Brown Sugar Fudge

My grandparents love fudge.  In fact, I'm pretty sure that my grandpa lives off the stuff.  Grandma on the other hand has to be very careful about her sugar intake, but she's been known to sneak a piece or two.  They both love chocolate fudge and as you've seen from previous posts, I've had a lot of bad experiences with fudge.  I've finally found a few trusted recipes that I use over and over again, but the problem is, they are all chocolate fudge recipes.  Well that's great if you only want chocolate fudge, but sometimes you just want something different.  This recipe from Taste of Home for Maple Fudge is delicious the way it is, but if you leave out the maple extract and add some corn syrup, it makes a TREMENDOUS brown sugar fudge that is absolutely heavenly.  Either way, give this recipe a try and be prepared to be dazzled by some delicious fudge. 

As a word of warning about fudge, fudge is very touchy, don't be surprised if your first batch (or your 10th) batch isn't perfect.  Some days something as small as the humidity can throw off your fudge.  Just be patient and observant. 

Recipe

1-1/2 teaspoons plus 1/4 cup butter, softened, divided

1 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup evaporated milk

2 tablespoons light corn syrup

2-1/2 cups confectioners' sugar

Line a 9-in. square pan with foil and grease the foil with 1-1/2 teaspoons butter; set aside.
In a heavy saucepan, combine the brown sugar, milk, corn syrup and remaining butter. Cook and stir over medium heat until sugar is dissolved. Bring mixture to a rapid boil (this means that when you stir it, it continues to boil), stirring constantly for 5 minutes.  Remove from the heat. Gradually add confectioners' sugar; mix well.  Immediately spread into prepared pan. Cool. Using foil, lift fudge out of pan. Cut into 1-in. squares. Refrigerate in an airtight container.

Vanilla Peppermint Cookie

Unfortunately I didn't get to make a lot of Christmas cookies this year.  The few cookies that I did get to make I ended up sending overseas to my friend Ken, see Ken's Chocolate, Beer, Bacon cookies.  In that care package I also sent over these festive take on chocolate chip cookies.  I discovered this delicious recipe for puffy chocolate chip cookies from The Food Network and one of my favorite TV chef's Alton Brown.  His recipe for The Puffy chocolate chip cookie has become a staple in my pantry.  So when I was wondering how in the world I could make a cookie that would meld well with the peppermint chips and still have the consistency of a chocolate chip cookie, this cookie immediately came to mind.  Turns out, it was a winner! 

I made the original The Puffy cookie recipe but changed the add ins and the ratio of vanilla. 
Give this cookie a try and you'll be sure to enjoy the hint of vanilla with the refreshing blast of peppermint. 

Recipe

1 cup butter-flavored shortening or butter

3/4 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar

2 1/4 cups flour

1/2  teaspoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups Andes Peppermint baking chips

 

Heat oven to 375 degrees.

Combine the shortening, sugar, and brown sugar in the mixer's work bowl, and cream until light and fluffy. In the meantime, combine together the flour, salt, and baking powder and set aside.  Add the eggs  to the creamed mixture. Then add the vanilla. Add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture and combine well. Stir in the peppermint chips. Chill the dough.  Bake for 13 minutes or until golden brown and puffy.  Remove from the oven and enjoy with a glass of milk for a warm treat with a burst of minty goodness. 

Italian Sausage and Spaghetti Squash dinner

 I saw this recipe in a Taste of Home magazine and I just knew that I had to try it.  I'm normally not a fan of sausage, but there was just something about this recipe that called to me.  I love spaghetti squash and the combination of sausage, beans and zucchini seemed too good to pass up.  I was right!  This recipe is SSSSOOOO good, you definitely need to try it!  I ate it for breakfast a couple of mornings, lunch the same days and finally for dinner and never once did I get tired of it!  In fact, I can hardly wait to get back to school and make this again.   Since I don't like onion or cooked green peppers, I left those out of the recipe. 

Recipe 

1 medium spaghetti squash (3 to 3-1/2 pounds)

1/2 cup water

1 pound bulk sausage

sprinkling of onion powder

1 small zucchini, chopped

1 garlic clove, minced

1 can (15-1/2 ounces) great northern beans, rinsed and drained

1 can of tomato sauce ( I used homemade tomato sauce)

1 teaspoon Italian seasoning

1/4 teaspoon seasoned salt

Shredded Parmesan cheese

 

     Pierce holes in the squash.  Microwave for two minutes at a time until the skin of the squash is soft.  Let cool for five minutes and then halve squash lengthwise and discard seeds. Place, cut side up, in an oven-safe dish. Cook at 350 degrees for an hour.
     While the squash is in the oven, brown sausage in a large skillet until meat is no longer pink; drain. Add the onion powder and garlic. Cook for 10 minutes . Add the beans, tomato sauce, Italian seasoning, zucchini, and salt. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes or until heated through.
    When squash is cool enough to handle, use a fork to separate strands; place in a serving dish. Top with sausage mixture. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

This could also be made vegetarian as pointed out by one of my friends using vegetarian chorizo. 

Old School Dessert

My mom had to take a dessert to a potluck and came home with a two large containers of cottage cheese, two of Cool-Whip and two of cherry jello.  I looked at her like she was crazy!  I asked her what she planned on doing with those ingredients and she told me that she was making her dessert.  I thought she was crazy.  Turns out, a teacher at my mom's school had brought it in one day and claimed that it was the newest recipe craze.  My mom thought she was nuts; turns out my grandma used to make it for my mom when she was a child.  The recipe is so easy and tastes so good!  Red 40 and I don't react well together, but I was really craving raspberry so I decided to chance it.  Turns out, in very small quanities it doesn't give me a migraine, so yeah for that! 
With no further ado, here's the recipe and please enjoy!

One container of th Cool - Whip of you choice (fat - free, regular or sugarless)
One container of cottage cheese (also of your choice)
One package of Jello, flavor of your choice

Mix the Cool-Whip, cottage cheese and Jello together.  Refrigerate for at least 2 hours or until the Jello has absorbed and the mixture has set. 
Enjoy!

Ken's Chocolate, Beer, Bacon Cookies

A friend of mine, Ken, was deployed to Afghanistan.  I should mention Ken is a Marine and Marines enjoy beer and bacon.  However, it's really hard to just send beer and bacon overseas.  So I needed some way to get these two things over to Ken without just shipping over a 12 pack and a giant slab of bacon.  So after brainstorming with some friends, I decided that if a picked a dark chocolate stout and combined it with some super crispy bacon, I might be able to make a cookie that wasn't totally disgusting.  I found a recipe online from Betty Crocker but I realized I couldn't garnish them with the chocolate or bacon pieces because they wouldn't stick when I shipped them overseas.  The first batch I made wasn't perfect, so here is the perfected recipe.  I know that they sound weird, but they are actually really good and a guaranteed way to make any man, woman  or bacon lover in your life happy. 

