Recipe: My ALDI Inspired Chewy Oatmeal Delights

*Disclaimer:  This is a sponsored post.

ALDI

My Chewy Oatmeal Delights

Now is probably the time that you’re thinking about what holiday cookies that you’re planning to bake this year.  The recipe that I have is for a chewy, oatmeal cookie packing hidden goodness with semi-sweet chocolate, white chocolate and butterscotch chips to set off its rich buttery flavor for a decadent combination of ultimate sweetness.

I use three different varieties of morsels for this drop cookie.  Though you can use regular semi-sweet chips, I prefer the mini ones because it distributes the chocolate more evenly to get maximum enjoyment out of every luscious bite.

Baker's Corner Mini Real Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels

Baker's Corner Butterscotch Morsels

You can use a tablespoon to drop these cookies onto your greased baking sheets.  However, an easier way is to use a mini ice cream scoop to deposit the dough.  What I do is have a cup of water handy to immerse my scoop after dropping to keep the dough from sticking.  This little tool really speeds up the cooking baking process for me.

Baker's Corner White Morsels

For all my baking essentials that went into this recipe, I went to my favorite grocery store, ALDI  since they have the best prices in my opinion, especially for ingredients like the chips, oatmeal, flour and even the dairy products. Look over their holiday catalog first because this store has what you will need from unsweetened cocoa, coconut, nuts, candied fruit, evaporated milk, raisins, etc. more reasonably than their competitors, especially if you keep up with their weekly specials!

You get a great chew with my Chewy Oatmeal Delights!

If you ask me, the quality of the ALDI products is just as good as name brands.  The only thing that you might miss is the fancy packaging of name brands–but that is basically it.  

Hopefully, you’ll want to print out my recipe and take it with you when you pick up all those baking essentials where I shop–ALDI.  

Happy Holidays!

My Chewy Oatmeal Delights

1 cup (2 sticks) of ALDI Countryside Creamery butter
1 cup of firmly packed ALDI Baker’s Corner Light Brown sugar       
1-2/3 cups ALDI Baker’s Corner All-Purpose flour
1 cup of ALDI Baker’s Corner sugar
3 cups of ALIDI Millville Quick Rolled Oats
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon of baking soda, leveled
½ teaspoon of baking powder, leveled
2 teaspoons of pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon of salt
1/3 cup of ALDI Baker’s Corner Real Mini Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
1/3 cup of ALDI Baker’s Corner Butterscotch Chips
1/3 cup of ALDI Baker’s Corner White Chocolate Chips


Cream your butter with the sugars until well combined in a large mixing bowl.

Next, beat in the eggs to the creamed mixture, one at a time before adding the vanilla extract.

Sift the flour with the baking soda, baking powder, and salt and slowly beat into the creamed ingredients until the flour mixture is incorporated into the butter mixture.

Stir in the oats and chips last.

Drop by tablespoons or using a mini ice cream scoop on your greased cookie sheet.  Try to keep each one about two inches apart.

Bake in a 375-degree oven for about 9-10 minutes or until lightly golden.  

Give the baked cookies a few minutes to set before attempting to remove.  

ENJOY!

Recipe: My ALDI Inspired Bavarian Pizza

*Disclaimer:  This is a sponsored post.

ALDI

When friends and family drop in over the holidays a good way to make your guests feel welcome is by treating them to a homemade pizza, besides the usual dishes that you serve whether ham, turkey etc. 

Here is a piece of my Bavarian Pizza up close.

The recipe that I have for you is hardly traditional as you might guess from the name of Bavarian Pizza. Imagine what gently browned onions, sauerkraut along with slices of sausage and Mozzarella cheese with just the right combination of spices would taste about now in a freshly made pizza crust. Making the dough from scratch really doesn’t take all that long and once you top it with this unique topping, you can make their visit a memorable occasion.

All the ingredients that I used can be found at ALDI, my favorite grocery store where I do mostly all my shopping.  With their weekly specials and cheaper prices, I can buy a lot more food without sacrificing taste or quality over other larger stores with name brands.  

Kirkwood Turkey Andouille Sausage is what I used, but I have used other varieties of sausages that I found at Aldi's.

Aldi's sells both the canned and fresh variety like Frank's Kraut, which I often pick up and use half for another meal.

