Merry Christmas 2010!

Hope you all are enjoying your family, friends, and good food!

I have one last festive cookie to share for the Christmas season.

Cinnamon Candy Cane Cookies

48 servings

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup red-hot candies, crushed
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• Red food coloring, optional
• 2 tablespoons coarse sugar

Directions

• In a large bowl, cream butter and confectioners' sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla. Combine flour and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well. Divide dough in half. Mix red-hots and cinnamon into one half; tint with food coloring if desired.
• Shape 1-1/2 teaspoons plain dough into a 4-1/2-in. rope. Shape 1-1/2 teaspoons red dough into a 4-1/2-in. rope. On an ungreased baking sheet, place ropes side by side; press together lightly and twist. Curve top of each cookie down to form handle of cane. Repeat with remaining plain and red dough, placing 2 in. apart on baking sheets. Sprinkle with coarse sugar.
• Bake at 375° for 7-10 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool for 1 minute before removing to wire racks to cool completely. Store in an airtight container. Yield: 4 dozen.

Sharing the Sweets

It’s so great to be home at my parent’s for the holidays—we’ve been enjoying each other’s company being that this is the only time during the year where I am home for a whole month. I always feel sad to leave my apartment and all my college friends, but spring semester will come soon enough, so I’m not worried.

I’ve been enjoying everything Christmas related, besides just cookies of course. Like shopping, and taking random mall photos. This actually went on my cards this holiday season!!

This year, instead of buying individual gifts for all my college friends, I decided to spend a whole day baking away and give them goodie bags—after all, who doesn’t like a supply of sweets to help pound through the last week of finals. So here’s what I put into the bag..

• Peppermint Pinwheel Cookies (recipe here)
• Cinnamon Roll Popcorn (recipe below)
• Pumpkin Donut Muffins  (recipe below)

Responses were..

• “Best popcorn ever!”
• “Can I have all the recipes?”
• “Can you make more of those cookies?”
• “Did you make those donuts, or buy them?”

Needless to say, the recipes were all a great success.

Pumpkin Donut Muffins

 

Ingredients:

• 10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 3 cups all-purpose flour (I used 14 ounces)
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon coarse salt
• 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (original recipe uses nutmeg and allspice)
• 1/3 cup buttermilk
• 1 1/4 cups pure pumpkin puree (This is almost the entire 15-ounce can of pumpkin)
• 3/4 cup light brown sugar
• 2 large eggs

Cinnamon Sugar Coating

• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. I used mini muffin pans. Spray the pan with Pam with Flour, or butter and flour the cups.
3. In a bowl, whisk together: flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices.
4. In a small bowl or measure cup, whisk together buttermilk and pumpkin puree.
5. With the paddle attachment, cream butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy.
6. Beat in eggs, one at a time.
7. With mixer on low, add flour mixture in three additions, alternating with two additions pumpkin mixture. Do not overmix.
8. Spoon into batter. I baked the mini muffins for 10-12 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.
9. While the muffins are baking, combine granulated sugar and cinnamon in a large bowl.
10. After the muffins sit for 5 minutes, remove muffins and brush the entire muffin with the melted butter. Toss and coat in the sugar mixture. Eat warm or let cool completely.
11. Hint: I wore disposable gloves and my left hand held the muffin for the melted butter basting and my right hand mixed the muffins in the cinnamon sugar mixture.
12. I got 46 mini-muffins from this recipe. The original recipe yields 12 regular size muffins. I think the mini-muffins are the perfect size...like donut holes.

Food Librarian

 Cinnamon Roll Popcorn

Ingredients:

· 12 C popped popcorn (about 1/2 C kernels)*

· 1 C roughly chopped pecans

· 1 C brown sugar

· 3/4 t cinnamon

· 1/4 C Karo syrup (or honey makes a good substitution)

· 1 stick real butter (1/2 C)

· 1/2 tsp. baking soda

· 1 tsp. vanilla

· 3 squares almond bark

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 F

• · Place popcorn and chopped pecans in a large bowl and set aside. And by large bowl, I mean like, twice as big as you think you really need.

