Peanut Butter and a little Dove love

My mom has been making the ‘traditional’ version of this cookie for years.  In fact, I knew them as ‘Amy and Dustin Cookies’ WAAAAAY before I ever heard them called Peanut Butter Blossoms.  They don’t look very floral to me, but whatever…

My mom acquired this recipe of peanut butter sugary goodness from her friend years and years ago when our family lived in the little town of Tremonton.  This sweet lady was also the mom to some of our favorite playmates, Amy and Dustin.  I’m  not sure how the name in our family evolved, but even after moving to California and now a LOT of years later, they’re still ‘Amy and Dustin Cookies’ to us.

After spending way too much time in the candy isle at Target the other day I got the idea to make up some Amy and Dustins in Valentine style.   There’s a lot of heart shaped candy out there, but  Hershey’s and Dove were my top two picks.  In the end, I went with Dove, well, because Dove chocolate is pretty much irresistible.  Dove = rich, smooth chocolatey goodness.  And, Hershey’s wouldn’t have helped me make  a signature cookie like Dove did:

Love that ‘D’!

I used both the milk and dark Doves.  But, if you don’t have any chocolate laying around just get out your fork.  These are great peanut butter cookies all on their own.

So, you’ve got a week to get yourself some chocolate and bake up these simple and LOVE filled treats.  Come on share: who’s going to get a delivery from you?  I won’t tell!

Amy & Dustin Cookies (also known as Peanut Butter Blossoms)

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup peanut butter
1 tablespoon milk
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup peanut butter (I love you Jif!)
3 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
chocolate kisses or heart shaped chocolate candy
additional sugar for rolling

Preheat oven to 350. Cream together the butter and sugars.  Add the eggs one at a time.  Mix in the milk, vanilla and peanut butter.  Sift the flour, baking soda and salt.  Add to remaining ingredients.

Form dough into quarter sized balls and roll in sugar.  Place on baking sheet.  Press with a fork if you’re just going for peanut butter cookies.  Bake for 8-10 minutes.  Remove from the oven and immediately push one chocolate heart into the middle of each cookie.  Allow cookies to cool for about 5 minutes on the baking sheet and then transfer to a cooling rack.

LOVE the Linzer Cookies!

This was one of last year’s creations that I’m bringing over from Sweet Sista’.  I’ve got another one (or two hopefully…) for this year coming in the next couple of days!

I made a little something.

King Arthur Flour’s Chocolate Linzer Cookies were really easy to make and tasty, especially the uncooked dough.  I’m a sucker for good cookie dough.

The recipe is long, so HERE is the link.

Just make sure the dough REALLY is refrigerated well, flour your surface VERY well, and if you don’t have a linzer cutter, you could always do a heart shaped cookie cutter and use a smaller heart to cut out the middle. Be creative…any shape would work! Oh, and I left out the espresso powder. That’s not a standard pantry item in my kitchen!  The results were still fabulous.

I made a pie…

…a PASTA pie.

Take a look:

Contrary to the evidence on Double Batch, I DO make ‘real’ food…I’m just not much for photographing and documenting it.  By the time the meal is made it’s hardly ever convenient to take the time to have even a brief photo food session.  It’s time to eat, not take pictures!  I’m not committing to much, but my goal is one a month.  And yes, I do realize it’s just a few hours before the month expires.  Enough about that.

So, the ingredients for this recipe are really nothing special.  It’s a basic, good tasting pasta bake really.  In this case, it’s ALL about the presentation.  Sure, it takes a little longer than just pouring pasta, meat and sauce into a baking dish, but I have to say it was worth it.

It all started with a little cooked rigatoni.  Not cooked all the way though.  Those little tubes will fall apart on you if you let ‘em go too long.

Get your kids involved when it comes time to stand of all of those rigatoni.  One day I’ll have some little ones with little fingers to do the job.  

Ah…finished and packed in tight.

 

Pushing the sauce into every little rigatoni was strangely relaxing.  A good spoon and clean fingers did the trick.  A little time consuming, but easy and mindless.

