WE BAKED!! (…sort of.)
Baking is not my thing. At all. Sewing? Yes. Cooking? You bet! Basket-weaving? Why not?? But baking?? That’s where I draw the line. Whenever I bake anything, it’s more of a threat than a blessing. Just ask Mark about Pumpkin Pie Failure 2004. It. Was. Awful.
When Stonyfield asked me to try some holiday baking with their delicious yogurt, I knew I was going to have to call in the expert — my lovely neighbor and friend, Yelena!!
Yelena is a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, author of the blog Chefin’ w/Baby on the Hip, and get this — she can bake!! With three small children ages 5 and under!! And one hand tied behind her back!! Blindfolded!!! Okay, maybe I exaggerate just a little, but she can bake up a mean batch of cookies. We got together to whip up a batch of carrot cake cookies, and when I say “we”, I really mean “she did the baking and I observed (and taste-tested!)”. We had so much fun, and the cookies were sooooooo yummy!!!! I just had to share the recipe — perfect for a holiday cookie swap!
Carrot Cake Cookies
1 1/8 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 stick butter (room temp)
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup yogurt — we used Stonyfield Oikos plain
1 tsp real vanilla extract
1 cup shredded carrot
1 cup raisins
1 cup walnuts
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Mix dry ingredients set aside.
Cream butter, sugars( white and brown), yogurt and vanilla together.
Add carrots, raisins, and walnuts. Mix till well combined.
Add dry ingredients mix till well incorporated.
On a greased cookie sheet drop tablespoons of cookie batter 11/2 inches apart.
Bake for 8-10 minutes.
Cool on a cookie rack. Enjoy!
Nom, nom, nom!!! A simple, but very helpful baking tip from Yelena — pre-measure ingredients while the kiddos are napping or during quiet time. The yogurt made the cookies light and fluffy!
Now the fun part — One lucky reader will win a super-fun prize pack courtesy of Stonyfield!! Giveaway is open to all US residents. Prize pack contains three free Oikos multipack coupons, three free 16 oz Oikos coupons, three free Stonyfield quart coupons, two sets of Stonyfield/Oikos recipes, and an Oikos spatula!!
To enter for your chance to win, leave a comment on this post telling me what you love most about baking! Be sure to include your email address. Giveaway ends Thursday, December 9th @ midnight EST, and winner will be contacted via email.
Good luck!!
I like eating what I bake, of course! 🙂
Ok, you baked! Good for you! Those cookies look yummy. And hey, who wouldn’t want a chance to win all of those coupons?!
I just love baking! Period.
The downside are all the calories 🙁
Because I am a good baker (cookies, bread, pies, torte, anything) and I bake often *sigh*
I don’t bake very often, but when I do, it is a special treat for the family. So what I like about baking…how excited my family gets!
I don’t bake very often, but when I do, it is a special treat for the family. So what I like about baking…how excited my family gets! And it doesn’t matter if it tastes gourmet, they just like it because it is in front of them.
I love how baking makes the house smell so yummy!
Like another commenter, I just love baking! 🙂 It’s my outlet when I’m stressed, and something I enjoy doing other times as well.
I love baking because I can do it with my son, plus people are thrilled when there are baked goods!
I love eating the finished product!
Love the smell of baking (and eating it of course)!
I like to bake bc I like the goodness that comes from my oven! It’s so much better than store bought or partially homemade! I’ve never baked with yogurt, but would like to try it…we sure eat plenty of yogurt!
I have a really easy pie you should shock Mark with…Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie. Seriously! I give you total permission to buy the pie crust too!
http://livelearnlove226.blogspot.com/2010/04/chocolate-chip-cookie-pie-and-no-roll.html
I love eating the dough with my kids. Raw eggs and all.
I’m not a huge baker, either, but it is fun to make something with the kids and see how excited they get about the finished product!
And that’s pretty cool that your next door neighbor blogs too!
