Cooking, Baking, And Everything Else.

Heart Shaped Red Velvet Whoopie Pies

2011-02-12T18:16:00.000-08:00

I am in LOVE with these sandwich cookies, they are so adorable and easy to make, not to mention super delicious!! I had a blast piping the little hearts, and matching them and filling them, and of course eating them. These are perfect for Valentines day, a perfect family treat or in a decorative box for the one you love. I think this is one of my all time favorite recipes, I thought the cookies needed a little something extra, so I added semisweet mini chocolate chips, they were perfect. The cream cheese filling is so light and creamy, and the touch of semisweet chocolate chips are a great compliment to the very rich flavor, the cookies are very soft and cake-like, I love the light cocoa flavor of the cookie as well as the deep rich, red, color. They were also very easy to pipe into hearts, just trace little hearts onto parchment paper and pipe, or you can just leave them round, either way, still very cute!

Mix dry ingredients

Mix sugar and butter

Sugar heart

Mix until fluffy

Add the eggs, and vanilla

incorporate the dry/wet ingredients until will mixed

Add the food coloring

Mix until fully incorporated

Add dough to piping bag

Pipe onto parchment paper

Mix the butter, cream cheese until smooth, the the vanilla and powdered sugar

until nice and smooth

And the chocolate chips

Turn half the cookies flat side up

Pipe filling onto flat side

Smushhhhhh, and eat :)

Ingredients: Makes about 16 cookies

For the cookies:

4 cups all-purpose flour
4 tbsp. cocoa powder
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups light brown sugar, packed
2 large eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk, at room temperature
1 and 1/2 oz. red gel food coloring

For the filling:

2- 8 oz. cream cheese
10 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
4 tsp. vanilla extract
5 cups confectioners’ sugar
3/4 cup semisweet mini chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 375 F
Using a heart template, trace hearts onto cookie 2 cookie sheets fitted with parchment paper, set aside.
In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt, set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix together the butter and brown sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes. Beat in each egg until incorporated, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Mix in the vanilla. With the mixer on low speed, beat in about 1/4 of the dry ingredients, followed by half of the buttermilk, beating each addition until just incorporated. Do not overbeat. Blend in the food coloring.

Transfer the dough to a pastry bag, cut about 1/2 inch or so, (mine was about a pinky finger width) Pipe the dough onto the parchment paper just inside the trace using it as a guide. Bake 8-10 minutes or until the tops are set. Let cookies cool about 5 minutes,then transfer to a cooling rack. Repeat with any remaining dough. Allow cookies to cool completely before filling.

To make the cream cheese filling, in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment beat the cream cheese and butter on medium-high speed until well combined and smooth, about 2-3 minutes. Mix in the vanilla extract Then on low speed gradually add the confectioners’ sugar until totally incorporated, increase the speed and then beat until smooth. Add the chocolate chips mixing on low until fully incorporated.

Match all cookies to size, turning half of them facing flat side up, transfer filling to a pastry bag cutting 1/4 off the tip, pipe the filling onto the flat side of each cookie leaving some room on the edges, sandwich the cookies, flat sides together and press down a little until the filling comes to the edges, serve immediately or store in the fridge for up to 2 days. If they'll last that long. :)

Recipe adapted from Annies Eats

Chocolate Covered "Strawberries"

2011-02-03T19:23:00.000-08:00

Ahhh Valentines day, Love is in the air. What better way to show the one you love then making them a sweet treat from the heart. I posted a recipe similar to these around Christmas. These cake balls are so good, they have a great strawberry flavor, and they are so very easy to make. You can even stick them on sticks for easier dipping and a prettier presentation, anyway you go about it these are sure to please.

Roll cake balls to desired size

Melt chocolate or candy coating

Roll cake ball around chocolate to coat

Remove with a fork, tap fork lightly on the side of the bowl to remove excess chocolate

Slide ball gently onto wax paper

Repeat

Sprinkle with candy hearts, sprinkles, contrasting chocolate, etc. Let harden.


Enjoy, repeat.

1 Box strawberry flavored cake mix
1 can strawberry frosting
2-3 packages chocolate bark or candy melts for colors.
Small bowls to melt candy
Sprinkles or candy to decorate

Bake cake according to package directions. Let cool 25-30 mins.
Crumble cake into large bowl or stand mixer ( I used my mixer with the dough hook attachment)
Add about 3/4 of frosting can and stir until well incorporated, the frosting should completely blend with the cake.
Using a cookie scoop (or your hands) roll mixture into golf ball size (or smaller balls, to your liking) and place on cookie sheet fitted with wax paper.
Chill in the fridge for 1 1/2 - 2 hours, or stick them in the freezer for 45 mins.
Melt your chocolate bark or candy melts(directions should be on package) in a bowl or 2 or 3 depending on how many colors you're using.
Drop a cake ball, one at a time and gently roll in chocolate, remove with a spoon or fork, tapping gently on the side of the bowl to smooth the coating on the cake ball.
Gently place cake ball on sheet of wax paper decorate with sprinkles and let firm. (should only take a few minutes)
If you would like to do a truffle/line design, take some of the bark or candy melts and place in a piping bag and microwave until melted in 30 second increments.
cut the tip off of the bag and pipe lines back and fourth (as shown in picture) and let harden.
The cake balls are ready to serve! Or you can refrigerate them for up to 3 days.

Creme Brulee

2011-01-26T17:46:00.000-08:00

You may think Creme Brulee is a difficult dessert to make, but it is very simple, and creamy, and velvety, and delicious. The kitchen torch is also really fun to play with! I will definitely be making this again soon!

These are all the ingredients you need to make delicious creme brulee

Throw the vanilla bean and cream into a saucepan, and bring to a boil, stirring constantly.

Once the cream is hot, remove from heat, and remove the vanilla bean and scrape out the beans or "caviar" and add the vanilla bean, and caviar back to the cream, let the cream sit for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally

Add the egg yolks and whole egg to a mixing bowl

Beat on high for 2-4 minutes, until egg/sugar mixture turns thick and pale yellow

Mix, mix, mix

Perfect color

Remove the vanilla bean and discard

Pour the warm cream very slowly into the egg mixture

I just love this picture with all of the vanilla beans showing

Mix until incorporated

Place a sieve over a pouring bowl

Pour cream/egg/sugar mixture through sieve

Skim as much foam off the top, and eat it if you like, I did.

Place ramekins into shallow baking dish

Pour mixture into each ramekin, filling to top

If you have leftover mixture, you can freeze it for icecream!

