Monthly Archives: January 2012

Cheddar Jack Bean Dip

Hey football fans, do you know what this Sunday is?

It’s that bowl thing you get really excited about every year.

I’m going to be honest with you little cookies, I’m not big on sports. The Super Bowl means as much to me as the latest Twilight premiere means to most men. But (if we’re still being honest), there is one aspect of the Big Game that gets me excited: the food.

The Super Bowl doesn’t just mean football, grown adults hollering at the TV screen, or amusing commercials (the only part of the game I watch); it means finger foods galore. Dips, chips, wings, pizza, and more congregate on this day in order to provide fans with handheld and deep-fried goodness. I may not know who’s playing in the Big Game this year (let alone how football works to begin with), but I do know a thing or two about food.

What’s a quintessential Game Day eat? Dip, of course. It’s standard, snackable finger food fare, perfect for parties and get togethers like watching the Superbowl because it can be shared (just don’t be “that person” who double dips). However, achieving the perfect dip is more complicated than one might think. You need something substantial, not so thin that it’s like soup, but not so thick that it’s undippable*. A little bit of kick is always a crowd-pleaser, but you don’t want to go too hot in case you’ve got some spice-intolerant* people attending your Game Day gathering. Cheese makes pretty much any dip perfect, but go too rich and you’ll be sending your over-stuffed guests rolling home. Perhaps more importantly than all of this, that dip better be delicious.

Guess what? I’ve got a dip to satisfy all of the above criteria: Cheddar Jack Bean Dip. It’s nice and thick while still passing the No-Break Chip Test,* and it’s got the ideal balance of hearty yet not overly rich. There is definitely some heat here, the kind that sneaks up on you. You take a bite and you think you’re safe, when all of a sudden, it hits you. Hello, red pepper flakes; Didn’t realize you where there…

This Bean Dip isn’t just packing heat; it’s exploding with flavor too. Between the onions, garlic, olive oil, and of course, that spicy kick, your mouth is going to be partying hard with every bite. Super Bowl Party? What Super Bowl Party? The party is happening in this dip.

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Homemade Conversation Hearts

You know those chalky little multicolored heart candies that make an appearance every year at Valentine’s Day? Sweet, festive, and always baring a sappy, lovey-dovey message, they’re are a holiday classic.

Conversation hearts are a go-to gift for V-Day, but they have their drawbacks. Have you ever been the unfortunate recipient of an awkward heart message, like when a platonic (or so you thought) friend gives you one that says, “I love you”? Or perhaps worse yet, you were the one giving the inappropriate message (note: it’s probably not a good idea to give a “kiss me” heart to your best friend’s boyfriend). And if we’re being honest here, they aren’t the most delicious of V-Day sweets. Chocolate or conversation hearts? The choice is pretty obvious. And yet we still eat the tiny treats anyway.

Admit it: you eat them every year, even though they aren’t particularly tasty.

Why does it have to be that way? Why can’t you have cute, romantic heart candies that taste as good as they look? Why can’t you customize the messages to avoid social blunders and miscommunications?

Fear no longer, my little cookies. There is a solution: make your own conversation hearts.

Homemade Conversation Hearts are the perfect sweet treat to make for Valentine’s Day, and I can give you several reasons why:

You can customize the messages! Profess your love to that special someone. Tell that guy at work how much of a creep he is. Remind your friends how awesome they are. The possibilities are endless!
Make your favorite flavors. You won’t believe all the different kinds of extracts there are out there: vanilla, almond, raspberry, mint, lemon, orange, bubblegum, and more! Choose your favorites and leave out the ones you don’t like.
These taste so much better than store-bought. They flavors are more prominent and the texture isn’t chalky. They’re actually a little bit creamy in the center. So, that means no breaking you teeth like you often do on the ones from a box.

Now, if those reasons aren’t enough for you, let me give you one more: nothing says “I love you” or “I care about you” like a homemade gift. Your loved ones will go crazy for these homemade heart-shaped cuties. They’ll be so impressed, but most importantly, they’ll appreciate the time and effort you put into making them. Plus, they’ll get a kick out of those customized messages.

Think making candy is hard? Think again. there’s no thermometer required, and it’s not quite as scientific and exact like candy-making typically is. Don’t believe me? Then watch the video below and join me in the kitchen to make these colorful candies!

