'Tis True... Simple and Delicious!

I found this recipe on The Sweet Adventures of Sugar Belle, and decided to give them a try on the last day of Snow Week (a whole week of Snow Days off of school)... I had all the ingredients, and these looked fun and easy. Sugarbelle advertised these as the "easiest cookies you'll ever make," and she was spot on! What I hadn't imagined was how fantastic they'd be. They're crisp on the outside, light and chocolatey, tender on the inside... and the sprinkles? Fun! I'm wondering how they'd be with a white or vanilla cake mix and cinnamon, then rolled in cinnamon sugar — Snickerdoodle-style... tasty, I imagine. I look forward to experimenting!

If you've not read her blog before, Sugarbelle's blog is amazing, and her cookies are pure art (and her recipes are the best I've tried). And, clearly, she's brilliant, since she makes these easy cake-mix cookies for school parties instead of taking her works of art to class!

So, here's the recipe... and, I only ended up with 28 cookies (she got 30).

Easy Cake Mix Cookies 
(adapted a tiny bit from The Sweet Adventures of Sugar Belle)


1 box Devil's Food Cake Mix (she used Duncan Hines, the exact brand I had)
2 eggs
2 Tbs. flour
1 stick butter (softened)
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract (this gave them a slight chocolate-cherry hint - quite good - next time I'd go swap the vanilla and almond amounts)


Mix together in a bowl (I mixed them by hand - literally, with my hand), and use your handy cookie scoop (or make about 1-inch balls) and roll in fun sprinkles. Bake at 350-degrees F for about 11 minutes (I baked them right on my cookie sheets - ungreased - without parchment, and let cool on cookie sheets before removing to cooling rack. Enjoy! 

Wordless Wednesday: Creamsicle Snow Cream

http://katrinacooks.blogspot.com/search?q=snow+cream

Bûche de Noël 2012

I've been meaning to try the flour-less chocolate cake roll from Smitten Kitchen since I spotted it on Deb's blog, then I decided that it would be perfect for our annual Bûche de Noël. We've been doing them for about five years now, and the kids love to help (especially with the candy decorating...) 

The verdict? This "Heavenly Chocolate Roll" is divine – rich chocolate that's light as air, delicious cream filling with just the right amount of sweetness. Really nice, much less rich than other recipes from year's past, and it turned out looking like a pretty log without any frosting at all! 

Enjoy! 

Heavenly Chocolate Roll 

(adapted slightly from Smitten Kitchen)

1 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips
3 Tbs. hot water
6 large eggs, at room temperature, separated
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 tsp. salt

Spray parchment-lined jelly-roll pan with baking spray, preheat oven to 350-degrees F. Melt the chips in the microwave on 1/2-power for about 90 seconds, stir, 30 seconds more with hot water, stir and let sit to cool slightly. Beat egg yolks until pale and creamy, then slowly add in sugar and keep beating until "pale and ribbony." Eventually, add the melted, cooled chocolate. 

Meanwhile, beat the 6 egg whites with the salt until stiff peaks form, then add 1/4 into the yolk/chocolate mixture. When combined, fold the rest of the whites into the yolk/chocolate mixture, then pour into prepared pan. Bake for 15-17 mins. until soft and dry, but pick comes out clean. May seem undercooked. 

Remove from oven to cooling rack (in pan) and cover with a damp towel (I sprinkled mine with 360-degree Double Chocolate vodka), and let cool 10 mins. Remove towel and sprinkle with:

1 Tbs. unsweetened cocoa powder (sift over the cake), cover with towel and flip over, then sift another 

1 Tbs. unsweetened cocoa over the other side 

Then, use the towel (re-sprinkled with water or vanilla or... Double Chocolate vodka) to roll the cake up. I rolled it lengthwise to get a longer, thinner roll, but rolling from the short side would be excellent with this recipe). Let cool (rolled up in the towel) until you're ready to fill.  

Filling: 

1 c. whipping cream
3-4 Tbs. powdered sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla

1 Tbs. Double Chocolate vodka

Beat all ingredients until it holds stiff peaks.

Carefully transfer the cooled roll to a serving plate, fill with cream and decorate festively! Happy New Year!! 

What's For Dinner?

