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Chocolate Thumbprint Peanut Butter Cookies
Chocolate Thumbprint Peanut Butter Cookies
I have two stories to tell you. The truth probably lies somewhere in between.
Story one: My mother was in the Strip District in Pittsburgh and saw a Guittard Chocolate Cookbook. Missing her eldest daughter and knowing that book is something which will make her smile, buys it for me.
Story two: My mother was in the Strip District in Pittsburgh and saw a Guittard Chocolate Cookbook. Looking through it she saw some recipes which looked delicious but she knew there was no way she would ever make them for herself. However, if she bought it for her daughter she could get the daughter to make the desserts and she would get all the deliciousness with none of the work.
Somewhere in these two stories lies the truth… but either way my mother bought me the Guittard Chocolate Cookbook and I promptly decided I needed to to bake something. Looking at what I had in my kitchen (and oddly having someone who like peanut butter cookies in my house!) I decided to make the Chocolate Thumbprint Peanut Butter Cookies.
I very rarely get to make peanut butter cookies because my husband doesn’t like them and due to peanut allergies I can’t take them to work. But I really enjoy peanut butter cookies – and adding chocolate.. well… that just makes it the best!
Chocolate Thumbprint Peanut Butter Cookies
from Guittard Chocolate Cookbook
For the Cookies:
1 ¼ cups flour
¾ tsp baking soda
½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
½ cup butter
½ cup brown sugar
½ cup sugar
½ cup crunchy peanut butter
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
For the Filling
3 oz milk or bittersweet chocolate ( I went with milk but if you want dark chocolate go bittersweet)
3 tbsp butter
1 tsp light corn syrup
Cream the butter and the sugars together until fluffy. Add in the egg, vanilla, and peanut butter and beat well.
Mix in the dry ingredients: flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
Roll the dough into 1” balls and place them on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.
Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.
Using the back of a teaspoon, carefully make an indentation in the center of each cookie.
Continue to bake for 5-7 minutes or until the cookies are set and just beginning to brown.
You may need to redefine the indentation when you remove them from the oven.
Allow the cookies to cool completely.
Melt together the chocolate, butter and corn syrup to create the filling.
Carefully scoop a little chocolate into the indentation in each cookie to fill the “thumbprint” up.
Allow the chocolate to cool and set for 2 hours before eating.
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Black and White Cookies
Black and White cookies seem to be one of those quintessential New York desserts, much like Babka. I had never heard of them before I started dating my husband and I can honestly say I have never seen someone love them as much as my brother-in-law.
He came to visit last weekend for the Fourth of July and I decided this would be a good time to try this soft and cakey cookie. While mine came out a little too poofy they were still delicious and they taste pretty close to what you would find in bakeries and delis all over New York City.
Black and White Cookies
From: Heather Homemade
For the Cookies:
1 ¼ cups flour
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
1/3 cup buttermilk (or mix a little lemon juice into the milk)
½ tsp vanilla
1/3 cup butter
½ cup sugar
1 egg
For the icing:
1 ½ cup confectioners sugar
1 tbsp light corn syrup
1 tsp lemon juice
¼ tsp vanilla
¼ cup cocoa powder
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Mix together the flour, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl mix the buttermilk and vanilla. Set both aside.
Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
Add in the egg and mix well.
Carefully add in half the flour mixture and beat until combined.
Pour in the buttermilk and vanilla and stir well.
Add in the rest of the flour and mix until smooth.
Scoop large spoonfuls (about ¼ a cup) of the batter onto a well greased or parchment-lined baking sheet.
Bake for 15- 17 minutes until the tops are puffed and pale brown.
Allow the cookies to completely cool.
Meanwhile make your icing.
I halved all of my icing ingredients into two separate bowls: 3/4 cup confectioners sugar, 1 ½ tsp corn syrup, ½ tsp lemon juice, splash of vanilla.
In one of the two bowls you will also add the cocoa powder.
Stir both until they are smooth. I found the chocolate icing to be a little stiff so added 2-3 tbsp of water to get a nice consistency.
