Recipe: Red Velvet Brownies with Cream Cheese Icing Drizzle

I spent last week in Memphis with my boyfriend, making the most of his week-long spring break. We spent a few quiet days in Arkansas, at an old hunting lodge/clubhouse his family is a member of, and spent the rest of the week at his family home. I ate some great food (including a homemade beef and cheddar hot dog in a soft pretzel bun from Hog & Hominy, a burger at Huey's, and of course, cupcakes from Muddy's), met some of his law school friends, had some "arts and crafts" time (we painted pottery and made glass dishes--both were a lot of fun to work on!), and visited a few galleries and museums. As a thank you to him and his family for hosting me, I thought it would be nice to bake brownies and send them down their way. I found this recipe for red velvet brownies and knew I had to try it out—I don't generally play around with baking recipes because they are so precise and I find it hard to change and edit ingredients (it's so much easier to mess up in baking than it is in cooking), so I left it as is, but added a little drizzle of cream cheese icing to give them a little more flavor (makes 'em prettier too). The resulting brownies were perfectly chewy and dense with a light, flaky top, just like a brownies should be, and the drizzle of icing added a little tangy flavor and creaminess to them.

Yields: 1, 9x13 inch pan of brownies (approx. 20 brownie squares)
Prep. time: 10-15 minutes
Baking time: 35-40 minutes
Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients

For the brownies

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1&1/2 cups brown sugar
• 1&1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 4 large eggs, room temperature
• 2 oz. red food coloring (if you don't have enough food coloring, add water to get the required measurement)
• 4 tsp. pure vanilla extract
• 2&1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 6 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder (I used Hershey's, because that's all I could find, but a better quality brand will yield better brownies)
• 1/2 tsp. salt
  

For the cream cheese icing drizzle

• 2 oz. cream cheese
• Approx. 1/2 cup powdered sugar (or more, as needed)
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 tbsp. milk

Directions

Preheat the over to 350*F. Spray a 9x13 inch clear, glass baking dish with cooking/baking spray. Using the paddle attachment in your mixer, beat together the butter and both sugars on medium speed until creamy, light, and fluffy (approx. 2-3 minutes). Add the eggs slowly, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Slowly add the food coloring and vanilla and blend on medium speed until the color is fully incorporated. In a medium bowl, add the flour, cocoa powder, and salt and whisk to mix. Slowly add this mixture to the mixing bowl on medium speed until it's fully incorporated—be careful not too over mix though.  The batter should be quite thick and all of the flour should be mixed in. Pour the batter into the greased baking dish and spread evenly in the dish. Bake for 35-40 minutes, until done (insert a toothpick in the center—if it comes out wet with batter, the brownies need more baking time, but if it comes out clean or a little crumby, the brownies are done). Brownies should be a little flaky on the outside, but slightly moist on the inside. Set aside to cool.

While the brownies are cooling, add the the ingredients for the cream cheese icing drizzle to a small bowl and whisk to blend (you can use the mixer, once clean, to make this go a little faster and to mix it better, but I was too lazy to clean the mixer and ended up whisking together the icing by hand). The finished icing should be thick, but still be able to be drizzled easily. Cut the brownies into squares and, using a spoon, drizzle the icing as neatly as possible over each square (I actually used a squeeze bottle to get more precise drizzles; you can use an icing/pastry bag with a round tip for neater results). Let the icing set (it will not get hard, but rather, it'll thicken and be a little sticky) for a few minutes.

Serve with a glass of cold milk or a mug of hot coffee, or whatever beverage you prefer. Perfect with a scoop of vanilla (or perhaps red velvet, for added red velvet-ness?) ice cream or with some fresh berries. Store brownies in an airtight container and avoid stacking them, if possible, because the cream cheese drizzle will get smeary and smudged.

These brownies are essentially your basic, everyday brownies, but the pop of red food coloring and the sweet and tangy cream cheese icing drizzle add a little pizzazz to them. Great for dessert, for a party, or an afternoon snack, these brownies are chocolaty, chewy, and absolutely delicious.

Recipe: M&M Cookies

So, my boyfriend, John, just started his first week of year two of law school and I wanted to send him some cookies to say "congrats" and help him get through the next week or two. He's a big fan of M&Ms (he keeps a bag stashed in a drawer by his desk expressly for snacking), so I figured M&M cookies would be a hit. The recipe is essentially your basic chocolate chip cookie recipe, with M&Ms in place of chocolate chips, so it's a no-brainer. From what I gathered online, this is the "original" recipe that appeared on old bags of M&M's, so it was created with them in mind.

Yields: About 3-5 dozen (depending on how big you make the cookies)
Prep. time: 10-15 minutes
Baking time: 9-12 minutes per batch
Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients

• 2&1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup shortening
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 12-16 oz. (1&1/2 to 2 cups) M&Ms

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375*F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper, or, if you don't have parchment paper, simply set aside, ungreased. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and baking soda, then set aside. In the mixing bowl of your electric mixer, add the butter, shortening, brown sugar, and sugar, and beat on medium-high speed with the paddle attachment until well-blended, fluffy, and creamy. Add in the vanilla and then the eggs, one at a time, mixing on medium speed until well-blended. Stir in the M&Ms (I recommend stirring by hand so that the M&Ms don't get broken apart by the mixer's paddle). Drop by rounded teaspoons (I usually just form small ball-like blobs by hand) onto the prepared cookie sheets and bake each batch for 9-12 minutes, until very slightly golden brown around the edges and slightly soft in the center. Remove from the oven and let cool, then place on wire racks to cool completely before storing them (or eating a bunch!). Helpful hint: Keep a slice of bread in the pot of cookies to keep them from getting too crispy. 

