Lavender Lemon Bars

Ingredients:
2 cups white sugar
2 tsp dried lavender buds
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup virgin coconut oil, softened (mine was liquid)
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 dash salt
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
4 eggs, beaten
1/2 c lemon juice
1/2 tsp lemon extract
1/2 tsp dried lavender buds
1/4 cup confectioner’s sugar, for dusting

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease an 8x12 inch baking dish.
2. Make lavender sugar by blending the sugar and 2 tsp lavender buds in a blender; blend until the lavender is powdered.
3. With a electric mixer, blend together 1/4 cup of the lavender sugar, butter, coconut oil, 2 cups of flour, and salt in a bowl until dough forms; press into the bottom of the prepared dish.
4. Bake in the oven until the top begins to turn golden brown; about 15 minutes.
5. While dough bakes, mix together remaining lavender sugar, 1/4 cup flour, eggs, lemon juice, lemon extract, and 1/2 tsp lavender buds; pour over the baked crust. Return to oven, and bake until the center is set—about 20 minutes. allow to cool completely, and dust with sugar.

*Notes:
This is a pretty phenomenal little lemon bar. I was nervous about using the lavender buds, since I actually bought them for a different reason other than cooking with them, but the lavender is just there. It isn’t super overpowering. The aftertaste with the bars is a hint of lavender. I really like these. I’m definitely putting these down as a “to-use-again” recipe. Yum.  

Delicious Pizza!

Ingredients:
1 pkg active dry yeast (2 1/4 tsp)
1 cup warm water (105-115 degrees)
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp olive oil
2 1/2 to 3 1/2 cups of flour, divided

Directions:

1. Dissolve yeast in warm water in a large bowl. Add salt, olive oil, and 2 1/2 cups flour. Mix with dough hook on low for about 1 minute.
2. Continuing on low, add remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, and mix until dough clings to hook and cleans sides of bowl, about 2 minutes. Knead on low about 2 minutes longer.
3. Place dough in greased bowl (i just used olive oil), turning greased top. Cover. Let rise in warm place, free from draft, about 1 hour—or until doubled in bulk. Punch dough down.
4. Brush intended pizza pan down with oil. Press dough across bottom of pan, forming a collar around edge to hold toppings. Add toppings as desired. Bake at 450 for 15 to 20 minutes (we went with 16 minutes).

*Notes:

This is absolutely, wonderfully delicious. We just used some spaghetti sauce for our sauce, grated up some Colby-jack (our favorite cheese) and Jake put some ham on his side. All i can say is i don’t think we’ll buying pizza anytime soon; it’s all homemade form here.

Update

So while I have not been documenting every pizza or burrito I've made since...well forever ago, I have still been cooking...kind of. I made gingerbread men the other day...who actually turned into balls because making men took too much time. Anyway, with Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas on the way, I am hoping that the Blogging world will get to see more cooking! (Let's just hope my dress size doesn't regret it)

Molasses Cookies

made with help from the lovely assistant Melly

Ingredients:
1 cup butter (2 sticks) room temperature + 2 tbsp warm
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup molasses
1 cup sour cream
2 tbsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp salt
3 tsp baking soda
3 tbsp white vinegar
3 eggs, beaten
4 cups sifted flour
2 cup packed confectioners’ sugar, sifted
5 1/2 tbsp milk warm + 3 tbsp, very hot
1 tsp lemon extract

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350. Beat butter and granulated sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in molasses, sour cream, ginger and salt. Combine the baking soda and vinegar in a small bowls, and add to butter mixture. Beat in eggs until well combined. Stir in flour. Place a heaping tablespoon of dough per cookie, 2 inches apart, onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean—about 15 minutes. Transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.
2. To make frosting, beat confectioners’ sugar, 5 1/2 tbsp warm milk and remaining 2 tbsp warm butter together using a wooden spoon. Stir in lemon extract. Add remaining 3 tbsp hot milk and beat until smooth. use immediately to frost cookies. Spread 1 tsp frosting on top of each cookie. Let frosting set before serving.

*Notes:
As always, too much frosting. Our conclusion was these cookies taste like Thanksgiving, so if you’re looking for a Thanksgiving cookie…we found one. This could also be fun to make with little kids because you mix baking soda and vinegar together and that’s always fun.

Whipped Cream

Ingredients:

1/2 cup heavy cream, chilled
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 cup confectioners' sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Combine the cream, sugar, sour cream and vanilla in a medium bowl. Use an electric mixer to whip to stiff (but not grainy) peaks. Chill until using. Use within one day.

*Notes:
I didn’t make the cake, just the whipped cream and used it as frosting and decorated with raspberries and strawberries

Macaroons

Ingredients:
1 (14 oz) can Eagle Brand Sweetened condensed milk
1 egg white, whipped
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 tsp almond extract
1 (14 oz) pkg flaked coconut (i used shredded cause it was what i already had)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees (i burnt the first batch and cooked the rest at 300…but don’t forget, i have a crazy oven). Line baking sheets with foil; grease and flour foul (i just used parchment paper). Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, combine sweetened condensed milk, egg white, extracts and coconut; mix well. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto prepared baking sheets; slightly flatten each mount with a spoon.
3. Bake 15-17 minutes or until lightly browned around edges. Immediately remove from baking sheets as macaroons will stick if allowed to cool; cool on wire racks. Store loosely covered at room temperature.
4. *To make macaroon Kisses just press a kiss into the middle of the Macaroons after having transferred them to the wire rack

*Notes:
these are majorly sticky and (according to my husband) very sweet. overall, i say grab a glass of milk and enjoy! (if you slightly over cook them, just add the kisses and Poof! they’re fixed!

Jam (technically ours are Cream) Doughnuts

Ingredients:
1/2 cup warm water
4 1/2 tbsp (2 packets) dry yeast
1 tbsp granulated sugar
1 stick (8 oz) butter
1 cup whole milk
2 large eggs
5 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
4 cups peanut oil
Raspberry jam (we used banana pudding), for filling (pastry bag with metal tip) 
Confectioners’ sugar for dusting

*Warning!! Be prepared to spend All Day  doing this. ok, now you know.

