Gingerdoodles

Gingerdoodles - made dough January 17, 2017 from Kristine's Kitchen

Remember earlier when I said I wasn't much into the traditional flavors of Christmas, like gingerbread and such? But I did try a ginger molasses cookie recipe for the holidays. And, being on a one-track sense of purpose of using my fabulous spices from Penzey's (I swear I'm not affiliated with the company, I just like them and their spices), I decided to try another one even though it was past the holiday baking season.

 I compromised though and went with this "gingerdoodle", billed as a cross between a ginger cookie and a snickerdoodle. And I think that's a pretty apt description. The molasses keeps it from being a snickerdoodle but the cream of tartar, texture and rolling in cinnamon sugar before baking also beats back the traditional ginger molasses cookie. Instead, it's a pretty good blend between the two.

I prefer this over the traditional ginger molasses cookie, mostly because the molasses wasn't so overwhelming and I have a fondness for snickerdoodles. If you can't choose between one or the other, give this one a try as a way to have your cake cookie and eat it too.

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon cloves
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened slightly
3/4 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup molasses
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla

Cinnamon sugar for rolling
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cream of tartar, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter, brown sugar and 1/4 cup granulated sugar. Mix in molasses, egg and vanilla. With the mixer on low speed, mix in the flour mixture until just combined. Do not overmix.
3. Portion the dough into golf-ball-size dough balls, cover and chill or freeze for an hour or overnight.
4. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line baking sheets with parchment paper.
5. In a small bowl, stir together the 3 tablespoons granulated sugar and 1 teaspoon cinnamon (feel free to add more cinnamon if desired). Roll chilled or frozen dough balls in cinnamon-sugar, coating completely. Bake cookies for 9-10 minutes, until barely golden and set. Do not overbake. Let cookies cool on pan for 5 minutes then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.

Soft Toffee Cookies

Soft Toffee Cookies - made dough January 10, 2017, modified from Call Me PMC

First batch - baked until middles were no longer raw

I thought I would like these cookies. Unfortunately I didn't. They weren't bad, per se. Just not my kind of cookie. I didn't think it was even possible that I had a cookie type I didn't like. I mean, who knew? But if you're not me and you do like soft, sweet, cakey, toffee cookies, this might be for you.

Cakey insides

You know I don't like cakey cookies and that was the first strike against this one. I didn't overbake it but took it out just when the middles didn't look like raw dough anymore. You can't eat it warm (strike 2) or the toffee is just sticky and hard to eat. But even at room temperature the edges were cakey and the middle was just kinda goo.

Same dough, second sheet, baked 10 minutes, still raw in the middle 

That was the first batch. So I tried it again when I had to make a goodie bag for a friend I was meeting for lunch and baked off the rest of the dough balls. This time, I actually timed how long I baked these and only went for the recommended 9-10 minutes (it was 10 minutes) before I took the cookies out even though the middles didn't look done. They weren't but when cooled to room temperature, I thought that would work and the cookies wouldn't be cakey because they hadn't baked long enough to get cakey. That worked but it just meant the cookies were really soft. And a bit too sweet (strike 3). Maybe it was because I froze the dough first rather than baking right away so it did need longer to bake than the 9-10 minutes specified in the recipe? Probably.

4 tablespoons butter, room temperature
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup toffee bits

1. Cream butter and sugar. Add vanilla and egg; mix just to combine.
2. Add flour, baking powder and salt; mix until just combined.
3. Fold in toffee bits. Portion into golf-ball-size dough balls and chill or freeze for 30 minutes to an hour (minimum).
4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper and evenly space chilled or frozen dough balls. Bake 9-10 minutes or until edges are set and middles are no longer raw. 

Salted Dulce de Leche Blondies

Salted Dulce de Leche Blondies - made January 7, 2017, modified from Butter Lust

I had a jar of dulce de leche from Trader Joe's that I bought before the holidays, intending to make sandwich cookies for my holiday baking gifts and sandwich the cookies with dulce de leche. Best laid plans and all that. No, I never made the cookies I'd planned on so that meant I had a jar of dulce de leche still sitting in my pantry, wondering how it was going to be used.

