Someone was paying attention!

I've been bringing my daughter to Mass with me for over eight years now, and while she is always very well behaved, sometimes I wonder if she is really paying attention. I know that listening to the priest's homily is tough for a child, even with the most entertaining speakers (yet every Superbowl Sunday she remembers the year Fr. Larry finished his homily wearing a large, plastic cheese-head).

A few weeks ago it was the Feast of the Most Holy Trinity, in which we celebrate the three-in-one nature of God - manifest in the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Our wonderful pastor, Fr. John, had an excellent homily about how difficult it is to understand this mystery. I was certain that most of it went over my daughter's head, as it is a difficult concept to grasp.

That afternoon, I was wandering around Pinterist, and found a recipe for chocolate chip cookies with Reeses Pieces. Since we had a small bag leftover from Easter, I figured we should try them out. I didn't have all the ingredients, so I adapted here and there, using what I had in the pantry - the Reeses Pieces, milk chocolate chips and white chocolate chips. While we were waiting for them to come out of the oven, daughter looked at me and said, "We should call these Trinity Cookies, since they have three chips in one."

Guess I never should have doubted that she was paying attention.

And so, the good... these were really great cookies - soft and chewy, with just the right amount of chips distributed throughout.

And the bad... they took longer to cook than the original recipe called for, so they weren't really quick to make, but they were worth it.

Oh, and since I related this story to Fr. John, now I guess I have to share our Trinity Cookies with him when we make them next year!

Trinity Cookies

• 2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 3 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup white chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup Reeses Pieces

1. Combine butter and sugar in a large bowl.
2. Add in vanilla and eggs; mix until combined.

 

3. Mix the dry ingredients in a separate bowl. Stir into wet ingredients until just combined.
4. Stir in chocolate chips and Reeses Pieces. Cover bowl and place in refrigerator for one hour.

 

 

5. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Scoop cookies and place dough on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 8-12 minutes, or until slightly browned around the edges.
6. Let cookies sit on baking sheet for one minute after removing from oven. Then move to wire rack and cool completely.

Inspiration for Moroccan Chicken

Last week my family vacationed at our favorite place... Walt Disney World. It's the perfect family vacation for us - my daughter loves the theme parks (so do we!), my husband gets to play golf, and I get plenty of pool time. One of the things I always try to do is make reservations for a nice meal at Epcot. I love ethnic foods, and really enjoy seeing my daughter test her food horizons beyond typical children's fare.
 
This year, I made reservations at Restaurant Marrakesh. I had eaten there long ago with my mom, but not yet with my husband and daughter. As luck would have it, my daughter's ballet costume for her recital the previous week was "Princess Jasmine" inspired. She wanted to wear it to dinner that night, and she received many smiles as she walked through the restaurant. As we were finishing our meal (wonderful!), the musicians and dancer came out, and my daughter joined the dancer for the last song. She was so beautiful out there dancing, and had so much fun! It was a vacation moment we will never forget.
 
While searching for what to cook this week, I found a pin I had from Pinterist for Moroccan Chicken. Given the wonderful meal we had the past week, I knew it was time to give it a try.
 
The good... this recipe rocks! It is one of my top finds on Pinterist, and it will go into heavy rotation because it is tasty, easy and everyone loved it. It has a ton of flavor, but it is not overpoweringly spicy or sweet.
 
The bad... only that there wasn't more to eat! Seriously, I used 3 very large (2 pounds) chicken breasts, and should have used 4. I will have enough for leftovers for husband and me, but daughter will have to have something else...
 
Note: this would be great over couscous, but my husband doesn't like it, so I served it over basmati rice.
 

Moroccan Chicken

adapted from food.com
 

• 1 onion (Yellow) 
• 4-5  boneless skinless chicken breasts, chopped into bite size pieces                           
• 1 tablespoonground coriander
• 1 tablespoon smoked paprika                    
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• 1 tablespoon mccormick's montreal steak grill seasoning                    
• 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 1/8 teaspoonground cinnamon
• olive oil
• 1 cup chicken stock, from a box                    
• 3/4 cup raisins
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch           

     
1. Heat olive oil in a dutch oven over medium high heat.
2. Add onions and saute until translucent, stirring occasionally.
3. Add chicken pieces and cook, stirring occasionally, until they begin to brown.

