Wednesday:) What’s Cookin’ Miss Toni? 🍪

“A balanced diet is a cookie in each hand.” ~ Barbara Johnson

***********

Now, that’s my idea of a balanced diet! 🤦‍♀️🍪

I’ve been waiting ALL day for some workmen to show up and it’s already 4pm, and it will be getting dark soon. They are supposed to seal up any gaps or entry points on my roof to stop unwanted critters from coming in. Hopefully they’ll get here soon.

So, while I was waiting all day, I went up to my studio/crap room and cleaned off the entire table that was covered with brushes, paints glitter, glues, and tons of stuff I just throw on there week after week. It’s all cleaned off. “It’s a Christmas miracle.”

Then, I decided to work on my Christmas cookies. I need to get baking before I visit the family in Chicago. My favorite all time, most delicious cookies in the entire world are my “Better than Mrs. Field’s Chocolate Chip Cookies.” I cut out the recipe from a newspaper maybe 30, maybe years ago, and I would never use a different recipe. of course, I always doctor it up here and there.

The secret ingredient that makes these so chewy and crisp is the ground oatmeal. Oh, and some Kraft caramel dots add a little more awesomeness.

Toni 

2 c. butter

2 c. sugar

2 c. brown sugar

4 eggs

2 tsp. vanilla

4 c. flour

5 c. oatmeal (grind 3 c. Leave 2)

1 tsp. salt

2 tsp. baking soda

2 tsp. baking powder

24 oz. chocolate chips

18 oz. chopped Snickers or Hershey or favorite candy. 

(Optional- chopped nuts)

Mix butter and sugars and eggs and vanilla in really big bowl. Blend in dry ingredients. Mix b

I always double this recipe because I have a lot of folks that enjoy my cookies. I actually have to mix up the moist part butter/sugars, divide that in half because the 8 cups of flour and 10 cups of oatmeal don’t fit in my Kitchen Aide mixer.🤦‍♀️ Then, it all goes into my huge Tupperware bowl.

I already baked 4 or 5 dozen cookies and have enough to make a zillion more. BUT, I usually make some rolls of dough to freeze and save for baking on a cold wintry day.

“Nothin’ says Lovin’ like Somethin’ from the oven.” 🍪

Let me know if you try this recipe. It’s the best!

Wednesday:)What’s Cookin’ Miss Toni? ~Where the Bunny Bodies Are Buried Brownies 🐇

“You can follow a recipe to the letter, or you can follow your heart and let your imagination go wild. Bon appetit.”

~Toni Armenta Andrukaitis

**************************

I have been quite famous for my brownies for many years, and just when I thought I couldn’t improve on my baking skills, I come up with yet another great idea.

How I bake my brownies is well known by all my friends. I just use a box mix, follow directions but then add about 2 cups of mini marshmallows In the batter, scoop into a parchment paper lined 9×12 airbake pan, sprinkle with a handful of chocolate chips and bake.

But this time, I wanted to use some marshmallow bunny Peeps that I got on sale after Easter. I thought it would be cool to bury the bunny bodies.

Aren’t they cute!

Top one has the bunnies, the bottom, just my regular batch.

As the bunnies baked, they attempted to rise from the dead. Spooky! And delicious!

Then, cut into squares. I put a scoop of my no bake peanut butter cheesecake filling and top with a nutter butter cookie, Voila!

Ready to share with neighbors and friends.

FYI- after experimenting, I think if I bury bunny bodies again, I can forgo the extra mini marshmallows, as they were really gooey.

(Disclosure) No real bunnies were harmed in the making of these brownies.

Wednesday:) What’s Cookin’ Miss Toni? May the 4th Be With You!

“When life gives you sour milk, make muffins, lots of muffins.”

“Today is May 4th. May the 4th Be with YOU! (And with your spirit.. a Catholic addition thing.)

*Toni Armenta Andrukaitis

**************************

A little Star Wars humor. 🤦‍♀️

So, I bought a gallon of milk a little while ago, because I was making massive quantities of lemon cupcakes. I never buy milk for myself, but I needed some for lemon pudding. The sell by date said May 6, so I thought it might still be good. I had transferred the few remaining cups into a couple of Mason jars. ( Not to be confused with a Mormon jar or a Knights of Columbus jar. The Masons are serious about their jars.🤦‍♀️)

I opened the lid to see if it still looked good, as I am going to make MORE lemon cupcakes tomorrow. The milk was all stuck to the sides and thick and gooey. Oh no! I’ll have to go to the store for more milk. Then, I remembered last time I had a lot of sour milk, I googled recipe ideas for sour milk. Voila, I made cheese. I have a bin fool of cheese in the fridge so I looked up more ideas. There are a lot, so NEVER through out sour milk.

