Mini Cinnamon Rolls

    There are few times in my life that I have the where with all to plan enough ahead to make, "from scratch" cinnamon rolls--maybe once if ever.  It is really unfortunate because I love cinnamon rolls, even the ones I explode from the can.  Getting my hands on a good cinnamon roll is so dangerous because it cancels all self-control I have.  I love cinnamon rolls.

   This variation of cinnamon rolls is great because it combines the elements of from scratch cooking with the elements of convince products which could be the best of both worlds.  The good news is, they are so good no one would be the wiser that you did this from scratch.  For my family, we don't corrupt our cinnamon rolls with anything foreign like nuts or raisins, just can't happen.  If you were one to corrupt your perfect cinnamon rolls with such clutter then be my guest.

1 package of Pillsbury Crescent rolls
1/4 cup Brown Sugar
1 tablespoon Cinnamon Sugar
1 Tablespoon butter, melted

Glaze:
1/4 cup Powdered Sugar
1 teaspoon milk
Dash vanilla

Preheat oven to 400.  Unroll crescent roll dough and pince perforations to seal, making one complete sheet of dough.  Brush with melted butter.  Combine the Cinnamon Sugar and Brown Sugar together in a separate bowl and sprinkle over the buttered dough, evenly.  Starting at a narrow end, roll tightly.  Cut roll into 1/2 in coins and place on a parchment lined cookie sheet.  Bake at 400 for 14-18 minutes or until golden brown.  Make glaze while the rolls are baking.  In a small bowl mix powdered sugar, vanilla, and milk together until smooth.  Glaze the rolls while still warm.  Makes about 12-15 rolls.

Notes:

• I keep Cinnamon Sugar in a sifter shaker and just kind of guessed how much I used.  If you don't have cinnamon sugar on hand.  combine 2 Tablespoons of Sugar to 1 tablespoon Cinnamon and stir well.  Don't bother if it's heaping.
• Using puff pastry would be a great idea if you happen to have that on hand and remember to let it thaw.  I usually only use it for a specific recipe and use all of it up so I don't keep it on hand.  The Puff pastry would be great, though, in this recipe.
• If you wanted to brush the tops of these rolls with more butter, live dangerously I say.  I didn't and found the rolls to be perfectly buttery. 
• I use salted butter because I like the flavor of salted butter in sweet cooking.
• I slowly glaze these rolls hot out of the oven because the glaze kind of soaks in to the rolls.  If you like your glaze to just kind of lay on top, then go right ahead and wait until they are cool
• One of the things I love about this recipe is the crispiness that the butter and sugar become as they bake. It's almost like a carmel, so good.

Bacon Egg and Cheese Muffin

   Saturday morning is my day to cook breakfast.  I have always been an early riser, getting up really early every day of the week.  During the work week that means I get to the office around 7:00-7:30 each morning which provides a lot of time to work, study, and get ready for the day.  Saturday, however means breakfast.  Kendra gives me a hard time because I get on such a rut that I don't' think of other things.  Worst part is, it's really true, I could eat waffles every Saturday morning for the rest of my life and not get tired of them at all.

   Last Saturday I was determined to come up with something new and different and really prove to my sweet wife that I could be different.  The idea to make a scrambled egg, meat, cheese, and some sort of bread "muffin" came to my head.  I'm not creative enough to just pull things out of thin air, well at least very often, so I hit the internet in my search for such a creation.  I was kind of heading in the bisquick direction, but quickly moved from that to these muffins.  I read a few recipe blogs and then synthesized these which turned out to be exactly what I wanted.  They are really good, quick to assemble and they aren't bad the next day either.  I think they could be frozen and reheated, though I didn't try that.

   This variation uses bacon, since that is the meat I had on hand, but you could use any protein you wanted.  I'll add some suggestions to just get your head spinning after the recipe is posted.  Be sure to spray your muffin pans really, really think pooling  well.  I used my hands to smoosh the biscuit dough out flat then used my fingers to get the dough to be evenly distributed in the pan.  I did learn that I need to add the filling and cheese to each pan then pour the egg mixture over, which the recipe reflects.  It just didn't work out of me when I mixed it all together and then tried to be fair to each little muffin well.

1 can refrigerated biscuits (I used Pillsbury)

1 pound bacon, cooked and crumbled

1 cup cheddar cheese 

5 eggs

5 tablespoons milk

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1/8 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Spray a muffin pan very generously with non-stick cooking spray.  In a medium size bowl, prepare your egg mixture, set aside. Flatten biscuits and place one biscuit in each muffin well, distributing evenly up the sides.  Place a heaping spoonful of meat and cheese mixture over evenly into each muffin well.  Add egg mixture to fill just barely the top of each muffin well.  Sprinkle with additional cheese.  Bake for 18-20 minutes or until the eggs are set and not jiggly at all.

NOTES:

• I tried mixing all of the ingredients together and spooning evenly, I had some egg mixture left over which meant I had to go back and fill some of the wells that just didn't look full enough.  It's really your call, if you want to do separate, go for it.  Or roll the dice and be fair to each well.
• Be sure to cook whatever veggies you may want to add, the water will wreck this, except for green onions.
• Some combinations I thought of: 
• Sausage and Cheese
• Chorizo, jalapeño, and cheddar jack
• Veggie
• Spinach (sautéed) ham, swiss
• Grilled Chicken, sautéed mushrooms, and swiss
• Red bell pepper, sautéed onion, artichoke, and black olives
• These come right our of the pan, if you spray them well enough.
• Basic ratio is one egg to one tablespoon of milk for the egg mixture.  then you'll want about 2 tablespoons of mixture (whatever you want) per well to fill up.  

I served this with cinnamon rolls and a fruit salad (chopped up fresh fruit drizzled with honey).  Everyone loved it and I hope you do too.  I think these would be great for a brunch or busy on the go family who doesn't want to hit a drive through.  You can nuke and go with a great breakfast all week long. 

