Chocolate Moosey

Corn Pup Muffins

2012-01-26T19:20:00.000-08:00

Any blogger who has been baking for at least a year will tell you how embarrassing some of the first pictures were. Guess we have to all start somewhere, no? When I was going through my archive, I found some great recipes I completely forgot about, like these Corn Pup Muffins. I used to make these all the time before I moved out. I've made them twice since the redesign, so I want to share them with you again.

I love corn dogs, but I hate deep frying. It has nothing to do with the calories. I just hate disposing all of that used oil afterwards (lazy, I know!). These Corn Pup Muffins are their easy-bake cousins - a moist cornbread muffin with a slice of hot dog in the middle. The perfect accompaniment to chili or soup. They also pack a punch with the chili powder and cumin. Normally, I'd cut the recipe in half for six muffins, but it's a little complicated with it calling for only 1 egg. No worries - if you don't eat the extras, freeze them for later.

This is the picture posted back in 2007, about 2 months after starting this blog. Damn haha Click here to check out the original post.

Corn Pup Muffins

3/4 cup yellow cornmeal
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp garlic powder
1 cup milk
1 egg, beaten with fork
2 Tbsp oil
1/2 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
4 hot dogs, cut into 1 inch pieces

1. Preheat oven to 400F. Line muffin pan with paper liners or coat with cooking spray.

2. Stir together cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, chili powder, cumin, and garlic powder. Make a hole in the bottom of the bowl and pour in milk, beaten egg, and oil. Stir just until blended. Fold in cheese.

3. Drop a spoonful of batter into each muffin cup. Place hot dog piece into batter. Fill with enough batter to cover the hot dog (You only need a small scoop to cover it or you won't have enough for 12!)

4. Bake 10-12 minutes. Muffins should be lightly browned and clean when toothpick is inserted. Let cool before removing from pan.

Makes 12 muffins
Source: USA Weekend Newspaper - Nov. 10-12, 2006

Review: Baking Basics and Beyond

2012-01-25T07:47:00.000-08:00

Today I have a book review for you, called Baking Basics and Beyond by Pat Sinclair. According to the press release, this book is said to be "the ultimate baking guide for beginners and everyone looking to improve their baking skills." Of course I'm always looking for ways to improve my skills. And Pat Sinclair is "a food consultant and cooking teacher with a master's degree in Foods and decades of professional experience." Sounds like she has a good bit of experience.

When I pick up a new cookbook, the first thing I do is look through the pictures. The first picture that caught my eye were the Zebra Brownie Squares. That chocolate. That frosting. After I found and read the recipe, I was crushed. The recipe? A boxed mix, a can of frosting, and packaged cookie dough. The real slap in the face was the recipe before it was for homemade fudge brownies. She explains it was her daughter's recipe that won in an office contest. Maybe Pat wanted to publish the original recipe, but this is not the book to do it, when the whole principle of your book is baking basics. I would've adapted the recipe using from-scratch techniques and mention in the intro that the original recipe involved a boxed mix and canned frosting.

I wasn't going out and buying any packaged ingredients, so I opted for another recipe. Originally I still wanted brownies, but it was getting late and didn't think I had time to cool them and make frosting. I always want chocolate chip cookies, and what better way to test a baking basics book than making one of the classics? Like I said, it was late (as in almost 9:30 pm late!), and I can verify this recipe doesn't take long at all. It's your typical Tollhouse recipe, but Pat uses a mix of shortening and butter because they give the cookie both a buttery flavor and softer texture.

The next recipe that I kept flipping to every time I opened the book was her New Orleans Bread Pudding with Bananas Foster Sauce. I kept thinking about it and thinking about it, so when I had leftover homemade bread, I decided it was the perfect opportunity to test out the bread pudding. This was my first time ever setting alcohol on fire, so I was terrified. I expressed my concern on Twitter, and Erin of Erin's Food Files assured me with her video that the flame really is not that big. I guess I watch too much food tv! Of course I was still nervous, so I had my pan lid just in case. I kept the bread pudding recipe the same, but I cut the sauce recipe in half since I wasn't sure how well the rum would go over with my family. Next time, I'll make the whole quantity of sauce. Even if I have some leftover, it was delicious!

One thing I didn't care for about Pat's recipe was she didn't give enough detail about igniting the rum. Yes, she did warn you to use a long match since the flames could get a little high, but she didn't explain that you let the fire die out on its own or even why you do it. I mean I knew why (to burn off the alcohol) and to die on its own (because I asked Erin), but that was my own research and knowledge, not because of this book. Little things would make the baker feel a little more at ease. And in the ingredient list, she says freshly grated nutmeg, if desired, but nowhere in the recipe did it say where to add it. Only at the end with her notes did she mention the nutmeg again.

The beginning of the book explains the main ingredients, their role, what to use as well as equipment every baker should have. Definitely a nice guide for every baker to have.

This part won't affect my rating, but I think whoever picked the quote for the front of the book did a terrible job. "This is a great book" from the talented Gale Gand. Really? Is that supposed to make me pick up the book? It actually made me a little suspicious because it felt like "This is a great book BUT..." Turns out the rest of the quote was printed on the back, and personally I would've used the first sentence (or even the last) to explain the book and attract readers.

Overall, I'd give this book 4 out of 5 stars. I'd recommend this book to those who are beginner bakers, like my mom. If you are more experienced like me, you may find this book a little too basic. Especially since I own probably over 300 books and have 10 variations of basic recipes.

Blood Orange Bars

2012-01-23T16:09:00.000-08:00

I have a love-hate relationship with citrus. I don’t like navel oranges but enjoy clementines. Lemon is probably my favorite flavor. Limes are meh, and I’m not a fan of lemon lime pop. Once in awhile I’ll crave grapefruit. But when I see blood oranges? I go crazy. If a grapefruit and an orange had a baby, this would be it. Sometimes I’ll eat it as fruit; other times I bake things. I love lemon bars, so I knew I’d love these blood orange bars even more.

The first time I had a blood orange was down in the Bahamas. I was on a trip with the geology department, so we were on a pretty remote island. We found some blood orange trees, so we had a snack. I didn’t think much about them until I saw them during my first trip to Whole Foods.

Blood oranges are messy. Once you cut and juice them, you may be questioned about the murder scene in your kitchen. The juice does stain, so wear an apron and don’t expect clean hands.

I found the recipe online at Eating Out Loud. I was expecting the citrus layer to come out a little darker, but the taste was melt-in-your-mouth amazing. Wish I had some right now with this dreary weather! The lime is there to help cut the bitterness of the orange. I think next time I’m going to try lemon instead.

Blood Orange Bars

3/4 cups unsalted butter
1/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups flour
pinch of salt
Filling
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 eggs
2/3 cup juice, mostly blood orange with some lime
2 Tablespoons zest, mostly blood orange with some lime
2/3 cup flour

Preheat the oven to 350F. Cream the butter and sugar then add flour and salt. Press the mixture into the bottom of a 9x9 pan. Bake for 20 minutes or until lightly golden. Set aside to cool. If you don't let the crust cool, the filling will melt into it.

For the filling, whisk the sugar and eggs until blended, then add juice, zest, and flour. Allow to cool before cutting into squares. Sprinkle with powdered sugar, if you'd like.

Source: Eating Out Loud

New Layout, New Quirks

2012-01-15T17:42:00.000-08:00

Welcome to Chocolate Moosey's redesign! Have a look around at the new features, such as the pages up top, and let me know what you think!

Also importing blog posts was giving me one hell of a time with post URLs, but I did find a solution. However, that means sacrificing my blog stats because I technically went to another Blogger account (you can't tell because after everything was set up, I switched URLs). Well new design, new stats? This does affect my Popular Post widget, but hopefully you will start browsing the archive and help me fill the sidebar with cool posts.

The only thing I noticed that you as a visitor may have to change is in the sidebar, you have the option of following me with Google Friend Connect. You will have to rejoin in order to get my updates.

Mini Break

2012-01-07T20:09:00.000-08:00

In case you're wondering where I've been for the past week or so, I'm working on redesigning CM. Not only am I going for a new look, I'm making a recipe archive that will be a little more organized than I have it now plus a detailed about page. I'm not sure how long it'll take, but between my full-time job and your typical to-do list, I'm using whatever free time I have to work on it.

I am still active on Twitter if you need your moosey fix - @chocolatemoosey

Happy 2012!

2012-01-01T00:00:00.000-08:00

What do you hope to accomplish in 2012? Of course you should be setting goals when the moment occurs, not save them all for one day. However, sometimes we get so absorbed with our routines that we tend to forget to take a step back. New Year's Day gives us a chance to reflect and find room for improvement. Here are my goals for 2012.

1. Blog on a regular basis. This was actually my goal for 2011. As I was looking through past posts, I realized I didn't post too many recipes. Blogging can be a job in itself, especially when you have a full-time job on top of that. Then you add on all that extra food in a house of one (just me!), it becomes a bit of a challenge. If you do enjoy what you read and I haven't updated in awhile, be sure to follow me on Twitter because I update there every day.

2. Understand my DSLR camera. I've always been attracted to taking pictures whenever I travel. This past October, my friend was selling his Canon Rebel at a good price, so I bought it on a whim. I've found some really good resources, which I've pinned on my Pinterest board. You do not need an account to access the links. I'm planning a major trip to the Grand Canyon in May, so I need to learn as much as I can and possibly buy a new lens (any suggestions?).

3.Focus more on cooking. Sure, I'm a great baker and I do cook meals from scratch, but when I was watching Top Chef the other day, they did mother sauces for the Quick Fire. I only knew one, and even then I'd have to look it up. I also don't know how to cook most meats. I have a great selection of non-baking cookbooks that will hopefully expand my knowledge.

Those are my main ones. I have little goals here and there, such as some craft projects, but those goals will be set as the year goes on.

So what are your thoughts for 2012? What did you accomplish in 2011? What are your goals for 2012? Do you have any advice or tips for my goals?

Quote graphics are from Pinterest.

Quotes To Live By

2011-12-30T22:25:00.000-08:00

For those of you who don't know me personally on Facebook, I use quotes a lot to get my feelings across, especially when I'm at rock-bottom. I have over 400 quotes saved in a Word document, which doesn't include ones I've saved recently on Twitter nor my Pinterest quotes board! Perhaps I find them calming because I'm not very good with words myself.

One of my goals for 2012 is to take my top inspirational quotes, use Photoshop to make them pretty, print them out, then post on my closet door next to my mirror. I need to constantly remind myself to live positively and someday my puzzle will be complete.

I wanted to share with you ten quotes I find inspiring. All graphics came from Pinterest.

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Chocolate Gingerbread Cupcakes

2011-12-22T17:15:00.000-08:00

You can't go through the holiday without baking something chocolate and gingerbread! Looks like at the beginning of this year, I posted this recipe. Here it is again to share :) (hahahaha I used the same cupcake liners too! Just noticed that. Same tray was on purpose).

Just like the name states, it is a gingerbread cupcake that has cocoa powder and chocolate chips mixed in. I topped it with a cream cheese frosting to balance the flavors. Adding lemon to the cream cheese works really well too. I gave half a dozen to my landlord, and she couldn't get over how wonderful they were. She told me they looked professional *blushes*

Chocolate Gingerbread Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

1 1/4 cups flour
1/2 cup cocoa
2 tsp ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup oil
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Frosting
4 oz. cream cheese, room temp
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temp
Pinch of salt
2 1/4 cups powdered sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line cupcake liners with paper. In a small bowl, mix together flour, cocoa, ginger, cinnamon, baking soda, allspice and salt.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together sugar, oil, egg, and vanilla until smooth. Alternately whisk in flour mixture and buttermilk, making three additions of flour and two of buttermilk, beating until smooth. Stir in chocolate chips.

3. Scoop into pan. Bake 22-27 minutes or until tops spring back when lightly touched. Let cool for 10 minutes then remove to cooling rack.

4. For the frosting, beat together cream cheese, butter, and salt. Beat in sugar, 1/2 cup at a time. Increase speed to medium-high and beat until light and fluffy.

Makes 12 cupcakes
Source: 125 Cupcakes by Julie Hasson

Winner of McCormick Giveaway

2011-12-22T17:00:00.000-08:00

I texted my friend and asked her pick a number 1-10. She picked 10. Congrats goes out to The Home Cook with her comment: "I follow you on twitter @tasteofhomecook"

Cupcake Christmas Tree

2011-12-18T15:59:00.000-08:00

I wanted to share with you my Cupcake Christmas Tree. That's right - a tree solely dedicated to cupcake ornaments only. All except for the star up top. Next step will be to fix the tree skirt. Either I need to find a cupcake one already made or find some fabric. I have about 35-40 ornaments. I didn't take pictures of every single one because some are the same but different colors. Ornaments were found at pretty much every store imaginable, from Wal Mart and Target to Hobby Lobby and Kohls to JC Penneys and Sears to Hallmark and Dollar General.

My favorite is this cupcake tree, found at the Smuckers Store in Orrville, OH.

Snowman cupcake and baby cupcake on my endtable

Snowflake cupcake on my windowsill

Peppermint cupcake on my windowsill

Chocolate Cherry Blossoms

2011-12-18T05:00:00.000-08:00

For the past few years, Hershey has been making kisses with different fillings - cherry, mint, candy cane, caramel, pumpkin spice, raspberry, orange, Irish cream, and probably a few more I missed. They are fun to bake with because of the different flavors. I made these Chocolate Cherry Blossoms one year before I saw the cherry kisses. I said next time, I will buy those kisses and make these cookies. Well I did, several times in fact. When I was looking up the recipe this year, I decided to check the date. I posted the recipe in 2008. Three years ago!! I think it's time for me to reshare this recipe.

I make these blossom cookies every year. Sometimes I'll do the cherry version. Other times, I'll sub milk for the cherry juice, vanilla for the almond extract, leave the cherries out, and roll the balls into sprinkles. Then instead of pressing down a kiss right out of the oven, I make indents for thumbprints and add icing when cooled. Not sure why the original recipe has food coloring since the cherry juice takes care of that.

I will admit the cookie part on its own is a little...bland. There's not an in-your-face cherry kick either (at least without the cherry kisses). The chocolate (or icing) really brings it together. Make sure there are enough cherry chunks in each ball when you roll them.

Here is the original post I made three years ago. Hopefully you agree that my photography is much better ;)

Chocolate Cherry Blossoms

1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 Tbsp maraschino cherry juice
1/4 tsp almond extract
2/3 cup flour
1/8 tsp salt
2 Tbsp maraschino cherries, chopped
12 chocolate kisses, unwrapped

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Combine powdered sugar, butter, juice, almond extract, and food coloring. Add flour and salt. Mix well. Stir in chopped cherries.

2. Roll dough into balls and place on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 10-12 minutes or until edges are slightly browned. Immediately top each cookie with a kiss, pressing down firmly to flatten out cookies. Remove to cooling rack.

Makes 1 dozen.
Source: Food.com

Peppermint Rice Crispy Squares

2011-12-17T13:13:00.000-08:00

As I said in my last post, McCormick and Kim Ima, cookie-sharing expert and author of the new “The Treats Truck Baking Book,” worked together to create delicious new cookies for Christmas. The second recipe I tried from Kim were Peppermint Rice Crispy Squares.

I must confess - I didn't exactly follow Kim's ingredient list. You see, as I was looking for gingerbread marshmallows, I found peppermint ones instead. So instead of using regular mini marshmallows with peppermint extract, I decided to melt these babies instead.

I always forget how much I love homemade rice crispy treats. Make sure you use a big enough bowl though when melting and mixing everything together! One setback with the peppermint marshmallows is they make the squares very pink, like Pepto Bismol pink. I suppose you could add some food coloring to make them red. I'm not a fan of candy canes, so instead of adding crushed candy, I added snowflake sprinkles.

If you enjoyed these, make sure you enter the McCormick Giveaway by December 20, 2011 for your chance to win a copy of Kim's book "The Treats Truck Baking Book," ground ginger, ground cinnamon, and peppermint extract from McCormick.

Peppermint Rice Crispy Squares

3 Tbsp butter
1 package (10 ounces) mini peppermint marshmallows OR plain mini marshmallows + 1/4 tsp peppermint extract
6 cups crispy rice cereal
1/3 cup white chocolate chips
Sprinkles or crushed candy canes, for decorating

Line 9-inch square pan with parchment paper; grease paper. Melt butter in large saucepan on low heat. Add marshmallows; stir constantly until melted. Remove from heat. Add peppermint extract if using; mix well. Stir in cereal and white chocolate chips. Press into pan using a buttered spatula. Sprinkle top with sprinkles or crushed candy canes. If needed, place a piece of cellophane wrap or parchment paper on top and press down to flatten the treats. Cool 15 minutes then cut into squares.

Source: McCormick

Nutty Oatmeal Ginger Sandwich Cookies and a McCormick Giveaway

2011-12-15T18:01:00.000-08:00

How many of you this holiday season have baked cookies to give away? I certainly have, between the FB Cookie Swap, mailing some to friends who live far away (in the US), and bringing some in for coworkers. Quite frankly, I love it. I can try new recipes then give most of the calories away. Plus I sent cookies to friends I have never baked for before. Isn't the post office great? :D This year, McCormick and Kim Ima, cookie-sharing expert and author of the new “The Treats Truck Baking Book,” worked together to create delicious new cookies for Christmas. I made for you some Nutty Oatmeal Ginger Cookie Sandwiches.

Making was the Nutty Oatmeal Ginger Cookie Sandwiches was a change of pace for me because I rarely enjoy eating oatmeal cookies. One lady at work isn't a fan of chocolate, so I was hoping she'd like these. And she did. Even chocolate lovers like me enjoyed the ginger cookies. My favorite part was the nuttiness the cookies had from the pecans and oatmeal. I wouldn't mind making these again as individual cookies and not paired with the filling (although the filling was good too!) My concern I had with the recipe is the yield. It said 12 sandwich cookies, but the recipe used 2 sticks of butter and 2 eggs. I cut the recipe in half and still got 12 sandwich cookies. It doesn't specify how big to make the cookies, and I used my 2-inch cookie scoop.

Normally I would type out my recipe, but since it's getting late and I already forgot to post the link the first time around - here is the link to the recipe.

This holiday season, McCormick and Kim want to give one lucky reader a copy of Kim's book and few ingredients needed to make Kim's special Christmas recipes. To enter, leave a comment answering this: What cookies have you baked to give away?

Want some extra chances to win? You must have answered the question first or these entries will not count.

1. Follow me on Twitter. Come back here and post your username.
2. Like CM on Facebook. Post on my wall - say hi to me, ask a question, share a recipe, whatever (but be nice ;) ) Come back here and post your name.
3. Tweet the giveaway. Come back here and post that you did with your username.
4. Follow me on Pinterest. You don't have to follow all of my boards if something doesn't appeal to you, but you must follow at least one. Come back here and post your name and which board(s) you are following.

Deadline is Tuesday December 20 at midnight EST. You may not get it in time for Christmas, but they will be perfect for post-holiday recipes ;) US residents only.

The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap - Maple Gingersnap Cookies

2011-12-11T21:01:00.000-08:00

This year makes the First Annual Great Cookie Blog Swap, and I’m proud to say I joined in. Usually I stay away from these types of events. Not because I don’t want to, but when it comes to mailing packages, it can become a hassle (and a little pricey). I want to get more involved in the food community, so I decided to sign up and see what happens.

The recipe I chose was Maple Gingersnaps. Originally, I wanted to send Chocolate Gingersnaps, but because I blogged about them last year, it was encouraged to post a new recipe. One evening I was flipping through one of my million cookie cookbooks when bam Maple Gingersnaps popped out. Instead of molasses, it used maple syrup. Chill the dough, roll in cinnamon and sugar, bake, eat (or mail). Side note – maple syrup smells so much better than molasses. Never smell molasses. I made this recipe twice. The second time I ran out of maple syrup, so I did half maple, half honey. I figured using half molasses would clash with the maple (and maybe make it an ugly color).

The first dozen cookies I got was from Molly of Duchess of Fork. She sent me Snickerdoodle Biscoff Blondies. If you are a snickerdoodle fan (me!), then these are perfect for you (and me). Since I don’t live with anyone or have family nearby, I took most of them to work so I didn’t eat a whole dozen myself. The coworkers kept raving about them. They even got more attention than the peanut butter nutella crinkles I put next to them. Great job, Molly! And thanks :D

The second dozen cookies I got was from Lindsey herself of Love and Olive Oil (one of the event co-hosts). She sent me Chocolate Malted Sammies. Oh. My. They tasted like Oreos (except with a little more love ;) ). I already ate about four of them :X I took the rest into work so I don’t end up gaining 10 pounds. Thank you, Lindsey! :D

A special thank you to Lindsey from Love and Olive Oil and Julie from The Little Kitchen for coordinating this huge event! It even made the newspaper. The sign up had over 600 participants, so think about all those cookies being mailed! Can’t wait to hear the final count (silly people can’t keep commitments) and see everyone’s recipes.

Now for the Maple Gingersnap recipe!

Maple Gingersnaps

3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup shortening
1/2 cup maple syrup
1 egg
2 1/4 cups flour
1 1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp salt
2 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Beat together 3/4 cup sugar, shortening, maple syrup, and egg in a large bowl. Stir in flour, baking soda, ginger, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, cloves, and salt. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour.

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease cookie sheets. In a small bowl, combine remaining sugar and cinnamon. Shape dough into 2-inch balls; roll in cinnamon sugar mixture. Place 2 inches apart on a cookie sheet. Bake 7-10 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool a few minutes before removing to cooling racks.

Makes 2 1/2 dozen cookies
Source: Pillsbury Cookies, Bars, Brownies 1994, page 11

Peanut Butter Nutella Crinkles

2011-12-05T19:08:00.000-08:00

Now that Thanksgiving is over, I can finally focus on Christmas. I don’t like to see or hear anything Christmasy until Black Friday. I was sad I couldn’t bake to celebrate December 1 because I was stuck in Ohio for work until Friday night. On Saturday, I sat down with my million cookie books and couldn’t figure out what I wanted. Then I remembered – the night before my trip, I got the latest Cooking Club magazine and saw a recipe for Peanut Butter Nutella Crinkles.

I had both spreads in the pantry, so I knew what I was making :D Turns out I ate more Nutella than I thought, so I didn’t get the full 3/4 cup. Maybe 1/2 cup plus a tablespoon or two.

These cookies do need to freeze for 20 minutes before baking. BTW, who designs a freezer that is not deep enough for a cookie tray?? I had to play building blocks with Hot Pockets and meatballs for 10 minutes because the shelves on the door were in the way. When that failed, I took the one shelf off (which took another 5 minutes just to put back on). Obviously the designer was not a baker.

The texture is soft and moist in the middle. When I took them out of the oven, they felt too soft, so I put them back in. They do come together after cooling. The recipe says 3 1/2 dozen, but because I used my 2-inch cookie scoop, I got 2 dozen.

Peanut Butter Nutella Crinkles

1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup Nutella
1/4 cup peanut butter
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup sugar

Whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. In another bowl, beat butter, 1/2 cup sugar, Nutella, and peanut butter for 2 minutes or until creamy. Beat in egg and vanilla 30 seconds. Beat in dry ingredients 30 seconds.

Place 1/4 cup sugar in a small bowl. Shape dough into 2 inch balls; roll in sugar. Place on a parchment paper-lined cookie sheet; slightly flatten. Preheat the oven to 350F. Freeze the cookie sheets 20 minutes.

Bake for 8-10 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool on pan for 2 minutes then place cookies on wire rack; cool completely.

Makes 2 dozen cookies
Source: Cooking Club Winter 2012 page 7

Streusel Pumpkin Sweet Rolls

2011-11-24T18:32:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I feel I should specialize in bread dough. Cookies crumble. Layer cakes fall over. Brownies become overbaked. But bread dough? No problem. I already made Apple Cider Cinnamon Rolls, Baker's Dozen Yeast Rolls, and now these sweet rolls. Perfect for breakfast or dessert (or both!)

I cut the original recipe in half because it would've made two dozen rolls. As much as I love sweets, two dozen is way too many, even when visiting family for the holiday. Overall, I enjoyed these rolls and would make them again. Next time, I would add either walnuts or pecans to the streusel for a bit of a crunch and thicken the glaze with a little more sugar. I may even try using maple syrup instead of the milk.

Perfect for when you are tired of pie but have pumpkin leftover.

Streusel Pumpkin Sweet Rolls

1 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
5 oz warm milk (110 - 115 degrees)
1/2 cup pumpkin
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/2 tsp salt
2 1/4 cups - 3 1/4 cup flour

Streusel
3/4 cup flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp allspice
6 Tbsp butter, cold and cubed

Glaze
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 - 2 Tbsp milk

In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm milk. Add pumpkin, sugar, butter, salt, and flour. Beat until smooth. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough. Dough will be sticky. Turn onto a floured surface. Knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease the top. Cover with a towel and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.

Shortly before the dough is ready, combine flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and allspice; cut in butter until crumbly. Set aside 1 cup.

Punch dough down. Roll it out into 12 x 10 inch rectangle. Sprinkle remaining streusel on top. Roll up jelly-roll style, pinching seams to seal. Cut into 12 slices and place cut-side down into a greased 13 x 9 pan. Sprinkle with reserved streusel. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes.

Bake at 375F for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. After taking them out of the oven, combine powdered sugar, vanilla, and milk for the glaze. Drizzle over the rolls and serve warm.

Makes 12 rolls.
Source: Taste of Home Fall Baking 2011

This is a Test Post

2011-11-24T09:00:00.001-08:00

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Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-24T08:30:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving to all who are celebrating! If you are traveling, have a safe trip. If you are hosting, remember to breathe :) What's on your menu today? I'm going to share with you what I have planned in you case you need last-minute recipes.

Baker's Dozen Yeast Rolls - This is my first time doing this particular recipe from Taste of Home. They are dinner rolls with a honey-garlic butter mixture brushed on top. Since I don't think we will have enough oven room, I may have to do these in the toaster oven. Wish me luck!!

Mashed Sweet Potatoes - There really is no recipe to follow. Just peel and cube several sweet potatoes, boil about 15 minutes, drain, mash along with some butter, milk, salt, and pepper, and reheat if necessary.

Green Bean Casserole - I forgot to bring home the cookbook with my casserole recipe in it, so I had to look for one online. I'm staying away from canned soup and beans (can't give up the onions though!) and found a good recipe from Brown Eyed Baker. I'm going to do my little spin on it. The topping will be just the onions. For the filling, I'll be using frozen green beans sour cream instead of heavy cream.

Stove-Top Scalloped Potatoes - This will be the first year doing scalloped potatoes from scratch! Since I will have no oven space, I'm making these potatoes on the stove.

Stuffing - My mom will be making her homemade stuffing. She cooks onions, garlic, and celery in some water in a saute pan. After cooked and drained, she puts them in a bowl with bread cubes. I think she adds butter? Then puts them in a bowl and bakes in the oven.

Turkey Legs - Usually we do cornish hens, but last year we did just turkey legs (and one chicken leg for my mom). My mom and brother aren't big meat eaters, so instead of having tons of meat leftover, each person gets a leg. Considering all the sides we have to go with it, this is usually enough meat. I will probably just season the legs with salt and pepper and baste in butter throughout cooking.

Pumpkin Pie - Surprisingly, I'm not the one doing dessert. Every year, my dad insists on making the recipe on the back of the pumpkin can. Since he doesn't listen to me when I say cut the recipe in half, he makes two pies with filling leftover. This year, we put the extra filling in a ramekin since he never knows what to do with the extra. Pies are baked the night before.

Ocean Whitefish and Tuna - Can't forget the little guy!

Testing Comment Form

2011-11-17T17:58:00.000-08:00

I was never a fan of Blogger's default comment form. What do you think of the new one? Can you please leave me a comment so I know if I should keep it? Thanks!

Apple Cider Cinnamon Rolls

2011-11-16T18:41:00.000-08:00

Edit - hey this is my 350th post!!

Back in May for my birthday, my friend bought me a bookstore gift card because she knows I love cookbooks. I’ve been to the bookstore several times but didn’t know what to get. I have a tough time spending full price ($20+) on one book when I have so many. Finally in August as I wandered the store, I stumbled upon the cooking magazines. Bon Appetit, no. Food and Wine, no. Cooking Light, no. I love Taste of Home, so I looked for their selection.

Then it happened.

They say don’t judge a book by its cover, but how could you not when these gooey, delicious, amazing, apple cinnamon rolls stared at you? As September was approaching, I knew I wanted this fall baking book for its cover recipe (the other recipes looked good too).

I actually made these twice. The first time I subbed peaches because I had a half bushel. Well I didn’t account for peaches being juicier than apples, so the filling failed because it leaked everywhere. I had much better luck with the intended version. I’m still not good at rolling dough up though.

It’s hard to say how hard this recipe is since I’ve been baking for years, but I don’t think the dough is too complicated. The dough came together easily, so it’s a good start for those who want more yeast dough experience. What makes dough a little more advanced is the yeast itself. Always use a thermometer to measure your liquid temperature. If the liquid is too cold, the yeast won’t react. If the liquid is too hot, the yeast will die.

The recipe says to let sit 30 minutes before baking, but you can let them sit a little longer. I made these rolls and sat them on the counter covered with a towel while dinner was in the oven. As soon as I served dinner, I put the rolls in the oven so they’d be ready for dessert. So don’t panic if you can’t bake them right away. I think mine sat for about 45-60 minutes.

Apple Cider Cinnamon Rolls

3 1/4 cups flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 package yeast
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup apple cider
1/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp butter, softened
1 egg
2 cups chopped apples, peeled and cored (I used Golden Delicious)
1 1/4 cups packed brown sugar
3/4 cup chopped walnuts
3 tsp ground cinnamon

Frosting:
1 cup apple cider
1 cinnamon stick
4 oz. cream cheese, softened
2 Tbsp butter, softened
1/2 cup powdered sugar

Grease a 13x9 inch pan. In a large bowl, combine 2 1/4 cups flour, sugar, yeast and salt. In a small saucepan, heat the milk, cider and 1/4 cup butter to 120°-130°. It must be in this range. Too cold means the yeast won't react. Too hot means the yeast will die.

Add the milk mixture to the dry ingredients; beat just until moistened. Add egg; beat until smooth. Stir in remaining 1 cup flour to form a soft dough (dough will be sticky).

Turn onto a floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 5-6 minutes. Cover and let rest for 10 minutes. Roll into a 15x10 inch. rectangle. Spread remaining 2 Tbsp butter to within half inch of edges. Combine the apples, brown sugar, walnuts and cinnamon in a small bowl then sprinkle over the dough.

Roll up jelly-roll style, starting with the long side; pinch seam to seal. Cut into 12 slices. Place cut side down in greased pan. Preheat oven to 325F. Cover and let rise in a warm place for 30 minutes.

Bake for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown. Meanwhile, make the frosting. Place cider and cinnamon stick in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil; cook until liquid is reduced to 1/4 cup, about 20 minutes. Discard cinnamon stick; cool cider.

In a large bowl, beat cream cheese and butter until fluffy. Add powdered sugar and reduced cider; beat until smooth. Spread over warm rolls.

Makes 12 rolls.
Source: Taste of Home Fall Baking 2011

Apple Crisp Cupcakes

2011-11-15T15:25:00.000-08:00

Does anybody else feel like they’ve been cheated out of enjoying fall? I
live between mountains, and when the leaves changed, it was breathtaking
driving over them. Then Halloween weekend, Pennsylvania got about six
inches of snow, and now most of the trees are bare. Then yesterday it went
up to 70F!! In November!! The week before Thanksgiving nonetheless. What is happening to my beautiful fall season? I didn’t even get a chance to take pictures of the trees to share.

To keep fall in my heart, I’ve been doing some fall baking with apples.
Today I have cupcakes for you. The last time I made a fruit cupcake, it
didn’t have much fruit flavor. I wanted to make sure these cupcakes
screamed apple, so in addition to the apple chunks in the batter, I paired
it with an apple frosting. The first recipe I found had me boil apple cider
and then cool to room temperature. Didn’t have time for that. I wasn’t
having much luck until I remembered a buttercream recipe that used pumpkin butter. What if I switched out the flavor and spices?

Perfect. Each bite was full of apple goodness. In the middle of each
cupcake is a streusel filling, so it was like eating an apple crisp in
cupcake form.

Apple Crisp Cupcakes with Apple Butter Frosting

1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter, melted and cooled slightly
2 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/3 cup milk
1 apple, peeled, cored, and diced

Streusel
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
3 Tbsp butter, room temperature
Pinch of salt

Frosting
3/4 cup butter, room temperature
1/4 cup apple butter
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp vanilla
3 cup powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350F. Line a cupcake pan with 12 liners.

In a small bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, and salt. In another bowl, whisk together sugar, butter, eggs, and vanilla until smooth. Alternately whisk in flour mixture and milk, beating until smooth. Fold in apple.

For the streusel, in a small bowl, whisk together brown sugar and cinnamon. Add butter in pieces and rub in with fingertips until mixture holds together in small, moist clumps.

Scoop half of the batter into each liner. Place some streusel into each one then top with the remaining batter. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean (watch the streusel). Let cool in pan for 10 minutes then remove to cooling rack.

For the frosting, beat butter until smooth. Beat in apple butter, cinnamon, and vanilla. Gradually beat in sugar until thick and smooth.

Makes 12 cupcakes
Source: Cupcake recipe from 125 Cupcakes by Julie Hasson; Frosting by me (adapted from Baking Bites)

Halloween Winner

2011-10-25T18:05:00.000-07:00

Random generator picked 2, which means TexasQuilter won! Thanks to all who entered :)

Halloween Truffles

2011-10-20T08:56:00.000-07:00

I love holiday baking. Every time a store has its holiday section up, I go
and scout the baking supplies. I don’t know why. I have such a huge
collection of sprinkles and cupcake liners that I don’t need any more.

Last month I experienced a lot of change, and not in a good way. My friend
knew I was having a tough time, so she decided to surprise me with a few
baking presents from Amazon. I really wish she lived nearby so we could
bake together and have coffee dates

These Halloween truffles are dedicated to her because she gave me Halloween
sprinkles and liners. If they wouldn’t melt, I’d mail her some. Does anyone
have experience in mailing goodies?

They were simple (and messy) to make. You melt the three ingredients
together then chill until scoopable. Then you scoop into small balls and
roll them in sprinkles. For uniformity, I used a cookie scoop; however, you
can use a regular spoon.

Have a Halloween party soon? These truffles are perfect because you can
make a ton in such a short time. Even the kids can help (assuming you don’t
mind chocolate handprints in the kitchen ;) )

Halloween Truffles

6 ounces semi or bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
2 Tbsp butter, softened
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
Sprinkles to roll in
Mini cupcake liners

Put chocolate and butter in a bowl. Heat cream in a saucepan until it just comes to a boil. Pour over chocolate mixture; let stand 2 minutes. Stir with wire whisk until smooth. Refrigerate until firm enough to shape (an hour or so)

With a scoop or spoon, shape one level tablespoon of chocolate into a ball. Roll in sprinkles then place in a mini liner. Repeat. If the mixture gets too soft, refrigerate for 15 minutes then try again.

Place truffles in an air-tight container and refrigerate until firm. Store refrigerated.

Makes roughly 15 truffles.
Source: Land O Lakes

McCormick Halloween Giveaway

2011-10-17T04:00:00.000-07:00

Halloween is a great time to dress up your favorite desserts. I love
cupcakes, so it was only fitting to decorate those for the holiday. Did you
know that McCormick makes black food coloring? Perfect to create black
cats, spiders, and Black Velvet Cupcakes.

This Halloween, McCormick wants to make your holiday baking full of color,
flavor, and fun with their Tricks for your Treats kit. They provide food
coloring, candy, and ideas. You provide the creativity and fun.

McCormick supplied me with one of their baking kits, asking if I could
review their products. Of course! I am always a fan of McCormick.

The kit includes:

- Food coloring, both assorted and black
- Vanilla extract
- Wilton cupcake liners
- Orange oven mitt
- Silicone baking sheet
- Mini spatula
- Candy corn, Tootsie Rolls, and Dots (for decoration)
- And a list of Halloween ideas

I had the toughest time trying to decide what to make. The cat cookies? The
eyeball cupcakes? The vampire cupcakes? Finally I decided on Candy Corn Cupcakes, which I posted about earlier in the week. I used the assorted food coloring and candy corn to make them festive.

I also really wanted to use the black food coloring. I mean, how often do
you get the chance to use it? I was debating on the black cat cookies, but
while I was surfing online, I found a recipe for a black velvet trifle. I
was originally going to make that, but because I had leftover icing from
the other cupcakes, I decided to do Black Velvet Cupcakes.

McCormick wants to help you celebrate Halloween by sending one lucky reader
her (or his) own Tricks for your Treats kit! To enter, leave one comment on this blog post answering this question: What is your favorite part about Halloween?

There are also some extra entries you can earn. Leave one comment for each
item completed. You must answer the Halloween question before any of these extra comments will count:

1. Follow me on Twitter @chocolatemoosey and retweet the giveaway. Come back here and tell me you did so.

2. Like me on my Facebook fan page. Write on my wall – say hi, tell me your favorite recipe, show me what you baked, anything nice you can think of. Come back here and tell me you did so.

3. Like McCormick on their Facebook fan page. Tell them Chocolate Moosey sent you. Then come back here and tell me you did so.

4. Blog about my giveaway. Come back here and tell me you did so, providing the link as well.

5. Share either my Candy Corn Cupcake recipe or Black Velvet Cupcake recipe (or both, but only one will count) on either Facebook or Twitter (or both, but again only one will count). Tag Chocolate Moosey in it. Then come back here and tell me you did so.

The deadline is Saturday, October 22 at midnight EST. Only open to US
residents only.

Black Velvet Cupcakes

2011-10-16T11:59:00.000-07:00

Fall is in the air. Leaves are changing colors. Days are getting cooler (and darker). Halloween is almost around the corner, and stores are filled with black and orange.

Black and orange. Such iconic colors for Halloween. Orange desserts are pretty easy to make. Just add red and yellow food coloring. But what about black? Growing up, black was never food coloring you used.

Now McCormick offers black food coloring, which works very well. My hands and nails can attest to it haha I was surfing online when I got the idea for black velvet cupcakes. Just like red velvet but subbing the coloring.

When I took them to work, we discovered they also stain your lips and teeth. Don't worry! It goes away after drinking some water. For the frosting I just used leftover whipped cream w orange coloring added.

Black Velvet Cupcakes

4 Tbsp butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
2 1/2 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1 ounce black food coloring
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 cup plus 2 Tbsp flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp vinegar

Preheat oven to 350F. Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy, 3 minutes. Add egg and beat until incorporated.

In a separate bowl mix together cocoa, vanilla and black food coloring to make a thick paste. Add to the batter, mixing until completely combined.

Slowly add half of the buttermilk to the batter. Add half of the flour and salt and mix until combined. Repeat with the remaining milk and flour. Beat until smooth.

Add baking soda and white vinegar. Beat a few more minutes.
Spoon batter into cupcake liners and bake for 20-25 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean.

Let rest in the pan for 10 minutes, then place them on cooling rack to cool completely before frosting.

Makes 12 cupcakes
Source: Cupcakes from Java Cupcake; Frosting from Candy Corn Cupcakes

Candy Corn Cupcakes

2011-10-09T16:25:00.000-07:00

What is one of the best things about Halloween? CANDY CORN! I'm sure by now you have seen plenty of candy corn-related recipes. I am following Peabody on Twitter, and she posted a link to her candy corn whipped cream frosting. I just knew I wanted to make it, so I did.

I've learned you either love candy corn or you don't. What's nice about these cupcakes is it doesn't taste much like candy corn. Really it's just vanilla cake with food coloring. As for the frosting, I'm highly disappointed I didn't get a strong candy corn flavor. Honestly, if I didn't know any better, I would've thought it was regular whipped cream.

Then again, I didn't follow directions very well. I halved the recipe but failed to realize I was supposed to only use half of the cream to infuse with the candy corn. Whoops. Of course I didn't discover this until after I whipped it, so I just beat it a little longer with the powdered sugar. I wonder how much of a difference the plain cream and cornstarch would have made? Below I posted how I made it. You can view Peabody's recipe if you want the original version.

I have leftover frosting, even after halving it, so I need to find some more treats to bake. I did see a recipe for black velvet cake, so that may be coming soon.

What is your favorite Halloween candy?

Candy Corn Cupcakes

12 Cupcakes:
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
Pinch salt
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 egg whites
1 tsp almond extract
2/3 cup buttermilk
Red and yellow food coloring

Frosting Will need to sit overnight!
1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream, divided
1/2 cup candy corn plus 12 for garnish
1/2 cup powdered sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350F and line cupcake pan with fun Halloween liners.

2. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

3. In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar together until well combined. Add egg whites, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Mix in almond extract. Alternately beat in flour mixture and buttermilk, making three additions of flour and two of buttermilk, beating until smooth.

3. Divide the batter into 3 parts. Leave one untouched. For the second bowl, add a few drops of yellow until it looks like mustard. For the third bowl, add a few drops of red and yellow until it is orange. Layer the batter into each cup, starting with the yellow, then orange, then white.

4. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes then remove from the pan to cool completely.

5. For the frosting, put the 1/2 cup of candy corn in a bowl with the cream. Cover and refrigerate overnight. When ready, strain into a mixing bowl. Beat the cream until soft peaks form. Slowly add in powdered sugar until stiff peaks form. Pipe onto cooled cupcake. Top with sprinkles and a candy corn.

Makes 12 cupcakes
Source: Cupcake from 125 Cupcakes by Julie Hasson; Frosting adapted from Culinary Concoctions by Peabody

Baked Potato Soup

2011-10-02T16:29:00.000-07:00

I knew after waking up for work this past week, I was going to eat soup for dinner because I've been blowing my nose and sneezing for a few days. What really surprised me was the energy I had when I got home from work. Usually when I felt like this, I would make some ramen and call it a night. However, I decided to take advantage of it.

Sooo...how DO you make brown soup look appealing?

My first plan was kohlrabi soup. However, my kohlrabi was moldy!! Blahhhh. Almost grabbed the ramen, but then the bacon stopped me. Bacon and potatoes. How time consuming would baked potato soup be? I looked up some recipes real quick online. Most call for an already-baked potato. Nah, don't have time for that. What if I just cooked the potatoes right in the soup?

Normally, I peel my potatoes because by the time I use them, eyes are growing everywhere. Since these were still fresh, I left the skins on. I didn't cook the bacon until crispy, mainly because I LOVE when it's still slightly chewy.

Baked Potato Soup

3 strips bacon
1 small onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
3 Tbsp flour
1 tsp dried chives
Salt and pepper
3 cups chicken broth
2 large baking potatoes, cubed (peeling optional)
1/2 cup milk or cream
Chives for garnish (fresh or dried)

In a large pot, sauté bacon until crisp. Drain but leave the bacon
drippings. Sauté onion for a few minutes in the drippings then sauté garlic
for another minute. Add flour, chives, salt, and pepper; mix well.
Gradually add broth and scrape up the brown bits (keep them – they add
flavor). Bring to a boil; boil and stir for 2 minutes (broth should
thicken). Add potatoes. Cover and boil for 15-20 minutes. Stir every few
minutes because the potatoes may stick to the bottom. When potatoes are
done, add milk or cream; heat but do not boil. Garnish with chives on top.

Makes 4 servings

Source: Adapted by me

Chocolate Chip Cookie and Cream Tart

2011-09-26T19:02:00.000-07:00

If you ever visit my apartment unannounced, you’ll find cookbooks laying
everywhere – on the coffee table, on the kitchen table, on my desk chair,
on the floor, etc. When I was cleaning for my family to visit this past
weekend, I had about 20 books to put away on my shelf (that needs to be
reorganized). I love cookbooks and when I need a recipe, I tend to look at
pictures first.

When you read The Essential Chocolate Chip Cookbook, you can’t help but
drool over the pictures. After buying the book, the picture for the
Chocolate Chip Cookie and Cream Tart has always jumped out at me. I needed
a dessert for my family and decided to (finally) make the tart.

As the name implies, it is a giant chocolate chip cookie with fudge filling
and whipped cream on top. You make the base in a springform pan, bake it
for 17 minutes (I think mine got a little too brown), then let it cool. As
it bakes, make the fudge filling and let that cool. After cooling both
parts, spread the filling on top and chill for a bit. Then you whip some
cream for the top and voila – a simple yet delicious dessert that is always
in season.

After being successful with this dessert, I have a few ideas I could play
around with. I have individual springform pans, so I want to scale this
down to make just one that you can share or have all to yourself. Then
because the base is sturdy, I want to use it for Baked Alaska.

Chocolate Chip Cookie and Cream Tart

Crust
1 cup plus 2 Tbsp flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 stick unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
1/2 cup brown sugar
6 Tbsp sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Filling
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
1 Tbsp unsalted butter
2/3 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Topping
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 Tbsp powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a 10-inch springform pan.

Whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl and set aside.

In a large bowl, beat butter and both sugars until smoothly blended, about 1 min. Add egg and vanilla; beat until blended. The mixture may look slightly curdled. On low speed, add flour mix until incorporated. Mix in the chocolate chips.

Spread the dough evenly over the bottom of the pan. Bake just until the top begins to turn golden but center is still soft, 15-17 minutes. Cool crust completely.

While the crust is cooling, make the filling. In a saucepan, heat cream and butter until the cream is hot and butter melts. Do not let the cream boil. Remove from the heat and add chocolate chips. Let sit for 30 seconds then whisk until melted and smooth. Stir in vanilla. Let cool for 30 minutes.

Leaving a 1 inch edge, spread the filling over the crust. Refrigerate for about 30 minutes to firm. Remove from the pan.

Next, make the topping. In a large bowl, beat the cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla until firm peaks form. Spread the whipped cream over the chocolate filling, mounding it slightly in the center. Serve immediately or refrigerate until ready.

Source: The Essential Chocolate Chip Cookbook, p. 58

Peach Honey Jam

2011-09-16T17:18:00.000-07:00

What’s the best way to preserve summer? In a jar, of course! When I asked
for peach recipes, most people replied I should make jam. I’m not a big jam
eater, but I figured I would make a small jar for myself and give the rest
to my parents.

At the farm, they have a store where you can buy already-picked produce and
related food items, such as jams and breads. One item they had to sample
was a peach honey jam. I really enjoyed it, so I decided that’s the type of
jam I wanted to make. I couldn’t find a recipe for peach honey jam, but I
read you could sub out some sugar for the honey, as long as you don’t put
too much in. Since I cut the recipe in half, 1/4 cup of honey was plenty.
No more, no less.

I took it to work so I could make breakfast there (one perk of working in
an office environment). I shared with a few coworkers, who seemed to really
enjoy it.

I’m not perfect when it comes to canning, so I suggest you research a bit.
I had one out of two seals pop on me. That just means although the jam was
still edible, you needed to refrigerate it so bacteria doesn’t grow. What I
can tell you is as long as the jars are not cracked, you can get them cheap
at local flea markets. It’s the lids and bands that you need to keep
replacing, which can be found at your local store, including Wal Mart.

Since I ran out between making it and writing this post, I made another batch of jam last night. Instead of honey, I added some cardamom pods (perhaps one pod too many). I always forget I have ground CORIANDER, not cardamom, so at the last minute, I had to hurry up and break and grind some pods. It's hard to taste as you cook jam because it's so darn hot, but if you put a bit on a plate from the freezer and let it cool, you can taste that way. You can experiment with other spices, such as cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, whatever you're in the mood for. Be sure to tell me in the comments your favorite jam combination!

Be sure to check out my guide on how to peel peaches.

Peach Honey Jam

1 quart peaches (I guessed it to be around one pound), peeled, pitted, diced, and crushed
1/4 cup water
2 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 cup honey

Before making the jam, bring a giant pot of water to a rolling boil. This will be used to sterilize your jars. Boil the jar, lid, and band for at least 10 minutes. Let dry before filling. Do not touch the rim, lid, band, etc so you don't risk contaminating them. Once all of the jars are sterilized, dump the water. Rinse out the pan and refill.

Also, put a small plate in the freezer. This will be used to test the thickness of the jam later.

Combine peaches and water in a large saucepan. Cook gently 10 minutes. Add sugar and honey; slowly bring to a boil, stirring occasionally until the sugar dissolves. Cook rapidly until thick, about 15 minutes. Be careful! When you stir, it may want to splash. If you get hit, just run your hand until cold water. Also, do not leave your pot unattended. Mine tended to boil up, so I had to keep stirring to stop it from boiling over. When in doubt, wear an oven mitt.

Meanwhile, bring the giant pot of water back to a boil. You will use this to finish the sealing process.

After 15 minutes, take the plate out from the freezer. Place a small spoonful on the plate and tilt. If it is too runny, cook another 5 minutes. I found that mine didn't thicken up nicely; however, when I stored the jam in the fridge after opening, the jam did become a nice consistency. I wouldn't cook it much longer than 20 minutes because the jam will start to burn on the bottom.

When the jam is ready, grab a ladle and fill each jar up to the rim. Wipe off the opening with a dry, clean paper towel. Secure lid and rim. Submerge each jar into boiling water for 15 minutes to finish sealing. I've laid my jars on their side during boiling since standing them up doesn't completely submerge them.

Let dry and cool for 18-24 hours. The seal is set if you push down on the top and nothing pops back. If a seal is broken, store in the refrigerator.

Hard to say how much this makes, but I filled up a medium and small jar. Think small batch.

Source: Adapted from Ball Blue Book, 1969 page 79
---

Can't get enough peaches? Check out these past posts:

Chocolate Peach Cheesecake
Peach Crumb Cake

How To Peel Peaches

2011-09-07T16:30:00.000-07:00

Fuzzy peach skins. It amazes me that a lot of people at work don’t eat
peaches because of the skin. I mean, I can understand why. Fuzzy mold
freaks me out. But peaches? I can’t imagine not eating the skin. So whether
you are trying to please picky eaters or you are baking something where you
don’t want skins, the best way to peel peaches are blanching them.

What is blanching? It is a cooking process where you boil an ingredient for
some time then immediately plunge under cold water. Ideally it is used to
enhance the color, flavor, and texture of vegetables. However, it is also
used to peel ingredients, such as peaches, tomatoes, and almonds.

I’m still working on my half bushel of peaches, but I’m finding myself
peeling at least half of them. Here is a step-by-step guide on how to
easily peel peaches.

What you need:

Peaches
Pan of water
Empty sink
Colander

Cut an X into the bottom of each peach. Although this is not necessary, it
really does make peeling the skin easier because it gives you a peeling
point.

Bring a pan of water to a rolling boil. Carefully add the peaches. Boil for
30 seconds. Do not boil any longer because you don’t want to actually cook
the peaches.

If you have more peaches to boil, use a slotted spoon to remove each peach.
If not, you can dump the pan into the sink. Quickly put the peaches into a
colander and run under cold water to shock them. You really don’t need an
ice bath.

When they are cool enough to handle, start peeling. If you forgot to cut an
X earlier, don’t worry! You can still cut an X here to give yourself a
peeling point.

Your peaches are now ready for eating.

Need peach recipes? Try:

Chocolate Peach Cheesecake
Fruit Popsicles

Chocolate Peach Cheesecake

2011-08-29T13:10:00.000-07:00

A few weekends ago, the farm I always go to had a one-weekend-only special of pick your own peaches. Peaches are my favorite fruit. Give me veggies every day, but fruit? It's a love-hate relationship. I rarely pick up a piece of fruit and eat it like that, where as I can eat most veggies without any seasoning. Peaches I can eat as is, although to fill me up a little more I mix it with Greek yogurt. When we arrived at the farm, we picked 8 quarts. Before we left, I noticed a contest to win 1/2 bushel of peaches. I laughed and entered, not thinking much of it. Well, later that night I got an email, saying I was the winner.

Did you know a bushel is roughly 50 pounds of peaches? So that means I now have 25 pounds of peaches to use, on top of the 8 quarts I had picked earlier. Plus the tiny peaches from the peach tree my landlord planted in the back. If you think that your family could go through that much, don't forget I live alone.

After I found out I won, I made a list of anything and everything I could make. One item I really wanted to make is a cheesecake. One girl at work loves cheesecake, and because she won tickets on my behalf to an NFL game (not Steelers *pouts*), I knew I wanted to make this first.

At first I was planning on making a cheesecake with peach puree in the batter rather than a cheesecake with peach pieces throughout it. Then as I was eating at my kitchen table browsing a cookbook (I think I have more laying around the house than on my bookcase), I found a recipe for a chocolate cherry cheesecake. It had a chocolate cookie crust with a cherry pie filling and ganache on top. I decided to make this recipe but with peaches. First thing - how do you make peach pie filling that typically comes from a can? A few weeks ago, I made cherry pie filling (which I don't think I blogged about...). I went back to this recipe and subbed peaches for the cherries. Perfect!

This cheesecake recipe is rather simple compared to other ones I've made. Most want you to beat for a total of 10 minutes then bake with a waterbath. This one you do beat for several minutes until everything is incorporated. I used crushed (stale) Oreos leftover in my pantry for the crust. I was disappointed when I sliced into it because the filling wasn't very noticeable, but I promise you noticed when you ate it! I shared it at work and didn't take long for it to disappear after lunch.

Feel free to improvise the ingredients. Make the crust with graham crackers or vanilla wafers. Change the fruit in the filling. Use white chocolate for the ganache. This recipe provides a nice foundation for a wonderful end-of-summer dessert.

If you had a bushel of peaches, what recipes would you make?

Chocolate Peach Cheesecake

Peach Pie Filling

1 1/2 pounds peaches, pitted, peeled, and chopped into 1 inch pieces

1 cup water or peach juice

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup cornstarch

Crust

2 cups chocolate cookie crumbs

3 Tbsp butter, melted

Cheesecake

32 oz cream cheese, softened

3 eggs

3/4 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

Ganache

1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

1 cup (6 oz) semisweet chocolate chips

1. Make the pie filling first. In a large saucepan, combine water, sugar, and cornstarch. Stir over medium heat until thickened and bubbly. Cook, stirring 2 minutes. Remove from heat; stir in peaches. Let cool.

2. Preheat oven to 325F. Combine the cookie crumbs and melted butter. Press them in the bottom and up the sides of an ungreased 10-inch springform pan. Place the pan on a cookie sheet for easy transportation (and to catch any possible leaks).

3. In a large bowl, beat cream cheese until smooth. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add sugar and vanilla; beat until smooth. Add 1/2 cup cream; blend well.

4. Spoon half of the cream cheese mixture into the pan, spreading evenly. Spoon the pie filling evenly over the layer. You may have leftover syrup in the pan, depending on the ratio of syrup versus peach pieces. Spoon the remaining cream cheese mixture evenly over.

5. Bake for 65-75 minutes or until center is set. Cool in pan on wire rack for 1 hour.

6. Ganache: bring remaining 1/2 cup cream to a boil in small saucepan. Remove from heat. Stir in chocolate chips until melted.

7. Remove the side of the springform pan. Place cheesecake on a waxed paper-lined cookie sheet. Spread ganache over the top, allowing some to flow down the sides. Refrigerate at least 3 hours or overnight.

Serves 16

Source: Pillsbury Holiday Baking Nov. 2002, p. 39

Fruit Popsicles

2011-08-07T15:32:00.000-07:00

Fact: I love ice cream. I can eat it any time, any day, any place. It doesn't matter if it's 90 or -9 degrees outside. However, ice cream has all that fat from the heavy cream and whole milk. So when your craving strikes, why not try fruit popsicles? Pureed fruit, a little bit of water, sugar, and lemon juice. Sometimes you just want a healthy frozen treat. Or you want something cold for a sore throat, and all that dairy from ice cream doesn't help. Not to mention the vitamin boost from the fruit.

I don't buy popsicles from the store, but I imagine their ingredient list is probably ten times that. So far I've made strawberry and black raspberry. I'm sure you could do the same thing with blueberry. Or peach. Or pineapple. Use lime instead of lemon. Cut back on some of the sugar if the fruit is sweet. I've seen some recipes that add herbs, such as strawberry with cilantro. Yesterday I even saw a layered popsicle recipe.

I bought push pop molds awhile ago. However, if you don't have any containers, use Dixie cups and popsicle sticks. Or if you are in a really tight bind, you could probably use an ice cube tray. Since the push pops need to stand upright while freezing, I made a holder out of a box:

I adjusted the recipe so I only made six popsicles with my molds. Unless you have molds similar to mine, it's hard to say how many this recipe will make. At least the ingredient amounts are easy to double.

Berry Popsicles

12 oz (1 1/2 cups) strawberries or raspberries
6 Tbsp sugar
4 tsp lemon juice
1/2 cup water

Puree everything in a blender. Set a strainer over a bowl (preferably one with a spout) and strain out the seeds. You'll really need to force the puree with a spoon to get most of it. Pour the mixture into molds. Freeze until firm (roughly few hours). If you are having trouble removing from the mold, dip the bottoms in hot water for 20-30 seconds to loosen.

Berry Cheesecake Parfaits

2011-07-10T18:26:00.000-07:00

Summer - a great time to buy or pick your own fresh produce. There is a farm I've been visiting for the past few years to pick berries. In June, they have strawberries. In July, they have black raspberries. Because I moved away and no longer live in the area, I was really hoping the raspberries would be ready for the Fourth of July weekend. I missed strawberries because I came home a weekend too early. Fortunately, it was the first weekend to berry pick, so I didn't miss it. Hooray!

I knew I was going to make something raspberry for our mini family cookout. Originally, I was going to do an apricot and berry pie. Apricots were moldy. Cupcakes? The gas pilot on my parent's oven only works when it wants to. Cheesecake parfaits? Works for me. Besides, who really wants to turn on the oven in the summer?

The recipe called for lemon curd. However, I made homemade raspberry curd. It also calls for cookie crumbs in the bottom. I didn't have any, so I thought about graham crackers. But wouldn't they get soggy because you chill the parfaits overnight? Plus I'm not a fan of crust. I was going to sprinkle some on top before serving, but I forgot. It didn't help that I was serving these right before making the two-hour trip back to my place before the holiday traffic.

If any of you have made homemade cheesecake, you know it takes some time. Time to beat. Time to cook. Time to set. Time to chill. These parfaits cut down on all that time by using sweetened condensed milk. At first I was concerned because just like any passionate baker, I had a taste of the batter. It didn't taste that great, so I was worried it wouldn't turn out like it should. Well I followed the recipe as directed and knew the flavor would develop more overnight, so I went with it. Hopefully the raspberry curd would cover it up if it wasn't good.

Letting it sit made a huge difference. The texture turned into the thick, smooth cheesecake filling that you'd expect, much better than the batter I tasted. Pair that with the layer of raspberry curd, and you have yourself a nice cool summer treat.

Berry Cheesecake Parfait

Cheesecake

8 oz. cream cheese
1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp grated lemon peel
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1/3 cup sour cream
4 Tbsp your favorite curd, store bought or homemade
1/2 cup amaretti or graham cracker crumbs (optional)
1/3 cup fresh berries

Raspberry Curd
1 1/3 cup black raspberries (red will work too)
3/4 cup sugar
3 eggs
2 Tbsp water
1 tsp ground black pepper
Pinch of salt
6 Tbsp butter, cut into pieces

1. Curd: In a saucepan, heat together berries, sugar, eggs, water, pepper and salt. Stir with a wooden spoon. When berries start to break and the mixture bubbles, add butter. Stir until melted.

2. Increase heat, stirring constantly until it thickens. The back of the spoon should be coated.

3. Optional: Push the mixture into a sieve over a clean bowl. Discard seeds.

4. Let the curd cool while making the cheesecake: In a large bowl, beat together cream cheese, milk, lemon juice, lemon peel, and vanilla 60 seconds or until smooth. Beat in cream for 2 minutes or until thickened. Fold in sour cream.

5. In a container of your choice (I used wine glasses), place crumbs into each bottom if using. Add some of the cheesecake mixture. Add curd. Finish with another cheesecake layer. Do this for each container until all of the cheesecake mixture is gone. Be sure to refrigerate any leftover curd for future use.

6. Cover each container and refrigerate overnight to set the flavors. Serve with fresh berries on top.

Cheesecake: Cooking Club magazine Summer 2011, p. 28
Raspberry curd: French Cooking for Dummies

Recipe Inspirations - World Flavor Winner

2011-06-28T18:41:00.000-07:00

I texted my friend and asked her to pick a number from 1 to 29. She said 15. So that means Jennifer has the winning comment with:

sensimel said...
liked on fb shared and now here lol Jennifer (sensimel@yahoo.com)

Congrats, Jennifer! Hope you enjoy your trip around the world (in your kitchen)!

Recipe Inspirations - World Flavor Giveaway

2011-06-14T16:16:00.000-07:00

Ah summer. The most popular time for traveling - to the beach, to a neighboring state, maybe even to another country altogether. I don't know about you, but I love to eat locally when I travel. Why go to a Denny's or Applebees when I have several back home (Dunkin Donuts and Starbucks are exceptions when traveling on the highway)?

My favorite people at McCormick are back with some international flair. Last year, they released a new spice collection called Recipe Inspirations where they provide you pre-measured spices for a delicious meal. Looks like it was a big success because McCormick recently released its new World Flavor Collection - Recipe Inspirations from around the world.

If you are like me, you have a million countries to visit but traveling isn't cheap. Sometimes you'll just have to settle for a delicious meal instead. One meal I made from McCormick's collection was Chicken Tikka Masala (not to be confused with Marsala wine). I'm a huge Indian fan; however, my family nor friends like it or can't eat it because of the spice.

Tikka masala is a traditional Indian dish with chunks of chicken ("tikka") in a tomato gravy. It's actually a British Indian dish, not a true authentic Indian dish (read more here). Regardless of its origin, it is a simple dish to put together. You cook the chicken, add your spices, make the sauce, and let thicken a bit, all in one skillet (recipe provided on the spice packet).

McCormick and I are teaming up for another reader giveaway! Here is your chance to win your own World Flavors collection. The packets are Chicken Tikka Masala, Asian Sesame Salmon, Caribbean Grilled Steak, Chicken Marsala, Tuscan Chicken Stew, and Chicken Cacciatore.

The giveaway will remain open until Sunday June 26 at midnight EST. You can earn up to five chances (meaning you don't have to do all five):

1. Leave one comment telling me about your favorite world flavor, whether it's a specific dish or an entire cuisine.
2. Bonus entry if you comment with a fun traveling story.
3. Tweet this giveaway mentioning @chocolatemoosey. Then leave a comment here with your twitter name.
4. Post about this giveaway on your blog. Make sure you leave a comment with your link.
5. "Like" my Facebook fan page, share the link I posted on FB about this giveaway, then leave a comment on my blog with your name. If you already liked my fan page from before, you still need to share the link then let me know with your name.

Remember, for each step you complete, you must leave a separate comment. You do not need to complete all the steps. If you have to post four times in a row, that is fine. Each comment will be one entry, so you would lose entries if you posted it all in one.

One last detail - you must be a resident of the United States.

Strawberry Smores Tart

2011-06-05T12:53:00.000-07:00

Hope everyone enjoyed the first unofficial week of summer. It was in the 80s and 90s all of last week and the beginning of this week. I had every intention of going strawberry picking last weekend. However, when I called to verify, they said the berries weren't ready for picking. Boo! I had a long list of recipes to make, including Memorial Day's dessert. I stopped at another produce stand, but the strawberries were unripen. I ended up buying a pint at the grocery store, which I do as a last resort. I figured I would wait on making fresh strawberry jam and freeze pops, but I was still making this Strawberry Smores Tart.

It's a graham cracker crust with a layer of strawberries, topped with chocolate ganache and marshmallow cream. Just like a smores with the addition of strawberries. I followed the recipe as written except I had to add more graham cracker crumbs. This dessert definitely tastes good on a hot day, but you have to be careful and not let the ganache melt. I will definitely be making this recipe again and trying it with different fruits, such as peaches or bananas. If I had a blow torch, I'd toast the marshmallow creme and see if that makes it better.

Strawberry Smores Tart

Crust
2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter, melted

Tart
10 oz. semisweet chocolate
2/3 cup heavy whipping cream
1 1/2 cups thinly sliced strawberries
1/2 cup marshmallow creme

1. Preheat oven to 350F. In a small bowl, combine graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and melted butter; mix well. Press the crumbs into the bottom and sides of an ungreased 9-inch tart pan. Place onto a cookie sheet or round pizza pan for easier handling. Bake for 10 minutes. Cool.

2. While the crust is cooling, in a medium saucepan, heat the whipping cream over low heat until bubbles form around the edge. Remove from the heat and add chocolate; stir until melted. Cool 5 minutes or until lukewarm.

3. When the crust is cool, place sliced strawberries in a single layer on the crust. Pour the chocolate mixture on top.

4. Place the marshmallow cream in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on medium for 30 seconds or until softened. Stir just until smooth. Quickly drop spoonfuls over the chocolate layer. With a knife, swirl. Refrigerate at least 30 minutes before serving to set the chocolate.

8 servings.

Source: Pillsbury Farmer's Market Cookbook, July 2000, p. 84-85

Oreo-Stuffed Blondies

2011-04-21T16:00:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, a guest post at She's Becoming Doughmesstic featured oreo-stuffed blondies. Then I saw a post for other cookie-stuffed cookies. The idea is so crazy, I just had to try it. I was having a craving attack for chocolate chip cookies and since I had a package of Oreos, I decided to give these blondies a try.

Because it made an 8x8 pan, I kept the ingredient amounts the same. However, when it came to putting the Oreos into the dough, I felt that there wasn't going to be enough dough for the top layer, so instead of 12 cookies, I used 9. Then because I had trouble spreading the top layer, I just made sure the cookies were covered. Hopefully the dough would spread and rise?

To my relief, the Oreos were covered after baking. Because I used only 9 cookies and didn't want to split the cookies while cutting, I cut them into 9 huge squares. It was SO hard not to eat the whole pan! That warm, chocolatey gooeyness from the chocolate chips and the softness of the Oreo. Mmm I'm tempted to bake some right now as I type this post.

I wasn't a fan after they were completely cooled to room temperature. Don't get me wrong - I'd still eat them, but they lost that wonderful gooeyness. Plus the Oreo became a crunchy cookie again rather than melting into the dough (and in your mouth). If you want that little bit of an Oreo crunch rather than everything meshed together, then you'd like them once completely cooled.

Oreo-Stuffed Blondies

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
12 Oreos

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8x8 pan with foil and spray with cooking spray.

Cream the butter and sugars together until light and fluffy. Add in the egg and vanilla and mix until combined. Mix in the flour, salt, and baking powder until all the flour is incorporated into the dough. Fold in the chocolate chips.

Press half of the dough into the bottom of the prepared pan. Lay the cookies on the the dough and press down. Press the remaining dough on top of the cookies. The whole top may not be covered. Just make each cookie is encased in dough.

Bake for 25-30 minutes or until golden and a toothpick comes out clean. Cool 15 minutes before cutting.

Source: She's Becoming Doughmesstic

McCormick's Flavor Forecast Winner

2011-04-17T10:43:00.000-07:00

Thanks to everyone who entered the giveaway! There was a total of 38 comments, and after using a random number generator, it spit out 11. That means Deb. K is the winner with the comment:

Deb K said...

My favorite recipe is the Chicken Salad with Creamy Pepper Parmesan Dressing!

Now she can use her Flavor Forecast kit to make that chicken salad.

McCormick's Flavor Forecast 2011 Giveaway

2011-04-07T16:18:00.000-07:00

Huge thank you goes out to McCormick for once again being an awesome company! They are so awesome, they want to give YOU, one lucky reader, your own Flavor Forecast kit!! That includes what you see in the picture above - a Flavor Forecast book, recipe cards, various gourmet spices, linguine, almond butter, chili sauce, coconut milk, and a $25 American Express gift card.

The giveaway will remain open until Saturday April 16 at midnight EST. You can earn up to five chances.

1. Leave one comment telling me which pairings are your favorite or absolutely disgust you.
2. Bonus entry if you comment with a McCormick recipe you want to make from the Flavor Forecast website.
3. Tweet this giveaway using @chocolatemoosey. Then leave a comment here with your twitter name.
4. Post about this giveaway on your blog. Make sure you leave a comment with your link.
5. "Like" my Facebook fan page, share the link I posted about this giveaway, then leave a comment with your name. If you already like my fan page from before, you still need to share the link then let me know with your name.

Remember, for each step you complete, you must leave a separate comment. You do not need to complete all the steps. If you have to post four times in a row, that is fine. Each comment will be one entry, so you would lose entries if you posted it all in one.

One last detail - you must be a resident of the United States.

Cilantro With Nut Butter and Mustard With Vermouth

2011-04-02T18:58:00.000-07:00

McCormick launched its 2011 Flavor Forecast, which lists the top ten food pairings for the year. Earlier, I recapped those ten pairings.

Thanks to McCormick, I had the opportunity to test out some of these pairings. First up was the pairing of cilantro and nut butter. McCormick has a recipe for Chicken and Cilantro Pesto Pasta, which sounded easy to put together. The nut butter used was peanut.

First, you make the pesto in the blender. While the pasta is boiling, you make the chicken peanut butter mixture. Drain the pasta, toss with pesto, and put chicken on top. I never used fresh cilantro before. I wasn't even sure if I ever had cilantro before, but after one bite, I recognized the flavor. Very delicious if you enjoy cilantro. You can find the recipe on McCormick's site.

Next up was mustard and vermouth. At first, I ruled out the recipe for Dirty Martini Steak Kabobs because I had to buy vermouth, which I thought was expensive. However, I decided stop by the liquor store and see how much it was. Since vermouth is a type of wine, I'm looking up and down the wine aisle, hoping the find the word vermouth printed on the bottle. No luck so as I was walking out the door, the guy asked what I was looking for. I told him I needed vermouth for a recipe. Turns out vermouth had its own section next to the gin. Um ok? Plus side a small bottle was around $4, so I went for it.

This recipe is also easy to put together if you prepare ahead of time. First you need to marinade the meat at least two hours, longer for a stronger flavor. I decided to do it the night before work so I could fix it for dinner the next day. To save even more time, you could cube it, but I was tired and left the steak whole. When you're ready to cook, you boil pearl onions for 5 minutes and then remove the paper. However, when it came time to thread the skewers and alternate with olives, I didn't realize my olives needed to be pitted. Luckily, I bought a pitter for $3 on clearance when I worked at Target, thinking I was going to do something with cherries that summer (never happened). After they were assembled, I broiled them for 5 minutes. Very delicious and definitely a meal I'm going to make again soon. You can find the recipe on McCormick's site.

Want to try these flavor combinations (and more) yourself? Stay tuned for another McCormick giveaway.

McCormick's Flavor Forecast 2011 List

2011-03-27T14:47:00.000-07:00

McCormick is launching its Flavor Forecast for 2011. What does this mean to a foodie? Just like how the latest fashion trends change every year, so do flavor combinations. According to McCormick:

As people have become more adventurous and seek global cuisines, the McCormick Flavor Forecast has been on the leading edge of identifying emerging tastes and trends.

The flavor experts at McCormick were joined by a trendsetting group of chefs and food personalities to identify this collection of influential undercurrents that will shape the way we eat in the year ahead of beyond."

Being a huge Top Chef fan (too bad I didn't watch it until season 7 and am now attempting to catch up), I was pretty excited to see some of chefs and food personalities included Richard Blais (season 4 which I still have to watch and All Stars, which he better win Wednesday), Michael Voltaggio (season 6 which I still have to watch), and Johnny Iuzzini (judge from Just Desserts). Being a home baker, I think it's great to recognize some of the contributing chefs.

I'll admit most of these flavorings I would never have considered, but part of being a foodie is discovering new things. Here is McCormick's Top 10 Flavor Pairings for 2011:

1. Fennel and Peri-Peri Sauce
2. Pickling Spice and Rice Vinegar
3. Roasted Curry Powder and Wild Mushrooms
4. Caramelized Honey and Adzuki Red Beans
5. Ancho Chile Pepper and Hibiscus
6. Thyme and Stone Fruits
7. Mustard Seed and Vermouth
8. Cilantro and Nut Butters
9. Herbes de Provence and Popcorn
10. Green Peppercorn and Goat's Milk

Are there any pairings on the list you want to try? For more information and recipes for each pairing, visit McCormick's Flavor Forecast page. I made a tasty dish using cilantro and peanut butter, and hopefully later this week, I'll be pairing mustard seed and vermouth. Stay tuned this week for Chicken and Cilantro Pesto Pasta and a giveaway.

French Fridays With Dorie - Scallops With Caramel Orange Sauce

2011-03-24T21:01:00.000-07:00

This week's French Fridays With Dorie's recipe was her Scallops with Caramel Orange Sauce. Originally, I thought about not doing it because I'm not a huge fan of navel oranges. Then I went to the seafood counter to check out the salmon for a ravioli dish I wanted to make. A little pricey for me, so I decided to wait. When I walked past the ready-to-grab seafood cooler, I noticed little containers of bay scallops, ready to be thrown into a pan and consumed. I picked up a small amount, just in case I didn't like the sauce. I forgot to check the recipe to see what was actually in the sauce, but I figured I would grab the scallops now and figure it out later.

When I got home, it was dinnertime. It was too late to really cook anything (read: too tired and hungry). Then I find myself staring at these scallops. Well they were already thawed. I looked up the recipe and realized it didn't take long to make these at all. Even Dorie says "it takes less time to make than a hamburger." The sauce is made up of sugar, dry white wine, and orange juice. I had sugar. Didn't have the wine so I used a sweet peach chardonnay. For the orange juice, I used blood oranges.

I had to make two attempts at the sauce. First time, I let the sugar cook too long, and the caramel got too dark. Then when I was adding the butter at the end, I put in too much. You see, I cut the recipe in half but forgot about halving the butter. Whoops.

The scallops...I guess sea scallops are way bigger than bay scallops? Because mine were definitely tiny. Regardless, I enjoyed this dinner. At least now I have a quick, elegant dinner recipe I can put together at the last-minute.

As per Dorie's request, FFWD participants do not publish the recipes on their blogs. Rather, it is encouraged to purchase Around My French Table. I do highly recommend buying this book and joining us every Friday to try another delicious recipe.

French Fridays With Dorie - Salted Butter Break-ups

2011-03-17T21:01:00.000-07:00

I'm really bad at this whole group cookbook thing. I was kicked out of Tuesdays With Dorie. So glad French Fridays With Dorie doesn't care how often you participate. This is my second recipe made from Ms. Greenspan's book, Around My French Table. Her Salted Butter Break-Ups were very easy to put together. You put flour, sugar, sel gris (sea salt), butter, and water in a food processor. Pulse to make the dough. After chilling for a bit, you roll it out, make an imprint with your fork, then brush with an egg yolk glaze. Minus the chilling time, it didn't take long at all.

Sel gris, which translates to grey salt, is a moist sea salt used in France. Ironically, a few weeks ago, I picked up some French grey sea salt at Penzeys. I didn't get much of a saltiness to my cookies though. I think mainly because Dorie said to use a coarse grain, and I picked up a fine grain. Maybe next time I'll increase the amount? Or mix some in with the yolk glaze.

My favorite part of the cookie was the crispiness on the outside. The middle was tender and although good, I preferred the edges. My hatch marks did hold up, but it's not nearly as pretty as Dorie's picture.

As per Dorie's request, I'm not going to post the recipe. Instead, I'm going to promote her book and encourage you to go buy it! Promise you won't be disappointed.

Irish Soda Bread

2011-03-16T16:19:00.000-07:00

Every time St. Patrick's Day rolls around, I get excited and "homesick" at the same time. It's been about four years since I studied abroad in Ireland. I had the privilege of spending St. Patty's Day in the heart of it all - Dublin, Ireland. Someday I'll make it back, this time with a better-equipped camera.

Surprisingly, I don't remember eating much soda bread. I think I bought a loaf at the bakery once. I even asked my best friend who lives there, and she said she typically doesn't make or eat it herself. My parents were visiting this past weekend, so I decided to make a loaf in honor of the holiday coming up. Plus I can send most of the loaf home with them so I eat less of it.

Irish soda bread got its name because it uses baking soda as a leavening agent instead of yeast. This also means the dough comes together very quickly and is easy to make. Most traditional recipes use four ingredients - flour, salt, baking soda, and buttermilk. Typically, I use the milk + vinegar sub for buttermilk, but I feel that some recipes, like this and waffles, need authentic buttermilk. For my bread, I added a handful of raisins (or sultanas as the Irish call them). Right before baking, a cross is cut into the top of the bread, which, according to Irish folklore, is said to ward off evil or to let the fairies out.

Although on the outside the bread looked great, the middle was still slightly raw. I tried putting it back in, but the damage was done. Not sure what happened. Either it needed more time or my dough was too wet. I still have some buttermilk left, so maybe I will cut the recipe in half and try again.

Irish Soda Bread

4 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 3/4 cups buttermilk
1/2 cup raisins (optional)

Preheat oven to 425. Brush a baking sheet with oil or line with a silicone mat or parchment paper.

Sift flour, salt, and soda in a large bowl. Make a well in the middle and pour in the buttermilk. Mix well with a spoon, then with your hands. The dough should be very soft but not too wet. Mix in raisins, if using

Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface. Knead lightly and briefly - too much will toughen it while too little means it won't rise properly. Shape into an 8-inch round loaf. Place onto baking sheet and cut a cross in the top.

Bake 25-30 minutes. It should be golden brown and sound hollow when tapped on the bottom. Transfer to a wire rack and cool slightly. Serve warm.

Sources: "A Little Irish Cookbook" by John Murphy and "Irish Pub Cooking" by Love Food.

Campbell's AdDress Your Heart Campaign

2011-03-01T18:55:00.000-08:00

I was reading a magazine article the other day about heart disease. It roughly kills 1 out of every 3 American women, making it the number 1 cause of death for both sexes nationwide. Yikes! What I found interesting was the symptoms for a heart attack may vary by gender. One man's experience said he had intensified chest pain, the obvious signs of a heart attack. However, one woman's experience said it felt like she had the flu. After at least three hours waiting in the emergency room then more time for some blood tests, the doctors realized she had a heart attack. I think this quote sums it up: "I don't know which is more incredible - that it took so long for me to get a diagnosis, or that I survived the wait."

Campbell's is teaming up to raise awareness of heart disease in women with their campaign, "AdDress Your Heart." This is a quote from the campaign that explains how Campbell's is helping:

“This is our fifth year supporting the American Heart Association’s Go Red For Women movement and we are proud that our ‘AdDress Your Heart’ campaign helps people to learn more about ways to lead a heart-healthy lifestyle,” said Morrison. “At Campbell, we are dedicated to making delicious, heart-healthy products, and we will continue our mission to help people eat and live better.”

Campbell's has over 100 convenient, great-tasting products that fit into a heart-healthy lifestyle, including soup, V-8, spaghetti sauce, and canned chicken. I was asked to help raise awareness about living a healthy lifestyle. For me, I go to Zumba at least twice a week and eat lots of vegetables.

And what better way to raise awareness than with a giveaway of healthy heart products from Campbell's? I shared mine with my family, even the cat:

The giveaway will remain open until Tuesday March 8 at midnight EST. You can earn up to five chances.

1. Leave one comment telling me how you live a heart healthy lifestyle.
2. Tweet this giveaway using @chocolatemoosey. Then leave a comment here with your twitter name.
3. Tell your friends on Facebook, then leave a comment, telling me you did so.
4. Post about this giveaway on your blog. Make sure you leave a comment with your link.
5. "Like" my Facebook fan page, then leave a comment with your name.

Remember, for each step you complete, you must leave a separate comment. If you have to post five times in a row, that is fine. Each comment will be one entry, so you would lose entries if you posted it all in one.

One last detail - you must be a resident of the United States.

Guest Post - Rainbow Cake

2011-02-27T12:41:00.000-08:00

Today's post is brought to you by my best friend Emer, who lives in Ireland (which is why I didn't go to the party :( ) She made a fun, pretty cake for her birthday and wanted to share.
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Ever since I was a kid, I have loved rainbows. I had rainbow scarves, belts, necklaces...everything! I had forgotten about it when I became a grown up, until I saw this amazing cake on the blog I Am Baker.

It was a few weeks before my 23rd birthday, so I became determined to make this cake. I actually arranged a party, just so I would have people to feed/show off the cake to! I made it the night before, with the help of my boyfriend. The results were better than I expected, since my past experiences of full-size cakes had failed. I'm usually a cupcake person.

It was easy enough to make but very time consuming. I used a mix because I usually fail with making big cakes from scratch. I followed the recipe from I Am Baker's website.

I made the vanilla cake mix according to the instructions on the box. Then I split it into six and put colouring into each part. It's important to mix the food colouring in very thoroughly or there will be white or faded patches when the cake is done.

It had six layers so I put two tins at a time in the oven. If you have a bigger oven and more tins, it will be much quicker.

I sliced the tops off each layer so they are relatively flat. Then I put cream cheese frosting in between the layers to stick them together. For the frosting, I beat together 1 cup of butter, 16 oz of cream cheese, 1 cup of powdered sugar, and 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract.

Then I sliced down the sides with a sharp knife to make sure they were smooth. I covered it in the cream cheese frosting to help the fondant stick later.

Then I rolled out store-bought fondant and covered the cake. There are many videos describing how to do this. I did it very badly because it was my first time and ended up with lots of lumps and holes. I covered them with purple icing decorations

I drew Hello Kitty on the top

The big suspense was when I had to cut it at the party. I was afraid it would be messy inside, but luckily it was perfect!

Everyone loved it! This is a good cake to make if you want to impress somebody. I plan to make it again in different colours. Maybe a cake decorated with a dragon on top, with flame colours inside (red, orange and yellow) for my boyfriend's birthday.

- Emer
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McCormick's I Heart You Winner

2011-02-26T07:31:00.000-08:00

I tried picking a winner on Tuesday, but I swear I have the worst internet. Ever. And I can't complain because I live in the middle of nowhere, and this was the only company who'd give us internet. Between that and not being home MWF nights, it makes it hard for me to keep up.

ANYWAY

I used a random number generator online, and it shot out the number 3. That means "Susitravl" won with her comment, "We love to share Chocolate Souffle at our favorite romantic restaurant. Wish I could make it at home." Congrats Susitravl! I will be emailing you for your information.

Stay tuned. If my internet cooperates, I will be having more recipes and giveaways to post.

Review: Tasty Image

2011-02-15T04:00:00.000-08:00

Ever see a birthday cake with someone's photograph on it, and you wonder how it was done and what makes it edible? Tasty Image developed a method that takes any photo or graphic and prints it on chocolate. The best part is it is 100% edible. From a video I watched, it looks very similar to an inkjet printer but with edible ink.

I was contacted to try some samples. I gave them a blog logo and a picture of Murray. I couldn't stop laughing when I opened my box. So cute! I got a small coin, a lollipop, and a square. They taste great too (although I was hesitant in eating Furball). The actual photograph part tastes like a thin sheet of sugar, so TECHNICALLY it isn't printed onto the chocolate itself (but who's counting?).

I think printed chocolates would make a wonderful gift. The only problem I see is eating someone you know lol The items range from candy bars and lollipops to little bonbons and coins. There's even a chocolate business card, but unless you are going to include a paper copy in the case, eating it kinda defeats the purpose of giving out the card in the first place.

My rating? I would definitely use their services again, probably for party favors or a nice gift. You can order these cute little chocolate creations at Tasty Image.

I Heart You Giveaway

2011-02-13T11:15:00.000-08:00

McCormick has done it again! Last year, they asked me to be a part of their Red Letter Day. This year, they asked if I wanted to be a part of their "So Many Delicious Ways To Say I Heart You" Day. Of course I said yes because I had fun doing it last year. Too bad Murray isn't around to sit in the box.

Although he was around for the Super Bowl

After a long day of work, I came home to find this lovely red box on the back porch. I'm just glad FedEx found the house with my directions. If I don't tell them where, usually it ends up at the neighbor's. Last year they focused on crafts and baking. This year, their theme is I Heart You and made a Relationship Matrix where you pick a person and a relationship status, and that gives you a recipe to make.

Last year, I made red velvet cupcakes. This year I still wanted to make red velvet but in a different form. My two final picks were red velvet brownies or red velvet bonbons. Since the bonbons would take extra time to make, roll, chill, dip, etc. I opted for the brownies. Plus my relationship matrix chart says to give these to coworkers, and that's what I was planning on doing since that's a lot of brownies for one girl.

However, I was torn. Of course I wanted to use McCormick's brownie recipe, but I did see some red velvet cheesecake brownies pop up in the blog world. My idea was to put both recipes together - use McCormick's brownies for the base with Baking Bites cheesecake layer. I even used sprinkles on top.

They turned out to be cakey, which is understandable since it is based on red velvet cake. With that said, I thought they were a tad bit dry on their own BUT were perfect with a cup of coffee or tea.

Huge thank you goes out to McCormick for being an awesome company! They are so awesome, they want to give YOU, one lucky reader, your own I Heart You box!! The giveaway will remain open until Monday February 21 at midnight EST. You can earn up to five chances.

1. Leave one comment telling me your favorite romantic dessert.
2. Tweet this giveaway using @chocolatemoosey. Then leave a comment here with your twitter name.
3. Tell your friends on Facebook, then leave a comment, telling me you did so.
4. Post about this giveaway on your blog. Make sure you leave a comment with your link.
5. "Like" my Facebook fan page, then leave a comment with your name.

Remember, for each step you complete, you must leave a separate comment. If you have to post four times in a row, that is fine. Each comment will be one entry, so you would lose entries if you posted it all in one.

One last detail - you must be a resident of the United States.

Lemon Speculoos Ice Cream

2011-01-23T11:12:00.000-08:00

I've had David Lebovitz's book The Perfect Scoop on my wish list for the past, I don't know, five years? Every birthday and every Christmas list had this book on it. Every time the used bookstore had a sale, I would browse their cookbook section, hoping this book would show up (side note - I never buy books at full cover price). Finally, this past Christmas, I didn't ask for much - two books and a few movies.

Surprisingly, I don't own an ice cream maker. My parents asked if I was going to buy one now. I said no, I've made ice cream by hand before and plan on doing it again. The first flavor I made was Lemon Speculoos. Speculoos is, simply put, a Belgium gingersnap. The book offers a recipe to make homemade speculoos, but I had leftover store-bought gingersnaps I bought on clearance because they were broken. I must admit, I was a little unsure about this. I LOVE lemon, but lemon and gingerbread??

I'm not sure how David decided on lemon and gingerbread, but this ice cream was definitely not a let-down. I served it with warm double chocolate mousse cake. Hey can't go wrong with lemon and chocolate (or lemon and vanilla, or lemon and cheesecake, or...) Because I made the ice cream by hand, it is hard to scoop. Hence why my ice cream looks a little melted because you have to let it sit out for about 10 minutes.

Since I pretty much followed his recipe without changing anything (except cutting the amount in half), I'm not going to post the recipe. I can, however, encourage you to buy the book because it has so many great ice cream recipes and won't disappoint you. The recipe is on page 86. I'm currently making the base for Tin Roof ice cream as I type this. Great way to use leftover peanuts that have been sitting on my counter the past month...

French Fridays with Dorie - Michel Rostang's Double Chocolate Mousse Cake

2011-01-21T19:53:00.000-08:00

For Christmas, I got Dorie's new book Around My French Table. I finally got around to joining French Fridays with Dorie. This week's recipe was Michel Rostang's Double Chocolate Mousse Cake. Since my parents were visiting last weekend, this cake was perfect to make so I didn't get stuck eating it all.

Dorie suggests serving it three ways - chilling it only, baking it and serving it warm, or baking it and serving it chilled. I served it warm with lemon gingersnap ice cream (which will be a future blog post). This cake went quickly and I would make it again. However, I had a leftover slice chilling in the fridge, and the texture after it was chilled just tasted...weird.

If you want to read about other members' results, you can find the links at French Fridays with Dorie.

Hungarian Kohlrabi Soup (Kalarabeleves)

2011-01-09T17:15:00.000-08:00

Kohlrabi - a vegetable I bet most of you have never heard of, let alone eaten. It first started with me when I was reading my always-reliable vegetable cookbook - Greene on Greens. One of the chapters is dedicated to kohlrabi, which I skipped because I've never heard of it.

Then one day, I was shopping at my local farm when I spotted some kohlrabi for sale. I have a habit of buying new things and figuring out what to do with them later. Remembering the chapter I skipped, I grabbed a bunch and made them for dinner.

That was probably a few years. I really don't remember what I made with it. Probably just sauted some in a pan with seasoning. Fast forward to last month, I was down in Pittsburgh's Strip District for the first time. Being a foodie, I was in love (and overwhelmed!) with all of the stores. My main reason for going was to check out Penzey's Spices, where I spent $25 in spices that I've never used (or even heard of). One of the stores was this produce place. I'm sure it had a name but never saw a sign anywhere inside. That's when I spotted the kohlrabi. All I could remember was I enjoyed eating it, so I bought another bunch.

Kohlrabi translates into "cabbage turnip," which is the best way to describe this vegetable. Eating it raw reminds me of a radish without such a strong bite. And although it looks rather blah, it turns into a yummy dish. I was going to just saute it as a side when I opened my book and found a soup recipe. Not only are the bulbs edible, so are the leaves, and this soup incorporated both.

The soup originally called for boned-in chicken to be cooked in the broth, but I wasn't feeling it. Plus I had a sweet potato ready to go rotten, so I added that instead. I also omitted the bacon because I was afraid it would overpower the kohlrabi. To prepare kohlrabi, you break off all the stems until all you have left is a sad, green bulb. Then you peel the bulb until you see its flesh.

Hungarian Kohlrabi Soup (Kalarabeleves)

1 Tbsp butter
1 large onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 large carrot, chopped
3 1/2 cups chicken broth (or veg broth to make it vegetarian)
1 cup water
1 pound kohlrabi with leaves
1 sweet potato
1 Tbsp flour
2 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp lemon juice
Salt and pepper

1. Saute the onion in large skillet with 1 Tbsp butter for 1 minute. Add garlic and carrots. Cook, covered, for 5 minutes. Add 1 cup chicken broth and continue to cook covered for 10 minutes. Transfer mixture to a blender and blend until smooth. Pour into a big saucepan.

2. Meanwhile, boil a small pan of water. Trim, peel, and dice the kohlrabi. Peel and dice the sweet potato. Wash the kohlrabi leaves then boil for 1 minute. Drain, cool, and chop. Set aside.

3. Once the broth is pureed, add the remaining 2 1/2 cups chicken broth, water, kohlrabi, and sweet potato. Cook until veggies are tender, about 15 minutes.

4. In a small saucepan, melt 2 Tbsp butter. Stir in flour and cook for 2 minutes. Whisk in some hot soup. Whisk mixture together then pour back into the rest of the soup. Cook until slightly thickened, 10 minutes. Add kohlrabi leaves. Cook for another 5 minutes. Add lemon juice, salt, and pepper to taste.

Serves 6-8.

Source: Greene on Greens, page 213

Cupcake Christmas Tree

2011-01-07T18:49:00.000-08:00

Since this year was the first time I owned my own Christmas tree, I decided to make it cupcake-themed. 34 ornaments later, with the help of two friends, this is what I accomplished:

Pretty much every store had a cupcake ornament. Some were in sets, so it wasn't like I bought 34 individual ornaments. Next year's goal is to find a cupcake topper.

Chocolate Gingerbread Cupcakes

2011-01-02T09:00:00.000-08:00

Gingerbread. It's one of those flavors that screams Christmas. And when you know Christmas is just around the corner, you can almost taste it. Last post I made cookies. This post I have cupcakes.

Gingerbread cupcakes with cream cheese icing - definitely a match made in heaven. I had no trouble making these cupcakes. It's pretty much beat everything in a bowl, scoop, and bake for 20-some minutes. Perfect to eat during the snow fall.

Chocolate Gingerbread Cupcakes

1 1/4 cups flour
1/2 cup cocoa
2 tsp ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup oil
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line cupcake liners with paper. In a small bowl, mix together flour, cocoa, ginger, cinnamon, baking soda, allspice and salt.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together sugar, oil, egg, and vanilla until smooth. Alternately whisk in flour mixture and buttermilk, making three additions of flour and two of buttermilk, beating until smooth. Stir in chocolate chips.

3. Scoop into pan. Bake 22-27 minutes or until tops spring back when lightly touched. Let cool for 10 minutes then remove to cooling rack.

Cream Cheese Frosting

4 oz. cream cheese, room temp
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temp
Pinch of salt
2 1/4 cups powdered sugar

1. Beat together cream cheese, butter, and salt. Beat in sugar, 1/2 cup at a time. Increase speed to medium-high and beat until light and fluffy.

Welcome, 2011!

2011-01-01T19:40:00.000-08:00

The object of a New Year is not that we should have a new year. It is that we should have a new soul. -G. K. Chesterton

Happy New Year to all my fellow foodies and visitors! 2010 has been a huge turning point in my life - new job, new town, new challenges. I also lost a dear friend from childhood. Leigh Heather Weightman had just reached her 5 years of surviving leukemia, yet a tragic car crash took her life. She has touched so many lives with her strength, there is even a star named after her. 2011 will be hard without her, but we all know she is shining down on us (literally, part of the Big Dipper I believe).

New Year's resolutions...what's the point? We should be making goals for ourselves all year-round. However, sometimes we get so caught up in life, we forget to take a few steps back and look at the big picture. One thing I'm ashamed of is neglecting my blog. Food means everything to me, and at one point I had a good thing going. Visitors, comments, contests, promotions. Then life got in the way, and it all fell down.

My resolution is simple - build Chocolate Moosey back up. Get back into blogging. Even if I have a stupid stupid stupid Internet bandwidth limit (250 mb per day - bleh!!) And no, I can't switch companies because my apartment is not near other houses and it would "be too much" for them to extend the cable. One company does offer satelite internet, which apparently has a limit.

With food comes exercise. I'm hoping to get back into Zumba, even if it means driving 40 minutes over the mountain in the snow. Sigh. The drawbacks of living with cows.

Chocolate Gingersnap Cookies

2010-12-29T15:55:00.000-08:00

Hope everyone is enjoying the holidays and filling their bellies (and waistline) with lots of holiday baking. I know we are:

Holiday baking not only means sticking with traditional recipes but also trying new ones. I wanted to do something for the guys at work, and what better way than with chocolate gingersnap cookies.

I was so excited almost every single cookie came out perfectly round, the same size, and with a nice crack. Very yummy too. The chocolate helps mute the gingerbread flavor slightly, so those who aren't crazy about gingerbread can find them more enjoyable. Don't get me wrong - you can still taste both flavors. They are also crunchy on the edges and soft in the middle.

Chocolate Gingersnaps

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup molasses
1 Tbsp water
1 1/2 cups flour
1 Tbsp cocoa
1 1/4 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cloves
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/4 cup sugar

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in molasses and water. In a small bowl, combine flour, cocoa, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well. Stir in chocolate. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours or until easy to handle.

Preheat oven to 350F. Shape dough into 1-inch balls; roll in sugar. Place on greased baking sheets. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until tops begin to crack. Cool 2 minutes before removing to wire racks.

Makes 3 dozen.

Source: Taste of Home

Maple BBQ Pulled Chicken

2010-11-24T13:02:00.000-08:00

Last post, I talked about pulled chicken. I haven't shared the recipe yet, so here it is.

Such a sad picture

I don't trust slow cookers. Not that I don't trust them to do their work. I don't trust leaving the house with a slow cooker on all day. Call me cautious. Call me paranoid. I just don't want to have to call the fire dept while I'm at work.

I don't own a slow cooker. Instead, I have this multi-cooker/deep fryer/steamer/electric pot thing. I can pretty much cook whatever I want. I got the brilliant idea of using it as a slow cooker. I can control the temp from 200F-350F (or was it 400F?). I decided one lazy Sunday afternoon, I would throw everything into the pot and cook on 200F. It worked, except instead of taking 6+ hours, it only took 2, so dinner was ready super early.

I've made pulled chicken at least three times now, once for my family who visited and twice for myself. I take the leftovers to work all week. Great on buns, in tortillas, and in spinach salads. I used McCormick's roasted spices and fresh jalapenos from my garden.

As you can see, I didn't take many pictures. I was just too hungry.

Maple BBQ Pulled Chicken

Three bone-in chicken pieces (I used leg and thigh)
1 large yellow onion
4 cloves garlic
3 jalapeno pepppers
1/4 cup + 1 tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp ginger
1 tbsp chili powder
2 tsp cumin powder
1 1/2 tbsp paprika
2 tbsp oregano
2 tbsp Dijon mustard
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 tbsp worcestershire sauce
2 tsp fish sauce
3/4 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup water
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Chop onion, garlic, and jalapeno peppers. Add those and everything but the chicken into your cooker. Stir to mix. Turn the heat on.

2. While heating up, remove the skin and fat from the chicken pieces. Put into your cooker and cover with sauce.

3. Let cook for a few hours. Flip the chicken every hour or two and keep them covered in sauce. The chicken is done when it's falling off of the bone.

4. Remove chicken from the sauce and turn off the heat. Take a slotted spoon and go through the sauce, making sure no bones were left behind. Once cool enough to handle (or use forks), shred the chicken and place back into the sauce. It should still be hot at this point, but turn the heat back on if needed. Serve on buns.

Recipe (and a better description) can be found at Choosy Beggars.

McCormick Roasted Spices Giveaway

2010-11-24T12:36:00.000-08:00

So I'm slowly coming out of my blogging coma. McCormick probably hates me now because it's probably been at least two months since they let me sample their roasted spices collection. Although I haven't blogged about them yet, I have been using them. A lot.

Like in my fajita mix.

Or in my pulled chicken.

And other stuff I haven't photographed. I believe I used the cinnamon in some baking.

McCormick has been generous enough to provide me with two sets of their roasted spice collection - one to keep and one to give away. Just in time for the holidays, no? In order to enter, leave a comment about which one of these four spices (cinnamon, cumin, ginger, or coriander) you would use the most.

Earn one additional entry for tweeting about this giveaway with @chocolatemoosey mentioned. Once you do that, leave a comment and let me know your twitter name.

Earn another additional entry for posting a link on your Facebook account. Leave a comment letting me know you did that.

Deadline is Saturday, December 4, 2010. Open to US addresses only.

Baby Cones

2010-11-21T10:21:00.000-08:00

Wow, so it's been about two months since I last posted. Here I am, almost at month five in my new town. Some mornings I wake up, finally happy with moving in the right direction. Other mornings I wake up, wondering what the hell am I doing here. "The only way we get there is one step at a time."

Did you know they now make baby ice cream cones? I didn't know that until the one guy at work brought in these baby ice cream cone cupcakes his wife made. After about five of us asking him where his wife got the cones, he called her and told us only one chain carried them. Although that chain isn't nearby here, it is very popular back towards Pittsburgh.

If I had a bakery, these would be on the menu, along with matching holiday sprinkles. I decided to bake a vanilla cake with chocolate frosting. You take any cake recipe, fill each cone 2/3 of the way, bake in a mini muffin tin for 15-20 min at 350F, and let cool before frosting. I bet you could do a brownie mix instead of cake (although I wonder if it would rise enough?)

Aw it melted

One problem I had with them was after storing them in an airtight container, the cones got really soft. They weren't that soft before storing them, so...eat them all before storing? haha

Gulab Jamun

2010-09-25T20:28:00.000-07:00

Looks like I didn't make it to the next round of Project Food Blog. Originally, I thought I did because I was listed first on the winners announced page. Then when I tried submitting, it told me I didn't make it. Did anybody else have this confusion? Or am I just dumb? Why would Foodbuzz list me on the winners announced page if I didn't make it?

Well I ended up making an entry anyway, which is ok because I burnt them. Round two was to tackle a classic ethnic dish you are uncomfortable or unfamiliar making. Immediately I was thinking Indian or Asian of some sort. My friend suggested samosas. Then she thought of gulab jamun. The challenge never specified dinner or dessert, and gulab jamun is a classic Indian dessert. When I read I had to use khova, I knew this made me a little uneasy. With no Indian stores anywhere close, I opted to make my own.

Khova is milk cooked down to a paste-like consistency, which takes between 1-2 hours, depending on how much milk you are reducing. This made me nervous because either my milk was going to burn really bad or I wouldn't get the correct consistency. Who wants to waste all that milk and time for nothing? The recipe I used (found at Cooking 4 All Seasons) called for 1.5 liters, which is about 6 cups of milk. Yikes. Since it's just me, I cut the recipe in half and used 3 cups, which is 3/4 quart. My khova took about 75 minutes to make, and I was getting excited towards the end because it actually looked like khova. I found a nice pictorial reference at Flavours and Tastes.

Look at how tiny! 3 cups of milk = 1/4 cup khova

Then you mix your fresh khova with some flour and baking soda and divide into small balls. While you are waiting for the oil to heat up, make your syrup. Boil together sugar and water. Then add cardamon and rose water (ick). I thought I had ground cardamon but realized it was actually coriander. Fortunately, I had green cardamon pods from Marx Food a lonngggg time ago, so I brought out my mortal and pestle and crushed them.

Since I only made four balls, I fried them all at once. They were in about two minutes when I realized they were burnt. Crap. I mixed them with the syrup anyway. Maybe I could eat the inside. Turns out I put too much cardamon in the syrup, so it was a little overpowering. I only took a picture of the inside because I'm too embarrassed to show them burnt. I guess there's always next time, right?

The gulab jamun recipe I used was from Aayi's Recipes. Please check out her blog for pictures of yummy, not burnt gulab jamun.

Project Food Blog - Now Voting!

2010-09-20T15:14:00.000-07:00

Voting for the first round of Project Food Blog is now open! If you enjoy reading my blog (and I know I've been slacking), could you please take a few minutes to vote? Click on this link. You will see a Food Buzz toolbar up top. There should be a link that says "Vote For This Entry."

Project Food Blog - Ready, Set, Blog!

2010-09-13T18:04:00.000-07:00

In case you haven't heard yet, Food Buzz is hosting the first annual Project Food Blog Challenge! Featured FB publishers are competing in multiple challenges to be the top blogger in the Food Buzz realm. There are about 2,000 participating bloggers, and only 400 will make it to round two.

How am I different than the average blogger? I don't have a family. I don't have a boyfriend, fiancee, husband. I don't have kids, nieces, nephews. Right now, I live alone. New job, new town, just me. Not even ol' Murray made it.

What I'm trying to say is I'm an independent cook. Sometimes, it's a struggle to make dinner because I get home from work and want to lay down forever. Most people would opt for boxed mac and cheese, ramen noodles, pretty much anything convenient. Not me. I want freshness. I want flavor. Most of the time, it's cheaper to make than to buy. Healthier to make homemade cheese sauce than using the who-knows-what orange powder. It's not like you go out of your way, either. Cheese sauce - melt cheese, milk, butter, flour. Done. Fajita seasoning? Mix together a bunch of spices and put in a jar. Done.

So if most of my readers have families, how do my recipes pertain to them? For starters, you can easily double the recipes I use, mainly because I cut them in half in the first place. The exception would be with baked goods, unless I made mini versions of something. Also, I have a tight income. I may only be feeding myself, but that doesn't mean I can spend my money freely. In the end, making homemade saves money for everyone.

Why should I be the next food blog star? I have a lot of passion for food. When I met everyone at my new job, they asked, what are your hobbies? I answered I love to be in the kitchen. My dream job would be a video editor on a Food Network production. If not FN, then at least for a food-related show or company. I spend money on ingredients and supplies rather than movies and shoes. Food is my life. It helps me with my loneliness, both when I studied abroad and now with my new life. Just this past weekend, I found a new favorite food store because they had ingredients I have never seen in person, including dragees.

Unexpected Hiatus

2010-08-25T17:07:00.000-07:00

So my laptop got a virus Friday night. It is currently being fixed, so I'll probably be without it until next week. A bummer really because I definitely have more to post.

To those requesting to be my friend on Foodbuzz - I will accept them when I can. Signing up for Project Blogger has generated millions of requests. When the person next to you at the library is a non-stop chatterbox, it's hard to get anything done. Especially when he's also reading your screen every time you type or click a new page...

The Next Food Network Star

2010-08-20T18:46:00.000-07:00

So it's been almost a week since The Next Food Network Star's season six's winner was announced, so I'm hoping I'm not spoiling it for anybody. I was really pulling for Brad to win. Sure, his camera skills needed work, but that is a skill that can be developed. What are your thoughts on Aarti joining the FN family? Will you tune into her show Aarti Party? I don't think I'll actually watch her show, but I will definitely be looking at her for Indian recipes.

Have any of you auditioned for NFNS? I haven't, but I already know I don't have the on-camera skills or cooking chops. Producing and editing skills are a different story...

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecake Bars

2010-08-17T18:35:00.000-07:00

Now that I live alone, I don't bake as often. Sure, I could take stuff into work (and I have), but it seems like everyone is on Weight Watchers. Plus I don't always have the energy. How do all you parents do it? I barely have energy to cook and clean for myself, let alone a family. I guess you get used to it? I hope so, or I'll never be able to take care of one.

My family does come up to visit, so when they do, I want to have a special treat for them. That way I can bake and get rid of the extra calories. Several months ago, I found a used copy of The Essential Chocolate Chip Cookbook. I've had this on my Amazon Wish List ever since I saw these on Bake or Break. It's more than just chocolate chip cookies. It has cookies, muffins, pies, tarts, puddings, cakes, ice cream desserts, pretty much anything with chocolate chips, including the Strawberry and White Chocolate Cheesecake I made back in June.

Anyway, after drooling at the pictures, I decided to make Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecake Bars. What a mouthful! And a good one too. The cookie dough layer on top ending up being almost a whole layer rather than chunks here and there, so the cheesecake layer isn't as dominant. I opted to leave off the chocolate drizzle. I enjoy them cold, preferably from the freezer. Of course my family forgot to take the extras home, so that's why they ended up in my freezer in the first place.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecake Bars

Crust
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
5 Tbsp butter, melted
2/3 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips

Dough
5 Tbsp butter, at room temperature
1/3 cup brown sugar
3 Tbsp sugar
1/8 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup flour
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Filling
10 oz cream cheese, room temperature
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract

1/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1. Crust: Preheat oven to 325F. Line 9-inch square pan with foil and spray with cooking spray. In medium bowl, stir crumbs and butter together until crumbs are evenly moistened. Stir in mini chocolate chips. Press crumb mixture over bottom and 1 inch up the sides of pan. Bake for 6 minutes. Cool pan and leave the oven on.

2. Dough: In large bowl, beat butter, brown sugar, sugar, salt, and vanilla until smoothly blended, 1 minute. Add flour, mixing just to incorporate it. Stir in chocolate chips. Set aside.

3. Filling: In another bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar just until smooth. Mix in egg and vanilla, beating just to blend them in. Pour cheesecake batter into the crust. Drop teaspoonfuls of cookie dough over top of the batter. Bake until top feels dry and firm and looks set if given a gentle shake, about 30 minutes.

4. Optional drizzle: Melt 1/3 cup chocolate chips until melted and smooth, either in a microwave or heatproof bowl over boiling water. Use a teaspoon to gently drizzle thin lines of melted chocolate over the top of the bars. Cool about 1 hour. Cut bars into 16 pieces. The bars can be covered and stored in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Serve cold or at room temperature.

Makes 16 bars.

Source: The Essential Chocolate Chip Cookbook, page 47-48

Greek Chicken Salad With Cucumber Dressing

2010-07-27T17:36:00.000-07:00

I found this recipe from my local grocery store's free magazine. It seemed like something I could easily make for one person. I must admit I did go out and buy skewers because of this, but I figured I would use the skewers more than once anyway. I have the space, so I'm thinking about investing in an outdoor grill. Might be a good time because grills are going clearance soon.

This is chicken marinated for 30 minutes then either grilled or broiled. You make a quick cucumber yogurt sauce and serve on lettuce. I hate iceberg lettuce because there's no flavor and no nutrients, so I served it on spinach. This recipe is pretty easy I think. It takes a little time mainly because of marinating the chicken, but you could probably marinade ahead of time and freeze it. The dressing takes a few minutes to chop and mix. Any leftover dressing you can use for future salads.

Greek Chicken Over Spinach With Cucumber Dressing

2 tsp olive oil
1 Tbsp lemon juice
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tsp dried rosemary
1 chicken breast, cut into 1-inch cubes

Dressing
Half cucumber, peeled, seeded, and chopped
1 cup plain Greek yogurt
1 tsp dried parsley

Skewers
Spinach

In a bowl, combine oil, uice, garlic, and rosemary. Add chicken pieces, cover, and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Preheat grill or broiler. Thread chicken pieces onto skewers. Grill/broil for 8 minutes, turning halfway through.

Meanwhile, mix together cucumber, yogurt, and parsley. Toss finished chicken pieces with spinach and top with cucumber dressing.

Black Raspberry Cupcakes

2010-07-26T03:30:00.000-07:00

Anybody watch Cupcake Wars? I'm sitting here watching the Good Cause episode where it benefits a children's foundation. After several episodes, the show can get kinda boring - focus on flavor, focus on decorating, focus on display. What doesn't get boring is how many flavors people can invent. Kinda makes me wish I went into cupcake baking for a living!

Before the big move, I hurried up and went black raspberry picking because I didn't know if I could later this summer. I already made cheesecake and ice cream sauce. While I was at the farm, I saw a brochure with what you can make with curd. One of the ideas was cupcakes. You fill the cupcake with curd and make frosting with it. I thought, hey I could make my own black raspberry curd and make cupcakes.

Unfortunately, it's been a month since I looked up a recipe for raspberry curd, so I really don't remember which one I used. What I do remember is I went to Food Blog Search and typed in 'raspberry curd.' You can either make homemade or store bought.

You make chocolate cupcakes (your favorite recipe or cake mix). After they cool, you cut a hole in each center and fill with curd. Replace the top. Pipe on frosting and top with chocolate sprinkles and a berry.

Frosting: Whisk together 2 Tbsp melted butter, 1/4 c curd, and 1 1/2 c powdered sugar. Frosts 12 cupcakes.

Brief Summary Of New Place

2010-07-25T10:46:00.000-07:00

A lazy Sunday afternoon, complete with rain. I love rain (minus driving in it). If I'm not caught off-guard, I love walking in it. Figured I would take this time to update and attempt to get back into the foodie world. I moved alone - no family, no friends, no cat. Murray stayed behind because he is so used to having someone home constantly, I don't know if he could live alone for 40+ hrs each week. Poor guy would lose his voice. Will I get a cat? I want to within the next few months, but we'll see what happens.

This is a picture of the outside of my apartment. Yes, it's an apartment. The bottom half of the house is mine. The top half is my landlord. Her and her family technically live in Maryland, but this is her farm, so they come up about every week or so for a few days. My neighbors are cows. I have human neighbors down the road, but it's not like I walk out and there they are. Definitely quiet and private.

As you can imagine, there are nights I get quite lonely. This is where I'm relying on food to bring me through. I'm in farm country, so plenty of fresh veggies and fruits, especially Chambersburg peaches. Even coworkers are bringing in a plethera of zucchini from their gardens. My vegetable drawer is bursting with goodies.

I'm only an hour from wine country too. Apparently, Gettysburg area is perfect for wineries. I found one that offers wine making and wine appreciation classes, so maybe I'll pick up a new hobby. One of them has a store in Chambersburg, so I bought some cider and dry white wine yesterday. I'm planning on making risotto because I bought Arborio rice right before I found out I was hired.

I do have an amazing kitchen. Brand new appliances. Even my pantry is great. You open it up, and there are shelves on the doors. Then there's this "rounder" in the middle, and you pull one side towards you, and there are more shelves behind it. Definitely a lot of room for ingredients! Once my place looks more homey, I'll post better pictures.

Anybody here have experience making one person meals? Maybe even two person meals because I can freeze leftovers or just eat it for work. I think it'll be a great challenge for me to blog about.

Foodie Friends In My Area?

2010-07-22T17:44:00.000-07:00

It's almost the end of week two at my new job. I now have internet, cable, and blinds in my (brand new) apartment. I think I'm going to like it out here, but because I'm out here all alone - no family, no friends - it's going to be a rough few months. I did find someone who has a huge cookbook collection like me though! She even gave me the brilliant idea to buy an ottoman and store it with magazines. First I need to buy rugs and a couch.

Anyway, I was wondering if any foodies live in or around McConnellsburg, Chambersburg, maybe even Hagerstown, Gettysburg, or Harrisburg? Just looking for some foodie places, such as farmer's markets, restaurants, stores, wineries, breweries, etc. Maybe even a foodie friend?

Hiatus...Kinda...

2010-07-09T08:49:00.000-07:00

I know I haven't been that great at updating my blog. Truth is, I have pictures and posts, just not the time. What makes it even harder is now that I moved, I currently don't have internet at my place. Right now I'm going to the library to check my email, so until I get things situated, I probably won't blog for awhile. Hopefully it won't be a long hiatus!

Recipe Inspirations Winner

2010-06-26T12:36:00.000-07:00

Eek! Why didn't anyone remind me that I never picked a winner for target=give>McCormick's Recipe Inspirations Giveaway?? Sorry about the delay! With me moving next weekend, I've had a lot of my mind. The random generator I used online picked number 2, so Sweet and Savory is the winner!!

Black Raspberry Ribbon Cheesecake

2010-06-24T15:07:00.000-07:00

I have so much to do and people to see, yet I'm running out of time. I'm moving July 3 and starting work July 12. That means I have to use up all the perishable food my parents won't use. That includes the freshly picked black raspberries from Sunday. What better way to use up stale Oreo cookies, black raspberries, half a lemon, and heavy whipping cream than cheesecake? I've made a lot of cheesecake in the past - Strawberry and White Chocolate Chip, Smores, Caramel Chocolate Chip, Pumpkin Chocolate Chip, even a plain one. This black raspberry cheesecake was probably one of the best ones I've made. It is a little messy with the sauce. It will stain everything, so make sure you clean up any spills before they dry.

Black Raspberry Ribbon Cheesecake

Crust
2 cups chocolate cookie crumbs
1/3 cup butter, melted
3 Tbsp sugar

Sauce
2 1/2 cups fresh berries
2 tsp lemon juice
2/3 cup sugar
2 Tbsp cornstarch

Filling
24 oz cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sugar
2 Tbsp flour
1 tsp vanilla
2 egg whites
1 cup heavy whipping cream

1. Combine crust ingredients and press into bottom and up sides of greased 9 inch springform pan. Chill 1 hr or until firm.

2. Preheat oven to 375F. Puree berries in a blender. Press through strainer if desired to remove seeds. In saucepan, combine sugar, cornstarch, and raspberry puree. Bring to a boil and boil 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat, stir in lemon juice, and set aside.

3. In large bowl, beat cream cheese, sugar, flour, and vanilla until fluffy. Add egg whites, beat until just blended. Stir in cream. Pour half into crust. Top with 3/4 cup raspberry sauce (refrigerate remaining sauce to pour on top later or use for ice cream, waffles, etc). Carefully spoon remaining filling over sauce. Bake 35-40 minutes or until center is nearly set. Remove from oven; immediately run a knife around pan to loosen crust. Cool on wire rack for 1 hr. Refrigerate overnight.

Source: Triple B Farms

Simple Black Raspberry Sauce

2010-06-22T15:01:00.000-07:00

Black raspberry season is here!! I went back to the local farm where I previously picked strawberries and picked a nice amount of gorgeous, juicy raspberries. Because it was so hot out, I wanted ice cream. Not just any ice cream. Vanilla ice cream with raspberry sauce. Every year around July 4, I go to this arts festival and get a bowl of raspberries and ice cream. Always. Even in the pouring down rain. This sauce wasn't as thick as what I'm used to, but it was still delicious nonetheless. Unfortunately, all I had was cookie dough ice cream in the freezer. Weird combination but still yummy!! The directions say to let cool before using, but you don't have to. It'll just melt the ice cream.

Black Raspberry Sauce

1/4 cup sugar
2 Tbsp water
Half stick cinnamon (or few pinches of ground)
1 cup berries

Put sugar and water into a saucepan. Stir over low heat until sugar dissolves. Add berries, increase heat and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and cover for 3 minutes. Uncover and cook until saucy. If you want bigger chunks, don't cook it as long.

Source: Uhhh...

13 Months Later...

2010-06-17T15:46:00.000-07:00

I have an exciting announcement to make!! Yesterday, I put my two weeks in at Target because I accepted a job as a multimedia developer!! Yay I get to put my degree and video skills to use!! As you can imagine, these next few weeks are going to be crazy between finishing up at Target, packing, finding an apartment, and seeing everyone. The job is located 2 hr 15 min away, so I'm living on my own in a small town (still in PA, now closer to Harrisburg). I'm hoping once I am settled, I can shift my blog to focus on meals and treats catered for us single people working full-time jobs. That's not a promise, but it would get me back to blogging. I did just make a nice salmon for myself because my mom doesn't eat fish and nobody else is home.

Any advice on relocating would be great!

Murray's two cents on the situation

Strawberry and White Chocolate Chip Cheesecake

2010-06-13T12:41:00.000-07:00

Strawberry season is here!! The local farm opened their strawberry bushes to the public for picking. You can't get any fresher than this! So many thoughts running through my head - what should I make?? Jam? Pie? Cupcakes? How about cheesecake? Not only is it cheesecake, it has strawberry puree and white chocolate chips.

Look, it matches the counter!

The original recipe calls for white chocolate to be melted and drizzled on top. I felt that although it would be more delicious, it wasn't necessary because it would cover up the juicy strawberries. The white chocolate chips were hard to detect, so if you don't have any, I wouldn't worry too much about running to the store last-minute.

I feel that this dessert is perfect for a summer get-together, but just be careful with the heat. It will soften very quickly and best to be out only when dessert is ready.

Strawberry and White Chocolate Chip Cheesecake

Crust

1 3/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
3/4 tsp cinnamon
7 tbsp butter, melted

Filling

3 cups strawberries, washed and stemmed
32 oz cream cheese, room temperature
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 tbsp flour
4 eggs, room temperature
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
2 tbsp heavy whipping cream
1 cup white chocolate chips

2 pints strawberries, washed and stemmed

1. Preheat oven to 325F. Grease 9 inch springform pan. Wrap the outside of the pan with aluminum foil. Have a big enough pan ready to hold the springform pan. Put a kettle on because you will need hot water later.

2. In a bowl, stir cracker crumbs and cinnamon together. Mix in melted butter until crumbs are moistened. Press the crumbs into the bottom and sides of the springform pan. Bake for 8 minutes. Set aside with oven left on while you mix the feeling.

3. Meanwhile, process strawberries to a puree. Strain into a small bowl; discard any seeds or pulp leftover. Measure 1 cup and set aside. If there is any extra puree, save it for another use.

4. Beat cream cheese and sugar until smoothly blended. Mix in flour. Add eggs one at a time. Mix in both extracts and cream. Then mix in puree and chocolate chips.

5. Pour into baked crust. Put the springform pan into the larger baking pan. Pour enough hot water into the large pan to reach 1 inch up the sides of the springform pan. Bake until center seems firm when gently shook, 1 hr 15 minutes. Remove from oven and leave in the water bath. Cover loosely with paper towels and let cool for 1 hr. Carefully remove from the water bath. Remove paper towels and foil. Cool for another hour, or until it feels cool to the touch. Cover with plastic wrap and chill for 6 hrs or overnight.

6. Don't add the strawberries on top until ready to serve. It can be refrigerated for up to 2 days before adding the strawberries. Arrange the whole berries on top until covered.

Serves 12-16

Source: The Essential Chocolate Chip Cookbook, page 78

Foodbuzz Daily Special - Mesh Colanders

2010-06-10T21:01:00.000-07:00

Today's Daily Special, brought to you by Foodbuzz, is a stainless steel mesh colander set. Call me silly, but I love colanders. For the longest time we had our regular large one for draining everything, from pasta and veggies to tuna and defrosting shrimp. However, there were times where having a second colander came in handy when I was making both pasta and veggies and even shrimp sometimes. Personally, I found a small plastic one at a flea market, but I wouldn't mind getting a set of these stainless steel ones. Less likely to break and melt.

If you want the daily special price, which is 10% off, you must click on this link today only!! That means all day Friday only!! Once 12:00 AM hits, the deal is gone. You can still purchase the colander set. Just not at an awesome price.

Recipe Inspirations Giveaway

2010-06-05T12:57:00.000-07:00

How many of you are in a hurry when you cook or don't take advantage of adding spices to your meal? Tired of making bland chicken or wishing the porkchops had better flavor? Well, McCormick has done it again! They found a way to successfully combine convenient cooking with bold flavors.

Recipe Inspirations are recipe cards that come with six pre-measured spice packets to make cooking a little faster. They provide the spices. You provide the protein and veggies. I had my box sent a few weeks ago (I love their marketing!!) but haven't had a chance to cook anything. Either I'm too tired from work or too busy on my day off.

I'm so glad I finally got around to trying one of their recipes - Spanish Chicken Skillet. Being half Italian and broke, all I eat is pasta. Pasta at work, pasta for dinner, leftover pasta for a snack. I need a dinner that had very little carbs. This Spanish Chicken Skillet is pan-fried chicken served with spicy bell peppers and tomatoes. It's amazing how spices can make or break a dish. Without this recipe, I probably would've made the chicken with salt, pepper, and breadcrumbs. Maybe some thyme or basil thrown in. Here, the chicken is coated with flour, paprika, minced garlic, thyme, and black pepper. No breadcrumbs are necessary. Crushed red pepper is added to the veggies. If you really hate spice, you can leave that out.

This dinner is definitely a keeper! I can't wait to try the other 5 recipes. The porkchops will be interesting bc I hate porkchops. Mainly bc they are usually dry and bland. Hopefully McCormick will change my mind!

To celebrate the launch of Recipe Inspirations, McCormick is offering a "Wednesday Night Dinner" prize package - Recipe Inspirations samples, $50 GC to Crate and Barrel, and a one-year subscription for Every Day with Rachael Ray magazine. To win this wonderful prize package, please leave one comment below answering the following question: What family meal do you enjoy making? Deadline for comments is June 12 at 11:59 PM EST. US residents only.

Foodbuzz Daily Special - Madagascar Vanilla

2010-06-03T10:30:00.000-07:00

Today's Daily Special, brought to you by Foodbuzz, is Nielsen-Massey Madagascar Vanilla. As the name suggests, this vanilla is made from vanilla beans grown on Madagascar. There are several varieties of vanilla beans, based on where they are grown - Madagascar, Bourbon, Mexico, Tonga, Papau New Guinea, Tahiti, India, Indonesia, probably some more I forgot.

Chances are if you worked with vanilla beans or pure vanilla extract, you've worked with Madagascar vanilla. Each type of bean has a distinct vanilla flavor. I've only had Madagascar, so I can't compare it for you. I found a nice little guide at Vanilla Garlic should you'd like more information.

The best way to experience vanilla is vanilla ice cream. Growing up, I hated vanilla ice cream. It was so plain and blah. Then somewhere along the culinary road, I tried real, homemade vanilla ice cream. Amazing! I could definitely eat a whole carton of it. I suggest Dorie Greenspan's recipe in Baking: From My Home To Yours. I think I've made it three times last year?

Now to the daily special - buy a bottle of extract from this link and receive 14% off and $1 standard shipping. Free shipping if your total is $99 or more. You can check out Foodbuzz's Daily Special page for more information.

Tuesdays With Dorie - White Chocolate Brownies

2010-06-02T13:46:00.000-07:00

So I'm sitting at my kitchen table yesterday morning and decided "hey I should prob look up the latest TwD challenges, especially since today is Tuesday." I realized yesterday's challenge was white chocolate brownies and knew if I ran out to the store, I could make them in the evening. Plus I had some apricots I wanted to use, so I figured I would sub them for the raspberries. I did bake these last night, but due to some unfortunate news that caused me to stress out (rescheduling stuff with a tight schedule), I was too upset to take pictures and upload them. Hence why they are being posted Wednesday evening.

I tried doing the meringue, but the egg whites wouldn't even whip to soft peaks. I think it was because the house was too hot. I couldn't whip them the other day for a pie I made. Or maybe I just need to buy a bowl just for egg whites so it doesn't get used for food storage.

I cut this recipe in half bc I didn't want all these brownies in the house when I made cheesecake the other night. I don't know if they had enough white chocolate in them. Plus they are super thin. I did use lemon zest instead of orange bc it's what I had, and I hate oranges.

It's hard to say I liked this recipe. I don't think they turned out the way they were supposed to, so I'll have to hopefully try this again the right way. Thanks Marthe of Culinary Delights for hosting this week! You can find the recipe in Baking: From My Home To Yours on pgs. 110-111 or on Marthe's blog.

Foodbuzz Daily Special - Burton Induction Cooktop

2010-05-28T20:45:00.000-07:00

Eek! I think I'm a little late for posting Foodbuzz's daily special, but here goes! For the next few weeks, I will (hopefully) be posting about any one of the five given daily specials from Foodbuzz. Today's daily special is the Burton Induction Cooktop, Athena 6000. The way induction cooking works is with electromagnetically, meaning no flames to worry about. The cook top will stay cool as heat is only generated in the cookware it's in contact with. This baby sounds pretty sweet, especially if you have kids or live in a dorm. It would also be great if you don't have access to an oven or need more burners than what you are given.

To purchase this cook top, you can order it online here.

Goat Cheese Pizza

2010-05-17T03:30:00.000-07:00

If you were to ask me what my favorite cheese is, I'd immediately say goat cheese. Some people are turned off just by the name, but it's just cheese made with goat's milk rather than cow's milk and tastes like a savory cream cheese. There's really nothing wrong with goat; I've even had goat curry before.

Going through my California Pizza Kitchen Cookbook, I found a goat cheese pizza. It's almost vegetarian because it has bacon, but I'm sure you could omit that and make it all veggie. Or even sub mushrooms. Upon reading the recipe, I thought this pizza would be a little... weird (for lack of a better term) because there is no sauce. You just brush olive oil on the crust. I was surprised since I was expecting it to be dry. The olive oil definitely helps, but the toppings give it such a powerful flavor profile, you don't miss the sauce. As far as the dough, CA Pizza Kitchen does give their recipe, but I was busy and tired, so I made the one I usually make in my bread maker.

Goat Cheese Pizza

Dough for 9 inch pizza
Olive oil
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup crisp bacon, crumbled
1 plum tomato, sliced
Red, yellow, and green bell pepper strips (roughly 15-20)
Red onion strips (roughly 10-12)
2 Tbsp mild goat cheese

1. Preheat oven to 475F. Grease pizza pan.

2. Brush enough olive oil onto rolled-out crust to make a light coating. Sprinkle on 1/2 cup mozzarella. Sprinkle with 2 Tbsp bacon. Place tomato slices on top - do not overlap. Top with pepper and onion strips. Sprinkle remaining 1/2 cup mozzarella on top. Crumble on goat cheese.

3. Bake until crust is golden and cheese is bubbly, 10-15 minutes. Remove, slice, and serve.

Makes one 9-inch pizza

Source: California Pizza Kitchen Cookbook, p. 48

Duets by The Madelaine Chocolate Company

2010-05-16T11:51:00.000-07:00

Last week, I was contacted on behalf of The Madelaine Chocolate Company to sample and review a new product - double-filled chocolate truffles known as Duets. Not wanting to miss this opportunity, of course I said yes.

A few days later, my package arrived. Inside, I found a cute little gift box ready to be opened, full of wonderfully-wrapped truffles ready to be eaten. There are four flavors - white and chocolate truffle, peanut butter and raspberry, peanut butter and caramel, and white chocolate and raspberry. The wrappers are conveniently color coded so you know which ones are which without reading. That can come in handy if you're grabbing one on-the-go and don't have time to read the little print.

The Madelaine Chocolate Company says on its site that "duets are the first double-filled chocolate truffles." They are perfect for any special occassion because they are elegantly wrapped to make the chocolate look and feel extra special.

The first one I tried was the white and chocolate truffle. Can't go wrong with double the chocolate, right? Next was peanut butter and raspberry. Tastes like a PB&J because the raspberry is more of a jam. The white chocolate and raspberry tastes like, well, white chocolate raspberry jam while the peanut butter and caramel tastes like a caramelly peanut butter cup. The PB and caramel is my favorite out of the bunch.

I would definitely recommend buying these truffles, whether as a casual snack for your candy bowl (which will empty rather quickly) or as a special gift. You can buy the Duets online or at most Wal Marts. Target doesn't have them yet, but I know the "fancy chocolate aisle" is going to be reset soon. Usually that means new products are introduced along with bringing back the best sellers. Maybe Duets will make it on the new planogram.

Stuffed French Toast

2010-05-09T11:32:00.000-07:00

"For every failure, there's an alternative course of action. You just have to find it. When you come to a roadblock, take a detour." - Mary Kay Ash

Sorry I haven't been responding very well online, both blogging and email. I'm just trying to get through one day at a time, hoping one day I'll wake up and the sun will be shining. Until then, I'm on a very long detour to my destination. I'm also open for any motivational quotes because I can never find any when I need them lol

ANYWAY

Almost two months ago, McCormick sent me a toolkit and recipes to try. Easter morning, I tried their stuffed french toast, which is a great recipe when you want something special for breakfast. Pretty much it's a cross between a grilled cheese and french toast when it comes to making it. You spread the filling on bread, put it together like a sandwich, dip it in egg mixture, and cook in the skillet. The original recipe called for apricot preserves or jam, but I used blackberry jam since that's what we had in the fridge.

Stuffed French Toast

8 oz cream cheese
1 Tbsp brown sugar
3 tsp cinnamon, divided
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract, divided
16 slices bread
1/2 cup preserves or jam
5 eggs
1 cup milk
2 Tbsp butter, divided

1. Mix cream cheese, sugar, 2 tsp cinnamon, and 1 tsp vanilla in small bowl until well-blended. Spread mixture evenly onto half the bread slices. Spread jam on the other slices. Put the halves together and make 8 sandwiches.

2. In another bowl, beat eggs. Stir in milk, 1 tsp cinnamon, and 1/2 tsp vanilla. Dip each sandwich into the egg mixture and drip off any excess.

3. Melt 1 Tbsp butter in skillet. Cook each sandwich a few minutes per side or until golden brown. Use remaining Tbsp butter if you need it.

Makes 8 servings.

Source: McCormick

Ready For My Close-Up

2010-04-20T15:17:00.000-07:00

New camera. Poor cat haha

Tuesdays With Dorie - Swedish Visiting Cake

2010-04-14T12:25:00.000-07:00

Yes, I know today is Wednesday. I baked this cake last night and was too tired to post. I'm still at Target, but I switched work centers to in-stocks, so now I have a steady schedule - 5 days a week, rotating weekends, start at 6-6:30 am and leave at 1:30-2 pm. Still not full time (roughly 35 hrs, might as well be FT). Why is it that I can move on up in a company that hires almost anyone, yet can't find a job even slightly related to my degree? Sigh. There are days I wake up and see myself still at Target 10 years from now because getting a job I enjoy is "too good to be true."

ANYWAY

Dorie's Swedish Visiting Cake is very moist. I kept forgetting to buy almonds, so I went with coconut. I was a little unsure about the baking time bc Dorie did say it would be "slightly damp," so I baked it an extra 5 minutes bc I didn't want to underbake it. Unfortunately, I let it cool in the pan, and it stuck when removing it, so that's why I have a chunk of cake for my picture.

Since hardly anybody knows what a Swedish Visiting Cake is, I just called it a lemon coconut cake (or lemon almond if you use those). Thanks to Nancy of The Dogs Eat The Crumbs for choosing this yummy, moist cake! You can find the recipe on page 197 of Baking: From My Home To Yours or on Nancy's blog.

Tuesdays With Dorie - Coconut Tea Cake

2010-03-30T04:00:00.000-07:00

This week's recipe was one I made last year when I had some limes in the kitchen. Knowing how much I loved it, I decided to make it again when it was chosen. I didn't take an updated picture because well, it looks exactly the same. Except I used lemon instead of lime. You can read more about this on my earlier post, but all you have to know is that this cake is worth making again and again. It can be somewhat dry, so if you aren't eating this with coffee or tea, you may want to consider a simple glaze to pour on top.

Thanks Carmen of Carmen Cooks for hosting this week! You can find the recipe on pages 194-195 of Baking: From My Home To Yours or on Carmen's blog.

McCormick's D.I.Y Workshop

2010-03-25T16:06:00.000-07:00

The lovely people at McCormick have contacted me again about trying out their "Decorate It Yourself (D.I.Y) Workshop." Now, when they said they'd send me a toolkit, I thought they meant a care package like last time. I remember coming home and my parents asking, what did you order?? I said oh McCormick is sending me some stuff. When I walked into my room, there was this HUGE box on my floor. I'm talking big enough to hold two Murrays. It was HUGE. After opening it, I realized McCormick literally sent me a toolkit. Like, a box with hinges. Literally.

Palette, brushes, egg holders, sprinkles, neon and regular food coloring, vanilla, spice drops, marshmallows, cookie cutters, cupcake liners, and coconut

Even McCormick had something special for the cat.

Huge kudos for their PR/marketing team. Literally, a toolkit. I am so shocked and super excited I have another storage container (yes, I have issues being obsessed with storage containers).

Among my goodies was a packet of creative ideas and recipes. I won't have time to blog all about it now (simply bc there's so much and I still have lots to try), but I did make the Hello Flower Cupcakes. My neighborhood holds a spaghetti dinner each month. Being it's a neighborhood dinner, donations are always welcomed. Since my toolkit arrived several days before the dinner, I thought it was convenient to make flower cupcakes for a spring spaghetti dinner.

This is the second time I've donated and the second time my dad had to deliver for me. Both times I had to work. Although he didn't stick around for taste comments, there were a lot of ooos and ahhs. The recipe called for yellow cake cupcakes and 1 can vanilla frosting. With me being me, I made chocolate cupcakes and vanilla frosting from scratch. I chose chocolate cupcakes instead because they looked like flowers in soil instead of flowers in...uh...sand? Although technically you shouldn't be able to tell because of the green frosting, but you get the point. Plus I don't have a tested and approved yellow cake recipe yet. Here is the link to make Hello, Flower Cupcakes.

One awesome trick I learned is to take white sprinkles and add food coloring. Mix it around a bit (they say use a container with a lid and shake it but I just stirred it in a bowl), spread it onto a plate/wax paper/foil/whatever, then let dry for 15 minutes. Tada! Colored sprinkles! Now I don't have to buy a million things of sprinkles (although I still will). I used this trick with the green sprinkles (on the grass part). I already had blue and purple sprinkles, so I wasn't going to make more.

This is just one of the many ideas McCormick has to offer in their D.I.Y. Workshop. The rest I haven't tried yet (stupid Target). In case you can't wait or I don't get around to it in a timely manner, you can try Stuffed French Toast, Cheesy Bacon and Egg Brunch Casserole, and Festive Meringue Cookies.

Also, make sure you use McCormick's food coloring for dyeing Easter eggs this year. You can check out their virtual Easter workshop for decorating tips and ideas.

Tuesdays With Dorie - Soft Chocolate and Raspberry Tart

2010-03-16T13:31:00.000-07:00

Ok so I technically I made this week's recipe this past summer - Dorie's Soft Chocolate and Raspberry Tart. Over the summer, the local berry farm lets visitors pick strawberries and black raspberries. Talk about fresh berries, no? Although I loved making this tart, March isn't quite the berry month. And quite frankly, I haven't been to the store to find a substitute fruit. I spent the past six days working at Target, so I haven't been to the grocery store in awhile. And I get to do it all again next week. So much for my degree.

Here's a picture from June when I did make the tart. You can read more about it from an earlier post, but there's nothing really to tell except check your berries for mold and make this tart as soon as berry season starts.

Thanks to Rachelle of Mommy? I'm Hungry! for hosting this week, even though I baked this awhile ago. You can find this recipe on page 354 of Dorie's book or on Rachelle's blog.

Tuesdays With Dorie - Thumbprints For Us Big Guys

2010-03-09T04:05:00.000-08:00

This week's recipe was Dorie's Thumbprints For Us Big Guys. When I first heard this name, I thought she meant there was alcohol or even coffee in them, but I think she just meant they are more delicate with their lovely, sandy texture and jam filling than your typical sugar thumbprints with icing and cute sprinkles.

edit - The filling on these cookies is apricot. I used those jars of Baker's fruit fillings you usually see around the holidays.

These cookies lasted maybe a few hours in the house bc I cut the recipe in half. Make sure you use butter to get the melt-in-your-mouth sandy texture. Thanks to Mike of Ugly Food Dude for hosting this week! I'm sure I'll be making these cookies over and over again. You can find the recipe on page 164 of Baking: From My Home To Yours or on Mike's blog.

Win A Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer

2010-03-05T09:36:00.000-08:00

It's every baker's dream to own a genuine Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer. Sure, you can save money and buy a cheaper brand, but those are only good for basics like cookie dough or cakes. If you really want to crank out good stuff like bread or ice cream, you want to spend the money and go for Kitchen Aid. I still have yet to own one, simply because I don't have the $200+ to spare, and I'm sure many of you can relate.

Solution to this problem? Win a free stand mixer. All you have to do is check out Doughmesstic's blog for the giveaway. What's so special about this giveaway? She is giving away not one BUT TWO stand mixers!!! Ridiculous! All you have to do is comment and tell her Carla C. sent you. If your comment is picked, both you and I win. It's that simple! Just think of the hundreds of dollars you'd save by winning a FREE stand mixer!

Comment today and tell her Carla C. sent you!

Tuesdays With Dorie - Toasted Coconut Custard Tart

2010-03-02T17:32:00.000-08:00

This week's challenge is Dorie's Toasted Coconut Custard Tart, which called for dark rum. Now I rarely drink alcohol, but I know dark rum has a specific flavor profile compared to other types of rum or even rum extract. I've been debating on spending money for something I rarely use but decided since I've had really good rum cake in the Bahamas, maybe I could duplicate it. They don't sell tiny bottles of dark rum, so I bought a regular bottle of Myers Dark Rum (which is the only brand of dark rum I could find).

Rum is not something my family enjoys either, so I made two mini tarts,seeing as only my dad and me would be the ones eating them. Boy was I wrong. They lasted maybe 10 minutes because my mom and brother had a bite and decided to eat more. Cutting the recipe into thirds made the perfect amount for two mini tarts. As far as flavor, some TwDers said there wasn't a strong coconut flavor, which makes sense. If you think about it, it's really just a normal custard with toasted coconut folded in. One person suggested using coconut extract, so I substituted that for vanilla. It would be interesting to see if you can make the custard with coconut milk. I know skim milk is frowned upon because of the fat ratio.

The amount of rum used is debatable. The rum is kinda strong, so if you love rum, great. If not, you may want to scale it back to 1 Tbsp instead of 2. I left rum out of the whipped cream because the custard was strong enough. I did use coconut extract in both the custard and topping.

Thanks to Beryl of Cinemon Girl for choosing this delicious tart. You can find the recipe on pages 344-345 of Dorie's Baking: From My Home To Yours or on Beryl's blog.

Smores Cheesecake

2010-02-21T17:01:00.000-08:00

After making and giving away the birthday cheesecake, I was craving cheesecake of my own. While I was searching for cheesecake recipes, I came across several that looked amazing, including a smores cheesecake. Toasted marshmallows?? SOLD!

This cheesecake is different because it uses sweetened condensed milk instead of sour cream or heavy cream. I think next time I'll stick to a mixture of heavy and sour cream because I wasn't a fan of the SCM base. The recipe didn't call for a waterbath, which I guess doesn't matter because you cover the top with marshmallows. It did rise and shrink though. And I really should test my oven because it took a lot longer to bake than the recipe says.

Smores Cheesecake

2 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter, melted
16 oz cream cheese
14 oz sweetened condensed milk
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips
2 cups mini marshmallows
1 Tbsp shortening or butter

1. Preheat oven to 325F. In a small bowl, combine cracker crumbs and sugar. Stir in butter. Press onto bottom and up the sides of a greased 10-inch springform pan. Place on a baking sheet.

2. Beat cream cheese, milk, and vanilla until smooth. Add eggs, beat just until combined. Stir in 1 cup chocolate chips and 1 cup marshmallows. Pour into pan and bake 40-45 minutes or until center is almost set. Sprinkle with remaining 1 cup marshmallows. Bake 4-6 minutes longer or until marshmallows are puffed and toasted.

3. While cooling, melt remaining 1/2 cup chocolate chips and shortening. Drizzle over cheesecake. Cool for an hour. Refrigerate overnight.

Source: Taste of Home's Prize-Winning Recipes, 2006 p. 76

Caramel Chocolate Chip Cheesecake

2010-02-18T18:46:00.000-08:00

Fact #1 - I bought a set of three springform pans with the intention of making regular-sized cheesecakes (compared to baby cheesecakes). Fact #2 - I need to buy a roasting pan big enough so I can make a waterbath. Without a waterbath, disaster strikes:

Look! The Grand Canyon!

My best friend's birthday was this past weekend. When I asked what kind of cake she wanted, she instantly said "cheesecake." After getting more details, she decided on a caramel chocolate chip cheesecake. I thought, ok just need to find a turtle cheesecake and instead of nuts, use chocolate chips. After much research, I wasn't satisfied with any recipe, so I went out on a limb and created my own. Really all I needed to do was fold in caramel sauce and chocolate chips.

So much better than last year's birthday disaster

I chose Dorie's recipe because I made it once before. Then at the end, I folded in caramel sauce and chocolate chips. Then after pouring into the pan, I plopped some more caramel on top and swirled it around. However, using my 9 inch pan meant no pan big enough for a waterbath. I can still bake without it, right? Wrong! I mean I could, and I did, but as you can see, it's not pretty. I lost my swirling (although the cracks did swirl nicely) and the cheesecake shrunk. Like, it was at least two inches above the pan (think souffle) and shrunk after cooling. But the important part was it tasted good.

Apparently we don't have a #2 candle

Winners of Nescafe Giveaway...

2010-02-17T10:43:00.000-08:00

A few days late, but I have picked three winners for the Nescafe Giveaway using random.org. I was too lazy to take and edit the screenshots, but the winners were comments 4, 15, and 17. That means Sherry G, Jennem, and bison61 should be expecting a package within the next few weeks! Thanks to all who have entered. I still encourage you to buy Nescafe in your local coffee aisle.

Tuesdays With Dorie - Chocolate Chip Cookies

2010-02-16T10:48:00.000-08:00

This week's chosen recipe was Dorie's Chocolate Chip Cookies. This is my second time making them. The first time they spread too thin because I used diet margarine. This time around, I decided to use my brand new heart cookie pan. I was really hoping to get the cookie texture you find in cookie cakes from the Great American Cookie Place at the mall or even your grocery's bakery, but this cookie cake was more...cakier? It was still a good recipe, just not my type of cookie. I like my CCC more chewy and not so soft.

I didn't bother decorating it because it wasn't the texture I was looking for and I was too lazy. If anybody has a recipe for a cookie cake just like the one from mall, let me know. I tried a second recipe last night, but still turned out too soft compared to the mall one.

Thanks goes out to Kait of Kait's Plate for hosting this week's recipe! You can check out the recipe on page 68 of Baking: From My Home To Yours or on Kait's blog.

Red Letter Day

2010-02-12T19:06:00.000-08:00

McCormick recently contacted me and told about how they are making Valentine's Day this year a "Red Letter Day" - a special day of significance that infuses red into baking and activities. Not only can you use food coloring for baking, you can also use it for crafts. They offered to send me a kit including a menu for the day, recipes, images and craft ideas...

...but I wasn't expecting this! I sent my reply Wed. night, and soon Thursday morning the FedEx guy showed up with a giant red box. Talk about special delivery! And I was definitely not expecting to find all this

Cookie cutters, stencils, measuring cups, paint brushes, food coloring, vanilla extract, cupcake liners, plus heart placemats, recipes and a menu

Amazing! Funny thing was I was going out to the store and had vanilla on my list. Another funny thing I was originally going to make McCormick's Red Velvet Cupcakes for my neighborhood spaghetti dinner, but because of the 24+ inches of snow, they cancelled it. Now that I received this kit, I was still determined to make them, but I made sure to cut the recipe in half. 30 is way too many for any family to eat haha

Before I talk about dessert, I want to share some ideas with you. Because Valentine's Day is on a Sunday, it is much easier to plan a whole day menu(i.e. breakfast, dinner, and dessert) rather than on a weekday with work, school, life, whatever. Start the day off right with Love Bug Cinnamon Pancakes, Very Vanilla Fruit Salad, and Hot Cocoa with Red Sugar Crusted Marshmallows. For dessert, try Cupid's Cupcakes, Tender Heart Cookies, or Red Velvet Cupcakes.

The red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting turned out delicious. Then again, I don't know what red velvet cake should taste like. Cutting the recipe in half made 15 cupcakes perfectly. Big thank you to McCormick for making the opportunity to bake these easier and to try their Red Letter Day kit. For more recipes and craft ideas, please visit McCormick's site.

Coconut Gingerbread Cake

2010-02-11T18:18:00.000-08:00

I know I'm a little late with this recipe, but why must gingerbread be only for the holidays? I bought a book a few months back titled Gingerbread - 99 Delicious Recipes From Sweet to Savory. Each recipe, even traditional ones like chocolate chip cookies, meatloaf, and corn dogs (little scary, I know), involves ginger, cloves, cinnamon, molasses, or all four.

I had leftover chocolate frosting from my surprise cupcakes, so I decided to bake a cake. I was in the mood for gingerbread, so I turned to this cookbook and found Coconut Cake with Mocha Frosting. Instead of mocha, I used chocolate fudge frosting.

The original recipe calls for three layers of cake, but I knew we wouldn't eat that much. I cut the recipe into thirds and made just one layer. I know some of the measurements are weird (1/3 tsp), so I used a teaspoon and guessed what a third would be. After frosting, it's then topped with toasted coconut.

1/2 cup sweetened flaked coconut
1 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
1/3 tsp ginger
1/3 tsp cinnamon
1/3 tsp cloves
1/8 tsp cardamom
1/4 cup butter, room temp
1 egg, separated
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 Tbsp molasses
1 cup cake flour (or 1 tbsp cornstarch + enough AP flour to make 1 cup)
1/2 cup milk
Chocolate Fudge Frosting (won't need the whole recipe)

1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease one 9-inch round cake pan. Spread 1/4 cup coconut onto cookie sheet and toast in oven. Check every 5 minutes until lightly browned. Set aside to cool. Leave the oven on.

2. Mix together baking powder, salt, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and cardamom and set aside.

3. Whisk butter and egg yolk until smooth. Whisk in sugar and molasses. Whisk in spice mixture. Gently stir in milk and flour, alternating between the two.

4. In a separate bowl, beat egg white until stiff peaks form. Gently fold into cake batter. Fold in untoasted coconut. Pour into pan. Bake for 20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Remove cake from pan and let cool on cooling rack. Once completely cooled, frost and top with toasted coconut.

Makes one layer cake

Source: Gingerbread - 99 Delicious Recipes From Sweet to Savory pgs. 70-71

Julie and Julia

2010-02-10T18:31:00.000-08:00

Tonight after calling off work due to the second blizzard, I decided to finally watch Julie and Julia my brother got for me from Netflix about a month ago. Did anybody else find themselves in Julie? She was spot-on with my life (minus the husband part) - worked a job she hated, loves to cook, has a food blog, and a cat. Hell, she even flips out in the kitchen like me, crying on the floor when dinner is a complete disaster and runs away while boiling live lobster (which I haven't done yet). Now I want to cook through Julia Child's cookbook except I won't make beef aspic. Or bone a whole duck. Oh well, I still might check it out at the library.

One minor thing I didn't like is the cat didn't have a name. Seriously, when she blogged towards the end, she said "me, Eric, and the cat." Then the ending that told you "where they are today" said "the cat" as well. He was in the movie more than I expected. Give him a name! haha

Has anybody else seen this movie and felt inspired by it? None of my close friends have seen it. I'm probably a little bias in saying I loved it, but I think anyone who has a heart for food will find it a favorite as well.

Coffee Giveaway

2010-02-06T11:32:00.000-08:00

For those of you who haven't heard, Western PA got hit with 18 inches of snow last night/early this morning. To give you an idea, we had two cars in the driveway. You can still see the side mirror on mine LOL

View from garage

What better way to spend a snow day than indoors with a nice hot cup of coffee? Recently, I was sent some of Nescafe Taster’s Choice instant coffee sticks to review - original, decaf, vanilla, hazelnut, columbian, and gourmet roast. Before I begin, I will tell you straight-out I'm a coffee snob. I own a top-quality pump espresso machine and a not-so-cheap grinder. I buy my coffee beans online to guarantee freshness. I hardly drink coffee from drip-coffee makers (aka your typical coffee maker) simply because it's not prepared properly and tastes awful. And McDonalds "lattes" are worse than a cup of mud. Really, it should be illegal for fast food places to sell anything more than a simple pot of coffee. I've even blogged about coffee beans and different types of drinks. So yes, it is safe to say I love coffee and only expect the best.

As you can probably imagine, I wasn't expecting much from instant coffee. However, I was surprised. After adding some sugar and milk (which I do for any cup of coffee), it tasted decent. Something I can make when I don't have time to make a good cup. It reminds me of my traveling days while studying abroad, staying at hostels and making a cup in the morning. To give Nescafe a fair review, I had my dad make a cup because he isn't picky. He made the vanilla kind and loved it. I had the Columbian one.

Like what you see in this picture? Now is your chance to win your own instant coffee and mug. I have three prize packs to give away to my lovely readers. Here's how you can win.

1. Visit Nescafe's website.

2. Leave one comment answering this question: What kind of coffee do you enjoy? It can be a particular brand, a particular kind (latte, cappuchino, macchiato, etc), a particular setting (coffee house, with friends, etc), whatever. Or tell me a coffee story. If you don't like coffee, well why are you entering a coffee giveaway? ;)

Giveaway ends February 14, 2010 and you must live in the US. Three winners will be picked randomly.

Buffalo Chicken Mac and Cheese

2010-01-29T11:52:00.000-08:00

The idea for this dinner came to me while working at Target. Archer Farms has several noodle and rice ready-to-go products, and one of them was Buffalo Mac and Cheese. I love love love buffalo sauce, so I thought it would be interesting to make this from scratch. After searching online, I found a recipe on Recipe Zaar. I use Ken's Buffalo Marinade a lot when it comes to chicken (chicken patties, wings, hell I think even a hot dog once), and it's no surprise I used it when it calls for buffalo wing sauce. You can probably use another brand of wing sauce or make your own. Worst case scenario you can use plain hot sauce, but it won't be as thick. In a pinch, you can use canned chicken breast instead of frozen. Or leave it out altogether. This dish is as spicy as the wing sauce. If it's too much to handle, mix in a litle bit of ranch, sour cream, or cream cheese.

Buffalo Chicken Mac and Cheese

1 lb elbow macaroni, uncooked
24 oz chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
2 1/2 cups milk
1/4 cup flour
3 cups sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
8 oz buffalo wing sauce
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 cup celery or bell pepper, chopped
Ranch, sour cream, or cream cheese (optional)

1. Cook the macaroni in a pot of boiling salted water.

2. While the pasta is cooking, whisk the milk and flour together in a bowl, then pour into a saucepan, bringing it to a boil, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to medium and stir in chicken, cheese, onion powder, garlic powder, wing sauce, and bell pepper. Cook until the cheese melts. Add some ranch, sour cream, or cream cheese if the sauce is too spicy.

4. When the pasta is done, drain and stir in the cheese mixture.

Makes 8 servings.

Source: Recipe Zaar