Christmas Cookies of Joy

These cookies are just full of christmas spirit. Or maybe it's just peppermint patties. Whatever it is, it's delicious and so much fun to make! When I saw these cookies in my "Rachael Ray" magazine this month, I had to try them! I brought them to a christmas cookie exchange.

INGREDIENTS LIST:

1 1/2 cups flour, 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, 1/2 cup white sugar, 1 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp baking soda, 1 1/2 sticks butter (unsalted. If you use salted butter, reduce the salt you add to the dough), 1 egg, 24 peppermint patties (ONLY use York! I will explain why later), white chocolate (for drizzling), candy canes or peppermints, crushed (for sprinkling)

YIELD: about 2 dozen cookies

The first step is to make the dough:

Combine the dry ingredients, stir, add the butter. Make sure the butter is nice and softened so it will beat in nicely and not leave any giant chunks in the dough. Beat with a mixer, then add the egg and beat. 

Then, wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm (about an hour) 

 This is where I will explain why you must use York peppermint patties. That is what I used for my first batch. Then I ran out and went over to Walgreens to grab some more. That's where I saw the Pearson's mint patties. And they were cheaper. (I am all about cheaper) And they're practically the same thing anyway, right? Wrong! They may taste about the same, but the Pearson's were unsuitable for baking. The cookies with the York patties had nice, white, pepperminty centers and nothing oozed out the sides when they baked. The cookies with Pearson's had weird clear stuff (it looked like rubber cement, or hot glue, or something) bubbling out of the sides of almost every single cookie. And the centers practically disappeared. So pay the extra dollar fifty and save yourself some sadness.

Anyways, then you measure out 1 tablespoon of dough. Roll it into a ball and flatten it. Place a peppermint patty in the middle and wrap the cookie dough around it.

(By the way, I took a lot of pictures of the 1st few steps of the recipe, but my camera was feeling particularly blurry that day, and it's hard to tell if you've got a good picture on that tiny screen. None of them turned out, so you'll have to forgive me)

Bake at 350 for about 15 minutes.  

Here's what the cookies look like after they come out of the oven.

Then, melt your white chocolate. Using your preferred method. I prefer microwaving at about half power for a minute and a half or so, stirring with a rubber spatula halfway through. 

 The recipe said specifically "don't use white chocolate chips" but I'm a rebel and I did anyways ;) ...

...Mostly because I was tired after work when I shopped for these, and Target only has white chocolate chips. They don't have any plain white chocolate bars or chunks of white chocolate. 

But, it worked out completely fine. Take that, recipe!

I put the melted chips in a plastic baggie and cut off the end, pastry bag style. Then, just drizzle the tops of the cookies with the white chocolate.

I also think it would be nice to dip the tops of the cookies in the melted chocolate, ganache style, but I didn't have the time.

Sprinkle them with your crushed candy canes before the chocolate sets up. This makes them real purty, and also lets everyone know they're full of peppermint goodness :) 

Then enjoy them with your beverage of choice (in a mug) by your Christmas tree. Delicious! 

Ricotta Gnocchi (OR My new favorite dinner ever!)

I'm going to apologize in advance for any typos/extra spaces/nonsense that ends up in this post. My silly cat keeps climbing all over the keyboard as I'm typing this. Hopefully spell check will catch everything ;)

So, this is my very favorite new recipe. I am absolutely in love with these tasty, cheesy little Italian dumplings! You can throw this together for dinner in less than 20 minutes, and yet, they look so fancy (and taste so yummy) that you'd think you spent hours slaving away on them. It's pretty inexpensive, and (because of all of the cheese) it's super filling. Therefore, it's one of the few dinners that Tye will eat that does not include meat! Are you sold yet? Cause you should be :)

This recipe had a tomato sauce recipe with it, but it was a lot of work for just being mediocre, so I use pasta sauce from a jar. I like Vodka Tomato Pasta Sauce (the Safeway brand is delish!) or just plain marinara. I also think an Alfredo sauce would be yummy, if you prefer that type of thing. Whatever your pasta sauce preference (homemade, store bought, or otherwise) just serve     it with these.

RICOTTA GNOCCHI:

1 cup Ricotta cheese
2 eggs
1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan (you can use the pre-grated kind if you wish, but use the nice kind. You should probably steer clear of the kind in the can)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp minced garlic (or garlic powder, or 2 cloves or garlic, minced)
1 cup flour, plus more as needed

First, fill a very large pot halfway with water. Put it over high heat until it boils.
While the water is boiling, stir together the ricotta, eggs, parmesan, and spices until blended.
Then add the flour. I start with one cup, but usually end up using one and a half cups, it just depends on how wet the ricotta is. You need to add enough flour to form a soft dough.
Then divide the dough into 3 or 4 pieces.

