The Ginger Snap Girl

Pumpkin Ice Cream

2012-01-26T23:48:00.000-08:00

Last Sunday I made mushroom lasagna. It was the first recipe I tackled from my new Cooking Light subscription. It was creamy, it was mushroomy, it was shalloty and garlicky. All flavor elements that I love, love, love. It was a bit labor intensive. A lot of chopping. A lot of bowls and pots and pans. A lot of different steps. Since it's a little involved to make it's best made on a day when you aren't in a rush.

So why am I telling you about mushroom lasagna when there is a photo of ice cream above? Because today's post was supposed to be mushroom lasagna. I've been debating in my head all week...Post it? Don't post it ? I don't know. It tasted fine. It was even good--ish. But I didn't love it. And I don't think I'll make it again given the level of effort involved. If I did make it again and I would change some small things, but I don't think they would be enough to turn this dish around into the "love it" category. Though I didn't love it, I've seen it pop up on some other food blogs with a little lovin'. You can check out their experiences and get the recipe from their sites if you want to give this dish a go. And just because, I am sharing a photo. I didn't want them to go to waste after all.

After I finally decided what to do about posting the mushroom lasagna, I dug into the photo archives on my computer to see what would fill the blog void. I came up with a few contenders, but finally settled on pumpkin ice cream. I made this ice cream last fall when I was in a pumpkin kind of mood. Going back through my photos (which I didn't love when I took them...which is why this post was so delayed) my pumpkin senses were roused. Pumpkin should not be relegated to only a specific season. You have to give in to the pumpkin cravings when they whisper in your ear. Especially if they tell you to stream in melted chocolate into your pumpkin ice cream to get a pumpkin chip ice cream.

I did half the batch plain and half with chocolate bits. The ice cream is easy to put together and has a lightness about it all the while pumpkin flavor really shines through. The texture is creamy and freezes nicely. It doesn't turn icy or too hard when frozen for an extended period.

To make your ice cream even more special, sandwich it between 2 homemade ginger snap cookies. Pumpkin and ginger are great flavor partners. This is my favorite ginger snap recipe. Tracey over Tracey's Culinary Adventures shared some great tips on how to neatly portion out your ice cream for sanwiching. I can't seem to find her specific post that talks about it, but the basic concept is to spread slightly softened ice cream on a baking sheet that will fit in your freezer. Spread it to the thickness you want in your cookie sandwiches and return it to the freezer. Once it's set up, use a cookie cutter to form the ice cream to perfectly match your cookies. It's an especially handy tip if you are using unique shaped cookies. Or you can wing it like I did and just spoon some softened ice cream on your cookie and try to clean up the edges.

Is a pumpking craving whispering in your ear?

Enjoy!

Pumpkin Ice Cream
from Williams-Sonoma

Yields 1 quart of ice cream

Ingredients:

1 cup fresh pumpkin puree or canned pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie puree)
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups heavy cream
3/4 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
5 egg yolks
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon salt
Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
1 tablespoon bourbon (I omitted it and added an extra 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract)

Directions:

In a small bowl whisk pumpkin puree and vanilla and cover and refrigerate for at least 3 hours or up to 8 hours.

In a heavy 2-quart saucepan, combine 1 1/2 cups of the cream and 1/2 cup of the brown sugar and cook over medium heat. Cook until small bubbles form around the edges of the pan, about 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a bowl, combine the egg yolks, cinnamon, ginger, salt, nutmeg, the remaining 1/2 cup cream and the remaining 1/4 cup brown sugar. Whisk until smooth and the sugar dissolve.

Remove the cream mixture from the heat. Gradually whisk about 1/2 cup of the hot cream mixture into the egg mixture until smooth. Pour the egg mixture back into the pan. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon and keeping the custard at a low simmer, until it is thick enough to coat the back of the spoon and leaves a clear trail when a finger is drawn through it about 4 to 6 minutes. Do not allow the custard to boil. Strain the custard through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl.

Place the bowl in a larger bowl partially filled with ice water, stirring occasionally until cool. Whisk the pumpkin mixture into the custard. Cover with plastic wrap, pressing it directly on the surface of the custard to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate until chilled, at least 3 hours or overnight.

Transfer the custard to an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer's instructions. Add the bourbon during the last minute of churning. Transfer the ice cream to a freezer-safe container. Cover and freeze until firm, at least 3 hours or up to 3 days, before serving.

Spice Cake with Orange Cardamom Cream Cheese Frosting

2012-01-24T07:00:00.000-08:00

I remember my Grandma making two kinds of cakes when I was growing up. Chocolate cake and spice cake. Both were from a box mix. And both were topped with creamy fluffy white frosting laced with fresh orange zest. I think it was cream cheese frosting, but I really don't know for certain. Maybe she made other kinds of cakes too. I'm sure she did. But only these two stand out in my memories.

Thinking of my Grandma's cakes makes me smile. Her cakes mostly made appearances for birthdays. When I was kid I was always excited to arrive at her house and see a frosted cake sitting on the counter top, but knowing the cake was not yet in my reach. I had to patiently wait for dinner to be served and finished before the cake was adorned with birthday candles. The hardest part was making it through the last stretch...my families rendition of the "Happy Birthday"song. We are not singers. Finally the candles were blown out and the round, stacked, two layer cake was cut into wedges. Everyone received an enormous portion to savor. Ah! So light and moist and coated in a generous layer of orange frosting. How could that not make you smile?

To date orange cream cheese frosting is one of my favorite frosting flavors. I adore it paired with both chocolate and spice cake. It's been quite some time since I've enjoyed the spice cake/orange frosting combination. Last year I picked up a box of spice cake mix that was on sale. I didn't have a specific plan or occasion for it, but I when I saw it I thought about my Grandma's cake and that I should have it on hand for, you know, whatever.

Whatever finally came 2 weekends ago when Hubby's Dad was in town. It was no one's birthday, but we needed something sweet to finish off our day of football watching and appetizers.  Oranges were in the fridge along with some cream cheese.  The spice cake box was in the cupboard. It was meant to be. I kept it simple and just did a single layer cake in a 9 x 13 pan. I decided to put a little twist on my normal frosting recipe and added cardamom (a fairly new spice) to bring in another layer of spice.

The cake turned out just right.  It was light, tender and incredibly moist (don't underestimate the power of boxed cake mix my friends!). The frosting was perfumed with sweet oranges and warm spice notes with an ever so slight crunch from the specks of ground cardamom.

I smiled when I took my first bite. And every last bite.

Enjoy!

Spice Cake with Orange Cardamom Cream Cheese Frosting

Cake:
Prepare a box spice cake mix according to package instructions or use your favorite homemade spice cake recipe. Use what ever size pan you like. The frosting is enough to coat and fill two 8 inch round cakes. If you bake a 9 x 13 cake, you could half the frosting recipe or have leftovers for another baking project. While cake is cooling prepare the frosting.

Frosting:
8 ounces cream cheese at room temperature
8 tablespoons (1 stick) of unsalted butter at room temperature
16 ounces (1lb) of confectioners (powdered) sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
2 tablespoons of orange zest (about 2 large oranges)

In a stand mixer combine the cream cheese and butter and beat on medium until fluffy, about 1 minute. Add the sugar in 3 batches on low speed until combined. Increase mixer to medium high speed and beat until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add vanilla, cardamom and orange zest and beat until fully combined.

Roasted Red Pepper Pesto Crostini

2012-01-20T18:20:00.000-08:00

I haven't told you all this yet, but one of my goals in 2012 is to have more regularly scheduled posting on the blog. In my fantasy world I would like to post 5 days a week. But in the real world I thought I should just commit to 2 days to start. Since January rolled around I've been trying to post every Tuesday and Thursday and then a few Sundays have been thrown in for good measure. As you can see, today is not any of those days. It's Friday.

I'm a little disappointed that I'm day late so early on in the game. I don't even have a good excuse. I had the pictures for this post done last weekend. I knew this would be a busy week and I should have written the post ahead of time. But my usual procrastination set in and things came up. You know, life, work, family, my cats, a business trip to Las Vegas.....and in between all that I've been completely consumed with reading the Hunger Games whenever I can get a chance. Have you read this book yet? It's addicting. It's actually the first in a trilogy and I'm already on to the second. But I have managed to pull myself away long enough to get this post up, even if it is a day later than I planned.

Seems like this has been appetizer month around our house. Between New Years and football games we've tried several new appetizers over the last few weeks. This roasted red pepper crostini was born out of the need to get rid of some peppers that were reaching their peak ripeness in our fridge. After an internet search on "red pepper appetizers" I was quickly intrigued by this recipe I found on Williams-Sonoma's website. Hubby and I love traditional pesto made with basil, pine nuts, garlic, Parmesan cheese and olive oil. This sounded like a fun twist, using roasted red peppers, almonds, garlic, Parmesan cheese, olive oil and parsley. It has bold, strong and somewhat spicy flavors. Since the garlic is raw, it, along with the cayenne, add a nice spice layer to the pesto. The texture is rich and thick and easy to spread on the toasted baguette.

The Williams-Sonoma recipe makes it even more decadent by starting with a layer of goat cheese on the crostini and warming it in the oven before topping it with the pesto. Since Hubby and my father-in-law aren't cheese eaters, I skipped that step. But it's noted in the directions below and next time I make this I will do a few with cheese for me. The recipe makes just over a cup of pesto. One other note, I actually used 1 red pepper and 1 yellow pepper which is why the pesto is more orange and pale in color (but not in flavor!).

If you have any leftover pesto (which we did not), it could be used to turn a sandwich or homemade panini into something special. It would also be great with pasta (but you would have to make a whole batch just for that) or it could also kick up a steamed vegetable, like broccoli.

Since I skipped the goat cheese, I served our pesto and crostini separately and let people put as much or little as they wanted on top. If you are looking for a fresh bold appetizer for your next football watching party, this is a great choice.

Enjoy!

Roasted Red Pepper Crostini
adapted from Williams-Sonoma

Yields 24 crostini (1 cup pesto)

Ingredients:

1 baguette cut in 1/4 inch thick slices
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (I used a garlic flavored olive oil)
2 garlic cloves, peeled
2 red bell peppers, roasted, seeds and stem removed and roughly chopped*
2 tablespoons toasted slivered almonds (to toast, place almonds in small skillet on medium low heat. Stir until almonds are very lightly browned and become fragrant, about 5-7 minutes)
3 tablespoons grated fresh Parmigiano Reggiano cheese
1/4 cup finely chopped flat leaf parsley, divided
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
Pinch of cayenne pepper
Salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
4 ounces of soft goat cheese (optional)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and place the slices of bread on the baking sheet. Lightly brush the top sides of the bread with the olive oil. Bake for 10-12 minutes until bread is toasted. Bake 3 minutes longer for very crispy bread. When bread comes out of the oven and is still warm rub each slice with one of the cloves of garlic. Set aside.

To make the pesto, place 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, the remaining clove of garlic, peppers, almonds, Parmigiano cheese, 3 tablespoons of the parsley, lemon juice and cayenne pepper into a food processor and pulse until the pesto is thick but somewhat smooth. Pulse longer for a smoother pesto. Season with salt and pepper to your taste and pulse a few more times to fully combine.

When you are nearly ready to serve pre-heat your oven to 350. Spread goat cheese on each crostini and bake for about 5 minutes until the goat cheese is soft and the bread is warmed through. Top each crostini with the red pepper pesto and sprinkle with remaining parsley. Serve immediately.

*We roast our peppers on the barbeque. Just place the peppers directly on the grill over high heat and turn every 5 minutes until peppers are soft and the exterior skin will turn black. Takes 20-25 minutes. Transfer the peppers to a bowl and cover the the bowl with plastic wrap. Set aside and let the pepper steam for about 15 minutes. Remove the plastic and let the peppers cool enough to handle them. Remove the skins, stems and seeds. Do not rinse the peppers under water.

Baked Turkey Meatball Bites

2012-01-17T07:00:00.000-08:00

This past weekend we watched 3 of 4 NFL playoff games. I'm not a sports girl. Normally there is very little sports going on in our household unless the Chicago Bears or Cubs (from Hubby's home town) are in some kind of playoff or final game. Chicago was not in any of the games we watched. But Hubby's Dad was in town and he follows football. I won't lie, I have zero interest in the game of football. What does interest me is an occasion to cook and bake. And football watching is perfect for whipping up some finger foods. Seems like we've been on an appetizer kick lately. Our New Years Eve eve was an appetizer feast. And so was day 1 of football watching. I tried out two new recipes, roasted red pepper crostini and these baked turkey meatballs. Both were a hit with Hubby and his Dad.

As I was getting everything together for the game, Hubby came into the kitchen and grabbed a finished meatball hot off the baking sheet. He said, "these are really good!" Score! Hubby is a big fan of turkey as an alternative to beef. It's been a slow conversion for me, but I am finally getting to a place where I don't mind using ground turkey in place of beef. And in many cases I'm really starting to like it.

These meatballs fall into that category. They pack a lot of flavor with onions, garlic and Parmesan cheese. I really like using fresh herbs in meatballs because they bring a bright flavor that you don't get with dried herbs. In this recipe I used fresh Italian parsley. Next time I will add basil in too.

What I like about this recipe is it's a good base recipe and you can add flavors to suit your tastes. I served them with barbecue sauce, but I think they would also be great with your favorite marinara sauce or even a basil pesto. I also like that these meatballs are baked and not fried, making them a fairly healthy option.

The meatballs are easy to put together once you get the chopping out of the way. If you have a small cookie scoop it's a cinch to portion out equal size meatballs. Basting the meatballs with sauce for the final 5 minutes of baking gives them a nice color and a lightly glazed crust. You can serve them straight from the oven with some extra sauce on the side. Or you can throw them in a small crock pot or a medium saucepan with some extra sauce to keep them nice and warm until your party starts. Stick a toothpick in them and these bite size meatballs are ready to go.

Our appetizer trend continued on day 2 of the football bonanza. However they came from the restaurant/bar where we set up camp for the last of the 4 games. Apparently none of the teams my father-in-law picked to win, won. Sorry Jerry!

At least we were well fed.

Enjoy!

Baked Turkey Meatball Bites
adapted from bakespace.com

Yields about 42 small meatballs

Ingredients:

1 pound lean ground turkey
1 egg, lightly beaten
3/4 cup breadcrumbs (plain or seasoned)
3 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup finely diced white or sweet onions
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh flat leaf (Italian) parsley
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 cup of your favorite barbecue sauce, divided into 1/4 and 3/4 cups. You could also use marinara sauce in place of barbecue sauce.

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350. Line 2 baking sheets with foil and spray with non stick cooking spray.

In a large bowl, combine all ingredients except barbecue sauce and gently mix together until fully combined. Using a small cookie scoop or a tablespoon, portion out 1 1/2 inch size meatballs and gently roll them between your hands to round them out. Place on baking sheets about 1 inch apart. Bake for 8 minutes and turn meatballs using a metal spatula. Return to the oven and cook for an additional 6 minutes. Remove sheets from oven and lightly brush each meat ball with 1/4 cup of the barbecue sauce. Return to oven and cook for an additional 5 minutes.

Warm the remaining 3/4 cup of barbecue sauce in small saucepan or in a small bowl in the microwave. Serve immediately. Or you can add the sauce along with 1/4 cup water to a small crock pot and add the meatballs to keep warm for a party.

For other healthy Super Bowl snacks check out the round up on Eat Yourself Skinny.

(Non) Mississippi Mud Pie

2012-01-15T00:00:00.000-08:00

Many birthday dinners out at a restaurant when I was a teenager ended with a slice of mud pie topped with a candle. The slices were massive and could be shared with my whole family. I would always choose a non coffee version of mud pie, like chocolate mint or chocolate chip. Ice cream is pretty satisfying all on it's own, but when it's packed into a pie form with cookie crust and fudge topping, it transforms into something special.

Jess from The Saucy Kitchen is our hostess for this week's Club: Baked pick and she chose Mississippi mud pie as the recipe the group would make. Even though I'm a fan of mud pie, I was a little hesitant to make this recipe because I knew it had coffee in it. I thought for sure the coffee would be in the fudge layers, but when I read through the recipe more closely, the only coffee was in the ice cream layer. A layer that could easily be changed out for another ice cream flavor. The authors of Baked Explorations say you can choose whatever ice cream flavor you like, but if you stray from the traditional coffee ice cream, you can no longer call it "Mississippi" mud pie.

So, here I present, my non Mississippi mud pie. I used dulce de leche (caramel) ice cream instead of coffee.

Other than the ice cream swap and using almonds instead of pecans (because I burned my pecans), I followed the recipe exactly. Well, sort of. I cut the recipe in half and made a mini mud pie. Hubby is not a chocolate fan so I wanted to make a small version. My father-in-law was going to be in town so I knew I could share it with him. Let's just say I shared 1/4 of the pie with him and I scarfed down the other 3/4 myself over the following 4 days. I would have to go shopping for new jeans if I had made the full pie.

In case it wasn't obvious by my aforementioned pie hoarding, I really liked this mud pie. The crust is a chocolate cookie crust. I used Oreos minus the filling as the base because I couldn't find chocolate wafer cookies at my grocery store. I liked using Oreos because the wafer part on its own isn't overly sweet so it results in a deep dark chocolate crust. The next layer is a sweet, rich bourbon fudge. Just a hint of bourbon brings a depth of flavor to the fudge without being too boozy. Up next is the ice cream layer which gets topped by chopped pecans (almonds in my case). And finally the top is drizzled with more bourbon fudge. I didn't use all the fudge on top since I wanted to see a little bit of the ice cream beneath. The pie is stored in the freezer and is sliceable right out of the freezer.

This is definitely a dessert geared toward a chocolate lover. But what is so great about this recipe is I can see it being tweaked and twisted into a variety of flavor combinations. I'm already envisioning a chocolate mint mud pie, replacing the bourbon in the fudge layer with a bit of peppermint extract and a layer of mint chip ice cream. Or a strawberry shortcake version...with a graham cracker or vanilla wafer cookie crust instead of the chocolate crust. White chocolate can be swapped for the dark chocolate in the fudge layers and amaretto in place of the bourbon. Fresh strawberry ice cream nestled in the middle and you have a fun play on mud pie meets strawberry shortcake. Really, the possibilities are vast.

What I love about this recipe is it's easy and presents beautifully. It does require a little planning ahead because the various layers have to chill or freeze until the next can be completed. You can't throw it together an hour before guests will be arriving unfortunately. I spread it out over two days and it was a cinch.

Now that I've been schooled on the ways the mud pie...I'm excited to try other flavor combinations.

To get the recipe head over to The Saucy Kitchen. Thanks for a great pick Jess! To see how my fellow Club: Bakers did with their pies click here.

Sun-dried Tomato BLT Bites

2012-01-12T23:30:00.000-08:00

When I was planning our menu of New Year's Eve appetizers I wanted to include a little something green. But I wasn't sure what. I had planned to make Ina Garten's sun-dried tomato dip with rosemary crackers. I was also making a baked sweet onion dip with crackers and rosemary cheese straws. Too many carbs.

I opened up the fridge for inspiration.

Persian cucumbers jumped out. I knew they would be a good alternative for crackers and serve as a nice canvas for the tangy sun-dried tomato dip. I was going to leave it at that. But then I caught a glimpse of pre-cooked bacon slices that I had bought to use in salad...

Bacon, Cucumber, Tomato...BCT

Cucumber is green, cool and crisp....a lot like lettuce, right? A play on the BLT came together in this little crunchy, creamy, tomatoey bite. It was a refreshing veggie addition to our all appetizer dinner.

These flavorful bites are easy to put together and can be made ahead and stored in the fridge. I used a decorating tip to pipe on the sun-dried tomato dip. If you don't have a tip, you can place the dip in a zip top bag and cut the corner off and pipe it on the cucumber slices. It doesn't need to be perfect because it gets topped with bacon bits and sliced green onions.

The sundried tomato dip recipe makes a lot of dip. You can serve it with crackers or cut up veggies. It would also make a nice spread on a turkey sandwich or really gear up a classic BLT sandwich.

Enjoy!

Sun-dried Tomato Dip
from Ina Garten's Barefoot Contessa Cookbook

1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil, drained and chopped (about 8 tomatoes)
8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup sour cream
10 dashes hot red pepper sauce (such as Tabasco)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
2 scallions, thinly sliced

Add all the ingredients except the scallions to a food processor and puree. Add scallions and pulse twice. Serve dip at room temperature

To make sun-dried tomato BLT Bites

Quantities can vary depending on how many you want to make. I cut up 4 Persian cucumbers and used 2 slices of bacon and 1 scallion for Hubby and me.

Persian cucumbers cut into 1/2 inch rounds
Slices of crisp bacon broken into small pieces
Sun-dried tomato dip
Scallions, thinly sliced

To assemble:

Place sun-dried tomato dip in a pastry bag fitted with a large star attachment. Pipe a dollop of dip on each cucumber slice. It doesn't have to be perfect because....the next step is to top each bite with a piece of bacon and sprinkle with scallions to garnish.

These can be assembled ahead and stored in the fridge until you are ready to serve.

Baked New Frontiers Chocolate Chip Cookies

2012-01-10T07:00:00.000-08:00

Until about a year ago, I would always use salted butter in my baking recipes. Why? Two reasons. The primary one, I am lazy. I buy my butter in bulk at Costco, 4 pounds at a time. The only butter they sell packaged in individually wrapped sticks is salted butter. The unsalted butter comes in 4 one pound bricks that you have to cut down if you are using less than a pound at a time (which is always). I question my cutting accuracy and really don't want to have to break out the scale and start shaving off slices of butter until I have exactly the right weight. The second reason I used salted butter, is I like salt. I like the taste of a hint of extra salt in sweet baking recipes.

Salted butter is generally a "no no" according to many experts in the baking world. It's most common to see baking recipes that call for unsalted butter. The thought is you don't know how much salt is in the butter. Many baking recipes already contain salt, so you could potentially end up having too much. Others therorize that salt in butter acts as a preservative, therefore salted butter is not as fresh as unsalted. (Check out this post from David Lebovitz to read about his pro-salted butter thoughts).

Before I started baking multiple times a week, I don't think my taste buds were honed enough to really notice if using salted made a real difference in most recipes. As my baking became more frequent, I caved to peer pressure and made the switch to unsalted butter and I take my chances on my cutting accuracy (still haven't caved to use the scale...yet).

For the most part, I don't miss salted butter. Except when it comes to chocolate chip cookies. It is the one cookie that I can taste the extra salt and even crave it. The salt contrasts with the deep caramel-esque brown sugar in the cookie dough and the rich semi sweet chocolate chips. Though I don't use salted butter anymore, I do throw in an extra pinch in my chocolate chip cookies for good measure.

Last year I started a quest to find "the one". The perfect chocolate chip cookie. In fact I made, and quickly devoured, the Perfect Chocolate Cookie from Cook's Illustrated. I ate up Alton Brown's Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie. I sliced, baked and inhaled Melissa Murphy's Chocolate Chip Cookie with Toasted Almonds. Then I made my best friend Crystal's "Oops" version of that same cookie using milk chocolate and a touch extra butter and found myself loving yet another chocolate chip cookie. And up until my official quest began, I have been making the Nestle Tollhouse cookie as my go to cookie for most of my baking life. I have been pretty happy with that cookie to be honest. With it's slightly crispy edges, chewy middle and that salty sweet contrast, I could never eat just one.

This cookie from Baked: New Frontiers in Baking, is very similar to my beloved Tollhouse cookie. If you hold the recipes up side by side the ingredients are nearly identical, with the exception of the proportion of brown and white sugars. The Baked recipe has less granulated sugar and more brown sugar. The Baked recipe also calls for dark brown sugar (which has a higher molasses content then light brown sugar) bringing more caramel tones to the cookie, making it a winner in my book.

I am beginning to think there isn't just "one". Why should we have to choose? Each chocolate chip cookie has its own qualities, textures and flavors that are all deserving of admiration.

What are your favorite chocolate chip cookie recipes?

Chocolate Chip Cookies
from Baked: New Frontiers in Baking

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, soft but cool
1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 2/3 cups (16 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips - I used 2 cups

Whisk flour, salt and baking soda in a medium bowl. In a stand mixer, using the paddle attachment beat the butter and sugars until smooth and creamy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the eggs, one at a time, until they are fully incorporated. Add vanilla and beat until just incorporated.

