Woot woot, dinner party

So I was pinning stuff (if you haven't heard of pinterest, search for it...and don't blame me), and I came across a fall menu for a dinner party. I was immediately intrigued and FB-messaged these girls I know and was all "hey, we haven't gotten together lately...whatcha doin this weekend?" sly, right?

And of course one of them is on pinterest so she was enjoying my dinner party pins, which included this little gem here. I was perusing the menu as well, which included:

Fig and Goat Cheese Bruschetta

Grilled Chicken and Pesto Farfalle

Chardonnay

Caramel-Apple Cheesecake

Coffee, tea

Oh God...it was like a fallgasm. And only after I pinned and read and re-read the recipe for the chicken and pesto farfalle did I realize...I made it already. In 2008.

See?

Hmm. Well at least I know it's good! So I volunteered to do the pasta and dessert, and the ladies volunteered to fill in the rest. Mags baked bread (we had the leftover bread tonight, it made our hamburger helper blush), and Lars came packing heat with some fan-freaking-tastic cheese with roasted vegetables in the cheese - yeah, I know, I thought cheese was only for hiding pills you want the dog to take too - and scallops with an apple-cider reduction. I think. She basically just waved her hands in the kitchen and things danced and sang like in Beauty and the Beast. I heart my friends.

Anyway, I digress - to the cheesecake:

Caramel-Apple Cheesecake
Ingredients
Crust:
1 cup graham cracker crumbs (about 8 cookie sheets)
1 tablespoon egg white
1 tablespoon water
Cooking spray
{I did not measure the egg white, and added too much, and ended up coating a spoon with butter and pressing my crust down that way because it stuck to my fingers}

Cheesecake:
1 3/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup light sour cream
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 (8-ounce) blocks 1/3-less-fat cream cheese, softened
1 (8-ounce) block fat-free cream cheese, softened
4 large eggs

Topping:
1/3 cup sugar
3 tablespoons water
1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons half-and-half
1 3/4 cups thinly sliced peeled Granny Smith apple (about 8 ounces)
Dash of nutmeg
{and I totally forgot the half-and-half too...so I substituted my coffee creamer}

Preparation
1. Preheat oven to 400°.
2. To prepare crust, combine the first 3 ingredients in a bowl; toss with a fork until moist. Press mixture lightly into bottom of a 9-inch springform pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 400° for 6 minutes. Remove from oven; cool on a wire rack. Wrap outside of pan with a double layer of foil. Reduce oven temperature to 325°.
3. To prepare cheesecake, place 1 3/4 cups sugar and next 7 ingredients (through fat-free cream cheese) in food processor; process until smooth. Add eggs, 1 at a time; process until blended. Pour cheese mixture into prepared pan. Place springform pan in a large roasting pan; add hot water to larger pan to a depth of 1 inch.
4. Bake at 325° for 1 hour or until cheesecake center barely moves when pan is touched. Remove from oven; let stand in water bath 10 minutes. Run a knife around outside edge of cheesecake. Remove pan from water bath; cool on a wire rack to room temperature. Cover and chill at least 8 hours.
5. To prepare topping, combine 1/3 cup sugar, 3 tablespoons water, and lemon juice in a small, heavy saucepan; cook over medium-high heat until sugar dissolves, stirring frequently. Cook 4 minutes or until golden (do not stir). Remove from heat. Add butter to pan; gently stir until butter melts. Stir in half-and-half. Cool slightly.
6. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add apple to pan; sauté 5 minutes or until lightly browned. Stir in sugar mixture and nutmeg. Serve topping with cheesecake.




I used my mom's trick instead of the water bath - bake as usual, after one hour, turn the oven off, put a stick in the oven door, and let sit for one hour. And of course, there was a crack down the middle...but I covered it with not-quite-caramelized apples so it was all good.

Verdict:

Pumpkin cookies!

yay for baking again!

now, let's see...for what did I make this glorious recipe...??? I think it may have been just for fun.
oh wait - bake sale!

I bought a Taste of Home fall baking catalog/book/wasteofmoney last month at the store and bookmarked recipes that looked good. I failed to realize that the pumpkin cookies I marked were full of *gasp* raisins. And as you all know, they are just humiliated grapes.

So, I looked for a new one. And I found...these babies! They did the trick. Next time, however, I may look for something that features the pumpkin flavor more prominently. And I totally did not make them as cute as the spirally frosting picture.



but they still get...

hollaaaaaaaaa

yeah, sorry guys. If there are any of you still reading, that is, lol. I've been pretty darn busy with the burrito for a while - not a food-related burrito, the baby. Yeah, it figures he'd have a bunch of food-related nicknames.