See, I’m the opposite – cooking? no. sewing? no.
baking? yes! I just love that its something I can do with my children, creating traditions & memories…
I love the stisfaction of baking my own goodies, and knowing i am providing my family with a healthy enjoyable treat. And the wonderful smells it makes throughout the house doesn’t hurt!
I like baking with my toddler because she looks so dang cute in that little apron I made her, and she’s always so proud when the cookies come out of the oven.
i love the process with my kids, and the product….the cleanup is another story. actually just finished baking some christmas cookies this morning, and have yet to tackle the flour mess on my counters! but the flour covered children are happy!
I love how yummy it makes my house smell. 🙂
I love baking! I love that I actually save money on healthier foods by making them myself, and I get the admiration of my husband and kids as a bonus!
http://justlikeflipflops.blogspot.com/
Baking is where chemistry, and crafts combine – what’s not to love?
I love baking with my toddler twins. It takes longer and makes more of a mess than if I do it by myself, but they have so much fun and get to feel like an important part of the family. Yesterday we made pistachio baklava and they helped grind the nuts, cut the phyllo dough and mix everything together. We all have a great time every time we bake. For awhile every day my son would ask, “so mom, what are we baking today?”
I unwind when I bake. Just me trying to spend time on this task. I don’t often bake with my children 🙂
First of all thanks for the link to the new blog, she is GREAT!!
I love baking because my kids help. I only bake 3 things, choc. chip cream cheese cookies, banana bread and brownies but I love sharing them with myt kiddos.
I bake because my kids love helping me.
Ah, what’s not to love? My kids and I love the sprinkles, the sugar, the cracking of nice brown eggs, the measuring, the sprinkles, the flour in the hair, the dried egg yolk on the counter, the pre-cooking tasting, the smell of vanilla. Did I mention the sprinkles? 🙂
I live alone, so I think about all the friends and family I’m going to share my baked goods with!
That, and how the whole house starts to smell really, really yummy. I make a lot of apple crisp in the fall. 🙂
I love baking with my kids…and sharing with friends.
I bake for various reasons…for one, it is somehow meditative fornme during times of stress, no matter how exhausted I am. I love to let my daughter do something with me in the kitchen and lick the spoons. Oh, and I cant forget that I love food and the aroma baking gives off in your kitchen and the neighborhood. Last but not least, I love to provide others with sweets-it always cures anything. Temporarily at least. 🙂
I really love baking with yogurt and actually don’t do it enough. Probably because every time I think of it we don’t have enough yogurt (thank you yogurt hounds, i mean, kids!)
See, how you feel about baking is how I feel about sewing…I wish i could do it, but when you help break TWO sewing machines in the learning process, God is trying to tell you something…
Oh, and what I LOVE the most about baking is SHARING it with others…after I get MY share…:0)
What do I love about baking? Eating the final results – nothing better than a fresh hot cookie! yum!
Sister, I would be a baker for a living if I could live w/ getting up at the butt crack of dawn.
I adore it & my fav thing about it, all the yummy concoctions one can whip up!
Love it!
Those cookies look delicious! My favorite part about baking is being able to share the finished product with friends and family! 🙂
ginaboston1@gmail.com
My favorite part of baking is eating what I bake.
While I don’t have much time for baking with two little ones, I still love it! My 3 year old is really into helping in the kitchen and being a “chef”, so that is my favorite part about baking now…spending time with her, watching her mix ingredients and steal a lick from a bowl (when she thinks I’m not looking). It is a great time together!
My favorite part of baking is letting my daughter “help” me, the way the house smells so yummy and of course eating the finished product!
we try to bake atleast once a week as my lil girl loves to mix the cake batter. 🙂
I love to look for recipes and to cook for other people. And of course I love to taste test!
I love to bake because it gives the kids a chance to help and whip up something yummy. And I love the way the house smells too.