Place them on a floured surface and (with floured hands) roll the dough into ropes about 1/2 inch thick. 

Cut them into one-inch pieces. These are your gnocchi. Repeat this with all of your dough balls.

SIDE NOTE:If your pot of water is large enough, you can boil the gnocchi all at once. My biggest pot was dirty because I made blackberry jam that day, so I used my medium sized pot and boiled them in 2 batches.

Salt the boiling water lightly and turn it down to medium heat. You don't want to boil these too high or they get kind of crazy and you can't tell when they're done. You just want to gently boil them. 

When then float to the top, let them cook for 1 1/2 more minutes (approximately) and they're done. I just use a gigantic slotted spoon and fish them out to put them into the pot of sauce that I had warming up on another burner.

Top with more freshly grated parmesan and some parsley or basil (if desired)

I like to serve this with some garlic bread and a salad, but I also think it would be good with some nice Italian meatballs, if you're the type of person that requires meat for dinner. 

So, there you have it. Best weeknight dinner ever? I sure think so :)

Also, I just noticed that spell check got all of the cat's typings! Hooray :) 

Salted Caramel Cupcakes

Ok, so I suppose by now you're onto me. You may have guessed that I have a slight obsession with cupcakes. This is the 3rd cupcake recipe (or is it the fourth...?) that i've posted. But I can't help it! I love cupcakes. They're just so cute. And yummy. And they're easy to share,  And did i mention how cute they are? *Sigh*
Anyway, this one is a salted caramel cupcake! Mmmmmm! Since I love cupcakes and salted caramel seems to be having a moment right now, this sounded like the perfect thing to bake.


There are 3 different components for this recipe. There's the fluffy vanilla cake, the gooey caramel filling, and the tasty salted caramel buttercream! 


We'll start with the cake.
Here's the ingredients:

2 whole eggs

1 egg yolk

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons buttermilk

1 1/2 cups cake flour

1 cup sugar

2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch cubes

***Make sure your butter and buttermilk are at room temperature! It is a very important part of this recipe.

Preheat oven to 350.

In a small bowl, beat together the eggs, buttermilk and vanilla. Don't forget the extra yolk. 

In a  large bowl mix together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. If you have a stand mixer, take advantage of it for this recipe! My arm got very tired as I only have a hand mixer. Turn your mixer on low speed, then slowly, a few pieces at a time, add your cubes of butter. Keep mixing until all of your butter in incorporated, and it is uniformly textured with no large butter chunks left. 

Slowly add the buttermilk mixture with the mixer still on low.  When it is all added, turn the mixer speed to medium and beat for 1 1/2 minutes, or until the batter is light and fluffy. 

Put in muffin cups and bake for 20-25 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes, then place on a wire rack. 

Now you'll need to make the filling.

It's just a simple caramel sauce recipe. 

1 cup sugar

6 tablespoons salted butter

1/2 cup whipping cream.

kosher salt 

Put the sugar in a large saucepan over medium high heat. Stir it occasionally. After a 5 minutes of so, the sugar will begin to liquefy and form chunks. 

Now stir it continually until the sugar is completely melted, then wait 30 seconds to a minute for the sugar to turn a nice brown color. 

Then add the butter. It will get all foamy and crazy but just keep stirring it until it is all melted. 

Then remove it from the heat, wait 5 seconds and add the cream gradually.

Add a few sprinkles of kosher salt and it is all finished!

This would be DELICIOUS over ice cream!

To fill the cupcakes, I cut a small hole from the top. 

Then I spooned the caramel sauce into the cupcake crater

Then I placed the chunk back on top. It doesn't have to be perfect because it will just be covered up by frosting anyways. 

Speaking of Frosting...

You need

1/4 cup granulated sugar 

2 tablespoons water 

1/4 cup heavy cream 

1 teaspoon vanilla extract 

2 sticks salted butter

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

It starts about the same way the caramel sauce does. Add the sugar and the water to a saucepan. Stir it once so it is mixed together, then place it over medium high heat and leave it alone after that. 
You must resist the urge to stir, otherwise the sugar crystalizes and that will ruin your caramel.

Once it turns a nice amber color (see above), remove it from the heat and add the cream. Stir until smooth and set aside to cool. (For faster cooling, transfer it to another bowl.)

Meanwhile you will make a basic buttercream. Add the butter, powdered sugar and vanilla to a bowl and beat until cute and fluffy. When the caramel has mostly cooled, add it to the buttercream and beat it. 

TIP:If you add the caramel when it's too hot, you will have a tasty frosting soup. Not really what we were going for....

Now, all you have to do is frost those babies and you are ready to eat!!! 

Ta-Da!

I brought them up to Mt. Emily and they were gone pretty quick. Everyone said they were delicious!

{having so much} Fun With Cake Pops!

