Twix Ritz

I don't do a lot of specialized baking at Christmas but the two cookies I always make are both somewhat labor intensive. Sugar cookies and gingerbread boys require that you roll the dough out (over and over), which takes time. Add decorating cute faces and clothing outlines for a gazillion gingerbread boys/girls and we're talking some major blocks of time that need to be set aside.

This year I decided to try a new treat. I wanted it to look good but be super easy and fast to make. What could be quicker than a three ingredient recipe, right? Wrong! For as much as I thought these little treats would be a breeze to crank out, they turned out to be unexpectedly vexing.

First of all, you can't get the caramel too hot/cooked or it will be hard and awful. This means careful monitoring of the melting process. Then, when the caramel is just right, getting it onto the cracker isn't quite as quick and easy as one might imagine. The goo is sticky and wants to do it's own thing which apparently does NOT involve staying neatly within the confines of a Ritz cracker.

Picture this Christmas scene - me wrangling with the caramel and wanting to curse at how outright tricky it is to spread the goo before the mixture hardens again or overcooks. All the while, I'm thinking these little bites are just not worth the trouble of making them and I should quit while I'm ahead and go sulk in the corner while eating an entire box of twixless Ritz crackers. Now, don't you wanna just run right out and make some of these for yourself?

Well, you should. I finally got a rhythm going with my caramel placement. This involved twisting the knife in just the right way to corral my goo before slapping on the top cracker. Truthfully, it reminded me of putting eyes on gingerbread boys. How do the two relate? With both, once you figure out how to use just the right hand movement, it gets pretty easy to make eyes that don't have blue lasers shooting out or caramel that runs over the side of the cracker and onto the parchment below.

When all the crackers had been Twix'ed I decided I couldn't wait for the chocolate to set so I placed the first batch in the refrigerator. Big mistake! In gaining a few minutes on setting time for the chocolate, I also wound up with a tooth-crackingly hard caramel center. No, I didn't actually damage any of my teeth but it sure felt like I could. Take back the few minutes saved and add a whole lot more time for the caramel to come back to room temperature! Lesson learned.

My neighbors had lots of compliments for these little fake Twix cookies but the true test came when Brian tried them. My ultra honest critic also loved them - so much so, that he even told his sister about them. Now that's an opinion I can trust! And a reason why you should make these.

RITZ TWIX
Ingredients:
2-3 ounces Melting Milk Chocolate or Milk Chocolate Almond Bark, melted
1 Sleeve Ritz Crackers
1 Cup Caramels, melted

Instructions:
Line the crackers up on a parchment lined baking sheet.
Add a spoonful of caramel to every other cracker and top with the other cracker.
Next, using a fork dip each cracker in the bowl of melted milk chocolate on each side, then lift it out, gently shaking the fork to allow excess chocolate to drip off of the crackers.
Place on parchment and allow to set. Store in tupper ware.

Peach Dumplings

Since I didn't get a picture of the dumplings, you can look at the lovely farm land where this event was held. 

You know how some people can't keep their New Year's resolutions for even a week? So pitiful, those folks are. Me? I managed to stay strong on my Never Use Crescent Rolls In A Recipe resolution for almost six whole months. Then I caved...and it is all Pioneer Woman's fault.

There was a women's game night scheduled last week. Ladies at our church look forward to this evening for months in advance as it only happens once a year. OK, maybe women get together and socialize more often than that but this particular once-a-year outing happens at a church member's farm house way out in the boonies, amidst the corn fields and rolling farm lands. It's a beautiful setting and a fun evening. In fact, the event is so highly touted among the lady folk at our church that I actually persuaded the hostess to move the event up a bit on the calendar so I could still be in town, before the long haul back to San Diego.

What does this have to do with crescent rolls, you ask? Everything. When it was time to think of a dish to share, I had lots of ideas ranging from very ambitious to as easy as whipping up some spinach dip. Then I saw a video on Facebook (where else?) and I was suddenly hooked on making peach dumplings. Because who doesn't love peaches in the summer time? Added to the natural allure of a seasonal fruit was the intrigue of using a carbonated beverage with the peaches. Not often you mix rolls and Sprite in a recipe, right?

