Showing posts with label recipe. Show all posts
Showing posts with label recipe. Show all posts

Chocolate Chip Cookies to DIE FOR!

You guys. I don't know if you know this (actually I don't know why you would  know this), but Mike makes the best chocolate chip cookies in the whole world. That's saying a LOT, since I'm not even a big cookie person (except Oreos, obviously).

The other night, we all spent some time together as a family making these delicious cookies. And by that, I mean Mike made the cookies while Elsie terrorized him, helping occasionally, and I documented the whole thing.
I convinced him that he needed to share his recipe with the world, so here it is.

The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies in the World
1 stick butter (softened but not melted)
1/2 cup granulated white sugar
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 heaping cup of flour (anywhere from 1-1.5 cups is ideal)
1 teaspoon + pinch of baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
Chocolate chips, m&ms, and/or walnuts to taste

These cookies are baked at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes.

We like chewy cookies, so we usually pull them out a little bit under-cooked and let them finish cooking on the baking sheet on the counter. If you like crunchy cookies, don't do that. HA!

Anyway, be sure to mix the dry ingredients separately or at least distribute the salt and baking soda evenly throughout the dough. If you don't do that, you will end up with a bunch of puffy cookies and a bunch of flat, miserable cookies.

Don't soften the butter too much, or you will end up with dough that is too liquidy, and you'll want to use flour to compensate... BUT DO NOT DO THAT! If you accidentally soften your butter too much, refrigerate (or even freeze) the dough for a couple of hours to harden it a bit.

This recipe yields about 2 dozen delicious, chewy, amazing cookies. Try not to eat them all at once.

You're welcome. 


Ibiza Sneak Peek + Happy Thursday [Go Make Some Delicious Food AKA a Recipe Post]

Howday peeps! Hope you all are having an awesome week! 

Yesterday Husband and I relaxed on the beach for an hour or so, then decided to take a hike. We hiked a little over 7 miles up some cliffs to see this: 
Don't let the picture fool you - those caves were at least 25 feet tall. 
and this: 
and of course I had to take a picture in a not so safe spot. 
And now my skin tone rivals that of a lobster. 

In the attempt to relax and ignore my blog, I've asked a few people to guest post for me over the next week and a half. They are all fabulous, and each guest post is different and fun! Trust me - I would never send you to a bad blog. I genuinely enjoy each of these ladies and am glad I get to share them with you!! 

First up is Lori. She is super cool and currently working on being the best wife ever by making totally awesome and delicious food. She is sharing a couple recipes with you today, and I have the feeling that you will all be walking running sprinting full speed to your kitchen to try these bad boys out!! 
************************************************************************************
hello, lovelies! i'm lori from a crazy walk on the safe side. 

and i am truly sorry that you came here for alyx but {since she is on an awesome vacay} you got stuck with me instead. but since we obviously both like alyx, maybe you and i can be friends, too?
so a little bit about me... i am a southern girl in my mid-twenties enjoying newlywed life. and since the hubs and i recently moved cities {and i have yet to find proper employment}, i have had LOTS of time to perfect being a stay-at-home wife. while i still let the laundry pile up, and put off cleaning the bathrooms way longer than i should, the one thing i am honestly proud of is my mad skills in the kitchen.

seriously though... i am not quite at the stage where i can whip up an impressive dinner without a recipe to {at least somewhat} follow... but i'm learning. and {most} everything has been quite yummy and gotten the stamp of approval from the hubs.

so today, alyx asked me to share a recipe with all of her lovely readers! {i'm trying to butter you up... did ya catch that?}.... 

after seeing several versions of green monster smoothies floating around pinterest i thought that spinach would taste terrible in drink form i thought 'why not give it a try?' this is my mixture... and i actually LOVE it. i've had it for breakfast almost every day here lately!

lori's green monster:
handful of frozen mangos
4-5 fresh strawberries
1 large banana (when they're really ripe and turning brown on the outside, cut them up, put them in a ziploc and freeze them)
milk
ice

couple of handfuls of fresh spinach

2 tablespoons of splenda, or some agave nectar

blend and adjust milk, ice and spinach until you get the desired consistency and color, and ENJOY!

cauliflower crusted pizza:

{from eat.drink.smile}

1 cup cooked, riced cauliflower

1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

1 egg, beaten

1 tsp dried oregano

1/2 tsp crushed garlic

1/2 tsp garlic salt

olive oil (optional)

pizza sauce and your choice of toppings*

{i
used fresh mozzarella, spinach, mushrooms, tomatoes, feta and garlic... i
cooked the mushrooms on the stove top in some sherry beforehand}

directions:

take a head of fresh cauliflower, remove stems and leaves, and
chop the florets into chunks. add to food processor and pulse until it
looks like grain. do not over-do pulse or you will puree it. place the riced cauliflower into a microwave safe bowl and
microwave for approximately 8 minutes (depending on the strength of your microwave). there is no need to add
water, as the natural moisture in the cauliflower is enough to cook
itself.