An amazing recipe from Joy, and I only changed it a little... added a little more oil and brown sugar since I was adding more chicken than she uses, and I used chicken thighs instead of breasts. My mom recently used this marinade on pork and says it was fantastic!


Joy's (slightly altered) Rosemary Grilled Chicken


2 Tbs  stone ground, whole grain or Dijon mustard (preferably Plochman's) 
1/4 c. coarsely chopped fresh rosemary
1/4 c. fresh-squeezed lemon juice
2 Tbs dark brown sugar
1/4 c. extra virgin olive oil
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp fresh-ground black pepper
10 chicken thighs


In a large mixing bowl, stir together the mustard, chopped rosemary, lemon juice, brown sugar, olive oil, garlic, salt, and pepper. Toss the chicken pieces in this marinade until thoroughly coated. Refrigerate covered for 1 to 2 hours. Grill or bake the chicken in the marinade (baked lends more juiciness and extra sauce for rice or potatoes - or bread-mopping). Cook 10 to 15 minutes per side.


Servings: 6-8


Preparation Time: 2 hours
Cooking Time: 30 minutes

Wordless Wednesday: Of Mice and Men...

*Nearly wordless... I tinted the dough for the mice to be light brown this year, tinted the crowns gold and rolled yellow colored-sugar into them before cutting out. We did white cotton-candy (strawberry flavored) or white & pink non-pareils for the Santa beards since Joy is allergic to coconut, and most of the kids don't like it anyway.

Wordless Wednesday: Save A Turkey... Eat More Cupcakes!

Choose Your Adventure...

Remember those great "Choose Your Adventure" stories from the 80's? I loved those books as a kid. I also adore recipes that are flexible that way, and this one is; my friend Jamie made this for my bridal shower (back in 1995), and we've made it countless times since. It shares a name with a yummy dessert, but this Mississippi Sin is a savory (and delicious) appetizer.

Go forth and create!

Jamie's Mississippi Sin Dip

2 c. shredded cheddar cheese

1 - 8 oz. brick of softened cream cheese

1.5 c. sour cream

1/2 c. chopped, cooked ham

1 can chopped green chilis (mild, medium or hot - your choice)

1/3 c. chopped green onions

1/4 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

Round loaf of sourdough or french bread

Additional bread, crackers, etc. to serve

Set the bread round aside, and combine all other ingredients in a bowl. To prep bread, slice the top off of the loaf, and hollow out the inside to make a bread bowl (leave 1/2-inch edge). Cut up remaining bread "insides" for serving. Next, fill the bread-bowl with dip, replace top, wrap in foil and bake at 350-degrees F for 1 hour.

* You can go with "light" on the sour cream and cream cheese, but don't go non-fat. Just don't do it. Non-fat cream cheese and cheese are just wrong; they are alien-like substances that should not be ingested. Ever.

** If you double the recipe (a good plan), you can bake the extra 1/2 of the dip in a covered casserole to refill the bread bowl with during your event.

*** Instead of ham, chilis and green onions, I've tried these variations with success:

• Artichoke hearts, green onions, garlic (fresh tomatoes stirred in when taken out to serve)
• Smoked salmon, minced fresh jalapeno, and replace cheddar with white cheddar
• Chopped chicken, red onion, jalapeno, replace cheddar with jack cheese (cilantro and mango stirred in at the end)
• Chopped up (cooked) Shrimp Scampi (frozen-box from Costco), plus fresh chives tossed in at the end.
• Feel free to add whatever you think would be tasty!

Use It Up!

Leftover Halloween candy? Candy "buy-back?" Make Halloween Bark... Ours was 1/2 a package of Trader Joe's Halloween Joe Joes (crunched up), one small bag of Halloween pretzels, about a 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts, and about 6 mini (assorted) chocolate mini candies, plus mini bags of M&M Peanut and regular. Spread in a 9/13 pan (sprayed, or lined with parchment.

Then, melt 1 bag of Ghiradelli white chocolate chips and one bag of Wilton white Candy Melts, and pour over the candy/cookie/nut mix. Then, chop another handful of Halloween-sized treats (more M&M's, Three Musketeers, Snickers, etc.), and sprinkle over the top with a healthy amount of pepitas thrown in for good measure (and protein + saltiness), and you get...
Halloween Bark! Cut into pieces, package, and give to your friends!! Happy Fall. Ours made five sandwich-sized bags full.

