Thin Mint Brownies

My family is probably the only one in America that still has a boxes of Girl Scout cookies in their pantry. Weird, I know. We had one lone box of Thin Mints that lingered long after being delivered. After passing by them for months I formed a plan that would allow the abandoned cookies to live up to their full potential: chocolate mint all American cookies + the classic brownie mix. How did I not think of this earlier? And why do we not have more Girl Scout cookies in the pantry? Oh yeah, because I used the last ones to make two batches of these glorious treats.

I made the first pan on Thanksgiving, my initial plan was to do a layer of the crumbled cookies in the center of the bars. After I poorly divided the batter in half that idea was ditched and I instead settled for crumbled bits mixed in. 

With my initial vision ruined, I'll admit, I was distraught right up to tasting time. They look like an average brownie, until you have the pleasure of tasting them. You get the extra mint chocolaty flavor and added moistness. So moist, so easy.

Did I mention easy?

What about moist?

So if there is any chance you have some Thin Mints laying around, try your hand at these, or add another box to this years order...make that two more boxes.

Ingredients

1 box brownie mix (plus ingredients listed on box)

1 sleeve Girl Scout Thin Mint cookies

1. Put cookies in a plastic bag and crumble so that there are no large pieces.
2. Add to prepared brownie mix. Spread into greased 9x13 pan, cook as directed or until toothpick stuck into center comes out clean.

Tortellini Skewers

Merry Christmas! I sure do love the Holidays, good food and even better company. I was on duty to prepare Christmas Eve dinner for 20 this year. It was quite a task, especially when unfortunate unexpected events occurred. But the good thing about preparing food for that many people is that there are that many more helpers!

This is what our table of food ended up looking like.

So I'll have to break some of the dishes into different posts, too much deliciousness to explain at once!

We'll start first with the tortellini skewers. Usually I use the boxed ones from the pasta isle but they didn't have those in the Georgia Publix, so instead I got the fresh ones from the refrigerator section. I used the three cheese.

Then I got some grape tomatoes, black olives, green olives, Caesar dressing, and baby skewers.

Red and green, so festive for the Holidays!

Ingredients

1 package any flavor tortellini

1 can large black olives

1 jar green olives

1 pack grape tomatoes

1 bottle caesar dressing

1 pack small skewers

2 tbs olive oil

1. Boil tortellini as instructed on package.
2.  Drain pasta and toss in oil, allow to cool.
3. Skewer green olive, tomato, black olive, and two tortellini.
4. Pour caesar dressing into a dip-friendly bowl with tortellini skewers.

Easy Icing Filled Cake Balls

An early Christmas present already put to use! My cousins and I went during black Friday to Kohl's at midnight, and what did I have my sights set on?

Oh yeahhh, cake balls and pops made easy, and cute. We go to Atlanta every year for Christmas to visit family and I decided to bring this puppy with me. I stayed with my Aunt, Uncle, and two younger cousins. The older is in 9th grade, she loves to bake, the other, 4th grade, well he loves to get into trouble.

Automatically the little baker wanted to participate, so she mixed the batter. We found that it was easiest to use an icing bag with a large tip to quickly get the batter into the babycakes maker, we dripped some red and green food coloring down the sides to make marbled balls.

Each batch sat in the machine for about 5 minutes to cook, the all came out perfectly!  The non-stick surface made it impossible to ruin batches by our my over filling (hers were perfect). We let the balls cool and got ready for the messy part! 

I used the filler (which came with the machine) to pipe vanilla icing from a can into the balls.

She got the hardest and sloppiest job, she rocked it though.

And who decided that he couldn't pass up the fun? The rugrat himself. He did a great job on sprinkle duty, we did red and green sugar sprinkles for the regular cake balls, and colored for the frosting filled. But he did make sure we knew that he wouldn't be joining us when we compete on cupcake wars, because "that's not a boy thing to do".

 Cake balls anyone?

Can't wait to brag on the mini Maria's when the whole family enjoys these on Christmas Eve!

Brace yourself, this recipe is a toughy.

