Cookie Experiment & Apple Kuchen & Casserole

So this is your two-fer post. I'm, 1. too tired to make it two posts and 2. It's late.

So this last few weekends, I guess from the week before Easter to this weekend has been full and busy with back and forth and family gatherings.

Honestly some of the end of March is a blurr. I have some photos to remind me of what I purchased that week but not much else haha. I guess the running is using my brain power now and taking over.

I did buy grapes not long ago but found that these grapes were hulk sized.

That is an average sized spoon. Can you say HUGE. That was the word of the day one day the week after St. Patrick's but before Easter. I bought these Hulk grapes and then at work saw two HUGE vultures just chilling out on top of the office building I work in. Came back from lunch and was just standing in the parking lot staring with mouth agape and saying, oh my goodness those are HUGE birds! I'm serious, when they look big from the ground floor of a 5 story building you know they are big birds.

So then I got bored one night and decided it was time to experiment. I kept seeing people online using Easter candy to create new and fun treats. So, since I lacked candy I had to go buy some. So I went and purchased the candy I know Mike likes and decided to play with my mom's chocolate chip cookie recipe.

So I took my mom's basic chocolate chip cookie recipe is actually pretty close to the Toll House recipe with a few tweaks in measurements. Crazy huh? I think everybody's chocolate chip cookie recipes are based on the Toll House recipe but then tweaked for preference.

So I made the basic recipe, then I added about 1/4 cup to 1/3 cup creamy natural peanut butter. Then I added chopped up Peanut Butter Squared Snickers. So delicious on their own and then to add it to a cookie. Then I baked according to directions.

After I took some powdered sugar, butter (room temperature), a package of Swiss Miss dark chocolate cocoa, and a little vanilla and made a frosting. Then when the cookies cooled, (they were still soft and had a great chewy caramel bend to them, I frosted them with the chocolate frosting. Mike said the frosting texture wasn't quite right. A little grainy, yes. But that could have been solved by melting in a little milk before adding, then I would not have had to add any milk.

Basic frosting recipe is as follows: (I use for cookies and cakes)
1 stick soft, room temperature butter/margarine
1 tsp - 2 tsp vanilla (or desired flavoring)
8 - 16 oz powdered sugar (depends on how much frosting you want
1-3 Tbsp milk (depends on consistency you are going for - cookie or cake or a glaze)

Mix all together in mixer and frost as needed.

So after making the cookies and sharing with Mike I decided to make something else, I think my baking bug is finally coming back. I got burned out there for a while. So I decided I needed to use the apples Dad had given me that were taking up a good portion of space in my freezer. So I pulled those out and thought about what I could make.

I had been eyeballing my great grandmother's apple kuchen recipe for a while but just didn't take the time to do it. It's definitely not a 10 minute project. More like 2 1/2 hours total. Definitely something to plan to do. I'm sure you can make the dough the night before and place in the fridge after proofing to save and then bake the next morning for breakfast. I think of this as one of those special breakfasts or for dessert. It's delicious and has some family history with it.

First you have to make the dough, with flour, yeast, sugar, butter, water, egg, cinnamon, and salt. Then once it's put together, you knead it out into a nice ball and let it rest.

this is what happens when
I don't put the splash guard on my mixer

After you let the dough ball rise you have to punch it down in the center and let rise again. Mind you, rise times are 1 hour for the first and around 30 min to 1 hour for the second.

Once dough has risen twice and is nice and puffy you have to spread it out into a pan, the recipe says to divide into two pieces and then add toppings and bake. I chose to leave it in one and spread the dough out in a 9 1/2 by 11 inch cookie sheet.

Then you add your toppings, in my case - apples with a little flour, sugar, and cinnamon tossed together for a delicious flavor combo. Recipe says to arrange neatly. I did my best but would have preferred to have very thinly sliced apples but I made due with what I had.

So then you bake for about an hour and then it looks a little like this. Once cooled top with either powdered sugar dusted all over or make a thin glaze and drizzle. I chose to glaze it.