There were a few minutes of trepidation when I told someone what I was planning to make and they mentioned having tried the apple dumpling version of this same recipe, but feeling like it came out kind of gooey. Little warning bells started ringing in my head as I thought back to those ooey, wet ham roll-up thingees that first made me swear off crescent rolls. Was I doomed to repeat that same failure for basically the identical group of ladies who'd been at my house last Christmas, pretending to love the idea of eating mushy, wet dough????  It seemed like a pretty dicey proposition but there was Pioneer Woman cheerfully assuring me that these dumplings would be the hit of any gathering I took them to. Surely Ree wouldn't lie to me...at least I hoped she wouldn't as I poured that 7 oz can of Sprite into the pan, creating what looked like an impossibly drenched dish of crescent roll dumplings.  At this point it was up to Ree to dry up that pan of carbonated drink and come through on her promise of deliciousness.

Wet or not, crescent rolls or not - what baked up was a pan full of summer goodness. The dumplings were absolutely perfect with a big dollop of ice-cream on top. After my friends had enjoyed them for game night, I took the few leftovers home and served them up to my brother the next night. He couldn't stop talking about how good they tasted. Best part of all, we both agreed that watching TV and eating a bowl of the dumplings and ice-cream brought back summer memories of West Virginia and being at our grandparents house for peach pie almost every night.

Peach Dumplings
Thepioneerwoman.com

Ingredients
2 cans of the dreaded Crescent Rolls
16 whole frozen peach slices (yea...I know! Why not fresh? Maybe they'd be even better but I was content to take the easy way out and use frozen. When the slices seemed a bit "puny" I stuffed two into one dumpling and that seemed to work just fine)
1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) butter
1  1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp. vanilla extract
Ground cinnamon for sprinkling (I sprinkled rather liberally, mostly by accident, but it turned out to be a fortuitous slip of my hand as the cinnamon enhanced the flavors)
1 can Sprite, 7-Up, or Mountain Dew (I actually used one of the smaller 7 oz cans and that was plenty)
Extra butter, for the pan
Whipped cream for serving or ICE-CREAM!

Directions
Butter a 9X13 inch baking dish. Roll each peach slice in a crescent roll. Place in the pan. Melt butter, then add sugar and barely stir. Add vanilla, stir once or twice, then pour the entire mixture over the rolls/peaches in the pan. On the video, Pioneer Woman explains that your butter mixture should still be grainy when you pour it into the pan. It looked kind of like runny applesauce. Pour 3/4 of a large can (or all  of the small can) of Sprite around the edges and in the middle of the pan. Sprinkle with cinnamon and bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Remove from the oven and let sit for 10 minutes before serving. Serve with ice cream of whipped cream and spoon some of the sweet sauces from the pan over the top.

Taco Salad

Last summer I went to a choir reunion at Joanne's house. It was one of those events where everyone brings a food to share. I remember being excited to see what my favorite filipino ladies would bring. Mostly, I wanted lumpia and that desire was answered in spades. Can you ever have too much lumpia? I think not.

In between stuffing one lumpia roll after another into my mouth, I came across Nancy C.'s version of taco salad. Somewhere, I probably still have the recipe for this dish that originally came from Linda D, way back in the 70's. Shortly after my marriage, I remember making up a taco salad for Martin and being saddened by his less than enthusiastic response. Little did I realize how many times this cooking scenario would play out in my married life as I've tried out one dish after another, only to have them be rejected by the man who'd just as soon eat an Arby's sandwich as have a home cooked meal. Sigh....

Nancy's taco salad was good enough that I asked for her recipe and then tucked it away until this week when I had to deliver on the promise to make a batch for the Bible Study ladies coming to my house for an end-of the-year luncheon. I did tweak the basics of what she gave me, adding a few things that I thought would taste good mixed in with the core ingredients. One of the ladies at the luncheon let me know she was delighted to see so many "fun" ingredients. At her house, they cut up lettuce, cook up some meat, add chips and call it taco salad. Her recipe makes this one seem downright complicated, in comparison! I'd eat either version.

