Cran-Pistachio Cookies

These are easy enough that you could easily whip up a 7-8 dozen for a cookie exchange. Somehow I managed to complicate an easy recipe like this.

Cran-Pistachio Cookies

 

Source: Betty Crocker

Ingredients:

1 (1 lb 1.5 ounce) pouch Betty Crocker Sugar Cookie Mix

1 box (4 serving size) pistachio instant pudding and pie filling mix

1/4 cup flour

1/2 cup butter, melted

2 eggs

1 cup dry roasted salted pistachio nuts, chopped

1/2 cup dried cranberries, chopped

optional – green food coloring (I didn’t add any but if you wanted them extra green you could)

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl stir cookie mix, pudding, and flour. Add melted butter and eggs and stir until incorporated.

Add pistachios and cranberries and mix well.

Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto a parchment lined cookie sheet.

Bake for 8-10 minutes. The only way you can ruin these cookies is to overbake them! If you bake them too long you will lose the soft texture and they won’t be as green. They will not look done but take them out and let them sit on the pan for about 2 minutes. Trust me.

Cool on a wire rack. Store in an airtight container. Makes about 2 dozen cookies.

Red Velvet White Chocolate Chip Cookies

Red Velvet White Chocolate Chip Cookies
Yields about 3 dozen

Ingredients:
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 Tbsp cocoa powder*
1 1/2 tsp cornstarch
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
7 Tbsp butter, at room temperature
6 Tbsp all vegetable shortening, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 1/2 tsp white vinegar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 Tbsp red food coloring
1 1/3 cups white chocolate chips, divided

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a mixing bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, cornstarch, baking soda and salt, set aside. Add butter, shortening and sugar to the bowl of an electric stand mixer and mix on medium speed until very pale and fluffy about 4 minutes. Add egg and egg yolk and mix until combine. Add vinegar, vanilla and food coloring and mix until well blended. Slowly add in dry ingredients and mix just until combine. Mix in 1/2 cup white chocolate chips. Scoop dough out by the heaping tablespoonfuls (about 1 1/2 Tbsp) and roll into balls and place on buttered or Silpat lined cookie sheets. Gently press about 6 white chocolate chips into the top of each cookie, being careful not to flatten the cookies (if you do flatten them a bit just reshape them to the height they had before adding the chips) and bake in preheated oven 8 - 9 minutes. Allow to cool several minutes on baking sheet before transferring to a wire rack to cool. Store cookies in an airtight container.

*If you want a more chocolaty cookie you could replace 1 - 2 Tbsp flour with an additional 1 -2 Tbsp cocoa, the red just won't be quite as vibrant. Or, you could replace the white chocolate chips with chocolate chips.

Crunchy Peanut Butter Cups

Crunchy Peanut Butter CupsMakes 8
Print Recipe
1/4 cup butter
3/4 cup peanut butter
3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup semisweet or milk chocolate chips
1/4 cup milk
Sea salt
Line a  muffin tin with papers (you could also use a mini muffin tin if you prefer).
In a microwave safe bowl, melt the butter & peanut butter together for 45 seconds.  Stir until smooth.  Add graham cracker crumbs and sugar and mix to combine.  Distribute mixture evenly between the prepared muffin cups.  Refrigerate for 15 minutes to set peanut butter layer.
After the peanut butter has chilled, combine chocolate and milk in a microwave safe bowl and heat in 25 second intervals until chocolate is just melted.  Stir until smooth.  Distribute chocolate evenly over the top of the peanut butter layer.  Sprinkle with sea salt and chill until firm, at least 30 minutes.  Store covered in the fridge.

Beets with Goat Cheese

Ingredients

• 3 pound medium beets
• 3 tablespoons raspberry vinegar
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 3/4 cup toasted pecans, chopped
• 2 ounces goat cheese, crumbled
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

Make It

1. Place the beets in a large pot and cover generously with cold water. Place over high heat and bring to boiling. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, for 1 hour or until tender, adding water to pot, if necessary, to keep beets submerged. Drain and cool until easy to handle.
2. Peel skins from beets and trim ends. Cut into wedges and place wedges in a large bowl. Add vinegar, oil, salt, and pepper and toss to coat. Transfer to a serving bowl. Top with pecans, cheese, and parsley.

Amazing Dinner Rolls for Thaksigivng

Thank you to OurBestBites for this amazing dinner roll recipe. 

Ready? Awesome. You’ll need whole milk, all-purpose flour, yeast, sugar, salt, butter, and eggs. Nothing fancy.

Combine milk, 1/2 c. sugar, butter, and salt in a medium saucepan. Heat over medium heat until butter melts. It’s salty. It’s sweet. Yum.

Remove from heat. Allow to cool to lukewarm. I usually rub some ice cubes along the sides of the pan or pop the entire pan in a sink full of ice cubes to cool the mixture down because this step can take forever. This step is really important because if the mixture is too hot, it will kill the yeast.

While the milk mixture is cooling, dissolve the yeast and 1 Tbsp. sugar in warm water. Let stand about 10 minutes. If the yeast hasn’t bubbled, you’ll need to repeat this step–moving on with yeast that hasn’t been activated properly will only end in heartache for you and hate mail for us.
In a large mixing bowl, combine 3 c. flour and milk mixture. Beat on low for 30 seconds, scraping sides of bowl constantly. Add yeast mixture and beat on high for 3 minutes.
Add beaten eggs. Why should you beat your eggs first? Same reason you should combine your dry ingredients before adding them to moist ingredients when making cookies and cakes–it ensures everything is well-mixed and can be evenly-distributed through your dough or batter. If you add the whole eggs, your dough may not be as consistent.

Stir in as much remaining flour as needed to make a soft dough. This dough should be very soft–it will be coming away from the sides of the bowl, but it will still stick to your finger when you touch it. Don’t worry, it will firm up during the rising process. Part of what makes these rolls so good is that they’re so soft and light; if you add too much flour, they will be heavy and dense. Place the bowl in a warm place and cover with a clean towel; allow to rise 1 hour.

See that ghostly reflection in the bowl?? Oh, wait, that’s me…

Punch down dough. Lightly flour your work surface and turn dough out onto surface. Divide in half.
Spray 2 9×13 glass pans with cooking spray. Roll first portion of dough into a rectangle and then cut it into 12 equal-sized pieces. I like to use a pizza cutter because it has a blade on each side, so it cuts right through dough without sticking to the blade. This dough should be very easy to work with, almost like playdough. Shape each piece into a ball and place in prepared pan. Repeat with remaining dough in the second pan.

Cover with a clean cloth and allow to rise in a warm place for about 30 minutes. When dough has about 15-20 minutes to go (depending on your oven), preheat oven to 375.

Bake for 15-18 minutes or until golden-brown.

When done, remove from oven. Rub a stick of cold butter over the tops of the rolls. You must now eat one. Now. While it’s hot.

Then pop the rest into a bowl and no one will ever know that you cheated.

Homemade Twinkies

Since we no longer can buy these anymore, let's make some that are homemade.  :0 )

 

Time: 1 hour 40 minutes

 

FOR THE CAKES:

Nonstick cooking spray or vegetable oil

60 grams ( 1/2 cup) cake flour

30 grams ( 1/4 cup) all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons milk

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

5 large eggs at room temperature, separated

12 tablespoons sugar

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

 

FOR THE FILLING:

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature

165 grams (1 1/2 cups) confectioners’ sugar

3/4 cup Marshmallow Fluff

2 tablespoons heavy cream.

 

1. For the cakes: Heat the oven to 350 degrees and adjust the oven rack to the lower-middle position.

2. To make single-use Twinkie molds, cut 12 pieces of aluminum foil 12 inches wide by 14 inches long. Fold each piece of foil in half lengthwise, then fold it in half again to create a rectangle that’s about 6 inches long and 7 inches wide. Repeat to make a dozen rectangles.

3. Place one sheet of folded foil on a work surface with a standard-size spice jar on its side in the center of the foil. Bring the long sides of the foil up around the jar, folding the sides and ends as necessary to make a tight trough-shape from which the jar can be removed. Repeat to make 12 foil molds. Spray generously with nonstick spray or coat with vegetable oil. Place the molds on a baking sheet.

4. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the cake flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder and salt. In a small saucepan over low heat, heat the milk and butter until the butter melts. Remove from the heat and add the vanilla. Cover to keep warm.

5. Using a standing mixer, beat the egg whites on high speed until foamy. Gradually add 6 tablespoons of the sugar and the cream of tartar and continue to beat until the whites reach soft peaks.

6. Transfer the beaten egg whites to a large bowl and add the egg yolks to the standing mixer bowl (there’s no need to clean the bowl). Beat the egg yolks with the remaining 6 tablespoons sugar on medium-high speed until the mixture is very thick and a pale lemon color, about 5 minutes. Add the beaten egg whites to the yolks, but do not mix.

7. Sprinkle the flour mixture over the egg whites and then mix everything on low speed for just 10 seconds. Remove the bowl from the mixer, make a well in one side of the batter, and pour the melted butter mixture into the bowl. Fold gently with a large rubber spatula until the batter shows no trace of flour and the whites and yolks are evenly mixed, about 8 strokes.

8. Immediately scrape the batter into the prepared molds, filling each with about

3/4 inch of batter. Bake until the cake tops are light brown and feel firm and spring back when touched, 13 to 15 minutes. Transfer the pan containing the molds to a wire rack and allow the cakes to cool in the molds.

9. For the filling: Using a mixer, beat together the butter, confectioners’ sugar and Marshmallow Fluff. Add the cream and beat just until smooth.

10. Just before filling the cakes, remove them from the foil. Using the end of a chopstick, poke three holes in the bottom of each cake. Wiggle the tip of the chopstick to make room for the filling. Transfer the frosting to a pastry bag fitted with a 1/4-inch round tip. Pipe frosting into the holes in each cake, taking care not to overfill, until it gently expands. Unlike real Twinkies, these won’t last indefinitely. They’re best served still slightly warm.

 

Yield: 12 homemade Twinkies.

Butternut Squash & Kale Soup

Autumn = squash season. I love eating butternut squash soup for lunch or dinner. Incredibly satisfying, comforting, hearty, and healthy. All the right ingredients that are guaranteed to make you feel good.

Ingredients:
* 1 large butternut squash
* 3 small onions or 1.5 large onions (yellow or white)
* 1 lb. kale
* 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil
* 1 twig of ginger
* 4 cups of chicken stock (homemade or store bought)
* Salt and pepper to taste

Simple ingredients that make a hearty and tasty soup.

Directions:
* Basically, you peel, chop, boil, blend, and voila!

Peel the squash (with peeler).

Chop the onions. You don't have to worry about the size of the pieces because you blend everything together.

Pour olive oil into the pot, and sautee the onions until clear. Add a couple pinches of salt.

Peel the ginger and chop into smaller pieces.

Put the ginger in with the onion and mix around.

Cut the squash into big chunks. Love the bright orange color. Kind of like the signature Hermes orange.

Pour chicken broth into the pot with the ginger and onions. We like to have homemade chicken stock frozen at all times. We tend to do this on weekends when making a dish with shredded chicken. Last week, we made kale chicken zucchini enchiladas. TO DIE FOR. And this chicken stock was from that chicken.

Add the squash into the broth and let it sit all together until it boils.

Wash the kale and remove the leaves from the stems (discard the stems).

Boiling pot of gold.

Add the large pile of kale to the soup. It looks like a lot -- it is a lot -- but it so so good for you that the more the better!

Yummmmm

And then, put the mixture into a blender (vitamix), blend until it is all pureed together, and SERVE!

ORANGE GREEN GOODNESS!

This soup is great as is, or with some crumbled goat cheese. Serve as a main with salad (and a hunk of bread and cheese), or as a starter to a meal. Anyway, you can’t go wrong! Have a great weekend!