White Chocolate Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies

Im always super excited when my Cooking Light Magazine comes in the mail. I find that they have a lot of my favorite recipes with the fat and calorie count decreased by a fair amount. and they always have great ideas for all different kinds of food. and they are soooo good about revamping seasonal feasts (thanksgiving, easter, christmas, etc) into more calorie-friendly meals. it is really such a great utility to have if you are into cooking and baking, but dont like extra fat around your hips and thighs! (and who likes extra fat?)

anyhow, i found this great cookie recipe in the most recent edition (May 2007). this recipe originally called for dried strawberries in place of cranberries, but i thought the sour cranberry would offer the cookie a better kick, and i had just enough to create the batter, so i present you cookies that are deliciously wonderful and wont kill your summer get-fit plans!


Ingredients
(Yields: 2 dozen)
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup regular oats
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
3/4 cup dried cranberries
1/3 cup premium white chocolate chips (I used Ghirardelli)
Cooking spray

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Lightly spoon flour into a measuring cup; level with a knife. Combine flour, oats, baking soda, and salt; stir with a whisk. Place sugar and butter in the bowl of a stand mixer; beat at medium speed until well blended (about 3 minutes). Add vanilla and egg; beat well. Gradually add flour mixture, beating until blended. Add strawberries and chips; beat at low speed just until blended.
3. Drop dough by tablespoonfuls 2 inches apart onto baking sheets coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 12 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove from oven; cool on pan 1 minute. Remove cookies from pan; cool completely on wire racks.



NUTRITION PER COOKIE
CALORIES 98(30% from fat); FAT 3.3g (sat 2.1g,mono 0.6g,poly 0.2g); PROTEIN 1.2g; CHOLESTEROL 14mg; CALCIUM 11mg; SODIUM 73mg; FIBER 0.6g; IRON 0.5mg; CARBOHYDRATE 16g

Cooking Light, MAY 2007

parfaits are sexy

desserts are sexy, really, sweets are way sexier than savory foods. afterall, they dont say chocolate is an aphrodisiac for nothing. anyhow, champagne is also sexy, which is perhaps why champagne flutes look sexy. long, lean, and bubbly. yum. now can you imagine how sexy desserts are in champagne flutes? yes. i found out with parfaits in champagne flutes. and they look so long and sleek. yum. and sexy.

i made some parfaits and placed them in long champagne flutes. parfaits are relatively easy to make. you just take fruits, cool whip, pudding, some cakey- substance, layer, and repeat to your own liking. i had blackberries, strawberries, and bananas on hand, so i used those fruits. then used my blueberry bundt cake recipe and substituted strawberries instead of the blueberries to keep the strawberry theme going. i made mini muffins that were almost perfect in size for my champagne flutes. then layered pudding and coolwhip. some had more cake than others, some had more berries than others. i like the easy variation and the vibrant colors of this dessert. the bright colors made me feel as if i were on vacation, hence the tropical-esque pictures. and its very simple and fun to make. definitely a relaxing way to relieve the workweek stress. i really cant wait until summer comes in full bloom.

oh speaking of summer weather, this dessert is bikini friendly. yes yes i know - how do i do it? sometimes i ask myself the same question. [the hubris is self-mocking.]

bon appetit!

low fat blueberry bundt cake

its kind of intense when i think about how its already may! 2007 has gone by so fast already. i attribute such warped sense of time to my happiness in life. as they say, time flies when youre having fun. and life really is a blast right now!

this last week i was definitely missing my oven, which explains the lack of exciting entries! it was not optimal for baking, as there was a lot of good events things that happened in the family. first off, id like to welcome l.'s (my sister who makes marvelous quiche) new daughter! baby a! is sooo adorable (she is so cute that her online alias will be a! not just a. but a!) and tiny and i just want to hug her. i havent been able to see her but she is on my desktop, phone, among many other highly visible locations. im obsessed! im so excited i will see her in 2 weeks! and my other sister p. got into her first-choice grad school! (ambiguity is to maintain the anonymity) also yesterday was my aunts birthday! another year wiser, of course. good things are happening in life!

