Nutella Chip Cookies

Apparently today is World Nutella Day.
Forget Valentine’s and President’s Day, we need more holidays like this.
Because Nutella really is something to celebrate.

Nutella Chip Cookies
Adapted from Culinary Concoctions, via Erin's Food FilesMakes about 4 dozen cookies.
Ingredients:

½ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

1/2 cup Nutella or other hazelnut chocolate spread

1 egg

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup mini chocolate chips

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Cream butter with an electric mixer about 1 minute until smooth. Add in both sugars. Beat on high speed about 3 minutes until light and fluffy, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
With the mixer on low, add the egg and vanilla. Then add Nutella and mix until well combined.
In a small bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Slowly add dry ingredients to wet ingredients, and mix on low speed until incorporated. Increase the speed to medium and mix just until the dough is smooth. Fold in chocolate chips.
Using a small ice cream scoop (or a teaspoon), form the dough into balls and place on parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake 6-7 minutes or until set. Let cookies cool about 5 minutes and transfer to a rack to cool completely.

Oreo Cookies

1 package of Devils Food Cake

1/3 cup oil

2 eggs

Preheat oven to 350. Mix ingredients, roll into balls onto cookie sheet. Cook for 8 minutes

Frosting- You make your own cream cheese frosting or you can cheat like me and buy it already made :)

Peanut Noodles with Vegetables

Peanut Noodles with Vegetables
source: Eating Well
Yields 4 servings

Ingredients

1/2 cup smooth natural peanut butter
2 tablespoons reduced-sodium soy sauce
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1 1/2 teaspoons chile-garlic sauce, or to taste
1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger
8 ounces whole-wheat spaghetti
1 12-16 oz bag frozen vegetable stir-fry medley, such as carrots, broccoli, snow peas
Preparation

Put a large pot of water on to boil for cooking pasta.
Whisk peanut butter, soy sauce, garlic, chile-garlic sauce and ginger in a large bowl.
Cook pasta in the boiling water until not quite tender, about 1 minute less than specified in the package directions. Add vegetables and cook until the pasta and vegetables are just tender, 1 minute more. Drain, reserving 1 cup of the cooking liquid. Rinse the pasta and vegetables with cool water to refresh. Stir the reserved cooking liquid into the peanut sauce; add the pasta, vegetables and chicken; toss well to coat. Serve warm or chilled.

Oreo Truffles

For some reason I had it in my mind that truffles were hard to make. I was wrong, they are so easy! Enjoy

Oreo Truffles
from Kristy Denney

1 package (18 oz.) Oreo cookies (or Nutter Butters), crushed into small pieces
1 8-oz. package cream cheese, softened
White or Chocolate melts for dipping

Mix crushed Oreos and cream cheese until well-combined. Either use a food processor or a ziplock and blend with your hands (a lot harder but all I had). Roll into 1-inch balls and place on baking sheet or tray. Refrigerate until firm, 3-4 hours (or stick in the freezer for about an hour). Using 2 forks (or a spoon, but forks always work better for me), dip Oreo balls into chocolate coating and place onto waxed paper to harden. Chill and serve cold or room temperature. Makes about 30 truffles.

Cream Cheese Filled Cookies

Cookies:
1/3 cup butter, softened
1/3 cup shortening
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1-3/4 cups AP flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Filling:
1 8 oz cream cheese, softened
2 cups confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon Vanilla


Topping:
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips melted

Directions
In a large bowl, cream the butter, shortening and sugar until fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla.


Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt; gradually add to the creamed mixture and mix well. Refrigerate at least 2 hrs.


Unwrap and cut into 1-in. slices. Place 1 in. apart on greased baking sheet.


Bake at 375° for 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned.


Immediately make an indentation in the center of each cookie using the end of a wooden spoon handle.

Combine the filling ingredients in mixing bowl and beat on medium until smooth

Place 2 teaspoonfuls in the center of each cookie

In a microwave, melt chocolate chips over 50% power in 30 second increments until smooth.