A Few Tips Before You Get Cooking:

You need two days to make these. The actual prep doesn’t take that long, but they need at least 24 hours to dry or the edible ink will bleed all over when you try to write on them.
You can make however many colors/flavors you like. I made pink/almond extract, purple/raspberry extract, and white/vanilla extract. If you’re looking to match the classic conversation hearts, they include: white/mint, yellow/banana, orange/orange, green/lime, purple/grape, and pink/cherry.
Food dye stains, so you can wear plastic gloves to avoid staining your skin (although it washes out relatively easily). If you get food dye on your counter, some cleaner with a bit of bleach in it will take it right out.
Work with the dough quickly because it starts to dry out and will become hard to work with. If this happens, use a tiny bit of water to moisten it again.
You can find the edible food markers at craft stores, and sometimes in the grocery store in the baking aisle.
I cut the recipe in half because it makes a ton of candies, but I’ve included the full recipe below. You can make the whole recipe or cut it in half depending on how many hearts you want.
You can use whatever sized heart-shaped cutters that you want, but I don’t recommend going too small because you won’t be able to write on them.

Homemade Conversation Hearts

Recipe by Cakespy

Ingredients:

yield: about 70-100 conversation hearts

1 packet (1/4 ounces, or 2 teaspoons) unflavored gelatin
1/2 cup water
2 teaspoons light corn syrup
2 pounds (one bag) confectioners’ sugar, plus extra for dusting your work surface
Assorted flavoring extracts of your choice (I used almond extract, vanilla, and raspberry)
Assorted food colors, your choice
Small heart-shaped cutters
Food coloring markers (I used Wilton Foodwriters)

Directions:

Place the corn syrup, gelatin, and water in a small microwave-safe bowl. Stir until the gelatin is well-distributed. Microwave the mixture for 30 seconds, so the gelatin dissolves, and stir well. (Or, you can do this stove-top over low heat).
Pour the gelatin mixture into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Add one cup of confectioners’ sugar and turn the mixer to low, mixing until the sugar is incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl to ensure that the sugar all gets mixed in.
Continue to add the remaining confectioners’ sugar, one cup at a time, mixing well, until all of the 2 pounds is added. While you’re mixing, periodically stop the mixer and scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl. Continue mixing at low to medium-low speed until it progresses from a thin, watery liquid to a glaze-like texture to an extremely thick dough.
Once all of the sugar is incorporated and your mixture is thickened, dust a work surface with some of your confectioners’ sugar and scrape the candy out onto the work surface. The candy will be very sticky and stiff. Generously dust the top of the ball of candy with confectioners’ sugar, and begin to knead the candy like bread dough, folding the ball of dough over onto itself, then use the heel of your hand to push it down. Give the candy a quarter-turn, and repeat the process, dusting it with more confectioners’ sugar as often as necessary to prevent it from sticking to the board or your hands. Knead until the candy is no longer sticky, but smooth. I found it kind of like the texture of a pliable clay.
Decide how many colors and flavors of conversation hearts you want to make, and divide the candy dough into that many portions. To flavor and color the candy, take one of the balls and flatten it into a palm-sized disc. Add a few drops of food coloring and a small dot of flavoring extract to the center of the disc, and fold it over on itself. Knead the dough ball, just as you did before, until the color is evenly dispersed throughout the candy, and all streaks have disappeared. You may want to taste-test a tiny piece to decide if you need more flavoring. Repeat this process with remaining balls of candy dough until all of the bits are colored and flavored.
Note: As you finish coloring each ball of dough, wrap each securely in plastic wrap so that they wouldn’t dry out while you finished the rest.
Dust your work surface and a rolling pin with confectioners’ sugar, and roll out one of the candy balls to your desired thickness. Be aware that the thinner you roll it, the more fragile the candy will be.
Use heart-shaped cutters to cut hearts out of the rolled candy, and transfer the hearts to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Smaller hearts are more realistic, but larger hearts are easier for writing messages. Once you have cut out your hearts, you can re-roll the scraps to get more shapes out of the candy. Repeat with remaining candy balls.
Allow your hearts to air-dry for at least 24 hours before writing on them. This step is VERY important, because the extra moisture in the hearts will cause the ink to run if you do not let them dry properly.
After the hearts have dried, use the food writing markers to write the messages that come from your heart. Store your conversation hearts in an airtight container at room temperature.

Triple Chocolate Brownie Pie

How Brownie Met Pie

Brownie’s life was blessed. She had everything a baked good could want. She had adoring fans, good looks, and she was lavishly rich (rich and fudgy, that is). But despite all this, Brownie was unhappy. She felt a constant void within her chocolatey core, calling out for something beyond her seemingly perfect life. Outsiders wondered how she could possibly be unsatisfied. When Brownie passed by, the gossiping Cupcakes would whisper speculations to one another, proposing far-fetched possibilities like a lack of love from her parents. On the contrary, Brownie had very supportive parents. But even they didn’t know what to do to please their daughter.