Taco Salad
Recipe courtesy of Nancy C - sort of

Ingredients:
2 pounds hamburger
2 packages taco seasoning (or use your own)
green onion, cut up
2 tomatoes
8 ounces cheddar cheese, shredded
dorito taco flavor tortilla chips
2 heads lettuce
2 cans kidney beans, rinsed and drained
2 cans corn, rinsed and drained
sliced black olives, drained
Sliced avocado

Dressing Ingredients:
Thousand Island dressing
La Victoria Red taco sauce

Directions:

Cook the hamburger with the taco seasoning. Cool the meat completely. Add all the salad ingredients, except the avocado, tortilla chips and dressing. For the dressing, mix the Thousand Island and taco sauce together, using taste to determine how much kick you want. You can use mild taco sauce or if you like more kick, use the hotter. That's definitely not me so I don't know how it would taste. Right before serving the salad, add the mixed dressing and tortilla chips. Arrange avocado slices on top or have them on the side for people to add, as desired.

Cinnabon Cake

There's something very satisfying about working with yeast breads and watching lumps of dough turn into something that's not only pleasing to look at but also yummy. Of all types of cooking, baking up yeast breads often serves as a kind of relaxation therapy for those times when I'm stressed or anxious over some aspect of daily life.

Most yeast recipes do, however,  require time to bake up and sometimes you just don't have the minutes to spare. Everyone knows Cinnabon rolls taste like a little piece of gooey heaven on earth but it's a bit of a commitment to make them at home.  Totally worth it...but only if you have the time and inclination. With it being my week to bring treats for Bible Study, I decided to go with this quicker compromise of a cake that tastes like Cinnabon rolls. The results? Good enough that I cheated on my diet and scarfed up a piece, convincing myself that it was my Christian duty to try out my cake before making others eat it. Yep, that's me - Saint Barbara (or would that be Santa Barbara???)

One completely random note about making these rolls. Brian knew I've thought about buying a Kitchen-Aide mixer for the condo but hesitated because of the price. Not to mention the fact that it felt like too much of a good thing to own two Kitchen-Aides. I've got my beloved Big Blue here in Parkville but the cheap hand-held mixer I bought not long after getting married has been enough for the condo. But who knew Brian was still thinking about my love for Kitchen Aide Number One, until he sent me a link for one of those super deals on Amazon. After a lot of debating back and forth, I ended up buying a sister for Big Blue and this time I was able to pick a color that coordinates better with my kitchen here in Parkville. The new one sits on my counter while Kitchen Aide Number One sits in one of my closets, waiting to be relocated to the condo. I'm still getting used to the difference in how this new mixer works, specifically that the head doesn't tilt back. So far, it feels awkward to attach beaters and add ingredients without being able to flip that bulky head out of the way. In the middle of making my Cinnabon cake, I almost hauled Big Blue out of the closet but decided to keep going with the new mixer. Cause I'm just that kind of versatile cook.

Back to this recipe.  My cake went straight from oven to church. Once the Bible Study gals had enthusiastically taken their portions, those few pieces that were left came home and got wrapped up for the freezer. Now when Martin gets home from his latest consulting trip, he can have a form of his beloved Cinnabon rolls as a surprise treat - assuming I can keep up the resolve to not snatch those leftovers out of the freezer and eat them in their rock hard state.

Cinnabon Cake
from Hugs and Cookies xoxo.com

Ingredients:
3 cups flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup sugar
4 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 cups milk
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup butter, melted
TOPPING
1 cup butter, melted
1 cup brown sugar
2 Tbsp. flour (or cup4cup if gluten free)
1 Tbsp. cinnamon
 FROSTING
3 oz cream cheese
1/4 cup softened butter
1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
a few teaspoons milk


Instructions:
 Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9×13 glass baking pan with cooking spray or coconut oil spray. Set aside.
In a mixer, add the flour, salt, sugar, baking powder, milk, eggs, and vanilla. Once combined well, slowly stir in the melted butter. Pour into pan.
For the topping, mix the butter, brown sugar, flour and cinnamon together until well combined. Drizzle evenly over the batter and use a knife to marble/swirl through the cake.
Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes or when a toothpick inserted near the center comes out nearly clean.
Frosting:  Beat the first 3 ingredients until creamy.  Add a drop of milk at a time until still thick, yet spreadable.

Slow Cooker Pulled Pork

A few weeks ago when I asked Martin to choose some recipes he'd like to cook, this is one of the ones he came up with. I suppose I shouldn't have been too surprised that pulled pork would be on his favorites list as it seems to be one of the main staples here in the midwest. There are a million different recipes serving up pulled pork cooked in just about as many different ways. Certainly throwing the meat in a slow cooker has to be one of the easiest means for cooking up a home version of Kansas City's favorite dish.