4. Reduce heat to medium and add all the spices. Stir to combine. Cook about 60 seconds until fragrant.

5. Add chicken stock and raisins, stirring to combine.

6. Cover and reduce heat to simmer.
7. Cook for at least 15 minutes. The longer it cooks, the better the flavors will come together.
8. In a small bowl, combine cornstarch with some of the cooking liquid. Stir in the bowl, then pour back into the chicken mixture. Stir to combine. Keep simmering until the sauce thickens.

9. Serve over rice (or couscous).

      

Christmas Yule Log

For Christmas dessert this year, I wanted to make a traditional Yule Log to go along with our assortment of homemade cookies (assuming I keep one of my New Years resolutions - to update this blog more frequently - you may see these recipes here, too!). I had to adapt a Martha Stewart recipe I found, as my mom can't eat nuts. I also wanted something using Nutella, because, well, because it's Nutella. My little sous chef helped with the frosting and decorating on Christmas Day, which is really suprising given the fact she had so many new toys to play with.

So the good... this was one of the best desserts I think we've made. The sponge cake was so easy to make - I thought it would be tricky but it was so simple. It was beautiful and tasted great.

And the bad... nothing! Not one complaint or change I'd make the next time!

Side note... while preparing to make this I found that I have two cookie sheet pans and no jelly roll pans. So guess what is on my Christmas list next year... I just took the cookie sheet pan and stretched some crumpled tin foil across one end to make it approximately the size of a jelly roll pan and it worked perfectly.

 

Chocolate Yule Log

adapted from Martha Stewart

• Nonstick cooking spray, for pan
• 4 large eggs, separated
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon pure almond extract
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• Confectioners' sugar, for dusting
• Chocolate-Hazelnut Filling (see below)
• Hazlenut Buttercream Frosting (see below)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat a 10 by 15 inch jelly roll pan with nonstick cooking spray; line bottom with parchment paper. Coat paper with cooking spray. set aside.
2. In a large bowl, whisk egg yolks with 1/2 cup granulated sugar until pale yellow. Whisk in almond extract and flour just until combined (do not overmix); set aside.
3. Using an electric mixer, beat egg whites and salt until soft peaks form. While beating, slowly add remaining 1/4 cup granulated sugar (1 tablespoon at a time) and beat until stiff and glossy. Whisk one third of beaten egg whites into yolk mixture; gently fold in remaining whites with a rubber spatula. Spread batter evenly in prepared pan; bake until center of cake springs back when lightly pressed; 15 to 17 minutes.
4. Immediately after removing cake from oven, run a knife around edge of pan. Dust top of cake with confectioners' sugar; invert cake onto clean parchment paper, and gently peel off the linging paper that's now on top of the cake. Starting from a short side of cake, gently roll cake, along with clean paper, into a log; let cool, seam side down, 30 minutes.
5. Once cake has cooled, prepare filling and frosting. Gently unroll cake, and spread with filling, leaving a 1/2 inch border; starting from a short side, carefully re-roll (do not roll paper in cake), and place, seam side down, on a baking sheet or serving platter. Spread log with frosting; sprinkle with shaved chocolate.
6. To serve, use a serrated knife to slice off the ends of the log neatly, revealing interior.

Chocolate-Hazelnut Filling
      

• 1 teaspoon unflavored gelatin (from a 1/4 ounce envelope)
• 1/4 cup chocolate-hazelnut spread
• 1 1/4 cups heavy cream
• 1/4 cup sugar

1. Place 2 tablespoons cold water in a small saucepan; sprinkle with gelatin, and set aside to soften, about 5 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whisk chocolate-hazelnut spread with 1/4 cup cream; set aside.
3. Heat gelatin mixture very gently over low, stirring just until dissolved; set aside.
4. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat remaining 1 cup cream with sugar until soft peaks form. While still beating, pour dissolved gelatin mixture over cream all at once (gently reheat gelatin mixture if it has stiffened).
5. Fold half of whipped cream into chocolate-hazelnut spread mixture.

