Non-Cookie Baking Endeavors

This post is sort of just to post, and mark everything I bake between now and New Years.... 
Well, this isn't really anything new, but I'm just putting this in here, showing that I baked now. This is my family's DELICIOUS, AMAZING, TOTALLY FANTABULOUS, SECRETIVE, Chocolate Chip Banana Bread! Adored by many, including Carie, our strange old babysitter who got us into two car crashes. (Insdide joke) Aaaaaaaanyways, I can't really put the recipe up, because then it wouldn't really be a secret, would it? But I can tell you that it is DA BOMB DIGEDY! (I hope that's how you spell it...)

We (being my sister and me) also made a scrum-diddly-UMPtious pumpkin cake with cinnamon cream cheese frosting- to put in two words, a yum ball. Or a ball of yum. The essence of yum. Yum in a package. Yum in disguise (as something yummy-looking.) Yum made easy, etc. (Or ect?) (etc, right?) It was moist. It was cream-cheesy. It was fall-y (or if you like it better, autumn-y.) It was... delicious. And made for an ESPECIALLY important occasion- my Dad's birthday!

Strawberry Shortbread bars! (Not to be confused with Strawberry Shortcake, because that is a doll/ action figure.) THESE THINGS ARE RICH! But amazing. A layer of crust, then jelly, then a layer of filling, and then a glaze. YUM! (I really need to think of other adjectives...) They can be cut into small pieces. The important ingredients are: butter, almond extract, sugar, and flour. I hope those give you an idea of the flavor and consistency. And it may not sound like it, but almond extract and strawberry jelly go together surprisingly well! So well that it is deeeeeeel-IIIIIIIIII-scious. (the "IIIIII" should be in a higher voice, for the full effect of writing it that way.)

Chocolate Peanut Butter WHOOPEEEEEE Pies!

Well. I have decided, with certain suggestions from certain people, to blog on any baked goods I make from now until New Years. So, to welcome home my Dad and my sister, I baked PEANUT BUTTER CHCOLATE WHOOPIE PIES! I *ahem* might have *cough* sampled some of the batter in the process of it being made. And I can tell you that it was one of the richest chocolate batters I have ever tasted. YUM!
So, it was a pretty easy make, but I think that if I baked them again, I might make the size of the cookies a tad smaller, because these things could be called “Peanut Butter Chocolate WHOPPER pies!” They’re practically the size of my face (or half my face, if you want to be literal.) THESE THINGS ARE RICH! And yummy! The thickness I made them, they were about a total of three inches tall when finished. So, if you make them smaller, you can use the allotted frosting, but if you make the huge-o-mong-o, then you should use a leeeeeetle bit more frosting, so the ratio between frosting and cookie is equal. Because these cookies are THICK and RICH and CHOCOLATE. I recommend following the size suggestions in the recipe. I, being only 12 and not having a fully developed sense of size (Or something like that) used about double that. Or more. But they were still YUMMY!
I have to say, there isn't much I didn't like or would change in this recipe. I think it is a very good recipe. Hm... I don't know... maybe a bit more *ahem* sugar to sweeten the unsweetened chocolate in the cookie dough. But oooooootherwise, They are veeeeerrrryyyyyy good.

So, if you would like to lay your eyes upon these little beauties, here are some pictures: (Hopefully, over the course of the year my food photographing skills get better over the year...)

And the recipe I got from another blog called Kitchen Simplicity, (If you wan to go there, click on that) and if you don’t want to bother actually going to that website, here is the recipe:

For Cookies:

• 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 ½ cups unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 tablespoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 2 cups organic cane sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups buttermilk, at room temperature
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

For Filling:

• 1 1/3 cup natural organic creamy peanut butter
• 2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 ½ cups confectioners’ sugar

Preheat oven to 400. Make cookies: Line three rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.

In a small bowl, sift together flours, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl using an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla. Beat until well combined. On low speed, slowly add dry ingredients; mix until combined.

Drop 1 ½ tablespoons of batter onto prepared baking sheets, spacing 2-inches apart. Bake until set, about 8 minutes, rotating halfway through. When the top of cookie is gently touched, it should feel soft but not wet. Cool completely on a wire rack.

Make filling: With an electric mixer, beat peanut butter and butter on high speed until smooth. Reduce speed to low. Add confectioners’ sugar; mix until combined. Raise speed to high, and mix until fluffy and smooth, about 3 minutes.

To assemble cookies: Spread 1 to 2 heaping tablespoons of filling on the flat side of 1 cookie. Sandwich with another cookie. Repeat with remaining cookies and filling. Cookies can be refrigerated in single layers in airtight container up to 3 days. Bring to room temperature before serving.

Update on my Dormant Blogging-ness!

As you can tell, I have not posted for several months now. that is dues to the fact that I have moved back to AMERICA! And am now settled in. But, while we didn't have a large kitchen, were on vacation, or moving, I was unable to bake. Soooooooo, I have decided to move "Bake a batch of cookies per week and blog about it" resolution to next year. I know, I am not doing a New Year's resolution- but honestly, I never specified that. And next year we will not be moving and travelling as much, so hopefully I can bake 52 different types of cookies. (You know, when you say it like that, it doesn't sound like much.) And they will probably be baked on Weekends, so expect the posts to come every Saturday or Sunday. If something comes up or I do go on vacation, I will try and make it up during the week, but it might turn our to be something like 45 cookies recipes.I also  will try to take and upload picture every week if my computer will allow it... I will also try to find a link to the cookbooks, because I don't want to get bored of typing recipe, after recipe, after recipe, after recipe, after recipe, after recipe, after recipe, after recipe, after recipe! Whew!So, I will blog next year! PINKIE PROMISE!