• Combine brown sugar and cinnamon in a big, microwave-safe bowl. Like a 2-quart bowl or Pyrex measuring bowl. Again, use a bowl larger than you think you need to avoid scorching hot caramel goo accidents. It's really important to incorporate the cinnamon into the brown sugar at this point. For some reason, if you don't it does crazy things. I don't know why. Try it and then email Alton Brown and ask him if you really want to know.

• Chop butter into chunks and place on top of sugar mixture. Pour corn syrup (or honey) over the top of everything.

• Microwave on high for 30 seconds (just to soften the butter a bit) and then stir to combine.

• Return to microwave and heat for 2 minutes. Remove and stir and then microwave for 2 minutes more.

• You can microwave it a little longer, but just beware that if you over cook it, it will reach the hard candy stage and you'll end up with a giant clump of tasty concrete-like substance with little popcorn pieces stuck to it.

• · Remove from the microwave and add in vanilla and baking soda.

• Pour it right over the popcorn and pecans. Stir right away, and stir lots. Take too long and the caramel will harden on you. Keep stirring until everything is well coated.

• Spread popcorn mixture onto a foil-lined jelly roll pan.

• Place in oven and bake for 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes.

• After 30 minutes, take a piece out and let it cool. "Sample." If it's not crunchy enough, bake for another 5 minutes. "Sample" again. This will not be the end of "sampling."

• When it's done, give it a final stir and let it cool off for a bit while you melt your almond bark (just nuke it in the microwave according to the package directions).

• Now, just use a fork and drizzle the melted almond bark over the popcorn mixture.

Baking Bites

Stay tuned for a cookie-a-day till Christmas!

What treats do you make for your friends and family?

Meet My New Man, George

I don’t often invite men into my kitchen much..number one, it’s my space, number two, they always seem to want eat everything before it’s actually ready, and number three, they are times when it’s just better off for them to be on the couch or manning the grill! But I had to make an exception with George, because not only did he help me out, but he became the new star of my kitchen. Confused? Let me explain…

This is George.

This is what George delivered.

“This” as in the Lean Mean Spin Frying Machine (aka Deep Fryer).

Take a short minute to watch the commercial on this gem..

Pretty cool, huh? So you better believe I’ve been rounding up some great deep-fried recipe to try. It took me awhile to actually decide to buy this due to some of the bad reviews I read online, but I like to give everything at least one chance. Some of the biggest complaints were:

• Too many parts to clean, I found that, yes, it does take more time to clean. but not anything outrageously difficult.
• The spin cycle warps your food, I found that spinning for 2 minutes on low doesn’t cause any damage to the shape of your food.
• The magnetic plug can be bumped easily and unplug mid-frying, I put the fryer up on my counter and kept the cord out of the way. It’s basically common sense not to put it where you’ll hit it.

So overall, I would give my new kitchen appliance 9 out of 10.

• It still gives you the great flavor and texture of deep fried foods.
• No more greasy fingers or draining on paper towels…by the way, I put some fried foods on the paper towel, and just like the commercial shows, there isn’t a trace of leftover grease.
• It does a good job of keeping the “fried” smell from overpowering your house with the vent and cover.

So George and I would like to present to you….

Mini Donuts

Ingredients:

1 cup milk, I used buttermilk
¼ cup water (110F/45C)
3.5g / ½ package dried yeast
½ cup sugar     2 tsp cinnamon
½ teaspoon salt
2 eggs, lightly beaten
4½ to 5 cups of plain, all purpose flour
¼ cup / ½ stick of butter, melted
Glaze:
1 egg, lightly beaten

Directions:

• Warm the milk in a saucepan until bubbles appear around the edge.  Remove from the heat and allow to cool to 110F/45C.
• In the meantime, dissolve the yeast in the warm water.  Allow to sit for 5 minutes.   Stir in the milk, sugar, salt, beaten eggs, and 1 cup of the flour.  Beat the mixture until smooth.  Add 2 more cups of flour and continue to beat.  Continue until the dough is glossy.
• Add the melted butter and stir well.  Add a further 1 ½ cups of flour and continue to beat well.  Stir in the remaining ½ cup of flour bit by bit until the dough is stiff – you may not need to add it all. 
• Turn the dough out onto a floured surface, cover and let rest for 15 minutes.  Then knead the dough lightly until it is smooth and glossy.  Transfer the dough to a greased bowl, lightly spraying the top of the dough with oil to prevent drying.  Allow to double in size, about 1½ to 2 hours.
• Punch down, and let rise again until almost doubled, about 1 hour.

• 1/2 batch of above dough recipe will yield approximately 25 doughnut holes.

• After the second rise, divide the dough into 25 equal portions.

• Allow-to proof for 20 minutes.
• Heat up a small saucepan of neutral flavored oil (vegetable, canola) to 370F / 190C.  Or preheat a deep fryer to 375 F. I used canola oil as well.

• Cook 4-6 doughnut holes at a time for 1-2 minutes, turning as you cook to ensure they are evenly browned.

• Allow to drain on absorbent paper.  Once slightly cooled, toss in cinnamon sugar.

*Tasted just like the ones you would get at the fair!! And when using the Lean Frying Machine…so much healthier!**

 

Do you deep fry foods often? If, so what?

Have you heard of the George Foreman Deep Fryer?

First Two Days of the Rest of My Summer

For those of you who don’t know about my new summer job, read about it here and here.

Thursday was basically the first day of work, and the first day of what I will be doing the rest of the summer. I work 6 days a week—days spent cooking, learning new things, cleaning, and just enjoy being around all things food! The kitchen I am working in for the Concordia Language Villages is in charge of preparing breakfast, lunch, and dinner for the adult campers, who are actually here for a seminar to learn to teach the language they teach in a better and more effective way—and like I mentioned before, they are coming from all corners of the world.

Here’s my new kitchen I’ll be cooking in probably more than my home kitchen:

 

This is the dining hall where the students will be eating.

Meals don’t start being served until today, so Thursday and Friday were brutally long days (8-9 hours on my feet) spent stocking the kitchen with everything. During the actual school year, the kitchen is used for other purposes, so we came into a completely empty kitchen. A huge truck load delivered numerous boxes filled with everything from utensils to kitchen appliances. And all things that came through the door had to be washed, so needless to say many many loads of dishes were done.

 

Friday, I was pretty much in charge of all things going on. More unloading, and another delivery from the food distributor.

When the food is delivered, everything needs to be checked on the inventory sheet and put away immediately—it’s quite the process, but I will get the hang of it!

Stay tuned for more job adventures—glad you’ll be around for the ride!! :-)

During this job, I can definitely see I will need to snack a lot to keep up my energy, so it’s the perfect opportunity to try out my outrageously growing bar collection.

Kashi Go Lean Cinnamon Coffee Cake Bar

“This all natural vanilla coffee cake flavored snack bar is infused with the dreamy combination of cinnamon and roasted hazelnut chunks.”

Chew Review: This bar was great! It's made its’ way into my top 5 favorites. I loved how it had the sweet coating both on the bottom and also drizzled on the top. It was the perfect crunch as well. And as far as keeping me full, I don’t think it would as a meal replacement, but it works perfect as a sweet ending to a meal.

 

Happy Father’s Day to all the dad’s out there! :-)

Spring Sweets & Sips

Do your eats tend to change seasonally?

Mine usually do—fall and winter are filled with comfort foods, hearty casseroles, baked goods that fill the house with a spiced aroma and an array of winter produce. Spring and summer are a variety of grilled fare, lighter and colorful mixed salads, and a rainbow of produce ranging from yellow summer squash to deep purple eggplants.