It's good to be back. It's been a long time since I've blogged anything. You probably thought I was never coming back, didn't you? However, I've cleared all the cobwebs out of this blog, and made something delicious! 


Cake Pops! A rising trend in the food world, and I can see why. They're one of the more adorable forms of cake! What I didn't realize is how yummy they are! Cake, mixed with frosting, covered in chocolate or a tasty candy coating. They're so fun! I made them as a Father's Day gift this year. They went over well! Here's the recipe:

1 cake in a  9x13 pan (you can bake it from scratch or just use a mix. Use whatever flavor you like the best!)

1 package cream cheese

2 sticks of butter

1-2 cups powdered sugar (or as needed)

1 tsp vanilla

Candy Melts or Chocolate Chips (two 12oz bags)

Lollipop Sticks

Decorations of Your Choice

For my cake, I used red velvet. I baked it up, let it cool and then crumbled it up into tiny pieces with my hands. It was fun to just get to squish a whole entire cake! (Side-Note: The original purpose of cake balls was to use up leftover cake, but honestly, who has leftover cake? ;) 

While the cake was cooling, I mixed the cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar and vanilla together to make frosting. (All the recipes I looked at wanted me to use can of boughten frosting, but I do not believe that. It is gross. Bleh... ) Then you mix the crumbled cake and the frosting together. You can use a spoon I suppose, but I found it to be quite fun using my hands. I'm messy in the kitchen.

It was nice to get to re-live my first birthday party all over again ;) 

In the words of Martha Stewart, this mixture is supposed to "feel weird."

 Oh, Martha! You crack me up! :) 

Roll the cake mixture into small balls (whatever size you see fit), put them on a cookie sheet and in your freezer for about 15 mins. to firm up. (or should I say, empty the entire contents of your freezer onto your counters to make a space for the cookie sheet to fit) 

I will spare you the picture of my counters. It was frightening

Melt the chocolate or candy coating while the cake balls are freezing.

Once they are done freezing (and the rest of your freezer is back in its place) it's time to turn them into pops! Dip the tip of the lollipop stick into the melted candy coating, and insert it halfway into the cake ball. Dip the cake ball into the coating until it's completely coated. Tap off the excess and place in a hunk of styrofoam or a coffee cup to dry. Decorate as you wish. Sprinkles and chocolate drizzles are what I used. 

Here's the finished product:

Yummm....

Chocolate+Bacon=YUM

This is not your typical cupcake. Or your typical breakfast item. It's much better. Try these Chocolate Bacon cupcakes before you judge them. They're delicious. I don't know if I can go back to plain-jane chocolate cupcakes again ;) 

Ingredients:

12 slices bacon

2 cups flour

3/4 cup cocoa powder

2 cups sugar

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 eggs 

1 cup strong coffee, cooled

1 cup buttermilk

1/2 cup oil

1 tsp vanilla

Cook all of the bacon until it's VERY crisp. If you can bend it without breaking it, keep cooking it, It's not done enough. My preferred method of bacon cooking is in a glass pie plate in the microwave, but you can also fry or bake it, whichever method you prefer. Place the cooked bacon on paper towels and let some grease drain off. 

mmmm... bacon!

Brew your coffee while your bacon is cooking and put it in the fridge, so it has time to cool. The coffee flavor is not very noticeable in the finished cupcake, but it brings out the flavor of the chocolate wonderfully. 

Add all of your dry ingredients (flour, cocoa, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt) to a bowl and mix them together. 

Make a well in the middle and add the wet ingredients. (eggs, coffee, buttermilk, oil) Mix until smooth. I just used a wooden spoon, but you can use a mixer, it doesn't make a difference.

Crumble the bacon and add most of it to the batter. Leave some out to sprinkle on top of the finished cupcakes. 

bacon and chocolate... together at last

Mix the bacon into the batter. 

Pour batter into cupcake papers until 2/3 full. (or add 1/4 cup batter to each one) 

Bake at 375° F for 20-25 minutes. 

Let the cupcakes cool, then frost. Here's the frosting I used:

Melt 1 stick of butter. Add 2 T cocoa powder. Add 3 cups powdered sugar and 1/3 cup heavy cream or milk (alternating between the two until they are all combined) Then add 1 tsp vanilla. 

After the cupcakes are frosted, sprinkle the remaining bacon bits on top. I also covered small pieces of bacon with melted chocolate as a garnish. 

eat me!

I love these cupcakes. They have such a nice, rich complex flavor and the cupcake has such a nice fluffy texture. 

