The Delicious Cook

TWD: Vanilla Ice Cream

2009-07-28T07:30:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it's been over a month since I last posted. Time flies! I can't believe that summer is already half over. I've been baking and cooking but posting seems to have taken a back seat to being outside and enjoying the sun. So most likely I will continue to be mia during the rest of the summer and posting sporadically. I couldn't pass up this weeks vanilla ice cream though. It's been hot here and it sounded like the perfect thing. Man am I glad that I didn't miss out this week. This pick was great timing by Lynne of Cafe LynnyLu.

I loved the flavor of the ice cream but the texture wasn't what I was hoping. So I will have to experiment a little more. The texture was much better than my last attempt though, it wasn't as hard either since I added a tablespoon of vanilla vodka. I've read that some people use some xanthan gum to make the ice cream smoother so I may try that next time. I used a whole vanilla bean and I think that's what makes this ice cream so good.

Go check out what other bakers have done this week!

TWD: Honey Mango Ice Cream

2009-06-16T08:00:00.000-07:00

This weeks pick was made by Tommi of Brown Interior. I just happened to pick up a new ice cream maker so I was excited to make this! I've never made ice cream before so this was a learning experience. I decided to use mango's instead of the peaches because I saw some frozen mango at Trader Joe's that I wanted to try. I thought that the ice cream turned out ok. It didn't have the mango flavor I was hoping for. Next time I will definitely use fresh fruit instead of frozen stuff. I was trying to be good and use only whole milk so I left out the heavy cream and I think that was a mistake as well. It wasn't as creamy as ice cream normally should be. My ice cream had a strong vanilla flavor so next time I would add less vanilla.

There were a couple of tips that I read that I wish I had known about before making the ice cream. I read somewhere that it's better to have the machine running before pouring in the ice cream mixture. I also was reading that adding a little bit of alcohol prevents the ice cream from getting rock hard, which mine did. So both are good things to know for next time. I will definitely be making more ice cream and maybe even frozen yogurt this summer. I can't wait to try all the possibilities!

Go check out what other bakers have done this week.

TWD: Parisian Apple Tartlet

2009-06-09T17:36:00.000-07:00

This week's pick was made by Jessica of My Baking Heart. This has to be the easiest recipe yet! There were only 4 ingredients and it was really good. I mean it was really really good. It's times like these that make me glad I decided to join the group. I probably would have never made this otherwise. It's SO simple to put together and I must say that it makes a great breakfast. Even two days later....I mean I couldn't let it go to waste!

I ended up making 4 of these tartlets with Jazz apples. They took a little longer to get soft so my puff pastry ended up a little more brown than I would have liked even though I put on a foil tent for the last 5 minutes or so. So next time I'll make sure to watch them more closely and put foil on sooner. I think next time I might try sprinkling some turbinado sugar on the edges of the pastry. That would make it just that much better.

Go check out what other bakers have done this week.

TWD: Fresh Mango Bread

2009-05-19T08:00:00.000-07:00

Let me start off by saying that I am so glad I didn't miss this week! This week's pick was made by Kelly of Baking with the Boys. It was a great pick by Kelly, everyone seemed to love it! I made lots of changes and I'm glad I did because it turned out really well.

I wasn't too wild about adding raisins so instead I added coconut. I also decided to add a cup of macadamia nuts because I thought that the crunch of the nuts would be a nice contrast to the soft mango. I left out the ginger and only used half the amount of cinnamon. I ended up with two loaves because I was afraid that the batter would be too much for one pan. It works out better this way anyways because now I can give one away and so that means less for me to eat! Which is a good thing since summer is right around the corner.

Go check out Kelly's site for the yummy recipe and check out what other bakers have done this week.

TWD: Tartest Lemon Tart

2009-05-12T17:48:00.000-07:00

This week's pick was made by Babette of Babette Feasts. I was a little hesitant to make the tart this week but since I skipped last week I decided that I would make it anyways. I should have listened to myself. I wasn't a fan of the tart although my friend liked it so he got to eat it all by himself. It was super simple to make the filling and a little challenging to make the tart dough in my mini food chopper. One day maybe I will get a real one!

I had read that lots of people thought that the tart was too bitter. I did cut off the ends of the lemons so that would reduce the amount of pith and hopefully make the tart less bitter. I also added more sugar but it didn't help the bitterness enough for me. I'm glad I only made half the recipe. I used my mini spring form pans, but it seemed to take forever to bake so please excuse the dark crust! Hopefully I will have better luck with next weeks recipe!

Go check out what other bakers have done this week.

TWD: Chocolate Cream Tart

2009-04-28T18:30:00.000-07:00

This week's pick was made by Kim of Scrumptious Photography. I've been a little overloaded with chocolate this month but I knew I had to give this a try. Luckily next month there is only one recipe with chocolate. I love chocolate but I need some variety sometimes!

This was very chocolaty. The filling reminded me of chocolate pudding. I only thought that the crust was ok. Might have to do with the fact that I used my last eggs up and didn't have one left for it. So instead I just added enough whole milk for it to come together. I really need to get a food processor some day. Then I wouldn't mind making crusts as much.

I bet the tart would be really good with the whipped cream topping but I forgot to get some at the store so I just left it off. I'm sure I would have liked the tart a little more if I didn't leave it off. I would have help cut some of the chocolate. This will just be a lesson learned. Don't wait until the last minute and make sure I have everything I need!

Anyways go check out what other bakers have done this week.

TWD: Four Star Chocolate Bread Pudding

2009-04-21T07:59:00.000-07:00

I love bread pudding so I was really excited to make this week's recipe. Lauren of Upper east side chronicle made this delicious pick. I don't think that I've ever made bread pudding before but it was so easy that I don't know why I haven't tried making it before! I really liked this bread pudding. It was chocolaty but not too chocolaty and I liked that there was some extra custard on the bottom of the large dish I had made.

I used all whole milk and left out the heavy cream because I didn't have any and I thought that it would be rich enough without it. I used more raisins than called for and also sprinkled some dried cranberries on top. I really liked the dried cranberries in this. I think next time I will just add dried cranberries and leave out the raisins.

This was really good right out of the oven and even better cold. I hate to admit it but I had some for breakfast. Please don't judge unless you've tried this. It's good, it was really good. Anyways go check out what other bakers have done this week.

TWD: 15 Minute Magic: Chocolate Amaretti Torte

2009-04-14T18:19:00.000-07:00

This week's pick was made by Holly of Phe/MOM/enon. Another great pick this week that I would not have tried otherwise if it were not for this great group! The torte is very rich and would definitely remedy a chocolate craving. I thought it was really good warm. I smelled so good out of the oven that I couldn't wait for it to cool or for the glaze to cool. I think this would be really good with some vanilla ice cream or a tall glass of ice cold milk. YUM!

Of course I didn't follow the recipe exactly because I rarely do. I don't have a food processor so I think that my almonds were in larger pieces than they were supposed to be. I didn't have any Amaretti so I used some glutten free pecan shortbread cookies so that my friend could have some too. For the glaze I didn't want to use the heavy cream called for so I just used whole milk. I think that could explain why my glaze was more like chocolate milk. My torte ended up sitting in a pool of glaze. Not very attractive but so good when I spooned the glaze over slices of the torte.

Go check out what other bakers have done this week.

World Peace Cookies

2009-04-08T20:20:00.000-07:00

I decided to skip this week's TWD because I've made the banana cream pie before and didn't really feel like having it again. Don't get me wrong it's really good, really really good but I wanted something different. I had skipped the world peace cookies before and regretted it because everyone was saying how good they were. So on the weekend I decided to whip up a batch.

For some reason my cookies came out a little flat. I'm not sure why but they were still good! They were really good warm out of the oven with a glass of cold milk. They were still really good today a few days later. I'm glad I made these. They are probably not something that I would make all the time but they would fix a chocolate craving in a hurry! I won't post the recipe since you can easily find it all over the web. You can find it here if you don't feel like searching for it.

TWD: Coconut Butter Thins

2009-03-31T17:13:00.000-07:00

This week's pick was made by Jayne of The Barefoot Kitchen Witch. Go over and visit her for the recipe and check out her great blog! I was a little afraid that I wouldn't like the end result as I was making these. I thought that the lime zest would be a little over powering of the other flavors. But happily I was wrong! These turned out really good! I've gotten rave reviews from everyone.

I basically followed the recipe but I didn't have any coriander so I left that out. For one batch of cookies I sprinkled them with turbinado sugar. I liked the extra sweetness on the cookies but I liked the plain ones as well. I think this would be good with lemon zest as well so I may have to experiment with this recipe. I will definitely be making these again.

Another great pick this week! Go check out what other bakers have done this week.

TWD: Blueberry Crumb Cake

2009-03-24T20:45:00.000-07:00

This weeks pick was made by Sihan of Befuddlement so head over there to see what she's done this week and to get the recipe. I wasn't too motivated to bake this week and that's why I procrastinated so long. I was going to skip this week totally but felt like I needed to get my butt back into baking. So after work today I just sucked it up and started baking.

I didn't change that much in the recipe. I used milk instead of buttermilk because that's what I had. Also I only had 1 cup of frozen blueberries so I added a cup of frozen mixed berries as well. I really liked how the topping became really crunchy. I'm looking forward to having this for breakfast with a cup of tea.

Go check out what other bakers have done this week!

TWD: French Yogurt Mini Cakes

2009-03-17T08:00:00.000-07:00

I know it's been a little while since I last posted but I'm back and hopefully will be posting somewhat regularly again. One can hope! I missed that last two TWD so I knew I had to bake this week. These little cakes came out really good! I didn't have marmalade so I made some glaze using powdered sugar and lemon juice. I liked the tartness the glaze gave the little cakes.

I left out the ground almonds and used all flour instead. I'm sure it would be good with the nutty flavor as well but I wasn't really feeling like nuts. I also added the juice of half a lemon to the batter and used the other half for the glaze.

This week's pick was made by Liliana of My Cookbook Addiction. Go over and check out the recipe there and go check out what other bakers have done this week!

TWD: Caramel Crunch Bars

2009-02-24T15:48:00.000-08:00

This week's pick was made by Whitney of What's left on the table?. Go check out her site if you'd like the recipe. I highly recommend it because it was another great pick this week. These little things are addictive. I cut mine into little triangles and I just kept going back for more. It's so bad but so good at the same time. Good thing I am taking the rest to work because they need to get out of the house!

I only made a few slight changes to the recipe. I left out the coffee because I didn't have any and instead of toffee bits on top I put some sprinkles. I'm sure it would be equally as good with the toffee bits but I didn't have any on had. I thought these bars were sweet enough with just the chocolate and sprinkles so it might have been too sweet for me with the toffee bits so I'm glad I didn't have any.

These were really easy to put together. I will definitely make these again. I like the hint of cinnamon in the base of the bars. They almost remind me of shortbread cookies but better. I mean can it get better than chocolate in the base and more chocolate on top?

My chocolate on the top of the bars wasn't getting hard so I did have to stick it in the fridge for a little bit. In the recipe Dorie suggests that you put the chocolate on top of the bars and then put it back in the oven after you shut it off for a few minutes but I was baking something else so that wasn't really an option so instead I just covered my baking pan with a metal sheet pan. It melted the chips just fine and then I just spread them out with an offset spatula.

Anyways go check out what other bakers have done this week!

Chocolate Cupcakes with Nutella Butter Cream

2009-02-22T11:00:00.000-08:00

So this is the other chocolate cake recipe that I tested out for my friends wedding cake. This is just a basic chocolate cake with sour cream. The sour cream is a nice addition because it keeps the cake moist. I froze a couple of these to see if they would work well for her cake. I hope so because I really like this recipe and it's pretty simple to put together. I was able to get 12 cupcakes out of this recipe.

Anyways I'm sure you all want me to get onto the frosting recipe. That's the best part anyways so I'll start with that recipe. This was a pretty simple butter cream to put together. The only thing that I don't like a Nutella is that the jars are so small! I had to use almost one full jar for just the one recipe of butter cream. I'm sure I'll have to go through lots of jars for the wedding cake! That's ok though because it is so worth it. I know I said before that this was really good, but I just have to mention it again because it was that good! It might be my favorite frosting now.

Nutella Butter Cream

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

3 cups sifted powdered sugar (I sifted the sugar and then measured it)

2 tablespoons milk (I used 1%)

1 cup Nutella

Mix butter until smooth and creamy. Add in Nutella and mix until nice and fluffy.