Pour hot water very slowly and carefully

fill to about halfway up the sides of your ramekins, very carefully place them in the oven, and bake about 30 minutes

Once they come out of the oven, transfer to a wire cooling rack and cool to room temp


Wrap in plastic wrap and place in fridge for 3-4 hours

Once chilled, sprinkle with fine bakers sugar

Using a kitchen torch, move across in very quick short strokes, never staying in one place too long

Perfect!


Enjoy the velvety smooth creaminess!

Ingredients: Serves 4-6

2 cups heavy cream
1/2 vanilla bean split
3 egg yolks
1 whole egg
1/4 cup sugar
2 tbsp bakers superfine sugar for topping

Directions:

Combine heavy cream, and vanilla bean in a medium saucepan, bring to a simmer.
Remove from heat, remove vanilla bean, scrape the seeds and add back to milk mixture,
let steep 10 minutes.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the eggs and sugar, mix on high 2-4 minutes, until pale yellow and thick. Slowly add the warm cream, mixing on medium until fully incorporated.

Pour the custard mixture into a pouring bowl through a fine mesh strainer or sieve, skim the foam.

Preheat your oven to 325 F
Place 4-6 ramekins into a shallow baking dish, pour mixture into ramekins, filling to the top.
Pour hot water into shallow baking dish, until it comes halfway up the sides of the ramekins.
Very carefully, place in oven and bake 25-30 minutes or until just set. Do not let it get brown.

Once set, transfer ramekins to a cooling rack and cool until room temp.
Once at room temp, wrap ramekins with plastic wrap, and place in fridge for 3-4 hours.

Once the Creme is chilled, and set, sprinkle about 1/2 a tablespoon over custard, and torch in quick even strokes, until browned. Serve immediately. Bask in the Deliciousness!

Chocolate Pistachio Bundt Cake

2011-01-15T21:25:00.000-08:00

This cake is so deliciously moist and has such a great flavor! Its the easiest cake to make, made with just a few simple ingredients you would usually find in your fridge and pantry, I got this recipe from The Pioneer Woman Cooks! One of my favorite cooking blogs. When I saw this recipe, I had to make it! I even made a chocolate ganache and sprinkled it with pistachios as she suggested, and it turned out just amazing! I would recommend making this as soon as possible, it is well worth shelling all the pistachios!

Preheat your oven to 350. Using a bundt cake pan. . .

Oil and flour, or spray your pan with baking spray with flour already in it

Using these ingredients. . .

Add them to your mixer

Yes, pistachio pudding.

Yes, orange juice.

Mix, mix, mix!

And mix. . .

Until well incorporated.

Add some leaf green gel food coloring.

Mix well

Green as a pistachio!

Pour it into your greased and floured pan

Evenly-

Ish

Saving 1/4 of your batter. . .

Pour 3/4 cup of chocolate syrup, yes chocolate syrup

Pour that into the batter

Mix

Nice and chocolaty!

Pour that right over your green batter

Evenly-

Ish. And pop it into your oven for an hour.

Open this bag, eat a few for quality control.

Shell them, try to remove excess crispy gray skins

Chop em up in your food processor, or with a knife

set aside

To make the ganache, Heat some heavy cream

Using 2/3 of this bag

Pour the semi-sweet chips into a heatproof bowl

using 4 tbsp of butt-er

Pour the heated cream into the bowl

Stir around for a minute to get things going

Scraping the sides of the bowl as needed

Whisk until well incorporated and smooth

whisk in butter, set aside and let cool

once you remove your bundt from the oven, let it cool for 10 minutes, then hold your breath flip it upside down and invert onto a cake server or flat dish

Whew!

Le Magnifique! Let it cool for 15-20 more minutes

Your ganache should have thickened up a bit

Spread it on your bundt

Sprinkle your pistachios all over


The more, the better!

Ingredients:

For the cake:

1 box White Cake Mix
1 package 3.4 Ounce Pistachio Instant Pudding Mix
1/2 cups Orange Juice
1/2 cups Water
1/2 cups Vegetable Oil
4 whole Eggs
3/4 cups Hershey's Chocolate Syrup
1/4 teaspoon leaf green gel food coloring

For the Ganache:

8 oz. semi-sweet chocolate, finely chopped or 2/3 of a 12 oz bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup heavy cream
4 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
4 oz bag of pistachios, shelled and chopped

Directions:

For the Cake -

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour bundt pan, or spray with floured baking spray.

In a mixing bowl or stand mixer, fitted with the beater attachment, mix the white cake mix, pudding, orange juice, oil, water, and eggs, beat for two minutes on medium-high. Add food coloring beat another 30 seconds. Pour 3/4 of the batter into the bundt pan.
Add the chocolate syrup to the remaining batter and mix well. Pour the chocolate batter on top of the pistachio batter. Place in oven, bake for 1 hour or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
cool for 10 minutes and invert (very carefully) onto a serving plate, let stand 20 minutes to cool.

For the ganache-

Place the chopped chocolate or chips in a small heatproof bowl. Bring the heavy cream to a simmer in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate Stir until well incorporated and smooth. Whisk in the butter until completely incorporated, let sit 15-20 minutes until cool and thick, spread over cooled bundt, sprinkle with pistachios and serve!

Fast, Easy, And Delicious Homemade Pizza

2011-01-11T20:57:00.000-08:00

I love pizza! Especially when it's homemade with lots of cheese, and toppings! I really wanted pizza the other night, and it's hard to find a really good pizza for a lower price. So I made my own, and it turned out so great. The crust was crispy and had a great flavor, the sauce was so flavorful, and was so easy to make! Try this soon, it's great to even get the kids to help too!

Good stuff for good sauce

Chop the shallot, garlic, and basil. Add butter so a small saucepan, and the shallot and garlic, cook until onions are tender

Add the chopped basil, saute until fragrant

add the tomato sauce and spices, simmer for 10 minutes then remove from heat

Add some yeast to some water, and let it sit for a minute

Throw the flour in your mixer, and add the olive oil, mix until incorporated

Add the yeast/water mix

Mix it around until dough forms

Roll the dough into a ball and place in large bowl

Cover tightly with plastic wrap, and let sit for an hour or two

The dough will double in size

using only half or a little more for thicker crust, sprinkle with flour and roll out

You can also roll out to a square if using a cookie sheet

Place on a pizza stone, or pizza/cookie sheet works just fine

Brush lightly with olive oil, and sauce

Add base cheese

Then toppings, and more cheese and basil if you please, it's your pizza, add what you want!


