Sugar Cookies

Posted on November 7, 2016 by hbasaldu

Sugar Cookies by Daniela Borrego
Videography and Production by Holly Basaldu

Daniela Borrego shows us how to make sugar cookies from scratch, while telling us a little about her life in the kitchen. As we follow her into the oven we’ll also discover how she came to like cooking and why she enjoys it.

Ingredients

  • 2 1/2 cups cake flour (not self-rising), plus more for dusting
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions

Sift the cake flour, baking powder and salt into a medium bowl; set aside. Beat the butter and sugar in a large bowl with a mixer on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until incorporated. Reduce the mixer speed to low and beat in the flour mixture in 2 batches until just incorporated.
Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Working with 1 disk at a time, roll out the dough on a floured surface, dusting with flour as needed, until about 1/8 inch thick.
Position racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Bake 12 to 15 minutes. Let cool completely before icing, about 5 minutes.

Filed under: Class Projects, Desserts, Recipes, Video Features | Tagged: , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Posted on April 8, 2015 by Brian Magloyoan

Chocolate Chip Cookies by Natalie Magloyoan
Videography and Production by Brian Magloyoan

For Natalie Magloyoan, a freshman exercise and sports science major at St. Mary’s University, baking cookies is something she enjoys doing. Magloyoan goes through the process of making these delicious treats as she explains why chocolate chip cookies are her favorite.

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter
  • 3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 1 (12-ounce) bag semisweet chocolate chips, or chunks.
  • 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
  • 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon fine salt

Directions

First, preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Then prepare the mix by placing the butter in a microwave safe bowl and microwaving it until it is melted. When finished, whisk it together with the sugars, eggs, butter and vanilla until it is smooth.

In another bowl, mix the flour, baking soda and salt. Then stir the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients with a wooden spoon. Once that is complete, add the chocolate chips and stir.

Scoop tablespoons of the dough and place them about two inches apart from one another on the pan. Bake until the cookies are golden, roughly about 12-16 minutes. Once finished, remove the cookies with a spatula and put it on a rack to cool. Serves about 30 cookies.

 

 

 

Filed under: Class Projects, Desserts, Recipes, Video Features | Tagged: , , , | Leave a comment »

Peanut Butter Blossoms Cookies

Posted on September 30, 2014 by juliapullin

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Delicious Peanut Butter Blossoms by Yesenia Robles
Story and Photos by Julia Pullin

The warm kitchen fills with a chocolate-kissed smell as cooling cookies rest on a plate.  For Yesenia Robles, a sophomore Criminal Justice major at St. Mary’s University, this setting is a familiar one.

“I love to cook.  It’s something I learned from my grandma when I was younger and cooking reminds me of her,” she says, pressing her thumb into the caramel colored cookie, forming a crater for a chocolate kiss to rest inside.

Robles came to St. Mary’s intending to go to law school, maybe graduate school, and plans to become a lawyer when she graduates, with a possibility of joining the FBI.

“I liked the family and community environment on this small campus,” Robles says, “I also like that we’re based on service and that there’s always someone around to help you.”

Her favorite recipe, Peanut Butter Blossoms, holds a special connection for her, her family and friends. “I used to make these cookies with my mom.  My best friend loves them and I make them for his birthday all the time instead of a cake,” Robles reflects.  With a laugh, she takes a picture of the finished cookies, saying “He left me to go to A&M University this year so I’m showing him what he’s missing.”

Robles also likes to ear spaghetti, mashed potatoes, green beans, and chalupas.  She cooks all the time for her friends and family, whether it is cookies, cakes, or meals.

“What’s funny is that I really don’t like sweet things,” she states “but it’s a lot of fun seeing people’s faces when they eat something I made. It’s a feeling of satisfaction.”

The forming crowd of hungry university students, enticed by the delicious smell in the kitchen, agreed as they eagerly volunteered to try the cookies.  Their happy faces as they devoured the cookies were enough affirmation.