One thing I've noticed about shopping in this area - grocery store butchers are beyond helpful. It wasn't that I couldn't ring one of those summoning bells to get a San Diego butcher at my disposal, but rather that the meat guys here are so charmingly enthusiastic about proffering advice, if you come within ten feet of their display cases. When I ask a butcher here to help me select a good cut of meat, the guy will spend minutes comparing different pieces, telling me just why one particular cut is better or worse than the next. I doubt I'd get much more serious attention if I were head of the FDA. Since I don't buy a lot of pork roasts, our local Price Chopper Meat Expert was more than happy to pick out the perfect cut of meat for this recipe. And, that just might have been the hardest part of making this very easy and tasty dish. So easy in fact, that I forgot to call my sous chef for help... until it came time to eat a kaiser roll stuffed with the best pulled pork on Augusta Drive.

Slow Cooker Pulled Pork Sandwiches
from tasteofhome.com

Ingredients:
1 boneless pork loin roast (4 pounds)
1 can (14 1/2 oz) beef broth or try using beer. (I actually wanted to try the beer but I couldn't find a single can and didn't want to have to buy a six pack just for this recipe. Maybe next time.
1/3 cup plus 1/2 cup Worcestershire sauce, divided
1/3 cup plus 1/4 cup Louisiana style hot sauce, divided (after reading comments from other cooks, I only used the first 1/3 cup, omitting the second 1/4 cup.)
1 cup ketchup
1 cup molasses (again, as per modifications made by other cooks, I used a little over 1/2 cup to cut down on too much sweetness)
1/2 cup prepared mustard
10 kaiser rolls, split

Directions:
Cut roast in half, place in a 5 quart slow cooker. In a small bowl, combine broth, 1/3 cup Worcestershire sauce, and 1/3 cup hot sauce: pour over roast. Cook, covered, on low 8-10 hours or until tender.

Remove roast: discard cooking juices. Shred pork with two forks. Return pork to slow cooker. (This might be the first time I've shred meat in such a manner. There are lots of YouTube videos that show chicken being shredded in a food processor and, while that looks fun, using forks to quickly take meat from a big hunk to strings is equally entertaining.)

In a small bowl combine ketchup, molasses, mustard, and remaining Worcestershire sauce and hot sauce. Pour over pork. Cook, covered, on high 30 minutes or until heated through. Serve on rolls.

Summer Corn Chowder

Ok, so I jumped the gun a bit on the summer part of this recipe. With winter almost behind us, I'm eagerly looking forward to the end of April and the opening of our local farmer's market. Truth is, living in San Diego all those years and having fresh produce year round had me spoiled. Since I don't garden or can vegetables, I've had a lesson in how dear fresh produce can seem during the long winter months. What you can find in the stores is often outrageously expensive and sometimes rather tasteless. Our weather is warming and planting season has begun, so bring on all those lovely fresh farmer crops!

I did come across a stand of corn recently and decided to see if the kernels would be summer time sweet. They were and that's what prompted making this bowl of between season yummyness. Soup for the chill still in the air and corn for the coming of all things fresh and home grown.

One small non-cooking note on this recipe - cutting off kernels of corn takes a little bit of time, as compared to dumping out a can of corn. While I'm not sure if there would be a truly noticeable taste difference between fresh and frozen or canned, I absolutely love the process of using a knife to make those fleshy little kernels separate from the cob, landing in a pleasing pile of yellow. Every time I do this to a cob of corn, I'm reminded of Maw and Paw Simmons. I watched my grandmother cut the corn kernels for her husband countless times as a child and, later, my mom and I did the same thing for him. It's funny how these smallest and most mundane of tasks can instantly bring back memories of long gone times. Decades after their deaths, I can still experience a moment of remembrance and sweet bonding with my grandparents, via the humble corn kernel.


