Peanut Butter Cookies

I almost forgot to post this recipe because the cookies I made this weekend are long, long gone by now. But before we start, let me say thank you again for all of the lovely comments y’all always leave me. I like reading them even though I don’t always respond, and I appreciate them. To those of you who wrote to me asking whether the patterns that had been on the Adorn website will be available anywhere else, I regret to inform you that the publisher has no plans to host them anywhere. Sad. Any further questions should really be directed to customer service, since I am not really equipped to handle them. But thanks for asking– it’s nice to know  we were loved.

Now, on to the cookie! I used a recipe I found here, which is a modified version of the Magnolia Bakery recipe. I further modified it –I used all white sugar, having no brown, and added extra peanut butter and chocolate chips since I didn’t have peanut butter chips. I am sure it is excellent just as is, and I’m going to re-post it here for my (and your) easy reference.

 

Peanut Butter Cookies
Adapted from the Magnolia Bakery Cookbook

 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup peanut butter at room temperature (I mixed crunchy and smooth)
3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon (for sprinkling) sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
1 tablespoon milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup peanut butter chips
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, the baking soda, the baking powder, and the salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, beat the butter and the peanut butter together until fluffy. Add the sugars and beat until smooth. Add the egg and mix well. Add the milk and the vanilla extract. Add the flour mixture and beat thoroughly. Stir in the peanut butter chips. Place sprinkling sugar on a plate. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls into the sugar, then onto ungreased cookie sheets, leaving several inches between for expansion. Using a fork, lightly indent with a crissscross pattern (I used the back of a palette knife to keep it smooth on top), but do not overly flatten cookies. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes. Do not overbake. Cookies may appear to be underdone, but they are not (Linda’s note: this is true).

Cool the cookies on the sheets for 1 minute, then remove to a rack to cool completely. (Very important! Do let them cool on the sheet first or they will fall apart.)

WARNING: The recipe made 32. 26 of them were gone within 2 days (I froze the rest, although next time I’ll freeze the dough so I can bake them fresh). I’m just saying.

Happy Spring!

This morning I woke up with a hankering for just a little something special to celebrate Easter, (more like spring time, for us. Although, look here….still snowing). We ran to the store so I could get some vinegar and I picked up a loaf of just baked french bread, too. We almost ate the whole thing instead of making bread pudding but I really do love bread pudding. I served it in my girly cups with whipped cream and it was super.

 

“Now, you can’t have any till I photograph it. Oh screw it, let’s eat!”
(Edited to add: the recipe for this pudding is in the comments on my flickr photo. I add a little heavy cream to top it off.)

After that Paul went to the studio and I stayed home dyeing eggs. I only dyed 7 since I’m really the only one who likes hard-boiled eggs. And actually, that left plenty of room for experimenting. I decided to use wine glasses to hold the dyes and they turned out to be the perfect size.  Here are the tablets dissolving in vinegar:

 

This year I wanted to try wrapping the eggs in lace, which I saw in Martha Stewart Living. On top of that, I wrapped them up tight in hosiery to hold the lace in place (seal the hosiery with a twist tie). I wasn’t sure it would work but figured I would try some other things while I was at it, too- so I also tried metallic mesh, rick rack and paper flowers. Here’s one of them about to go into the dye bath.

 

The added benefit of the hosiery is that you can run a skewer through it and then hang just part of the egg in the dye bath. As a girl I used to sit there with my wire egg dipper, ever so patiently. I once tried to make a plaid egg using all of the different dyes– I don’t recommend it.

Here’s the finished lace batch. I don’t quite understand why the lace works at resisting the dye but the pantyhose don’t affect it.  Easter magic, I say. I love the seeping in quality of it, too. On the red/yellow one, I first dyed the lace-wrapped egg in yellow, then moved it, hanging skewer style, into the red bath. The dye creeped up the hosiery and gave it a weird marbled effect, which I like.

