I've had this tube of polenta in my pantry since Thanksgiving, when I went to visit my parents and had a chance to stop by Trader Joe's (thank goodness for a long shelf-life). Yesterday I had this surge of energy and decided I MUST COOK, so I went through my pantry and found the polenta. Then it became my mission to cook something with it. BUT WHAT? I immediately googled it. I can't remember the exact search term, but it was something like "What to do with a tube of polenta." Lo and behold, the very first search option was a post on a message board from 2008.
What To Do With Polenta In A Tube ~~~~ MY POST. Something I had posted on a message board years and years ago. Omg. I died. And the best part about it? I offered a recipe! In my post! I never even remembered making it!
So guess what I made last night? My own recipe! The one for Mexican Polenta! I am such a tool.
It was delicious, though!
Monday, May 20, 2013
Monday, May 13, 2013
Cookie Monday: Fudgy Oatmeal Cups
For Cookie Monday today, I decided to try making cookies in little mini-muffin tins. They're kind of similar to tassies. Oatmeal chocolate chip cookie base, chocolate ganache in the middle, and then some more cookie crumbled on top. And because they're made in the mini-muffin tins, they're perfectly portable for a Cookie Monday treat.
The recipe turned out perfectly. Nothing burned or stuck or did anything weird. That's fantastic. It also has room for error or for tweaking. If you don't have sweetened condensed milk, skip it, or substitute butter. The point is to make the chocolate a little bit melty and malleable and fudgy. A kosher friend said she might try it with some margarine or soy milk. And I didn't have mini chocolate chips so I used regular, and I didn't have semisweet so I used dark. Meh! Turned out fine.
Fudgy Oatmeal Cups
Baking With Melissa via Pinterest
1 cup butter, softened
2 cups packed brown sugar
2 eggs
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups quick-cooking oats
1 cup mini chocolate chips
2 tablespoons vanilla, divided
14 ounce sweetened condensed milk
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
3 tablespoons butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
Preheat oven to 350 degrees (temp should be set at 325 degrees if using darker pans). Lightly grease a 2-24 count mini muffin pans (makes at least 48 cookie cups but plan on a few more than that).
In a large bowl, beat together 1 cup butter and brown sugar until fluffy. Mix in eggs and 1 tablespoon vanilla. In another bowl, combine oats, flour, baking soda, and 1 teaspoon salt; stir into butter mixture. Stir in 1 cup of mini chocolate chips. Set aside.
In a medium saucepan, heat sweetened condensed milk, chocolate chips, 3 tablespoons butter, and 1/2 teaspoon salt over low heat, stirring until smooth. Remove from heat. Stir in 1 tablespoon vanilla.
Using a small cookie scoop place dough into muffin tins filling the cup 1/2 way to the top. Spread 1 tsp of the chocolate mixture evenly over the top of each cup, and dot each cup with the remaining oat mixture.
Bake for 10 minutes in preheated oven. Let cool completely, then remove from pans. Removing them can be tricky, just wait for them to cool and use a knife to ease up the edges.
Yield: Supposedly 48 but I got about 75
The recipe turned out perfectly. Nothing burned or stuck or did anything weird. That's fantastic. It also has room for error or for tweaking. If you don't have sweetened condensed milk, skip it, or substitute butter. The point is to make the chocolate a little bit melty and malleable and fudgy. A kosher friend said she might try it with some margarine or soy milk. And I didn't have mini chocolate chips so I used regular, and I didn't have semisweet so I used dark. Meh! Turned out fine.
Fudgy Oatmeal Cups
Baking With Melissa via Pinterest
1 cup butter, softened
2 cups packed brown sugar
2 eggs
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups quick-cooking oats
1 cup mini chocolate chips
2 tablespoons vanilla, divided
14 ounce sweetened condensed milk
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
3 tablespoons butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
Preheat oven to 350 degrees (temp should be set at 325 degrees if using darker pans). Lightly grease a 2-24 count mini muffin pans (makes at least 48 cookie cups but plan on a few more than that).
In a large bowl, beat together 1 cup butter and brown sugar until fluffy. Mix in eggs and 1 tablespoon vanilla. In another bowl, combine oats, flour, baking soda, and 1 teaspoon salt; stir into butter mixture. Stir in 1 cup of mini chocolate chips. Set aside.
In a medium saucepan, heat sweetened condensed milk, chocolate chips, 3 tablespoons butter, and 1/2 teaspoon salt over low heat, stirring until smooth. Remove from heat. Stir in 1 tablespoon vanilla.
Using a small cookie scoop place dough into muffin tins filling the cup 1/2 way to the top. Spread 1 tsp of the chocolate mixture evenly over the top of each cup, and dot each cup with the remaining oat mixture.
Bake for 10 minutes in preheated oven. Let cool completely, then remove from pans. Removing them can be tricky, just wait for them to cool and use a knife to ease up the edges.
Yield: Supposedly 48 but I got about 75
Thursday, May 09, 2013
M&M Pudding Cookies
OK so basically what I've learned is that this Pinterest trend of "pudding cookies" is the best thing ever. Cookies made with pudding mix are soft, fluffy, delicious, and they stay that way for like a week without even freezing them. It's amazing. This is a basic recipe for cookies, and then add whatever you want to them to make it delicious. This week I made them with some M&Ms for Cookie Monday. Nothing exciting, but a delicious little treat. I'm going to keep this recipe around because it'll come in handy whenever I don't know what else to make. PLUS: this recipe makes exactly how many cookies I need to make each week. Best all-around.
Pudding Cookies
Sunday Baker via Pinterest
4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 (3.4 oz) packages instant vanilla pudding mix
4 eggs, room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 cups add-ins (chocolate/butterscotch/peanut butter/white chocolate chips, candy bars, m&m's, nuts, etc.)
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Stir together flour and baking soda in seperate bowl and set aside; in a large bowl, cream butter, brown and white sugar. Beat in pudding mix until well blended. Stir in the eggs and vanilla. When smooth, slowly add in the flour mixture. This can take a little while, but make sure it's well incorporated into mix.
2. Finally, add the "fillers."
3. Scoop or roll dough into 1" balls so the cookies are all uniform in size and bake evenly.
4. Line your cookie sheets with parchment paper and bake for 8-12 minutes or until golden.
Yield: 8 dozen
Pudding Cookies
Sunday Baker via Pinterest
4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 (3.4 oz) packages instant vanilla pudding mix
4 eggs, room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 cups add-ins (chocolate/butterscotch/peanut butter/white chocolate chips, candy bars, m&m's, nuts, etc.)
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Stir together flour and baking soda in seperate bowl and set aside; in a large bowl, cream butter, brown and white sugar. Beat in pudding mix until well blended. Stir in the eggs and vanilla. When smooth, slowly add in the flour mixture. This can take a little while, but make sure it's well incorporated into mix.
2. Finally, add the "fillers."
3. Scoop or roll dough into 1" balls so the cookies are all uniform in size and bake evenly.
4. Line your cookie sheets with parchment paper and bake for 8-12 minutes or until golden.
Yield: 8 dozen
Thursday, May 02, 2013
Grilled Foods
Today was a lovely day. The weather was lovely. It was the type of day where you just feel like you need to grill something. If you've known me for any length of time, you will know that I have a grill but no idea how to use it. My ex husband used it, but I never did. I don't know how to hook it up, how long to cook things, etc. It's all new to me.
So my gentleman and I cleaned it up (it hasn't been used in 2 years and has been through three snowstorms and a hurricane), I hit the farmer's market, and we grilled.
It's super simple stuff: grilled salmon, squash, and zucchini (all just with olive oil, salt, and pepper), and some basmati rice. I got a shish kebab at the market for my gentleman so he could have his beef, so that was good for him.
It was a lot of fun, and now I know how to use my grill. I also now know how to grill salmon. I'm really excited to have learned something new with cooking. It makes me feel like I want to make more things instead of just cookies.
(Side note: Last night I made this salad and my most favorite recipe ever for Paula Deen's Banana Pudding with girlscout trefoil cookies instead of the Chessmen!)