Chicken Dumplings

My first "real" ministry job was at the Mayfair Church of Christ in Oklahoma City.  I have great memories and some wonderful friends to this day from my time there. The Lord put us together, no other way to figure it out, and I look back on those days with great joy.  One of the many fantastic people who attended Mayfair was Ms. Mattie.  Mattie was simply amazing.  She was well into her 80's, cleaned the church building every Monday and worked the Nursery EVERY Sunday and Wednesday without fail.  Never called in sick, never needed a break, never complained of being tired or stressed, just served and loved and loved.  She was into her second generation of babies, loving the babies of babies she had cared for in her nursery when I came along.  I learned so much from her about the heart of servanthood.  She is one of my heros.  A tremendous legacy, tremendous.

Keenagers was a group of friends who started playing cards and other games the first Thursday of the month at the church building as Mattie put it, "ages ago."  This group had been together for over 20 years when I started hanging out with them.  What's a lonely single guy to do on a Thursday night?  Seemed like the perfect place for me to be, it was.  I played Dumb Rummy with Dorothy Reeves,  Lois Smith, and Jane Bell just about every week.  Scrabble, dominoes, more dominoes were also played everyone ate then just sifted and settled to their comfortable spot where they played games and laughed a lot.  It was the highlight to most of their weeks.  Lewis and Regina Gandy, Chester and Catherine Goss, and Buck and Ruth Gearheart were the only couples who still attended.  The rest were widowed and lonely. Oh the stories they told, the even better ones on each other.  Cards and games were not the most important thing, food and the fellowship as we ate was.  Kathryn Goss' jalapeño hominy was amazing.  It took me a year to try it because hominy in a spicy cheese sauce just didn't really hit my happy button, but once I did I couldn't get enough of it.  Swannie Stanczyk's mashed potatoes were beyond my ability to describe.  NO clue how she did it.  She always brought them in a 3 quart Club cookware pot, wrapped in bath towels. I should have been embarrassed by the amount I ate, but I was among Mommies and Grammies who loved LOVED to see the young folk love their cooking.  It was my wonderland.  Mattie and I usually cooked our grub at the building since we were there already.  I remember 80% of the stories she told, and desperately try to remember the other 20%.

Chicken dumplings was one of the recipes that Mattie shared with me when I couldn't think of anything to make.  It was from her niece who had been given it by someone, handed down and down, one of those recipes like green bean casserole.  I refuse to call them chicken and dumplings because it really isn't in my book, but it's a fine razor thin line.  The preparation is really very easy, easily started and on the table in an hour, less if you follow the shortcuts I recommend.  I have changed up some things, of course, and share my way of doing the chicken dumplings.

I made this for the kids last night, thinking Kendra was going to be away (JBF) but turns out she was home early.  It was a gamble that the kiddos would hate it, but I was pushing ahead hoping for the best.  Kendra opened the oven and said, "we haven't had that in a LOOONG time."  We were both taken back to Mayfair and Keenagers, and Mattie...so great to have one little smell open up such a wonderful happy memory.

Maybe one day someone will be talking to someone and say, "I read this blog from an odd guy who was a Children's Minister but liked to cook...anyway this was one of his posts, it's really good."  That would be such a compliment to the memories I tie to this recipe.

2 cups finely chopped, cooked chicken
1 cup Grated Cheese, plus 2 cups for later
1 teaspoon Poultry seasoning
1 teaspoon Garlic salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
2 cans Crescent rolls
1 can Cream of Chicken soup
1 cup Chicken broth
1 cup milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray a 9x13 pan with cooking spray, set aside.  In a medium bowl, place the chicken, grated cheese and seasonings in a bowl.  Mix well.  Unroll crescent rolls, separate into triangles.  Place one tablespoon of the chicken mixture in the wide part of the triangle, fold and roll.  Make sure the crescent is sealed by pinching all of the edges.  Place in 9x13 pan.  Repeat the process until both cans are completed.

In a medium sauce pan, place the soup, milk, and broth mixing to combine.  Heat to near boiling.  Pour over the crescents. Place in oven and bake for 35 minutes.  After 35 minutes, add reserved cheese and cook 5 minutes longer until cheese is bubbly and melted.

Hints:

• You can use left over rotisserie chicken, canned chicken, or slow poach chicken breasts.  I only had frozen breasts, so I went with the slow poach.  Place frozen breasts in a medium sauce pan, cover with cold water, bring to a boil, add a very generous amount of salt.  Boil for 8-10 minutes or until the breasts are cooked.  The key is to finely chop.
• The measurements of the seasonings are estimations, I simply sprinkled the poultry seasoning over the chicken mixture, I was generous.
• Don't freak out when you pour the soup mixture over the chicken, you will want to, but don't.  The liquid cooks down to a thick gravy and really does magical things to the crescents.
• I think the crispy top of the crescents coupled with the tender savory dumpling like crescents at the bottom are what get me every time.  

Life by Chocolate Cake

I have always wondered how far one could push the chocolate envelope when it comes to cake.  I will wonder no more as I think this cake is the most intense chocolate cake I have ever eaten, made, or experienced.  If you are a true die hard chocoholic then this cake is for you.

I originally found this recipe from the Betty Crocker website and made very few improvements, I'll share the things I tweaked to make this cake "my cake." Right after I made this cake I began to think of other things I could do to make a "white chocolate" version of this cake using strawberries.  Doesn't that sound great?  I think it does.

This cake is incredibly dense, the batter was super thick, but tender and moist after baking.  The pudding and sour cream help to make this so moist even beyond the first day.  I chose to use mini chips in the cake batter instead of the big chips and really liked the resulting texture it gave the cake.  Of course adding vanilla to any cake is a must for me, it just makes me feel better knowing that it is in there.  There is a lot going on in this cake however.

The glaze is really a whole other post!  It was like pouring fudge on the cake.  I wasn't too thin, or too thick.  I found that it rolled nicely down the side of the cake, and unlike other glazes, stayed on the cake and didn't just keep on rolling to the counter.  After it cools is becomes this fudgey, gooey, chocolate coating.