And here are the eggs I made with the other materials. The paper flowers worked quite well- almost better than the stickers (which made the hearts). The heart egg was also wrapped in metallic mesh which gave it a cool faded grid effect. To get the yellow flowers on the blue egg, I dyed the whole egg in yellow first, let it dry, then added the flowers/hosiery combo and let it sit in the blue dye.

 

I also made one with rickrack at the far right of this photo (see me removing it here). You can see more pics of the process over at flickr. Hope you’re all having fun, wherever you are.

Oh Peanut Butter

Today is a special occassion– Paul’s classmate Caleb is having his thesis show. He’s the first of the grads to exhibit. Hooray! Since it was also his birthday a couple of days ago (and he neglected to tell anyone!) I wanted to make some cupcakes for the opening.

 

But not just any cupcakes. Mini chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter frosting.

 

Yeah, there’s that much left over. Next time I’d better cut the recipe in half. I’ve been known to eat a spoonful of peanut butter from time to time –actually, almost daily right now. It’s the protein, I say! My sister Amy used to do it and it drove my dad crazy. I guess now I will have to eat spoonfuls of frosting until it’s gone. There’s a stick of butter in there. And a cup of sugar. Recipe, you ask?

 I started off with this one, but of course modified. Remember, I only ended up needing about half of this (although I see no problem with leftovers!). Here is what I used:

1 stick (1/2 cup) butter
1 cup creamy peanut butter–buy the good brand
1 cup confectioner’s sugar– the original called for double that, but I found it sweet enough already
3 tbsp -ish heavy cream

Get everything (but the heavy cream) to room temp– if you let the butter sit  on the stove while you bake the cupcakes, it’ll be perfect. Blend the butter and peanut butter together with an electric mixer. Gradually add confectioner’s sugar. Be sure to taste it every time you add the sugar– you know, to be sure it’s just sweet enough. Drizzle a bit of heavy cream in as needed.

Soooo good. I think this would make a fantastic filling for cupcakes too– maybe added to already whipped cream. That was the original plan but I thought 50 small cupcakes was better than 20 or so large ones, for the crowd and all.

I’m going to go get fat now. Oh, maybe I’ll do the dishes first.

Yum, Version 2.

If there’s one thing I know it’s that I need to eat good food even when I’m busy. We have weeks where almost every meal is eaten out of the house, and they drive me nuts! Yuck. And I daresay that our sometimes strangely stocked pantry has made me get a little more creative.

Tonight I whipped up this gloriousness. I got the idea for the chicken from  a Kraft recipe, but modified it a lot. To start, I salted and peppered some tenderloins (as I would any meat I cook), then added some Morrocan rub from my V-day gift. That stuff is divine!  Next I put it in a glass baking dish and spread some sour cream on top of each piece (yogurt would work, too). Then I chopped a bunch of pecans and sprinkled them on top, and threw some cherry tomatoes on top of the dish for a side. I cooked it at 375 for 25 minutes and it was done perfectly. I splashed the chicken with some balsamic vinegar to finish it.

For the rice, I added the same spice mix to the water along with some olive oil. Now, the secret to rice is very low heat and patience. Once you put the lid on, don’t take it off! And once the rice has cooked for 15 minutes (or whatever the package says), turn off the stove but leave the lid on for another 10 minutes to really steam up. That’s what I did here, then I threw in the spinach and put the lid on again so that it wilted, and the texture was perfect.

I threw it all on a plate and oh my, it was delicious!! I’m no longer hungry but I still want more.  I think you could make the chicken even without the rub– a dash of cumin and sugar are the first 2 ingredients on the jar, and then everything else under the sun– parsley, chili, cinnamon, turmeric, nutmeg… you get the gist.

 The Kraft recipe had yogurt, mayo, mustard and almonds on top of chicken… not exactly my cup of tea, but a good starting point nonetheless. I made this once before with just yogurt, walnuts, and feta cheese- and that was good too (although a little bland). Any recipe that’s simply “spread stuff on top of meat and bake” is a winner in my book. Yum.

Yum.

I made some mac’n'cheese this weekend and baked it in my new ceramic dishes. It was delicious– and something about eating it in dishes I made myself made it extra yummy!

Weekend Cooking

Paul and I have been eating out a lot. And when not eating out, the frozen meals have been gracing our table. I think we’ve both had enough– but I didn’t exactly feel like cooking. But this weekend we went to the grocery store to freshen up our stock and I made some fresh pesto, then used this super simple (esp. if you don’t make your own pesto) recipe for pesto chicken. The chicken came out just right– a real triumph for our crappy oven. I also made some roasted potatoes to add to the mix, and a little salad to top it off. It was super yummy.

I know the blog has been quiet lately… I just don’t have much to show. It will probably be this way for a while, so hang in there.

Happy Love Day

Here I am, sliding in under the wire (let’s face it: just barely, since most of you are not on mountain time) with my V-day well wishes. I had such good intentions this year. I bought a pack of cards in January, kept reminding myself to send them, and….well, no, it didn’t happen.  I love the big declaration “I love you!” though, and I’ll just have to use the rest for general correspondence.

Paul and I actually exchanged gifts last night. I heard him rustling around (trying to set up the gift) when he got home from the studio so I got out of bed to see what was going on. He got me a lovely gift basket from a local shop called Oil & Vinegar. Olive oil, balsamic vinegars, and some egyptian rubs for meat. Oh how I do miss good food- I am just working on creating it myself here.  He described the process of going to th store and getting to taste everything– I wish I had been there! Plus I love that the bottles are refillable so there’s no waste involved. In addition to the basket,  he cooked me dinner and used some of the olive oil for bruschetta and pasta. Yum! It was really cute to see him cook dinner.

For him, I bought a handmade wooden Rube’s Cube Puzzle, which took him a good 20 minutes to figure out. I also gave him a little crocheted owl. It is Vowlentines day after all, and I wanted to tell him “Owl love you.” I am a bad punner, and he loves me anyway.

Hope you all had a lovely day.

Banana Nut Bread

I’ve had a serious hankering to bake lately, probably due to everyone’s lovely blog posts ….and maybe also to temperatures in the tens. This weekend I made some yummy banana nut bread from my mom’s recipe.

In addition to my two bread pans, I scooped some batter into these heart shaped foil tins so I could give individual portions to some friends. You can find them near the cupcake wrappers at the grocery store.

 

If you’re ever baking a cake that you won’t get to eat until the specific occasion, fill one of  these shapes, or even a cupcake wrapper, and  you can make yourself a cupcake! That way you can taste the cake beforehand…you know, to make sure it’s okay. Wink, wink. No one will notice that your cake is one cupcake short of batter. My sister Ann taught me that!

Banana Cake

1/2 c. butter
1 c. sugar
2 eggs
2 -3 very ripe bananas (you can always freeze your gross brown bananas and use them for this. be sure to peel them before freezing)
1/2 c. sour cream or yogurt
2 c. flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. salt
1 c. chopped pecans (more or less)

Cream the butter and sugar together. You should taste it at this point, because butter+ sugar= best tasting thing ever. Next, beat in the eggs one at a time. Add bananas and sour cream. Sift remaining ingredients together (if you don’t have a sifter, just be sure to stir really well) and add to the mix. Once the batter is well stirred, add the pecans (if using).

Now, my recipie says to pour it into a buttered and floured (very important- it will stick!) 9″ tube pan. I have no idea what that is, so I use one 4 x 8 ish bread pan and one that’s slightly smaller. Bake at 350 until golden brown. Let cool 5 minutes, then turn out on a cooling rack.

It’s delicious, I promise!

Dinner Challenge

I haven’t been participating in Carrie’s Dinner Challenge, mainly because there isn’t any food in the house and the grocery store seems far away. But last night I was really  hungry, kind of bored, and didn’t want to eat another fast food meal. So I came up with “What the heck can I make with what’s left in the house Surprise” and it was really good. I will call it Risotto with Chicken and Artichokes.

Here’s what you’ll need:

1 cup uncooked risotto rice
1/2 chopped onion
2 tbsp oil
2-3 tbsp butter
3 1/4 ish cups chicken broth (if you don’ t have the full amount, you can water it down. I did!)
4 chicken tenders (the ones that come cut up smaller than chicken breasts)
1 small box frozen artichokes
Generous handful (or whatever’s left in the jar) of cheese- I used a parmesan, asiago, romano mix
1 lemon (or half a lemon)
Salt and Pepper

Here’s what you do:
In a large frying pan, cook the onions in the butter and oil for 2-3 minutes. Then dump the risotto in and cook for another 2 minutes till it looks slightly toasty. Add 1 cup broth and simmer until it’s absorbed by the risotto.
In the meantime, in a smaller pan, cook the chicken in some butter. Salt and pepper the chicken before you throw it in. You can pour a small amount of chicken broth into the pan so it doesn’t get all dry and hockey-puck like. Be patient and cook over medium heat so it’ll be nice and tender–the risotto will take a while anyhow.
As the first cup of broth is absorbed, add another cup of broth to the risotto. Once that is absorbed, add the remaining 1 1/4 cup and the frozen artichokes. (If you have the foresight, you can thaw them a bit first). At this point you will be wondering if you’ve screwed the whole thing up because nothing will be absorbing anything, but you just have to wait for everything to warm up again b/c of the cold artichokes. Check on the chicken. If it’s looking done, roughly slice/shred it, move the chicken pan off the burner and cover it with a lid. Wait for the risotto mixture to absorb everything- it will take a bit of time but will be so worth it!
Once the risotto is looking good and puffy- but not too dry– add the cheese and the chicken and stir everything around. Squeeze the juice of a lemon (or a bit less) over the dish. Add salt and pepper.  Serves 4.

I will definitely be making this one again! It was filling and a perfect solution for  a “we don’t have enough  of anything for it to be the focus of our  meal” meal. Oh, and if you surprise your diners with a chocolate cake for dessert, that’ll also help.

Cheddar Corn Spoon Bread

I don’t plan on doing a lot of posting this week, as one of my best friends is coming to visit tomorrow. Yay! But, I did promise to share my recipe for cheddar corn spoon bread, and I figured I’d better do it before Thanksgiving. The recipe is adapted from Everyday Food - I add the jalapenos and tomato to give it some color and Texas kick. Also, the part about whipping the eggs to a soft peak  really does make a difference– don’t skip it.

Cheddar Corn Spoon Bread (serves 6)

1 tbsp. butter, plus more for baking dish
2 cups milk
1 1/2 cups corn kernels
2/3 cup yellow corn meal (I use stone ground)
coarse salt (important for the soft peaks)
pinch of cayenne pepper
1 cup grated sharp white cheddar cheese
4 large eggs, separated
1/2 fresh jalapeno, chopped (seeds removed)
10 or so cherry tomatoes, quartered (remove some seeds/water if possible)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Butter a 2 qt. souffle dish and set aside. In a medium saucepan, combine butter, milk, corn, cornmeal, 1 tsp. salt and cayenne pepper. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium and simmer, stirring frequently until mixture is slightly thickened- about 3-4 minutes. Add tomatoes and jalapenos near end of thickening process. Remove from heat and stir in cheese. Let cool about 15 minutes. Stir in egg yolks until combined.

In a clean mixing bowl, beat egg whites with a pinch of coarse salt until soft peaks form. (You must use a mixer for this step, believe me, I have tried other ways!). Stir 1/3 of the whites into the cornmeal mixture until combined, then gently fold in the remaining whites with a rubber spatula. Pour into prepared dish.

Place dish in oven. Bake until browned on top but still slightly loose in the center- about 30 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes before serving.

Sorry I don’t have a picture- but I will after Turkey Day. Hope you spend yours with the ones you love.