The cookie experiment ~ lazy chocolate nutty muncher cookies

Most people who know me well know that the one thing I love more then cooking is a bargain. I normally cook from scratch but when I saw Duncans Hines Devils food cupcake mix on sale for .24 cents a box well I couldn't resist. So I bought oh 20 boxes. So far we have made cupcakes with them, go figure. But I have always heard you could make cookies with the mix so this was my first attempt. I decided to attempt to healthy them up and give them more of a crunch. So is born the lazy nutty muncher chocolate cookie. Something so easy needs a long name, right?

Ingredients (are you ready for this?)

1 box cupcake mix (or I am sure regular cake mix would work too)
2 eggs
1/4 cup oil
Nutty stuff: In this case I used 1/4 cup each of sunflower seeds, slivered almonds and golden raisins



Dump everything in a bowl. No really that is what I did see photo evidence.



Stir (I know very technical)


Drop spoonfuls on parchment lined pan, or oil it - I figured I would up the lazy factor of these. Now mine made 19 cookies, I figured the points (for weight watchers) at 2 points each for 20 cookies. Now if you left out the nutty part you would have 1 point cookies.

You could also stretch it to 24 cookies because mine spread quite a bit and some were rather large. In which case I would count even the nutty ones at 1 point because I grossly rounded up to make an even 2 points.



Bake at 350 for 10 minutes. Okay you need to keep an eye on these they burn easily. I would check them at 8, I took them out when they were firm on top and they were already starting to brown too much on the bottom.

(and as an added bonus for my American friends you now know that
"petits Gateaux Au Chocolat Noir" is Devil's food cupcakes in french)

Dairy free lightened up rice pudding

I didn't get a picture of this because everyone ate it too fast but thought I would post it anyway. Next time I make it I will be sure to snap one quickly.

Ingredients

3 cups cooked white (brown would probably work too) rice

3 cups vanilla almond milk

2 tablespoons brown sugar

3 egg whites

1/2 cup raisins (optional)

pinch of cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves (to taste)

teaspoon of vanilla

Directions

In sauce pan add rice, egg whites, milk, sugar, spices, vanilla and stir well

Over med heat bring up to a boil add raisins

reduce heat to simmer and simmer until thickens (about 15-20 minutes)

Almost non-dairy strawberry cupcakes

Ingredients (this makes 2 dozen so for 1 dozen half everything)

4 cups flour

1 cup sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 cup vanilla almond milk (the sweetened kind if using unsweetened add 1/2 of sugar more you could also use normal milk if you want a dairy version)

1/2 cup olive oil (or cooking i prefer olive though)

1/2 cup strawberry yogurt (any would do really)

2 eggs + 4 whites (I use egg beaters egg whites if you just want to use eggs just use 4)

2 tsp vanilla

1 cup diced fresh strawberries

pink or red food coloring (optional) - I have to admit I added it because the olive oil and the yogurt gave them a greenish color if your okay with that omit.

In large bowl mix flour, sugar, baking baking powder, salt - mix well

In smaller bowl add milk, olive oil, strawberry yogurt, eggs, vanilla and strawberries and stir well.

Add wet to dry and mix only until combined.. try not to over mix.

Pour into lined or greased muffin tins - I filled mine right to the top and had enough mix.

Bake at 350 for 20 minutes (or until toothpick comes out clean)

• 
  

  
  

School days again ~ Granola bars

Homemade granola bars

I love these because they are FILLING - not full of puffed rice like the ones in the stores and not $4 a box .. I have never calculated what they cost me but I would say $1-2 dollars for 12 if I had to guess. Oh and my kids LOVE them.. I have to hide them or they will eat the whole pan in a day LOL

- I like to do two batches at once so just start with two bowls. If you notice my photos seem to swap out ingredients that is why. I made a raisin chocolate chip batch and a peanut butter chocolate chip batch at the same time.

Ingredients
4 cups oats - mine were honestly no-name quick oats (yeup I am a mom on a budget)
1 cup flour
1tsp baking soda
2/3 cup butter
1/3 cup brownsugar
1/2 cup honey (or corn syrup works too)

2.5 cups 'other ingredients' - these are the fun stuff. You can be creative and add what you like. Here are some ideas: Raisins, chocolate chips, craisons, nuts, sunflower seeds, peanut butter (don't use a whole 2.5 cups only like 1 cup max), dried fruit.

Directions

• Add all dry ingredients together in large bowl. Add butter and mix (with hands works best) until completely blended.
  

• Add in your "extras" and honey and mix again. I usually use a spoon then finish it again with my hands because I hate being sticky.
  

• Press mixture into lightly buttered pan

• Bake in 375 oven for 10 minutes then pull out and using a spatula press firmly down into the pan. I cannot stress this part enough because your bars WILL puff up when you bake and if you want them to stay together you need to squish them down.

This is before I pressed them down completely, see how puffed up it is.
I had pressed half of the raisin ones down you can see how much flatter the top half the pan is.

• After pressing down return to oven for another 10 minutes. Remove and once more press down as hard as you can with the spatula.
  

• Let cool for 20 minutes then slice in the pan. Once sliced leave them to cool completely before removing. Two hours or so.
  

NOTES: I think in my new oven I would cut the baking time down to 7 and 7 minutes since they got a bit browner then I like but still good!

Autumn favorites - apple crisp

One thing I LOVE about this time of year are BIN APPLES! So cheap and perfect for making apple crisp. I bought a huge bag the other day for $2 so figured it was a good time to test run my new stove with a baking day.



Ingredients
3 cups oats
1.5 cups flour ( separated into 1 cup and .5 cup amounts)
2 cups brown sugar ( separated into 1.5 cup and .5 cup amounts)
1.5 cup butter
10-11 good sized apples - peeled, cored, sliced thin
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground cloves

Directions

• Peel, core, slice apples

EEP Naked apples!

• Sprinkle apples with: .5 cups of flour, all spices and .5 cups of brown sugar (you can add more if you want it sweeter but I like my apples a bit tart)

• Stir and set aside
  
• In second large bowl add all dry ingredients and mix

• Add butter then mix well. I use my hands to get it good and mixed, it should be course crumbs no big lumps.

• Once its good and mixed spread 1/2 of bowl into a lightly buttered dish. I use a large lasagna style dish because it has nice high sides.

• Flatten crust into pan firmly
• Top with apple and spice mixture

• Dot top of apples with a few teaspoons of butter

• Add rest of the crumb mixture on top of apples and press down lightly, a bit more firmly around the edges. You don't want to crush the apples but want it a bit flattened.

• Bake in a preheated 375 degree oven for 1 hour - 1:20ish or until apples are soft but not mushy.

• Serve warm with cream or ice cream