the 12 days of Christmas cookies

Ally, here.

So we've got some exciting news for you. Becca and I are about to embark on the most exciting 12 day journey of the season! We're taking on Food Network's 12 Days of Cookies. We'll bake them, one day at a time, share our baking troubles and triumphs, and probably gain a significant amount of weight.

I had the honor of kicking off the 12 days of festivities with Chocolate Gooey Butter Cookies. Can you take a wild guess which Food Network star created this recipe? Definitely Paula Deen.

These cookies are incredibly simple and require very few ingredients. And they are surprisingly light and fluffy. But beware that the dough takes a few hours of refrigeration before they are ready to bake.

The 12 Days of Cookies- Day 1- Chocolate Gooey Butter Cookies

Here's what you'll need:

-8 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
-1 stick of butter, at room temperature
-1 egg
-1 teaspoon vanilla extract
-1 box moist chocolate cake mix
-confectioners' sugar

Here's what to do:

1. Preheat the oven to 350.

2. Use an electric mixer to cream the cream cheese and butter together until smooth.

3. Beat in the egg, followed by the vanilla extract.

4. Beat in the cake mix.

5. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours. This will make it easier to shape the dough.

6. Coat the bottom of a small bowl with confectioners' sugar.

7. Roll the dough into tablespoon sized balls, and coat with sugar. (I just rolled the dough balls around the bowl until they were covered.)

8. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 12 minutes.

So here are a few warnings from my experience with these cookies. I'm going to recommend using a spoon to mix in the cake mix, rather than an electric mixer (unless you have a kitchen-aid) because the dough stuck together so much that it completely coated my beaters and rose up to get stuck inside the holes connecting the beaters to the mixers. So that was a bit of a mess that you could probably avoid.

I'll also warn you that the dough is going to be really sticky as you form it into balls. Once you coat it with sugar, it's very manageable, but I had to wash my hands about 10 times during the whole baking process. So be warned.

And my final recommendation is the addition of chocolate chips. I added these to the last batch I put in the oven, and it added an extra burst of deliciousness to the cookie. The husband insists that the cookies were perfect without the chocolate chips, and said he preferred the consistency of the originals, but I like a little extra something in my cookies. So if you're in the mood for chocolate, spring for the chocolate chip addition. It's well worth your while.

Check back soon for more 12 Days of Cookies! You're going to love it!

the ultimate cake

Ally, here.

Alright, folks. Before we begin, I must tell you that this is probably the most complicated dessert I have ever made. And it is not something you should try to create on the fly. This cake was time consuming. And it is probably the most unhealthy thing I have ever tasted. But it was so good.

Now that we've gotten that out of the way, let me tell you about this cake. It is all things wonderful. It is chocolate. And coffee. And buttercream frosting. And heath bar. And ganache. And maybe a little bit of heaven.

I was perusing TasteSpotting (a little morning ritual of mine), when I spotted this cake. And even at 7 am, it sounded heavenly. And when I followed the link over to Recipe Rhapsody, I knew I had to make this cake. And I had to make it today. Now, I must say that the recipe author has perfected her cake crafting and decorating, which I certainly have not. So please ignore my amateur cake decorating, and my somewhat lackluster presentation. The cake still tasted great.

Here's what you'll need:

cake:
-1 1/4 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
-2 1/2 cups all purpose flour (I didn't go whole wheat on this one, in hopes of making it as wonderfully unhealthy as possible)
-2 1/2 cups sugar
-2 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
-1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
-1 1/4 teaspoons salt
-2 eggs, plus 1 egg yolk
-1 1/4 cups warm water
-1 1/4 cups buttermilk
-1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons canola oil
-1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract


mocha buttercream:
-1/4 cup Kahlua
-1 tablespoon instant coffee crystals
-10 oz semisweet chocolate
-6 egg yolks
-3/4 cup sugar
-1/2 cup corn syrup
-4 sticks (1 lb) unsalted butter

ganache:
-4 oz semisweet chocolate
-1/2 cup heavy cream


yummy toppings:
-toffee bits
-Heath bars (if you aren't a toffee fan, replace these with some other crunchy dessert)


Here's what to do:

cake:
1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease two round cake pans.

2. Combine the cocoa, flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Add the eggs, yolk, warm water, buttermilk, oil, and vanilla. Mix until smooth.

3. Divide the batter between the two cake pans. Bake 32-35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Allow the cakes to cool for about 15 minutes. Then remove them from the pans and cool completely on a wire rack.


buttercream frosting:
1. Microwave the Kahlua until boiling. Remove and add instant coffee, stirring until the coffee is dissolved. Set this aside and let it cool.