Add half the flour mixture to the butter mixture and beat on low for 15 seconds or until just incorporated. Add the remaining flour mixture and beat until just incorporated. Fold in the chocolate chips using a wooden spoon or rubber spatula.

Cover dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 6 hours or overnight.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line 2-3 baking sheets with parchment paper (depending on how many cookies your dough yields). Using a scoop or a spoon, portion out dough into 2 tablespoon sized balls. Use your hands to roll dough into a ball. Place on baking sheets about 1 inch apart.

Bake for 12 to 14 minutes, rotating the pans from front to back and top to bottom in the oven halfway through baking. The cookies should be golden brown around the edges and just set in the middle.

Remove pans from the oven and cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Transfer cookies to the rack using a spatula to finish cooling. Store in an airtight containing for up to 3 days.

Rosemary Cheese Straws

2012-01-05T07:00:00.000-08:00

Hubby and I spent a quiet New Year's Eve at home this year. We started our day with a little pre-new year's cleaning by washing the all the windows in our townhouse, inside and out. Not an easy feat since it has never been done since we've lived here...for nearly 8 years. Eeek! I know. That's really bad. And kind of gross. And I don't have any good excuses as to why it took us so long. We clean the inside of our house once a week (really, we do!), but apparently the windows are on the once every decade schedule! Kind of embarrassing. Now that we can actually see the outside world with some clarity, we might just be inspired to up the window washing schedule to once every half decade?

Anyway, after a long morning filled with Karate Kid style "wax on" "wax off" cleaning, we spent the afternoon shopping and stocking up our fridge with fun foods to ring in the New Year.

Originally I planned to make chicken piccata and Parmesan roasted zucchini for dinner accompanied by a bottle of Riesling. Simple. Tasty.

But then my mind couldn't stop thinking about a spread of appetizers instead. Mmmmm. An array of delicious nibbles....so many possibilities! Appetizers seemed like the right thing to do on New Year's Eve.

Our meal of finger foods consisted of baked sweet onion dip with crackers and sweet onion stuffed mushrooms, mini lox and bagel sandwiches (for Hubby), sun dried tomato BLT bites, sauteed chicken fingers with piccata dipping sauce and these rosemary cheese straws. They were one of the easiest things to make and one of the tastiest.

Store bought puff pastry is the canvas for a mixture of cheeses and this fragrant, woody herb that I've been slowly warming up to over the past year. Just a handful of ingredients are transformed into light, airy bread sticks with baked in cheesey crunch. This recipe is versatile and you could substitute your favorite cheeses and fresh herbs. Rosemary cheese straws would be great served simply with a glass of wine, or as an accompaniment to a soup or salad.

A couple of baking notes. Don't get too carried away with rolling dough out. I found that it was actually easier to work with the dough on a very lightly floured surface and simply stretch it with my hands to the size/shape I was looking for. Generously brush the pastry with the egg wash and pack on the cheese/herb mixture on. When you cut and twist each straw, some of it will fall off. Not to worry! Though you can make these ahead, they are really great served warm from the oven. I made mine a bit ahead of time and just kept them wrapped in foil in a 200 degree oven to stay nice and toasty. Who doesn't love warm bread?

We cracked open the wine, cozied up on the couch, turned on a movie and chowed down on our appetizer feast to ring in 2012. My kind of New Year's Eve!

How did you spend your New Year's Eve?

Rosemary Cheese Straws
adapted from Handle the Heat

Ingredients:

2 sheets puff pastry, defrosted overnight in the fridge (or on the counter in 40 minutes to an hour)
1 large egg, beaten with 1 tablespoon of water
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese (original recipe called for 1/2 cup)
1/2 cup finely grated Gruyere cheese (original recipe called for 1 cup of grated white cheddar cheese)
2 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary
1 teaspoon kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper to taste

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line 3 baking sheets with parchment or foil.

In a small bowl, combine cheeses, rosemary, salt and pepper and set aside.

Unfold the puff pastry on a lightly floured surface and gently use a rolling pin to stretch pastry into a 10x12 inch sheet. Use a kitchen/pastry brush and brush egg wash over the surface of the puff pastry until completely covered. Divide the cheese mixture in half and sprinkle evenly over each puff pastry sheet. Gently press the mixture into the sheets.

Using a pizza cutter or sharp knife cut the pastry dough in half across the long side. Cut each half into 3/4 inch strips. Hold the ends of each pastry strip and twist moving your hands in the opposite direction and lay each strip on the baking sheet about 1 inch apart.

Bake for 15 minutes or until pastry puffs and turns golden brown. Cool on baking sheets.

Blue Cheese Wedge

2012-01-03T07:00:00.000-08:00

Every year my family gathers at my Aunt's house for a Christmas Eve feast and celebration. Most every year we have the same delicious meal...prime rib with horseradish cream sauce, twice baked potato casserole, a salad, a veggie and dinner rolls. And every year it's my job to bring the salad. Though we have a similar meal each year, I always hem and haw about what kind of salad to bring. What will most people like? (This year there were 16 adults and 8 kids).  I mean let's be real, the salad is not the star of the meal. It's an accompanying side show. But I always want it to be just right.

As I was thinking about what salad to bring, I was inspired by my Grandma.  When Hubby and I spent a few days with my Grandparents this past Thanksgiving, they took us out to dinner one night at Sullivan's Steakhouse. If you've never been to Sullivan's, it's a treat.  It's a traditional steakhouse with most everything served a la cart. Except the salad. A blue cheese wedge salad comes with each entree.  It's a big wedge and the dressing is cheesy and creamy with a bit of tang, which is what makes it different from most blue cheese dressings I've had in the past. Grandma said one of the reasons she liked coming to Sullivan's was for the salad. Forget the steak and fork over the wedge!

I consulted Bing and searched for a copy cat recipe of Sullivan's famous blue cheese wedge. And I think this is pretty darn close. The dressing gets its tang from the buttermilk, sour cream and red wine vinegar. It's rich and creamy from the mayonnaise, olive oil and blue cheese. And it's rounded out with minced garlic and freshly cracked black pepper.

I love the cool crisp iceberg lettuce drenched in cheesy dressing. The Sullivan's wedge is served simply with lettuce, dressing and tomatoes. I added sliced green onions and bacon pieces to the salad I served on Christmas Eve (bacon not pictured above). I think the addition of the fresh mild green onion and salty crisp bacon finish off the salad nicely.

A mark of a good recipe is if I will make it again. This salad hits the mark. In fact I've already made it once since Christmas Eve. I'm sad to say Grandma didn't get to taste the dressing to give her seal of approval because she came down with a bad cold the morning of Christmas Eve. But luckily she will get to taste it next year since I have officially decided this salad is "the one."

This one's for you Gram!

Blue Cheese Wedge Salad
adapted from foodiekitchen.com

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

Dressing:
7 ounces crumbled blue cheese
2/3 cup mayonnaise
1/3 cup buttermilk, well shaken
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
3 tablespoons sour cream
2 tablespoons oil
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Salad:
1 large head of iceberg lettuce, with core removed, washed and chilled
6 ounces crumbled blue cheese
3 diced seeded plum tomatoes
6 green onions thinly sliced, white and green parts

Place all the dressing ingredients in a food processor and process until you reached the desired consistency. Process longer if you want a smoother dressing. I left mine with a little bits of blue cheese in it. Refrigerate for 24 hours or up to 3 days.

To prepare the salad, cut the head of lettuce in half. Cut each half in 3 wedges, or 2 if the head is small. Place the wedges on chilled salad plates. Spoon about 1/3 cup of the dressing over each wedge allowing the dressing to run over the sides.

Sprinkle each wedge with tomatoes, green onions and crumbled blue cheese, divided equally among each salad. Finish with a crack or two of freshly ground black pepper. Serve chilled.

Optional: Brown 1/3 pound of bacon until crisp in a frying pan, on a baking sheet in the oven or in the microwave. Crumble bacon into small bits and sprinkle over each wedge.

Devil's Food Cupcakes with Angel Frosting

2012-01-01T15:52:00.000-08:00

2012 has arrived! Happy New Year!

Did anyone else wake up this morning searching for the Rose Parade on TV, but didn't find it? It took me about half hour to figure out that when new year's day falls on a Sunday, the Rose Parade and Rose Bowl actually take place on Monday. With no Rose Parade to watch I decided this was the perfect time to bake the first Club: Baked recipe for 2012, Devil's Food Cake with Angel Frosting.

For those of you who don't know, Club: Baked is an online baking group where a group of us are baking our way through the book Baked Explorations by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito. The group was founded last July by Karen of Karen's Cookies, Cakes and More. The group bakes twice a month. Each week we all make the same recipe which is selected by that particular week's hostess. So far we've baked some pretty awesome treats. A few of my 2011 favorites have been New York Style Crumb Cake, Buckeyes, Sunday Night Cake, the pastry cream from the Boston Cream Pie recipe and the Caramel Apple Cake. You can join us on our baking adventure by getting in touch with Karen via the Club: Baked site. The more the merrier!

I was excited to see the first recipe of 2012 was Devil's Food Cake with Angel Frosting chosen by Natalie from Just About Food. Chocolate cake is one of my favorite desserts to eat. This one is topped with "Angel Frosting", which is essentially homemade marshmallow fluff. The silky sweet marshmallow frosting is a nice contrast to the deep dark chocolate flavor. My Hubby, who you may recall is not a big dessert guy, and is especially not a big chocolate guy, declared the frosting a success! Not surprisingly, he didn't care for the cake. Luckily, I have a ton of frosting leftover as I made the whole frosting recipe, but only made half the cake recipe for my mini cupcakes. Hubs can eat the frosting by the spoonful to satisfy his sweet tooth. ;)

A few baking notes.  The cake recipe calls for hot coffee, however I'm not a fan of coffee in my desserts (even though people swear the taste is undetectable in the final product--I can always taste it).  So instead I dissolved 1 teaspoon of cocoa powder with hot water. It worked out fine and the cake still had a deep chocolate flavor. I made mini cupcakes and they took about 17 minutes in a 325 degree oven. I was worried I would have trouble with the frosting. I have had some failed attempts in the past with frostings that call for a hot sugar mixture to be streamed into the frosting. I followed the recipe exactly and I was pleased to see that it came together easily with no issues.  To see how other Club: Bakers cakes turned out click here.

Though I enjoyed this cake, the chocolate cake from the Sweet Melissa Baking Book is still my go to chocolate cake recipe. The angel frosting recipe is, however, a keeper. It would be great with a white cake and a lemon curd filling...almost like a lemon meringue cake.  Sounds like a good idea for Hubby's birthday in early March...

Here's to 2012! I'd like to raise a cupcake to toast the start of a great year!

Devil's Food Cake with Angel Frosting
from Baked Explorations

For the Cake:

1 ounce good quality dark chocolate (60-72% cacao), broken into a few pieces
1/2 cup dark unsweetened cocoa powder
2/3 cup hot coffee (I used hot water with a teaspoon of cocoa powder dissolved in it)
1/3 cup whole milk
1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter cut into 1/2 cubes, softened
1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Butter two 8-inch round cake pans, line the bottoms with parchment and butter and flour the pan, including the parchment, discarding excess flour. Or make cupcakes by placing liner in the wells of a muffin tin.

Place the cocoa powder and chocolate pieces in a medium heatproof bowl and pour hot coffee over them and whisk until combined. Add the milk and whisk until combined.

In a medium bowl sift together flour, baking soda and salt and set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and 2 kinds of sugars on medium speed, about 3 minutes, until fluffy. Add the eggs one at time, beating until each egg is fully combined. Add the vanilla and beat until incorporated. Scrape down the bowl and mix until for another 30 seconds.

Add the flour mixture in three parts, alternating with the melted chocolate mixture. You should begin and end with the flour mixture.

Divide the batter evenly among your cake pans or cupcake liners. If you are making cakes, bake for 35 - 40 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through. If you are making cupcakes, bake 18 - 20 minutes.  Test your cake or cupcakes with a toothpick. If it comes out clean they are done. Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack, until cakes or cupcakes are mostly cooled.

For the Angel Frosting:

5 large egg whites, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla paste (or 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract)

Place the egg whites in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and set aside.

In a medium saucepan combine 1 1/4 cups of the sugar, the corn syrup and 1/4 cup of water and place over low heat. Once the sugar dissolves increase the heat to medium-high and attach a candy thermometer to the side of the pot.   Heat the mixture WITHOUT STIRRING, to almost a soft-ball stage (about 235 degrees). Mixture should not be heated above 235 degrees F.

While you are waiting for the syrup to reach the softball stage, whip the egg whites on medium speed until soft peaks form. Do not beat beyond the soft peak point.

When the syrup mixture reached the soft-ball stage removed from heat.

Sprinkle remaining 1/4 cup of water over the soft peak of the egg whites and turn the mixer to low. Slowly stream in the the hot sugar syrup. Once all the syrup has been added, increase the mixer speed to medium-high and beat the icing for about 7 minutes until it is thick and shiny. Add the vanilla and beat again until combined.

Assemble the cake (or cupcakes):

For cakes: place one layer on a serving platter and trim the top to create a flat surface. Spread about 1 cup of frosting on top. Place the second layer of cake on top and trim to create an even surface. Frost the tops and sides of the cake. Serve immediately.

For cupcakes: Simply top with frosting. You can you use a decorative tip to pipe on the frosting or use a knife to spread it on. For even more frosting, cut a cylinder shape out of the middle of the plain cupcake and remove the cake. Fill with frosting (using a piping bag or a ziptop bag with the corner cut off) and replace the cake that you removed. Proceed with frosting the top of the cupcake.

Roasted Shrimp Cocktail

2011-12-29T07:00:00.000-08:00

If I had to pick one Food Network chef/cook to be my go to recipe source, it would hands down be Ina Garten, the Barefoot Contessa. I have all but one of Ina's cookbooks and have had overwhelmingly positive success with her recipes. What I love about Ina is her recipes aren't overly complicated, yet they have a wow factor. And most importantly, they are delicious.

I have had my eye on Ina's Roasted Shrimp with Cocktail for a few years now. This recipe comes from her book, Back to Basics--one of my favorites. I was in search of a healthy appetizer for our recent dinner party and I remembered this recipe. It did not disappoint and it's incredibly easy to make. It's even easier if you buy shrimp that is already peeled and de-veined. We almost always buy our shrimp, uncooked, peeled, de-veined and frozen from Costco and simply defrost.

What I like about this recipe is it is a twist on the traditional shrimp cocktail. The simple step of roasting the shrimp in olive oil, salt and pepper, makes all the difference in creating the wow factor for this appetizer. The cocktail sauce is homemade and has a nice tang with a horseradish kick.

I wish I had more photos to share...like the baking sheet with all the pretty pink roasted shrimp when they just came out of the oven. Or the final plated dish with the shrimp circling the bowl of cocktail sauce, lemon wedges interspersed. But lighting was not good and I might have been mildly stressed anxiously waiting for our dinner guests to arrive. Luckily one lonely shrimp was left over and I took this photo the next morning.

If you like shrimp cocktail and you are looking for an easy appetizer, this is a great choice.

Enjoy!

Roasted Shrimp Cocktail
from Ina Garten's Back to Basics

Ingredients

Shrimp:
2 pounds (12 to 15 count) shrimp (we used 21 to 25 count--meaning count of shrimp per pound)
1 tablespoon good olive oil
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper (I used 1/4 teaspoon)

Sauce:
1/2 cup Heinz chili sauce
1/2 cup Heinz ketchup
3 tablespoons prepared horseradish
2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/4 teaspoon Tabasco sauce

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Peel and de-vein the shrimp, leaving the tails on. (Or use frozen, uncooked, peeled shrimp). Place the shrimp on a baking sheet. Drizzle olive oil, salt and pepper over the shrimp and use your hands to toss and evenly coat the shrimp. Place shrimp in a single layer on the pan and roast for 8 to 10 minutes, or just until the shrimp turns pink and feels firm and cooked through. (My shrimp took exactly 8 minutes). Set shrimp aside to cool. (I recommend making the shrimp an hour or two before you plan to serve it)

Combine all the sauce ingredients in a medium bowl and stir until well combined. The sauce can be made ahead and refrigerated until you are ready to serve.

Serve roasted shrimp with cocktail sauce and garnish with lemon wedges.

Beef Brisket with Pomegranate Sauce

2011-12-27T07:00:00.000-08:00

I'm not a vegetarian. Duh, there's a big hunk of meat pictured above. But I don't cook meat all that often, especially large cuts. I took a quick look at my blog stats and only 5% of my posts contain beef or pork and another 5% are devoted to chicken. The stats are also pretty low for seafood.

I think a New Year's resolution is going to be devoting a little more time to protein based posts. I normally don't buy into the whole New Year's resolution thing, but I really do have a lot things I want to accomplish in 2012 and maybe if I put some of these goals in black and white, I will be less prone to procrastination. Okay, probably easier said than done. Who are we kidding that I can change a lifetime of procrastination with the mere statement of a resolution.  But I can dream, right?

The weekend before Christmas Hubby and I had 2 couples over to enjoy a meal and help us decorate our Christmas tree. We had a great time and ended up with a beautifully decorated Christmas tree.

But I have to be honest, I have a love/hate relationship with entertaining. Which, in part, ties back to my procrastination tendencies. I love having people over. I love cooking and baking. I love putting all the little touches on everything from the food to lighting strategically placed candles and tea lights and picking out place mats. But I tend to completely stress myself out during the process. Especially the closer the clock gets to my guests arrival time. I try, try, try to plan ahead (as much as my procrastinating self will let me) and make lists and start preparing really early in the morning. Inevitably I always feel rushed in the final hour, and have moments of panic when I think, it won't all get done.   No matter if I start at the crack of dawn, or give myself a few extra hours of sleep, I always end up in the same rushed state...every time. And every time, some how, some way, it does all get done.

One would think this beef brisket cooked in a crock pot would be the perfect dish to ease my stress. That might be the case if I started cooking it the day prior to the event. Instead, I went shopping for a 5 pound slab of brisket the morning of. Store number 1 had a brisket...one. It was 13 pounds (and they would not sell it in smaller portions). No good. We called ahead to store number 2 (while standing in the aisle of store number 1) and were told, yes of course, we can order you a 5 pound brisket and it will be here by Tuesday! Um, thanks, but no. We just headed to store number 3 with a prayer and a list of other items we needed to pick up. The entertaining God's were with us because Costco came through and sold brisket in 5 pound increments! Score!

This recipe really is easy. I would recommend an anti-procrastination approach and cooking it overnight the night before you want to serve it. Then you can pull out the meat and refrigerate it. What is so great about refrigerating it is you can slice the chilled meat into nice neat slices (instead of the brisket falling apart into shreds of beef), a tip I picked up from In Erika's Kitchen where I found this tasty recipe. Then you can warm the meat up back in the crock pot a couple of hours before you serve your dinner.

The pomegranate sauce makes this brisket really special. It is a rich, onion-y, slightly sweet sauce with a wonderful depth of flavor from the pomegranate juice and dried cranberries. It's pretty darn delicious. It looks like a thick brown gravy, but the cool part is it is not a traditional gravy requiring butter and flour to thicken it. You simply puree the juice and cooked down onions and dried cranberries and reduce it in a saucepan to the desired flavor and thickness.

We served the beef brisket with roasted sweet potatoes with red onions and a wonderful salad our friend Sharon brought with granny smith apples, dried cranberries, green onions, sunflower seeds and feta cheese tossed in balsamic vinaigrette.   A recipe I've already tucked away for future use.

Beef brisket with pomegranate sauce would be great dish to make for the final night of Hanukkah. Happy 8th night of Hanukkah! It would also be nice for a New Year's Eve meal. Or you could make this for New Year's Day football watching or Super Bowl and serve the meat shredded with the sauce on King's Hawaiian Rolls for a brisket slider.

Enjoy!

And here's to anti-procrastination in 2012!

Beef Brisket with Pomegranate Sauce
from In Erika's Kitchen

1 quart pure pomegranate juice
1 5 pound flat cut brisket, cut in half (to fit in crock pot)
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 red onions chopped
2 beef bouillon cubes
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup dried cranberries or dried cherries

Bring pomegranate to a boil in a medium saucepan and cook until reduced by about 1/3.

Meanwhile, begin preparing brisket. If you wish trim off some of the fat, now would be time. Be sure to leave some of the fat on as this gives the brisket flavor and helps to keep it moist. Sprinkle salt on both sides of brisket and brown in a hot skillet on both sides until seared. Transfer the brisket to your slow cooker (fat side up). Add oil and onions to the same skillet and cook about 5 minutes until the onions started to brown a bit, about 5 minutes. Place onions in the slow cooker on top of the brisket.

Add the beef bouillon, tomato paste, cumin, brown sugar and cherries to the reduced pomegranate sauce and stir. Pour sauce mixture over the onions and brisket.  Turn your slow cooker to low and cook for 8 hours until brisket is tender.

Remove meat and set aside on a plate or cutting board. Transfer liquid and onions to medium sauce pan and puree using an immersion blender (or transfer to a standard blender) until smooth. Cook until sauce reduces by about 1/4 to further intensify the flavors. Check the season and add salt if needed.

Slice or shred brisket and pour sauce over the top. Note to get nice clean slices of brisket you can refrigerate the meat and then slice and reheat with sauce in the slow cooker.

Holiday Traditions New and Old

2011-12-24T13:42:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas Eve everyone! Happy 5th night of Hanukkah!

The holidays are one my favorite times of year. Mostly because it's okay to make and eat ridiculous amounts of cookies, treats and favorite holiday foods. Hubby and I aren't particularly religious, but we do enjoy some of the traditions of both Christmas and Hanukkah and we've made some of our own traditions.

Note I cheated in this photo placing all the candles in the Menorah even though it's only night 5

Every year on one of the eight nights of Hanukkah we celebrate the miracle of lights by eating an entire meal comprised of homemade potato latkes. This year Hanukkah and Christmas overlap so we have to be strategic about when we will indulge in this delicious meal. I think it will be on Monday, the 7th night of Hanukkah this year. Here's a peek at our latke feast from last year. The photos are not the greatest, but this recipe is amazingly delicious. It has a squeeze of lemon juice in it (to prevent the potatoes from turning brown I believe), but the tang from the lemon is what makes these little fried bits of goodness so delicious!

Last year I also made some Hanukkah sweets....cake truffles to be exact. They are by no means a traditional holiday treat, but they are decadent little goodies that are fun to make and decorate and definitely bring home the spirit of Hanukkah. You can use any type of cake and coating that suit your taste. If you have not made cake truffles (or cake pops) yet I highly recommend them!

Also last year, I made Christmas red velvet and devil's food cake truffles. They were a big hit and made it into this year's baking rotation. Given the reviews, I think these will now officially be a staple in my cookie gift boxes. Though technically not a cookie! Don't hold it against me. I have to give the people what they want.

The majority of holiday time in the kitchen is spent baking oodles and oodles of cookies. I love cookies for a few reasons.

A. Cookies are delicious.
B. Cookies are fun.
C. Cookies have endless varieties, shapes, sizes and flavors to experiment with.
D. Cookies are portable.
C. Everyone loves cookies!

If you don't love cookies, you might be an alien from another planet. You might want to get that checked out.

I thought I would share a roundup of this year's cookie palooza as well as share some old favorites.
The most requested and commented on cookies are my two holiday staple cookies, Ginger Snaps and Raspberry and Lemon Linzers. In fact I can't recall a year where I didn't make these two types of cookies. I don't want a revolt on my hands.

And each year I like to try a few new varieties. When I was at my Grandma's house earlier this year I spent some time going through her recipe cards. I found a few old recipes that I remember having as kid.

One was a recipe my Mom would make called Jam Tarts. They are tender crescents of cream cheese based dough filled with boysenberry jam and dusted in powdered sugar. Recipe coming soon!

I also decided to try a new version of the tarts and filled some crescents with Nutella, coated with pearl sugar and drizzled with chocolate.

The other family recipe I tried this year is called Mint Sticks, or Mint Brownie Bars. This festive treat has a brownie based a layer topped with mint frosting and a drizzle of chocolate on top. Recipe coming soon!

Chocolate Truffle Cookies (pictured below left) have become a new holiday favorite as of last year. These really are like a truffle in cookie version. A great choice for chocolate lovers.

All the goodies get plated to go off to my Aunt's house to celebrate Christmas Eve. Below is a peek of the cookie plates ready to go for tonight! And another plate will be put together tomorrow for Christmas Day at my Dad's house. One can never have too many cookies!

