Smoked Mozzarella, Tomato & Basil

This post is courtesy of my wonderful hubby Joe. For my birthday this year he came home from work early to make me dinner and did a wonderful job. We had this as an appetizer and it looked so good and tasted even better that I just had to feature it here on my blog. Although it is a pretty simple presentation, the taste profile of using smoked fresh mozzarella instead of regular fresh mozzarella really makes it different. If you are looking for something that looks wonderful and is very easy to put together, this can be one of your go to preparations.


Smoked Mozzarella, Tomato & Basil
From Colleen's Kitchen Therapy

Ingredients
1 1-lb ball smoked fresh mozzarella
2 vine ripened tomatoes
1/2 fresh basil, shiffonade
Extra virgin olive oil
Kosher salt
Freshly ground pepper

Directions
Slice the mozzarella into 12 slices. Slice each tomato into 6 slices. Top each slice of tomato with a piece of mozzarella and some of the basil. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Serve immediately.

Caramel Cheescake

My birthday was a couple of weeks ago and I decided to make myself and cake and bring it into the office to share with my coworkers. I think if I have to choose my favorite type of dessert it would be cheesecake. I love the thick, rich, creamy decadence. I also love caramel. So I decided to put the two things together and it created one of the best cheesecakes I have ever made. I had a few people in the office say that it was one of the best they have ever eaten. The cheesecake was so moist and creamy, almost light and fluffy if that is possible. There wasn't a crumb leftover by the end of the day. I loved it so much that I am making again for Christmas Eve so if any of my family is reading this, make sure you save room for dessert on Saturday!

Caramel Cheesecake
Adapted from Cheesecake Supreme recipe in Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups finely crushed chocolate graham crackers

1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
3 8-ounce packages cream cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
2 tbsp all-purpose flour
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup milk
3 slightly beaten eggs
7 oz caramel candies, unwrapped (I prefer the ones from Kraft)
1/3 - 1/2 cup heavy cream

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. For crust, in a bowl combine crushed chocolate graham crackers and melted butter. Mix until combined. Press crumb mixture into the bottom and 2 inches up the sides of a 9-inch springform pan. Set aside.

For filling, in the bowl of a stand mixer, beat cream cheese, sugar, flour and vanilla with paddle attachment until fully combined. Mix in milk until smooth. Stir in eggs and mix on medium-high speed for 1 minute until the mixture is fully incorporated.

Pour filling into crust-lined pan. Place pan in a shallow baking pan. Bake for 35-40 minutes for until a 2 1/2 inch area around the outside edges appears set when gently shaken.

Cool in pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Using a sharp small knife, loosen the crust from the side of pan. cool for 30 minutes more.

While cheesecake is cooling, combine the caramels and 1/3 cup of the heavy cream in a small saucepan over medium heat. Melt and combine, stirring occasionally until all the caramel candies are melted. Add the additional cream to the mixture if it seems to hard. Pour warm caramel over top of the cheesecake. Let stand for 15 minutes. Cover and chill at least 4 hours before serving.

Split Pea Soup

Last Sunday was a soup cooking kind of day in our house. Joe was feeling a little under the weather and slept most of the day away on the couch. So I decided to kill two birds with one stone and make two kinds of soup for dinner and then use the leftovers for lunch during the week. I made chicken soup for the patient and a pot of split pea soup. I wish I had made a double batch of the split pea like I did for the chicken soup because it was so good but alas I did not. The recipe as is makes about 4 2-cup servings so if you are serving a crowd you definitely might want to double it. I can't wait to make it again.

Split Pea Soup
Adapted from Williams-Sonoma Soup Book

Ingredients:
1 tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion, finely diced
1 celery stalk, thinly sliced
2 small carrots, peeled and thinly sliced
1 cup dried green or yellow split peas, picked over, rinsed and drained
4-5 cups chicken broth
8 slices bacon
2 tbsp finely chopped fresh parsley
1/4 tsp dried marjoram
1/2 tsp fresh thyme
Kosher salt
Freshly ground pepper

Directions:
In a dutch oven, over medium heat, warm the oil. Add the onion and saute until softened, 3-5 minutes. Add the celery and carrots and saute until just slightly softened, 3-5 minutes. Add the split peas, 4 cups of the broth, 3 slices of the bacon, parsley, marjoram and thyme. Reduce the heat to medium low and bring to a simmer. Cover partially and cook until the peas are tender, 55-65 minutes, adding the additional cup of stock if too much of it gets absorbed before the peas are tender. Discard the bacon.

Meanwhile using kitchen scissors, cut the remaining 5 slices of bacon into small pieces and cook in a frying pan over medium heat until crisp. Transfer to a paper towel to drain.

Use an immersion blender to puree some of the soup, leaving it as chunky as you would like (I like to leave some chunks). Alternately you can use a blender or a food processor to puree the soup if you don't have an immersion blender. Season with salt and pepper to taste, return the soup to medium heat, and simmer for 5 minutes longer. Taste and adjust the seasoning.

Ladle the soup into warmed bowls and garnish with the bacon pieces. Serve immediately.

Carrot Cake Cupcakes

This is another recipe that I have been making for many years that I just haven't gotten around to blogging about yet. I forget what I first made these cupcakes for but they were an instant hit. The original recipe came from allrecipes.com and I have since tweaked it here and there. I top them with cream cheese icing. When I first started making these, I did not own a food processor so let me tell you that grating the carrots by hand was quite an adventure and not something I looked forward to doing often. Now that I have my wonderful food processor with grating disc, that part is a breeze. Joe's coworkers had been clamoring for him to bring in a treat for awhile so the Monday before Thanksgiving I decided to send him in with something for the upcoming holiday. He requested these cupcakes since he had been telling everyone about them for awhile. He said they were a hit and gone very quickly.