Directions:

1. Combine the water, yeast, and 1 tbsp sugar in a mixing bowl and let it stand until the yeast is dissolved and the mixture is puffy. heat the butter and milk in the microwave or in a small saucepan over low heat until the butter is melted. (take off heat) Whisk the eggs into the milk mixture.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the flour, sugar, and salt. Whisk together the milk and yeast mixtures and pour it into the flour mixture. attach the dough hook and knead the dough on the slowest speed for about 10 minutes; after the first few minutes the dough should clean the sides of the bowl (i mixed it by hand). If the dough is very stick, add more flour 1/4 cup at a time. Remove the dough from the mixer and knead it for 30 seconds on a lightly dusted surface. You can also knead this dough by hand, either in the bowl or on a floured surface. Transfer the dough to an oiled bowl, turning to coat the dough on all sides. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and leave it to rise in a warm, draft-free place, about 1 1/2 to 2 hours, until doubled in size.
3. Remove the dough from the bowl and roll it out 1/2-inch thick on a floured surface. Cut circles of dough with a 3-inch butter. Cut remaining scraps into 3-inch pieces. Place dough circles and scraps on a piece of floured parchment paper and leave them to rise for 1 1/2 to 2 hours (do you see why this takes all day?) until doubled in size.
4. Line two or three baking sheets with four layers of paper towels. Clip candy thermometer onto a 4-quart pot and pour in the peanut oil. Heat the oil over a medium flame until the thermometer registers 350 (or a piece of bread dropped in the oil bubbles instantly but doesn’t turn dark brown right away).
5. Carefully place three or four doughnuts into the oil. Fry until golden, about 1 to 1 1/2 minutes per side (i found 1 minute worked). Bring the temperature back to 350 between batches. Transfer the doughnuts with a metal slotted spatula to the paper-towel-lined baking sheets. Repeat until all the doughnuts and scraps are fried.
6. Sift confectioners’ sugar generously over the warm doughnuts. When the doughnuts are cool, fill a pastry bag fitted with a plain metal tip (mine was plastic and worked fine) with jam. Plunge the tip into the bottom of each doughnut and squirt in a small amount of jam (or pudding; if you decide to do pudding make sure you make it ahead of time…like during one of the “rising period”s for the doughnuts).

*Notes:
We got way more than 18 doughnuts, which is how much it says there will be. Overall these are really good. I didn’t wait until they cooled completely to put the pudding in. But they still taste great.

White Chocolate Truffle Cake

Ingredients:
Cake:
2 eggs
4 tbsp superfine sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 3/4 oz white chocolate, melted
Truffle Topping:
1 1/4 cups heavy cream
12 oz white chocolate, broken into pieces (or white chocolate chips)
1 1/4 cup cream cheese
To Decorate:
Dark, milk chocolate melted
unsweetened cocoa, to dust

Directions:

1. Grease an 8-inch round springform pan and flour the base (i just put in some parchment paper). Beat the eggs and superfine sugar in a mixing bowl for 10 minutes or until mix is light and foamy and whisk leaves a trail that lasts a few seconds when lifted. Sift flour and carefully fold with metal spoon. Fold in melted white chocolate. Pour mix into prepared pan and bake in preheated oven (350) for 25 minutes or until springy to the touch. Cool slightly then transfer to wire rack to cool completely. Return cold cake to pan.
2. Truffle Topping: Place heavy cream in pan and bring to a boil, stirring to prevent it from sticking to the bottom of the pan. Allow to cool slightly, then add the white chocolate pieces (still over burner) and stir until melted and combined. Remove the pan from the heat and stir until almost cool, then stir in the cream cheese. Pour mixture on top of the cake and chill for about 2 hours. Remove from the pan and transfer to a serving plate.
3. To make large chocolate curls, pour melted chocolate onto a marble or acrylic board and spread it thinly with a spatula. Allow to set at room temperature. Using a peeler, push through the chocolate at a 25 degree angle until large curls form. Remove each curl as you make it and refrigerate until set. Decorate cake with chocolate curls and sprinkle with a little unsweetened cocoa. (Because I live in Hawaii and chocolate never sets in Hawaii. So I melted my chocolate and drizzled it on some wax paper. I stuck the wax paper in the fridge to set and then just moved it on top of my cake. I sprinkled the unsweetened cocoa over it and presto!)

*Notes:
I didn’t wait until the white chocolate mixture had cooled enough so it made my truffle topping not quite set. it’s still pretty gooey and i dunno if it’s supposed it be that way or not. Either way it’s damn good. hehehe.

In Honor of Harry Potter :) Sugar Mice & Pumpkin Pasties

Sugar Mice Ingredients:
3/4 stick (6 tbsp) butter, at room temperature
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
3 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted

Directions:

1. Combine the butter, corn syrup, and vanilla and beat until thoroughly combined. Add the confections’ sugar slowly on the slowest speed until it forms a dough-like consistency. Add more confectioners’ sugar, 1 tbsp at a time, if the mixture is sticky. Wrap the fondant in plastic wrap and refrigerator.
2. To make the sugar mice, pinch off a small piece of fondant and roll into a 1/2-inch ball. Roll the ball into an oval and pinch one end for the nose and two ends to make pointed ears. You can make two indentations for eyes with a toothpick. Pinch off another piece of dough to form a 1 1/2 inch ball and shape into an oval for the body. Attach the body to the head. You can stick a piece of licorice into the back for the tail. If the fondant gets too soft to work with, put it back in the refrigerator to firm up again.
3. Repeat until all the fondant is used up. Line mice up on parchment paper and leave out overnight to dry.
   *Notes: These basically taste like frosting. I didn’t make them all. Oh, and if you live in Hawaii keep your mice refrigerated as they Will melt.

Pumpkin Pasties Ingredients:
Crust:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tbsp granulated sugar
1/4 tsp salt
5 tbsp cold butter, ct into chunks
3 tbsp vegetable shortening, chilled and cut into chunks
4-6 tsp  ice water
Filling:
1 cup canned pumpkin, not pumpkin pie filling
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp ground cinnamon

Directions:

1. Place the flour, sugar, and salt in the bowl of a food processor (or blender). Pulse a few times to combine. Scatter the butter and shortening over the flour mixture. Pulse about 15 times until the mixture resembles coarse yellow meal, with now white powdery bits remaining (because i did it in a blender, it got all clogged and i ended up using a pastry cutter for the rest of the mixing).
2. Transfer the mixture into a large mixing bowl. Sprinkle 4 tbsp of cold water over the mixture. Toss the mixture together with a spatula until it starts clumping together. If it’s too dry, add more water 1 tbsp at a time (better too wet than too dry). Gather the dough into a ball and pat it into a disk. Wrap it in the plastic wrap and refrigerate it for at least 1 hour.
3. Combine the pumpkin, sugar, nutmeg, and cinnamon in a mixing bowl. Mix well. Preheat the oven to 400. Roll out the dough 1/8-inch thick. Use a saucer to cut out 6-inch circles.
4. Put 2 to 3 tbsp of filling in the center of each circle of dough. Moisten the edges with water, fold the dough over the filling, and crimp with fork to seal the edges. Cut slits to make vents. Bake on an ungreased cookie sheet for 30 minutes or until browned.