Drizzle over cookies. (I used a ziplock)
Store in the refrigerator.

Bacon Pinwheels

I am all about quick, easy and good tasting food and this recipe is just that! I made these for our New Years Party but they would be great anytime- a snack, Baby or Wedding Shower or Super Bowl Party! Give them a try! You will need to double or triple this recipe because they go quick!

Bacon Pinwheels

From Our Best Bites Blog

1 tube of crescent roll dough

2 ounces cream cheese

5-ish bacon slices, fried and chopped

Bunch of green onions, chopped (optional – I left these out and they were still amazing!)

Handful or two of cheddar cheese

Sprinkling of garlic salt

Unroll the crescent roll dough and smoosh together all the seams. Roll it out with the rolling pin to flatten it a bit. Spread with 2 ounces of softened cream cheese, right out to the very edges. Sprinkle with garlic salt. Sprinkle on the cheese and bacon (and green onion, if using) as evenly as possible. Roll it up from long end to long end. Slice into 1/2 to 1 inch (ish) slices and place on a baking sheet. Bake as directed on the crescent roll package.

Easy Hot Fudge Sauce

This sauce was beyond delicious, cheap and so easy!! I found 4 containers with lids at Walmart for only $3.65

3oz semi-sweet chocolate* (3 squares of baking chocolate, or about 1/2 C chocolate chips

1/4 C butter (that's a half of a stick folks. Admit it, at least one of you didn't know that)

1 Can Sweetened Condensed Milk

*I wouldn't use milk chocolate for this, it's way too sweet, however both dark and bittersweet are awesome

1. If you're using baking squares, chop them up into small pieces so they melt easier. I chop the butter up into small chunks too.


2. Put it in a pan on medium heat and melt it all together till it's smooth, creamy, and just looking at it gives you happy thoughts.

3. If you have leftovers (but let's be honest, you'll have to quadruple the recipe to have leftovers) then put it in an airtight container in the fridge. It will harden into a soft, gooey fudge like consistency. Then keep a spoon handy on the counter and dip it in every time you pass by.

Holiday Neighbor gift ideas

Chocolate Covered Pretzels

I made these for my friends and they loved them. Also I found the sticks at Smiths.

1) Tasty as homemade caramel is, it's too thick, rich, and chewy to work on pretzels. You wind up with a mouthful of stickiness that's too hard to eat. Just buy a bag of Kraft caramels and don't beat yourself up about it. Also, homemade caramel is too thick on the pretzels. And they kept snapping in half after the caramel hardened. It just did not work for me on so many levels.


2) The cinnamon sugar, while great in theory, was too sweet on the pretzels. Also, it wasn't very pretty. I've toyed with the idea of mixing cinnamon (no sugar) in with the white chocolate before drizzling it on the pretzels. Someone do me a favor and try that and let me know how it goes! :)


3) You can do this however the heck you want. Try caramel. Chocolate. White chocolate. Sprinkles. Crushed candy canes. Get creative and festive and have fun!


This isn't so much a recipe as it is an idea, so I'll just give you some helpful tips I've discovered along the way.


--Walmart pretzel rods are the worst. I guarantee, at least 1/2 the bag will be broken when you buy it. Rold Gold pretzels look pretty in the bag, but the snappage factor is pretty high. I actually have found that Kroger pretzels are perfect for dipping! Who knew...


--If dipping in chocolate, melt 1 c. chocolate chips (or white chocolate chips) with 1-2 tsp. SHORTENING or vegetable oil (never, ever butter or olive oil; it will end in disaster) in the microwave, stirring at 30 second intervals. For drizzling, dip a fork in melted chocolate and drizzle as desired. Almond bark and Chocolate bark works great too.


--Keep the layers thin. It's tempting to load those puppies up, but pretzels are pretty fragile and you still want to be able to taste the pretzel underneath everything else.