Recipe
6 slices crisply cooked bacon 
1 pouch Betty Crocker® double chocolate chunk cookie mix

1/2 c. butter, softened     

1 egg                                                                                                                             

1/4 c. dark, chocolate, stout beer, the darker the better     

1/4 c. packed brown sugar                                       

1 c. dark chocolate chips                                          

  If you're not going to send these off to Afghanistan, then you can add the ganache, or shiny chocolate coating on top that is on the recipe above, click on the Betty Crocker link. 

Bake the bacon on a rack for 20 to 30 minutes at 400 degrees until it is super crispy.  Let cool. 
Heat oven to 375°F.
Crumble the slices of the cooked bacon into small pieces; place in large bowl. Add cookie mix, butter, egg and 1/4 c. of beer; stir until dough forms.  Scoop the dough into 2-inch balls; place on ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake 11 to 13 minutes. Remove from cookie sheet to cooling rack. Cool completely, about 15 minutes.

    Enjoy! 

Pumpkin Dessert Bars

I don't like pumpkin pie, I know that around Thanksgiving that is completely sacrilegious, but the texture is really off putting for me.  I also don't like Jello and pumpkin pie filling reminds me of the texture of Jello.  Yick!  Of course, my family loves pumpkin pie, especially my grandparents, so this year I decided to compromise and make a layered pumpkin bar for dessert.  I had seen people create these kinds of desserts before, but I had never made one for myself.  So I figured, why not?  I'll be honest with you, I got the recipe from Kraft recipes but I changed the topping from pecans to some of the left over gingersnap crust that I had left.  This recipe was great and I'm looking forward to making it for my friends at some point, it's a great pumpkiny treat that doesn't have to be made only at Thanksgiving.

Recipe

25 Ginger snaps, finely crushed (about 1-1/3 cups)

1/4 cup butter, melted

2 pkg. (8 oz. each) Cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup sugar

1-1/2 cups canned pumpkin

1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg

2 eggs

2 pkg. (3.4 oz. each) Vanilla Flavor Instant Pudding

2 cups cold milk

1 tub (8 oz.) Whipped Topping, thawed, divide

Heat oven to 350°F.  Mix cookie crumbs and butter; press onto bottom of 13x9-inch pan. Leave about 2 Tbsp for adding to the top. Bake 10 min.

      Beat cream cheese and sugar with mixer until well blended. Add pumpkin and spices; mix well. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating on low speed after each just until blended; pour over crust.

30 min. or until center is almost set. Cool 1 hour.     
Beat pudding mixes and milk in medium bowl with whisk 2 min. Stir in 1 cup whipped topping. Spread over dessert; cover with remaining whipped topping.

 

Refrigerate 3 hours or until firm. Sprinkle with left over ginger snaps before serving.

Lazy Lasagna

    Since my brother wasn't home for Thanksgiving this year until Friday night, we decided to have Thanksgiving on Saturday so that meant that for the rest of us, my mom and grandparents, we needed to have something for Thanksgiving.  Last year we had a mini Thanksgiving dinner and it wasn't such a good idea because by the time we got to the big Thanksgiving meal, we were all tired of turkey.  So this year I threw out the idea of lasagna and surprisingly everyone was on board.  I wanted something cheesy, meaty, and noodley, the essentials for lasagna.  This recipe for Lazy Lasagna was absolutely perfect!   It also makes a perfect week night dinner because it comes together easily and bakes quickly. 

Recipe
1 lb ground beef
1 jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce
16 oz of ricotta cheese
2 c. sour cream
8 uncooked lasagna noodles
3 pkgs of sliced mozzarella cheese
1/2 c. Parmesan cheese
1 c. of water

   Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Brown meat in a large skillet over medium heat.  Drain meat and mix in the spaghetti sauce.  Reduce heat to low and simmer until heated through.  In a separate pan, combine the ricotta cheese and sour cream and blend well. 
   Spoon some of the meat sauce in the bottom of the pan and then layer the noodles over the top of the sauce.  Make sure that the noodles go all the way to the edge of the pan, then cover with the ricotta and sour cream blend.  Layer the mozzarella slices and some of the Parmesan cheese over the ricotta and sour cream mixture.  Add more meat sauce, layer the noodles, then the ricotta mixture, and the finally the mozzarella and Parmesan.  Continue this until you run out meat and sauce, ricotta and sour cream and mozzarella and Parmesan.  This should be about 2 layers in a 9x13 inch pan.  Once you've finished layering the lasagna, lay the mozzarella slices across the top.  Carefully add the cup of water around the edges (this will help the noodles cook) and tightly cover the pan with foil.  Bake for 1 hour or until hot and bubble.  Let stand for 15 minutes and then serve! 

Thick Apple Pie

     I love apple pie.  There is nothing better than a thick slice of apple pie; the smells of  the cinnamon and sweet sugar, crisp, tart apples, flaky pie shell and it's just HEAVEN on Earth.  I'm pretty sure that I inherit this love of apple pie from my grandpa, who believes that pie is the greatest form of food to ever exist.  Elderberry, blackberry, raspberry, or any kind of fruit pie and he was happy, but apple was was his absolute favorite.  Unlike me, grandpa likes his apple pie filling to be runny, I like my apple pie filling to be thick and stay in place and until this pie, I never had any luck.  My grandma always told me that is was all about how much liquid was in the apples and I believe that there is some truth to that, but I also think that giving the apples some time to sit and give off some of their juices and then adding more flour to the filling, helping to create a thicker filling. 
   If you're in the mood for pie, this is the pie to try.  Nothing is better than the smells that waft from your oven when you're cooking an apple pie.  It's the perfect treat anytime, not just for fall.  I love apple pie for Christmas, the cinnamon and sugar mixed with the tart apples, yumm, my mouth is watering as a type this.  So give this pie a try and enjoy!
     As for pie crusts, sometimes I make my own and I'll include the recipe, but other times I use a refrigerated pie crust that you can buy in the store.  I know that that is technically cheating, but if you're in a hurry, it's the way to go

Pie Crust Recipe 
2 c. flour
3/4 tsp of salt
1/2 c. lard or vegetable shortening
3 Tbsp of COLD water.

     The key to good pie crust is to not touch it, work with it as little as possible and to not use much water. 
Sift the flour and the salt together into a mixing bowl.  Use forks to work either the lard or vegetable shortening into the flour.  Add the water until it just comes together.  Then roll it out and lay it in the pie plate.  This is the way my mom does it.  When I do it, I use my food processor, but I just barely process it until it just comes together.  It should still look at bit crumbly.  I take it out of the food processor and bring it together, roll it out and put it in the pie plate.  The key is keeping the lard or shortening from getting warm. 

Pie Filling
1 c. of sugar
3 to 4 Tbsp of flour
1 tsp of cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp of salt
6 to 7 cups of sliced Granny Smith Apples
2 Tbsp of butter
1 Tbsp of lemon juice
Bowl of water

    In order to keep the apples from getting brown, peel and slice them into water that has a 1 Tbsp of lemon juice in it.  Make sure that they are well coated in the water and then drain them.  In a giant bowl add the sugar, 2 Tbsp of the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt.  Mix the apples into the sugar and flour mixture and let sit for half an hour. 
    After half an hour, check the consistency of the apples and add the rest of the flour.  You want the mixture to be incredibly thick before you pour it into the pie pan.  Once you have poured the apples into the bottom crust, dot the top with the butter and roll the other pie crust over the top.  Seal it by using a fork and gently pushing the two crusts together.  The pie will seem incredibly full, but as it cooks, the apples will cook down.  Cut a slice in the top so that the steam can vent out.  Then take your basting brush and cover the top pie crust lightly with milk.  Then sprinkle a generous helping of sugar across the top crust.  Cover the edges of the pie with tin foil and bake at 425 degrees for 50 to 60 minutes or until the center crust is brown. 

Green Bean Soup (Bean soup)

          So I know it's been a while since I've last updated my blog.  Since it was the end of the semester it's always a little hectic and I go into school work mode, which means I cook and bake a ton but I don't have enough time to write about it.  So since Christmas is over and it's New Year's Eve and I've been really sick for the past couple of days, I decided to stay in and update my blog.  I know it doesn't sound like the best New Year's plan ever, but I don't want to risk getting sick again.  I've been sick for about three weeks and let me tell you, for a while it felt like I was never going to get better. 
        Onto happier thought though, this bean soup is an absolute favorite of our family.  We plant a huge garden every year and we make this bean soup with green beans fresh out of the garden. Literally, we can barely wait for the first batch of beans to get ripe so that we can make this soup.   In the winter when the green beans aren't quite as good, we use beans that we have canned from the summer.  I would recommend that if you're not fortunate enough to have fresh (or canned yourself) green beans on hand, use store bought canned green beans.  Make sure to drain and rinse off the beans before using and if you use store bought canned green beans, you can skip the boiling part since your beans are already soft.  This soup can really be made to your own taste, it really involves playing with the garlic and pepper to try and find a combination that is perfect for you.

Recipe

1/2 pound of bacon, cut into bite-sized pieces
3 tablespoons of flour
2 or 3 can of evaporated milk
2 cans of green beans (or a pound of fresh)
2 or 3 cups of milk (don't use less than 1%, it will make the soup taste funny)
1 tsp of garlic salt
1/2 tsp of pepper

Directions
      If using fresh green beans, snip off the ends, cut them into bite-sized pieces and put them in a pot of salted water.  Bring to a boil and boil the beans until they can easily be pierced with a fork.  Drain and set aside.  If using canned beans, open, rinse and set aside, no need to pre-boil. 
      Fry the bacon in a the bottom of a large soup pot.  Cook the bacon until it's very crispy, because putting it in the soup will soften it and you don't want it to be mushy.  Once the bacon is done, remove the bacon pieces from the grease with a slotted spoon, but keep the grease in the pan, that's how we will build our roux.  Turn the heat down to low on the pan of grease and add the flour.  Depending on how much flour you add, the soup will either be thicker or thinner.  3 Tbsps makes a medium thick soup, 2 Tbsps would make a thinner soup and 4 Tbsps would make a thicker soup (this also depends on the amount of milk you add) .  Stir the flour into the grease and cook for a few minutes, at least 3 maybe 4 minutes so that you cook the raw flour taste out. 
       When the flour and grease are a golden brown color, begin whisking the mixture.  While whisking slowly add the cans of evaporated milk.  The evaporated milk is what gives this soup its great flavor and mouth feel, so you can choose how much you add.  I would highly suggest the three cans, but that's my preference.  Make sure to whisk constantly or you'll get little flour lumps and they are not tasty. 
        Once you've added all of the evaporated milk, add in the regular milk.  Now here is the key to the regular milk situation.  Depending on how you want your soup, either thick or thin, is the key to how much milk you want to add.  For thick soup, only add a cup or two of regular milk, for thin soup add anywhere from three to four cups of milk.  I normally do an even three and three for a medium soup. 
        Next comes the seasoning.  This is also done by taste.  I normally add at least 1tsp of garlic salt, but if that's not enough then I switch to garlic powder and regular salt.  I don't add a lot of salt because the bacon is rather salty.  I also had a generous 1/2 tsp to a 1tsp of pepper (depending on taste).  This is really a soup that you just have to continue to taste until you have that AHA moment. 
When you think you've got the perfect soup, add your green beans and bacon back to the pot and serve hot. 
       This is a soup that I've made a 1,000 times and every time I do, I have to do it by taste.  I've tried to pay attention so that I have an exact recipe and when I told my grandmother what I was doing, she laughed.  She said "My mother just threw in pinches and handfuls and gave everything a big stir and presto, delicious"  I guess this is just one of those soups where a pinch here and pinch there and suddenly you've got magic.  My family has been making this soup forever and I can hardly wait to someday feed my family this soup!

Oreo Truffle Cupcakes

 I feel bad for my colleagues at work, I've been pretty negligent about bring food into work.  Usually they get to try all my latest recipes and as college kids, they give me really good feedback for what's good, what's okay, and well what doesn't work.  (The latter hasn't happened for a while, but it's always a possibility, never get cocky.)  So one of my other workers, Jordan was surfing Twitter and found these cupcakes.
    At first I was a bit hesitant, I had never put a truffle in a cupcake and the last truffle I made had been years ago.  So needlessly to say, when I first looked at the recipe I held my breathe hoping it wasn't going to be awful.  Luckily for me and my colleagues, they were REALLY simple!  I also received RAVE reviews!  Everyone loved it.  In fact, my boss (who is the recipient of most of the food I bring in since I see him every morning) told me that these are possibly the best thing I've ever made before.  WHOOO HOOO!!!  You can also just make the Oreo truffles and then dip then in chocolate and just serve them as truffles, but try to resist the urge, they are sooooooo good in the cupcakes, a real winner! 
   The only thing that I could change about this recipe is to add some of the Oreo crumbs to the French Vanilla cake.  This would make the cake just a little bit more Oreo looking and tasting.  With no further ado, here is the recipe!


Ingredients: 

2 bags of regular size and flavor Oreos
1 block of room temperature cream cheese
1 French Vanilla cake (Use French Vanilla because it tastes better than regular vanilla cake)
1 container of cream cheese frosting

Oreo Truffles
Take one package of Oreos and crush them finely.  (I used my food processor)
Then combine the Oreos with the cream cheese and stir until well mixed.
Use a mini scooper and scoop out balls.  Roll these truffles to make them round and then place them in the freezer for 20 minutes so they don't melt in the oven.

Cupcakes:
Follow the directions on the box to make the cake.  However, here is where I would change the recipe a bit.  I would crush some more Oreos and add them to the cake batter.  When the cake batter is ready, line the cupcake tins with liners and put fill 1/4 of the way up, just barely covering the bottom.  Put into the pre-heated oven (just follow the temperature on the cake box)  and bake the bottoms for 4 minutes.  Take them out of the oven and then add the truffles.  Fill with the remaining cake batter and then bake for 11 minutes (for a total of 15 like the box says).  Remove from the oven, let cool.

Frosting:

Take the cream cheese frosting.  You could make homemade, but I was being lazy and used store bought.  I then ground up the second package of Oreos and added half of the cookies to the frosting and mixed it together well.  I used the left over ground up cookies to top the cupcakes. 

All I can say is please try these, they are soooooooooo good!  Enjoy!

original recipe I believe

 

Dark Chocolate Mousse

  Normally, if I have to have something sweet I want caramel.  There is nothing better than rich, buttery, silky caramel, preferably off-set with some sea salt... pardon me while I while the drool from my lips.  But when it comes to chocolate, I love dark chocolate. Plain and simple, it's the best stuff ever invented.  So why not combine, dark chocolate, heavy cream and gelatin together to create the most sinful and fluffy concoction on the plant, dark chocolate mousse. I'll admit, I was nervous; I've never made mousse before and I had this awful mental image that I might end up with dark chocolate goo, however, I followed the Hershey's recipe to a T and from it emerged a luxurious, fluffy, rich, and sinfully good dark chocolate mousse.  One spoonful and I was hooked, I would totally make this for a dinner party in a moment; putting it into cocktail glasses like the above photo and letting it chill so that it forms a beautiful smooth top layer.  I would then garnish it with raspberries or strawberries and serve.  Easy, elegant and completely mind blowing.  This will make you think twice about calling on ice cream as a comfort food, I think my new favorite might be dark chocolate mousse.  

Ingredients

• 1 envelope unflavored gelatin
• 1/4 cup cold water
• 1/3 cup boiling water
• 1 cup sugar
• 2/3 cup HERSHEY'S SPECIAL DARK Cocoa
• 2 cups (1 pt.)cold whipping cream
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions

1. 1 Sprinkle gelatin over cold water in small bowl; let stand 2 minutes to soften. Add boiling water; stir until gelatin is completely dissolved and mixture is clear. Cool slightly.
   
2. 2 Combine sugar and cocoa in large bowl; add whipping cream and vanilla. Beat on medium speed of mixer, scraping bottom of bowl occasionally, until mixture is stiff. Pour in gelatin mixture; beat until well blended. Spoon into dessert dishes.
   
3. 3 Refrigerate at least 30 minutes. Garnish as desired. Store covered in refrigerator. 8 servings.

Link to the Hershey's recipe website

Whiskey Chocolate Cupcakes

Yesterday was a beautiful fall day that turned rainy and stormy as the day progressed, but while I was backing these cupcakes it was gorgeous out, I love those kinds of days.  As I was drinking my coffee early in the morning, I began pondering what I wanted to bake during the day.  Thursdays are my day off and I love to bake on those days; there is something about enjoying my daily coffee while dreaming of delicious treats that just gets my day started off right.  Yesterday I also had an ulterior motive, a good friend who comes in to work out every morning, his birthday is actually today.  So I began dreaming of chocolate and fall.  My first thought was chocolate and apples, but I came to a screeching halt when I tried to figure out how to incorporate chocolate cake and apples, nothing seemed like a good choice.  So I started rooting through my cupboards trying to figure out what I could mix with chocolate to come up with a good fall cupcake.  Coffee instantly came to mind, but I make all my chocolate baked goodies with coffee, I think that it enhances the chocolate flavor, so really, chocolate and coffee was already a given.  Finally, I went to throw something away and happened to glance up in my closet that holds my garbage can... liquor!  Well the first bottle that was in my eyesight was Margaritaville White Tequila and all I could think of was Tequila and chocolate... YUCK!  But then I was struck with an idea I had a few weeks ago before I went to Australia about whiskey and chocolate chip cookies.  Well, I thought, let's get online and see what I can find in relationship to chocolate and whiskey cupcakes.  Low and behold, there are BUNCHES of people who are like me and believe that you should mix your liquor and chocolate and end up with delicious baked concoctions.  WHOO HOO!  Raise a toast to all of us! 
The recipe that I used for the actual cupcakes came from Wicked Whiskey Cupcakes , however, I left out a few of the spices at the end because the Maker's Mark that I used was more than enough and I wanted them to be true Whiskey cupcakes, without the spice.  I also used the idea of their frosting, but not the actual recipe because I didn't have condensed milk on hand, so I'll put my frosting recipe on here. 
These cupcakes got rave reviews from the birthday boy and everyone else who tried one this Friday morning.  In fact, it might have been the most perfect start 6:30am on a Friday morning in recent memory.  I would suggest, that if you have a Friday morning off, or maybe a Saturday morning, to make these the night before and then that morning curl up on the couch with a Whiskey Chocolate Cupcake and some coffee (with possibly the matching whiskey inside that cup of steaming coffee, if you're not opposed to alcohol before noon)  and enjoy a thing of absolute beauty. 
Without further ado, here is the

Whiskey Chocolate Cupcake recipe

1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (I used 10 Tbs of dark chocolate, and 6 Tbs of milk chocolate)
1 cup STRONGLY brewed coffee
1 cup of American whiskey (I highly suggest Maker's Mark, but use JD or Wild Turkey, whatever you want)
2 sticks of butter cut in to pieces (so it melts faster)
2 cups of sugar
2 cups of all-purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoons salt
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla



Melt the butter, cocoa powder, coffee and whiskey on the stove in a pan.  When the butter is all melted, add the sugar and stir until it's dissolved.   (This didn't take long for me, about five minutes.  Don't worry about burning off the alcohol because it will bake out when you put the cupcakes in the oven.  If you taste this chocolate, butter, coffee, alcohol mixture, you'll think YUMM followed by OMG strong, but trust me, GO WITH IT!) 
Take this mixture off the stove and let it cool for a few minutes (I let it cool for as long as it took me to mix everything else together in a separate bowl. 
Add the flour, baking soda, salt, vanilla and eggs into another bowl.  Add the chocolate, butter, sugar, whiskey mixture.  Stir well.  The batter will appear really, really wet, almost like chocolate soup, but have no fear, it will bake up I promise. 
Have your oven preheated to 325 degrees and fill your cupcake liners with batter about 3/4 or so of the way to top.  Bake for approximately 30 minutes, I think mine actually took about 26, but when a toothpick comes out clean.  Warning:  Be careful sticking your head/face in the oven to get these cupcakes out, the steam is about 190 proof and it's a great way to get a second hand drunk going on.  Wait until they cool a bit and then ice them with this fabulous, fudgy concoction that forms a whiskey, chocolaty shell on top of these dense, fudgy cupcakes. 

Frosting:
3 Tbs of Whiskey (the same used in the cupcakes please)
3 Tbs of coffee
1 cup of dark chocolate chips (or milk chocolate chips, but I used the dark and they were scrumptious)
1/2 to 3/4 cup of powdered sugar  (I didn't measure this, I just added it until the frosting was slightly sweet

First, to get the raw alcohol taste out of your frosting, put the 3 Tbs of whiskey in a pot and bring to a boil.  Once it begins to boil, let it boil for about a minute and then add the coffee (same coffee you used in the cupcakes) and then add the chocolate while those are hot.  Melt the chocolate in the coffee and whiskey and then add the powdered sugar to bring it to a thick, just barely below fudge type frosting.  I also used the powdered sugar as added sweetness.  Scoop onto the cupcakes while the frosting is still warm and spread around with a knife.  The frosting will then harden into a shell and create a delicious topping to these whiskey cupcakes.  If you think that the whiskey flavor isn't strong enough, before you frost the cupcakes you can brush the tops of the cooled cupcakes with some whiskey for an additional layer of flavor.  I didn't do this, but it was a suggestion that I saw online.  If I ever make these cupcakes again (which I believe I will, they were a huge hit),  I think I'll give that a try. 

Apple Spice Angel Food Cake

I love Angel food cake, I would probably eat Angel food cake every day if I could, however, that would require more time at the gym and I'm just not willing to put in more than two hours or so.  So being that it's fall and it's the season for apples, warmth, and all things good, I figured that this Apple - Spice Angel food Cake would be amazing!  I actually made it today and I couldn't resist trying a piece, even though I planned to take it home to my brother (who is coming home to visit this weekend).  It turned out beautiful and tastes even better.  Since Angel food is low in fat and this recipe also contains unsweetened apple sauce, I felt like I was doing something good, even though it tasted sinful.    So with very few changes, here is my recipe. 

Ingredients

1 package  angel food cake mix

1 cup water

2/3 cup unsweetened applesauce

1/2 cup chopped pecans, toasted

1 teaspoon apple pie spice (I didn't have apple pie spice, so I used 1 tsp cinnamon and a pinch of nutmeg)

brown sugar, more pecans and cinnamon

Directions

• In a large bowl, combine cake mix and water. Beat on low speed for 30 seconds. Beat on medium speed for 1 minute. Fold in the applesauce, pecans and pie spice.
• Gently spoon into an ungreased 10-in. tube pan. Cut through batter with a knife to remove air pockets.
• On the top of the cake, sprinkle brown sugar, cinnamon, and nuts. 
• Bake on the lowest oven rack at 350° for 35-45 minutes or until lightly browned and entire top appears dry.
• Immediately invert pan; cool completely, about 1 hour.
• Run a knife around side and center tube of pan. Remove cake to a serving plate. Garnish with whipped topping and/or apple slices if desired. Yield: 16 servings.

Nutritional Facts 1 slice (calculated without optional ingredients) equals 136 calories, 3 g fat (trace saturated fat), 0 cholesterol, 209 mg sodium, 26 g carbohydrate, 1 g fiber, 3 g protein. Diabetic Exchanges: 1-1/2 starch, 1/2 fat.

Coconut Craisin Muffins

I just got back from 8 days in Australia, Brisbane and Sydney to be exact.  The trip was wonderful and I really enjoyed Australia; the country is beautiful, the people friendly and I can hardly wait to go back!  However, three days later and I'm still suffering from some pretty awful jet lag.  That part has not been so fun.  So at 4 o'clock this morning, I decided that I wanted some muffins for breakfast.  Nice, piping hot muffins that when you cut them open and put some butter on them, the butter instantly melts and drips off the edge.  My mouth waters even now.  So I looked on the Splenda website, not really sure why I decided on that site, but I think it had something to do with the Splenda Blend that is sitting on my counter.  I hadn't used it in a while, so I figured, why not?  Well, on the Splenda website, there was a recipe for Orange Cranberry Muffins.  I didn't have an orange, but I figured I could use orange extract, however, it turned out that I didn't actually have any orange extract.  So as I stood there in my kitchen, dreaming about hot buttered muffins, my mind kicked into overdrive and I HAD to figure out how to flavor these muffins.  So I figured what the heck and grabbed the coconut extract.  I figured the worse that would happen is that they might be awful and my dream of biscuits would go down the drain.  When they were baking though, the smells emanating from the oven would have made even the strongest man wilt.  When the oven timer went off, I pulled the muffins out of the oven, and immediately cut on open and slathered it in butter.  Let me tell you, I hit a HOMERUN!  YUMMMMMYYY  Perfect start to breakfast at 4:45am this morning on a day that turned out to be cold and definitely fall like.    So here's my recipe, there are a few small changes from the recipe above, and let me tell you, small they may be, but you end up with one big flavored muffin!

INGREDIENTS

1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 cup butter

1/4 cup SPLENDA^® Blend

1 teaspoon coconut extract

1 large egg

1/3 cup buttermilk (if you don't have buttermilk, pour yourself 1/3 cup milk and had 1 tsp vinegar)

1/2 cup Craisins

 

DIRECTIONS

1. PREHEAT oven to 375 degrees F. Line 6 muffin cups with paper liners or spray with nonstick spray.
2. MIX together flour, baking powder and baking soda. Set aside.
3. BEAT butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Gradually add SPLENDA^® Blend and coconut extract beating until light and fluffy. Add egg and beat.
4. STIR in buttermilk. Gradually stir in flour mixture until just combined.
5. FOLD in craisins. Spoon batter evenly into muffin cups.
6. BAKE 15-20 minutes or until lightly browned
7. Sprinkle the tops of the muffins with Splenda Blend.
8.  Remove from pan, cool for a moment, slather with butter and ENJOY!

Dark Chocolate Gingersnaps

    Over Thai food one night last week, my friend Kim and I were discussing food.  Now I should mention that Kim loves food, but doesn't cook very well.  I should also mention that we've been friends for years and I've never made her anything, which normally doesn't happen and I'm not sure how it did manage to happen.  I guess I can only blame it on us knowing each other during our undergraduate years when it was hard to bake cookies without an oven and the heating pipes didn't really get hot enough to cook anything.  So poor Kim is one of my few friends to gets to hear all about my great cooking but has yet to taste anything I've made.  Well, that ended this past week.  As we sat savoring our Thai, Mee Ka Ti for me and Pad Thai for her, we began discussing cookies.  Our conversation went a bit like this:
  Kim: I like hard cookies
  Me: what?!?!
  Kim: I like hard cookies; cookies that are hard, rock solid, crunchy.  I HATE soft cookies, their texture creeps me out.
  Me: Really? followed by a shocked look
  Kim: Yeah, so now what kind of cookies are you going to make me?
From that point on our discussion consisted of what kind of cookies constituted hard cookies.  She mentioned molasses cookies that her mom would leave in the oven a little long and then let set out all night as one of her favorite kinds.  Super crisp gingersnaps also ranked up there, as did overly done and left out chocolate chip cookies.  I was stunned, but figured why not, it would be a cookie challenge for me to invent something that was crisp, delicious and as close to a rock as humanly possible. 

   I went home that night and started racking my brain for cookie recipes that would work.  That night, in my sleep (no kidding, sometimes I dream up recipes in my sleep) I decided on chocolate gingersnap cookies.  The next morning just happened to be my morning off and so I decided to play around with one of my gingersnap cookie recipes, figuring that it might take me three or four tries to make something edible.  As I was mixing up the batter, I went to grab the cocoa powder out of my pantry, I was suddenly struck by the idea to use dark chocolate cocoa powder instead of milk chocolate cocoa powder.  I figured that the dark, sweet chocolate would be a wonderful foil for the spicy, clove, cinnamon foil of the gingersnap cookie.  With no idea how much to add or what other adjustments to make, I began playing about with proportions and spice ratios.  The recipe that emerges is a chocolaty, spicy, cookie with a lot of snap.  Kim was delighted and ate six within the first ten minutes of receiving them.  Needless to say, give these a shot, I'm sure your family will love them.  Also, they make your house smell AMAZING, so I highly advise baking them when you have friends coming over or just need the house to smell like chocolate and spice.  If you're not into hard cookie, I would not squash them flat with a glass and I would also cook them for less time.  Either way you like your cookies, these are definitely a winner in my book and will become a cookie regular. 

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon ground cloves
2 teaspoons of ground ginger
2 Tablespoons of dark cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/4 cups packed dark-brown sugar
1/4 cup unsulfured molasses
1 large egg
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, dark cocoa powder, and salt; set aside.

In a large bowl, beat butter, brown sugar, and molasses on medium-high speed until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg until smooth and combined. Add flour mixture, and beat on low until just combined. Transfer dough to a bowl and wrap in plastic; refrigerate until well chilled, about 1 hour or overnight.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F, with racks in the center and lower third. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Place granulated sugar and cinnamon in a shallow bowl; roll balls in sugar until completely coated, and place about 2 inches apart on the prepared sheets and then smash with the flat end of a glass until they are 1/3 inch thick or to your desired thickness.

Bake until cookies are deep golden all over and centers are firm, 15-18 but for the crispier cookies I baked for 20 minutes.  Transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

Eggplant Parmesan

     So the first  two weeks of school have flown by without me realizing it and suddenly I find that I have an abundance of food pictures on my phone and very few blog updates to go with those pictures.  This morning then, my goal is to catch my blog up and hopefully deliver some delicious recipes that you guys will be sure to try. 
      At my home in Ohio, we have a huge garden where we plant just about everything.  This year we planted tomatoes,  green bell peppers, sweet potatoes, regular potatoes, onions, beets, green beans, corn, cucumbers, jalapenos, watermelon, radishes and eggplant.  My mom and I can salsa, tomato sauce, pickles, beets, green beans and anything that we can't use right away.  However, eggplant is one of my favorites and never goes to waste.  With the start of school on the 27th of August my access to the garden is now limited to weekends that I go home.  On my last weekend home I went out the garden and picked myself an eggplant with the desire to make eggplant parmesan. 
    I personally love eggplant parmesan; there is nothing like crunch eggplant, sweet and tangy tomato sauce and ooey, gooey melted cheese topping off the piping hot dish of love.  Speaking of love, eggplant parmesan in my mind is also a labor of love because I HATE breading things.  I think that there is nothing worse than the feel of flour, bread crumbs and eggs stuck to every surface of my fingers.  I don't care what Paula Deen says, it is not possible for me to use only one hand for the wet ingredients and one hand for the dry ingredients, even with my ambidextrous nature.  I always end up with egg, flour and bread crumbs coating my hands and fingers.... deep fried fingers anyone?  Ugh, not funny or tasty, sorry. 
    So when I decide to make eggplant parmesan, I batten down the hatches and make a lot of eggplant.  This time I made two giant eggplants, they last me about two weeks and were utterly delicious.  I followed the recipe that I found in my Taste of Home magazine for Olive Garden's Makeover Eggplant Parmesan.  The taste was wonderful and I literally felt like I was eating out without ever having to leave my couch.  I made a few changes though, instead of using their sauce recipe, I used my fresh canned tomato sauce and added some bacon.  Everything really is better with bacon, unless your a vegetarian or your religion prohibits it.   So below follows my recipe for Eggplant Parmesan, which is pretty much the original recipe in Taste of Home with just some sauce changes. 
    I also did not assemble my eggplant until I was ready to eat it.  I made all the breaded eggplant and stored it in a cake pan in the refrigerator until I was ready to eat.  Then when I was ready to eat it, I would reheat the eggplant under the broiler in the oven so it would retain its crispiness, heating the sauce in the microwave, then I would assemble the dish and heat it in the microwave long enough to melt the cheese.  It sounds like a time intensive process, but in reality it only took about 6/7 minutes to have a steaming, crispy, gooey, delicious, plate of eggplant parmesan sitting on my table.  Also, feel free to serve it with pasta, I simply didn't feel like pasta, so I just had eggplant, sauce and cheese.  Either way you choose to serve it, this is a treat for the entire family. 

Ingredients

Sauce

• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1/4 lb of bacon, minced and sauteed, leaving 1 1/2 tsps of bacon fat in the bottom of the pan
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 quart  or so of homemade tomato sauce
• 1/2 cup dry red wine
• 1/4 cup tomato paste
• 1 tsp dried basil
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 Tbs sugar
• 4 Tbs Italian seasoning
• anything else that makes your sauce taste delicious

Eggplant

• 1-3/4 teaspoons Italian seasoning
• 2 eggs
• 2 tablespoons water
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1-1/2 cups dry bread crumbs
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 2 medium eggplants, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch slices
• 9 ounces uncooked multigrain spaghetti
• 6 ounces fresh mozzarella cheese, halved and thinly sliced
• 1/3 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
• 2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley

Directions

• In a Dutch oven, saute bacon until crispy.  Drain out most of the grease until you have 1 1/2 tsps of bacon drippings left in the pan.  Add the onion and saute until translucent.   Add garlic; cook 1 minute longer. Add the tomato sauce wine, tomato paste, salt, pepper, sugar, 4 Tbs of Italian seasoning and any other spices which you desire . Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 25-30 minutes or until desired consistency, stirring occasionally.
• Meanwhile, in shallow bowl, whisk eggs and water. Place flour in a separate shallow bowl. In another bowl, combine the bread crumbs, salt, pepper and remaining Italian seasoning. Dip eggplant slices into flour then in egg mixture; coat with crumb mixture. Place on baking sheets coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 25-30 minutes or until tender and golden brown, turning once. Meanwhile, cook spaghetti according to package directions.
• Spoon 2 cups sauce over eggplants; top with cheeses. Bake 4-5 minutes longer or until cheese is melted.
• Drain spaghetti. Serve remaining sauce over spaghetti; top with eggplant slices. Sprinkle with parsley. Yield: 6 servings.

Nutritional Facts 1 serving equals 505 calories, 13 g fat (6 g saturated fat), 96 mg cholesterol, 716 mg sodium, 74 g carbohydrate, 13 g fiber, 24 g protein.

Heavenly Apricot Muffins

   On my Thursday baking spree, I decided that I couldn't bake all these delicious breads without bringing something tasty into work.  Scanning my apartment, my eyes landed on the two bags of dried apricots that I had sitting by my couch. 
    My original idea was Cinnamon Sugar Apricot Muffins, but at the time I was out of cinnamon and had not yet gone to the grocery store.  So turning once again to trusty Google, I found several recipes for Apricot muffins, but all of them except one, required fresh apricots.  The following recipe, Nutty Apricot Muffins , is the original recipe, but with some changes, my Heavenly Apricot muffins appeared. I also changed the glaze on top.  Since I was lacking orange juice, I took Apricot Jelly, which I had in my refrigerator, and heated it up to boiling in my microwave. I then took a brush and brushed the hot, liquid jelly on top of the cool muffins.  This gave them a sweet top, a shine and also a good apricot taste. 
   A little bit of a warning, these are dense muffins, so they require a cup of coffee, tea or warm cider to go with them.  They are delicious and are the perfect beginning to a fast paced day.  So take a few moments, warm up something to drink and then enjoy a muffin. 

 

Ingredients

• 1 cup dried apricots, cut up
• 1 cup boiling water
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup sour cream
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon grated orange peel (if you don't have orange peel, just use a teaspoon of orange extract, just as tasty and you'll never notice a difference)

 

• TOPPING:
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup orange juice
• or a 1/4 cup of Apricot Jelly, heated to boiling and spread on top

Directions

• In a small bowl, combine apricots and water. Let stand 5 minutes. Drain well and set aside. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add sour cream and mix well. Combine dry ingredients and add to butter mixture. Mix on low only until combined. Fold in orange peel, nuts and apricots. Batter will be very stiff. Spoon into well-greased muffin tins, filling each cup almost to the top. Bake at 400° for 18-20 minutes or until done. Combine sugar and orange juice; dip tops of warm muffins in mixture. Yield: 12 muffins.

Nutritional Facts 1 serving (1 each) equals 320 calories, 13 g fat (7 g saturated fat), 30 mg cholesterol, 288 mg sodium, 46 g carbohydrate, 2 g fiber, 4 g protein.

Pumpkin Pie Bread with Dried Apples

  So school has started again, which means that this blog will be back in action documenting all the fun food that comes out of my kitchen.  Thursdays are my day off, so on my first day off I decided to clean the apartment top to bottom and bake some really fun stuff. 
  I know it's not really fall yet, but a while ago I had bought what I thought was a can of pumpkin filling.  When I got home, I realized that I had bought pumpkin pie mix (with spices and sugar already in it).  Darn was my first thought as I tucked the can into the far corner of my baking cupboard.  So there it sat, in the dark, dusty corners of my baking cabinet until yesterday when I decided to find a use for it. 
    I sat down at the computer and pulled up Google and typed in baked goods using pumpkin pie mix.  After a few unsuccessful attempts at trying to find a recipe, I finally stumbled across Oops I Bought Pumpkin Pie Mix Bread  and I decided that this was going to be my recipe of the day.  It calls for a cup of stir-ins and I debated between chocolate chips and apples.  I realized later that I had craisins in the cupboard, but at the time I forgot about them.  Personally, I think that they would have been delicious in the bread, but I decided to go with the dried apples. 
  This bread was really easy to mix up, bake, and it made my house smell amazing as it cooked.  I highly recommend liberally sprinkling the top with sugar and pumpkin pie spice.  To do this, take a 1/8 cup of sugar and mix it with about a teaspoon (or less) of pumpkin pie spice.  Sprinkle liberally across the top of the bread dough and then bake.  It creates a hard crackle of delicious sugar on top. 
   So as the fall weather begins to blow in, make sure you make this bread, grab a hot cup of tea or coffee, and enjoy those chilly mornings. 

Ingredients

---

• Ingredients                                                 
• 3 3/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup Stir Ins (raisins, sweetened dried cranberries, chopped dates, dried apples, apricots or anything delicious) 
• 1 can (30 oz) Easy Pumpkin Pie Mix                                                 
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup orange juice, apple juice or water
• 2 large eggs
• 2 to 3 tablespoons Sprinkle Ons (chopped nuts, cinnamon sugar, pumpkin spice sugar [recipe above] seeds such as: poppy, sesame or sunflower, optional)                                                 

• Directions
• PREHEAT oven to 350° F. Grease two 8 x 4-inch loaf pans.
• COMBINE flour, sugar, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Combine pumpkin pie mix, oil, orange juice and eggs in another large bowl. Pour pumpkin mixture into flour mixture; stir just until moistened. Fold in Stir Ins. Spoon batter into prepared pans. Sprinkle with your choice of Sprinkle Ons.
• BAKE for 50 to 55 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in centers comes out clean. Cool in pans for 10 minutes; remove to wire rack to cool completely.

• FOR EIGHT 5 1/2 x 3 1/4-INCH MINI-LOAF DISPOSABLE PANS:
• PREPARE as above. Bake for 38 to 42 minutes.

• FOR TWO DOZEN MUFFIN CUPS:
• PREHEAT oven to 400° F. Prepare as above. Bake for 16 to 18 minutes.

Caramel Apple Cookies

I'm a huge fan of caramel apples, I've been known to go to fairs and get nothing but caramel apples.  Caramel apples remind me of fall and fairs, which bring back some great memories of showing animals, good friends, and crazy times with other country kids.  There just something so good about biting into a crunchy green apple, covered in sweet gooey caramel and salty peanuts.  My mouth is watering as I write this... it's an instant reaction I swear.  So while it's not yet fall and apples aren't at their peak, I just couldn't wait to try this recipe.  I found it surfing the web and just decided I needed to try it.  They have a great consistency, aren't too chewy nor too sweet; they are basically just a perfect little bit or two.  I'm going to have a hard time not eating the entire batch, which made a ton of cookies!  I would suggest trying this recipe in the fall, because the smell of them baking in the oven would definitely go best with a nice crisp fall day, but they are still delicious and I'm going to enjoy every bite.  So next time you're craving a little bit of fall or a local fair, I suggest making these cookies instead of venturing out and battling the crazy fair crowds. 

Caramel Apple Cookies
1 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
2 3/4 cup of old fashioned oats that have been pulverized into flour
1/2 tsp of salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp of baking soda
12 oz of caramel bits
2 cups of Granny Smith apples, chopped into tiny bits

Heat the oven to 350 degrees and put parchment paper on the cookies sheets (DO THIS, otherwise the caramel will burn). 
In a large bowl beat the butter, white sugar and brown sugar until fluffy.  Add the vanilla and the eggs, beat until combined.
Put the oatmeal into the food processor and pulse until ground finely.  Add the ground oats, flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda until combined. 
Finely chop the apples and add them to the dough.  Then stir in the caramel bits. 
Take a small cookie scoop and make balls of the dough, this will make them into perfect size cookies.  Bake for 10 - 12 minutes and let them cool on the pan for a few minutes (otherwise you'll rip the cookies apart).  Cool on a wire rack and serve.

NOTE:
  If you're not planning on using the dough that day, make it into balls, and freeze it immediately.  If you don't, the apples will leach their liquid into the dough and it will be too wet.  When using them frozen, put on parchment paper on a cookie sheet and then add a few minutes to the cooking time since they are frozen.  They can be stored up to a month in the freezer. 

Margarita Cupcakes

So last Friday was one of those hot, sunny days that just made you think of tequila, beaches, sun, sand, ocean waves, and a beautiful tropical location.  Since Central Pennsylvania is not one of those sunny, sandy, ocean front places, I felt the need to bring some of the beach to Pa.  Margarita cupcakes seemed to be the answer.  I happened to have some white tequila in my cupboard, an orange in my fruit bowl and lemon cake mix.  I needed to pick up a few things, but let me tell you, they were well worth the few ingredients I needed to stop at the store and pick up.  One bite of these delicious cupcakes and I immediately felt like I was transported to the islands with a cool drink in one hand and a scrumptious cupcake in the other hand.  These are a perfect summer cupcake to make; you can use either white or gold tequila, I used the white and it was very good.  If you're going to serve these outside on a hot day, I could totally see making them and then putting them in the refrigerator to cool them so they actually seem like a cool drink.  So definitely give them a shot (literally and figuratively) and enjoy being transported to an island oasis in your own kitchen. 

Margarita Cupcakes

1 lemon cake mix
1 box lime jello
1 tsp orange zest
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup tequila
3 eggs

Frosting
1 container of whipped white frosting
several drops of lime green food coloring

Decorations
white decoration crystals
a lime cut into small slices
umbrellas (optional)

Heat the oven to 350 degrees.   Line a cupcake pan with cupcakes liners. 
In a large bowl combine the cake mix, lime jello, orange zest, water, oil, tequila, and eggs.  Mix for 30 seconds and then beat on medium speed for 2 minutes.  Put the cake mix into the cupcake pans using an ice cream scoop, this is a great little trick that makes it easier to measure it out.  Fill 3/4 of the way full and then bake for 18 to 23 minutes.  Mine only took 18 and WOW!  the house smelled a little like a tequila party, so enjoy!  Let cool.
While the cupcakes are cooling, mix up the frosting.  Once the cupcakes are cool, ice, sprinkle with the crystals, put the slice of lime on top and put the umbrella on top. 
ENJOY your little slice of beach! 

Jambalaya

With the really odd weather we are having today (I woke up to sunshine, followed by hail, sleet, snow, back to sleet, then some hail, sunshine, snow and now it's snow/sleeting again) I felt that something warm, spicy and hearty would be a good choice.  I had never made Jambalaya before but my good friend's in New Orleans, Danna Jo and her husband Mike had fed me the most delicious pot of jambalaya two summers ago and I've loved it ever since.  Theirs was made in a huge black bot over a burner outside in the New Orleans air and tasted like heaven.  I wasn't sure that jambalaya would taste the same North of the Mason - Dixon line, especially without the New Orleans air to season it.  However, I wanted to give it a try, so I decided that today was the day.  I looked up a Paula Dean recipe for jambalaya with shrimp and sausage in it because let's face it, her stuff tastes amazing, but I knew I wanted to add chicken to it and make some other changes.  So I'll include the original recipe underneath, but I'm urging you to give my recipe a try because let me tell you, it's AMAZING and while you're making it a little bit of New Orleans will come visit you. 

2 Tbsp of butter
4 chicken thighs
4 links of smoked sausage, cut in 1/2 in cubes (I used the new Hillshire Farms Bacon and Monterrey Jack links)
1/2 can of beer
1 onion (I sliced it in half and kept it in halves so I could fish it out when I was done with it)
1 pint of tomato sauce (I used homemade but I'm sure store bought will work too)
1 lb of shrimp cut in half
1 cup long grain rice
3 Tbsp of onion powder
1 Tbsp of parsley flakes
2 packets of sodium free chicken bouillon
1/2 tsp of black pepper
1/4 tsp of salt
2 bay leaves (I used dried)
1 tsp of Tony Cachere's Spice N' Herbs Seasoning (optional for some added kick, if you add this, don't add the rest of the following ingredients
1/4 to 1/2 of cayenne depending on how spicy you want it (remember the rice will soak up a bit of the spice)

In a deep soup pan, melt the butter.  Add the chicken thighs and let them brown on each side and until almost cooked through, about 6 or 7 minutes on each side.  Remove them from the pan and put them in a bowl.  Add the sausage links to the butter and chicken renderings, let cook until browned on each side, remove the sausage from the pan and add the onion.  Cook the onion until you smell the onion flavor, (If you like onion in your food, you could chop it up into pieces and add it to the jambalaya, I don't like onion, so I kept it in half and removed it).  Once you smell the onion, add half a can of beer, deglazing the pan (pouring the beer into the hot pan and scraping all the brown bits off the bottom of the pan).  Let the beer boil until the alcohol is cooked off, about 4 or so minutes, then add the tomato sauce.  At this point add the rice, seasonings, chicken, and sausage back into the pan.  Bring to a boil and then cover the pan.  Cook for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally so the rice doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan.  After the 20 minutes is over, remove the chicken thighs and shred the meat off of them.  They will be hot, so do this carefully.  Add the shredded meat back into the Jambalaya mixture and the halved shrimp.  Cook for an addition 5 to 7 minutes or until the shrimp are done.  Serve warm and possibly with some steamed edamame.  Spicy, delicious, and comforting! 

  Paula Dean's Recipe