Malawi Peanut Balls (Mtedza)

I’ve never really liked peanut butter. Peanut butter is just so rich and sticky, and only really tastes good when paired with lots and lots of jelly and bread. However, these cookies are crumbly and buttery and just taste so good. They remind me of peanut shortbread.

I originally intended for this post to go with “Alphabet Around the World,” but these were too good to wait until the letter “M”. They’re cute bite-sized treats – perfect for a tea party or the like.

Malawai Peanut Balls

• ½ cup butter, softened
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• ¾ cup roasted peanuts
• 1 tsp vanilla
• pinch salt
• 1 cup flour
• Powdered Sugar

1. Chop the roasted peanuts into fine pieces. (I think a food processor might work for this, however be careful not to over-process, or you will end up with peanut butter.)
2. Cream together the butter and sugar.
3. Stir in the vanilla, salt, and crushed peanuts.
4. Stir in the flour.
5. Divide into 2 tablespoon sized portions (easiest with a small ice cream scooper) and roll into balls.
6. Bake at 350, for about 15-20 minutes, or until golden brown.
7. While they are hot, roll in powdered sugar.
8. Place on a rack and allow to cool completely.
9. If desired, roll in powdered sugar again.

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Snickerdoodle Cookies

This week I was looking up recipes to make as a post-finals celebration and I stumbled upon this recipe for funfetti cookies. Even though chocolate cake is my ultimate favorite (you can beat chocolate, really), I’ve always loved funfetti cakes. Funfetti specked foods are just so pretty, and of course, delicious. But mostly pretty.

Anyways I decided to make the cookies, and figured that I could make an extra large batch and give some to my teachers as a ‘thanks for putting up with me the whole year’ sort of deal. So I did. Wednesday. At midnight. (time management isn’t one of my strongpoints, obviously)

I was making the dough – had nearly finished making it actually – when I realized that I didn’t have any sprinkles. Since funfetti cookies without sprinkles are a no-go, I figured that I could just roll them in cinnamon sugar and call them snickerdoodles. Surprisingly, it worked out really well!

These cookies straight out of the ovens were just pillows of warm, soft, cookie goodness. Once they cooled they assumed a more traditional soft, chewy center, crisp edges cookie texture, but that was perfectly delicious as well. The recipe was really simple, and the results were delicious. Try it~

P.S. I’m thinking about incorporating some gifs into my posts. They’re fun to make and way cooler to look at that traditional pictures.

Snickerdoodle Cookies

adapted from here

• 1 cup butter, room temperature
• 1 ¾ cup white sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon almond extract
• 1 large egg
• 2 ½ cups all purpose flour
• ¼ cups cornstarch
• ¾ teaspoons baking soda
• ½ teaspoons salt
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon

1. Cream the butter and 1 ¼ cups of sugar until light and fluffy.
2. Beat in the egg and two extracts.
3. In another large bowl, sift together the flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt.
4. Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ones until no streaks of flour are visible.
5. Using an ice cream scooper (or just by eyeballing it), make ¼ cup sized balls of dough.
6. In a small bowl, stir together the remaining ½ cup of sugar, and the cinnamon.
7. Roll the balls of dough in the cinnamon sugar mixture, and place on a greased baking sheet.
8. Bake for about 13 minutes at 375 degrees, or until the edges are light golden brown.
9. Let cool on a baking rack for several minutes (or be like me and just burn your tongue), and then enjoy with plenty of milk!

Oatmeal Pancakes with Brown Sugar Banana Syrup

School has begun once again, and I’m quite frankly overwhelmed by the idea of entering junior year, and also desperately missing the friends I made the summer.  Traveling to Mexico and going to an SAT camp this summer was so fun, but I had to say goodbye to countless new friends.  Luckily, I can see all my old friends now that school has started, but it’s not the same when there’s stress and schoolwork and extracurriculars.  In Mexico, time was told by human instinct, I could eat when I was hungry, and sleep when I was tired.  Now I have to resume life during the school year, which is hectic (although to keeps me entertained!) and structured.

Probably what I miss most about the summer, is being able to wake up whenever I wanted.  I could wake up at nine, and spend hours cooking breakfast for myself, making breakfasts such as the pancakes above.  Now, I’m not say that these pancakes take hours to make, nah, but these definitely are best to make for a relaxing “weekend breakfast.”  Eating them is like a short escape from the stress of school life, a way to relive that wonderful summer mindset.

Recipe for oatmeal pancakes with banana syrup copied from here.

Oatmeal Pancakes with Banana Syrup
Banana-Walnut Syrup

• 2 tablespoons butter or margarine
• ¼ cup chopped walnuts
• 2 bananas, sliced
• 1 cup maple-flavored syrup

Pancakes

• 2 cups Original Bisquick® mix
• 1/2 cup old-fashioned or quick-cooking oats
• 2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
• 1 1/4 cups milk
• 2 eggs

1. In 1 ½-quart saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Add walnuts; cook, stirring occasionally, just until walnuts and butter begin to brown. Add bananas; stir to coat with butter. Stir in syrup. Reduce heat to low; cook until warm. Keep warm while making pancakes.
2. Heat griddle or skillet over medium heat or to 375°F. Grease griddle with vegetable oil if necessary (or spray with cooking spray before heating). In medium bowl, stir all pancake ingredients with spoon until blended.
3. For each pancake, pour ¼ cup batter onto hot griddle. Cook until edges are dry. Turn; cook other sides until golden. Serve with warm syrup.

My alterations:

• Used almonds instead of walnuts
• Used a homemade bisquick mix (recipe from this book, similar recipe here)
• Made my own pancake syrup (recipe here)