Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

These are so, so good! It makes 40 servings, so they're great for a cookie exchange or party!

Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

Kenda Purdy, submitted by Emily

1¾ cups all-purpose flour

½ cup packed brown sugar

½ teaspoon salt

1 egg, beaten

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

½ cup butter, softened

2 tablespoons milk

½ cup sugar

40 miniature Reese’s, unwrapped

½ cup peanut butter

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Sift together the flour, salt and baking soda; set aside. Cream together the butter, sugar, peanut butter and brown sugar until fluffy. Beat in the egg, vanilla and milk. Add the flour mixture; mix well. Shape into 40 balls and place each into an ungreased mini muffin pan. Bake at 375 degrees for about 8 minutes. Remove from oven and immediately press a mini peanut butter cup into each ball. Cool and carefully remove from pan.

Marshmallows!

Oh la la... can it really have been almost two weeks since my last post? And Christmas - is it really only fifteen days away? WAIT! Stop the clock! I haven't been able to do anything yet. Christmas shopping? Uh, nope. Christmas cards? Ditto nope. Holiday decorations? Hmmm... does hanging a wreath on the front door count? Oh my goodness! How about holiday baking - my favorite part of the holidays? Not a darn thing. Not one single little cookie. It's positively depressing. Unfortunately, those darn priority things are getting in my way. Grrrr.

The worst part about the whole deal is what I've been eating for dinner. In the last week, the closest I have come to cooking was boiling up a packet of ramen. Other dinners this week have included canned soup, frozen burritos, and a bowl full of salad greens. Fortunately, while my mom was visiting over Thanksgiving we cooked a few things, so on these recently rare occasions when I have a few extra minutes, I at least have something to share with you. Please bear with me as I make it through the rest of this school year... believe me, lately, I would much rather spend the time with you than continually trying to convince my students that the purpose of my class is to prepare them for life, not to simply give them another 'A' they haven't earned. But - I digress - this is a cooking blog for crying out loud!

So, let's cook! I am not a marshmallow fanatic, but I like them reasonably well in certain applications and occasionally as a snack. I always wanted to try making homemade marshmallows and I rather enjoyed the process. As far as the product goes, they really don't differ that much from the store bought. In fact, in a blind taste test, I'm not sure I'd be able to tell the difference. The good news is that with homemade marshmallows, you can play with flavorings, colorings, and shapes. How fun! Of course, I'm not going to talk about that today. Since it was my first go at the things and I needed a baseline from which to work in the future, I just made plain ones.

It starts with unflavored gelatin. This type of gelatin requires "blooming" before you use it. All that means is that you mix it with a little cold water to soften it up. Here it is in the bowl of my mixer looking funky.

The next step is to heat up a sugar syrup on the stove. It gets heated to the soft ball stage, or about 240 degrees F.

The hot syrup then gets poured slowly into the softened gelatin with the mixer on low. Be sure to use the whisk attachment. Once the syrup has all been added, the speed gets cranked up until a magical transformation occurs.

It turns a beautiful white, glossy color and expands significantly in volume. It only took about 7 minutes in the mixer to get a nice, thick marshmallow cream.

While the marshmallow is beating, prepare a couple of cookie sheets with parchment and then sprinkle with the cornstarch/powdered sugar mix. I used a little strainer to get an even distribution. Don't be stingy with the powder or you'll regret it later. You can never have too much, but believe me - you can definitely have too little.

Once the marshmallow cream can stand on itself like shown in this picture, turn the mixer off and remove the whisk.

Spoon the cream into a pastry bag either with the tip cut out or use a large, round tip. You could simply line a rectangular pan with the parchment and powder, but I like the whole marshmallow shape too much. Pipe the cream into rows on your sheet. I found it's best to make them on the small side unless you don't mind them having a slightly oval shape, as the large ones tend to flatten a bit under their own weight.

Refilling the bag can be a bit tricky. In the future, I might simply use a new disposable bag for each refill. It's a pretty sticky situation...

When you have finished piping out the rows, sprinkle them again very generously with the starch/sugar powder mixture. Let them sit out for a few hours to firm up.

There are two ways to go about separating the little buggers. I tried the scissor method first. It was fine, but the scissors tended to goop up more quickly that I have the patience for, so I ended up using the secondary method.

Ah... now this is more like it! The pizza cutter worked like a gem. Just be sure to use plenty, plenty, plenty of the powder to keep from ending up with a crazy, sticky mess!

Hey, look! It's a marshmallow! As I cut them up, I tossed them around in a bowl with more of the sugar to cover all sides. I then placed them in a colander to shake off the excess.

Be sure to store them in an airtight container. Because they are mostly sugar, if you keep them air tight, they will last for weeks... which is good, cause I'm not ditching them after just a few days with all this effort!

Oh, and let me tell you about the hot chocolate application. Here is where I might actually be able to tell a difference between store-bought and homemade. The homemade ones seemed to melt differently - and in a good way. Yup, they were worth the work after all!


Marshmallows
Yield: about a half-gallon container of small marshmallows
Adapted from Alton Brown's recipe

3 packages unflavored gelatin
1/2 cup ice cold water

1/2 cup water
1 cup light corn syrup
1/4 tsp table salt
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract (or any other flavoring you choose)
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup corn starch

Place the gelatin and the 1/2 cup of cold water in the bottom of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk.
In a small saucepan, mix together the other 1/2 cup of water, granulated sugar, salt, and corn syrup. Outfit the pan with a candy thermometer. Turn on the heat to medium high and cook without stirring until the mixture reaches soft ball, or 240 degrees F. Remove from the heat.

Bring the pan of hot syrup over to the mixture and add slowly while mixing at low speed. Once you have added all the syrup, increase the speed to high. Mix on high until it gets thick, shiny, and white, and can stand up on itself (see picture above). This step took me about 7 minutes. Add the vanilla and whip just until well mixed. While mixing, prepare a couple of baking sheets with parchment and a liberal sprinkling of the cornstarch and powdered sugar mixture.

Spoon cream into a pastry bag with a round tip (or with the end cut out). Pipe into 1/2 - 3/4 inch logs on the prepared pans. This is a sticky procedure, so be prepared! When finished, sprinkle the top sides completely with the powdered mixture.

Set the tray aside for a few hours to firm up. Use a pizza cutter to cut into small marshmallows. Dip into a bowl with the starch/sugar powder mixture to completely coat all sides. Remove excess by shaking marshmallows briefly in a colander.

Store in an air tight container for at least a month.

Mock turtles

My mother-in-law introduced me to these and they are one my holiday favorites to eat and make. They are about as easy as it gets and very tasty and CUTE too!

Mock Turtles
Julie Allred

Ingredients: (I am NOT kidding...this is it)
Hershey's Rolos
Pecan halves
Snyder's pretzel "snaps"

Lay the pretzels out on a cookie sheet. Place unwrapped Rolos on top of pretzel. Put in oven on low broil until Rolos are soft (they will be shiny). Smash pecan half gently on top of caramel.

Red Velvet Cake Balls

These are intense! I actually didn't have any store-bought frosting on hand so I used homemade. I think the store-bought would be better. Mine was too moist and not quite rich enough.



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 - make sure they are really firm. (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 - two forks also works great if your chocolate is warm enough.) Drizzle with extra chocolate bark (I used melted semisweet chocolate to drizzle on top.)

Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup

Pic courtesy of Sister's Cafe

And...it's another soup recipe. This one isn't as damaging to the waistline as the last one I posted. I made this last night and I love the twist that is on traditional chicken noodle soup. My family gobbled it up! Enjoy!

Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup
adapted from Sister's Cafe

2 cans chicken broth (14oz)
3 T chicken bouillon (I just use 3 cubes)
2-3 cups of water depending on desired thickness (you can add more later, too)
1 c. carrots, chopped
1 c. celery, chopped (I omitted this b/c my husband doesn't like celery)
1/2 med onion, chopped
12 oz. noodles, homestyle egg pasta (I used whole wheat egg noddles and they were so good)
1 1/2 lbs cooked, chopped chicken breast
2 cans cream of chicken soup
1 12oz can evaporated milk

Boil the broth, bouillon, water, carrots, celery and onion for 20 minutes, or until tender. Add noodles and boil for another 10 minutes. You can half cook the noddles in a separate pot of water beforehand so they don't absorb all the broth and then add them to the vegetable-broth mixture. Add more water as necessary. Then add chicken, cream of chicken soup and canned milk. Heat thoroughly. Add pepper to taste.

*Sidenote*: This makes a LOT of soup, so you can half the recipe with great results or eat it and then freeze the rest for another night!

Chewy Chocolate Cookies

Pic courtesy of Sweet Pea

If you are in any way a Jewkes and you haven't tried these cookies, well, where have you been? These are definitely in my arsenal of all-time top 3 favorite cookies. Every time, and I mean, EVERY TIME, I make these I'm asked for the recipe. They are pretty much no-fail and are just the right combo of sweet, chocolatey, and satisfying. It should also be noted that the recipe is a great base for any variety of mix-ins you might fancy, whether it be chocolate chips, Reese's, Oreos, peanut butter, white chocolate, etc., etc.

Chewy Chocolate Cookies
(I can't take credit for this recipe, but I honestly can't remember where I got it and there's no reference)

1 1/4 c butter, softened
2 c sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 c flour
3/4 c cocoa (I usually add 1/8 to 1/4 cup more cocoa b/c I'm a chocoholic)
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
whatever mix-ins you like

Cream butter and sugar in large mixer bowl. Add eggs and vanilla and blend well. Combine flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. Blend into creamed mixture. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for 8-9 minutes.

Southwest Chicken Salad Panini

Pic courtesy of Kraft Kitchens

Every once in a while I like to throw my family for a loop and make a sandwich for dinner. I found this recipe on the regular emails I get from Kraft Kitchens and knew that I just had to try it. It's ooey, gooey, somewhat healthy, and very unique. I made a few simple changes from the original recipe to make this a sure keeper!

Southwest Chicken Salad Panini
adapted from Kraft Foods

2 cups finely chopped cooked chicken breasts

1-1/2 tsp. chili powder

2 Tbsp. mayonnaise or MIRACLE WHIP Light Dressing

2 Tbsp. Light Ranch Dressing
1 Roma tomato, diced

8 slices Italian bread (I used whole wheat sandwich slices)

1 avocado, sliced

4 slices of Monterey or cheddar cheese
butter

Heat panini grill (I just use my George Foreman grill). Mix chopped chicken breasts, chili powder, mayo or miracle whip, ranch dressing, and diced tomatoes in small bowl. Lightly butter outside of both pieces of bread. Place one piece of bread on grill and add chicken mixture to cover bread. Add avocado slices and cheese slice to liking. Top with second piece of bread and grill.