Turn the cookies upside down to ice. Spread the white icing over one half and allow to dry until tacky.
Spread the chocolate icing on the other half to complete the look.
Allow the icing to dry completely before eating.
The cookies will keep in an airtight container for 2-4 days.
Oyakodon (Japanese Chicken and Egg Rice Bowl)
Oyakodon (Japanese Chicken and Egg Rice Bowl)
I am a fan of comfort food. This is probably evident if you look around the blog a lot. My brother once mentioned how much I love dinner in bowls. This is a great comfort food dinner in a bowl. It is warm and savory and salty and a little sweet. As I am bringing back a lot of different foods into my diet I am leaning heavily on the comfort foods.
My husband makes this and it is quick and easy. The only ingredient which may be a little tricky to find is the dashi powder/ dashi stock. We ordered this packet from Amazon and expect it will last though many many meals.
Oyakodon
adapted from All Recipes
1 cup jasmine rice
2 cups water
2 skinless boneless chicken breasts cut into pieces
1 small onion cut in half and sliced
1 cup dashi stock, made with dashi powder according to package instructions
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 ½ tbsp Japanese rice wine
1 ½ tbsp brown sugar
2 tsp parsley
3 eggs
2 egg yolks
Rinse the rice until the water runs clear. Add the rice and 2 cups of water to a stock pot. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, cover, and cook until tender and all the liquid has been absorbed (about 14 minutes).
Mix together in a measuring cup the dashi stock, soy sauce, rice wine, parsley, and brown sugar. Add the stock mixture, chicken, and onions to a large skillet.
Cover and cook over medium high heat for 3-4 minutes. Flip the chicken over and cook another 3-4 minutes or until the chicken is cooked though and the onions are soft.
Whisk the three eggs together gently. You don’t want them to be completely scrambled but just mixed.
Pour the egg mixture over the chicken/onion mixture. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and allow the eggs to steam until just cooked. About 4 minutes.
Place half the rice in the bottom of a deep soup bowl. Top with half the chicken and egg mixture.
Gently make an indentation in the bowl and add one egg yolk to each bowl.
Top the egg yolk and rice with about ½ cup of the broth left in the skillet.
Eat immediately!
Homemade Ketchup
Sorry I have been away for a while. I have mentioned a few times that I have been dealing with some health problems for the past little bit. At recent trip to my gastroenterologist, she suggested it would be helpful for me to go on a strict Low FODMAP diet for a few weeks and then slowly reintroduce the different food groups back into my diet to see how I react.
All of which makes sense to me but has thrown my regular diet and cooking habits into a little bit of a tailspin. No onions or garlic? Not even traces of onion powder? I am lost.
So I have been learning how to cook many different things, and I have been trying a lot of different recipes. I just haven’t been feeling confident enough in these new techniques and recipes to share them with you.
Until this one. This ketchup is low FODMAP and also delicious. Have you ever gone to a fancy (or hipster) burger place and gotten House-made Ketchup with your fries? Well this ketchup tastes pretty close to my memory of that fancy ketchup!
Homemade Ketchup
adapted form A Saucy Kitchen
1 6oz can of tomato paste
½ cup white vinegar
¼ cup white sugar
a pinch of cumin
½ tsp allspice
¼ tsp black pepper
1 tsp salt
¼ tsp paprika
Add all of the ingredients into a small saucepan.
Mix well and bring to a simmer.
Allow the ketchup to simmer for 20 minutes, stirring fairly often so it doesn’t burn.
Allow the ketchup to cool completely before storing in an airtight container in the fridge.
It will keep for 3-4 weeks and is delicious on fries!
Mini Blueberry Muffins
I love when the berries start to come in and suddenly there is a whole world of baking options before you. My husband’s favorite berry is by far the blueberry. So of course I would be baking with blueberries before the season has even really started yet.