Hazelnut Buttercream Frosting
 
 
½ c butter, softened
½ c crisco
4 cups powdered sugar
pinch of salt
3 - 4 tablespoons hazlenut flavored coffee creamer
 
  
Beat butter until creamy. Add salt. Add powdered sugar 1 cup at a time, beating until combined. Add creamer 1 tablespoon at a time until you reach desired consistency.
 

Helpful hands make light work!

As I said in my first post, my grandmothers and my mom love to cook, which is something I hope that I am passing on to my daughter. She seems to be taking after me in this area (and in loving to read, something else that thrills me!). She has always loved helping me cook, but when she was younger I used to have to say "help, don't hinder!" as she poured the flour on the floor, or took the recipe and tried to make a paper hat out of it. But now that she's older she is turning out to be a huge help when we are cooking.

One of our favorite things to do is make cupcakes. I had promised some co-workers that I'd bring some to a meeting tomorrow, so I asked my little sous chef to help me. She did all the egg cracking, ingredient pouring and batter stirring of the cupcakes (I still maintain control over the electric mixer). Then she was in charge of filling the cupcakes and putting the toppings on. Not only is is great to have an extra set of hands, she's a heck of a lot of fun to work with.

I was looking for a cupcake recipe with chocolate and some kind of filling, so I decided to try these Snickers Cupcakes. I love love love snickers candy bars, so I figured I couldn't go wrong!

So what was good? They were really easy to make, fill and frost. The chocolate cupcake had a good texture and good chocolate taste, but wasn't overpoweringly chocolate.

And the bad? Nothing bad here, but I think that when I make them again I will tweak the filling to make it more ... I don't know... filling? The caramel sauce tastes good, but it's so thin it just seeps into the cupcake. Maybe I'll try a ganache, or a creamy caramel filling instead.

Snickers Cupcakes

Adapted from Homemade by Holman

Recipe yields about 30 cupcakes.

Cake:
2 cups sugar
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line pans with cupcake liners.  Combine sugar through salt in a large bowl.  Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla and beat on low until just incorporated.  Increase speed to medium and beat two minutes.  Stir in boiling water, the batter will be thin.  Transfer batter to prepared pans, filling each liner about 2/3 of the way full, approximately 1/4 cup of batter.  Bake approximately 22 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Cool in pans about five minutes and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. 

When cool, use a paring knife to cut a small cone shape out of the top of each cupcake.  Add caramel sauce as desired.  You can cut the point off the cone and add it back to the cupcake if desired. 

Frosting:
½  cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 crisco
1/4 cup caramel sauce
3 tbs caramel macchiato flavored coffee creamer
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 lb powdered sugar
8 mini Snickers bar for garnish

Beat butter and Crisco together on medium speed until smooth and creamy, about two minutes.  Add caramel sauce and vanilla and mix to incorporate.  Add powdered sugar, one cup at a time, beating on low speed until incorporated to reach the right consistency. Add creamer, 1 tbs at a time until the right consistency is reached. Increase speed to medium-high and whip about one minute until light and fluffy.  Fill a piping bag and pipe onto cupcakes or frost as desired.

Coarsely chop candy bars and sprinkle over the top of cupcakes.

Well, that took a while...

Before I got married, I used to say I operated on "Sarlo Time" (Sarlo being my maiden name). I was typically late for everything. But my husband's number one pet peeve is being late, so I had to adjust. I've done really well over the past 9 years! But it looks like I'm updating this blog on "Sarlo Time" since here it is the end of September, and my last update was in February.

The issue isn't that I haven't been cooking, but that I haven't been taking pictures while I cook. By the time I get home from work it's almost 6pm, and I'm scrambling to get dinner on the table so we can do homework, read, and have some time for fun and games. So pausing in the middle of cooking dinner to get good pictures is not even on my radar. I think I'll have to bring my camera downstairs and leave it there so I can at least take a few snapshots along the way.

One thing that I usually do is take pictures of my cupcakes with my iPhone. It's always right next to me and it takes pretty good pictures. Like this one of the White Russian Cupcakes I made for a Christmas party at work last December (Sarlo time!):

 

 

Once upon a time before I had a child, I played ice hockey with a group of great men and women, and we became fast friends and drinking buddies. Often our drink of choice was White Russians, and these cupcakes came very close to the original!

