a sweet & spicy cookie

Anyone else love those fancy Lindt Chocolate & Chili bars??

Yeah, me too.

I’ll be honest, I really like anything spicy. I like to eat food that makes my nose run and my face sweat. I especially love things with cayenne pepper or red chili flakes. I once was stupid enough to try the “Thai hot” level of hot at a Thai restaurant. Horrible, awful, terrible mistake, people.

But I saw one of those delicious, dreamy chocolate bars at Tar-jay the other day and thought about how awesome it would be to make a chocolate and chili cookie.

And thus was born the Sweet & Spicy Cookie… just in time for a sweet and spicy Valentine’s Day (yes, I know it is in 2 weeks but a girl needs to prepare accordingly).

Sweet & Spicy Cookies (makes 15-18 cookies)
1 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp sea salt
1/4 – 1/2 cayenne pepper (more or less to spice preference, I went with more!)
1/2 cup chocolate chips, melted
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 T molasses
1 egg
1/4 cup milk
In a mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and cayenne pepper. Mix well. In a separate mixing bowl combine melted chocolate, vanilla, molasses, milk, and egg (be sure to make sure the chocolate has cooled a bit so the egg doesn’t cook!). Using a hand mixer or stand mixer, incorporate the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until you have a smooth, loose batter (like a cake batter). Heat the oven to 350* and on a well greased/butter baking sheet, drop large spoonfuls of the batter 3 inches apart from each other. Bake for 13 minutes. Remove from baking sheet to cool. Enjoy with a glass of milk to help the spice!

my contribution to the holidays

I’m very iffy on Christmas spirit this year. One second I’m loving Christmas and the time I finally have to relax and visit some family. I’m known for sneaking looks at my presents and not sleeping the night before Christmas. But another second, I’m ready for it to be over. There’s so much drama related to Christmas and I don’t have the energy to assign dishes, wrap presents, and figure out the ever-changing plan for when everyone is showing up at everyone else’s house.

Too much work.

Plus, my mom is verbally not looking forward to the holidays since my brother Hunter is deployed. Last year he was deployed in Korea, this year in Afghanistan. And apparently I’m chopped liver. I kid, I kid.

Well yesterday I made an attempt at being spirited and finally made the sugar cookies my mom had been begging me to make. The pictures are a little sparse because a) I forgot to take them and b) I got distracted and went skiing halfway through making them (no joke).

I’d like to thank my best friend Tiffany’s husband, Johnny, for lending me an extra jacket!

But here they are, in all of their sorta holiday glory! Get out your butter!

Peppermint Sugar Cookies (makes 15-20 cookies)
For cookies:
1 stick butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp peppermint extract
1 egg
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/3 cup flour
For icing:
1 stick butter, softened
2 cups powdered sugar
1-2 T heavy whipping cream
1/2 tsp peppermint extract
1-2 drops green food coloring (optional)
In a mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. When well combined, mix in the vanilla, peppermint, and egg. In another mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Mixing slowly, incorporate the dry ingredients into the wet until a dough has formed. Roll the dough into balls (smaller or larger to suit your taste, but I recommend ping-pong size) and place onto a greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350* for 10-12 minutes until edges are just brown. Remove from oven and cool on a cookie sheet. They will be nice a chewy! After the cookies have completely cooled, beat together butter, powdered sugar, and peppermint extract for the icing, drizzling in heavy whipping cream to give it the perfect icing consistency. Once satisfied with the texture, add in the food coloring (optional) and mix well. Spread icing on cookies — lay it on thick! Enjoy!

my fall favorites

I suppose it is “fall” now, being that we have had weather consistently in the high 80′s for the past week.

And fall makes me think of comforting foods, prepared lovingly by my family. I was looking through some old pictures and was reminded of these foods.

So here are my 3 favorite fall foods… plus bagels because I just love them so much.

First up: My Aunt Nell’s Classic Apple Pie

Next, we have Hot Virginia Dip. Oh how I long for it…

Now for my Mama’s (Famous) Mac n Cheese (and my most popular recipe ever!)…

And now for the bagels… Oh the bagels!