Throw it in the oven and bake at 375 until the crust is golden and the cheese is bubbly

Ingredients:

For the sauce:

1 medium size can of tomato sauce
1 bunch of basil (about 2 tablespoons chopped)
1 medium shallot chopped
1-2 cloves garlic chopped
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon fresh or dry chopped sage (I used rubbed)
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
salt and pepper to taste

For the crust:

1 teaspoon Instant Or Active Dry Yeast
1 1/2 cups Warm Water
4 cups All-purpose Flour
1 teaspoon Kosher Salt
1/2 cup Olive Oil

For the toppings:

About 3/4 cup grated mozzarella cheese
1 8oz whole milk mozzarella sliced into chunks for topping
Use whatever toppings you want, and how ever much you want! I used salami, and pepperoni, and a little basil on top.

For the sauce:

Chop shallot, garlic, and basil. Over medium heat, add 2 tablespoons butter to a small saucepan, along with shallot and garlic. saute until onions and garlic are tender, add basil, cook until fragrant, add tomato sauce and spices simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat, and let sit until room temperature to spread on pizza.

For the crust:

Sprinkle yeast over 1 1/2 cups warm water. Let stand for a few minutes.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine flour and salt. With the paddle attachment and the mixer running on low speed, drizzle in olive oil until combined with flour. Then pour in yeast/water mixture and mix until just combined, and the dough comes together.

brush a large bowl with a light drizzle of olive oil, and form the dough into a ball. Toss to coat dough in olive oil, then cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and set it aside for 1 to 2 hours*

*Note: Dough can be stored in the fridge for up to two days.

When you are ready to make the pizza, using only half (or 3/4 for a thicker crust, I used 3/4) the dough, roll out the pizza with a rolling pin, or you can stretch and pull until desired shape and thickness is achieved. Once rolled out, lay it on an oiled baking sheet or pizza pan, or a pizza stone. Lightly brush dough with olive oil.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spread cooled sauce on dough and 3/4 cup mozzarella. Top your crust with your toppings of choice. Then bake for 15 to 17 (if using a thicker crust, bake for 20-25 mins) minutes, or until crust is golden brown and toppings are bubbly.

Chicken Fried Steak and Sour Cream Mashed Potatoes

2011-01-08T20:19:00.000-08:00

Let's just start off by saying, this recipe is not the healthiest. I am a big believer that everything is okay in moderation, (food wise, not drug or smoking wise) This meal is wonderful to have when it's a little cold out, and you're craving a nice, hearty, comfort food. I love the flavors in the gravy, and it goes great with the Sour cream mashed potatoes. Instead of using vegetable or peanut oil to fry the steak, I used Olive oil, it worked great. Serve this with some corn on the cob, or any vegetable you fancy.

Using two shallow bowls, one for the eggs, and the other for flour

Dredge the steak in the flour

Then the egg

get it nice and soaked on both sides

Then back to the flour, and fry it up until crisp and golden on both sides

Remove to a paper towel lined plate, and keep it warm in the oven at 170 F

When finished frying, reserve 3 tbs oil and drippings, throw in the butter, and flour, let it simmer 2 minutes whisking constantly

Add chicken stock., whole milk, Tabasco and spices to your liking

Boil your potatoes until fork tender, drain and pour back into pan and mash

Add half and half, butter, and sour cream


Pour gravy on steak, and potatoes, heck, even your veggies if you wanna get crazy.

Ingredients:

For the Steak

1 1/2 pounds cube steak (4-6 steaks)
1 1/4 cup flour
2 eggs
1 tsp black bepper
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp garlic salt
4-5 shakes Tabasco sauce

For the gravy

3 tbsp reserved steak drippings from pan
2 tbsp butter
5 tbsp flour
1/2 cup chicken stock
1 1/4 cup whole milk
1/2 tsp garlic salt
3 shakes Tabasco
salt and pepper to taste

For the Sour cream potatoes

5-6 medium potatoes, (I used white, but you can use what you like).
salt for the water
1/4 cup half and half
3 tbsp butter
1/2 cup sour cream
salt to taste

Preparation

Wash and cut potatoes in 1-2 inch pieces and place in medium saucepan, cover with water and bring to boil on medium high heat until fork tender.

For the steak
Meanwhile, preheat your over to 170 F. Add enough extra virgin olive oil to cover the surface of a large frying pan, turn heat on the medium high. Combine flour and spices, in a shallow bowl and mix with a fork. In another shallow bowl, crack open two eggs, and add Tabasco, mix well. Rinse and pat dry steaks and dredge first in flour, then to egg mixture, then to flour again.

Place steaks into hot oil pan and fry on both sides until golden brown (5-7 minutes)
remove steak to paper towel lined plate and place in oven until ready to serve.

For the gravy
Turn heat down to medium low, remove excess pan drippings, reserving 3 tbsp. Using remaining pan drippings, add butter and flour and whisk until incorporated, continue simmering 1-2 minutes, slowly pour in chicken stock, and whole milk, whisking until well incorporated. turn heat to lowest setting and let thicken. Add spices and salt and pepper to taste.

For the potatoes
When the potatoes are fork tender, remove from heat, drain water, mash and add butter, milk, and sour cream, ans salt to taste. Stir until well mixed. slather the gravy all over the potatoes and steak and enjoy!!!

Creamy Chicken And Wild Rice Soup

2011-01-03T22:26:00.000-08:00

I hate being sick! I've had a cold since Thursday, It's not very fun at all! You're hot, you're cold, you're achy, and tired, and then you don't know what you are, you feel just plain ucky. I decided I wanted a nice, comforting. hot, soup for dinner. So I asked Hubby to go to the store and get something. Everything he named off didn't sound good at all. so I decided I would make my own. I had him grab a few things, most of the ingredients we had on hand. I'm so glad I made my own soup, it was thick, hearty, and comforting for a cold (and or sick) night. Hubby isn't a soup person, but he loved it! Especially the next day when the rice soaked up most of the broth. This is a great, quick and easy weeknight soup. Even if you're not sick. I would highly recommend making this asap, it's perfect for those cold evenings indoors.

Beautiful veggies!

Slice em up!

Yep, rice-a-roni, trust me.

Add the butter, and only 1 packet of seasoning.

Add spices, and saute veggies until leeks are tender and smelling delicious

Add to stockpot, along with chicken stock

saute chicken in the same pan as the veggies, for the flavor

Add in the Minute rice

Remove chicken, let it cool, a little, sneak a piece or two.

Shred it up, add it to the stockpot

Open this and add it to the soup, so good!

Melt this

Add Some flour, make a paste, add stock.

Add to stockpot and let it bubble, and get even more delicious

Yep, this is what soup heaven looks like

Perfect for bread dipping!

