Sugar Cookies

In college, my best friend's mom would send her caramels and frosted sugar cookies in her care packages. I used this as the base for my Easter cookies this year. Gonna go eat some bunny's ass now...

Dough
3/4 c Powdered sugar
3/4 c Granulated sugar
1 c Butter
1 Egg
1 tsp Vanilla extract
1/2 tsp Almond extract
1/2 tsp Cream of tartar
1 tsp Baking powder
2 1/2 c All purpose flour

Frosting
1 tsp Melted butter
1 tbs Milk
1/2 tsp Almond extract
1 c Powdered sugar
2-3 drops food coloring

Cream butter and sugar. Beat in wet ingredients and stir in the dry ingredients. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 1-2 hours. Roll out to about 1/4" thick and cut out cookie shapes.

Bake @ 375˚ for 10-15 minutes

Let cookies cool. Frost.

Mexican Hot Chocolate Truffles

Chocolate Ganache
500g milk chocolate
150g Heavy Cream
2 Cinnamon Sticks
40g butter, room temperature
20g tequila
1 Habenero, chopped

Chocolate Shell
Tempered Chocolate
Cocoa Powder
Cinnamon Powder


Combine cream, cinnamon stick, and chopped habenero. Heat until just a boil. Remove from heat and let cinnamon and pepper steep. Bring back to a boil and strain warm cream over chocolate and butter.

Create an emulsion, add tequila and mix well. Let ganache set. 

Using a scooper, make small balls with the ganache and coat with tempered chocolate. Let the batch set. Add a second coating of chocolate and dredge truffle thru cocoa powder and cinnamon powder.

Kabocha Gnocchi

I bought a kabocha at the farmer's market. I wanted to make chips out of it. Then I changed my mind after scrolling around Pinterest. Instead, I found an incredibly simple way to make them into gnocchi.   I also happened to have some leftover Bolognese sauce, which paired nicely for a hearty lunch.

1 Kachoba Squash

2 Eggs

1 c All Purpose Flour

2 Tbs Olive Oil

1 Tsp Garlic Salt

Salt & Pepper to taste.

Cut Squash in half and drizzle olive oil on halves. Sprinkle with garlic salt and bake (face down) on a cookie sheet at 400 for about 45min-1hr. Let cool and scoop out the flesh into a large bowl. Add 2 eggs and mash using a potato masher. Season to taste with salt & pepper and work in flour to form a thick soft dough.

Working in portions, roll the dough out into long 'snakes'  and cut them into bite sized pieces. Press the tines of a fork into each one to give it that characteristic gnocchi shape. At this point, you can freeze it or refrigerate the gnocchi for future use. Or you can boil it or pan-fry it.

Irish Soda Bread

I am back working in an office. I love my co-workers and even more, I love that none of them are gluten free! So, what do I do? I take requests on what to bring in. This week, it's Irish Soda Bread. What's not to love about something that reminds me of a giant biscuit!

Dough

4 c All purpose flour

1/2 c Butter, softened

1 Egg

1 c Buttermilk

5 tbs Granulated sugar

1/2 tsp Salt

1 tsp Baking soda

1 tbs Baking powder

Wash

1/4 c Buttermilk

1/4 c Butter, melted

In a large bowl, mix all dry ingredients in a bowl and then cut in the butter. Stir in 1 c buttermilk and egg. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead slightly. 

Form dough into a round and place on greased baking sheet (or baking stone). Use a sharp knife to cut an 'X' on the top of the loaf.

In a small bowl, combine melted butter with 1/4 c buttermilk and brush loaf. Continue to brush with butter mixture while baking. 

Bake at 375º for 45-50 minutes. Check for doneness after 30 minutes. 

Bread & Butter Pickles

Going into Penzy's for me is like a kid going into a candy store. On my last visit, the store clerk need some help opening a jar of something she had made...bread and butter pickles. They were delicious! I had to go and make a batch of my own. 

10 cucumbers, thinly sliced

2 Medium sweet onions, thinly sliced

1 green bell peppers, diced

3 cloves garlic, chopped

1/4 cup salt

1 1/2 cups cider vinegar

2 cups granulated sugar

2 tablespoons yellow mustard seeds

1 teaspoons celery ssalt

1/2 tablespoon ground turmeric

In a large bowl, mix together cucumbers, onions, green bell peppers, garlic and salt. Allow to stand approximately 3 hours then drain excess liquid from the cucumber mixture. Place in Jar(s).

In a large saucepan, mix the cider vinegar, white sugar, mustard seed, celery seed, whole cloves and turmeric. Bring to a boil. Pour hot vinegar over cucumber mixture in the jar(s). Seal and chill in the refrigerator until serving.

Ribbon Quiche | Zucchini & Prosciutto, dairy free!

The Pie-off: 
Everyone at the office brings in a pie. In the afternoon, all the pies are presented and tasted. Figuring that most of the office would go with sweet, I would go with savory.

I found a Ribbon Quiche on Pinterest (below) that looked beautiful and delicious. The only problem is that although I love quiche, being lactose intolerant, it doesn't really like me. 

I adjusted the recipe a little bit and have found that with this savory quiche, it's hard to tell there isn't any!

Crust
1 1/4c Flour
1/2c Shortening (or butter)
3 tbsp chilled water
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp dried Rosemary, chopped
1 tsp dried Thyme. chopped

Filling
Green and Yellow Zucchini, sliced
Prosciutto
1c coconut milk (or cream)
3 eggs
1/4 tsp garlic salt

Combine flour herbs and salt in a bowl. Scatter chilled shortening (or butter) pieces over the flour mixture and cut in. When coarse crumbs form, drizzle in water until dough becomes an evenly moist mass; not a ball. Wrap in plastic and chill. Roll out the dough and form a pie Crust and set aside.

Slice the zucchini in a mandoline and blanche the strips. Pat them dry and them begin coiling them, alternating between colors of zucchini and ham. Place coil lying flat in the pie pan and make sure there is even space between the coils.

Beat the eggs, coconut milk and garlic salt together and pour in the pie pan. Fill the pie pan, but do not over fill. If you need more or less liquid, use the ratio of 1/3c coconut milk to 1 egg. Add garlic salt to taste.

Bake at 350º for 30-40 minutes, until set.

Lobster Roll

Going to school in New England, I developed the taste for good Lobster Rolls. Until recently it was a hard thing to find when outside of the region without paying an arm and a leg. With the  food truck craze, Lobster Trucks are the easy way to get my fix of the the delicious sandwich, at an affordable price. However every so often I like to make them myself.

Filling
3 lbs Steamed Lobster, Chopped meat
1-2 tbs Mayonaise
Salt & Pepper to taste
1 tsp Chopped Parsley
1.5 tsp Lemon juice
1 stalk Chopped celery
dash of ground cumin

Cover and chill lobster in the fridge for a couple hours. Lightly butter and grill bun/bread in a pan until slightly brown and spoon heaping Lobster Filling in. Enjoy with a side of kettle cooked potato chips :P