Love to know what goes into my food that is why I love to bake. It is nice to have a treat and know that there is a litte something healty in it like yogurt instead of oil that recipes usually have.
I love the way baking makes the whole house smell and eating the fresh still warm goods.
These look fantastic! I’m going to have to try them!!
Oh, and what I love most about baking is the welcoming smell it gives your home and kids gathering around and WAITING for those cookies to get out of the oven!
I could totally skip the baking. I LOVE the eating. Even though I don’t like to bake, it IS rewarding when something I’ve baked turns out so delicious.
I love the smells and the anticipation while the cookies bake. Then I love to eat what I baked. 🙂 So do our kids and my husband. 🙂
This may sound silly, but I love the creating part of baking…that I can take all of these ingredients and put them together to make something new, and better!
I just love the smell of something good baking in the oven and in the winter I also love how the oven gives off warmth long after I turn it off!
I love the satisfaction I get from knowing how to pronounce everything in my food and avoiding all the icky chemicals! But besides that, homemade just tastes better!
I like the quiet of baking. I usually do it while the older kid is in school and the little one is napping. It’s nice to have a quiet, relaxing activity to tune out the rest of the world for a bit.
But I also love baking with the older kid. It’s cool to see the excitement and pleasure of helping mom!
the smell and that it warms up my house LOL
thehundfamily6 at gmail dot com
My almost 3 yr old and I have a lot of fun baking. She loves to mix things and we can turn it into a great math lesson(and snacktime is much more fun with homemade cookies!!!) The carrot cake cookies look so good! Can’t wait to try them!
What do I like about baking? Let me count the ways:
the smell
the together time
the giggles
the taste of holiday
the memories made and remembered
Should I go on?
Here’s a tip: Dress up your “everyday” favorite (chocolate chip, oatmeal, carrot, whatever for the Holidays with a dash of cinnamon, a drizzle of powder sugar icing and maybe a few color sugar sprinkles.
So funny. I actually just wrote about why I love baking but hate cooking! I love baking because I can drift off with my thoughts and the oven timer brings me back. When I drift off with cooking, very bad things happen…
I like every part of it but most of all, doing it with my children.
These cookies look great!
I love all aspects of baking including the smiles on the faces of those that we share with.We spend lots of time tweaking favorite recipes to make them healthier. One of my current favorite parts of baking is that my 3 year old son loves the time that we get to spend together. I am raising a son that loves to put on his apron and bake…it’s all part of my plan to guarantee great baked goods for our family and friends forever!
I love to bake and have since I was a young child. My grandmother was a wonderful baker and her home always smelled so welcoming and full of love. I took baking even more serious when I began making all my own bread. I love sharing baking and all the math and science we can learn with the children in my child care. Parents are often asking what smells so good. We usually answer snack. I enjoy sharing the recipes and our experiences on my blog.
I must also mention one of our favorite recipes – Chocolate Chip Banana Bread (from Dr. Cookie) needs yogurt and Stonyfield is the yogurt in this house.
Baking equals happiness! Guaranteed to turn any sullen teens into smiling teens when they walk in the door and smell fresh baked bread, pizza, muffins, cookies or granola. Baking is the ultimate in gratifying frugality especially if you have chickens and pigs to eat any failures along the way.
Been baking with my kids since they could stand on a chair to reach the counter and *help*. They still bake with me and now will bake for me!
The Best part about baking is that my Husband Looovvves to. He makes these fantasic 6oz ch. Chip Cookies, and even better homemade brownies with frosting. Not to mention pies galore and cakes and fudge and…… if it is baking he can do it and the best part he cleams up after he is done : )
I love to bake! It’s so fun to try new recipes, and then of course, to taste them!
I like the kneading process when baking bread.
I like baking with garlic!
The best part of baking is the SMELL!!!
I really love baking with my mom and sister because it’s a great way for us to bond. We always share close stories and tweak recipes to give them our own flair by adding our own favorite ingredients!