So what I'm hoping is that this newfound cooking method will inspire me to cook more. I really hope so. I'm still waiting for that push to start cooking like I used to do.
So my gentleman and I cleaned it up (it hasn't been used in 2 years and has been through three snowstorms and a hurricane), I hit the farmer's market, and we grilled.
It's super simple stuff: grilled salmon, squash, and zucchini (all just with olive oil, salt, and pepper), and some basmati rice. I got a shish kebab at the market for my gentleman so he could have his beef, so that was good for him.
It was a lot of fun, and now I know how to use my grill. I also now know how to grill salmon. I'm really excited to have learned something new with cooking. It makes me feel like I want to make more things instead of just cookies.
(Side note: Last night I made this salad and my most favorite recipe ever for Paula Deen's Banana Pudding with girlscout trefoil cookies instead of the Chessmen!)
So what I'm hoping is that this newfound cooking method will inspire me to cook more. I really hope so. I'm still waiting for that push to start cooking like I used to do.
Monday, April 29, 2013
Oreo Pudding Cookies
Usually by Sunday, I know what I'll be making for Cookie Monday. This week, all I knew was that I wanted to do something with Oreos. Not a cookie stuffed with Oreos, but a cookie made of Oreos. I searched on Pinterest until I found exactly what I wanted: a Cookies & Cream cookie made with instant pudding mix.
As I learned from the Reese's Pieces cookies last year, pudding mix gives cookies an excellent, wonderful texture. Finding this one with pudding mix made exactly the type of cookie I wanted. In order for it to taste right, you do NEED to use the Cookies & Cream flavor of pudding mix. Don't crap out and use vanilla. Get the Oreo kind.
Personally, I think these are my favorites I've made so far. I love their texture and I love that they taste like cookies & cream ice cream. I would definitely make these again!
Oreo Pudding Cookies
From Chef In Training via Pinterest
1 1/2 sticks (or 3/4 cup) butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1 (4.2 oz) package instant Oreo Cookies n’ Creme pudding mix
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
2-1/4 cups flour
14 Oreos, crushed
Preheat oven to 350 F. Stir together flour and baking soda and set aside. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugars together. Add in pudding package and beat until well blended. Add eggs and vanilla. Add flour mixture slowly until well incorporated. Stir in crushed Oreos. Roll into 1″ balls and place on greased baking sheet. Bake at 350 F for 8-12 minutes.
Yield: 3-4 dozen cookies (depending on how big you make them)
As I learned from the Reese's Pieces cookies last year, pudding mix gives cookies an excellent, wonderful texture. Finding this one with pudding mix made exactly the type of cookie I wanted. In order for it to taste right, you do NEED to use the Cookies & Cream flavor of pudding mix. Don't crap out and use vanilla. Get the Oreo kind.
Personally, I think these are my favorites I've made so far. I love their texture and I love that they taste like cookies & cream ice cream. I would definitely make these again!
Oreo Pudding Cookies
From Chef In Training via Pinterest
1 1/2 sticks (or 3/4 cup) butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1 (4.2 oz) package instant Oreo Cookies n’ Creme pudding mix
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
2-1/4 cups flour
14 Oreos, crushed
Preheat oven to 350 F. Stir together flour and baking soda and set aside. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugars together. Add in pudding package and beat until well blended. Add eggs and vanilla. Add flour mixture slowly until well incorporated. Stir in crushed Oreos. Roll into 1″ balls and place on greased baking sheet. Bake at 350 F for 8-12 minutes.
Yield: 3-4 dozen cookies (depending on how big you make them)
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Philadelphia Weekend
I spent this past weekend in Philadelphia with my gentleman and, while our goal was to visit the Philadelphia Science Festival, we still managed to explore some of the food in the city. Our food pretty much consisted of either bar food, food trucks, or hipster cafes. Let's review:
Bar Food
This is a terrible picture, I know. It was hard to take pictures because it was so dark. This is a vegan sandwich I ate at the City Tap House on Saturday night. The menu describes it as "pickled vegetables, avocado, tofu mayo, lettuces, crispy wontons." It was pretty good, but the french fries were amazing. Gentleman got a burger and a salad and seemed to enjoy it. It was nice to have such tasty food to accompany craft brews. I like this fancy-bar-food movement.
We also went to the Yards Brewery for a brewery tour and tasting. No food was had, but their offerings sounded wonderful. Here's what's so awesome about Yards: they make beer with grains, then take the slurry of leftover grains and give them to a local farmer. The farmer feeds the grains to his bison and uses some of the grains and yeast to make bread. Then he gives some of the bison and bread back to the Brewery. So you can order a bison burger, made from bison that have eaten the same grains that are in your beer, on bread from the same grains as well. Confusing? Yes. So goes the circle of life.
Food Trucks
Our hotel was located in University City near Drexel and UPenn, so the trend of food trucks was inevitable (and welcomed). You may remember my obsession with food trucks from my trip to California last year. While most of the food trucks were closed for the weekend (not a busy time), the amazing Insomnia Cookies truck was open - serving freshly-baked chocolate chip cookies up until 3am (and OH MY GOSH they are delicious). We also had some falafel (for me) and cheesesteak (for Gentleman) from a food truck that I cannot seem to identify, but was run by two wonderfully humorous Afghani gentlemen. I loved it, but not s much as I loved my cookies.
**Side note: When I went to their website to link to the cookie truck, I learned that they DELIVER. OH MY GOSH. Why didn't this exist when I was in college????**
Hipster Cafes
I guess we really only went to the one cafe, but it was enough hipsterness to fill our quota for the weekend. MilkCrate Cafe in Fishtown served delicious breakfast and lunch foods. We went there right before the Yards tour. I got a breakfast burrito of delicious eggs and beans and everything else. Gentleman got a fancy lil' BLT made on some really great rustic wheat bread. The only problem is that everything was covered in vinyl records and everyone present had Apple products and everything was all cutesy (the BLT was called the "RUN-BLT" etc). Cute and delicious, AMAZING coffee, good enough!
Our trip to Philly was lovely and I hope to go back sometime. While our goal this trip was to eat as cheaply as possible, perhaps in the future we will try some of the fancier restaurants in the city. So fun!
Bar Food
This is a terrible picture, I know. It was hard to take pictures because it was so dark. This is a vegan sandwich I ate at the City Tap House on Saturday night. The menu describes it as "pickled vegetables, avocado, tofu mayo, lettuces, crispy wontons." It was pretty good, but the french fries were amazing. Gentleman got a burger and a salad and seemed to enjoy it. It was nice to have such tasty food to accompany craft brews. I like this fancy-bar-food movement.
We also went to the Yards Brewery for a brewery tour and tasting. No food was had, but their offerings sounded wonderful. Here's what's so awesome about Yards: they make beer with grains, then take the slurry of leftover grains and give them to a local farmer. The farmer feeds the grains to his bison and uses some of the grains and yeast to make bread. Then he gives some of the bison and bread back to the Brewery. So you can order a bison burger, made from bison that have eaten the same grains that are in your beer, on bread from the same grains as well. Confusing? Yes. So goes the circle of life.
Food Trucks
Our hotel was located in University City near Drexel and UPenn, so the trend of food trucks was inevitable (and welcomed). You may remember my obsession with food trucks from my trip to California last year. While most of the food trucks were closed for the weekend (not a busy time), the amazing Insomnia Cookies truck was open - serving freshly-baked chocolate chip cookies up until 3am (and OH MY GOSH they are delicious). We also had some falafel (for me) and cheesesteak (for Gentleman) from a food truck that I cannot seem to identify, but was run by two wonderfully humorous Afghani gentlemen. I loved it, but not s much as I loved my cookies.
**Side note: When I went to their website to link to the cookie truck, I learned that they DELIVER. OH MY GOSH. Why didn't this exist when I was in college????**
Hipster Cafes
I guess we really only went to the one cafe, but it was enough hipsterness to fill our quota for the weekend. MilkCrate Cafe in Fishtown served delicious breakfast and lunch foods. We went there right before the Yards tour. I got a breakfast burrito of delicious eggs and beans and everything else. Gentleman got a fancy lil' BLT made on some really great rustic wheat bread. The only problem is that everything was covered in vinyl records and everyone present had Apple products and everything was all cutesy (the BLT was called the "RUN-BLT" etc). Cute and delicious, AMAZING coffee, good enough!