Sweet, Beautiful Gnocchi - My Nonna would be proud...

So, I'm on a mission to make homemade gnocchi sometime before the end of this month. I've even talked to a girlfriend about doing it together one weekend afternoon... and, I've found the perfect sauce to go with it. Ragu. No, not the kind in a jar, but the real ragu. I recently watched a late-night Channel 9 "Create" cooking show hosted by Nick Stellino, featuring Seattle's Jason Wilson, of Crush fame. They did his Pork Ragu with gremolata, and it looked amazing.

I was recalling the ingredients at the grocery the next day, and missed a few, so made the recipe my own, and it was fantastic. Especially with the packaged gnocchi from Trader Joe's.

I did a lot of things differently, including using a fantastic white wine in place of the red... and carrots instead of fennel and leeks, spicy peppers and green olives. I went with what I had — sweet onion, diced; celery and carrot, diced (all from Yakima Fruit Market); pork shoulder, sliced fresh garlic, white wine, chopped canned tomatoes... and the gremolata was Italian parsley, lemon zest, lemon juice, garlic and Spanish olive oil. Fantastic.

You'll have to trust me that it was phenomenal - the photo is terrible, but I plan to try it again this week!

Ragu

4 pounds fresh pork shoulder large-chopped

1/2 c Spanish olive oil

sea salt and Johnny's seasoning (bad, I know)

1/2 large sweet onion, small dice

3 medium stalks celery, small dice

2 medium carrots, small dice

2 stalks celery, cut into small dice

6 cloves garlic, sliced

1 c Portugese white wine

1 quart canned chopped tomatoes

Gremolata

Italian parsley, chopped fine (about 1/2 cup)

Garlic cloves, chopped fine (about 6 cloves)

juice and zest of one large lemon

Spanish Olive Oil (until it looks right)

Gnocchi package from Trader Joes (with red label)

And, we did some ginger cut-outs with Elsa when she came for a sleepover on Thursday last week. Love the fun decorations!!

First Bentos...

Fairly uninspired for me, but I'm short on time, and it's what they like at the moment, so...

Angry Birds for lunch...

My children adore Angry Birds; Joel got them hooked on the game. And, recently, while looking for back-to-school lunch ideas, I came across the following recipe for Angry Birds bagels (on Babble), that made the kids chuckle with delight.

My salami and bagels weren't close enough to the same size, so I had to alter the design. I also made some yellow birds with slices of cheddar and my round cookie cutter (carrots for noses on the yellow Angry Birds. The eyes on all the birds was Laughing Cow spreadable Swiss cheese (which I also used to stick things on, and to spread the mini-bagels with first).

This lunch-with-friends was a hit, and I think those grouchy birdies had a lot to do with it!

Apple Pie (but not the eatin' kind...)

A few weeks ago, I was offered a taste of Apple Pie at a BBQ get-together a ways out in the country. Now, if you watch Justified on USA, you'll understand why such an offer might give me pause. But, the pause only lasted a brief second since these folks aren't the poisoning sort, and it looked tasty. It was, and they happily shared the "recipe." Our batch turned out delightful as well.

Apple Pie Liqueur

1/3 bottle of Everclear or vodka
1 can frozen Apple juice concentrate (100% pure apple juice only)
1/2 cup sugar
1 hefty pinch cinnamon
1 small pinch nutmeg
(and I added)...
1 pinch ground cardamom
1-2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

You could heat the sugar and a bit of the apple juice concentrate up to melt the sugar down. My method was far less civilized, as I poured the sugar into the Everclear bottle 1/4 cup at a time (using a funnel), and shook the ever-loving heck out of it. Then, I added the can of defrosted apple juice, the spices and the extract and shook some more. The pretty bottle of Apple Pie is now sitting on the shelf in our cool pantry... melding. The cinnamon, nutmeg and cardamom settle to the bottom of the bottle, so you really don't need to even worry about straining.

It is especially fabulous mixed about 1/2 and 1/2 with some excellent, pure apple cider as a tasty cocktail, and we tried ours after just 24-hrs. Enjoy!!

Wordless Wednesday: Velvety Birthday Goodness...

Wordless Wednesday: Happy 6th Miss M!!

Wordless Wednesday: Strawberry Fields...