How very...Radishing

Since my mom is out of town, I have been picking up her Gleaners for her. And I must say, it has been testing my culinary creativity. I got about 10 bunches of radishes today. And I'm not that crazy about radishes. So, i've been trying ways to make them taste less... radish-ey. This first one is pickled radishes. (scroll to the bottom for roasted radishes) I know that pickled radishes sound really gross. But they are actually quite tasty!  Spicy, peppery, but a little bit sweet. Odd, but I think that they're growing on me Here's what you need


QUICK PICKLED RADISHES
1 bunch radishes
Apple Cider Vinegar
Brown Sugar
Salt
Onion
Coriander
Bay Leaf

The measurements in this recipe are jar-specific. I used a ten ounce jar for this (it's fairly small) If you are using a larger jar, add more accordingly.

First slice your radishes thinly. Measure enough so that they fill your jar, loosely packed.

Mince about a tablespoon of onion. Dump out the radishes.

Measure your vinegar into your jar. It should fill your jar about halfway (half of my jar is a bit more than a half-cup)

Pour the vinegar into a small saucepan. Add 

1 TB + 1 tsp Brown Sugar

1/2 tsp salt

dash coriander

1 bay leaf

Bring to a boil, stirring often. Turn down the heat and simmer 2-3 minutes, until the salt & sugar dissolve.

While this is happening, put your minced onion and the radishes into the jar. Pour the vinegar mixture over the radishes. Cool for 30 minutes, uncovered. 

When the radishes are cool, pour out about 1/6th of the pickling mixture. Replace it with water. This will prevent the pickles from getting too strong while sitting in the refrigerator. 

This is my first batch. I hope to perfect it one day. (if you have any suggestions, let me know)

Refrigerate for a couple of hours (so the flavors meld together) and enjoy. 

UPDATE:

I just roasted some radishes. DELISH! set the oven for 425, sprinkle radishes with olive oil, salt & pepper, bake for 20-25 minutes. They were yummy, much milder than a raw radish, like a turnip, or a slightly spicy potato. 

"Fancy Schmancy" Chocolate Souffle

Chocolate Souffle is one of the fanciest things that I've ever cooked. It looks fancy, and it tastes like part cake, and part pudding. I was scared; I've heard all kinds of things about souffles, but actually, it was pretty easy and turned out pretty good. This recipe is adapted from "Mastering The Art Of French Cooking" (my Valentines present from my Sweetie :) Yup, I got a cookbook for Valentine's day) Here's what you'll need.

Ingredients
1 cup chocolate chips
1/3 cup strong coffee
1/2 Tablespoon butter
1/3 cup flour
2 cups milk
3 Tablespoons butter
4 egg yolks
1 Tablespoon vanilla
6 egg whites
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sugar
Powdered sugar
It also wouldn't hurt to have some vanilla ice cream, or some whipped cream to serve it with :)

First, preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Then add the chocolate and the coffee to a small, microwave-safe bowl.

Microwave on medium heat, stirring often, until chocolate is completely melted.

You will also need a souffle dish. I didn't have one, so I used a bowl. It was fairly shallow and about 8 inches across. 

Butter the inside of your dish. Then you get to do some aluminum foil origami :)

Take a piece of foil that is long enough to go around the inside of your bowl. Also make sure it's at least six inches tall. Then fold it in half the long way

then fold it again

then again

Then, butter one side of it, and put it inside your bowl.

 This is so that your souffle will rise up higher than the sides of the dish (although, it didn't for me, and this step is kind of a pain.) I'm declaring this step as optional. 

Measure your flour into a 2-quart saucepan. (TIP OF THE DAY- don't use nonstick unless you have a whisk that is not made of metal! Otherwise this next part might make you cry a little bit)

Slowly whisk your milk in, getting it as smooth as you can. Add butter.

 Stir over moderate heat until boiling. 

Boil, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes.

Remove from heat and beat 1 minute or so to cool it down slightly. 

Next, add your egg yolks (one by one) to the mix. 

Notice the change in color.

Then add your vanilla and your melted chocolate/coffee mixture. 

Place a sheet of plastic wrap over the top to prevent a skin from forming on top while you do the next steps.

Now you will need to get a giant bowl. I kept having to switch bowls because this egg white mixture got SO large. I went through three bowls. Save yourself the heartache and start with a ginormous bowl. 

Beat your egg whites and salt in aforementioned bowl.

Beat until soft peaks are formed. (NOTE: If you are a superhuman, you can try to do this by hand. Otherwise, use a hand mixer with a whip attachment.) 

Next, beat in the sugar very slowly, just sprinkles at a time. Beat until stiff, glossy peaks form. 

I'm fascinated by egg whites. How do they get SO fluffy?

Next, scrape the chocolate mixture into the side of the bowl with the egg whites. Fold it in very gently. If you do not fold gently, your souffle will be less fluffy (not good.)

Pour it into the buttered bowl. and put on the bottom rack of your oven. Then turn the oven down to 375. 

In 35-40 minutes, when it has risen and the top is cracked, sprinkle powdered sugar over the top. Then continue baking for 5 minutes. 

Serve at once. 

mmmm....