SO, the first thing I've actually made in a while that I haven't made before/doesn't involve a box is...

COOKIES!

How did you guess it would be a baked good?

This December was my first time making two types of cookies, Peanut Butter Blossoms and Thumbprints. I've had the Thumbprints bookmarked for a while to be made, but the PB ones were a special request from hubs. They were made for the cookie exchange at work, and were received pretty well. I thought the thumbprints could've used a bit more sugar. Or, I should have put more sugar in the nut topping that I rolled them in. Anywho, the thumbprints were better. Go fig!

Also - I got a brand spankin new nikon lens for my D40 from Santa, so pictures to come should be freakin spectacular. Only thing I'm missing is a giant light!

Peanut Butter Blossoms
courtesy Hershey, founder of all things good. Like me. The recipe is on their website, and it's more fun than mine, so I'm not gonna c&p it here - the only change is that I used room-temp butter instead of shortening, because, well, shortening grosses me out. No, I've never made biscuits, and of course, I'd use shortening for those. Now move along, self-righteous shortening devotees.

Thumbprints
courtesy Martha, natch.

Makes about 3 dozen.

Ingredients:

* 1/4 pound (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
* 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
* 1 large egg, separated
* 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
* 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
* 1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
* 1/2 cup whole blanched almonds
* 1/2 cup jam, or preserves

Notes: I doubled the recipe, and used both apricot and black raspberry jelly, and also used almonds for the apricot ones, but pecans for the black raspberry ones.

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together butter and 1/2 cup sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add egg yolk and vanilla; beat well. Whisk together flour and salt, and add to mixture, beating on low until combined.
2. In a small food processor, combine almonds with remaining 2 tablespoons sugar, and process until almonds are finely ground. In a small bowl, lightly beat egg white. Form dough into 1-inch balls. Dip in egg white, then in almond-and-sugar mixture. Place balls on parchment-lined baking sheet. Make a deep indentation in the center of each ball with your finger or bottom of a thick wooden spoon.
3. Bake for 10 minutes, remove from oven, and press down the centers again. Fill the center of each cookie with about 1 teaspoon of jam. Rotate sheets, and bake until golden brown, 10 to 12 minutes more. Remove from oven, and place on a wire rack to cool.

These came out really well, but the black rasp jelly did run over in a couple. The apricot stayed together a bit better. Next time, I might splurge on the black rasp jam with fruit instead of the jelly kind. Also - I will make sure I mix the nuts and sugar better before I dip the cookies. I used my coffee bean grinder to chop the nuts as I didn't want to clean the whole darn food processor. And also, the processor may still have been dirty from last week's mac and cheese. Oh, I have to post that recipe too, gar.

PB Blossoms:

Thumbprints:

a really bad phone picture, but you get the idea.

Food. Finally.

I made something today! Granted, I've been making things for a little while now, but they're all old and tired. And some are from a box.

But today, I made...something new! From scratch! I found some apples at Weaver's Orchard which I had not tried before, and I was tired of the regular old Granny Smith. However, don't remember what they were called, so all you get is "green not granny smith apples," internets. Sorry.

I'd been craving baked goods lately, and the only apple recipe in my arsenal for which I had all ingredients was this one. There was an apple crisp from Emeril as well, which I may make with the remaining two apples. I got four altogether.

It's in the oven right now, so I'll be back later to update you all with how it tastes!

Apple Walnut Bread

found at MyRecipes.com, by Mary Ostyn

Ingredients
3-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup applesauce
1-1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups apples - peeled, cored and chopped
1/2 cup chopped walnuts


Directions
In a bowl, combine flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside. In large mixing bowl, place oil, sugar, eggs, vanilla, applesauce and apples. Stir together. Add flour mixture and stir until combined. Add walnuts and mix again. Divided mixture between two greased 8-in. x 4-in. bread pans. Sprinkle tops of loaves with a little bit of granulated sugar. Bake at 350 degrees for 45-50 minutes or until toothpick inserted near the center of the loaf comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes on wire rack before removing from pan. Serve warm or cooled.

Chocolate-Covered Candy Cane Cookies

Once in a while, I like to make things with spectacular alliteration. It's just good business.

These are actually listed as Half Hearted Valentine's Cookies in my mom's cookie cookbook (I have no idea what the name is, and I couldn't find it online) that has recipes from tons of national brands - I found the recipe online here, and the recipe from Land O' Lakes is here, they are the national brand that put these in the book. So, people, go there. I'll feel guilty if you don't.

Who am I kidding? I have no e-feelings. Just make some cookies and we'll call it square.