(makes about 48)

Ingredients

Boxed White Cake + ingredients on back

1 Container Vanilla Icing

1 1/2 Bags Milk Chocolate

Sprinkles

Optional: Food Coloring

1. Buy babycakes cake pop maker!
2. Prepare boxed cake mix, add a few random drops of food coloring and stir only to marbleize.
3. Use large tip icing bag (or cookie scoop/spoon) to fill each hole with about 1 tbs batter.
4. Cook 5 minutes, take out, let cool.
5. Pipe icing into ball.
6. Melt chocolate with 3 tbs oil, use two spoons and fingers to coat balls with chocolate and place on cookie sheet lined with parchment.
7. Immediately add sprinkles, place tray of completed balls into the fridge to quickly set chocolate.

Notes: If chocolate starts to harden while coating balls, rewarm in microwave for about 10 seconds, and try not to eat too many!

Crock Pot Jambalaya

I was cleaning in the kitchen and heard a very disturbing conversation.

The scene: My mom, dad, and sister were deciding when she and my brother in law could come over to do our gift exchange.

Mom: "Monday is perfect, we can do dinner, cookies, and presents."

Sister: "What will be for dinner?"

Dad: "We can order pizza."

Mom: "That's a great idea, we'll get Donatos"

Maria: "WHATTT?!"

Nothing against Donatos, they make a mean mozzarella/spinach/chicken pizza, but come on, delivery is not festive whatsoever.

Our day was fairly jam-packed with activities so I decided to keep it simple with a crock pot meal. A little bit of preparation at the start of the day makes for a delicious meal by dinner time.

Look at that tablescape! Mom is a pro decorator, all of that greenery is from her garden...wow we are really starting to sound like the Joneses.

Up-close of the table setting, mind you we didn't use these plates we used bowls, but the

greenery "looked better on the plate than in a bowl".She is too funny, and completely right!

This was my original ingredients picture,

I made a few additions...I added chopped cooked chicken as well (not pictured)

 Mom doesn't eat red meat so I did turkey bacon instead of pancetta.

If you don't have one of these, I highly suggest getting one.

Makes chopping go from minutes to seconds.

 And all of the pieces are uniform and perfect.

 Six hours later...

Ready to dig in!

Serves about 6

Ingredients

2 ounces pancetta, finely sliced (I used turkey bacon)

1 medium onion, diced

2 stalks celery, diced

1 green pepper, seeded and diced

2 tsp garlic

1 can (28 ounces) fire roasted tomatoes

¼ cup tomato paste

3-4 cups low sodium chicken broth

1 cup long grain brown rice

12 – 16 ounces fresh or frozen shrimp, shelled and deveined

2 tbsp parsley, minced

1 teaspoon Cajun seasoning

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/4 teaspoon dried thyme

pinch of cloves

1 tsp sea salt or to taste

Optional: 1 cup cooked diced chicken (add in ten minutes before serving to warm through)

1)      Depending on how much time you have:

a)      If you have a few minutes brown the pancetta in a skillet for 4-5 minutes. Add the garlic, onions, celery, and green pepper and sauté until tender about 7-8 minutes. Add to crock pot and add all other ingredients, except shrimp.

b)      If you’re low on time just add all of the ingredients except the shrimp into the slow cooker.

2)      Cook on low 4-8 hours. Adjust cooking time according to your specific manufacturer’s instructions.

3)      Half an hour before serving (rice should be tender), turn your cooker to high and add the shrimp, cook until they are pink.

4)      Spoon into bowls and serve with a slice of hearty bakery bread.

 Note: This is the mild version, for more spice increase cayenne pepper to suit your taste. Start with 3 cups of broth and add more if it seems too dry and the rice is not yet done.

World Peace Cookies

My Aunt and Uncle flew down from Minnesota to visit so I drove up from school in order to spend the weekend with them. After a day of my Uncles incessant nagging my Aunt caved and made his favorites, World Peace Cookies. She whipped up a batch one night and let them chill, there were finally ready to go into the oven around 11.

