Recipe: Quick and Easy Microwaveable Brownie for One

Sometimes you want a brownie, and you want it NOW. You want it chocolaty, hot, and hopefully topped with a scoop of ice cream or paired with an ice cold glass of milk. This desire for a brownie hit me not once, but twice, a few weeks ago (it had been a loooooong week), and I went on a mad online search for a decent recipe for microwave brownies (because waiting for a batch to bake in the oven was so not happening). I found one on Food.com that looked pretty good—I know that a brownie made in a cup and thrown in the microwave can't possibly compare to a batch properly cooked in the oven, but it's really nice to have the option to make a quick brownie when you want one. This recipe results in a fluffy yet gooey brownie rather than a dense and chewy brownie or cake brownie, and it just makes a single serving. You can make it in a mug, but I made mine in a small, microwaveable mixing bowl. I added a few drops each of peppermint and spearmint extract to make a minty brownie and topped mine with mint chocolate chip ice cream, but I've just listed the main, plain recipe here.

When I said I wanted it NOW, I meant it. There was no time to take a proper picture. NO TIME!

Serves: 1
Prep. time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 1-1&1/2 minutes
Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted
• 2 tbsp. water
• 1/4 tsp. pure vanilla extract
• 1 dash (approx. 1/8 to 1/4 tsp.) salt
• 4 tbsp. granulated sugar
• 2 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder (I just used Hershey's, but the better quality you use, the better the flavor)
• 4 tbsp. all-purpose flour

Directions

Melt the butter in a mug or small, deep bowl, in the microwave. Add the water and vanilla to the mug/bowl and whisk to blend. Add the sugar and salt and whisk to blend. Add the cocoa powder and flour and whisk to blend. The final mixture should be well blended, with no lumps (there may be some graininess because of the sugar). "Bake" in the microwave for 1-1&1/2 minutes, but no longer (too long and it'll get burnt and dried out; a minute and 15 seconds is just about right). The brownie should be soft and slightly gooey in the middle (unless you cooked it a bit longer); it will also be very hot, so be careful. Let it sit for a minute or two before eating. Best served with a scoop of ice cream, a dollop of whipped cream, or a glass of milk.

Simple and tasty—that about sums it up. It's not a dense brownie square like you'd get from a proper batch of oven-baked brownies, but it's chocolaty, gooey, ready in a minute, and you can eat it with a spoon, so it's pretty damn delicious nonetheless.

Recipe: Mushroom-less Chicken Marsala

I had set out chicken to thaw in the fridge the night before last and had been eyeing the head of broccoli nestled in the veggie drawer—I was going to make something for dinner last night, I just didn't have a plan. Realizing I wouldn't be home from work until 6:00pm, I needed something quick, so it wasn't the best night to be experimenting with a new recipe. I asked my mother about maybe just having her make either her much-loved Chicken Kiev or her Mushroom-less Chicken Marsala, but she's been feeling a bit under the weather, so we picked the latter of the two dishes (because it's easier and faster) and came to a compromise: she would do as much prep. work as she felt she was able to do, and I would swoop in and take over after getting home from work. She managed to trim and flatten the chicken breasts, but the rest was up to me.

Now, this dish is one of my mom's classic dinner dishes—she's been making it for as long as I can remember and I was terrified of messing it up, because her version is just so good. Aside from letting the sauce reduce a bit too much and overloading a bit on the parsley (her recipe had the measurement for fresh parsley, while I was using dry parsley, and you need far less dry than you need fresh), the meal turned out well and I'm happy to share this variation on Chicken Marsala with you.

Serves: 4
Prep. time: 10-15 minutes
Cooking time: 10-15 minutes
Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients

• 2 large chicken breasts (boneless, skinless), flattened to about approx. 1/4-to-1/2 inch thickness (pound them out between two pieces of plastic wrap using a meat mallet)
• 1 large egg, whisked together with 1-2 tbsp. water
• 1/2-to-1 cup panko coating/bread crumbs (use more, as needed)
• 1 head broccoli, trimmed and cut into florets
• Approx. 6-8 oz. egg noodles (we usually use large noodles)
• Salt and pepper
• Butter and olive oil

For the sauce

• 4 tbsp. (1/2 stick) salted butter
• 4 tsp. all-purpose flour
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 cup water
• 1/3 cup Marsala wine (we use cooking wine, but the real stuff has better flavor)
• 4 tsp. dry parsley (or 1/4 cup fresh)
• 1 tsp. chicken granules or bouillon (you just add it directly to the sauce—no water needed)
• (Salt and) pepper, to taste