Our trip to Philly was lovely and I hope to go back sometime. While our goal this trip was to eat as cheaply as possible, perhaps in the future we will try some of the fancier restaurants in the city. So fun!
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
Double Chocolate Chip Heath Bar Cookies
This week I wasn't sure what to make for Cookie Monday, but a bunch of people mentioned maybe making some sort of chocolate cookie again. I pondered, and I looked on the Pinterest, and then out of nowhere my friend Mark posted a recipe on my Facebook. It was perfect! A brownie-like chocolate cookie with big pieces of Heath Bar in it. Delicious.
I added a tiny bit of espresso powder to make the chocolate flavor deeper, and I used full-size Heath Bars that I smashed with my pepper grinder (I'm classy). They sell the little Heath Bar brickle bits but I find that those are too small and tend to disappear when mixed into baked goods. I highly recommend using the real candy. I did add the sea salt to about half the cookies just to see what the reactions would be. Personally, I liked it better without the sea salt but some people really enjoyed it.
So these went over well and even the people who are iffy about chocolate cookies were fans. I really liked the base of this cookie as well. You could easily add in other things instead of the Heath Bar, like peanut butter chips or Oreos or whatever. It's a solid chocolate cookie recipe.
Double Chocolate Chip Heath Bar Cookies
From CenterCutCook.com
1 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cups cocoa powder (dutch process of you have it)
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon table salt
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup Heath Bar Toffee Pieces
Pinch of sea salt for each cookie, if desired, for garnish
With your mixer, cream together softened butter and granulated sugar. Add in eggs and vanilla and mix until combined. In a large bowl sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and table salt. Slowly mix the dry ingredients into the wet. At this point it should be a very thick dough! Fold in chocolate chips and Heath Bar toffee pieces.
Place the dough in a bowl, cover, and chill in the freezer for about 20 minutes, or in the refrigerator for an hour.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Drop 1 rounded tablespoon of cookie dough for each cookie on ungreased baking sheets. Leave about 2 inches between each cookie. Bake in the oven for 8-10 minutes.
Immediately after the cookies come out of the oven, sprinkle them with a pinch of sea salt, if desired. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes before carefully transferring them to a wire rack to finish cooling.
Yields about 5 dozen cookies (so I doubled it, of course!)
I added a tiny bit of espresso powder to make the chocolate flavor deeper, and I used full-size Heath Bars that I smashed with my pepper grinder (I'm classy). They sell the little Heath Bar brickle bits but I find that those are too small and tend to disappear when mixed into baked goods. I highly recommend using the real candy. I did add the sea salt to about half the cookies just to see what the reactions would be. Personally, I liked it better without the sea salt but some people really enjoyed it.
So these went over well and even the people who are iffy about chocolate cookies were fans. I really liked the base of this cookie as well. You could easily add in other things instead of the Heath Bar, like peanut butter chips or Oreos or whatever. It's a solid chocolate cookie recipe.
Double Chocolate Chip Heath Bar Cookies
From CenterCutCook.com
1 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cups cocoa powder (dutch process of you have it)
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon table salt
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup Heath Bar Toffee Pieces
Pinch of sea salt for each cookie, if desired, for garnish
With your mixer, cream together softened butter and granulated sugar. Add in eggs and vanilla and mix until combined. In a large bowl sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and table salt. Slowly mix the dry ingredients into the wet. At this point it should be a very thick dough! Fold in chocolate chips and Heath Bar toffee pieces.
Place the dough in a bowl, cover, and chill in the freezer for about 20 minutes, or in the refrigerator for an hour.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Drop 1 rounded tablespoon of cookie dough for each cookie on ungreased baking sheets. Leave about 2 inches between each cookie. Bake in the oven for 8-10 minutes.
Immediately after the cookies come out of the oven, sprinkle them with a pinch of sea salt, if desired. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes before carefully transferring them to a wire rack to finish cooling.
Yields about 5 dozen cookies (so I doubled it, of course!)
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