My mother is an amazing baker and that is no understatement. Every birthday from whenever I can remember until 18 my mother made my sister, my brother and I a homemade birthday cake so beautifully decorated in whatever theme we desired. Her talent when it came to icing cakes was impressive to say the least. From barbies, clowns, sports, halloween, roses (my sisters favorite) my mother had a cake to celebrate the event.
For Christmas she'd bake so much food from literally dozens of dozens of different types of cookies, tarts, bars, along with pies - apple, pumpkin, blueberry, chocolate, lemon meringue. She seriously had a pie to cater to each guest/family member. My friends use to hide in the cold storage and devour her christmas cookies by the handful.
I vividly remember being the kitchen as kid and watching her in her flour covered apron using her old wooden green handled rolling pin rolling out her incredibly flaky pie dough. I have always held my mothers baking (and cooking) in the highest regard and when I am baking or cooking I often reminise about being a kid in the kitchen with my mom watching her make homemade jam, pickles, loaves, stuffing a turkey...you name it... to me my mom was Julia Childs. I can't imagine not doing the same for my children someday or at least for myself and husband (okay in-laws if you are reading this - that is not to say there are any bambinos on the way anytime soon!)
As impressed as I am with her baking and cooking, what I found incredibly interesting is something I came across the other day. The other weekend I was perusing some old photo albums when I came across photos of all of her decorated birthday and holiday cakes. I certainly new I got my love of cooking and any 'talent' if you call it that from my mother, but I had no idea that the food photography also ran in my family. I was super impressed! I will have to post some of her creations.
My mom certainly enjoyed baking, I on the other hand enjoy more savoury meals and do more cooking than baking. However, I've had the urge to bake lately. Being health conscious I decided on healthy trail mix cookies. There is no need to hit the trails to enjoy these amazing trail mix cookies; although they are so packed full of healthy energy you might just get the urge to anyways. These cookies did not last very long in my house, between my husband, myself and visiting friends, they were devoured in a couple of days.
Trail Mix Cookies
½ cup butter
3/4 cup dark brown sugar, firmly packed
1 egg
2/3 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
3 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1 1/2 cups dried cran-raisins (sour cherry flavoured ones)
1/2 cup sliced almonds
2 T flax seeds
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut
3/4 cup dark brown sugar, firmly packed
1 egg
2/3 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
3 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1 1/2 cups dried cran-raisins (sour cherry flavoured ones)
1/2 cup sliced almonds
2 T flax seeds
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut
1/2 cup wheat bran or germ (or use bran cereal)
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats or use cooking spray.
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats or use cooking spray.
Spoon batter onto pans about 2" apart and flatten them slightly with a fork/spoon. Bake for 11min or until browned. Let cool on rack.
3 comments:
That's a cool discovery - the pictures of your Mom's cakes! And your cookies look great - they're packed with lots of my favorites. Kind of like a granola bar only better.
mmm these look delicious! I love any kind of oat cookie :)
These look great! My most recent post is a muesli chip cookie! You might enjoy those as well!
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