Chocolate PB Chip Cookies

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These are probably the best cookies ever!!! Seriously, they are the greatest cookies ever to have been made on the face of the planet in all of time. Now let me warn you, the recipe says to wait 24-36 hours before baking. Now I understand that this sucks cause who wants to make cookies and then not be able to eat them right away?! Now I have made them waiting and also not waiting....they are better if you wait BUT still are awesome by not waiting. To find out why they taste better click here, it's an article by the NY Times that explains why it's better to chill the dough overnight. For a very short version of why compare it to marinating meat. The meat needs time to soak up the marinade, its sorta like that with cookies.

Now the 1st two ingredients are gonna throw you, but I guarantee you that buying these two will be well worth you while!!

2 cups minus 2 tablespoons (8 1/2 ounces) cake
flour

1 2/3 cups (8 1/2 ounces) bread flour

1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt

2 1/2 sticks (1 1/4 cups) unsalted butter

1 1/4 cups (10 ounces) light brown sugar

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (8 ounces) granulated
sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 1/4 pounds chocolate chips (or choc & PB chips OR whatever the hell you want!!)

Combine flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a bowl and set aside. (I used a whisk to mix together)

Using a mixer with a paddle attachment, creambutter and sugars until light and fluffy – about 5 minutes. Add eggs. Stir in vanilla

Reduce to low speed and add dry ingredients slowly, mixing until just combined. Fold in chocolate chips. Refrigerate dough for 24-36 hours THEN bake at 325 for 10 minutes.

What I do to tide me over until I can bake them is just eat a bunch of cookie dough. It's addicting, it's like OH MY GOD I cannot STOP eating this dough. So they say it's bad for you, well hey I am 30 years old and have YET to get sick.  

BEST COOKIES EVER!!!

Easter means it's time to color EGGS!

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So my sister and I normally color our Easter eggs together at my parent's house every year, this year however she has moved to L.A. so I am on my own. :( Now perhaps this is just my family, but we LOVE when the little PAAS easter kit contains the coveted white crayon so that we can write secret phrases on the eggs that reveal themselves once they are colored. Normal people probably write Happy Easter or other such Easter like phrases; not my family. We tend to write that one dog loves the other more and for some reason we got into this habit of writing Mom is a ho bag. Yes I know you are all very shocked, who would ever write such a thing about one's own mother?! Well my mom was always there and found it humerous. Not sure how in the world it got started that we were writing that, but it happened every year and even though my sister, Ashley is not here with me to laugh and joke and write obscene funny phrases on the eggs I will try to keep the tradition going. Although she is surely missed.

Now it's  EGG COLORING TIME!!!!

Start with room temperature eggs.
Eggs that have been sitting on the kitchen counter for up to an hour are less prone to cracking when the cooking water rapidly heats up than ones that come straight from a cold fridge. The USDA says don't keep raw eggs out of the refrigerator for more than two hours.

3. Cook eggs in one layer in cold water.
Place eggs in one layer in a saucepan and cover by about two inches of cold water. Gently bring to a boil. This helps prevent cracking. Don't overcrowd. Eggs jostling each other can also lead to breakage. It's safer to cook a large number of eggs in a few batches.

4. Turn off burner and cover.
When the water comes to a full boil, turn off the heat and cover pan tightly.

5. Let eggs sit undisturbed for about 12 minutes.
They will slowly cook in the hot water yielding a tender white and sunny yellow yoke. Jumbo eggs will need 15 minutes. The beauty of this method is that it's difficult to overcook your eggs, so you can be flexible about the timing.

6. Gently remove eggs from water.
With a slotted spoon, carefully transfer boiled eggs to a large bowl of ice water.

7. For easy peeling, crack shell and submerge in water.
Gently roll a hardboiled egg on the countertop and place in a bowl of water for a few minutes before peeling. The water will seep in and loosen the shell.
Store hardboiled eggs in the fridge for up to a week.

Now it's time to color them!! I found this idea on Pinterest and it's awesome. Instead of using 12 different bowls for each egg color why not use a muffin pan?!

 Place each egg in the muffin slot and rotate after a few mintues until desired color is reached.

Once desired color is reached, place the finished eggs back in the egg carton!



Happy Easter Everyone!!!!

Cinnamon SuperFluff Donuts

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It's a cold grey Saturday morning in Cleveland....what to make for breakfast? DONUTS! I saw this recipe on (what else) Pinterest and just had to try it. It's incredibly easy!

Ingredients:
Grands Biscuits-not flaky layers
Sugar
Cinnamon
oil

Heat a few tablespoons of oil in a skillet. Take the biscuits and cut a hole in the middle, I used an apple corer, but you could use whatever you have on hand. Brown the soon to be donuts in the oil, this does not take long whatsoever. Keep on eye on them they burn easily. Literally less then a minute on each side. Set aside each donut on paper towel lined plate. Let cool.

Heat butter in a bowl and combine cinnamon and sugar in another. Once the donut is cool, coat each one in the butter and then in the cinnamon sugar mixture.

That's it!!! Now sit down with a good cup of coffee (I am enjoying a coconut mocha one now) and devour these things! I am sorry they are really really good. Michael ate 3 just while I was typing this! And don't forget the little donut holes, they are excellent as well!

Strawberry S'mores

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Now these changed my life! I saw these on Pinterest and had just purchased some strawberries and figured hey why not try it. Now Michael and I normally make s'mores as a snack after dinner. They are super super easy and they are good....anytime of the year! So what will you need?

Ingredients:
Hershey's chocolate candy bar
graham crackers
marshmellows
strawberries-sliced thinly

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Take a baking sheet and line with foil. (you don't have to line with foil but if you do then you don't have to clean the pan afterwards. I am all for not having to do much clean up) Snap the graham cracker in half and lay on sheet. Place 2-3 squares chocolate on cracker and2-3 slices strawberry. Take your marshmellow and flatten a bit between the palms of your hand. This keeps it from rolling off your s'more. Place marshmellow on s'more and your done. Now I don't like to add the top to the s'more, just too much graham cracker for me but of course you could if that is your cup of tea.

Bake the s'mores for about 10 minutes. The marshmellow will start to brown on the top. They are soooooo freaking good.

Cinnamon Sugar Muffins

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I found this recipe on pinterest and they are excellent!
Prep Time: 30 Minutes | Cook Time: 25 Minutes | Difficulty: Easy | Servings: 12-16
Ingredients:
3 cups flour
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup shortening
2 egg
1 cup milk
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 TB cinnamon

Begin by stirring together 3 cups of flour, 3 teaspoons baking powder, 1 teasoon salt…then stir in the nutmeg. Do this in a separate bowl.

In the bowl of a mixer (not necessary, but makes life sooooo much easier) combine 2/3 cup of shortening…then add the 1 cup of sugar.

Mix to combine, then add 2 eggs and mix again. Add flour mixture and 1 cup of milk alternately to creamed mixture, beating well after each addition.

Fill the muffin cups 2/3 full, then bake in a 350-degree oven for 20-25 minutes, or until golden.

In a microwave safe container, melt butter. In another container, combine 1 1/2 cups sugar and cinnamon. I just added butter to a bowl, so you may need more or less.

Roll each muffin in the butter and then roll the buttered muffin in the cinnamon sugar mixture. Do this until well coated. Voila you are done!! I highly suggest eating these warm, they are very very good!!!

All in One Place Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Pam spray 12 muffin cups.
In a large bowl stir together flour, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg. Set aside.
In a different bowl (or your mixer), cream together 1 cup sugar and shortening. Then add eggs and mix again. Add flour mixture and milk alternately to creamed mixture, beating well after each addition.
Fill prepared muffin cups 2/3 full. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until golden.
In a bowl, melt butter. In a separate bowl combine remaining sugar and cinnamon. Dip baked muffins in butter, coating thoroughly, then coat with cinnamon-sugar mixture.

**So I learned these get a little hard if not covered also throw them in the microwave for about 15-20 seconds and they are soooooooooo much better

*** Also learned that they are better a day or so later AND if you put them in the microwave for 10 seconds O M G they are amazing!!!!!!! I kept eating them, one just wasn't good enough, I had to go back for at LEASE seconds!

Chocolate Covered Pretzel..shot!

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My good friend Danielle and I went out last night and she introduced me to this shot...and my life will never be the same. I am not a shot girl, in face I usually hold my nose and take shots cause I just suck at taking them. They give me that omg I am gonna vomit all over the bar kinda feeling. Oh but not this one! This one is SO good. Where were all these cool flavored vodka's when I was younger? Actually it probably would have gotten me in some serious trouble. The only real flavored liquor we drank was Mad Dog 20/20 and Sambuca. Ahhh those were the days at OU!

But I digress, this is such a good shot! Next time you are out, get one! You will not regret it. How do you make it? EASY!!!...mix half frangelico and half whipped cream vodka. Now your supposed to lick your hand that you put salt on and then take the shot. I guess you can but I chose not too.

Eggs in a Basket

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Hello, it's been awhile since I've blogged anything cause honestly its been awhile since I cooked anything! New jobs will do that to you. So these Eggs in a Basket are super easy to make and I threw it together in about 10 minutes. Here is what you will need:
Ingredients:
8-9 eggs
frozen spinach in a box
1/2 cup sour cream
bag of hashbrowns
1-2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
muffin pan
bacon (optional)

I say the bacon is optional because I did not make this with bacon, but only because I did not have it on hand. Now if I did have bacon, you know it would have been added.

Cook the spinach in the microwave according to directions. Preheat oven to 300. Take a large mixing bowl and whisk your eggs together. Add in your sour cream. (when it comes to this you can add as little or as much as you would like, or none at all if you want. I think it gives it more texture. Add in 1-2 cups of cheese, depending on your preference for cheese. Add half the bag of hashbrowns. Add spinach.
Essentially take everything and mix in a large bowl, pretty easy huh? Now if you have bacon I would have cooked the bacon and added a small piece to the top.

I sprayed each muffin cup with Pam spray and filled each cup. You can do this anyway you want, but it makes it so much easier to pop out later and you can heat them up real easy for a snack or for breakfast.
I do have a slight variation of this recipe using pie crust that I will tell you at the end.
Fill each muffin tin till the top and let cook for about 25 minutes. Check at 20 minutes just to make sure. Let cool slightly and then run a knife around the edge of each tin and then they will pop out. This recipe makes about 18 or so depending on how high you fill them.

*variation of Eggs in a Basket
The other way I have made these are without the hash browns and using pie crust dough instead. Just pick up a pre made pie crust in the refridgerator section at the grocery store. Take a small ramikin or even the top of a glass and cut out circles of pie crust. Place that in the botton of the muffin tin. They will be bigger then the bottom of the tin, I push on the sides to raise the crust up so its surrounds the muffin tin. It won't reach the top and that is okay. The rest of the ingredients are the same. Add a large spoonfuls to the muffin tin, till it almost reaches the top. You can cut strips of the pie crust to lay along top of the egg mixture, but honestly it just gets messy. Cook at 300 for about 25 minutes or so. Check after 20 minutes. Let cool slightly (so you don't burn yourself) and I run a knife around the edge of each and then they sort of pop off. These are quite good. Similar to the ones above just no hashbrowns.

Guacamole

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I love this recipe, I make it all the time and always get compliments. Plus its super easy!




Ingredients:
2-3 avocado's
2 tsp lime/lemon juice
2 TB cilantro-chopped
1/4 cup finely chopped red onion
2 cloves garlic-minced
1 serrano chili-seeded and finely chopped
salt and pepper to taste
1 med tomato-chopped

Pick an avocado that is soft, but not mushy. Mash avocado with a fork, add lime juice and all other ingredients.

*add pit if being served later

Yogurt Covered Fruit

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I was left to my own devices today and figured why not make something?! I find cooking somewhat soothing (that is IF it comes out right, if it comes out wrong heaven help who is around me..more on that when it happens) So if you are not familiar with the website Pinterest then your life is about to get so much better! I get many many idea's for cooking from there. At the bottom of this flog (new word I made up for food blog) I will explain Pinterest!

So back to the main event! Frozen Fruit in Yogurt....super super simple!! Figured I would start off easy. So what do you need?
Yogurt-any kind, any flavor, regular, greek etc. For my recipe I used Oikos Organic Greek Yogurt in Vanilla and Fage plain Greet Yogurt.


Fruit-now you can technically use whatever you want, but I used raspberries. I was planning on using sliced strawberries but will explain why in a moment. Any fruit will do, I used frozen fruit because its January in Cleveland and fresh fruit is super expensive and just not as good this time of year.

Ice cube tray- now you can use whatever you want to freeze them, but my issue was how to not make a gooey yogurty mess with the fruit. I needed to be contained somehow so it could freeze.

Now I was going to use strawberries, but they were too big for the ice cube tray so I will need to figure out some other way or cut them in half.
I placed parchment paper in between the two trays I made and threw them in the freezer. I would give them a few hours then you can take them out of the trays and tranfer to a bag. I used a knife to help pry them out. Now they aren't the prettiest thing to eat, but who cares?! This is a healthy snack!!