*Notes:
Basically taste like pumpkin pie. Before i put them in the oven i painted them with a beaten egg and sprinkled sugar over them.

Chocolate-Almond Torte

Ingredients:
2 sticks plus 2 tbsp unsalted butter, cut into small pieces; plus more for buttering
9 ounces good-quality dark chocolate, chopped (chips work fine)
6 large eggs, separated
2/3 cup superfine sugar
2 ounces almonds, finely ground (about 1/2 cup) 

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350. Lightly butter a 10-inch springform cake pan and set aside.
2. In a heatproof bowl over a pan of gently simmering water, melt butter and chocolate together. Stir until combined. Set aside to cool.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk egg yolks with sugar until pale and fluffy. Gradually pour melted chocolate into egg mixture, stirring constantly. Fold in almonds. Set aside.
4. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer set on medium-high speed, beat egg whites until stiff peaks form. Fold egg whites into chocolate mixture until just combined. Pour mixture into prepared pan and bake for 35 minutes. (Torte will be very moist in the middle). Transfer Torte to a wire rack and cool completely, about 1 hour.

Triple Citrus Bars

Ingredients:
Crust:
10 oz graham crackers
6 tbsp packed light brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
3 tbsp sweetened shredded coconut
8 tbsp unsalted melted butter
Filling:
4 oz cream cheese, room temp
3 tsp grated lime zest
3 tsp grated lemon zest
3 tbsp grated orange zest
2 pinches salt
2 (14 oz) cans sweetened condensed milk
2 egg yolks
3/4 cup fresh lime juice
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp orange juice

Directions:

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 325. Line a 13x9-inch baking pan with aluminum foil (i used parchment paper), allowing excess foil (paper) to overhang sides for easy lifting when bars are ready to remove. Spray foil with nonstick cooking spray (you don’t need to do this with parchment paper).
2. Crust: In a work bowl of food processor, pulse graham crackers until broken down and evenly fine. Add brown sugar and salt; process to combine. Add coconut. Drizzle butter over crumbs and pulse until crumbs are evenly moistened with butter, about ten 1-second pulses (i don’t have a food processor, so i used a blender, of course 10-oz of graham crackers is a lot so i just combined the butter and everything else in a bowl with a pastry cutter.) Press crumbs evenly and firmly into bottom of prepared pan. Bake until golden brown, about 18-20 minutes. Cool on wire rack while making filling. Do not turn the oven off.
3. Filling: While crust cools, stir cream cheese, zests and salt with rubber spatula in a medium bowl until softened, creamy and thoroughly combined. Add sweetened condensed milk and whisk vigorously until incorporated and no lumps of cream cheese remain. Whisk in egg yolks, add juices and whisk gently until incorporated (mix will thicken slightly). Assemble and bake: pour surface with rubber spatula. Bake until set and edges begin to pull away slightly from sides, 15-20 minutes. Cool on wire rack to room temperature, 1-1 1/2 hours. Cover with foil and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled, at least 2 hours.
4. Loosen edges with paring knife and lift bars from baking pan using foil (or paper) extensions. Cut bars into 32 squares and serve. Leftovers can be refrigerated up to 2 days; crust will soften slightly.

the concepts of Jake’s cooking prowess :)

While i don’t have a recipe for you today, i do have some great pictures. Jake made a piecrust (from scratch) to wrap around the sausages we bought to go along with the Potato Pancakes. Basically he made piggies in a blanket ( i usually don’t like them, but these were good). He still had a whole piecrust left so he bought some apple pie filling and (as you can see from the pictures above) rolled his piecrust out and put it on the pan. He made this pie all by himself and it was Delicious (yes, that’s with a capital D). I love my hubby.

Lemon Drops

                                              

Ingredients:
1/4 cup water
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp (i used more like 1 1/2 tsp) lemon extract
*optional: a little bit of yellow food coloring

Directions:

1. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside. Combine the water, sugar, corn syrup, and cream of tartar in a small saucepan. Cook over the medium heat, stirring constantly, until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture begins to bubble. (add the dye…i only put like 2-3 drops. you don’t need alot). Wash down the sides of the pan with a pastry brush dipped in hot water if sugar crystals have formed on the sides. Clip a candy thermometer to the pan and continue cooking over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the mixture reaches 300 (So i only went to 230 and the candy set…more or less, it was just really gooey once it made it into your mouth, but at least it didn’t burn).
2. Remove the pan from the heat. Stir in lemon extract (the sugar syrup should bubble a little when you pour the extract in). When the bubbling has subsided, use an oiled teaspoon to drop teaspoonfuls of the sugar syrup onto the prepared sheets.
3. To store candies, wrap them in sheets of parchment paper, making sure the candies don’t touch, as they will stick together.

*Notes:
I’ve yet to get the full 40 candies this recipe promises—mostly because the syrup dries so quickly that it’s hard to scoop fast enough. These were pretty good. they stick to your teeth like no other though. I made some lollipops. I bought lollipop sticks off Amazon last October. These candies are pretty good. they’re not traditional lemon drops like i was hoping but they’re still decent.

Acid Drops (attempt 2)

                   

Ingredients:
1/4 cup water
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp citric acid

Directions:

1. Line two baking sheet with parchment paper (not wax paper or you will be peeling paper off the back of your pops and drops) and set aside. Combine the water, sugar, corn syrup and cream of tartar in a small sauce pan. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture begins to bubble. Wash down the sides of the pan with a pastry brush dipped in hot water if sugar crystals have formed on the sides. Clip a candy thermometer to the pan and continue cooking over medium heat, stirring occasionally until the mixture reaches 300F (Ok, so i made this twice and the first time i let it reach 300 and it burnt. this time it made it to 250 and i took it off cause it was starting to smell burnt…and still tastes a little burnt. so i’m thinking 230 might be the key temperature. Any candy makers?? want to give a clueless cooker a clue?)
2. Remove the pan from heat. Sprinkle the citric acid over the sugar syrup and stir to combine. When the bubbling has subsided used an oiled teaspoon to drop spoonfuls of the sugar syrup onto the prepared sheets about 2 inches apart to allow room for spreading.
3. To store candies, wrap them in sheets of parchment paper, making sure the candies don’t touch, as they will stick together.

*Notes:
I’ve never had such a difficult time with a recipe in my life…

Triple Chop Cookies

Ingredients:
1 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup peanut butter chips
3/4 cup butterscotch chips

Directions:
Cream butter and sugars. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Gradually add dry mixture to the creamed mixture. Stir in chips. Drop heaping teaspoonfuls of dough onto greased baking sheets. Bake in a preheated 350 oven for 10-12 minutes. Do not over bake!