2. Microwave the chocolate for 30 seconds and stir. Continue heating in 15-second intervals, stirring inbetween, until chocolate is melted. Set this aside and let it cool.

3. Beat the egg yolks in a medium bowl.

4. Combine sugar and corn syrup in a saucepan and cook over medium heat, constantly stirring the mixture until it comes to a boil. Immediately remove from heat and pour into the egg mixture while the mixer is running. Beat until the mixture is room temperature.

5. Beat the butter in a bowl until fluffy. Then add to the egg mixture, a little at a time, beating until well combined. Once the chocolate and Kahlua mixtures are cool, beat those into the buttercream until smooth.

ganache:
1. Microwave the chocolate and cream in a microwave safe dish for one minute. Stir, and continue heating in 15-30 second intervals until the mixture is smooth. Set aside until it comes to room temperature.

putting it all together:
1. Place one cake layer on a plate and spread buttercream over the top. Place the second cake layer on top and frost the top and sides with the rest of the buttercream.

2. Press toffee bits into the sides of the cake. (This was one of the hardest parts for me. I ended up just throwing the toffee at the cake and hoping it would stick. If you have better luck, let me know.)

3. Break Heath bars into pieces and place on the top of the cake.

4. Pour the cooled ganache onto the top center of the cake and spread so that it pours over the sides.

5. Indulge and enjoy! I found that refrigerating the cake for a bit before serving helped hold everything together and made it taste even more delicious.

And there you have it, folks. The most complicated, but most wonderful cake I've ever had the pleasure of creating. Once again, many thanks to Recipe Rhapsody for providing the recipe and the sugar coma.

If you're feeling ambitious, go ahead and try it yourself! You're going to love it!

Sunday Chicken

It might be that I'm becoming more domestic with every blog, but this time I really did feel like my mother.
Oh well, she's the best cook I know so I'm okay with this.

On Saturday Chad and I ventured to the Red Stick Farmer's Market again and found a lady selling "Farm Fresh Chicken"

Couldn't resist. It was about $3/lb and we ended up paying $9 so hooray for chicken for dinner and sandwiches!

Thank the Lord the Farm Fresh Lady had taken all the gross insides out for me.  If she hadn't, I would have had to Google some videos on that. So from taking it out of the wrapper, it was on with the roasting.  I adapted the recipe from our hero, Ina Gaten's 'Perfect Roast Chicken'.  Added a few things since I'm a sucker for extra flavor.

Roast Chicken 

1- 3lb whole chicken
1/2 yellow onion
1/2 head of garlic
1 lemon
3 springs fresh parsley (don't need to chop, just the whole leaves)
1 T dried rosemary
2 bay leaves
1 small can Campbell's Chicken Broth
S&P
olive oil

Stuff the inside of the chicken with half of the lemon. 

Put whole garlic cloves (with skin), some of the onion, rosemary, and parsley inside chicken also.

Rub the outside of chicken with olive oil, S&P

Place other half of lemon, the rest of the onion, garlic, parsley, rosemary, and the 2 bay leaves in the bottom of the pan/crock pot

Put chicken on top of the broth mixture

You can cook it in the oven, but for me the most domestic part of this 

was putting it in the crock pot while at church.

(yes yes, go ahead and laugh at a 21 year old cooking in crock pot on a Sunday afternoon.  I have!) 

Sometimes you might need to tie the legs together with twine, but since my crock pot was small it held it together for me.

Turn the crock pot on Low and cook for 2 1/2 hours

Viola! Roast Chicken.

good things come in small pie crusts

Becca, here.

Continuing the spirit of fall, I bring you: pumpkin pie!

Sure you've had pumpkin bread, pumpkin bread, pumpkin waffles, pumpkin pancakes, pumpkin muffins, and a plethora of other pumpkin delights.  But here I simply bring you, pumpkin pie.

Against my mother's better judgment I made my own pie crust.  Yes, terrible mistake.
Why make when you can buy one already mixed, rolled, wrapped, and ready?!

I do not know.

You could say I was feeling ambitious.  Or that I didn't feel like dropping the $3 + gas just to get one.

Ergo, "homemade" pumpkin pie.  
(Thank you Libby's for making this process that much simpler.)

I stole the recipe for the crust at allrecipes.com
You can modify the recipe by typing in how many servings you are looking for.  How cool!

Best Ever Pie Crust

1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup shortening (i used margarine and it works just the same!)
1/4 cup and 2 tablespoons water


Stir flour and salt together.
Cut shortening/butter/margarine into flour until it forms a crumbly mixture.
Add water until the dough forms a ball.
Wrap in plastic wrap and fridge for a few hours.
...My problem here was not having a rolling pin.  Womp, womp.
Roll out the dough and place in pie pan.

Here's where I put the "mini" into pumpkin pie.