Since it's winter and all, and nowhere near Valentine's day, I made these babies into candy canes, since they're flavored with peppermint.

Original Recipe:

Half Hearted Valentines Cookies

Ingredients:
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup butter, softened
3 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 egg
1 teaspoon peppermint extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/4 cup butter

Directions:
In large mixer bowl, combine all cookie ingredients except flour. Beat at medium speed, scraping bowl often, until light and fluffy. Add flour, beat until mixed. Divide dough into halves. Wrap in waxed paper. Refrigerate until firm, at least 2 hours.

Heat oven to 375 F. Roll out dough on lightly floured surface to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut out with floured heart shaped cutters. Place 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 7 to 10 minutes, or until edges are very lightly browned. Remove immediately; cool completely.

For glaze, in a small saucepan, melt chocolate and butter, stirring occasionally, over low heat until melted (4 to 6 minutes). Dip half of each heart into chocolate.

Refrigerate on waxed paper lined cookie sheet until firm. Store covered, in refrigerator.

This recipe from CDKitchen for Half Hearted Valentine Cookies serves/makes 3.5 dozen

These cookies are fantastic! I made them with half whole wheat flour instead, and accidentally put a whole package of cream cheese in, so had to double the recipe and got a million pounds of batter out of it. I'll be making these for the rest of the month.

I started off by dipping the top of the canes in the chocolate, but figured it might look prettier if I dipped the bottoms. These cookies almost taste like a shortbread, but are lighter - probably due to the influx of cream cheese (whoops). For the rest of the batter, I might try holly (thanks to MrsBones, my elf for the WC holiday exchange, I have a bucket of new cookie cutters!) and put some berries on them. Or, gingerbread people with pants. And not made of gingerbread. Or something.



Verdict:

Paula's Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cake

We had a going-away party for two coworkers last week, and I volunteered (as usual) to bring dessert. It is, after all, the most important meal of the day. I'm sure the people who make that food pyramid thingy will come to realize this in time.

I decided to pick a new recipe, one that I hadn't tried before, and my cans of pumpkin were calling my name (and maybe gathering dust), so I chose Paula Deen's pumpkin gooey butter cake. My mom made this last year for T-day, and I only remembered that it was good, so I figured it would be a nice addition to the work spread.

Paula Deen's Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cake

Recipe courtesy pauladeen.com

Ingredients & Directions:

Cake:
1 18 1/4-ounce package yellow cake mix
1 egg
8 tablespoons butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine the cake mix, egg, and butter and mix well with an electric mixer. Pat the mixture into the bottom of a lightly greased 13 by 9-inch baking pan. Prepare Filling

Filling:
1 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
8 tablespoons butter, melted
1 16-ounce box powdered sugar

In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Add the eggs, vanilla, and butter and beat together. Next, add the powdered sugar and mix well. Spread over cake batter and bake for 40 to 50 minutes. Make sure not to over bake as the center should be a little gooey.

Yield: 6 to 8 servings
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 40 minutes
Ease of preparation: easy

Oh gosh, was this good. I got somewhat cautious about the center not being done, because each time I jiggled the oven rack, it still looked watery, so I may have overcooked it just a bit. Instead of "gooey," the center was sort of just moist. But oh my word, the sugar. The pumpkin. The cream cheese.

Confession: I used a can of pumpkin pie mix, I think it was the only thing I had left, so I didn't add the spices - it may have been better or worse for this, but I really can't say until I make it again, hehe. Served this with two kinds of whipped cream, the CoolWhipfrozen stuff, and the CoolWhipbrand-in-a-can style, just for comparison. I'm sure you know which turned out better - coolwhipinacan lost miserably to the favorite of pumpkin pie aficionados the world over. Didn't stop me from trying both. And squirting the canned version directly into my mouth (after everyone else was done, of course).

Sorry for the bad picture, I was in a hurry again and didn't get to take a pic with my real camera! This was almost the last piece of the cake, it went fast:



Verdict:

Chocolate Zucchini Bread

I told one of my coworkers I made this and she said "you ruined perfectly good zucchini bread by putting chocolate in it?" - my husband said the opposite; "you put zucchini in there? with chocolate?" It didn't matter when I told him the zucchini magically disappeared, he was already biased. That's ok; more for me!

(pictures to come, when I get a free second and ok lighting!)

Chocolate Zucchini Bread
from JoyofBaking.com
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups shredded raw zucchini (about 1/2 pound or 227 grams)
1 cup (140 grams) all-purpose flour
1/2 cup (45 grams) unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted (not Dutch-processed)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 cup (120 ml) safflower or canola oil
1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated white sugar
1/2 cup (105 grams) light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup (125 grams) semi sweet chocolate chips

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C) and place rack in the center of the oven. Grease (or spray with a nonstick vegetable spray) a 9 x 5 x 3 inch (23 x 13 x 8 cm) loaf pan. Set aside.

