English Muffins

I hope you had a wonderful holiday. Since I'm in my last month before our new arrival arrives, I've been on restricted travel... I wasn't allowed to drive fourteen hours to spend Christmas with the family this year! It's the first time in the almost ten years that we've been married that my husband and I spent the day at home alone. It was relaxing, but I think I prefer the wonderful chaos of our normal routine better.

Being stuck at home, we decided we could celebrate our time together by splurging on our meals. I prepared some items I've never prepared before and enjoyed some other special meals that I only get to make rarely. Christmas eve we enjoyed a small prime rib. For Christmas day dinner, I made a roasted duck. This is the second time I've roasted a whole duck, and while it was darn tasty, it sure did make a mess of the oven! Last night was the finale of our gluttonous extravaganza. I made a roasted rabbit with mashed potatoes and gravy; boy was it tasty!

Surprisingly, probably the most challenging meal I made was breakfast on Christmas morning. I've been playing with an English muffin recipe and I know how much my hubby loves a good eggs Benedict, so I figured I'd give it a go. There were two components in this dish that I had never made before: poached eggs and Hollandaise sauce. I'll talk more about eggs Benedict in a future post, but let it suffice to say for now that these English muffins played a wonderful supporting roll.

Now, while we're on the subject of English muffins, lets talk about nooks and crannies. Those round holes you see in so many brands of commercial English muffins? Yeah, that's not traditionally an English muffin feature. You find those holes in crumpets, which also are also an English bread and are also cooked on a griddle, but are made from a looser batter and require rings to make. The traditional English muffin looks more like regular bread inside when split. It still holds the butter nicely when toasted though, so don't you worry!

The first step is to mix the dough. Mix the dough at least the night before you plan on making the muffins. For a more robust flavor, you can actually make the dough 2-4 days in advance. This extra fermentation time in the refrigerator helps to develop a very nice flavor, but they're still good when made after only twelve hours. The dough  mixes together nicely and does not need to be kneaded for an exceptionally long time. When ready, dump the dough in a greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap and stash in the refrigerator. It will swell up nicely and do some lovely yeasty things.

When ready to make the muffins, lightly flour the counter and dump out the dough. Sprinkle the dough with a little flour too and roll it out until about one-quarter of an inch thick. Make sure you roll it thin enough. One time I didn't and I ended up with English muffins that looked like the Sears tower! They were crazy! Cut out using a 3 1/2 inch round cutter (or something similar). A nice sharp cutter is preferred because you don't want the dough on the edges to get sealed together as this can inhibit the muffins from puffing properly. If you only roll once, you should get about 8 muffins out of the dough; if you re-roll the scraps, you can get up to 14 muffins. Please note, however, that once you try to re-roll the dough, you'll be waging an uphill battle against gluten.

Place the muffins on a sheet tray sprinkled with cornmeal or farina (Malt-O-Meal or Cream of Wheat cereal). I prefer the look and taste of the farina, personally. In this picture, you're looking at cornmeal. Sprinkle the tops of the muffins as well and then loosely cover with plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm place until they have doubled in volume. Be sure to let them rise fully. If you try to cut this step short, most likely you will end up with dense, doughy English muffins.

When they are done rising, preheat your electric griddle to 325F. You can do this step on the stove, but I find being able to easily manage the temperature is a real plus here. Cook the muffins for two minutes on one side.

Give them a flip and let them cook another 5-7 minutes on the other side. If they do not have a nice golden color on them when you complete this first flip, you may want to hold off a bit longer and evaluate your griddle temperature.

This photo shows the second side once it has finished cooking as well. You see how it is not as flat as the first side? The first side cooking time is short for a reason. If you let the first side go too long, the top of the muffin gets too rounded and you end up with a smaller and smaller flat spot on the top of this second side, leading to a domed muffin instead of a nice flat muffin. In my experience, two minutes is a nice compromise between color development and maintaining as flat a second side as possible.

Let muffins cool slightly before slicing and toasting. While you can fork split these muffins, I almost prefer them cut open. Give it a try both ways and see which one appeals most to you. These muffins are great by themselves (as shown at the beginning of this post) or as part of a smashing eggs Benedict. Freeze the leftovers (I slice mine apart first), and you can enjoy homemade English muffins whenever the mood hits!

English Muffins
Yield: 8 - 14   3-1/2 inch muffins (depending on whether you re-roll the scraps)

3 cups bread flour
1 tsp table salt
1 1/4 cup milk
2 tsp sugar
2 tsp instant yeast
2 TBS vegetable oil

Mix all ingredients together and knead by hand or in a stand mixer for 5-7 minutes. Dough should come together but still be somewhat sticky. Place the dough in an oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Place in the refrigerator at least overnight, but up to four days. The ideal time from a flavor/yeast development standpoint is probably on day three (let sit two nights in refrigerator).

When ready to make the muffins, pull the dough from the refrigerator and dump out onto a lightly floured counter. Sprinkle the dough with a little more flour and roll immediately until the dough is 1/4 inch thick. You should be able to cut eight 3 1/2 inch rounds without having to re-roll the dough. If you want to use all of the dough now, re-roll to obtain up to 14 rounds. The gluten will start to fight you as soon as you start re-rolling. Let the dough sit a few minutes to allow the gluten to relax a bit if it gets too frustrating.

Place rounds on a sheet pan generously sprinkled with farina (Malt-O-Meal or Cream of Wheat cereal) or cornmeal. Sprinkle the tops of the muffins as well. Loosely cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until double. Be sure to let them rise fully or you may end up with muffins that are dense and doughy.

When they have doubled, heat a dry electric griddle to 325F. Once preheated, place the rounds on the griddle and cook two minutes on the first side. Check to be sure the bottom is nicely golden and give the muffin a flip. If you wait too long to flip, the muffin will be dome shaped instead of flat. Cook another 5-7 minutes on the other side. Let cool briefly before splitting and toasting. Muffins can be frozen for up to six months.

Fried Ice Cream
from Garry Boyle

Can I just say AMAZING! ADDICTING!  We had this the other night and I about died! Its that good! Super easy to make! Enjoy! This recipe is made in a cookie sheet, not in balls as shown in picture.

Melt Together: 

• 1 cube of margarine
• 1 cup brown sugar

Add:

• 3 cups corn flakes (crushed a little) 
• 1 cup coconut or tsp of cinnamon
• 1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Cook and stir mixture 2-3 minutes. Spread 1/2-2/3 of mixture into an 8x11 pan. Or use a cookie sheet for thinner squares. Spread 1/2 gallon ice-cream on top. Sprinkle remaining mixture on top. Freeze. 

When ready to serve, drizzle favorite toppings (e.g. honey,  whip cream, chocolate or caramel sauce) 

*I use closer to 2/3 of mixture on bottom and press down and put in freezer for a few minutes before adding the ice-cream. I let ice cream sit out to soften before spreading. 

                           

Chicken and Mushrooms in White Wine

To watch this Video-Recipe click HERE!!

Hi everyone, today's recipe is a delicious combination of Chicken, Bacon and Mushrooms cooked in White Wine. The different flavors and textures of this dish make it extraordinarily delicious. You will be cooking everything in one pan, so it doesn't get simpler than that. This recipe is easy, budget friendly and will satisfied any picky eaters.  Enjoy!

Serves 4-5
Ingredients:

• 2 large chicken breast cut inot bite size pieces
• 2 cups of white mushrooms cut into bite size pieces
• 1 large onion cut into chunks
• 4 slices of bacon cut into chunks
• 2 minced garlic cloves
• 1 tablespoon of butter
• 1 tablespoon of extra virgen olive oil
• 1 14oz can of chicken broth
• 1 cup of white wine (Use a good quality wine to ensure your dish will be flavorful)
• salt and black pepper to taste¼ cup chopped fresh parsley to garnish
• 1½ tablespoons of all purpose flour (optional)

In a large pan, on medium-low heat, melt the butter and also add in the olive oil. Once the butter is melted, cook the bacon on medium low for about 5-6 minutes or until golden brown.

Remove the bacon from the pan, and in the same pan and oil, cook the chicken pieces, season them with salt and black pepper to taste. Cook for 2-3 minutes or until the chicken changes in color. It doesn't need to be cooked all the way through because it will finished cooking later. After 3 minutes or so, remove the chicken from the pan and reserve it with bacon.


In the same pan, with whatever oil is left in the pan, cook the onion and the garlic on low heat for about 3 minutes or until the onion is soft and transparent. Make sure to lower the heat because you do not want to burn the garlic, or else, the dish will be really bitter.

Once the onion is cooked, add in the the White Wine, and cook on medium-high for 2 minutes, just so the alcohol in the wine can evaporate a bit. After 2 minutes or so, add in the chicken broth, and the mushrooms, set the heat to medium, and continue to cook for 15-20 minutes or until the mushrooms are soft and the liquid has evaporated by half.

Taste the flavor, add any salt and pepper if needed, if your dish looks too watery, you can add up to 1½  tablepoons of flour to thicken it up a little bit. (optional)

Add the chicken and the bacon back into the pan and continue to cooked for 3-5 more minutes or until the chicken is completely cooked. Turn off the heat, sprinkle some fresh parsley over the stew, give it a stir, and serve.


This dish is great with white rice, or over pasta or mashed potatoes!
Enjoy!!!

Cinnamon Burst Bread

My friend made this bread for a party we went to and everyone was asking for the recipe.  It was so, so good.  She makes it into 6 rounded loaves (kind of like Claire's peasant bread) instead of using the bread form.  The hardest part is finding the cinnamon bites but I just found them in Wal-Mart.  They are typically in stock during this season.  It is so, so good and makes for a delicious neighbor treat!

Cinnamon Burst Bread (like Great Harvest’s)-Makes 4 Loaves

Recipe from everydayfoodstorage.net

3 T. yeast
1/2 cup sugar
4 eggs, beaten lightly (*Note from Crystal, 1/4 C. Dry Egg Powder +1/2 C. Water)
3 3/4 cup warm water
4 1/2 tsp. salt
3 T. vegetable oil
2 1/2 cups cinnamon bites (available at health food stores, these are like compacted bits of cinnamon or here)
11-12 cups flour (*Note from Crystal, this is a great recipe to disguise wheat in! Try it at least half whole wheat flour and half all-purpose or get really gutsy and try it 100% whole wheat!)

Combine in mixing bowl 4 cups flour, yeast, and sugar. Add water, eggs, and oil. Beat well to “cake batter” stage. Stir in salt, cinnamon bites, and 7 more cups flour to make bread-dough consistency. Let mixer knead it to the right texture (add up to 1 more cup flour if needed). Place dough in greased bowl, cover, and let rise for 1 hour. Shape dough into 4 loaves. Let rise for another hour or until doubled. Bake at 375 degrees for about 30 minutes. Slice thick and serve warm with butter, or toast slices in the toaster (be careful, the cinnamon bites can burn your fingers), or make slices into French Toast. Yummy!

Refrigerator Dinner Rolls

You're going to love this recipe! If you've been intimidated by making dinner rolls from scratch, be afraid no longer! These are so easy to mix, so easy to shape, and so easy to bake. And the best part? They taste phenomenal!!!!! These rolls have a lovely flavor, are light and soft, and are the perfect vehicle for sopping up whatever gravy or juices you've got going on in your meal.

This recipe makes a good sized batch of rolls, somewhere in the neighborhood of three dozen. The other nice thing about the dough is that once it is made, it keeps fairly well. You can leave it in the refrigerator up to three days or store it in the freezer for up to a month. If you freeze the dough, thaw it completely in the refrigerator before proceeding. This is a fairly soft dough that can be mixed by hand fairly easily, but if you have a stand mixer, it is the easiest dough ever to mix.

Refrigerator Dinner Rolls
Yield: approx. 3 dozen rolls

4 1/2 tsp instant yeast (or 2 pkg active dry yeast)
1/3 cup sugar
2 cups warm water
5 1/2-6 1/2 cups of flour, divided
2 tsp table salt
1 whole egg
1/3 cup shortening, melted and cooled slightly
egg yolk wash (one yolk and 1 TBS water) optional

If using active dry yeast, mix the yeast, water, and sugar together first until it become frothy. If using instant, you can simply mix the ingredients together. Add 4 cups of the flour to the yeast, water, and sugar. Stir together and then add the salt, egg, and shortening. Add as much of the remaining flour as is necessary to make a soft dough. Knead a couple of minutes until the dough is smooth. It will still be sticky at this point, but once it rises in the refrigerator, it will be a nice dough to handle.

Place the mixed dough in a greased bowl, at least 4 quarts in size. Cover the bowl and place in the refrigerator for two hours or until doubled in size. If you want to store the dough at this point, punch it down and put it back in the refrigerator or in the freezer. If you are ready to make rolls, dump the dough out and punch it down. Cut the dough into strips to make shaping easier. Cut the strips into small pieces such that when you roll each piece into a sphere it's about 3/4 of an inch in diameter. Spray a muffin tin with oil and place three of the dough balls in each cup. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until double, about an hour. Brush the tops with egg wash and bake at 400F for about 12 minutes or until nice and golden. Remove from the oven and let cool a few minutes before removing from tins.

Christmas Sugar Cookies

Hi everyone, today's recipe is perfect as a Christmas treat or a perfect as a homemade present, easy and delicious!

Makes 2½ dozen
Ingredients:

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1½ sticks unsalted butter, soften (3/4cups)
• 1 large egg
• 1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
• Colored Sugar for decoration
• Holiday Sprinkles for decoration
• Christmas cookie cuters
• 
  

Preheat oven to 375ºF

Combine flour and salt together, mix well and set aside for a minute.

In an electric blender on medium speed, cream the butter  and the sugar. Add in the egg, and the vanilla extract, blend on medium speed until all the ingredients are well combined.  Scraped down the sides of the bowl, set the speed to low and add in the flour. Blend on low until combined. Do NOT overmixed.  Refrigerate dough for 1 hour before using it.

On a floured surface, roll out the dough, to a ¼ inch thickness. Use your Christmas cookie cutters to cut out the cookies. Decorate with color sugar and bake for 12-15 minutes or until slightly brown.

I decorated half my cookies with colored sugar and the other half I used pre-made  icing to decorate them.  To decorate with the icing, first, cook the cookies and after they have cooled completely, decorated them as you please. To decorate with the colored sugar, decorate the cookies before baking them. Then bake at 375ºF for 12-15 minutes.

Enjoy!

Chocolate Pie

We had a guest for dinner last night; it was someone we hadn't seen in almost ten years! It was great to catch up and also a great excuse to have some fun in the kitchen. I made a shepherd's pie with chicken, salad, and some rolls (which I'll share with you in the next few days). For dessert, well, you know that's where my true passion lies, I wanted to go all out; I absolutely love baking!

I decided to go with making a chocolate pie. First, nearly everyone loves chocolate pudding, so I feel pretty confident that no one will turn down a chocolate pie when made. Secondly, I like the fact that I can make the  whole thing in advance... like a whole day in advance. It's perfect!

This is another one of those "put together" recipes that uses a handful of other recipes that I have already posted to end up with a fabulous new creation.

The first step is to make the crust. I used my new flaky pie crust recipe that I posted yesterday, but you could go with a traditional crust as well, or - gasp - with a store bought crust. (Don't worry, I won't hold it against you if you do use a store bought crust. I don't use them because I don't like the flavor, but if they taste good to you, then why wouldn't you?). Blind bake the empty pie shell (pricked with a fork, lined with foil, and filled with pie weights or dried beans) at 425 degrees for ten minutes. Remove the foil and weights and continue baking until the crust is beautiful and golden. Let the pie shell cool completely at room temperature.

The next component is the filling. I started by making my chocolate pudding recipe. Once the pudding was thickened and off the heat, I added a few extra things. The first thing was about a half cup of bittersweet chocolate chips. I wanted to up the ante on the chocolate-y-ness of this filling. I also added about half a teaspoon of coffee liqueur. Both of these items are completely optional. Fiddle with it at this point as you see fit. You could add mint extract for a mint pie or hazelnut liqueur for a nutty essence. The only change that I made that I strongly recommend making is the addition of some gelatin. This pudding sets up pretty well, but for perfectly cut pieces, it really could use a little added stability. To do this, soften one teaspoon of gelatin in two tablespoons of cold milk. Let sit for 3-5 minutes. When the pudding first comes off the heat, stir in the milk/gelatin mixture. That's all there is to it, but it makes a huge difference. Pour the pudding into a bowl and place plastic wrap directly on the surface to prevent a skin from forming. Let the pudding cool completely but not become cold (you don't want it to start setting up yet). Pour the cooled pudding into the pie shell and smooth the top. Cooling the pudding is important for two reasons: first, it keeps the crust from getting soggy, and second, at this point you don't have to worry about a nasty skin from forming. Now you can put the pie in the refrigerator uncovered without any problems.

The last part of this process is the whipped cream edge. Because I wanted to be able to make everything in advance and then have any leftovers keep beautifully (there were only three of us, after all), I used stabilized whipped cream. Follow the recipe exactly and pipe the whipped cream onto the pie in any design you choose. I usually use a rope type border around the edge. I then sprinkled some chocolate shavings on the whipped cream for contrast. Refrigerate for at least a few hours before serving! Cuts beautifully and tastes wonderful!

*Per a commenter's request, I have written up my pudding recipe with the pie filling additions here. As I was writing the recipe, I remembered that I did also add a wee bit of sugar to balance the addition of the chocolate. It wasn't a lot, and you can certainly add some to taste if you find it necessary.*

Chocolate Pudding for Pie
Yield: enough for one pie

1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/4 tsp salt
3 TBS cornstarch
2 1/2 cups milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup bittersweet chocolate chips (optional)
1/2 tsp coffee liqueur (optional)
additional sugar to taste, if necessary
1 tsp unflavored gelatin softened in 2 TBS cold milk

Sift the sugar, cocoa powder, salt, and cornstarch into a medium sauce pan. Mix the milk and vanilla. Pour just enough of the milk into the dry ingredients to make a loose paste. Once the dry ingredients are all moistened, pour in the rest of the milk and whisk until well mixed.

Cook over medium-high heat, whisking occasionally, until the pudding just about reaches a boil and is thick and smooth. Remove from the heat and add the chocolate chips and liqueur, if using. Stir to mix. Add in the softened gelatin/milk mixture and stir again until well mixed and smooth. Pour into a bowl and place plastic wrap directly on the top of the pudding to prevent a skin from forming. Cool in the refrigerator until cool but not cold (and not set). Once cool, stir and then pour into pie shell, smoothing the top. Pie can now be refrigerated uncovered until served. Pipe a border of stabilized whipped cream, if desired. 

Homemade Hot Chocolate Mix

Pic courtesy Mel's Kitchen Cafe

I saw this recipe a while ago on Mel's Kitchen Cafe and knew that I wanted to try it. Well, let me clarify. I knew I wanted to make it for Christian and the kids. I'm not a huge hot cocoa fan- something about drinking calories kinda makes me feel sick. So, I bought the ingredients and let them sit in my pantry for a while... until today. I decided to whip up a batch because it's been so cold here (think 50 degrees). I thought I would make a sample cup for myself before I served it to Christian. Oh wow. It was SO delicious. Like, I wanted to make another cup and drink it for dinner. Maybe I still will...

Homemade Hot Chocolate Mix
from Mel's Kitchen Cafe

 
*Makes about 20 servings
INGREDIENTS:
3 cups nonfat dry milk powder
2 cups powdered sugar
1½ cups cocoa powder, dutch-process or natural
1½ cups white chocolate chips or finely chopped white chocolate
¼ teaspoon salt
DIRECTIONS:
Whisk together all ingredients in a large bowl. Working in two (or more) batches, depending on the size of your food processor, pulse the ingredients in a food processor until the chocolate is finely ground. Store the dry mix in an airtight container for up to 3 months.
To make hot cocoa, put 1/3 cup of the cocoa mix in a mug and stir in 1 cup of hot milk. Top with whipped cream or miniature marshmallows, if desired.

**I just threw everything in my Vitamix and it came together in about ten seconds:).

Super Flaky Tender Pie Crust

I know I have already posted a recipe and tutorial on pie crust, but this one is just so phenomenal, I can't not share it with you. Look at how flaky that pie crust is! It's almost like puff pastry. I've been messing with this recipe for a little over a year now, but have finally gone a few times making it without making any adjustments to the recipe.

You use the exact same technique as I outline in my Pie Crust 101 post and video. It's amazing how just a few alterations in the recipe make such a huge difference. A pleasing bonus is that the dough is easier to work with when rolling because using half cake flour reduces the amount of gluten in the dough. Give this dough a try in your next pie crust application - I promise you will not be disappointed!

Super Flaky Tender Pie Crust
Yield: enough for two thin single crusts or one thick crust with some extra

1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup cake flour
1/2 tsp table salt
11 TBS chilled butter cut into small pieces
5-6 TBS chilled water
1 TBS white vinegar

I think making crust is easiest in a food processor, but you can certainly mix it by hand. Mix together the flours and salt. Cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs with some pea sized pieces of butter remaining. Mix the water and vinegar together and then add to the mixture while pulsing in the food processor or add all but the last TBS and then mix by hand. Hold back the last TBS of water regardless of your method until you are sure you need it. The ambient humidity will impact how much water is required to allow the dough to come together into a ball. Pulse just until the dough starts to clump. Dump out onto the counter and shape into a disk of dough about 6 inches across. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill 30-60 minutes before rolling.

Brown Sugar and Balsamic Glazed Pork Loin

Jason has been hard to please lately. And honestly, I have been utterly sick of cooking the same thing over and over again and can't say I really blame him. This recipe got me out of my rut! YAY! Compliments all around even from our dinner guests. And it looks gorgeous but is effortless. I made a few adjustments according to what I had in my cupboard.

recipe and picture from candcmarriagefactory.com

Brown Sugar and Balsamic Glazed Pork Loin

RUB:

-3 pound pork loin (I used sirloin roast but the recipe calls for pork loin)

-1.5 tsp sage (I used thyme because I was out of sage)

-3/4 t salt

-1/2 t pepper

-1 T garlic powder

Mix the dry ingredients and rub on raw pork with your hands. Place in crockpot with 1/2 c water for 6-8 hours.

GLAZE:

- 1/2 c brown sugar

- 1 T cornstarch

- 1/4 c balsamic vinegar

-1/2 c water

- 2 T soy sauce

Combine glaze ingredients in a pan and heat and stir until it thickens. Brush onto pork several times within the last hour of it cooking. Remove pork and shred/cut. Serve glaze on the side.

Gingerbread Men Shaped Lollipops

I love the holiday season. I especially love that it really gives me an excuse to go all out making all sorts of food goodies to give away. When I first started making lollipops a handful of years ago, I bought a variety of molds at a baking store (SugarCraft). The metal molds made by Sweet Creations are definitely my favorite. You can see what they look like in my Old Fashioned Lollipop post. I love them because they are easy to use and come in a variety of shapes.

In the packs of molds that I bought previously, I had ended up with two person shaped molds. One day, as I was making some root beer lollipops, I looked at those two and thought, "Wow! Those would make awesome gingerbread men for the holidays!" And then my life got busy and the idea got put on the back burner because I didn't really want to buy as many packs of molds as I'd need to get a reasonable number of the gingerbread men molds.

For some reason last month, on a whim, I decided to call the company and ask if they could make me a special pack of all gingerbread men molds. The folks at Sweet Creations were wonderful. Within a week, I had my new pack of molds and was ready to roll! They said they could create any package of molds from the shapes they offer that I wanted! How great is that? I am so happy that I called them, because look at how cute these little lollipops are!!!

I made a batch to give away to the little ones in our family for Christmas. I always make goodies to give to their parents, why shouldn't they get something special too? I made the lollipops exactly as I describe in my Old Fashioned Lollipops post. The only difference here was the addition of the white details. For this I used a stiff royal icing (I used the recipe on a package of Wilton meringue powder) and then let them dry uncovered at room temperature until the icing was dry and hard. Although most of our homes are on the dry side this time of year from the furnace, don't leave the lollipops out any longer than necessary or they could end up absorbing moisture and getting too sticky.

I then packaged them the same way I described in my previous lollipop post. I dusted them with powdered sugar and brushed the excess off with a pastry brush. Into the bags they went with pretty bows and, voila!, perfect little gingerbread men lollipops!

Creamy Rice Pudding from allrecipes.com
Original recipe serves 4

Prep 25 min
Cook 20 min

Ingredients 

• 3/4 cup uncooked white rice
  2 cups milk, divided
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

1 egg, beaten
2/3 cup golden raisins             1 tablespoon butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup white sugar

Directions

1. Bring 1 1/2 cups water to a boil in a saucepan; stir rice into boiling water. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes.
2. In a clean saucepan, combine 1 1/2 cups cooked rice, 1 1/2 cups milk, sugar and salt. Cook over medium heat until thick and creamy, 15 to 20 minutes. Stir in remaining 1/2 cup milk, beaten egg, and raisins; cook 2 minutes more, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in butter and vanilla.

Kara's Dressing

My friend Kara shared this dressing with me months ago and it is delicious! I am a bit lazy so if its good in the bottle, I don't make homemade dressing. I tried this though and its on the rotation at our house. Jason just reqeusted it for this week. Its delicious with whatever salad you make. Kara added low fat bacon bits, sliced almonds, fresh thinly grated swiss cheese and craisins. YUM!

KARA'S DRESSING
1/3 c sugar
2 t chopped onion ( I used dried minced onions)
1/2 t salt
1 T poppy seeds
1/3 c vinegar
1 t dijon
2/3 c vegatable oil

Andes Mint Cookies

I am going to a cookies exchange tonight and am making these from my mother-in-law and thought I would share. They are a little labor-intense but SO worth it. They are kinda like the Pepperidge Farm cookie but WAY better. Y'know the ones right?

Anyway....these are the real better-tasting homemade ones.

1 c butter (no subbing here)

1 c sugar

1/2 c packed brown sugar

2 eggs

1 t vanilla

3 c flour

1 t baking soda

1/2 t salt

65 Andes Mints

Cream butter and sugars. Add eggs. Then vanilla. Combine dry ingredients separately then add gradually to wet ingredients. Cover and refrigerate 2 hours. Shape a tablespoon of dough around 42 mints, forming rectangular cookies. You want the dough to be thin around the cookie (even the dough is this pic is too thick). Please 2" apart. Bake at 375 for 10-12 minutes. Melt remaining mints and drizzle on top of cookies (not show in pic).

BYU Mint Brownies

If you make the 2000 mile sojourn out to BYU every year to indulge in these brownies stop now. Here is the secret recipe originally in the family cookbook by Jessica! It makes and entire cookie sheet full! They are great to cut then freeze. Also great as Christmas gifts to those who have never partaken (Yes, its a word. My word.) of the divinity that are BYU mint brownies. Get ready to be idolized. :)

BYU MINT BROWNIES

 2 1/4 sticks butter. melted

3/4 c cocoa

2 1/4 c sugar

6 eggs, slightly beaten

1 1/2 t vanilla

1 7/8 c flour

1/8 t salt

Preheat oven to 350. Mix together butter and cocoa. Mix in sugar. Stir in eggs and vanilla. Add flour and salt; mix well. Pour into greased cookie sheet. Bake 15 minutes. It may bubble, poke hole and pat down. Do not overcook! Cool completely then frost.

Mint Frosting:

4 c powdered sugar

8 T butter, melted

1 t peppermint extract

3 drops green food coloring

4 T milk (or until spreading consistency)

Spread in thin layer on top of brownies. Work fast because it dries quickly! Put in fridge to cool.

Chocolate layer:

16 oz. semi-sweet or milk ( I use ss) chocolate chips

1 1/2 T butter

Melt together. Pour evenly over cooled mint frosted brownies. Let stand at least for 15-20 minutes before cutting to serve but I think they are best cold! Keep in fridge.

No-Bake Oatmeal-Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Bars

 



   I made these a few months ago and loved them. I don't usually like no-bake cookies, but the picture looked so good, I couldn't resist! And, I'm glad I did b/c they were so yummy.

No-Bake Oatmeal-Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Bars
from Brown Eyed Baker

Ingredients:

3 cups old-fashioned oats
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips, divided
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups granulated sugar
½ cup milk
½ cup unsalted butter
½ teaspoon salt

Directions:

1. Line an 8-inch or 9-inch square baking dish with parchment paper and set aside. (You can use a 9x13-inch if you want thinner bars.)
2. In a large mixing bowl, stir together the oatmeal, 1 cup of the chocolate chips, the peanut butter and vanilla extract; set aside.
3. In a small saucepan, combine the sugar, milk, butter and salt over medium heat. Bring to a full boil (there should be bubbles covering the entire surface) and boil for 2 minutes.
4. Immediately pour the hot mixture (carefully!) over the oatmeal mixture and quickly stir to combine, ensuring that all of the oatmeal mixture has been moistened. Turn the mixture into the parchment-lined pan and use the back of a spoon to press it evenly into the pan. Sprinkle the remaining 1 cup of chocolate chips over top and gently press them into the top of the mixture.
5. Allow the bars to sit at room temperature to set up, which takes about 30 minutes. Use the edges of the parchment paper to lift the bars out of the pan and cut into squares. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week.
Note: Like any no-bake cookie, the final texture of these really depends on how long you boil the sugar mixture. If it doesn't boil long enough, the cookie mixture will be too soft; if you boil too long, they could turn out dry and crumbly. I like to set a timer just to be sure.