Pumpkin Pie Cupcakes with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Buttercream

Not the best photo, I know, but these cupcakes are amazing, labor intensive beauties. If you can enlist a helper, there's plenty of work to go around.

Ingredients

For the Pumpkin Pies:

• 1 batch of pie crust dough 
• 1 15 oz. can Libby's pumpkin pie filling
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• 2 large eggs
• 1 can (12 fl. oz.)

For the Cupcakes:

• 1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
• 8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 3 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/3 cups whole milk
• 2 1/2 cups flour

For the Frosting:

• 2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
• 8 oz cream cheese, room temperature
• 2 cup powdered sugar
• 1 cup cinnamon chips
• splash of whole or 2% milk 
  

Directions 

Pumpkin Pies:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 425 degrees (F).
2. Combine sugar, cinnamon, salt, ginger and cloves in small bowl. 
3. Beat eggs in large bowl. 
4. Stir in pumpkin and sugar-spice mixture. 
5. Gradually stir in evaporated milk.
6. Roll out the pie crust dough and cut it into small circles that are large enough to cover the bottom and sides of mini cupcake tins. A biscuit cutter works well for this.
7. Press the dough into the lightly greased mini cupcake tins, and then fill them with the pumpkin pie mix. (Don’t go all the way to the top, the filling will expand a little while baking.)
8. Bake the pies for about 7 minutes at 425 degrees (F), and then turn the oven down to 350 degrees (F) and bake them for another 10 minutes or so, until the crust is brown and the filling is completely set.
9. After taking them out of the oven, cool them on a wire rack for about 10 minutes, then take them out of the pan and allow them to cool further while you mix up the batter.

Cupcakes:

1. Combine the butter and the cream cheese together on medium speed for about 90 seconds—you want the ingredients to be well incorporated.
2. Then mix in the sugar until the mixture is fluffy.
3. Add the eggs, one at a time, and then the vanilla, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
4. Then mix in the milk and the flour, alternating between the two ingredients. 
5. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl, to make sure everything is getting well-mixed—beat again on med-high speed for about a minute. It should be smooth and creamy.
6. Spoon a heaping tablespoon of batter into regular-sized, paper-lined cupcake tins. 
7. Plop a cooled pumpkin pie into the center, and press gently into the batter. GENTLY. You don’t want it to touch to the bottom of the pan. 
8. Cover the pies with another heaping tablespoon of batter, so the top and sides are completely covered.
9. Bake at 350 degrees (F) for about 25 minutes, until the cake is set and the edges and tops of the cupcakes have turned golden brown.
10. Allow them to cool in the cupcake tray for at least 10 minutes before moving to a wire rack—they’ll be a little fragile at first. 
11. Once the cakes are cool, frost ‘em!

Frosting:

1. Put the cinnamon chips with a splash of whole milk in a microwave safe bowl. 
2. Put them in the microwave for about 45 seconds on high. 
3. Remove and stir until all the chips are melted, and allow it to cool a bit while you whip up the rest of the frosting (you can put the bowl in the fridge, it’ll cool faster that way, and the milk will keep it from solidifying). 
4. Cream together the butter and cream cheese until they’re well incorporated. 
5. Then whip in the powdered sugar, a cup at a time, until the mixture is smooth and creamy.
6. With the mixer on low, drizzle in the cooled cinnamon chip “ganache” (if it’s too hot it’ll melt the buttercream and ruin it—you don’t want that). 
7. Put in about half, then stop to taste it and decide if you’d like to add more. Some like it strong, others like it milder.  

Thoughts:
These are pretty amazing. When I first read about them, I didn't realize how good they would be. They're definitely worth the effort

Grilled Roast Tri-tip

While the marinade was definitely a challenge, this turned out really great. The potatoes make for a great pair. I think with a buttered roll, this meal would have been perfect. It is REALLY important to make sure you have all of the marinade ingredients ready to go when you are making it though.

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup plus 2 Tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 Tablespoons salt
• 1 Tablespoon ground black pepper
• 1 Tablespoon onion salt or garlic salt
• 2 Tablespoons parsley flakes
• 1/4 cup malt vinegar
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1 Tablespoon fish sauce
• 2 Tablespoons garlic - minced (4-5 big cloves)
• A nice piece of trip-tip, anywhere from 1.5 to 4 lbs.
  

