I've Got Sunshine, On a Cloudy Day (and Chocolate on the Brain)

On this rainy day, I can only hope that all of this rain is just prepping for some beautiful spring flowers.
Now I did give up sweets for Lent, but Godiva sent me this offer and I just couldn't believe how cute they were.

(Thanks for tempting me on Day 1 Godiva, BTW)

Goidva Chocolate Tulips (on sale - 3 for $15)

Check 'em out and enjoy them for me...
Spring Flower Lollipops - Set of 3 at Godiva.com

And of course you know the trick with real tulips... 

add a penny to the water in the tulip's vase to keep them from opening to soon!

My Love Affair with Peanut Butter Has Gone Too Far...

I hate to admit it, but I'm involved in an affair... with peanut butter.  I don't know what it is about the delicious spread, but I find it nearly irresistible.  I love putting it on apples as a healthy snack (great for post-workout) or on a banana for breakfast.  It is to DIE for melted on an english muffin, maybe with banana slices on top or honey.  Sometimes, it's simply spoon-to-mouth or if I'm desperate for lunch at work - simply mixing PB & J in a bowl (extreme desperation, I know).  And who can deny the wonderful comfort of a traditional PB & J (except for those of you with nut allergies -- sorry!).

Desperation at its finest

Well I've adapted two recipes into one to make two of my favorite things combined - cookies and peanut butter.  I decided to give up sweets for Lent (what was I thinking?), so these will be strictly to share with others.

The best part is this recipe is rather large - great for bringing baked goods into the office, for a cookie exchange party, or for a gathering of friends.  It makes about 75 decently-sized cookies (depending on how big you make the dough balls).

TIP:
I whisked the dry ingredients together instead of what the recipe called for - sifting.  I mean really, who has a sifter besides your mom?  No first apartment-renter I can think of actually owns a sifter.  So whisk away!

PEANUT BUTTERY DELICIOUSNESS COOKIES

Ingredients:
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
16 tbsp (2 sticks!) unsalted butter (at room temp)
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup creamy (I prefer crunchy) peanut butter

Preparation:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl.
- Using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the butter with both sugars for about 3 min (until it's light and fluffy).
- Add the eggs and vanilla; beat until smooth and well combined... then beat in the peanut butter.
- Scrape down the sides of the bowl (easiest with a rubber-tipped spatula).  Reduce the speed to low and beat in the dry flour mixture (from the beginning) in 2 batches (1/2 at first, combine well, add the other 1/2).
- Form dough into 1-in balls and place on non-stick baking sheets.  Flatten each by pressing them with the tines of a fork in a criss-cross pattern.
- Bake until golden brown on the bottom and barely colored on top (between 14-16 minutes).
- Let them cool on wire racks completely.


Now a few questions for you (really just to start the good ol' heated debate):
1. Jif or Skippy or Peter Pan
2. Creamy or Crunchy

(Personally, I grew up a Skippy Chunky, but have graduated to Jif Crunchy - partly because of Miss A!)

Chocolate Chocolate Make It Melt: Double Chocolate Cookies

Do you ever wake up in the morning and just crave chocolate?  Well, this morning was one of those mornings for me.  For Miss A's birthday in December, a friend had baked the most amazing chocolate chocolate chip cookies.  I normally am not a huge chocolate chocolate person, but when I crave chocolate, I CRAVE chocolate.  These cookies aren't overly sweet and have just the right amount of chocolate to satisfy.  The mix of semi-sweet and milk chocolate keep them from being too heavy on the chocolate.  There's really nothing else to say about these cookies except that you MUST try them if you're even remotely a chocolate person. 

CHOCOLATE CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

from Real Simple

makes 3 dozen cookies

hands-on time: 15 minutes

total time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

1/2 cup unsalted butter (room temperature)

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 large egg

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup milk chocolate chips

1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

creaming the butter and sugars

Preparation:

- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

- Cream the butter and sugars in a large bowl with an electric mixer on high speed.

- Lower to medium speed and add the egg and vanilla extract.

- Sift together the dry ingredients: flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.

- Add the dry mixture to the butter mixture on low speed; beat until fully incorporated.

- Form the dough into small balls using a small spoon (about 1 1/2 inch balls).  Place on a non-stick baking sheet (or line a baking sheet with parchment paper or aluminum foil).

- Bake for about 12 minutes (until the centers are just set).  Let cool on the baking sheets for about 5 minutes and then transfer to wire racks to finish cooling.

 **I made exactly 30 cookies with this recipe - generously sized, but not too big.  If I were making this recipe again to share with others, I'd probably double the recipe so there'd be enough for me to indulge and to share with others!


Happy Sunday! 

Vegetables? Dessert? I Don't Care Which, Because It's Delish... Yam & Banana Casserole

Banana and Yam Casserole... warm & golden & perfection

Miss A and I actually made this for the first time the week before Thanksgiving, but it's a delicious vegetable/dessert for any time or any holiday.  On a chilly Saturday, I woke up and didn't hear Miss A stirring--so I turned on my TV and went straight to The Food Network and discovered some new recipes to try.  I was watching a show I'd never seen before (it turned out to be "Mexican Made Easy" with Marcela Valladolid) and this recipe was on.  I'm not quite sure how this is Mexican, but I didn't care and I knew Miss A wouldn't either.  As I was squealing my way into her room, bursting with excitement, I had already started planning how we were going to make it that day!  We both got way too excited when we found this recipe online, so I think it's a must-share.  

Plus, we had sweet potatoes last night (from Boston Market, not my favorite) and my Grandma LOVED them; she must have said it 4 times over the course of dinner how delicious they were.  Ding ding ding... that way my cue to make MY sweet potato and banana casserole to get EXTRA brownie points with Helen!  And even if I don't, I can show her FAFK and attempt to explain what a blog is; I have a feeling that she wouldn't understand it anyway.

YAM and BANANA CASSEROLE

INGREDIENTS:
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, for greasing the baking dish
1 1/2 pounds yams, peeled and cut lengthwise into 1-inch thick slices*
5 ounces (about 32) sweetened round crackers (recommended: Maria Crackers),** or graham crackers
3/4 cup whole almonds, coarsely chopped
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
6 tbsp (3/4 stick) chilled unsalted butter, diced
4 large ripe (but firm) bananas, peeled and halved lengthwise
1 (10.5-ounce) bag of mini marshmallows
*I used sweet potatoes.
**I settled for the graham crackers because I couldn't find the Maria crackers at our local Teeter, but I bet if you checked out The Fresh Market, Trader Joe's, or World Market they'd probably have them.


PREPARATION:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Coat the bottom of a 13"x9"x2" glass baking dish with 2 tablespoons butter.  Set the dish aside for later.

If you're using fresh yams (I used sweet potatoes): add the yams to a heavy medium pot and cover with cold water.  Bring the water to a boil over high heat.  Then reduce the heat and simmer until tender, about 10 minutes (the color of the yams will turn brighter).  FYI: When I made it in November, it took the sweet potatoes A LOT longer than 10 minutes (more like 18 minutes) for them to be tender, probably because they were on the big side.  You can check to see if they're done by using a fork to test them (if the fork goes in fairly easily, they're done).

After 1 layer of  bananas, yams, streusel, and marshmallows, then repeat. 

While the yams are simmering, put the crackers, almonds, cinnamon, and salt in a food processor and pulse a few times to combine until coarse but not fully ground.  Add 6 tablespoons butter and pulse until the mixture forms lumps slightly larger than peas.  Another FYI: I don't have a food processor and thought I could use a blender and it'd be just fine--WRONG.  It wasn't terrible, but was definitely a fail.  The almonds kept jamming the blade and the butter retained most of its shape and never mixed well.  I ended up using a spoon like a mortar and pestle to crush/blend/mix the streusel.  ANYWHO... Refrigerate the streusel topping until you're ready to use it.

My attempt at the streusel

Spread half of the bananas and yams in 1 layer in the bottom of the prepared dish. Sprinkle with half of the streusel and half of the marshmallows. Repeat to make 1 more layer. Bake until the marshmallows are golden, about 25 minutes and SERVE WARM!

Starting layer 2...

This was utterly delicious and certainly sweet--a great dish to make if you have a sweet tooth craving, but be wary if you don't.  Look at those golden brown marshmallows... mmmmmmmmmmmmm. 

The finished deliciousness

Happy Christmas Eve from Florida!

The Best Part of Thanksgiving--DESSERT! (and a Pumpkin Pie recipe)

My parents' kitchen... PRE-Thanksgiving madness!  Check out those pies cooling though... yum!

My parents' oven - that made Thanksgiving possible!  Thank goodness for double ovens!

My mom crimping the pie edges like I taught her!

And I crimped the one in front!

My mom's magical mixer that I am SO ENVIOUS OF!

PUMPKIN PIE

Ingredients:

4 cups fresh pumpkin, cooked and mashed

1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

2 eggs

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 (9 inch) deep dish pie crust 

...frozen or homemade, whichever you have time for!

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C.)

In a large bowl, combine pumpkin puree, sweetened condensed milk and eggs. Season with cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and salt. Mix together with a wire whisk until thoroughly blended. Pour filling into pie crust.

Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes. Reduce the heat to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) and bake another 35 to 40 minutes or until a knife inserted comes out clean.


Top it off with a few chopped pecans and dust it with cinnamon for a Holiday-worth presentation!

Filled with pumpkin filling.

One of the finished, perfectly-golden Pumpkin Pies... Look at that crust! 

Another pie my mom made at my Uncle Mark's request: Lemon Meringue Pie
--complete with little mountains on top! 

That's 5 pies and 2 cakes plus cookies people! 2 Pumpkin Pies, Coffee Cake on top 
of a box of Homemade Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies, Apple Cake,  
Apple Pie, and Pecan Pie in back!

More Thanksgiving pictures and recipes to come...

What to Make for Dessert When You Don't Want to Make Anything...

After the craziness that was Thanksgiving, the last thing I want to do is spend lots of time cooking an extravagant meal or dessert.  Trouble is that it's Miss A's (and her twin Miss L, of course) birthday on Friday!  Birthdays require cakes and desserts and there will most certainly be a cake, just later in the week.  We are having a bunch of people over for a Birthday/Holiday Party and need some munchies to provide our guests along with their Holiday drinks.

Enter the Chocolate and Almond Macaroon... my lazy girl's dessert!  There are only 6 ingredients, but look decadent enough to impress!

CHOCOLATE AND ALMOND 

MACAROONS

Unblanched & unsalted almonds

Ingredients:
3/4 cup sweetened condensed milk
1 (14 oz) package sweetened flaked coconut
1/2 tsp almond extract
1/8 tsp salt
24 whole RAW almonds (no salt and make sure they're unblanched)
1/2 cup dark chocolate morsels

Pam (made with canola oil)


Preparation:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

My prized Silpat - favorite
thing ever!

Stir together the first 4 ingredients (condensed milk, coconut, almond extract, and salt); a soft dough will form.
Drop dough by tablespoonfuls onto parchment paper-lined baking sheets (or your Silpat if you have one!).



TIP: Spray just a little Pam made with canola oil onto the tablespoon you'll be using so the dough doesn't stick to it.  You might need to respray lightly a few times throughout.


Press an almond into the top of each cookie, forming a pillow.
Bake at 350 degrees for 15-17 minutes (our oven is fast and it only took 13ish, but I'd set for 12 and check on them).  The macaroons should be just golden; remove to wire racks to cool.

Mine won't look like this, but as long as they
taste good,right?

Microwave the chocolate morsels in a microwave-safe bowl at HIGH for 1 minute 15 seconds.  You want the chocolate to be melted and smooth, so make sure you stir at 30-second intervals and upon removal.


TIP: Put parchment paper under the wire cooling racks for when you drizzle the chocolate.


Transfer to a 1-quart ziploc freezer bag; cut a tiny hole in 1 corner of the bag.  Pipe the melted chocolate over the cooled macaroons by gently squeezing the bag.


Ta-dah!

Gobble Up These Adorable Godiva Chocolates Quickly!!!

How adorable is this little chocolate turkey from Godiva?  Everyone loves the classics on Thanksgiving... I'm partial to the cranberry, mashed potatoes, and ALL of the desserts.  

What could be a better hostess gift than to bring a handful of these turkeys with you??

And at 3 for $15.00, they're sure to be a hit!  So gobble them up quickly!!!

Click here to buy them on the Godiva website, 

or click here to locate your local Godiva boutique!

The Best Cookies You Won't Be Able to Stop Talking About... Alfajores :)

Martha Stewart's perfect-looking cookies, 
mine will not look like these!

These cookies may be hard to pronounce, but they're so delicious you'll hardly be able to open your mouth to speak anyway!  My mom was the first one to introduce me to these cookies.  She gets them every time she and her business partner are at the editing company Red Car in NYC; the cookies are South American cookies, but they order them from Aroma in SOHO.  My mom said they're so good that they all can't stop talking about them, so they looked up the recipe.  Thankfully, I'm the benefactor in this situation and stumbled upon a potentially delicious recipe without having to do any of the hard work to find it!
The Outer Banks beach trip is finally here; we're celebrating several things this weekend: a birthday, a weekend, and my new job... so what better way to celebrate than with delicious cookies?  I'm also baking an apple pie tonight for my coworker and friend M because he won a bet we had.  I bet that he couldn't go 2 full weeks without eating Chipotle, and instead of eating out for lunch every day, he had to bring his lunch.  Apparently I didn't challenge him enough because he passed with flying colors and now I owe him a pie of his choice, which is apple.  Since I'm baking anyway, I wanted to do a trial run tonight to make sure they're beach-worthy, and boy are they EVER!


Alfajores
Makes about 30 cookies; 15 minutes prep time; 10-14 minutes baking time.
Ingredients:

This is what I normally do to my 
jar of Nutella... mmmmmmmm

3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature (about 1.5 sticks)
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
Dulce de Leche (store bought) or jam**
Confectioners' sugar (for serving)
** For half of the cookies, I used unsweetened raspberry preserves for a punch of tart flavor--delicious!!  For the other half, I thought I was being super creative and used my favorite thing ever... NUTELLA!!!  Turns out I wasn't that original, but it was HEAVEN IN MY MOUTH!**


Preparation:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees; line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper (or your Silpat if you have it) and set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, and salt -- set aside.
Use an electric mixer with a paddle attachment*** to cream together butter and sugar on medium speed until it's light and fluffy (about 1-2 minutes).
Add eggs one at a time and continue mixing for about 1 minute (until well combined).
Add flour mixture in batches, mixing until well combined before adding more.
Add milk, fresh orange juice, and vanilla; continue mixing until a dough forms (about 1-2 minutes).
Use a tablespoon or small ice cream scoop to drop dough onto the prepared baking sheets (about 2 inches apart).
Transfer to oven and bake until golden, 12-14 minutes.  Make sure to rotate the baking sheets halfway through baking time.
Transfer the cookies to a wire rack until completely cool.
When the cookies have cooled completely, spread the bottoms of half the cookies with the dulce de leche (or jam).  Sandwich together the halves with the remaining cookies.

Electric mixer w/ paddle attachment

***You don't really need a paddle attachment, but it's best if you have one.  Otherwise, an electric mixer will do, just be wary of over-mixing.  If you're really unprepared and don't have a working electric mixer, you can use a wooden spoon--it'll just get tough to mix at a certain point. I did it this time with a hand-held electric mixer and it was fine, just make sure to put it on low speed.***  

You can store them in an airtight container for up to 2 days!  Just before you want to serve them, for a "wowing" effect, sprinkle lightly with confectioners' sugar.

Other ideas for Alfajores:

1. Chocolate dough;  2. Roll in coconut;  3. Raspberry preserves;  

4. Pistachio Butter;  5. and the way I tried, Nutella!

Make a chocolate dough & use dulce de leche!

Use dulce de leche in the center & roll in coconut! 

Use a tart raspberry preserve in the middle!

Use pistachios and pistachio butter in the middle! 
(buy at Trader Joe's, Fresh Market, or Whole Foods)

...pictures of my Alfajores coming right up (after I get my camera charged and cooperating with my Mac)!

Jack-O-Lantern Fun: Cupcakes & Pumpkin Carving!

Daddy tried to get his attention away from the
cupcake...

Humptoberfest 2010 was a blast!  

Everyone contributed a little here and a little there...

Just read the menu:

Homemade Cider Beer (by the hostess-with-the-most-est, JH himself!)

Fresh fruit & dip (cream cheese, marshmallow fluff, & powdered sugar)

Chips & cheese dip (plus pretzels to dip too)

Crispy Cabbage Salad

A fresh bean, corn, veggie salad (recipe to come)

Potato salad

Grilled chicken & brats (plus grilled onions and peppers to top them off)

For dessert:

Lemon & blueberry pie

Chocolate pie

Some sort of apple crisp pie combination...

AND...

Jack-o-Lantern cupcakes for dessert!

          The cupcakes were a crowd-pleaser, once again.  Little did I know, but there was going to be a clan of kids - from 15 months to 10 years old - and the cupcakes were a huge hit!  All of the kids were ADORABLE... I may have done more puzzles, drawing, and played with the kids more than I talked to the adults!
          The cupcakes are great for any Halloween occasion... and they're so so so easy!  I use cake mix because the frosting takes a decent amount of time.  Plus kids don't care whether they're homemade or what they taste like--the decorating is WAY more important!!! 
          Grab a box of Devil's Food Chocolate and a box of Yellow Cake Mix (I use Pillsbury) and go cupcake crazy!  I made a batch of each (48 total) and bought 2 tubs of vanilla frosting.  To the frosting, I added yellow and red food coloring and mixed with an electric mixer until I got the desired orange color I wanted.  Frost the cupcakes once they've cooled, and decorate with black and green gel to make funny Jack-o-Lanterns any kid (or grown up) will love!

Makes me want to lick the bowl right now!

Vanilla cupcakes going in...

Vanilla cupcakes coming out!

Frosted Jack-o-Lanterns!

His eye got a little messed up,
so he got a patch! Aargh!

A whole bunch of yummy Jacks!

THEY WERE SUCH A HIT!!!

My new boyfriend Braden enjoying his 

Jack-o-Lantern.

mmmm... cupcakes!

How can anyone resist these treats?!

Here are some shots from the 2010 Pumpkin Carving Contest:

L to R: the Death Star, a Haunted Castle, a Ear-less Owl,

a Wolf, a Funny Ghost, and a Scary Ghoul.

The 1st Place Wolf: 

by Braden & his dad!

The 1-Eared Owl (by A)

Funny Ghost (by JH)

Scary Ghoul (by K)