Ingredients:

1 leek (or onion) chopped and cleaned*
3 medium carrots sliced into 1/4 inch thick slices (I used baby carrots because it's what I had on hand)
3 stalks of celery sliced into 1/4 inch slices
2 cloves garlic chopped
1 stick butter, divided
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 - 10oz can of cream of mushroom soup
1 cup Minute white rice
2 - 4.3oz boxes rice-a-roni wild rice, 1 packet seasoning reserved
3 tablespoons flour
4 thin sliced chicken breasts, cut into 1-2 inch pieces
2- 32oz boxes plus 1 cup low sodium chicken stock
1 teaspoon thyme
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon salt plus more to taste
1 teaspoon pepper plus more to taste

*Note: The best way to clean a leek is to slice it up, and set it in a bowl of water and mix it around with your hands to let all of the dirt in the layers fall off, then remove to a kitchen or paper towel to get rid of any excess water.

Directions:

Melt 3 tablespoons butter in large saucepan over medium heat, add sliced carrots celery, leeks, and garlic.
saute until onions are soft. Add salt, pepper, thyme, and cumin, stir until fragrant. In a large stock pot, add 2- 32oz chicken stock, Minute rice, and vegetables, simmer on medium heat.

In the same large saucepan, saute the chicken on medium heat, until golden in some areas, and no pink remains. remove chicken to a cutting board and let cool about 5 minutes. shred chicken and add to stockpot.

In a medium saucepan, add both boxes of wild rice mix with 2 tablespoons butter, cook by directions on package, (about 24 minutes) using only 1 seasoning packet, cook until rice is soft and fluffy, add to stockpot.

Empty contents of cream of mushroom soup into stockpot, along with cream, stir continuously until all ingredients are incorporated.

In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt 3 tablespoons butter, add 3 tablespoons flour, whisking constantly cooking 1 minute until a paste-like consistency, slowly add 1 cup chicken stock whisking constantly until incorporated. let simmer for 2-3 minutes. then turn off heat and let thicken 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Once butter/flour/stock mixture has thickened, pour into simmering pot of soup and stir, continue simmering until soup has a thicker consistency(when the bubbles look thick). Turn off heat and let sit 5-7 minutes, stirring occasionally. Serve while hot with a nice loaf of french bread or baguette. Delicious!

Eggnog Muffins With A Bourbon Glaze

2010-12-31T11:43:00.000-08:00

I like eggnog, especially if it has a little Bourbon in it! After Christmas was over, I had a little over half a quart to use up, what better way then to make muffins right? Right. These muffins were great! I made them for Hubby and his co-workers, they loved them! These muffins have a wonderful eggnog flavor, and the Bourbon flavor is there, but not too overpowering. I regret not saving myself an extra one to go with my morning coffee. I will not make the same mistake next time around.

Add caption

I know, the eggnog is supposed to be in the picture here, but it was hangin' out with the ingredients above, at the time this picture was taken.

Mix all ingredients, and bake em'

glaze is good, glaze with alcohol is great!

drizzle drizzle

Keep on drizzlin!

Eggnog Muffins with bourbon glaze

Ingredients:

For the muffins:

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tbsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 cup eggnog
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
6 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted
1/2 tsp. almond extract
1 cup chopped pecans (optional)

For the bourbon glaze:

2 cups powdered sugar
pinch nutmeg
1 1/2 tablespoons bourbon whiskey
2 tablespoons eggnog
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400° F. Line 15-17 muffin cups with paper liners.
In a medium mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt; stir to combine.
In a stand mixer fitted with the beater attachment, combine the sugar, eggs, eggnog, melted
butter and almond extract. Stir until well combined. Mix in the dry ingredients
just until incorporated. Chop pecans and fold into the batter. Divide the batter evenly
between the prepared muffin liners, filling them about two thirds of the way full.

Bake for about 15-18 minutes, or a until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Let cool in the pan for a few minutes, then transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely.

Glaze directions:

Add all ingredients in a stand mixer, fitted with the wire whisk attachment,
beat on medium speed until all ingredients are incorporated, spoon 1 teaspoon of mixture
on each muffin, (the glaze will drip a little, I just put a piece of wax paper underneath
the muffins) after the glaze dries (10 mins) repeat the process until all of the glaze is used.

Tamales, Wonderful Tamales!

2010-12-27T17:10:00.000-08:00

I did it! I made tamales! It's not hard, just very time consuming, but totally worth it in the end, get someone to help you, make it a family thing, and the time thing won't be so bad, I did these all by myself, (with the exception of Hubby, pouring the broth into the maize while I mixed it with my hands) They had a great flavor, spicy, but not too spicy. I made these for my Hubby, who had been asking for awhile, and they sounded good, so I finally broke down and made them. I am so glad I did, I will most definitely make these again soon! This recipe made enough for about 5 dozen, depending on the tamale size. So make these soon, and enjoy all of your delicious hard work.

Place pork shoulder, veggies and spices in a crockpot on low 8-10 hours

cut off stems and ends and remove most seeds in chilies.

Boil in pork broth, onions, and garlic for 30 minutes or until soft. let cool

Meanwhile, after cooling pork, remove bones

Bones should come right our (so tender!) shred finely.

Add chilies and broth mixture to a blender, blend until consistency of sauce

pour over pork shoulder and stir to distribute chili sauce evenly

wrap with plastic wrap and marinate it in the fridge for 2-4 hours.

Soak corn husks in warm water for up to 20 minutes

Add MASECA to a bowl with salt, baking powder and chicken broth.

Beat Crisco vegetable shortening or lard until fluffy

Add the MASECA mix.

Lay the corn husk smooth side down

Fill with about 1/2 cup dough, depending on the size you want, and corn husk

Smooth out, leaving about 1/2 to 1 inch husk ends

add 1-2 Tablespoons of meat/chili mixture

Meet both ends of dough to close around meat, leaving the top open, tuck the bottom end underneath and fold around like a burrito.

Fill tamale steamer with tamales, do not pack them in, you need room for the steam to rise.

This will be your end result after about 2 hours of steaming, you know when the tamales re done, when the corn husk will peel easily away from the MASECA mix.