Hope you all have a fabulous holiday filled with good company, good food and tasty cookies of course!

Merry Christmas!

Happy Hanukkah!

Happy Kwanza!

Feliz Navidad Chocolate Cookies

2011-12-19T04:00:00.000-08:00

Holiday baking (round 1) got into full swing 2 weekends ago at my house. I make cookies like mad and Hubby is my kitchen elf/helper. We put together cookie boxes for co-workers, friends and family. It's become an annual tradition. I have a couple of cookies that are a must make every year--Ginger Snaps and Raspberry and Lemon Linzers. I have some cookies that rotate in and out each year, like Chocolate Chip Candy Cane, Chocolate Truffle Cookies, Cream Wafers and Cake Truffles. I am always looking for new cookies to add to the rotating roster.

When I was assigned Eliot's Eats for this month's Secret Recipe Club assignment I immediately went in search of cookies. Luckily her site features several cookie recipes including an annual 12 days of Christmas. When I spotted the Feliz Navidad Chocolate Cookies I thought they would be a fun twist on a standard chocolate cookie. These cookies definitely have a little spicy punch with cinnamon, pepper and cayenne. The cookies are soft and chewy with a chocolately bite. I love the dusting of powdered sugar on top. They made it into round 2 of the holiday cookie boxes.

Secret Recipe Club is like Secret Santa for blogs. Each month each participant is assigned another participant's blog....and it's a secret! You browse the blog you are assigned and then choose something to make and blog it. It's a great way to discover new blogs. I enjoyed browsing Eliot's Eats. It's a great blog focused on local eating, inspired by Barbara Kingsolver's journey with eating locally as documented in her book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle (a great book by the way). I saw several recipes on Eliot's eats that will be checking back on, including several canning recipes when the spring and summer months are upon us.

But for now I just have to gear up for the third and final round of the cookie craziness next weekend. And squeeze in some last minute shopping.

Are you all ready for the holidays?

Feliz Navidad Chocolate Cookies
from Eliot's Eats originally adapted from Tim Love

1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
Pinch of black pepper
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
3 tablespoons butter, room temperature
3 tablespoons shortening
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon dark brown sugar
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1/4 cup powdered sugar for dusting (or more if needed)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. In a medium bowl, whisk flour, cocoa powder, cinnamon, baking soda, salt and pepper and set aside. In a stand mixer cream butter and shortening on medium speed. Add in sugars and beat on medium speed until fluffy, about 1 minute. Turn mixer to low and add in eggs one at a time and vanilla until fully combined. Add in dry ingredients in batches until incorporated.

Scoop out 1 to 1 1/2 tablespoon size balls with a spoon or cookie scoop place cookies about 1 inch apart on the parchment lined baking sheet. Bake for 12 to 14 minutes (my were done at 12) until set. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet and transfer to a wire rack to finish cooking. Dust with powdered sugar.

Apple Danish for Thanksgiving

2011-11-27T13:55:00.001-08:00

This year we spent Thanksgiving with my Mom's family at my grandparents house in Palm Desert. This year was extra special because Hubby and I and our newest cat, Oliver, made the hour and 45 minute drive Tuesday evening before Thanksgiving. We went out early to help Grandma Jane cook and prep for the big day.

Yes, you read right, we took our cat. I know, it's a little odd. Oliver joined our family as a 4 month old kitten back in June. He is a sweetheart, but he cannot be trusted to stay at home with the two big girl kitties. He has an affinity for eating toilet paper, digging in trashcans and being a little too inquisitive. Plus he has about 50 times the energy as the big girls and sadly they have zero interest in playing with the little guy. This was actually Oliver's second trip to grandma's house (the first was in August--see photo below). He doesn't love the car ride, usually spending the first half of the drive meowing his little head off, but once he's there he is a happy camper. He purrs nonstop at grandma's and like everyone else, loves being there.

Hubby and Oliver on his first trip to Grandma's house in Aug 2011
(we drove at night for this most recent trip so we didn't get any photos)

Grandma has been doing our families Thanksgiving for my entire life. My mom and aunt and I joked that none of us knows how to cook a turkey because Grandma always does it. She puts on quite a spread and thinks of all her guests favorite dishes (even Oliver got a turkey day treat--a small rawhide stick wrapped with dried chicken--which he absolutely loved). The big meal contains many dishes that grace most Thanksgiving tables, like turkey and stuffing (with an extra crispy crust on top), mashed potatoes and gravy, ham, sweet potatoes with toasted marshmallows, corn, cranberry and dinner rolls. She also includes some other special dishes that aren't as traditional, like 7 layer salad (my personal favorite), blueberry pecan salad (my mom's favorite), ambrosia (my cousins favorite) and sweet potato casserole with crusted pecan topping (almost every one's favorite). It's a feast of major proportions and I always look forward to digging in. Grandma serves Thanksgiving dinner around noon. Originally she did it early to accommodate the families that had to go two Thanksgivings in one day. But no one has to tackle two meals in one day anymore. So we do two at Grandma's. The big feast at noon and what I like to call second dinner around 6 pm. I look forward to second dinner just as much as the main event.

There is never a shortage of sweets at Grandma's. Every year she makes 3 kinds of pies...pumpkin, pecan and apple. This year she let me make the apple pie using a favorite family recipe from my Dad's family. I had a blast spending the day with Grandma in the kitchen prepping and baking. She even helped me crimp my pie crust edges, a skill I am still working to master!

Grandma also helped me develop the recipe for this apple danish filling. I brought the leftover dough from my recent danish pastry making adventure. We whipped up an apple pie like filling to fill the danish on Thanksgiving morning. Between the two of us, I think we came up with a pretty awesome filling that is most definitely going on the recipe keeper list.

The filling is sweet and tart, using 2 types of apples. You can change up the apple mix to suit your tastes. The danish is sweet with the icing on top so if you prefer a more tart filling, you can use all granny smith's. A little cornstarch helps the filling thicken. I recommend making it a day or two before you plan to bake the danish (you can also make the pastry dough ahead). It sets up even more after chilling in the fridge. This filling could be used with other dessert options, like an apple turnover using store bought puff pastry, it could be used to fill a crepe, top a cheesecake, or fill a tart shell. This sweet breakfast treat is best served warm from the oven.

The apple danish was a big hit with my family. I kept hearing, "Wow, you made this?" Which makes me blush a little. I am happy to report there wasn't a speck left over.

Hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving and are gearing up for the holiday fun in December!

For the danish pastry recipe, including some step by step photos, click here.

Apple Danish Filling

Yields about 2 cups
Ingredients:

3 apples (I used 1 granny smith and 2 rome apples), peeled, cored and sliced in 1/2 inch wide by 1 inch tall chunks
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
pinch of salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 cup unsalted butter (1 stick), sliced in 1/2 pieces

Directions:

In a small bowl combine sugar, cornstarch, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg until thoroughly mixed. Heat a medium sized skillet over medium heat and add butter. Once butter is melted add the apples and sugar mixture. Bring mixture to a simmer and stir occasionally and cook for about 15 minutes or until apples are just tender but not mushy and the sauce is slightly thickened. Allow mixture to fully cool before filling the danish pastry. The filling can be made up to three days ahead. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator until ready to use.

Danish Pastry Braid

2011-11-21T04:00:00.000-08:00

I have never made pastry. When I was assigned Gitte's blog, My Danish Kitchen for this month's Secret Recipe Club I saw Danish pastry and there was no turning back.

Danish Pastry, also called Wienerbrød, is one of many Danish recipes on Gitte's blog. Gitte is from Denmark but has made a home in the United States with her husband and son. She writes that she experienced challenges cooking in a foreign country with unfamiliar ingredients over the years. She has tapped into her family back home to help her learn to cook. She has a lovely blog filled with an array of recipes both Danish and American inspired. I'm totally intrigued by Danish treats and see some others on Gitte's site I need to make, like Danish Træstammer, like a marzipan covered cake truffle or Danish Hindbærsnitter, Danish cookies filled with raspberry preserves. Yum! Pop over to My Danish Kitchen and check out the great recipes.

Making pastry takes planning and patience, two things I could be a lot better at. So I knew I wanted to give this a go.

The first order of business was to purchase cardamom. My local chain grocery store had it....for $11.79 for a 1.25 ounce bottle! I didn't really want to invest that much money for a spice I wasn't sure I would use again. So I went to a nearby Persian grocery store where I knew they would have an array of spices. I was able to get 0.75 ounce for $1.99. Now that's what I'm talking about! Cardamom has a spicy fragrence that reminds of spices similar to allspice and cloves. I was worried it might be overpowering, but the cardamom flavor was extremely mild in the finished product.

The dough needs resting time so plan to make it the night before you want to have it for breakfast. And then get up (really early) to roll and fold the dough (3 times), chill it again for 30 minutes and then roll it one last time, fill it, braid it, glaze and top it, bake it, ice it and finally cut and serve it. Phew...I'm out of breath! It's really not that bad. Each step is pretty straightforward. I would plan to allow at least 90 minutes of prep and cook time the morning you want to make this. I didn't get up as early as I wanted to, but the Danish pastry was done technically done in the (late) morning hours.

A few notes. I accidentally omitted the sugar in the dough. I didn't even notice until I was typing up Gitte's recipe. Whoops. It still turned out great despite this omission. There is plenty of sweetness from the filling and icing to make up for it. Speaking of filling I used ollalieberry preserves that I had on hand in place of raspberry preserves. Use your favorite preserves. I had a little trouble braiding the pastry. First off, I rolled it out too long (about 18 inches instead of 12). I had too many strips to braid so I ended up cutting about 6 of them off. This error wasn't noticeable in the finished product either. My braid baked for 15 minutes exactly and could have used 2 more minutes in the oven.

Check out the big pieces of butter in the dough...this was the first of three times rolling and folding the dough

This is after 3 times of rolling and folding the dough...it goes back into the fridge to chill for another 30 minutes

Ready for braiding

The braid gets glazed with egg wash and topped with pearl sugar and sliced almonds

Fresh out of the oven

The result? Despite things not coming together perfectly, it was still a delicious, flaky fruit filled pastry. This beautiful pastry would be great for a special breakfast or for brunch. The recipe makes two 12 inch braids. I made one and froze the dough for the second one. So another Danish pastry is in my future. I'm already thinking about filling it with apple pie filling. Mmmmm.

Enjoy!

Danish Pastry Braid {Wiernerbrød)
from My Danish Kitchen

Makes two 12 inch pastry braids

Pastry Ingredients:
3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups cold unsalted butter
2 packages active dry yeast (4 1/2 teaspoons)
1/2 cup warm water (105 - 115 degrees F)
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon cardamom
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs, room temperature
1/4 cup sugar

Filling:
Seedless raspberry preserves

Glaze:
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 tablespoons water
Pearl sugar, for topping
Slice almonds, optional, for topping

Icing:
1 cup powdered sugar
2-3 teaspoons warm milk
1/2 teaspoon almond extract

Directions:

Place flour in the bowl of (an 11 cup) food processor fitted with the steel blade. Cut butter into 1/4 slices and add to flour. Pulse until the butter is the size of kidney beans.

Dissolve yeast and warm water in a large blow. Let stand for 5 minutes and stir yeast until smooth. Add in cream, cardamom, salt, eggs and sugar and stir until combined. Turn the butter flour mixture into the liquid mixture and use a rubber spatula to carefully mix until the dry ingredients are moistened. Dough will have large pieces of butter and may look slightly crumbly. Cover dough and refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight or up to 4 days.

Place dough on a lightly floured surface and dust the dough and your rolling pin with flour. Roll out the dough to make a 16 to 20 inch rectangle. Fold the dough in thirds longwise, rotate dough 1/4 turn and fold into thirds again, make a small rectangle. Turn the dough over. Repeat the rolling and folding 2 more times (making it a total of rolling and folding 3 times). You will end with a small rectangle of dough. Wrap dough and chill for 30 minutes to overnight. (I chilled for an hour)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

Divide the chilled dough into two parts. Roll each half into a 6 x 12 inch rectangle. If you are not making both braids at the same time, wrap the second half of dough and place in the refrigerator until ready to roll. Dough can also be frozen and unthawed in the refrigerator overnight.

Spread the filling down the length of the center 1/3 of each rectangle. Cut slanting (45 degree angle) 3/4 inch strips along both sides such that there are equal number of strips on each side. Carefully transfer the braids to the baking sheets and let dough rise for 15-30 minutes until it appears slightly puffy (it not double in size). Lightly beat the egg and water for the glaze. Once the dough has risen, brush the pastry with the glaze and sprinkle with pearl sugar and/or sliced almonds.

Bake for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown. Make icing by mixing powdered sugar, milk and almond extract until silky smooth. Drizzle icing on the top and let set. Cut crosswise into 2 inch slices.

Sweet Pepper Soup and Herb Parmesan Crostini

2011-11-20T22:15:00.000-08:00

I have not been a huge soup person in the past and have only made soup at home once in a while. The weather has officially turned cool and I've been craving soup lately. I have made three soups in the last three weeks. The first was a butternut squash soup from Cooking Light. It was ok, but I didn't deem it blogworthy. The second soup was chicken noodle from Cook's Illustrated. A good solid soup, but I forgot to photograph it. Guess that means I have to make it again. And the third soup was this sweet pepper soup. You will notice that I didn't reference a recipe source for this one, because it was really an amalgmation of a few recipes I came across and I'm going to deem this one my own since it was vastly different from any of the individual recipes.

What I love about all this soup making is how easy it is. Especially since I am not making my own stock and using store bought stock or chicken base and water. I've been making the soup the night before we want to have it for dinner. I have noticed this extra time allows the soup flavors to develop overnight making it even better the next day.

I created this soup out of necessity of not wanting to waste 6 sweet bell peppers sitting in my fridge for over a week. I was very happy with the result. Hubby said this soup would be great with a grilled cheese sandwich and I have to agree. We had the soup with herb parmesan crusted crostini which is great to dip in and soak up all the sweet pepper goodness.

Enjoy!

Sweet Pepper Soup

Serves 4

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large sweet onion, chopped into a medium dice
2 small carrots, chopped into 1/2 inch pieces (about 1/2 cup)
4 large garlic cloves, cut in quarters
1/4 cup dry white wine
6 sweet bell peppers, seeds and stems removed and chopped into 1 inch pieces
3 cups water
4 teaspoons chicken base (if you are using chicken broth instead, use 3 cups of low sodium broth)
1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes
8 large basil leaves plus extra for garnish
2 tablespoons tomato paste
Salt and pepper to taste
Sour cream and feta cheese to top soup

In a dutch oven or large pot, heat olive oil on medium high heat and saute the onion, carrots and garlic until the onions are cooked, about 8 minutes. Add wine and cook on high until only about a tablespoon of wine remains. Add peppers, water, chicken base, red pepper flakes, basil and tomato paste. Season generously with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, then cover and reduce heat to low and simmer for about 30 minutes until peppers are tender. Use an immersion blender to puree the soup. Alternatively, use a blender or food processor to puree the soup in batches. Strain soup into a large bowl using a fine mesh strainer. Don't skip this step if you like a smooth soup to strain out the skin from the peppers. Serve with a small dollop of sour cream, a sprinkle of feta and freshly torn basil.

Herb Parmesan Crostini

Ingredients:

1 baguettte
1/2 cup coarsely grated or chopped parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons butter, room temperature
1 1/2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
2 tablespoon fresh chives, minced (optional)
fresh cracked black pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with foil or parchment.

Cut baguette on the diagonal crosswise into 1/4 thick slices. Mix all ingredients together and lightly spread cheese mixture onto the slices and place face up on the baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes. Turn the oven to broil and bake for an additional 2-3 minutes until crostini is golden brown.

Buckeyes

2011-11-14T22:14:00.001-08:00

I totally cheated. I not only made buckeyes back in September, I posted them. I wasn't supposed to do that since Club: Baked was making them this week. I know I'm bad. But I'm going to pull the "Mom" card here. I went in search of chocolate treats to make my Mom for her birthday and I choose two from Baked Explorations. Marshmallow chocolate cups and buckeyes. They made a great birthday gift and I couldn't resist posting them a little early. Hopefully my fellow bakers will forgive me.

I really can't truly call my candies buckeyes since I didn't leave that classic exposed peanut butter eye on top. To be honest I think that buckeyes look totally unappealing. How do I say...they remind me of man parts...that I never imagined I would be mentioning on a food blog. I'm totally uncomfortable that I just said that. Maybe I'm a little prude, but I went with the fully covered up look, by dipping the entire candy in silky dark chocolate and drizzling a swirl of chocolate to pretty them up a bit.

No matter what these candies look like, I can say they are delicious. They are like Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, but better. The peanut butter filling has that sweet peanut butter flavor with a slightly gritty texture. Gritty in a good way. That texture comes from finely ground graham crackers which was something I didn't expect to find in this recipe. Dip in your favorite chocolate and try to resist the urge to eat them 3 at a time.

This recipe is most definitely a keeper and would make a great addition to your holiday goodie tray. It's easy to make and even easier to eat. To see how what real buckeyes look like, head over to the Club: Baked site and check out posts from my fellow bakers. To get the recipe head over to Karen's site, Cookies Cakes and More.

Enjoy!

Ooey Gooey Caramel Pumpkin Blondies

2011-11-13T07:51:00.000-08:00

See that caramel peeking through the top? That's ooey gooey goodness. I was completely mesmerized by the words "ooey gooey" when I spotted this recipe on the Tasty Kitchen site about 2 weeks ago. I bookmarked it and like many things, promptly forgot about it. Sometimes I worry about my memory, or lack of. Fast forward 2 weeks. I picked up a large can of pumpkin puree at the store over the weekend, not sure what I would use it for. But I figured a girl should have some pumpkin on hand in the month of November, you know, just in case. Combing the depths of my memory did not send the light bulb off that I should make this recipe. I was actually thinking a brownie might be nice on a cool Sunday afternoon. I pulled up my brownies/blondies favorites folder online and that's when I saw the "ooey gooey" recipe. The minute I spotted it, I knew these had to be made. Especially since I had a hefty portion of caramel sauce left over from the previous week's caramel apple cupcakes.

I wouldn't necessarily describe this as a blondie. It's more like a snack cake. It's soft and cakey and has that ooey gooey caramel layer running through it. The original recipe calls for chocolate chips and walnuts to mixed in with the ooey gooey layer, but I opted just for the chocolate chips. I also added chocolate chips on top. If you are a nut person, I think pecans would be great in this (I'm not really a walnut fan). Though I generally avoid nuts in most desserts, I almost wished I had added pecans to at least half the pan. These snack cakes are so soft and tender that a little crunch would bring a nice texture crunch.

These keep well for about 5 days stored in an airtight container. This served as my breakfast for at least 4 days this week. Good stuff!

Enjoy!

Ooey Gooey Caramel Pumpkin Blondies (with Chocolate and Walnuts)
from Lauren's Latest via Tasty Kitchen

Ingredients:

For the blondies:
3/4 cup butter, softened
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

For the filling:

1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/4 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
1 – 14 oz. package caramels, unwrapped
1/4 cup heavy cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease 9×13 pan with non stick cooking spray and set aside.

In a medium bowl whisk the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda and salt together. Using a mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add in eggs, vanilla and pumpkin and mix on low until combined. Slowly incorporate the dry ingredients into the batter. Mix until just incorporated. Spread 2/3 of the batter into the prepared pan and spread evenly. Sprinkle nuts and chocolate chips on the batter.

Make the caramel filling by placing the unwrapped caramels and the cream into a medium heat proof bowl. Microwave on high in 20 second intervals until caramel is smooth and completely melted, stirring in between intervals.

Pour melted caramel over the chocolate and nuts. Spread the caramel layer evenly with an offset spatula, butter knife or spoon. Place dollops of remaining batter on top of the caramel layer. Gently spread the dollops out to try and get a smooth layer of batter. Don't worry if some of the caramel is showing though.

Bake for 25 minutes or until edges are golden and toothpick comes out clean when inserted.
Cool completely before serving. Serve with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.

Slow Cooker Apple Butter

2011-11-07T21:30:00.000-08:00

I didn't plan to post 3 apple recipes in a row. It just sort of happened that way. I'm going to roll with it and call this apple week. I have to say, I'm loving all things apple right now. I think the culmination will be my Grandma Edna's apple pie recipe around Thanksgiving. It's one of those non recipe recipes. You know, a little of this, a little of that? But it is hands down my all time favorite apple pie. This apple butter is very reminiscent of those beloved apple pie flavors.

Hubby came home when the apple butter had been in the slow cooker for about 4 hours or so and the entire house smelled of apple goodness. He wondered what I was making....apple butter I told him. But when he saw the finished product, he said, "that doesn't look like butter". I tried to explain to him it doesn't actually contain butter, but it takes on a thick spreadable butter like consistency. He still couldn't seem to get beyond the name and told me I should stop calling it butter, since there is no butter! Oh, honey, you can call it whatever you want. This non butter butter is like a thick applesauce with an intense apple pie flavor.

Apple butter is great way to pizazz up your toast or English muffin. You can put it on graham crackers drizzled with caramel sauce for a snack like I did (I had some left over from the caramel apple cupcakes from earlier in the week begging to be used up). We also had apple butter for breakfast, stirred into homemade oatmeal. I'm kind of embarrassed to admit, it was my first time making homemade oatmeal (instead of using one of those Quaker oats packets). Now that I know how easy it is, I will be making it again over the coming winter months.

Apple butter is easy to make. You start with cut up apples and juice in a large pot and cook it down until the apples are tender. Then you blend the cooked apples into applesauce. You can use a blender or an immersion blender to puree your apples into sauce. What is an immersion blender, you ask? It's a handheld stick blender that you use right in the pot you are cooking in to puree your food. This handheld device does all the work a blender would do but you don't have the headache of transferring hot food to a blender in batches. It's fantastic for making soups, sauces and apple butter of course. If you are considering new gadgets for your holiday wish list, I highly recommend it. Ok, now that my PSA on immersion blenders is over...Your pureed applesauce goes into the slow cooker and you stir in sugar and spices and let the slow cooker do its thing for 8 to 10 hours. Part of the cooking time in the crock pot should be uncovered to allow the excess juices to boil down. I wasn't so patient and think mine could have used another hour or so uncovered. You can store the apple butter tightly covered in the fridge for a couple of weeks, or you can preserve it and give apple butter to your friends and family for the holidays. The recipe yields 7-8 one half pints of apple butter.

Enjoy!

Slow Cooker Apple Butter
from seriouseats.com

6 pounds of apples, peeled, cored and cut into 1 inch pieces (I used honey crisp)
2/3 cup of apple cider or apple juice or water (I used apple juice)
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

Combine apples and cider (juice or water) in a large heavy bottomed pot. Bring the mixture to a boil and reduce to simmer and continue cooking for about 30 minutes or apples are tender. Puree the apple mixture with an immersion blender (or if using a regular blender, remove the center piece of the lid to allow the heat to escape when blending). At this stage you will have applesauce.

Transfer the apple sauce to a crock pot and stir in the sugars and spices. Turn the crock pot to low and cook for 8 - 10 hours, until the mixture thickens and can hold its shape. You can test the apple butter by placing a dollop on a small plate and put the plate in the freezer for about 5 minutes, or until the plate no longer feels warm on the bottom. If the apple butter slides down the plate, it's not ready. Note: I had to cook the applesauce for 10 hours with the last 90 minutes removing the lid from the crock pot to allow the excess juice/liquid to cook off. The recipe doesn't specify whether to put the lid on the crock pot or not, but it was my assumption that it should be cooked covered.

Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 3-4 weeks. Or you can easily preserve your apple butter. Click here for instructions on preserving. The butter should be preserved while it's still hot and then processed in your pot or canner for 20 minutes.

Caramel Apple Cupcakes

2011-11-01T00:00:00.000-07:00

"It tastes like fall."

That is what my uber ~~picky~~ particular Hubby said when he tasted these cupcakes. For those of you who don't know my Hubby or are new to the blog, that, my friends, is what I like to call a rave review! Because tasting like fall is a good thing. And he is absolutely right, these cupcakes do taste like fall. The flavors have all the goodness of fall, with apples, cinnamon and other warm spices along with a delicious buttery caramel flavor pulling it all together.

Caramel Apple Cake was Melissa from the Lulu the Baker's pick for this week's Club: Baked baking assignment. And the timing couldn't be better coming right around Halloween. Who doesn't love a caramel apple? The recipe as written from Baked Explorations is a massive 3 layer cake that can be presented in a few impressive ways. Below is a picture of how the cake appears in the book.

