Orange Chocolate Chip Cookies

This is a recipe from Dan's childhood that he wanted to make. I was skeptical of the orange & chocolate chips, but it was delicious!!


Orange Drop Chocolate Chip Cookies

Source: 1975 Betty Crocker Cooky Book

2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg, room temperature
1/2 cup orange juice
2 tablespoons orange zest, grated
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Directions
1)Heat oven to 400F
2)Mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
3)In another large mixing bowl, mix butter, sugar and egg thoroughly. Stir in orange juice and rind.
4)Sift dry ingredients into wet ingredients and blend together.
5)Drop rounded teaspoonfuls of dough about 2" apart on ungreased baking sheet.
6)Bake 8-10 minutes or until delicately browned on edges.
7)Remove from cookie sheets and cool completely. Store in an airtight container.

Christmas Spritz Cookies!!

We have gone a tad overboard with the Christmas Spirit, and have decided to make Spritz Cookies, just like the old days. I have so many wonderful memories with my mom making these cookies...I hope they come out just as good!!

Spritz Cookies

2 ¼ cups unbleached flour
¾ cup granulated sugar
¼ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
1 cup butter
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Mix flour, sugar, baking powder & salt together in a bowl.
With a pastry blender or 2 knives, cut the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture is full of fine lumps.
Measure the egg in a measuring cup. A large egg will measure ¼ cup. If it does not, add water to the ¼ cup line.
Add the egg & vanilla extract and beat the mixture very well.
Put through the cookie press on ungreased cookie sheets.
Bake for 10-12 minutes. Remove cookies from sheet at once.





Source: Mom's recipes

Zucchini Bread

After dinner we made Zucchini Bread, came out delicious!!

Zucchini Bread

3 large eggs
2 cups granulated sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. baking soda
1 cup oil (no olive oil)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups grated zucchini (2 medium, peeled)
1 tsp. salt
¼ tsp. baking power
3 cups flour
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Beat eggs until foamy. Add in the rest of the ingredients, flour & nuts last. Grease 2 medium loaf pans, or 4 small ones.

Bake 1 hour for 2 medium loaves, 45 minutes for small loaves. Use toothpick in center to test for doneness. Remove from pans & cool on rack.



Source: Mom's recipe

Simple Fudge Tarts

This is an easy quick dessert Mom had cut from a magazine in 2000!! haha.

The pictures were not so great, but they were delicious! Here's the recipe:

Simple Fudge Tarts

24 tarts

Nonstick cooking spray
9 ounces refrigerated peanut butter cookie dough
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate piece
1/4 cup sweetened condensed milk


Spray 24 1 3/4 inch muffin cups with cooking spray; set aside. For tart shells, cut cookie dough into six equal pieces. Cut each piece into four equal slices. Place each slice of dough in a prepared cup.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 9 minutes or till edges are lightly browned and dough is slightly firm by not set. Remove tart shells from oven. Gently press a shallow indentation in each tart shell with the back of a round 1/2 teaspoon measuring spoon.

Bake 2 minutes more or till the edges of tart shells are firm and light golden.
Let tart shells cool in cups on a wire rack for 15 minutes.

Carefully remove tart shells from cups. Cool completely on wire racks.

For filling, combine chocolate pieces and sweetened condensed milk in a small saucepan.

Cook and stir over medium heat till chocolate is melted.
(WATCH CAREFULLY) Spoon a slightly teaspoon of filling into each cooled tart shell. Cool, allowing filling to set.



Source: Better Homes & Garden 2000

Cooking with Mom - Part 2; Pretzels again!!

We had Mexican tonight, and are going to attempt Grandma's gravy & meatballs tomorrow. SO tonight we decided to make some pretzels & a dessert. The pretzels were amazing, again. This is my new favorite recipe!!

Here are some pics of the process!!

Dan rolling the dough



Boiling baking soda water



Going in the oven!



All done!

Cooking with Mom - Part 1; Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins

My mom's in town!!! So we are doing a lot of baking & cooking, and trying a few new recipes.

After a few drinks out with Dante dressed up as Peter Pan, we came home to tackle these muffins. They were DELICIOUS!!!

Making the cream cheese filling...





Putting the filling in...




All done! With Dan's jack-o-lantern :)



Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins

Yield: 24 muffins

Ingredients:

For the muffins:

3 cups flour
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. ground cloves
1 tbsp. and 1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
4 eggs
1 ¼ cups vegetable oil
2 cups sugar
2 cups pumpkin puree

For the filling:

8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 cup powdered sugar

For the streusel topping:

½ cup sugar
¼ cup and 1 tsp. flour
4 tbsp. butter, cubed
1 ½ tsp. cinnamon

Directions:

To prepare the filling, combine the cream cheese and powdered sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and whip until smooth. Form into a log on plastic wrap or foil, making sure that the diameter is small enough to fit into the well of a muffin pan. Wrap the log up tightly and freeze until slightly hardened, 1-2 hours. (We used foil, but we think wax paper would work best!!)

To make the muffins, combine the flour, spices, salt and baking soda in a medium bowl. Mix well and set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the eggs, vegetable oil, sugar and pumpkin puree. Mix until well combined. Add in the dry ingredients and mix on low speed until just combined.

To make the streusel topping, combine all ingredients in a small bowl. Mix together with a pastry blender or two forks until crumbly.

Preheat the oven to 350°. Line two muffin pans with paper liners. To assemble the muffins, fill each muffin well halfway with batter. Remove the cream cheese log from the freezer and slice into 24 equal slices. Place a slice in each muffin well. Divide the remaining muffin batter evenly among the muffin cups, on top of the cream cheese. Sprinkle the streusel topping over the top of the batter. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Let cool completely before serving.

Mangia!!



We got this recipe from this blog

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Muffin Disaster

So Dan really wanted peanut butter chocolate chip muffins. He was practically begging me to make them. So we start making them only to realize we don't have any baking powder. No big deal, right?? Apparently it is. Unless you have a handy baking powder substitute such as molasses or cream of tartar (um, what?) you are screwed!!

We still ate them.



The finished product!!



Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Muffins
Ingredients:

2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder - very important!!!!
½ tsp. salt
2/3 cup brown sugar
6 tbsp. butter, melted and cooled
½ cup peanut butter
2 large eggs
1 cup milk
¾ cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375°. Line a muffin pan with 12 paper liners.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and brown sugar. Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the melted butter, peanut butter, eggs and milk until smooth. Add in the flour mixture and stir until just combined. Stir in chocolate chips. Divide batter evenly between prepared muffin tins, filling each to the top.

Bake for 17-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool for 5 minutes in the pan, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

Soft Pretzels

So last night Dan & I decided to attempt soft pretzels! These were so fun to make and came out GREAT!

Here are some pictures of Dan working hard!



Almost done!



The finished product!



Soft Pretzel Recipe:

1/8 cup hot water
1 package active dry yeast
1 1/3 cup warm water
1/3 cup brown sugar
4 cups all-purpose flour
Coarse kosher salt (we use sea salt)
Baking soda
Butter(to grease cookie sheets)
Vegetable oil (to grease counter)
1 egg, beaten + 1 tbsp water (to brush the pretzels with before baking)

Directions
- In a large bowl, mix together 1/8 cup hot water and 1 package active dry yeast until the yeast dissolves.
- Stir in the 1 1/3 cup warm water and 1/3 cup brown sugar and continue stirring until the brown sugar dissolves.
- Slowly add 4 cups of flour, stirring constantly
- Continue stirring the mixture until it is smooth and does not stick to the sides of the bowl

To continue by hand: flour the counter lightly, and flour your hands. Knead the dough until it is stretchy and smooth.

- Lightly oil your counter
- Grease your cookie sheets generously with butter or shortening. It is very important that you grease the cookie sheets well!
- Sprinkle greased cookie sheets with kosher salt.
- Preheat oven to 475 degrees Farenheit.
- Using a liquid measuring cup, fill a large saucepan at least 1/2 full of water. For each 1 cup of water you add, add 1 tablespoon of baking soda.
- Divide the dough into 4 even pieces, and shape them like a pretzel.
- Bring the water and baking soda in the saucepan to a gentle boil.
- Using a spatula, gently lower each pretzel into the water one-by-one -- counting slowly to 30 before removing the pretzel from the water and placing it on the cookie sheet.
- Repeat until all pretzels are done.
- When all pretzels have been boiled, lightly brush each pretzel with the egg+1 tbsp water mixture, then sprinkle with more kosher salt.
- Bake for 8 minutes, or until the pretzels are golden.