Hot Coffee or Milk is a must, it's the only two things that could possibly compliment this cake to make it better.  I think this cake would freeze great, however I would advise that you glaze the cake when you plan to serve it.  Only because I'm not sure how it would turn out.

1

box Betty Crocker® SuperMoist® butter recipe chocolate cake mix

3/4

cup chocolate milk with 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract

1/3

cup butter, melted

3

eggs

1

container (8 oz) sour cream

1

package (4-serving size) chocolate instant pudding and pie filling mix

1

bag (12 oz) mini chocolate chips (2 cups)

Rich Chocolate Glaze

3/4

cup semisweet chocolate chips

3

tablespoons butter

3

tablespoons light corn syrup

1 1/2

teaspoons water

1. Heat oven to 350°F.  Grease and lightly flour 12-cup fluted tube cake pan, or spray with baking spray with flour.
2. In large bowl: mix cake mix, chocolate milk, butter, eggs, sour cream and dry pudding. Mix with hand held mixer until well blended, batter will be very thick. Stir in chocolate chips. Spoon into pan.  Make sure to spread the cake, evenly distributing it--it's THICK.
3. Bake 56 to 64 minutes or until top springs back when touched lightly in center. Cool 10 minutes in pan. Turn pan upside down onto cooling rack or heatproof serving plate; remove pan. Cool completely, about 2 hours.
4. In 1-quart saucepan, heat glaze ingredients over low heat, stirring frequently, until chocolate chips are melted and mixture is smooth. Drizzle over cake. 

Sugar Cookie Bars

Yes, it's on an upside-down bowl.

I've never been one to just, "come up" with a new recipe out of thin air, I have to have inspiration and then reinvent or tweak it to my liking.  When I first caught wind of the idea of taking a sugar cookie and turning it into a bar I was all about that.  Turns out dozens of other cooks have has the very same idea, go figure.  I read about ten different recipes and finally decided on the recipe that I was going to tweak to make my own. Even if having a sugar cookie bars is not your idea of delicious, you will for sure want to try this buttercream frosting.  I haven't had a better buttercream--ever!

My son, Titus, helped me make these bars, up to the point of frosting, for our church community group meeting.  It's great fun to have your kids help you cook, and they get to learn all about fractions and following instructions...so much to learn from being in the kitchen and cooking.  He's quite the cook, I'm very proud of him.  The bars come together quick and bake even faster.  One lesson I've learned is not to wait for these bars to get dark on top.  These bars cooked in 10 minutes.  I didn't really get a stop watch and keep time, but I would say that from mixing to frosting it was maybe 45 minutes to an hour.

These bars are very versatile in that you could add your favorite extract, or citrus zest and create a whole new bar.  The frosting could be tinted to any shade you wanted.  I chose to go with the  plain white and used the really cool crystal sugar, which of course could be any color available.

The cookie is tender and moist with a very "sugar cookie" taste, only thicker.  How bad can that be?  The buttercream frosting is just to die for.  Creamy and sweet with that ever so slight salt that cuts through the sweetness of the frosting.  There were some parts of the bar where the frosting was as thick as the bar itself! Don't get me wrong, I love frosting as much as the next guy, but I should try to do a better job of spreading the love next time.

1 cup salted butter, at room temperature
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
5 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
½ tsp. baking soda

For the frosting:
1 cup butter, at room temperature
1 tsp. vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
4 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
5 tbsp. milk
Food coloring (optional)

Directions:
To make the cookies, preheat the oven to 350˚ F.   Spray a jelly roll pan with non-stick cooking spray (the size will vary) Combine the butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer.  Beat on medium-high speed until light and smooth, about 2 minutes.  Mix in the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.  Add the extracts, mixing to combine.  Add the dry ingredients to the mixer bowl and beat on low speed just until incorporated.  It's easier to add all the dry ingredients to another bowl and stir them together, but if you don't feel like getting another bowl dirty then just add the salt, baking powder, and flour.

Transfer the cookie dough to the prepared baking sheet and press into an even layer. I got a paper towel wet and kept my fingers moist, not wet, to keep the dough from sticking to my fingers. Bake 10-15 minutes, until light golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool completely before frosting.

To make the frosting, place the butter in the bowl of an electric mixer.  Beat on medium-high speed until smooth, about 1 minute.  Blend in the vanilla, salt, and confectioners' sugar until smooth, 1-2 minutes.  Mix in the milk.  Tint as desired with food coloring.  Spread over the cookie in the pan, sprinkle with the sugar and  cut into bars and serve.

Ice cold milk or hot coffee is a very necessary accessory. 

Margaret's Tea Cakes

I had never heard of a tea cake until I was married.  My wife raved and raved about her Grandmother's tea cakes and how delicious they were.  When she was in High School she was very active in Track and Field and basketball.  It drives her crazy when i brag about how well she did in athletics and talk about all the awards she won.  Her Grandmother would make a huge batch of tea cakes for her to take on the out of town meets.  Her coach always asked if Margaret's tea cakes were, "coming with us."

Tea Cakes are a different kind of cookie in that they aren't really sweet.  They are a dense and soft cookie slightly sweet and very subtle in flavor.  I think they would be really good with some lemon zest and a lemon glaze.  But, these weren't for me, they were for my wife who likes them just the way they were.  I did tweak the recipe adding a little more baking soda, vanilla, and almond extract.  I liked they way they turned out.

A word of caution though, if you don't like to roll of fiddle with cookies, walk away.  The first dozen I made I just dropped out of my scoop.  They didn't look very pretty at all, very rough. The amount of flour in the batter made them hold their shape and not spread as I thought they would.  I rolled them in my hands and patted them out (that's what made them look so smooth).  You could roll the dough out and cut them, but I didn't think that step was necessary.

1 cup butter
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
6 tablespoons of milk
5 1/2 cups flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon vanilla
1/8 teaspoon almond extract

Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy (about 5 min.).  Add eggs, milk, and extracts mixing to incorporate.  Slowly add flour until completely combined.  Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto a parchment lined cookie sheet, rolling into a ball and slightly flattening out.  Bake in a 350 degree preheated oven 10-12 minutes.  They will not brown.  Cool on a wire rack.  Store in an airtight container.

Note:  I think they would be delicious with some lemon zest added to the dough, then glazed with a lemon glaze.

Snickerdoodle Oatmeal

I served this with a little buttered toast.

I've always heard that breakfast is the most important meal of the day.  My sister and I grew up getting ourselves ready for school each day alone.  Both of our parents worked and left the house before we were even awake usually.  Both my sister and I chose to sleep rather than eat breakfast, so we skipped the most important meal of the day.  During the summer months we would eat cereal each morning, occasionally pancakes or frozen waffles.  My Mom would always get on us for not eating breakfast, but there was no way we were going to wake up early to eat, sleep was precious.

When we had Titus I was determined to make breakfast for him each day and have him growing up eating breakfast.  He evolved to preferring Pop Tarts, Toaster Strudel, or cereal over time but occasionally would want to have something hot...well hotter than a toaster hot.  I have this HUGE hang up for wanting my children to eat homemade food and not reheated factory prepared food.  I can't really explain it, but it is a big deal to me.  I want them to ask for home made cookies over packaged, home made brownies over Little Debbie, and so on down the list.  Maybe it because I watched too much TV, who knows I certainly don't try to figure out my crazy quirks because there isn't enough time in the day.

Having just wrapped up a long Christmas break, extended by a visit from sweet long time friends, I stayed home to help Kendra get the kids ready for their day.  Titus brought home the classroom beta to babysit over the holiday, and he needed to go back to school.  I usually go to work early, before anyone is awake since I wake up at 5am everyday without an alarm clock.  The brisk morning made me think of oatmeal and so I just decided that I would make oatmeal for the kids and not ask what they wanted.   We have microwave packets of oatmeal that they usually eat, but I wanted to make something cooked on the stove.  

All of my kids loved this oatmeal!  This is a rare treat and very unusual for them to all agree that they love anything, let alone oatmeal.  Their reaction and praise for, "the best oatmeal on earth" made decide I'd better make it a recipe and get this written down.  Since I had to think of a name for this "recipe" I tried to associate the flavors and decided Snickerdoodle cookies is the closest flavor association I could make, thus the name.  The bonus is that saying, "snickerdoodle" is fun.  The picture above is Levi's serving, which needs to be room temperature or cooler because he doesn't like hot stuff.

Snickerdoodle Oatmeal

1 1/2 cups Instant Oatmeal

1 cup Milk

3/4 cup water

1/2 teaspoon Kosher Salt

1 teaspoon Vanilla extract

6 Tablespoons butter

1/2 cup brown sugar

3 Tablespoons Cinnamon Sugar (plus some for garnish)

In a medium saucepan add milk and water, bring to a boil over medium heat.  When the milk and water come to a boil, add salt, vanilla, and oats, stirring well.  Cook over medium heat 2 minutes.  Remove from heat adding remaining ingredients.  Stir well to combine.  Taste and adjust to suit personal taste.  Garnish with cinnamon sugar (about a tablespoon for each serving).

4 generous servings

Notes:

• When you boil milk on the stove, be watchful.  You really don't want to walk off from a pot of milk in the stove.  When it comes to the boiling point, it doesn't boil like water, it swells and foams up.  If you aren't careful it will over flow and that's no fun to clean up!
• I think the vanilla adds a layer of flavor the compliments the cinnamon and sugar, it really helped finish off the dish, for me at least.
• I keep cinnamon sugar mixed up and in my pantry in a flour shaker.  The one I have is from pampered chef, but you can find them readily at most stores that sell kitchen duke.  My ratio is almost equal parts cinnamon to sugar.
• If you dont' think this tastes like a snickerdoodle that's ok, just change the name.
• Start to finish this was done and ready to eat in 20 minutes, maybe less.

Cranberry Orange Scone

I can remember when the no-carb craze swept across the Texas town in which Kendra and I lived.  It seemed like every single person I knew was on the no-carb protein diet.  I worked with a guy who ate a package of the already cooked bacon as a snack-THE PACKAGE!  It really blew me away for so many reasons, the most of which was, why in the world would you give up bread?  I love bread, it's one of my hands down favorite foods.   I think yeast breads would be my favorite, but bread is one of my favorite foods.  The smell of baking bread makes my mouth water.  During the holidays I will skip the protein to eat an extra roll, or two, or who's counting?

Biscuits out of the can were a staple in my childhood.  Cinnamon rolls out of a can, yep that was a staple too.  My Mom wasn't a baker, unless you count the occasional box cake she would make say twice a year. I don't really have a memory of eating scratch biscuits as a child, with the exception of our lake trips to Shell Knob.  We grew up going to the lake and would stop in Casseville, MO at this restaurant called the Lighthouse for breakfast.  I always had a hard time deciding what to order there because they had two of my very favorite things on a breakfast menu: pancakes and biscuits and gravy.  Their pancakes were incredible, crispy and yet light and fluffy.  The butter was always real and soft enough to spread without turning your pancake into bread crumbs.  Oh, and the syrup was warm.  Dad's breakfast usually came with a side of biscuits and gravy, which meant I could get both.  It was always a good day when we stopped at the Lighthouse.  The biscuits were light and flaky, super high.  I was just in awe of these ginourmous things called a biscuit because the ones I ate out of a can were croutons compared to these babies.

I've made home made biscuits, but find that the frozen biscuits we get are just as good.  I still try to make some every so often just so my kiddos have a memory of eating homemade things.  Scones are basically jacked up biscuits if you get right down to it.  The principles of  scone baking are the same as biscuit making, at least the recipe I'm going to share with you today is.  Cutting in cold butter to your dry ingredients, then adding the wet, quick kneading, rolling and wham-o you are done.  I dont' really think there is anything in the world that goes better with coffee than a good scone.  My wife loves scones and gets very happy when I whip up a batch of these, her favorite combination.