Summer Corn Chowder

Ingredients:
8 ears fresh sweet yellow corn, husked and silks removed and kernels cut from cob
3 Tbsp butter
5 slices bacon, cut into 1/4 to 1/2-inch pieces
1 medium yellow onion chopped (1 1/2 cups)
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 clove garlic, minced
5 cups water
1 lb Yukon Gold potatoes, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1 bay leaf
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 cup half and half
1 Tbsp honey
2 - 3 Tbsp chopped fresh chives
Shredded cheddar cheese, for serving (optional)

Directions:
Melt butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion and bacon and cook, stirring frequently, until onion has softened and just starting to brown around edges, about 8 - 10 minutes. Add in the flour and garlic and cook 1 1/2 minutes. While whisking, slowly pour in 5 cups water. Bring mixture to a boil, stirring constantly, then stir in corn kernels and potatoes. Add in thyme and bay leaf and season with salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a light boil, then reduce heat to medium-low and allow to simmer, stirring occasionally, until potatoes are tender, about 20 minutes.
Remove bay leave then transfer 2 1/2 cups of the chowder to a blender and blend until smooth. Stir the mixture back into the pot then stir in half and half and honey. Sprinkle each serving with chives and optional cheddar.

Chocolate Fudge Cake Donuts

Martin was out of town all of last week, which meant me time in the kitchen. Last time he was gone, I think I ate cereal every night for dinner - just because I could. This time, I decided to go a bit healthier with a big pot of corn and potato chowder. Once that was prepared and waiting for dinner every night, I realized I also wanted to indulge in some kind of treat. You can't go wrong with chocolate so why not cook up a batch of donuts? Really intensely chocolate donuts.  Mine didn't come out as perfect looking as the King Arthur ones but they sure did taste great with a big glass of cold milk. Corn chowder for dinner and a donut every morning for breakfast. Not a bad way to pass the week.

There's nothing remarkable about making up this recipe. The batter comes out dense. So much so that you can't really pour it into the donut pan wells - the process is more like dumping a bit into an opening and then using your finger to spread it evenly around the circle.

The only other thing to note is the "dutch process cocoa" ingredient listing. Every time I come across this specification of dutch process, I find myself having to google which cocoas are and which aren't. This time I stumbled on a quote that will probably stick with me in the future - one way to tell if your cocoa is dutch process or not is the price. Nestle's isn't. A lot of the brands in the store aren't. When you find the box that's considerably pricier than the others around it, that's likely to be the dutch process. For me, it was Droste - not surprising given the dutch name, and the $2 surcharge for the fancy dutch processing.

Chocolate Fudge Cake Donuts
Recipe from King Arthur Flour

Ingredients:
2/3 cup Dutch-process cocoa
1 3/4 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
1 1/4 cups light brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon espresso powder, optional
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup chocolate chips
2 large eggs
3/4 cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 teaspoons vinegar, white or cider
1/2 cup (8 tablespoons) melted butter or 1/3 cup vegetable oil

CHOCOLATE ICING, OPTIONAL (Icing optional? I think not, King Arthur)
1 cup chocolate chips
4 tablespoons milk or half & half

Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease the wells of two standard doughnut pans. If you don't have two pans, simply bake the batter in two batches.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the cocoa, flour, sugar, baking powder, espresso powder, baking soda, salt, and chocolate chips. Set aside.
In a large measuring cup or medium-sized mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, vanilla, and vinegar. You may notice some curdling of the milk; that?s OK.
Add the wet ingredients, along with the melted butter or vegetable oil, to the dry ingredients, stirring to blend; there's no need to beat the batter, just make sure everything is well-combined.
Spoon the batter into the prepared pan(s), filling them between 3/4 and full.
Bake the doughnuts for 12 to 15 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of one comes out clean.
Remove the doughnuts from the oven, and after 30 seconds or so, loosen their edges, turn the pan upside down over a rack, and gently let the doughnuts fall onto the rack.
For sugar-coated doughnuts, immediately shake the doughnuts in 1 tablespoon granulated sugar; add 1/2 teaspoon cocoa powder to the sugar for an additional touch of chocolate.
If you want to ice the doughnuts rather than shake them in sugar, allow them to cool completely before icing.
To make the icing: Combine the chocolate chips and milk or half & half in a microwave-safe bowl or measuring cup. Heat until the half & half is steaming and starting to bubble.
Remove from the microwave, and stir until the chips have melted and the icing is smooth.
Dip the top of each doughnut in the icing; or spread icing on the doughnuts.
Yield: 12 doughnuts.