT HASN'T IT CAN'T BE FIVE MONTHS SINCE I POSTED A BLOG UPDATE NO

But it is because I suck and so does school for making me learn things and study. Basically what happened is that I got caught up in studying for half term tests in December and was unable to even  bake at all, let alone write a post about some cookies or something.

Then after holiday break my courses got increasingly difficult. So essentially all I've been doing these past few months is study and work and then study some more. It's been stressful, but the year is winding down, and what better way to de-stress than baking?!

The saying goes that baking is cheaper than therapy (only slightly cheaper, might I add), and I could definitely  use some down time with a whisk and some flour.

No promises that I will get to this blog weekly. I have decided to turn this into not only a baking blog, but also a cooking blog, because I find equal joy in both and this way I will have more post opportunities.

So, adventures in teenage... food stuff? I don't know.
But what I do know is that I'M BACK!! :D

Love,
Mackenzie :)

Gingerbread Cookies

SO IT'S ALMOST CHRISTMAS.

AND IT STILL HASN'T SNOWED AT MY HOUSE.

OOOUUUUTTTRAAAGGGGGEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm kind of frustrated with that, if you couldn't tell. What makes me super duper sad is that we didn't have snow for Christmas LAST year either!! SADS. SO MUCH SADS.

:(

Anyway, since it doesn't FEEL like Christmas, I thought that maybe some very Christmas-y cookies would get me more in the holiday spirit.

Also I had all of the ingredients for this on hand so I didn't have to put effort into going to the store.

GINGERBREAD COOKIES YEAH;

Ingredients

4 cups flour

1 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp pumpkin spice

2 tsp ground ginger

2 sticks butter, room temperature

1 cup sugar

1 cup molasses

1 egg

So for these cookies I used a stand mixer (thanks grandma for letting me borrow yours). You don't HAVE to use one, but it made it a lot easier.

Just a tip;

Make sure it's turned off before you plug it in. I got punched in the stomach by a mixing machine. 

Let's get started *cracks knuckles dramatically*.

First thing you're going to do is mix the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and spices together in a big bowl. These are going to make a TON of cookies, FYI. So be prepared. 

Next put the sugar and butter in a bowl and cream them together.

Add the molasses and egg into the sugar and butter mixture. Be careful, I found out that molasses is a lot more runny than I thought it was. I may or may not have spilled a little.

Or a lot. Don't judge.

But seriously, am I the only one who thinks that that stuff looks like poison? 

I just want to point out that once this stuff is all mixed together it looks really weird.. Like a science experiment. Do not fret, it looks more edible once you put the flour mixture in. Which is what you're going to do next.

Mix it until it's just combined, then cover it and out it in the fridge for an hour. 

*One hour later*

*Hopefully you read that in the Spongebob voice*

OKAY. Preheat your oven to 350 and cover some baking sheets with wax paper. 

Get out that cookie dough. GENEROUSLY flour your countertop or table or floor or wherever you want to roll out these cookies. Also generously flour your rolling pin. 

Then start rolling the dough. I suggest doing it in sections. You'll want the cookies to be pretty thin, but it doesn't really matter how thick they are as long as they're not ridiculous. The thicker ones will take longer to cool.

Once they're rolled out, cut them into Christmas-y shapes. I chose cute little trees.

Put them on the baking sheets and put them in the oven for 10 minutes, and turn them at the 5 minute mark.

You won't get to see them decorated, maily because I'm an idiot. I tried to melt the fosting just a little to make it softer, but I overheated it and it melted.

Jeez, frosting. I only heated you for 45 seconds, no need to have a MELTDOWN.

(My sincerest apologies for that joke.)

 This is how many cookies I got out of this recipe. I know, that's a lot of cookies. Thankfully it's Christmas so I can dump some of these off to other people so it's their problem. 

YAY CHRISTMAS.

Simple, not too mess, and festive. Checkmate, Christmas.

MACKENZIE'S FIRST ANNUAL BAKING SPECTACULAR

GET PUMPED.

GET EXCITED.

YOU MIGHT AS WELL TAKE YOUR SOCKS OFF NOW BECAUSE THEY'LL BE KNOCKED OFF OF YOU IN A MINUTE ANYWAY.

BECAUSE IT'S TIME FOR MACKENZIE'S FIRST ANNUAL CHRISTMAS BAKING SPECTACULAR!!!!!!