Directions

Marinade:

1. In a small bowl, combine the spices. 
2. In another bowl combine the liquids.
3. In a saucepan, mix together 1/4 cup of the sugar and 1/4 cup of the water and bring to a boil, stirring all the while. 
4. When the sugar gets a dark color, quickly add the spices and stir.
5. Bring back to a boil for a minute, and then add the liquids. 
6. Mix well and taste. If you feel like it needs more "balance," add a little more salt. 
7. Add the garlic and the 2 tablespoons of sugar. 
8. Bring back to a boil, stirring, until the sugar dissolves. 
9. Let cool. 
10. Place the tri-tip roast in a shallow baking dish or a Ziploc bag and pour the cooled marinade over. 
11. Place in fridge and let marinade for a hour or overnight.

Tri-Tip:

1. Let the tri-tip sit at room temperature for at least 30min before cooking.
2. Pre-heat grill to medium-high. If not making the potatoes, preheat oven to 425.
3. Place roast on the grill, and let cook for 3 minutes
4. Turn to make grill hatch marks and cook for another 4 minutes.
5. Flip roast and repeat 3 & 4 pattern.
6. Pull tri-tip off of grill and place into oven. Cook until internal temp is 125. Roughly 30-40min.
7. Place on cutting board and let sit for 10 minutes.
8. Cut up and serve.

Thoughts:
The roast came out really delicious. The char on the outside from the grill was delicious. The main thing I learned was that the marinade's first few steps can break into disaster really fast. If you don't keep stirring and then add in the collected ingredients really quickly, your sugar will burn very very fast and then you have to start over.

I definitely plan on making this again.

Next Time:

• Maybe a little more salt in the marinade.
• Marinade overnight.
• Start roast earlier, since it takes a while in the oven.

Rosemary Baked Potatoes

Super simple, skin on, bite sized baked potatoes. These things are little flavor explosions when you bite into them. I will definitely make them again

Ingredients

• 8 small, thin-skinned potatoes - washed and quartered
• 1 Tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 Tablespoon rosemary - chopped
• 1 teaspoons kosher salt

Directions

1. Pre-heat oven to 425-degrees.
2. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and spray with non-stick coating.
3. In a large bowl, toss the potatoes, olive oil, rosemary, and salt. 
4. Spread the potatoes out on the baking sheet.
5. Bake for 45-50 minutes until the potatoes are deeply golden, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking.

Thoughts:
The potatoes came out really delicious. Plus, the fact that they bake at 425, makes them a great companion for the tri-tip roast. I will definitely be making these again.

Next Time:

• Future Edit - I dropped the salt from 2 teaspoons to 1 teaspoon and the potatoes turn out much better now.

Brownies

So today I attempted to make homemade brownies from scratch that didn't taste horrible compared to the box mix. I don't know what it is about box mix brownies, but they are always miles beyond from scratch mixes. What I made came out to be pretty good, but I'm not really sure it compares.

Makes: Roughly 16-20

Ingredients

Brownies:

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chunks
• 1 Tablespoon chocolate syrup

Frosting:

• 4 Tablespoons butter, softened
• 3 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 Tablespoon honey
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1 Tablespoon milk

Directions

Brownies:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8 inch square pan.
2. In a medium sized bowl, sift together the cocoa, flour, salt, and baking powder.
3. In a large bowl, add the sugar, eggs, and vanilla but do not mix.
4. In a small saucepan, melt the butter. 
5. Remove from heat, and by hand, stir in with the ingredients in the large bowl until combined.
6. Add in the sifted ingredients and mix by hand, being careful not to over mix.
7. Add the chocolate chunks and chocolate syrup and mix in.
8. Spread batter into prepared pan.
9. Bake in preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes. Do not overcook. 

Frosting:

1. In a small saucepan, melt the butter
2. Once melted, add in the cocoa, honey, vanilla, milk, and confectioners' sugar. 
3. Frosting should be liquidy.
4. Frost brownies while they are still warm.

Thoughts:
Overall the brownies came out much better than I imagined. I only frosted half of the brownies to see if I would like the frosting. The frosting is bitter, which helps counter the sweetness of the brownies, overall, I would do another 50/50 round, but would probably halve the frosting ingredients to not be wasteful. But in the end, I'm not really sure they stand up to the bag mix.

It is really important to hand mix the brownies, otherwise you put in too much air into the eggs and they become cake like.

If you are going to double the recipe and do a 9x13 cakepan, only use 3 eggs instead of 4.