*Notes:
I would suggest using parchment paper...I would have but i ran out... Parchment paper is the best for cookies. :)

Potato Pancakes with Nutmeg

Ingredients:
1 lbs. russet potatoes, peeled and grated (i used one 1-lbs. potato)
1 medium yellow onion, peeled and grated
1 tsp salt (originally this said 1 tbsp and ours were really salty.
1/8 tsp freshly ground black pepper
2 1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
2 tbsp all-purpose flour
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 1/2 tbsp canola oil
*Pair With grilled chicken sausage and drink apple cider!
Direction:
1. Toss potatoes, onions, salt, pepper, nutmeg, flour and egg together in a large bowl. Heat 3/4 tbsp canola oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.
2. Drop 3 tbsp of potato mix (1 tbsp per pancake) into pan. Flatten each pancake with nonstick spatula.
3. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook until pancakes are golden brown, about 5 minutes on each side. Transfer to a paper towel lined plate. Repeat using all batter, adding more oil as needed. Serve Warm.

*Notes:
Like i mentioned earlier, when we made these they ended up really salty. Also, if you're the kind of person who likes to put things on pancakes, we would recommend Ranch dressing. Syrup doesn't hang with onions and neither does ketchup...well Our ketchup might be bad so it might go fine with good ketchup. We live in Hawaii and could not find chicken sausage so we just used little smokies and they were just fine. I would say B- for this recipe.

Lemon-Poppy Seed Scones

Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
3 tbsp granulated sugar
2 tbsp poppy seeds (Hawaii has them, yay!)
Zest of 2 large lemons
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 stick cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup + 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400. In a large bowl, combine flour, granulated sugar, poppy seed, lemon zest, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Using a pastry cutter or two knives, cut in butter until mixture resembles very coarse meal (Just gunna say, i still am not sure what this means…). Pour in heavy cream and 1/4 cup lemon juice, stirring until dough forms.
2. Using your hands, gather dough together and gently press into a ball. Transfer dough to a parchment-lined baking sheet and shape into an 8-inch disk. Cut into 8 wedges and separate so scones are about 1 inch apart. Bake until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into a center comes out clean, 12 to 14 minutes. Transfer scones to a wire rack and let cool, about 20 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, mix confectioners’ sugar with remaining lemon juice and stir until smooth. Using a spoon, drizzle glaze over cooled scones.

*Notes:
All in all, these are pretty good. What was funny was i had them all formed and they looked just like the picture in the magazine and i was really excited. I just popped them in the oven and then i saw it…the lemon juice i had forgotten to add. So…i pulled them out of the oven, put all my cute little scones back in the bowl, smushed them together and then poured in the lemon juice. I mixed it all together and the dough was sticky and slimy [well compared to what it was before]. then i—slightly disheartened—plopped the scones back on the pan. After that I tried to shape them into the little triangles they were in before but it was really no use. Anyway, they turned out pretty good. B+

Tortellini Soup

Ingredients:
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 medium stalks celery, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
1 medium carrot, chopped
3 tbsp butter
8 cups chicken broth
4 cups water
2 pkg (10-0z) dried cheese-filled tortellini
2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley (i forgot the parsley)
1/2 tbsp pepper
1 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
freshly grated parmesan cheese

Directions:

1. Cover, and cook garlic, celery, onion and carrot in butter in 6-quart Dutch oven over medium-low heat for 10 minutes.
2. Stir in chicken broth and water. Heat to boiling; reduce heat. Stir in tortellini; cover and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally or until tortellini are tender.
3. Stir in parsley, pepper and nutmeg. Cover and cook for 10 more minutes. Top each serving with cheese.

*Notes:
Our Tortellini Soup was more tortellini than soup. I did some bad math (English Major!) and only got 6 cups of chicken broth instead of 8. Oh, and our grocery store doesn’t sell tortellini in packages of 10 ounces, they sell it in packages of 8 ounces so we had to buy 3…and when i thought about it i was like “why not add an extra 1/2 cup of tortellini (the extra 4 oz)? What could it hurt?” so i did and when i went to “stir occasionally” i thought the tortellini was going to attack me. Who knew it got so big? My advice? 1. Read the recipe sheet multiple times before you go shopping, 2. Know the correct conversions from cups to ounces, and 3. Follow the recipe.Haha, other than that, this is some pretty good soup. **You might want dessert to be vanilla ice cream…just saying** Happy Cooking!

Traditional Marshmallow Squares

Ingredients:
4 tbsp (1/2 stick) butter or margarine
40 large marshmallows
5 cups Crispy Rice Cereal
1/2 cup mini m&ms (optional—but i don’t know why you wouldn’t want them)

Directions:

1. Butter a 9x13-inch baking pan. (Or Line a 9x13-inch baking pan with heavy foil, allowing the ends to extend 2-3 inches over the pan for handles. and grease the foil).
2. In a large saucepan over low heat, melt butter. Add marshmallows, stirring constantly until melted. Remove from heat and quickly add cereal, stirring until all pieces are coated (i added the m&ms after i was sure the cereal was coated)
3. Pour mixture into prepared pan and press evenly with the back of a spoon. Cool and cut into squares.

*Notes:
What can i say, these are easy and fun. SO easy and fun that the making of this recipe was spontaneous.

End of the Month Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients:
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup shortening
1 egg
1 tbsp water
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cup quick oatmeal
1 cup butterscotch chips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Cream together sugars and shortening. Add water, egg and vanilla.
3. Mix dry ingredients and then mix in oatmeal and chips. drop by rounded teaspoonfuls 2 inches apart onto greased cookie sheet [or parchment paper…which is wonderful because you don’t have to grease it] and bake for 10-12 minutes.

*Notes:
These are Jake’s favorite cookies…and i know why. They’re awfully delicious. [awful as in it’s simply awful how your pant size is going to grow because you won’t be able to stop eating them] 

1-2-3 Chocolate Peanut Butter Crunch Bonbons For Kids

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
1 1/2 creamy peanut butter
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 cup crisp rice cereal
10 oz milk chocolate, melted, for coating

Directions:

1. Combine the confectioners’ sugar, peanut butter, and vanilla in the large bowl of an electric mixer. Mix on low speed until the mixture begins to come together. Beat on high speed until it reaches a dough-like consistency, with no crumbs. If it’s too sticky, add a bit more confectioners’ sugar; if it’s too dry, add milk, 1 tablespoon at a time. (It’s better to avoid adding the milk, as the rice cereal will begin to lose its crunch after several hours due to the added moisture.) Add the rice cereal and mix until combined.
2. Form the mixture into 1 1/2-inch balls and line them up on a parchment paper. Using two forks, dip the balls one at a time into the melted chocolate, turn to coat, allowing the excess chocolate to drip back into the bowl. Place the coated candies back onto the parchment paper. Try to wait until the chocolate has set before you eat them. To speed things up, you can put the bonbons in the refrigerator for 10 minutes, but no longer than that. The condensation can ruin the chocolate.
   *When making the milk chocolate for the coating, be careful not to overheat the chocolate or it will be ruined. Chop the chocolate and microwave for 2 minutes., stopping to stir every 30 seconds. If it feels very warm, but you can see pieces of chocolate, just keep stirring. It may take a good few minutes.