These cookies are simple and classic. You can pick and choose M&M colors so that the cookies correspond to holidays (i.e. red and green for Christmas, pink and red for Valentine's Day, etc.) and they're perfect for an afternoon snack, bake sale, or family picnic.

Recipe: Thai-Style Steak with Thai Fried Quinoa

During the pasta and grains unit in my Foods 1 class last fall, we discussed a popular alternative to rice and couscous called quinoa. Nutty, grain-like, and celebrated as a healthier alternative to other grain side dishes, quinoa has recently become pretty popular in the food world and I've been dying to try it out. I searched high and low for the perfect recipe and found this fantastic one from Iowa Girl Eats. I picked up strip steaks and created a Thai-inspired marinade, and that this unique, grain-like side dish. Eating the quinoa was a lot like eating fried rice—it's nutty, chewy-crunchy, and fluffy—and it turned out just as well as I'd hoped it would.

Serves: 4
Prep. time: 15 minutes (marinate the steaks for at least 2 hours, or up to 24 hours)
Cooking time: 15-20 minutes for the quinoa, 5-10 minutes for the complete quinoa mixture, 5-10 minutes for the steak. Approx. 30-40 minutes total.
Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients
For the marinade

• 4 tbsp. oyster sauce
• 1/2-1 tsp. chili garlic sauce (add more if you want it spicy)
• 1 tsp. lime juice
• 1 tsp. creamy peanut butter
• 1 tbsp. brown sugar
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tsp. cilantro, chopped
• 4 strip steaks

For the quinoa

• 1 cup quinoa, rinsed and drained (the brand I used was pre-rinsed)
• 1 cup light/lite coconut milk
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1/4 tsp. lime zest
• Peanut oil (enough to lightly coat the bottom of a large pan)
• 1 bunch green onions, chopped
• 1 tbsp ginger, minced or grated/"zested"
• 2-3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 1, 8 oz. can pineapple tidbits, drained
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
• 2 tbsp. sweetened, shredded coconut, finely chopped
• 1/4 cup peanuts, finely chopped
• 2 tbsp. soy sauce
• Juice of 1 lime (approx. 1-2 tbsp.)
• 2 tbsp. soy sauce

Directions

Combine all of the ingredients for the steak marinade, then pour the mixture into a gallon size Ziploc bag, add the steaks, and mush the marinade around to coat the steaks. Put the steaks in the fridge to marinate. The longer you let the steaks marinate, the better the flavor (I put my steaks in the marinade at 11:00am and we grilled them up around 7:45pm). 

In a medium pot (approx. 2 quarts), add the quinoa, lime zest, coconut milk, and chicken stock. Bring the mixture to a boil (without a lid), then reduce the heat to medium-low and cover with a lid. Cook for 15-20 minutes, or until the quinoa is tender (a little crispiness is okay) and has soaked up all of the fluid. Once the quinoa is cooked, turn off the heat and let it sit, covered, while you work on everything else. Preheat the grill to medium-high heat, then put the steaks on and cook until they reach your desired doneness (about 5-10 minutes for medium). In the meantime, heat the peanut oil over medium high heat in a large, deep skillet or wok. Add the green onion, ginger, and garlic and cook for about a minute, until fragrant, making sure to stir frequently to prevent the garlic from burning. Add the peas and pineapple and cook for another minute, stirring occasionally. Push the mixture out to the edges of the skillet, scramble the eggs in a small bowl, and add the eggs to the middle of the skillet. Whisk them around as they cook, and once cooked through, break up the eggs and mix them into the rest of the ingredients. Add the chopped peanuts, coconut, and cilantro and stir to combine. Pour in the cooked quinoa, soy sauce, and lime juice and stir to combine. Serve the finished quinoa alongside the steaks. Add additional cilantro and peanuts as desired.

This dish is such a flavor explosion! The marinade for the steak is meaty, savory, salty, and slightly spicy. Oyster sauce is amazing and it has this savory quality that makes it perfect for many Asian dishes, particularly when used with beef. The quinoa mixture, with its sweet pineapple and coconut, salty peanuts, fresh cilantro, and sweet-spicy ginger is delicious. It's like eating Thai fried rice, but it's fluffier, lighter, and nuttier. If you're looking for something out of the ordinary for dinner (well, it was out of the ordinary for an Italian food-loving girl like me), try this out! The unique flavor combinations and the texture and taste of the quinoa make this a winning dish.

Recipe: White Chocolate Chip and Orange Zest Cookies

Looking to make something light and sweet for Easter (and having failed at making candied ginger for use in orange ginger cookies that I mentioned in a Facebook post a little while ago, but still having a craving for orange), I decided to try out these "Orange Creamsicle cookies" from Living Tastefully. I didn't have enough white chocolate chips for a full batch of cookies, so I halved the recipe, but I'll share the full batch recipe here since the taste is the same (delicious!).
These cookies combine the sweet, vanilla-like taste of white chocolate with the brightness of tangy-sweet orange zest to create the perfect flavor combination in a twist on the original chocolate chip cookie. Try dark chocolate chips for a richer flavor or try lime or lemon zest instead of orange for a subtle change in flavor.