I had more than 2 cups of sour milk so, of course, I doubled the recipe, and went from there. I’m not real precise following recipes. It only called for 4tsp of sugar, so I added an addition blop of brown sugar. Then, I diced up a couple of apples and a touch more oil. Then, it still looked too thin, so I poured in more sour milk, let’s finish off this milk. Now too thin. Throw in a little more flour now. 🤦‍♀️

I was going to add blueberries, but I had lots of apples and not so many blueberries, so they went back in the freezer for another day.

Just keep adding stuff.

Oh, last minute, I decided to add some brown sugar cereal crumble topping. As you can see, I made a lot of muffins. I gave most of them away. I did eat two. They were delicious warmed up with a swipe of butter. 🤦‍♀️

Now, more baking tomorrow for the Friday annual spring picnic at Miss Pat’s place. More lemon cupcakes. They seem to be a big hit. I bought more fresh milk. I hope I don’t have any left over that will get sour. 🤦‍♀️

Saturday:) Some More Massive Lemon Cupcake Baking

“Baking is a matter of precision and timing, but I just make things up as I go.”

Rumaan Alam

************

I still have 6 packages of Peeps left, so I decided to do more massive cupcake baking. The overwhelming consensus was that my triple lemon cupcakes were the best, so that’s what I went with. But, guess what? I was totally out of milk, so I scooted over to Kroger to get some milk. But, like usual, I found a bunch of other things on sale. 🤦‍♀️

Guess who I ran into while I was shopping!

When I got home, I finished putting pudding and frosting on some chocolate cupcakes left over from yesterday’s baking. I put the Peeps on top and took some to both Nextdoor neighbors. Elke insisted I come in and chat a while, which impeded my starting my lemon cupcakes a while.

Besides adding lemon juice to the batter, I added the zest of two lemons for extra flavor. I had lemons, so why not. “Baking is a matter of precision and timing, but I just make things up as I go.”
Rumaan Alam

I did the marshmallow trick to make the wells in the cupcake for the pudding later. I pulled off the baked marshmallow to save for another snack.

I ate a few of the toasted marshmallow…. just to check if they were good, of course.

I filled them with lemon pudding.

I made four dozen. The Peeps won’t go on until tomorrow, otherwise the thin pretzel stick I use as an anchor for the prep would get soggy and Mr. Peep would get droopy and fall over.

I must admit, this took a very long time because I had so many steps to do and make the frosting from scratch. I might even save more than one for myself this time. Maybe two.

Wednesday:)What’s Cookin’ Miss Toni~As Promised:) Triple Lemon Cupcake Recipe

“I love it when you discover a happy little accident when baking and cooking. Then you must share your amazing discovery with the world.”

~Toni Armenta Andrukaitis

**************************

Well, last week when I made my magic lemon cupcakes, I had several people beg me for the recipe. Miss Kathy, across the street, said they were so wonderful that she wanted the recipe, and she doesn’t even like to bake. I’m known more for my non-recipe concoctions, but this is close enough…

I guess they make lemon cake mixes, but they use artificial stuff, so I add lemon juice concentrate to the water portion of a yellow cake mix. And the secret accident part is the marshmallow.A few weeks ago, I made some cupcakes and added half a slice of a big marshmallow on top of a dollop of cake mix. Then, I put a spoonful of lemon pie filling and more mix on top, thinking the filling would keep the marshmallow down and anchored, then baked. When I was checking the oven, the marshmallows had all popped to the top. I tried tamping them back down with a spatula. They just stuck. Oh no! Not the plan.

Oh no! Now what? But, what I discovered is the marshmallows sort of melted away and made a hole in the cupcake when it was done baking. So now, I made this part of the plan. This time, I made the full size cupcakes, 1/3 batter , an entire marshmallow, then more batter on top. Bake. Perfect! Happy little accident.

Triple Luscious Lemon Cupcakes

Make 1 large box or two small boxes of lemon pudding. Follow directions and refrigerate at least a few hours before baking cupcakes.