--You want to dip the base layer about 1/2 to 2/3 of the way down the pretzel. To make any dipping easy, you can either melt the chocolate (or caramel...or whatever) on the stove top and transfer it to a mug or just melt it directly in the mug in the microwave. Then you can hold the pretzel in one hand and the mug handle in the other and maneuver it however you need to to coat the pretzel.

--After dipping, allow the excess to drip back into the mug. You can also roll the pretzel rod between your hands to spin the excess back into the mug.

--Try to be patient and let the layers cool completely before dipping or drizzling. This is especially important if you're using two different kinds of chocolate. Otherwise, they'll melt right into each other and that ain't pretty.



After these had completely hardened, I placed them in cellophane treat bags and tied each one with holiday ribbon (9" of ribbon each, if you're super curious) and delivered the lot in a holiday gift bag.

Magic in the middle Cookies

Ingredients:


1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar-packed
1/2 cup unsalted butter-softened

1/4 cup peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
3/4 cup confectioners’ sugar
3/4 cup peanut butter

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2. In a small bowl, blend flour, cocoa, and baking soda



3. In a large bowl beat white sugar, brown sugar, butter and 1/4 cup peanut butter, until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and egg, beat until blended. Stir in flour mixture until blended. Set aside.

4. Make the filling by combining the confectioners’ sugar and 3/4 cup peanut butter. Beat well with electric mixer until mixture comes together.

5. Roll filling into 30 1 inch balls. Form exterior part of cookie by sectioning dough into approximately 1 tablespoon pieces. Form exterior part of cookie around filling and cover completely. Place 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Flatten with a glass dipped in sugar.


6. Bake at 375 degrees for 7-9 minutes. (I baked mine for 7 minutes) Allow to cool on cookie sheet for 10 minutes then remove to a cooling rack and cool completely.

Orange Cookies

I halved the recipe and it was the perfect amount of cookies

5 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups sugar
1 cup butter, at room temperature
2 tablespoons orange zest
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup orange juice

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl and stir with a whisk to combine.

Combine buttermilk and orange juice in a 2-cup measuring cup.

Cream the butter and sugar, and zest in the bowl of an electric mixer until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Scrape the bowl as needed.

Alternate adding the flour and buttermilk mixtures starting and ending with the flour mixture. Drop by tablespoons or by a cookie scoop onto a cookie sheet lined with a Silpat mat or parchment paper (dough will be very wet). Bake for 10 minutes or until the bottoms are just beginning to brown. Do not overbake!Cool completely before topping with orange icing (recipe follows).

Orange Icing
3 tablespoons butter, softened
3 3/4 cups confectioners' sugar (1 pound box)
4 to 5 tablespoons orange juice (approximately)
1 1/2 teaspoon finely grated orange peel
a pinch of salt

Cream butter, orange zest and salt in a bowl with an electric stand or hand mixer. Add sugar gradually, alternating with enough orange juice to make frosting the right consistency for spreading. Makes 4-5 dozen.

Orange Rolls

These orange rolls are so yummy and are great for breakfast, snack time or dessert! Enjoy!

Easy Butterflake Orange Rolls

12 Rhodes Texas Rolls, thawed but still cold
Zest from 1 large orange
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup butter, melted
Icing:
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon butter, melted
2-3 tablespoons fresh orange juice

Directions:
Cut each Texas roll into 5 equal pieces. Flatten each piece slightly. In a small bowl, combine orange zest and sugar. Dip both sides of each roll piece into butter and then orange sugar mixture. Stack five pieces together and place, on their sides, in a well sprayed muffin cup. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until double in size. Remove wrap and bake at 350°F 15-20 minutes. Remove from pan immediately and place on cooling rack. Combine icing ingredients and mix well. Brush over rolls while still warm.

*** I made 14 rolls and needed to double the butter and cinnamon sugar ingredients!

Twix Cheesecake Pie

Ingredients:


2 8-ounce bars of cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
2 large eggs
8-inch chocolate cookie pie crust
1 bag fun size twix candy bars


Preparation:


With an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese with the sugar and eggs. Mix in 16 chopped twix bars {about 2 cups}; pour into the chocolate cookie pie crust.