I also came across this amazing presentation from the Great Cake Company. Jaime made the cake look like a giant caramel apple, stick included! You have to pop over to her site to see her gorgeous cake. It's really stunning.

If you have a party to go to this fall, this cake would surely be a crowd pleaser. It would also make a nice addition to a Thanksgiving dessert round up.

This monster cake was too big for just Hubby and me so I halved the recipe and ended up 12 standard size cupcakes and 12 mini cupcakes...still way more than enough for the 2 of us! I ended up giving some to my neighbor who has 4 year old twin girls and a friend helped take a few more off our hands. For the twins I decorated the tops of the cupcakes with caramel circles and made them look like spider webs (much like the photo above from the book). I placed a spider ring in the middle of each cupcake. Now I'm regretting that I didn't take any photos...laziness does not pay off! Anyway, when I brought the cupcakes over the girls were immediately excited about the spider rings and licked the frosting off and put the rings on. I chatted for a bit with my neighbor and her girls. I had a conversation with one of the twins that went something like this,

Where do you live?
I live 2 doors down.

What's your name?
Gloria

Do you have any daughters?
No, sweetie, sorry I don't

Can you make some?
Um...I can make cupcakes

Kids are hilarious.

Now, on to the cupcakes. Three components make up this tasty dessert. Apple spice cake. Caramel buttercream. Caramel sauce.

The apple spice cake is soft, light and moist and really delicious. It could stand all on it's own. With a simple apple glaze or even a dusting of powdered sugar and this would be a great cake (you could do 1/3 of the recipe to get an 8 inch cake). I do have one minor comment about the cake..the apple flavor seemed to fade a little bit the day after I baked it. The apple flavor was very pronounced, no mistaking, this is apple cake on day one. On day two, it was more like this is a really good spice cake...is there a hint of apple in there? I used store bought apple sauce, instead of making my own. I also substituted 1/2 cup (of the 2 cups) of the apple sauce, for homemade apple butter I had made the same day. I wonder if the spices in the apple butter were too much? I would have thought the apple butter would give it a more "apple-y" flavor. Next time I might use the applesauce recipe posted on the Great Cake Company blog as she mentions the use of boiled cider in her applesauce and that it gives an intense fresh apple flavor. There is also a recipe for homemade applesauce in Baked Explorations.

The caramel sauce was pretty dreamy. I made the full recipe for this component figuring I might use the left overs to top ice cream. A few the other bakers in the group seemed to have issues with the sauce being a little on the thin side. I found it to be somewhat thin, but after sitting on the counter for an hour or so it thickened slightly and was just right. The only issue I had with the caramel sauce was one of my own doing. I tend to read through recipes quickly and that's what I did here. They recommend cooking the caramel until it is a rich amber color or you can wait until the mixture reaches 300 degrees on a candy thermometer. I just saw 300 degrees, so I took the sauce off the heat once it reached 300 and added the butter and cream. Then I realized that my caramel was very pale in color. I hadn't waited for it to take on the right color. So I threw it back on the flame and cooked for another 5 minutes or so and it gained a small amount of color. I didn't want to risk overcooking it, so I ended up with a pale caramel. Though pale, it's still super yummy. I think you could get away with reducing the butter by half in this recipe and still get a good result. Note, I'm saying that without actually having tried it. But I might try that next time.

Lastly, there was caramel buttercream....this was like no frosting recipe I've ever made. It started with boiling a mixture of sugar, FLOUR, milk and cream until thickened. I would never imagine flour to be in frosting, but that's what I love about Club: Baked...learning new things. And this was a great thing to learn, because this frosting was awesome. It was smooth and silky with just the right amount of sweetness. I generally don't care for buttercreams because I find them to be overly sweet and buttery tasting. I'm all about butter, but I don't want my frosting to taste like butter.

The trick to this frosting is patience. I had read in the P&Q that some bakers had trouble with the frosting and others suggested continuing to beat the frosting until it reached the desired consistency. So I took that into account when I made it. The boiled sugar, flour, milk cream mixture goes from the stove top to your stand mixer where you mix on high until the frosting cools. This took maybe 8 minutes or so....I kept feeling the outside of the bottom of the mixing bowl and when there was no more warmth, I moved on to adding the butter and caramel sauce. Then I let it beat for probably another 6-7 minutes. At first it seemed thin but, slowly, it became more and more fluffy and eventually resembled frosting! Really delicious frosting.

I'm not going to lie, this cake is not a let's throw this together in a hour kind of cake. It's quite a bit of work and a lot dishes. But the result was absolutely worth the effort. You could make it a little more palatable by breaking up the work and making the caramel sauce the day before (as well as the applesauce, if you are doing homemade). This recipe is moving into the keeper file for certain.

To get the recipe, head over to Lulu the Baker. Thanks for choosing such a fabulous recipe! To see how other Club: Baked bakers did with their cakes, click here.

Apple Pie Muffins

2011-10-30T00:20:00.000-07:00

Living in Southern California makes it a bit challenging to discern any transition from one season to the next. I did put on a sweater one day this week, but that was more to tolerate the frigid zone that is my office. Plus it was overcast outside so I thought I could justify it. But the temps were in the 60's, which was the coolest daytime temperature this week. The temps have climbed up to the 70's and low 80's this weekend. I shouldn't complain. It's not snowing here like it is in the northeast part of the country. Anyway, it really isn't the weather that defines the seasons here. For me it is the food that tells me what season it is. And over the last few weeks I've been cooking and baking with some of my favorite fall ingredients, like pumpkin, butternut squash, sweet potatoes and apples.

These apple muffins caught my eye when I spotted them on My Baking Addiction and I knew I needed to make them. They have large chunks of apple and crunchy crumb topping. I'm always a sucker for a crumb topping. I used gala apples, because that is what I had on hand and I found the muffins to be a bit too sweet. I have a feeling if I had used the tart granny smith apple that the recipe calls for the sweetness would balance out. If you use a sweet apple I recommend reducing the brown sugar in the muffin recipe by 1/4 to 1/2 cup. Despite the extra sweetness, I really enjoyed these muffins. They are definitely reminiscent of apple pie.

Do you ever freeze your muffins? If you have more muffins than your household can eat within a couple of days, try freezing them. Once the muffins are completely cool, individually wrap them tightly in plastic wrap. Place the individually wrapped muffins in a freezer storage zip top bag and remove excess air. When you want to eat a muffin (or 2), just take the wrapped muffin out of the freezer before you head to bed the night before and set it on the countertop. It will be completely thawed and ready to eat in the morning. It's a great way to prevent muffins from going to waste and to have a nice treat without having to bake again.

Enjoy!

Apple Pie Muffins
from My Baking Addiction

Makes 12 muffins

Ingredients

Muffin:

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice (or use cinnamon)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 egg
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup butter (1 stick), melted and cooled
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 cups chopped granny smith apples, about 1/2 - 3/4 inch chunks

Topping:

1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup rolled oats
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 tablespoons butter, melted

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line muffin tin with paper cupcake liners and set aside. In a large bowl whisk 2 1/4 cups flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda and salt. In a small bowl, whisk the egg, buttermilk, 1/2 cup melted butter, vanilla and 1 1/2 cups of brown sugar and stir until sugar is dissolved.

Pour the buttermilk mixture into the flour mixture and gently stir until just combined. Gently fold in the apples. Fill muffin liners nearly to the top.

Make the topping by combining 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/3 cup of flour, rolled oats and cinnamon in a small bowl. Drizzle in 3 tablespoons melted butter and mix until combined. Distribute all the top mixture evenly across the muffins. Don't be shy!

Bake for 25 minutes or until tops spring back or a toothpick inserted into the muffin comes out clean. Cool in the muffin tin on a wire rack.

Chocolate Chip Pretzel Bars

2011-10-24T04:00:00.000-07:00

Secret Recipe Club time again! Which means yet another month has flown by. I am so not ready for the rapidly approaching holidays...

Wondering what Secret Recipe Club is? It is a monthly online cooking and baking group where each participant is assigned another person's blog and the assignments are kept secret, much like a Secret Santa. You browse the blog you were assigned, and choose a recipe to make and post about. Everyone "reveal" their posts on the same day. It's a great way to get know a blog you might not be familiar with and to try out a new recipe.

I was excited to see my assigned blog was Jamie's Cookin' with Moxie. I know Jamie from two baking groups, Sweet Melissa Sundays and most recently, Club: Baked. What I love about Jamie is her energy. When I read her posts she makes me smile. I imagine her to be bursting with energy and excitement with a big smile on her face. And you can tell she channels that energy through food. She's an Italian girl, originally from Long Island, NY and comes from a big family. She loves to cook with her friends and family and says that "that cooking and baking creates the best memories!" I couldn't agree more! Be sure to check out Jamie's site...she moved to her own URL and has a whole new look and feel, along with a new blog name (her former blog was Random Acts of Food).

As always, I struggled to choose what recipe to make. Too many tempting choices! Again, I ended up going the sweet route this month because I wanted to make something to take to my family pumpkin carving gathering this weekend. Her recipe for Chocolate Chip Pretzel Bars sounded like a a good choice, knowing that my family loves a salty and sweet treat.

I stayed pretty true to her recipe with a couple of minor modifications. I omitted the chocolate sprinkles, and instead decided to up the chocolate factor and top these bars with chocolate ganache and a whole pretzel. I had originally planned to top these bars with a milk chocolate ganache to bring a little extra sweetness to the salty pretzels. But unfortunately I ruined some perfectly good milk chocolate and it seized up. So I turned to my chocolate stash and the only chocolate I had enough of was a bittersweet dark chocolate. So I went with it. I'm a big dark chocolate fan, but I was afraid it might be a little too dark for my nieces and nephew. Luckily I made 2 desserts for pumpkin carving...the pretzel bars and pumpkin cupcakes with cream cheese frosting (post coming soon) so I'm hoping everyone will find something the like that will satisfy their sweet tooth.

These bars are super easy to make and put a fun twist on a chocolate chip cookie with salty pretzel crunch. My bars were done in 30 minutes, but I think they still may have been slightly over cooked. Next time I would check at 25 minutes. I am planning to try this recipe again using with the milk chocolate ganache. I think that would bring just the right balance of salty and sweet!

Now let's see if we can take sweet our time before November Secret Recipe is here!

Chocolate Chip Pretzel Bars
from Cookin' with Moxie (originally from foodandwine.com)

Ingredients:

2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups of coarsely chopped pretzels
12 oz chocolate chips
2 tablespoons chocolate sprinkles (optional) - I omitted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 9 x 13 metal baking pan with parchment paper, allowing the paper to hang over the edges by 2 inches all around. This will help you remove the bars from the pan once they are cooked.

In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt and whisk. In a large bowl or your stand mixer, beat the butter and both sugars at medium speed until light, about 1 minutes. Beat in the eggs and vanilla. Turn the mixer to low slowly add the dry ingredients until just combined. Stir in the pretzel bits and chocolate chips.

Spoon dough into your prepared baking dish and use a spatula to evenly spread the dough. If you are using sprinkles you would add them on top now. Bake for 30 - 35 minutes or until golden and just set. Transfer the pan to a rack and let cool completely.

Run a knife around the sides of the pan and lift out the bar using the parchment paper as handles. Cut into 24 squares and serve.

Chocolate ganache:
from Sweet Melissa Baking Book

6 ounces of good quality chocolate, coarsely chopped (I recommend milk chocolate for this recipe)
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon light corn syrup

Place chocolate in a heat proof medium bowl. Heat heavy cream in a small saucepan until it is scalding or bubbles form around the edges. Pour heated cream over the chocolate. Do not stir. Let stand for 5 minutes. Cover with plastic wrap. Slowly stir the chocolate and cream together after 5 minutes until fully combined. Stir in corn syrup. Let stand for at least 10 minutes to thicken a bit.

To assemble bars with chocolate ganache and whole pretzels:

Pour ganache over your cookie bar before removing it from the pan and cutting it. Place 24
whole pretzels spread evenly in the pan, running 4 down the short side and 6 across the long side. Place the pretzels in even rows for easy cutting. Allow the ganache and pretzels to set for about 30 minutes. Cut into squares and serve!

Red Rice Salad and A Photography Workshop

2011-10-22T19:58:00.000-07:00

I've missed you guys! It's been a crazy, busy week.

Remember the photography workshop I gushed about last month? The one that I won a spot in? It happened on October 15th and I've been dying to tell you about it all week. Work and a mishap with deleting all my red rice photos from my memory chip before they made it onto my computer delayed this post a bit. I finally have some quiet time to get it all down (and I squeezed some time in yesterday to re-shoot the red rice). Right now I'm sitting in the quiet of my living room, with a cup of hot tea and the cats snoozing nearby while Hubs is still sleeping upstairs. Ahhhh.

From Left to Right: Shawnda of Foodie Bride, Katie of Epicurean Mom, Nancy of A Communal Table (in the black), Lori of Lemons and Lavender and Diane of White on Rice Couple

A week ago today at this time I was driving to spend the day with the White on Rice Couple and several other talented bloggers for an all all day food photography and food styling workshop. I have to say, I had a few butterflies in my stomach during the car ride there. And the night before...I felt kind of like a kid, too excited and restless to sleep in anticipation of going to Disneyland the next day. I was also a little nervous to meet everyone in person for some reason. This was my first time meeting any other food blogger in the flesh. Going from cyberspace to real life is kind of surreal. But my butterflies disappeared seconds after I walked into Todd and Diane's beautiful studio and I was warmly greeted with a big hug from Diane, followed by a greeting from their sweet dog, Sierra.

Though it was only 8 am, the studio was buzzing with energy. Nancy from A Communal Table was serving her delicious egg bake with salsa and Alex from Dishin' it Out with Alex was plating her bounty of gluten free sweets, including cinnamon chocolate chip cookies, banana peanut butter chocolate chip cookies and mixed berry mini muffins. Todd was setting up the audio/video. And Diane was being the hostess with the mostess!

The workshop participants trickled in and we all talked and got to know each other. And we ate. There was A LOT of eating going on throughout the day! Though many of us were from various reaching parts of Southern California from Santa Barbara to San Diego, we had a few from out of state as well, Brooklyn, Houston and Portland. Everyone was there to learn, have fun and support a great cause.

The workshop was a fund raiser for Jennifer Perillo of In Jennie's Kitchen who's husband, Mikey, passed away unexpectedly just over 2 months ago. To learn more about Jennie's story click here. Jennie attended the workshop with us and it was great getting to know her. She is an amazingly strong and inspirational woman. She is real and down to earth. I encourage you to check out her blog. It's about food. It's about life. It's inspiring.

Diane walking us through her styling process step by step

After the breakfast meet and greet, we got down to business and Todd and Diane began sharing their knowledge about photography, food styling and community. They have an incredible passion for what they do and you can see that it is not a "job" for them. It's an integral part of their life.

We got the opportunity to do our own hands on photography and styling, with full access to their drool worthy "prop room". I have to figure out how to get one of those....or maybe a prop closet to start?

My first attempt at styling...was not much of success

Diane showing her approach to styling the lemons...she lost the bulk and broke it up with lemon slices. See the difference?

Someone else set this up and I played around with the positioning and lighting

Another perspective on the same scene

Alex shooting her peanut butter banana chocolate chip cookies with Sierra standing guard

Diane putting her styling touches on Alex's cookies.

My attempt at shooting Alex's cookies. Diane added the ribbon to break up the dark colors and add movement to the shot.

Playing around with pears and light and shadow

Aren't figs pretty?

Todd took the time to help me take the first baby step in using my camera on manual settings. Not an easy thing! Though I have relied on the food setting on my camera for the past year and a half, I realized that my control is very limited. It will take some time and a lot of practice, but I plan to ween myself off my beloved food setting. This week I have been taking some pictures with food setting and an equal amount of photos the manual setting...I'm not quite ready to take the training wheels off, but I'm working on it!

This is the second hands on styling session where I tried my hand at styling baked goods leftover from a cookbook shoot.

Shooting more cookies

We shared breakfast, lunch and dinner together on Saturday and the food was homemade, healthy and delicious. At lunch we had tender pulled pork with crisp sesame rice crackers (asian nachos as Diane called them) and a trio of salads - kale salad with pine nuts, edamame salad and my personal favorite, red rice salad. Don't get me wrong, they were all mouthwatering, but the red rice salad had me going back for seconds. I knew I wanted to make it at home.

Lastly, I want to tell you about the culmination of our day with Todd and Diane. Dinner was a family style Vietnamese feast of spring rolls where we got to cook own own shrimp, beef and veggies on tabletop grills. The rolls are filled with your choice of ingredients...lettuce, fresh herbs, veggies, pineapple, beef and shrimp, dipped in a fish sauce or peanut sauce.

Todd and Diane doing some pre-dinner prep

Jennie helping set the dinner table

It was fun, fresh and healthy. And of course, like everything else we ate, it was delicious! Another inspirational dish that I hope to make at home very soon. Hubs and I might even venture to Little Saigon to try out some other Vietnamese cuisine.

See all those fresh herbs and lettuce? Marinated shrimp and beef and fresh veggies are under the plastic wrap. The rice paper wrappers are on top of the plates. You dip the wrapper in the red rimmed bowl filled with warm water to soften the wrappers. All you have to do is cook your food, fill your wrapper and dip in one of the sauces. Good stuff!

I want to extend my thanks to the White on Rice Couple and everyone who was at the workshop for a fabulous day! I met some amazing people, learned a ton and walked away with my mind racing with thoughts about how to incorporate all that I learned into my blog and into my life.

Check out these posts from fellow workshop participants recounting their experiences last Saturday.

Lemons and Lavender

Epicurean Mom

Confections of Foodie Bride

Scaling Back

Now, let's get into the nitty gritty details of this unique rice.

I love the exotic look of the red rice

I had never heard of red rice before last Saturday. I took Diane's advice and went to a local asian market to find it at an affordable price. It's a slightly chewy grain of rice with a nutty flavor. The texture is similar to brown rice, but not quite as chewy. The rice is dressed in a magical caramelized shallot vinaigrette. Fresh parsley and mint give it a nice bright flavor and diced cucumbers provide a refreshing crunch. It makes a great side dish, or you could turn it into a main dish with some grilled shrimp on top.

The salad is easy to make. If you can figure out how to cook red rice. The package I bought from 99 Ranch Market had no cooking instructions. So I turned to the web for help. Apparently there are wildly different thoughts on how to cook this uncommon grain. One recipe recommended soaking the rice overnight, while another said to soak it for an hour and another said just rinse it to remove the excess starch. In Diane's recipe she mentions that red rice takes a bit more water than standard rice and recommends using a rice cooker for more even cooking. Basically I took an amalgamation of suggested techniques and just gave it a go. I rinsed the rice to remove excess starch and used a rice cooker. The first go round turned out very sticky. I think I had too much water. I tossed it in the garbage and started again. This time I used less water, added a spot of butter (to prevent sticking). After nearly 2 hours in the rice cooker, it turned out pretty darn good.

The shallot vinaigrette is fantastic. It would be great on any salad, from couscous to kale. I will be making it again to experiment with other uses for this tasty goodness.

The red rice salad kept well in the fridge and fed me for lunch for several days. This recipe is going into the keeper file. Now I have 3 1/2 pounds of red rice to use up and will be trying out some other recipes with this pretty little grain.

Red Rice Salad
from White on Rice Couple

Serves: 3-4 (yields 4 cups of cooked rice)

Ingredients:

1 cup raw red rice, cooked according to the package instructions (I used a rice cooker used a ratio of 2:1, 2 parts water, 1 part rice)
1 cup diced cucumbers
1/4 cup fresh chopped parsley
1/4 cup fresh chopped mint

Shallot Vinaigrette:
3 large shallots, minced
3 medium cloves of garlic minced and crushed with side of a kitchen knife (use a sprinkle of salt to help crush the garlic)
4 tablespoons of olive oil or grapeseed oil
2 teaspoons sugar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Fresh ground black pepper to taste.

Cook the rice and allow to cool. In small non stick skillet add 2 tablespoons of oil and heat on low. Add shallots and garlic and cook until the mixture is a light golden brown (about 15 minutes). Remove from heat and add remaining 2 tablespoons of oil, the sugar, soy sauce, sesame oil, salt, vinegar, lemon juice and black pepper. Stir until the ingredient are well incorporated and the sugar is dissolved. Set the vinaigrette aside and chopped the cucumbers and herbs.

Once rice is completely cooled, stir in cucumbers, herbs and the shallot vinaigrette. You can serve it room temperature or chill it in the refrigerator.

The dish can also be served warm. Toss in cucumbers and herbs while rice is still warm and then serve.

Creme Brulee

2011-10-14T20:35:00.000-07:00

When Hubs and I go out for dinner, I almost always order dessert. Shocking, right? But most of the time I can't get Hubby to help me eat it. Unless....it's creme brulee. If creme brulee is on the table, you better get your spoon in there before it gets inhaled by he who shall not be named. I think it's pretty safe to say it's Hubbies favorite dessert to order out. Honestly, I think it's the only dessert he orders out. So when I planned the menu for our Mystery Dinner this past weekend, I knew creme brulee would be our dessert.

I didn't realize how easy creme brulee was to make. Though it's easy, you have to build in time for baking, cooling and chilling in the frigde. I'm not always good at reading a recipe through and factoring all these little details in. But thankfully, we started the creme brulee first and had enough time for our dessert to be ready by the time we finished eating dinner.

So when Hubs and I got married 9 years ago, one of the fun kitchen gadgets we got for our wedding was a kitchen torch. It's been sitting, unused, in it's original box for 9 years. Pretty sad. I think I was a little afraid of it. Turns out torching stuff is fun. Ok, torching sugar is fun. I haven't torched anything else....yet. If you don't have a kitchen torch, I hear you can caramelize the sugar under the broiler. Though I also hear it's more difficult to get the desired affect.

This recipe is another example of how a few simple ingredients can turn into a fabulous dish. The best part is the spoon making that first crack through the browned glassy sugar surface. Then you find the light, creamy vanilla custard lying beneath. Delicious!

Creme brulee has very impressive flavors especially since there are only 4 basic ingredients. Sugar, egg yolks, vanilla and heavy cream. The creme brulee starts on the stove top by heating the cream and sugar until scalding, but not not boiling. You slowly stream in the hot cream mixture into the egg yolks to "temper" the eggs or bring them up to temperature so that the hot liquid doesn't scramble the eggs. Stir in vanilla and pour the liquid through a mesh strainer to catch any bits that may have formed, ensuring you have a silky smooth mixture. Pour the custard into ramekins and bake for 45 in a water bath. Cool and then refrigerate to set. The recipe recommends allowing at least 6 hours to make the creme brulee, but we only had about 3 1/2 and it was just fine. I halved the recipe and ended up with six 4 oz portions. I have noted the halved version of the recipe below.

Now, go buy yourself a kitchen torch!

Creme Brulee
adapted from Sarabeth's Bakery From My Hands to Yours

For the custard:
1 pint heavy cream
1/4 cup superfine sugar
4 large egg yolks, at room temperature
1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract

For the topping:
1/8 cup packed light brown sugar
1/8 cup superfine sugar

Allow at least 4 - 6 hours of prep and cook time before you want to serve your creme brulee. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Whisk egg yolks in a medium heat proof bowl and set aside near your stove. Combine cream and sugar in a heavy bottomed small sauce pan. Bring the cream to barely a simmer, without boiling. Using a 1/4 cup measuring cup ladle the hot cream mixture and drizzle it slowly into the egg yolks. Repeat 3 or 4 times and then combine remaining mixture and eggs together and whisk until fully incorporated. Whisk in the vanilla. Strain the mixture through a fine mesh sieve into a large liquid measuring cup or a bowl with a pour spout. Divide the mixture evenly amongst six 4 oz ramekins. Skim off any bubbles from the surface with a small spoon.

Place the ramekins in a 9x13 baking dish or shallow roasting pan. Place the roasting pan in the oven and pull out the rack and pour hot tap into the pan so that the water comes up half way up the sides of the ramekins. Do not get water in the custard. (I like to add the water once the baking dish is in the oven because I don't want to balance a heavy dish filled with hot water as I move it from the counter to the stove). Bake for about 45 minutes or until custards are set. The custard will move as one solid unit with a small center section that may look uncooked. Carefully remove the ramekins from the water bath and place on a wire rack to cool. Allow to cool about 45 minutes and cover each ramekin with plastic wrap and transfer to the refrigerator to fully set. Refrigerate for 4 hours or over night.

Make topping mixture by combining the brown and superfine sugars. Press them through a fine mesh sieve into a small bowl. Remove custards from the refrigerator and remove plastic wrap. Sprinkle sugar on top of the custards between 1/16 and 1/8 inch thick. Fire up your kitchen torch and slowly caramelize the sugar, holding the torch 3-4 inches from the custard's surface. Torch until you reach the desired sugar caramelization. Garnish with fresh berries and serve.

Filet of Beef with Horseradish Sauce

2011-10-12T21:59:00.000-07:00

Can you say ultimate leftovers? This sandwich was made from left over filet of beef tenderloin with creamy horseradish sauce that Hubby and I made for our Mystery Dinner this past weekend. Mystery Dinner is our fun new monthly activity that Hubs and I came up with as way to try new dishes at home and work together in the kitchen with a glass of wine in hand. This month's dinner started with this 44-clove garlic soup and ended with creme brulee (to be posted on Friday).

And in between, our eyes rolled in the back our heads and closed, along with some grunting noises and murmurs like, "Mmmm", "Wow!", "Oh my God!," as we ate this filet of beef. It was AMAZING. It was melt in your mouth delicious. By far, the best beef we've ever made at home. Tender, juicy, flavorful. Heavenly, really. I don't know if this was the wine talking, but I couldn't have been more happy with how this turned out. And the horseradish sauce was a nice cool, creamy and spicy accompaniment. Horseradish and beef are destined for each other.

This was so easy to make and the ingredients couldn't be more simple. Filet of beef, butter, salt and pepper. That's it! Seriously. Goes to show you that delicious meals don't have to be complicated.

This recipe comes from Ina Garten's Barefoot Contessa Parties cookbook. Her original recipe calls for a 4 to 5 pound tenderloin but since it was just the two of us, we purchased the smallest one behind the butcher's counter at 2 pounds. We halved the rest of the ingredients and kept the cooking time and temperature the same. From what I understand, tenderloins are typically the same width and a larger filet is just longer and not thicker, so I didn't adjust the time in the oven. The tenderloin goes onto a baking sheet in a 500 degree oven for exactly 22 minutes for rare and 25 minutes for medium rare. We went with 22 minutes and it was perfect! I recommend using an oven thermometer to verify your oven is up to temperature.

I will say that filet of beef is not something that we buy every day. In fact we have never bought a whole tenderloin before. I've always wanted to make a tenderloin though, and Mystery Dinner was the perfect opportunity. We went to our favorite butcher where we know they have the freshest, highest quality products and we forked over the credit card. It better be high quality at $27.99 a pound! But the splurge was worth every penny. So incredible! Did I mention how amazing this was?

This would make a great special occasion dinner, like New Years Eve, Valentines Day or why not Columbus Day? Treat yourself!

I wish I had snapped a photo of this gorgeous tenderloin the night we made it, but I have decided that I really can't stop and do a mini photo shoot in the middle of our Myster Dinner preparation. Plus the lighting is no good at night. But trust me when I say it was beautiful!

We got 3 meals out of the filet of beef (1 dinner and 2 lunches) which makes the price a little easier to handle. We used homemade dinner rolls slathered with plenty of horseradish sauce and stacked with beef for these tasty little sandwiches. If only all leftovers were this good.

If you are beef lover and have never tried to make a filet of beef tenderloin at home, you have to try it. It really couldn't be easier!

Filet of Beef
adapted from Ina Garten's Barefoot Contessa Parties

Serves 4

1 whole filet of beef (tenderloin), about 2 pounds, fat trimmed away and tied (your butcher will do this for you at no charge if you ask)
1 tablespoon butter, softened
1/2 tablespoon kosher salt
1/2 tablespoon fresh ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 500 degree F. Line a baking sheet with foil. Pat the filet dry with a paper towel. Rub the beef with butter and sprinkle with salt and pepper on all sides. Bake for exactly 22 minutes for rare or 25 minutes for medium rare. Remove from oven and transfer beef to a cutting board and cover tightly with foil. Allow it to rest 15-20 minutes at room temperature. Remove strings and slice in thick slices, 1/2 - 1 inch thick. Serve with horseradish sauce (recipe below).

Horseradish Sauce
adapted from Food.com

1/2 cup sour cream
1/8 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons prepared horseradish (more if you like it spicy)
1 tablespoon dijon mustard
2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh parsley

Combine all ingredients in a small bowl. Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or until ready to use.

44-Clove Garlic Soup

2011-10-10T21:51:00.000-07:00

Hubby and I started a monthly tradition last month that we are calling "Mystery Dinner". Around the first weekend of each month, one of us is responsible for choosing a menu. That person is the "executive chef" and the other is "sous chef". It's a way for us to explore new dishes we've never made while working together in the kitchen (something that doesn't happen very often). It's fun, it's relaxing and there's a payoff where we get to enjoy a delicious meal along with good company at the end of the evening.

Mystery Dinner has a few rules.

1. The spouse choosing the menu has to get approval on all menu items from the other spouse before moving forward.
2. The meal must have at least 2 courses.
3. Each component should be something we've never made before or should have some level of complexity (i.e., no hamburger helper).
4. And most importantly, a bottle of wine must be consumed during the making and eating of the meal along with good music playing in the background.

Hubby hosted our September dinner. He's so cute, he has this box of recipe cards that he acquired when he was just out of high school. The kind where you subscribe and they send you cards in the mail once a month. I think his aunt actually signed him up for the cards, but Hubs got into them. He started cooking for his dad and he's been toting the box around ever since. His recipe box is one of the few items that survived the merging of our stuff when we moved in together back in the day. So for Hubby's first Mystery Dinner, he broke out his trusty recipe box from the back of the cupboard and dusted it off (literally).

He picked out a chicken dish with sauteed orange and yellow peppers and a delicious white wine sauce, cream cheese popovers and brownies for dessert. Overall the meal was a success...but it was not without a few mishaps. We had to make the popover batter twice because the first time it was separated and kind of gross looking. And as our brownie batter was waiting to go in the oven I suddenly realized we never added any butter. Whoops! So I melted the butter and stirred it in. The brownies fared pretty well despite the almost flub. Actually, the flubs made it fun. We got to have a few laughs, some wine and we were in no hurry, so we just meandered through making the meal until it was done.

Here's a peek at our first Mystery Dinner.

This month was my turn to plan the menu and we made 44-clove garlic soup with Parmesan cheese, fillet of beef tenderloin with horseradish cream, homemade dinner rolls (that didn't get baked until the next day) and creme brulee for dessert. With the exception of the dinner rolls, the meal was a big hit!

Let's talk soup.

No joke, this soup indeed has 44 cloves of garlic (which is about 3 heads of garlic). Two-thirds of the garlic gets roasted until soft and sweet and the remaining garlic gets simmered in the soup. Once it all comes together, it gets pureed into a smooth silky deliciousness. We used an immersion blender to do the pureeing--a pretty cool kitchen tool, by the way. Even though this soup has an insane amount of garlic, it has a mild, almost sweet garlic flavor. I absolutely loved it. And so did Hubby. The only thing I would add is a nice crisp Parmesan herb crusted crostada to float on top to slowly drink in all that amazing garlic heaven. Good stuff!

44-Clove Garlic Soup with Parmesan Cheese
adapted from Bon Appetit via Smitten Kitchen

Serves 4

26 garlic cloves unpeeled
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons butter (1/4 stick)
2 1/4 cups sliced onions (about 1 large onion)
1 1/2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme
18 garlic cloves peeled
3 1/2 cups chicken stock
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese (about 2 ounces)
4 lemon wedges

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place the 26 cloves of garlic in small baking dish. Toss the garlic with 2 tablespoons olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Cover the baking dish tightly with foil and bake for about 45 or until garlic is soft and golden brown. Remove from oven and allow to cool enough to handle the garlic. Squeeze each garlic clove to release the garlic and place in a small bowl.

Heat a heavy bottom large saucepan over medium-high heat and melt 2 tablespoons butter. Saute the onions and thyme and cook until the onions are soft and translucent, about 6 minutes. Add the roasted garlic, 18 cloves of raw garlic and cook for an additional 3 minutes. Add chicken stock and cover and simmer for about 20 minutes or until the garlic is tender. Use an immersion blener to puree the soup until smooth or transfer in batches to a blender. Return the soup to the saucepan and add the heavy cream and bring to a simmer. Season with additional salt and pepper if needed.

Divide the grated Parmesan cheese equally into 4 bowls and ladle in soup. Squeeze lemon juice into each bowl and serve. Garnish with fresh thyme or chopped chives.

Online Bake Sale!

2011-10-08T11:31:00.000-07:00

I recently met Gerry through participating in the Secret Recipe Club. He has a great blog, Foodness Gracious that I enjoy following. Gerry's daughter Miranda has Type 1 diabetes and he is hosting an online bake sale that begins today to raise money for Team Miranda and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF). His daughter was diagnosed with diabetes at age 3 and every year his family participates in a 5K walk to support JDRF. This cause is close to my heart because my beautiful niece was also diagnosed with Type 1 at age 3, nearly 10 years ago. When I heard Gerry was holding an online bake sale I knew I wanted to help support this cause!

Head over to Foodness Gracious to see all the delectable treats and baking accessories that are up for sale. Bids begin at $10. There are some tasty looking goodies...I have my eye on some awesome looking chocolate chip cookies...

I know a lot of you that read this blog are fellow food bloggers. This bake sale is a great way to get someone else to bake for you for a change! So treat yourself to something yummy while supporting a great cause!

I am donating Honey Cream Caramels. If you would like to bid stop by Foodness Gracious. Go Team Miranda!

Homemade Chocolate Candy

2011-10-05T22:11:00.000-07:00

Whether my family likes it or not most gifts from me these days consist of homemade goodies. I find as the years go on, it gets harder and harder to pick out gifts for adult family members. My poor dad has gotten a book from me for every Christmas, birthday and Father's Day for the past several years. This year I decided no more books. Who needs to read when you can eat treats instead?

My parents both have September birthdays and I made my Dad these Cherry Chocolate Chip Cookies earlier in the month. My Mom's birthday was a couple of weeks later and I decided to make homemade chocolate candies to satisfy her sweet tooth.

I saw two chocolate candy recipes in Baked Explorations that I knew would be right up my mom's alley. Buckeyes (a.k.a Chocolate Peanut Butter Balls) and Marshmallow Chocolate Cups. (If any of my fellow Club: Baked bakers are reading this, yes, I'm cheating and posting recipes before the group makes them. Sorry! I will plan to post again when each of these recipes comes up on the baking schedule).

I normally use chocolate such as Lindt or Ghiradelli when I want to use "good" chocolate for a recipe. However there are even higher quality chocolates out there, such as Scharffen Berger, Guittard and Vahlrona. These are usually a bit out of my price range for everyday baking but I wanted to use a high quality chocolate for these candies. So I splurged on the good stuff! (You're worth it Mom!)

Both candies tasted great and were fairly easy to make. I had some execution issues with the Marshmallow Chocolate Cups and didn't quite get the chocolate to marshmallow ratio that I was looking for. But now that I have a run under my belt, next time will be a piece of cake! The airy homemade marshmallow was surrounded by a blend of dark and milk chocolate. Yum. And the chocolate peanut butter balls were amazing! The peanut butter filling is very similar to the filling in a Reese's peanut butter cup. (I think the secret is the graham cracker crumbs...never would have guessed that ingredient) Except this is a peanut butter cup elevated with a coating silky decadent dark chocolate. If the peanut butter ball went head to head in a taste off with the marshmallow cup, I would have to pick the peanut butter ball. Love the salty and sweet!

Happy birthday Mom!

Both recipes are going into my keeper file. These chocolate candies would be great to share at a holiday party or would make a nice gift. The authors recommend storing both candies in the refrigerator so be sure to take that into account if you plan to give them away.

Speaking of the holidays, the talented Jamie of My Baking Addiction and Katie of GoodLife Eats have organized a Holiday Recipe Exchange which begins the week of 10/3/2011 and goes for 12 weeks. Each week has a different theme hosted by a different sponsor. You can check out all the holiday recipes and have a chance to win some great prizes. Come join the fun at My Baking Addiction and GoodLife Eats Holiday Recipe swap sponsored by Scharffen Berger.

Buckeyes (a.k.a Chocolate Peanut Butter Balls)
from Baked Explorations by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito

Yields: 36 to 42 candies

Ingredients

1/4 cup cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 cups peanut butter (I used Skippy)
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
3 cups confectioners' sugar
10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
12 ounces good quality dark chocolate (60 to 72%), coarsely chopped

Make the filling:
Beat cream cheese and peanut butter until well combined in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Add the graham cracker crumbs and beat on medium speed for 10 seconds. Add the confectioners' sugar and melted butter and beat on low until combined and then gradually increase the speed to medium and beat until fully combined. The mixture will feel a bit dry. Set aside.

Melt the chocolate:
Fill a small pot with an inch of water and bring to a simmer. Place the chopped chocolate in a heat proof bowl and set over the simmering water (be sure water does not touch the bottom of the bowl). Stir regularly until chocolate is melted and smooth. Pour the chocolate into a small, deep bowl and allow it to cool to tepid (about 100 degrees F). I poured the chocolate into a 2 cup glass measuring cup.

Assemble the candies:
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Form peanut butter mixture into just over a tablespoon sized ball. I used a small scoop with a release mechanism. Roll the dough in your hand to form a ball and set on the baking sheet. Repeat until all the balls have been formed.

Coat each ball in the melted chocolate one at a time. A traditional buckeye has a round spot on the top that is exposed peanut butter, however I dipped mine fully. Use a fork to toss the ball in the chocolate on all sides and the remove the ball with the fork, allowing excess chocolate to fall through the tines of the fork. Gently place on the parchment lined baking sheet. Refrigerate the sheet pan to allow the candies to fully set up before serving.

Store in the refrigerator. Candies are best eaten within 3 days.

Chocolate Marshmallow Cups
from Baked Explorations by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito

Yields 30 candies

60 miniature candy cup papers (about 1 inch in diameter)
16 ounces good quality dark chocolate (60 to 72%), coarsely chopped
8 ounces good quality milk chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 envelope (about 2 1/2 teaspoons) unflavored gelatin
1/3 cup cold water plus 1/4 cup of water separated
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt

Prepare candy cups and chocolate:

Double the candy cup liners to create a more stable cup and help the candy hold its shape. Arrange 30 double cups on a baking sheet.

Fill a small pot with an inch of water and bring to a simmer. Place all the chopped chocolate in a heat proof bowl and set over the simmering water (be sure water does not touch the bottom of the bowl). Stir regularly until chocolate is melted and smooth. Remove the bowl from the heat and stir to release some of the heat. Using a small spoon or a pastry bag fitted with a small round decorating tip (or a zip top bag with a small hole cut in the corner) fill each candy cup with just under 1/4 full. Using a small pastry brush, brush the chocolate from the bottom of the cup up the sides. (I recommend stopping at least 1/8 inch from the top of the cup making it easier to peel off the cups after the candy sets). Make sure the sides of the cup are completely covered in chocolate. Place the baking sheet in the refrigerator while you make the marshmallow filling and set the remaining melted chocolate aside.

Make the marshmallow filling:

Prepare a pastry bag with a small round decorating tip (or take a large zip top bag and snip off a small bit on the corner) and set aside.

In the bowl of stand mixer sprinkle the gelatin over 1/3 cup cold water. Meanwhile, place a small saucepan over medium heat and stir together the sugar and 1/4 cup water until combined. Stop stirring and place a candy thermometer in the saucepan. Bring the sugar to a boil over medium-high heat and cook, still without stirring, until it reaches soft ball stage on the candy thermometer (235 degrees F).

Remove the pan from the heat and slowly stream it into the gelatin. Whisk quickly for 30 seconds to release excess heat and then place the bowl on the stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Mix on medium-high speed for 5 minutes. Add in the vanilla and salt and continue to mix for about 2 additional minutes. Do not mix until if forms soft peaks, you want it to be slightly looser than that. Pour the mixture into your pastry bag (or zip top bag) and set aside.

Assemble the marshmallow cups:
Remove candy cups from the refrigerator. Pipe the marshmallow mixture into the candy cups filling about 3/4 full or about 1/8 below the top of the chocolate. Using a small spoon, or your pastry bag, top marshmallow filling with reserved chocolate until just covered. (I recommend not making this layer too thick so you can retain a nice chocolate to marshmallow ratio.)

Store candy in airtight container in the refrigerator. Serve the cups directly from the refrigerator or take out a few minutes before serving. If candy is left at room temperature it will being to melt or bloom.

Baked Eggplant Parmesan

2011-10-02T17:30:00.000-07:00

I have made some feeble attempts to cook with eggplant in the past. This is my very first post with eggplant in it, which means my first successful eggplant dish. Those folks over at Cook's Illustrated really know what they are doing. They spend hours testing recipes up one side and down the other, figuring out the best way to get the most desirable outcome. What I was missing from my previous eggplant attempts was salting the cut eggplant and allowing it to sit to remove excess liquid (apparently a basic step in preparing eggplant that I was not aware of). This recipe also has a wonderful method for getting a nice crisp bread eggplant round without frying.

This recipe is no 30 minute meal so allow plenty of time to prepare it. I made it on a leisurely Sunday afternoon so I wouldn't feel rushed.

The recipe starts by cutting the eggplant into 1/4 inch rounds and coating them generously with salt. They go into a colander over a bowl and sit to allow liquid to drain. This process takes up to 45 minutes. I used this time to make the sauce (the recipe recommends making the sauce while the eggplant bakes). Once the eggplant releases about 2 tablespoons of liquid they get transferred to a triple layer of paper towels to further remove excess liquid. Then the eggplant gets dredged in flour, egg and a breadcrumb mixture. Instead of frying the eggplant to get a nice crispy coating, they go onto a baking sheet preheated to 425 degrees and lightly coated with olive oil. The rounds go into the oven and with a little rotating and flipping, come out beautifully browned and crisp.

I did a little tweaking with the sauce...I followed the directions as noted below but found it to be a bit acidic. I added a bit of sugar and a bit of heavy cream to reduce the acid. I also found the red pepper flakes to be too much heat for my taste and would cut the amount in half next time. Though the sauce was tasty, I will play around with it a little more next time I make this.

The last step is to layer the crispy eggplant rounds with sauce and mozzarella cheese in a baking dish and go back into the oven to melt the cheese.

The result? Hubby and I both loved it. It's warm. It's hearty. And most importantly, it's delicious! Eggplant has a very mild flavor that pairs perfectly with marinara sauce and melted cheese. If you have not tried eggplant, I urge you to give it shot. It's good stuff!

Another approach would be to plate the crispy eggplant in individual servings, top with sauce and cheese and put it under the broiler for a few minutes until the cheese turns golden brown.

This will be repeat dish in our house. And now that I know Hubs likes eggplant, a whole new avenue of recipes has opened up!

Enjoy!

Baked Eggplant Parmesan
from Cook's Illustrated from the New Best Recipe via Smells Like Home (via Ezra Pound Cake)

Ingredients

Eggplant:
2 medium eggplant (about 2 pounds), cut into 1/4 thick rounds
1 tablespoon kosher salt
4 cups breadcrumbs (I used 3 cups of panko crumbs and 1 cup of Italian Seasoned breadcrumbs)
1 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese (about 2 ounces)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 cup all purpose flour
4 large eggs
6 tablespoons vegetable oil

Tomato Sauce:
2 cans diced or pureed or crushed tomatoes (14 1/2 ounces each) - I used diced
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
4 medium garlic cloves minced (about 1 tablespoon)
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 cup coarsely chopped fresh basil leaves
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

For baking:
8 ounces grated mozzarella (about 2 cups)
1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese (about 1 ounce)
10 fresh basil leaves for garnish

Make the eggplant:
1. Toss half of the cut eggplant rounds in a large bowl with 1 1/2 teaspoons of kosher salt. Transfer the salt eggplant to a colander that is set over a a bowl. Repeat with the remaining eggplant and salt. Let the eggplant stand in the colander for 30 to 45 minutes or until the eggplant releases about 2 tablespoons of liquid. Place the eggplant rounds on a triple layer of paper
towels. Place another triple layer of paper towels over the eggplant and firmly press each slice to remove as much liquid as possible. Wipe off excess salt.
2. About 20 - 30 minutes into the eggplant draining adjust your oven racks placing one in the upper third and one in the lower third of the oven. Place 1 large rimmed baking sheet on each rack and then heat oven to 425 degrees F.
3. In pie plate or large shallow dish, combine breadcrumbs, Parmesan cheese and salt and pepper to taste.
4. Set aside a large baking sheet and place a wire rack over the top. Combine the flour and 1 teaspoon black pepper in a large zip top bag and shake to combine. In a second pie plate or large shallow dish, beat egg. Place 8 to 10 eggplant rounds in the bag and and shake to coat. Dredge each round in the eggs, evenly coating both sides. Then coat the round in the breadcrumb mixture, evenly coating both sides. Place each coated eggplant round on the wire rack and repeat with remaining rounds until they are all breaded.
5. Remove one of the preheated baking sheets from the oven and add three tablespoons of olive oil to the sheet, tilting to evenly coat the sheet with oil. Place half of the breaded eggplant rounds onto the sheet in a single layer and set aside. Repeat process with the second baking sheet and remaining eggplant rounds. Return both sheets to the oven. Bake until the eggplant is browned and crisp about 30 minutes, switching and rotating the baking sheets after 10 minutes and flipping the eggplant slices with a spatula after 20 minutes. Do not turn oven off.

Make the sauce (I made my sauce while my eggplant was draining):
1. While the eggplant bakes, puree 2 cans of diced tomatoes in a food processor or blender until almost smooth. If you are using pureed or crushed tomatoes, skip this step.
2. Heat olive oil, garlic and red pepper flakes in a large heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring periodically until garlic is lightly browned (about 3 minutes). Stir in processed tomatoes and bring sauce to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until reduced and slightly thickened, about 15 minutes. Stir in the basil and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Assemble:
1. Spread 1 cup of tomato sauce in the bottom of a 13x9 inch baking dish. Layer in half of the eggplant slices, overlapping to fit. Spread 1 cup of sauce over the eggplant and sprinkle half the mozzarella on top. Layer the remaining eggplant and dot with 1 cup of sauce, leaving much of it exposed so it will remain crisp. Sprinkle with remaining mozzarella cheese and Parmesan cheese.
2. Bake until bubbling and cheese is lightly browned, about 13 to 15 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes and scatter basil leaves over the top.

Pumpkin Cheddar Muffins

2011-10-01T20:42:00.000-07:00

This marks the 7th recipe for the Club: Baked online baking group. We are making our way though Baked Explorations by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito. The group started on July 1st and we are baking twice a month, on the 1st and 15th. Every 2 weeks or so one participant chooses a recipe for the entire group to make and post about. It's a great way to learn new things and learn from each others experiences with a particular recipe. This week, Billie of Chocolate and Chakra was our hostess and she selected pumpkin cheddar muffins.

Pumpkin and cheddar cheese in a muffin?

I have to admit I was skeptical.

I love pumpkin and I love cheddar...but together? What I have learned is I really shouldn't knock a recipe until I try it. This recipe surprised me. Though this muffin technically falls into the savory category, it still has a slightly sweet component. Kind of like cornbread is savory and sweet. The pumpkin and cheddar are both very mild and the muffin has just a hint of fall flavor. It has a nice soft and moist interior with a slightly chewy texture on the outside with the crisp bits of cheese. And it pairs nicely with soup.

I made half the recipe and ended up with 6 muffins which was perfect for Hubby and me. The muffins are best served warm. You can pop them into a 200 degree oven while you are getting the rest of your meal together.

Hubby and I both enjoyed the muffins, but it wasn't love at first sight. I probably won't be making them again anytime soon. There are too many other recipes out in the world that I want to try. But I'm glad I now know how pumpkin and cheddar work together. It's not such a crazy idea afterall. Thanks to Billie for hosting this week. If pumpkin cheddar muffins sound intriguing you can head over to Billie's blog to get the recipe.

To join our baking adventure head over to the Club: Baked site and get in touch with Karen. The next recipe up on the roster is Sawdust Pie on October 15th.

Lemon Yogurt Cake

2011-09-26T04:00:00.000-07:00

Secret Recipe Club time! That means another month has zoomed by...It's all going too quickly.