*Notes:
These are super gooey and delicious! they totally make up for the complete failure of the almond crisps. One thing i would suggest is adding more cereal—at least 2 cups. it would make them more solid.

Almond Crisps

Ingredients:
2/3 cup plus 2 tbsp finely ground blanched almonds
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 tbsp
1 tbsp all-purpose

Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients in a 10-inch skillet. Cover over low heat, stirring constantly until butter is melted and mix is blended.
2. Keep skilled warm over very low heat. Drop heaping teaspoonfuls of mix 2 inches apart onto a greased baking pan. *Only cook 4 cookies at a time*
3. Bake in preheated oven (350) for 5 minutes or until golden. Use spatula to loosen and turn cookies over; roll each one around the handle of a wooden spoon. If cookies become too firm to roll, reheat in oven for a minute to soften. Cool rolled cookies on wire racks. Repeat until batter is used. grease baking sheet each time. Store in air-tight container.

*Notes:
If you think the cookie sheet looks bare it’s because i completely botched this recipe. they kept either being so over-cooked that they broke apart or so under-cooked they were just mush. i think one thing that might have contributed was that i blanched and ground the almonds today so they were still wet-ish. So i think you should blanch the almonds at least the night before (better even a few days before) to really let them dry before grinding them that way they aren’t mushy. anyway, i tried a couple of the broken pieces and they were ok but all i could really taste was frustration….hahaha

Grade for execution of recipe: F

Chicken and Rice Casserole

Before i do anything, i would just like to say that i am a baker at heart. Even when i make dinner, it’s something that gets baked. haha, anyway…

Ingredients:
2 tbsp vegetable oil (or butter)
1 medium onion, peeled and diced
3 cups diced, cooked chicken
2 (14.5 oz) cans green beans, dried and rinsed
1 (8 oz) can water chestnuts, drained and chopped
1 (4 oz) jar pimentos
1 (10 3/4 oz) can condensed cream of celery soup
1 cup mayonnaise
1 (6 oz) box long-grain wild rice, cooked according to package directions
1 cup grated sharp cheddar
pinch of salt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350. Heat oil or butter in a small skillet over medium heat. Add onion and sauté until translucent, about 5 minutes.
2. Remove from heat and transfer to a large bowl. Add all the remaining ingredients to bowl and mix together until thoroughly combined.
3. Pour into a greased 3-quart casserole dish. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until bubbly. Let stand a few minutes before serving.

*Notes:
so—apparently—even if you live in Hawaii, the water chestnuts will be in the “Asian Food” aisle. (i wasn’t even aware we had one of those here…) I couldn’t find the rice they were talking about so i just used long-grain Jasmine rice (it’s one of my favorite rices so why not?) Make sure you’ve cooked the chicken and rice before you start everything else. Also, Jake and I were talking about it and we think that it might be good if we replaced the water chestnuts with a potato, added more cheese, left the pimentos out (i can’t tell what they taste like, i think they might just be there for color) and maybe try kidney beans or corn instead of green beans. it’s a brand new casserole. hehehe.

Honey Taffy

Ingredients:
3 cups granulated sugar
1 cup whipping cream
1 cup honey
1 tbsp butter
1/8 tsp salt

Directions
1. Combine all ingredients in a large heavy saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Continue stirring and cook until mix reaches soft crack stage (270 degrees F on candy thermometer)
2. Pour mixture onto a cool buttered surface (i just buttered and refrigerated my cake pan).
3. Allow mixture to cool slightly (enough so it can be handled comfortable).
4. Pull taffy into ropes. Break ropes into pieces about 2 inches long. Wrap each piece of candy in waxed paper and twist the ends. if desired, wrap colored tissue waxed paper.

Cookie Cutter Ginger Crisps

Ingredients:
1 cup butter (2 sticks); softened
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup molasses
2/3 cup light corn syrup
4 1/2 cup sifted flour
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp ground cloves

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350. Beat butter and sugars together, using a mixer on medium speed, until light and fluffy.
2. Beat in molasses and corn syrup until well combined. Add in the remained ingredients and stir until smooth dough forms.
3. Chill for 30 minutes. Roll out on a lightly floured surface to less than 1/8-inch thick.
4. Cut with floured cutters. Bake on greased cookie sheet for 8 minutes.

*Notes:
Even those these are crisps, Jake and I like softer cookies, so I rolled them into little balls and then squashed them. These are pretty good. They taste kind of like the clove cookies but the texture is smoother because of the molasses and the corn syrup. anyway, these are pretty good

Christmas Lemon Cookies

Ingredients:
Cookies:
1 cup butter; softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp grated dried lemon peel [i used fresh and it was fine]
2 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
Icing:
2 1/4 cup confectioner’s sugar
5 tbsp milk
red and green paste food-coloring
Dragees to decorate [those little silver bars]

Directions:

Cookies:

1. Cream butter, sugar and lemon peel in a large bowl until fluffy. Stir in flour; knead until a soft ball forms. Cover and chill for 30 minutes.
2. Preheat oven to 300. On a lightly floured surface, use a floured rolling pin to roll out dough to 1/4-inch thickness. Use a tree-shaped cookie cutter to cut dough. Transfer cookies to a greased baking sheet. Bake 20-25 minutes or until cookies are light brown. Cool on rack.

Icing:

1. Mix confectioner’s sugar and milk together in a medium bowl. Devide icing into 3 small bowls. Tint 1 bowl red and 1 green and leave the other white. Pour icing over cookies, smooth with spatula, decorate with dragees. Allow icing to harden. Store in an air-tight container.

*Notes:
i made half of the icing recipe, so i used 1 cup and 2 tbsp confectioner’s sugar. and 2 1/2 tbsp of milk. anyway, they’re pretty good cookies. i made mine orange because it’s June not December. Anyway so i didn’t use a cookie cutter either because of time.

Cornflake Cookies

Ingredients:
1 cup Light Corn Syrup
1 1/2 Peanut Butter
1 cup Sugar [i used 1 3/4 cup powdered sugar cause i didn’t have any sugar]
5 cups Corn Flakes [as you can see from the picture, i didn’t have cornflakes either so i used cheerios!]
*plus i added about 1/2 cup Chocolate Chips]

Directions:

1. Bring syrup to a boil in a saucepan. Remove from heat and stir in peanut butter and sugar until smooth.
2. Pour over cornflakes [or cheerios]  and stir until well coated [i let it cool a little but and then added the chocolate chips].
3. Drop by spoonfuls onto waxed paper.

*Notes:
If you put the chocolate cups in too soon they melt. Some of mine still melted and they had been in the freezer before i put them in.

Spicy Cream of Tomato Soup

Ingredients:
2 tbsp butter
2 large potatoes, diced
1 medium stalk celery, thinly sliced
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
1 red chili, seeded and finely chopped
1 1/2 cans (28-oz each) imported pear-shaped tomatoes, drained and chopped [i used cans of regular whole tomatoes]
1 tbsp all-purpose flour
4 cups of beef broth
1 cup whipping (heavy) cream
1 cup seasoned croutons
1/2 tsp white pepper [if you don’t have it that’s fine. mine turned out great and we didn’t have any]

Directions:

1. Heat butter in 4-quart Dutch oven [or really really big pot] over medium-high heat. Sauté potatoes, celery, onion, chili and tomatoes in butter.
2. Sprinkle flour over vegetables; stir well. Remove from heat. Stir in beef broth and whipping cream into vegetables.
3. Heat to boiling; reduce heat. Cover and simmer 40 minutes, stirring occasionally.
4. Carefully pour about half of the soup into the food processor or blender; cover and process until smooth. Repeat with remaining soup. Top each serving with croutons and white pepper.

*Notes:
It says it makes about 4 servings, so when i made it i doubled the recipe. Can i just say that this soup is pretty phenomenal!? the only thing i didn’t like was just the prep time lol. i have to warn you the texture is kind of funny. it’s creamy but it’s a little—not chunky, but—i guess the best way to describe it is that it’s like a smoothie. where it’s creamy but there are some really small chunks…anyway, it’s awfully good. [it’s not super spicy].

Cinnamon-Banana Bread

Ingredients:
Bread:
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 cup butter, divided
2 ripe bananas, cut into small pieces
1/2 cup chopped pecans [i didn’t have any so i used chocolate chips]
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 tbsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
Frosting:
1 1/4 cup confectioners sugar
1 pkg. cream cheese, softened.

Directions:

Bread:

1. Preheat oven to 350. Combine brown sugar and 1/2 cup butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat, stirring until the butter is melted. Add bananas and pecans, stirring until well coated. Cool to room temperature.
2. In a large bowl, cream remaining butter and granulated sugar until fluffy. Beat in eggs. In another bowl sift together the next 4 ingredients. Mix the dry ingredients into the creamed mixture. Stir in banana mix. divide batter evenly between 2 greased 3 1/2 x 6 3/4 inch loaf pans. Bake 45-50 minutes, cool in pan for 10 minutes. Turn onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Frosting:

1. Combine cream cheese and sugar in medium bowl. Using medium speed of electric mixer until smooth. Drizzle frosting over bread. Store in airtight container.

*Notes:
if you’re going to put chocolate chips in instead of pecans mix them in after cause if you mix them in when you’re supposed to put in the pecans then they melt and the bread feels gooey even after it’s cooked.

Green Bean Casserole

Ingredients:
2 lbs haricots verts (French thin green beans)
2 large red onions, finely diced
8 tbsp (1/2 cup or one stick) butter, unsalted
2 (10-oz) cans cream of mushroom soup
3 tomatoes, seeded & diced
4 cans French-fried onions [i thought this was a lot so i only used 1 6oz-can]
salt & freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

1. Blanch the haricots verts in hot water for about 3-5 minutes, remove from the heat and shock in iced water. Drain and set aside to cool
2. Preheat oven to 325. In a large skillet sauté the chopped onion in the butter. Then add the cooled beans and sauté for a couple of minutes. Add the canned mushroom soup and mix well.
3. Transfer to a buttered casserole dish and top with the diced tomato, French-friend onions and season with salt and pepper, to taste.
4. Bake in oven for about 10 minutes.

*Notes:
Overall, it was pretty good. the bad part was that it was awful onion-y i think next time i’m going to use half the amount of onion, i’ll add some chopped chicken, only 2 tomatoes next time and maybe one more of those cans of French-fried onions. there were also smaller cans (like 2oz i think) and i think i’d just add one of those.

p.s. i made this last night for dinner. i’m only posting it today cause i didn’t have time to last night :)

Heart Cookies

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup butter; softened
1/2 cup ground toasted pecans
1/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Combine all the ingredients in a medium mixing bowl, blending well. Wrap dough in a plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.
2. preheat oven to 350. On a lightly flavored surface, use a floured rolling pin to roll out dough to 1/4-inch thickness.
3. Using a 1-inch wide heart-shaped cookie cutter, cut out dough. Transfer cookies to ungreased baking sheets.
4. Bake 10 to 15 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pans and cool on wire racks.

*Notes:
Well, the only heart-shaped cookie i had was the one in the picture. Unfortunately, I don’t own any heart-shaped cookie cutters  so i have a couple snowmen, and reindeer, but the rest are just circles cause it was easier to make them that way. haha. they’re pretty good.

Primo Pumpkin Brownies

Ingredients:
Brownies:
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg
1 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup solid-pack canned pumpkin
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice*
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup toffee baking bits
White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting:
2 tbsp whipping cream
4 squares (1 oz each) white chocolate chopped [i used 2/3 cups of white chocolate chips]
6 oz cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup powdered sugar, sifted

Directions:
Brownies:

1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease 8-inch square baking pan. [i don’t have a 8 inch pan so i used my 13x9-inch and baked it at 325 degrees since the brownies will be thinner]. Place brown sugar, butter and vanilla in bowl of electric stand mixer. Turn to medium and beat until smooth. Add egg; beat until fluffy. Stir in flour, pumpkin, pumpkin pie spice*, baking powder and salt. [*the book says that if you don’t have pumpkin pie spice—which i don’t—you can use 1 tsp ground cinnamon, 1/2 tsp ground ginger and 1/4 tsp each of ground allspice and nutmeg. i didn’t have allspice either so i just added everything else. it still tastes fine] Fold in toffee bits. Spread evenly in prepared pan.
2. Bake 40-45 minutes or until toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. Cool completely in pan on wire rack.
3. Prepare white chocolate cream cheese frosting. frost brownies and cut into squares.

White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting:

1. Heat cream in small saucepan over medium heat until almost boiling; remove from heat. Add white chocolate; stir until completely melted. Cool slightly.
2. Beat cream cheese and sugar in bowl of electric stand mixer at medium 1 minute or until fluffy. Beat in chocolate mixture until smooth. [feel free to taste as you’re mixing it. lol]

*Notes:
These are delightful! Jake says that they shouldn’t be allowed to be called brownies since they’re not brown; he said they should be called redheads or maybe even blondies hahaha. =]

Soft Pretzels

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup warm water
1 pkg dry yeast (2.5 tsp)
1 tbsp granulated sugar
4 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 egg, lightly beaten
Coarsely ground Kosher or sea salt

Directions:

1. Combine water, yeast and sugar in a mixing bowl.
2. Allow to stand until yeast is dissolved & begins to foam (5 minutes, roughly) [mine actually never started to foam, it barely bubbled.]
3. Stir in flour and 1 1/2 tsp salt. Turn out onto lightly floured surface and knead for 8-10 minutes or until the dough is smooth and elastic.
4. Roll each piece into 16 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a 20-inch long rope and form a pretzel.
5. Place on a lightly greased sheet. Cover and let rise for 20 minutes.
6. Preheat oven to 425. Brush pretzels with egg and sprinkle salt. [i didn’t put salt on mine]. Bake 15 minutes or until golden brown. Remove pretzel from baking sheet and cool on a wire rack. [Since i didn’t put the salt on, after i took them out of the oven i waited about 3 minutes and then i put a little butter on them and sprinkled some sugar and cinnamon over them].

*Notes:
These are yummy. I had to ask Jake what pretzels looked like cause i kept messing up the shape. lol. Thank goodness for husbands!

Stuffed French Toast

Ingredients:
Bread:
12 1/2-inch thick slices of white sandwich bread
Filling:
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 tbsp confectioner’s sugar
1/2 cup strawberry jam
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp cinnamon
Custard:
8 large eggs
3 cups milk
1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

1. First, select the pan you want to use, one that fits the size of your bread slices. We used a 12x12x2 inch sticky bun pan [i used a 9x13x2 glass pan. i didn’t have anything else]. Cut some of the slices to fit the pan.
2. The point is trying to leave the bread as intact as possible, as lifting out and serving whole pieces is nicer than dealing with smaller pieces.
3. Lightly grease the pan with butter.
4. In a small bowl beat the cream cheese until soft, then blend in the remaining filling ingredients. Spread 6 slices of bread with the filling top them with remaining 6 slices. Lay these ‘sandwiches’ in the pans, cutting to fit as needed.
5. In a medium sized bowl, blend together the custard ingredients and pour the custard mixture over the bread in the pan. Let sit for 30 minutes, so the bread can soak up the custard.
6. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sprinkle freshly grounded nutmeg a top French toast.
7. Bake for 20 minutes. Turn pieces over and bake for another 20 minutes until bread is puffy and brown.

*Notes:
don’t pour All the custard on the bread, it makes them soggy and they don’t feel cooked even after they are. Overall, the French toast turned out quite well. Make sure you let it cool a little bit because the filling will be super hot right out of the oven (duh—right? haha).

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread

Ingredients:
1 cup vegetable oil
2 1/3 cups sugar
4 large eggs
2 cups pumpkin
2/3 cup water
3 1/3 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cup chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. In a large bowl, cream together oil and sugar.
3. Beat in the eggs, pumpkin and water. Add flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt nutmeg [yeah, i did a double take to the ingredients list too. so i added about 1/2 tsp of nutmeg], and vanilla.
4. Stir to blend, then mix chips in. Spoon the batter into an already greased 9x5 inch loaf pan.
5. Bake for 1 hour.

*Notes:
So, i never really realized how much 2 2/3 cups sugar is until i saw it all in the bowl….it’s a lot of sugar. it’s kind of funny because i was pretty stoked [if you don’t live near a surfing community stoked just means excited] that it didn’t have any butter. hahaha. Anyway, it tastes great. if i were you i’d leave the bread in the pan after it’s done for a little while.

Clove Cookies

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp ground cloves

Directions:

1. Stir butter and sugar together; add vanilla.
2. Beat in egg until mix is smooth. Stir in flour and cloves together, blend with butter mixture.
3. Drop teaspoonfuls of dough 2 inches apart onto lightly greased baking sheets.
4. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 8-10 minutes.
5. Cool slightly before removing from baking sheets.

*Notes:
The first batch burnt. I only baked them for 8 minutes. My wonderful husband says the cookies remind him of Christmas. I agree, the whole house smells like Christmas.

Marmalade Cheese Tarts

Ingredients:
1 cup butter
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese
3/4 cup orange marmalade
1 egg, lightly beaten

Directions:

1. In a medium mixing bowl, combine butter, flour and cheese. Knead until well blended; wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate 1 hour.
2. Preheat oven to 350. On a lightly floured surface, use a floured rolling pin to roll out dough to 1/8 inch thickness.
3. Cut out dough using a 2-inch round cookie cutter [i just used a glass]. Place about 1/2 tsp marmalade in center of each circle of dough.
4. Fold dough in half and seal edges by pressing with a fork. Transfer tarts to ungreased baking sheets and brush tops with egg.
5. Bake 10-15 minutes or until tarts are set and lightly browned. Remove from pans and cool on wire racks.

*Notes:
The recipe says it yields about 5 dozen, i only got about 18 or so. but i didn’t have a proper rolling pin either. Oh i also would not recommend leaving the dough in for longer than an hour. I left it in for like 3 and it was literally a rock when i got it out—after thawing a little it was fine; maybe that’s how it was after one hour, i dunno. These are really tasty but they’re really flakey and make you want a glass of water after hahaha. The dough is kind of frustrating to work with because it keeps falling apart—can you blame it? it’s cheese, butter and flour! Oh, and one tid-bit of good news: i didn’t burn a single one! Yay oven for not being psychotic today!

p.s. about the Carrot-Apple Cupcakes: Make only half of the frosting recipe. After frosting all my cupcakes i had a lot of frosting left over.