Carrot Cake Cupcakes
Adapted from allrecipes.com

Ingredients:
2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1 3/4 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups shredded carrots
1, 8 oz. can crushed pineapple, partially drained
1 batch cream cheese icing

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a cupcake pan with liners (recipe will make 18-24 cupcakes depending on size).

Mix flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon & nutmeg on low in bowl of stand mixer with paddle attachment. Add sugar, oil, eggs and vanilla. Mix on medium-low speed until combined. Add in carrots and pineapple and mix until just incorporated, do not over-mix batter at this point.

Fill cupcake liners 2/3 - 3/4 full. Bake for 21 minutes. Cool completely on wire racks and ice when cool. Store in air tight container in refrigerator when not serving.

Mini Apple Pies

For the first time in a few years, I didn't host Thanksgiving. I gave the task over to my mom and she only gave me a few kitchen tasks for the day. One of them was apple pie. I have become the apple pie maker in my family for Thanksgiving. It just kind of happened. I think I was in high school the first time I decided that I wanted to make an apple pie and ever since then it hasn't been Thanksgiving without apple pie. Even when I am not going to be with my family for Thanksgiving, I still make them apple pie. I remember one time I sent one with my mom to upstate New York when she was going to have Thanksgiving with my uncle and his family. The tradition must go on. I have done different kinds of apple pies, traditional, dutch apple, etc. Since I had so few responsibilities this Thanksgiving I though I would take on a little bit of a challenge and make individual apple pies for everyone attending. I found the idea on Pinterest (which has become my new obsession by the way) and then set out to gather together everything I needed to make them. After all of these years, I am still in the hunt for the perfect pie crust. This year I tried one from Pioneer Woman and I think it worked out really well. At least everyone at Thanksgiving dinner said the pies were good. I didn't actually get to taste my own pie this year though, I don't know what happened, I just realized as I was driving home from my mom's that I never got to taste it. Oh well, I guess that means I will have to make it again.

Mini Apple Pies
Crust from Pioneer Woman

Ingredients:

For the pie crust:
2 ½ cups all purpose or pastry flour
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
1 cup cold butter, cut into chunks
¼ cup cold water

For the pie filling:
4 granny smith apples, peeled, cored and cut into small chunks
3/4 cup sugar
2 tbsp all purpose flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
4 tbsp butter, cut into 18 pieces

Directions:

Mix the 2 cups of the flour, salt and sugar together lightly in a mixing bowl or in the bowl of a food processor. Add the butter and lard chunks and cut into the flour using a pastry cutter or by pulsing the food processor. The mixture should look like large crumbs and begin to cling together in clumps. Add the remaining ½ cup of flour and mix lightly or pulse the processor two or three times. Do not over mix this flour. It should coat the clumps. Sprinkle the water over the dough and with hands or a wooden spoon mix in until dough holds together. Shape the dough into two discs. Chill in refrigerator for 1 hour or up to overnight.

In a separate bowl, combine the apples, sugar, flour, cinnamon and nutmeg and stir to combine.

Roll one of the discs out to about 1/8" thick. Using a large round cookie cutter (I used a 4 1/4" round), cut out individual circles. Using a regular size muffin tin, line each cup with a piece of pie crust (I was able to get 18 mini pies using one pie crust recipe). Fill the crust with the apple mixture. Place a piece of butter on top of each pie. Top the pies with the leftover pie dough pieces. I used pie crust cutters in the shape of leaves, acorns and pumpkins but you could use anything. Bake in a 400F degree oven for 20 to 25 minutes until the pies are brown and bubbly. Let cool in the muffin tins for 10-15 minutes. Run a knife around the outside of each pie and remove from tins. Serve immediately or store in an air tight container until ready to serve. Serve with your favorite ice cream.

Chicken & Biscuit Pie

I think one of favorite feel good meals is chicken pot pie. It is great on a cold winter night, really kits the spot. A number of years ago I set out to create my own version so I didn't have to buy the pre-made ones in the store. This recipe has undergone many revisions over the years. It started with a typical pastry crust, then it moved on to biscuits in a can as the topping and I liked the biscuits better than the pastry crust. I think they soak up more of the sauciness when you are eating it but I didn't love using the pre-made biscuit dough. So recently I began experimenting with making a drop biscuit dough and using that on top. I am hooked. I am now able to season the biscuit dough bringing even more flavor for the dish. I think this is it for this recipe. All is good with it but I don't promise that it might take another turn in the future and redefine itself again. We shall see.

Chicken & Biscuit Pie
From Colleen's Kitchen Therapy

Ingredients:

3 large chicken breasts, cut into strips

1 medium onion, chopped

2 tbsp olive oil

2 cups low sodium chicken broth

1 cup milk

4 tbsp butter

4 tbsp flour

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp marjoram

1/2 tsp thyme

salt and fresh ground pepper

10 oz frozen mixed vegetables

10 oz frozen chopped broccoli

For the biscuit top:

2 3/4 cups bisquick mix

1 cup milk

1 large egg

1/4 tsp rosemary, crushed

1/4 tsp marjoram

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

Directions:

Preheat the over to 375 degrees. Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium high heat. Season chicken strips with salt, pepper, garlic powder and paprika. Cook in olive oil until brown on all sides and cooked through. Remove from heat. Let cool slightly, then shred. Set aside. After removing the chicken from the pan, add the onion and cook until soft and slightly browned. Add butter to the pan and melt completely. Add flour to melted butter and cook for 2-3 minutes until all the butter and flour are incorporated. Add chicken broth, milk, marjoram and thyme and stir to combine with the butter/flour/onion mixture. Continue cooking on medium high heat, stirring frequently scraping the bottom of the pan until the mixture comes to a boil and begins to thicken. Add the chicken, mixed vegetables and chopped broccoli and stir to combine. Pour into an oven safe casserole dish.

For the biscuit top, in a separate bowl, combine the bisquick, milk, egg, rosemary, marjoram, salt & pepper. Stir until all ingredients are well incorporated. Drop mixture in large spoonfuls over the top of the casserole. Bake, uncovered 25-30 minutes until biscuit topping is golden brown and casserole is bubbly. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

 

 

Peanut Butter Cups

To round out the birthday celebration I decided to try my hand at making some peanut butter cups. I found this recipe on Brown Eyed Baker and knew I had to try them. I was a little heavy handed on the chocolate with mine so they wound up with a higher chocolate to peanut butter ratio than a traditional Reese's but the flavor of the peanut butter filling was right on and delicious. They were very fun to make and I will definitely try my hand at them again and fill each cup with a little less chocolate for the peanut butter lovers in my family. This time my mom brought the leftovers to work and they were a definite hit with her friends there.

Peanut Butter Cups
From Brown Eyed Baker

Ingredients:
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1 1/4 cups confectioners' sugar
4 cup milk chocolate chips (two 11.5 oz bags)
1/4 cup vegetable shortening

Directions:
Line a mini muffin tin with paper liners; set aside. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside.

In a medium saucepan, combine the peanut butter, butter and brown sugar over medium heat. Heat until completely melted and starting to bubble a little, stirring constantly. Remove from the heat. Add the confectioners' sugar a 1/4 cup at a time, stirring until completely combined with the peanut butter mixture after each addition. Set aside and let cool.

Meanwhile, melt the chocolate chips and shortening together in the microwave on 50% power in 30 second increments, until completely melted, stirring after each burst.

Using a small cookie scoop or a couple of teaspoons, spoon melted chocolate into the bottom of each lined muffin cup.

Use a heaping teaspoon to scoop out the peanut butter mixture. Roll it into a ball, and then flatten it slightly into a disk. Place on the prepared baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Once finished with all of the peanut butter mixture, refrigerate both the muffin tins and the peanut butter patties for about 30 minutes.

Place a peanut butter patty on top of each chocolate lined muffin liner. Then use a scoop or a spoon to add more melted chocolate on top and around each peanut butter patty. (If the melted chocolate firmed up, just pop it back into the microwave at 50% power for 30 seconds or so to re-melt.)

Refrigerate again for 30 minutes, then you are ready to serve! Store in the refrigerator or freezer.  You can keep at room temperature in an airtight container if you're going to serve them the same day, but they'll start to get soft if not a cool room temperature.

Reese's Cup Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake

So you know from my last post that my mom loves French onion soup. Well when is comes to dessert her favorite combination of flavors is chocolate and peanut butter. It is not my favorite flavor combination so I don't make it very often but the birthday girl gets her favorite so off I went to find the ultimate in chocolate and peanut butter desserts. After much searching I decided on this cake from Annie's Eats and homemade chocolate peanut butter cups which I will post about later this week. Both of these came out great and she was very happy. The cake and frosting are both very rich so we had a lot of cake left over. I made mom take two big pieces home and Joe took the rest to work the next day. I think he said it lasted about 20 minutes before the plate was practically licked clean.

Now I made a small mistake while making the frosting and only put in 1 1/2 instead of 2 cups of confectioners sugar. The icing was still light and fluffy, it just had more peanut butter flavor that it probably would have if I had added all 2 cups of sugar. So I suggest you taste as you go along and stop adding the sugar when the flavor is to your peanut butter liking.

Reese's Cup Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake
From Annie's Eats

Ingredients:
For the cake:
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk

For the icing:
2 cup confectioners' sugar
2 cups creamy peanut butter
10 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2/3 cup heavy cream

miniature Reese's cups, halved and/or chopped for decoration

Directions:
For the cake, center a rack in the over and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter two 9x2" round cake pans, dust the insides with flour, tap out the excess and line the bottoms with rounds of parchment paper. Place the pans on a baking sheet.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium speed until soft and creamy. Add the sugar and beat for about 2 minutes, until thoroughly blended into the butter. Add the eggs and yolks one at a time, beating for one minute after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Beat in the vanilla. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients alternately with the buttermilk; add the dry ingredients in 3 additions and the butter milk in 2 (beginning and ending with the dry ingredients). Mix each addition only until it is blended into the batter. Divide the batter between the prepared cake pans.

Bake for 26-30 minutes or until the cakes feel springy to the touch and start to pull away from the sides of the pans. Transfer to wore racks to cool for about 5 minutes, then run a knife around the sides of the cakes, unmold them and peel off the paper liners. Invert and cool to room temperature right side up.

For the icing, place the confectioner's sugar, peanut butter, vanilla and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium-low speed until creamy, scraping down the bowl with a rubber spatula as you work. Add the cream and beat on high speed until the mixture is light and smooth.

To assemble the cake, level each cake layer and place one cake layer on a cardboard circle covered in foil. Spread peanut butter frosting on top of the cake layer. Place the second cake layer on top of the frosting. Frost the tops and outside of the cake with remaining peanut butter frosting. Decorate with halved and chopped Reese's cups as desired.

French Onion Soup

Oh blog how I have missed you. I have not been a very conscientious blogger over the past month and for that I apologize. It seemed like every time I sat down to work on the blog something came up or I fell asleep waiting for my ancient laptop to boot up. I also haven't been cooking too many wonderful blog-worthy dishes lately but I promise that is going to change. This recipe was created for my mom's birthday last month. She loves French onion soup and it was actually her "craving"  all through her pregnancy with me. She tells me that she used to have it for lunch everyday while she was pregnant. I recently told that story to someone and they commented that I must love onions after all that soup. Interestingly enough, I do love onions now but I didn't really care for them as a child. It is only as an adult that my love and appreciation for the onion has flourished. Now onions are used in a daily basis in my kitchen. I would say more times than not onion makes an appearance in our dinner.

I wanted to try and recreate the classic restaurant style soup for my mom's birthday dinner and I searched high and low for a recipe but couldn't find just one that I liked so I took a few and combined them into one. I used Smitten Kitchen's recipe, Ina Garten's from her How Easy is That? book and a recipe from The Williams Sonoma Collection:  Soup book for inspiration and came out with what I think is a pretty darn good French onion soup. I tested it out on my husband, brother and cousin about two weeks before the birthday dinner and it got good reviews from all of them so I replicated the recipe again for mom's birthday and it came out just as good. Just writing this post makes me want to make it again very soon! Keep in mind that is a little time consuming, not necessarily a quick weeknight meal. Although you can make a big pot of it on the weekend and just not add the bread and cheese. Then during the week just reheat it and broil it just before serving. We did this with the leftovers and they were great the next day.

French Onion Soup
From Colleen's Kitchen Therapy

Ingredients:
3 lbs yellow onions, halved and sliced 1/4 inch thick
3 tbsp unsalted butter
1 tbsp olive oil
1/4 tsp granulated sugar
3/4 cup brandy
1 1/2 cups good dry white wine
8 cups low sodium beef broth
Salt & freshly ground black pepper, to taste

8-10 1 inch thick slices of french bread, toasted
1.5 - 2 cups Gruyere & Gouda cheese, shredded

Directions:
Melt the butter and oil together in the bottom of a 5 quart dutch oven over moderately low heat. Add the onions, toss to coat them in oil and cover the pot. Reduce the heat to low and let them slowly steep for 15 minutes.

Uncover the pot, add the sugar and raise the heat to medium-high. Cook for 40-45 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onions turn golden brown.

Add the brandy, stir to loosen any brown bits in the bottom of the pan and simmer for 5 minutes. Add the white wine and simmer for 15 more minutes. Add in the beef broth and salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer uncovered for 20 minutes. Taste and adjust the seasoning as necessary.

Preheat the broiler with a rack 5 inches below the heating element. Ladle the soup into oven safe bowls. Top each both with a piece of the toasted bread and a heaping mound of the cheese mixture. Broil for 3 to 5 minutes until the cheese is melted and bubbly. Serve immediately.

Alfredo Sauce

The season finale of True Blood and the Giants first game of the season happened to be on the same day a few weeks ago.  That of course, meant a full day of hanging out in my family room with my family and friends.  A few days before, David asked me if we could make Alfredo sauce.  Someone at work had just heated up their leftovers and it smelled so good so he wanted some.  With that one request we had our dinner planned for Sunday night.  To round out the dish we added sauteed chicken breasts and steamed broccoli which I think made a really good combination.  This recipe made just enough sauce for a pound of pasta which fed the 4 of us with no leftovers.  I will not be making this often since it is so high in fat and calories but it was really good and perfect for a once in a while treat.

Alfredo Sauce
From Colleen's Kitchen Therapy

Ingredients:
1/2 cup unsalted butter
2 cups heavy cream
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp white pepper
1 1/2 cups freshly grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for serving

Directions:
Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat.  Add cream and simmer for 5 minutes, then add garlic powder, white pepper and cheese and whisk until thoroughly combined and heated through.  Serve over cooked pasta immediately.  Garnish with extra grated Parmesan cheese.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Cookies

There is just something about chocolate and peanut butter together that I love. If you look back in the blog you will see it is a flavor combination that I use often. It is one of those timeless combinations that I never get tired of. For me, there has to be just the right mix of the too though, too much peanut butter and I am not a fan. For example, I really don't like a regular size Reese's peanut butter cup. There is too much peanut butter and not enough chocolate in it for me. The mini size ones however, have the perfect chocolate to peanut butter ratio.  For this batch, I had some leftover white chocolate chips that I threw in there too.  The mixture between milk and white chocolates and peanut butter was really good.

I have tried a lot of chocolate chip cookie recipes and keep finding myself coming back to the good old Toll House recipe that is always on the back of the bags of chips. Not that there aren't other recipes that I like too but this one is just really good. It creates a cookie that is crisp on the edges and soft and chewy in the center. It is a good thing that Joe's office is receptive to homemade goodies because we had to get these out of here quickly or else we would have eaten all of them. Thanks for taking them off our hands and hips!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Cookies
From Toll House

Ingredients:
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 2/3 cups (11 oz package) Nestle peanut butter & milk chocolate chips
3 oz white chocolate chips (optional)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Combine flour, baking soda and salt in a small bowl.  Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy.  Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.  Gradually beat in flour mixture.  Stir in chips.  Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.  Bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown.  Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks.  Store in an air tight container.

White Chocolate Ice Cream

I was on the hunt for a new ice cream flavor and when I get in the mood to make ice cream my first stop is always to David Lebovitz's book The Perfect Scoop. I was flipping the pages of the book and came across a recipe for white chocolate ice cream. It was a French style ice cream (includes egg yolks) which I tend to like better than American which doesn't include eggs. The French style definitely produces a smoother finished product. The American styles that I have tried seem to get a little too icy for my taste after being frozen for a couple of days. I like white chocolate so I decided to give it a try. I had some Godiva chocolate liqueur at home so I decided to throw a little of that in to enhance both the flavor and the texture.

Ever since I created my Bailey's ice cream awhile back I am a big proponent of adding at least a little bit of alcohol to all of my ice creams. Since alcohol doesn't ever completely freeze, it helps the keep the ice cream silky and smooth even after it has been in the freezer for awhile.

This ice cream was fabulous. Perhaps the best batch of ice cream I have ever made. The flavor is wonderful and not too overpowering and the texture is by far the best that has ever come out of my ice cream maker. I love white chocolate and raspberries together so I am already trying to figure out a way to add raspberries to this recipe. I will keep you updated on my progress. In the meantime, make this ice cream!

White Chocolate Ice Cream
Very slightly adapted from The Perfect Scoop

Ingredients:
8 ounces white chocolate, finely chopped
1 cup whole milk
2/3 cup sugar
Pinch of salt
5 large egg yolks
2 cups heavy cream
1 1/2 tbsp chocolate liqueur

Directions:
Put the chocolate pieces in a large bowl and set a mesh strainer over the top. Warm the milk, sugar and salt in a medium saucepan. In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks. Slowly pour the warm milk into the egg yolks, whisking constantly then scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan. Stir mixture constantly over medium heat with a heatproof spatula, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula.  Pour the custard through the strainer over the white chocolate. Stir until the white chocolate is completely melted and the mixture is smooth, then stir in the cream. Stir until cool over an ice bath.

Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator.  Just before adding the mixture to the ice cream maker, stir in the chocolate liqueur.  Freeze in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Old-Fashioned Beef Stew

I love beef stew.  It is one of my favorite fall and winter comfort foods.  I have been making this recipe for years and once the weather turned a little colder earlier this week I couldn't wait to make it again.  This make a lot of stew.  There was enough for the 2 of us to eat dinner for 2 nights and 3 lunches for me so it is a great size for a crowd.  Just make sure that you have a big enough slow cooker to fit it all in.  I have a 6 quart cooker and it is filled up almost to the brim when I make this recipe.  You may be tempted to skip the step that asks you to brown the meat before putting it in the slow cooker but I highly recommend you don't.  I think it imparts a lot of flavor in the dish.  I am sure I will be making this again quite a few more times this season.  Yum!

Old-Fashioned Beef Stew
Adapted from Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book

Ingredients:
3 tbsp all-purpose flour
2 lbs beef stew meat, cut into 1 inch chunks
3 tbsp vegetable oil
2 1/2 cups vegetable juice
1 cup beef broth
1 medium onion, cut into thin wedges
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried majoram
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 bay leaf
3 cups cubed potatoes (about 3 medium)
24 oz. frozen mixed vegetables (green beans, corn, peas, carrots)
1 cup sliced carrots (2 medium)

Directions:
Place flour in a plastic bag and season with salt and pepper.  Add meat cubes, a few at a time, shaking to coat.  In a large saucepan or Dutch oven brown meat in hot oil.  Place browned meat in the bottom of the slow cooker.  Layer the onions, potatoes, mixed vegetables and carrots on top of the meat.  Combine the vegetable juice, beef broth, Worcestershire sauce, oregano, majoram, pepper and bay leaf.  Pour over meat and vegetables and cover.  Cook on low 9-10 hours or until meat and vegetables are tender.

Oatmeal Cookies

A few weeks ago I was looking to make something to go with the Bailey's flavored ice cream that I was making (which came out so good but was gone before I can get a photo so I have to make it again so I can post it!) for dessert and decided that I wanted to do some sort of cookie. After taking stock of what I had in the house and thinking about what flavor would go well with the ice cream, I decided on an oatmeal cookie. I went to my trusty Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book and found a recipe to try and I am glad I did. These cookies were so good. I brought them over to my parents' house and they were devoured by everyone, even David who doesn't really like raisins! I used a mixture of raisins and craisins in my cookies but you can use either or neither if you want, entirely up to you.

Oatmeal Cookies
Adapted from Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book

Ingredients:
3/4 cup butter, softened
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup craisins

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. In a large bowl beat butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add brown sugar, granulated sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg. Beat until combined, scraping sides of bowl occasionally.  Beat in eggs and vanilla until combined. Beat in the flour and then the rolled oats, raisins and craisins and mix until just combined.

Drop dough by rounded teaspoons apart onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until edges are golden. Cool on cookie sheet for 1 minute then transfer to a wire rack to let cool completely. Store in an airtight container.

Banana Cupcakes with Nutella Frosting

I seem to be on a cooking with bananas kick.  I am not sure if it is because we just aren't eating the bananas in time before they get too ripe or if I am just really into banana recipes recently.  Maybe a little bit of both.  Anyway, this recipe was recommended on a message board that I visit frequently and I was hooked when I saw the title.

I love Nutella.  I first discovered Nutella when I was a 14 year old exchange student in Germany.  It was on the table every morning for breakfast along with warm rolls bought that morning from the local bakery.  The wonderful chocolate hazelnut spread would melt into the warm roll and it was just heavenly.  I remember bringing some back to the US with me at the end of that summer but it was quite a few years before it made its way to our supermarket shelves.  Just looking at that jar brings back lots of memories.

So I again found myself with very ripe bananas at home so I decided to give this recipe a try.  The cake was very moist and tasty.  The banana flavor was definitely present.  The frosting is what steals the show in this recipe.  It is just wonderfully light and fluffy, almost mousse like in texture and the Nutella flavor really comes out.  I am already envisioning using this frosting in other ways.

Banana Cupcakes with Nutella Frosting
From French for Cupcake

Ingredients:
For the cupcakes
1 1/2 cups self rising flour
1/4 tsp salt
4 oz unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 large very ripe bananas, mashed

For the frosting
4 oz unsalted butter, softened
1 cup Nutella
8 oz powdered sugar
3 tbsp. milk or cream (I used cream)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Line 16 muffin cups with paper liners.  Sift the flour and salt together in a mixing bowl and set aside.

Cream together the softened butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Ass the vanilla and the eggs, 1 at a time mixing well after each addition.  Add the flour mixture and blend ingredients together until only just combined.  Stir in the banana.  Blend mixture until ingredients are fully incorporated.  Portion batter into muffin cups.  Bake 25-30 minutes until cakes are light golden brown and tester comes out clean.  Cool completely on a wire rack.

While the cupcakes are cooling, cream together the butter and Nutella until blended.  Add the powdered sugar gradually until ingredients are combined.  Mix on high speed, adding in milk or cream until frosting is smooth or creamy.  You may need a little more or less cream or milk.  I wound up using about 3.5 tablespoons.  Fill a pastry bag and pipe frosting over the top of each cooled cupcake.

Deep Dish Pizza

We have had a lot of fun this summer making pizza at home.  We have used all kinds of different sauces and toppings and are just about convinced not to order take-out pizza anymore.  Why would we when we can make exactly what we want at home for less money in just about the same amount of time?  We were at the mall last weekend getting Joe a new cell phone and of course I had to drag him into all of my favorite stores, Restoration Hardware, Pottery Barn, Williams Sonoma and Crate and Barrel (do you see a pattern here?).  At Crate and Barrel we stumbled upon this table with all kinds of pizza making and serving pieces.  One of them was a deep dish pizza pan.  Joe brought it over to me and we looked at each other with the same expression on our faces.  What a great idea it would be to expand our pizza making options to include deep dish as well as traditional NY style pizza.  The pan was only $18.95 so it was definitely coming home with us.  We picked up a few really neat looking European beer mugs and we were off.

Two days later we made our first deep dish pizza and I have to say, it came out really good.  The pan made a 15 inch deep dish pie and we were only able to eat a quarter of it for dinner that night so I had some for dinner the next night while Joe was working late, he had some for lunch the day after that and we both had it for dinner another night.  Needless to say it fed us for awhile.  We reheated it in the convection toaster oven and it came out just as good as the first time we ate it.  I will be making this again.

The only thing to keep in mind if you want to make this recipe is timing.  The dough needs at least 6-8 hours to rest in the refrigerator so make sure you either make your dough first thing in the morning or even the night before you want to make and eat the pizza.  Joe has pictures of the entire pie in the pan on his new cell phone.  As soon as he sends them to me, I will put one up so you can see what the entire pie looks like.

Deep Dish Pizza
Adapted from Pizzamaking.com

Ingredients
For the dough
3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups water
1/2 cup self rising white corn meal
1/2 cup canola oil
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
2 1/4 tsp instant yeast

For the pizza
1 recipe dough (see above)
1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes in puree
1 tbsp dried Italian seasoning
2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1/2 lb ground beef
2 links sweet italian sausage
1 red bell pepper, large dice
5 oz cremini mushrooms, sliced
3/4 - 1 lb mozzarella and provolone cheese, sliced
3 tbsp Parmesan cheese, grated

Directions
In a the bowl of a stand mixer, add the water, sugar, yeast, flour, corn meal and salt.  Mix with paddle attachment on low speed for a couple of minutes until dough comes together, then slowly add the oil.  Switch to dough hook and continue to mix dough for 7-9 more minutes until it is wet and smooth.  It should be tacky but not sticky to the touch.  Form the dough into a ball and place into a well oiled bowl.  Loosely cover with plastic wrap and then a dish towel and put in the refrigerator for at least 6-8 hour or overnight.

Take the dough out of the refrigerator about one hour prior to making the pizza.  Set the bottom oven rack to the lowest position and preheat the over to 450 degrees F for at least 30 minutes prior to baking.

In a medium pot, combine crushed tomatoes, Italian seasoning, garlic powder and onion powder.  Cook over low heat for 30-45 minutes.

In a large skillet cook ground beef until cooked through.  Set aside.  Place sausage links in the pan and cook 8-10 minutes, turning occasionally.  Remove links from pan and slice thinly.  Place slices back in the pan and continue to saute until browned on both sides and cooked complete.  Remove from pan and set aside.  Add bell pepper and mushrooms to the pan, adding some olive oil if need be and saute until cooked 4-5 minutes.

Coat the bottom of a 15 inch deep dish pan with oil.  Place the dough ball in the center of the pan and press it out until lit covers the entire bottom.  Then, using your fingers, pull the dough up the sides of the pan.  The edge should be pinched against the sides of the pan.  If the dough resists holding shape, cover with a towel and let rest for 15-20 minutes before trying again.

Cover the bottom of the dough with the sliced cheese.  Add the ground beef, sausage, peppers and mushrooms on top of the cheese.  Top with the tomato sauce.  Sprinkle the Parmesan cheese on top of the tomatoes.

Place in the center of the bottom rack of the oven and cook for 20-25 minutes, turning once half way through.  Remove from the oven and let cool for about 3 minutes.  Slice into wedges and serve hot.

Chunky Apple Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Joe and some of his crew at work had to work really late this past Tuesday night so we thought it would be nice if we brought them dinner and dessert so they didn't have to worry about buying anything to eat.  Good thing we did, since they wound up being there until after 11pm!  I made a pan of macaroni and cheese with bacon and vegetables per Joe's request.  I guess he hadn't gotten enough of it from a couple of weeks ago.

He left the dessert portion of the night entirely up to me.  I had a bunch of apples that I needed to use and I didn't want to do a pie or tarts so I started looking at apple cake recipes.  I found this recipe on My Recipes and decided to make them into cupcakes which are easier to transport and serve at work over a whole cake.  I used my own cream cheese frosting recipe which you can find here and just made a 1/2 batch of the frosting since this recipe makes only about 18 cupcakes.  Joe came home with an empty pan and an empty cupcake container and rave reviews for both dishes.  He also told me that there were a couple of request for the apple cake recipe so for those of you who asked, here it is.


Chunky Apple Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
Adapted from My Recipes

Ingredients
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground nutmeg (freshly ground is preferable)
4 apples, peeled, cored and cut into 1/4 inch chunks (I used a mix of Jazz and Granny Smith)
1/2 Batch Cream Cheese Frosting

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Line cupcake pan(s) with 18 paper liners.

In a mixer, using the paddle attachment, mix together the butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla until blended.

In a small bowl, combine flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg.  Add to butter mixture and mix until just incorporated.  Stir in the apple chunks by hand and divide evenly among cupcake pan.

Bake for 35-40 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean or with just a few crumbs clinging to it.  Cool completely in pan on wire rack.  Spread with cream cheese frosting.  Store in airtight container in the refrigerator if not serving immediately.

Banana Bread

We eat a lot of bananas in our house, but just like with the banana ice cream I made last month, sometimes we don't get to them all in time and they start getting too ripe to eat raw.  It happened again a couple of weekends ago so I had to come up with something to do with them.  Again, I may have been rushing fall again a bit but my first thought was banana bread.  I have been searching for a banana bread recipe for some time and just hadn't found one that I really liked.  I decided to hit the internet and try to find a new one to try with these bananas that were crying out to be eaten.  I found this recipe from Williams Sonoma and decided to give it a try.  I am glad I did.  The bread was nice and crusty on the outside and soft on the inside.  I wish it had a little bit more banana flavor and next time I will adjust the amount of banana I use.  The recipe below takes this into account and I have already adjusted it to add more banana to the batter.  I also added some chopped walnuts that weren't in the original recipe since I had them in the house.  You can very easily leave these out.  This was great for a quick breakfast or a snack and it was really good with a scoop of vanilla ice cream for dessert.  So versatile!

Banana Bread
Adapted from Williams Sonoma

Ingredients
1 2/3 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
4 medium very ripe bananas, peeled
2/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 chopped walnuts (optional)

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Grease an 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 inch loaf pan.

In a small bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda.

In a large bowl, smash the bananas with a fork.  Add the sugar, oil, eggs and vanilla and mix until well blended.  Add the flour mixture to the banana mixture and stir just until blended.  Fold in the walnuts.

Scrape the batter into the prepared loaf pan, spreading it evenly.  Bake for 40-45 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with just a few crumbs clinging to it.

Remove from oven and let cool 15-20 minutes.  Remove from pan and continue to let cool on a wire rack for another 15 minutes (or if you are like me, immediately cut and eat a piece since I can't resist warm banana bread).

Macaroni & Cheese with Bacon and Vegetables

I am sorry, I have been neglected my blog.  Between earthquakes, hurricanes and over all life at the end of the summer, life has been busy the last couple of weeks.  I have been cooking and baking just haven't found the time to write about it so stay tuned for some new recipes in the near future, starting today.

Thankfully, we are all safe and sound with no major damage from mother nature's wrath and fall is coming which is one of my favorite times of the year.  The NFL football season kicked off last night and as many of you know, I LOVE football and all of the cooking that comes with it.  I am also dreaming of all of the soups and stews that I want to make.  I love fall comfort food baking.

I started in on the comfort food a few weeks early this year with this macaroni and cheese that I made a couple of weeks ago.  It was just one of those days and I needed some comfort food.  I had a lot of ingredients to make macaroni and cheese at home so I stopped off and got a couple of other things and put this recipe together.  I tried to make it healthier by adding mushrooms and broccoli but then I went and added bacon to it so that threw healthy out the window.  It was really good though and very filling.  We ate it for dinner and then for lunch for quite a few days afterward.  If you don't like mushrooms and/or broccoli you could substitute whatever veggies you like in this.

Macaroni & Cheese with Bacon and Vegetables
From Colleen's Kitchen Therapy

Ingredients
16 oz. elbow macaroni
4 oz. bacon, cut into small pieces
1 medium onion, diced
2 cups broccoli florets
5 oz. cremini mushrooms, sliced
6 tbsp butter, divided
5 tbsp flour
1 tsp garlic
1/2 tsp kosher salt
Fresh ground black pepper
Pinch cayenne pepper
8 oz cheddar jack cheese, shredded
4 oz fontina cheese, shredded
1/2 cup panko bread crumbs

Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Spray a 13x9 inch baking dish with non stick cooking spray.  Set aside.