Their five-pound bag of all-purpose flour was just 99-cents this week!  You might want to stock up for your holiday baking.  ALDI also has great seasonal products that can help your celebrations with prepared items as well as ones to pull those holiday dishes together from those baking essentials, cheeses, holiday meat staples, appetizers to sweet treats from Europe with their delicious candies. Browsing their holiday catalog can provide the inspiration you need concerning what you might want to serve this holiday or give as gifts so do check it out! 

Try my Bavarian Pizza because it is delicious and so different.  Honestly, I think that you will love this recipe and–ALDI if you haven’t shopped there yet.  

ALDI Inspired Bavarian Pizza 

Bavarian Pizza

Pizza Dough:

1 cup of water
2-1/2 cups of Baker’s Corner all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons of Carlini canola oil
1 teaspoon of dry yeast
1 teaspoon of salt
1 tablespoon of sugar


Bavarian Topping:

1/2 bag (1 lb.) of ALDI Frank’s Quality Kraut or 1 small can (14-1/2 oz.) sauerkraut
2 sticks of ALDI Kirkwood Turkey Andouille Sausage or  1/2 lb. of your favorite sausage
1 medium red onion, finely chopped 
1 tablespoon sugar
½ teaspoon of black pepper
3/4 teaspoon of salt
8-oz. of Mozzarella cheese, grated
1/4 cup of olive oil
½ teaspoon of red pepper flakes 

Here's a cut piece of  my ALDI Inspired Bavarian Pizza.

To Make the Dough:

Add half the sugar to your warm water, not hot water, stir trying to dissolve the yeast and let it sit in your mixing bowl until the yeast starts bubbling.  When it has some foaming action, you're ready to add the dry ingredients.

Add the flour along with the remaining sugar, oil, and salt a little at a time.  Stir with a wooden spoon until the dough is no longer sticky.  You want a soft, pliable ball.

The weather can influence the feel of your dough.  Some days it may be too humid for example and you may need to add more flour or even less, depending on how sticky that ball feels on your fingers.  Don’t be afraid of adding a bit more flour or even using less if that dough no longer feels sticky.

Let your dough rest and grow, covered for at least one hour to one and one-half hours.

After that time, the dough should have grown slightly.  Take that dough and put it in your greased baking pan and stretch to fit.  (For this recipe, I used a large round 12-inch size  pizza pan).

To Prepare the Bavarian Topping:

Boil the sauerkraut for about fifteen minutes, then drain.

Chop your onions and fry in the olive oil until golden.  Add the drained sauerkraut next, along with the salt, black pepper, and sugar.

Top the pizza with the sauerkraut mixture, then add your sliced sausage, grated Mozzarella cheese and sprinkle with the red pepper flakes.

 Bake in a 400-degree oven for about 15 minutes or until the bottom crust becomes slightly brown.

ENJOY!

Check Out My First Experience Cooking on Induction With an Inexpensive Induction Burner I Just Bought at Aldi’s

I paid just $39.99 for this 1800 watt Induction Burner at Aldi this week.

Induction cooking is something I have been wondering about for a while.  Currently, I use an electric stove and oven.  However, this form is supposed to work as fast as or faster than even gas and use much less energy.  Nonetheless, it is a pricey gamble when you think the price for the full size 30-inch induction range would be more than $1,500.00.  

Before making that investment without knowing how well it would perform, I thought it would be best to get a feel of how it cooked by buying an induction burner.  America’s Test Kitchen recommended if you get an induction burner it’s better to get one that allows up to 1800 watts.

I saw the advertising on TV for that NuWave induction burner that I was considering to test first before I found a special buy the other day at one of my favorite store’s Aldi’s with their Kitchen Living Portable Induction cooktop for only $39.99.  This cooktop gave me the 1800 watts, which is as high as you can go on a regular plug.  Any higher and you are talking about full range type electrical connections so I snagged one up while they were available.

This model is small but fits a sizeable 6.5 quart stock pot with ease.  So my first project just boiling water and making some pasta was easily done.  All I did was sort through my pots and I found a number of them that a magnet would stick to.  Some won’t work and that’s a factor you also need to think about the possibility that you also might need to buy new pots before cooking with induction.

I’m still tweaking this and need to figure out the right temperatures and/or power settings.  On my induction cooktop you can select either a power setting up to 1800 watts or a temperature.  In the past I just dialed my stove to preset the power setting.  Induction let’s you pick the temperature you like, which is certainly new for me!

Does anyone have some recipes or tips to share?  I would really appreciate all and any advice that you have to share with me.