Next Time:

• Halve frosting ingredients but keep the honey where it is to add more sweetness.
• Try milk chocolate chips, instead of semi-sweet
• Add another 1/2 Tspn of chocolate syrup.
• Double the recipe.

Pernil

That's not the most flattering photo, but I was busy working and didn't have time to make it pretty. The main lesson to learn from this recipeis : if the ingredients list sounds weird, listen to your instincts. I was inspired to make this Puerto Rican dish by an internet post and I am glad I tried it. This is definitely a weekend thing though, 3 hours minimum marinade time plus 3hrs of cooking time definitely requires some free time.

Ingredients

• 1 boneless pork shoulder (about 4 pounds), skin on
• 4 garlic cloves, smashed
• 1 handful fresh oregano
• 4 teaspoons Kosher salt (1 teaspoon for every pound of meat)
• 1 tablespoon coarsely ground black pepper
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar

Directions

1. Take the pork,  and using a sharp knife, score the surface of the meat with small slits, occasionally twisting to make slightly bigger holes.
2. Mash the garlic, oregano, salt, and pepper into a paste on a cutting board with the flat side of a knife or a mortar and pestle (M&P is the superior way to do this if you have one)
3. Place the paste in a bowl and stir in the oil and vinegar. 
4. Rub the garlic paste all over the pork, being sure to get into the incisions so the salt can penetrate the meat and pull out the moisture - this will help form a crust on the outside when cooked.
5. Cover the pork with plastic wrap and marinate in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours or up to overnight.
6. Allow the meat to sit at room temperature for 30 minutes before cooking and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
7. Roast the pork for about 3 hours, uncovered, until the skin is crispy-brown and the interior is 165.
8. Let the meat rest on a cutting board for 10 minutes before slicing.
   
   
   
   

Thoughts:
This is not complex, the original recipe called for tablespoons instead of teaspoons of salt though, which made the whole outside of the roast too salty to eat. This was rectified by sprinkling a bit of sugar on the meat and that killed off the extra saltiness fortunately though. I also didn't have a skin-on roast, skinless worked just fine though.

One thing worth mentioning though, this is a lot of meat, so unless you are serving a lot of people, you will have extra meat. If you shred the meat, this makes an excellent sandwich. I enjoyed that very much and am looking forward to more.

Next Time:

• Use above amounts of salt.
• Maybe try some fancy side dishes?
• Cook slightly shorter than 3hrs to just get interior to 165 as opposed to 170.

Snowy White Chocolate Crescents

I got this recipe from this old Mrs. Fields cookbook that I was gifted with the other week, since no one else was using it at my dad's place. These cookies aren't the most aesthetically pleasing cookies. Perhaps it is my sub-standard rolling techniques, but mine came out like weird space invader ships and not like the fancy pictures in the cook book. Plus, I think I put my powdered sugar on too soon or they need to still cool outside of a container once the sugar was on. We had some problems with melting sugar when you touched them.

Makes: Roughly 2 1/2 dozen.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup cocoa powder, unsweetened
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter - softened
• 1/3 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
2. In a bowl, sift together flour, salt, and cocoa.
3. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar.
4. Add vanilla and egg and beat until smooth.
5. Add in flour/cocoa mixture a bit at a time until fully incorporated.
6. Shape a level tablespoon or 1/2 tablespoon full into a 3 1/2 inch log.
7. Slightly bend the log to form crescent shape.
8. Place on baking sheet, about 1 inch apart (They don't really spread much)
9. Bake for 15-17min or until outside is hard but center is soft.
10. Cool on pan for a few minutes, then transfer to another surface to cool.
11. While still warm, roll cookies in powdered sugar until coated.

Thoughts:
These don't really require a lot of ingredients, which is why I made them as opposed to something more fancy. There isn't a whole lot of places to tweak since it is so minimal. Perhaps adding mini chocolate chips to the dough would spice things up. Also, the shape makes people thing of non-tasty things, so perhaps ill shaped crescents aren't the way to go.

Next Time:

• Mini-chocolate chips to add some flavor since everything is bitter?
• Make fun shapes? Spell out names? Since there is no leavening agent, the cookies don't change shape while baking really.

Patriotic Jello - Red, White, and Blue

Jello is a nice thing to have on 100 degree days over the summer. It's easy to do, it just takes time to sit around and wait for the layers to harden.