After a little heat from the oven it was time to add the topping.  Think whipping cream on a ‘real’ pie.  This time though it was mozzarella.

And after some more time in the oven.  It was baked to a golden goodness.

So, some of the rigatoni apparently didn’t get filled all the way.  I like a few of those crater-like holes.

Here’s an inside peek.  Love it!

One day we’ll be able to add a scent button on our blogs to really entice readers to run to the kitchen and get cooking.  Until then, you’ll just have to take my word that this is a tasty, creative and FUN dish to make.  Who doesn’t love pie after all?

Pasta Pie

Adapted from Martha Stewart

1 pound rigatoni

2 Tablespoons olive oil, divided

1 pound Italian sausage (or ground beef if you like…)

2 garlic cloves, crushed

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

1 can (28 ounces) good quality crushed tomatoes (Love those Cento tomatoes!)

Salt

1 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese

8 ounces coarsely grated mozzarella

In a large pot of salted boiling water, cook pasta until slightly underdone (I cooked mine for 12 minutes when the box said 14 minutes).   When done, rinse in cold water and drain again.  Toss pasta with 1 Tablespoon olive oil to coat.  Set aside.

Heat remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Add Italian sausage.  Cook, stirring occasionally until browned.  Add garlic, 1 teaspoon salt and pepper.  Cook 2 minutes more.

Add crushed tomatoes; simmer until thickened, about 20 minutes.

Toss pasta with Parmesan cheese.  Grease a 9-inch springform pan.  Tightly pack pasta into pan, standing each piece on end.  Spread meat sauce on top of pasta.

Push the meat sauce into the pasta holes filling each one up.  Time consuming — yes.  Worth it?  Definitely.

Place in a 400 degree oven for 15 minutes.  Sprinkle mozzarella cheese on top and bake another 10-15 minutes until cheese is golden.  Remove from oven and let stand for 15 minutes.  Run a knife around the edge to loosen and then unmold.

Cut into wedges and serve with any remaining meat sauce you might have.

Payback

As a kid I walked home from school. Every once in a while I would forget my house key and find myself locked out. That meant sheepishly walking over to Mr. Smith, the neighbor, and asking to borrow the one he kept for us. I hated asking, but I hated being locked out even more.

I’ll spare myself you the finer details of recounting it all, but earlier this week I found myself, once again, locked out. We don’t have a ‘Mr. Smith’ — although we probably should.   The other key keeper in the family (that would be Nate) was four hundred miles away for work, and, wouldn’t you know it, every window was tightly secured. Perfect. All grown up and STILL locked out of my own house.

So, I took a course of action that I knew would prove effective: I called my mom. No, she’s not a locksmith on the side, but I knew she’d get me in. You see, even though we don’t have a Mr. Smith, we at least have been smart enough to give my parents a key.

It took about twenty minutes more of standing in the windy weather (hey, at least it wasn’t raining!) and finally my mom arrived to save the day. Even as an adult I still need periodic rescuing from my parents. I was so grateful to my mom for dropping everything, jumping in the car and, mostly, unlocking my dumb door.

If you’ve got a mom (or husband, or friend, or kids) who have a love for oatmeal raisin cookies, might I suggest baking up some of these? My motivation was to say thanks to my sweet mom for helping me out, but the flavor of these really is motivation enough. It’s like tasting sweet comfort with every little bite. Refrigeration of the dough isn’t necessarily required, but it will help your cookies to stay thicker. Thick and chewy is just how I like a cookie. I can pass up a thin, crunchy one with ease.

Enough about being locked out…here’s the recipe!

Thick & Chewy Oatmeal Cookies
adapted from Smitten Kitchen

1 cup (two sticks) butter, softened
1 1/3 cup light brown sugar, packed
2 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups rolled oats
2 cups raisins (less if you like…I guess)
1 cup walnuts, chopped (optional, and if you toast them they’ll be even tastier!)

Preheat oven to 35o.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, egg and vanilla until smooth. In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt together. Stir this into the butter/sugar mixture. Stir in the oats, raisins and walnuts.

At this point you can either chill the dough for a bit (or overnight) in the fridge or scoop the cookies onto a sheet and then chill the whole tray before baking them. You can also bake them right away, but they won’t be as thick — it’s up to you.

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, although the baking time will vary depending on how cold the dough is. Keep an eye on them and taking the cookies out when they’re golden at the edges but still a little undercooked-looking on top. Let them sit on the hot baking sheet for five minutes before transferring them to a rack to cool.

Your favorite brownies

O.k., so actually these are MY favorite brownies, but they might just be yours too.  Over the years I’ve tried my fair share of brownie recipes.  Martha Stewart has a pretty good one, but this one is even better.  Besides, she loses points for telling me to melt 8 ounces of unsweetened chocolate.  I probably should, but never seem to have that stuff in the cupboard.

But let me tell you, those people at King Arthur Flour  really know what they’re doing.  I have never gone wrong or been disappointed with one of their recipes.  The brownies, oh, the brownies are no exception.

King Arthur actually has three variations of this recipe: fudgy, cakey, and somewhere in the middle.  All three are richly delicious and pretty much only vary in texture.  I’m immediately drawn to just about anything labeled ‘fudgy’ so that’s the recipe I usually make.

If you’re looking for a little Valentine’s treat, turn the entire tray of brownies out on to a flat surface and use a heart shaped cutter to make brownie hearts.  The recipients will l-o-v-e you for sharing such chocolately goodness! Or, cut into squares  and share a few, and then freeze the rest for those days when you just need a little chocolate therapy for yourself.

Fudgy Brownies

adapted slightly from King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion

From King Arthur Flour: Many of us here at King Arthur decided that our perfect brownie should be fudgy, but not gooey, and rich enough to satisfy on its own. It should also be assertively flavored and able to stand up to hot fudge sauce and vanilla ice cream. Also, it needs to have a crisp top layer-as one of the kids said, “Just like ones from a box.” The following recipe fills the bill.

I totally agree!

3/4 cup (1-1/2 sticks) butter
2 cups sugar
1 cup Dutch-process cocoa*
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
3 large eggs
1 cup  all-purpose flour
1 cup  chopped walnuts or pecans (optional..but so good. You know I love ‘em toasted!)
1 1/2 cups  chocolate chips (optional…but you’d be crazy to leave them out!)

Heat the oven to 325.  In a medium-sized microwave-safe bowl, or in a saucepan set over low heat, melt the butter, then add the sugar and stir to combine. Return the mixture to the heat (or microwave) briefly, just until it’s hot but not bubbling.

It will become shiny looking as you stir it. Heating this mixture a second time will dissolve more of the sugar, which will yield a shiny top crust on your brownies.

Stir in the cocoa, salt, baking powder and vanilla. Whisk in the eggs, stirring until smooth. Then add the flour and stir.  Fold in the nuts and chocolate chips.  Pour the batter into a lightly greased 9 x 13-inch pan.

Bake the brownies for 29 to 32 minutes, until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean, or with just a tiny amount of crumb clinging to it. The edges of the brownies should be set, but the middle still soft.  Remove the brownies from the oven, and cool them completely before cutting and serving.

One note:  there’s a difference between Dutch processed cocoa and the regular cocoa powder (like Hershey’s).  Winco shoppers, I know there’s Dutch processed cocoa in the bulk foods section for a much cheaper price.  Otherwise it can probably be found in the baking isle at your grocery store.

Triple Lemon Chiffon Cake

Sweet and good.

That’s a perfect description for this cake and for my most delightful mother-in-law.

We surprised her with a little birthday celebration over the weekend, and three layers of lemony goodness was part of the festivities.

If you’ve never made a chiffon cake, give it a try. It is so light and airy. You don’t grease the pans so that the batter can ‘climb’ up the pan as it bakes. Delicious, especially when some homemade lemon curd is sandwiched in between the layers. I adapted the recipe a bit and used all of the lemon curd, not just 1/4 cup in between each layer as the original recipe suggests. Skimping on the filling just seemed all wrong!

As for the whipped cream frosting, I was a bit skeptical. I almost went with a lemon buttercream instead, but decided to maintain the integrity of the original recipe…at least most of it. I knew whipped cream would pair up nicely with the chiffon cake, but it’s a bit finicky. If you over beat then it’s just going to be lumpy and on its way to butter. Under beat and it will just drip off of the cake. I decided to vary from the recipe just a little and stabilize my whipping cream. (See the end of the post for more about that.) That way, as long as I didn’t overbeat, my whipping cream would hold its shape for sure.

The whiteness of the cake was bugging me so I garnished the top with some candied lemon peel. That was a first, but surprisingly easy.

Bottom line, this was a lemony success.

I made the cake and lemon curd the day before, which made assembly, frosting and decorating much easier on the day of the party. See? Cake making doesn’t have to be a day long project. If you break it up into two days it’s actually much easier!

TRIPLE LEMON CHIFFON CAKE

adapted from: SKY HIGH – IRRESISTIBLE TRIPLE LAYER CAKES

For the Cake:

8 eggs, separated
1/4 cup walnut oil**
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tablespoon of lemon zest
1/3 cup water

2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon of cream of tartar
1 and 1/2 cups of sugar
1 and 3/4 cups of cake flour*
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
1/2 teaspoon of salt

*1 cup of cake flour is equal to 3/4 cup of all-purpose flour plus 2 tablespoons of corn starch

**almond oil, hazelnut oil, or canola oil will work also

Preheat the oven to 350. Line the bottoms of three 9-inch pans with parchment paper but do not butter or grease the pans.

In a large bowl whisk together the egg yolks, oil, lemon juice, lemon zest, vanilla and water.In the bowl of an electric mixer, whip the egg whites with the cream of tartar on medium speed until light and frothy. Slowly add 1/2 cup of sugar and continue to beat until soft peaks form.

Sift the flour, remaining sugar, baking soda , and salt into a large bowl. Whisk gently to combine.

Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients. Pour in the egg yolk mixture and mix to create

a smooth paste. Add one-fourth of the egg whites and fold in to lighten the batter. Fold in the remaining egg whites and divide the batter among the three pans.

Bake for about 16 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. Transfer to wire racks to cool in the pans. Once cool run a knife around the cake to in order to un-mold the cakes. Carefully pull off the parchment paper from the bottoms of the cakes.

To assemble the cake, place one layer on a cake stand. Top with half of the prepared lemon curd and spread it evenly. Repeat with the remaining layers. Frost the top of the cake and the sides with the lemon cream frosting and garnish with candied lemon peel (if you decide to make some!).

Rich Lemon Curd:

makes about 1 cup

3 whole eggs
2 egg yolks
1/2 cup of sugar
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon of freshly squeezed lemon juice (about 4 lemons)
grated zest of three lemons

1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 tablespoons of unsalted butter, at room temperature

Whisk together the whole eggs, yolks, sugar, vanilla, lemon juice , and lemon zest together in a medium bowl. Transfer to a small non-reactive saucepan. Gently heat the mixture, whisking until it thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon. Make sure not to boil the mixture.

Pour the mixture through a sieve into a heatproof bowl. Stir in the butter and cover the curd with plastic making sure the plastic touches the curd. This should prevent a skin from forming on the curd. Refrigerate until cold. Then remove 3 tablespoons of curd and set it aside for the icing.

Lemon Cream Frosting:

makes 3 1/4 cups

1 and 1/2 cups of heavy cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 tablespoons of sugar
3 tablespoon of lemon curd

Whip the cream, vanilla and sugar in a large chilled bowl until stiff peaks form. Fold in the lemon curd, forming a stiff frosting.

***For stabilized whipping cream:

1 tablespoon unflavored gelatin

1/4 cup cold water

Combine gelatin with water in a small saucepan. Lat stand until thick. Over low heat, stir constantly until just dissolved. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly. It should still be liquid. Add it into slightly thick whipping cream with the mixer on low. Increase the speed and beat cream until thick.

Candied Lemon Peel

Here’s a little tease for what’s coming tomorrow morning:

My all white cake (stay tuned, my friends…it was delicious) needed some color and this is what I came up with. Pretty much anything soaked and covered in sugar is tasty, including lemon peel!

Candied Lemon Peel

Using a vegetable peeler, remove peel from lemons in long strips. For this cake I used 3 lemons. Using a sharp paring knife I then cut those strips lengthwise to make them thinner. (You could also do this after you have blanched the peel 3 times. It would be easier.)

Place in small saucepan. Add enough cold water to cover generously; bring to boil. Drain. Repeat blanching 2 more times. Bring 2 cups sugar and 2 cups water to boil in medium saucepan, stirring until sugar dissolves. Boil gently 5 minutes. Add lemon peel; simmer until peel is translucent, about 15 minutes.

Using a slotted spoon, transfer peel to prepared sheet. I wanted spirals so I wrapped them around straws and poked the littler ones with toothpicks. I’m sure there is an easier, more effective way, but I hadn’t though this part through and was pretty desperate for ANYthing at that moment.

Sprinkle 1 cup sugar over the peels and toss to coat. Let dry at room temperature.

Cheesecake – simple deliciousness

Back before my sweet husband and I started dating I arrived at his place with a cheesecake to celebrate his roommate’s birthday. Upon seeing it, Nate’s first remarks were, “I don’t like cheesecake.” To which I promptly replied, “Well it’s not for YOU.” This coming from a guy who thinks the best dessert at The Cheesecake Factory is the strawberry shortcake. Silly, I tell you…although I can pass on the Factory’s cheesecake pretty easily too.

At the time, I wasn’t really interested in dating him (o.k., maybe I was a little) so making a good impression or catering to his culinary preferences wasn’t a real high priority. If the birthday boy liked it, which he did, the cheesecake was a success.

Despite publicly making his disdain for cheesecake known, Nate took a piece. I guess he was willing to choke it down for the sake of a birthday.

You know what? Even he was surprised…he L-O-V-E-D it. And now, he’s a officially a cheesecake snob. In fact, this is the only one he’ll eat.

So, when I say that you’re going to love this, I’m pretty serious about it. The texture and flavor are just right on. The sour cream layer on top is key. It balances the richness of all that cream cheese with perfection. No, it’s not a twenty minute treat, but if you plan ahead a little you won’t regret it. As far as ingredients and procedure go, this is a pretty basic and straightforward recipe, but I’ll give you a few technique tips at the bottom.

Cheesecake
adapted from my Grandma’s recipe

For the crust:
If you want a thicker crust, just make another half of the recipe.  Or just keep adding graham cracker crumbs and butter until you have the right consistency and your desired thickness of crust!

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
3 tablespoons sugar
6 tablespoons of butter

In a medium bowl, mix graham cracker crumbs, sugar and butter.  Press into a 9- or 10-inch pie pan, lining the bottom and sides.  Set aside and begin to make the filling.

For the cheesecake:
3 8oz. packages of cream cheese, softened
3 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

Beat the cream cheese and sugar, just until combined.  Add the eggs one at a time, making sure each egg is incorporated before adding the next one.  Stir in the vanilla and lemon juice.  Pour the mixture into prepared graham cracker crust.

Bake at 300 for 45-50 minutes.  Turn off oven and let cheesecake remain in the oven for about 1 hour.  Remove cheesecake from oven and let cool completely, or at least one more hour.

Mix together:
1 pint of sour cream
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

After stirring together ingredients, pour on top of the cooked cake.  Bake at 450 for 12-15 minutes.  Cool at room temperature for 4-6 hours, or overnight.  Then, place in refrigerator until ready to serve.  Serve plain or top with fresh berries (my favorite)…or chocolate sauce.

Finally, a few technique tips:

• It’s best if you can have all ingredients at room temperature.  (In fact, did you know that’s recommended for pretty much all baking, unless otherwise specified?  I don’t always rarely plan so well though…) Your cream cheese is going to be lumpy if it’s not at room temperature.  If you don’t have time for it to soften cut the block into smaller squares and microwave it for about 10 seconds at a time until it’s soft to the touch.
• Incorporating the eggs one at a time is a must!
• It’s not a must-do, but if you want to get really technical, bake the cheesecake in a water bath.  It will help the cheesecake bake more evenly and help to prevent cracking.  To do that wrap the bottom of your springform pan in aluminum foil and place it in a larger pan with hot water in it, just halfway up the outside of the springform pan. This will allow the cheesecake to cook more slowly and evenly.
• Don’t overmix!  That’s another way to get cracks in your cheesecake.  The more air you incorporate the more likely you are to have cracks.
• If you do get cracks, don’t worry…you’re going to put that sour cream layer on top.  It’s an instant smooth surface.
• If you want really clean cuts, run a sharp knife under hot water to warm the place and wipe it off in between slices.

Oreo White Chocolate Fudge

Maybe one of my new year’s resoluti0ns should be to post all of my creations in a timely manner. Holiday celebrations plus too much fun with family and friends equaled no time to blog. Great news though…this recipe is a winner all year long, not just in December.

One thing I wasn’t expecting was for the fudge to be so tall. The appearance was great, but the height was all wrong — at least for me. So, after cutting into squares, I cut each piece horizontally as well. Perfection. Every little square fit perfectly into a mini cupcake wrapper, and now I had essentially doubled the batch…without even planning to!

Since your next Christmas party isn’t exactly right around the corner, think of using this recipe as a party favor or even in the spring with the pastel Oreos. Or add in a red swirl of food coloring into the fudge for a special Valentine’s day treat. So many possibilities!

Oreo White Chocolate Fudge

• 1 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup butter
• 1 (5-oz.) can evaporated milk
• 2 (12-oz.) packages white chocolate chips or chunks
• 1 (7-oz.) jar marshmallow cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 cups, plus a little more, coarsely crushed cream-filled chocolate sandwich cookies (about 28 cookies), divided
• Pinch of salt

Line a greased 8- or 9-inch square pan with aluminum foil.

Combine the first 3 ingredients in a medium saucepan. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring constantly, until mixture comes to a boil. Cook for 3 minutes, stirring constantly.

Remove from heat. Add white chocolate morsels, marshmallow cream, vanilla, 2 cups crushed cookies, and salt. Stir until morsels melt.

Pour fudge into prepared pan. Sprinkle remaining chopped cookies over fudge, gently pressing cookies into fudge. Cover and chill until firm (about 1 to 2 hours).

Lift uncut fudge in aluminum foil from pan. Remove foil, and cut fudge into squares.

Red Velvet Cake Balls

Look familiar? This time they’re not filled with Oreos and cream cheese, but something equally delicious. This recipe is taken straight from Bakerella. I just love her creations. They’re cute, creative and, oh so delicious. Bakerella doesn’t disappoint.

For this recipe I went against a major baking principle and actually bought cream cheese frosting. How many times have I tried to convince you not to do that? But, I wanted to know what the consistency of these Bakerella Balls should be, because, quite honestly, I didn’t have time to mess up and start again. They HAD to turn out the first time. Next time, I’ll make my own, but I’m all for using a mix for the cake part. I’m actually thinking about how these would work with a different flavor of mix. Maybe with the Funfetti mix and some homemade frosting next time.

Red Velvet Cake Balls

from Bakerella

1 box red velvet cake mix (cook as directed on box for 13 X 9 cake)
1 can cream cheese frosting (16 oz.)
1 package chocolate bark (regular or white chocolate)
wax paper

After cake is cooked and cooled completely, crumble into large bowl. Mix thoroughly with 1 can cream cheese frosting. (It may be easier to use fingers to mix together, but be warned it will get messy.)
Roll mixture into quarter size balls and lay on cookie sheet. Chill for several hours. (You can speed this up by putting in the freezer.)
Melt chocolate in microwave per directions on package. Roll balls in chocolate and lay on wax paper until firm. (Use a spoon to dip and roll in chocolate and then tap off extra.)