Gluten-free cookie dough..say what?!

I'm allergic to wheat, I'm allergic to dairy, I'm allergic to soy...actually I'm NOT allergic to any of these food categories, but many people are.

The folks at Cheerios were an Allrecipes product sponsor for the month of November, and I was one Allstar who was tasked with creating a recipe. This particular recipe was to be designated as Gluten-free. Not knowing anything about celiacs or gluten intolerance, I had a crash course in foods safe for those who are following a gluten-free diet.

How the cookie crumbles...

I'm not a person who typically eats many sweets.  My sweet tooth was pretty much cured 5 years ago when I took a series of cake decorating classes.  Regardless, from time to time when the urge to bake strikes, I will bake, and indulge.

I'm notorious for finding unusually named recipes and Hobo Cookies are no exception.  They have no flour so I imagine they are considered gluten-free.

The first thing I noticed was that it made 20 DOZEN cookies (240!!!) ...umm I don't need THAT going from my lips to my hips, so I reduced the recipe substantially!   The next thing I noticed was the unusual (translate that to WRONG) quantity of ingredients listed.

I knew that I would have to re-formulate the recipe for it to work.  

Changes are as follows (this is for the FULL batch!).

6 eggs *

4 cups white sugar

4 cups packed brown sugar

1 tablespoon light corn syrup**

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

8 teaspoon baking soda

2 cups butter

3 cups peanut butter

12 cups rolled oats

3 cups semisweet chocolate chips

2 cups m&m's  ***

Beat together the eggs, sugars, butter, vanilla, and peanut butter. Add the baking soda, and beat well. Stir in the oats, chocolate chips and M&M candies.

Place dough by tablespoonfuls on parchment lined cookie sheets. Bake at 350° F (175°C) for 10 minutes. DO NOT OVERBAKE!!!!!!

*The egg quantity may be increased to a total of 8 eggs if it looks TOO crumbly. 

**  I left out the corn syrup, I don't think it would enhance the recipe at all

*** I suggest using the mini m&m's baking pieces.

Dinner is Done!

I'm finally back to my "cooking roots" or so it seems.  I'm really not a fan of assigned recipes.  I much prefer following my own ideas, and if not my ideas tweaking a recipe to suit my tastes. 


Dining in at home:


This was a yummy recipe I tried...and oh mamma mia this was something that made my tastebuds dance w/ delight!!


Chicken w/ Proscuitto Spinach Cream Sauce

This was amazing and absolutely delicious! My changes to the recipe (linked above) were minimal. You do NOT need to use that much milk for the egg milk bath. So I dropped it to 1 egg and 1/4 cup milk. I elected to use grapeseed oil as it has a higher heat tolerance. I used a mix of Italian seasoned Panko and Italian seasoned breadcrumbs, instead of all heavy cream (and to save calories) I used a mix of 1% milk & heavy whipping cream using a 3:1 ratio. I used a 6 cheese Italian blend and I left out the salt - the proscuitto is MORE than salty enough. Once the chicken was finished I kept it warm in the oven. Other than that there were no other changes. I used barefoot pinot grigio as it's a good quality white wine. Next time I'll toss in some fire roasted bell peppers. This is a "dining in" dinner and a keeper!


I'm a fan of Alfredo Sauce, and yes to some I know it's been called "heart attack on a plate" which I'm sure is sacriledge to those who are famous for it!


This is a delicious, quick and tasty Alfredo Sauce

It really needs no changes BUT for healthy eating I have used a fat free cream cheese and 1% milk. It makes a LOT of sauce as followed, so don't say I didn't warn you!




Crockpot Cooking:


One of the January assignments was for crockpot cooking - and the crockpot is certainly NOT a stranger in my kitchen!  I use my crock pot at least 10x's each month.  What's not to love about prepping your meal and then being able to walk away from the kitchen knowing that in a few hours dinner will be ready and you'll have gotten other things accomplished!


I tried a White Chili  recipe from Allrecipes.com and WOW!!! I was impressed!!!!

I'm a firm believer in good food w/ few ingredients, but admittedly I inwardly cringed and thought NO WAY will this even taste good b/c it had only FOUR ingredients!!!   I'll also say that I'm a self-avowed food snob and really didn't have much expectations for this recipe, but WOW it was creamy, hearty, and wholesome!  Naturally my addition of sour cream and some tortilla strips may have upped the calories a smidge, but this recipe is a keeper!