Yields: About 3-4 dozen (I got 20 out of a half batch)
Prep. time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 10-12 minutes
Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients 

• 2 & 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3/4 tsp. baking soda
• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar (pack the sugar into the cup rather than loosely fill)
• 1 large egg
• 1 tbsp. orange zest (grated orange peel)
• Approx. 12 oz. white chocolate chips

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350*F. Combine the flour, salt, and baking soda in a bowl. In a mixer, blend/cream together the butter, sugar, and brown sugar on low to medium speed. Add in the egg and orange zest and beat on low to medium speed. Slowly add in the flour mixture and beat on medium speed until the mixture is well-blended and uniform in color. Add in white chocolate chips and beat gently or stir to mix them in. Roll out 1 & 1/2 - 2 inch balls of cookie dough and place them a few inched apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake for 10-12 minutes, until lightly golden brown on top. Remove the baking sheets from the oven and allow the cookies to cool for a few minutes, then move the cookies to a rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container. If cookies start to get hard, add a slice of bread to the container to help soften them.

These cookies are light, sweet, and citrus-y—perfect for the spring (and Easter day)! Enjoy with a cup of tea, a glass of milk, or alongside all of your Easter candy.

Recipe: Oreo-Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies

I first saw Oreo-stuffed chocolate chip cookies while perusing pins on Pinterest and I quickly pinned it to my own "Recipes to Try" board. I pulled that recipe out on Friday, having decided to make these crazy, monstrous cookies for my boyfriend as part of an Easter candy care package I had planned to send him. I didn't have enough flour to make a full batch, but the twelve cookies I got out of a half batch were more than enough to feed the two of us—these cookies are so big! As far as I can tell, you can use any chocolate chip cookie recipe (I usually use the Nestle Toll House cookie recipe), but I stuck close to the recipe I found on Sprinkle Charms, the site I pinned the recipe from, and they were absolutely delicious.

Yields: Approx. 24 cookies
Prep. time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 10-15 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Special equipment: Mixer

Ingredients

• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened (used salted, unsalted, or one of each)
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tbsp. vanilla extract
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 3&1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• Approx. 1&1/2 to 2 cups chocolate chips (I used Ghirardelli semi-sweet chocolate chips —they're rich and delicious)
• 1 package Oreos (you'll only need about 24)

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350*F. Add the butter, sugar, and brown sugar to the mixer's bowl and cream together. Once mixed, add the eggs and vanilla and mix until well-blended. Gradually add in the flour, salt, and baking soda and mix until well-blended. Add chocolate chips and mix on low or stir to incorporate them into the batter.
To wrap the Oreos in cookie dough, get a small scoop of cookie dough and form it evenly around an Oreo, being sure to make sure the Oreo is completely encased in dough. The finished product will look larger than a regular chocolate chip cookie, and that's okay. Repeat until all of the dough is gone. Place cookies on an ungreased cookie sheet, a few inches apart (I baked about 6-8 per sheet), and bake for 10-15 minutes, until the cookies are lightly golden brown. Remove from the oven, let cool on the pan for a few minutes, then move the cookies to cool racks to finish cooling.

Yum!

The heat from baking softens the Oreos just slightly, so you get these great slightly crunchy, slightly soft Oreos in the middle of the cookies and the flavors of each cookie blend perfectly. These cookies are quite big, so one will likely fill you up, and they're absolutely perfect with a tall glass of cold milk.

Recipe: Sloppy Joes and Rough Cut, Beer-Battered French Fries

My dad mentioned the other night that he'd been craving sloppy joes, something we used to eat a lot when I was a kid but haven't had recently. I offered to find a recipe for them, and decided to pair them with some homemade, battered fries (I've been chomping at the bit to try making french fries with my Breville deep fryer). Now, despite my dislike of Rachael Ray, her husky voice, and her silly catchphrases (EVOO. Ugh.), it was her recipe for Super Sloppy Joes that I decided to work off of, and I found my beer-battered french fried recipe on Man vs. Kitchen. I didn't change much with either recipe, except to mess about with seasonings a little bit, and the food turned out great. Meaty, falling-out-of-the-bun sloppy joes + crispy-fluffy French fries = good ol' fashioned American food that's perfect on a warm day. It was a great meal last night, and evidently (according to my dad, who was on his own for dinner tonight), the meal as leftovers was just as good.