Directions

Preheat the oven to 225*F. Spread the panko out on a plate or piece of wax paper and season lightly with salt and pepper. Dip each piece of chicken in the egg-and-water mixture (it's best if this is in a shallow bowl), thoroughly coating each piece, then dip each piece into the panko and coat thoroughly. Heat a little butter and olive oil in a medium pan over medium-high heat, then add the chicken. Cook evenly on both sides, letting each side crisp up and turn lightly golden brown. When they've just about cooked through, remove them from the pan, set them in an oven-safe dish and put them in the oven to keep warm. Bring a medium pot of water to a boil, then add your noodles and cook according to package instructions (about 7 minutes). After 4 minutes have passed cooking the noodles, add the broccoli to the pot with the noodles and cook until done (this will cook the broccoli gently, but don't add the broccoli too early, or it will get mushy). While the noodles and broccoli are cooking, add the butter for the sauce to the pan used to cook the chicken and heat over medium heat. Once it's melted, add the flour and whisk it in to blend it into the butter. Add the garlic, cook for about a minute, then add the water, Marsala wine, parsley (if using fresh, add it at the end—fresh herbs lose their flavor quickly when cooked), chicken granules/bouillon, and pepper (and salt, if needed) and stir or whisk to blend. Continue to stir and increase the heat until the sauce starts to boil and thicken (about 1 minute), then reduce the heat to low. When the noodles and broccoli are done, drain them and return them to the pot (add a little butter if desired to prevent the noodles from sticking). Pour the sauce into a gravy boat. Serve the chicken alongside the broccoli and noodle mixture and top with sauce.

This is the Chicken Marsala I grew up with—flavorful, simple, and mushroom-less. My mother has never liked mushrooms and, until recently, I didn't either, so it took me a long time to realize that my mother's recipe was a bit different than the usual. Despite it's differences, it's absolutely delicious. Marsala wine adds sweetness to the sauce, while the butter and chicken granules add saltiness. Garlic and parsley add a little pop of flavor, while the flour helps to thicken the sauce. We used to use regular bread crumbs on the chicken, but the panko just crisps up so much nicer and makes the chicken lighter. Tender egg noodles make a nice change from pasta and broccoli adds freshness to the dish. It's a twist on a classic, and it's absolutely delicious. 

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: Pecan-Panko Chicken with Maple Mashed Potatoes and Maple Honey Mustard Sauce

Each time my parents head up to State College, they stop by Wegman's and come home with bags and bags of groceries, and one of those bags always has some interesting new fruit or veggie for me to cook with. They spent part of this past weekend up there and, as usual, brought me a unique food to try: name (pronounced "nah-may"), a root vegetable very much like a potato. I struggled to find any information about this tuber online, but eventually stumbled upon a recipe that involved baking and mashing it. I carefully followed the directions (400*F for 1 hour), but the result was a still-fairly-hard root that ended up getting popped in the microwave until it eventually softened up. I mashed it, I added the maple cream mixture, and we prepared ourselves for our first taste of this new-to-us tuber...and, it tasted a lot like a bland potato. So, for this recipe, I'm just going to substitute in potatoes for the name, because really, the name isn't worth it and making mashed potatoes is super easy.
This dish as a whole is absolutely delicious: nutty, crunchy pecan chicken pairs beautifully with the slight maple flavor in the buttery cream mixture that's blended into the potatoes and a sweet-and-savory maple honey mustard sauce pulls the whole dish together.

Serves: 4
Prep. time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 25-35 minutes
Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients

For the chicken

• 2-4 chicken breasts, pounded out to 1/2 inch thickness 
• 1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
• 1/2 cup pecans, finely chopped (a food processor is best for this)
• Salt and pepper
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/2 to 1 cup flour

For the potatoes

• 4-8 Idaho or russet potatoes, peeled and cut into similarly sized chunks (you can use red/new potatoes or Yukon gold if desired)
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 stick (4 tbsp.) unsalted butter
• 2 tbsp. pure/real maple syrup
• Salt and pepper

Sauce

• 2 tbsp. pure/real maple syrup
• 2 tbsp. honey
• 2 tbsp. Dijon mustard
• 2 tbsp. spicy brown mustard
• 2 tsp. soy sauce
• 1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 2 tbsp. unsalted butter
• 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
• Salt and pepper

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400*F. Place the potato chunks in a large pot and add just enough water to cover them, then set aside. Pour the panko and finely chopped pecans into a large bowl, season with salt and pepper, and set aside. Put the egg and flour into separate bowls. Dredge the chicken breasts in the flour, then the egg, and then the pecan-panko mixture—be sure to completely coat the chicken in each thing (there should be no raw chicken visible through the coating). Set the chicken breasts on a lightly greased baking sheet and bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes until cooked through, but tender. Once the chicken is in the oven, bring the pot of water and potatoes to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer, cover, and cook for 15-20 minutes, until cooked through and tender. While the chicken and potatoes are cooking, add all of the ingredients for the sauce, except the heavy cream, together in a small saucepan and bring briefly to a boil. Reduce the heat, gradually whisk in the heavy cream, and reduce the heat all the way to low. In a different sauce pan, melt the butter for the potatoes and set aside. When the potatoes are done, drain them in a colander, return them to the pot, and mash them. Add the melted butter, heavy cream, maple syrup, and salt and pepper (add more cream or butter, as needed—some people like really buttery potatoes, others like them less wet) and mash to combine the ingredients—don't over-mash them, because they will get gluey. When the chicken is done, plate each piece along side a big dollop of mashed potatoes and serve with the maple honey mustard sauce. For some added health, add roasted vegetables (I roasted broccoli with olive oil, salt, and pepper for 10 minutes in the oven, alongside the chicken).

This dish is the perfect meeting of savory and sweet. The pecans, heavy cream, and copious amounts of butter make this dish decadent and comforting all at once, while the flavors of the maple syrup and honey add sweetness to the dish. The sauce could easily work as a dip for chicken tenders, but for this dish, it's perfect as a sort of gravy for the potatoes and chicken breast.