one large head should produce approximately 3 cups of riced
cauliflower. The remainder can be used to make additional pizza crusts
immediately, or can be stored in the refrigerator for up to one week.

pizza crust:

preheat oven to 450 degrees. spray the pan with non-stick cooking spray.

stir together 1 cup cauliflower, egg and
mozzarella. add oregano, crushed garlic and garlic salt, stir. transfer
to the pan, and using your hands, pat out into a 9" round. brush olive oil over top of mixture to help with browning.

bake at 450 degrees for 15 minutes.

remove from oven. add sauce, toppings and cheese. bake approximately
3-4 minutes until cheese is melted.

*Note that toppings need to be precooked since you are only broiling for a few minutes.

i hope you give these recipes a try! and please stop by and say hello to me over at my blog. i would love to meet some new people :)

Sunday Confessions & the Best Peanut Butter Cookies You Will Ever Eat!

Hi lovelies!!! 

I know it's Sunday, but I only have one confession for you: 

1. I hate cooking and the kitchen. For some strange reason, though, I felt the need to bake today. I love  peanut butter cookies, and set out to find a good recipe. Nothing looked perfectly satisfying, though, so I sort of made up my own. It was an experiment, but I took pictures just in case these cookies turned out. They did! They were AMAZING. Now here is the recipe - go try it out and see for yourself! 


Since I made these, Hubby has eaten a total of nine cookies. They must be good!!

Happy Sunday, everyone! 

Back to the Future!!

So, after a few long weeks, we are back! We have been waiting on our DSL internet connection for about 4 weeks, and we FINALLY got it today! Words cannot describe how happy I am to be back in touch with not only the wonderful world of cyberspace, but my FAMILY and FRIENDS! I have been on Skype pretty much constantly since we got our internet up and running, and it's so nice just to hear the voice of family and friends. I have definitely needed it, since I've been feeling pretty homesick lately.

I really can't remember anything that's happened lately, except that I've been doing a TON of baking/cooking. I think I'm going to start archiving recipes here on this blog, that way I can easily find them, and if anyone else is interested, you can use them, too.

Last week was Mike's birthday, and, since we're here in Germany, I decided to make him Apfelkuchen for his birthday cake. Since we live in the middle of nowhere, I couldn't find a store that sold candles (I don't even know if they do candles on birthday cakes here... do they even do birthday cakes? I'm so uninformed!), and I found a store that had cards, but didn't have any cash on me, and they didn't even take EC cards. UGH. Anyway, he really liked the cake, and I was pretty proud, because I had to do EVERYTHING by hand (including beating butter and egg whites).

Here's the recipe:





Ingredients

Cake
  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 tablespoon double-acting baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter or margarine, softened
  • 1 3/4 cups sugar
  • 3 large eggs, separated
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 8 medium (about 3 pounds) cooking apples, such as Golden Delicious, Granny Smith, Gravenstein, Greening, Jonathan, Macoun, Pippin, Starr, Winesap, Yellow Transparent, or any combination, cored and diced (peeling is optional)
Glaze
(The glaze is optional - I prefer the cake without, because it's still plenty sweet, but has WAY less sugar)

  • 1 cup confectioners' sugar, or 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar and 1/2 cup light brown sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla or almond extract
  • 1 to 2 tablespoons milk or water

Preparation

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a kugelhopf, 10-inch Bundt pan, or 9x13-inch pan
2. Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Beat the butter until smooth, about 1 minute. Gradually add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Beat in the egg yolks, one at a time. Stir in the flour mixture and milk.
3. Beat the egg whites on low speed until foamy, about 30 seconds. Increase the speed to high and beat until stiff but not dry. Fold one-fourth of the whites into the batter, then gently fold in the remaining whites.
4. Pour half of the batter into the prepared pan. Spread with half of the apples. Top with the remaining batter, then the remaining apples.
5. Bake until golden brown, 50 to 60 minutes. Let cool in the pan for 20 minutes, then transfer to a rack and let cool completely.
6. To make the glaze if using: Combine all the glaze ingredients, stirring until smooth and of pouring consistency. Drizzle over the cake and let stand until set.

Note: I used a cinammon sugar mix with the apples that I put on the top layer. It was delicious!!! 


That's all!!! 

--M&A