Serves: 4-6
Prep. time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: About 20 minutes for the meat, and up to an hour for the fries (they must be fried in small batches)
Difficulty: Easy (frying without a deep fryer can be tricky though—look for instructions on how to do this online)
Special Equipment: Deep fryer

Ingredients
For the french fries

• 5-7 small to medium russet potatoes, peeled and cut into french fry sticks (it's okay if the fries are all slightly different sizes, as long as they're still fairly similar in width; keep peeled potatoes submerged in water to keep them from turning brown)
• Milk (enough to fill a pot until just above the cut potatoes)
• 2&1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 cup cornstarch
• 1 tbsp. salt
• 1 tbsp. black pepper
• 1-3 tsp. ground red cayenne pepper
• 2 eggs
• 1 cold bottle of beer (I used Yuengling Lager; you can use your favorite beer, but I suggest not using any light beers or really cheap beers, like Natural Light and Budweiser)
• Vegetable oil for frying (canola oil or peanut oil would also be good)

For the sloppy joes

• 1&1/2 lb. ground beef sirloin (93% lean, or something very close to that, is best)
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 medium onion, finely diced (I basically minced mine—bigger chunks of onion just don't taste good in sloppy joes and burgers, and they mess up the texture)
• 1 tbsp. red wine vinegar
• 1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
• A small pinch of ground red cayenne pepper
• 2 tbsp. tomato paste
• 2 cups tomato sauce
• Olive oil (enough to lightly coat the bottom of a pan)
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• Sandwich rolls
• Condiments of your choice, if desire (cheddar cheese slices, lettuce, sliced green bell peppers, sliced tomatoes, and sliced red onions are all good choices)

Directions

Heat the olive oil in a slightly deep, large pan over medium heat. Crumble the ground beef a little bit and toss it into the pan. Using a spatula or wooden spoon, break up the meat and let it cook until it starts to lose its pink color. Add in the brown sugar, red wine vinegar, and Worcestershire sauce and stir into the meat to combine, then cook until the meat is lightly browned. Add in the onion and cook for another 5 minutes. Add in the tomato sauce and paste, cook over medium heat for about 5 minutes, then reduce the heat to low and let the mixture simmer while you prepare the french fries (as long as the heat is low, the mixture can cook for quite some time—longer cooking lets the flavors really blend). 

Preheat the oil for frying (if using a deep fryer, the temperature should be at 375*F). Preheat the oven to its lowest temperature. Peel and cut the potatoes, rinse them thoroughly in cold water, submerge them in milk in a large pot, and put them in the fridge. In a large bowl, mix together all of the dry ingredients for the french fry batter. Whisk the two eggs together in a small bowl, then stir into the dry mixture. Slowly pour the cold beer into the mixture, stirring the batter as you go. The finished batter will be very thick and slightly lumpy. Place a cooling rack over a cookie sheet (the battered fries will rest on this and drain a bit before getting thrown in the fryer) and layer paper towels on another cookie sheet. Drain the potatoes, then return them to the pot. Dunk each fry into the batter, then place on the cooling rack (you probably won't be able to fit every fry on there, so just batter them in batches). Drop a large handful of fries into the frying oil (make sure the oil is 375*F), then quickly poke around at them to keep them from sticking. Fry for about 5-7 minutes (they may need a little longer) until golden brown and crispy on the outside and soft on the inside (I used tongs to lightly squeeze the fries to check for internal softness). Put the finished fries on the paper towel-covered cookie sheet to drain them/soak up some of the oil. After a minute or two, place the finished fries in an oven-safe dish and transfer to the oven to keep them warm. Repeat the frying and draining process and add finished fries to the dish in the oven. 

Serve the sloppy joe mixture on sandwich buns or rolls (great plain or with condiments) and serve the french fries alongside. Best eaten with a cold bottle of beer to drink on the side. :D

This is such a perfect casual dish for a warm, sunny day. The meaty, salty, tomato-y flavors of the sloppy joes pair perfectly with the slightly spicy, slightly salty, slightly beer-y fries, and the textures, soft and crunchy, are perfect together.

Recipe: Food Network's "Cocoa-Rubbed Steak with Bacon-Whiskey Gravy"

This month's Food Network magazine was all about chocolate: how to cook and bake with it, how to temper it, where to buy the best, news about it, and more. All of the recipes in this issue incorporated chocolate in some sort of way, big or small, and a twist on the traditional "steak and potatoes" caught my eye. I don't cook red meat often, nor do I try to juggle too many things at once while I cook (in this case, steak, gravy, baked potatoes, and broccoli), so rather than play around with this recipe and make it my own the first time out, I decided to basically stick with it as is, tweaking just a few ingredients and whatnot, and it came out wonderfully. The rub on the steak has just a touch of heat and a subtle chocolate flavor that is savory rather than sweet. The gravy, a bacon-y, salty, creamy affair, goes well with the steak, and is even better on the baked potato and broccoli sides. So, kudos to you, Food Network, for a delicious, chocolate-themed steak-and-potato dinner!

(Bacon-Whiskey Gravy not pictured)

Yields: 2-4 servings (gravy serves about 6)
Prep. time: 10-15 minutes
Cooking time: 45 min.-1 hour
Difficulty: Easy to Moderate
Special equipment: Broiler pan

Ingredients

• 1 baking potato per person (I bought the "just pop in the microwave for 7-8 minutes" baking/russet potato to save time)
• About 2 heads of fresh broccoli, cut into florets (you can just cook half a bag of frozen broccoli to save time)
• Butter and sour cream for the baked potatoes, if desired

For the steak

• 1 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 tsp. paprika
• 1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp. packed brown sugar
• Salt and pepper
• 1 steak, preferably NY strip, per person (I bought two large Delmonico steaks and split one with my mom)

*The rub is enough to cover 3, 1 lb. NY strip steaks, so if you do smaller or fewer steaks, use less of the rub