It was a good thing that everyone else was in bed because what she pulled out of that oven when the timer went off was not a pretty sight. The dough had turned to liquid, creating thin pancake circles all over the pan instead of perfectly shaped cookies. What followed was a scene straight out of CSI. Did I buy her the wrong chocolate chips? Did she use too much butter? Was the oven too hot?


"There's no such thing as questions, just hidden answers", obviously the answer to the ruined cookies was hidden far too well. After two more futile attempts at baking we gave up on the project.


Now that I'm back home for winter break its time for round two!


While searching the internet for the recipe (which is everywhere, these are kind of a big deal!) I got their back story. The original recipe is from Dorie Greenspan and they got their name because her neighbor was "convinced that a daily dose of the cookies is all that's needed to ensure planetary peace and happiness."  My family gave them a different label: Adult Cookies, not due to explicit language or extreme violence, but because they aren't an overload of sugar nor covered with sprinkles, rainbows, and sunshine. They are more savory with deep chocolate flavor and a hint of salt. Yeah, I called a cookie savory, that just happened.

Ingredients

So I had taken tons of pictures of the process, but like a noob I had

forgotten to put the memory card back in my camera, so now I have none.

This is one of my wrapped dough logs.

Now the cutting of the dough can be discouraging at times. If the cut cookie crumbles,

just mold the slice together. Stick with it, they are well worth the trouble.

Fresh out of the oven, a star was born. My Aunt has successfully broadened

my cookie spectrum, time to add another cookie to my list of favorites!

Milk is a must!

World Peace Cookies
From Dorie Greenspan’s Baking: From My Home to Yours

Makes 3 dozen

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
11 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup light brown sugar, packed

1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon fleur de sel or 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
5 ounces bittersweet chocolate chips, or semi-sweet mini chocolate chips

1. Sift the flour, cocoa, and baking soda together.
2. Working with a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter on medium speed until soft and creamy. Add both sugars, the salt and vanilla extract and beat for 2 minutes more. Turn off the mixer. Pour in the dry ingredients, drape a kitchen towel over the stand mixer to protect yourself and your kitchen from flying flour and pulse the mixer at low speed about 5 times, a second or two each time. If there is still a lot of flour on the surface of the dough, pulse a couple of times more; if not, remove the towel. Continuing at low speed, mix for about 30 seconds more, just until the flour disappears into the dough. For the best texture, work the dough as little as possible once the flour is added, the dough may look a little crumbly. Toss in the chocolate pieces and mix only to incorporate.
3. Turn the dough out onto a work surface, gather it together and divide it in half. Working with one half at a time, shape the dough into logs that are 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Wrap the logs in plastic wrap and refrigerate them for at least 3 hours. (The dough can be refrigerated for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 2 months. If you've frozen the dough, you needn’t defrost it before baking — just slice the logs into cookies and bake the cookies 1 minute longer.)
4. When you’re ready to bake, center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone mats.
5. Using a sharp, thin knife, slice the logs into rounds that are 1/2 inch thick. (The rounds are likely to crack as you’re cutting them — don’t be concerned, just squeeze the bits back onto each cookie.) Arrange the rounds on the baking sheets, leaving about 1 inch between them. Bake the cookies one sheet at a time for 12 minutes — they won’t look done, nor will they be firm, but that’s just the way they should be.

Notes: I used 5 oz chopped Giradelli semi-sweet chocolate chips (half of bag).

Red Chicken Curry

After a week of exams and far too little sleep I have found my way back to the kitchen. First up on the menu: curry. I've been keeping it at the bottom of my to-do list for a while because I hate curry!...Alright, I don't remember ever having it, but was sure it was awful. Anytime I think of curry two words come to mind: spicy and coconut. Doesn't sound like my kind of party. But regardless, I was up for the challenge. Even if I couldn't stomach the meal, I was down to make it.

We invited my sister and brother-in-law to join us, and where did they happen to be sitting when they got the text message? None other than Surin of Thailand. It's a good thing they had ordered sushi! I was shocked when they accepted, not due to a possible Thai overload, but because my sister can't stand coconut flavor. Not even pina coladas (bet she doesn't like getting caught in the rain either).

