Sugar Cookies (not just for Christmas)

Okay, so it was 2 weeks before Christmas and I had nothing to do. I had never done cookies like these before but I was eager to try.

Lucky for me, I came across this recipe. (From allrecipes.com)

Ingredients

1 1/2 c. butter, softened
2 c. white sugar
4 eggs
1 t. vanilla extract
1 t. salt
5 c. all-purpose flour
2 t. baking powder

Directions

In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour (or overnight).
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Roll out dough on floured surface 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into shapes with any cookie cutter. Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.
Bake 6 to 8 minutes in preheated oven. Cool completely.

This is the part where it gets fun. Make an icing with milk and powdered sugar until you get a consistency so that it can be poured and run off the edges a bit. Color it to your taste with liquid food coloring.

Put all of your cookies on a drying rack, and position the drying rack over a dish towel or a few paper towels (to catch the icing that falls). Pour the icing over each cookie, making sure it reaches all edges. You may want to do another coat after the first one is dry.

After the icing dries, you can use food markers to draw in the details. :)

Best Banana Nut Muffins

Okay, so I kinda have a history when it comes to muffins. I first started baking when I made blueberry muffins a lot with my mom when I was, probably about 8. Ya, they're like a family favorite :)

These are also (I recently found out) a favorite of my girlfriend as well :)

I found this recipe on A Sweet Pea Chef and fell in love with it. You will too, I promise. Okay, the recipe:

Banana Nut Muffins

Makes 18 regular muffins


4 ripe bananas, smashed
1/3 cup melted butter
¾ cup sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. baking soda
Pinch of salt
1 ½ cups flour
1 cup chopped walnuts
Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a large mixing bowl, mix the butter into the mashed bananas with a wooden spoon. Mix in the sugar, egg and vanilla. Add the baking soda and salt. Add the flour and mix until just incorporated. Fold in the chopped walnuts.
Pour mixture into prepared muffin pan lined with cupcake liners. Bake 25-30 minutes until golden brown or once a toothpick inserted into the center of the muffin comes out clean. Allow to cool on a rack.
Enjoy!

swapped the nuts for semi-sweet chocolate chips in one batch (my little brother isn't a big fan of nuts), and they turned out great.

My Girlfriend :)

Hey, have I mentioned I'm in love? It consumes me, drives me places I never thought I'd go, ever. She's the light in the darkness, the moon to my night sky. I don't know what I'd do without her. This is basically an appreciation post for the girl of my dreams, the princess I had the chance to save, who in turn saved me.

Easy Tiki Masala (red) Curry (plus tips and history)

 I LOVE curry. It can bring together nearly any assortment of vegetables and almost always turn out awesome. It's really good for when you have a bunch of random stuff in the fridge :) I'm pretty sure its one of the most versatile foods. In case you've never had it before, here are some examples of different kinds....

Green curry, which is very basic and is usually (as far as I know) made with green curry paste that comes in a jar. It's really creamy and super good :)

Then there's Tiki Masala (or red) curry, which is made with tomatoes and cream and it goes well with LOTS of different veggies.

And my favorite is Korma (or yellow) curry, which uses a coconut milk base and lots of spices.

     It can have chicken or pork (or be vegetarian) and be green, yellow or red. Curry is from Indian and Thai descent, and is most common in those cuisines. Curry powder is not actually a spice, but a mixture of spices that dates back to 1700 BC in ancient Mesopotamia, then introduced in England as early as the 1300's. Korma curry is by far my favorite, so I am going to show you how to make it (not the traditional way, but the awesome way. Also my way is easier.) Here's how to do it (or at least how I do it).

Ingredients: 

• 1 jar (approx. 15 oz.) Tiki Masala simmer sauce
• 2 carrots, sliced
• 1 yellow (or crookneck squash), sliced
• 1 zucchini, sliced
• 1 can chickpeas (or 1 c. dried and soaked)
• 1-2 c. snap peas
• 3 potatoes, peeled and cut into cubes
• a package of boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite size pieces (however much you want, it doesn't really matter)

1. Boil a big pot of water (about two quarts or so) and add the carrots and potatoes. Cook for 10 minutes and drain.
2. Heat up a deep skillet (you're going to have to fit everything in here eventually) and cook the chicken until all pieces are white on the outside. Add the simmer sauce and (well...simmer...) for about 10 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked throughout. 
3. Add the rest of the veggies, including the pre-cooked carrots and potatoes. You can add basil if you want at this point.
4. Serve over sticky rice, or with Naan bread.

Watermelon-Lime Syrup and Snow Cones

     So it's the beginning of summer and I live in the middle of (basically) nowhere, too far from anywhere that has cold drinks and snacks. I have always wondered if it would be possible (an if so, how difficult) to make snow cones at home so today i spent my morning creating this recipe (tell me what you think)

First, put the watermelon pieces in a saucepan over low heat to release the juice (yum!) 

Try to break it up into a pulp (could be difficult depending on how ripe your watermelon is) and pour through a mesh strainer to get rid of the chunks. Return the liquid back into the pan. Add the sugar, corn starch and lime juice and simmer until thickened.


*To make snow cones, pour the syrup over shaved ice (you can do it in the blender if you don't have a snow cone maker) and garnish with lime wedges


The Recipe:



  Ingredients:

• 4 c. of watermelon, cubed
• 2 1/2 c. (or so) of white sugar
• about 4 T. lime juice
• lime wedges to go on the side of the glass (optional but STRONGLY recommended)

1.  Put the watermelon chunks into a saucepan and warm over medium-low heat for about 3 minutes. When the watermelon starts heating up, poke each piece a few times to release the juice (yum!)
2. When the pieces are mostly broken down into a pulp, pour liquid through a mesh strainer and return to the pan. Add corn starch, sugar and lime juice. While whisking, simmer on medium heat until thickened.