For the gravy

• 3-4 strips bacon
• 1 leek, finely chopped (clean thoroughly, because they're very dirty; do not use the dark green part at the top of the leek)
• 1 tbsp. all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup whiskey
• 3 cups chicken broth/stock
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1 tbsp. butter
• 2 tbsp. dried parsley
• Salt and pepper

Directions

Mix together the ingredients for the rub and lightly rub the mixture into both sides of each steak. Set the steaks aside on a broiler pan and turn on the broiler setting in your oven in preparation for the steaks. Bring a medium pot of water to a boil in preparation for cooking the broccoli. In a large pan, cook the bacon over medium heat until crispy, then remove the bacon and place on paper towels to soak up excess grease. In the pan with the bacon grease, add the diced leek and cook until tender (about 3-5 minutes). Add the flour, stir to combine, and cook for about 1 minute. Add a little butter if desired. Remove the pan from the heat and add the whiskey. Return the pan to medium high heat and cook the mixture, stirring occasionally, until the mixture is slightly thickened (about 3 minutes). Add the bay leaves and chicken stock, bring to a boil over medium high heat, and cook until the mixture is reduced by about one quarter (about 8 minutes). Slowly whisk in the heavy cream, then allow the gravy to simmer for about 7 minutes, stirring occasionally. While it's cooking, put the steaks in the oven and broil for 8-15 minutes (less time will yield medium rare steak, more time will yield medium to medium well), turning occasionally. Returning to the gravy, crumble the cooked bacon and add it to the gravy, along with the butter and parsley, then stir to combine. The gravy should be just thick enough to lightly coat the back of a spoon (add a little cornstarch-and-water to make it thicker, if desired) and will be a cream color when it's done. Reduce the heat to keep it warm. Cook the broccoli florets for approx. 5 minutes in boiling water and heat the baking potatoes in the microwave for 7-8 minutes. If you've timed this right, everything should finish up at about the same time. The steak, once removed from the oven, should be allowed to rest for a few minutes on a cutting board before being plated and cut. Serve the meal with a gravy boat full of the gravy.

This is a delicious little twist on a classic and is quite a filling meal. Fresh broccoli and fluffy baked potatoes are the perfect compliment to the steak, coated in this lightly sweet-spicy rub. The gravy, a salty, creamy, buttery mixture, goes perfectly with every part of this dish.

Recipe: Peanut Butter Blossoms

At noon today, it was snowing out, but I was packed up and ready to go spend the weekend with my cousin and her fiancé  in Maryland. I crept down the driveway in my car, inched down the slush-and-snow covered hill leading out of my neighborhood, pulled out onto the main road...and then promptly decided that taking a four hour trip in "winter weather advisory" conditions was probably not the best idea. I have high hopes that the roads and weather will be better by tomorrow so I can still go on my trip, but for today, I'm stuck home with the cats (the oldest are napping, while the two little ones are suffering from a particularly bad case of cabin fever), hanging out in my PJs and wondering if there will be any good movies on TV tonight. Frustrated and looking to keep myself busy on such a cold, dreary day, I decided to bake, and for no particular reason, I decided to make peanut butter blossoms. I've never made them before, but they are a classic cookie with a classic flavor combination—peanut butter and chocolate—that I've always enjoyed. My mom absolutely loves these cookies—any time one of her friends has them at a party or she takes home a handful from a luncheon, they're "hers" and I get maybe one for myself, so I'm excited to have a whole batch for the both of us.

Yields: Approx. 48 cookies
Prep. time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 8-10 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Special equipment: Electric mixer with paddle attachment

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup white granulated sugar, plus 1/4 cup for rolling on the cookies
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened (I used salted butter, because it's what we had, but unsalted should work too)
• 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter (I used Jif brand)
• 1 egg
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1&3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 48 Hershey Kisses, unwrapped

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375*F. In a bowl, combine the 1/2 cup sugar, brown sugar, peanut butter, and butter and beat at medium speed in an electric mixer (or by hand, if need be) until well-blended and fluffy. Add the egg, salt, and vanilla and continue to beat at medium speed until well-mixed. Add the baking soda and flour and continue to beat until well-blended. The dough will be smooth, soft, and peanut butter-colored. Roll pieces of the cookie dough (approx. 48 total) around in the palms of your hand to form one inch round balls. Roll the balls in the 1/4 cup sugar and place 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake for 8-10 minutes until the dough has start to expand, crack a little bit, and turn ever-so-slightly golden-brown (if you let them cook too much, you will end up flattening out the cookies when you press the Hershey Kisses in them later). Remove from the oven and immediately press one Hershey Kiss into the center of each cookie. Remove from cookie sheets and cool completely on wire racks (the chocolate will get melty all the way through, so be sure you let them cool completely so you don't smear or smush the chocolate when you put the cookies away). Store the cookies in an airtight container.

These cookies are so easy to make and you probably have all of the ingredients at home already. They've got that great classic combination of peanut butter and chocolate, and the texture—chewy-crunchy cookies with crispy sugar granules and smooth chocolate—is delicious. These are perfect with a glass of cold milk or a mug of hot chocolate. 