Bake at 325 degrees until set, 40 to 45 minutes; cool. Sprinkle with 6 chopped twix bars; chill until firm.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies with Brown Sugar Icing

(The icing is delicious)


What You Need:

1 box spice cake mix
1 15 oz can pumpkin puree
1/3 cup mini chocolate chips

What To Do:

Preheat oven to 350*. Mix all three ingredients together, make cookies or cupcakes. Bake for 10 minutes


Icing:
3 T butter
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/4 c. milk
2 c. powdered sugar

Icing:
In saucepan, heat butter and brown sugar over medium to med-high heat until bubbling and thick. Cool 10 minutes. Stir in 1/4 cup milk. Add powdered sugar and beat until smooth.

Peanut Butter Balls

Because of things going on in my person life, I've had no desire to bake or cook anything the last couple of months. Until this week that is! I've so many recipes I want to try and to share with everyone. So keep looking for updates.

Last night I made these beauties, found on this wonderful website

(See a clear spot in the plate? I may have eaten a few)

1/2 cup creamy natural peanut butter
1/2 cup honey
3/4 cup nonfat powdered milk
3/4 cup quick-cooking oats

Combine all ingredients in a bowl; mix well. Using your hands, roll the dough into balls about the size of large gumballs. Place on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper, and refrigerate until set. Makes about 18 balls.

Creamsicle Cookies

I got the receipe from this site

They are so delicious!

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 firmly packed brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons orange zest (for me that was the zest of 2 oranges)
2 cups Guitard Choc-Au-Lait Vanilla Chips (I used Ghirardelli white chips)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a small bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside.

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugars until light and creamy. Beat in egg and vanilla until smooth. Gradually add flour mixture until combined. Stir in orange zest and chips.

Drop rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets. Do not flatten cookies; it will make them dry. Bake 8 - 10 minutes or until golden brown around edges. Do not overcook! Cookies will be plump. Cool for several minutes on cookie sheets before transferring to rack to cool completely. Store in airtight container.

Strawberry-Mango Crisp

For the Fruit Mixture:

1 qt. quartered strawberries
2 cups diced mangos
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup flour

For the Topping:

1 cup flour
1/2 cup rolled oats
1 cup brown sugar
1 stick of margarine

Preheat oven to 400
Mix the ingredients for the fruit mixture together in a large bowl.
Spread evenly into a 2-quart casserole dish. Set aside

Mix the dry ingredients for the topping together in a medium bowl
cut in the margarine until the mixture resembles small peas.
Spread evenly over the fruit mixture
Bake 35-45 minutes or until bubbly.
Great with ice cream!

Pan Fried Zucchini

Put a little bit of Olive Oil/or butter into frying pan

I used two smaller yellow squash and zucchini (love the farmers market), cut into slices

Cook on medium for 10 minutes or until they are a little brown

Right before you take them off sprinkle some salt, pepper and mozzarella cheese

It is so easy, cheap and delicious!

Salsa

Salsa recipe given to me by cousin Haley B.

1 large can whole peeled tomatoes (16 oz can)
1 onion
2 bunches green onions
1 bunch cilantro
1-10 serrano peppers (depending on your heat level - I did 2, and it was perfect)
mince garlic (maybe a teaspoon or less)
sugar (maybe 2 Tablespoons)

Blend tomatoes in blender with garlic and sugar, poor into large bowl
Boil peppers for 10 minutes, drain most of the water, let them cool
Cut onion, green onions, and cilantro and add to bowl with tomatoes
Blend peppers with the little bit of water left over

Stir everything together and eat.
You may want to add some of the pepper stuff at a time and taste to see how hot it is.
Also, I think it tastes better after it sits in the fridge for a few hours


(I made it yesterday, took it to a Bbq and it was a hit!)

pan fried chicken a.k.a. the only way to cook a chicken breast

i have to apologize first off because i don't have a picture, but my excuse is that i do not have a picture because i ate my dinner so quickly that the flash from my camera had absolutely no time to go off. this chicken is delicious and incredibly simple to make. i hope you enjoy! 

p.s. in the future i will try and make posts in a more traditional recipe format, but i keep track of the way i prepare meals rather haphazardly as i rarely cook anything the same way twice. keeps my kitchen fun that way. 