Feed some friends this weekend! Happy cooking!

a philosophical question

While on the phone with my boyfriend recently, I mentioned that I was going to make blueberry muffins (Rahul’s favorite!) but was stopped in my tracks when he posed the question, “What is the difference between a cupcake and a muffin?”

My answer was fairly succinct: icing.

But then another friend suggested it was health, which I laughed off because most muffins are more unhealthy than a cupcake. Then I started debating the differences in the batters (stiff muffin batter vs more liquid cake batter). And then I gave up. So, glorious readers, here is a recipe for (healthy!) blueberry muffins to keep you busy as you contemplate this deeply important and urgent philosophical question:

What is the difference between a muffin and a cupcake?

Blueberry Oatmeal Muffins (makes 9 muffins)
1/2 cup old fashioned oats
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup plain yogurt (I used nonfat)
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup fresh blueberries
In a mixing bowl, combine the dry ingredients until well mixed. Add in the yogurt, egg, and vanilla and stir until just combined (the key to muffins is not over-mixing!). Using a spatula, gently fold in the fresh blueberries. Line a muffin pan with muffin cups and spray them gently with cooking spray. Divide the muffin batter evenly between the muffin cups — they will be full! With the oven heated to 375* bake for 14 minutes and let cool slightly before enjoying!

Single Gal Survival: Cupcakes

Missed the previous Single Gal Survival posts? Check them out here!
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Yes, you’re right. I’m not technically a single gal. But I may as well be since Rahul is now 1,526 miles from me. Distance makes me bored and lonely. And sometimes, as you may well know, a girl can’t help but need a cupcake.

And while these days there are cupcakes galore available from fancy bakeries and food trucks here in Austin, some days I am far too weepy and/or lazy to put on real clothes and interact with human beings. And Lord knows I don’t need to go to the grocery store and buy a dozen of their pre-made, generic cupcakes. Because then who would be forced to eat all 12 of them? Me. And my stretchy pants are enjoying their summer off.

So, single gals everywhere, I have found the solution to your cupcake woes. Cupcakes for 1 (or 2 if you’re feeling generous and not hormonal).

I researched proportions of ingredients and came up with a basic cupcake recipe, to which I personally added peanut butter and topped with chocolate chip butter cream. But you can feel free to make any flavor cupcake that floats your boat!

Cupcakes for 1 (makes 2 cupcakes)
2 T butter, melted
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg white
2 T brown sugar
1 pinch salt
1/4 heaping cup all purpose flour
1/4 heaping tsp baking powder
~1 T milk
In a mixing bowl, combine melted butter, vanilla, egg white, and brown sugar. Whisk thoroughly until fully incorporated and slightly bubbly. In a separate bowl, combine salt, flour, and baking powder. Once mixed, slowly incorporate into butter mixture, forming a thick batter. Mix in milk, starting with 1/2 T and adding more to get it to a cake batter consistency. Spoon into greased muffin papers in a muffin pan. Bake at 350* for 20 minutes or until a knife comes out cleanly from the middle. Top with your favorite icing and go to town!

I did it all for the cookie

I think that, without a doubt, my two favorite cookies are sugar cookies (try these!) and oatmeal raisin cookies. But I’m very picky about both. They have to be soft and chewy, but obviously completely cooked. And when it comes to oatmeal raisin cookies, specifically, I prefer them to be as healthy as possible.

For the following cookies, you could make them even healthier by cutting down on the butter, but why would you? When the cookies are already filled with goodness — raisins, oats, whole wheat flour — a little butter never hurt. And when you consider how many cookies are made with that butter, it seems like a lot less. In fact, there’s about 3g fat per cookie depending on how big or small you make them. I can deal with that.

So I ventured out to make my favorite cookie, and then spent the subsequent week trying to give away as many as possible.

But, I tell ya… with a cold glass of skim milk, two of these babies make the perfect mid-day treat to brighten anyone’s spirits!

Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies (makes 24 cookies)
1 stick salted butter, softened
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg white
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 pinch salt
1 1/2 cups old fashioned oats
1/2 cup seedless raisins (add more or less depending on your preference!)
In a large mixing bowl, cream butter with both sugars until smooth.  Then, add in the egg white and vanilla, beating until well combined. In a small mixing bowl, thoroughly combine whole wheat flour, all purpose flour, baking soda, and salt. Using a mixer, slowly incorporate the flour mixture into the butter mixture until fully combined. Using a large spoon, fold in the oats and raisins into the mixture until just combined. Drop onto a greased cookie sheet in large spoonfuls and place about 2 inches apart. Bake at 350* for 12-13 minutes until just done and lightly brown around the edges. Remove from oven and let cool on cookie sheet for 5 minutes and then place on cooling racks (this makes them optimally chewy).

a baking lovechild

Today I simply wish to show you one of my very favorite cookies made in my family. They are the lovechild of a Snickers bar and a chocolate chip cookie and I love them.

I suppose you could switch out Snickers for any other mini candy bar, but why would you?

Stuffed Snickers Cookies (makes 16-18 cookies)
1 stick butter, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
16-18 mini Snickers bars, unwrapped and set aside
In a mixing bowl, cream together butter, brown sugar, sugar, and vanilla until creamy and smooth. Slowly beat in the egg. In a separate bowl, combine flour, salt, and baking soda. When fully incorporated, gradually add it into the butter mixture, mixing well to form a soft dough. Using your hands, pinch off a ping pong ball sized piece of dough and roll it completely around a mini Snickers bar. Place on the baking sheet. Repeat to use up all of the dough and Snickers bars. Space evenly with 2-3 inches between the cookies. Bake at 375* for 9-11 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven and cool upside down on a baking rack (trust me: put them upside down in case some Snickers caramel is dripping from the bottom and sticks to your counter). Allow to cool for a few minutes then devour!

holy stromboli!

In light of Mother’s Day this past weekend, I wanted to share one of my mom’s favorite foods with y’all. After a phone consultation and her insistence that I remake a traditionally unhealthy classic with a lighter version, we decided that our favorite comfort food would be the best: stromboli.

Stromboli, in essence, isn’t that unhealthy. It depends on what you fill it with and some self-control with the portions of cheese, but it was not hard at all to make a filling, healthier alternative to a greasy, cheesy, oversized restaurant stromboli.

Now, I used goat cheese (in addition to skim mozzarella) because I’m obsessed with the stuff, but my mom hates it so if I were actually making this for her in person I’d omit that. But if you like goat cheese, I recommend a hearty sprinkle of the crumbled stuff for some added creaminess in your stromboli.

Also, if you live alone as I do, you can definitely make all 3 strombolis at once and pop them in the fridge or freezer to eat later in the week. Or you can wrap the dough in plastic wrap and freeze it for any time. It makes the perfect dough for both strombolis and personal pizzas!

Individual Whole Wheat Stromboli (makes 3)
Dough:
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
2/3 cup warm water
1 1/4 tsp yeast
2 tsp brown sugar
1 tsp olive oil + extra
1/2 tsp salt
Filling:
mozzarella cheese
goat cheese
turkey pepperoni
onions
mushrooms
In a mixing bowl, combine warm water, yeast, brown sugar, and 1 tsp olive oil. Mix gently and let yeast become foamy. Using a dough hook, slowly mix in flour and salt until the dough comes together. Remove the dough from the bowl and put a drizzle of olive oil in the bottom of the bowl. Replace the dough in the bowl and roll it around in the olive oil so it is fully coated. Cover the bowl with a cloth and allow the dough to rise for an hour. Once the dough has risen, flour a board and knead the dough gently. Divide into 3 equal parts and roll each out into a circle (hint: use a pie plate!). Place all desired filling ingredients onto one half of the dough and fold the dough over the filling. Press the dough together tightly with your fingers. Brush a bit of additional olive oil over the dough and sprinkle with a pinch of salt. Repeat for each stromboli. Bake at 475* for 10-12 minutes until the dough is golden brown and crisp. Serve immediately with marinara sauce for dipping on the side.