I am about to give not one, not two, but THREE recipes for things that every one will love. Seriously. Unless you have no soul, you will love these. 

SHALL WE BEGIN?

Let's start off with the Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Cupcakes.

Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Cupcakes;

Ingredients

1 cup white sugar

1 egg

1/2 cup milk

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 tsps vanilla extract

3/4 cup flour

1/4 cup cocoa

3/4 tsps baking soda

3/4 tsps baking powder

1/2 tsps salt

1/2 cup boiling water

This peanut butter frosting that will change your life;

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter, room temperature

1 cup peanut butter

2 cups powdered sugar

4 tbsp milk

DIRECTIONS;

Go and get your butter. Put it on the counter and go occupy yourself for 30-45 minutes. I don't know, go watch Modern Family or something.

After that preheat your oven to 350 and get some bowls. A couple of them. Using a wooden spoon/spatula/utensil you're going to mix the sugar, egg, milk, vegetable oil, and vanilla. The best part about this recipe is that it's super simple. 

Next mix your dry ingredients together. Then add your mixed dry ingredients to your wet ingredients and mix well. 

Next your going to want to boil your water. Once it's boiling, add it to the mixture. Your batter is going to be very thin, but don't sweat it, yo (I can't think of anything really funny to say right meow) (oh wait I just said something kind of funny) (lol).

 

See? Very thin.

 

Get yourself some muffin cups and a muffin pan. Line the muffin pan with the muffin cups, then pour the batter in. Fill it about 2/3 of the way full, and then bake them for 25 minutes.

While that's going on, you can make this frosting. Warning; this frosting may cause you to:

-Faint

-Scream

-Cry

-Sing

-Dance

BECAUSE IT IS THAT GOOD.

Directions for le frosting;

Put your peanut butter in a bowl. Start adding the powdered sugar and milk a little at a time, until it's all mixed in.

PUT IT ON YOUR CUPCAKES.

Put a little Reese's cup on there for added fanciness. 

 DONE.

EAT IT NOW BEFORE YOUR FAMILY COMES HOME AND TAKES IT ALL.

Recipe #2

Crockpot Apple Butter

WHAT WHAT DELICIOUSNESS IN THE HOUSE.

What what 48 hours of hard work and 24 apples for one and a half small jars of apple butter also in the house. 

:(

It's still really good though. So I guess I'll give it to you. But I don't suggest making this unless the Apple King decided to give you a share of his fortune. 

Ingredients;

Like a ton of apples. I would say 12 really big ones or 24 small ones. I used small ones.

1/2 cup water

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 tsps pumpkin spice

Also a crockpot

First you're going to peel and core the apples. 

Then, chop them up SUPER TINY. LIKE SUPER DUPER TINY.

Then mix the apples in the sugar and spices (that was really fun to say) and put it in the crockpot. Pour in the water, then turn your crockpot on high and leave it overnight. Then (and this worked best for me), prop the lid of the crockpot open with a wooden spoon and turn the crockpot on low for a few more hours.

Then, if you want it to be extra smooooooooth, put it in a blender and, you know, blend it for a minute. It's super delicious, but time consuming and takes a whole 'lotta apples. So if you happen to have a bunch of apples and you don't know what to do with them, this recipe is for you!

Recipe # 3

BANANA BREAD!

This recipe is for a MINI loaf of banana bread. For when, you know, you want banana bread,  but you just want like two slices. Not the whole loaf.

Yeah. Happens all the time.

Ingredients;

1 really ripe banana 

3 tbsp of butter at room temperature

3 tbsp sugar

2 tbsp honey

1 egg yolk

1/2 cup flour

1 tbsp wheat germ (new vocabulary word)

1/4 and 1/8 tsps baking soda

Directions;

Preheat your oven to 350 and grease a really tiny bread pan. I don't have a teeny tiny bread pan, so I decided to make cupcakes instead and just greased some muffin cup liners.

Next you want to use a fork to mash your banana up. Mash that thing REALLY well. 

Then, add the butter, sugar, and honey to the banana and mix well. 

Stir in the egg yolk.

Add in the flour and wheat germ, and then the baking soda and salt.

Pour into your bread pan/muffin cups and bake for 37 minutes. 

VOILA! Delicious. 

These are some of the most delicious things I've ever made. No joke. REALLY super good.

Make them and eat them and thank me later.