3 - 5 (depending on how many you're feeding) boneless skinless chicken breasts, fat trimmed off

salt, pepper, dried basil, garlick powder, and / or any other spice flavor combinations you would like to make

2 - 3 Tbs butter (the more butter the better, imo)

rinse off your chicken breasts and pat them dry with a paper towel. place them on a workable surface to season them. over medium(ish) heat melt the butter in a heavy skillet or cast iron pan. season one side of your chicken breasts (i prefer a lot of seasoning, but i know that varies upon taste) and pat the seasonings into the chicken so it sticks when you turn them over, turn them over and season the other side so they are pan ready (also patting the seasonings in on this side, as well). 

when the butter is all melted in your pan place your chicken breasts in ... now comes the most important part of this entire cooking experience: DO NOT PLAY WITH YOUR CHICKEN. the trick to perfect pan friend chicken is not over-turning it. pan friend chicken is tender, retains juices like you will not believe, but the trick is not to play with it. once you put your chickens down in the butter just leave them. (do not even smoosh them around. walk away if need be.) do NOT cover the pan, in fact, steaming the chickens actually makes them tougher and will also ruin this perfect chicken cooking technique. 

after 3 - 4 minutes, flip the chicken over and allow it to cook happily, without being played with (again) for another 5 minutes or so. not smooshing the chickens around will also allow the seasonings to make a perfect little crust of happiness on your chicken breasts. depending on how thick your chicken breasts are you may need to turn them once or twice more after the 5 minutes are up. chickens should have a nice brown seasoning crust on them. i cook my chicken to 165 degree internal temperature, as they will continue cooking after you take them off the burner.

when your chickens are cooked to 165 internal temp remover them from the pan and cover them on a plate. here is where you can get creative.

tonight i made a pasta with this chicken. i used Bertolli's 4 cheese Rosa and tossed some of the pasta sauce w/ noodles and reserved the rest of the sauce for the buttery leavings in the chicken pan. after removing the chicken from the pan i quickly threw in some chopped garlick (like a Tablespoon, but i LOVE garlick) and browned it for about a minute before adding in some of the pasta sauce, a bit more basil and a lot of pepper, and a little parmesan cheese. i stirred that together and used it as a sauce to top the chicken. 

an alternative to this recipe that is one of my favorites is using crushed rosemary instead of basil. after removing the chicken i sauté up some red onions, zucchini, and an occasional tomato or red pepper and deglaze with a bit of white wine and lemon to top both the chicken and a bit of pasta (carb junkie, right here.) 

this variation on chicken should allow you a lot of room to play with flavors. try pairing your favorite seasonings and veggies and if you have any questions please feel free to leave them in the comments. i will keep my next recipe to less that, oh, this many words, but i felt like this needed a bit of extra explanation.

let me know what you think!!

happy eating, 

kerry

Tin Foil Dinners

Tin Foil Dinners, perfect the beginning of summer:

The cool thing with Tin Foil Dinners is you can add whatever you want, here are some ideas.

Ingredients:
cut up potatoes
asparagus
Cream of Chicken
Salt
Pepper
cut up carrots
Meat of Choice or leave Meatless
Pack of dry onion soup mix
Italian Dressing
onions
broccoli
green beans
butter

Place ingredients in a bowl to mix together prior or just throw it all on top of a piece of tin foil, you want a big enough piece to cover the ingredients. We usually wrap ours 3-4 times to ensure nothing leaks out.

Cooking over the fire:
Make sure you have coals that are hot, takes about 20 minutes.
Cook your tin foil dinners for 20-30 minutes and then turn over on the other side for 20-30 minutes.
Open up and eat.

Enjoy!