Today is reveal day for The Secret Recipe Club, when everyone posts a recipe from their secret blog assignment for the month. The group was founded by Amanda of Amanda's Cookin' and is a great way to discover new blogs. The group is up near 300 participants now and is broken into 4 separate groups of about 75 each all with different reveal dates each month. To learn more about The Secret Recipe Club click here.

For September I was assigned Kate's blog, A Spoonful of Thyme. I spent quite a bit of time browsing her lovely blog. She has a vast array of fantastic looking recipes as well lots of fun travel adventures. Maybe Kate will let me tag along on her next vacation! Kate has a number of tasty looking shrimp recipes that especially caught my eye and I have bookmarked for future use. In the end, my sweet tooth took over. How shocking! And with an abundance of lemons in my fridge, I selected Lemon Yogurt Cake by Ina Garten. Kate has shared the cake on her blog 3 times. Sounds like the mark of a good recipe!

The cake has a serious lemon flavor going on. There is lemon zest in the cake. A lemon syrup is poured over the cake while it's still warm and seeps in to further moisten the cake. When the cake is completely cooled a lemon glaze goes over the top. That's a triple lemon punch! The cake is easy to make and super moist. It would be great for breakfast, an afternoon snack or dessert.

I tend to like my lemon flavor a bit more subtle, so I might skip the lemon syrup next time. All in all a good cake. To make it even more special, top each slice with a dollop of fresh whipped cream.

Go check out Kate and A Spoonful of Thyme for more great recipes.

Lemon Yogurt Cake
from Barefoot Contessa at Home via A Spoonful of Thyme

For the cake:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup plain whole milk yogurt
1 1/3 cups sugar, divided
3 extra large eggs
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest (about 2 lemons)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

For the glaze:
1 cup confectioner's sugar
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350. Butter a 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 x 2 1/2 loaf pan and line the bottom with parchment paper. Dust flour inside the pan coating all sides.

Sift the flour, baking powder and salt in small bowl and set aside. In another bowl whisk yogurt, eggs, 1 cup of the sugar, vanilla and lemon zest. Slowly whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Fold vegetable oil into the batter until fully incorporated. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean.

While the cake is baking, stir 1/3 cup of sugar and 1/3 cup of lemon juice in a small saucepan and cook until sugar is dissolved and the liquid is clear, about 5 minutes.

When the cake is done cooking let it cool in the pan on a rack for about 10 minutes. Use a knife to loosen the sides of the cake from the pan and carefully remove the cake and set it on a wire rack set over a baking sheet. Pour the lemon syrup over the cake allowing it to soak in. Let the cake cook completely.

Make the glaze by whisking together the confectioners sugar and lemon juice. Pour glaze over the fully cooled cake. Allow the glaze to set for at least 30 minutes before slicing.

Chicken Piccata

2011-09-23T21:01:00.000-07:00

It's been a busy week at work. I rarely mention work on the blog, mostly because I when I blog I get to immerse myself in a different world that has nothing to do with work. Like I can pretend that I don't really have a full time job in corporate America. Don't get me wrong, I really like my job and adore the people I work with (and yes, my boss reads this blog...hi Amy). But it's nice to get away to blog land several nights a week and think about all mouth watering sweet treats and savory eats that can be made. Unfortunately this week has cut into my precious blog time and I'm a little behind with a backlog of 6 posts sitting in my drafts folder. I also didn't get to spend as much time in the kitchen as I would have liked. Something I plan to rectify on Saturday.

Now, let's get on with the important business. Chicken piccata.

Hubby LOVES chicken piccata. He has a handful of dishes that he gravitates to and this is one of them. I'm not sure why I've never tried to make it at home before. But I'm glad I finally did. A little wine, a little lemon juice and zest and a few capers and you have a delicious chicken dish.

You start by pounding out chicken breasts out thin or about 1/4 inch thick all around (see instructions below on how to pound out the chicken). Pounding out the chicken breasts allows them to cook evenly and quickly. Lightly season the chicken and coat it in flour.  Be sure to season the chicken before you flour it. I like to cook mine in a ~~non stick~~ stainless steel skillet (like All-Clad) because all the good bits of chicken that brown and stick to the pan get released when you pour in the wine and other sauce components. More browned bits equals more yummy flavor.

I served the chicken over mashed potatoes but next time I would use angel hair pasta. I thought the wonderful lemony wine sauce got a little lost in the mashed potatoes.  The chicken would also be good with rice. And I might also double the sauce component next time because the sauce was really delicious and I wanted more, more, more. I'm kind of a sauce girl.

This recipe is a keeper!

Chicken Piccata
adapted from Eat Yourself Skinny

Serves 2-4
Ingredients:

1 pound chicken breasts, pounded out thin (see below for instructions)
1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon all purpose flour
Salt and Pepper to taste
2 tablespoons of canola oil
2 tablespoons capers, rinsed
2 medium cloves of garlic, minced
1 cup low sodium chicken broth
1/2 cup dry white wine (I used 3/4 cup)
4 two inch wide strips of lemon zest (see below for instructions)
4 teaspoons lemon juice (I used 2 teaspoons)
1 tablespoon chilled butter

Getting Ready:

Pound out chicken:
Place a long piece of plastic wrap on a cutting board and place your chicken breast face down. Plastic wrap should be long enough to fold in half and cover the chicken breast. Using the smooth side of a meat mallet or a small heavy bottomed pan, slowly pound chicken starting in the center and working your way out. You want to get an even thickness across the entire piece of chicken, just under 1/2 thick. I like to cut my pounded out chicken into 2-3 pieces. Repeat process with remaining chicken.

Zest lemon:
Use a sharp vegetable peeler to remove a wide strip of the outer skin of the lemon, being careful only remove the yellow part of the skin and not white part, which is bitter.

Prepare remaining ingredients for the sauce:
Squeeze lemon juice, rinse the capers, mince the garlic, measure the chicken broth and wine and measure out 1 tablespoon of flour and 1 tablespoon of chilled butter.

Start Cooking:

Make the Chicken:
Season chicken cutlets with salt and pepper. Place 1/4 cup of flour in a shallow dish (large enough to hold a chicken cutlet).  Dredge chicken cutlets in the flour and shake off any excess. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Place floured chicken in the heated oil and cook for about 3-4 minutes on one side and turn chicken and continue cooking for an additional 1-2 minutes, until just cooked through. Remove chicken to a plate and cover the plate loosely with foil to keep warm.

Make the Sauce:
Once chicken is removed from the pan, add the capers and minced garlic to the oil left in the skillet and heat to medium. Cook for about 30 seconds being careful not to burn the garlic. Stir in the remaining tablespoon of flour.   Whisk in broth, wine and lemon zest strips. Be sure to scrape all the browned bits off the bottom of the pan for additional flavor. Bring sauce to a simmer and cook for 10-15 until slighly thickened and reduced to approximately 1/2 cup.

Bring it all together:
Turn off the heat and remove strips of lemon zest. Stir in lemon juice and 1 tablespoon of butter until fully incorporated. Return the chicken cutlets to the pan with the sauce, including an juices from the chicken. Heat through for 30 seconds to a minute.

Serve:
Serve your chicken cutlets and sauce over mashed potatoes or angel hair pasta.

Roasted Cherry Tomato Sauce with Spaghetti

2011-09-18T18:57:00.000-07:00

Delicious. Easy. Quick. And healthy. What more can you ask for in a dinner?

My best friend sent me an email last week sharing this recipe. She recently discovered it in her Cooking Light magazine and it's already been repeat meal in her household several times. And I can tell you this will definitely be a repeat recipe in our house too. Hubby loved it. I loved it. Those 2 things don't happen every day when it comes to food.

When I make a recipe for the first time, I am especially slow in getting it all together. It usually involves me reading and re-reading the recipe about 50 times. I tend to fumble around with the ingredients and my cooking utensils. Realize I forgot to take out like 3 things. Despite this being the first time I've made this recipe, it came together in about 30 minutes. Which is fast for me. Seems like all the meals that are supposed to take 30 minutes, like Rachel Ray's meals, never go down that way for me. It's like you have to be an energizer bunny with mad knife skills to pull it off. But this one really is so simple, and fast.

A couple of notes. I used feta cheese, because that is what I had on hand, and it was yummy. I was anxious to get my pictures taken before the light disappeared so I didn't think to mash up some of the cherry tomatoes to make more of a light sauce on the spaghetti. After the photos were taken and I sat down to eat, I poked all my cherry tomatoes with my fork and they burst open creating a tasty sauce to coat the pasta. So imagine the spaghetti in the photos covered in a light red sauce. If you want to add a little protein some marinated grilled shrimp would go great with this.

Already thinking about when I will make it again. Must buy more cherry tomatoes.

Thanks for a great recipe Crystal (and Andy too!).

Roasted Cherry Tomato Sauce with Spaghetti
adapted from Cooking Light

4 quarts water
2 teaspoon kosher salt
8 ounces uncooked spaghetti
2 2/3 cups cherry tomatoes
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided
2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
3/8 teaspoon kosher salt
Fresh cracked black pepper to taste
1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
2 1/2 tablespoons chopped or torn fresh basil
2 1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat leaf parsley
1/2 cup (2 ounces) crumbled semi soft goat cheese
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced (optional)

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Bring water to a boil in a large pot or dutch oven. Add 1 tablespoon salt and the uncooked spaghetti to the boiling water. Cook for 10 minutes or until spaghetti is al dente. Reserve at least 1/3 cup of cooking water and set aside. Drain spaghetti and then return to the pan and keep warm.

While the spaghetti is cooking, toss the tomatoes in 1 tablespoon of the olive oil, vinegar, 3/8 teaspoon salt, black pepper and red pepper flakes and sliced garlic on a jelly roll pan or baking sheet. Bake the tomatoes for 10 minutes or until they are soft and lightly charred in places.

Add the tomatoes and any juices from the baking sheet into the pot with the spaghetti. Add 3 tablespoons of the reserved cooking water to the pan and using a wooden spoon scrape any browned bits off the pan. Add this water to the pan along with the remaining tablespoon of olive oil and warm over medium heat. Add remaining cooking water, 1 tablespoon at a time until the spaghetti is moist, tossing frequently with tongs. Stir in basil and parsley. Sprinkle with cheese and serve immediately.

Banana's Foster Fritters

2011-09-15T17:28:00.000-07:00

The first time I remember having bananas foster was early on in my dating life with Hubby. We went to a dinner party hosted by one of my co-workers at the time and they made it for dessert served over ice cream. As I watched my co-worker's husband make the dish, I was wowed by the drama of it. The rum caught on fire lighting up the pan while the bananas flambeed amdist a gooey caramel like rum sauce. What I was most impressed with was the simple ingredients involved and how quickly a delicious and impressive dessert came together.

Baked Explorations Banana's Foster Fritters are inspired by the classic dish. It's bananas foster meets donut. I was worried this would be a lot more complicated than its inspiration dish. But it really wasn't. The dough is very simple and comes together quickly and easily. The rum dipping sauce takes just a few minutes in a saucepan. The most challenging part was the frying. I still struggle with frying and getting oil to the right temperature. The recipe recommends 375 degrees, but I found that too hot. My first fritter was very dark on the outside but still raw on the inside. I lowered the heat and found 350-360 worked best for me, however, the outside was still a tad darker than I would have liked it to be. But at least the dough wasn't raw! As you can see I gave these a solid dusting of cinnamon powdered sugar.

The result? A crisp texture on the outside with a moist cakey inside. The bananas are incorporated into the dough and the dipping sauce is what makes this a "fosters" fritter instead of just a banana fritter. With brown sugar, butter and a little rum, among other things, the sauce has the same flavor as the gooey goodness from a traditional banana's foster. Seems like the sauce was a big hit with many of the Club: Baked bakers. Some have even suggested this would be a good sauce/syrup for pancakes, waffles or french toast or a topping for ice cream. All great ideas!

Oh, I almost forgot to tell you the best part! You probably already noticed in the pictures, I added chocolate chips into the dough of a few of the fritters. I love banana and chocolate together. It was delicious!

Hubby enjoyed these (the ones without chocolate chips of course), which is always a pleasant surprise coming from my non dessert loving husband. I made half a batch and ended up with 8 small fritters.

Thank you to Stephanie of Ice Cream Before Dinner for choosing this week's tasty recipe. You can find the recipe over on her site. To see how other bakers did with their fritters head over the Club: Baked site.

Next up on the Club: Baked roster...Pumpkin Cheddar Muffins on October 1st. I'm not gonna lie, this one sounds a little odd to me. I have had mixed feelings about savory muffins in the past. But I'm curious about the combination of pumpkin and cheddar. This one is definitely outside my comfort zone--which isn't a bad thing!

Cherry Chocolate Chip Cookies

2011-09-13T23:28:00.000-07:00

I made these tasty cookies for my Dad's birthday. Happy Birthday Dad! No, I did not present them to my Dad with this cute red ribbon. I dressed them up a little more "manly"...in a glad ware container with a blue lid. I did tie a thick blue ribbon around the container for a little pizazz. I couldn't resist.

These cookies start with a chocolate chip cookie base and have white chocolate chips, semi-sweet chocolate chips, toasted almonds, almond and vanilla extracts and dried cherries added in. All the mixins make for a nice chunky cookie. The almonds add a nice crunch and pair well with the cherries. The tartness of the cherries bring balance to the sweetness of the white chocolate chips. All said and done, a pretty solid cookie.

Even though these cookies were for Dad, I couldn't resist dressing them up for fun photo shoot. Over the last several months I have been making a conscious effort to improve my photos. I have a nice camera, a Nikon D-5000, but I can't say I really know what to do with it. I know I am "supposed" to use the manual settings and figure out F stops and apertures and stuff like that, but instead I usually just switch my camera to the "Food" setting mode. That, along with shooting most things on the kitchen counter during daylight hours where a window lets in natural light, is about all I do. For the most part it works pretty well....but I think it can only take me so far.

That is why I am over the moon excited that I won a spot to participate in the White on Rice Couple's photography workshop in mid October courtesy of Food Gawker! Todd and Diane of the White on Rice Couple offered 10 11 spots in an all day photography and food styling workshop in their brand new studio to raise money for a Fund for Jennie. Their workshop sold out in no time and they raised an astounding $11,000 for Jennie. A truly generous gift and a great cause.

Food Gawker helped support the cause by securing one of the spots in the workshop and held a giveaway on their site last week. I entered my comment for a chance to win, thinking maybe, just maybe, I would be the lucky one. (I also think that for every other giveaway I enter (but don't win)). The giveaway stated that you must be able to get yourself to and from Orange County, California. Guess who lives in Orange County? Me! I do!

Low and behold, on September 7th (which also happens to be my Dad's birthday) I received an email from founder of Food Gawker, Chuck Lai, telling me I was the winner! Holy smokes! Really?? I couldn't believe it. I was smiling from ear to ear. I found out when I was at work and resisted every urge to get up a do a little dance at my desk. But I might have done a little dance in my chair. Ok I did. But no one was around. Anyway, Dad and I both had a good day on September 7th!

I cannot thank Chuck Lai and Todd and Diane enough for their generosity and this fabulous opportunity.

If you haven't heard Jennie's story, it's a sad one. Jennie is a food blogger, writer and mother of two little girls. I didn't know Jennie, but I've come to learn a lot about her over the last few weeks. My first encounter with Jennie was when I saw this peanut butter pie over on the Brown Eyed Baker on August 12th. That same day, I started seeing peanut butter pies all over different blogs. Not just one or 2, more like 20 plus pies. And that is just on the blogs I follow. The pies were made for Jennie's husband, Mikey, who unexpectedly passed away on August 7th of a heart attack. Jennie shared the pie on her blog and invited people to make this pie in honor of her husband and all post on Friday, August 12th, the day his family would be celebrating his life. It was completely moving to see the out pour of support for Jennie during such a tragic time.

I cannot imagine what Jennie must be going through. She is sharing her thoughts on her blog, In Jennie's Kitchen, as she tries to come to terms with the loss of the love of her life. I have been following her blog and the posts are touching and heart wrenching all at the same time. Definitely keep your tissue box nearby.

The food blogging community took their support to the next level by starting a fundraising effort for Jennie. Non profit organization Bloggers Without Borders (BWOB) started A Fund for Jennie with a goal of raising $25,000. Little did they know they should have gone bigger! In just a couple of short weeks, BWOB raised over $63,000 for Jennie. Pretty amazing. To read more about the project and Jennie's story, click here.

Now, go kiss and hug your loved ones. And make them a peanut butter pie or these cherry chocolate chip cookies to celebrate family, love and life.

Cherry Chocolate Chip Cookies
highly adapted from Baking Bites

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 packed brown sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter at room temperature
1 egg
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1 1/4 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup dried cherries (if cherries are large, chop so they are similar in size as the chocolate chips)
2/3 cup white chocolate chips
2/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
2/3 cup toasted slivered almonds (see instructions below)

Getting Ready:

Bring your butter to room temperature:
To soften your butter quickly, place the butter in a microwave proof bowl and heat for 1 minute at power 2. You want your butter to be soft, but not melted. Test your butter and if it's not soft microwave in 30 second blasts at power of 2.

Get out your measuring cups, spoons, a whisk and a rubber spatula, cookie scoop or two spoons to drop cookie dough onto the baking sheets.

Toast almonds:
Heat a small non stick skillet on medium and add slivered almonds to the dry pan. Stir almonds frequently to prevent burning and cook about 5 minutes or until almonds are lightly golden.

Preheat oven to 375 and line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
In a small bowl whisk together flour, baking soda and salt together and set aside.

Get out your egg, butter, almond and vanilla extracts. Measure out cherries, chocolate chips and set aside.

Make it:

In stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment or using a hand mixer, mix butter and sugars together on medium speed for 2 minutes until light and fluffy. Turn mixer to low and add the egg, almond and vanilla extracts until just combined. With mixer on low speed slowly add the flour mixture until just combined. Stop mixer and add dried cherries, white chocolate chips, semi-sweet chocolate chips and slivered almonds. Turn mixer on low until all ingredients are thoroughly combined.

Using a medium scoop (about 1 1/2 tablespoons) scoop out dough placing about 2 inches apart on the baking sheet. Use your hand to press down on the dough and flatten the cookie slightly.

Bake it:

Bake for 10-12 minutes or until cookies are very lightly golden brown on top. Cool on cookie sheets for 10 minutes and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Cheesy Zucchini Rice

2011-09-11T23:02:00.000-07:00

Looking for an easy side dish? This is it. It's simple, tasty and the cheese takes this rice into the comfort food category. Hubby and I had cheesy zucchini rice alongside grilled mahi mahi with mango avocado salsa on Friday night. Whenever I serve a new dish, I anxiously await the verdict from my somewhat ~~picky~~ particular husband. Apparently I'm not the only one.

Have you seen the Pioneer Woman's new show on Food Network yet? Hubby and I watched the third episode on Saturday morning and she shared some of the things her husband won't go near. Like goat cheese and sauces containing wine. I had to laugh when I heard this. Especially with Hubby sitting right next to me. He can't stand goat cheese and has a number of other particular food preferences. (Though, I must give him credit, he does like wine based sauces.) The Pioneer Woman decided to do a blind taste test with her husband and had him try her penne alla vodka. She didn't tell him it had vodka in it (just in case he carried over his aversion to wine in sauce to other alcohols). He ate it and....drum roll please.....he liked it!

And that's what happened with my Hubby and the cheesy zucchini rice. Though I didn't keep any of the ingredients a secret. Hubs generally isn't big on cheese, but enjoyed it in this dish. He even went so far as to say he would like me to make it again...the true sign of a successful dish in our house.

I don't have kids, but would imagine if my ~~picky~~ particular Hubby likes this, so would my nieces and nephews. Zucchini has a very mild flavor and brings a nice texture to the rice. You get to sneak in some veggies but still lure them in with the cheesy rice.

Good stuff for kids and adults alike!

Cheesy Zucchini Rice
from Pink Parsley adapted from Comfort of Cooking

Serves 4

Ingredients:

1 cup long grain white rice (I used basmati)
2 cups chicken broth (use vegetable broth for a vegetarian version)
2 tablespoons butter (optional)
1 medium/large zucchini, grated on the large holes of a cheese grater
1 cup grated white cheddar cheese (or your favorite cheese)
Salt and pepper to taste

Getting ready:

Thoroughly rinse rice under cold water to remove excess starch. Measure out chicken broth and butter.

Start cooking:

In a medium saucepan bring rice, chicken broth and 1 tablespoon of butter to a rolling boil. I also added in a 1/4 teaspoon of salt. Turn heat to low and cover rice tightly and cook for about 20-25 minutes until the chicken broth is fully absorbed.

While rice is cooking grate your cheese and zucchini.

Once rice is cooked, remove from heat and add grated zucchini and remaining tablespoon of butter on top of the cooked rice, re-cover and let stand for 5 minutes. The steam from the rice will cook the fine slivers of zucchini. Transfer rice to a serving bowl and stir to mix in zucchini. Add cheese and salt and pepper to taste and stir until well combined. Serve immediately.

Easy Corn Muffins with Honey Butter and Barbecued Baby Back Ribs

2011-09-05T20:53:00.000-07:00

Hubby and I started and ended our summer with a hearty meal of ribs and cornbread. For Memorial Day we made ribs for the first time. We had purchased 3 racks of baby back ribs from Costco and froze two of them. We decided another rack of ribs would be a great way to wrap up Labor Day weekend. To check out our Memorial Day feast click here.

Though the Memorial Day ribs were a success, the cornbread I made was not. In fact I had to make it twice and it still didn't turn out right so I never bothered posting about it. I thought Labor Day weekend was the perfect time to redeem myself. I decided to go with a completely different cornbread recipe this time. I remembered seeing corn muffins several months back over on Tuesdays with Dorie, the online group of bakers making their way through Dorie Greenspan's Baking From My Home to Yours. The reviews were good so I gave it a go.

Redemption! I am happy to say these were a big success. Dorie calls these muffins the "Corniest Corn Muffins". They have niblets of corn inside the batter, corn meal for texture and a little sugar to sweeten them. I used frozen corn in the batter and next time I would like to try it with fresh kernels cut off the cob. I also added in a little extra sugar because I like a sweeter muffin. These muffins are easy to make and delicious. Especially with a generous dab of honey butter on top. This recipe is my new "go to" corn muffin recipe.

Now, the ribs. Our ribs were tasty but a little on the blackened side this time. Hubs didn't turn them as often as he should have causing the sugar in the barbecue sauce to burn a bit. I am still sharing the recipe since we made it successfully before. Just remember to keep an eye on your ribs and turn them frequently on the grill to prevent burning. Ribs are easier to make than I thought, but they do take a little time. They start in the oven with a little barbecue sauce and steam beneath a foil covered baking dish for about an hour. Then the ribs get transferred outside to the barbeque and are grilled and basted with more barbecue sauce until they have the lacquered finish you are looking for. Ours took about 10 minutes.

This time we paired our ribs and corn muffins with grilled asparagus and zucchini parmesan crisps. It was a ton of food and I'm still overly full as I type this post about 2 hours later. The sad part is I keep thinking about when I will be hungry again so I can have another corn muffin with honey butter. Yum.

Corniest Corn Muffins
from Dorie Greenspan's Baking From My Home to Yours

Makes 12 regular size muffins

1 cup flour
1 cup yellow cornmeal
6 tablespoons sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg (optional) - I used already ground nutmeg
1 cup buttermilk
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
3 tablespoons unsalted butter melted and cooled
3 tablespoons corn oil - I used vegetable oil
1 cup corn niblets (frozen, fresh or canned, drained and patted dry)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Prepare a 12 cup muffin by spraying the wells with non stick cooking spray or lining with muffin liners if you are using. Place the prepared muffin tin on a baking sheet.

In a large bowl whisk flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and nutmeg. In a large glass measuring cup or another bowl, whisk buttermilk, eggs, melted butter and oil together until thoroughly combined. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir with a rubber spatula quickly, yet gently, to full combine. Don't worry if there are lumps. Don't over mix. Gently fold in the corn kernels. Divide the batter evenly among the 12 muffin cups. Note: I filled mine just a 1/4 inch or less from the top and they didn't bulge over...they were just right.

Bake for 15 - 18 minutes until lightly golden and toothpick or thin knife comes out clean. Mine took exactly 15 minutes. Cool muffin tin on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Turn muffins and continue cooling on the rack. Serve with honey butter (see recipe below).