Ingredients:

Filling-

1 3-4 pound pork shoulder
1 whole onion cut into 5-6 large chunks
4 cloves garlic cut in half
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons cumin
enough water or chicken broth to cover most of the pork

Chili sauce-

2 oz dried Ancho chilies
3 oz dried Pasilla chilies
4 cups pork broth from crockpot
Onions and garlic that were in the crockpot
2 teaspoons cumin
2 teaspoons salt

Tamale dough-
(This is a double batch)
4 cups MASECA For Tamales mix
4 cups water or broth, (I used chicken broth)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup lard or vegetable shortening (I used Crisco)
(Note: I tripled this recipe)

(The directions to make the tamale dough is on the package, I cannot tell you exact measurements, I made 3 double batches, and that came out to about 5 dozen, it just depends on the size of the tamales you are making)

Casing:

1-2 packages dried corn husks

To make the filling:

Rinse and pat dry the pork shoulder and add to a crockpot, add onions, garlic, salt, and cumin.
Add enough broth or water to almost cover the pork. Set on low 8-10 hour setting.
Turn after 4 hours. Once done, (the pork is finished when it shreds away easily) turn off crockpot and let sit for 1-2 hours, remove the pork, saving the broth, onions, and garlic for the chilies. Let the pork rest 10 minutes, or until cool enough to shred with fingers or forks.

Cut off ends and stem ends of chilies, and remove most seeds, place in a pot along with onions, garlic and about 4 cups of broth. Boil for 30 minutes, or until soft. you can shred the meat while the chilies are boiling.
When the chilies are done, let cool for 10-15 minutes, then add to a blender, blend until consistency of sauce, with no chunks remaining, pour over shredded meat and wrap with plastic wrap. Place in the fridge, and let marinate for 2-4 hours.

For the dough and casing-

Casing-

Place 1 package of corn husks in a large pot of warm water, soak for 20 minutes,
you may need to weigh them down with a heavy bowl or pot to make sure they are fully submerged.

Dough-

4 cups MASECA mix
4 cups water or broth, (I used chicken broth)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup lard or vegetable shortening (I used Crisco)
(Note: I tripled this recipe)

To make the dough-

In a large bowl, mix MASECA with baking powder, salt and add broth slowly, incorporating with hands.
Add shortening to a stand mixer fitted with the beater attachment, beat medium-high until fluffy.
Add the MASECA mix, beat until well incorporated* and has a spongy texture.

*(Note: A way to tell the dough is mixed, is by taking a small teaspoon sized amount and put it into a glass of water, if it floats, its done!)

To Assemble:

Open a corn husk, shake off any excess water, lay smooth side down, or hold in hand and smooth about 1/2 cup of the dough (depending on size of husk, it the dough should be spread 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick) onto husk, leaving about 1/2 to 1 inch of husk showing on each end, spread about 1-2 tablespoons of meat/chili mixture onto dough, close both ends together, folding the dough over the meat, fold the bottom end of the husk in and wrap like a burrito, leaving the top open, repeat until all of the meat is used.

Steaming:

Using a tamale steamer, or large pot with steaming tray, fill with water just below the fill line,
fill pot with tamales leaving some space for steam to escape, do not overfill. bring water up to a simmer (You should be able to hear the water simmering in the pot) and simmer for about 2 hours. The tamales are done when the husk pulls away from the dough easily. Remove tamales and place on a paper towel lined tray, let sit for 10 minutes to rest and further set. Serve with sour cream, salsa, or eat plain. Delicious!!!

Gingerbread Cheesecake With Bourbon Whiskey Whipped Cream

2010-12-27T14:48:00.000-08:00

I know, Christmas is over, so why make gingerbread right? Wrong! This cheesecake is so good!
Make it for New years, you will not be disappointed! If you like gingerbread and cheesecake, you will love this, it has a great gingerbread flavor and the Bourbon whiskey whipped cream isn't bad either ;-) I made this for a Christmas party at my brothers, and everyone loved it! Serve it with a container of whiskey whipped cream on the side, and enjoy the greatness!

Mix up a batch of your favorite gingerbread


I made enough for the cheesecake, and for my little brother,	who loves my gingerbread cookies!

Pulse the cookies in a food processor until finely ground, bake at 350 for about 10 minutes, or until golden brown

Beat the cream cheese until fluffy

Add eggs and spices, and molasses mix until incorporated


Bake at 350 for 65-75 minutes

Mix whiskey/bourbon with sugar and heavy cream, YUM!

Add gingerbread decorations

Pipe whiskey whipped cream


Sprinkle with gingerbread crumbs, eat and faint from deliciousness

    1/4 to 1/2 batch of your favorite gingerbread recipe

    6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

    1 3/4 cups granulated sugar

    2 pounds (4 8oz packages) cream cheese, room temperature

    1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

    4 large eggs, room temperature

    1/4 cup unsulfured molasses

    1/4 teaspoon salt

    1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger

    1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

    1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

    1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

    1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest

    gingerbread cutouts for decoration

Bourbon whiskey whipped cream ingredients:

1 1/2 cups Heavy Cream
3-4 Tablespoons sugar
3-4 Tablespoons bourbon whiskey

Directions:

For the cheesecake-

   Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Wrap exterior of a 9-inch spring form pan in 2 layers of foil.

   Cut, bake, and cool favorite gingerbread recipe, add to food processor
   (reserving some cookies for decoration) then pulse in a food processor until finely ground.

   Combine butter, 1/4 cup sugar, and 2 cups cookie crumbs in a bowl.
   Press mixture firmly and evenly into bottom and one-third of the way up sides of prepared pan.
    Bake until set, and slight golden color about 10 minutes. Let cool on wire rack.

   Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees. Beat cream cheese with a mixer on medium speed
   until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in remaining 1 1/2 cups sugar and the vanilla, scraping down
   sides of bowl as needed. Reduce speed to low. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each
   addition and scraping sides of bowl as needed. Beat in molasses, salt, spices, and lemon zest.
   Pour filling into cooled crust.

   Place cheesecake in a large, shallow roasting pan. Transfer to oven, and carefully add enough
   hot water to the roasting pan to come about halfway up sides of spring form pan. Bake until
   cheesecake is set but still slightly wobbly in center, 65 to 75 minutes.

   Carefully remove spring form pan from roasting pan, and let cool on a wire rack.
   Remove foil when pan is cool enough to touch.
   Refrigerate, uncovered, for at least 8 hours (I refrigerated mine overnight)
   Before serving, run a hot knife around edges of cheesecake to loosen,
   and slowly remove sides of pan. Arrange gingerbread cookie decor to your liking.

   For Bourbon whiskey whipped cream:

    Add all ingredients into a stand mixer with wire whisk attachment

    Beat on medium-high until medium stiff peaks form

    Using a pastry bag fitted with a star tip, pipe whipped cream around cake

    Sprinkle with crushed gingerbread

    save remaining Whipped cream in a dish or container, and serve alongside cheesecake.

    (Or keep it for yourself and stir into some coffee. . . YUM!)

Cheesecake recipe adapted from Martha Stewart

Christmas Mice

2010-12-23T22:29:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I just have to say, these are the most adorable mice I have ever seen! Almost too cute to eat. . . Almost. They are also simple and delicious! I presented them with the Peppermint Mocha Cupcakes I made for Hubby's Christmas potluck, everyone loved them, and how adorable they looked around the cupcakes. They take a little while to make, but totally worth the effort!