In a large pot, cook elbow macaroni according to package directions being careful not to over cook.  In the last 3 minutes of cooking, add broccoli to the pot with the macaroni to blanch.  Strain and set aside.

While the macaroni is cooking, cook bacon until crisp over a medium-high heat in a 3 quart saucepan.  Remove crisped bacon and set aside on a paper towel lined plate to drain.  Add onions to the bacon drippings and cook 1-2 minutes.  Add the mushrooms and cook until they are soft, about 3-4 minutes.  Add 4 tbsp butter, garlic powder, salt, pepper and cayenne to the pot.  Once butter is melted, add flour and stir to incorporate.  Cook fat and flour mixture for 2-3 minutes till all of the raw flour is incorporated.  Whisk in the milk and stir mixture until all of the flour is incorporated into the milk.  Cook, stirring frequently until it just starts to come to a boil and the mixture has thickened.  Turn heat to low and add in the shredded cheese, stirring until all of the cheese is melted into the milk mixture.  Pour cheese sauce over macaroni and broccoli and mix until coated.  Pour into baking dish.

In a small bowl mix the panko bread crumbs and 2 tbsp of melted butter together.  Sprinkle over the macaroni and cheese.  Bake 25-30 minutes until panko is browned and cheese sauce is bubbly.  Serve hot.

Coffee Cake

My brother Jason has a thing about coffee cake.  You know those square ones from Entemann's that are dusted with powdered sugar?  He can eat an entire one by himself.  I kid you not.  He takes a knife, cuts it into bite size pieces and goes to town.  My grandparents bring him one whenever they are asked to bring a dessert for something and the rest of us are basically resigned to the face that we will never get any.  Oh well.

Jason has decided to join us for Sunday True Blood and snacks.  He took time this summer to watch all the past seasons and got caught up with the current season so a couple of weeks ago he came over for his first installment of our time honored tradition.  I couldn't think of a better way to introduce him to our Sunday night ritual than with one of his favorite sweet treats.  I hit the cookbooks to find the perfect recipe and my handy All New Good Housekeeping Cookbook did not let me down.  I have had this book forever and it has definitely produced some good recipes.  This one was no exception.  The recipe makes 2 nine inch round cakes.  We used one for Sunday night and I brought the other one to work.  It was gone by lunchtime to rave reviews.  If you are looking for a good classic crumb cake, this is one to try.

Coffee Cake
From All New Good Housekeeping Cookbook

Ingredients:
 Crumb topping
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks), softened

Cake
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
2 1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter (1 stick), softened
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
3 large eggs
3/4 cup milk
2 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions:
Prepare crumb topping:  In a medium bowl, combines flour, granulated and brown sugars, and cinnamon until well blended.  With fingertips, blend flour mixture and butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.  Set aside.

Prepare cakes:  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Grease and flour two 9-inch round cake pans.  In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt.

In large bowl, with mixer at low speed, beat butter and sugar until blended, frequently scraping bowl with rubber spatula.  Increase speed to medium; beat until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes, occasionally scraping bowl.  Reduce speed to low; add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

In a cup, combine milk and vanilla.  With mixer at low speed, alternately add flour mixture and milk mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture, beating until smooth and occasionally scraping bowl.

Divide batter evenly between prepared pans.  With hand, press crumb mixture to form 3/4 inch chunks; sprinkle evenly over batter.  Bake cakes until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 40 to 45 minutes.  Cook in pans on wire racks 15 minutes.   With small metal spatula or butter knife, loosen cakes from sides of pans.  Invert cakes onto plates, then transfer, crumb side up, onto wire racks to cool completely. (I actually just let them cool completely in the pans and they were fine.)  Dust with powdered sugar before serving if desired.

Roasted Banana Ice Cream

We eat a lot of bananas in our house.  Joe likes to have at least one everyday and I eat them pretty frequently too.  I also love to cook with bananas.  Banana pancakes, bread, waffles, muffins.  I love them all.  I also really like banana ice cream but it is not a flavor that is very easy to find.  When my parents bought me my ice cream maker attachment for my birthday last year they also included The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz in their gift.  It seems that my mom picked very well because I have heard so many people saying that this book is the bible of ice cream making.  I have made quite a few of his recipes so far and they have all come out wonderful.

I spied the roasted banana ice cream on my first flip through the book but I didn't get around to making it until this past weekend.  I don't know why I waited so long.  If you like caramelized bananas this ice cream is wonderful.  Full of rich banana flavor and not too sweet.  It is also a very easy to make.  My only complaint is that I wish the recipe made more of it.  It was gone in almost one sitting between 3 people.  I may double the recipe next time since it looks like my ice cream maker could fit a double batch.  If you like bananas and you like ice cream, I highly suggest this recipe!

Roasted Banana Ice Cream
From The Perfect Scoop

Ingredients:
3 medium size ripe bananas, peeled
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1 tbsp. butter, cut into small pieces
1 1/2 cups whole milk
2 tbsp. granulated sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 tsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/4 tsp. coarse salt

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Slice the bananas into 1/2 inch thick pieces and toss them with the brown sugar and butter in a 2 quart baking dish.  Bake for 40 minutes, stirring just once during baking, until bananas are browned and cooked through.  Scrape the bananas and the thick syrup in the baking dish into a blender or food processor.  Add the milk, granulated sugar, vanilla, lemon juice, and salt, and puree until smooth.

Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator, then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.  If the chilled mixture is too thick to pour into your machine, whisking will thin it out.  Serve directly from the ice cream maker or freeze for 1-2 hours.