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: Fluffy, Flaky Buttermilk Biscuits

A little while ago, I made these delicious peach cupcakes and used buttermilk as part of the cake recipe. That carton of buttermilk has been hanging out in the fridge since then, just begging me to figure out what else I can use it in. Well, I don't know about you, but when I hear "buttermilk" I immediately think about buttermilk pancakes and buttermilk biscuits. I've got a pancake recipe that I love, but I've yet to try biscuits, so that's what I made this afternoon, working off of Alton Brown's recipe.

Yields: 12 (one dozen)
Prep. time: 10 minutes
Baking time: 15-20 minutes
Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 tsp. salt
• 4 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. baking soda
• 2 tbsp. shortening (I used Crisco), chilled and cut into a few chunks
• 2 tbsp. butter (unsalted or salted), chilled and cut into a few chunks
• 1 cup buttermilk, chilled

Directions

Preheat the oven to 450*F. In a large bowl, stir together the flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Add the chunks of butter and shortening. Using either your hands or a dough/pastry blender (I recommend using the latter because it offers more consistency and you'll create less heat than if using your hands), rub/cut the butter and shortening into the dry ingredients until the mixture looks crumb-like and the pieces of butter and shortening are pea-sized or smaller (do this quickly, as you do not want to let the butter and shortening melt at all). Make a well in the middle of the mixture, pour in the buttermilk, and stir until the mixture is just combined. Place the dough on a floured surface, put a little flour on the dough and on your hands, and gently knead the dough/fold it over on itself 5-7 times (don't work it too much because it will make the dough tough). Press the dough ball into a 1-inch thick round and use a 2-inch biscuit cutter to cut out the biscuits, being sure to press straight down into the dough as you cut. Take the scraps and form them into another 1-inch thick round and cut out remaining biscuits (work these pieces as little as possible, because, as I said, the more you mess with them, the tougher the finished biscuits will be). Place the biscuits on an ungreased baking sheet and bake until they are tall and lightly golden-brown on top (about 15 minutes). 

Whether you spread jam on them, drizzle them with honey, or smother them with sausage gravy, these biscuits are sure to please. Buttery, fluffy, and flaky, they're perfect for breakfast or a light snack (especially when they're hot out of the oven).

Recipe: Fresh Peach Cupcakes with Peach Cream Cheese Frosting

My kitchen smells like fresh-picked peaches and it's absolutely heavenly! I ran across this recipe for peach cupcakes while browsing through posts on TasteSpotting and, as a peach lover and a wannabe baker, I knew I had to make them. I made up a half batch (I've posted the full recipe though), seeing as I'm on my own this week, and I'm hoping I can resist their delicately sweet call, beckoning to me from the fridge. These cupcakes are light, with a sweet peach flavor that's very present without being overpowering. The cream cheese frosting also incorporates the sweetness of the peach, but with the creaminess of butter and the tangy flavor of cream cheese. Perfect for a summer brunch or dinner party and such a pretty, pale peachy-pink color!

Yields: 24 cupcakes
Prep time: 10-15 minutes
Baking time: 21-24 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Equipment: Electric mixer

Ingredients
For the cakes

• 2 & 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 & 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 3/4 cup low-fat buttermilk
• 1/2 cup pureed fresh peaches (cut slices off of the peach, being sure not to include the pit; skin on is okay)
• 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
• 2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 3 eggs (large)
• 1.75 oz freeze-dried peaches, pulverized (use food processor or place in Ziploc bag and crush with mallet; Target's Archer Farms brand sells 1.75 oz. bags of freeze dried peaches, which is perfect)

For the frosting

• 2 sticks (1 cup) butter (salted or unsalted)
• 8 oz. cream cheese, softened
• 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
• 1.75 oz. freeze-dried peaches, pulverized
• 3-5 cups of powdered sugar (confectioners sugar)

Directions

For the cakes

Preheat the oven to 350*F. Line cupcake tins with liners.In a medium bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, and salt together and set aside. In a small bowl, mix together the buttermilk, pureed fresh peaches, and vanilla, then set aside. Add the butter and sugar for the cakes to the bowl of the electric mixture and, using the paddle attachment, blend on medium speed until the mixture is pale and well-blended (approx. 2 minutes). Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Mix in the freeze dried peaches. Mix in the flour mixture in three batches, alternating with two batches of the buttermilk mixture (i.e. flour, then buttermilk, then flour, then buttermilk, then flour, and then all of both mixtures will be incorporated). Mix until just blended, scraping the batter down the side of the bowl as needed. Scoop even amounts of batter into the cupcake tins and bake for 21-24 minutes, until golden brown (a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake should come out clean or slightly crumby). Remove from the oven and allow them to cool for about 10 minutes, then move them to a cooling rack to finish cooling completely.

For the frosting
Using the paddle attachment on the electric mixer, mix the butter until softened and pale in color. Add the cream cheese and beat to combine, then add the vanilla extract. Add the pulverized peaches and blend thoroughly. Add 3 cups of powdered sugar to the mixture and mix. Add more as desired, and mix until the frosting is creamy, thick, and spreadable.

Spread or pipe frosting onto each of the cupcakes. Garnish each with a dusting of pulverized, freeze-dried peaches or a slice of fresh peach. Can be kept at room temperature or in the fridge (I like to keep mine in the fridge because of the cream cheese and butter in the frosting).