Owning a stand mixer will really make your life easier, but it's not impossible just harder.  What I love about this recipe is that they are light, not too dry and not too heavy.  I've had some scones where I felt like I just ate a brick because they were too dense and too dry to the point that I couldn't whistle for a week.  Cutting in the butter is what takes the longest, but once you get that done the rest is quick.  Before I forget.  When you are cutting the butter, don't give up.  There is a point in the process where it looks like you've made sand, that's when you need to remember me telling you not to give up.  Patiently waiting a minute or two longer yields the "pea size" pebbles you want.

I read probably 10 different recipes for scones from trusted cookbooks and came up with my own version I'm sharing today.  This recipe will be a snap to make if you own: a stand mixer, micro plane grater, bench scraper, pastry brush, and parchment paper.  A bench scraper is one of my most favorite tools to use in the kitchen.  They are super cheap and you can use them for a multitude of things.  I think a micro plane zester is also a must have item.  I use mine to zest citrus for many different recipes as well as for grating hard cheese.  Buying Parmesan or Romano cheese by the hunk is so much cheaper than already grated.  In looking for a photo to upload I ran a across this genius suggestion at Amazon.  For less than $40 you can get a zester, scraper, AND silpat mat!  What I wouldn't give for a siplat mat!  That's the next investment for me.

Scones:

4 cups All purpose flour

1/3 cup sugar

2 tablespoons baking powder

1 tablespoon salt (sea or kosher please)

1 tablespoon of grated orange zest (usually one baseball size orange)

1 1/2 cups cold butter, diced (that bench scraper works like a charm for this project)

4 eggs 

1 cup whipping cream

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 heaping cup dried cranberries

Egg Wash:

1 egg, beaten

2 tablespoons water

Glaze:

Juice of one orange

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

1- 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Prepare sheet pans by lining with parchment or silpat mat (sigh).  Zest your orange and set aside.  Dice the butter and set aside.  In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment add the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and zest.  Turn on low and mix just to incorporate.  Add the diced butter and turn the mixer on low.  Mix on low to medium speed until the butter and flour come together and resemble small pebbles (pea size) approximately five minutes.  While the butter and flour are incorporating put the eggs, heavy cream, and vanilla in a medium size bowl and whisk together.  Get your egg wash ready, too.  All you need is a coffee cup or small bowl for this: whisk the egg and water together then set aside.  When the flour is ready, turn the mixer to low and slowly add the cream mixture, mixing until it is just combined.  Add the dried cranberries and mix until they are incorporated.

On a well floured surface, turn out the dough which will be very sticky.  Dust the top of the dough with flour and lightly knead until the dough is not sticky.  Cut dough in half, set one aside.  Lightly press the dough into a flat circle about 3/4" thick.  Think deck of cards thick.  I used my hands for this, but you could use a rolling pin if you wanted to.  Using a pizza cutter cut the circle in half then each half into fourths.  If you want to make smaller scones, you would just cut the dough into fourths...you get the picture.  Place the scones on the prepared sheet pan, brush with the egg wash and bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown and firm to the touch.  Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack.

Mix the orange juice, sugar and extract together in a small bowl and whisk until the sugar is incorporated and there are no lumps.  Add more sugar to yield desired consistency, thicker or thinner based on your preference.  Glaze the top of each scone when they are cooled.

Notes:

• Make sure your baking powder is good and fresh.  You should only keep it 3-6 months before replacing it.
• Cubing butter is easy with the bench scraper because you can cut the stick in 1/4's then dice it up.
• There is no rule about the shape of a scone needing to be this triangle shape.  Feel free to use a biscuit cutter and make rounds which would yield you more scones.  The triangel shape just screams scone and not funky biscuit.

Variations:

• Use lemon zest instead of orange (go with 2-3 lemons) and add dried blueberries instead of dried cranberries.
• Stay with the orange zest, only had chopped bittersweet chocolate.
• Use almond extract instead of vanilla, add chopped apricots.
• Stick with the vanilla extract, no dried fruit, but scrape the pod of a vanilla bean or two.

Bourbon Chocolate Pecan Pie

I almost forgot to get a picture.
Here it is in the oven, ready to bake.

   I think if every cook were to really come clean and own up to it they would admit to intimidation in the kitchen.  For some the intimidation might be boiling water, for others candy making or pastries, I think I could get a list quick!  For me the number one intimidation is in making pie crust.  I can't really put my finger on why, exactly I have a hard time with pie crust, but somewhere down the road of my cooking experience I had some pretty bad run ins with pie crust and ran away intimidated.  I'm not opposed to purchasing pre-shaped and in the pan pie crusts at all, or the rolled up pastry that you just unroll and plop in your own pie plate.  I'm ok with that.  Of of my biggest intimidators was in the final stage of pie crust construction---crimping.  I just could never get that crust to look pretty--ever!  That was surely the root of my problems, I just couldn't make a pretty crust.

I finally came to the conclusion that I could do it, and I was going to do it no matter what the cost.  I set out reading recipes for pie crusts and talking to friends who had great pie crusts.  I watched my sister make pie crust over thanksgiving and slowly built up my confidence.  There was one video I watched online where the cook demonstrated crimping in which I had that eureka moment and was once and for all on the other side of being intimidated and head set on motivated to make pie crust.

I knew, from my research that I needed to use butter, a food processor, and child the dough in the fridge.  These three factors were stumbling blocks for me in the past and I just decided that I was going to incorporate these steps in my crust making attempt.  I wanted to use real butter because I wanted to have that butter flavor and trademark flakiness that I just didn't see in shortening crusts (there is a HUGE debate about this topic on the Internet).  As for the food processor, I wanted to ensure that I mixed the butter, salt and flour together to get the right texture so I could add the ice water and have it all come magically together in one nice ball (just like on TV)  I didn't see that coming from a pastry blender and fork--at least from me.  Finally, chilling the dough.  That was a tough one let me tell you.  I just couldn't come to grips with the necessity of chilling the dough, but again my research showed that it was a critical step in making good pie crust.  See the flour has gluten, which is the binder, and that gluten needs to calm down after being worked over.  By resting the dough you give the gluten a chance to calm down, and the butter to chill out.  As the crust bakes the butter will evaporate and leave the flakiness that we want.  This post is really about Bourbon Chocolate Pecan Pie I promise.