Hulda Bader's Kuchen Recipe:

Dough:
5-6 cups flour
2 pkg active dry yeast
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup softened butter
1 1/2 cups hot tap water (120 F - 130 F)
2 eggs
1 tsp cinnamon
Salad oil/vegetable oil (I used Pam spray)

Directions:
Combine 2 cups flour, cinnamon, sugar, and salt in a large bowl. Add softened butter. Add water into bowl all at once. Beat with mixer at medium speed for 2 minutes. Add eggs and 1 cup flour. Beat at high speed 1 minute. Gradually stir in just enough flour with wooden spoon to make soft dough that leaves the sides of the bowl. Then onto floured board round into a ball. Knead 5-10 minutes until smooth and elastic. Brush with tiny amount of oil. Cover with Saran Wrap then a towel. Let rise on board. After 1 hour, push down in center. Leave to rise again (about another 30 min to an hour). Divide and shape. Place on greased bakery sheet. Brush with melted butter, let rise again. (30 min to an hour). Bake at 350 F degrees for 30 min.

Toppings:
Fruit Kuchen: roll out dough, brush with melted butter and add fruit toppings.

Apple Kuchen: slice apples thin. Mix them with cinnamon and sugar, and a little flour. Arrange neatly on dough. Sprinkle again with cinnamon and sugar where needed.

Rolled Kuchen: Roll out dough, brush with melted butter. Chop desired amount of nuts, raisins, cinnamon, and sugar. Roll up into log. Place on bakery sheet and brush with butter.

After cooled, drizzle with icing, top with cherries and walnuts.

This is the lady who made this deliciousness. Mrs. Hulda Bader. (my great grandmother)

So I took this to work with me the next day and it was an instant hit with all the coffee drinkers. People ask for the recipe, I send them here. ;) Easier than sending out 100 emails of the recipe that I never bring to work with me.

So then we hit Easter. Mike wanted me to make Rockin' Guac, a recipe sponsored by rotel. I was cool with that since I know my family will eat just about anything and this would be good to munch on before the ham and German potato salad would be ready.

It's a super simple recipe.

1/2 cup chopped onion (red)
3 avocados, ripe
1 can rotel, mild or original
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions: Mash all together.

Mike says it should be a 2 avocado to 1 can ratio, where I think maybe using mild rotel and adding a tomato might help. Definitely had to add more salt and pepper. I tend to under season with salt just to be on the safe side. Something totally fixable.

But it was a hit, mom enjoyed as did Mike and myself. Not sure if I saw dad take a dip at it or not. I only went home with a heaping half cup. So I think this was a good one. A little chunky but good.

Mom made a delicious dinner of honey glazed spiral cut ham, German potato salad, some olives and pickles as a part of the dinner (much like what we do for Thanksgiving). Then I brought the vegetable. Carrot casserole. Mike enjoys this so much he even eats seconds. It's tasty and you WILL want seconds. Of course this batch came out a bit lumpy, I think it's because I used baby carrots instead of whole carrots chopped up. Boiling baby carrots to a tender mush takes FOR-EV-ER! Do not do it unless you have a food processor. Which is what I want for Christmas or my birthday, you hear that family? I WANT A FOOD PROCESSOR, at least 5 cups capacity and not a proctor silex brand. Preferably Black and Decker or kitchen aid. Yes, this is what I have been asking for every year for about 3 years now. Why can't they seem to remember?

Oh well...guess I'll just have to buy it myself.

Easter went well, normal family gathering. Food, chatter, Easter basket hunt, Nerf shootout.

Speaking of Nerf shootout, which Mike and I did in the living room of my folks house and had a great time and had many laughs from everyone, I went to go practice for trap the day before Easter. Took a friend to come watch, he had a good time and was fascinated with it.

Wish me luck on May 11, that is when the corporate challenge trap shooting competition is. I am in it as the female shooter for my company. So nervous. I average between 15 and 18 per round out of 25. I would love to get closer to 20 but I need to practice more. Ammunition is not cheap, however.

So now we come to this last weekend, we finally made it to our favorite local bar and checked out the updates they had done, new floor, new seating, new TVs, and new menu. We had the pepper jack bites, which they kept from the old menu, and then Mike had the Saint's Burger (signature burger with bacon, cheese, and lettuce and tomato and onion and a Jack Daniels sauce. Looked amazing. I had a grilled chicken bowl. It had grilled chicken, shredded jack cheese, corn, mashed potato and gravy. It was quite delicious. We hit it up on the right night too since it was $2 anything behind the bar. We each had a drink with our dinner and called it a night.

Now we come to this weekend. Last night was the travel time to Mike's and today we slept in and kind of bummed around. A rest day. Then I made dinner. A Mac & Cheese Chicken Veggie Casserole. It was ok, not fabulous but edible and tasty.

It needed more flavor pop, chicken needed salt and pepper and the cheese needed to be more spread out through the pasta. But all in all, something we can improve upon to have as a quick and easy family dinner staple.

The recipe is simple and comes from Country Crock.

Easy Mac & Cheese Veggie Chicken Casserole:
Ingredients-
4 Tbsp country crock spread, melted, divided
1 cup 2% milk (used 1%)
8 oz dry rotini pasta, cooked and drained
2 cups diced COOKED chicken breast
4 cups assorted frozen vegetables, thawed (used California mix)
2 1/4 cup finely shredded low fat cheddar cheese
1/4 cup plain dry bread crumbs
1 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese

Directions-
Preheat oven to 400 F degrees.

If using raw chicken, season with salt and pepper and cook until 80% done. Then dice.

Cook past according to package directions, about 7 min in boiling water.

Combine 3 Tbsp Country Crock spread, milk, cooked rotini, cooked chicken, thawed vegetables and cheddar cheese in a large bowl and spread into an 8 inch baking dish/casserole dish.

Combine bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, and remaining margarine in a small bowl; sprinkle over top of casserole.

Bake until heated through and crumbs are toasted. About 30 minutes.

Makes 6 servings.

Like I said, it needs more flavor. Seasoning. Maybe more salt and pepper and some garlic powder. Something to round it out and give it some depth. Not bad though.

Tomorrow is turkey scouting day, will also be a RushFit day and maybe a good 1 - 2 mile run. Shall see I suppose.

So what is in store for the upcoming weekends? Well, Mike will be turkey hunting, so hopefully we will have some upcoming wild turkey recipes for you. Also, I will be in the Color Me Rad race for KC next weekend and then April 27 I will be in the Warrior Dash 5k. In May I have trap on the 11th and then on the 12th I have a 5k walk with my mom for Mother's Day. So the upcoming months are busy and packed full of fun, adventure, and mystery *as usual right ;) *

So get out there, have fun, and go cook something!

(Shot) Guns and (Cookie) Roses

So last weekend I was a little bored. I was also in kind of a "I love you" type of mode. Just felt like baking and making something pretty. It was a "me" weekend. Mike and I had our off weekend and he was working and I was enjoying the weekend in the ways I know how.

I first started off by getting up early Saturday so I could make it to the range by opening (10 am).

I shot well the first round, the second I didn't take my time like I should have. So out of two rounds 16/25 and 13/25 for my first Trap practice without Mike. He's gonna come with me this weekend. To watch.

So while shooting and being so happy with myself for breaking clay birds, it's quite a thrill really. Everyone should learn how to responsibly use a firearm, learn the value of life, and go shoot some clay birds. 

Of course while I shoot, being still fairly new to it, I remind myself things as I get ready. "Feet wide, toes forward and out slightly, bend at waist, knees loose, elbow up, beads only on barrel, breathe, focus, take my time, follow through." Yes I really do say these things to myself. But it's helpful and I'm told to do it. Habit makes for muscle memory and second nature. 

Of course one shot I thought I had it all down, had recited my little shtick and said "PULL!"  Bird goes flying, I pull the trigger and BANG!! Yeah, that one wasn't set into my should right. Somehow I had it just a bit high and the stock kicked just enough to hurt. So in the end here I am with a bruise.

Needless to say I learned my lesson. Only takes one bruise to learn.

So, later that weekend, after shopping and working out, I decided while I waiting for Svengoolie to come on MeTV at 9 pm (CST) I decided to bake some pretty cookies. 

I found this recipe by chance, I think through a food related newsletter in my email. They are called Fragile Rubella. The blog was in Polish, so Thank God for Google and the ability to translate a page. :)

Of course I still had to figure out a few things. Like translating Celsius to Fahrenheit. Of course grams is no biggie since I have a scale and milliliters is easy now that I have my trusty oxo cups that measure in just about every available system, metric or standard. This cookie is basically a basic butter/spritz type of shortbread. A little of both mixed together. 

So to start off, after making your dough and chilling it. You roll it out and then cut circles out, I used a 3 inch cutter. Then you take your circles and layer 4 together (just the edges overlapping, creating a line of circles.)

I forgot to capture this while doing it, messy hands.

Then you roll up all 4 circles on top of themselves. Then cut them right down the center to make two pieces. like so.

Continue to do so until you run out of dough. Then place the cut side down and pull down the "petals" to shape the rose.

So once you have them shaped, place them on a baking sheet. I did that the first time and all my roses fell over and turned out rather pathetic, so the next batch I put in muffin tins so they wouldn't wilt on me. That worked absolutely perfectly!

The final product on the right was beautiful. Dust with powdered sugar to give a little extra. The original recipe doesn't call for food coloring to create red roses but I just felt like it. So you could make dough colored roses and sprinkle with red sugar crystals or edible glitter. Get creative.

Speaking of creative, I got creative Sunday. I had an empty space up above my headboard in my bedroom between the 4 small pictures I have. So I brainstormed, got a few ideas from Mike and then made a decision. I would create something rather than buy it.

I got to playing with the shells that were on my counter from trap practice and shaped them into a heart which then gave me an idea to turn those shells into something even more beautiful than shot.

I took the two canvas I had and painted them completely black. Then mapped out where I would glue the shells on. From there I let everything dry and set. Then I wrote a quote on the canvas with a silver sharpie (because it's prettier than me painting words, trust me)

"The best thing to hold onto in life is each other." Audrey Hepburn *my favorite actress ever also stars in my favorite movie set in Manhattan New York New York, "Breakfast at Tiffany's." You can see all those elements here below. The New York pictures in black and white with just a pop of color. And the art in the middle depicting a black and white setting with a pop of red color. I call this - Shotgun Love.

So, while we are now finally coming to the end of the "Great Blizzard of Oz," the two weeks where we had almost 2 feet of snow dumped on us within 3 days worth of time, I can finally see some grass and the sidewalks are emerging once again to be run on so I do not have to dodge drivers that don't care to give me the time of day while I run on the side of the road.

So we have survived the snow, and I have gotten some cool pictures because of it. Ice and snow walls on the sidewalks at the brownstone.

Ok, enough flapping my fingers on you. Here's the recipe you are wanting.

Fragile Rubella

200 g cold butter (about 2 sticks)
2 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cup sugar
3 egg yolks
Pinch of salt

Chop flour together with salt and butter. Add sugar and egg yolks and chop everything together with a pastry blender or with your hands. Quickly knead the dough and form a ball. If it does not stick together add 1-2 tablespoons of cold water until it comes together.

Wrap the dough in plastic and place in the fridge for about half and hour.

Roll out the chilled dough thinly on a lightly floured surface (about 3-4 mm thick). Cut dough into circles, about 3 inch circles. After you have 4 circles, arrange so as to overlap each other, and roll it into a roll (rather loose). Cut the roll in half to create two parts. Thus obtaining two rubella's.

With the cut side down on your rubella part the petals on the top and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper (or place in cupcake cups). Bake in a preheated 200 degree C/400 degrees F oven for about 10-15 minutes, until golden brown on the edges.

Baked cookies can be sprinkled with powdered sugar.

Go out and cook, make something pretty and delicious. :)

Xtra Large Cookies and Valentine's Day

Yes, we are a little late here with our Valentine's day post. Of course neither Mike nor I are huge V-Day people. No reason to not love each other 364 days and only celebrate it only on 1 day out of the year.

I bought Mike a movie he likes, "Looper," and he bought me a cup from his Alma mater. I really like it and it's perfect for work.

So then I made cookies, Mike and I couldn't spend Valentine's day together, so we celebrated the weekend before. So the week of V-Day I made cookies, which I intended to take to work, but then I decided that I was gonna have a shark week kind of week and eat them myself over the course of a week.

Mind you, these are LARGE cookies, EXTRA LARGE cookies. Basically this is a one cookie recipe. Of course, if you wanted to make a tiny batch of cookies out of this I am quite sure you could, however, it's more fun to make these HUGE cookies and share them eat them all by yourself and not give any to your significant other. Sorry Mike, I love you :)

The ingredient lists for any of these cookies is rather simple. Basically it's a cookie recipe, depending on the type, and sized down to make one large cookie, or about 4-6 normal size cookies. But why make things small right? Bigger is better. Or at least when it comes to cookies and trucks.

I found these recipes at the darling "Sally's Baking Addiction" blog. I saw Reese's Peanut Butter Extra large cookie. I was definitely making that. If I had to eat one food for the rest of my life, it would be peanut butter.

To top the recipe off, it has Reese's pieces AND chocolate chips AND peanut butter. Uh DONE, yum. Gotta have.

So you start out mixing your wet ingredients, butter and sugars and peanut butter. Cream those and then start adding your egg,  salt, baking soda, vanilla, and then flour. Once you have that mixed fold in your chocolate chips and Reese's.

You should then have this lovely, thick cookie dough. YUM! I could quite honestly eat this by itself. Of course between Mike and I we could put away cookie dough by itself.

You then have this lovely delicious, moist and yet crunchy cookie. This is literally the size of my entire hand. It's MASSIVE! And I totally ate this by myself, over a couple of days. 

Of course from this recipe comes XXL Death by Chocolate cookie (perfect for that shark week craving).

Also can make a Buttery Soft Sugar Cookie, which quite honestly I didn't care for on it's own, so I cut it out with a heart cookie cutter and frosted it and then wrote "XO" in honor of V-Day. Of course I noticed that I actually had red food coloring AFTER I made the frosting blue and then purple.

Of course with sugar cookies come snicker doodles. Which rolling this dough in cinnamon sugar is impossible. I also think my sugar and snicker doodle dough's weren't thick enough. I may have to try adding at least 1 - 2 Tbsp more flour to help with that.

 So, I"m sure you're wanting the recipes now. Well I will give you the Reese's Giant cookie recipe, the rest you can find sugar here and snicker doodle  here and death by chocolate here.

The XXL Death By Chocolate and the Giant Reese's Peanut Butter Cookie's are my favorites.

1 Giant Reese's Peanut Butter Cookie

Makes one (1) GIANT cookie

2 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened
2 Tbsp granulated sugar
2 Tbsp packed brown sugar
2 Tbsp beaten egg (crack and egg and beat it, use 2 Tbsp - or use egg beaters)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 Tbsp creamy peanut butter (I used Walmart's Natural creamy)
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup Reese's Pieces
1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (F). Spray baking sheet with nonstick spray or line with a silicone baking mat. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla, mixing until well combined. Stir in peanut butter, then add flour, baking soda, and salt. Fold in Reese's Pieces and chocolate chips until combined. With a large spoon, scoop into a ball onto prepared baking sheet. The dough will be sticky. Make sure the cookie dough ball is tall and round. You can top with a few extra Reese's Pieces before baking.

Bake for 17-19 minutes, until edges are lightly browned. The center may appear undone, but it will set as the cookie cools. Let cool ON the baking sheet for 10 minutes. Enjoy.

Of course using this base you can always change it to match what you're craving. Use your imagination and taste buds to figure out what flavor combinations would work.

Go out and cook!

3-D Pumpkin Cookies Filled with Candy Corn

So here we go into Autumn/Fall. The leaves are changing (and not due to the overwhelming heat) and the temperatures are dropping. It's feeling good outside, my windows are open and the AC/Heat is off. I have no use for it currently. I'm loving the smells and the flavors of the season. Crunchy leaves, cool mornings, cinnamon and spices. Mmmm, making me hungry now.

So pumpkin, let's talk pumpkin. I love pumpkins in general. Great decoration, great food, and just all around fun. You can decorate them, use them as a craft, and cook with them. Or you can emulate them in your cooking/baking. Much as I have done here. I made these for a co-workers birthday. I just thought they were too cute and couldn't pass up the opportunity with an October birthday to boot. (A #1 excuse to bake - it's for someone's birthday).

I found this recipe from Glorious Treats. These were just too cute of an idea to pass up. So here I go. I changed things a little bit and used a few of my own recipes. My mom's "Christmas Cutout Cookies" and a basic "Royal Icing" recipe.

Use any roll out sugar cookie recipe you like. You can use Glorious Treats recipe or one that you like from your own recipe box.

For the royal icing, super simple.

3 egg whites
1 tsp cream of tartar
3 3/4 cup powdered sugar (give or take - roughly 1 lb/16 oz)

Place egg whites and cream of tartar in mixing bowl with whisk attachment - whisk until frothy.

Add powdered sugar gradually and mix until frosting forms stiff peaks and is glossy (about 5-7 min on medium high speed). Store covered with plastic wrap until ready to use. (can cover and place in fridge)

Easy no?

So for the dough, you need to color it. Take about a baseball size amount after you have made your dough. Maybe a tennis ball size. Set that dough aside. Color the remaining dough orange, you can either purchase orange food coloring or do what I do and add red and yellow together (see the color layers?)

Now take the small tennis ball sized dough and color a nice green color (sorry no pics of that).

Now you need to chill the dough for about 30 min. Then roll out on a lightly floured surface. You will need to cut out, with round or scalloped cookie cutters, 2 medium rounds with a hole cut out of the center and two solid rounds cut with a slightly smaller cookie cutter. Basically have a large, medium and small set of cutters (I obviously used just circles in three descending sizes. I would call them medium, small and tiny.) Once you have all your orange pieces cut out, place on sheet and bake. Make sure to keep an eye on them so they don't brown too much. If you have excess flour on your cookies take a brush and brush it off or dab a little water from a paper towel to get rid of that.

Now you will need that tennis ball you've dyed green. Roll it out and cut out with a small round cutter, smaller than the solid rounds. Then you will need a straw to cut a hole out in the center for the stem. Just blow the dough out of the straw and bake and it works great for the stem.

You can bake the stem right in the top or you can do what I did and just "glue" it on with the royal icing.

Once your cookies are baked and cooled, make your royal icing. You can color it orange or leave as is. I left it white because I was too lazy last night to color it orange, and it didn't bother me to have a little sticking out.

Once your icing is done, pack a bit in a zip top bag, snip off one corner and pipe a little on the top, around the edges, of 1 solid orange circle  Place a orange ring on top, pipe frosting on the orange ring, then place the second orange ring on top of that. Now, take the green tops and put a dab of icing on the bottom of your leaf top and place on last solid circle. Let everything dry. DO NOT CAP OFF YOUR PUMPKINS YET!!! 

Once your icing has hardened, give it 10-30 min, fill your pumpkins with candy of choice. I did candy corn. Glorious Treats did mini M&M's. Be creative, use your favorite candy bits.

NOW pipe a small bit around the edge of the top ring and place your pumpkin caps on. Let set overnight and voila! You have cute as a button pumpkin 3-D cookies.

Easy no? I enjoyed making these, I wish they had turned out a bit cuter but I think part of that was making some of my rings and circles too thin. Try to stay at about 1/4 inch thickness at the thinnest. I need to get rings for my rolling pin so I can keep track of this. I have one of those solid wooden dowel-esque rolling pins. The kind that could seriously injure an intruder.

So go out and cook. Get creative and make something cute today. Enjoy Fall and all it's glory. Windows opened, pumpkin cookies baking, and candy corn in abundance (and all mine I might add since Mike detests the stuff he he. More for me.)