1 box yellow cake mix. Follow directions except for water. 1/3 c lemon juice, 2/3 c water, 1/2 c oil, 3 eggs, mix with mixer.

Use paper cupcake liners and add about 1 large tablespoon of batter to each

Place one large marshmallow (not mini) in center, then another tablespoon of batter on top. It should look about 2/3 full.

Bake at 350° until silly marshmallows pop up, melt away, and cupcakes look done. 🤷‍♀️ I’m not sure how long. Don’t burn ‘em.

Allow to cool, then spoon in or pipe in lemon pudding into the lovely cavern that the marshmallow made upon its disappearance.

Pipe on top with lemon frosting. Store bought or homemade, whichever you like or easier for you. I like homemade.

HOMEMADE LEMON FROSTING

1 big package cream cheese softened

2 sticks of butter softened (use microwave defrost if needed. I do)

Mix in a big bowl, a little at a time, 2lbs powdered sugar. Yes, the big bag. You may not need it all. As it gets thicker, add a teaspoon of lemon juice, more sugar, more lemon juice, until it’s how you like it. Not too thick, but thin enough to use in piping bag or tube. I LOVE MY WILTON FROSTING TUBE.

Now! That’s a tasty luscious lemon cupcake.

It makes about two dozen, give or take. Make sure to take one dozen over to your local fire station. Then give ALL the rest away to family, friends and neighbors except for ONE that you keep for yourself. Don’t keep more than one because you will eat them all. Trust me. I know from experience. I only kept one.

Let me know if you try making them. If you’re not a baker, come on over.

Throwback Thursday:) Funny Brownie Faces

“I see faces in the brownies. Funny happy faces that turn into yummy brownies.”

~Toni Armenta Andrukaitis

**************************

This memory came up on my Facebook page today from 2015. Pretty funny. I still make funny faces in the brownie mix occasionally, but I’ve pretty much run out of fantastic funny face ideas. I’ll have to work on that. This one is hard to beat, especially if you are an artist and all around weird person, like me.

And the brownies that resulted were just as awesome. Yes, I know. I’m weird.🤦‍♀️

Happy Thursday, my friends. Now, I have to log into my online “Brain Health Workshop” that I signed up for. I need all the help I can get. 🤦‍♀️

Wednesday:) What’s Cookin’ Miss Toni? Chocolate Chip Cookies

“It’s not easy trying to make room in the freezer. You tend to find too many yummy hidden treasures.”

~Toni Armenta Andrukaitis

*************************

My freezer is always packed to the brim to the point where some precarious frozen object my fall on my toes when I open it up. Just the other day, I was forced to eat the rest of a half gallon of ice cream that was just taking up too much room. I needed to make room for the new ice cream. 🤦‍♀️

Yesterday, I took out a plastic bowl of frozen pineapple, a large baggie of spinach artichoke dip, AND a roll of frozen cookie dough. I wasn’t sure what kind of cookie dough, and I was pleased to discover it was chocolate chip. I ate some of the pineapple for breakfast and baked cookies for dinner.

When I make cookie dough, I usually make a double batch, bake a couple dozen cookies, then freeze the rest in rolls to use on a later date. If you haven’t used this recipe… it’s a must save. Write it down. It’s amazing.

I added a little square of Hershey chocolate candy even though it was loaded with white and chocolate chips. I sliced the rolls into big slices and smooshed them down. I love giant cookies.

Oh my, they were so yummy. Here’s the recipe.

BETTER THAN MRS. FIELDS CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

2 c. butter
2 c. sugar
2 c. brown sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
4 c. flour
5 c. oatmeal (grind 3 c. Leave 2 whole)
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. baking powder
24 oz. chocolate chips
18 oz. chopped Snickers or Hershey or favorite candy. (Optional)
(Optional- chopped nuts)

Mix butter and sugars and eggs and vanilla in really big bowl. Blend in dry ingredients. (If you double the recipe, use a huge bowl, maybe two,) Mix batter and scoop on parchment paper, pressing down. Bake at 350° until a little brown.

Here’s a big tip…Even if you have a favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe, use a little ground oatmeal in lieu of some of the flour, maybe half. It gives it a chewier texture.

The other tip… only eat one or two of the cookies then give the rest away. Get them out of the kitchen. Believe me, otherwise you’ll eat them all. Just sayin’.

Wednesday:) What’s Cookin’ Miss Toni?