I first started making Bourbon Chocolate Pecan Pie when Kendra and I were catering in Fort Worth.  We started Catering (Silver Spoons Catering) to raise money for the adoption of our two boys.  I really couldn't work a 2nd job being in ministry, so this gave me a great opportunity to do something I loved to do and make extra money as well.  As a caterer you always want to have something that is familiar to folks, yet different enough that your recipe stands out.  If you live in Texas for more than 24 hours you will run across people who talk about pecan pie.  I was going to be just another import hawking a pecan pie unless I twisted it.  Adding chocolate and bourbon seemed like not just a twist, but a tornado, and it worked.  At the height of our business Kendra and I made over 200 of this very pie in one year.  That's a lot of pie!

Bourbon Chocolate Pecan Pie is not for the faint of heart, it's decadent to say the least.  I have to say that I really love this pie.  The bittersweet chocolate really comes to the rescue of this really sweet and rich pie, cutting the sweetness with the bitterness of the chocolate.  I think that is one of the keys, bittersweet chocolate chips.  The pecans float to the top of the pie as it bakes which gets them toasty and delicious, glazed with the sweet filling.  The filling is fairly run of the mill, corn syrup, eggs, salt, vanilla, sugar, butter, but then the bourbon is added and we are lifting off to another planet.

As a side note let me just say that if you cook with alcohol, don't buy it if you wouldn't drink it.  Buy the best quality you can get.  If you are unfamiliar with liquor stores, like me, just remember that the good stuff is on top--always!  The lower you go the lower you go in terms of quality.  I think the best quality you can get is important.  When it comes to bourbon you don't want to go with the super high quality, sippin' whiskey, because it's just a waste and the bourbon flavor can get really overpowering.  Maker's Mark and Elijah Craig are two my favorite brands.  One bottle will last me two or three years.

Pie Crust:

1 1/2 all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons butter, cubed
4-6 tablespoons ice water

In a food processor: add flour, salt and cubed butter.  Process on low until it is small pebbles (think grape nuts size) add ice water two tablespoons at a time until the dough comes together in a ball, usually for me it's 4 tablespoons.  Remove dough and shape into a disc, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to use (20-30 minutes).  After elapsed time, remove dough to floured surface.  Dust pie dough with flour on both sides.  Roll dough out to 1/4 inch thick and place in a deep dish 9" pie plate.  Fold in dough and crimp edges with fingers.

Bourbon Chocolate Pecan filling:

1 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter, melted
3 eggs
3/4 cup light corn syrup
1/4 tsp. kosher salt
2 T. Bourbon
1 T. Vanilla
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup pecan halves

Preheat oven to 375.  In a medium size bow add sugar and melted butter.  Mix until creamy.  Add eggs, syrup, salt, bourbon and vanilla extract, mix on medium speed until thick and well combined.  Place chocolate chips and pecans evenly in prepared pie plate and slowly pour filling over.  Using a spatula, smooth the filling around until the pecans look evenly distributed.  Bake at 375 for 40-50 minutes.  The pie will turn a dark amber brown an be slightly loose (like set pudding).

I love to serve this with a dusting of powdered sugar, fresh whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

Here it is!  Hot out of the oven.

Chocolate Tuxedo

I think I've had as many failures in the kitchen as I have had success, if not more failures.  The failures usually come when I get a craving for something and go on a hunt for just the right recipe only to find that it's not what I was looking for, which makes the craving worse.  I love chocolate cookies with white chocolate chips and have been searching for the perfect recipe for years.  I usually find that the dough is too crumbly and doesn't hold together well, if at all.  I don't know enough about chemistry to adjust and fix a recipe, so I just toss that recipe and keep on looking.


Over the weekend I happened upon a recipe in one of Kendra's magazines for a chocolate based cookie.  I had high hopes for this recipe as it was from a butter council, I figured they knew a thing or two about buttery cookies.  I changed up some of the ingredients and tweaked the cookies to my preference, hoping that I didn't totally destroy this cookie.  Much to my relief and amazement-IT WORKED! It not only worked, but it was delicious and just what I had been searching for all this time.


This cookie will fall into the category of, "good but time consuming", as it does take a little effort.  It's easy, just time consuming, so I'll make these when the craving gets to me, or if we have some special cookie trays to make up.  Chocolate crinkles, raspberry thumb prints, and snickerdoodles are other cookies in this vault of great cookies that just take some time to make.


1 1/2 cups special dark chocolate chips, melted
1 2/3 cups flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder 
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda 
1/2 teaspoon salt 
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, room temperature
1/2 cup dark brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 bag white chocolate chips (2 cups)  [See note below]

Prep:

• Preheat oven to 350
• Place dark chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl (see note)
• Add dry ingredients to a medium size bowl and stir together

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add butter and both sugars.  Mix on medium speed until light and creamy.  I usually set my kitchen timer for 5 minutes and it's perfect.  Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each.  Add vanilla.  Turn mixer to low and slowly add dry ingredients until completely mixed.  Add white chocolate chips and stir to combine.

On a parchment lined cookie sheet.  Place rounded tablespoons of dough about two inches apart (I use a medium size spring loaded scoop).  I use a jelly roll pan and can get 12 cookies (3 across 4 down) per pan.  Bake for 10-12 minutes.  Let stand about a minute, them move to a cooling rack.  Store in cookie jar.

Note:

• Melting chocolate chips in the microwave is tricky.  You have to remember that chips hold their shape, so don't expect to see smooth melty chocolate.  The best trick to use is to microwave the chips for 30 seconds, then stir.  Microwave for another 20 seconds then stir.  This is usually as long as it takes for my microwave.  Just keep microwaving at 10-20 second intervals until the chips are melted and smooth.
• Adding the dry ingredients separately is not a great idea because the cocoa powder is very fine and no matter how slow you mix there will be a cocoa powder mushroom cloud!  Stirring the salt, baking powder, cocoa, and flour together is the ticket to cloud free mixing.
• I wasn't trying to impress anyone with my cookies, but if you wanted to make them really pretty.  Save about 1/4-1/2 cups of the white chips and just push three or four on the tops of each cookie before baking.  That will make them look very pretty, I think they are fine just as they are.
• I can't really say why, but as soon as ANY cookie I'm baking comes out of the oven I give each one a gentle swat with my spatula to knock out the air.  I think it makes them look prettier and I always do that.  You have my permission to do this as well.

