Sour Cream Softies

What do you do when you have so much sour cream, you don't know what to do? Make Sour Cream Softies, of course!

For some reason, I recall seeing a recipe in our collection for "Aunty Shannon's Sour Cream Softies". Now, for the life of me, I can't find it! If it even existed, after all.

I can't remember the last time I had one of these tender, sweet cookies, but they remind me of lazy afternoons underneath a patio canopy, with milky tea in delicate china cups, and sunshine. I can almost feel the warm summer breeze on my face.

Aaaahhh...

Photo Courtesy of: http://www.kittmoran.com/kittsArtDetail.php?ID=55

Sour Cream Softies

3 cups flour

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup butter (at room temperature)

1 1/2 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup sour cream

Cinnamon and sugar mixture

Preheat your oven to 375 Degrees Farenheit, and line a cookie sheet with parchment or grease with cooking oil. Sift all dry ingredients together, and stir until combined.

Cream butter and sugar. Beat eggs in a separate bowl, and add vanilla. And egg mixture to butter mixture and stir till combined. Fold in sour cream.

Add sour cream mixture to flour mixture in three parts, and stir until just combined. 

Use a small ice cream scoop to drop dough onto lined baking sheet.

Sprinkle lightly with cinnamon and sugar mixture.

Bake for 10 - 15 minutes until lightly, LIGHTLY, golden brown on the bottom edges.

Enjoy warm with milky tea, relaxing under a under a sunny patio canopy.

Happy Baking!

Belly-Stuffing Peanut Butter Oatmeal

Time for some breakfast baking!

I was searching for some variations of the classic breakfast oatmeal that I usually make, and came across this recipe from Women's Health (http://www.womenshealthmag.com/). The eight oatmeal recipes that they listed boasted to "change your life before 8am". Of course I had to try one. 

I opted for the "Belly-Stuffing Peanut Butter Oatmeal" recipe, because simply, that was the only recipe that I had all the ingredients for.

Belly-Stuffing Peanut Butter Oatmeal


2 cups old fashioned oats

2 tsp cinnamon

2 eggs

2 cups vanilla soy milk *I just used 2% milk*

1 cup water

4 tbsp peanut butter

*I ended up halving the recipe since it was only me I was cooking for*

Preheat oven to 375°F. Coat an 8x8-inch baking dish with cooking spray, or line with parchment paper. In a large bowl, combine  oats and cinnamon. In a medium bowl, beat eggs and add va­nilla soy milk, water, and peanut butter. Add to the oats. 

Pour mixture into dish, and bake for 20 minutes. Drizzle with syrup, or sprinkle with brown sugar. 
Makes 6 servings.

In the end, it turned out very thick and heavy. I guess that's why they called it the "belly-stuffer". It also had a heavy peanut butter taste, which was interesting mingling with the oats. I used old fashioned steel-cut oats, which made for some extra chewing, but gave it more taste.

In the end, I added some bananas because it was so heavy...not sure if I will make it again, but I'm sure other oatmeal lovers out there will appreciate it!

Saltine Cracker Toffee

Sorry that this has taken so long to post, but I have just had absolutely zero time to bake recently. Actually, that's not true. I baked a few pumpkin pies for a family member recently, but I decided that was not blog worthy...or ooey-gooey for that matter. On the bright side, here is something that is ooey-gooey when you bake it, but turns out crunchy when eaten! Enjoy!

My favourite food blog currently is The Girl Who Ate Everything. You can find her blog here. I have made a-plenty of her recipes, which have all turned out great (except for the whole chunky melted chocolate episode...I don't want to talk about it). This is one of her recipes that I've been wanting to try for a while, but it just didn't seem fun enough to make any time I went back to it. Anyway, here I am making it now.

This kind of reminds me of something an elderly grandmother would serve to you every time you came to visit, making it a tradition. You would miss it when she didn't make it. 


This is actually so simple to make. It only has four ingredients (or five if you include the optional pecans), and takes literally only 10 to 15 minutes to make. 

Saltine Cracker Toffee

Enough saltine crackers to line a 9" x 13" pan
1 cup margarine or butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 cups milk chocolate or semisweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup chopped pecans (optional) 

*In The Girl Who Ate Everything's blog, she says "you can either use salted butter or salted saltines but not both". I used salted both, and mine turned out very tasty! It is up to you to decide whether you want to be heart healthy!

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit and line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil or parchment paper. Now line the saltine crackers in a single layer on the cookie sheet.  

  
In a small pot combine sugar and butter and bring to a boil. Once mixture is at a boil, continue boiling for 3 minutes. Mixture should be a deep caramel color. Immediately pour over saltines and spread to cover crackers completely. 

Bake at 400 degrees for 5 to 6 minutes. It will get all bubbly...more bubbly than this because I was too late in taking the picture.

Remove from oven and pour melted chocolate chips over the top. You can melt the chocolate chips in the microwave for about 1 minute then spread it on, or use the double boiler method. Spread melted chocolate and top with chopped nuts if desired. 

Cool completely and break into pieces.

*When I broke mine into pieces, it was still a bit soft in the middle. I would suggest putting the full pan in the freezer for a bit before you start breaking it up, this way it will crack easier. You could also try using a mallet to break it up, but make sure you put parchment over the toffee before you proceed with the banging.


Happy Baking!