Dessert time!!!!  Always a good time right?  I got a jumpstart on Valentine's day...and made some Caramel Brownie Hearts

They're simple and semi-homemade, but if you're a busy working adult and don't have the time to do from scratch brownies, they'll work in a pinch!  These are definately "Gourmet at Home" - and if I had someone special in my life it's something I would have no hesitation making for a Valentine's day dessert or any other time I wanted a special dessert at home.  I could also see a dark chocolate brownie w/ a garnish of a raspberry coulis!




Ever go to the grocery store and see those "fluffy frosted sugar cookies" - and you think they taste SO good even if they have a funky chemical taste to them?  Well this is an amazing at home sugar cookie that if you try will have you thinking twice about buying any of those cookies again!

Fluffy frosted sugar cookies at home:

1 1/4 cup white sugar

1 cup butter, softened

2 eggs

3 1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp almond extract

Heat oven to 375°

Soften the butter at room temperature. Cream the butter w/ the sugar & add eggs one at a time.

Sift the flour to measure 3 1/2 cups - please note this is NOT the same as measuring then sifting.

Once you've sifted and measured the flour, add it to the creamed butter mixture 1/2 cup at a time, until thoroughly combined.  Next add the baking powder & extracts.

Using a small 1 Tbsp spring hinged ice cream scoop, scoop out the cookie dough and place it on parchment lined baking sheets.  Bake for approximately 12 minutes.  Let cool before frosting.

Frosting:

1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar

3 Tbsp butter, softened

1 tsp PURE vanilla extract (if you use imitation vanilla bump this to 1 TBSP)

1 Tbsp milk

Coloured sugar, sprinkles for topping

Combine confectioners' sugar butter, vanilla and milk, beating until creamy. Thin with a few more drops of milk (if necessary) to reach desired spreading consistency. Sprinkle w/ assorted decor topping. 

Bar Food:

You know those yummy potato wedges that often have cheese, bacon, sour cream, and other toppings?

Yeah the type that go straight from the lips to the hips if you're a woman?  Well these are a great at home rendition! 

To make you'll need the following:

2-3 large potatoes
2-3 slices of bacon, cooked and chopped
1/3 cup shredded cheddar cheese
Sour cream
Chives
3 TBSP Olive oil
1 1/2 tsp granulated garlic
1 tsp italian seasoning


Rinse off the potatoes, and slice into 1/4" thickness.  Add olive oil and seasonings to a gallon size ziploc bag, add in the sliced potatoes and toss to coat.


Line a rimmed cookie sheet w/ foil (non-stick foil works great!) Spread potato rounds on top of the foil.
Bake at 420°  for about 25 minutes, then drop the heat to 350° for another 15-20 minutes. Add the chopped bacon and cheddar during the last 5 minutes of cooking. Top w/ sour cream and chives if desired.

Gringo in the Kitchen!!!!
Haha - well I seem to have an affinity for food that's South of the border, but I'll admit I'm not Hispanic and thus any of my attempts to cook food from any of the Latin Countries will pale in comparison!  Having said that I made some Enchilada's.

I can see the cringing already.  Yes it's NOT an authentic recipe *hanging head in shame*  For a quick gringo made enchilada it wasn't bad tho!






Cocktail time:  I'm my own barista, bartender whatever you wanna call it.  My friends joke w/ me that I could open up a bar - but for all the liqueur, wine and alcohol I may have I seldom drink it as much as I cook w/ it!


This was a drink called a Paradise Cocktail

Pretty to look at and well I'll let you be the judge of the taste if you try it!

Adventures in baking

This will be my last blog referencing Cookies Across America - only for the fact it completes my cookie baking for the military.

Of all the branches that I delivered cookies to, the Navy proved to be the most illusive lol - I must have driven by the same office three times, each time it was closed too!  I finally drove 14 miles across Tampa Bay and found another Navy Recruiting office to give my cookies to!

I know that there are still a few more days left where I could do more baking, but I think I'm about cookied out lol :)  In the meantime if you've never "baked a difference" -if you're reading this perhaps the last few blogs will be a motivating factor for you to get involved next year and bake cookies to give away to those who make a daily difference in the city where you live.

Baking a difference!

Today was a busy day, but in an amazing way!  My day started out w/ a trip to a local news station where I was filmed live making Buckeyes - for all purposes I live in Florida, and I'm a gator girl, thus for the filming I referred to the Buckeyes as "gator bites".  Given as many teeth as a gator has, I'm sure there's a sweet tooth somewhere!!!


Once the episode was completed, I left a tin of Chocolate chip cookies, Oatmeal Peanut Butter Cookies, Peppermint Kiss Cookies, and Buckeyes for the crew at the news station.  I'll admit I am hesitant in linking the filming b/c of being a bit self conscious even tho I've had many friends AND strangers alike tell me that I was very engaging, entertaining and outstanding. 

I was finally talked into adding the link to the Fox13 filming -I'm not sure how long it will be up (I wish I could find a way to save it) please note this was my first time EVER doing any filming whatsoever, and I think it's absolutely incorrect about the camera adding 10 pounds...I think 30 is more adequate.


The recipe for the Peppermint Kiss Cookies is as follows:

1 cup butter or margarine, softened

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

2/3 cup baking cocoa

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

Garnish:

1 package Hershey's Peppermint kisses

1/4 cup white chocolate chips

2 tsp shortening

In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Blend
in vanilla. Combine the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture. Using a small
springloaded ice cream scoop (1 Tbsp size) place 2 in. apart on baking sheets lined w/ parchment paper.  Bake at 350 degrees F for 8-10 minutes or until the edges are firm. Remove to wire racks.

Immediate position an unwrapped peppermint kiss into the centre of each cookie

Take white chocolate chips, and shortening and microwave in a microwave safe bowl*** on high for 1 minute, stirring at 30 second intervals - repeat until melted.  Drizzle over the top of the cookies.

***Alternatively take a Wilton disposable decorating bag, place white chocolate & shortening inside, repeat the cooking instructions, kneading bag (be careful it WILL be hot!) once chocolate is melted, snip a small portion off the end of the decorating bag and drizzle the white chocolate on top of the cookies.
After the filming was complete, I made a couple of stops to drop off more cookies.  This time the cookies went to an Army Recruiting Station.

 
I never did expect it, but after dropping off the cookies at the Army Recruiting Station, I left w/ some Army Swag haha :-)

The pen & notebook will absolutely come in handy for writing down grocery lists -in addition I got a luggage tag and a little carrying pouch for various items, and a business card holder, and a bracelet!  Who would've guessed that a USMC brat would be geared up w/ Army Swag haha!!!  Thanks Army!!!!
I also thought the gesture of the Army pin was very sweet!!!  Go figure, I tried to be a blessing to the Army recruiter, turns out he was also a blessing to me! 

After dropping off the cookies at the Army recruiting station, I headed to the Air Force recruiting station. 

There's something about giving to others that really makes the Christmas spirit come alive, and I'm happy that I was able to share the cookies w/ some of the people in our Armed Forces!  Thank you for your service and God be w/ you this Christmas season

Busy Baking!

December - it's a month unlike ANY other!  It's a month that is filled w/ travel, Christmas parties, preparation for a new year, and BAKING!  In the last week I have used over 8 cups of butter, 5 pounds of flour, 5 pounds of sugar, 2 pounds of brown sugar, 2 dozen eggs, and all the other "extras" that go into cookies and other assorted sweets.  In total I have made 360 cookies NOT including the Buckeye balls I made!

As a voluntary Allrecipes.com brand ambassador, I participated in baking cookies w/ the Cookies Across America campaign - sponsored in part by Allrecipes.com, Nestle, and Taste of Home.  

I automatically knew that most of my cookies would be going to those in the military.  As a USMC brat - I truly love our military members and appreciate the sacrifices they've made.  The Marines I delivered my cookies to were very excited to receive them!



America's Finest get cookies!



 I made Sugar cookies, Snickerdoodles, Chocolate Peppermint Kiss cookies, Peanut butter cupcookies, Chocolate Caramel cupcookies, Oatmeal Scotties, White Chocolate Chocolate nut cookies, Peppermint Pinwheel cookies, Rolled Sugar Cookies, Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies, Chocolate Chip cookies and last but not least...Buckeyes!   

 Additionally I also participated in decorating cookies through Drop in and decorate  - b/c the Drop in and Decorate cookies needed to be given to a non-profit organisation, I chose to give some cookies to Hope Children's Home.  These are three platters full of cookies that I made for the home.

 

Cooking with Campbell's

I'm going to do another blog buffet b/c November was such a SUPER busy month for me.  For the month of November as a voluntary Allrecipes.com brand ambassador a lot of the assignments revolved around Thanksgiving, but also cooking with Campbell's and their subsidiary companies.

I started a part-time job which made my month even busier, so I was exceptionally pleased with MANY of the recipes that I tried from Campbell's. 

I won't say too much about the recipes in detail but will simply say if I'm posting a picture that means the recipe was good!  As always these recipes can be found on Allrecipes.com.  Please keep in mind that due to the simplistic nature of many of these recipes that they are made as a base recipe meaning that you're going to want to play around w/ your seasonings adjusting it to your taste.  Sound good (no pun intended)? Great let's check out the dishes!

This is the Baked Spaghetti, quick simple and fuss free!

This was a "fancy" dish from Campbell's - it was the Lemon Herb-Roasted Chicken w/ Pan Gravy something I WILL make again!

This is the Crispy Oven Fried Fish Fillet, and they were simply amazing!

This is the Campbell's weekday pot roast and vegetables - plan ahead it uses a slow cooker!

This is baked pork chops and gravy by Campbell's - please note that I chose to add in some baby port mushrooms for a finishing touch.

This is the Quick Chicken Parmesan - it was SO fast to prepare and just what I needed on a busy work night! 

The rest of these recipes are basic Allrecipes.com recipes and they were bonus recipes to review.

Cookies -what's not to love, portable little bites of sweetness!  These are called "Basic Chocolate Drop cookies" they are based off the concept of a premade cookie mix where you have a portion of a mix that you add other ingredients to.  I made them as noted - and then w/ some chocolate chips thrown in for extra pizzaz and I'll say I enjoyed quite a few of these sweet treats :)

Drinks...

Okay this is an Oatmeal Cookie of a different variety - all I can say is YUM!  Amazing how it's layered huh?  Handy tip that I can give is simply KNOW your liquid weights - heavier liquids go in first, when you start layering the liquids, pour slowly and let it hit the sides of the glass and it will layer w/o any problems!

Taste the rainbow

Boredom struck!  I made Skittle Lemon Sugar Cookies :)

Don't ask what possessed me to add skittles into my cookies but I did LoL :)  I've always liked skittles...more so the purple & red ones not too crazy about the orange yellow or green skittles, but I'm not gonna pick through a bag.

To make:  You will need

2 1/2 cups flour, 2 tsp baking powder and 3/4 tsp salt Sifted together

In a bowl cream 1 cup softened butter w/ 2 3/4 cup superfine granulated sugar,  1/2 tsp vanilla, 2 Tbsp lemon zest  and 2 eggs

Add the sifted flour mixture to the creamed butter mixture.

Fun part:  Add 3/4 cup - 1 cup skittles (your preference) to the cookie dough

Bake at 350° for 9-11 minutes, until golden around the edges.   I used a parchment paper on my cookie sheet b/c well skittles are sugar, the skittles will slightly melt, and sugary things tend to stick to hot metal...so use parchment paper, it's a good thing :)

In line at the buffet

This will be a buffet style blog post, mainly for the fact that the last week has been crazy busy!  So that being said...I'm gonna break tradition and skip right to DESSERT!!!!  It's always a good thing, right?!

Note: I do NOT need anyone lecturing me on the fact that I cook w/ beer, wine, liquor, or liqueurs.  I know some prefer to abstain from doing so, and that's your right...however I'm not you, and you're not me - that being said if you're going to be THAT stringent, I highly recommend that you never eat out EVER again as most restaurants DO use wine in their recipes. 

Dessert:  Diana's Guinness chocolate cake w/ guinness chocolate icing

Oh come to momma!  Chocolate: Check, Beer: Check, Frosting: Check, Beer: Double Check!   Hello love and oh mama mia if you try this recipe, you are going to LOVE it!!! I cheated a bit and I made cupcakes :)  Cupcakes are a good thing, b/c you actually get to control the portion size - and share, and sharing is always a nice thing to do!

Thoughts:  The recipe originally was converted from a UK recipe, not that it should matter, but the frosting    -I'm convinced- hated me from the start it was way to thin to hold up to piping, even after I added MORE confectioner sugar, and another brick of cream cheese, but that's okay b/c I morphed the frosting into a filling!  I then made a new frosting to top off the freshly filled cupcakes.  I ended up w/ a total of 24 cupcakes, and shared 8 of them - one of my friends said that 4 days later they were still moist.

Onto dinner:  Pecan Crusted Orange Roughy,  Creamy corn couscous and brittany blend of mixed veggies

The beauty of fried fish is simply that you really do NOT have to use measurements for the breading - you just sorta eye ball it. 

Ingredients:
Orange roughy
Flour
Egg
Milk
Breadcrumbs (plain)
Panko
Pecans - finely chopped (I pulsed mine in my blender)
Granulated Garlic
Seasoning Salt
Thyme

Assembly line
Shallow bowl 1 contains: flour
Shallow bowl 2 contains:  1 egg, beaten w/ 1 Tbsp milk (eyeball it)
Shallow bowl 3 contains: Mixture of regular breadcrumbs and panko, pecans, garlic powder, seasoning salt and thyme. 

I dipped the fillets in flour, then in a mixture of egg & milk, followed by the panko pecan breading, I did a quick fry, and followed w/ broiling it.  Perfect QUICK dinner!

Couscous:

That recipe really lived up to the name! The only thing I wasn't crazy about was the instruction for cooking the couscous. I knew that it would also need some more flavour - so I added 1/2 tsp dried thyme, and 1/4 tsp granulated garlic. I will definately use this recipe again, but plan on adding some roasted red bell pepper for a pop of colour. I used a ring mold for the presentation. This is restaurant worthy w/ the right seasonings!

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Onto a quick dessert:  Chocolate chip ice cream cookie-wiches yum yum! 

These are SO simple to make too!  Feel free to cheat like I did.  A package of store bought chocolate chip cookies (from the bakery of your fav grocer) and a container of vanilla ice cream, plus mini chocolate chips.

Simply take a scoop of ice cream, sandwich it between the two cookies, and roll in the mini choclate chips...simple right?!  Oh and tasty too!!!

Dinner 2:

Hazelnut chicken, wild rice, and mixed veggies

 

OMG can I say gourmet!!!  A more appropriate name would be Hazelnut crusted chicken w/ a Frangelico Brandy Sauce!  As per my Allrecipes review of this recipe, there was no way that I would be able to fry the chicken breasts in so little butter, so I did a mix of 1/2 butter and 1/2 grapeseed oil. I used panko breadcrumbs instead of regular breadcrumbs and also ran the filberts (hazelnuts) throught the blender. I added 1/4 tsp EACH thyme, oregano, and garlic powder to the panko breading. I butterflied the chicken breast and lightly pounded them thinner. This is a great recipe for special dinners or for company.

Oh and the Frangelico Brandy Sauce was amazing!!! It gave the crusting a hint of buttery sweetness it was SO delicious!!!  Simply serve w/ a side of wild rice, and mixed veggies (I'm a sucker for the Green Giant Steamer mixed veggies)

 

Dinner 3: Seared Lemon-Pepper Tilapia with Creamy Pumpkin Seed Vinaigrette Salad topped with Pomegranate Seeds w/ pearled barley, snow peas and carrots, served w/ a couple slices of 5 grain bread

 

This was a unique twist combining some amazing flavours!!!   I didn't make any changes to this dish. I was able to find the pumpkin seeds already toasted which cut down on my prep time. Word of warning give yourself some wiggle room on the price of pumpkin seed oil, especially if you're on a budget! It's something you will want to use - but it's NOT cheap! The pearled barley "cake" is actually another freezer pleaser from Green Giant, it's one of their steamer things, and I smooshed it to where it became a fancy little cake :)  A side of toasted bread, and dinner was complete in under 20 minutes!

 

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Dinner 4:

 

Oh yay!!  Dessert is back on the menu!!!  Now don't wrinkle up your nose when you hear Southern possum pie

 

I'm gonna show it step by step - handy tip, make it personal by making the pie miniature :)  I used a disposable pastry bag and piped the cream cheese mixture into the graham cracker pie crusts.

 

 

 

Getting a little nutty...

 

time for CHOCOLATE!!! ....

 

 

 

All dolled up...and hey it said possum pie, so I added a special touch ;)

Looks like a bloody mess huh?! Well not quite...oh and let me say that from start to finish I finished mine in about 3 minutes.  It was good but I'm thinking the vanilla pudding gets drowned out by the chocolate, so unless you're going for a layered look (which isn't instructed) it's pointless to use two different puddings. I cheated and used Reddi whip, instead of making my own whipped cream.  I think next time I drizzle some chocolate and caramel sauce on it and will make it messier :D

Oooh and I nearly forgot Dinner...Pepper steak packet  w/ Jasmine rice

So I cheated and used a 90 second package of Jasmine rice by Uncle Ben...but hey on hump day, I need all the free time I can get!  For something SO simple this has amazing flavour! I love that you can easily change up the veggies. I added in some broccoli, and baby carrots. I chose to cook this in the oven at 450° for 40 minutes. before doing so I seared the sirloin steak strips in a mixture of grapeseed oil seasoned w/ granulated garlic, and black pepper. I served this w/ jasmine rice b/c it made me think of being a stir fry.