These cupcakes are perfect for the summer time! Fresh and dried peaches offer light, sweet, and fruity flavor, while the cream cheese in the frosting creates a tangy, buttery taste that blends well with the sweetness of the cakes.

Recipe: Homemade Pancakes

To start this very warm Memorial Day off right, my parents and I decided to cook up pancakes and bacon for breakfast, and add a side of mixed berries to help make us forget about all of the carbs and bacon fat we'd be consuming. While you could be lazy and make pancakes from a boxed mix, it's so easy to make up homemade batter and you probably already have all of the ingredients in your fridge and pantry. These pancakes are fluffy and flavorful, and as my dad commented, they have better body and texture than the boxed stuff. Try them out, and pair them with your favorite breakfast foods, like eggs, sausage, or fresh fruit. Add nuts, berries, or chocolate chips to the batter to create fun, flavored pancakes.

Yields: Approx. 15 pancakes (depends on what size you make them)
Prep. time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 2-4 minutes per batch
Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients

• 1 cup flour
• 3 tbsp. granulated sugar
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 tbsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 2 tbsp. vegetable or canola oil
• 1 cup milk
• 1 egg
• Butter, just enough to use for cooking the pancakes
• Maple syrup, butter, fruit, and other toppings, as desired

Directions
In a large bowl, combine all of the dry ingredients, then add in all of the wet ingredients. Mix/stir until smooth. Heat a non-stick pan over medium heat or heat a (pancake) griddle to approx. 375*F (we use a griddle because it fits more pancakes). Add a little butter to the pan/griddle, then spoon out the pancake mixture and pour into even sized circles (we do about 4 inch wide pancakes) and cook for about a minute. Flip the pancakes over when the edges start to look a little dry and the middle of the pancake starts to bubble. Cook for another minute. The pancakes will be cooked through and golden brown on both sides. Serve hot with butter, syrup, or other toppings of your choice. Perfect paired with breakfast meats, hash browns, and/or fruit.

These pancakes have just a touch of sweet and salty, with that perfect fluffy-as-a-cloud texture and softness that soaks up creamy butter and sticky-sweet syrup. Perfect for breakfast on the weekends!

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: Basic Pasta Dough

My big gift this Christmas was a beautiful Marcato brand pasta maker, a kitchen gadget I'd been begging my parents for ever since I made fresh pasta during my last Foods 1 class in early December. I'd expected a basic model from our local DeLallo's store, but the model they got me is a stunning little machine, with multiple pasta cutters (including a gadget for making crinkle-edged raviolini), and an incredibly sturdy design. Last night, I convinced my mom to let us put off a dinner of leftovers until tonight and let me make pasta for dinner instead, and I had a blast using the gadget for the first time.

Making pasta from scratch has stereotypically been one of those things that foodies would brag about at a dinner party—a somewhat smug, yet casual comment like "Oh, I made homemade fettucini last week with a tomato-basil cream sauce that was to die for!" slipped into a conversation, meant to make the listener feel in awe that their friend took the time and effort to make something oh-so-complicated and oh-so-fancy. But really, making pasta isn't this big ordeal...you don't even really need a pasta maker if you've got a rolling pin and a good, sharp knife. I think the biggest hang up for people when it comes to making pasta dough is what flour to use and whether to mix it by hand or in a mixer (and how much time it can take). Traditionally, Italian pasta is made with semolina flour, but you can find recipes that call for durum wheat flour, bread flour, or all-purpose flour. Dough can be mixed by hand in the old-fashioned way, or gently mixed with a paddle and then a dough hook in an electric mixture. Basic dough only needs a few ingredients to pull it together, and once you know the basics, you can experiment with flavoring pasta by adding in minced garlic, herbs, or other flavorings. In this post, I'm going to share my recipe for basic pasta dough, as well as my method for using a pasta maker to roll out and cut the dough.

Serves: 4 (making a long noodle—in this case, it's fettuccine)
Prep. time: Approx. 1 hour, 15 minutes
Cooking time: 3-5 minutes
Difficulty: Easy to Moderate
Special equipment: Electric mixer with paddle attachment and dough hook attachment (and a pasta maker and two baking sheets for rolling out and laying out the pasta)

*Pasta dough can be mixed by hand, and if you don't have the pasta maker, you can use a rolling pin to flatten the dough to the desired consistency, then cut long strips or whatever other shape you might want, but for this post, I'm sharing the pasta maker method

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 4 tbsp. water
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil, plus more if needed
• Flour for dusting

Directions
Put the paddle attachment in the mixer and add the eggs, water, salt, and olive oil. Gently mix on a low setting for about 1 minute, then gradually add in 1 cup of flour and increase the mixing speed slightly so that the mixture blends well. The dough should look and feel wet and somewhat thin once the one cup of flour is incorporated. Switch the paddle attachment out and place the dough hook in the mixer, then gradually add the second cup of flour while on a low-to-medium mixing speed. If the dough looks very dry and floury and doesn't appear to be absorbing the flour well, add in a little more olive oil and mix until it's a light yellowy-beige color and somewhat dry-looking. The dough should feel thick and slightly sticky and it should look fairly dry. Remove the dough from the mixing bowl and gently roll it into a ball using a little flour to keep it from sticking to your hands. Tightly wrap the dough in plastic wrap then let it rest in the fridge for 30 minutes. After resting, the dough can be unwrapped and prepared as desired.