thats why i thought i needed to mirror some good things in the oven! with spring in full bloom, evidenced by the fabulous farmer's market i went to today, i wanted to make something springy and colorful! after browsing on blogs endlessly, i finally decided on a blueberry muffins/cakes/cupcake! low fat blueberry bundt cakes! ok i dont think they are technically bundt cakes, but my new molds came, and i wanted to make use of them! besides, my friend s says i can put whatever i want into my bundt pans! (technically the silicon molds are savarin molds, but i havent yet been able to distinguish the 2. all i know is that they make pretty cake patterns!)

so according to wikipedia, a bundt cake is the "name used for a dessert caked cooked in a Bundt pan." it is actually trademarked by a Mr. H. David Dalquist in 1950. the story goes something like this. mr. dalquist wanted to create the optimal pan for bundkuchen, a popular German coffee cake. Older pans were made out of ceramic or heavy cast iron, which lacked in the ease of use department. As a result, Mr. Dalquist modified some existing Scandinavian pan designs by introducing folds in the outer edge, and fashioned the pan out of aluminum. Fast forward almost 60 years and we have silicone versions of these babies and recreated completely different recipes for these! im definitely on team innovation!

INGREDIENTS:
1 cup all-purpose and 1 cup whole-wheat flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
3/4 cup 1% milk
3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
2/3 packed cup dark brown sugar
1 large egg
1 1/2 Tbsp. canola oil
1 tsp. vanilla extract
3/4 cup frozen blueberries

1. Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350°F.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon until well combined. Set aside.
3. In another medium bowl, using a handheld electric mixer set at high speed, beat the milk, applesauce, brown sugar, egg, oil, and vanilla until frothy, about two minutes. Pour in the liquid mixture into the dry one. Using a spoon, mix just until moistened. Gently fold in the blueberries until the flour is incorporated. Do not overmix.
4. Divide the batter into molds. [for mini molds, fill only halfway] Bake until the tops spring back when pressed gently in the center, about 20 minutes. Do not overbake. Cool in the pan on a wire cake rim for 10 minutes before removing from cups. Serve warm or cool.

if you notice, the recipe is super low fat. i cut out a lot of the oil in this recipe and used unsweetened applesauce to get a similar texture and consistency. as a rule of thumb, usually 1 cup of oil can be substituted with 3/4-1 cup of unsweetened applesauce, which is what i did. i added 1.5 tbsp of canola oil because you should allow a small portion of the butter/oil to remain in the recipe for the sake of taste.

so when i made my mini bundt cakes, i put too much batter so they looked like awkward muffins. thats no fun! and since im big on creativity, i took the cute muffin tops and made parfaits with them! a layer of the cake, a layer of instant vanilla pudding, a layer of fruits, then repeat! then i topped it all with some fat free cool whip! they turned out REALLY delicious! the only problem is since im an amateur, the layers did not come out very pretty. nonetheless, they tasted really great! im so impressed! next time, to cut the calorie count, ill use sugar free jello! other than that, i think i decreased the fat grams as much as i could without sacrificing flavor. ta da!

looks pretty good doesnt it? it tasted pretty good!

after making 6 mini bundt cakes, i had a lot of leftover batter. i decided to whip out my yellow bundt cake mold and give it a whirl in the oven. i put it in the oven at a temperature a bit lower than for the mini bundt cakes (340F), and ran into the shower. 20 minutes later [i shower fast!], i went downstairs to take the cake out and let it sit for a few minutes. when it was almost cooled, i was able to fold it out of the mold perfectly! i was impressed! it looked so pretty!

im giving this cake to my little sister who is in college studying for finals! i will see her tonight and bring her the lovely cake!

bon appetite!!

new silicone baking molds

so as you can see, im pretty serious about this baking thing. im constantly on other food blogs trying to find exciting recipes then modifying them so that you can eat them and look pretty. yes yes i know youll thank me later. but you know its bad when i get complaints that i spend more time with my oven than real breathing human beings as of late. in my defense that was LAST month. im balancing things just fine now thankyouverymuch!

unfortunately, im not the best (cup)cake maker in town. its quite disappointing to me, actually. i still openly blame my oven (we are getting a kitchen remodel, which means new appliances come summer!) but i guess its completely my fault when i think measuring utensils are just cute as opposed to useful and highly underestimate the amount of baking powder so my cake is an unrisen mold of heated batter. or interchange baking powder and soda without even raising a brow. yes yes i have quite a ways to go to reaching my baking pinnacle. but im learning every step of the way!

so in an effort to boost my (cup)caking baking self-esteem, im going to buy some new toys for my kitchen! check them out!