Recipe: Bourbon-Spiked Chocolate Chip Pecan Pie with Salted Caramel Sauce

For the past three or four years, my parents have had Thanksgiving at our house, with just my grandmothers, my brother, and me (long story short, it's easier this way, and we do a larger family gathering for Christmas). This year was my first Thanksgiving as a college grad, and because I'm living at home and only employed part time, I was more available to help with dinner preparations than I have been in the past (oh, and my entire family figured that, since I love to cook and I have culinary class experience, I could probably just do the whole meal myself—I'm not quite that good though, haha). We had all of our traditional dishes—stuffing (or rather, dressing, because we cook it outside of the turkey), this Grand Marnier-spiked cranberry relish my mother makes (I find this dish amusing, because she hates cranberries but gets compliments on this dish all the time), turkey, mashed potatoes (though not as many as the good ol' days, when my cousins, Katie and Jess, and I would wolf them down like we'd never get a chance to eat them again), and a brown sugar-and-pecan-topped sweet potato mash, plus a few other sides. My mother and I did a lot of preparation on that Wednesday before the holiday so we wouldn't be overwhelmed on the day of, and my grandmothers each took turns washing dishes and helping us put things away. While I had a hand in a number of dishes, I wanted to make something on my own, and, since we already had so many dinner dishes, I thought I'd go for dessert. We always have pumpkin pie (this year was no different) and the occasional fruit pie, and sometimes cookies or some sort of cake, but I got hooked on the idea of making a chocolate chip pecan pie. I found this highly rated recipe from Emeril Lagasse on Food Network's website, tweaked it a little to get it exactly how I wanted it, and it turned out beautifully. The pie was sweet and rich, but not overwhelming, and the salted caramel sauce and some freshly whipped cream were perfect on top. The pie is best served the day of or the next day, and it's delicious served warm, cold, or room temperature. I highly recommend making the crust from scratch, but you could use a pre-made crust if desired—just make sure you use a deep pie dish, otherwise you may have issues with the pie filling overflowing while the pie bakes.

Yields: 1, 9 inch pie; approx. 1 cup caramel sauce
Prep. time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 1 hour, plus approx. 10 minutes for the caramel sauce
Difficulty: Moderate

Ingredients
For the pie filling

• 1 & 1/2 cups pecans (I used a mix of chopped and whole pecans)
• 1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips (I use Ghirardelli brand; you may want to use a little less)
• 1 unbaked 9-inch pie shell (my mother makes homemade crusts and I highly recommend making your own)
• 4 eggs, beaten
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar (I used dark, but light or dark would work)
• 1/2 cup corn syrup
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• Approx. 1/8 tsp. salt 
• 1 tbsp. bourbon (any brand will work)

For the salted caramel sauce

• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 tbsp. water
• 1/2 tsp. lemon juice
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 2 to 4 tbsp. 2% or whole milk (I used a little over 2 tbsp.)
• 1 tsp. bourbon
• Good quality salt, to taste (I highly recommend sea salt, or some sort of high quality coarse salt; just add a small pinch at a time, and taste the sauce as you go to make sure you don't over salt it)
• 1-3 tbsp. butter (salted or unsalted; if you use salted, don't add as much salt) 

(It's really important to taste this sauce at the end, when you're adding in the final ingredients. You want it to be sweet, with a buttery, salty background and just a hint of bourbon)


Directions
For the pie: Preheat the oven to 350* F. Spread the pecans and chocolate chips evenly on the bottom of the pie shell. In a mixer or just in a bowl, whisk together the ingredients for the pie filling until well blended, then pour the filling over the pecan and chocolate chip mixture in the pie shell (the pecans and chocolate chips will rise up into the filling so that the filling is "mixed"). If you want a pretty design on top of the pie, arrange whole pecans on top in the desired pattern. Bake the pie until the filling sets, about 50 to 60 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool for 30 minutes before slicing.

For the caramel sauce: In a medium, heavy sauce pan/pot, combine the sugar, water, and lemon juice and cook over medium-high heat, stirring, until the sugar dissolves. Let boil without stirring until the mixture becomes a deep amber color (watch it carefully to make sure it doesn't burn). Slowly add the cream, whisking to combine, and remove from the heat. Add 2 tablespoons of the milk, adding more (I didn't add any more to mine) until the desired consistency is reached. Stir in the bourbon and butter until the butter has melted into the mixture. Sprinkle in salt, to taste. Let cool before serving (the sauce will thicken as it cools). Gently reheat before serving atop the pie.

 
This pie is perfect for Thanksgiving or Christmas (I feel like a lot of people make plain ol' pecan pies for the holidays, so this fits right in), but it could easily be served any other time of the year. Many pecan pies call for ungodly amounts of sugars and syrups that make them cloyingly sweet, but I think this pie has just the right amount of sweetness. Semi sweet chocolate chips add a richness and the warm caramel sauce adds a buttery, salty flavor to the pie that perfectly blends with the pie's sweet filling. This dish was a huge success with my family (even my brother, who rarely eats sweets), and I'll definitely be making it for Christmas.

Recipe: Chocolate-and-Butterscotch-Chip Cookies

I went out for groceries earlier this week, and while roaming up and down the baking aisle, looking for Halloween sprinkles and soft caramels (for caramel apples I'm making this weekend), I came across bags of flavored "chips," like mint and peanut butter. Among the assorted bags of "chips" were bags of butterscotch chips, something I rarely eat but really enjoy. I love the taste of rich chocolate and salty-sweet butterscotch blended together, so I thought making chocolate-and-butterscotch-chip cookies was the best way to get that flavor I was craving. Despite spending my morning in the hot training kitchen for class, slaving away (okay, not really slaving, but seriously, you really have to hustle when there's a lot of food to make) at three (yes, three) different soups, I was really eager to bake as soon as I got home, and I was especially excited about the prospect of the traditional cookies-and-milk for an afternoon snack. I followed the classic Nestle Toll House chocolate chip cookie recipe (minus the nuts) that my family has used for years, substituting Ghirardelli semi-sweet chocolate chips (richer and better-tasting than Nestle chocolate chips, in my opinion) instead of Nestle chocolate chips and adding half a bag of butterscotch chips. The result: perfectly crispy-yet-soft cookies, oozing with warm chocolate and butterscotch chips. Best right of the oven, and great anytime with a glass of milk or just on their own.

Yields: About 4 dozen
Prep. time: 10-15 minutes
Cooking time: about 9-13 minutes per batch
Difficulty: Easy
Equipment needed: Baking sheets, mixer (use the paddle attachment, not a whisk or other attachment)

Ingredients

• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine, softened
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 3/4 cup white/granulated sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 2&1/4 cup flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. salt
• 2 cups (12 oz. bag) chocolate chips (I use Ghirardelli semi-sweet chocolate chips—they are so much better than cheap chocolate chips)
• 1 cup (half of a 12 oz. bag, a.k.a. 6 oz.) butterscotch chips

Directions
Preheat the oven to 375*F. Combine the flour, salt, and baking soda in a bowl and set aside. Combine the butter, brown sugar, white/granulated sugar, and vanilla extract in the mixer's mixing bowl and beat on low on medium speed until creamy. Add one egg at a time, and thoroughly beat each into the cookie dough on medium speed. Slowly add the flour mixture, beating on low or medium low speed until it's fully incorporated. Slowly add in the chocolate chips and butterscotch chips, beating on low speed to help blend them into the dough. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets, being sure to leave room in between each ball of dough to allow the cookie to spread as it cooks (I just use my hands and scoop out tablespoon-sized blobs of dough). Bake for 9-11 minutes, or until golden brown (mine took about 13 minutes to bake perfectly). Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the baking sheets for 2 minutes, then remove cookies from sheets and place on wire racks to cool completely. Store in an air-tight (tupperware) container. (Helpful tip: To keep cookies soft, place a slice of bread in the container they're stored in. The cookies draw out the moisture in the bread and that helps keep them soft. Be sure to replace the bread slice once it's dried out).

 These are your quintessential chocolate chip cookies, just dressed up a bit with the addition of butterscotch chips. They're soft on the inside, but lightly crispy around the edges and the "chips" have that magic way of staying melty, even after the cookies have cooled all the way. Delicious!

Recipe: Pad Thai

If you read my last post, you'll recall that I'd planned to make four or five new dishes for dinners last week, but unfortunately, I was only able to try one recipe due to busy evenings and a trip out of town this past weekend. I guess the upside to this is that all of the ingredients for the dinners this week are ready and waiting for me in the fridge, though, as I learned (and feared), some ingredients go bad quickly, which can really throw a wrench in dinner plans. Anywho, I had a bag of half-bad bean sprouts and some slightly wilted cilantro that desperately needed to be dealt with, so I made sure that my cousin's pad thai recipe was the first on my list of things to make this week, and fortunately, it worked out well (after picking out the good sprouts and good cilantro leaves, haha). This dish has a really interesting (and some might think weird) combination of flavors and trextures—crunchy salty peanuts, crisp green onions, tender chicken and rice noodles, tart lime—which is what drew me to it. My cousin first made this dish for me during a visit to her college apartment when I was a senior in high school. I was wary of this new dish, having, at this point, gotten used to lots of pasta dinners and my mother's various "chicken and *insert starch and vegetable side dish here*" meals (all delicious, but very "normal" compared to this pad thai dish), but I was pleasantly surprised with the unique flavors. We had this dish again when I visited her this past Labor Day weekend and I made sure to have her write the recipe down for me so I could make it for my parents. It's a delicious dish that you can make up in a big batch (like I did) or make in individual portions to allow for more personalization by the people who will eat it. I'm kind of estimating ingredients because it really comes down to preference, so you can use more or less of each thing as you see fit—I apologize if this is confusing, but just go with your gut. Obviously, if you make and plan to use all of the noodles, you should plan to buy more of each of the other ingredients. Remember, you can always add more, and it reheats well, so don't worry if you end up with a lot.