My pasta-making station

Directions for rolling out and cooking pasta

When the dough is done resting, remove it from the plastic wrap and place it on a lightly floured surface. Divide the dough into about 4 pieces (you need to use smaller chunks of dough in order for them to fit in the machine and roll out to the right thickness and width). Depending on what type of pasta you want, there are different settings on the pasta maker for rolling out various thicknesses and different cutter attachments to cut different types of pasta. I chose to make fettuccine, so I'll share those instructions here. Set the pasta maker on the 0 setting, sprinkle a little flour in between the rollers, and roll one of the dough balls through on this setting 4 times. Moving up through the numbers (which indicate the width between the rollers, and thus the thickness of the sheet of pasta), work your way up to number 5, making sure to pass the pasta sheet through each number twice. Make sure you sprinkle a little flour between the rollers each time to prevent the dough from sticking. Repeat the process until all of the dough is rolled out. The dough sheets should be lightly floured and laid out on a lightly floured baking sheet (the flour will help keep the sheets from sticking to each other). Roll each sheet through the fettuccine cutter (you'll just pass the sheets through once), sprinkling flour between the rollers. Place finished fettuccine noodles on a lightly floured baking sheet. It's important that the noodles are lightly floured and that you pull them apart if any are stuck, because you don't want them to stick. Cover the sheet of pasta with plastic wrap or a cloth towel to keep the noodles for drying out.

When cooking the noodles, simply fill a medium-to-large pot with unsalted water and bring the water to a boil. Add the noodles and cook for 3-5 minutes, until the noodles are cooked through. The finished noodles will be softer than regular dried pasta from a box and they may feel a little slippery. Once you drain the pasta, you can add a little butter or olive oil to keep them from sticking to each other.

If you have the chance to make fresh pasta, even without the aid of a pasta maker, I highly recommend it! Fresh pasta is so much lighter and softer than dried boxed pasta and it really makes a difference in a meal (really—once you've had fresh pasta, you'll never want to go back to the dried stuff, though, unfortunately, it's not really practical to make fresh pasta all the time, haha).

Recipe: "Date Night" Chocolate Cakes

Two things led me to these delicious, quick-bake, mini chocolate cakes: 1) The desire to recreate the fantastic little warm, gooey chocolate cake that my friends and I enjoyed on our 2011 spring break cruise (pretty sure I ordered it four nights in a row) and 2) the continual pop-up of Nigella Lawson's "Chocohotopots" recipe online when I'd search for quick-bake chocolate cake recipes (seriously, I think her "chocohotopots" thing is a big deal in the food world because I've seen the recipe everywhere and everyone always raves about how good it is). I worked late last night and all I wanted to do when I got home was curl up on the big, comfy leather couch in the basement and watch a movie on the big screen. I had a major craving for chocolate and thought, "What the hell? Why not try to make those "chocohotopot" things? Who cares if it's 10:30PM and I'm not actually having a date night"...so I made them, and I'm so glad I did. The original recipe makes 4 servings, and it's a little hard to halve because you have to kind of guess on measurements a bit (which you're really not supposed to do with baked goods), but I halved it anyway, and ended up with two perfectly cooked, warm, chocolate cakes (which meant I got to eat one after lunch today). They have this amazing quality of being both gooey and soft on the inside, and chewy around the edges like a freshly-baked brownie, and they are absolutely amazing with a drizzle of caramel or fresh strawberry slices. I call them "Date Night" chocolate cakes because they're the perfect dessert for two, but you could easily double the recipe (i.e. make the original) and serve them as a regular dessert after dinner. And yes, I realize I did not have my own date night last night, but who cares—they're delicious! :) All together, these cakes take just 30 minutes to make, and they require only a handful of ingredients, so they're perfect when you need a really nice dessert but don't have the time to pull something fancy together, if you're a beginner in the kitchen, or if you just want to curl up with a nice dessert and a good movie.

 
Serves: 2
Prep. time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Special equipment: Small (about 1 cup size), ovensafe dishes (ceramic ramekins, like the Corningware brand dish pictured above, are perfect)

Ingredients

• 1/2 stick unsalted butter, plus about 1 tbsp. to butter the ramekins
• 2-2.5 oz. semisweet chocolate chips (I highly recommend Ghirardelli brand)
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup plus half of a 1/4 cup granulated sugar (fill up a 1/4 cup, then fill it up again only halfway—I know it's not precise, but just watch carefully and you'll be fine)
• 1 tbsp. of plus 1/2 tbsp. all-purpose flour (do that same thing as above: fill up a tbsp., then fill a tbsp. halfway)
• Caramel, powdered sugar, or sliced strawberries for garnish, if desired

Directions
Place a small baking sheet in the oven and preheat the oven to 400*F. Butter the ramekins (rub a pat of butter around inside the ramekins) with the 1 tbsp. butter. In a microwave, gently melt the chocolate and butter together in a bowl (heat in 25-30 second increments, stirring after each time, until the mixture is melted but not burnt). Set aside to cool. In another bowl, whisk together the egg, sugar, and flour, then add in the cooled butter and chocolate mixture and mix until thoroughly blended. Divide the mixture between the two buttered ramekins. Bake for approx. 20 minutes, until the tops are slightly cracked and the chocolate cake is moist-looking inside. The ramekins and cake will be very hot, so let them cool slightly, and serve the ramekins on a plate, so you don't burn yourself on them. Garnish with a drizzle of caramel sauce, a dusting of powdered sugar, or some slices of strawberries.

