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Peanut Butter Blossoms

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Happy weekend!

Photo credit: Amazon

I’ve been reading “Why We Sleep” by Matthew Walker PhD.  It has over 20,000 reviews on Amazon and almost 5 stars!  That’s a ton for a non-fiction book really.  Most of the reviews you always see are for fiction.   But anyway, I digress.  If you want to learn the latest and greatest on sleep – this is it.   Some of the more astonishing findings and quotes from the book:

“Routinely sleeping less than six or seven hours a night demolishes your immune system, more than doubling your risk of cancer.”

“It is disquieting to learn that vehicular accidents caused by drowsy driving exceed those caused by alcohol and drugs combined.”

“They discovered that naps as short as twenty-six minutes in length still offered a 34 percent improvement in task performance and more than a 50 percent increase in overall alertness.”

“Adults forty-five years or older who sleep fewer than six hours a night are 200 percent more likely to have a heart attack or stroke during their lifetime, as compared with those sleeping seven to eight hours a night.”

Now onto the cookies!!!!   We all love peanut butter here.  I have never posted this recipe because most of the time I have never quite cared for these cookies.  They tend to be dry and crumbly topped with a hard chocolate kiss.  These cookies are different!  These peanut butter blossoms have over 5000 reviews and 5 stars because they are that good.  The peanut butter base is soft and delicious.  We tried them the next day, and the cookies stay soft and flavorful.

 

My son made them, so it is easy enough for a child to make.

Here’s the cookie trick:  always freeze your balls!  (Of cookie dough, of course)  Butter-based cookies – which most cookies are – tend to spread out and get blah in the oven.  The trick is to always scoop your dough onto a parchment-lined cookie sheet (or rimmed stoneware).  Then, pop the cookies in the freezer for at least 30 minutes.  I know, I know.  It is hard to wait.  At least 15 minutes then.  You need to harden the butter back up so it doesn’t immediately spread into a blob.  This works for all cookies.

If you like – try adding the Hershey kiss upside down!  This makes the cookie easier to store and stack.  You also don’t get that stick of chocolate at the top of your mouth when you bite into it.

I find these cookies are best just a few minutes right out of the oven – while the chocolate is slightly gooey and the peanut butter base still slightly warm.

Peanut Butter Blossoms
 
Print
Delicious cookie for after school, bake sales, or cookie exchanges! The base stays peanut buttery soft for a week.
:
Ingredients
  • 1 and ¾ cup flour (all-purpose)
  • 1 tsp. baking soda
  • ½ tsp. salt
  • 1 stick butter (room temperature), 4 oz.
  • ½ cup peanut butter (smooth, or almond will work)
  • ½ cup sugar
  • ½ cup brown sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 Tb. milk or almond milk
  • 1 tsp, vanilla extract
  • 4 Tb. sugar - this is extra for later
  • 48 Hershey kisses (removed the foil first)
Instructions
  1. Set aside cookie sheets lined with parchment or silicone.
  2. In a medium size bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt.
  3. In a great big bowl, beat the butter, peanut butter and ½ cup sugar. Once light and fluffy after about a minute, add the egg, milk, and vanilla.
  4. Add the dry flour mixture little by little. Beat in the flour mixture until just incorporated.
  5. Scoop the dough into 1" balls.
  6. Place cookie dough balls onto the lined cookie sheet and freeze about 30 minutes or up to several hours. They can be frozen pretty close together. You can store extra in plastic freezer bags if you do not want to bake them all now.
  7. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
  8. Roll them in the 4 Tb. of sugar that was set aside.
  9. Place your cold cookie dough balls onto a lined cookie sheet about 2-3" apart.
  10. Bake for 6-8 minutes.
  11. Place Hershey kiss in the center.
  12. Bake another 2-3 minutes. You will know they are done because they are a light brown and crinkled.
  13. Allow to cool on a wire rack.
  14. Enjoy with a tall cup of milk!
Notes
Recipe from New York Times
https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1012939-peanut-butter-blossoms

 

Chocolate Whipped Frosting – Just 4 Ingredients

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Chocolate Whipped Frosting

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!  We always have a bunch of birthdays around Christmastime.  I try to change up the dessert a little bit and still keep to the chocolate cake requests that happen every 2 weeks at this time of year.  Buttercream is made with SO much butter and requires a bit of work, so I thought I would turn my Chocolate Lasagna filling into a chocolate frosting for birthday cake instead.  (See the chocolate version in the notes.)  Plus buttercream is so messy with powdered sugar!  After all the Christmas cookies, I want something a little lighter and easier to make – but JUST as delicious!

For a homemade chocolate cake, you can check this chocolate cake recipe out.  This year I just used the box instead.  I used 1/2 applesauce and 1/2 oil in the cake, and nobody even noticed.  🙂


Chocolate Whipped Frosting

This recipe is easy when you have everything in the pantry ready to go.  I saved the cake to eat a few days later, and the frosting tasted the same!  I was impressed because whipped recipes lose air as they sit.  Not this one!  Since this is whipped – it does need to be stored in the refrigerator.

Ingredients

  • Cool Whip
  • Cocoa Powder
  • Milk
  • Instant Chocolate Pudding Mix

Cool Whip

I used TruWhip instead of Cool Whip.  But the products are completely interchangeable.  For a pantry only frosting – you could use DreamWhip.  This does taste like a dream!  In less than 5 minutes, you add the powder, milk and a little vanilla.  Boom – you have whipped topping that tastes fresh.

Cocoa Powder

I think the kind of cocoa powder used makes a difference, but that could just be me.  My preferred baking cocoa is Rodelle.  I find it at Costco (only during November-January) or Amazon.  It is dutch-processed, so it works in most situations.  I find it dissolves better for making homemade hot cocoa.

Milk

Any milk should work.

Chocolate Pudding

Double check your chocolate pudding box says “Instant”!  I know I’ve gotten home a few times only to realize later it said “Cook and Serve.”  I didn’t even know those existed!  This uses the smaller box.  There is a larger 5 ounce box and a smaller 3.4 ounce box on the shelf.  You just need the 3.4 ounce box.

Other Uses:

This recipe covers a 9×13″ cake or a 2-tiered 9″ inch cake as seen in the photos.  You could use the frosting on cupcakes, or a fruit dip, or wherever you want more chocolate!

Chocolate Whipped Frosting
 
Print
:
Ingredients
  • ¼ cup cocoa powder
  • 3.4 ounce box instant chocolate pudding
  • 1 cup milk
  • 8 ounces (1 tub) Cool Whip*
Instructions
  1. In a large bowl, whisk together the cocoa powder and pudding mix. Once mixed thoroughly, add the milk. Beat with a mixer or whisk together for 1 minute.
  2. Fold in the cool whip. This part will take a little while, but it is worth it! Keep folding until there are no streaks of chocolate.
  3. Store covered and in the fridge until you are ready to use.
Notes
*Cool whip can be replaced with TruWhip or DreamWhip or homemade whipped cream

This is enough frosting to cover a 9x13" cake or a stacked two layer 9" cake

 

 

Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls

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These were the fluffiest cinnamon rolls that we ever had!  The flavors and texture were so light and airy, you would think it was diet food.  (Ha Ha – I wish!)  I love the layers and layers of cinnamon.  The 14″x20″  rectangle of dough really lends to the thin layers of dough between more layers of cinnamon goodness.  The dough is pillowy – that is all I can say to describe it.  To be more like Cinnabun, add some lemon zest to the icing at the end.  That was mentioned in a book I read about how they set themselves apart and started their business.  I can tell Panera (St. Louis Bread Company) uses lemon as well.  To always have lemon on hand, I love TruLemon.  It is in powdered form, so it never goes bad and it is made from real lemons.

Since these are sourdough cinnamon rolls, they will take a little bit of more planning.  I used the recipe – with some alterations – from King Arthur.

No sourdough on hand?  I have on the blog:  Bread Machine Cinnamon Rolls, Quick and Easy Cinnamon Rolls, Lighter Version Cinnamon Rolls, Apple Cinnamon Rolls, Blueberry Cinnamon Rolls, and  Quick Yeast Cinnamon Rolls.

 

A word about cinnamon:

My family and I agreed that the original King Arthur recipe does not have enough cinnamon.  Looking back on other recipes for a 9×13″ pan of rolls, most use about 2 tablespoons of cinnamon.  So, I changed that to increase the cinnamon flavor.  But, if you like them to taste more of a bun with brown sugar, then you can use the original 1 tablespoon amount.

Your cinnamon source also makes a BIG difference.  Fresh cinnamon from places like Penzeys is stronger in flavor.  I find fresh and bold cinnamon sources need to be cut down in a recipe.

A word about baking time and temperature:

This is another part of the recipe that I changed.  I found that 400 degrees made the cinnamon rolls brown beautifully on the outside, but the inside center rolls were still raw in the middle.  The original recipe calls for 18-22 minutes at 400.  Did they still taste good?  Absolutely.  But I had to remake them another way to recommend the recipe to friends and family.  Baking at 350 degrees for 22-25 minutes bakes them to the center.

 

Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls

Pillowy and delicious cinnamon rolls that will melt in your mouth. Feel free to eat them iced or un-iced. I found them fabulous either way.
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Ingredients
  

Dough

  • 227 grams sourdough starter, ripe 1 cup
  • 3/4 cup warm milk
  • 4 Tb butter, soft
  • 330 grams all purpose flour 2 and 3/4 cup
  • 57 grams white whole wheat flour (or substitute all purpose) 1/2 cup
  • 40 grams sugar 1/4 cup
  • 1 tsp instant yeast optional
  • 9 grams salt 1 and 1/2 tsp.

Filling

  • 159 grams brown sugar, light or dark 3/4 cup
  • 2 Tb all purpose flour
  • 2 Tb cinnamon or cut back to 1 Tb. for lighter flavor
  • 1/8 tsp salt
  • 1 Tb melted butter

Icing

  • 1 and 1/2 cups powdered sugar
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1-2 Tb. milk

Instructions
 

  • Mix all the dough ingredients EXCEPT salt together in a stand mixer. This should take a few minutes. Add salt and yeast, but do NOT mix in. Cover and let sit out for 20 minutes.
  • Mix the dough and salt and yeast together for 1 minute. Knead or mix on low 2-3 minutes.
  • At this point, you can put the dough in the refridgerator and save it for tomorrow. Or, you can cover and let sit for 4 hours.
  • If covering and sitting for 4 hours, once per hour pull the dough and fold. Use a wet hand to stretch the dough and avoid sticky dough. You do this four times in the shape of a square. If putting in the fridge, pull out the dough from the fridge and stretch if possible. Allow it to sit and warm up to room temperature which will take 1-2 hours.
  • While the dough rises, stir all of the filling ingredients together EXCEPT the melted butter. And prepare a 9x13" pan with baking spray or cooking spray.
  • Roll out the dough gently on a very floured surface. This dough will be super sticky! You need to form about a 14" by 20" rectangle. Brush the melted butter all over the dough except for the top edge. Leave about 1" at the top with no filling or butter. The top edge is the shorter edge, so the rectangle facing you is portrait or long on the side and shorter up top.
  • Sprinkle the filling onto the rolled dough. Gently press the filling into the dough.
  • Roll the dough from the short end up to the edge you did not put filling. It should form a log. Pinch it sealed. Using floss or a serrated knife, cut the log in half. Cut each half in half. You should have 4 equal pieces. Each of those pieces you will cut into 3 pieces. Floss may be easier here. Usually a serrated knife works fine, but this dough is very sticky.
  • Place each roll cut side down into the prepared 9x13" pan. Cover and let rise 2-3 hours.
  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Remove the cover and bake the cinnamon rolls 22-25 minutes. Allow to cool slightly.
  • Prepare the icing: in a small bowl, add the vanilla extract. Mix together. Add the milk little by little until you are happy with the thickness. You could add soft butter or cream cheese if you wanted as well. Spread on warm rolls. Serve immediately.
  • Store cinnamon rolls covered at room temperature for 1-2 days. After that, I usually put them in the fridge.

Notes

Recipe adapted from King Arthur.

Pumpkin Pecan Caramel Layer Cake

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Here’s a great addition to your Thanksgiving table this year!!  This cake is so tasty and delicious!  You have pumpkin, pecans, cinnamon, spices, AND caramel!  This hits all the notes: crunchy, gooey, creamy and cakey.  Let me say we really enjoyed this cake.  I love pumpkin pie, but this was a lot of fun to put together!  The leftovers the next day were also very tasty.  🙂

I think the filling is soooo silky, delicious and smooth.  It would be great on its own as a dessert or a dip for graham crackers.

First, let’s talk about cake mixes.  Some time around 2010, the cake mix companies decided to lower the amount of cake mix from 18.25 ounces to 15.25 ounces.  This throws off all of our old cake mix recipes lke this one.  Many people and reviews have made this successfully with one cake box and I have written it as such.

Because my cakes didn’t rise quite as high, I made 2-9″ cakes from a 15.25 ounce box and then another 3rd cake from half a box or 7.75 ounces.  I think this would be gorgeous with an 8″ cake pan as well.  I have read that this change occurred because they didn’t want to raise the price of the cake mix box and instead lowered the amount of cake mix inside by a third.

Second, let me tell you how I decorated this cake.  It was a simple offset spatula that evened out the filling and top.  Then, to pipe the whipped topping on top, I added the filling to a pastry bag fitted with a 1M tip.  I think a ziplock bag would work just fine.  The 1M tips are perfect for cakes and cupcakes!  You do not need a coupler or anything special to use the 1M tip either which you can find at Michael’s or any hobby store.

Pumpkin Pecan Caramel Layer Cake

A delicious and stunning centerpiece for your Thanksgiving dessert table.
Print Recipe
Course Dessert
Servings 10 people

Ingredients
  

  • 1 box yellow or spice cake mix
  • 1 15 ounce can of pumpkin, divided
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 1/3 cup vegetable or canola oil
  • 4 eggs
  • 2 tsp. pumpkin spice, divided
  • 8 oz. package of cream cheese or neufchatel cheese, room temperature
  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 8 ounce tub of Cool Whip, TruWhip or 3 cups whipped cream
  • 1/4 cup caramel topping (ice cream topping)
  • 1/2 cup pecan halves

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prep 3 - 9" or 8" round cake pans with oil and flour, and add circles of parchment on the bottom.
  • In a great big bowl, add the spice or yellow cake mix, 4 eggs, 1 cup of pumpkin, 1 tsp. pumpkin spice (if using yellow cake mix), milk, oil and eggs. Mix until combined very well. My cake rose higher when I mixed by hand with a fork. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Remove cakes from pans and allow to cool. Store at room temperature covered in saran wrap until ready to put together.
  • With an electric mixer, beat the room temperature cream cheese. Add powdered sugar, rest of the pumpkin (about 3/4 cup), and 1 teaspoon of pumpkin spice. Beat together until combined completely. Add teh cool whip/whipped cream. Fold in gently!
  • On a microwave safe plate or small skillet, toast the pecans over medium low heat until fragrant. Be careful - they can burn quickly! Set aside 8-10 full size pecans and chop the rest.
  • Put one cake layer bottom side down on your plate. Cover with one third of the pumpkin whipped cream mixture. Spread evenly. Add one third of the chopped pecans evenly and sprinkle on top. Even out the middle cake layer if needed. Add the second cake layer on top. Spread the second third of cool whip mix. Sprinkle second third of chopped pecans. Add final cake layer upside down so that the flat side is facing up. Spread remaining cool whip mix. Sprinkle pecans and decorate with reserved whole pecan halves. For extra mounds of cool whip like in the photo, fill a pastry bag with cool whip and pipe using a 1M tip.
  • Store in an air tight container or in plastic wrap. It should be refrigerated until ready to serve.
  • Drizzle caramel topping right before serving.

Notes

Recipe from Kraft Food and Family.
**This recipe was originally created before cake mix boxes changed from 18.25 ounces to the now 15.25 ounces.  As a result, I have been buying two boxes of mix to make up the difference.  Feel free to do this if you can weigh your ingredients. **
Keyword cake, caramel, dessert, pecan, pumpkin

 

Deep Fried Ice Cream

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Good day!  Well, the crazy continues as we wrap up a year of Covid.  I recorded a Cognitive Behavior Therapy session yesterday and a Skills session today, so that concludes year 1 of my Master’s in School Counseling degree.

Instead of the spring musical, we are re-making our Mexican restaurant favorite – deep fried ice cream!!  This is the real deal.  Not the “faux fried” stuff that some restaurants pass on as “deep fried” ice cream when it was clearly rolled in some cornflakes and never fried.  I made this super simple, but you just need to follow a few tips to create success:  keep everything really cold!  You will need to freeze your plate, balls of ice cream and dishes to serve it in.  The prep doesn’t take much time at all.  But, you do have to be a little patient and prep ahead of time.

Now onto the recipe!

I’ve made this before as a sundae, but this recipe tastes much more like the real thing.  The honey REALLY makes it tastes good as well!  I forgot it at first and was wondering what was missing…. the honey!

Interested in not frying?  Try this Deep Fried Ice Cream Sundae I posted!

Deep Fried Ice Cream

Print Recipe
Course Dessert
Cuisine Mexican

Ingredients
  

  • 2 pints good vanilla ice cream
  • 1 cup cornflakes
  • 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
  • 1 tsp. brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil or olive oil
  • honey and whipped cream
  • 4 maraschino cherries

Instructions
 

  • First, make sure you place your ice cream dishes in the freezer. I would also put 9x9 or so sized container in the freezer for 30 minutes if you have time.
  • Take out the 9x9 container. Scoop 4 balls of vanilla ice cream out. I used a sping-loaded scooper and a spoon to round them out. Place into the cold container to harden. I made my ice cream balls about the size of a tennis ball. I think the restaurant had a size of a baseball.
  • While the ice cream hardens for one hour or up to a few days covered, crush the cornflakes into small pieces. Not powdery pieces. Just small pieces about the size of pea gravel or smaller. Toss this with the cinnamon and brown sugar. Set aside until the ice cream is ready.
  • Put the cornflake mixture into a small bowl. Working quickly, roll each ice cream ball into the cornflake mixture. Return to the same 9x9 cold pan and place them all back into the freezer.
  • Now the fun part! Heat your oil (you can use as much or as little as you need...I have used as little as 2 Tb.) in a cast iron Dutch Oven or skillet over medium heat until hot. Do not allow it to smoke. If it starts smoking, the heat is too high. Have your cold ice cream dishes ready from out of the freezer.
  • Working quickly, carefully place the ice cream ball in the hot oil and roll around until browned slightly. In fear of melting the ice cream, I removed it after getting all of the sides exposed and hot. Then, remove the ice cream ball with a slotted spoon and place on the cold ice cream dish.
  • Top with honey, whipped cream and a maraschino cherry on top! Repeat for the other 3 ice cream balls. I removed or moved the bits of brown in the pot of oil off to the side to keep them from burning.

Raspberry Bars

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Summer is officially here!   Raspberry Bars are the perfect gooey summer treat!  This is another bakery inspired recipe that I couldn’t wait to make.  Aldi has raspberries on sale right now and they carry a Simply Nature raspberry preserves that is excellent!   Of course, you can use an raspberry preserves that you like.  I found it handy to have it all in one place and no fake colors or preservatives.

 

In other news…. my Crisis Intervention class is underway.  I didn’t choose the class to take – the school chose it for me because I just started at Missouri Baptist and do not have any pre-requisite courses done yet.   But boy, it is complete relevant to today!  The COVID-19 crisis, schools closed and the riots around the country are three major crises going on right how.   My professor helped Joplin during the Joplin, Missouri tornado crisis and had some really interesting information.  So, it is a medium sized town… a population of 50,000 people.  When volunteers showed up to help – whether they were invited to come or just showed up – there were 500,000 volunteers!  I know it sounds awesome, right?  But as many of you know this creates another huge problem.  Those people that need help and lost their homes had no place to stay.  All of the hotels within a 100 mile radius were full of volunteers.  He also mentioned that so much water came that they couldn’t use the extra 1 million water bottles.  He didn’t say what happened to the bottles other than 1 million of them couldn’t be used.  It was just too much.

I learned a TON in my FEMA training, too.  Which I will not bore you with other than if you think that there are too many acronyms in government… well you aren’t too far off.  I’m swimming in FEMA acronyms.  They do awesome work and the courses were great.  Soooooo many acronyms!

Back to the raspberry bars!!  Be prepared to keep these cold.  They taste better cold in my opinion anyway.  Stash in a cooler for travel or in your fridge at home.  They are NOT overly sweet and slightly tart because I don’t like sickly sweet desserts.  They make a great picnic snack or dessert at the end of the day.  We ate some after our 5.3 mile hike one morning.

So go out there and bake some bars!  Happy Summer!

Raspberry Bars

Print Recipe

Ingredients
  

Crust

  • 1/2 cup butter, unsalted melted
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1 tsp. vanilla
  • 1/4 tsp. salt
  • 1 cup flour (125 g) all-purpose

Filling

  • 3/4 cup raspberry preserves (or blueberry, apricot, etc.)
  • 15 fresh raspberries (about 1/2 pint)

Topping

  • 1/2 cup old-fashioned oats
  • 1/3 cup light or dark brown sugar
  • 1/2 tsp lemon juice powder or 1 tsp. lemon zest optional
  • 1/4 cup flour all purpose
  • 4 T cold butter or 2T butter and 2T plan Greek yogurt

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Spray a 7x11, 8x8 or 9x9 pan with cooking spray. Add a parchment sling to the pan. The sides should hang over by an inch or two.
  • In a great big bowl: mix all of the crust ingredients together. Press those down into the pan. Spread with a offset metal spatula or a regular spatula. If the dough sticks a lot, spray the spatula with cooking spray to keep it from sticking. Bake 15 minutes.
  • While that bakes, make the topping. In the same great big bowl, add the oats, brown sugar, lemon powder or zest (optional) and flour. Mix together! Then, cut up the cold butter into small chunks and add those to the oat mix. It should be crumbly throughout.
  • After removing bar crust, turn the oven up to 350.
  • Spread out the preserves with the offset spatula. Sprinkle fresh raspberries throughout. Sprinkle the topping on top.
  • Bake another 30-40 minutes. The edges will bubble and the topping will be light golden brown.
  • Cool for about 30 minutes. Then, cover and put into the fridge for 2 hours or more. Now you can lift the bars out of the pan using the sling, cut and eat!

Notes

Recipe adapted slightly from Sally's Baking Addiction

Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Pecan Bourbon Cookies

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Good morning!

These cookies are inspired by the super awesome bakery on Main Street in St. Charles, Missouri – Sweetie Pie’s Bakery.  She started decorating cakes at 14 years old and started her own business shortly after.  Now at age 21, she has her own bakery and I love supporting the local shops that employ our community members.  I have tried the lemon oatmeal cookie, the brown butter bourbon pecan chocolate chunk cookie, the macarons, the raspberry bars and cannot wait to try a cinnamon roll next time!  Everything I tried has been amazing and I’m picky when it comes to high calorie foods 🙂  They better be worth the exercise.

My sisters and I agree – you can’t have just one of these cookies.  They have a depth of flavor that is unsurpassed in the chocolate chip category contributed by the buttered pecans and browned butter – not to mention the bourbon!  My favorite kind of chocolate chip cookie is soft and chewy, so right out of the oven these are slightly crisp on the outside and chewy on the inside with melty chocolate chips galore.  The next day (if they make it that long) the cookies are still chewy and delicious!

The dough is freezable and passed the freezer test.  I freeze my balls of cookie dough on a large cookie sheet for 1-2 hours, then I take them out and will place them in a ziplock freezer bag until we are ready to bake them.  I find that freezing all drop cookies helps keep them from spreading which helps keep them chewy and gooey as well.  If you want them to stay “pretty” cookies like these with the pecan on top, I place those on a paper plate first and insert the paper plate into a ziplock freezer bag.   This is how you can have FRESH baked cookies pretty much every single day.

 

I might mention that these cookies taste AMAZING with a scoop of vanilla ice cream to make a sandwich or even better – a scoop of bourbon vanilla ice cream.  Turkey Hill ice cream makes a bourbon version which is weird all by itself… but tastes out of this world with brownies or chocolate anything.

 

Read through all of the directions!  These take a little time because you need to make brown butter first – but it is well worth it and really not a lot of work time.  Just waiting for the butter to cook, then cool.  They are worth it!

 

Bourbon- our grocery store sells tiny bottles of bourbon and other liquor near the check out area and in the liquor aisle.  So, try those first before buying an entire bottle of bourbon if you do not drink bourbon.  The tiny bottles contain about 4 Tablespoons which is enough to make this recipe twice.

Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Pecan Bourbon Cookies

Crazy amount of deliciously deep flavor in a cookie - you can't eat just one!
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Ingredients
  

  • 1 and 1/2 cups pecan halves
  • 17 T butter, unsalted divided
  • 2 and 1/3 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 t salt
  • 1 t baking soda
  • 1 cup dark brown sugar you can sub light brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1 t vanilla extract
  • 2 T bourbon
  • 2 large eggs room temperature
  • 12 ounces chocolate chunks or chips, semi-sweet or dark chopped if in chunks

Instructions
 

  • For the pecans: on MEDIUM heat in a large skillet or dutch oven or stainless steel pot (I would recommend one with a light colored bottom) - add just ONE tablespoon of butter. Once melted, add the pecan halves. Coat and toast until they smell nice - about 4 minutes. Remove the buttered pecans. Place a on plate to cool and set aside. Chop all but 24 pecan halves. The chopped pecans will go in the cookies and the halves will sit on top of the cookies.
  • For the brown butter: in the same skillet or pot you used for the pecan, put the remaining 16 Tb (2 sticks) of butter. Keep the heat on medium and melt completely. Then keep stirring until the butter turns brown at the bottom. Watch VERY carefully. Stir and stir - it will lose the yellow color and turn brown in 5-8 minutes. You can't tell it is turning color unless your pot has a light colored bottom which is why this is mentioned in step 1. Once the butter is browned, remove from heat. Allow it to cool a little and then let it sit for several hours until soft but not melted - or place in a heat proof container and place in the fridge until soft (about 1 hour). If the butter gets too hard, just cut it up in small pieces and allow to warm up to room temperature for about 20 minutes.
  • For the cookies: In a great big mixing bowl, add all of the brown butter and sugars. Mix on medium to medium high for 1-2 minutes. Add the bourbon and eggs. Beat until mixed in.
  • In a medium bowl: whisk together the flour, salt, and baking soda. Add this slowly to the wet sugar/butter mixture. Mix until just combined. Fold or stir in the chocolate and chopped pecans.
  • On a large cookie sheet with silicone or parchment: drop cookie dough balls onto the sheet. I used a medium cookie scoop that holds about 2 Tb. of dough. You could use that or a large muffin/quarter cup scoop. Place the reserved pecans halves on top of each cookie (if you kept them. This is optional)
  • At this point you can bake them at 350 degrees right now - make sure they have room to spread. They will bake in 7-9 minutes or when the edges turn golden brown. Or....
  • Or you can freeze the cookie dough balls in the freezer for 1-2 hours. Bake them or store them. Baking them - you want 350 degrees for 8-11 minutes from frozen. The edges will be light brown and the middle will be not liquid looking.
  • Cool and enjoy!

Notes

Recipe was adapted from Ashley Manila

Baked Chocolate Pudding & Stretching Your Meals

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Good morning!

If your school district is similar to ours or home school situation, your kids are home for the next few weeks.  Some  colleges are closing their doors and moving online only until the end of semester.  Currently, the grocery store shelves are out of necessities like toilet paper, fresh meat and frozen vegetables here.   In order to stretch what we do have here at home, I have planned to list some recipes that will stretch the food you have.  This is all new territory and I think I would rather stretch what I do have, and if the situation changes – Great!  If not, at least we tried what we could.  We are all just trying our best here.  No one is alive from the last pandemic to tell us what to do – although if you want to read about that I just finished “More Deadly Than War” by Kenneth Davis which was an excellent and quick read.

One, I am posting a cheap and delicious dessert to make your indoor days special.  This recipe was created for a Kids Cooking Class grades 5-8th grade, so I want to offer it as a tasty item we have repeatedly made, and a way to teach kids how to cook.  I think teaching kids how to cook is one of the most important things I can teach them.  Why?  Because I want my kids to have the freedom to do what they want, pursue a career in whatever field they choose, and not have to spend time worrying or thinking about how to do something as simple as cooking.  My second reason is that it creates healthy habits!

Two, listed below are all of my meal ideas from Whisk Together that will stretch your dollars and stretch what you do have.  Chicken breast in particular has been gone all week, so I posted that in a separate list.

Meals for Stretching your Chicken

Chicken Gnocchi Soup
Chicken Tortilla Soup
Chicken Pot Pie Soup
Chicken Noodle Soup
Chicken Tortilla Soup #2
Fiesta Chicken Casserole
Chicken and Rice Casserole
Shredded Chicken for filling
Chicken Mac and Cheese
White Chicken Chili
Chicken Melts
Chicken Enchiladas
Chicken Nachos
Chicken Poutine


Meals for Stretching your Dinner Dollars

Homemade Pizza
Sweet Potato Chili
Greek Yogurt Pancakes for Brinner!
Oatmeal Pancakes
Lentil Soup
Ham and Bean Soup
Sweet Potato and Carrot Soup
Tortellini with Italian Sausage – a family favorite!
Flu Fighter Cookies
Meatball Tortellini Soup
15 Minute Black Bean Soup
Baked Pumpkin Oatmeal
Pumpkin Soup
Roasted Jalapeno Soup
Baked Oatmeal – a breakfast favorite and versatile!
Taco Chili
Greek Yogurt Egg Salad
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

Baked Chocolate Pudding

Warm and chocolaty dessert that is best served warm. It can also be cooked ahead of time and reheated.
Print Recipe
Servings 6

Ingredients
  

  • 4 ounces semisweet baking chocolate or chocolate chips
  • 2 tbsp butter
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1 tbsp flour
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 2 eggs, slightly beaten
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Place a baking sheet on the counter. Place 6 ramekins that are at least 4 ounces in size on the sheet. You could use glass canning jars or regular ramekins or small bowls that are oven safe.
  • In a large glass bowl, add the chocolate (chopped up or in chips) and butter. Cook this in the microwave for 2 minutes at 50% power. Whisk Together! It should be smooth.
  • In a small bowl, add the sugar, cocoa powder, flour and salt. Whisk Together! Gradually, add this mixture to the melted chocolate mixture.
  • Now, we will learn how to TEMPER the eggs. This is important when adding any raw eggs to a hot or warm mixture. The sugar mixture should bring down the temperature, however, this is a great teaching moment to add a little of the warm chocolate mixture to the eggs. Whisk Together! Add a little more warm mixture to the eggs. Now the eggs are warmer, you can add them to the chocolate mixture. Add the milk and vanilla as well.
  • Portion the chocolate batter into the ramekins. Bake 20 minutes. The top should NOT be jiggly.
  • Feel free to add whipped cream, ice cream or powdered sugar. Serve while warm. Enjoy!

Notes

Recipe provided at Dierbergs 

Pumpkin Chiffon Pie

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Happy New Year’s Eve!  I hope everyone had a fantastic 2019 and we are ready for the next decade!  We have been working on a “Unsolved Case File” that I received as a Christmas gift.  We finally cracked the case last night!  It was pretty fun – here is a photo of just some of the items that we used to crack the case and find the “killer.”  There are photos, witness statements, evidence and bonus envelopes you get to open after solving the first mystery.

Unsolved Case Files

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I also discovered an AMAZING fruit and nut mix at Costco that costs $4.97 for 22 ounces!!  That is crazy cheap – half the price of Trader Joe’s.  Here is a quick photo in case you want to get some before they run out!

Activated Wildberry Superfood Trail Mix

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Before the New Year – Healthy Eating swing kicks in for January, I wanted to post ONE LAST dessert that we made and loved over the holidays.  (Although as far as pies go…. this one is actually pretty healthy compared to most.)  If you love pumpkin pie, or love a good chiffon pie, you will love this recipe!  The pie is sweet, but not too sweet and the filling is silky smooth.  It doesn’t have the milled down pumpkin puree mouthfeel that some people do not like in a pumpkin pie.  This pie is great to make ahead of time!  You can make it the day before and allow it to sit and cool and it is ready for eating or travel the next day.

For the Crust:

You can make your own or you can buy a pre-made crust.  For this chiffon I used a graham cracker crush.  For lemon chiffon pies, I use a blind baked regular pie crust.  You can use whatever is easiest for you!

Pumpkin Chiffon Pie

For the Filling:

Since there are eggs involved, they need to be safe to eat!  So, I created two ways to make the pie.  Normally, a chiffon pie has you separate eggs and you whisk the yolks into the main filling.  This filling is cooked over a stove.  Many recipes call for a double boiler, but I have never seen the need to go to all that trouble.  I watch the stove pretty closely.  Next, you whip the leftover egg whites over a stove and must have a hand mixer to do this.   I do not own a hand mixer, so I just used powdered egg whites (called meringue powder) instead.  Using powdered egg whites allowed me to use my Kitchen aid, and I didn’t have one more thing to cook.  Why buy meringue powder?  I always have some on hand for making royal icing or orange julius copycat smoothies.

For the Topping:

Feel free to use whipped cream out of a can, Cool Whip or homemade whipped cream.

Pumpkin Chiffon Pie

 

Print
Pumpkin Chiffon Pie

Total Time: 6 hours

Yield: 8 slices

Ingredients

  • 1 tablespoon unflavored gelatin
  • 3 eggs, separated
  • Optional 6 tsp. meringue powder and 6 Tb. water
  • 1 1/4 cups canned pumpkin puree
  • 1 cup sugar, divided
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
  • 1 10 inch store-bought graham cracker crust (or homemade)
  • Whipped cream for serving, optional but tasty
  • Cinnamon for garnish, optional

Instructions

  1. In a small bowl, add gelatin and 1/4 cup cold water. Set this aside for later.
  2. Over medium to medium-low heat, in a medium saucepan, add egg yolks, pumpkin, 1/4 cup sugar milk, pumpkin pie spice and salt. Whisk together. Cook for about 5 minutes and constant whisk those last 2-3 minutes. The mixture should look thick and register 160 degrees on a thermometer. (Or try dipping a spoon and run your finger along the back. If the mixture is thick and keeps the line you made, then the eggs are cooked!)
  3. Add gelatin to the mixture and stir until completely combined. Put this mixture into the fridge until chilled - about an hour.
  4. Once chilled, you can work on the egg whites! I have made this two ways: One, you take the meringue powder and water and put that into a mixing bowl. Mix until there are a few bubbles. Now while on medium speed, add another 1/3 cup water, 3/4 cup sugar, and cream of tartar. Turn the mixer up to high speed and beat until stiff peaks form - about 8 minutes or more.
  5. Two - the other method is to set up a double boiler and add your egg whites, 3/4 cup sugar, 1/3 cup water and cream of tartar. While the water boils below, the eggs will cook while you whisk them with a hand mixer. The egg mixture should reach 160 degrees and stiff peaks form.
  6. Fold the egg white mixture into the cooled pumpkin mixture.
  7. Add this to your crust. Chill at least 4 hours. Top with whipped cream and a dash of cinnamon if you like!

