Potluck Recipe: Sesame Tahini Cookies

(picture to come soon)
My mission to finish off my jar of tahini was a success, thanks to these cookies! we are having a retreat on friday and were all assigned a type of food to bring by region. Luckily for me, my region was assigned desserts.

The cool thing about these cookies is that they are flourless, too! I've never tried a flourless recipe before, but the dense texture really works for it.

ingredients:
1 cup tahini, stirred well
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup sesame seeds

directions:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Beat tahini, sugar, egg, baking soda and salt together to combine well. Roll tablespoons of dough into balls. Dampen your hands with water to prevent sticking. Place balls 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets. Flatten slightly by making cross-hatches on top with the tines of a fork. Sprinkle tops with sesame seeds. Bake cookies until golden on bottom but still soft in the center, about 12 minutes. Cool on baking sheets 5 minutes. Transfer to racks to cool completely.

yields 2 dozen cookies

Potluck Recipe: Cinnamon Cookies

I've been craving cinnamon hardcore this week, so I decided to make cinnamon cookies for this month's potluck. I deviated from the original recipe a bit, so these were a bit of an experiment. They came out delicious, though!

ingredients:
1 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 tbsp maple syrup
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/8 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp cinnamon

directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C).
2. Cream together butter and sugar.
3. Mix in egg and maple syrup, blending well.
4. Mix flour, baking soda and cinnamon; add to creamed mixture, mixing well.
5. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet.
6. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes.

yields 3 dozen cookies

Potluck Recipe: Maple Peanut Butter Cookies

So those cookies I mentioned yesterday were a success. I couldn't really taste the maple syrup, even though I doubled the amount in the original recipe. Next time, I'm going to cut down the sugar. The recipe I'm posting is the one I followed.

Ingredients:
1 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup peanut butter
2 eggs
2 tbsp maple syrup
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup quick-cooking oats
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 10 oz package peanut butter chips

Directions:
1. In a mixing bowl, cream the butter, peanut butter and sugars. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in syrup and vanilla. Combine the flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda and salt; add to the creamed mixture and mix well. Stir in peanut butter chips.
2. Drop by heaping tablespoonfuls 2 in. apart onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 325 degrees F for 15-18 minutes or until golden brown. Cool for 1 minute before removing to wire racks.

yields 30 large cookies

New Blog Addition

One part of my VISTA position is working with a non-profit organization in Milwaukee called Parents Plus. We have meetings every friday for the VISTAs and our supervisor at the agency, and once a month these meetings include a potluck. The point of these potlucks is to celebrate all the birthdays for that month, and they are usually themed (the theme is picked out by the person/people who's birthday(s) is being celebrated).

I always make it a point to make something from scratch for these potlucks (usually a dessert) and usually spend way too much time combing the internet for the perfect recipe. I have made the following for our potlucks in the past:
1. lentil quiche (the recipe was posted on here)
2. mexican chocolate cake
3. tiramisu
4. white chocolate chip-cranberry cookies

We've had a couple of potlucks at the school I work with, and I've made the following for those:
1. fruity couscous salad
2. pumpkin gingerbread
3. mint-chocolate chip cookies

Our next potluck is tomorrow, and I will be making peanut butter maple cookies. If the recipe is a success, I'll be posting it on here tomorrow! I'll also share recipes I've made for past potlucks, as well as those I use in the future.

Americorps Week

Today marks the start of Americorps week. The theme for this year is community gardening, so I am hosting a potluck at growing power tomorrow.

Because I have an excessive amount of gorgonzola cheese in my fridge from that pasta recipe, I'm making a salad based of a recipe I found on allrecipes. The recipe on the website calls for mixed greens, dried cranberries, gorgonzola cheese, candied walnuts, and a dressing that is a mixture of raspberry vinaigrette, white vinegar, and olive oil. I am changing this up a bit. I am using dried bing cherries instead of dried cranberries, because they aren't sweetened with added sugar. I am also candying my own walnuts. It's pretty simple, actually. It's one part walnuts to half part sugar combined in a frying pan and stirred constantly over medium heat until the sugar starts to caramelize, then you put in on a baking sheet to cool. I am using one cup walnuts and a half cup of sugar. I am also just going to bring a bottle of raspberry vinaigrette with me to the potluck instead of doing their mixture. It's just easier that way.

I spent a total of $16 at whole foods on the ingredients I didn't already have for this (walnuts, cherries, and mixed greens). This salad makes 8 servings. pretty good deal in my book.