Ingredients

• 2 3-ounce packages of cherry-flavored Jell-O (or one 6-ounce package split in half)
• 2 3-ounce packages of blueberry-flavored Jell-O (or one 6-ounce package split in half)
• 7 packets unflavored gelatin (4 oz packets)
• 2 14-ounce cans sweetened condensed milk, divided.
• 9 cups boiling water, divided

Directions

1. Combine 1.5 cups of boiling water with one package of cherry Jell-O and one package of unflavored gelatin. Whisk together until dissolved.
2. Pour Jello layer into  a glass 9x13 cake pan and place into fridge until cooled. (Roughly an hour)
3. Once the red layer is firm, combine in the mixing bowl: 1 packet of unflavored gelatin with 1 cup boiling water, whisking until dissolved. 
4. Add 1/2 of one of the cans of condensed milk and stir until combined. 
5. Pour the milk mixture into the measuring cup with the spout and set it in the refrigerator for ten minutes to let it cool a bit. (You don't want to pour hot liquid on top of another layer of Jell-O at any time during the process. Doing so will turn the white layer pink or light blue.)
6. Remove the baking dish and the cup of milk mixture from the refrigerator and gently pour the milk mixture on top of the red Jell-O layer.
7. Return dish to the fridge until firm.
8. Repeat step 1, but this time use the blue Jello.
9. Pour blue mixture into measuring cup and repeat step 5.
10. Repeat step 6.
11. Repeat milk layer, then red layer, then milk, then last blue. Final order should be: red-white-blue-white-red-white-blue for a total of 7 layers.

Thoughts:
This is pretty easy. The original recipe only called for 1 cup of water per colored Jello layer, and that wasn't producing thick enough layers in a 9x13 pan. So I changed it to 1 1/2 cups. Also, the original recipe said to use 2 28oz milk cans instead of 2 14oz cans, but you don't need that much milk, I believe it was a typo.

Next Time:

• Rainbow Jello.

Cinnamon Lamb Stew

I've never cooked lamb before, but felt I should try. This recipe also fulfills my desire to incorporate cinnamon into more dishes other than deserts, so it was win-win. Plus, stews are really easy to make and it's almost impossible to overcook a stew. It tasted really good, it's a much sweeter stew than the beef one I've made before.

Ingredients

• 2 pounds boneless lamb stew meat - cubed
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 6 cloves garlic - minced
• 1 onion - diced
• 2 carrots - diced
• 2 celery stalks - diced
• 5-6 baby potatoes
• 1 28oz can diced tomatoes
• 1 cup red wine
• 1 bay leaf
  

Directions

1. Place the lamb in a bowl or baking dish and toss with cinnamon, salt, pepper and nutmeg. Cover and place in refrigerator for up to 24 hours, or cook immediately.
2. In a heavy saucepan or Dutch oven, sauté the pieces of lamb in the oil. Meat should be browned on all sides.
3. When all of the meat is browned, add the garlic, carrots, celery, potato, and onion, and cook for about five minutes, stirring, until vegetables start to soften . 
4. Add tomatoes, wine and bay leaf. 
5. When mixture begins to bubble, reduce heat to low and cover. 
6. Cook for 2 hours, stirring occasionally or until meat falls apart when squeezed. 
7. Serve with toasted hard rolls (10min at 350 degrees in the oven)

Thoughts:
This is a stew, so like I said, it is easy. I added the potatoes to the recipe and during the process, I added about 1/2 a cup of water about half way through, since the liquid had really cooked down. The recipe also said you could use either red or white wine, but I can't imagine making this with a white.

The recipe originally called to be served over couscous, but I couldn't be bothered to make it, and I like my stews in a bowl. I contemplated adding some flour to the mix at the end to thicken things up, but I decided against it and I think that was a good choice.

Next Time:

• Add 1-2 cups of water while the stew is cooking to produce more broth. (Don't if serving over couscous)
• Add a 1/4-1/2 teaspoon of red pepper to add a little kick.
• Maybe add peas at the end to provide some color
• Maybe swap the nutmeg for allspice
• Buy actual stew meat as opposed to lamb on the bone and cutting the meat out.