Honey Butter

1/4 cup butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 tablespoons of honey
Pinch of fine sea salt

In a small bowl combine butter, honey and salt and stir vigorously until the honey is fully incorporated into a smooth butter. You can add additional honey if you like a sweeter butter. Serve butter at room temperature. Store butter in the refrigerator and remove about 30 minutes before you plan to serve it.

Barbecued Baby Back Ribs
adapted from Paula Deen

2 racks of baby back ribs, each rack cut in half
3 cups of your favorite barbecue sauce - we used KC Masterpiece Private Reserve (from our favorite place....Costco of course!). Sweet Baby Ray's is another favorite store bought sauce. For Paula Deen's barbecue sauce recipe click here.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Rub the racks of ribs with 1/2 cup of the barbecue sauce (or more if you are feeling extra saucy). Place the ribs, meat side down, in a large casserole baking dish. The racks will overlap a bit. Cover tightly with foil and bake for 1 hour or until the meat starts to pull away from the bone. Remove the ribs from oven and pre-heat your grill to medium/high heat. Brush ribs to coat generously with the sauce and grill for 2-3 minutes and turn them over and repeat the brushing with sauce, grilling and turning until the ribs are a little crisp on the outside, about 10 minutes. Let ribs rest for 10 minutes before serving.

Boston Cream Pie

2011-09-01T00:01:00.000-07:00

Pastry cream. Pastry cream. Pastry cream!

Boston Cream Pie (which is really in fact a cake, not a pie) is filled with sweet delicious vanilla and chocolate pastry cream. I am super jazzed that I have finally made pastry cream. I think my life has been incomplete without it. Well maybe that's a slightly dramatic, but really I can't get over how much I love pastry cream. Pastry cream is a pudding like filling often used between cake layers or to fill cream puffs or donuts. I have eaten it before, but have never made my own. Lucky (or perhaps unlucky) for me it is very easy to make. I could not stop dipping my (of course impeccably clean) fingers into the bowls to get just another taste. Then I did something I haven't done in years....I licked the bowl. Well not really. I used a spatula to scrape all the delicious remnants straight into my mouth. I didn't let any of this precious magic cream go to waste. I was little skeptical about using 2 flavors of pastry cream. I believe traditional Boston Cream Pie only uses vanilla. But the chocolate and vanilla pastry creams were equally delicious.

Is it really obvious I adored the pastry cream portion of this dessert? I guess I need to discuss the other components now.

Let's start with the milk sponge cake. It had a slightly bizarre texture. Almost a little tough? But still moist? Is that even possible? I don't know. When you layer all that tasty pastry cream in there it's hard to tell. I don't think I'd use this sponge cake recipe next time I make Boston Cream Pie (already planning for the next time!).

The cake is topped with rich chocolate ganache-like glaze/frosting. I thought the topping was pretty delicious and love the contrast of the dark chocolate glaze with the soft luscious pastry cream. See how I took it back to the pastry cream?

Overall, this is a pretty special dessert. Even hubby liked it....well sort of. Guess what? He only liked the (vanilla) pastry cream! He said the cake was "weird" and he's not a chocolate fan. But like me, he couldn't keep his (not so impeccably clean) fingers out of the vanilla pastry cream. I am already looking forward to eating this again for breakfast!

Making a Boston Cream Pie is a bit involved with three (well technically four) separate components that have to be made then all assembled. Consider making the pastry cream the night before you plan to serve the cake. It needs to chill for 4 hours (or overnight). You could also chop your chocolate for the chocolate glaze at the same time you chop the chocolate for the chocolate pastry cream and store it in a tupperware for use the next day. The day you want to serve the Boston Cream Pie bake the sponge cake and once cooled store the layers wrapped in plastic wrap in the refrigerator while you make the glaze. The cake is easier to slice in layers when it is chilled.

I halved the recipe and baked the cake in 2 six inch cake pans. My cake layers were on the thin side because of the size pans I used, but it worked out ok, because the layers of pastry cream were about equal in size to the layers of cake. Can't get enough of that pastry cream.

Ok, this is ridiculous. I have used the words "pastry cream" 20 times in this post thus far. I will consider seeking help. Right after I think of other ways to incorporate pastry cream into my life...

Boston Cream Pie marks recipe number 5 with Club: Baked. You see, a group of food bloggers are baking our way through Baked Explorations by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito. So far the recipes have been pretty darn impressive. If you'd like to join our baking adventure head over to the Club: Baked site and get in touch with Karen. It's a ton of fun, a great way to learn new things and meet some great people. To see how the other bakers of Club: Baked did with their Boston Cream Pies, click here. At a minimum, I am pretty certain your life would be enhanced by a little pastry cream. ;)

Ahi Tuna Poke

2011-08-29T04:00:00.000-07:00

This is my second month participating in the Secret Recipe Club. What is the Secret Recipe Club you ask? The concept is simple. A group of food bloggers each get assigned another persons blog...and the assignments are....you guessed it, a secret. You browse the blog you have been assigned that month and then choose a recipe to make and blog about. Everyone reveals their posts on the same day. What I love about the Secret Recipe Club is it is a great way to get know new blogs. I'm always super excited the day the blog assignments are handed out. I can't wait to check out my assigned blog and see what it's all about and what tasty dish I might make.

This month I was assigned Mary Anne and Mariel's blog, Feast on the Cheap. These two very talented ladies are a mother daughter team. Mary Anne is a professional caterer and Mariel is a writer who contributes regularly to publications like Martha Stewart Living, Self and Redbook and describes herself as a "fledgling foodie". Feast on the Cheap is all about delicious, affordable homemade food. Mary Anne and Mariel provide a cost per serving for every recipe and have a wide array of dishes that elevate food to a gourmet status. I spent quite a bit of time drooling over all the wonderful recipes on their site. It was difficult to choose just one. Initially I had my eye on New England Clam Chowder, Cheesecake Brownies with Glazed Mixed Berries and Lemon Cupcakes with Raspberry Mint Glaze. I have bookmarked all three for future indulgences. But at the end of day I selected the Ahi Tuna Poke for two reasons. I knew Hubby would love it and it didn't require me turning on the oven or serving a hot soup on a hot summer day.

Ahi Poke is a light, delicious and simple appetizer that can be whipped together in no time. You can serve it with crispy fried wontons, tortilla chips or crisp pita wedges. I stayed pretty true to the original recipe in terms of the ingredients only making one small change to add in sliced green onions. I halved the recipe and Hubby and I had it for a light Sunday dinner (recovering from a somewhat heavy lunch). I used half the ingredients to make a layered mold so I could take a photo. To make the mold I used a short wide mouthed drinking glass and lined it with plastic wrap. I took a little liberty with how I layered it in the event that Hubs wasn't a huge fan of the heat from the siracha chile sauce. I took a small portion of each of the ingredients (ahi, cucumber, tomato, avocado and green onion) and mixed it with the sauce (chile sauce, soy sauce, mirin, sesame oil and dijon mustard--I omitted the mustard). That's how the Feast of the Cheap ladies served the entire dish. But Hubs is not a huge fan of spicy stuff so I only used the spicy mixture in the middle layer. The rest of the layers were sauce-less. And I had some extra sauce on the side for those of who like a little more heat (i.e., me). Turns out Hubby liked the spice! Now I have a huge bottle of siracha chile sauce to use up. ;) This recipe is a keeper!

Be sure to scroll to the bottom of the blog see what the other Secret Recipe Club bloggers made this month.

Ahi Tuna Poke
from Feast on the Cheap

Serves 20 appetizer portions

Ahi Mixture:
1 1/2 pounds of sushi grade ahi tuna, chopped
1 cucumber peeled, seeded and chopped
3 avocados pitted, peeled and chopped
2 ripe plum tomatoes, seeded and chopped
Optional: 2 green onions thinly sliced (this was my addition)

Sauce:
2 tablespoons chili sauce (siracha)
1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce or Tamari sauce
2 tablespoons sesame oil
2 tablespoons mirin wine
1 teaspoon dijon mustard (optional) - I omitted

Whisk all sauce ingredients together in a small bowl and set aside. In a large bowl combine the ahi tuna, cucumber, avocados, tomatoes and green onions (if using). Pour sauce over the ahi and vegetables and gently stir to evenly coat all the ingredients with the sauce. Serve with crispy fried wontons, tortilla chips or crisp pita wedges.

Sweet Melissa Sundays Top 10 Favorite Recipes!

2011-08-27T22:28:00.000-07:00

In April 2010 I started participating in the weekly online baking group, Sweet Melissa Sundays. The group had already been baking their way through the Sweet Melissa Baking Book by Melissa Murphy for about a year when I joined. And the group posted the final recipe (of just over 100 recipes) on August 21, 2011. In the past year and a half I've met some amazingly talented bakers and learned tons. Before joining this group my baking repertoire consisted of mostly cookies, a few cakes or cupcakes and a pie here and there. What I liked most about the group was being pushed outside my comfort zone. Without the group I doubt I would have tried more than half the recipes that turned out to be some of my favorites.

When I tasted each of the recipes below for the first time, I said, "wow". For each and every one. Literally, I said, "wow". Out loud. I love when you bite into something and you're not sure what to expect or think you know exactly what to expect, and you are pleasantly surprised and all you can say is "wow!"

To wrap a year and a half of baking I wanted to put together a list of my favorites. They are listed in order the group made them. So without further adieu...

Chocolate Cake

This chocolate cake is the base for several recipes in the Sweet Melissa book. It's incredibly moist and deep dark chocolaty. I have an affinity for cakes made with sour cream and this one really knocks it out of the park if you are a chocolate lover. I have made it several times and will continue to go to this as one of my top chocolate cake recipes.

Gingersnaps

When I got my first turn to host a recipe for the group I had to go with Gingersnaps. It only seemed right! I was surprised at how much I liked these cookies, since I already have my own go to ginger snap recipe. Melissa Murphy's version contains typical spices you might expect, like cinnamon, ginger and allspice, but what was really unique was the inclusion of white pepper. Everything in my gut was telling me to omit the pepper, but I felt like I really had to do the recipe proper justice and follow it word for word. And you know what? The white pepper works! It blends with other spices to make a perfectly sweet and mildly spicy cookie. And it pairs beautifully with a lemon cream filling.

Blueberry and Almond Biscotti

What is a biscotti anyway? It's essentially a twice baked cookie. Round 1 is baked in a loaf form and then the loaf is sliced into the biscotti spears you are probably familiar with and those are baked again to get a nice crunchy texture. I have never been a biscotti person. Probably because I'm not a coffee drinker or a fan of crunchy cookies in general. I had never made biscotti before and I really didn't expect to like this. I hate being wrong. But love it all at the same time because these biscotti are delicious and you don't need a hot beverage to enjoy them. They also make great gifts since they keep well for several days.

Melissa's recipe called for dried sour cherries, but I switched it up with dried blueberries instead. What made this recipe for me was the lemon zest. The lemon flavor is incredibly bright in this crunchy cookie, but not overly lemony. This recipe opened my eyes to the possibility of making various flavors of biscotti (which I have on my to do list).

Sweet Almond Cake with Lemon Curd

Before joining SMS, I will be honest, most cakes I made were out of a box. With the exception of carrot cake. My family has a great carrot cake recipe that doesn't involve a box. One day I'll get around to posting it on the blog. What I didn't know was the various techniques used in making cakes from scratch. This one calls for ground almonds and whipped egg whites in the batter. You whip up the egg whites until they form stiff peaks (similar to making a meringue) and then gently fold the airy mixture into your cake. I really don't know much about the science of baking, but I do know this cake is delicious with a lightly sweet almond flavor. It has a lovely toothsome crumb from the ground almonds and a light moistness. This cake would be a wonderful base for many fillings and frostings. Speaking of fillings and frostings, the lemon curd and lemon mascarpone frosting that accompany this cake were not the stars for me. I had to switch to lemon cream cheese frosting because I had trouble with the mascarpone. This cake recipe, however, is on my list of keepers!

Mom's French Pancakes (aka Crepes)

Can you say yummy? Can you say easy to make? Can you say "Oooh la la"! This recipe was another surprise winner! I mean I knew I already loved crepes, I just doubted my ability to make these thin delicate little pancakes. The ingredients are simple and the batter can (and is recommended) to be made the night before you make these little jewels. I used a large non stick skillet and after making one or two crepes, really got the hang of it. If you have not made crepes before, you must try them! The options for filling them are endless....but my favorite combination is seen above. Nutella and sliced bananas. Simple. Delicious!

Lemon Blueberry Buttermilk Pie

Though I am posting these in the order I made them and not in any preferential taste order, I will say this is a fantastic recipe and is among my top 3 favorites from the book (along with the chocolate cake and honey cream caramels). I was completely blown away by the perfect marriage of lemon and blueberries amidst a creamy custardy filling. And this pie is one of the easiest in the book to make. Especially if you use a pre-made graham cracker crust from the grocery store (a slight diversion from the original recipe). Melissa's recipe calls for traditional pie dough, but as I was making this pie for the second time for Mother's Day earlier this year, I had a crust mishap. I used Melissa's all butter pie crust recipe and had major shrinkage occur. Irreparable shrinkage. At 11 pm on the eve of Mother's Day I went to the grocery store to buy a roll of Pillsbury pie dough, but at the last minute decided to go with a graham cracker crust. You know the kind that you find in the baking aisle and comes in a foil pie tin with that cool plastic covering that doubles as a lid when you flip it over? I have to say, I loved it! I think this pie is even better than fantastic when made with a graham cracker crust. Definitely a winner!

Pecan Frosting

I almost didn't make this recipe. Melissa's original recipe is called Coconut Pecan Frosting, otherwise known as German chocolate cake frosting. I really don't care for the texture of coconut and I'm generally not a fan of nuts in my dessert. But the point of this group is going outside your comfort zone. So I failed in that I didn't go completely outside my comfort zone. I just took a small step. I decided to simply omit the coconut from the recipe since that was the greater of two evils. Imagine my surprise when I tasted the final product and loved it! It really is less like a frosting and more like a candy topping. My family loved it spread on graham crackers best. But it would also make a delicious ice cream topping and it's not too bad with pumpkin cake either!

Honey Cream Caramels

This was yet another goodie I had never made before. I don't have anything against caramel candies. I like them just fine, but there are a lot of other treats I would reach for first. Luckily I didn't write this recipe off! These caramels are soft and sweet and delicious. I really didn't think I would like these as much as I did. I kept going back to the kitchen and sneaking one more (I'm not sure who I was sneaking them from, but I felt a little guilty eating so many of these honey infused treasures). This recipe is easy to make and caramels are another great giveaway treat because they store for up to two weeks in an airtight container. They would also be delicious with a little sprinkling of sea salt before they completely set. Honey Cream Caramels will be making it into my holiday baking rotation this Christmas!

Strawberry Rhubarb Preserves

Melissa shares a master preserves recipe that shares general ratios of fruit to sugar, acid, etc. and then has recipes for 5 different flavor variations. This is one of those recipes that was widely praised by many members of the group. I was able to make three variations, plum preserves, white nectarine cinnamon preserves and of course strawberry rhubarb.

I feel like a broken record here, but preserves or jam was something I had not made before joining this group. And I was surprised at how easy they are to make and delicious. There's something special and very satisfying about making toast in the morning and slathering it with your own fresh made preserves. I also took the leap into the canning world with these preserves. Yet another great goodie to give away as a gift. Of three preserve variations I made, the strawberry rhubarb was my hands down favorite! The tartness from the rhubarb is a perfect match to the sweet strawberry. And it makes a great filling for a crumble bar!

Brown Sugar Vanilla Ice Cream

I didn't actually make this recipe along with the group. They made it long before I even knew Sweet Melissa Sundays existed. And to be honest, vanilla ice cream is not something that really excites me. There are so many delectable ice cream flavors in the world to choose from. But I found I was in need of an ice cream to pair with this Plum and Raspberry Pie with a Sweet Almond Lattice. This pie was incredibly tart and needed a nice sweet ice cream to balance it out. I decided to give Melissa's recipe for Brown Sugar Vanilla Ice Cream a shot since I would be serving to others who don't share my lack of excitement over vanilla. Also, I had recalled reading in various posts from my fellow SMS bloggers, how delicious this ice cream was. And they were right! It's got a depth of caramel like flavor from the brown sugar and is the perfect accompaniment to a fruit pie or tart. Yet another pleasant surprise!

I made 40 recipes with the group and a few more on my own outside the group. There are many more the group made before I joined that I would still like to try...like Butter Toffee Crunch, Lemon Icebox Cake with Strawberry Sauce, Sweet Almond Bread Pudding with Raspberry Sauce, Caramel Apple Turnovers with Sweet Ricotta Filling, and Fallen Chocolate Souffle Cake to name a few.

It's been a great ride and I've learned a very important lesson...don't judge a dessert by it's ingredient list! Even if you are unsure if it would be your thing or if you think it sounds too hard or complicated, give it a go. You might just be surprised yourself!

I want to extend my thanks to all the fabulous SMS bakers. You girls rock, sharing great ideas, encouragement and support! I loved checking out everyone's creations on Sunday mornings. Special thanks to Karen of Karen's Cookies Cakes & More for maintaining the site and keeping everyone on schedule. She has spearheaded a new baking group called Club: Baked to keep us busy and learning new things. This group started on July 1, 2011 and we are baking our way through Baked Explorations by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito. This group bakes twice a month and so far there have been some pretty stinkin delicious recipes. We really just got started so please feel free to join our baking adventure!

Frosted Soft Sugar Cookies

2011-08-26T22:45:00.000-07:00

I've been slacking on the blog. I made these cookies nearly 2 weeks ago but haven't gotten around to posting yet. I have grand dreams of getting up to daily posting one of these days....well at least 5 days a week. What I found is it's easy to get behind. And I could kick myself because somehow I completely blanked on the last post on 8/21 concluding the Sweet Melissa Sundays baking group. Though the last 2 weeks have been busy, I'm ready to get back in business here...Starting with these frosted soft sugar cookies.

I first saw these cookies on Tracey's Culinary Adventures. She posted them 2 days before I was leaving for my annual girls getaway to the desert. My two pals and I usually take 3 days off of work every summer and sojourn to the 110 degree heat of the desert for a little food (ok, a lot of food), a little sun (we, or me I should say, spend quite a bit of time in the shade or mostly submerged in the pool) and a little shopping. Normally this type of cookie wouldn't make it on my must make list mostly because I'm not a big fan of sugar cookies. But I was thinking of my girls knowing this is exactly the type of cookie that would put a little sparkle in their eyes. So the day before we left I got busy.

Like Tracey, I decided to only make half the recipe given I would not be partaking in the finished product. Half a recipe yielded 12 large soft, tender, cakey sugar cookies. I did take one bite out of one cookie for the sake of a photo and I thought I should at least try it, even if it's not my favorite. kind of cookie. They tasted ok to me, but I'm not really a good judge. Hubby tasted one and I thought he would like them because he's a big proponent of sugar cookies and sweet frosting, but apparently he wasn't in love either. He said he didn't care for the texture and they were too soft, sticking to the roof of his mouth. My girls seemed to enjoy them however, polishing off every last one that I brought along on the trip. I'll take that as a good sign.

These are easy and fun cookies to make. You can can get creative with your frosting by tinting it with various shades of food coloring and decorating it with festive sprinkles or candies, personalizing it for any occasion.

Soft Frosted Sugar Cookies
from Annie's Eats (adapted from Hostess with the Mostess) via Tracey's Culinary Adventures)

For the Cookies:
4 1/2 cups all purpose flour
4 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 large eggs, at room temperature
5 teaspoons vanilla extract

For the Frosting:
5 cups confectioners sugar, sifted
1/3 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
7-8 tablespoons milk (or more if needed)
Food coloring and sprinkles (optional)

In a medium bowl whisk together flour, baking soda and salt and set aside. Cream butter and sugar in a stand mixer or with a hand mixer about 3 minutes until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time into the butter sugar mixture. Add vanilla and mix until fully combined. Turn mixer to low and gradually add the flour until just incorporated. Cover dough with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for 1 hour.

Once dough is chilled, preheat oven to 350 and prepare 2 baking sheets by lining with parchment paper or a silicone mat. Using a large ice cream scoop (about 1/4 cup) to scoop out dough and roll into a ball. Place the ball of dough on the parchment and press down to flatten slightly spacing at least 2 inches apart. I baked 6 per sheet. Bake for 12-13 minutes and edges are just set. Cookies will be pale in color. Cool the baking sheets on a wire rack for about 5 minutes and then transfer the cookies directly to the rack to complete cooling.

In a medium to large bowl whisk the confectioners sugar, butter, milk and vanilla together. Add more milk if necessary to achieve desired frosting consistency. You want it a little thick so it doesn't run over the sides of the cookie. You can also add additional confectioner's sugar if you want a thicker consistency. Add food coloring if you want to tint your frosting.

Once cookies have completely cooled, spread a generous amount of frosting on the top of the cookie leaving a 1/4 edge around the top. Decorate with sprinkles or candies if using. See cookies aside (or place in the refrigerator) to allow the frosting to set.

Store in an airtight container at room temperature.

Yields 24 large cookies

Sunday Night Cake with Orange Cinnamon Glaze

2011-08-15T07:23:00.000-07:00

Is anyone getting anxious for fall? The weather has been pretty mild this summer in Southern California, and I doubt there will be a huge change when fall officially hits. Just a few degrees cooler and it will signify it's time to start baking all the warm and wonderful fall flavors...cinnamon, ginger, cloves and allspice, pumpkin and apples. Though I love the flavors of summer, like watermelon and sweet corn, I'm starting to get a little fall bug. That's why I made a little twist on this week's Club: Baked pick by Julie of a Little Bit of Everything.

This week marks the 4th recipe we are baking from Baked Explorations. Julie picked Sunday Night Cake for the group to make. The authors describe this cake as a "no frills-affair....it is an exceedingly, pleasing, simple and delicious gently spiced sour cream cake with easy chocolate frosting". My eyes lit up when I saw the cake had cinnamon as one of the components. My original intention was to make the recipe as is. But earlier this week I made this chocolate cake recipe and this chocolate cream cheese frosting recipe for a co-workers send off party. Then I used the leftover chocolate cream cheese to fill peanut butter whoopie pies (to be posted later this week).

I can't believe I'm about to say this, but this chocolate girl was feeling a bit chocolated out. The authors of Baked Explorations suggest you can make this cake even simpler by skipping the chocolate frosting and giving it a simple dusting of powdered sugar. I contemplated that thinking Hubby would be more likely to help me eat it with powdered sugar. Then I decided I wanted a something a little more....what could I do and still keep in the spirit of the "ease and comfort" of the Sunday Night Cake?

I looked over my fridge and saw that I had half an orange that needed to be used up. And the orange cinnamon glaze was born! This glaze is extremely easy and is delicious with the lightly spiced cake. To make the glaze I started with powdered sugar, added in a bit of orange juice, orange extract, a pinch of cinnamon and a bit of heavy cream. Sometimes when I make up my own recipes, I'm not always in love with the result. But this was awesome. I loved the flavors of the orange and cinnamon and how they paired with the moist buttery cake. It was a nice preview of fall and has got my mind turning, thinking about the recipes I plan to make this season.

Other notes about this recipe. The original recipe makes a 9 inch square cake. I halved the recipe and used a 6 inch round cake pan. I was too lazy to half one of the eggs, so there is an extra half egg in my cake. I added 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract because I couldn't resist. And the last modification was I used dark brown sugar instead of light brown sugar (again, because I was lazy and didn't want to open the light brown sugar when the dark was ready to go). While baking, the cake rose about 1/4 inch over the top of the cake pan. But it shrank down a bit and ended up being exactly 2 inches tall.

And this will come as no surprise, but I've eaten this twice for breakfast already and loved it!
To get the cake recipe, head over to A Little Bit of Everything. To see what other Club Bakers did with their Sunday Night Cakes, click here. If you want to join our baking adventure through Baked Explorations, hop over to the Club: Baked site and reach out to Karen. It's a lot of fun and you get to eat delicious treats, like this Sunday Night Cake.

Orange Cinnamon Glaze

2/3 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon fresh orange juice
1/4 teaspoon orange extract (more if you want extra orange punch)
Pinch (generous) of cinnamon
2-4 tablespoons heavy cream

In a medium bowl whisk powdered sugar, orange juice, orange extract and 2 tablespoons of the heavy cream until fully combined. Add additional tablespoons of cream to get to a pourable yet slightly thick consistency.