The BEST Chicken Tacos recipe EVER!!!!

    This is the chicken tacos recipe that I stole...I mean... "borrowed" from my mom. It's by far the best recipe I've ever tasted when it comes to tacos. Don't believe me? Try it yourself! It's kinda a lot of work but its worth it. The shredded chicken turns out super full of flavor and really moist. This is also a great way to use leftover cooked chicken, just skip the boiling and shredding part. This recipe makes enough for about 18 tacos with leftovers the next day. I use the leftovers for nachos. Yum :)


You'll need:
1 whole chicken
1 green bell pepper
2 stalks of celery (without leaves)
1 T. extra-virgin olive oil
4 or 5 T. taco seasoning
Toppings of your choice (lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, 
sour cream, etc...)


   First, take the insides out of the chicken and dispose of them. Yuck :P Okay. Now put the chicken in a big soup pot and fill it with water about 2 inches up the side of the pot. Once it comes to a boil, cover with a lid. Now comes the really tedious part. Boil the chicken for (I know) an hour. Once it's done cooking, carefully take it out of the pot and put it on a plate, reserving the broth from the bottom of the pot (don't worry if there's fat floating around...it gets strained out later). 

  While the chicken cools, chop the celery and bell pepper.

Then heat the olive oil in a saucier or a large skillet, and add the veggies. Saute until soft, about 7 minutes. Then add 1 tablespoon of the taco seasoning to the veggies and stir. 

 

If the chicken is cool enough to handle, start shredding the meat with your fingers and tossing it in.

     While on medium heat, pour a quarter of the broth from the pot through a mesh strainer into the pan with the chicken and vegetables. While you continue to add chicken, alternate taco seasoning and broth, pausing in between to let the liquid evaporate, until you have used all of both .

   The meat is done! Now all you have to do is put the taco shells in the oven on 350 degrees for 7 minutes, and prepare the toppings for your super-yummy tacos :) There'e nothing wrong with having too much cheese...

 The last step is assembling the tacos. Just stuff it in and you're done! That wasn't so hard, was it? Enjoy!

Dark Chocolate Cupcakes with Dulce de Leche Buttercream Frosting

Okay. I'll admit it. I'm obsessed with cupcakes.

I love the smell of them baking in the oven. They're the perfect combination of cake, frosting and cuteness.

I probably make some kind of cupcakes almost every weekend. And this is, in my opinion, one of the BEST cupcake recipes out there. Cupcake Recipe courtesy of BrownEyedBaker (my absolute favorite blog ever).

Dark Chocolate Cupcakes

Yield: 12 cupcakes

Prep Time: 20 minutes | Bake Time: 18-20 minutes | Cooling Time: 45 minutes

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces
2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
½ cup (1.5 ounces) Dutch-processed cocoa powder
¾ cup (3.75 ounces) all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
¾ teaspoon baking powder
2 eggs
¾ cup (5.25 ounces) granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon table salt
½ cup (4 ounces) sour cream

1. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and preheat to 350 degrees F. (If you are using a non-stick muffin pan, heat the oven to 325 degrees F.) Line standard-size muffin pan with baking cup liners.

2. Combine butter, chocolate, and cocoa in medium heatproof bowl. Set bowl over saucepan containing barely simmering water; heat mixture until butter and chocolate are melted and whisk until smooth and combined. (Alternately, you can microwave the mixture at 50% power, stirring every 30 seconds until completely melted.) Set aside to cool until just warm to the touch.

3. Whisk flour, baking soda, and baking powder in small bowl to combine.

4. Whisk eggs in second medium bowl to combine; add sugar, vanilla, and salt until fully incorporated. Add cooled chocolate mixture and whisk until combined. Sift about one-third of flour mixture over chocolate mixture and whisk until combined; whisk in sour cream until combined, then sift remaining flour mixture over and whisk until batter is homogeneous and thick.

5. Divide the batter evenly among muffin pan cups. Bake until skewer inserted into center of cupcakes comes out clean, 18 to 20 minutes.

6. Cool cupcakes in muffin pan on wire rack until cool enough to handle, about 15 minutes. Carefully lift each cupcake from muffin pan and set on wire rack. Cool to room temperature before icing, about 30 minutes.

(Recipe adapted from Cook’s Illustrated)

Now that we have the cupcakes out of the oven, you can start the frosting while they cool. This is my favorite part. If you don't have Dulce de Leche on hand, you could use any caramel, but if you ask me, it's worth taking a trip to the store. Frosting Recipe courtesy of joy the baker (another really great blog)

For the Frosting:

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened

8 ounces cream cheese, softened

3/4 cup dulce de leche, plus more for drizzling

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 to 3 cups powdered sugar

Place cream cheese in the bowl of an electric stand mixer. Beat on medium speed for about 30 seconds, until very soft and pliable. Stop the mixer, scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the butter and dulce de leche. Beat on medium speed until well incorporated. Stop the mixer and add the salt and powdered sugar. Beat on medium speed for about 3 minutes, until fluffy and lighter in color. Generously spoon frosting on top of cupcakes, or use a large frosting tip to pipe on frosting.

   I garnished the finished cupcakes with shaved dark chocolate. To shave the chocolate, just get a dark chocolate bar and use a vegetable peeler to shave off little curls. If the chocolate is too cold, the curls will come off crumbled and if this is the case, just pop the chocolate bar in the microwave for 15-20 second and try again. It just takes a bit to get used to it. And now you're done!

That wasn't so hard, was it?