Chicken Cacciatore

I've made this a couple times, it's another recipe from cooking class. I forgot to take a picture until I was putting stuff away, so this is what I've got. It's an impressive recipe, so much flavor for a pretty easy cooking method

Serves: 6

Ingredients

• 6 skin-on chicken breasts
• flour as needed
• Salt & pepper to taste
• 1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1 cup white onion - diced
• 1 red, yellow, or orange bell pepper - seeded and cut into thin strips
• 3 garlic cloves - minced
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 1 28oz can Italian plum tomatoes - shredded with their own juice
• 1 Tablespoon fresh rosemary - chopped
• 1 1/2 dried oregano

Directions

1. Wash the chicken in cold water and pat dry with a paper towel.
2. Season chicken breast with salt and pepper and then dredge in flour.
3. Heat oil in a large skillet to a simmer and brown floured chicken until golden brown on both sides.
4. Remove chicken breasts from pan after browning (do not cook all the way through) and put them to the side
5. In the same pan, add more oil if necessary, then add the onion and pepper.
6. Cook onion and pepper, stirring occasionally, until soft.
7. Add garlic and continue to cook for 2 more minutes.
8. Add wine to the pan, allowing it to simmer and reduce by half.
9. Add tomatoes, rosemary, and oregano to the pan and reduce to a simmer.
10. Place chicken back into the pan and cover, until it is cooked all the way through, about 15min.

Thoughts:
I like this recipe. It is pretty impressive for more prep work than actual cooking work. Mostly you just sit there and watch it. Something key to have when browning the chicken is an oil catching screen. It keeps oil from going everywhere and making a huge mess. Something you can do is add more peppers if you like, to add more a color variety. I like to change the peppers up, since they all come out tasting the same anyway.

Roasted Herb Pork Tenderloin with Sage Pan Sauce

This is one of my fancy recipes from cooking class. I typically don't like pork, since my childhood was filled with bland, flavorless boot-leather passed off as pork chops, but this recipe is none of those things. It has amazing flavor and is very tender if you don't overcook it.

Ingredients

Roast: 

• 1 lb pork tenderloin - trimmed

Herb Rub:

• 2 Tablespoons fresh thyme - chopped
• 1 Tablespoon fresh rosemary - chopped
• 1 Tablespoon fresh sage
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 2 teaspoons ground black pepper
• 2 Tablespoons olive oil

Sauce:

• 1 clove of garlic - minced
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 1/2 cup chicken or beef stock
• 2 teaspoons sage

Directions

Roast:

1. Mix the herb rub together in a bowl.
2. Coat the tenderloin generously with the herb rub and olive oil and marinate for 30minutes at room temperature or overnight in the fridge.
3. Preheat over to 350 degrees.
4. Heat a large, dry skillet over high heat.
5. Sear the pork for a few minutes on all sides until browned.
6. Place in a roasting pan and roast until cooked throughout, about 15-20 minutes, when the internal temp is 155 degrees at the thickest part, it is done.
7. Remove from over and allow to rest for 5 minutes

Sauce

1. Retain 1 Tablespoon of fat from the roasting pan, along with any meat juices (from when you cut the roast)
2. Sauté the garlic in the juice over medium heat until tender
3. Add the remaining ingredients, scraping out any browned bits
4. Bring the sauce to a boil and reduce over high heat until thickened.

Thoughts:
These recipes make some really good food, and I've made this roast a couple times now and every time it comes out really great. It's one of those fairly simple recipes you can pull out and impress people since the hardest "work" is chopping all those herbs.

This goes really great with sautéed apples and another side, such as green beans.

Sautéed Apples

This is another recipe from cooking class. It is really simple and makes a good compliment to pork dishes, since apples and pork always go hand in hand.

Ingredients

• 4-5 Granny Smith apples, peeled and sliced
• 2 Tablespoons butter
• 2 Tablespoons sugar

Directions

1. Peel and slice the apples into uniform thin slices.
2. Put the apples into large enough bowl and pour in the sugar
3. Toss the apples with the sugar
4. Heat butter on medium heat over a saute pan.
5. Cook the apples in the butter over high heat until the sugar caramelizes and the apples are tender - roughly 7-10minutes, depending on how many apples you have.

Thoughts:
These apples are quick and simple. This last time I made them, I added in some cinnamon to the apples when the apples were about 80% done. Apparently either cinnamon either burns quickly or exacerbates the effect of heat on apples because the apples went to completely done in a matter of seconds and some pieces burned. The non-burned ones tasted great, so I'm not sure if my course of action for next time should be either to do the cinnamon with the sugar in the beginning or wait until the apples are done cooking. We shall see.

Green Beans

So this is one of the fancy recipes that I learned in cooking class. It isn't too complex; the trick is to keep the garlic and shallots from burning when the beans are cooking, since that makes everything taste bitter.

Ingredients

• 2 Tablespoons butter
• 3 shallots - sliced
• 2 cloves of garlic - minced
• 1 Tablespoon thyme, chopped
• 1 1/2 pound green beans - trimmed
• 1/4 cup chicken stock
• Salt & pepper to taste

Directions

1. Place the butter into a large skillet and heat until melted and foamy.
2. Add the shallots and garlic and cook until lightly golden brown (Do not over cook, they will burn in the next part if you do)
3. Add the thyme and green beans and toss to cover with butter.
4. Add the stock and cover
5. Cook over medium-high heat for 4-6minutes until the beans are tender.
6. Season with salt and pepper

Thoughts:
This is a pretty good recipe, like I said above, the main thing to keep in mind is to not let the garlic burn. You need to make sure the skillet is large enough otherwise it will take a while to get the beans tender since they will be piled on each other and then the garlic/shallots will burn. My photo above is an example of too small a pan.

Father's Day

So I wanted to make something for my dad for Father's Day, and since he loves cookies, I went ahead and made some. I thought that just getting one kind was kind of boring, and he would probably appreciate a variety. Then my my Sunday plans died, and I kind of went nuts. So yeah... I guess I can now answer "Yes" if anyone asks me if I have ever made an entire table's worth of cookies.

S'mores Cookies

I got this recipe from a blog called Baked Perfection and while it is one of my more labor intensive cookies, it is the favorite of everyone who has tried it.

Makes: Roughly 36 cookies

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 cup graham cracker crumbs
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 dash of cinnamon
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup brown sugar (light or dark)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups miniature chocolate chips
• 1 1/2 cups mini marshmallows
• 2 King size Hershey bars, chopped into chunks (make 3 pieces out of each predefined piece for 2 chocolate pieces per cookie)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. In a bowl, sift together the flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking soda, salt, and dash of cinnamon. 
3. In a second bowl, beat together the butter, sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract until creamy.
4. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. 
5. Slowly beat in the flour mixture until smooth. 
6. Stir in the chocolate chips. 
7. Put in freezer for 20-30min to chill dough
8. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased cookie sheet.
9. Bake for 8 minutes, and remove from the oven. 
10. Quickly push 3 to 4 marshmallows and a few pieces of hershey bar into each cookies. 
11. Return to the oven and bake an additional 3-4 minutes until fully cooked. 
12. Cool cookies on a wire rack.

Thoughts: 
I like these cookies, they are currently my most labor intensive cookie, which is something I hope to change. My only "complaint" about them is that they get really flat when cooling. When you pull them out of the oven to put in the marshmallows and chocolate, they look great, but by the time all of that is on, and then they are back out of the oven again, they are very flat. Maybe some baking powder would help? Not sure

Next Time:

• Try putting in 1 teaspoon baking powder to see if the cookies stay a little fluffier.

Chocolate Chip Cookies - Pudding Version

I think that while growing up, my favorite cookie has always been the chocolate chip variety. Recently I have expanded my horizons, but the classics are classics for a reason. I found this recipe online and was immediately intrigued, I had tried a few before that when I was first starting to bake more and had been disappointed, and was very pleased by these cookies.

Makes: Roughly 36 cookies

Ingredients

• 2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1 (3.4 ounce) package instant vanilla (or whatever) pudding mix
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. 
2. Sift together the flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder.
3. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar. 
4. Beat in the instant pudding mix until blended. 
5. Stir in the eggs and vanilla. 
6. Blend in the flour mixture. 
7. Stir in the chocolate chips.
8. Put dough the freezer for 20-30min
9. Drop by rounded 1/2 tablespoonfuls onto un-greased cookie sheets.
10. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven. Edges should be golden brown. 

Thoughts:
I like these cookies, but they aren't as good as some I have had. Maybe the pudding adds too much to the substance. Maybe the fact I used milk chocolate chips instead of semi-sweet plays a factor. Maybe it needs more salt? Overall, I've made these 3 times now and I definitely will again in the future, I think I'm going to try other recipes as well to find the truly best cookie.

Next Time:

• Try a different recipe to branch out. Perhaps Alton Brown's "The Chewy" recipe
• For this recipe, I want to try and add more salt, see if that helps.
• Try chocolate pudding, I used French Vanilla this time.

Spiced Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

I've made these cookies before and really enjoyed them, this time I tweaked the recipe based off of some suggestions I saw online. Overall, I like them much better this time. Plus, I didn't forget to add the vanilla, which I think helped. To add variety, I like to split the raisins with 1/2 normal and 1/2 white raisins to give the cookies some interesting visuals.