As Brownie matured from a tiny brownie bite to a fully baked choice-cut from a thick 9 by 9 pan, the insatiable longing within her grew stronger still. Her best friend, an over-sized chocolate chip cookie from a posh bakery, tried to cheer her up, but couldn’t understand what Brownie was so upset about in the first place. It wasn’t something Brownie could explain, no matter how many times she tried.

It seemed that Brownie would go through the rest of her shelf-life feeling like something was missing. She had almost given up hope entirely, until one fateful day changed it all. She was watching a baker put together a pie. The baker mixed up a filling that seemed delicious enough on its own. Then he poured it into a buttery crust, a crib to cradle the precious pie filling and complete the delicious dessert.

And it was then Brownie knew exactly what she had been missing.

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Is Your Oven Sick?

Let’s just be honest: no matter how talented of a cook you are, kitchen disasters are inevitable. Even celebrity chefs who present themselves as poised and put-together on television have their share of catastrophes. We’re all human. Therefore, we all make mistakes.

Although it’s comforting to know you’re not alone in your occasional culinary fiasco, it doesn’t make it any less disappointing when one occurs. You want to make the best food you can, and you usually go into it with high hopes. So when things go wrong, it can be frustrating. I know there have been times when I’ve been devastated by recipes gone awry, ready to through the unfortunate disaster dish right out of the window. Things don’t always work out the way I want them too.

Exhibit A: slightly too dark Garlic Pull-Apart Loaf

One of the most disgruntling mishaps for me is when I burn food. Why is this so frustrating? Because it is completely my fault. You see, some disasters are inevitable; you have no control over them. Those are the kinds of things you can’t beat yourself up over too badly (although, I usually find a way). However, burning food is typically preventable. As long as you pay attention, you can cook your food to perfection.

Or so I thought.

You see, I’ve had a reoccurring problem with burning things in the oven. I tried desperately to swerve around this roadblock in my kitchen adventures. I stayed glued to the oven, followed cooking times exactly, and covered my various dishes with aluminum foil to prevent premature browning. Now, of course I had my moments where I would leave the oven’s side for just a moment too long, but those occurrences only accounted for about 25% of my over-cooked dishes.

Out of all my cooking blunders, burning things drives me most insane. I kept blaming myself; if I had only taken the food out of the oven a moment sooner…It was so frustrating.

One day, my mother decided to get a thermometer to test the oven’s temperature. So we tested it out, and do you know what we found?

Our oven has a fever. It is 25 degrees too hot. When I set the oven to 350 degrees, it was actually at 375. When I set the oven to 400 degrees, it was actually at 425. In a way I was relieved; it wasn’t my fault everything was burning! I felt much better about myself and my cooking abilities. On the other hand, this presented a whole new kind of frustration. I couldn’t just run out and buy a new oven. What was I to do?

Well, the solution is simple enough: I set the oven 25 degrees lower than what’s stated in a recipe. So, if I’m supposed to bake a cake at 350 degrees, I set it to 325 instead. The thermometer we placed in the oven then reads 350, and the oven is at the desired temperature (instead of 25 degrees hotter). It’s a bit of an inconvenience, but at least it solves the problem!

A reminder to turn down the oven.

The reason I’m telling all you little cookies this is because you may be having the same issue without even knowing. Your oven doesn’t have to be an old piece of junk for the temperature to be off. I highly recommend getting a thermometer and checking the temperature to be sure. You can save yourself one less catastrophe and avoid a sick oven. Even if you can’t get a new one, you’ll know how to at least heal your oven’s fever by lowering or increasing its temperature as necessary.

Take your oven’s temperature! It could be very sick. In which case, it’s not just your oven that will suffer; your food (and your sanity) will too.

Double Fudge Brownie Ice Cream

For many people, ice cream is a modern day link to nostalgic memories of a carefree childhood. It’s one of life’s few pleasures that is just as acceptable to enjoy now as it was when you were a kid (although perhaps not as waist-line friendly). Moreover, ice cream can bring out that same pure excitement that it used to. It appeals to your inner-child, a part of you that never really went away.