Grate the zucchini, using a medium sized grater. Set aside.

In a large bowl whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, salt, ground cinnamon, and ground allspice. Set aside.

In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), beat the oil, sugars, eggs, and vanilla extract until well blended (about 2 minutes). Fold in the grated zucchini. Add the flour mixture, beating just until combined. Then fold in the chocolate chips. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and bake until the bread has risen and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 55 to 65 minutes. Place on a wire rack to cool for about 10 minutes, then remove the bread from the pan and cool completely.

Makes one - 9 x 5 x 3 inch loaf.

This bread turned out fantastically, with a somewhat crispy crust and a moist inside. I didn't have ground allspice, so I took a whole one and attacked it with my microplaner - it smelled soooo good. However, there is a little discord with something in my recipe - it tastes a little, maybe, salty? Almost like there wasn't enough sugar. I did sub 3/4 of the flour with whole-wheat flour, so maybe it's just an adjustment to that.





Verdict:

TWD: Brownie Buttons

For this week's TWD, Jayma of Two Scientists Experimenting in the Kitchen chose Brownie Buttons. This was a bit of a last-minute one for me (obviously) as I have lots and lots of work lately. But, they were incredibly easy, so I actually believe the line about these being good for an after-school snack that Dorie put in there!



The recipe's on Jayma's page, so go check out her loverly blog. When I first started these, I have to admit I made an error and started melting the chocolate, butter, and sugar on medium heat. Oops. I put everything else away and was going to chalk this up as a bad day for TWD, but decided if I was going down, I would do it with flare. So, I mixed everything together and scooped it into my mini-muffin tin. I filled 13 of them almost to the top and baked for...a while. I had my timer set for 10 minutes, but must have baked them for about 16 (or more). I'm really bad at timing things. I usually go with my instinct on when my baked goods are ready. I know, it's going to come back to bite me in the butt some day.



Since I felt bad about not making the glaze for the top, I put a little white chip on some of them, to make them feel better. Because these brownie buttons had read about their origins in the book, and felt left out. I should never have showed them that picture.


Verdict:

TWD: Perfect Party Cake

Today's (yesterday's) TWD is brought to you by Carol of mix, mix...stir, stir. I actually made this Tuesday night but finished it Wednesday morning, as I was bringing it to a work function (Food Day for July 4th).

I was a bit skeptical at first about the buttermilk, but the batter tasted ok and smelled pretty good while baking (I left out the lemon extract but added more lemon zest) so we'll see when we cut into it.

The frosting...*sigh* The frosting was not what I had expected - it was very very watery and did not start to look like the regular buttercream I am used to until about 8 minutes into beating it, when the hubs walked into the kitchen and said "Is your mixer on fire? Will it last much longer?" and simultaneously, the frosting curdled. Yay! I was never so happy to see something look so odd, mostly because Dorie said it might and it meant I was doing something correctly, haha.

It turned out to be very smooth and silky, pretty good. I frosted it Wednesday morning by putting a layer of frosting on the bottom half of the cake (I didn't split the layers) and then covering it with blueberries. Yum, fresh fruit.




Then I put the other layer on top, and covered everything with the frosting (I find it easier to pipe it on and then spread it out with a spatula/knife).



I added the top layer for fun, berries in stripes. And it will be ready to be eaten at noon today. Or before, if we get hungry early.





Verdict: awaiting first trial taste!

Biscotti Adventure

For Mother's Day, I wanted to do something special this year, and I thought the moms around me might like some biscotti with their coffee. I asked the top-notch bakers on the WC for their favorite recipes, and gleaned it down to two: Chocolate Biscotti from TPOX's blog (Proceed with Caution) and Almond Biscotti from BridgetMc's blog (The Way the Cookie Crubmles).

For my first time making biscotti, I have to say that these turned out rather well. I did shape them pretty oddly, so I'll have to learn to really pound them flat next time so they don't look like biscotti hills. Also, I didn't flip them when cooking the second time, so one side was more golden than the other.

I do have to admit though (yes, admit, for I am a chocoholic) that I like the almond ones better! I think it was the liqueur. The only additions/substitutions I made were white chips instead of the almonds in the chocolate biscotti. I did use mini chips for the chocolate in those as well.

Sadly, they were bagged and bestowed before I got pictures, so for now internets you will have to visit the origin blogs and take a gander at their photos for your food fix.

verdict: