Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
Recently made these (along a couple other recipes) for a school bake sale and the family agreed that these were the best. Pictures to come.
INGREDIENTS:
- 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
- 8 ounces semisweet chocolate of choice coarsely chopped (approx. 1 ½ cups of commercial chocolate chips)
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
PREPARATION:
- In double broiler, melt the butter and chocolate. Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature. (tip: for faster cooling, set double broiler in a pan of cold water and continually stir)
- Fit electric mixer with paddle attachment, beat eggs and sugar for approx. 5 minutes until thick, pale & fluffy (tip: mixture will pool into ribbons).
- Add vanilla extract and cooled chocolate mixture just until incorporated.
- Whisk together the dry ingredients and add to chocolate mixture, stir till fully incorporated.
- Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until batter is firm enough to shape into balls, approximately 1 hour.
- Form batter into 1 inch balls and roll in powdered sugar until completely covered
- Place balls on parchment lined baking sheet and bake in oven preheated to 325 degrees for 8-10 minutes (tip: for chewy cookies, bake only until the edges are slightly firm).
- Cool on wire rack.
- Enjoy!
Salsa
A cooked salsa that has a nice kick to it. We use it on pretty much everything…tacos, burritos, enchiladas, eggs….whatever you name, it’s been kicked up a notch with this salsa!
INGREDIENTS:
- 1/2 cup oil
- 10 chilis arboles
- 2 tomatoes
- 1/2 cup canned tomato sauce
- 1/2 tsp salt
PREPARATION:
- Heat oil and fry chilis until they are deep, burnished red
- Remove to paper towels and blot oil
- While the chilis are cooling, broil the tomatoes for about 5 minutes, turning once, remove cores and most of the skin
- Stem chilis and break pods into pieces.
- Place the tomatoes, tomato sauce, salt and chilis in a food processor and pulse until chilis are break up into small dark flecks
Broccoli Supreme
I recently had this dish at a potluck and it was delish. Warm and homey, total comfort food. And turns out, it’s easy to make. I haven’t made it myself, but my GF assures me that she simply followed the simple instructions and that she and her mother both use this recipe as their go to potluck recipe.
INGREDIENTS:
- 2 packages frozen chopped broccoli
- 3 eggs
- 1/4 cup minced onion
- 1/2 lb cheddar cheese diced
- 1/4 tsp bread crumbs
- soft bread crumbs
- 3 cups creamed cottage cheese
- 6 Tbs melted butter
- 1/3 cur flour
- 1 8oz can of whole kernel corn
- 1/2 tsp salt hot pepper sauce
- 1/2 cup crumbled bacon
PREPARATION:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- Cook broccoli and drain
- Combine cottage cheese, eggs, 4 Tbs butter and flour, and blend until mixture is smooth and creamy
- Fold in broccoli, onion, corn, cheese, salt, pepper and hot sauce
- Pour mixture into a 2.5 Qt baking dish
- In a skillet, melt 2 Tbs butter and add bread crumbs and saute till golden brown
- Remove from skillet and set aside
- Sprinkle buttered bread crumbs and bacon over mixture
- Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour or until set
Amaretti Cookies
Amaretti cookies have always been a great love of mine. They have a wonderful chewy texture and sweet almond scent and are so light and crisp. And they go so perfectly with a cup of tea. I remember when I first discovered them on 3rd St and I would drive all the way there just for the cookies! And I’ve always buy them whenever I see them. But, despite my love and my craving for them, I oddly never tried to bake them until this weekend when the baking itch took a hold and didn’t let go. And today I baked 95, yes 95, of them. They are probably the easiest cookies to bake hands down-3 ingredients and just pipe them out and viola!
INGREDIENTS:
- 8 ounces of almond paste
- 1 cup super fine sugar (pulse granulated sugar in food processor a couple of times)
- 2 large egg whites
PREPARATION:
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees, line baking pans with parchment paper or silpats
- Pulse the almond paste till crumbly
- Add sugar and pulse to combine
- Add egg whites till combined
- Fit piping bag with round piping tip. The size of pipe tip depends on how large of cookies you desire-I used 1/4 inch round tip to make 1.5 inch diameter cookies
- Pipe out cookies approximately 1 inch apart
- Sprinkle the tops of cookies with sugar
- Bake at 375 degrees for approximately 15 minutes until golden brown
Vanilla Bundt Cake
This weekend I baked this cake for a friend, but it didn’t make it very far when it came out the oven. The family devoured it immediately. So another one was quickly baked up for the party and was given the seal of approval by our dessert connoisseur! Easy to make and always a crowd pleaser!
INGREDIENTS:
- 1 box of yellow cake mix (do not get the kind with “pudding in the box”)
- 1 box instant vanilla pudding
- 2/3 cup melted butter
- 1 cup water
- 4 large eggs
- Splash of vanilla extract
- 1 vanilla bean
- butter and sugar to prepare pan
PREPARATION:
- Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees
- Prepare pan by greasing with butter and coating with sugar
- Mix together first 4 ingredients
- Beat in eggs one at a time
- Beat in a splash of vanilla extract and the vanilla bean (scrape the insides from the vanilla pod)
- Bake for approximately 45 minutes
Crockpot Enchilada Casserole ala TJ’s
We all have those nights when our lives get so hectic that it looks like it’s another night of take out. This recipe is just as fast as sitting in the drive thru. And all the ingredients are from Trader Joe’s.
INGREDIENTS:
- Corn Tortillas
- Cooked chicken (cubed)
- Cuban Black Beans (drianed)
- Frozen Corn
- Enchilada sauce
- Shredded Mexican Cheese
- Spray EVOO
PREPARATION:
- Spray bottom and sides of crock pot with EVOO
- Line bottom of crock pot with corn tortillas, cut tortillas to fit
- Layer Cuban black beans, diced chicken, frozen corn, enchilada sauce and cheese
- Add another layer of corn tortillas
- Repeat previous two steps
- Top with a layer of enchilada sauce and cheese
- Low for 2 hours
- Optional: top with cubed avocado, sour cream and/or salsa
Caponata
Caponata is such a homey dish. We love to eat it tossed with pasta (as depicted by the picture below) or in a panini on crusty toasted bread with slices of cheese.
INGREDIENTS:
- 2 large eggplants (cubed)
- 1 large onion (chopped)
- 3 stalks of celery (chopped)
- 1 bell pepper (chopped)
- 2 14oz canned tomatoes (diced)
- Handful of raisins
- Capers, rinsed
- Oregano
- EVOO
- Salt & pepper
PREPARATION:
- In large skillet circle pan with EVOO
- Saute onions till translucent
- Add celery, bell peppers and eggplants and saute a couple minutes
- Add remaining ingredients
- Simmer for 30-40 minutes
2010 Books
Reading has always been something I love to do. Lately I’ve been on a plane more than I would like to have been. But the silver lining of being a frequent flyer is that I get to read, read, read. Here’s a list of books I’ve read so far year to date. I’m going to keep adding to the list as the year goes.
Fiction:
- Shanghai Girls by Lisa See
- The Piano Teacher by Janice Y.K. Lee
- Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay
- The Girl With the Dragon Tatoo by Stieg Larsson
- The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larrson
- Look Again by Lisa Scottoline
- Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese
- Little Bee by Chris Cleave
- Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
- Elegance of the Hedgehog by Mauriel Barbery
Non Fiction:
- Fish! by Stepehn C. Lundin, PhD.
Cutout Shortbread Cookies
I was inspired by beautifully decorated cookies that the boys received from classmates at Christmas. They looked just like the cookies that one would receive in a cookie bouquet. The mom’s advice was to take a cookie decorating class…good advice, but unfortunately I don’t have time to take a class.
Well, if you know me even a little bit, you know that I always have to just give it a go. So several batches of cut out cookies and I’ve got it!
COOKIES
INGREDIENTS:
- 1.5 cups unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup confectioners sugar
- 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
- 2 2/3 cup all purpose flour
PREPARATION:
- Cream softened butter, confections sugar and vanilla until fluffy
- Gradually beat in flour in batches
- Divide dough into two portions and wrap each in plastic wrap
- Refrigerate for a minimum of 2 hours
- Remove from refrigerator for 20 minutes and preheat over to 325 degrees
- Roll dough out on lightly floured surface* to 3/8 inch
- Cut out using cookie cutters dipped in flour
- Any remaining dough after cookies are cut out can be combined and re-rolled (refrigerate slightly if needed
- Bake on parchment lined baking sheets** for 12-15 mins or until slightly golden
- Allow to cool to room temperature prior to decorating
*I roll between two sheets of parchment sheet to minimize added flour.
**If parchment paper is not readily available, I bake directly on the cookie sheets and as soon as the cookies come out of the oven I slide a flexible spatula under the cookie to prevent sticking
ROYAL ICING
INGREDIENTS:
- 3 Tbsp meringue powder
- 4 cups (1 lb) confectioners sugar
- 6 Tbsp warm water
- various icing colors (gel variety)
PREPARATION:
- Beat all ingredients until peaks form (approx 7-10 mins)
- Divide into batches to allow for tinting
- Thin by adding 1/2 tsp of warm water or thicken by adding additional confectioners sugar
Highland Scarf
I found this scarf pattern after much googling for a “super bulky scarf knit pattern” and I am so glad that I stumbled upon it. It’s a super quick project and a good one for an introduction to cables. I used a super bulky yarn (Lion Brand Wool Ease) and size 15 knitting needles. After a couple tv shows I had a scarf and mindless knitting.
These rainy days have given me some time to quickly knit up a couple of these (with variations) and the pattern below is for my favorite version (which isn’t pictured here). The next one I am definitely going to do in the suggested Debbie Bliss Como yarn.
PATTERN:
- Cast on 24 stitches using the long tail cast on method
- Knit in rib (k1,p1) for 8 rows
- Pattern Repeat: Continue in rib for 13 rows, On the 14th row, CF12 and CB 12
- Continue in pattern to desired length.
- End with 21 rows of plain rib
Whimsy 