Pumpkin Chess Pie

Google Images provided this image.
It looks pretty good to me.

If you are a fan of pumpkin pie then you will have to make it a point to prepare this pie.  I had high hopes of getting this pie made before Thanksgiving and taking some pictures, but time is just not on our side at this point.  Traditional pumpkin pies are dense, custard filled pies with sweet spices.  With a pumpkin chess you lose just a bit of the denseness of the traditional, yet keep everything else. I ran across a recipe for pumpkin chess a while ago (close to ten years) and tweaked that version to make it my own and decided that I would forever prefer this over traditional pumpkin pie any day.  Why? I think for me it all comes down to texture.  Traditional pumpkin pies are dense, this pie is not AS dense, but don't get me wrong it's far from a mousse.  This pie is also made a day or more ahead and refrigerated which is good because I love cold pumpkin pie.


With holiday baking just around the corner, you may be looking for something a little different than the normal line up in which case I would recommend this pie. When I sell this pie I include the praline sauce, but when I make it for me it's whipped cream all the way!  Fresh whipped cream sweetened with just a hint of vanilla on this pie is fantastic.

• 1/2  (15-ounce) package refrigerated piecrusts
• 1  (15-ounce) can pumpkin puree (not the pie filling)
• 1/2  cup  half-and-half
• 3  eggs
• 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
• 2  cups  sugar
• 1/2  cup  plus 1 tablespoon butter or margarine
• 1  teaspoon  salt
• 1/2  teaspoon  ground cinnamon
• 1/4  teaspoon  ground ginger
• 1/8  teaspoon  ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Place piecrust in a 9" pieplate; fold edges under, and crimp. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment add pumpkin and remaining ingredients, mix on low to incorporate then increase speed to medium, mixing to completely incorporate make sure you scrape down  the sides.

Pour pumpkin mixture into prepared piecrust. Bake at 350° for 1 hour and 10 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean.  The custard should be set, not completely firm, but set. Cool completely on a wire rack the place in refrigerator overnight. Serve with Praline Sauce.

Praline Sauce:


1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1/2 cup whipping cream
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup toasted pecans
2 teaspoons vanilla extract


Place brown sugar, whipping cream, and butter in a medium size saucepan.  Cook over medium heat until it comes to a boil, stirring occasionally.  When it comes to a boil stir constantly for one minute.  Remove from heat, add pecans and vanilla stir well.  Place in an airtight container in the fridge.  Try this on vanilla ice cream! Oh heavenly days.

Potato Soup

My Mom went to work when I was one year old at St. John's hospital in Joplin.  She worked there for nearly 40 years, forced into retirement last year.  I grew up not knowing what a say at home Mom was like, I only knew what a working Mom was like, but when that is all you know it's normal.  I spent a ton of time with my Great Grandmother and my Great Aunt (whom I called Robba) and credit them with instilling my love for cooking.  It was in their kitchens that I learned the ropes of basic country cooking.  I could fry a mean pork chop by the time I was 10.  I can remember spending hours in front of the TV watching public access cooking shows and learning a great deal about food from those cooks.  I just seemed natural to me, to love cooking and reading cook books.

Most kids have quite a list of things they love for their Mom's to cook.  I cant' really say that I have a list because I can't remember my Mom ever making cookies or cakes, or anything "special" that I just have to have. I do remember my Mom making my Grandpa a yellow cake with fluffy white frosting and coconut, which he really liked a lot.  My Mom did make Potato Soup, always served with a side of cornbread, when the weather started turning brisk.  I think it's the one and only thing my Mom actually made.  Some people used to say that they felt sorry for me, but I don't think pity or sorrow is necessary.  It was all I knew so it was normal, I never pined away wishing for something better because I thought I had a pretty great Mom.  My Mom took me to work with her from the time I was 7 until I left for school.  I could fill a library with the things I learned from spending time with my Mom at work.  The work ethic and drive I have today is a direct result of those days spent at her side watching her work until she couldn't wiggle one more eyelash and working some more.

I have a recipe for a loaded potato soup that I really love, but this recipe is straight from my Mom's kitchen and transports me back to my childhood.  As long as I make this soup I will be able to connect to my Mom.  I'm blessed to still have my Mom here with me and we love spending time together.  My kids are amassing a list of the things they love, and I hope that when they are gone the first thing they say when they come home is, "can you make..."  The greatest treasure for my children is the time they get to spend with my Mom, their Nonny. We take Nonny on vacation with us, go to her house for the weekend just to hang out, and spend all of our holidays with her, too.  That time is irreplaceable and something I know they will cherish all of their life.

Ok, we've pulled off of Memory Lane and are now ready to talk soup.  This soup is straight forward and honest comfort food.   It couldn't be more simple to make, but has a great flavor.  After Kendra and I were married I discovered the wonder of adding cheese and bacon to this soup, something I had never added as a kid.

2 russet potatoes per person, plus one for the pot

1/2-1 cup butter (depending on how much soup you make)

1/4-1 cup milk or half and half (we always used milk)

Salt & Pepper to taste

Crisp bacon, cheddar cheese, green onion for garnish

Peel the potatoes and cube them up, trying to cut the potatoes in fairly uniform size.  Add the potatoes to a large stock pot and add cold water just enough to cover them.  Cover the pot with a lid and bring to a boil over medium heat.  Once the potatoes start to boil, add about 2 tablespoons of salt and boil until the potatoes are fork tender (about 8-10 minutes).