Since we were adding two people I decided to double the recipe, in hind sight I shouldn't have, but now we can enjoy the leftovers...for days.

For the Chicken you can just use cooked chicken breasts. Dad offered to roast a chicken, and there was no way I was going to pass that up! It smelt so good I almost wanted to just have that for dinner, but I was set on giving the curry a chance.

Ingredients, not including the rice:

Note that the recipe says "finely chopped", if anyone thinks I'm going to stand there and finely chop an onion, two red bell peppers and four carrots (keep in mind I doubled the recipe) they are dreaming. My short-cut: the food processor! Perfect consistency.

I started off in a skillet, had to move into the big girl pot.

     First 6 ingredients                                      All ingredients simmering

     

Why have I not been eating curry all of my life? Not spicy, not coconuty, just pure Thai magic. With all of our preconceived notions my sister and I were both shocked with how much we loved it (so good we got seconds). Well played curry, you will be eaten again, a.k.a. all week.

Ingredients:

(This is the regular recipe, not the doubled, which is pictured)
Serves about 6

What you need:

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tsp ginger

1 ½ tsp garlic

2 carrots, peeled and finely chopped

1/2 onion, chopped finely

1 red bell pepper, chopped finely

1 cup cooked chicken meat, chopped

2.5 tablespoons red curry paste (I used mild, if you want it spicy get hot)

3 tablespoons brown sugar

1/2 of a 13.5 oz can Asian coconut milk or cream (unsweetened)

16 oz sodium chicken broth

3 cups cooked rice

optional cilantro garnish

1. Cook rice.
2. In a medium pot heat olive oil on medium heat, add ginger and garlic, sauté for a minute.
3. Add chopped onions, carrots, and red bell peppers and cook for about 5 minutes. 
4. Add curry paste, brown sugar, and chicken, sautéing everything until curry paste is completely incorporated (around 5 minutes).
5. Pour chicken broth and coconut milk into the pan and stir to incorporate.
6. Reduce heat to medium low and allow the soup to cook for 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
7. Spoon over rice, garnish with matchstick carrots and cilantro.

Note: I used brown rice and reduced sodium chicken broth. Use the food processor to "finely chop"!


This post is linked to Kelly the Kitchen Kop’s Real Food Wednesday blog carnival

Praline Bars

I haven't made these in over a year, and they're my best friend's absolute favorite. So of course while brainstorming for gift ideas they popped into my head! They're relatively simple and so darn good. But of course sometimes the simplest of tasks can turn into absolute disasters, which is exactly what happened when it came to the typically fun task of chocolate drizzling. First we didn't have any semi sweet chocolate chips (hence my note that milk chocolate will work), then we didn't have any milk chocolate. So Hersey's kisses it was! First bag I used must have been left over from last year, microwaving turned them into a chalky hot-as-lava mess. Round two, I over microwaved the non expired second bag of kisses.

At this point I was ready to give up on the chocolate, my friend could go without. As for the dessert, I was never making these ridiculous praline bars EVER AGAIN! Thank goodness for my mother who stepped in and saved the day (almost). She microwaved the chocolate to perfection! Cut the ziploc bag hole too big and didn't seal the top of the bag...so my hands ended up covered in chocolate but gosh darn it those bars ended up perfectly drizzled!

 Exhibit A:

They're so pretty!

I wrapped up a ton in a cellophane bag to put with my friend's present, along with a bag of some more of my cookie creations (recipes soon to come).

Next to my mothers perfectly wrapped presents, can you tell which one is for my bestie?

Some went with my mom for her to take to work (she deserved it for her patience), and the rest went into a Ziploc container and then the freezer.

Mom called me later that day to say that her work friends adored them, so looks like this recipe will make the list of treats to make for next year! (Crossing my fingers that the chocolate situation will go better next time).

Ingredients:
3/4 cup crushed pecans
1 cup butter
1 3/4 cups brown sugar
15 graham cracker sheets
1/2 cup semi sweet or milk chocolate chips
1/2 cup white chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. In a lightly greased 15 x 10 jelly roll pan layer graham crackers (separated into 4 crackers) and evenly sprinkle pecan pieces 
3. In pan on the stove bring butter and brown sugar to a boil for 2 minutes over medium low heat, pour evenly over graham crackers in pan.
4. Put pan in oven for 10 minutes, take out and let set for a few minutes then use spatula to transfer graham crackers onto a sheet of parchment paper. Let cool completely.
5. Melt semisweet/milk chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl in 15 second intervals. Once smooth, spoon into a Ziploc back, snip the tip of the bag and drizzle over cooled bars. Repeat with white chocolate.

Hints: Stir brown sugar/butter mixture constantly so that it doesn't burn. Cut off only the very bottom tip of the Ziploc bag so that the drizzles are small. Watch the microwaved chocolate carefully!

Pecan Caramel Turtles and Candy Cane Pretzel Bites

Two more sinfully simple treats commin at ya! The first one was a request from my mother, when I came home for the weekend ready to bake she pulled up a picture of the Turtles on a pintrest post. They looked easy enough so I picked up the supplies during my Friday night grocery run and they were the first dessert of the weekend. The sweet of the caramel chocolaty Rolo and the salt of the pretzel is a delicious combination of flavors.

I thought I was done with that little creation until I discovered one of the best seasonal products Hersey's has probably ever come out with: HERSHEY'S KISSES Candy Cane Flavored Candies and I knew right away it was time for some sweet and salty creative licensing. 

Look at the beautiful little candy cane kiss just waiting to go into the oven.

So the end results were two very different, but equally delicious pretzel bites! 

The tough part is choosing which to eat first!

The great thing about making these is that you can make the exact number you want. I made a couple dozen of each variety and then put the supplies back into the pantry for next weekend!

Ingredients:

1 bag of Hersey's Rolo Caramels in Milk Chocolate

1 bag pecan halves 

1 bag of Hersey's Kisses Candy Cane Flavored Candies (or any flavor)

1 bag waffle pretzels

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees
2. Spread out a layer of pretzels on a cookie sheet covered in parchment or a silicon mat
3. Place either a Rolo or Kiss on top of each pretzel
4. Place sheet into the oven for 2-3 minutes, candies will hold their shapes but will develop a sheen
5. Take cookie sheet out and top each Rolo with a pecan half and each Kiss with another pretzel (if candies are still hard put the tray back into the oven for another 30 seconds or so)
6. Place tray in the refrigerator (or outside) to chill

Peanut Butter Butterscotch Haystacks (No Bake)

My brother-in-law is what I would consider a cookie monster, before the cookie monster decided cookies were "a sometime snack".

He has to be my all time favorite critic because he has never met a dessert he doesn't like and he is always willing to take on the tough task of dessert tester. Such a rough job, I'm not sure how he manages! After a weekend of full on baking I was surprised when he tended to drift towards a certain dessert, and when asked he came out and admitted that he did have a favorite, and these are the winners!

Turns out butterscotch is at the top of his list of favorite sweet flavors! I am personally a huge peanut butter fan, so this treat is the perfect blending of the two worlds. The classic haystack, or "chop suey" cookie was once a holiday favorite, but we decided these are about a hundred times better, and just as easy! Once they cooled I placed them in an airtight Tupperware and put them in the freezer, that way I can just take out a few every time him and my sister come over!

Ingredients:

1 package butterscotch morsels (11 oz)

3/4 cup peanut butter

4 cup Corn Flakes

1 cup peanuts

1. Combine butterscotch morsels and peanut butter in a small sauce pan and melt over low heat, stirring frequently.
2. Once melted, pour over corn flakes and peanuts in a large bowl.  Stir gently to combine.
3. Drop onto wax paper and allow to cool completely.

Hints: I melted the butterscotch chips in the microwave, stirring every 10-20 seconds, and then added the peanut butter. If you don't want or have the peanuts, feel free to substitute for another cup of Corn Flakes.


http://clipart-for-free.blogspot.com/2008/06/sesame-street-clipart.html

Linking: This Week's Craving