Make your own Peanut Butter Blossoms cookies!

Ingredients:

  • 48 Hershey Kisses brand milk chocolates
  • ½ cup shortening
  • ¾ cup peanut butter
  • 1/3 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 2 tablespoons milk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon salt

Directions

First, heat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit and remove the wrappers from the chocolates. Next, beat the shortening and peanut butter in a large bowl until they are well blended. Add 1/3 cup of granulated sugar and brown sugar; beat until fluffy.  Add the egg, vanilla, and milk. Stir together flour, baking soda and salt; gradually beat into the peanut butter mixture. Next, shape dough into 1-inch balls. Place them on an ungreased cookie sheet and press your thumb in the center of the cookie, creating a bowl.  Then you bake them for 8-10 minute or until the cookies are lightly browned.  Immediately press a chocolate in the center of each cookie (the cookie will crack around the edges). Remove them from the cookie sheet and let them cool completely.

This recipe makes about 25 cookies.

Enjoy!

Filed under: Class Projects, Desserts, Recipes | Tagged: , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Posted on March 15, 2012 by Brissa Jaqueline Renteria

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
Story and Photos by Brissa Renteria

Warm spices flowing through the kitchen. Conjoining smells of autumn and baking. A great season approaches us, and Tanya Compean shows us how to start the last months of the year off right by sharing a great family recipe.

Never having to worry about cooking in the dorms, Compean finds it easy to relax on an evening after school and work and find a kitchen through her friends who live off campus.

“I chose this recipe because the ingredients used together make a pastry that a lot of people have not heard of,” says Compean. “When one thinks of the ingredient pumpkin, what usually comes to mind is Thanksgiving and pumpkin pies. However, this recipe can be made year round and the pumpkin and chocolate chip mixture is very unique and delicious.”

With baking being one of her passions and hobbies, Tanya says she favors pastries, especially Mexican-styled pastries. Her favorites include sweet bread, flan, and pastel de tres leches.

Compean is a full-time senior at St. Mary’s University and will graduate with a bachelor’s degree in Marketing in December 2011. What she enjoys most about being a Marketing major is the opportunity for creativity. “I am a very creative person and there is a wide range of areas where I can apply myself to express this and much more.”

Originally from California, Compean says she chose St. Mary’s because she likes the professor to student ratio in the classroom. “When applying for colleges four years ago, my main focus was if I was going to get a better education from one university over another. Now that I am a senior, I have grown close to my professors where I can ask for help and guidance with ease and realize that St. Mary’s was one of the best decisions I have ever made.”

Presently, Compean works part-time at a marketing agency in which she will have an entry-level position when she graduates in December. Compean says this will allow her to “learn more about the world of marketing and advertising. I have never been too busy with work or school not to bake, so I know I will continue doing so in my free time!”

When out of the classroom, Compean says she likes to visit new and native restaurants. As a daughter of two Mexican nationals, she grew up eating a lot of Mexican and Spanish-styled foods. “A favorite entree of mine is green chile enchiladas and Spanish rice,” Compean says.

Compean offers this advice: “Stick to your passions! Mine is baking, and since I do live on campus with no kitchen available to me, I can always find a way to bake, that doesn’t stop me!”

Ingredients

  • 1 c canned pumpkin
  • 1 c white sugar
  • 1/2 c vegetable oil
  • 1 egg
  • 2 c all-purpose flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 2 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp milk
  • 1 T vanilla
  • 2 c semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

Combine pumpkin, sugar, vegetable oil, and egg. In a separate bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, ground cinnamon, baking soda,milk, vanilla and salt. Add flour mixture to pumpkin mixture and mix well. Add chocolate chips. Scoop dough onto a greased cookie sheet and bake at 350° F for approximately 10 minutes. Makes 24 cookies.

Filed under: Class Projects, Desserts, Recipes | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »