My daughter…what a relaxing day. A moment to remember :)
27 Sunday May 2012
Posted in Uncategorized
Monthly Archives: May 2012
Magic Shell
18 Friday May 2012
Posted in Desserts
Tags
This stuff is so amazing! It goes on liquid and then immediately hardens to make a hard yummy chocolate shell.
How to make Magic Shell Ice Cream Topping
Magic Shell Ingredients:
1 1/4 Cups Chocolate Chips
1/2 Cup Coconut Oil (measured when solid)
Melt chocolate chips and coconut oil in the microwave about 1 minute (depending on your microwave). Allow to sit a few minutes to allow the heat of the oil to melt the chocolate chips and then stir until smooth. It will be runny.
Store in the refrigerator. To serve, heat in microwave for 30 seconds until liquid. Slightly shake and continue heating at 15 second intervals if not liquid after the first 30 seconds. Pour over your favorite ice cream and in a few seconds you will see magic.
Source- Skip to my Lou – recipe and photo
Potato Pancakes
18 Friday May 2012
Tags
Makes 12 potato pancakes if using an ice cream scoop.
These are delicious and full of flavor. If you have never had a potato pancake you must give them a try. You can make them for breakfast or dinner as a side.
3 cups of cold mashed potatoes
1/4 cup shedded Parmesan cheese
1 egg, lightly beaten
6 tablespoons flour divided
1 tablespoon of grated onion
1 tablespoon fresh chopped parsley
Canola oil to fry.
In a mixing bowl combine potatoes, cheese, egg, 3 tbsp of flour, onion and parsley.
In a separate plate add the remaining 3 tbsp of flour for dredging the pancakes.
Fill ice cream scoop or heaping tbsp with the mixture, shape the pancakes in your hands and dredge them in flour.
Add 3 tablespoons of canola oil to a non-stick skillet and saute them about 2-3 mins on each side over medium/high heat or until golden brown. Add more oil if needed.
Remove potato cakes to a plate lined with a paper towel to soak up excess oil.
Lemon Crinkle Cookies
15 Tuesday May 2012
Hot out of the oven! This cookie was an award winner. The best lemon cookie ever. Just the right amount of lemon, sweetness, and chewiness.
Makes 2-3 dozen
Ingredients:
½ cups butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
½ teaspoons vanilla extract
1 whole egg
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice
¼ teaspoons salt
¼ teaspoons baking powder
⅛ teaspoons baking soda
1-½ cup all-purpose flour
½ cups powdered sugar
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease light colored baking sheets with non-stick cooking spray and set aside.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease light colored baking sheets with non-stick cooking spray and set aside.
In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Whip in vanilla, egg, lemon zest, and juice. Scrape sides and mix again. Stir in all dry ingredients slowly until just combined, excluding the powdered sugar. Scrape sides of bowl and mix again briefly. Pour powdered sugar onto a large plate. Roll a heaping teaspoon of dough into a ball and roll in powdered sugar. Place on baking sheet and repeat with remaining dough.
Bake for 9-11 minutes or until bottoms begin to barely brown and cookies look matte {not melty or shiny}. Remove from oven and cool cookies about 3 minutes before transferring to cooling rack.
*If using a non-stick darker baking tray, reduce baking time by about 2 minutes.
Peanut Butter Cookies with Chocolate Chunks
15 Tuesday May 2012
Posted in Cookies
If you love peanut butter and chocolate you must give these a try. This recipe is a share from Chef Curtis Stone. I am a big fan of Take Home Chef, maybe one day he will come to my hometown and I will get to meet him in the supermarket 
If you haven’t watched the TV series Take Home Chef you need to look that up. Curtis is a fabulous Chef… Enjoy!
Makes about 20 cookies
Ingredients
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup natural chunky peanut butter (about 9 ounces)
1/2 cup (packed) light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 tablespoons honey
1 large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
5 ounces semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
Method
• Preheat the oven to 350°F.
• Line 3 heavy large baking sheets with parchment paper.
• Mix the flour, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl.
• Using an electric mixer, beat the peanut butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, butter, honey, egg, and vanilla in a large bowl until well blended.
• Stir the dry ingredients into the peanut butter mixture in 2 additions.
• Stir in the chopped chocolate.
• Scoop about 3 tablespoonfuls of dough for each cookie onto the prepared baking sheets, spacing them 2 1/2 inches apart.
• Bake for about 12 minutes, or until the cookies puff and begin to brown on top but are still very soft to the touch.
• Let the cookies cool on baking sheets for 5 minutes.
• Then use a metal spatula to transfer the cookies to a wire rack.
• Enjoy the cookies warm or let them cool completely.
Famous PINK Fry Sauce
15 Tuesday May 2012
Posted in Sides
Delish! I will never eat just ketchup on my fries again. This pink sauce really compliments the french fries. Great on potato wedges too! I sometimes add Franks Hot Sauce for a little kick. I found this recipe on Six Sister’s Stuff.
2/3 cup mayo
1/3 cup ketchup
Mix together until thoroughly blended.
New York-Style Crumb Cake
11 Friday May 2012
Posted in Cakes
Don’t be tempted to substitute all-purpose flour for the cake flour, as doing so will make a dry, tough cake. If you can’t find buttermilk, you can substitute an equal amount of plain, low-fat yogurt. When topping the cake, take care to not push the crumbs into the batter. Source- http://www.food.com/recipe/new-york-style-crumb-cake-americas-test-kitchen-360198
For the Crumb Topping:
1/3 cup granulated sugar (2 2/3 ounces)
1/3 cup dark brown sugar (2 2/3 ounces)
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon table salt
8 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 stick), melted and still warm
1 3/4 cups cake flour (7 ounces)
For the Cake:
1 1/4 cups cake flour (5 ounces)
1/2 cup granulated sugar (3 1/2 ounces)
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon table salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter (3/4 stick), cut into 6 pieces, softened but still cool
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup buttermilk
Confectioners’ sugar for dusting
To make the topping: Whisk sugars, cinnamon, salt, and butter in medium bowl to combine. Add flour and stir with rubber spatula or wooden spoon until mixture resembles thick, cohesive dough; set aside to cool to room temperature, 10 to 15 minutes.
To make the cake: Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and heat oven to 325 degrees. Cut 16-inch length parchment paper or aluminum foil and fold lengthwise to 7-inch width. Spray 8-inch square baking dish with nonstick cooking spray and fit parchment into dish, pushing it into corners and up sides; allow excess to overhang edges of dish.
In bowl of standing mixer fitted with paddle attachment, mix flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt on low speed to combine. With mixer running at low speed, add butter one piece at a time; continue beating until mixture resembles moist crumbs, with no visible butter chunks remaining, 1 to 2 minutes. Add egg, yolk, vanilla, and buttermilk; beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 1 minute, scraping once if necessary.
Transfer batter to baking pan; using rubber spatula, spread batter into even layer. Break apart crumb topping into large pea-sized pieces between your thumb, pointer, and middle fingers and spread in even layer over batter, beginning with edges and then working toward center. Bake until crumbs are golden and wooden skewer inserted into center of cake comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes. Cool on wire rack at least 30 minutes. Remove cake from pan by lifting parchment overhang. Dust with confectioners’ sugar just before serving.
Potato Wedges
07 Monday May 2012
Posted in Sides
Perfect potato wedges…must try!!!