Add sugar 1 cup at a time until smooth. This will take about 3 to 5 minutes to get the desired consistency. Spread on cupcakes, a cake or just use your finger. I won't tell if you won't!

Basic Chocolate Sour Cream Cake

3/4 cup AP flour

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup unsalted butter, softened

3/4 cup sugar

2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup sour cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a cupcake pan with cupcake liners.

In a bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

In your mixing bowl beat the butter until it's smooth and creamy. Then add the sugar and beat until smooth and fluffy. Add the eggs in one at a time until fully incorporated. Then add in your vanilla extract.

Mix in sour cream and flour mixture. Scoop into muffin cups and bake 15 to 20 minutes or until a tooth pick comes out clean.

Cool on a rack and then frost with your frosting. Enjoy!

TWD: Devils Food White Out Cake

2009-02-17T02:00:00.000-08:00

This weeks pick was made by Stephanie of Confessions of a City Eater. This was one good chocolate cake. I was ever better with the Nutella butter cream that I made. That frosting was so good. I don't usually make frosting but this is one that I will be making again and again and again. It was that good.
I made this with Nutella butter cream because my friend wants her wedding cake to be chocolate with a hazelnut butter cream so I wanted to try out different chocolate cake recipes with different hazelnut butter creams. I ended up only making the one batch of butter cream and I think we found a winner! Did I mention how good it was? Anyways back to the cake. It was good and had a nice chocolate flavor. I'll post the recipe for the other chocolate cake that I made and the Nutella butter cream later this week. I think I liked the other cake recipe a little better because it had sour cream in it and it was a little more moist and a little less dense. But both were good cakes in my opinion!

I made my cake into mini cakes. I used my mini spring form pans and came out with 4 fairly tall cakes. I froze two of the cakes for later to see how well they freeze. I'm planning on make the wedding cake in stages so I don't feel so rushed and so I will need to freeze the cakes for at least a few weeks. Hopefully it will come out just as good from the freezer!

Anyways go check out what other bakers have done this week!

TWD: Floating Islands..........wasn't in the cards for me

2009-02-10T16:30:00.000-08:00

This week's pick was made by Shari of Whisk: a food blog. Go check out her site I'm sure she had better luck than I did. I tried this week, I really did. But my creme anglaise just wasn't having any of it. It tasted really good but it looked like the eggs had curdled so the texture was slightly off. I even strained it but that didn't help.

I suppose that letting it boil didn't really help......I was in a rush and had it at a higher temperature than I probably should have. Live and learn! Since this was such a failure for me I'm not going to post any pictures. But go check out what other bakers have done this week.

I will definitely be back next week. I would never pass up devils food cake!

Triple Berry Coffee Cake

2009-02-03T21:14:00.000-08:00

I was craving some coffee cake but I've never really made one so I started searching around and came across this one and knew I had to make it. Mine didn't come out looking as pretty but it was still really good. I used a frozen triple berry mix that I had but you could use whatever fresh or frozen berries you like. I plan on trying this recipe again when berries are in season because I think it might be even better with fresh berries.

I wanted to make the coffee cake into cupcakes but I wasn't too sure how well they would turn out so I decided to do a few test ones in my mini bundt pan. They turned out pretty cute but I wasn't able to put as much fruit or topping as I would have liked to. So I decided to just make the rest into a regular square pan. I may try again next time with my jumbo muffin pan and see how those turn out.

Triple Berry Coffee Cake

Adapted from Burghilicious

1 cup sour cream (I used low fat)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup sugar

3 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 baking powder

2 cups flour

10 ounces frozen unsweetened berries or 2 cups fresh berries

Topping:

3/4 cup brown sugar

2 tablespoons ground cinnamon

3/4 cups chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Grease a 9"x9" square metal pan.

In a small bowl, combine sour cream and baking soda. Set aside to react.

Beat the butter in a mixer until light and fluffy. Add sugar and beat until well combined. Add eggs one at a time, beating between each addition, then add vanilla extract. Add baking powder and one cup of flour, mixing until just combined. Add the sour cream mixture and mix until combined then add the remaining cup of flour and mix until fully incorporated.

In a separate bowl, mix together the topping ingredients.

Spread half the batter into the prepared baking pan. Sprinkle the berries evenly over the batter followed but 1/3 of the topping. Spread the other half of the batter, taking care to not smear the filling. Sprinkle the remaining topping over the cake. Bake for 60 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Allow to cool slightly and enjoy!

Snickerdoodles with Cinnamon Chips

2009-01-29T18:58:00.000-08:00

As you may recall snickerdoodles are one of my favorite cookies. So I knew that when I saw these cookies I would be making them. I am so glad that I did! These are really good, I think even better than the ones that I made before. These were soft and chewy and I loved the extra cinnamon flavor they got from the cinnamon chips. If you have never tried cinnamon chips before I highly recommend them. They are SO good! I finally found them so I was excited to use them in this recipe.

Everyone loved these cookies so I'm glad I doubled the recipe. I only made a few changes. I used half regular sugar and half vanilla sugar because I ran out of regular sugar. I'm not sure if it really made a difference in how they came out but I'm sure it didn't hurt the flavor.

Snickerdoodles with Cinnamon Chips

Adapted from Priscilla's Baking Adventures

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 1/4 cups sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 eggs

2 1/2 cup AP flour

1 teaspoon cream of tartar

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup cinnamon flavored baking chips

2 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Cream butter and sugar. Add vanilla extract and eggs and mix until creamy.

Stir in flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt. Mix until combined then stir in the cinnamon chips. Mix the cinnamon and sugar together.

Shape the dough into balls and roll in cinnamon-sugar mixture. Place the balls 3 inches apart on a silpat lined baking sheet. Don't flatten the balls.

Bake for 10 minutes or until set and lightly brown. Cool on a wire rack. Enjoy!

TWD: Berry Surprise Cupcakes

2009-01-20T19:43:00.000-08:00

This week's pick was made by Mary Ann of Meet Me in the Kitchen. I was worried that I was going to have a hard time this week with the cake batter since it seems like everyone else had problems with it. So I put it off until about an hour and a half ago. I don't know why I put if off for so long because I didn't really have any of the problems that other bakers faced. Maybe it was because I made mine into cupcake or because I used extra large eggs instead of the recommended large eggs? Could be that I don't follow directions and kinda did my own thing when beating the eggs.........I beat my eggs for about 5 minutes then heat it over a water bath for a few minutes and then beat in a few more minutes before adding the dry ingredients.

My cupcakes did rise nicely and I didn't have any problems with sinking. The cupcakes are nice and light because of all the air that was in the batter. The cake was eggy and reminded me of something that I've had before. I like the flavor and texture of these cupcakes even though I didn't do the filling and frosting from the recipe. I simply added a teaspoon of jam to each cupcake before baking which promptly sank to the bottom. So next time I may try to fill them with jam when they come out of the oven instead. I will definitely be making these cupcakes again.

Go check out what other bakers have done this week.

TWD: Savory Corn & Pepper Muffins.........minus the savory and pepper part

2009-01-13T16:27:00.000-08:00

This week's pick was made by Rebecca of Ezra Pound Cake. I was tempted to not make this until I saw the playing around section. It suggested leaving out the savory ingredients and increasing the amount of sugar. So you basically come out with regular corn muffins. These muffins are so much better than the boxed stuff and so easy too!

I made a few changes to the recipe. I decided to use one whole egg instead of just the yolk. I didn't have any buttermilk and forgot to pick some up when I was at the store so I just used nonfat milk instead. I also left out the corn kernels.

Did I mention how easy and good these are??? They are so good! I love the crunchy texture the corn meal adds to the muffins. I also like how they are sweet but not too sweet. Anyways go check out what other bakers have done this week.

TWD: French White Peach Tart

2009-01-06T18:41:00.000-08:00

This week I was tempted to slack off and not participate. The recipe looked kinda long and I didn't think I had everything that I would need. But I decided that I need to make the tart because that was the whole point of joining the group. Baking outside of what I would normally do. Boy am I glad I did. The tart is good, I mean it's really good. It's sweet but not too sweet. I really like the crust, especially the crunchy edges.
This weeks host is Dorie Greenspan herself! If you'd like the recipe go check out her site. I only made a few minor changes to the recipe. I don't have a normal food processor, I just have one of the mini ones which is not even close to being big enough to make the crust in. So I had to do it by hand which was bad but my dough seemed really dry and I was afraid that it wouldn't hold together right so I changed it slightly. Instead of just the egg yolk for liquid I also added in the egg white and enough water to help the dough form into a ball. I still think my dough came out really good so I will do it this way again.
I didn't have any fresh or canned pears that was called for but I did happen to have a jar of white peaches in the fridge. I love white peaches so I thought that this would be a good substitution and I was right! Did I mention that I really liked this tart?? Oh yeah I also used vanilla sugar in place of regular sugar just because I had some on hand.

Go check out what other bakers have done this week.

Cranberry Nut Bread

2009-01-04T17:30:00.000-08:00

I had gotten a bag of fresh cranberries at the store but didn't know what to do with them. I was thinking about some cranberry sauce but thought that cranberry bread sounded better. I used the recipe on the back of the package and followed it for the most part.

I doubled the recipe so that I would have enough batter to fill my bundt pan. I also added dried cranberries for some added sweetness because I was afraid that the fresh cranberries alone would be too tart. I'm glad I did because the bread was tart enough for me.

Cranberry Nut Bread

4 cups AP flour

1 3/4 cup sugar

3 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 cups orange juice (I used 5 juice oranges then added enough water to make enough liquid)

4 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 tablespoons orange zest

2 eggs, well beaten

2 1/2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries, halved

1 cup chopped nuts (I used walnuts)

1 cup dried cranberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 10-inch bundt pan.

Mix together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and baking soda in a large mixing bowl. Stir in orange juice, oil, orange zest and eggs. Mix until well blended. Stir in fresh and dried cranberries and nuts. Spread evenly in bundt pan.

Bake for 55-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on a rack for 15 minutes. Remove from pan and cool completely.

Enjoy!

Chocolate Banana Cake

2009-01-01T17:34:00.000-08:00

I had some ripe bananas that needed to be used up. Generally I can eat them all before they get too ripe but since I was stuck home because of the snow I forget to eat them. I usually like to take them to work with me. Anyways I was looking for a banana bread recipe but I stumbled across this recipe at Dragon's Kitchen. I knew I had to give it a try and am I glad I did. I didn't make the glaze for the cake but I'm sure it would be a good with it as well.

Chocolate Banana Cake

Adapted from Dragon's Kitchen

2 1/4 cup AP flour

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoons baking soda

Pinch of salt

1/4 cocoa powder

3 large eggs

1 cup sugar

3/4 cup butter, melted

1 tablespoons vanilla extract

3/4 cup sour cream

4 medium ripe bananas, mashed

1/2 cup chocolate chips, melted and cooled slightly

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Generously grease and flour a 10-inch bundt pan.

In a bowl, sift the flour with baking powder, baking soda, salt and cocoa powder; set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, beat the eggs until they are light in color and fluffy. Gradually add the sugar. Add butter and vanilla extract and mix well.

With the mixer on low speed, beat in the sifted dry ingredients in 3 additions, alternating with the sour cream. Fold in bananas and melted chocolate into the cake batter until completely combined.

Pour the batter into the prepared bundt pan. Bake for 55 to 60 minutes or until a tooth pick comes out clean. Invert the cake onto a cooling rack and allow the cake to cool completely.

Enjoy!

Snickerdoodles

2008-12-30T00:00:00.000-08:00

I think that snickerdoodles are my second favorite cookies. I love the cinnamon sugar on the outside and the soft and chewy inside. These are really simple to make and I don't know why I don't make them more often!! Next time I might make them a little bigger because mine turned out to be a little flat.

For the first batch that went onto the oven I just left them in balls but they didn't look very pretty so for the next batch I used the bottom of a cup to flatten them and they turned out better but a little thin. After I flattened them I coated them with more cinnamon sugar. You can never have too much cinnamon sugar on the cookies!

Snickerdoodles

Adapted from Betty Crocker

1 1/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup shortening

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 3/4 cups AP flour

2 teaspoons cream of tartar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 salt

1/4 cup sugar

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Mix 1 1/4 cups sugar, the butter, shortening, eggs and vanilla in a large bowl. Stir in flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt.

Shape dough into 1 1/4 inch balls (I used my trusty cookie scoop). Mix 1/4 cup sugar and the cinnamon. Roll the balls in the cinnamon-sugar mixture. Flatten with the bottom of a cup if you want more uniform cookies. Roll in cinnamon-sugar again if you flatten them. Place 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake 6 minutes or until set. Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack.

Enjoy!

Goodie Bags

2008-12-29T17:03:00.000-08:00

For my birthday my friends and I went out to dinner. I wasn't sure if everyone would come because of all the stupid snow that we've been having, but fortunately everyone that was planning on coming was able to make it.

I decided that I wanted to make some goodie bags because it's was my birthday and I could do whatever I wanted to do! I made buttery jam cookies and white chocolate macadamia nut cookies to put in the bags. I also put in some chocolate and then tied the bags with some ribbon.

I found the bags in the dollar spot at Target. The bags are super cute and you can't beat the price! I still have bags leftover so I might make some goodie bags to take to work or save them for next year.

White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies

2008-12-27T23:19:00.000-08:00

These are one of my all time favorite cookies. I made these a couple of weeks ago to bring over to a friends house and they liked them so much that I decided to make some more for the goodie bags that I gave away at my birthday dinner. I'll probably post my goodie bags later this week. They turned out super cute!

These were really simple to put together. There was a recipe on the back of the package of nuts and I just used that recipe but changed it slightly. Instead of using just granulated sugar I used some brown sugar instead because I thought it would give the cookies a better flavor. I'm glad I did because these cookies are really good.

White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/4 cup white sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/4 cup AP flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup white chocolate chips or chunks

1 cup macadamia nuts, chopped

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla and continue to mix well until blended.

Stir in flour, baking soda and salt and mix until just blended. Fold in white chocolate and macadamia nuts and mix until all ingredients are well incorporated.

Drop by teaspoonfuls onto a silpat lined baking sheet (I used a cookie scoop). Bake for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown.

Allow to cool and enjoy!

TWD: Buttery Jam Cookies

2008-12-16T17:00:00.000-08:00

This week's pick was made by Heather at Randomosity and the Girl. Go over and check out the recipe there. This is definitely a cookie that I will be making again. I love the favor of the jam in the cookie.

I was a little hesitant to make these after reading that people thought that these cookies were a little bland. I decided to add more jam to the dough and leave out the ginger. I used double the amount of jam that was called for and next time I may even use a little bit more. I love the color that the jam gives to the cookies. I used raspberry jam and the cookies were a light purple/gray in color.

I was worried that the cookies wouldn't have enough taste so I also sprinkled them with some torbinado sugar as well. I liked the crunch that it added to the cookies. I would definitely recommend this recipe with a few small adjustments.

Go check out what other bakers have done this week.

TWD: Linzer Sables and My First Award!

2008-12-12T20:30:00.000-08:00

I'm a little late with these cookies but since TWD is pretty flexible this month it's not that big of a deal. These cookies are really good. Everyone that tried them agreed too! They are pretty simple to make and don't require too much time. I made and rolled my dough the night before and then cut them and put them together the next day. These were fun to make because I don't make cookies that often that require you to roll them out and use cookie cutters.

In the past week I have made this recipe twice. My boss loved them so much that she asked me to make a batch for her. My very first customer! I was very excited that she wanted me to make them for her. I might have gone a little heavy on the powdered sugar but she said that she loves cookies with powdered sugar plus they look so pretty.

I will definitely be making these cookies again. I like the fact that they have ground almonds in the dough. I used raspberry jam but I didn't remove the seeds like the recipe says. I didn't think that you could really notice the seeds anyways. I also made mine thinner than suggested partly because I didn't really read the directions after making the dough.

I made the sandwich cookies plus I used the cut out pieces to make mini sandwichs. The mini ones are so cute! I like the fact that they are one bite because sometimes you just don't want a big cookie.

If you'd like the recipe go over and visit Dennis at Living the Life.

I've received my very first award! It's so exciting! Thank you Melissa from Love At First Bite! I feel so honored to get this from her because she has such great recipes and pictures.

I'm going to pass award on to Cheryl over at Cooking, Dunkin Style. She has such a great blog and the best lasgana. Her blog is one of the first ones that I discovered and continued to follow.

TWD: Grandma's All-Occasion Sugar Cookies

2008-12-10T22:35:00.001-08:00

This weeks pick is by Ulrike from Kuchenlatein. If you'd like the recipe you can find it on her site. I'm a little tardy this week but I did have the intention of posting this yesterday! I've been sick and so busy with things that I just didn't have time to post this until now. I didn't make the Linzer Sables last week but I did make them this last weekend along with the sugar cookies. I will be posting them hopefully this weekend but that all depends on if I can find the time. This weekend is shaping up to be another busy one even though I should be resting to get over this stupid cold.

Anyways back to the sugar cookies. I found that the dough was pretty sticky and hard to roll out and cut so I only did a few like that. With the rest I did the slice method. Even after letting them rest in the fridge I thought that the dough was still too soft to cut so I stuck them in the freezer for about 30 minutes to make them easier to slice. I was going to do a cream cheese frosting but decided that chocolate and some sprinkles would be a better choice for the cookies. These cookies turned out pretty good, but of course the plain ones weren't as good as the ones with chocolate on them.

Hopefully I will be on time for next weeks Buttery Jam Cookies, but no promises since it happens to fall on my birthday!

Banana Cream Pie

2008-12-06T14:00:00.000-08:00

I decided to make this for Thanksgiving dinner to take over with me. I had made it a week before for friends that came over. They really liked it and I thought that everyone at Thanksgiving would like it as well and I was right! I found the recipe in Dorie's Baking From my Home to Yours, which is the book that we use for TWD.

I highly recommend this recipe. It's pretty easy to make it just takes some time. I made everything in one day and it took me a few hours. If you want you can always make the crust ahead of time or even use a store bought one to save some time. When I made the first one I used the double crust recipe and just froze the other half to use for later. This saved me time for when I made it again.

I only changed a few things with the recipe. I used 1/2 of a vanilla bean instead of vanilla extract and I left out the spices in the custard because I didn't want the vanilla bean flavor to get masked by other flavors. I love this custard and I can't wait for summer to be able to make a fruit tart with it. I've been wanting to make a fruit tart but didn't have a good custard recipe.

I made one and a half recipes of the custard because I used a 11 inch tart pan and I wanted to make sure that I had enough custard. But you could certainly use a 9 inch pie pan with one recipe of custard. The recipe below is with my changes but for the one recipe of custard.

I also added a layer of white chocolate to the crust because I thought it would help prevent the crust from getting soggy from the moisture in the bananas. Plus chocolate makes anything taste better!

Banana Cream Pie

Adapted from Baking From my Home to Yours

For the Custard

2 cups whole milk (I used 2%)

6 large egg yolks

1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed and passed through a sieve

1/3 cup corn starch sifted

Pinch of salt

1/2 of a vanilla bean

3 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into bits

1/2-3/4 of a cup of chopped white chocolate

2-3 ripe but firm bananas

1 pie crust baked and cooled

For the topping

1 cup cold heavy cream

2 tablespoons confectioners' sugar, sifted

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2 tablespoons sour cream

For the crust

This is the same crust that I used for my pecan pie so you can find the recipe here. To fully bake it all you need to do is preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line your pie crust with foil and fill it with pie weights or dried beans. Place it on a baking sheet and bake it for 25 minutes. Remove the foil and pie weights or beans and return the crust to the oven and bake for an additional 10 minutes. Allow to cool.

Melt the chopped white chocolate and spread it over the cooled crust. This step is optional but I think it makes the pie even better.

To make the custard

Split the vanilla bean and scrape out the seeds. Add the seeds and the pod to the milk in a small sauce pan. Bring the milk to a boil and turn off the heat and let it steep for a few minutes. Strain the milk before adding it to the egg mixture.

Meanwhile, in a large heavy-bottomed sauce pan, whisk the yolks together with the brown sugar, cornstarch and salt until well blended and thick. While whisking add about 1/4 of the hot milk, then while still whisking add the remainder of the milk in a steady stream. Put the pan over medium heat and whisking constantly, bring the mixture to a boil. Boil, still whisking, for 1 to 2 minutes before removing from the heat. The custard should have thickened at this point.

Let stand for a few minutes and then whisk in the bits of butter, stirring until they are fully incorporated and the custard is smooth and silky. Press a piece of plastic wrap against the surface of the custard and refrigerate until cold. The custard will keep for up to 3 days so you can make this ahead of time if you'd like.

When you are ready to assemble the pie, peel the bananas and cut them on a shallow diagonal into 1/4-inch thick slices. Arrange the slices on the bottom of your pie crust. It's ok to stack them if you have extra slices.

Whisk the custard vigorously to loosen it and spread it over the sliced bananas. I like the spread it out so that the extra custard mounds in the middle.

For the topping

In a stand mixer with a whisk attachment, beat the cream until it just starts to thicken. Beat in the confectioners' sugar and vanilla and continue to beat until the cream holds firm peaks. Switch to a rubber spatula and gently fold in the sour cream.

Spread the whipped cream over the filling or if you want to get a little more fancy you can pipe it on.

This is the one that I made for my friends

Serve or refrigerate until needed. Enjoy!

Pigs in a Blanket

2008-12-04T17:24:00.000-08:00

I love pigs in a blanket. They are so simple to make yet so good. I'll admit that they aren't that good for you but it's not like I eat them every day. I usually like to use the reduced fat crescent rolls but I saw that now they have one that comes in a sheet so I decided to try those. You could also use low fat hot dogs or sausages if you wanted to cut out even more fat. I've done that before and they still turn out good.

Pigs in a Blanket

1 roll recipe creations

1 package smoked sausages

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Roll out your crescent sheet and slice into 6 long strips. Wrap one sausage with one strip of dough and place on a slipat lined baking sheet. Repeat with remaining strips and sausages. Bake for about 15 minutes or until golden brown.

Enjoy!

TWD: Thanksgiving Twofer Pie

2008-11-30T17:37:00.000-08:00

I had some leftover crust from the banana cream pie (I will post the recipe for this later in the week) that I made for Thanksgiving so I decided to make two small pie shells and stick them in the fridge for later. I knew that I needed to make the twofer pie but when it came time to make it I decided that I just wanted pecan pie. So I decided just to use the pecan pie part of the recipe minus the cinnamon. I'm not sure if this counts or not but that's ok. The amount the recipe made was just enough for my two little pies.

Good for Almost Anything Pie Dough

Makes a 9-inch single crust

1 1/2 cups AP flour

2 tablespoons sugar

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/4 sticks (10 tablespoons) very cold or frozen unsalted butter, cut into tablespoon-size pieces

2 1/2 tablespoons very cold or frozen vegetable shortening, cut into 2 pieces

About 1/4 cup ice water

Mix the flour, sugar and salt in a large bowl. Drop in the butter and shortening. Using a pastry cutter, incorporate the butter and shortening until the flour mixture resembles course crumbles. It's ok the have larger and smaller pieces. You can also do this with a food processor if you have one.

Gradually add about 3 tablespoons of water to the flour mixture. If the dough doesn't look moist enough add more water until the dough will stick together when pinched. Form the dough into a ball and wrap in plastic. You will need to refrigerate it for at least an hour before you can roll it out.

Once refrigerated roll out your dough to your desired thickness on a lightly floured surface. Place in your pie pan and refrigerate until ready to use.

Pecan Pie

1/2 cup light corn syrup

1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1 large egg

1 large egg yolk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 cup pecan halves or pieces

Preheat oven the 450 degrees F.

In a medium bowl, with a whisk, beat all of the ingredients except the pecans together until smooth.

Sprinkle the chilled pie crust with the pecans. I used about 1/2 cup in each pie. Pour the filling mixture over the pecans. Use your finger to poke down any pecans that float to the top and aren't covered with the filling.

Bake for 10 minutes then reduce the heat to 300 degrees F and bake the pie for an additional 20 to 25 minutes or until the center is set. If your pie starts getting too brown then cover it with foil until it's finished baking.

Allow pie to cool and enjoy! Check out what other bakers have done this week.

Hot Sweet Onion Dip

2008-11-27T13:07:00.000-08:00

I saw this recipe over at Closet Cooking and knew I had to make it. I had a few people over last weekend and knew this would be perfect to make for that. It was really simple to put together and everyone loved it! I served the dip with some bread that I grill and then rubbed with a clove of garlic. There were only 4 of us and by the end of the night it was almost gone. It was that good. I doubled the recipe because I knew that one recipe wouldn't have been enough. I will be making this again really soon.

Hot Sweet Onion Dip

1 8 ounce package cream cheese, softened

1 cup mayonnaise

1 cup parmigiano reggiano, grated

1 cup sweet onion, chopped

pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Mix everything together and place it in a baking dish.

Bake for 50-75 minutes or until the top is nicely browned.

Enjoy!

7 Layer Dip

2008-11-20T16:14:00.000-08:00

Remember the guacamole I made the other day? Well I really had a craving for 7 layer dip so that's what it was destined for. You can use whatever brands you like for this. You can make it slightly healthier if you use low-fat or non-fat items. You could use ground turkey instead of ground beef or you could leave the meat out all togehter.

It's simple to put together. I you need to do is layer it in a dish or in my case I used my mini triffle bowls. I found this better than making one whole one because if there's something that someone doesn't like you can leave it out and they can have their own individual dip. Plus the bowls are so cute so I love using them when I can.

There's not really a recipe with specific measurements. I just used what I had on hand. Sorry about the lack of pictures but the camera was dieing. You can layer the ingredients in whatever order you'd like, but the sour cream and cheese are on the top.

7 Layer Dip

1 can Refried beans (I used the fat free kind)

Salsa

Guacamole

Sliced olives

Sour cream (I used low fat)

Taco meat

Shredded cheese

I layer mine with the beans on the bottom, then a layer of the taco meat and then a layer of the salsa. Then on top of that went the guacamole followed by a layer sliced olives, the sour cream and then topped off with shredded cheese.

Enjoy!

No TWD here............

2008-11-18T12:01:00.000-08:00

I had the good intentions of making the rice pudding this week but it just wasn't in the cards. I went to Tj's and they were all out of the arborio rice that the recipe calls for. Then I went to another store and it was $9 for a small container!! I'm sorry but I couldn't justify spending that much on rice. I thought that rice is supposed to be cheap??

Anyways go check out what other bakers have done with rice pudding this week. Hopefully I will be back next week with the Thanksgiving twofer pie.

Guacamole

2008-11-17T17:21:00.000-08:00

Remember that lime I was talking about the other day? Well it was destined for this guacamole. I say was because when I sliced it open to juice it I discovered that it was bone dry! I couldn't even get one drop of juice out if it!!! Good thing I still had lemons from TJ's so I just used that instead.

I picked up a guacamole kit at TJ's when I was there. It was cheaper than getting the pre-made stuff so I decided to get it. I love the kit because it includes everything that you need to make really yummy guacamole (with the exception of the little lime incident). This was really easy to put together because all you need to do is chop everything and juice the lime (or lemon in my case).

Guacamole

2 Haas avocados

1 Roma tomato

2 cloves of garlic

1 shallot

1 jalapeno

1 lime

salt

Chop everything except the lime and mix together in a large bowl. I only added half the jalapeno because I don't like things too spicy. Make sure that you remove all the seeds and veins from the jalapeno if you don't want it too spicy. That is where most of the heat comes from. Juice the lime and add it to the guacamole. Season with salt to taste.

Chopped garlic and shallots

Chopped tomatoes and jalapeno

Chopped avacado

Enjoy!

Orange Yogurt Muffins

2008-11-15T10:30:00.000-08:00

I was craving something sweet but not too sweet so I decided that orange yogurt cake sounded really good. I've made this before in loaf form but I decided that I wanted muffins this time. I love the citrus flavor that you get from all the zest.

You can add whatever kind of zest you want to this. I added lemon and lime zest. I would have added orange zest too but I didn't have any on hand. I used lemon and orange juice but didn't juice my lime because that was destined for something else but the recipe didn't need the zest so I thought why waste perfectly good zest.

Orange Yogurt Muffins

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, softened

1 cup granulated sugar

3 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 small container plain yogurt

1/2 cup orange juice

1 medium lemon, juice and zest

1 medium lime, zest

2 cups AP flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

turbinado sugar for sprinkling on top (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a muffin pan with muffin cups or grease a 9X5 loaf pan.

Place the butter and sugar in your mixer and cream until light and fluffy.

Add eggs, vanilla, yogurt, orange juice, lemon juice, lemon zest and lime zest. Mix until mixed well, about 1 minute.

Mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add to the mixer and mix well.

Pour the batter into your prepared loaf pan or if using a muffin pan scoop the batter into your cups. Fill only about 3/4 of the way full. I made 12 muffins and used 2 mini spring form pans for the leftover batter. This recipe would probably make about 16 muffins. Sprinkle the tops with torbinado sugar if you are using it.

The loaf will take 55 to 60 minutes, the muffins take about 20 minutes and the mini spring form pans take about 25-30 minutes. You will know when they are done when a tooth pick comes out clean. Cool for 10 to 15 minutes before removing from the pan.

Enjoy!

Pot Roast

2008-11-13T17:00:00.000-08:00

I've never made pot roast before so I decided to cheat and buy one that was already seasoned. The man at the store that was giving samples away of this pot roast gave me a great tip. He said to cook the roast with some orange juice. I thought it sounded a little weird but decided to try it. I am so glad that I did try it. It turned out really well. So my first attempt at pot roast turned out pretty successful...........even if I did cheat a little.

Sorry about the lack of pictures for this post but I was trying to do a million things at once so I forgot to take pictures. My memory isn't as good as it used to be. This mid-twenties thing is hitting me hard!

Pot Roast

1 4 pound seasoned pot roast

Orange Juice

2 pounds of potatoes (I used medium sized red potatoes and cut them in half)

1 large onion, cut into large pieces

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In a dutch oven on the stove over medium high heat, sear the roast on all sides.

Add enough orange juice so that it comes up about half way up the meat.

Cover the dutch oven and place it in the oven. The roast will take about 3 hours to cook. I was turning the roast about every hour. When the roast is half way done (1 hour 30 minutes into cooking) add the onion. Then cook for another 30 minutes. Add the potatoes and cook for another hour. When the roast is done remove the meat and potatoes from the pot.

If you would like a sauce for the roast you can thicken the remaining liquid in the pan. Just simply place the pot on the stove over medium heat. Allow to boil for a few minutes to let some of the liquid evaporate. Add a mixture of corn starch and water to the liquid to thicken it. (Make sure that all the corn starch is dissolved so that you won't get lumps in your sauce.)

Enjoy!

TWD: Kugelhopf

2008-11-11T17:00:00.000-08:00

This is my second TWD post and when I first saw this recipe I was a little hesitant to make it. I've never really worked with yeast before and was afraid that it wouldn't rise. So I was pretty sure that I was going to skip this week but then I was thinking that one of the main reasons of me joining the group was so that I would be able to bake outside my comfort zone. This was definitely outside my comfort zone so I decided to try it and see how it turned out. If you'd like the recipe then check out The All-purpose Girl.

Lets just say that I'm glad I tried this recipe. It turned out really well! Although I did deviate from the instructions a bit. What can I say, I don't follow directions well. I made mine in a jumbo muffin pan and I was able to get 6 muffins out of the recipe.

I used dried cranberries (I will be using more next time because as you can see below there weren't that many to be found!) instead of raisins because that's what I had and I ended up using more flour because my dough was too sticky and wasn't coming together. I also didn't let the dough rise for as long as she suggest in the book. Like I said I don't follow directions well.

Since my place is usually cold, I decided that the dough would rise better in my laundry closet. I happened to be doing laundry so the heat from the dryer really helped my dough rise. That's why I didn't let it rise for as long as called for after it came out of the fridge. It didn't need it and I didn't want to wait anymore. I guess I'm not really patient either......

Enjoy and check out what other bakers have done this week!

Lemon Ricotta Muffins

2008-11-08T11:23:00.000-08:00

I didn't know what I was going to do with the leftover ricotta that I had from my lasagna. But thankfully I found a recipe for lemon ricotta muffins at Food Gal that sounded really good. I just picked up a bag of lemons at TJ's so this recipe was perfect to help use some of them up.

The muffins turned out really good. I sprinkled them with turbinado sugar instead of regular sugar and I'm glad I did. I loved the extra crunch that it added in addition to the almonds. I will definitely make these again if I have leftover ricotta. They were really easy to put together and I would highly recommend them. If you are worried about them tasting a lot like ricotta, don't worry. The lemon and almond flavors are the most prominent.

Lemon Ricotta Muffins

(Makes 12 muffins)

2 cups AP flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup granulated sugar

1 medium lemon, juice and zest

1 cup ricotta cheese

1 egg

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

1/4 cup sliced almonds, for sprinkling on top

1 tablespoon turbinado sugar, for sprinkling on top

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

In a stand mixer, combine the sugar, butter and lemon zest until light and fluffy.

Then beat in the egg, lemon juice, ricotta and almond extract.

Add the flour mixture and beat on low speed until just combined. (My mixture was pretty thick, but don't worry it will bake up fine.)

Divide batter into lined muffin tins. Sprinkle the tops with slivered almonds and turbinado sugar.

Bake 15 to 20 minutes until lightly golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean.

Cool muffins and enjoy!

Loaded Mashed Potatoes

2008-11-06T13:50:00.000-08:00

I love mashed potatoes! More specifically I love my mashed potatoes. I mean what's not to love about potatoes with garlic and cheese?? I used the roasted garlic I made the other day but if you don't have any you can just peel a couple of cloves and stick them in with the potatoes while they are boiling.

Generally I just add cheese and garlic to my mashed potatoes but this time I wanted to make it similar to a baked potato. I added sour cream and bacon bits and I think it turned out really good. No gravy is needed for these mashed potatoes. They are perfect just the way they are.

Loaded Mashed Potatoes

7 medium sized potatoes (I used half red and half yukon gold because that's what I had)

1/2 cup milk (If the potatoes are too dry then add more until you get a desired consistency)

2 tablespoons butter

6 cloves roasted garlic or 3 cloves garlic

1/4 cup sour cream

1 cup shredded cheddar

Seasoning salt and pepper to taste

1/2 cup bacon bits

Cube the potatoes and boil them in a pot of water over medium high until they are tender. I don't peel my potatoes but you can if you don't like the skin. I cut mine into small cubes so that they take less time to cook. You can tell that they are tender when you can poke them with a knife or fork and there is no resistance.

When the potatoes are done drain off all the water and return the pot to the stove. Lower the heat to low and add the butter, milk and roasted garlic. Using a potato masher, mash the potatoes until you get your desired consistency. I'm ok with a few lumps in my potatoes. I think it gives it more texture.

Add the sour cream and mix well. Then add the cheese and mix until it is completely melted. Add the seasoning salt and pepper to taste. You can now mix in the bacon bits or you can sprinkle it on top. I chose to sprinkle it on top because I like the contrast of the crunchy bacon and creamy potatoes.

Serve and enjoy!

TWD: Rugelach

2008-11-04T12:00:00.000-08:00

This is my very first Tuesdays with Dorie post. I've been going back and fourth about whether I wanted to join or not. I got the book and was still debating about it. But then when I found out that after the end of October they wouldn't be accepting new members, I decided that it was time to join. Just in time for one of my favorite cookies ever!

This week's pick was made by Grace from Piggy's Cooking Journal. If you want the full recipe go visit Grace. What a great pick! I haven't made these cookies in a while and it was nice to revisit them. I left out the chocolate and dried fruit because I prefer them with just the jam and nuts. These turned out really good. Maybe even better than when I had made them before. It might have to do with the fact that this time I sprinkled them with turbinado sugar..........

If you've never made these before I would highly recommend them! They aren't as difficult to make as they seem. I usually like to make the dough the day before because it needs to chill. I just find it easier rather than having to wait a few hours for the dough to harden up. I decided to double the dough because I love them that much!

I used raspberry jam, toasted pecans and cinnamon sugar for the filling. I always have a jar of cinnamon sugar on hand. I never buy the pre-made kind because it's so simple to make yourself and much cheaper. I like having the cinnamon sugar in a spice jar because it makes it so much easier to sprinkle it on whatever you need.

The dough is really simple to make. All you need is three ingredients!

Just mix together the butter and cream cheese.

Then add your flour.

Mix until completely incorporated.

Divide into 3 pieces and wrap in plastic wrap.

Place in the fridge 2 hours or overnight.

For the filling this is what you will need:

Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface.

I like to brush off any excess flour with a pastry brush.

Spread on a thin layer of jam and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.

Sprinkle a layer of the chopped nuts.

Cut into quarters and each quarter into quarters. I've always used a pizza cutter for this. I find that it's the easiest way to cut it.

Roll from the biggest end until you get to the point.

Place the point side down on the tray.

Once you have rolled all the rugelach brush them with an egg wash and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar or turbinado sugar.

Bake until golden brown. Mine took longer than the recommended time. I just left them in there until they were cooked in the middle.

Enjoy and don't forget to check out what other bakers have done!

Roasted Garlic

2008-11-02T15:40:00.000-08:00

I was in Chinatown last week and picked up some garlic. It was super cheap for the package. It was only $1 for 5 heads of garlic! I didn't really know what I was going to use all that garlic for but I figured I'd come up with something. Then it hit me! I could make some roasted garlic!

Roasting garlic is super simple. I love it in mashed potatoes or for garlic bread. It would be great on pizza as well. I'm not too sure what else I could use it for though. Maybe a dip or something? Anyone have any suggestions?

Roasted Garlic

3 heads of garlic (Or as few or many as you want)

Pepper

Olive oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Slice the heads of garlic in half, making sure to keep both sides intact. Place your garlic halves in foil and drizzle with olive oil.

Sprinkle with fresh ground black pepper.

Place the tops back onto the bottoms.

Wrap up the foil tightly and make a bundle. Place on a baking pan.

Bake for about 1 hour or until the cloves of garlic are slightly brown.

Lasagna

2008-10-31T19:06:00.000-07:00

I found this recipe a few months ago at Cooking, Dunkin Style and proceeded to make it the very same day. It sounded so good that I just had to have it! This is now my favorite lasagna recipe. At first when I told B that there's cream cheese in it, he told me that it didn't sound good and he probably wouldn't like it. I'm glad to say that he was wrong! He loved it as much as I did.

This was the second time that I made it and it turned out just as good as last time. I left out the mushrooms and olives because B doesn't like them, but next time I may try adding them to part of it. I was able to make two lasagnas out of this recipe. I used a 13X9 and a 8X8 pan because there was no way that everything would fit into the 13X9 pan. This worked out well because I just froze the smaller pan and had it for dinner another time. Last time I cooked the lasagna and then froze it, but this time I froze it as is and did not bake it. I will see which way I like better but I think that freezing it as is will work out better.

Lasagna

Adapted from Cooking, Dunkin Style

1 pound ground beef
1 pound Italian sausage (I used sage sausage)

1/2 of a large onion, chopped

4 cloves of garlic, minced

lasagna noodles (I used 12)

1 jar pasta sauce

1 15 ounce can tomato sauce

Dried Italian herbs, basil, oregano

salt and pepper to taste (I didn't add any salt because I didn't think it needed any)

1 pound shredded mozzarella

1 pound shredded cheddar

1 cup Parmesan cheese, divided.

1 brick cream cheese

2 cups ricotta cheese

Cook the lasagna noodles according to the directions on the box.

In a large pan medium to medium high heat brown the ground beef and sausage. Once the meat is all brown drain off as much grease as you can.

Add the onions and garlic. Cook until the onions start to get soft, about 5 minutes.

Add the pasta sauce.

Add the tomato sauce.

Add the dried herbs and salt and pepper.

Mix it all together and simmer for about 20 minutes.

Meanwhile mix together the ricotta and cream cheese.

Mix together the mozzarella, cheddar and 1/2 cup Parmesan.

The blue dish has the other 1/2 cup of Parmesan that will be sprinkled on top.

Once the sauce is done you can start laying your ingredients.

Start with a layer of the sauce on the bottom of your pan.

The add a layer of your noodles.

Top with another layer of the sauce.

Add a layer of the ricotta mixture. (I just put blobs of the cheese and used an offset spatula to spread it out.)

Add a layer of your shredded cheese.

Add another layer of noodles and repeat until you reach the top of your pan. Both of my pans ended up having 3 layers of noodles.

Finish with a layer of cheese. Sprinkle the remaining Parmesan cheese on top.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 35-40 minutes, until bubbly and the cheese is brown. Let rest for 10 minutes and serve. (I forgot to let it rest. OPPS!)

Enjoy!

Cupcake Bites

2008-10-28T18:05:00.000-07:00

When I first saw these cupcake bites at Bakerella I knew I had to make them sometime. I just needed to find the perfect excuse to make them and what do you know I finally found one! Jo had her birthday party on Saturday and I thought that these would be the perfect thing to bring.

Since I knew that they would be very time consuming, I decided to start these a few days ahead of time. I would strongly suggest this if you plan on making these. Especially if you decide to make two different kinds like I did. I'm sure it will go faster next time and trust me there will be a next time because these were good. I mean they were really good and everyone thought so.

The white cake that I used was too soft to shape into cupcake bites so I just decided to make them into cake balls. I think that the reason they were too soft was because B wanted some of the cake when it came out of the oven and I said that he could because I didn't think that it would be that big of a deal. BIG mistake! So the lesson that I learned was that you shouldn't eat ANY of the cake that is destined to be made into these bites. Although he ate some of the German chocolate one and it didn't effect it at all.........strange.

This is how I broke down the work. It made it much less stressful and fun to do it in stages rather than trying to get it all done in one day.

Day 1: Bake cakes and allow to cool. Crumble cakes and mix in frosting. Shape into balls and put into fridge.

Day 2: Shape balls using cookie cutter into cupcake shapes. Return to fridge.

Day 3: Dip and decorate cupcake bites.

Cupcake bites

2 13X9 baked cakes (I used boxed German chocolate and white cake)

2 cans of frosting (I used milk chocolate and vanilla)

2 packages almond bark (One chocolate and one vanilla flavored)

1 package candy melts (You can use any color but I used pink)

Rainbow sprinkles

M&M's

Day 1

Crumble the cake in a large bowl and add the can of frosting.

German chocolate cake with milk chocolate frosting

White cake with vanilla frosting

Mix until the frosting is evenly incorporated into the cake crumbles.

Shape your cake mixture into balls and place onto a waxed paper sheet pan. I used my number 50 cookie scoop and rolled them into balls in my hands and they turned out to be just the right size. Once all the cake is shaped into balls cover with plastic wrap (I used my cake pans that had lids so I could easily stack them in my fridge) and refrigerate for at least several hours or overnight like I did.

Day 2

Remove your cake balls from the fridge. Shape a ball into more of an oval shape.

You will need a flower shaped cookie cutter that is 1.25" wide X .75" tall

Push the oval half way into the cookie cutter and use your hand to shape the top into a mound. (I just used the palm of my hand when I was pushing the oval into the cookie cutter.)

Push the cupcake out of the cookie cutter from the bottom. You should have something that resembles a mini cupcake. Isn't it cute???

Now do the rest of your balls. Once you are finished return them to the fridge.

Day 3

Melt the chocolate flavored almond bark according to the directions on the package. I just melted mine in the microwave and that seemed to work out well. I would just pop it into the microwave for a few seconds if it started getting hard again as I was dipping.

Dip the bottom of the cupcakes into the brown almond bark. Dip only until where the mound part starts. Shake off any excess and place on a waxed paper lined baking sheet so that the mound side is down. Dip the remaining cupcake bites. The almond bark should set fairly fast since the bites are cold.

Once you have finished dipping all the bottoms of the cupcake bites melt the vanilla flavored almond bark or whatever candy melts you are using. You can start dipping the tops. If the cupcake tops weren't completely covered I would just use a spoon to do whatever cover up I needed to and then shake off the excess. Then place them back onto the lined baking sheet bottom side down and immediately place a M&M on the top and cover with sprinkles before the bark hardens. Repeat with all of your cupcake bites.

Each 13X9 cake should yield about 50 cupcake bites.

Aren't these so cute?? I think I'm in love! They are cute AND taste good!

For the balls I just dipped them completely in the bark and then sprinkled them with sprinkles.

Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

2008-10-27T23:30:00.000-07:00

The bananas on my counter were screaming to be made into something. They were ripe with lots of brown spots. I love eating bananas but I hate them when they are too ripe. I like my banana to have just a hint of green to them. I know I'm weird but that's how I like them! Anyways I was eyeing a banana muffin recipe I had found a few days ago but then I stumbled across a recipe for banana oatmeal chocolate chip cookies over at The Crepes of Wrath that I knew I had to make.

They were super simple to make and turned out pretty good. They might be a little too chocolaty for me though so next time I think I will put a little less in. I liked the chunks of banana in the cookies but I found that the chunks were too big. So next time I will cut the banana chunks into smaller pieces.

Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

From The Crepes of Wrath

1 1/4 cups AP flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

6 tablespoons butter, room temperature

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup oatmeal

2 cups (12 ounces) chocolate chips (I would use less next time)

2 bananas, cut into 1/4 inch pieces (I used 3 because that's what I had)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

Line or grease your baking sheets. I always use silpt. I love them!

In a small bowl mix together the flour, baking soda, salt, nutmeg and cinnamon together and set aside.

In your mixer, beat the butter and sugars until completely blended. Scrape down the sides as needed. (I have a new beater blade that does this for you. It really makes it so much easier!)

Add the egg and vanilla and mix until blended.

On low speed add the flour mixture until it is just incorporated.

Mix in the oatmeal and then chocolate chips until evenly distributed.

Add the banana pieces and mix until they are evenly distributed. There will be some that are mashed and some that are still whole pieces. If you prefer you can mash all the bananas if you don't want the whole pieces in your cookies.

Scoop the dough onto your prepared baking sheets. I always use a cookie scoop. I love those things! The one I used is a number 50.

Bake the cookies one sheet at a time until the edges are lightly browned and the tops look dry. Mine took about 15 minutes.

Let the cookies cool and enjoy!

Broccoli Cheese Soup

2008-10-24T15:50:00.000-07:00

It's been so cold here lately that I needed something warm and comforting. Nothing is more comforting than a big bowl of soup. I had broccoli that I needed to use up so I went searching for a broccoli soup. I found a yummy looking recipe for broccoli soup at For the Love of Cooking but wanted something a little more cheesy. So I kept searching and came across broccoli and three cheese soup at A Year of CrockPotting and decided that I would kind of combine the two recipes.

I used the cheese that I had on hand. You can use whatever kinds of cheese that you want. You can use one, two or three different kinds like I did. I'm not too sure of the exact measurement of cheese that I used because B was shredding and eating it and shredding more and eating more. We like cheese so we put more in but if you aren't a big fan of a lot of cheese then just use less.

This was a really simple recipe. It turned out really good. It's relatively healthy too if you don't add all the cheese. But cheese is dairy so it's good for you right?

Broccoli Cheese Soup

3 heads of broccoli (I used both the stems and florets. I got about 3 cups of stems and 8 cups of florets. I kept them separate because I added them in at different times. You'll want to make sure that your broccoli is cut up into bite sized pieces)

1/2 an onion

2 cloves of garlic, minced

2 cups milk (I used non-fat milk)

1/2 cup water

1 quart chicken stock

1 bay leaf

3 cups of cheese (I used Gruyere, medium cheddar and mozzarella)

salt and pepper to taste

olive oil

In a large pot over medium high heat drizzle some olive oil. You need just enough to cook your onions and broccoli stems. Probably 1 or 2 tablespoons.

Add the onions and garlic and saute for a 2 minutes.

Add the broccoli stems and saute for about 5 minutes.

Add the chicken stock.

Add the milk, water and bay leaf.

Add salt and pepper to taste. (I ended up adding more salt and pepper later after I had tasted it.)

Cover and allow to simmer for 20 minutes. Stirring occasionally.

Isn't my new pot great??? I've been wanting one of these for a while now and Macy's had a good deal on it plus I had a gift card so it cost me less than $25!!! I love a good deal!

Add all the broccoli florets except for 2 cups. Allow to simmer for another 15-20 minutes or until the broccoli is completely cooked.

Remove the bay leaf and puree your soup until it is completely smooth. I used a stick blender for this but you can add your soup into a blender in batches if you would rather.

Once the soup is blended add the remaining broccoli florets and cook until they are done which will take probably about 5 to 10 minutes.

Add all the cheese and stir until completely melted.

Enjoy!

Fast and Easy Chocolate Cake

2008-10-22T18:30:00.000-07:00

I was craving chocolate cake yesterday but didn't feel like going out to get any nor did I want a whole cake that I would have to eat myself. I've seen this recipe around and have been wanting to try it so this was the perfect opportunity. I had everything on hand and it was simple to put together.

I was ok, but nothing great. It's good for when you are really craving chocolate cake but don't have any other options. I found it chewy and lacking any realy chocolate flavor. I may try it again with some chocolate chips and see if that helps it but I'm not sure if it would make a big difference.

Fast and Easy Chocolate Cake

4 tablespoons AP or cake flour

4 tablespoons sugar (I used 3 tablespoons of vanilla sugar)

2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 egg

3 tablespoons milk (I used vanilla soy milk because that's what I had)

3 tablespoons oil

Splash of vanilla extract (I forgot to add this)

In a large mug mix together the flour, sugar and cocoa powder. Add the remaining ingredients and mix well.

Cook for 3 minutes in the microwave. Invert the cake onto and plate and enjoy!

Roasted Chicken and Potatoes

2008-10-21T17:00:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I've made a roasted chicken so I thought it was time to revisit it. Plus I found some cheap chickens this week and had some potatoes that I wanted to use so this recipe seemed perfect. I didn't follow a specific recipe for this or really measure anything. I just seasoned the chicken and added what I thought would taste good.

The skin came out really crispy. It was so good. I'm not usually a skin person because of all the fat and calories but I couldn't stop eating it. The high heat helped make the skin extra crispy. I really liked the potatoes too. They were crispy and flavorful but the carrots I added didn't survive so next time I won't add any or just add it later. This was easy to make and I will definitely make it again with different seasoning combinations.

Roasted Chicken with Potatoes

1 whole chicken

1 lemon, zested and cut in half

olive oil

garlic salt

pepper

6 medium sized potatoes, cut into large chunks. (I cut mine in half then into quarters. I used red and yukon gold potatoes)

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

Wash your chicken and remove all the innards. Place on a v-rack in a roasting pan breast side up. Drizzle with olive oil and rub it into the skin of the bird. Sprinkle with garlic salt, fresh ground pepper and lemon zest. Season the bird liberally. You can also squeeze some lemon juice over the bird as well if you'd like. I also seasoned under the skin of the bird on the breast side. I rubbed a little olive oil and garlic salt on the breast. Next time I may try putting some goat cheese and dried herbs under the skin. Tuck the wing tips under the bird so that they won't burn then flip the bird over and repeat with the seasonings. Once done with the lemon halves you can put it into the cavity of the bird. Add the potatoes to the bottom of the roasting pan. Drizzle with olive oil, garlic salt and pepper.

Place into the preheated oven and bake for 30 minutes. Then flip the bird over so the breast is facing up and cook for another 45 minutes or until the juices run clear. I usually check the juices between the thigh and the body of the bird. You will want to check and turn your potatoes periodically to make sure that they are not getting too brown. Don't over cook the potatoes otherwise they will be too dry. I removed the potatoes before my chicken was done. They were crispy on the outside and creamy on the inside.

Enjoy!

Biscuits and Gravy

2008-10-16T00:00:00.000-07:00

This was my first time making biscuits and gravy and let me tell you they were good! I will admit that I did cheat and use canned biscuits, but the Pioneer Woman did it so it's ok for me to do it too isn't it?? Plus they are so cheap and pretty good so why waste my time making my own?? Maybe one day I will make my own biscuits but for now it's so much easier to pop open a can and put them in the oven. So sue me!

I was trying to be good and tried to cut out some of the fat, but it wasn't as successful as I had hoped. I used reduced fat sausage and I don't really recommend it. There was hardly any grease when I was cooking it. Not a good thing when you are trying to make gravy out of the grease. So next time I will use the full fat stuff. Don't skimp on the sausage and try to save some calories, use the FULL FAT stuff otherwise you will just have to add butter like I did. I'm not sure which is worse butter or pork fat, but I would think that the pork fat tastes much better in the gravy. So the lesson is use to full fat sausage. Lets repeat that. Full fat is good fat for gravy! Thanks for listening to my rant about that but it's important to know!

If you really want to reduce the fat in the recipe than you can do what I did. I used non-fat milk and I used reduced fat biscuits. I'm not too worried about the pork fat next time. It's not like this is something that I will eat all the time. I cut the fat where I can but I don't want to sacrifice the flavor. Try this and see how you like it. I highly recommend it.

Biscuits and Gravy

Adapted from the Pioneer Woman

1 can of your favorite biscuits

1 roll of your favorite sausage

2 tablespoons AP flour

1 1/2 tablespoons butter

1 cup milk

salt and pepper to taste

Bake the biscuits according to the directions on the package or make your own if you are feeling adventurous.

Slice the sausage roll and cook it according to the directions on the package.

Remove slices from the pan and drain on a paper towel. I crumbled one slice in hopes that more grease would come out and I would have enough for my gravy but no such luck.

Add the butter to the crumbled sausage and once melted add the flour to make your roux. If your roux is too dry than you can add more butter. Cook for 2-3 minutes until it turns golden. You want to make sure that you cook your roux long enough to cook off the raw flour taste. Then add the milk. I did this in stages because I didn't want to make my gravy too runny. I found that one cup of milk was enough to make the perfect consistency for my gravy. But if yours is too thick still then add more milk until you get the desired consistency. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Serve warm on top of the biscuits. Enjoy!

I served mine with a fried egg on top of the sausage and biscuit and topped it with the gravy. SO GOOD!

Doesn't it look good?? Go and make it now!

Monkey Mix

2008-10-15T22:12:00.000-07:00

I remember having something similar to this as a child except that we used chex and only chex to make this. When I saw this recipe here I knew I had to make it. It's super simple to make and really good. I only made a few slight changes. B thought that it was only ok. I thought that the chocolate mixture was so good. I licked the whisk and I seriously could have eaten that whole bowl of chocolaty peanut buttery goodness. SO good! I'm glad I decided to add peanut butter to the chocolate. Did I mention how good it was?? This stuff would be good on toast too, or maybe on top of ice cream, or maybe made into frosting or probably good in or on anything.

Monkey Mix

1 14 oz box of peanut butter Captain Crunch

1 cup almonds

1 cup dried cranberries

1/2 cup unsalted sunflower seeds

1 generous cup chocolate chips

1/4 cup (1/2 a stick) butter

1/4 cup peanut butter

1 cup powdered sugar

Mix together the cereal, almonds, dried cranberries and sunflower seeds.

Melt the butter and chocolate chips in the microwave. (Mine only took one minute. I didn't stir it while it was cooking but you can if you want to if you are worried about it.) Stir to combine completely. Then add the peanut butter and incorporate completely. The heat from the chocolate mixture will be enough to melt the peanut butter.

This is like liquid gold! SO GOOD!

Pour the chocolate peanut butter mixture over the cereal mixture and mix until all the cereal is completely coated. In a gallon size zip lock bag pour about 1/3 of the powered sugar and scoop in about 1/3 of the chocolate covered cereal mixture. Seal the bag and shake it until the cereal is evenly coated with the sugar. Repeat this until all your cereal is coated. It may require more than 1 cup of powered sugar to coat all the cereal.

Pour the chocolate over the cereal

Don't be shy. Pour it all

Start mixing

Finally done mixing. Please excuse the messy bowl.

Enjoy!

The Famous NY Times Chocolate Chip Cookies - Part III

2008-10-12T23:24:00.000-07:00

On Friday for dessert we had these chocolate chip cookies. Did I mention before how good they are?? They are so good when they are warm and the chocolate is melted! I can't decide if I like them more when they are fresh out of the oven or for breakfast the next day. Hey I had non-fat milk with them so that's a healthy breakfast isn't it??

I tried to make them look better this time by putting one of the disks on top and making sure that the other disks were facing the right way. Looks slightly better I think.

Let me tell you they were good. I mean REALLY good. Remember how I said the edges were crispy and the middle was soft when they come out of the oven? Well if you let them sit over night you get a cookie that's soft and chewy. No crispy edges, just soft and chewy goodness. I didn't think that they could get any better than the first time I baked them, but I think that they did get better as they sat in the fridge. I still have a little cookie dough left so I will make the rest tomorrow. I wonder if they will be even better?

If you've been wanting to make these then I highly recommend that you do. They are worth the wait!

Thai Red Curry

2008-10-12T22:15:00.000-07:00

I had dinner guests on Friday and decided that my Thai red curry would be the perfect meal for a cold fall night. I was worried that they wouldn't like it but the did! Yay! I had lots of leftovers so I decided to share with others. B liked it and I was really surprised at that. I didn't expect him to like it but he said it was really good. Jo liked it too. I'm happy that everyone seemed to like my curry.

I found this recipe on the back of a coconut milk can a few years ago. I changed it and added a few things. I don't even remember the exact measurements so it's a little different every time. I use less red curry paste because I don't like things spicy. So if you like things spicy then feel free to add more. It's a pretty simple recipe and doesn't take much time to put together.

Sorry I don't have all the usual pictures but I was in a rush to put it together before they came over. Let me know if you need any clarification on any of the instructions.

I forgot to include the onion in my picture. Opps! That's what happens when you are in a rush to make dinner!

Thai Red Curry

By Amy

2 cans (13.5 oz each) coconut milk

1 can (20 oz) bamboo shoots

2 chicken breasts

1/4 cup fish sauce

3 potatoes

1 onion

1 tablespoon red curry paste

In a large sauce pan over medium heat combine the coconut milk and red curry paste. Mix until well combined, stirring occasionally. While the mixture is heating cut the chicken breasts into 1/2 inch chunks. Cut the onion into 1/2 chunks as well. Once the milk mixture is heated add the chicken, onions, and fish sauce.

Meanwhile, pierce the 3 potatoes with a fork. Microwave the potatoes until they are almost cooked though. You will know when they are almost done when a fork or knife will go into the potato easily but is met with a little resistance. I cooked mine for about 5 minutes. Let the potatoes cool slightly before you handle them. Cut the potatoes into 1/2 inch chunks. (What I like to do is mash a few pieces so that the curry will thicken slightly, but it's not necessary.)

Add the potatoes and bamboo shoots to the curry mixture. (I like to rinse my bamboo shoots before adding them to get the can taste off of them.)

Cook until the chicken and onions are cooked. (I let mine cook for about 20 minutes more after adding the potatoes and bamboo.)

Serve with rice and enjoy!

The Famous NY Times Chocolate Chip Cookies - Part II

2008-10-09T22:30:00.000-07:00

So 24 hours has passed and it's now time to try these famous cookies in part II of III! Yay! Let me say that it was worth the wait! I'm sure that tomorrow they will be even better, at least that's what people say, but if they aren't I wouldn't be the least bit disappointed. These were some of the best chocolate chip cookies, if not the best that I've had ever! I know that's a bold statement but unless you've tried these you don't know what you are missing out on. I loved that it was crispy around the edges and soft and chewy in the middle. Mine might have been a little under baked in the middle because of their size, but I liked it like that.

I really liked the fact that the chocolate wasn't overly sweet. Don't get me wrong I love chocolate but sometimes I find that with regular chocolate chip cookies there are too many chocolate chips and it's overly sweet. I'm glad that I didn't add all the recommended chocolate because I think that it would have been way too much. My cookies had the right proportion of cookie to chocolate. If you like more chocolate than feel free to add more.

The recipe calls for you to sprinkle sea salt on the cookie before baking. I only tried this on one cookie because I wasn't sure if I would like it or not. I didn't really notice that big of a difference between the one that had salt on it and that one that didn't. I may try it again with salt on top tomorrow and see if anyone notices a difference, but I don't think that the extra salt is really necessary for just me.

NY Times Chocolate Chip Cookie Instructions - Continued

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or silpat.

Scoop a generous golf ball size mound of dough onto the baking sheet, making sure to turn horizontally any chocolate pieces that are poking up; it will make for a more attractive cookie. (I didn't turn my chocolate pieces and so mine didn't look that pretty so I may try turning them tomorrow. I used a number 15 size cookie scoop. I love these cookie scoops because they make uniform cookies.)

Look at how big these are!!! (Please ignore my yucky looking silpat, I've had it for years and should really start using my new ones but now it's like an old friend and I don't want to get rid of it.)

Sprinkle lightly with sea salt and bake until golden brown but still soft, 18 to 20 minutes. Transfer sheet to a wire rack for 10 minutes, then slip cookies onto another rack to cool a bit more. Repeat with remaining dough or reserve dough, refrigerated, for baking remaining batches the next day.

In the oven

I hope that those tops flatten out!

Back in the fridge for tomorrow

Thank goodness those tops flattened out! It would have been embarrassing to have dome shaped cookies! Not that there's anything wrong with that......

Cooling.......how much longer do I have to wait??!!

Eat warm and enjoy!

The Famous NY Times Chocolate Chip Cookies- Part I

2008-10-09T00:20:00.000-07:00

I saw this recipe when it first came out and knew I had to try to make it. I've been wanting to try it for a while but I didn't have everything that was required. So I finally got some bread flour but I still didn't have all I needed. I needed to get some cake flour but couldn't justify the almost $4 for a box of it. Then I learned that I could make my own when I was making my banana cupcakes. What a brilliant idea!

The only thing left to get was the bittersweet chocolate disks. I've seen people saying that these things were about $15 a pound! That's way too much to spend on it especially since I didn't know if these cookies would be good or not. I know that everyone says they are but who know I might be the one person in a world that doesn't like them. So the $15 a pound chocolate was out of the question. Luckily I was at Safeway one day and was just browsing around and saw these Dilettant bittersweet chocolate couverture's on clearance. $5.99 for 12 ounces is something that I can handle. I only wish that I had gotten more than one! I of course had to taste test one to make sure that it wouldn't ruin my cookies. Such sacrifices that I make to ensure that people get the best cookies possible!

Anyways so now that I had everything I just needed to find the time and motivation to make them. I mean who has ever heard of making cookies and not eating them for a day or two?? Since I'm having dinner guest on Friday I thought that this would be the perfect excuse to make them and not have to eat them all. Since the recipe says that it can be refrigerated for up to 72 hours I figured I would make them today and let the experiment begin.

So today is part I. I made the cookie dough and will let it sit until it's been 24 hours before baking a batch. That will be part II and I will update tomorrow on how they turned out. Then Friday will be part III. I'm planning on baking the remainder of the cookies then but I may save a few for Saturday and see if that extra day makes them better or not. Hopefully all the waiting will be worth it!

I didn't make many changes but I did cut down on the sugar because I don't like my baked goods too sweet. Generally I cut down the sugar on all my recipes by at least 1/4 cup. I also reduced the amount of salt because I didn't use unsalted butter. I didn't put the full amount of chocolate that was called for because I was afraid that there might be too much chocolate. I know that's crazy talk but I didn't want the chocolate to be over powering. My container of chocolate disks was 12 ounces and I didn't use the whole thing. Hopefully the cookies still turn out good with all my changes!

Ny Times Chocolate Chip Cookies

Adapted from Jacques Torres

2 cups minus 2 tablespoons cake flour

1 2/3 cups bread flour

1 1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon course salt

2 1/2 sticks unsalted butter

1 cup packed light brown sugar

3/4 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons natural vanilla extract

1 1/4 pounds chocolate disks or feves, at least 60% cacao content (I used 72% chocolate disks)

Sea salt

Sift flours, baking soda, baking powder int a bowl. Set aside.

Using a mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars together until very light, about 5 minutes.

Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition.

Stir in the vanilla.

Reduce speed to low, add dry ingredients and mix until just combined, 5 to 10 seconds. (I gave a final mix by hand to get all the flour in the bottom of the bowl incorporated.)

Drop chocolate pieces in and incorporate them without breaking them. (I did this by hand with a wooden spoon to ensure that my disks stayed as whole as possible.)

Press plastic wrap against dough and refrigerate for 24 to 36 hours. Dough may be used in batches, and can be refrigerated for up to 72 hours.

Easy Cheesy Spaghetti Bake

2008-10-08T21:39:00.000-07:00

I was thinking about what to have for dinner tonight and thought about the spaghetti pie that I have been thinking about making since I haven't made it in a while. But then I was thinking that I wanted to try something new. So I was browsing around at different blogs and stumbled upon Dunkin Cooking the Semi-Homemade Way and it just so happens that there was a recipe for cheesy spaghetti bake. I mean what's not to like about about pasta that has cheese in it and on it? When I saw it I knew I had to try it right away. So I invited my brother over for dinner and let me say that we ate a lot! It was so good! Much better than the spaghetti pie that I usually make. I only made a few changes to the recipe. Next time I may add a can of tomato sauce because I added more pasta and it ended up a little dry. This was such an easy recipe to make. I will definatly be making it again.

Easy Cheesy Spaghetti Bake

Adapted from Dunkin Cooking the Semi-Homemade Way

1 pound ground beef

1 jar pasta sauce

1 pound spaghetti noodles

2 cups shredded cheese (I used medium Cheddar and about 2 1/2-3 cups of cheese)

2 tablespoons steak seasoning

dried basil, oregano and Italian herb (I didn't measure but I probably used about 1/2 teaspoon of each. It's up to your taste so taste the sauce as you go.)

Preheat oven to 360 degrees F.

Cook the pasta according to the directions on the box.

Meanwhile brown ground beef over medium high heat. Once brown drain off any fat or liquid. Add the pasta sauce, dried herbs and steak seasoning to the meat and let it simmer for about 5 minutes.

When the pasta is done add it to the meat sauce and mix well. Stir in 1 1/2 cups of cheese and mix well. Transfer to a baking dish that has been oiled or sprayed with cooking spray. Press the pasta down into the dish and bake for 15-20 minutes.

Top with remaining cheese and melt under the broiler. Watch it carefully because it can burm quickly. Cut into squares and enjoy!

I love the corner pieces!

Dimply Fig Cake

2008-10-07T23:06:00.000-07:00

I've seen this recipe floating around and decided that I wanted to try it. Since I didn't have any plums, I decided to use the figs that I had picked up from the fruit stand the other day. For the most part I followed the recipe only making a few changes. Instead of orange zest I used lemon because that's what I had on hand. I also used 6 small spring form pans instead of the suggested 8 inch square pan. I thought that they would look much nicer and be just right for individual portions. These little guys turned out great! I loved the flavor that the lemon zest added to the cake. This was really quick and simple to put together.

Dimply Fig Cake

(Adapted from Dorie Greenspan's Baking From my Home to Yours)

1 1/2 cup AP flour
2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

5 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature

3/4 cup packed light brown sugar

2 large eggs

1/3 cup flavorless oil (I used vegetable oil)

Grated zest of one small lemon

1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

9 fresh figs, halved

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Butter and flour 6 small spring form pans. Place on a baking sheet. (I love my little spring form pans!! Aren't they just so cute???)

Whisk flour, baking powder and salt together.

In a stand mixer with a paddle attachment mix the butter until soft and creamy, about 3 minutes. Add the brown sugar and beat for another 2 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, beating mixture after each addition. On medium speed, beat in oil, lemon zest and vanilla. Batter will look very light and smooth. Reduce speed to low and add the dry ingredients. Mix only until they are incorporated. Give a final mix with a spatula to make sure that the flour is completely incorporated.

Scrape batter into the 6 pans and smooth the top. Make sure to divide the dough evenly otherwise the cakes won't bake evenly.

Arrange the figs cut side up in the batter. Push the figs slightly into the batter so that they are settled comfortably.

Bake for about 25- 30 minutes or until the tops are honey brown and puffed around the figs and a tooth pick comes out clean.

Cool for 15 minutes and run a knife around the sides of the pans. Remove from spring form pans and enjoy!

Easy Baked Beans

2008-10-07T21:03:00.000-07:00

I've been craving some good baked beans and now that it's fall it's the perfect time for this recipe. It's good with rice, crackers or tortilla chips. I haven't made this in a while and since I had everything on had and wanted an easy dinner last night I decided to go with this. I'm not sure where the recipe came from but we've made it for years. I only made a few changes to it, so for the most part it's still the original recipe.

Baked Beans

2 cans (16.5 oz each) baked beans

1 pound ground beef

1/2 of a large green pepper, chopped

1/2 of a large sweet onion, chopped (I always use sweet onions but you could use a regular yellow onion)

1 can (8 oz) tomato sauce

1/3 cup water

2 teaspoon vinegar

1 teaspoon brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Brown ground beef in a large pan. Once brown drain off any liquid. Then add green pepper and onion, cook for about 5 minutes or until the vegetables are slightly soft. Stir together tomato sauce, water, vinegar, brown sugar and salt and add to the ingredients in your pan. (If you like more sauce you might want to double the sauce recipe. My meat mixture was a little dry so I added more water, brown sugar, salt and about 1/4 cup of ketchup.) Cook over medium heat for 5 minutes.

Spread the baked beans on the bottom of a 9 by 13 baking pan. Top with the ground beef mixture. Bake for 45 minutes. Let cool for about 5 minutes before serving.

Enjoy!

Sweet Potato Creme Brulee

2008-10-06T00:19:00.000-07:00

So I've been wanting to make creme brulee for a while now. I even bought real vanilla beans so that when I did decide to make it I would have them on hand. I've never used real vanilla beans before but I think that they are worth it if you are going to make creme brulee. Since there are so few ingredients you want to make sure that you are using the best things possible. I was browsing around the other day and came across this recipe for sweet potato creme brulee at the Barefoot Kitchen Witch and knew I had to try it. I just happen to have two sweet potatoes laying around that were destined to become fries but this just sounded so much better.

I only made a couple of changes to her recipe and I think it trued out really good for my first attempt at creme brulee. It was super simple to make but the only downside was how long it too to bake. It seemed to take forever to set up and then I had to wait for it to chill! So if you are going to make this I would recommend that you make it a day ahead or early in the morning otherwise you are going to have to wait forever to eat it. Mine wasn't as creamy as creme brulee usually is so next time I think I will use less sweet potato. My 2 sweet potatoes were pretty big so I think that next time I'll just use one large one.

Sweet Potato Creme Brulee

Adapted from The Barefoot Kitchen Witch

2 sweet potatoes, baked, cooled, peeled and mashed

2 cups half and half (I used this instead of heavy cream because it's not as bad for you)

3/4 cup milk

1/4 granulated sugar

1/4 brown sugar (I didn't pack it I just made it a generous 1/4 cup)
4 egg yolks

1/2 of a vanilla bean

Combine milk, cream and scraped vanilla bean in a pot and bring just to a boil. Steep the mixture for about 10 minutes and then remove the vanilla bean. Don't throw the vanilla bean away. You can dry it and then put it into a container with some sugar and make vanilla sugar.

Milk mixture cooking. Look at all the vanilla seeds!

Meanwhile whisk together egg yolks and sugars. Then add the sweet potato and mix well. When the milk mixture is ready, slowly ladle about a quarter of it into the yolk mixture, whisking constantly, to temper the yolks. Then slowly pour the yolk mixture into the milk mixture, still whisking, until combined.

Egg yolks and sugar

Strain the finished mixture to remove and of the fibrous parts from the sweet potatoes. Ladle the strained mixture into ramekins.

Before going into the oven

Bake on a silpat or parchment lined baking sheet at 200 degrees F until the center is barely jiggly when you shake the ramekin. Mine took just under 2 hours. I think that it took so long because I filled the ramekins all the way to the top. Next time I will try filling it less and use more dishes. This time I used 6 but I think that the recipe would be perfect for 8 ramekins.

The finished creme brulee cooling by the door

Allow to cool to room temperature and then cover and chill for 4-6 hours.

For the crispy sugar on top of the creme brulee I decided to make a caramelized sugar in a pan and then spread it on top instead of the more traditional method of sprinkling the sugar on and then caramelizing it. I found this to be much easier for me because I don't like broiling the sugar because it takes forever and the custard gets warm. I don't have a little torch either so this was the next best thing for me to get the sugar nice and crispy while still having a chilled custard. I found the recipe here and it was really simple to make.

Caramelized Sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 tablespoon light corn syrup

1 1/2 tablespoons water

Mix everything together in a small sauce pan over medium-high heat.

Stir constantly until sugar has caramelized. It should be about the color of honey and smell like toasted marshmallows. Remove from heat. Blot off any moisture from the top of your creme brulee.

Using a small ladle or gravy spoon, spoon about a tablespoon on to the surface of your well chilled creme brulee. Carefully tilt and swirl your ramekin so that the melted sugar coats the top of the custard. Work quickly because the sugar will set fast. Also make sure that the sugar layer isn't too thick otherwise it will be difficult to eat.

Serve immediately and enjoy!

It's that time of year again.....pumpkin time!

2008-10-05T13:35:00.000-07:00

My way cool pumpkin sitting next to his former innards that have been roasted

Yesterday Jo and I decided to carve some pumpkins. I know it's still early for Halloween but she convinced me that it's better to carve one now and carve one closer to Halloween. After a little thought I decided that she was right! Now this way I can carve one with her and carve one with B later on.

So after we got the pumpkins back to her house we decided that they needed to get a bath. Mine more so than hers. After they were clean we proceeded to carve them. While we were carving her cat decided that he needed to come and investigate what we were doing. He is one of the cutest cats ever! Such a silly little guy too. Well anyways he started sniffing around and then he started to LICK the top of her pumpkin that she had cut off. He was really enjoying that stuff. So much so that he kept licking it and then proceeded to move on to the whole pumpkin itself! He stuck his head in it and sniffed around a little then started licking the cut edges. All the while she was taking pictures of him with her super duper camera that's WAY better than mine.

The whole time we were carving her cute puppy was sitting patiently wait and hoping that scraps would fall her way. Ok maybe Annie isn't a puppy, but that's what I call most dogs so she is to me! Anyways Annie was patient like usual so I decided to give her a few chunks from my pumpkin. (Maybe it was more than a few chunks but shhh! Don't tell her mom!) She seemed to like it too!

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Seeds from one pumpkin that have been cleaned and rinsed. (I dried mine over night but I don't think that it's necessary.)

Oil for drizzling (I used olive oil)

Kosher Salt

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Place your pumpkin seeds on a sheet pan. Drizzle with some oil just until lightly coated. Sprinkle with a little bit of salt and spread out in a single layer. You can use more or less depending on your taste. I used about a pinch because I didn't want it to be too salty.

Bake for about 25 minutes or until golden brown. Make sure that you stir it about every 5 minutes so that it cooks evenly and doesn't burn.

Let cool and enjoy!

Banana Cupcakes with Nutella Buttercream

2008-09-30T16:31:00.000-07:00

I've been craving cupcakes. I've seen so many good looking recipes online that I decided to make some myself. This was my first time making cupcakes and frosting from scratch and I think they turned out well. I found a basic vanilla cupcake recipe and vanilla butter cream recipe here and made some changes to get my banana cupcakes and nutella butter cream.

One thing that I did notice about the butter cream was that I didn't really taste the nutella in it. So next time I might just add cocoa power to it. My butter cream turned out a little more soft than I wanted. I think that next time I will leave out some of the milk if I use nutella again. If I just add the cocoa powder then I think that the texture would be better and an adjustment of the milk would be unnecessary.

Banana Cupcakes

By Amy

2 cups cake flour*

1 cup AP Flour

1 cup white sugar

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter cut into 1-inch cubes, room temp

4 large eggs

1 cup whole milk (I used 2%)

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

3 ripe banana's, mashed

*To make your own cake flour simply mix one cup AP flour minus 2 tablespoons with 2 tablespoons of cornstarch.

Preheat Oven to 325 degrees

Spray cupcake pans with cooking spray. (I used a large muffin pan and got 12 cupcakes. It would probably make about 24 regular sized cupcakes.)

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, combine the flours, sugars, baking powder and salt. Mix on low speed until combined. Add butter, mixing just until coated with flour. Consistency will be crumbly.

In a large glass measuring cup whisk together eggs, milk,vanilla and mashed banana's.

With mixer on medium speed, add wet ingredients in 3 parts. Scrape down sides of bowl before each addition. Beat until ingredients are incorporated but do not over beat.

Divide batter evenly among pans, filling about 2/3 full. Bake, rotating pan halfway through, until a cake tester comes out clean. About 17 to 20 minutes. (Mine took more than 20 minutes because I used the large cupcake pan.)

Transfer to a wire rack and cool completely.

Nutella Butter Cream

2 sticks of softened butter

4 cups sifted confectioner sugar

1/4 cup milk or heavy cream

2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

pinch of salt

1/4 cup nutella

Place the butter into the bowl of an electric mixer. Mix until smooth.

With the mixer on low add the sugar and mix until evenly incorporated. (Make sure to sift the sugar BEFORE you measure it otherwise the frosting will be too sweet.)

Add remaining ingredients and let it mix for about 5 minutes.

Frost the cooled cupcakes and then enjoy!

Yummy Layered Pesto Spread

2008-09-26T15:25:00.000-07:00

So I needed to find something to bring the Ryan's housewarming and I thought what about my yummy pesto spread. I havn't made it in a while and it has all the things that I love. Goat cheese, pesto and sundried tomatoes. It's pretty simple to make. The hardest part is getting the layers to look nice. It's hard to spread the cheese mixture on top of the sundried tomatoes and on top of the pesto. So sometimes if I'm feeling lazy I just mix everything together instead of bothering with the layer. I usually serve this with crackers or bread. I'm sure this would also be good with veggies.

On the left is everything mixed together and on the right is the layered spread

Layered Pesto Spread

1 8 ounce package of lowfat cream cheese, softened

6 ounces goat cheese, softened

2 cloves of garlic, crushed

1/3 cup oil packed sundried tomatoes, drained and diced

1/3 cup pesto

Mix the cream cheese, goat cheese and crushed garlic together until evenly incorporated.

Get a clear glass bowl or in this case I used 2 mini triffle dishes. If doing it in a bowl I would divide the mixture into thirds so you have enough for each layer. If you want to do it in the mini triffle dishes like I did then divide it into sixths. Start with a layer of the cheese and smooth it out in the bottom of the bowl then sprinkle the on diced sundried tomatoes. Layer with more of the cheese mixture and spread it out smooth. Spread pesto on top of the cheese mixture and cover with the remaining cheese mixture.

Chill for at least a hour and serve with crackers or bread.

Grown Up Mac and Cheese

2008-09-22T08:26:00.000-07:00

When I saw this recipe from Ina Garten I knew that I had to make it. I mean it has cheese, cheese and more cheese and bacon! I'm glad I decided to try it because it was so good! I only made a few changes from the original recipe. I used panko instead of the bread crumbs because that's what I had. The panko gave it a really nice crunchy texture that I'm not sure the bread crumbs would have given. I don't have a scale to measure the cheese by weight so I approximated it and decided extra is always better. I think next time I will add a little less blue cheese and maybe more cheddar and Gruyere. Also next time I will try putting the bacon on top of the pasta instead of mixing it in because it lost it's crispness and I like my bacon crispy! Overall it was quick and simple to put together.

Grown Up Mac and Cheese

Adapted from Ina Garten's "Barefoot Contessa"

3 thick-sliced bacon

2 cups elbow macaroni or other small pasta

1 1/2 cups milk

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 tablespoons AP flour

4 ounces Gruyere, grated (I used a generous 1 cup)
3 ounces extra-sharp Cheddar, grated (I used a generous 1 cup)
2 ounces blue cheese, crumbled (I used a generous 1/2 cup)
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup panko

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Cook bacon on the stove, or in the oven, or in the microwave until crispy. I made mine in the microwave. I put the 3 slices between paper towels on a plate and microwaved it for 2 minutes then I flipped it over and microwaved it for another 2 minutes. Then I flipped it again and microwaved it for an additional minute. This is how I usually cook my bacon and I find that it always gets crispy without the mess that you usually get when cooking bacon on the stove or the oven.

Cook the pasta according to the directions on the box. Once the pasta is done drain well.

Meanwhile, heat the milk in a small sauce pan, but don't boil it. Melt the butter in a medium pot and then add the flour. Cook over low heat for 2 minutes, stirring with a whisk or wooden spoon. While stirring or whisking, add the hot milk and cook for 2 minutes until thickened and smooth. Take the pot off the heat and stir in the cheeses, salt and pepper. Add the cooked pasta and crumbled bacon and stir well. Pour into 2 individual gratin dishes. (I used 5 small dishes and put them on a baking sheet.)

Top with panko and bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until the sauce is bubbly and the pasta is browned on the top. (Mine only took about 30 minutes.)

Update: So I made the mac and cheese again and it turned out better. I put the bacon on top instead of mixing it in and I think that it I like the extra crunch that it adds. This time I made the bacon on the stove and it turned out much more crispy. So I will do it this way from now on. All I did was cut the bacon into small pieces and cooked it in a pan until it was brown and crispy. I also made more of the cheese sauce so that after it bakes it's still pretty moist. What can I say I like cheese! One suggestion from B was to add more bacon next time. He wants some mixed in a more on top. He loves bacon so this doesn't really surprise me. I like bacon too so I'm not really opposed to extra. Next time I will try it with his "suggestion."

Amy's Pesto Pasta Salad

2008-09-18T20:19:00.001-07:00

So I decided that I wanted to make a pasta salad but didn't know what kind. That got me thinking about what I had that I wanted to use up in my fridge. At first I thought about a pesto pasta with peas but I didn't have any peas so I ruled that idea out. Then I was thinking well what about pasta with pesto and some kind of cheese. That got me to thinking about my favorite sandwich and how good it would be in pasta salad form with an alteration or two of course. That's how this recipe came about and I think it turned out well. It was good right after I had made it and it was also good chilled. Not only is it super simple but it's also quick to put together.

For the lunch meat I used honey smoked turkey but you could use whatever you have. I used goat cheese and liked the contrast it gave with the sweet cranberries but you could use any kind of cheese that you like. I put a lot of the dried cranberries because I love them but you could probably cut it down to 1/4 of a cup if you don't like so many. The pesto mayonnaise mixture that I was was about 2:1. Next time I would probably use a little more pesto but it's totally up to your taste so I would recommend trying it and adding more if needed.

Amy's Pesto Pasta Salad

1 cup small pasta shells

3 slices turkey lunch meat cubed

1 inch round goat cheese crumbled

generous 1/3 cup dried cranberries

1 spoonful mayonnaise

2 spoonfuls pesto

Cook pasta according to directions on the box. Drain and run under cold water until cool.

Mix everything together and serve.

Double Chocolate Chunk Brownies

2008-09-13T10:14:00.000-07:00

I was craving something with chocolate in it and I thought what about brownies. I haven't made them in a while so I thought it was about time for some. I found a basic recipe here and made a few changes. I mean extra chocolate can't be bad can it? I decided that it needed some chocolate chips and I had some white chocolate chunks so I thought why not throw some of those in too. These brownies are SO good! I like how the chocolate sank to the bottom and gives it a little crunchy texture when you take a bite. If you don't want your chips and chunks to sink then coat them in a little flour before mixing them in and they shouldn't sink to the bottom. I put in less sugar than called for because figured the extra chocolate would compensate for the missing sugar. I'm glad I did use less sugar because I think it would have been too sweet for my liking.

Brownies before going into the oven

Fresh brownies right out of the oven

Double Chocolate Chunk Brownies

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
2/3 cup unbleached AP flour
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
4 large room temperature eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 salt
generous 1/2 cup chocolate chips
generous 1/2 cup white chocolate chunks

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Butter and flour a 9" square pan. (A tip I learned a long time ago is to use the butter wrappers to butter the pan because it has plenty of butter on it still. I also used some cocoa power instead of the flour.)

Melt the butter in a medium sauce pan over medium heat. Once melted remove from heat and stir in the sugar. Then mix in eggs one at a time until completely incorporated. Then add the vanilla.

Stir in flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt. (I sifted them all together into the sauce pan because I was worried about the lumps in the cocoa powder.) Slowly stir together until smooth and you can no longer see the flour. Stir in chocolate chips and chunks. I reserved some of each to sprinkle on top.

Pour into prepared pan. Sprinkle with reserved chocolate if you saved some.

Bake for 35 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

Cool brownies and then enjoy!

Fauxcaccia

2008-09-10T21:21:00.000-07:00

Fauxcaccia is like focaccia except not really. Generally the dough contains yeast and you need to let it rise. But Fauxcaccia has no yeast and it super simple. This is the second time that I've made it. The first time was good, but not great so I decided to try it again with a few changes. This time was better but I think it still might need a few little changes to make it great. Like I said though it's super simple and takes about 5 mins to mix together.

If you don't have bread flour you can use all AP flour. The first time I made this I used all AP flour but I think I prefer the combination of the flours. I also topped it with some oil packed sundried tomatoes. I would recommend draining the tomatoes well if you plan on using them otherwise it will be too oily.

Before baking: Sundried tomato on the left and plain cheese and herb on the right.

After baking: sundried tomato

After baking: cheese and herb

Fauxcaccia

2 cups AP flour
1 cup bread flour
1 1/2 cups water
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoons + a pinch of salt.
1 teaspoons dried italian herbs plus 1/2 teaspoon for sprinkling
2 tablespoons parm cheese plus extra for sprinkling
Olive oil

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Mix all ingredients together except for extra herbs and cheese for sprinkling and oil.

Lightly oil a silpat lined baking sheet or just a sheet pan if you don't have silpat. Pour mixture onto pan and spread dough into 1/2 inch thickness. Drizzle oil over top and sprinkle with herbs and cheese.

Bake in oven for 20-25 mins or until golden brown.

Cool slightly and cut into strips or squares.

First One!

2008-09-10T10:06:00.000-07:00

I've finally started my own blog! YAY! After looking at all the cool cooking blogs out there it inspired me to make my own. I've been trying new recipes and can't wait to start sharing with you. You will have to excuse my lame pictures though because I don't really get much natural lighting in my house and have a crappy camera! :( But hopefully you will all enjoy what you see here. My first real post will come soon!