Ingredients: Makes 20-30 mice

1 14 oz bag of Wilton milk chocolate candy melts or
milk chocolate chips

1 bag of Hershey's kisses

1 2oz bag slivered (round slivered, so they look like ears) almonds.

1 medium size jar of maraschino cherries, with stems

1 14 oz bag of black Wilton candy melts, or black piping gel.

Directions:

Unwrap kisses, drain and pat dry cherries in a paper towel.

In a small bowl, melt 1/2 of the candy melts or chips in the microwave in 30 second intervals.

Holding the cherry stem, dip into chocolate, cover cherry completely, using a small spoon.

Place cherry on wax paper and press Hershey kiss
on opposite side of the stem, holding for a few seconds.

Using a toothpick, place a small amount of melted

chocolate between the body (cherry), and the head (kiss), place 2 slices of almonds to form ears, hold until set.

Mouse army

So adorable!!

Melt 1/8 cup of black candy melts, and using a piping bag, (or black pipe gel) pipe little eyes and a nose on each of your mouse army.

Let set at least 10 minutes.

Enjoy the cuteness!

Peppermint Mocha Cupcakes

2010-12-23T21:58:00.000-08:00

I'm not really a peppermint lover, I love the smell, but not so much the taste. Especially peppermint, or mint flavored coffee, so when I made these cupcakes, I wasn't expecting to like these so much! They have a great flavor, and a nice crunch from the candy canes on top, the frosting, is a nice, shiny, light peppermint meringue buttercream that goes great with the light, moist, coffee/chocolate cake. I made these today for a Christmas potluck at Hubby's work, (along with Christmas mice, see above post) and they were gone so fast! I will most definitely make these next year!

Ingredients: Makes 24-27 Cupcakes

Cupcakes:

2 and 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2-3 teaspoon espresso powder*
2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup whole milk
1 cup strong brewed coffee
1 teaspoon peppermint extract
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup light brown sugar, packed.
2 large eggs
*(Tip: If your local store does not carry espresso powder, you can substitute an instant coffee, just double the measurement, I recommend the Starbucks Via Ready Brew packets)

Meringue buttercream frosting:*

6 large egg whites
1 and 3/4 cups granulated sugar
1 and 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
4 teaspoon peppermint extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Topping: (optional)

4-5 regular size candy canes, crushed or pulsed to a chunky powder in a food processor.

Directions:
For the cupcakes, preheat the oven to 350° F. Line two cupcake pans with paper liners. In a medium bowl, mix the flour, cocoa powder, espresso powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt; mix together.
Combine the milk, coffee and peppermint extract in a small bowl.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the butter and sugars. Beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 1-3 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Mix in the dry and wet ingredients, alternating wet and dry until just mixed, do not over beat.

Fill cupcake pans and liners 3/4 full. Bake 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool in the pan 3-5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the frosting, combine the egg whites and sugar in a double broiler or heatproof bowl* set over a pot of simmering water. Over medium heat, whisking frequently, until the mixture reaches 160° F and sugar is dissolved. Transfer the mixture to the bowl of a stand mixer* fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat on medium-high speed 5-10 minutes, until stiff peaks form (make sure they're stiff, but don't overbeat) and the mixture has cooled to room temperature.

*(Tip: I used my stand mixer bowl as a double broiler, mostly because I didn't want have to wash so many bowls! But it worked just fine!)

Reduce the mixer speed to medium and add the butter, 2 -3 tablespoons at a time, mix well after each addition. If the frosting looks soupy or curdled, continue to beat on medium-high speed 3-5 minutes until smooth again. Add in the peppermint and vanilla extracts and mix just until incorporated.

For colored frosting, I separated the meringue in half, and colored one half red, and left the other half white for a candy cane effect. In a piping bag, fitted with a star tip, add 1/2 cup of the red frosting, along with 1/2 cup of white, does not have to be perfect or exact, pipe a streak on a paper towel or paper or your finger (and eat it) until both colors show, pipe cupcakes, add more frosting to bag as needed. Top with crushed Candycanes and Enjoy!

Adapted from Annies Eats

Vanilla Almond Sugar Cookies, And Icing.

2010-12-21T13:11:00.000-08:00

Pictured here are the gingerbread, I just wanted to show the icing

I've been so busy the past week, I haven't had time to do anything! These were one of the many reasons I've been so busy, I made goody gifts to pass out for Christmas this year, and let me tell you, it's not a quick and easy thing to do! It's very time consuming, and tiring, but also very fun! I had a blast making these, and watching them slowly come together. It made me feel great, knowing I was giving gifts from my heart (and kitchen). I made so many things, sugar cookies, gingerbread, lemon ricotta, cake balls, oreo truffles, peppermint bark, and Russian tea cakes, (also sugar free peanut butter cookies, will post later) all in 1 1/2 days! I was exhausted! Also, I felt very accomplished and proud to have done so much in so little time. Everything came out so wonderful, and everyone loved the gifts, so it made all the time (and butter) spent, well worth it. I will definitely do this again next year, I started off with Sugar cookies, these cookies were a light, buttery sweet, with a great almond flavor! I got this recipe from the Bake at 350 blog, and it does not disappoint! I love this blog, it has a lot of great recipes, but the heart of the blog is cookies, Bridget makes and decorates such beautiful cookies, sometimes they don't look real!

Add caption

Check out her creations, and make these cookies for Christmas, any other holiday, or just for fun!

Ingredients:
3 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup sugar
2 sticks cold, salted butter
1 egg
3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon pure almond extract

This recipe makes about 3 dozen 2-3 inch cookies

Preheat oven to 350.

Combine the flour and baking powder, set aside. Cream the sugar and butter. Add the egg and extracts and mix. Gradually add the flour mixture and beat just until combined, scraping down the bowl, especially the bottom.

The dough will be crumbly, so knead it together with your hands as you scoop it out of the bowl for rolling.

(Tip: cut the dough in half and throw it in the fridge until you use the first half of the dough, so it's no sitting out getting warm. The colder the dough is, the easier it will be to cut and transfer to the cookie sheet)

Roll onto a floured surface and cut into shapes. Place on parchment lined baking sheets (she also suggests freezing the cookies for 5 minutes before baking, I was in a hurry and just baked them, they came out great!)

Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes. Let sit a few minutes on the sheet, then transfer to a cooling rack.

Let them cool completely before decorating.