Perfect

These cakes are so easy and quick to pull together and, for the little amount of effort and ingredients involved, they turn out incredibly well. Using semisweet chocolate makes them rich and decadent, but their small size makes you feel a little less guilty when you dive in. They are the kind of thing you can make any time of day, whether you just want a little cake with your afternoon tea or you want an easy dessert to serve after dinner. They're gooey, chewy, warm, melty, and oh-so-chocolatey and they're quite possibly my new favorite dessert. You can eat them as is or dress them up with fancy garnishes and you can easily double the recipe or quadruple it to serve more people.

Recipe: Sour Cream Garlic Sauce with Chives

This creamy sauce, made with a little chicken broth, sour cream, garlic, chives, and a handful of other ingredients, is meant to go with the potato and cheese pierogi with kielbasa, but it could easily be served over potatoes, as a pasta sauce, or as a dip for chicken. It's really easy to pull together and it's incredibly flavorful.

Yields: About 2 cups
Prep. time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 10-15 minutes
Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients

• 3 tbsp. butter
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tbsp. flour
• 1 and 3/4 cup chicken broth
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. white pepper
• 1/4 tsp. black pepper
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 1/3 cup chives, fresh or dried

Directions
Heat the butter in a large pan over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook, stirring occasionally and watching to make sure it doesn't brown. When fragrant and slightly soft, add the flour and continue to stir until it is well-incorporated into the butter and the mixture is golden yellow and no longer has a floury taste. Gradually whisk in the chicken broth, whisking the mixture until it is well-blended, creamy, and slightly thick. Add the salt and pepper, then whisk in the sour cream until well-blended. Add in the chives, then serve.

This sauce is salty, buttery, and creamy, and almost has a slight bacon taste to it (not sure why though, but it's good!). It was absolutely perfect on the pierogi and kielbasa and it could easily be used as a sort of alfredo sauce alternative on pasta or as a creamy gravy for potatoes or rice.

Recipe: Potato and Cheese Pierogi with Kielbasa

So, this post is definitely late in getting here, but in the days after I made the recipe I'm sharing here, I had work, class, more recipes to try, and a long weekend out of town (more on that—in particular, my culinary school visits—later), and thus no time to type it up and post it. But it's here now—a recipe for some of the most amazing pierogi I've ever eaten—and I highly recommend you try it out. It's worth the work and time it takes to put them together.

Pierogi are a Polish food—semi-circular dumplings (similar to ravioli), traditionally stuffed with potato, ground meat, cheese, or other fillings, that can be boiled, baked, fried, or sauteed (after boiling). Pittsburgh has a strong Polish background and it's here that I first had pierogi—Mrs. T's brand from the freezer aisle at Giant Eagle. Since then, I've had various types of pierogi at a handful of restaurants in the Pittsburgh area—the best being from The Church Brew Works—but I always get nostalgic when I see a box of Mrs. T's. The recipe I'm sharing today immediately caught my eye when I saw it online because...well...it's all homemade and I'd just never really thought about making them from scratch (especially since Mrs. T's are always so good). I know making pasta can be a chore and even making dough for pizzas or certain baked goods can be a pain in the butt, so I was concerned this could be difficult, but the instructions made it seem very reasonable and I'm so glad I tried it out. The mashed potato filling was soft and buttery, mixed with garlic, thyme, and queso blanco (in place of farmer's cheese) for a rich flavor. The dough, made with sour cream, flour, and a few other ingredients, was thick but tender and it sauteed beautifully. I made the recommended sauce for the dish, which was so good, I'm tempted to use it for a pasta sauce, and you can find that recipe here.

Yields: About 3 dozen
Prep. and cooking time: 1 & 1/2 to 2 hours
Difficulty: Easy-to-moderate
Special equipment: Electric mixer

Ingredients and Directions
For the dough:

• 3 & 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus a little extra for rolling and shaping the dough
• 3 eggs
• 2 tbsp. sour cream
• Approx. 3/4 cup water (add 1/4 cup more if needed)

In a large bowl for a mixer, combine the flour, eggs, sour cream, and about a 1/2 cup of the water. On medium-low to medium speed, beat the mixture in the mixer until blended, adding the remaining water in as you go. The dough will be sticky and thick. Remove the dough from the bowl and place on a well-floured surface. Knead it gently (over-kneading will make the dough tough), using the drop technique (pick the dough up off the surface, then drop back onto the surface, turning it over each time you do it). Knead just until the ingredients are well-blended and the dough is smooth and sticky (about 3-5 minutes). Wrap the dough ball in plastic wrap and let it rest for at least 20-30 minutes while you prepare the filling.