I love baking with my children. It’s so much fun that way. I also love the smell of baked goods in the oven.
Baking for me is a sensory event. I can combine my own shared family memories as I use traditional family recipes and meld them to the new generation as I teach my daughters what was taught to me. The sound of spatulas scraping, the smells of the ingredients and the touch of freshly removed flour off of cherub cheeks combines with the visual feast of colors of the finished product. Taste testing is just icing on the cake people. ;D
The smell, the smell, the smell!
I’ve always loved to bake (thanks to my mother)and I’m pleased to say that this has passed on to my now grown children! My one and only grandchild, lil Arwen Alexandra loves to bake their Saturday morning “nana muh-muhs” (banana muffins….she’s just 2)
As an “almost retired Kindergarten teacher, I love bringing in all the goodies for my Kinder Kiddos to experience baking….they love it, too!
Everything baked is fresh and homemade!
Baking makes my home smell delicious & welcoming! 🙂
Thanks for the recipe. These cookies look great. I love baking with my kids!
I just LOVE to bake!! I love the way my home smells when something is baking. I homeschool my 2 children, and as part of their learning they have to learn how to cook, and bake. They think baking is more fun, and yummy:) I think all kids before they leave the house should learn the basics of cooking and baking. These cookies look so tasty, I think my kids will make them for our neighbors. I have yet to bake with yogurt, and can’t wait to try it!!
I have just finished chemotherapy and am beginning radiation. I miss cooking/baking and this would help me get back into it.
I love baking, ’cause it makes the whole house smell soooo good. We’ve been living her for many years, but I am still struggling with the cup measurements. For baking I rely on my scale. Thanks for all your wonderful ideas. I already put yogurt on my shopping list. Cant’ wait to try these.
I love the smell and I love that I can bake with my kids, have fun, but also turn it into a math lesson for homeschooling!
blessedmommynessa@gmail.com
I used to love baking just so I could eat the yummy treats. Now that I have a 2-yr-old, I love baking even more so I can see the excitement on my son’s face when he gets to eat the hopefully yummy treat. 🙂
What I love most about baking is sharing and watching that “special look” come on someone’s face as they bite into a treat. Thanks for the opportunity!
I simply enjoy taking ingredients, mixing it all together (and of course it is never neat and tidy since my granddaughter discovered how much fun flour is…), popping it in a warm oven and then waiting for the delicious smells to start wafting throughout the house:o) kimberly
the thing i love the best about baking is the effect it has on my kids–happy faces, happy tummies, happy attitudes…happy me 🙂
Since my son is allergic to eggs I have to get creative in the baking department. I love that these carrot cake cookies don’t call for eggs. I’ll have to try them!
I love cooking with my youngest son and eating it, of course!
I like baking with my son. He is a picky eater, but will happily try all of the individual ingredients.
love carrot cake treats
I love the thrill of making something just right. When everyone loves it and it shows makes all of the effort worth it. The smells and taste are also good.
I don’t bake very often, and hardly ever from scratch. But when I bake a cake I love sticking in the tester to see if it’s done – it’s just so cool and lo-tech. It makes me think of generations of women before me doing the same thing.
I love the feeling of true love enjoying a day in the kitchen with my beautiful 14 mo. old and 3 yr. old granddaughters as they ‘help’ me bake (or even just lick the bowls and spoons). Passing along special times around the table with a bowl and spoon, whipping up a yummy treat to go into the oven… these are what special memories are made of. Bake it with love!
I love how excited my kids get to help bake and eat 🙂 We go through almost a quart a day of Stonyfield yogurt!! I would love to try their organic Greek yogurt. Thanks for the giveaway!!
I love knowing everything that went into my treat and having a chance to teach my daughter about cooking & baking.
I love the way that baking makes my house smell!
I love baking for the way it makes my children feel…smiles and togetherness…they love to bake with me!