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Sunday, January 30, 2011

Cinnamon Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Balls

Hello there!

A couple weeks ago, I used Momma pea's awesome recipe for dough balls. They turned out awesome and Ralph and I devoured most of them happily. But one day (before we devoured them) I shared some with a friend who told me she was allergic to chocolate! And so began my challenge to make a delicious dough ball sans chocolate:

Cinnamon Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Balls (w/o chocolate)
Very much inspired by Peas and Thank You's Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Balls.

1/2 c. Earth Balance
3/4 c. natural peanut butter (I used chunky)
1/2 c. brown sugar
3/4 c. organic powdered sugar
1/2 t. almond extract
1 t. baking powder
1/2 t. baking soda
3/4 t. salt
1/2 T. cinnamon
1/2 t. ground ginger
1 1/2 c. unbleached flour
a few tablespoons of non-dairy milk

Directions: Mix the sugars, butter almond extract and peanut butter in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking powder/soda, salt, cinnamon, and ginger. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture. At this point, I began to add a little bit of rice milk because the mixture was getting too dry. If this happens to you too, add just enough milk to make it mixable, but no more. Once you finish mixing, let rest for about 30 minutes, then bake for 10 minutes at 350 F.

 The tools:

 First, I mixed the sugars.

Then threw in the butter and peanut butter:


                                                                            Mixing:

Mixed to contentment:

Once I finished mixing, I began to mix my dry ingredients:


And then added the flour mixture to the sugar/peanut butter mixture:


I didn't photograph it (well technically Ralph was my photographer, so I didn't photograph any of these actually), but I did add a little bit of rice milk toward the end.

Oh and here's a little blooper: I thought I had to chill it in the fridge (like a pie crust?), and we took this pic, but I didn't actually chill this for the 30 minutes. It's fine resting at room temp.


After the rest period, bake for 10 minutes at 350 F.


And you will be left with the most scrumptious cinnamon spiced dough balls.


I though they turned out well. However, I love pretty much anything with cinnamon and sugar, so I guess I'm biased.

If you're not into chocolate treats, or you just want to bake something a little different, please give these a try! And if you do, please come back and let me know how your's turned out, or if you made your own variations on this recipe.

Have a nice week!

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Happy New Year! Plus Goals for 2011!

Happy New Year all! It's time for a fresh start, and while I'm not usually one to make New Years Resolutions (okay, okay, I have in the past, but I can't remember any of them!) or make a list of goals, so I figured why not start now?

1. Find a job after finishing my Americorps term, which ends in late August.


2. Prepare for and take the GRE- I've already signed up, so I just need to hunker down for the next month and a half. I take the exam on Feb 21st, 2011.

3.Lose the few pounds I've gained since graduating college. More importantly, get back into a healthy lifestyle.

4. Run at least one 5k this year, maybe even a longer distance (Ralph wants to do a 10-miler. If so, I'm in!)

5. Balance my spending- I earn a living allowance, not a wage, so this is a good opportunity to learn how to budget!

6. Get back into blogging- I've been away for the last few months, but I definitely want to get back into it as I think it will help to hold me accountable (and it's also great for making memories that I can always come back to in the future)

7. Do yoga at least 3 times per week- it's awesome for dealing with stress, and it helps me stretch after running.

8. Research different career areas to decide what direction I want to go/ decide if I definitely need to go back to school.

9. Keep my living space clean and organized (this will be tough, but I can do it!)

I was shooting for 10, but 9 goals is definitely a good start for this year.

What are your goals for 2011?

(Fun fact: Every time I tried to type 2011, I ended up typing 2001! Whoops!)