Serves: 4-6
Prep. time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 10-20 minutes
Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients

• 8-16 oz. rice noodles (I bought A Taste of Thai brand; you can use any width—my cousin uses wide, I used a thinner noodle; I made up a whole box of noodles and tossed them in as desired)
• Approx. 2-4 chicken breasts, cubed (small pieces work best because they cook faster)
• Approx. 2 bunches green onions, chopped
• Approx. 1-2 bags (1-3 cups?) bean sprouts
• Approx. 1 container (a few ounces) fresh cilantro
• Approx. 2-4 eggs, scrambled
• Approx. 1 cup peanuts, whole or coarsely chopped
• Approx. 3-6 limes, cut into wedges

For the sauce:

• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/4 cup fish sauce (it smells kind of like cat food, which is obviously not appealing, but it tastes wonderful once it's cooked and added to the noodle mixture)
• 1/2 cup tamarind (this can be hard to find—I looked up substitutions for it and found that certain fruit juices, like orange and lime, can be used; I used the juice of 3 limes instead of tamarind and I think it tasted good)
• 1 tsp. chili garlic sauce (I didn't have this, so I just sprinkled in a dash of garlic powder and a dash of chili powder)

Directions
Follow the package instructions for cooking/soaking the noodles (the brand I used said to soak the noodles in very hot water—I boiled water, then poured it in the bowl—and soak for at least 30 minutes). You don't want them to be super soft and soggy, but you don't want them to be too firm either.

If cooking one large batch: In a large hot pan or wok, heat about 1 tbsp. oil (a mix of peanut and canola is what my cousin recommended; don't use olive oil). Add the chicken and cook until just cooked through. Add the noodles (as much as you want) and mix them with the chicken. Add the green onion, sprouts, peanuts, and scrambled egg (make sure it's broken up into small pieces). Add the sauce and mix and let it cook for a few minutes, until the noodles and chicken soak up the sauce, the peanuts start to brown lightly, and the green onions and sprouts are crisp yet tender. Serve topped with fresh-squeezed lime juice and cilantro, if desired. Additional peanuts, fresh sprouts, and fresh green onion may be set out in small bowls so people can add more to their dish if desired, and cilantro and lime can also be set out in bowls.

If cooking in individual batches/per person: Basically, you'll do the same as above, but in smaller portions. Ask each person what they want and how much and add a smaller amount of noodles and sauce. Serve in the same way as above.

This dish combines interesting textures, tastes, and smells to create a delicious, tart, nutty, sweet dish. The bright, clean taste of the lime and cilantro add a burst of flavor to the sweet green onion, tender chicken, and salty peanuts. The sauce is a delicious mix of sweet, from the brown sugar, and salty, from the fish sauce, and the soft rice noodles easily soak it up, making them incredibly flavorful. Feel free to play around with the ingredients—subsitute shrimp for chicken, try cashews instead of peanuts, or experiment with other vegetables. This dish reheats really well, especially if you warm it back up in a pan with a little bit of oil rather than in the microwave (we actually had the leftovers for dinner tonight, along with fruit salad from my grandma and some leftover desserts from a party last week—an attempt to clean out our overloaded fridge, haha).

Recipe: Lemon Bars

My dad and I are grilling tonight—marinated strip steaks, red potatoes seasoned with shallot-pepper (another great purchase from Penzeys Spices), and asparagus sprinkled with salt and pepper, served with Chimay Red (one of my all time favorite beers—a Belgian brew). Since my dad will be doing the grilling, I thought I'd whip us up some sort of light dessert to enjoy after our meal. My best friend and her family made these delicious homemade lemon bars (the recipe is actually from the Weight Watchers community) for the 4th of July weekend earlier this summer, so I thought I'd make those. Sure, I could have gotten a boxed mix—my dad and I have had it before and it's pretty good—but homemade lemon bars, with fresh lemon juice and zest, have so much more flavor!

Ingredients

• 1 & 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 5 tbsp. packed light brown sugar (I used dark brown sugar, because that's all we had, but I recommend getting the light if you can)
• 8 tbsp. (a little less than 1 stick) unsalted butter, cold, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 4 large eggs
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 & 1/2 powdered sugar, divided into two equal portions (3/4 cup each)
• 3/4 cup fresh lemon juice
• 2 tsp. lemon zest
• Powdered sugar to sprinkle on top of the completed bars

Directions
To make the crust: Preheat oven to 350*F. Put the flour and brown sugar in a food processor and mix to completely blend. Toss butter pieces into the food processor and pulse to blend, until the picture is slightly clumpy, with butter pieces that are about the size of peas. Evenly sprinkle crust mixture into an ungreased 13x9x2-inch pan and press down on the mixture with your hand or a spatula to create a packed surface. Place the pan in the middle of the oven and bake for about 20 minutes, until slightly golden brown.

To make the lemon filling/topping: Beat eggs in a medium bowl with an electric mixer until well-blended. Add vanilla extract and 3/4 cup of the powdered sugar and mix well. Add the lemon juice and remaining (3/4 cup) powdered sugar and mix until the powdered sugar is completely dissolved, then add the zest.

As soon as the crust is finished baking, remove from the oven and immediately pour the lemon mixture over the hot crust. Reduce the oven temperature to 300*F. Put the mixture back in the oven and bake for about 30 minutes (the edges will be slightly golden brown), remove, and let cool for at least 15 minutes. Put in the fridge to cool completely. When ready to serve, cut unto 24 bars and sprinkle with powdered sugar. Store remaining bars in the fridge.

These bars are sweet, tangy, and refreshing on a warm summer day. Using fresh lemon juice and zest adds a punch of flavor and the warm yellow color is beautiful and bright. These are great served with a cup of tea, a glass of milk, or just by themselves. Don't skimp on the powdered sugar topping!—It helps balance the tartness of the lemon and sweeten the bars.