With no rolling pin in hand, I molded the dough into large muffin tins for some minis.

Pumpkin Filling

1 large can of Libby's Pumpkin Pie Mix
(Mom always said not to use the premade kind, but here I go again against her wishes)
1 8oz can evaporated milk
2 eggs

Mix together.

If you use the plain pumpkin mix add nutmeg, vanilla, and cinnamon.

Pour into pie pan or muffin tins.

Sprinkle with cinnamon (you know, just for looks)

For my mini pies I baked them for 15 minutes on 425.  Then 40 minutes on 350.

It's all on the can for directions. 

 and you can forget the whip cream...give me ice cream instead!

Let's all give a shout out to the Pilgrims and Indians.

If that's historically correct.

enjoy fall!


enjoy pumpkin __________.

it's breakfast time.

Ally, here.

Some days, you just need pancakes.

And since it's pumpkin season, you probably need pumpkin pancakes. It's finally getting cold here in Kentucky (and by that, I mean that the temperature has dropped below 70 for the time being), so it's nice to enjoy a warm breakfast drowned in syrup.

I should confess that I love syrup. While I do love pancakes, I think I consume a higher volume of syrup than pancakes for breakfast. But these pumpkin pancakes were so tasty that syrup was simply a side dish, rather than the main event.

I should also confess that I am terrible at making pancakes. Try as I might, I can never get that beautiful round shape. Mine always turn out a bit abstract. So please pardon the pancakes in my photos. They look rough, but they tasted so good!

Here's what you'll need:

-1 cup pancake mix (I used Aunt Jemima's Whole Wheat Blend)
-1 cup milk (I used vanilla soymilk)
-1 tablespoon canola oil
-1 egg
-1 cup canned pumpkin
-1 teaspoon cinnamon
-1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
-1/2 teaspoon allspice

Here's what to do:

1. Combine pancake mix, milk, oil, and egg in a bowl. Mix until well blended.

2. Combine pumpkin, cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice in another bowl. This will smell wonderful as the pumpkin mixes with the spices.

3. Add the pumpkin mixture to the pancake mix bowl and mix until combined.

4. Cook pancakes on a griddle or skillet. Enjoy with syrup and coffee!

Enjoy another taste of fall! You're going to love it!

it's the most wonderful time of the year.

Ally, here.

That's right folks. The most wonderful time of the year is upon us. It's pumpkin season. And all of the greatest holidays seem to fall into pumpkin season. Halloween (beloved only for the freedom to increase my chocolate consumption), Thanksgiving (hello, buffet of delight!), and Christmas (and Christmas cookies, and Christmas pies, and Christmas brownies, and Christmas coffee cake...). Like I said, it's the most wonderful time of the year.

I've been craving pumpkin ever since Starbucks brought back the pumpkin spice latte (speaking of which, if anyone knows where I can buy my own pumpkin spice syrup, I will bake you anything you want). So now I've stocked my shelves with pumpkin and I'm ready to dive into fall/winter baking. (I am willing to completely ignore the fact that it is currently 86 degrees in Kentucky.)

So this brings us to today's culinary delight. Pumpkin-cranberry muffins. I've adapted this recipe from a Betty Crocker Fall Baking book that my mom sent me in a fall gift package at some point in my college career. Thanks, Mom!

Here's what you'll need:

-2 cups whole wheat flour
-3/4 cup sugar
-3 teaspoons baking powder
-1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
-1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
-1/4 teaspoon salt
-1 cup canned pumpkin
-1/2 cup canola oil
-2 eggs
-1 cup craisins
-1/2 cup chopped pecans
-sugar in the raw, for sprinkling

Here's what to do:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Prepare 12 muffin cups with cooking spray or muffins cups.

2. Mix flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, and salt in a bowl. Stir in pumpkin, canola oil, eggs, craisins, and pecans until well-moistened. Divide batter among muffin cups.

3. Sprinkle with sugar in the raw.

4. Bake 20-25 minutes.

Enjoy a delightful taste of fall! You're going to love it!

grown up cheese toast

Becca, here.

Did you ever eat cheese toast? Is that a common thing, or just in my house growing up?
My little sister, Emily, lived on cheese toast. 
2 pieces of white bread with a slice of American cheese on each one, popped in the microwave for a few seconds.  It may not sound so appetizing, but it worked for the picky eater.

Recently I made up a little more "grown up" version of cheese toast.   Emily still might not enjoy it, but I thought it was pretty darn good.

Garden Cheese Toast

You'll need:
1 loaf of your favorite savory bread (the Whole Foods Seeduction bread has been a recent favorite)
1 squash
1 zucchini
2 shallots
(Plus S&P, olive oil)
Mozzarella cheese
Crushed red pepper & garlic powder

1.  Slice zucchini and squash into thin disc-pieces.  Slice shallots just the same.

2.  Sprinkle with S&P and drizzle with plenty of olive oil
3.  Roast in oven for 10-15 minutes on 425 degrees (until lightly browned and soft)

4.  Slice bread into thick pieces. This recipe will make 3-4 servings
5.  Cut mozzarella into thin sheets, enough for each piece of toast to be completely covered
6.  When veggies are done, share their love across the toast pieces.
Sprinkle with crushed red pepper & garlic powder

 7.  Then, pile on the cheese!

8.  Broil on low for about 5 minutes, or until cheese is golden brown.

   You can be like Chad and get artsy with it, or just chomp it down. 

Either one gets your dose of veggies in!

and the apple strikes again.

Ally, here.

I returned to the apples this week after my mother-in-law sent me a link to Southern Living's favorite apple recipes. After drooling over all of them, I decided on the caramel-apple muffins. And what a great decision that was!

We've been suffering from a bit of a drought here in Lexington, but the heavens finally opened at the beginning of this week and the rains came down. So the husband and I awoke on Monday morning to the beautiful sound of rain falling on the trees and a wonderful temperature far below 90 degrees. A cool, relaxing morning such as this deserved a warm, slow breakfast. So I got to baking.

And let me tell you, these muffins were good. And warm. And gooey. And I consider them a health food (an apple a day keeps the doctor away).

I adapted the recipe to meet my needs (and to keep the husband and myself from consuming 24 muffins in two days).

Here's what you'll need:

for the muffins:
-1 cup sugar
-1/2 cup canola oil
-2 eggs
-1 tsp vanilla extract
-1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
-1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
-1/2 tsp baking soda
-shake of salt

-1 1/2 cups finely chopped apple (about 1 large apple)
-1 cup pecan pieces (you can add more or less pecans as your taste buds permit)

for the frosting:
-1 14-oz can sweetened condensed milk
-1/4 cup light brown sugar
-1/4 cup butter
-1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Here's what to do:

the muffins:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 12-cup muffin pan.

2. Peel and finely chop apple(s).

3. In a large bowl, stir sugar, canola oil, eggs, and vanilla.

4. In another bowl, combine flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt. Once combined, add this to sugar mixture and stir.

5. Fold in finely chopped apples and pecans.

6. Divide into muffin cups and bake for 20 minutes.


the frosting:
1. Put all frosting ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly, until the frosting reaches a pudding-like consistency.

2. Remove from heat.

3. Poke a hole (about the width of your finger) in the top and the muffin drizzle the frosting over muffins. The hole will catch more frosting and add some extra excitement to every bite! Sprinkle with pecan pieces.

I used a super cute mini-bundt cake pan to make my muffins extra fun. Feel free to do the same! You're going to love it!

handfuls of fall

Becca, here.

About two years ago, Meagan introduced me to something surprising.

I am not a fan of candy corn. 
I hear it's one of those "you hate it or you love it" candies. 
And I hate it.

But like other things in the culinary world, sometimes when you add just the right thing,
it turns into something spectacular. Like...


Candy Corn & Peanuts. 

it's like a little handful of fall in every bite.

All you need is 1 bag of candy corn, and 1 jar of roasted, salted peanuts.  

Mix them together, and make sure that you get a little bit of both in every bite.  

(Does the "bite of both" sound familiar? See that delicious pork chop post)

Meagan once said it tastes like eating a Payday.  Now, I've actually never had one, but I think I'll stick with this addicting munch. Trust me, you can't keep your fingers out of the jar.

What's your favorite fall eat?

meat. fruit. brown sugar. yes.

Ally, here.

I've been eating pork chops for a few years now. I'm a huge fan of their versatility. They taste good seasoned. They taste good marinated. They taste good baked and grilled. And now I know that they taste good with apples.

In my quest to use all of the apples from our apple-picking adventure, I dove into the world of cooking, rather than baking, with apples. And it turned out quite well, if I may say so myself. I created some apple brown sugar pork chops, perfect for serving at an autumn dinner.

Here's what you'll need:

-2 pork chops (I would recommend getting a thicker variety than I used so they have more time to cook and absorb all the flavors)
-salt and pepper
-1 tbsp butter
-1 apple, thinly sliced
-2/3 cup brown sugar

Here's what to do:

1. Sprinkle the pork chops with salt and pepper. Brown the meat and remove from the pan.

2. Melt butter in the same pan.

3. Add apple slices and brown sugar. Mix together and let simmer, about 2 minutes.

4. Return pork chops to the pan and cook thoroughly.

I recommend getting some meat and some apples in each bite. The flavor is a bit reminiscent of maple syrup. Yum. You're going to love it.