Snickerdoodles to Celebrate the New School Year!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup butter
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
1/8 to 1/4 cup skim milk
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

2 tbsp. sugar
1 -2 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper. In a large bowl (or a mixer bowl) combine the sugar and butter until combined (mixture will not be smooth or fluffy, but make sure it is not chunky). Add in the vanilla and the eggs, beating until well combined. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt. Pour the flour mixture into the sugar mixture and beat until combined. If your dough is too dry (like course meal) to form into a dough, begin adding skim milk slowly until a soft dough begins to form.

In a small bowl, combine the 2 tbsp sugar and cinnamon.

Use a cookie scoop or spoon to scoop up dough and roll between hands to form one-inch balls. Roll the dough balls in the sugar/cinnamon mixture and place on prepared cookie sheet. Take a glass or cup with a flat bottom, wet it and dip it into the sugar mixture. Use the sugared glass/cut to slightly flatten the dough balls.

Bake in pre-heated oven for 6 to 8 minutes or until only slightly brown on the bottom. Tops should still be dough colored or only slightly-browned (but make sure they are not too doughy).

Cool on cookie sheet for about one minute before removing to a wire rack.

Enjoy!

Peanut Butter, Oatmeal, Banana, Chocolate Chip Muffins

By popular demand, here is my recipe for PBOBC Muffins (I need a better name!)

Ingredients:

1 cup flour (I used whole wheat)
3/4 cup quick cooking oats
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 egg
3 ripe bananas
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup chocolate chips (I used minis)
1 cup milk
2/3 cup sugar (I used Splenda!)

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare your muffin pans either with paper baking cups or by spraying with non-stick spray.

Peel the bananas and either mash them and put them into a large bowl, or if using a stand mixer, toss them into the mixer and "beat" on low speed until fairly mashed. Add the egg and mix until blended. Then add in the sugar, vanilla, and the milk. After well-blended, add in the peanut butter and mix for about a minute on low speed.

Place the dry ingredients into a smaller bowl and combine. Add to the mixture in the bowl and mix well. Pour in the chocolate chips and mix in on low.

Use a large spoon or an ice cream scoop to drop the batter into the muffin pan. You can either make 12 large muffins or 24 small muffins.

Bake at 350 for about 20 - 25 minutes. Check with a toothpick and remove to cool once done.

Note that I didn't use any oil or butter in this recipe. I always find the bananas to be enough to hold everything together, but if you feel you might need something else, you can always add some applesauce, or if you want to add butter, about 1/4 cup would be my suggestion.

Enjoy!

The Nikhat Hat - Knitting Pattern

So, I'm finally getting around to posting this to my knitting/cooking/everything else blog. For those who were waiting - hope it was worth the wait!

This pattern works over 12 stitches, so when sizing for the hat you'll want to take that into consideration when picking your number of stitches to cast on. I've made this hat 3 times in 3 size, and the small, medium and large seem to work out to around 72 stitches cast on for small, 84 for medium and 96 for large. Of course, you'll want to check your gauge and your yarn type when making this decision as well.

On smaller circular needles (size 7 or 8), cast on your stitches for the size hat you want to make.
Create a 1-1/2 inch bottom band (or size to your liking) by knitting about 12 rows in garter stitch. Decrease or increase the number of rows for a smaller or wider band.

Now start working the hat pattern (switch to larger sized needles - I used 10-1/2 circular)
Row 1: K2, *(yo, k2tog) 4 times, K4. Repeat from * to last 2 stitches, end K2.
Row 2: K2, *P8, K4. Repeat from * to last 2 stitches, end K2.

Repeat rows 1 and 2 until the hat measures about an inch smaller than the final size of the hat you want to make. My gauge worked out to about 8 inches of pattern.

Switch back to the smaller needles and knit 2 rows in garter stitch.

Begin decreasing by 12 stitches in knit. For 96 stitches, I did the following:

• *K6, K2tog. Repeat from * to end (84 stitches)
• *K5, K2tog. Repeat from * to end (72 stitches)
• *K4, K2tog. Repeat from * to end (60 stitches)
• *K3, K2tog. Repeat from * to end (48 stitches)
• *K2, K2tog. Repeat from * to end (36 stitches)
• *K1, K2tog. Repeat from * to end (24 stitches)
• *K2tog. Repeat from * to end (12 stitches)
• *K2tog. Repeat from * to end (6 stitches)

Cut yarn and leave a long tail (about 24 inches or longer). Pull the yarn through the remaining stitches on the needle, then remove the needle and pull the loose yarn tight.

Flip the hat inside out, and using the long tail, sew the side together from the top down.

*Note: I actually changed the way I decreased for each hat relying on eyeing the shape of the hat to determine how fast to decrease. For one hat I had to decrease then straight knit, decrease, straight knit. For another hat I was able to decrease on each row. How you decide to do it will depend on how you think the hat looks.

Have fun with it!

Is Everyone Out to Get Google Now?

So I ran across this article through ALA's newsletter (sometimes they send along items that are actually of interest to me!) and this one really struck a cord with me.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/07/technology/07google.html

I've been talking to my students in my Honors course about Google and Copyright and why there were issues with the whole project. Most of them have an opinion or two about the topic but only a couple felt strongly (that it would be a good idea for Google to actually scan all of the books in the world, as they put it). So not only was this article timely for my class, but I also realized that after the last couple of years of talking about the pros and cons of this issue, that I also found my own opinion changing.

Maybe it's because I've always felt that people tend to go after those who are on top - those with the money and the power whether they were doing something wrong or not. I didn't really see Google in that light until recently when I started to get the sense that everyone was filing suit against Google just because they could (Google's got the money, right? I want a piece of that action too!). Okay, so maybe it's not all about that...even I think that Google can get a little too carried away and consolidating all of your eggs into one basket is never a good idea (especially if you are trusting that basket to someone else). But come on people! Does everyone really need a piece of the pie?

I guess what I'm saying is that I really wish we could find a solution to this so that Google can get on with what should be the focus of their "little" pet project...digitizing those books! Hope they can find a fair way to do this soon!

Finished the Afghan!

Many said it couldn't be done, but voila! I finished the afghan. I call it the HDC Afghan since I gave it to my friend HDC. She was the one who picked out the pattern that I used, so I think she earned the naming privileges. The pattern is Diamonds and Ferns and I did learn that it really wasn't easy to do on a 36" circular knitting needle size 10. Probably would have been better on a size 6 or even smaller. But I think it still turned out great!

I'm on to a new afghan now, but this one will be made up of 63 different squares all using different patterns and a combination of 4 different colors. The book that I'm using to create it is called Barbara Walker's learn-to-knit afghan book by Barbara G. Walker. And before you ask, no I did not buy this book - we had it in our collection at NCSU. Sorry everyone, before you start to ask - this one has been claimed even though it is nowhere near finished!

My First Scarf and Hat

I started with my favorite colors (well, as close as I could get to them) - crimson and cream! The scarf was super easy and I even had the nerve to change colors. Learned that I hated sewing in the ends though. Simple garter stitch all the way. This scarf is completely unwearable though, because it was my practice yarn, and completely wrong for a scarf (scratchy!). The hat was wearable though. I made a little mistake half-way through, but I think it gives it character. Did the striping again (so much fun). My friends think I should have sewn it the other way (they are right), but I still think not bad for a first try!

Knitting: I had to start somewhere!

Okay, so I've taught myself to knit (or at least what I do resembles knitting) and now I'm on to bigger challenges (like making my own patterns). I started with scarfs (not surprising - that's what they usually start you off with), and I've made a matching hat. Just learned how to make little bags (without the felting). Now, I think I'm going to take on the afghan...I know...tough to do, but I'm up for the challenge. I'll post some of my work here, and also post some of my baking work too. Knitting and baking...such a homebody for a single woman (can we say spinsterhood???!!!)