But one taste palate that never seems to change throughout the year is my sweet tooth—yes, it changes from fruit-studded tarts and back again to rich carrot cakes, however, it never seems to disappear throughout the 12 months of the year. I like to try a different  dessert once a week to switch things up, and every so often, I’ll make a recipe that deserves to be made once, twice, or in this case, three times within a three week period! I almost considered dedicating one whole post to this first strawberry-studded sweet treat, but figured if a little persuading and a few pictures couldn’t convince you, then a whole post certainly wouldn’t. So instead, I’ll give it the honor of being featured first, and then followed by a few other sweets I’ve been enjoying this spring.

Enjoy!

Springtime Strawberry Cheesecake Yogurt Pie

Serves:6

Ingredients:

• 1 Fiber One pie crust (recipe here) or a store-bought piecrust
• 2 c thinly sliced strawberries
• 2 Tbsp strawberry jam—I used sugar free
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1-8 oz package of fat free cream cheese
• 1 (6 oz) container of strawberry cheesecake yogurt(from Target), pictured below
• 2 Tbsp sugar—I used Splenda
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp almond extract
• 1 c frozen (thawed) fat-free whipped topping

Directions:

• Add sliced strawberries, 1 tsp sugar, strawberry jam, and 1 Tbsp water together in a small saucepan. Bring to a rolling boil and then lower to a simmer until thickened, about 10-12 min. Remove from burner—let cool completely.

• In large bowl, beat cream cheese with electric mixer on high speed 30 to 60 seconds or until fluffy. Beat in sugar until blended. Add yogurt, vanilla and almond extract; beat on low speed 30 to 60 seconds until well blended and smooth. Fold in whipped topping just until blended. Spoon into crust; spread gently to edge.

• Refrigerate at least 4 hours or until chilled.

• Top pie with strawberry sauce. Store pie in refrigerator.

By far one of the best pies that I’ve ever tried/made..and if you make it with my Fiber One crust, it’s clocks in at just about 150 calories per huge slice!!

Cinnabon Clone with a Twist

Ingredients:

• 1 cup warm milk (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 2 eggs, room temperature
• 1/3 cup margarine, melted
• 4 1/2 cups bread flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 1/2 teaspoons bread machine yeast
• 1 c apple pie filling—I used sugar free
• 1 cup brown sugar, packed
• 2 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
• 1/3 cup butter, softened
• 1 (3 ounce) package cream cheese, softened—I used fat-free
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/8 teaspoon salt

Directions:

Place ingredients in the pan of the bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Select dough cycle; press Start.

After the dough has doubled in size turn it out onto a lightly floured surface, cover and let rest for 10 minutes. In a small bowl, combine brown sugar and cinnamon.

Roll dough into a 16x21 inch rectangle. Spread dough with 1/3 cup butter and sprinkle evenly with sugar/cinnamon mixture. Spread the apple pie filling evenly across dough, leaving enough of an edge so it doesn’t squeeze out.

Roll up dough and cut into 12 rolls. Place rolls in a lightly greased 9x13 inch baking pan. Cover and let rise until nearly doubled, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).

Bake rolls in preheated oven until golden brown, about 15 minutes.

While rolls are baking, beat together cream cheese, 1/4 cup butter, confectioners' sugar, vanilla extract and salt. Spread frosting on warm rolls before serving.

The addition of the apple pie filling really adds a lot to these Cinnabon clones and takes them from delicious to out-of-this-world.

Chocoholic’s Scotcheroos

Ingredients:

• 1 c light corn syrup—I used Lite, see below

• 1 c sugar
• 1 c dark chocolate dreams peanut butter (from PB & Co.)

• 3 c Rice Krispies cereal
• 3 c Envirokids Leapin’ Lemurs PB and Chocolate cereal

• 1 c semi-sweet chocolate morsels
• 1 c butterscotch chips
• 1/4 c Reese's Pieces for garnish, if desired

Directions:

• Place corn syrup and sugar into 3-quart saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until sugar dissolves and mixture begins to boil. Remove from heat. Stir in peanut butter. Mix well. Add cereals. Stir until well coated. Press mixture into 13 x 9 x 2-inch pan coated with cooking spray. Set aside.
• Melt chocolate and butterscotch chips together in 1-quart saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly. Spread evenly over cereal mixture. Sprinkle with Reese's Pieces if desired. Let stand until firm. Cut into 2 x 1-inch bars when cool.