Carrot-Apple Cupcakes (Gluten-Free)

Ingredients:
Cupcakes:
1 (15-oz) pkg. gluten-free yellow cake mix
1/4 cup rice flour
1 cup shredded carrot
1 medium apple, finely chopped
1/3 cup softened butter
3 eggs
2 tsp. gluten-free vanilla extract
Frosting:
3 cups sugar
6 oz. light cream cheese, softened
2 tbsp. butter, softened

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325. Line 18 cupcake cups with paper liners; set aside [i managed to get 24 cupcakes out of the recipe and my first 12 were still pretty big so i think i might have been able to extend that to at least 30 cupcakes]. In a large bowl, combine cake mix [i couldn’t find gluten-free cake mix so i used regular mix but it gives you an extra 3 oz], flour, carrot and apple; mix well. Add butter, 2/3 cup water, eggs, and vanilla. Using an electric hand mixer, beat 1 minute or until well-blended. Spoon batter evenly into cupcake cups [at first i was doing about 1/3 c of batter per cupcake but that was way too much so i just used about half of that and those turned out more reasonably sized].
2. Bake 12-15 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove pan from oven and let cool 10 minutes. Remove cupcakes from pan and let cool completely on a wire rack.
3. Meanwhile, for the frosting, place sugar in a blender; blend to the consistency of powdered sugar [i wouldn’t recommend blending all 3 cups of sugar at the same time; i started to smell smoke from my blender…lol. i’m pretty sure you could use powdered sugar if you wanted cause if your blended can’t do the job, your frosting ends up kind of grainy—it still tastes fine, it’s just got a funny consistency]. In a large bowl combine cream cheese, butter and blended sugar [i added about 1/4 tsp of vanilla also]. Using an electric hand mixer, beat until light and fluffy. Spread frosting on top of each cupcake.

*Notes:
For spreading the frosting, i would recommend just putting it in a baggy and piping it on top. Also, who knew there was gluten-free vanilla?! haha. go figure. I found the frosting really sweet—not as sweet as i thought but it can get a little overwhelming (unless you’re 6). the picture is of my first cupcake [that i had the sense to eat before frosting the rest of them]. it was way too much frosting, so on the rest of them i put about half [are you noticing a pattern here, cause i kind of am]. Anyway one thing that’s really cool about this recipe is that when you’re eating the cupcakes, every now and then you get a little chunk of apple that just explodes on your tastebuds….needless to say, these were delicious.

Florentine Lasagna

Ingredients:
8 oz (1/2 pkg) Golden Grain/Mission Lasagna
1 container (15 oz) ricotta cheese
2 cups shredded fresh spinach leaves
2 eggs; lightly beaten
1 1/2 tsp garlic powder
salt & pepper (optional)
1 jar (26 oz) spaghetti sauce
2 cups (8 oz) shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
2. Cook and drain pasta according to package directions
3. In a bowl: combine ricotta, spinach, eggs, garlic powder, and salt & pepper to taste.
4. Spread 1/2 cup spaghetti sauce in 13 x 9-inch baking dish.
5. Layer with 3 lasagna pieces, half the ricotta mixture, 1/2 cup mozzarella and 1/2 cup sauce.
6. Repeat layers once.
7. Top with remaining lasagna, sauce and mozzarella.
8. Bake (uncovered) in oven for 35-40 minutes.

*Notes: So being as brilliant as I am, i read mozzarella for parmesan and decided to compromise with parmesan and Colby-jack. I also used Arrabbiata sauce [it’s still spaghetti sauce but it’s its own flavor. we got it at safeway]. It’s got a good kick and a little heat.

Peanut Butter Cookies

Ingredients:
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

Directions:
1. Place peanut butter and butter in bowl of electric stand mixer [this comes out of a kitchenaid cookbook so it assumes you’ve got an awesome kitchenaid. if you don’t like i don’t, a regular bowl and regular electric mixer work just fine ]. Turn to medium and beat until mixture is smooth, about 1 minute. Stop and scrape bowl. Add sugars, egg and vanilla. Reduce speed to medium-low and beat about 1 minute. Stop and scrape bowl.
2. Turn mixer to low. Gradually add all remaining ingredients to sugar mixture and mix about 30 seconds. Turn to medium-low and mix about 30 seconds.
3. Toll dough into 1-inch balls. Place about 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets. Press flat with fork in crisscross patter to 1/4-inch thickness [ok, so I don’t know about you, but apparently my forks Love peanut butter; the stupid cookies kept coming off the sheet and sticking to my fork…any tips about that? eventually i was more see-sawy with the fork—like that makes any sense at all].
4. Bake at 375 until golden brown, about 10-12 minutes. Remove from baking sheets immediately and cool on wire racks.

*Notes:

so i have a majorly retarded oven—if you decide to keep reading this blog you’ll hear lots and lots about my retarded oven—and it likes to burn things. so i had it set to 375 and about 5 minutes in changed it to 350. Also i only put the first batch in for like 8 minutes [i forgot to set my phone for them and took them out because they were smelling good. usually the smelling good comes right before the smelling burnt] but the second batch i set my phone for and left in for the full 10 minutes and they burnt. Also i switched racks halfway through. If you have a normal oven you might not need to go through all the hassle.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:
2 cups Rolled Oats (not quick-cooking)
1/2 Cup All-purpose flour
1/2 Cup Whole-wheat pastry flour
1 tsp Ground Cinnamon
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup Tahini (ground sesame seeds) [i used peanut butter]
4 tbsp Cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
2/3 cups Granulated sugar or 1/3 cup splenda
2/3 cups Packed light brown sugar
1 Large egg
1 Large egg white
1 tbsp Vanilla extract
1 cup semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate chip
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (or almonds)

Directions:
1. Position racks in the upper & lower thirds of the oven; preheat 350 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. Whisk oats, all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour [i didn’t have any wheat flour so i just used a cup of white flour], cinnamon, baking soda & salt in a medium bowl. Beat tahini/ peanut butter and butter in a large bowl until blended into a paste [if you used peanut butter just beat until you can’t see the butter any more]. Add granulated sugar [or splenda] and brown sugar; continue beating until well combined—the mix will still be grainy.
3. Beat in egg, the egg white, then vanilla. Stir in the oat mix with a wooden spoon until just moistened. Stir in chocolate chips and almonds [or walnuts, i don’t like walnuts].
4. With damp hands, roll 1 tbsp of batter into a ball; place it on a prepared baking sheet and flatten until squat, but don’t let the sides crack. Continue with remaining batter, spacing flatten balls 2 inches apart.
5. Bake the cookies until golden brow, 16 min. switch pans back to front and from top to bottom half way through.
6. Cool on the pans for 2 minutes, then transfer cookies to wire rack to cool completely. Let pans cool for a few minutes before baking another batch.

*Notes:
make sure you use wax paper, foil burns. i’m not sure if it was that i substituted anything that made the first batch burn. anyway they were only in for 8 minutes and … 
<  they looked like this. i prefer using almonds instead of walnuts because walnuts taste funny and you always get those little skins stuck in your throat; who wants to choke on walnut skin after eating a wonderful cookie?
On a whole the cookies turned out pretty good.