Ingredients
4 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
2 teaspoons onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
3/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon dried oregano
3 large russet potatoes (about 1 3/4 pounds), cut into wedges
1/4 cup vegetable or peanut oil plus 3 quarts for frying
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup cornstarch
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
Instructions
1. Combine salt, pepper, onion and garlic powders, cayenne, and oregano in small bowl.
2. Toss potato wedges with 4 teaspoons spice mixture and 1/4 cup oil in large microwave-safe bowl; cover tightly with plastic wrap. Microwave on high until potatoes are tender but not falling apart, 7 to 9 minutes, shaking bowl (without removing plastic) to redistribute potatoes halfway through cooking. Slowly remove plastic wrap from bowl (be careful of steam) and drain potatoes. Arrange potatoes on rimmed baking sheet and cool until potatoes firm up, about 10 minutes. (Potatoes can be held at room temperature for up to 2 hours.)
3. Heat remaining 3 quarts oil in large Dutch oven over high heat to 340*F. Meanwhile, combine flour and cornstarch in medium bowl and whisk buttermilk and baking soda in large bowl. Working in 2 batches, dredge potato wedges in flour mixture, shaking off excess. Dip in buttermilk mixture, allowing excess to drip back into bowl, then coat again in flour mixture. Shake off excess and place on wire rack. (Potatoes can be coated up to 30 minutes in advance.)
4. When oil is ready, add half the coated wedges and fry until deep golden brown, 4 to 6 minutes. Transfer wedges to large bowl and toss with 1 teaspoon spice mixture. Drain wedges on baking sheet lined with paper towels. Return oil to 340*F and repeat with second batch of wedges.
Source- food.com
Coconut Cream Pie
03 Thursday May 2012
Posted in Pies
Yield: Makes one 9-inch pie, serving 8 to 10
For the Crust:
6 ounces animal crackers
2 tablespoons unsweetened shredded coconut
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
4 tablespoons unsalted butter melted and cooled
For the Filling:
1 can coconut milk (14 ounces)
1 cup whole milk
1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
3/8 teaspoon table salt
5 large egg yolks
1/4 cup cornstarch
2 tablespoons unsalted butter cut into 2 pieces
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
For the Whipped Cream and Garnish:
1 1/2 cups heavy cream (cold)
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon unsweetened shredded coconut toasted in a small dry skillet until golden brown
FOR THE CRUST:
Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 325 degrees F.
In food processor, pulse animal crackers, coconut, and sugar to fine crumbs, eighteen to twenty 1-second pulses; then process until powdery, about 5 seconds. Transfer crumbs to medium bowl and add butter; stir to combine until crumbs are evenly moistened. Empty crumbs into 9-inch glass pie plate; using bottom of ramekin or 1/2 cup dry measuring cup, press crumbs evenly into bottom and up sides of pie plate. Bake until fragrant and medium brown, about 15 minutes, rotating pie shell halfway through baking time. Set on wire rack and cool to room temperature, about 30 minutes.
FOR THE FILLING:
Bring coconut milk, whole milk, shredded coconut, 1/2 cup sugar, and salt to simmer over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally to ensure that sugar dissolves. Following illustrations 1 through 6, whisk yolks, cornstarch, and remaining 1 tablespoon sugar in medium bowl until thoroughly combined. Whisking constantly, gradually ladle about 1 cup hot milk mixture over yolk mixture; whisk well to combine. Whisking constantly, gradually add remaining milk mixture to yolk mixture in 3 or 4 additions; whisk well to combine. Return mixture to saucepan and cook until thickened and mixture reaches boil, whisking constantly, about 1 minute; filling must boil in order to fully thicken. (To determine whether filling has reached boil, stop whisking; large bubbles should quickly burst on surface.) Take off heat, whisk in butter and vanilla until butter is fully incorporated. Pour hot filling into cooled pie shell and smooth surface with rubber spatula; press plastic wrap directly against surface of filling and refrigerate until firm, at least 3 hours and up to 12 hours.
FOR THE WHIPPED CREAM:
Just before serving, beat cream, sugar, and vanilla with electric mixer until soft peaks form, 1 1/2 to 2 minutes. Top pie with whipped cream and then sprinkle with coconut. Cut pie into wedges and serve. Source- cooking.com
