Chocolate Gooey Butter Cookies

Paula Dean always makes rich and delicious looking dishes. For the same party, I wanted to make a chocolatey dessert. I wanted to use the free box of Betty Crocker cake mix I had lying around but I didn't really want to make cake. I didn't know what to do.

I was browsing the new Food Network Site (which now has pictures! finally) and I came across this recipe for Chocolate Gooey Butter Cookies. Again, they were really easy, and a big hit! The only thing is that they take a bit of time to sit in the refrigerator because the dough is so unbelievably thick.

Chocolate Gooey Butter Cookies


Ingredients:
1 8oz bar of cream cheese (I used lowfat) at room temperature
1 stick butter, at room temperature
1 egg
1t vanilla extract
1 box pudding in the mix chocolate cake mix (I used Betty Crocker Triple Chocolate)
Confectioners sugar

Directions:
-Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
-Cream together the cream cheese and butter
-Add the egg and extract and beat until mixed
-Add cake mix and mix until just combined
-Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours
-Roll 1 T of dough into a ball and then roll in powdered sugar
-Set 2 inches apart on a cookie tray
-Bake for 12 minutes, the cookies will be moist and gooey

Eat!

Cherry Turnovers

I wanted to make something special for a family/church friends party last weekend. I looked through my recipes for a qualifying dessert. Something different was on my mind--and something with a touch of fall.

I finally found a recipe I cut out from Everyday Food last year. The recipe looked easy enough--but it used puff pastry, something I had never worked with before. I found the recipe about six hours before I had to attend the party--and I still had to do the shopping.

It took me two stores to find the puff pastry--and then it was frozen. I was supposed to thaw the pastry for 30-40 minutes before starting and then roll it out into a larger rectangle still folded--but I didn't have time and my rolling pin doesn't respect me. So I skipped that step. The only thing this did was cause the turnovers to be bigger (what's the harm in that?!). Everyone tried to be good and take only half, but they always went back for another one later.

These turnovers were amazing. My original plan was to make some cherry and some apple, but lack of time and interest in a second dessert choice for non-cherry lovers changed my mind. The dessert was easy to make, despite the newness of the puff pastry. I will gladly make these for any party!

Cherry Turnovers
Ingredients:
1 box (17.25oz, 2 sheets) frozen puff pastry (Pepperidge Farm has some near the pie crust in the freezer section)
3T flour, plus more for dusting
1 bag (12oz) frozen cherries (I recommend breaking these down a little with a fork when you mix them with the sugar)
1/3cup sugar
1T lemon juice
1 large egg yolk mixed with 2T water (for egg wash)
2 to 3T Raw sugar (also known as sanding sugar or finishing sugar) *I used raw sugar and I think it made a nice difference in look--use more than you expect
Small bowl of water and pastry brush or small rubber spatula

Directions:
-When you decide to make the recipe, start thawing the puff pastry.
-In a medium bowl combine cherries, flour, granulated sugar, and lemon juice; toss to coat.
-Unfold one sheet of puff pastry on a lightly floured board or table.
-Mix together the yolk and water for the egg wash and set aside
-Preheat the oven to 375
-Cut into 9 equal squares with a sharp knife (really you can cut into any size you want, but this was the easiest for me--just make sure that between the two sheets you end with an even number)
-Mound the cherries into the center of one square leaving a border on each side. Brush the edge with water.
-Cover the first square with another square and press down the edges to stick. Use a floured fork to crimp the edges.
-Set aside on a cookie sheet (you may want to spray this sheet, I lost a little of the pastry to the pan)
-Repeat the process until you have made all the turnovers.
-Brush the tops of the pastry with the egg wash and sprinkle with raw sugar (apparently if you let the egg wash drip too much the pastry won't puff)
-Use a sharp knife to cut 3-4 slits in the top of each
-Bake for 30-40 minutes until golden brown and filling is bubbling

Serve warm, or at room temperature - they are equally as delicious!

Pasta Sauce in a Bag - New Product

While I was at the store trying to come up with a quick dinner idea that I could make mid-week after 9-11 hour work days, Bertolli's Sauce in a Bag caught my eye. My main problem with jarred pasta sauce or even the kind in the refrigerator section is that there is always way too much of it. I end up with half a jar left that just sits in the fridge.

As a result, I have been leaning on canned tomatoes that have different Italian spices in them--but it just doesn't cut it. It really is the kind of meal that I would only serve to myself if I was in a bind.

