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