heart shaped le creuset silicone molds! arent they just precious? they will be perfect when my newborn niece (i think today!) is old enough to eat chocolate baked goodies from her auntie!

dont be surprised if you get some heart shaped cupcakes on your doorsteps! theyll be from me!

i also some some savarin (pronounced [SAV-uh-rihn, sa-va-RAN ]) molds on sale, and i figured id try them out! i wasnt sure what savarin is, but my lovely friend mel told me that they are sort of like pound cake. ive never purchased anything on hsn before, but i figured i dont have much to lose because i know that its a reputable site. and they were on sale!

as you can see, they are almost sold out in the yellow color!

im so excited to receive my new silicone bakeware! ill keep you posted on how much i like these. i just like the idea of molds and shapes and colors. its so fun!

images courtesy of le creuset and hsn.com

low-fat oatmeal chocolate chip cookies

happy weekend! i am so glad its finally the weekend! its a bit chilly in the house. but i think i have very poor blood circulation because i am always cold. however, today, with the faint scent of warm cookies fresh from the oven, my body is not shivering as much in this unseasonably cold april.

today, i remade some old favorites, including some chocolate cookies with chocolate/vanilla chips and a mini version of my sisters favorite low-cal low-fat strawberry pie.

doesnt everything look cuter mini sized?

the latest edition of my baking includes oat-meal chocolate chip cookies - low fat - and dare i say, still pretty tasty?

when i found my recipe of choice, i was aghast! 4 dozen cookies called for 1 cup of butter. now 1 cup of butter doesnt sound great, but doesnt sound like it will kill you. but when i realized that 1 cup of butter was not 1, but 2 T-W-O sticks of butter, i had a mini-heart attack. i could NOT let my baked goods kill my friends! in my mind, i quickly adjusted the recipe, deciding to substitute something in place of all the butter, for the sake of all my friends!

now baking low fat is no simple task, mind you. in addition to getting all the accurate proportions of everything, you need to know how much butter to cut out, with what substitute, and the same goes for the eggs. i used 2 tablespoons of apple sauce in place of 1 1/2 (ONE AND A HALF - no joke) sticks of butter. keeping a little bit of the butter is important to hold the cookie together and for the sake of taste. its a pretty impressive feat that we were able to cut out 75% of the butter. also, i used 1 egg and 1 egg's equivalent in egg whites, decreasing the total cholesterol in the cookies. instead of the full cup and a half of flour, i substituted some whole wheat flour in there. they turned out quite good actually. they were sweetened with the applesauce, so i could have gone a little less with the sugar, which is something ill watch for next time. but overall, cutting out about 1250 calories and 135 grams of fat in 4 dozen cookies is worth it! i may adjust the recipe a bit more, but again, i didnt have much time between thinking up the recipe in my head and executing. tough job, being a baker!

anyhow, heres the recipe. please feel free to play around with it and get back to me with your thoughts on this.

Ingredients
* 1/2 stick of butter (4 teaspoons), softened
* 2 tablespoons of applesauce
* 1 cup packed light brown sugar
* 1/2 cup white sugar
* 1 egg and 1 egg equivalent of egg substitute
* 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
* 1 cups all-purpose white flour
* 1/2 cup of whole wheat flour
* 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
* 3 cups quick-cooking oats
* 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, apple sauce, brown sugar, and white sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs one at a time, then stir in vanilla. Combine the flours and baking soda; stir into the creamed mixture until just blended. Mix in the quick oats and chocolate chips. Drop by heaping spoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheets.
3. Bake for 12 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

straight from the oven, the applesauce taste was stronger and it was more noticeable that something was different with the recipe. however, once i tried a cookie the morning after, it just tasted like a simple cookie. perhaps the temperature brings out the flavor of the applesauce more. so dont worry about your cookies if they taste a little different right out of the oven, once the cookies cool, your cookies taste pretty darn good!

this was definitely one of my worries when i made my low fat brownies, as i thought the brownies tasted too fruity. perhaps i will wait until the brownie cools down to try it next time. or ill try substituting yogurt instead of applesauce. i think applesauce is pretty good for less chocolatey baked goods such as banana bread, carrot cake (the low fat version also calls for crushed pineapples), and perhaps even cranberry white chocolate chip cookies!

bon appetit!

