seriously....this is my life

Lemon Raspberry Muffins

I love lemon.  I love raspberries.  Although not the chocolate raspberry combination like my coffee creamer addict, Kelly. 

When I saw a recipe in a Cooking Light cookbook for Lemon Raspberry Muffins I knew I wanted to try it out.  The raspberries in our grocery store are gorgeous right now.  I adapted it a bit, using Greek Yogurt I had and adding lemon juice and zest. 

Download Lemon Raspberry Muffin2

2 cups all purpose flour

½ cup sugar

2 ½ tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

1 cup vanilla yogurt (I used Greek God’s Vanilla Honey yogurt)

Juice of one medium lemon

Zest of one medium lemon

½ cup canola oil

2 large eggs

¼ cup flour

1 (6oz) package fresh raspberries

3 Tbsp sugar

1 Tbsp cold butter

 

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Combine 2 ¼ cups flour, ½ cup sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl, making a well in center of mixture.

 

• Stir together yogurt, lemon juice, zest, oil, and eggs.  Add to the dry ingredients, stirring until just moistened. 

 

• Toss 2 tbsp flour with raspberries, fold into batter. Spoon into lightly greased 12 muffin tin pan, or into cupcake liners. 

 

• Combine 3 Tbsp sugar with 2 Tbsp flour.  Cut butter into mixture with a pastry blender or fork until crumbly.  Spoon over batter in a muffin pan. 

 

• Bake at 375 for 20-25 minutes or until lightly golden.  Remove from pan to wire racks.  Let cool and then enjoy!! 

This the yogurt I used....it is decadent....the creamiest, most delicious Greek Yogurt I've tasted.  I love it with fruit and granola

12 Days of Christmas (day 8) Pioneer Woman Cinnamon Rolls and 10 things I learned about making them

I made THEM....the thing I've tasted once (because my cousin Kate made them for me) and the recipe  I thought was too complicated for me.  You see, I'm not a baker...I don't like measuring ingredients and to be honest flour and I don't get along.  Not because I'm gluten intolerant, but because I swear it goes everywhere as soon as I open my jar.  I decided to get over my flour phobia and start baking this Christmas.  I've made several batches of cookies, Almond Butter Toffee, and PW Cinnamon Rolls.  In fact, I found the entire process rather cathardic and I think I want to try making soft pretzels next! 

On Friday afternoon I made sure I had all the ingredients for the Cinnamon Rolls, so that on Saturday I was ready to tackle this notion that I'm not a baker.  Food Network had a PW Christmas episode over the weekend and she made her famous Cinnamon Rolls.  I watched her as closly as possible, over and over until I felt like I had it down.  I made the dough on Saturday and kept it in the fridge until today. I then rewatched her making the cinnamon rolls this morning and would do a step and then watch the next step.  I guess you could say I was cooking with The Pioneer Woman!!!  I wish...talk about something on my bucket list!!! 

Here are a few things I  learned about making PW's Cinnamon Rolls. (click here for the recipe)

1. She says you can make the dough and then start making the rolls.  I don't buy that because the dough is extremely sticky when it's warm or room temperature.  The chilled dough was still sticky, but it was easier to work with. I also floured my countertop before rolling them out even though she doesn't mention that.

2. Cover the dough in the fridge with a damp towel, otherwise you're going to get a dry crust over the exposed areas.  I covered mine with a dry towel and won't do that again. 

3. Rolling out the dough into a rectangle took a little more skill than I expected.  Granted the last time I rolled something out was probably many years ago....seriously!!!  And I need a good rolling pin.  I really like this one, I wonder if it's any good?!

4. The first batch I made looked a little funky due to my lack of skill with rolling out the dough, the second batch looked much better.  Note, when I say batch I am talking about the fact that you split the dough into two batches when rolling it out. 

5. I used 8, aluminum foil cake pans.  This recipe makes a lot of cinnamon rolls, be ready to share them.  I believe that you can cut the recipe in half without too much trouble.

6. The frosting is REALLY sweet...the next time I make them I'm going to figure out a way to cut down on the sweetness. I did not have maple flavoring, so I used some vanilla instead. 

7. When she says to pour the frosting over the cinnamon rolls when they're right out of the oven she means it.  I waited a few minutes on the first batch and they looked so different than the second batch. 

8. Using a serated knife to cut the dough is helpful

9. Plan to use one of the pans for just the ends of each roll of dough because the ends look a little messed up, but still taste good. 

10. This really is a very easy recipe that requires some time.  I found that making the dough one day and then making the cinnamon rolls another day made the task manageable. 

12 Days of Christmas (day 7) Almond Butter Toffee

So this may be the easiest toffee recipe ever!  My Mom developed this recipe for microwave cooking classes that she taught long ago (when microwaves first came out).  Although I really don't cook in my microwave, as she does, this is one thing that I make every single Christmas because it's so good and SO easy! 

Download Almond Butter Toffee

Here's what you'll need

1 stick of butter (not margarine)

1 cup of sugar

1/2 tsp salt

¼ cup water

½ cup sliced almonds

3 oz milk chocolate (I use 1 ½ Hershey bars for each batch)

 

Take a 2 quart glass measuring cup and put the stick of butter in the bottom. 

Use the butter wrapper and rub the excess butter on the wrapper along the top of the measuring cup.  This will keep the toffee from boiling out of the cup.

Pour sugar and salt over butter and top with water. 

Place in microwave on full power for 7 minutes.  Then continue cooking in 30 second intervals until the hot toffee mixture reaches the color of light brown sugar.  While the toffee is cooking, butter a metal baking sheet and spread out the almonds on the middle part of the sheet. 

Once the hot toffee is ready, pour it over the almonds.  DO NOT SCRAPE THE BOWL because it gets grainy if you do this. 

Let the toffee cool for a minute and then top with chocolate.  Let the chocolate melt and then spread it with a knife. 

Place in the refrigerator and cool.  Once cool break it into pieces and enjoy. 

12 Days of Christmas (day 5) Peppermint Crumble Cookies

Here I go again...another chocolate peppermint recipe.  If you like the combo as much as I do you MUST make these cookies.  They are DIVINE....truly a favorite of mine.  I got the recipe from Becky Higgin's blog a few years ago and have made them almost every single Christmas. 

Brian needed to take a dessert for a Christmas party at work and this was just thing...of course, I kept a few to nibble on today ;)  I'd say the recipe makes about 3 dozen cookies.  I used the Pampered Chef Medium Scoop

 

Download Peppermint Crumble Cookies

3/4 cup butter

1 1/2 cups brown sugar

2 T. water

2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips

2 1/2 cups flour

1 1/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

Bag of crumbled peppermint pieces (I use Ande’s brand) Not crushed peppermint candy

 

Melt butter, brown sugar, and water in a saucepan over medium heat until melted and then add chocolate chips, stirring until completely melted.  Cool for 10 minutes.  Put this in a mixing bowl and beat in 2 eggs.  Add the flour, baking soda, and salt.  Mix together and chill for about 45 minutes. 

 

Spoon onto cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.  Remove from baking sheet and place on cooling rack. Sprinkle peppermint crumbles on the top of each hot cookie and do not spread.  The pieced will get soft at first and then keep their shape once cool. 

About these crumbles:  You can find them near chocolate chips this time of year.  In my grocery store they were also in the special holiday baking section.  They only have these specific ones at Christmas so stock up.  I got an extra bag to have at Valentines Day :)  One bag will cover about two batches of cookies.  You can also use Ande's baking chips, or an Ande's mint but they're not quite as pretty as the peppermint crumbles

 

12 Days of Christmas (day 4) Chocolate Cupcakes with Peppermint Cream Cheese Frosting

Chocolate and Peppermint are a match made in heaven.  This time of year this dynamic duo is in full glory.  Oddly enough though...I really don't like peppermint mochas.  Now I could drink a Gingerbread latte every single day and everytime I go to Target this time of year I stop at the Starbucks inside the store and order up a tall, with whip, and savor it as I stroll through the store. 

But this post isn't about gingerbread, this post is about Chocolate and Peppermint.  This recipe is adapted from a recipe I cut out from Cooking Light several years ago...back when I cut out recipes...now I just pin them! 

I cheated and used a Choclate Fudge boxed cake mix because I had it and my time is valuable, but I did make the frosting and it was delicious!!! 

You can find the recipe here

rainbow fruit skewers and fruit dip

Another thing I made for my shower were these fruit skewers and fruit dip.  The skewers took some time, but the cuteness factor made it worth it.  The dip is easy!!!  The kids and adults at the shower loved the skewers. 

My skewers included:

Strawberries

Cantaloupe

Pineapple

Kiwi

Blueberries

Grapes

Fruit Dip

1 container of cream cheese fruit dip (found in produce section, I used Marzetti)

Zest of one lemon

2 (6 oz) containers of lemon yogurt

Mix all of the ingredients together and serve with fruit

Download and Print Rainbow Fruit Skewers and Fruit Dip

Pretzel Hugs and Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel Truffles

I ended up making most of the food for the shower that my Mom hosted for me.  She was busy with yard work and I was ready to cook, so it worked out well. 

We kept dessert simple: Pretzel Hugs and Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel Truffles

Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel Truffles

Pretzel Hugs (easiest dessert ever!)  I found these cute tiny cupcake papers at Michaels and placed two hugs in each paper. 

Download Pretzel Hugs and Choc PB truffles2

Food Network Magazine

One of the many magazines I subscribe to is the Food Network magazine and I love it! 