For the filling:

• 1 & 1/2 lb. baking potatoes (about 2 large potatoes), peeled and cut into 1 inch chunks
• 2 tbsp. unsalted butter
• 1 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
• 1 small onion, chopped (I used a yellow onion, but an sort of sweet onion would work well)
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/4 tsp. dried thyme
• 1 cup grated dry farmer's cheese or queso blanco
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Put the cut potatoes in a medium pot of cold, salted water (enough to just cover the potatoes) and bring the water to a boil. Cook the potatoes until soft and easily pierced or cut through with a fork or knife (about 20 minutes). While the potatoes are cooking, add the oil and melt the butter in a small or medium skillet over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, and thyme, cooking until the onion is slightly soft and translucent (about 3 minutes). Lower the heat just a bit and continue to cook until the onions are slightly caramelized (about 20 minutes). Add more butter if the mixture starts to look dry (be careful not to burn any of the ingredients). Add a little salt and pepper when the mixture is finished cooking, then set aside to cool. When the potatoes are done cooking, drain them return them to the pot they were cooked in, then mash just a little bit to break the potatoes up. Add the onion mixture and cheese to the potatoes and mash them until they are well-blended and no longer lumpy. Season with a little salt and pepper, stir around with a large spoon, and set aside to cool while you roll out the dough.

For the finished dish:

• Unsalted butter, for sauteing the boiled pierogi (I just cut off small pats, about 1 tbsp. each, at a time and added more during cooking, as needed)
• 1 onion, chopped, for sauteing in the butter with the pierogi
• 1 recipe Sour Cream Garlic Sauce with Chives
• 1 package kielbasa, prepared according to the included instructions (we boiled ours for a set amount of time, then sliced it into dimes and served)

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. In the meantime, place the dough on a lightly flour surface. Dust your hands with flour, then pull off tablespoon-sized chunks of dough and roll them into balls about 1-&-1/2 inches round (you'll get about 3 dozen total). On a well-floured surface, roll out each ball with a rolling pin until about 1/8-inch thick and 3-&-1/2 inches round, then move underneath a piece of plastic wrap or wet paper towels to keep them from drying out. (You can just roll out the whole piece of dough and cut circular pieces out of it, but all of the re-rolling and cutting will make the dough tough—rolling out small balls of dough ensures that each pierogi is tender). Once all of the balls have been rolled out, place about 1 tbsp. of the potato mixture in the center of each pierogi, then fold the dough in half and pinch the edges together, creating a half circle. Drop about 6-9 pierogi in the pot of water you brought to a boil earlier. Once they float to the surface, let them cook for another 2-4 minutes (the dough should be tender, but not chewy, when done). Remove the pierogi with a slotted spoon and allow them to drain on a paper towel. To finish the pierogi, heat a little butter in a medium to large pan over medium heat and sauté with some slices of onion, being sure to turn them over, until both sides are lightly golden-brown and crispy. Serve with slices of the cooked kielbasa and top with the Sour Cream Garlic Sauce with Chives.

These pierogi are tender and packed with flavor! The creamy potato filling, mixed with garlic, thyme, and cheese, is so soft and light and complimented perfectly by the salty kielbasa and creamy sauce. This is an incredibly filling dish and absolutely perfect for cold weather.

Parmesan-Panko-Crusted Chicken Breast with Herbed Spaghetti Squash

While I spent my Saturday morning in a warm kitchen with Hungry Jack pancakes and cartoons, and my afternoon and evening at work, my parents braved the very out-of-character October snow storm and drove up to State College for the PennState v. Illinois game. Every time any of us is out that way, we always make a stop at Wegmen's, one of my all-time favorite grocery stores. We pick up flaky pastries, fancy cheeses, interesting international foods, and fresh veggies. This trip was no different—when my parents walked into the kitchen after they got back, my dad excitedly showed off a large, creamy yellow spaghetti squash, something that looks like a round squash-pumpkin hybrid that, when cooked, can be scraped with a fork into long spaghetti-like strands. I was immediately intrigued, having just recently seen a recipe online that included the squash, so I was really excited to pull together a meal tonight and work with this type of squash for the first time. I found a simple, delicious recipe from Emeril Lagasse and decided to pair the veggie-spaghetti with a crispy panko-breaded chicken breast, and the result was a fresh, flavorful dish that was easy to feel good about eating, because, really, it's pretty damn healthy. I definitely didn't miss having a starchy side—a couple big spoonfuls of squash, plus the chicken, turned out to be incredibly filling. This dish takes a little time to pull together, but it's definitely worth it!

Serves: 4-6
Prep. time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: About 1 hour for the spaghetti squash, and 10-15 minutes for the chicken
Difficulty: Easy-to-moderate

Ingredients

For the spaghetti squash:

• 1 small spaghetti squash (about 2 lb., maybe a little larger), cut in half lengthwise
• 2 tbsp. butter
• 2-4 tbsp. finely chopped fresh herbs (a mix of chervil, sage, basil, flat leaf parsley, and chives is perfect, so I highly recommend that for the best results)
• Salt and pepper, to taste

For the chicken:

• 2-4 chicken breasts, pounded to about 1/4 inch thickness (I serve each person a 1/2 chicken breast, and that's plenty for one person) 
• 2-4 tbsp. olive oil, or enough to evenly coat the bottom of a large pan
• Approx. 1/2 to 1 cup panko bread crumbs/flakes, or enough to bread the chicken breasts
• 1/2 to 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese, or enough to flavor the panko
• 2 tbsp. dried basil
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• 1 egg, beaten
• Approx. 1/2 to 1 cup flour (enough to lightly flour both sides of each chicken breast)

Fresh herbs for the squash. Top, left to right: Basil, sage, Italian flat-leaf parsley. Bottom, left to right: Chives and chervil.

Directions
Preheat the oven to 375*F. Place the spaghetti squash halves cut side down in one or two (depending on whether or not you can fit both in the same dish—I couldn't) oven-safe baking dish. Add enough water to come about 1/2 up the sides of the dish(s) and cover with aluminum foil. Bake for 45 minutes, until the squash is easily pierced with a small, sharp knife. Turn the squash over, cover with foil again, and return to the oven to cook for another 15 minutes, or until tender (a fork should easily slip into the flesh of the squash and you should be able to run a fork along the flesh and scrape off strands of it). During that 15 minutes of cooking, prepare your ingredients for the chicken. Place the flour, seasoned with a little salt and pepper, in a shallow bowl. Put the beaten egg in another shallow bowl. In another shallow bowl or on a plate, toss together the panko, Parmesan, and basil.  Heat olive oil in a large pan over medium heat. Dredge the chicken breasts, one at a time, in the flour, lightly coating both sides, then dip both sides in the egg, then coat with the panko mixture, before adding it to the pan to cook. Cook the chicken breast until both sides are crispy and golden brown and the chicken is cooked through. Place the chicken in an oven-safe dish and place in the oven to keep warm. When the squash is done cooking, turn off the oven, leaving the chicken in it to stay warm, and remove the squash, allowing it to cool for a minute or two. Scrape out the seeds and the stringy bits around them with a large spoon, then take a fork and gently scrape the flesh of the squash away from the peel and place the spaghetti strands in a small pot (keep a lid on the pot when you're working on this so you can keep the squash warm). Once both halves of the squash have been scraped clean, add the butter and herbs to the squash strands and gently toss to mix. Serve the chicken alongside or on top of the squash and sprinkle with Italian cheese if desired (its saltiness perfectly compliments the subtle sweetness of the squash).

This is a delicately flavored, filling dish with great texture and nice coloring. The creamy yellow-orange squash is slightly sweet and has an al dente crispness when cooked properly. The mix of fresh herbs adds color as well as delicate, complex flavor to the squash that is enhanced by a little Italian cheese. The chicken is crispy on the outside, juicy on the inside, and the perfect accompaniment to the squash. It's the sort of dish that, due to its lightness, would be great during the summer months, but the buttery, warm squash makes it perfect for the fall too. Spaghetti squash can be served simply prepared as in this recipe, or served just like the pasta dish, with a variety of sauces and seasonings—try it out! It's really fun to work with.

Recipe: Onion Soup

My mom used to make onion soup during the cold winter months—I'd have her fish out the onions (for some reason, I didn't like eating them), I'd pile on huge handfuls of Swiss cheese, and when I was done eating, I'd put the bowl up to my mouth and slurp down the last few spoonfuls of broth. It's the perfect cold weather soup, and when we made it in class two weeks ago during our "Soup Day," I knew I wanted to make my own version at home.
I just have to say that taking pictures of soup, especially steaming hot soup, is really difficult, no matter how awesome your camera is, so the picture included in this post is not all that exciting. I assure you though that the soup is delicious-looking in person: creamy white melted Gruyere, crusty bread soaked with rich brown beef broth, sprinkled with dark green dried thyme—so good!

 
Yields: Approx. 2 qt. soup
Prep. time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 1 hour - 1 hour, 15 minutes
Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients

• Approx. 1 lb. yellow onions, thinly sliced (you may want to cut up another half pound or pound, especially if you really like onion)
• Approx. 1 tbsp. butter, or more as needed
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp. (or to taste) dried thyme
• A pinch of sugar
• Approx. 2 tsp. flour
• Approx. 2 quarts beef broth/stock (I actually used all beef broth + 1 can of chicken broth, but you can substitute in veggie or chicken stock as you see fit. The soup should be primarily beef broth/stock though)
• Approx. 1/2 cup sherry (use real sherry, not cooking sherry, because it has better flavor; add more to taste, if desired; add a splash of Cognac for a little more flavor) 
• Gruyere and/or Swiss cheese, grated (as needed for garnish)
• French bread, sliced and toasted (as needed for garnish)

Directions
In a large pot, saute the onions in the butter over medium heat. Continue to cook until they've reduced in size and have started turning brown. Add the garlic, sugar, and dried thyme, and continue to cook until the onions are all brown (but not burnt) and fragrant. Add the flour and stir until it is blended into the onion mixture. Pour in a little beef broth and use a spatula or wooden spoon to deglaze the pan (scrape the onion and brown bits off the bottom of the pan). Pour in the remaining beef broth, add the sherry, and bring to a boil. Once the soup has reached a boil, reduce the heat to medium low and simmer for 30-45 minutes (simmering the soup helps the onion release its flavor and helps all of the flavors of the soup blend). Taste the soup after it has cooked for a few minutes—if it's too salty, add a little water, 1/2 cup at a time.
Serve the soup in large, deep bowls. Place a slice or two of toasted bread in the broth, top with grated cheese, and melt the cheese under the oven broiler or in the microwave. Garnish with dried thyme if desired.

This soup blends meaty, salty, garlicky, and sweet flavors into a hearty broth that only gets more flavorful in the days after it's made, when all of the flavors get a chance to mingle and intensify. Nutty, rich Gruyere and toasted French bread perfectly compliment the soup's flavor, while the sherry in the soup helps balance out its saltiness. Perfect for a cold autumn or winter evening and delicious as left overs.