on a side note, i will make an increased effort to bake low-fat goodies for everyone. with the summer coming, i know it wouldnt hurt for us to eat a little healthier for bikini season!! think healthier, happier you!

chocolate cookies with chocolate-white chocolate chips!

amazing amazing chocolate cookies with chocolate/white chocolate swirled chips. absolutely ah- may - zing!! no joke. these babies are cream of the crop - little bites of chocolate heaven!

i made a fairly small batch because it was a recipe i created in my head - a chocolate variation of the best chocolate chip cookies ever. i wasnt completely sure the measurements i estimated would work out, but boy did it work out! far beyond anything i could imagine! really, YUM!!!!! wooooooooooohoooooooooooooo!

the best part about these cookies was the mixture of bittersweet chocolate and truffle chocolate. my aunt had a big bag of melted truffles that she got at costco (you know, the one in gold packaging), and personally, im not a big fan of truffles. so when she gave it to me to bake with, i took it, not really excited but i knew people like it, so it couldnt be too bad to mix with. little did i know what masterpieces i could make with the right amount of truffle chocolate and bittersweet chocolate! the chocolate ratio was 2/5 bittersweet and 3/5 sweet. it turned out specatcular!!!

Prep Time: 15 Minutes
Cook Time: 12 Minutes
Ready In: 1 Hour 30 Minutes (im pretty slow)
Yields: 36 small cookies

INGREDIENTS:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoons baking soda
1 stick butter, softened
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/5 cup white sugar
1 (3.4 ounce) packages instant CHOCOLATE pudding mix
2 eggs
1.5 cups semisweet/white chocolate chips (you can use all white chocolate chips too)
1 square BAKER'S Unsweetened Baking Chocolate
1.5 square sweetened chocolate (i used truffle chocolate, but cut back on the sugar)

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 340 degrees F (175 degrees C). Sift together the flour and baking soda, set aside.
2. In your makeshift double boiler, melt the two types of chocolate together. Stir occassionally, and always keep an eye on it. Let it melt - this may take 5 minutes or so.
3. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar. Beat in the instant pudding mix until blended. Stir in the eggs. Blend in the flour mixture. Stir in your chocolate chips. (This is your basic chocolate chip cookie batter.) Mix in your melted chocolate. the result will be a dark chocolate batter. YUM!
4. Place small balls of batter onto your baking sheet. Bake for 12-15 minutes, depending on oven.

look at these babies! you can see the chocolate swirls if you look closely enough. and again, they were nice and soft. yum =) i think if you used white chocolate chips, theyd be a success as well. the colors would contrast better, and white chocolate is sweeter, which makes it a yummy treat! bon appetit!

i apologize that my pictures arent the best. im trying! really! any photography tips would be greatly appreciated!!! and thank you for the comments! i really appreciate them!

5 minute low fat strawberry pie

i made a quick and easy pie for fun today, and it was amazing! i am so impressed by the taste that can come from mixing yogurt, berries, and cool whip. my friend, ai, taught me this recipe, and i made it a few weeks back, but i figured i should spin it up a little, especially with the wonderful strawberries that are available everywhere now! dont you love springtime? =)

INGREDIENTS
1 carton of cool whip (8 ounces)
1 carton of strawberry yogurt (6 ounces - i used fat free yoplait but any brand/flavor will work)
1 store-bought pie crust
5-6 juicy, red strawberries
1/2 cup of frozen blackberries.

DIRECTIONS
1. Blend strawberries, frozen blackberries, and yogurt together. Slowly stir in cool whip into the mixture. Blend until mostly smooth (not too liquidy). i used a blender for this, but you can do it by hand too.
2. Pour into pie crust and freeze for 4-5 hours. (i froze it overnight).

its amazing how the strawberries and blackberries can bring out the flavor of the yogurt. its a tiny bit tart (very similar to the tartness of pinkberry because of the yogurt), but fully flavorful from the summer fruits. i am very happy with the way this came out. its made from the natural goodness of the springtime, which is always good for the waistline!

in total, the yogurt and coolwhip plus fruits racked in 500 calories and 0 grams of fat. not too bad for dessert to be shared amongst 8 people. the crust will add (roughly) 110 calories per serving, but you are looking at 150 calories per person per piece. pretty good, dont you think? (you can always take out the crust to have a low cal, fat free dessert!)

bon appetit!