Drain the potatoes, saving about 1/4 cup water.  Add the butter and stir until melted.  The potatoes will break up as you stir.  Add milk and stir.  Season with salt and pepper, taste and adjust seasoning to your preference.  I usually get out the potato masher and mash up the potatoes a little bit.  I really depends on how chunky you like your soup.  Sometimes I will make it smooth, no lumps, other times I have just a few chunks of potato.  Bring this back up to a boil.  The starch from the potatoes will thicken the soup.  If it gets too thick add just a touch more milk to thin it out.

Serve this with cornbread and your choice of garnish: bacon bits, cheddar cheese, green onion.  Mom always crumbled up her cornbread in the soup.

Red Velvet Cake

I can almost remember the date and time of the first time I ate a bite of Red Velvet cake.  Kendra and I were working at a new church plant in a tiny community outside of Edmond, OK and had reconnected with some very good friends of ours who were also attending the same church.  Red Velvet was our friend, Donna, and her family's favorite celebration cake.  Donna shared with me that her mother had made this cake for her and that no one could make it like her mother.  Who could make something like a mother? No one!  We come close but the one ingredient that cannot be recreated is the pinch of mother's love that goes into the creation of a dish.  Red Velvet was a way to honor, remember, and enjoy a fond child hood memory.  Luke, her oldest, requested it more often than not (I remember one strawberry cake he requested) as his birthday celebration cake.  That first bite was just incredible.  I knew at that moment, Red Velvet would be a life long favorite cake.  Now over a decade since that first bite it is, in fact, still a lifelong favorite.

I was determined to make this cake for several reasons.  The foremost reason was I wanted to make the cake for Donna so she wouldn't have to make her own birthday cake.  The first several cakes were made in her kitchen, with her close supervision.  Kendra and I always had a great time with Brian, Donna's husband, and Donna.  I always came, "close enough" she would say.  I think she was just glad she didn't have to make her own cake!  Red Velvet remains one of the only truly from scratch cakes I make.  I make this cake at Christmas and for Kendra on her birthday because it is her hands down favorite cake.  My children have fallen in love with Red Velvet and is requested quite often.  I save it as a celebration cake to keep it special.  Mentioning the words red and velvet send my kids running to kitchen to enjoy a slice or two.

This is an easy cake to create, however you must remember to follow certain steps to ensure that it turns out right.  It has a subtle chocolate note, isn't a chocolate cake.  The flavor can only be described as red velvet as their is no other taste with which to compare.  You MUST not over bake this cake or it will be dry.  I usually take my cakes out before the minimum baking time elapses finding that 22-25 minutes is all it takes to make this cake "done."  I think, possibly, the single biggest mistake a cake baker can make is to over bake a cake as this leads to dry cakes.

I promise I'm almost ready to give you the recipe.  There is just one more issue that we have to cover: frosting.  Putting a cream cheese frosting on a red velvet cake is without a doubt very popular, however I submit that it is a criminal offense.  Red Velvet cake is subtle, cream cheese frosting is obnoxious.  Who wants an obnoxious flavor hog icing on a subtle delicate cake like red velvet? Not me.  The frosting I must insist you make is the one included.  Please do not let me know you've made this cake and frosted it with cream cheese frosting.  There are just somethings people need to never be told.  This frosting is as subtle as the red velvet itself, yet when the two come together they are magic.  The frosting is creamy, light, and has just the hint of vanilla flavor. The creamy texture of this frosting gives your palate that "velvet" taste.  Having a stand mixer will keep us friends, if you decide to make this frosting.  You have to mix the sugar and margarine together for a very, very long time.  We'll get to that though.

Red Velvet Cake

• 1/2 cup shortening
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 ounces red food coloring
• 2 tablespoons cocoa (heaping)
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 2 1/4 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon vinegar

Step one:
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
Grease and flour two 9" cake pans, set aside.
In a small bowl: add the food coloring and cocoa together, mixing well.  Set aside for step three.
In the bowl of a stand mixer add the sugar and shortening together.  Mix on medium speed until completely incorporated (about five minutes), scraping down the sides to ensure even mixing.  Add eggs one at a time, mixing completely between each addition. Add salt and mix.

Step two:
Add flour and buttermilk, alternating between the two.  Remember you always begin and end with the dry.

Step three:
Add the food coloring and cocoa paste. Mix to incorporate.  Add vanilla.  Add the soda and vinegar, in a small bowl and add to cake batter.  Mix just to incorporate.

Dispense the batter evenly and bake in the pre-heated oven for 26-30 minutes.  Check the cakes often with a cake tester after 20 minutes and remove promptly when cake tester comes out dry.  Cool on wire racks until ready to frost.

Frosting.

• 3 tablespoons flour
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup margarine (Parkay all the way), room temperature.

Step one:

In a medium sauce pan, add the flour, milk, and vanilla.  Over medium heat, stir with a wire whisk until the mixture comes to a boil.  Remove from heat.  Place in a shallow dish and cover with plastic wrap.  Cool in refrigerator until no longer warm (10-20 minutes).

Step two:

In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the whisk attachment, add the butter and sugar.  Mix on medium speed until the butter and sugar combine then on high until the mixture is fluffy and creamy (about 20 minutes).  Add the cooled paste and mix until is is well blended.

Frost cooled cake.

Notes:

• I don't cut corners when it comes to greasing and flouring pans on this one.  I had rub Crisco in my pans and then flour them to ensure there will be no sticking.
• As soon as I put the cakes in the oven, I make the paste and get it in the fridge to cool.  By the time I get the mess cleaned up from the cake batter... the cakes are done so I pull the cakes out of the oven to cool.  That's about the time to start the frosting, and by the time the frosting is mixed enough to add the paste it's cool (about 40 minutes has elapsed.).
• The butter and sugar will look fluffy, but be sure to feel it because you don't want to feel a lot of grains.
• I usually put this cake in the fridge and let it set up overnight.  I don't know why, but I do.
• I think the next time I make this I'm going to dump in the cocoa, mix it, then add the food coloring to the mix and try to avoid the stirring process all together.  It may not work, but it's worth a shot.  My kitchen usually looks like a red paint grenade went off.
• These cakes don't rise a lot, they will look flat so don't freak out.  It's ok, it's normal.