Mudslide cookies

I made these cookies at Christmas for a few neighbors who gave them rave reviews. Mudslides are a cross between meringue cookies and brownies, which sounds weird but is actually delicious. Joey declared them his favorite cookie EVER. I'm not sure I'd go that far, but I do really love them--after all, they contain four kinds of chocolate. The batter is more like cake than cookie, so don't let the texture throw you off. Also, the recipe is big and makes 24 - 30 large cookies.

3/4 cup plut 2 T cake flour

1 T baking powder

1/8 tsp salt

1 T cocoa

1 T boiling water

1 tsp vanilla

7 oz unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped

6 oz bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

1 stick (8 T) unsalted butter

7 large eggs

2 3/4 cups sugar

2 cups chopped walnuts

1 1/2 cups bittersweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly spray cookie sheet or line with parchment paper.

Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl and set aside.

Combine cocoa and boiling water to make a paste. Blend in the vanilla.

Melt the unsweetened and bittersweet chocolates with the butter in a bowl in the microwave in 15 to 20 second intervals. Gently stir to blend.

In a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat together eggs, sugar and cocoa paste on high speed until light in texture and thick, 6 - 8 minutes. Add the chocolate mixture with the machine running on medium speed. On low speed, mix in the dry ingredients until just blended. Mix in the walnuts and chocolate chips until blended. Scrape down the bowl as needed during mixing to blend evenly.

Using a 1/4 cup measure as a scoop, fill it with dough, level it, and drop the dough onto a prepared cookie sheet, leaving 3 - 4 inches between the cookies.

In batches, bake the cookies until they are cracked on top but still slightly moist, rotating the pans as necessary to bake the cookies evenly, 14 minutes. Allow the cookies to cool slightly on the baking sheet before transferring them to wire racks to cool completely.

Orange Rolls

Around this time of year, when oranges are plentiful, I have fond memories of my Aunt Debbie's delicious rolls.

4 T. yeast
1 c. warm water
1 T. sugar
Dissolve yeast in warm water and sugar.
After it has risen add:
2 1/2 c. buttermilk
4 eggs
5 c. flour (plus whatever it takes for it to pull away from the bowl)
1 c. butter
1 c. sugar
4 t. baking powder
4 t. salt
Blend 30 seconds on low speed, 2 min. on medium scrape often.
Take out of bowl and let sit on lightly floured surface for 10 min.
Separate into four and shape into rectangles.

Filling / Frosting

3/4 c. butter
3/4 c. orange rind
1/2 c. orange juice concentrate or juice from orange
6 c. powdered sugar

Put frosting on rectangle and roll. Cut with thread to make rolls.
Save some to put on top of rolls when they come out of the oven. You may want to add a little milk to make it more like a glaze.

Bake at 350 for 15 min. to 25 possibly.

Pizza Hut Pan Pizza

So, I've never had the Pizza Hut Pan Pizza, but this is yummy. I try all kinds of pizza doughs and combos. This really is a keeper. From Meghan's blog, from someone elses. ;)

Dough:

1 1/3 C Warm water (105F)
1/4 C Non-fat dry milk
1/2 tsp Salt
4 C Flour
1 Tbsp Sugar
1 pk Dry yeast
2 Tbsp Vegetable oil (for dough)
9 Oz Vegetable oil (3 oz. per pan) –
Butter flavored Pam

Put yeast, sugar, salt, and dry milk in a large (2 qt.) bowl. Add water and stir to mix well. Allow to sit for two minutes. Add oil and stir again. Add flour and stir until dough forms and flour is absorbed. Turn out on to a flat surface and knead for about 10 minutes. Divide dough into three balls. In three 9″ cake pans, or can use 1 – 9 inch pie plate and 1 – 9 x 13 dish, put 3 Oz. of oil (we used 2 Tbsp. in each pan) in each making sure it is spread evenly. Using a rolling pin, roll out each dough ball to about a 9″ circle. Place in cake pans. Spray the outer edge of dough with Pam. Cover with a plate. Place in warm area and allow to rise for 1 to 1 1/2 hours. (I pushed mine down and up on the edges about half way through the rising)

Prepeat oven to 450 degrees. Spoon 1/3 cup sauce on each pizza and spread to within 1 inch of edge. Distribute 1 1/2 oz. of shredded mozzarella cheese on each pizza. Place toppings of your choice in this order – pepperoni or ham, vegetables, meats-cooked ground sausage or beef. Top with 3 oz. mozzarella cheese. Cook until cheese is bubbling and outer crust is brown – about 15 minutes. I then brush outer edge of crust with garlic butter.

Do you like Blueberries?

These are sooooo good. I love blueberries and have tried a couple different recipes, this is the BEST. From American's Test Kitchen.

Best Blueberry Muffins

From the episode: Best Weekend Breakfast

Makes 12 muffins

If buttermilk is unavailable, substitute 3/4 cup plain whole-milk or low-fat yogurt thinned with 1/4 cup milk.

INGREDIENTS

LEMON-SUGAR TOPPING

• 1/3 cup sugar (2 1/3 ounces)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons finely grated zest from 1 lemon

MUFFINS

• 2 cups fresh blueberries (about 10 ounces), picked over ( i accidentally used all 2 cups in the batter, but i had some left over to make the sauce, it was delicious)
• 1 1/8 cups sugar (8 ounces) plus 1 teaspoon
• 2 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (12 1/2 ounces)
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon table salt
• 2 large eggs
• 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter , melted and cooled slightly (i used margine)
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup buttermilk (see note)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

INSTRUCTIONS

• 1. FOR THE TOPPING: Stir together sugar and lemon zest in small bowl until combined; set aside.
• 2. FOR THE MUFFINS: Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and heat oven to 425 degrees. Spray standard muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray. Bring 1 cup blueberries and 1 teaspoon sugar to simmer in small saucepan over medium heat. Cook, mashing berries with spoon several times and stirring frequently, until berries have broken down and mixture is thickened and reduced to ¼ cup, about 6 minutes. Transfer to small bowl and cool to room temperature, 10 to 15 minutes.
• 3. Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt together in large bowl. Whisk remaining 11/8 cups sugar and eggs together in medium bowl until thick and homogeneous, about 45 seconds. Slowly whisk in butter and oil until combined. Whisk in buttermilk and vanilla until combined. Using rubber spatula, fold egg mixture and remaining cup blueberries into flour mixture until just moistened. (Batter will be very lumpy with few spots of dry flour; do not overmix.)
• 4. Following photos below, use ice cream scoop or large spoon to divide batter equally among prepared muffin cups (batter should completely fill cups and mound slightly). Spoon teaspoon of cooked berry mixture into center of each mound of batter. Using chopstick or skewer, gently swirl berry filling into batter using figure-eight motion. Sprinkle lemon sugar evenly over muffins.
• 5. Bake until muffin tops are golden and just firm, 17 to 19 minutes, rotating muffin tin from front to back halfway through baking time. Cool muffins in muffin tin for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire rack and cool 5 minutes before serving.

Tropical Roast Chicken

Tropical Roast Chicken

(Moist, and lightly flavored)

¼ c. seasoned rice vinegar

¼ c. 0range marmalade

1 ½ T. minced ginger

1 T. minced garlic

1 T. dark sesame oil

½ t. salt

½ t. paprika

4 skinless chicken breast halves

(bone in or boneless)(Bone in has better flavor)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees In a small bowl

Combine all ingredients except chicken.

Mix well. Brush both sides of chicken with glaze.

place on a foil lined baking pan

Bake 20 min. then brush with remaining glaze.

Bake until done, 15 – 25 min. ( longer for bone in )

These are cute!

Meal Planner Paper.. free download here. Just what I need. ;)

http://733blog.blogspot.com/2009/09/meal-planner.html

Turtles

Okay so I know Christmas is over, but these are delicious! I made them for a Christmas party, everyone loved them and they are so easy to do! I don't like chocolate pretzels at all, but I LOVE these. My mom showed me how to do these.

All you need is pretzels, rolos, and nuts. Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Place pretzel down and rolo on top, put in oven just until the chocolate is glistening around 5 minutes. Press nut or nut pieces down into the top of the rolo. I drizzled red Wilton Chocolate over them and green sprinkles to make festive.

Gingerbread Scones

I'm not crazy about donuts, but I have recently discovered I like scones. ;) This is a fun gift idea, found in Scrapbook Magazine, a Better Homes and Garden Test Kitchen recipe, with a few healthy additives by me.

3 3/4 cup all-purpose flour (I used 3/4 cup wheat flour)

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

2 Tablespoons baking powder

2 teaspoons ground ginger

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

3/4 cup shortening

(I have heard so many bad things about shortening lately, so I used 1/4 cup shortening and then 1/2 cup of butter as a substitute.)

1. Large bowl combine dry ingredients, then cut in shortening(butter). Divide flour mixture into three 1 pint glass jars if doing for gifts. Last up to a month.

2. To make: Empty jar into bowl. In small bowl combine 1 beaten egg, 2 Tablespoons milk, and 1 Tablespoon molasses. Add mixture to flour mixture until moist.

3. Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface, knead 10 or 12 strokes, nearly smooth. Pat or roll to 6 inch circle. Cut into 6 wedges, brush with milk, top with sugar. 400 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes or until lightly browned. Serve warm with milk, hot chocolate. ;)