“Think what a better world it would be if we all, the whole world, had cookies and milk about three o’clock every afternoon and then lay down on our blankets for a nap.”

Barbara Jordan

***************

I wanted to share my awesome recipe for chocolate chip cookies that I’ve been using for at least a couple of decades. Before I left for my chicago adventure, I made a double batch of…BETTER THAN MRS. FIELDS CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES. I made enough to share with a few neighbors, my firemen, and friends. The best part is that I baked some and then made cookie dough rolls to give to some friends so they could bake them fresh at a later time, or bake with the grandkids.

Better than Mrs. Fields Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 c. butter
2 c. sugar
2 c. brown sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
4 c. flour
5 c. oatmeal (grind 3 c. Leave 2)
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. baking powder
24 oz. chocolate chips
18 oz. chopped Snickers or Hershey or favorite candy.
(Optional- chopped nuts)

Mix butter and sugars and eggs and vanilla in really big bowl. Blend in dry ingredients. Mix by hand when it gets to thick at the end.. Add chocolate chips and candy. Roll into balls on parchment paper cookie sheet, and press down with your palm. 

I usually double the recipe, then form cookie dough rolls to freeze for a rainy day. (Mix once- bake often.) 

I bake around 350° on parchment paper lined cookie sheets. You can tell if the oven is too hot if they brown to quickly. Also dark non-stick pans need less heat. 325° or 330°, from experience. Don’t over bake till dark brown.

I doubled the above recipe. Yes, 8 sticks of butter. This double recipe is not for the faint of heart, or folks with a bad heart.

All the ingredients don’t fit in my huge bowl, so I just mix the butter, sugars and wet ingredients, then divide in half and use two big huge bowls.

I make all the dough, refrigerate a few hours, then form the rolls. Ready to bake in the morning. Of course, a few rolls to give away and a few for the freezer for later. (Okay, now I’m getting hungry. 🤦‍♀️)

Seriously, I hope you try these cookies. They really are super delicious. Perfect for the holidays.

Friday:)Fixin’ Stuff For the St. Gabriel’s Holiday Boutique, Friends, and My Firemen

“We cannot accomplish all that we need to do without working together.”

Bill Richardson

***************

Well, another late night baking, frosting and packaging mini cupcakes for the church bake sale. Helene baked up a storm too.

If you think that’s a lot, you should see what the Woman’s Club has collected and decorated so far over at church.

They literally have hundreds of plates, containers, tins, etc. of yummy desserts, cakes, pies, brownies, fudge, cupcakes, and more.

The Woman’s Club and Men’s Club will spend ALL day working together ready for tomorrow. They had to cancel last year, so this year will be over the top fantastic.

Needless to say, I always share with my firemen. (Station 9)

Station 5. (I don’t get over here as often)

Happy Friday, my friends. And I’m sure you are wondering how many of these cupcakes I eat. I’ve only had 2 so far.)

Wednesday:) What’s Cookin’ Miss Toni? Mini Chocolate Cupcakes

“Good things come in small packages.”

Aesop

******

One of my favorite cupcakes to make are my mini chocolate surprise cupcakes. The surprise is the yummy cherry from a can of cherry pie filling, The cool part is that just two boxes of cake mix and two cans of cherry pie filling will make 144 mini cupcakes. Yes! 144.

Here’s what 100 minis look like. I found that these shirt boxes are perfect for transporting. I made some homemade chocolate cream cheese frosting. Uh? Recipe? Just used a bunch of stuff in the fridge, 3 sticks of butter, 1 1/2 bricks of cream cheese, a squirt of vanilla, a bag and a half of powdered sugar, and a whole bunch of cocoa powder. How much? Just what I had handy, blended with a little milk until it looked about right. 🤦‍♀️ I added a chocolate chip on top to look cute, but also to push down the peak of frosting so it wouldn’t stick to the top of the box.

The first box went to the Joplin demolition day celebration on Monday. I’ll tell you where the others went another day. Also, I have more new baking for Friday. St. Gabriel is having a bake sale at their Holiday Boutique this Saturday. (They’re making you hungry, aren’t they?)

Give it a try if you need to make a zillion cupcakes for a party or function. They are the perfect bite size snack. No mess and the surprise in the middle is fun. I like to watch people’s faces when they take a bite and smile.

“Nothin’ says lovin’ like somethin’ from the oven.”