I have a vivid memory of playing in the yard of my childhood home many years ago. I couldn’t have been more than 5 years-old. Evening was just beginning to settle over my quiet neighborhood, and the sky was turning orange as it always did during early summer nights. The street was quiet and still until my mother’s blue van came chugging along, returning from what was likely a trip to the grocery store. I recall running to the car to see her, and she had a special surprise: a carton of Double Fudge Brownie Ice Cream.

I was overcome with glee. Ice cream was a special treat when I was a kid, something I really appreciated; and here was one of my favorite flavors just within arm’s length! I couldn’t wait to dig into the chocolatey ice cream and the chewy brownie pieces. It seemed so decadent, a momentous occasion to be savored. The only bad part was having to wait until after dinner to indulge my feverish childhood desires.

Those childhood desires have turned into feverish young adult desires. The promise of Double Fudge Brownie Ice Cream still brings to me the same elation it did as a child. Call me young at heart, but there’s something so fun about enjoying a bowl of ice cream (or a cone, if that’s more your style). It’s hard to be unhappy when there’s ice cream afoot. Why do you think so many broken hearted souls curl up on the couch with a carton and a spoon?

However, as my adult taste buds developed, I noticed that the “brownies” in store-bought ice cream aren’t all that brownie-like; they’re more like chocolate-flavored clay. Now, I won’t pretend I didn’t still find that ice cream delectable, but I wanted to experience real brownies in my ice cream. When at last an ice cream maker came into my possession, I was provided with an opportunity to do so.

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Sweet & Simple: Honey Roasted Nuts

When it comes to flavors, sweet and salty treats provide the ultimate eating experience. They give a little bit of this and a little bit of that so you don’t have to choose when you snack sensors start calling to you. It’s the best of both worlds, a complex blend of sugar and salt to create multiple levels of flavor.

Honey is perhaps the most naturally sweet substance mother nature has bestowed upon us (besides sugar itself). It’s like sweet liquid gold. In contrast, nuts are the Earth’s natural salty snack. Combine the two, and you’ve got the pinnacle of salty-sweet snacks in the most basic form that nature intended.

These Honey Roasted Nuts are a handful of honey-kissed delight. With the perfect balance of salty and sweet, they are wonderfully satisfying to your snack attack cravings. They’ve even got a bit of heat that kicks in when you least expect it, spicing up your snacking experience. These aren’t your ordinary store-bought honey roasted peanuts; they’re fresh from the oven, made with real honey, and packing more flavor in one peanut than a whole jar of the store-bought stuff.

Besides being delicious, these nuts are quick and easy to make. Mix up the ingredients and give it a nice and toasty roast, and you’ve got yourself a snack. They’re the perfect finger food for Super Bowl celebrations, or for late-night self-indulging. To share or not to share? That’s up to you, my little cookies.

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Kale & Sweet Potato Pasta w/ Two Cheeses

I have a special tale for you today, my little cookies, one of marvel and splendor. They say there is a fantastical world where healthy and indulgent come together as one; a place where foods bountiful in nutrition simultaneously provide comfort and pleasure. Every bite boasts an utterly sinful amount of deliciousness, while also giving your body the nutrients that it needs. Imagine a plate of cheese fries filled with all your daily vitamins, or a pepperoni pizza that keeps you free of illness. Delicious and nutritious can at last be together in this wondrous world of food.

It all sounds too good to be true. But this is not myth, my little cookies. This is real.

Well, okay, so maybe not the part about the vitamin-filled french fries or the immunity-boosting pizza, but I would not kid you about being able to have food that is packed with nutrients, but is first and foremost downright delicious. This wasn’t something I really intended when I created this dish. My first concern was making something tasty and comforting. It happens to be pure luck that this Kale & Sweet Potato Pasta with Two Cheeses is both indulgent and nutritious.

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Healthy Cookie: Spinach, Feta, & Tomato Egg Wrap

Have you ever been in a healthy food slump? Sometimes, when you make the effort to eat better, you get into a bad habit of eating the same things over and over again. This is a slippery slope, my little cookies, because you eventually become sick of what you’re eating and revert to bad eating habits. When I start to find myself growing tired of the same ol’ same ol’, I know it’s time to branch out. Rather than seeking out delicious but not so nutritious eats, I start searching for new healthy recipes to incorporate into my meals.

Egg beaters are a big part of my diet, especially as a vegetarian. They’re packed with protein, relatively low-calorie, and so good for you. However, if all I do is scramble them with some salt and pepper, it’s easy to get really sick of them really fast. The key is to mix it up, and that is where this Spinach, Feta, & Tomato Egg Wrap comes in.

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