Jai ho!

There’s no point to the title of this post other than the fact that it is one of my cellphone ring tones and I have it stuck in my head 24/7. Now you do too. Also, I spent a good part of summer (winter) 2009 learning the movie dance in my unheated office in Argentina to keep me warm. It has sentimental value.

Okay maybe the title of the post does have a bit of a point, as it comes from India and so does my new favorite cookie. Have you ever had the urge to dunk a cookie into your tea or coffee? Have you ever wished you had the perfect cookie to do so? Well, I am here to introduce you to atta biscuits.

These little lumps of heaven and cardamom were introduced to me after a trip to a local Indian grocery store with Rahul. After dunking them in my tea and seeing how the texture got perfectly soggy and wasn’t overly sweet, I did more research. Turns out these babies are 100% whole wheat and don’t have butter (gasp!) so they actually aren’t a bad cookie choice. They aren’t super sweet and the cardamom adds a type of savory sweetness (does that even make sense?) that is out of this world.

Mine don’t look too pretty, but I promise you they’re delicious and taste pretty close to what came from the Indian grocery store.

Atta Biscuits (makes 9 cookies)
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup powdered sugar
3/4 tsp cardamom powder
~2 T cold milk
In a small bowl, sift together the flour and the baking powder. Set aside. In a mixing bowl, beat together the powdered sugar and vegetable oil until smooth. Then, slowly beat in the cardamom until fully incorporated with the oil and sugar mixture. Add the flour mixture to the wet mixture and knead by hand until the dough forms a lumpy, loose texture. Add in milk, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the dough sticks to itself loosely — you should be able to roll or press the dough in your palm to form a shape that doesn’t fall apart at this point. Form into whatever shape you want (I used a rounded rectangle as my shape) and place on a lightly greased baking sheet. Bake at 350* for 10-12 minutes and remove to a cooling rack. Allow to cool completely, about 1 hour, before tasting.

special brownies

No, no. Not that kind of brownie. But these are so good they should be illegal.

Last night I went over to the apartment of my gentleman friend and baked him brownies from a brand new cookbook. Several weeks ago I was sent a copy of My Mama Made That, the new cookbook from the Hampton Roads Junior League. It is full of classic Virginia recipes from the region where I grew up and I was oh-so excited to pick a recipe to show y’all. Thanks to Suzi R for sending it my way!!!

This is a great cookbook if you are looking for some classic, indulgent Southern recipes. The seafood section looks especially delectable — being that I grew up in a water town — but the seafood is so expensive in Texas that I have yet to try any of the recipes.

I believe the exact words of my gentleman friend, upon trying the brownies, were “These are so wrong. This shouldn’t be allowed.”

These babies become double decker, gooey goodness. I had a picture of all the melting chocolate and caramel oozing, but my camera ate it. As did my tummy.

FYI: the recipe suggests a 9×13 baking dish, but we used one a bit smaller to have thicker brownies. Be like me.

Caramel Fudge Brownie Bars (makes 12 large brownies)
From the cookbook, My Mama Made That
1 package devil’s food cake mix
1 1/2 sticks butter, melted
2/3 cup evaporated milk, separated
1 package soft caramels, unwrapped (14-oz)
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
In a mixing bowl, combine the cake mix, butter, and 1/3 cup of the evaporated milk. Stir until the dough begins to stick together. Press 2/3 of the cake mixture into the bottom of a greased baking dish and bake for 6 minutes at 350*. Meanwhile, in a small sauce pan, combine the caramels and the remaining 1/3 cup evaporated milk until melted. When the first layer of brownies comes out of the oven after 6 minutes, pour the chocolate chips and caramel sauce onto the bottom layer. Then carefully spoon the remaining cake mix onto the top and swirl with a spoon. Continue to bake for 20-25 minutes or until the brownies test done. Remove from the oven and cool completely. Cut into bars.