Recipe adapted from Parents Magazine

http://www.whisktogether.com/2019/12/31/pumpkin-chiffon-pie/

Chocolate Peanut Butter Layer Cake

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Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake

Welcome to a remake of my son’s favorite birthday cake!  I have been making this super easy chocolate cake since we started the blog.  At age 5, Little Whisk Together received an Angry Birds Cake with Chocolate.  I have been making the deep, dark delicious chocolate cake ever since – with some whole wheat flour, with normal flour, with applesauce instead of oil, or using oil.  This cake was for his 13th birthday!

I highly recommend a good baking cocoa which makes chocolate cakes dark and delicious.  The cocoa I have used for several years is Rodelle Baking Cocoa.  Amazon sells it.  Costco sells it at a great price, but only around what they call their “baking season” of October to January.  Then, Costco discontinues it until next year.  I think it makes a difference in chocolate goods, plus it makes excellent homemade hot cocoa because it dissolves better than the regular Hershey baking cocoa powder.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake

For the cake part:

Of course, you can use a chocolate box cake mix as well!  This will work fine and makes cakes that have multiple components sooooo much easier as well.  I am told adding a box of chocolate pudding mix to the box cake mix is also very tasty!

I adapted this recipe from a few poke cakes that I found around the internet.  The original cake pokes holes in the chocolate cake and drizzles an entire container of chocolate syrup or hot fudge sauce.  You are perfectly allowed to do this!  But I did not add more chocolate syrup because I thought the cake would be plenty moist, plenty sweet and plenty filling – and it is!

For the Peanut Butter Part:

Make sure to use plain, creamy peanut butter from the jar.  Do not use the natural kind.  I usually use natural peanut butter in everything, but the emulsifiers and oil added to the peanut butter in the normal jar will keep the peanut butter layer from separating while in the fridge.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake

For the Whipped Topping part:

There are a lot of options here!  You can use a 16 ounce tub of Cool Whip for the easy route.  You can whip up some Dream Whip from powder  – this can be found in the baking section and comes in boxes of 4 and 8.  Because it is a powder, it has a longer shelf life.  You could also whip up real whipped cream by beating 2 cups of heavy whipping cream with a little sugar and vanilla.

For the Toppings:

The sky is the limit!  But I would recommend toppings for a little contrast to the pudding and whipped cream texture.  My son LOVES Reese’s, so I cut up mini peanut butter cups.  But you could use chopped Oreos, Reese’s pieces, or – my favorite – sliced bananas.  I think I would put the sliced banana UNDER the whipped cream layer so they do not brown as quickly.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake

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Chocolate Peanut Butter Layer Cake

Yield: 24 servings

Ingredients

  • 1 chocolate cake box mix (or see notes for recipe from scratch)
  • 8 ounces cream cheese or Neufchatel cheese, room temp.
  • 14 ounces sweetened condensed milk
  • 1 cup peanut butter
  • 1 cup milk
  • 16 ounces Cool whip or whipped cream
  • 2 cups chopped Reese's peanut butter cups, Oreos, etc.

Instructions

  1. Make the 9x13 chocolate cake per the directions on the box. Cool completely.
  2. In a large bowl, whip the cream cheese in a mixer or with a fork.
  3. Add the can of sweetened condensed milk. I added 10 ounces or 3/4ths of the can. Mix together.
  4. Add the peanut butter and mix together.
  5. Fold in half of the tub of Cool whip - or half of the Dream whip or 1 cup of whipped cream.
  6. Add the milk about a 1/4 cup at a time. Do NOT add the full cup of milk. Just keep adding until you have a consistency of thick honey. Pourable, but not liquidy.
  7. Once you have the peanut butter layer mixed together, pour onto the cake.
  8. Add dollops of remaining whipped cream or Cool whip all over the cake. Spread with an offset spatula to make it easier. Cover and store in the fridge until ready to serve!
  9. Just before serving, add the chopped toppings. I would not let them sit on the cake as they are chocolate and tend to attract condensed water.
  10. Slice and eat!

Homemade Chocolate Cake: 2 cups sugar 1 and 3/4 cup flour 3/4 cup cocoa 2 tsp. baking soda 1 tsp. baking powder 1 tsp. kosher salt 2 eggs 1 cup buttermilk (substitution: 1 Tbs. lemon juice and 1 cup 2% milk) 1 cup strong coffee or hot water 1/2 cup vegetable oil 2 tsp. vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In one big bowl, add the sugar, flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and kosher salt. Stir together with a whisk or beat on low in the mixer. Add eggs, buttermilk, coffee, vegetable oil, and vanilla. Beat on medium for 2 minutes. It will be watery and that is just fine.

As 13×9 cake: bake 35-40 min.

http://www.whisktogether.com/2019/12/27/chocolate-peanut-butter-layer-cake/

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