 

So, here's the good: this scratch recipe is so easy to make, and the frosting is so good you want to eat it with a spoon - forget the cupcakes!

 

And the bad: they needed more Kahlua brushed on top. The cupcakes were good, but didn't really have as much Kahlua taste as the frosting.

 

White Russian Cupcakes

adapted from Baked Perfection

makes 24 cupcakes

 

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour (I used 1 ½ cups of all purpose and 1 cup of cake flour, both sifted)

3 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cup sugar

12 tablespoons butter, softened

2 large eggs and 2 egg whites

2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup milk

1/4 cup Vodka

1/2 cup Kahlua, divided

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a cupcake pan with paper liners.

In a large bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. In a separate bowl or in a stand mixer, beat together the sugar and butter until combined. Add egg and egg white, one at a time. Then add the vanilla, Vodka, and 1/4 cup of Kahlua. Gradually add the flour mixture in three additions, alternating with the milk in two additions, ending with the flour mixture.

Bake 17 -20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of a cupcakes comes out clean. While the cupcakes are still warm, brush the tops with the remaining 1/4 cup Kahlua. Remove from pan and cool completely on a wire rack before frosting.

Superbowl Snack Party

For the past few years we have either gone to a Superbowl Party or just ordered pizza while watching the game. This year my daughter had school the next day, so going to a party was out, and I just didn't feel like ordering pizza. So we decided to have a Superbowl Snack party for just the three of us! Of course, I made way too much food, but I do that with any party... It worked out really well - I had all the snacks ready by kick-off and cleaned up at half time!

Our menu consisted of chips and onion dip, pigs in a blanket, mini meatball sliders and pizza puffs. I found the pizza puff recipe on Pinterest, and thought it fit the snack party theme while tying into our previous year's pizza tradition.

So the good: the pizza puffs were really easy to make. My 7 year old actually did most of the heavy lifting. These would be great for a party as you could make the batter up ahead of time and then just put them into the mini muffin cups and bake when guests arrive.

The bad: they were a little bland. Next time they need oregano and parmesan cheese, and maybe even a bit of red pepper to spice them up a bit.

Sausage & Pepperoni Pizza Puffs
adapted from Plain Chicken

3/4 cup flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp oregano
1 tbs grated parmesan cheese
3/4 cup milk
1 egg, lightly beaten
4 oz mozzarella cheese, shredded (about 1 cup)
2 oz mini pepperoni, (about 1/2 cup)
4 oz sausage, cooked and crumbled
1/2 cup pizza sauce

Pre-heat oven to 375°. Grease a 24-cup mini-muffin pan. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, garlic powder and baking powder; whisk in the milk and egg. Add oregano and parmesan cheese. Stir in the mozzarella, cooled sausage and pepperoni. Let stand for 10 minutes.

Stir the batter and divide among the mini-muffin cups. Bake until puffed and golden, 20 to 25 minutes.

Meanwhile, microwave the pizza sauce until warmed through. Serve the puffs with the pizza sauce for dipping.

Welcome!

You'd think with my Italian ancestry, descending from a fantastic line of cooks, that I'd have the makings to be a great chef. Both my grandmothers were wizards in the kitchen. My mom is a fantastic cook, always having the perfect recipe for a holiday meal. My dad makes the very best pizza. Ever.

I guess I'm pretty good at cooking. But I've got a few problems. I mess things up. Alot. Sometimes I cut myself trying to slice or chop like I see the chefs on TV. Often I get halfway through a recipe and realize that I should have read it through before I started, because who saves the pasta liquid after you drain the pasta? And occasionaly what I cook is just plain yucky (my daughter keeps reminding me of the nasty oven baked fish I served once).

But... I love to cook. So I'm going to keep working at it. I know I'll never be a chef (hence the blog name), but maybe I'll get good enough to ditch the day job and open a dessert catering business. Or maybe I'll just teach my daughter to love food and cooking like my mom and my grandmothers taught me.

Either way, I'll win.

So welcome to my blog, where I'll share what I'm cooking - good and bad. And I'll try not to make too many dumb jokes along the way.