I loved coming up with this recipe—using the dark chocolate PB and the PB and chocolate cereal really separates these from the original Scotcheroos, and makes them more gourmet.

And now onto my latest favorite springtime sip…

A few weeks ago I decided to drop an insane $4 on a Starbuck’s Lite Vanilla Frap—big mistake. It was so good, and I could see that a possible bad habit could be formed. Instead, I figured out how to make an almost identical version for only a few cents! Here’s my mock Starbucks Lite Vanilla Frap tutorial:

1. Fill a blender or a Magic Bullet with 1/2 c ice.

2. Pour in 1 cup of cold coffee—I keep a pitcher in the fridge.

3. Add in about 2 Tbsp of milk—I use unsweetened vanilla Almond Breeze—I recommend a vanilla flavored milk.

4. Add in sugar free vanilla syrup, about 1 Tbsp. I use Sugar Free Vanilla Torani Syrup—found at Wal-Mart.

5. Blend by pulsing about 5 times.

6. Stick in a straw if desired, and slurp!

Ending the Week Sweet

I lucked out with a 4 day weekend this week. I always have Thursdays off and then all of my classes got cancelled on Friday, but I’m not complaining. :-)

A lot of you have been asking what I have been up to lately, so I figured other than just sharing the recipes and meals I’ve been making/eating, I’d share a few pictures of what’s been consuming my time lately.

• A lot of studying—with mid-terms next week things get pretty busy as in reading, reading, reading, and memorizing.

• Packing for spring break—I’m taking a trip out to Boston starting next weekend for a few days to visit family. Any blogger’s in the area?—shoot me an email!

• Reviewing ALOT of great products I can’t wait to share!

• Enjoying the outdoors—I’ve been doing a lot of snowmobiling and four wheeling.

• Hanging out with my main squeeze and flying in his airplane. We flew up North to my hometown last weekend which was a lot of fun.

• And of course I couldn’t have a post without a new and sweet recipe right?! This cake is infused with a blend of aromatic spices, a fruit, AND a veggie! What a way to get five a day!!

Spiced Apple Carrot Cake

Serves 8

Ingredients:

1  cups  flour

1/2 + 1/4  cups Splenda (what I used) or  granulated sugar

1 1/8  teaspoons  baking soda

1/2 + 1/4 teaspoons  baking powder

1/2+ 1/4  teaspoons  cinnamon

1/8  teaspoon  ground cloves

1/8  teaspoon  ground nutmeg

1  teaspoons  unsweetened cocoa powder

  pinch of  freshly ground black pepper

1/8  teaspoon  salt

1/2  cup  unsweetened applesauce

1/2 c egg beaters

1/2 + 1/4  cups  packed coarsely grated carrots (about 3 medium)

1/2 + 1/4  cups  packed coarsely grated tart apples, such as Granny Smith (about 2 medium)

Frosting:

4 oz fat free cream cheese

1/4 c powdered sugar

1 tsp  coconut extract

2/3 c Cool Whip, thawed

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Grease 8 inch square pan and set aside. In a large bowl, combine flour, splenda or sugar, baking soda, baking powder, spices, cocoa, pepper, and salt. Whisk to combine, then stir in applesauce and eggbeaters. Stir in carrots and apples.

2. Pour into pan and bake until cakes pull away from pan sides and a cake tester inserted in center comes out clean, 25 minutes. Transfer cakes to cooling rack and let cool 10 minutes. Turn out onto rack and let cool completely.

3. Beat cream cheese, cool whip,  and extract until smooth and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Gradually add powdered sugar and mix until combined.

4. Once cake is cool, cut in half and cut each half in half horizontally. Spread some frosting over it, then top with second layer. Generously frost top and sides of cake with remaining frosting. Cut into 8 double-layer slices.

 

Anything new and exciting you’ve been up to?