Bertolli's Sauce in a bag changed this for me! I got the Summer Tomato and Basil sauce in the bag. It was just about enough for 2. It heats in the microwave (WITHOUT SPLATTERING!) for 90 seconds. I paired the sauce with some light Buitoni refrigerator section 4 cheese ravioli. I also got some garlic breadsticks from the freezer section.

Everything came together in twelve minutes and the dinner was delicious. I thought that th Bertolli Sauce tasted a lot more like homemade than the kind in the jars. It was fresh and flavorful and had a lightness to it.

How to Fix Mac and Cheese

I made some Mac and Cheese on Friday and it was...weird. The recipe was called Cheesy Macaroni and Ham. I omitted the ham, but I should have omitted a couple of other ingredients as well. There were three things added to the dish that made me worried--but I figured that they would all fit together well in the end.

They did not.

The ingredients that worried me were Sour Cream, Nutmeg, and Dijon Mustard.

The Dijon Mustard was a huge flavor in the pasta, and not a very welcome one. The mustard overpowered the cheese! Mustard Pasta is not a taste sensation. Nutmeg was a flavor that I could pick out despite the overpowering mustard and it was a little odd. While apple pie may be served with cheddar cheese, pumpkin never is and the nutmeg brought back memories of pumpkin pie and pumpkin pie with cheese sounds disgusting. The flavor of the sour cream didn't come out nearly as strongly, however, it did add a little bitter aftertaste.

So we ate the dish anyway, but there were mounds of leftovers that I really didn't want to go to waste. I decided to go back to my roots and remembered Grandma Bev's love for no recipes. I decided I would fix the dish if I could.

I pulled out a small casserole and mixed together a little egg and sour cream (I was out of milk and this seemed like a viable solution). I then added a couple scoopfuls of mac and cheese to the casserole. I topped this concoction with a handful of shredded cheddar being sure to fill in any gaps. I added a little bit of shredded mozzarella. Then I put a few thin pats of butter on top and baked for 15 minutes.

The result was a glorious cheesy hot and bubbly mass of golden delicious pasta and cheese easily masking the taste of the disastrous mustard.

Deep Dish Pizza

Day three was a real test. My commute was a half hour longer because of an accident on the major interchange. I re-routed and took a decidedly round about way home a little farther north than I needed to be. I got home at 7, and I was tired and hungry and I was wishing for Joey to say I didn't have to cook. But he didn't, he told me he'd be right over. And so I kept with my pact and cooked.

After two so-so recipe's from Robin Miller's Quick Fix Meals, I knew that this one had to be delicious. The surprise was that it was delicious and very very easy and quick. This was the perfect meal to make when I was tired, it used hardly any dishes to boot!

The recipe calls for 1 pound of pizza dough, but Pillsbury refrigerated dough comes in at slightly under. Instead of buying two rolls, I decided to just go with one. I knew that I could get 1 pound of dough at Trader Joe's but then I would have to roll it out. Pillsbury dough is pre-rolled. Unfortunately, my roll of Pillsbury dough had a hole in it! This presented a problem in trying to divide it into two--it was far less dough than it should have been. As a result my two perfect pizzas became one perfect pizza and one puny kid sister. Portion-wise it was a good size for me.

Deep Dish Pizza
Ingredients:
1 pound pizza dough
1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes (I bet the ones with Italian seasoning or garlic would add something)
2 T tomato paste
1 t oregano
salt
1 C mozzerella cheese
2 T parmesan cheese, shredded
Assorted toppings (I used pepperoni and bell peppers)
*Robin suggested picking up assorted chopped veggies from the salad bar--had I gone to the store before the salad bar was closed, I would have jumped on this idea!)

Directions:
-Preheat oven to 450F
-spray two 9 inch round cake pans with cooking spray
-Spread pizza dough (divided in two) evenly over the bottom (the non holey piece was easy as pie to spread)
-In a small bowl mix together tomatoes, tomato paste, and oregano. Add salt to taste.
-With a rubber spatula, spread the sauce over the dough
-Sprinkle both cheeses over the sauce
-Add toppings as desired
-Sprinkle with a little bit of the remaining cheese if desired
-Bake for 10-12 minutes until crust is golden brown and cheese is bubbly
-Let sit for 1-2 minutes allowing cheese to set

*It was easy to get the pizza whole out of the pan but not easy to cut it inside the pan. Try moving the whole pizza to a wooden cutting board and serving it at the table for a rustic look

No Knead Bread

If you haven't heard about the No Knead Bread craze, you haven't been in the food blogger world long enough! No Knead Bread became a phenomenon last year after a New York Times article was published. For the busy,the stay at home mom, or the home office employee, this is just the kind of bread that is hands off enough to make over a two day period but hands on enough to make you feel accomplished.

I have made the bread several times and each time I think that it would be even better with the addition of rosemary--but then by the time I get to the stage where I would add in the rosemary, I completely forget. Next time I will remember!

I made the bread the other day in a shortened period of time and it still turned out delicious. I had the day at home, so I thought I'd give it a shot and if it didn't work out I'd just make something different as a side for the potato soup I was making. The only thing that didn't work out was that I forgot to flour or grease the bottom of the pot I made it in and as a result the entire bottom half of the bread was impossible to extract. Luckily, I was able to salvage much of the loaf and the rest dislodged during a hot water spa soak in the sink.

I use Jaden's directions because she does it in pictures so it is easy to follow. Also, it really shows you just how the bread should look on each stage. The best part about this was that when I made it in half the time yesterday, I compared mine with hers to determine its state of readiness. I think my bread was a little flatter because of the small amount of time I let it rise, but it still tasted great!

Ingredients:
3 cups bread flour
1/4 teaspoon instant yeast
3/4 tablespoon kosher salt
1 1/2 cups warm water
Covered pot (five-quart or larger cast iron, Pyrex, ceramic, enamel…something that can go into a 450F oven.)

Directions:
-Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl
-Cover in plastic wrap and set aside on the counter for 12-20 hours or overnight (I set it aside for 8 hours)
-Later, remove dough from bowl and place on a floured surface, form into a ball folding in all sides (this is where I would add the rosemary had I remembered it)
-Flour a cotton dishtowel and place bread on towel and cover. If you put the towel in a pot, the bread will shape like the pot, if you put it on the counter it will be flatter. Let sit for 2 hours (I did 1 hour).
-With 1/2 hour left in resting time, put pot in oven (without the bread) and heat to 450. Remove the hot pot and add bread (GREASE AND FLOUR THE PAN FIRST).
-Bake covered for 30 minutes
-Remove the cover and bake for an additional 12-15 minutes until golden brown
-Cool on a wire rack, the bread will crackle as it cools, serve the same day, I have not found this bread to be as delicious the next day.

Cheddar Potato Soup

Well, night two came and went. I made Cheesy Potato Soup from Robin Miller's Quick Fix Meals. I must admit right off the bat that I made a possibly major mistake right off the bat that might have ruined the soup.

Remember those tests in grade school where each question told you to do some kind of silly thing but at the top it said Read through all the questions first and somewhere near the bottom it said "don't do numbers 2-20?" Well this is one of those times when I would have failed that test.

The part I didn't read was the part where it says "Carefully, without burning yourself, puree the soup in a blender or food processor or use an immersion blender to do it right in the pot." This is an important piece because, while there are 3 choices of small appliances, I don't have any of them. Usually when I make a blender-required recipe, I just ask Joey to bring one of the appliances over. But he was already there and so was our friend, so I decided to just skip that step.

Big Mistake. Instead of pureeing, I mashed the potatoes and then mixed them with the broth. The soup tasted much like a baked potato. Joey and Nate added butter and more cheese to their soup--bacon would have been an excellent topper. The soup was missing something--I really expected it to be more creamy than baked potato-y. I challenge one of you to try it and puree it and tell me what it's really like!

Cheddar Potato Soup
Ingredients:
2 T olive oil
2 leeks (I didn't realize that 2 leeks was two stalks so I only bought one and then I used finely chopped red onion to fill the void of the other one)
2 large potatoes, peeled and diced
6 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth (she calls for roasted garlic chicken broth which I have seen in other recipes but NEVER in the store)
2 bay leaves
2 cloves garlic, chopped (I added this because I thought there would be no flavor, the garlic flavor did not come through at all)
1 C shredded cheddar cheese
salt and pepper
chopped chives (optional)
crumbled bacon (optional)
extra cheese (optional)

Directions:
-Heat oil in a large saucepan over med. heat
-Add leeks and cook, stirring until soft and fragrant, add garlic and cook one minute more
-Add potatoes, chicken broth, bay leaves and bring to a boil
-Boil partially covered 8-10 min until potatoes are fork tender
-Remove bay leaves
-Puree soup in batches and return to pot
-Add cheese and stir until melted
-Add salt and pepper
-Serve hot with toppings