Why mini-muffins? Well you can use this recipe to make 12 regular sized muffins (just increase your baking time to about 20 minutes); the mini ones just seem more fun. And they go a lot faster. No one even thinks about eating a second muffin, but a fourth mini muffin… no problem!
This early the blueberries are a little on the tart side. I like that but if you are not a fan feel free to add an additional tablespoon or two of sugar to the batter to help even things out.
And of course you can always substitute blackberries or raspberries in this recipe if you prefer. They will make an equally delicious mini muffin.
Mini Blueberry Muffins
From The New Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook
1 ¾ cups flour
½ cup sugar (plus more for sprinkling on top)
2 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
1 egg
¾ cup milk
¼ cup canola oil or other neutral cooking oil
1 cup blueberries
zest of 1 lemon
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Grease or line a mini muffin pan.
In a large bowl mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
I do not like extra dishes so I combine the milk, canola oil, and egg all in the same measuring cup. Just be sure to put the egg in last. Stir well to beat the egg.
Dig a well in your dry ingredients and pour in the egg mixture. Stir just until combined – it will be a little lumpy.
Fold in the blueberries and the lemon zest.
Scoop the batter into the prepared mini muffin pan filling each spot about 2/3 full.
Sprinkle the top of the muffins with a generous pinch of sugar.
Bake for 10 – 12 minutes (mine were done at 10).
Let the muffins cool for five minuets in the pan before removing to a wire rack. They are as delicious warm as they are cooled.
Birthday
Last Thursday was my birthday. I had seen this Glam Rock black cocoa cake on pinterst and I loved it! So I bought a bag of black cocoa and black gel food coloring and gave it a go. I opted for little cakes and cupcakes and some amazing sprinkles and a lavender filling. They were almost too pretty to eat!
Matzo Brei
Happy Passover! I love Matzo Brei. We eat it year round and it is a go-to breakfast for me. Though I have been a little afraid to post this recipe. I have learned that there are literally hundreds of ways to make matzo brei and people have very strong opinions that their way of making it is correct.
This is the way my husband makes it and so this is the way I know and I think is correct. Though even he has a few variations: add in fried onions (mmm), douse with jam (meh I like mine savory, not sweet), use everything matzo for added flavor. Some people put cinnamon and sugar on it, some people serve it with syrup, and some serve it with sour cream and applesauce.
And then there are differences in ways of cooking it. We serve it more like a scramble but I have heard of making it like a big pancake or an omelet. And some people don’t even break up the matzo and treat it more like french toast with milk and vanilla mixed in with the egg.
So basically you can make matzo brei to suit your taste and desires.
Matzo Brei
From my husband
makes 2 servings
4 sheets matzo
4 eggs (basically you want one egg per matzo sheet)
butter for the pan
salt and pepper
Break the matzo roughly into quarters and place all the pieces in a medium bowl.
Fill the bowl with hot water and count to fifteen.
Flip the matzo over and count to fifteen again.
Drain the water.
Add in the eggs and stir until the matzo is very well combined and paste-like. Set aside.
Melt about 1 tablespoon of butter in a nonstick skillet. Let the butter get hot but not browned.
Add in the matzo/egg mixture and fry, stirring occasionally until the egg is no long shiny and runny but absorbed into the matzo. I also like to make sure there are some pieces that get brown and crispy.
Serve immediately and top with desired salt and pepper.
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Soft Pretzel Bites
I love soft pretzels. Going to the mall and the smell of the pretzel place hits you and mmmm I am hungry. I like the buttery salty ones and I love the cinnamon and sugar ones. So I have tried many different recipes to make delicious soft pretzel bites at home. Some I have found to be too sweet, some too roll-like, but these are pretty close to perfect.
My recipe is for basic salted ones (better than at the movies, my husband says). If you would like to make cinnamon and sugar pretzel bites follow this recipe up through the egg wash. Just don’t put salt on them. When they come out of the oven brush the pretzels with melted butter and roll in cinnamon and sugar. Equally as delicious.