Icing:

(this will cover approximately 3 dozen 3.5 inch cookies)

1 pound of powdered sugar
5 tablespoons meringue powder
"Scant" (about) 1/2 cup water
A few drops of almond extract (totally optional)

Combine the meringue powder and water with a beater attachment using an electric mixer. Beat until peaks begin to form. Sift (make sure you sift!) in the powdered sugar and beat on low to combine. Increase speed to high and beat until stiff peaks form. (You should be able to remove the beater from the mixer and hold up and jiggle without the peak falling.) If using an extract, add it then beat for a few more seconds to incorporate. Cover with plastic wrap touching the icing or divide and color using gel paste food colorings (keep covered when not using). (Tip: I also covered the icing bowl with a damp kitchen towel, along with the plastic wrap, I also covered the icing tips with a damp paper towel)

To fill in your cookies, add water to your icing a 1/2 teaspoon at a time until it is the consistency of thick syrup. This technique of filling a cookie with thinned icing is called "flooding". (I'll be making more soon to show how its done, I had no time to take so many pictures, I now regret not doing so.)

Awesome Broccoli Cheddar Soup.

2010-12-16T12:24:00.000-08:00

I love soup, I could eat it every day, (can't say the same for Hubby). I love all kinds of varieties, textures, and colors. Yesterday, I had a craving for a creamy comfort soup, so naturally, broccoli cheddar came to mind! I am so glad I made this it was so satisfying, warming, and delicious! Hubby liked it too, even though he's not much of a soup person. I read a lot of variations of this soup, and I just couldn't find one that I liked, so I decided to risk it and just make my own. I'm glad I did! The best part about this soup is, you can't mess it up, its good chunky, smooth, or in between, I opted for smooth with some chunks. It has a great cheddar flavor, but not overpowering, you can taste everything that's in the soup, and it's very easy
to make. So, make this soon, and enjoy!

Ingredients:

7 Tbsp butter, divided.
1 cup, onion, or 2 leeks rinsed and chopped (I used leeks, cause I love em')
2-3 cloves garlic, minced.
2-3 carrots chopped.
4 cups broccoli florets chopped.
1 teaspoon fresh or dry chopped thyme leaves.
1/2 teaspoon salt.
1/2 teaspoon pepper.
4 Tbsp flour.
Pinch of cayenne pepper.
Pinch of nutmeg
3 1/2 cups low sodium chicken stock.
1 cup heavy cream, or half and half ( I used heavy cream)
2 cups medium cheddar cheese, shredded.
Salt and pepper to taste.

Directions:

In a large pan, melt 3 Tbsp butter over medium heat.
Add the onion or leeks, salt, pepper, and nutmeg, saute until tender, about 4 minutes. Add the carrots, garlic, thyme leaves and broccoli, saute for 3-4 more minutes.

While that's happening, in a large stockpot, over medium-high heat, melt the 4 remaining Tbsp butter, add the flour and cook, whisking constantly for 1-2 minutes. Slowly whisk in the chicken stock, and bring to boil. Add the vegetable mix, reduce the heat to medium, and simmer until thickened, and broccoli is somewhat tender.

With an immersion blender, blend until desired consistency, or in a food processor, or regular blender, pulse until desired consistency,and return to pot.

Add the heavy cream or half and half, and simmer to heat through, add the cheddar cheese, cayenne, and salt and pepper to taste.

Cook over low heat until cheese has melted, remove from heat, serve immediately.
Enjoy the deliciousness.

Banana Berry Muffins.

2010-12-15T11:17:00.000-08:00

I know I was supposed to make something pumpkin, but I had these berries in the fridge just begging to be made into delicious muffins, so I gave in, and I was not disappointed. These muffins were so good, I had one and a half last night, and two this morning. Thank goodness, they're somewhat healthy, I added wheat flour to the mix, and of course the fruit. These muffins had a very fruity tasty, and I could taste the banana too. I made enough for Hubby to take to work which was about 24, but you can certainly halve the ingredients to make a dozen. These go really good with a hot cup of coffee, and of course slathered with butter, so enjoy!

Makes 24-28 Muffins.

Ingredients:
3 cups flour
1 1/2 cups wheat flour
2 1/4 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
6 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup blueberries
1 cup blackberries
1 cup bananas

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 375°. Grease or line 24 muffin wells with muffin liners.
Combine flour, sugar, salt cinnamon, nutmeg, and baking powder. Place vegetable oil into a 2 cup measuring cup or medium bowl. Add the oil, egg, vanilla and buttermilk. Mix this with flour mixture. Fold in blueberries, bananas and blackberries. Pour into lined muffin cups; fill to the top.

Bake 17-20 minutes or until edges are golden brown.

Crock Pot Beef Sandwiches With Au Jus

2010-12-10T10:46:00.000-08:00

I had a serious craving for a serious messy, beefy sandwich. So when hubby and I went grocery shopping, I picked up a boneless chuck roast.

It was about 2 1/2 pounds. Lets just say, this satisfied my serious beef craving! It was so tender and flavorful, just what I was looking for, and more! It was so easy to make! Just put in in your Crock pot and leave it alone for 8 hours, (I didn't because I'm impatient). Hubby enjoyed it too, he had of course had beef sandwiches, but had never dipped them in a Jus, he loved it! Our roast made 4 sandwiches last night, and 2 for Hubby's lunch today, and there is still a pot left in the fridge.This is perfect for the cold rainy days, its a great, warm comfort food, and very easy to make!

Ingredients:

1: 2-3 pound boneless beef chuck roast.

1-2 cans beef broth of beef consomme

1 can or 3/4 bottle dark beer (I used the last bottle of pumpkin beer that had been sitting in the back of the fridge)

Water

1 shallot onion, cut in large slices

2-3 cloves of garlic cut in half or smashed once with the
flat side of a knife.

1 bay leaf

1-2 teaspoons of rosemary, sage, and thyme each.

salt and pepper to taste.

Butter (softened) for spreading on bread.

French rolls or steak rolls (I used Oroweat)

Cheese slices, any kind. (I used colby, because it's what I had)

Rinse off the roast with water and pat dry, place in

crock pot, add spices, shallot, garlic, salt and pepper, broth/consomme and beer, fill broth/consomme can with water twice and add to roast (You'll want to cover the roast about 1/2 an inch).

Cover with lid and cook on low 6-8 hour setting
and leave it be. (I turned every 2 hours, but you don't have to if you have better things to do, I didn't.)

After at least 8 hours, remove and discard the bay leaf, take a fork and tongs, or two forks, whatever you want, and shred the meat.
After the meat is shredded, let it sit in the broth for a bit to take in more flavor, while that's happening,
heat up a pan or griddle, get your steak rolls out, and
spread them with the butter, and brown them.

Using tongs, take as much meat as you want and slather
it on the rolls, we're goin for more meat then bread here,
the bread is just a vessel to take the meat to your mouth.
take your cheese and place it on the meat, it will melt
on the meat, or you can stick it under the broiler for a
couple of minutes, be sure to watch it carefully if you
do that.

Pour some Jus into small condiment/serving cups,
serve sandwiches along with any side you want,
(I was going for the meat and potatoes effect)
dip your beautiful sandwich in the beautiful Jus,
and bite into heaven.

Lemon Ricotta Cookies

2010-12-08T08:56:00.000-08:00

These cookies should be called "Super awesome soft lemony cookies of gloriousness", but I guess that name is a mouthful, so we'll just stick with lemon ricotta. Yes, ricotta cheese, I think it maybe what makes these cookies so good, very creamy and sweet and lemony, definitely one of my faves. These cookies have a light, cake like consistency, I don't know if they're fitting around Christmas, being lemon, but I'm making them for goody gifts anyway. I made them about a week ago the recipe made about 30, I ate 2 (had to stop myself from eating 5) and sent them with Hubby to work. He didn't come back with any, He says some of the guys ate 3, 4, and 5 to themselves! I got some feedback from a few friends too that loved them, so I highly recommend you make these cookies, you will not regret it!

For the Cookies

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 (15-ounce) container whole milk ricotta cheese
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1 lemon, zested

For the Glaze

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
3 Tablespoons lemon juice
1 lemon, zested

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
Cookies:
In a medium bowl combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
In the large bowl combine the butter and the sugar. Using an electric mixer beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating until incorporated. Add the ricotta cheese, lemon juice, and lemon zest. Beat to combine. Stir in the dry ingredients.
Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Spoon the dough (about 2 tablespoons for each cookie) onto the baking sheets. Bake for 15 minutes, until slightly golden at the edges. Remove from the oven and let the cookies rest on the baking sheet for 4-5 minutes before transferring to wire racks.

Glaze:
Combine the powdered sugar, lemon juice, and lemon zest in a small bowl and stir until smooth. Spoon about 1/2 to 1 - teaspoon onto each cookie and use the back of the spoon to gently spread. Let the glaze harden for about 2 hours. Pack the cookies into a decorative container.

Tip: To avoid a mess when frosting the cookies, place wax paper under the wire racks to catch the glaze that drips from the cookie.

Recipe adapted from: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/lemon-ricotta-cookies-with-lemon-glaze-recipe/index.html

Russian tea cakes.

2010-12-07T13:17:00.000-08:00

These cookies are perfect around Christmas, well they're perfect anytime because they are so good! They just remind me of Christmas, maybe the powdered sugar looks like a dusting of snow? I dunno, just make these cookies asap, they are so easy to make and delicious. You can use pecans or walnuts, I like to use walnuts for their oil content when baked they just make the cookie taste more buttery and light. These can also be called Mexican wedding cakes, just add 1-2 teaspoons of cinnamon, either way, they're wonderful. This recipe makes 2-3 dozen, depending on how big you make your cookies, I made about 24 cookies.

1 cup butter, at room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup sifted confectioners’ (powdered sugar) sugar, plus more for rolling cookies
2 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon salt1 cup finely chopped pecans or walnuts

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Cream butter in a large mixing bowl or stand mixer fitted with beater attachment, add vanilla and gradually add the 1/2 cup of confectioners sugar.Beat until light and fluffy.
Sift the flour with the salt and add gradually to the butter/sugar mixture, add the pecans or walnuts and mix well.

Shape the dough into 1-2 inch balls or crescent shapes ( did the crescents by rolling into a cylinder form back in fourth in my hands and shaping into a crescent) and place on parchment lined baking sheet spacing 1-2 inches apart. Bake 20 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. remove the cookies and dust or roll with confectioners sugar in a medium bowl, while still warm. Be sure to cover the while cookie in the confectioners sugar. Cool on wire racks, roll or dust cookies in Confectioners sugar before serving. Once completely cooled, cookies can be stored in an airtight container for up to 1 week.

Recipe adapted from http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/russian-tea-cakes-recipe/index.html

Welcome to Cookin' Kitty! And Christmas cake balls.

2010-12-07T11:05:00.000-08:00

Hi all! (or one) depending on how many have signed up to my oh so very new blog! I just thought I would start one, seeing as everyone and their mom already has one. Also, because I have many many recipes I have found, been given, and made myself that I would love to share. Plus, I think all of my Facebook friends are tired of me posting my pictures of my cooking/baking adventures on my wall and updates! So, here we are! i just thought since it being December, I would start with something simple, easy, and DELICIOUS! These are cake balls, I did the red and green for a Christmas theme, but you can do any color you choose, and any cake and frosting flavor you choose, I used a boxed cake (dark chocolate fudge) and canned frosting (rainbow party chip) because that's what I had in my pantry at the time my sugar craving hit. You can also make your own cake or frosting, anything works, but why fix something that's not broken, right? Right. I made about 32 cake balls with this recipe, and I wanted to eat all of them! So I sent them with Hubby (I kept 4) to work the next morning to share with his co-workers, and everyone loved them! I'm going to be making them as Christmas gift treats, along with a few other choice goodies for some friends and family, and they are sure to please. So here are the cake balls and the recipe, very very easy and fun to make! Enjoy!

Cake Balls

1 Box cake mix (any flavor)
1 can frosting (any flavor)
2-3 packages chocolate bark or candy melts for colors.
Small bowls to melt candy
Piping bags

Bake cake according to package directions. Let cool 25-30 mins.
Crumble cake into large bowl or stand mixer ( I used my mixer with the dough hook attachment)
Add about 3/4 of frosting can and stir until well incorporated, the frosting should completely blend with the cake.
Using a cookie scoop (or your hands) roll mixture into golf ball size (or smaller balls, to your liking) and place on cookie sheet fitted with wax paper.
Chill in the fridge for 1 1/2 - 2 hours, or stick them in the freezer for 45 mins.
Melt your chocolate bark or candy melts(directions should be on package) in a bowl or 2 or 3 depending on how many colors you're using.
Drop a cake ball, one at a time and gently roll in chocolate, remove with a spoon, tapping gently on the side of the bowl to smooth the coating on the cake ball.
Gently place cake ball on sheet of wax paper and let firm. (should only take a few minutes)
If you would like to do a truffle/line design, take some of the bark or candy melts and place in a piping bag and microwave until melted in 30 second increments.
cut the tip off of the bag and pipe lines back and fourth (as shown in picture) and let harden.
The cake balls are ready to serve! Or you can refrigerate them for up to 3 days.