Makes: Roughly 36 cookies

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 cups rolled oats
• 1 cup raisins (soak in hot water for 10 or so minutes to plump up the raisins, then drain)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until creamy.
3. Add in the eggs, and vanilla until mix until smooth. 
4. Sift together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, ginger, and salt in a separate bowl.
5. Combine the wet and dry ingredients a bit at a time until just combined. 
6. Stir in the oats and raisins. 
7. Put into the freezer for roughly 20-30min to chill the dough.
8. Drop by rounded 1/2 tablespoonfuls onto un-greased cookie sheets covered in parchment paper.
9. Bake 10 to 12 minutes until light and golden. Do not overbake. Let them cool for 2 minutes before removing from cookie sheets to cool completely.

Thoughts:
The recipe originally called for 1/2 cup butter and 1/2 cup butter flavored shortening, but I like the version with all butter better. It was missing something last time. Also, I added 1/2 t more cinnamon than the recipe originally called for, along with adding in the ginger and nutmeg. I like them better this way, but we shall see what the public consensus is.

Next Time:

• I want to try adding more raisins, some of the cookies seem to have a deficit of them, which is definitely something to be rectified.
• I want to try adding a little more allspice. Or maybe the same level of allspice, but add in a little bit of cloves, like the original recipe calls for.

Snickerdoodles

So, tonight was my first attempt at Snickerdoodles. I had heard good things about them, but have never tried them.

Recipe:
I got this from the internet, but I altered the recipe somewhat from what I found based on previous baking endeavors.

Makes About: 4 dozenish

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup shortening
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons cream of tartar - I used White Vinegar instead

Coating:

• 3 tablespoons white sugar
• 3.5 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
2. Cream together butter, shortening, 1 1/2 cups sugar.
   
3. Add the eggs and the vanilla and mix together.
   
4. In a seperate bowl, sift together the flour, soda, and salt.
5. Add dry ingredients a little at a time to wet bowl and mix well.
6. Add vinegar and mix in, being careful not to over mix.
   
7. Shape dough by rounded half tablespoon scoops into balls.
   
8. Mix the 3 tablespoons sugar and the cinnamon in a ziplock baggie. Roll balls of dough in mixture. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets covered in parchment paper.
9. Bake 8 to 10 minutes, or until set but not too hard. Remove immediately from baking sheets.

Additional notes for my kitchen: I have an airbake cookie sheet, which needs longer in the over, so the cookies went for 10:30 on it, and a non-airbake which only went in for 9. My oven is woefully imbalanced in terms of heating, so I let things go a little longer than most recipes call for.

Thoughts:
While they smell awesome while cooking, the flavor isn't as strong as I would have expected, they seem a little bland to me. Maybe that's a good thing? We shall see what the judges think.

Next time:

• Don't knock cooked cookies into the oven causing burning and a frantic attempt to pick out cookie bits of a 400 degree oven.
• Maybe a little more salt to add flavor?
• Maybe a touch more vanilla? The cookies don't have brown sugar like most others, which could be part of the deficit of flavor.
• Perhaps instead of 1/2 cup shortening, using butter flavored shortening? Or maybe just 1 whole cup of butter instead.
  

Beef Stew

So this is the Beef Stew that my mother always made when I was growing up. It's one of my favorite cold time foods, but since it makes a lot, it is great to make and then eat all week. The one thing I have not yet mastered is eating it without burning my tongue. You would think eventually I would learn. Mais non.

Serves: 5-6 people from one pot. Depends on how much you put in.

Ingredients

• 1-2 lbs of beef chunks (trim off fat and make them roughly the same size)
• 1 1/2 cups of flour
• Salt
• Pepper
• Olive oil
• 1-2 cloves of garlic (Or garlic powder for the lazy) - Mince
• 3 small onions (Or 2 larger ones) - Dice
• 2 Tbs Worcestershire sauce
• 3 cups water
• 3-4 beef bouillon cubes
• Dash of allspice or cloves
• 1 large carrot - Peel and cube
• 1 small turnip - Peel and cube
• 2 small potatoes - Peel and cube
• Frozen peas

Directions

1. Put the flour, salt, and pepper onto a dinner sized plate
2. Roll the beef chunks into the flour mixture. Save the extra flour mix.
3. In a large pot, heat the oil on high heat and drop in the beef chunks and brown them on all sides. Add oil as needed.
4. After all the beef is in, put in the onions and garlic and the Worcestershire sauce. Make sure this stuff doesn't burn and stick to the pot.
5. When all the above is brown, add the water, bouillon cubes, and allspice/cloves.
6. Lower the heat to very low, leaving everything at a simmer, and cover. Let everything cook for an hour, stirring every 15-20 minutes.
7. After an hour, or when the meat starts to be tender, add the carrot, potatoes, and turnip cubes. If necessary, add a little water. Everything should be thin like soup.
8. Let the vegetables cook 25-30min, stirring once or twice.
9. Once everything is soft and cooked, add in some of the remaining flour a little bit at a time. Very small additions make everything MUCH easier to mix in. Keep adding flour until you get the desired thickness for the stew.
10. 5 minutes before everything is ready, throw in the frozen peas. They don't need long.

Best served with a hard bread, such as a Chicago hard roll (350 for 10minutes will put them at optimum crunchy outside and soft inside). Optional to wait for dish to cool before you consume, but not burning off your taste buds adds to the experience, so I've heard.

Overall, this whole process can take up to two hours, depending on how fast everything gets soft. Since this is a stew, you could add more or change the vegetables or add some new spices, and things won't really change. Everything should be just roughly the same size to aid cooking evenness.

Icebox Cake

So this is something I have wanted to try for a while, and kept putting off. I'm glad I made it, it was the most positively reviewed thing I have done yet. The great thing about it is that it is really easy to make and low stress and you can do so many changes to the recipe, but still come out with something delicious. The original recipe called for strawberries, but you could probably do this with any fruit, within reason.

Once everything congeals, it tastes amazing and moist, and it can last in the fridge for over two days (I've heard reports they last up to 5 days) without going bad as long as you keep it cold and don't leave it out for too long.

Edit: Made another one with bananas and it came out pretty nice. Added the photo.

Ingredients

• 2 pounds fresh strawberries, washed
• 3 + 1/4 cups whipping cream, divided
• 1/3 cup confectioners sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 teaspoon rosewater (optional) 
• 4 sleeves (about 19 ounces, or 24 to 28 whole crackers) graham crackers
• 2 ounces dark chocolate, finely chopped

Directions

1. Take out a few of the best-looking strawberries and set them aside for the garnish. Hull the remainder of the strawberries and slice each berry into thin slices.
2. With a hand mixer or in the bowl of a stand mixer, whip 3 cups of cream until it just holds stiff peaks. A really good tip for whipping cream is to put the bowl (typically metal), the cream, and the mixers into the freezer for 20-30min to get them nice and cold before you start whipping. 
3. Add the confectioners sugar, vanilla, and rosewater (if using) and whip to combine.
4. Spread a thin layer of whipped cream on the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking pan. 
5. Lay down six graham crackers. Cover the top of the graham crackers with more whipped cream, and then a single layer of strawberries. 
6. Repeat three times, until you have four layers of graham crackers. 
7. Spread the last of the whipped cream over the top and add a few more strawberries.
8. To make the ganache, heat the cream until bubbles form around the edges, then pour the chocolate into the pan to melt.
9. Let it stand for a minute, then whisk until the mixture is thick and glossy. Drizzle this over the layered dessert with a spoon.
10. Refrigerate for at least four hours,  until the crackers have softened completely, or over night for best results. 

Thoughts: 
Overall everything came out great. I tried adding a little color with some graham cracker crumbs, but I don't think they were really necessary. Maybe to improve the aesthetics, the top layer of whip cream could be applied with a bag with a hole in it to make everything look fancier.

For Next Time:

• The recipe calls for 2 lbs of strawberries, but I used only about 1.5 lbs, and my strawberries were densely layered. I think to save time on hulling and slicing, far fewer berries could be used next time.
• I want to try this with bananas instead of strawberries and see how that turns out. Maybe a mix of both?
• Potentially any and all fruits could be used in any combination, as long as the fruit mass is essentially the same, consider adding blueberries to the mix.
• I've heard good things about Nilla wafers instead of graham crackers, and those could be interesting to try.
• The ganache originally called to sit for a few minutes before mixing. For me, this lead to the whole thing cooling down too much and not spreading smoothly and coming out in big clumps, which looked ugly. - Update: Put chocolate into the pan to melt, as opposed to the cream onto the chocolate in a bowl.