Soft Pretzel Bites
From Gather For Bread
1 cup warm water
2 ¼ tsp (1 pkg) instant yeast
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp salt
2 ½ cups flour
1/3 cup baking soda
1 egg
coarse salt
Mix together the warm water, yeast, and brown sugar. Leave it alone for about five minutes, until the yeast is all bubbly.
Stir in the flour and salt and kneed the dough until smooth, about five minutes.
Put the dough in a greased bowl, cover, and let rise for an hour.
Pre heat the oven to 450 degrees.
Combine the baking soda with about 4 cups of water (it is ok to just eyeball it) and bring it to a boil.
Punch down the dough and divide it into six equal parts. With your hands, roll each into a 12 inch long rope.
Cut each rope into 6 approximately 2 in pieces.
In batches of 8 – 10, boil the pretzel bites in the baking soda water for 30 seconds. Move to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper (or well greased) while you repeat with all the pretzel bites.
Make an egg wash by beating one egg with 1 tbsp water. Brush each pretzel with the egg mixture and sprinkle with course salt.
Bake for 10 – 12 minutes until golden brown.
These are best consumed warm from the oven but still delicious at room temperature.
French Toast
This is not fancy French toast. This isn’t really a recipe but more a collection of guidelines. Some mornings you just want the basics. Some mornings I want vanilla almond crusted French toast and died in chocolate chips. But some mornings I want simple delicious French toast like my mom used to make.
I used leftover Italian bread though to be more accurate to my memory it should have been sliced white bread. Or, you know, use whatever you have on hand. This is not fancy French toast. It is easy and delicious French toast.
French Toast
4 slices of stale bread
2-3 eggs (this really depends on the bread you are using, start with 2 you can always add more)
1 tbsp of milk per egg
1 tbsp butter
sugar and cinnamon
maple syrup (optional)
Beat your eggs with the milk in a shallow baking dish or pie pan.
Place as many bread slices as you can fit into the egg mixture. Allow it to soak for about a minute (if your bread is very thick or very stale you may want to go a little longer). Flip over and repeat with the other side.
While the bread is soaking heat a griddle or a frying pan. Melt the butter on the griddle and cook the bread roughly 3 minutes on each side.
Sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon as soon as they come off the heat.
Serve with more butter and syrup. And that’s it, simple, easy and delicious breakfast, sometimes all you really need.
Ham and Lentil Stew
Happy Easter everyone! Are you about to be inundated with leftover ham? I know that ham sandwiches are a favorite but they have never worked for me. I prefer something warm and delicious to use up my leftovers. Warm, delicious, surprisingly healthy. And this ham and lentil stew, while not the most photogenic of dishes, is very tasty.
I learned that lentils are very similar in some respects to split peas, so think of this as the best ham and pea soup you have ever had. It also freezes well if you have so many leftovers that you wind up with way too much stew and leftovers of your leftovers.
Ham and Lentil Stew
Adapted from Foodie With Family
2 tbsp olive oil
2 cups fully cooked leftover ham, diced
4-5 baby carrots, diced
1 medium onion, diced
1 stalk of celery, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
½ cup lentils, rinsed
1 can (14.5 ounces) tomato puree
3-5 cups of water (this really depends on your lentils, start with 3; add more if necessary)
1 cube chicken bullion
½ tsp dried thyme
¼ tsp crushed rosemary
1 bay leaf
Heat the olive oil in the bottom of a soup pot and brown the ham.
Add in the carrots, onion, and celery and cook until the onions are translucent.
Stir in the minced garlic and cook just for 30 seconds or so until the garlic is fragrant.
Add in the lentils, tomato puree, water, chicken bullion, and dried herbs.
Stir well to combine and bring to a boil. Partially cover the pot and simmer over medium low heat until the lentils are tender. This will again depend a lot on your lentils. I have made this stew twice and the first time it finished cooking in about an hour. The second time it was closer to an hour and a half before the lentils were tender enough. You may also find you need to add more water while the lentils are cooking. Apparently fresher lentils cook faster and with less water required than older lentils.
But no matter what it will be comforting and delicious!
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