Some of my favorite articles/features are

• Interiews with Foodnetwork Stars and glimpses of their personal kitchens
• Mix and match recipes,
• 50 feature book (such as 50 dips, 50 summer drinks, 50 things to make with pesto)
• Copy That! (where they try to recreate favorite recipes from chain restaurants)

Others may say Saveur, Cooks Illustrated, or Bon Appetit' are a foodies dream magazine, but I really like this one.  The recipes they feature are relatively easy and you can find most ingredients.  Click here to subscribe or give a subscription as a gift to the foodie in your life.

Here are some recent recipe finds I've cut out and placed in my recipe binders. 

Capellini with Spicy Zucchini-Tomato Sauce

 

 Grilled Vegetables with Couscous

Agnolotti with Artichoke Sauce

Coconut Popsicles

Mediterranean Tuna Salad

Fried Chickpea Hummus, Pizza Dip, Tomatillo Salsa

Almost Famous Broccolii-Cheddar Soup (Panera)

Salami-Mozzarella Calzone

Tilapia Masala with Rice

Triple Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup

Chicken Enchilada Suizas

 

Sweet Minted Iced Tea

Tortellini with Peas and Prosciutto

Almost Famous Cheddar Biscuits (Red Lobster)

Bell Pepper Slaw

and to end on a sweet note:

Five Layer Bars

all photos are from the foodnetwork website

cookie monster in the house

It's no secret...I love cookies.  In fact my Mom is baking a batch chocolate chip crunch cookies right now! (and yes, I've eaten several spoonfulls of cookie dough...don't judge me!)

The thing is I don't consider myself much of a baker, but after viewing the following recipes I might just become a baker...making sure to send most of the goodies to work with Brian.

Warning: the following images may cause you to drool!

Recipes and images from Picky Palate

Reeses Peanut Butter Cup Cookies  this is a really cool recipe using 2 ingredients; Reeses cups and eggs

Double White Chocolate and Pretzel Cookies with Sea Salt

Candy Bar Chocolate Chip Cookies

And here's what's baking in my oven right now (thanks Mom!) photo taken by me :)

Chocolate Chip Crunch Cookies (yields 9 dozen...but can be frozen once baked and cooled)

1 cup shortening

1 cup butter, softened

2 cups sugar

2 cups firmly packed brown sugar

4 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

4 cups all purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp baking soda

2 cups regular oats, uncooked

2 cups cornflakes cereal

2 cups (12 oz) semisweet chocolate chips

1 cup chopped pecans

1 cup flaked coconut

Beat shortening and butter in a large bowl at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy; gradually and sugars, beating well.  Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating after each addition.  Add vanilla, mixing well. 

Combine flour, baking powder, and  soda; gradually add to creamed mixture, mixing well.  Gradually stir in oats and remaining ingredients.

Drop dough by tablespoonfuls, 2 inches apart, onto ungreased baking sheets.  Bake at 350 for 10 minutes or until lightly browned.  Remove to wire racks to cool.

 

 

 

 

marcarpone chocolate toffee bars

This recipe is from Giada De Laurentiis and I promise...it's really easy and amazingly delicious.  I made these yesterday for a Super Bowl party.  I think these would also be great for a bridal or baby shower...elegant, gourmet, and something different from brownies and cookies.

Ingredients you'll need:

• vegetable cooking spray
• 1 pound refrigerated sugar cookie dough (I used Pillsbury)
• 2 (1.4 oz) chocolate toffee candy bars, coarsely chopped, and divided (I love Skor bars, but they're hard to find, so I used Heath bars this time...you can find Skor bars at Walgreens)
• 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
• 1 tsp canola oil
• 1 cup (8oz) marscarpone cheese, at room temperature (marscarpone cheese can be found in the gourmet cheese section at your grocery store....it's like cream cheese without the tang)
• 1/4 cup sliced almonds, toasted (I toast mine in a skillet on the stove just until they begin to lightly brown)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350.  Spray an 8x8 baking pan with cooking spray.  Lay a large piece of parchment paper in the pan, allowing the excess paper to overhand on the sides.  Spray the parchment with more cooking spray. 

In a medium bowl, combine the cookie dough, 1/2 the chopped chocolate-toffee candy pieces and vanilla extract.  Press the cookie dough into the pan.  Using the tines of the fork, prick the dough all over.  Bake for 12-14 minutes until the crust is lightly browned.  Cool for 15 minutes. 

Place the chocolate chips and vegetable oil in medium bowl.  Place the bowl over a pan of simmering water and stir until the chocolate has melted.  Cool the chocolate mixture for 10 minutes.  Whisk the marscarpone cheese until the mixture is smooth.  Using a spatula, spread teh chocolate mixture over the cooled crust.  Sprinkle the remaining candy pices and sliced almonds over the chocolate mixture.  Refrigerate for at least 2 hours until the chocolate layer is firm. 

Pull out the dessert using the parchment paper.  Cut into bars and serve.  Store in refrigerator.