Yields enough to generously glaze 6x2 inch cake.

Minty Chip and Chocolate Mint Cookie Ice Cream

2011-08-12T19:14:00.000-07:00

I love baking. I love eating baked goods. But the fact is I cannot single handedly eat all of the things I am compelled to make. If I did, I would be in a constant sugar induced high and I would weigh 400,000 pounds. Sadly my Hubby is generally speaking, anti-dessert, so he's not much help. I have to count on friends, family and co-workers to help me out. And even then, I sometimes still have leftovers. Like when I made chocolate mint thumbprint cookies a couple of weeks ago. I had contemplated making just half a batch, but for some reason I forged ahead with a full batch...45 cookies! I ate quite a few, took several to work and still had cookies left. I hate letting perfectly good cookies go to waste....how I could use them? Um, how about chocolate mint cookie ice cream? Oh ya!

My inspiration came from Tracey over at Tracey's Culinary Adventures who posted this oreo mint ice cream. Mint chocolate chip ice cream is in my ice cream top 5. I decided to combine the two together...chocolate mint cookies and chocolate chips in one ice cream. I added in the extra chocolate because I wanted a strong chocolate flavor to come through. Plus I was itching to try to incorporate stracciatella that I had seen on Margot's blog, Effort to Deliciousness. Stracciatella is traditionally used in gelato and results in small crisp bits of chocolate distributed throughout your gelato or ice cream (just like my beloved mint chip--I always wondered how they got the shards of chocolate in there).

Stracciatella is much easier than it sounds. You simply stream in an ounce or two of your favorite melted chocolate during the last few minutes of the ice cream churning process. When the melted chocolate hits the frozen custard, it freezes on contact and breaks into small bits. It's super cool! Definitely a technique I will be using in future ice cream recipes. (Like maybe some strawberry chip ice cream?)

The minty chip and chocolate mint cookie ice cream is good stuff! I like the contrast of the crunchy chocolate chip bits next to the chunks of chocolate mint cookies. And the great part is ice cream keeps for a quite some time in the freezer, and I don't have to worry about pawning it off to anyone. I can take my time and slowly watch it disappear!

Minty Chip and Chocolate Mint Cookie Ice Cream
adapted from My Kitchen Addiction via Tracey's Culinary Adventures

2 cups heavy cream, divided
1 1/2 cups whole milk
4 egg yolks
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 - 1 teaspoons peppermint extract (depending on your love of mint)
1 1/2 cups chopped chocolate mint thumbprints (recipe below) or other chocolate mint cookies (like Thin Mints or Mint Oreos)
1 1/2 ounces of semi-sweet chocolate, chopped

Place 1 cup of heavy cream in a large heatproof bowl. Set a mesh strainer over the bowl.

Combine the remaining cup of heavy cream and the whole milk in a medium saucepan and warm on medium heat until hot, but not boiling. In a medium heatproof bowl whisk the egg yolks and sugar together until fully combined. Slowly stream the warm milk mixture into the bowl with the yolks, whisking continuously until the mixture is thoroughly combined and smooth. Transfer the custard mixture back to the saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring continuously until the mixture thickens slightly and reads 170 - 175 on a thermometer. The custard should coat the back of a wooden spoon.

Pour the custard through the strainer into the bowl with the heavy cream. Stir to combine and then stir in the vanilla and peppermint extracts. Place plastic wrap directly on the surface of the custard and chill for 3-4 hours in the refrigerator, or overnight.

Turn your ice cream maker on and pour in the chilled custard and churn according to the manufacturer's instructions. While your ice cream is churning chop your cookies into 1/4 inch to 1/2 inch pieces and set aside.

Place chopped chocolate in a small bowl and microwave on high for 20 seconds. Stir and place back in the microwave for another 20 seconds. Repeat stirring and microwaving until chocolate is melted.

During the last 5 minutes of churning pour your melted chocolate in a slow, steady stream into the ice cream while it is still churning. Then add chopped cookies and churn until mixed well. Turn off the ice cream maker. You may have to hand stir the ice cream to fully incorporate the chocolate and cookies throughout. The consistency will be like soft serve ice cream/frozen yogurt. Transfer ice cream to a freezer proof resealable, airtight container and freeze for at least 2 hours before serving.

Yields 2 quarts

Chocolate Mint Thumbprints
from Baked Explorations

2 ounces dark chocolate (60-72%)
2 ounces mint chocolate or Andes mint chocolate candies
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch cubes, at room temperature
1/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoons firmly packed dark brown sugar
2 large egg yolks
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup course sugar for rolling

White Chocolate Filling
3 ounces good-quality white chocolate, chopped
3 tablespoons heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract

Make the cookies:

Melt the dark chocolate and mint chocolate in a microwave or over a double boiler. Stir until smooth, set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder and salt and set aside.

Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl and add the flour mixture all at once. Beat on low speed, scraping the side of the bowl occasionally, until the dough is smooth. Transfer the dough to a sheet of plastic wrap and pat it into a disk. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate it until it is chilled and firm, at least 30 minutes up to an hour.

Preheat oven to 350 and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

Scoop out a tablespoon of dough and roll into a ball. Roll the ball in the coarse sugar and place on the baking sheet spacing cookies about 1 1/2 inches apart. Repeat until all the dough is rolled out.

Using your thumb or a the handle of a large wooden spoon and make a thumbprint or well in the cookies. Bake for 10 minutes and then remove cookies from oven and use a wooden spoon or the back of a measuring spoon to re-press the "thumbprint" in the cookie. Return baking sheets to the oven and bake for another 4-5 minutes until cookies just barely start to crack. Cool on baking sheets on a wire rack until completely cool.

Meanwhile, make the white chocolate filling. Place the white chocolate in a glass measuring cup with a pour spout. Put the cream in a microwave safe bowl and heat it on high power until it boils, about 30 seconds. Pour the hot cream over the white chocolate and let it stand for 30 seconds, then whisk until smooth. Stir in the peppermint extract.

Fill the thumbprint cookies with the white chocolate ganache and refrigerate them until they set, about 30 minutes. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

Yield 40-45 cookies

Sweet Melissa Sundays: White Nectarine Cinnamon Preserves

2011-08-09T23:12:00.000-07:00

I'm a little late posting this week's Sweet Melissa Sundays recipe pick. The funny thing is I made these preserves and cookies about 4 months ago, yet I still managed to post late. The best laid plans...We had a busy weekend involving a midnight trip to the vet (our kitty, Kit Kat, is doing just fine now), driving to LA to have breakfast with my family and hosting my 7 year old niece for a weekend sleep over and lots of kid friendly activities. We had an action packed and fun weekend. I am now just getting back to my computer and catching up on email and blogging.

Back in April I was on a preserves kick and made and canned Melissa's strawberry rhubarb preserves, (a double batch of) strawberry preserves and these white nectarine cinnamon preserves over the course of two weekends. Between the three batches, I ended up with nearly 20 jars of preserves! Several were earmarked as gifts for Mother's Day, sharing with friends and I still have 5 or so on hand.

The white nectarines actually came from last August when they were ripe at the season's peak. I saw a flat of them at Costco and knew that we would eventually be making peach and cinnamon preserves for Sweet Melissa Sundays. I figured that nectarines could easily be swapped out for the peaches. I chopped them up and spread them in a single over a foil lined baking sheet and put them in the freezer. Once frozen, I removed them from the baking sheet and loaded them into a ziploc bag for future use. Freezing your own fruit is a great way to enjoy fruit at it's peak, even when it's not in sesaon.

These preserves reminded me of apple butter. The coloring, consistency and warm cinnamon flavor was very similar to apple butter. I decided to take the little bit of preserves that wouldn't fill up a whole jar, and made jam thumbprints. I did a quick internet search and found a recipe on All Recipes. The cookie itself wasn't especially noteworthy so I haven't posted the recipe, but the preserves were tasty. I am in search of another thumbprint cookie recipe so I can use up a little more of the preserves I still have on hand. If you have a good one please let me know in the comments section!

Melissa's base preserves recipe is easy to make and is one of my favorite in the book. Thanks to Tessa of the Cookin Chemist for hosting our second to last recipe for Sweet Melissa Sundays. Pop over to her site for the recipe. To see how other SMS bakers fare this week click here. In two weeks Karen of Karen's Cookies Cakes & More will host our final SMS recipe, Hot Pepper Gingerbread Muffins with Orange Maple Butter. I can't believe the final recipe is just around the corner. It's been a great ride baking with all the talented SMS bakers! I will be posting my top 10 favorite SMS recipes later this month. There have been some really fantastic recipes that I will continue to use again and again.

Restaurant Style Salsa

2011-08-05T07:33:00.000-07:00

Earlier this week I posted Nancy's Mexican Cornbread. A recipe I received from my close friend, Shannon's Mom, Nancy. When Shannon sent me her Mom's cornbread recipe, I found it was not your standard side of cornbread...it was in fact a main dish attraction, filled with ground beef, onions, jalapenos and lots of cheese. Nancy and Shannon both recommended serving this dish with a good salsa. I decided a jarred salsa would not do, and remembered that I had bookmarked a recipe from Brown Eyed Baker for homemade restaurant style salsa a few months back. Both the cornbread recipe and the salsa shared some of the same ingredients (onions and jalapenos), so I figured why not make them both at the same time. Homemade cornbread deserves homemade salsa, right?

When I saw the recipe called for canned tomatoes, I was a bit skeptical. I had assumed most fresh made salsas were made from fresh tomatoes. But my skepticism was unfounded because this salsa is as fresh tasting as it gets and totally delicious. I loved this salsa! It is light years and universes away from anything that comes out of a jar. It really is like the fresh salsa you get in a good Mexican restaurant. What I like most about this recipe is how easy it is to make. No cooking involved...just throw everything into your food processor. Pulse, pulse, times 3 and done! All future salsa served at this house will be fresh made. Or at least I'll try my best. Cause this is the good stuff.

If you haven't popped over to read the post about Nancy's Mexican Cornbread yet, go take a peek. It's about more than cornbread (which is yummy, by the way) and tells the story of mine and Nancy's recent battles with breast cancer and how my friend Shannon was inspired to take on a 60 mile walk to support a great cause. Shannon is walking in the 3-Day for the Cure as I type this post and will be doing so today, tomorrow and Sunday. See Shannon below at the opening ceremony. She is front and center with a cutout of Nancy, both sporting cute pink bows in their hair! Go Shannon!

I want to extend my sincerest thanks to everyone who left comments, well wishes and contributed to Shannon's 60 mile walk. She has now raised a total of $3,385! My friends, family and readers are awesome!

Thank you!!!

Restaurant Style Salsa
adapted from Pioneer Woman via Brown Eyed Baker

28 ounce can whole peeled tomatoes with juice
2 10 ounces cans Rotel (diced tomatoes with green chiles)
1/3 cup chopped white onion (original recipe calls for 1/4 cup)
1 clove garlic, minced
1 jalapeno, stem removed, quartered and sliced thin (I also removed the seeds and ribbing to reduce the heat...even with the seeds gone, this is still a very spicy salsa. If you like a milder salsa try using 1/2 a jalapeno or even use a milder chile such as anaheim or poblano)
1/2 cup cilantro
Juice from 1/2 lime (if large or whole lime if small)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

Place all the ingredients in a food processor and pulse to desired consistency. (Note: I have an 11 cup food processor and this was pushing max capacity...if you have a smaller food processor, be sure to work in batches). Transfer salsa to a bowl or resealable container, cover, and refrigerate for at least an hour. The salsa keeps well in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.

Nancy's Mexican Cornbread and 3-Day for the Cure

2011-08-01T00:02:00.000-07:00

Today's post is a special one. It's about cornbread. And it's about breast cancer. I know that cancer isn't as fun to talk about as cornbread. But life isn't always as simple as cornbread, unfortunately. Sometimes things like cancer show up on our doorstep one day and things change.

Let's begin the story with the fun stuff...the cornbread.

This is no ordinary cornbread. Normally I think of cornbread as a side served with chili or ribs. Nancy's Mexican Cornbread is no side dish. It's the main course. This delicious southern style cornbread is baked in a cast iron skillet and is filled with hearty ground beef, onions, jalapenos and cheese. It's warm, delicious comfort food. Serve it with home made salsa (recipe to be posted later this week) and sour cream, chopped cilantro or some avocado slices and you have a seriously tasty dish on your hands.

It presents beautifully in pie shaped wedges. And the best part is it's really easy to make. You mix up the cornbread batter and pour half the batter into a 10 inch cast iron skillet. Pile on the delicious filling....browned ground beef, onion, jalapenos and cheese and then top with the remaining batter. Baking it in the iron skillet gives the cornbread a nice crisped outer edge that I love. No one would ever know what yummy flavors lie inside. This dish would be great for dinner or brunch and looks great served straight from the skillet.

This Mexican Cornbread recipe is extra special because it comes from my close friend Shannon's Mom, Nancy.  Thanks for sharing Nan! We met Shannon 10 years ago when Hubby and I were living in Chicago and she has been one of my best pals ever since.   She has a fabulous sense of humor and always makes me laugh. Even during difficult times, like last year when I fought against breast cancer (and won, by the way)!

At 36 years old I was diagnosed with breast cancer and it was scary and confusing. I had a lump in my left breast and after a number of tests it was determined that I most likely had stage 1 with a slow growing type of cancer. Which is actually good news in the cancer world!? But that's when the confusion really set in. Because of the type of cancer I had, there were a number of options, including removal of both girls (even though only one had cancer!) and reconstruction, removing just the tumor (a.k.a "Fred" as Hubby named it), various radiation treatments, possible chemo and hormone therapy. It was all very overwhelming and Hubby and I met with umpteen doctors to explore all the options. Ultimately I ended up having just the tumor removed followed by partial radiation.  I was lucky and did not have to have chemotherapy. And the best news is I continue to remain cancer free!

What was most impressive about going through this process was the amazing treatment options that were available. My radiation therapy was a newer advancement in radiation treatment that cut the radiation time down from 30 - 35 treatments to just 5 treatments. As little as a decade ago, breast cancer was a condition that often resulted in mastectomy as the standard course of treatment. Today there are a number of possible treatment paths that can be taken depending on the situation.

These amazing strides have been made possible by so many people, including the wonderful groups out there raising money for breast cancer research and support. The Susan G. Komen organization is the leading non profit group focused on raising money for this cause.   I am incredibly humbled by all the women that have come before me and battled with this disease as well as the talented medical professionals who have been treating breast cancer over the last several decades. Their experiences coupled with organizations like Susan G. Komen, have made the advanced treatment options that are available today possible.

So how does this all tie back to my good friend, Shannon (besides her fabulous sense of humor keeping me smiling during a sucky time)? She was inspired by my battle with breast cancer and decided to sign up for the Susan G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure, 60 mile walk. I was so touched that my experience inspired her to commit her time and effort to walk 60 miles in support of breast cancer. 60 miles is a lot of miles! To quote Shannon's 3-Day for the Cure web page, "3 DAYS (wow), 60 MILES (where's the Ben-Gay?), NO SHOWER......NO PROBLEM." See what I mean about her sense of humor? :)

What Shannon didn't know when she signed up for this great cause, was that just a few months later, her own mother would also be diagnosed with breast cancer.  Nancy's battle with breast cancer has been much more complex and difficult than my own. Shannon describes her Mom's cancer as being "a lot like the mexican cornbread, simple at first glance then when you cut into it, 'SURPRISE', but in a bad way." You see initially Nancy's cancer was thought to be similar to my own situation. But upon getting the pathology results back after her first surgery it was revealed that she actually had two kinds of cancer. One slow growing and one very aggressive. Thankfully they caught it early.

Shannon and Nancy

Nancy is kicking cancer's butt and taking names as we speak! She has had multiple surgeries and continues to endure chemotherapy and weekly IV infusions. She is 2/3 of the way through her chemotherapy treatment and will be finished in September. She is also on a breakthrough drug called Herceptin which hinders the growth of new cancer cells and will finish with that part of her treatment in Spring of 2012. Shannon says Nancy is doing fantastic considering everything and that "she's rockin' the bald look" and wears it well!

Shannon's takeaway message/life lesson that she has has learned from this experience is that if you are diagnosed with breast cancer, get yourself a TEAM of doctors so that the communication and continuity of care is part of your treatment process.

I concur with Shannon and say to anyone out there who has been diagnosed to not be afraid to ask questions. Don't be afraid to get a second or even third opinion. This is a complicated disease and education is key to determining the path of treatment best for you and your circumstance.

Donate to a great cause!

Shannon has been training for the Susan G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure most of the year and she kicks off the first leg of the 60 mile walk this coming Friday, August 5th, in the Chicago area. Please join me in supporting Shannon on her walk and head over to her donation page by clicking here. Shannon has raised $2,500 as of the date of this post I'm hoping that we can help her raise even more for this very important cause.

If you want to learn more about my personal experience, you can head over my blog Gloria vs. Fred that I set up to keep my friends and family informed during my journey last year. I had previously kept this blog available to friends and family, but I think it's important to share it with a larger audience. If any part of my story helps just one person with their own journey then it is a success.

Thank you so much to Shannon and Nancy for letting me share their story with those who read my blog. You are both amazing and inspirational women!

If you would like to make a contribution to further breast cancer research and support head over to Shannon's donation page.

Oh, and you should totally make this cornbread. It's delicious!

Nancy's Mexican Cornbread

1 cup yellow cornmeal plus 3 tablespoons
1/4 cup flour
1 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1 egg
1 cup milk
3 tablespoons oil
1 15 oz can creamed corn
1 pound ground beef
1 large onion, chopped
1-2 jalapenos, chopped (use according to taste)
1 1/2 cups grated cheddar cheese
Salt and pepper to taste
Butter or oil to grease your baking pan

Preheat oven to 350.

Brown ground beef in a large skillet and season the meat with salt and pepper. Drain fat off and set ground beef aside.

Use butter or oil to grease a 10 inch cast iron skillet. Sprinkle about 3 tablespoons of cornmeal to coat bottom and sides of the skillet.

In a medium bowl, combine cornmeal, flour, baking powder, sugar and salt and stir until well combined. Add milk, egg, oil, and creamed corn and stir until well combined.

Pour half of the cornbread mixture into the prepared skillet. Spread ground beef evenly over the cornbread mixture. Spread the onions, jalapenos over the top of the beef. Top with cheese and then pour remaining cornbread mixture over the cheese and spread to cover evenly.

Place skillet in the oven and bake for 50 - 60 minutes, until cornbread is golden brown and springs back to the touch. Cool for 15 minutes and cut into wedges. Serve with your favorite salsa, sour cream and chopped cilantro.

Note: If you don't have a 10 inch cast iron skillet you can use a 9x13 baking dish and make 1.5 times the recipe noted above and follow the same baking instructions.

Chocolate Mint Thumbprints

2011-08-01T00:01:00.000-07:00

Today is the third post for the new baking group, Club: Baked. The Club: Baked bakers are making our way through Baked Explorations by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito. Jamie of Random Acts of Food is our hostess this week and I was super excited to see she had selected Chocolate Mint Thumbprint cookies. Chocolate and mint are one of my favorite flavor combinations.

Thumbs up for the chocolate thumbprint cookies! The cookie is like a cross between a chocolate shortbread cookie and a brownie. They are filled with creamy, gooey white chocolate peppermint ganache and the coarse sugar on the outside gives them a great crunch. Overall a really good solid cookie!

My only minor complaint is these cookies have to be stored (in a single layer) in the refrigerator because of the gooey centers. I went ahead and made the full batch even and I ended up with 45 cookies. I had to refrigerate my dough for an hour before I was able to roll out into balls. I almost forgot to roll the balls in the coarse sugar so I had to do a little back tracking. I'm so glad I didn't skip this step. I really think the coarse sugar is a key element in these cookies...adding sparkle and a nice crunchy texture. I was a little skeptical that there would be enough ganache for all the cookies, but there was just the right amount (and not a drop left over). I am contemplating using these cookies as a mix in for my next batch of homemade ice cream because there's no possible way I will be able to pawn off and or eat them all in the next few days.

Thanks for the great pick Jamie! Head over to her site to get the recipe. Next up for Club: Baked is Sunday Night Cake on August 15th.

Vanilla Cupcakes

2011-07-30T18:56:00.000-07:00

I love it when I have an actual occasion to bake for. I find most of the time I am baking for a baking group assignment or just because I have a compulsion to bake every few days or so. So when I saw my friend Sharon's birthday was coming up on the calendar my mind kicked into to gear to decide what to make for the occasion.

Cupcakes! Everyone loves cupcakes right?

Sharon's favorite cake is vanilla cake with vanilla frosting. I rarely make white cake (since I'm a chocolate girl through and through), so I went in search of recipe. I added Martha Stewart's Cupcakes cookbook to my collection a few months back but had not had the opportunity to break it in. If you can call making one recipe breaking it in...we are now broken. I made her white cupcake recipe. I cheated a bit on the frosting and used Trader Joe's white frosting box mix. And to spruce it up I filled the cupcakes with raspberry jam.

The cake was light and tender. The frosting was super sweet...think buttercream. And the tartness from the raspberry jam brought it all together. Next time I would try a lighter frosting...like this whipped cream frosting. When we ate them I think we all had a major spike in our blood sugar, but they were still tasty!

Enjoy!

White Cupcakes
from Martha Stewart's Cupcakes

3 1/4 cup of sifted cake flour (not self-rising)
1 1/2 tablespoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons milk
1 3/4 sticks unsalted butter at room temperature
1 3/4 cups sugar
5 large egg whites at room temperature

Preheat oven to 350 and line muffin tins with paper liners. In a medium bowl, sift cake flour, baking powder and salt and set aside. Stir vanilla into milk and set aside.

Cream butter with an electric mixer on high until smooth. Slowly add in sugar and beat until the mixture is pale fluffy. Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture in thirds alternating with the milk mixture until everything is just combined.

In separate bowl beat eggs whites on medium speed with an electric mixer until stiff peaks form. Fold a third of the egg whites into the batter to lighten the batter. Gently fold in the remaining egg whites in two batches until just incorporated.

Use an ice cream scoop or spoon to fill cupcake liners 3/4 full. Tap muffin tins on the counter top to release any air bubbles. Bake for 18 - 20 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through baking. A toothpick should come out clean. Cool on a wire rack.

To fill cupcakes with raspberry jam, cut a cone shaped hole out of the top center of the cupcake and set it aside. Fill with a teaspoon or so of jam and then replace the cut out piece of cake to fill the hole. To see an example of filling a cupcake, click here.

Top cupcakes with a frosting of your choice.

Zucchini Parmesan Crisps

2011-07-28T06:00:00.000-07:00

Zucchini is in full swing. If you have a few plants in your garden, you know that it produces heaps and heaps that one family can hardly keep up with. Unfortunately we didn't plant any this year, but we have been picking it up from our local farmer's market. We eat zucchini at least a couple of times a week and I've always got my eyes peeled for a new zucchini recipe.
This one happens to be one of my favorites.

This recipe comes from Ellie Krieger's The Food You Crave cookbook. Zucchini rounds (or ovals in this case) are engulfed in a crispy panko and Parmesan cheese coating. These delicious little chips brown beautifully in the oven with a nice crunch, similar to a crispy fried zucchini stick....but you don't have to feel guilty eating these since they are baked. I like to dip mine in a little (light) ranch dressing which you can easily omit if you are counting calories. They are delicious all on their own.

If you've got some zucchini laying around and you can stand to turn on your oven, this is a great way to use some of it up.

Enjoy!

Zucchini Parmesan Crisps
adapted from Ellie Krieger's The Food You Crave

1 pound of zucchini (about 2 medium)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese (I use the small grater on my box grater or you can use a zester)
1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs
1/4 teaspoon salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup ranch dressing (optional)

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Line a baking sheet with foil and spray with cooking spray.

Prepare bread crumb mixture. Place Parmesan cheese, bread crumbs, salt and pepper in a medium bowl and mix. Wash and dry zucchini. Slice into 1/4 inch rounds and place in a medium size bowl. Drizzle zucchini with olive oil and toss to evenly coat all the slices. Coat each slice generously with the bread crumb mixture. Pat crumbs into the slices to get a good even coating. Place each slice on the prepared baking sheet leaving a little bit of room in between each slice. Bake 25 - 30 minutes until zucchini is tender and breadcrumbs are golden brown and crisp.

Serve while still warm with ranch dressing.