Pinterest once again to the rescue. I searched dulce de leche brownies and most of them were for chocolate brownies that essentially treated the dulce de leche like caramel and swirled it into the batter. Nothing wrong with that and if I'd had a jar of caramel, I might've tried one of those recipes. But I was in the mood for something non-chocolate that wouldn't compete with the dulce de leche flavor like chocolate would.

So I found this recipe from Butter Lust (great name). It's basically a blondie with a layer of dulce de leche in the middle. Perfect. I did modify the recipe though. The original one called for 2 teaspoons of coarse sea salt, hence the "salted" in the title. I put a slightly different spin on it by cutting the salt to 1 teaspoon in the batter (I used regular iodized salt) then sprinkling some fleur de sel over the layer of dulce de leche. I figured that would make the salt a little more prominent.

So....if you're still sticking to your New Year's resolution to watch your intake and eat more healthy, you're going to hate me. Because I'm going to advise you to make this recipe NOW. It was amazing and delicious and even more amazing. A simple buttery blondie with brown sugar caramel overtones makes it tasty enough. Add the dulce de leche for some decadence and you have a diet buster worth extra time in the gym. Don't let the pictures fool you - I couldn't get a good enough shot to get their goodness to come across. Try for yourself and see.

Let the blondies cool completely and set (if you can wait that long) or it'll be too mushy. I liked it at room temperature but if you like a more firm texture, try freezing it and eating it half-frozen or well chilled. Superb.

1 cup butter (2 sticks), room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup dulce de leche
1 teaspoon fleur de sel

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 9 x 9 baking pan with foil and lightly spray with nonstick cooking spray; set aside.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar.
3. Add vanilla and eggs until just combined.
4. On low speed, add baking soda, salt and flour, mixing until just combined. Do not overmix.
5. Press 2/3 of the batter in the bottom of the pan. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the bottom layer begins to set.
6. Remove from oven and pour the dulce de leche evenly over bottom layer. Top with spoonfuls of the remaining batter, covering as much of the dulce de leche as possible and return to the oven.
7. Bake another 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean and blondies are golden brown. Cool completely before cutting.

Steak and Bean Chili

Steak and Bean Chili - made January 4, 2017 from Penzey's recipe archive

There was a time when I didn't really care for chili. I always thought it would be too spicy for me, there was too much "stuff" in it and it just wasn't my thing. Then I think I was on some "diet" (4-letter word) and it was one of the permissible foods so I tried it and from then on, I don't know why I didn't eat it more often.

I'm not dieting anymore (more or less) but I still like chili. It's a great winter-time meal and relatively healthy. I found this recipe on Penzey's site again because I was trolling for a way to use up the spices I had. This one is a twist on traditional chili in that it uses beef sirloin cubes rather than ground beef. But the hearty aspect remains.

I really liked this version. Although I'm not a fan of green pepper or big chunky onion pieces so I would go easy on those. But otherwise, this made for an excellent dinner.

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 pounds beef sirloin, cut into 1-inch cubes
1 large onion, coarsely chopped
1 medium green pepper, chopped
1 15.5-ounce can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
1 15.5-ounce can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 15.5-ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed
2 tablespoons regular chili powder
1-3 tablespoons ground cumin
2 28-ounce cans diced tomatoes, undrained

1. In a large Dutch oven or stockpot, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add half of the beef and cook, stirring occasionally, until nicely browned. 
2. Place the browned beef in a bowl and repeat with the rest of the beef. Add the onion and bell pepper to the pot and cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in the beans, chili powder, cumin and diced tomatoes.
3. Cover and cook over medium heat for 10 minutes. Add the beef and cook, uncovered, until the beef is tender and heated through, about 5-8 minutes or longer if needed. Serve in large bowls with the toppings of your choice.

Levain Bakery Chocolate Chip Cookies, copycat #11 - Brown-Eyed Baker

Levain Bakery Chocolate Chip Cookies Copycat #11 - made dough December 17, 2016 from Brown-Eyed Baker

It's probably unfair that I tried this recipe so soon after my new favorite from Bustle. It's billed as a Levain copycat and I've had good luck with those, most of the time.

This turned out pretty well too but I would probably have rated it higher had I not just made the Bustle one first. But I did so this one came up a tad short. It was still good but not as good as the Bustle one.

It stayed thick, it tasted great but I wasn't an enamored of the texture. I had to bake this one long enough that the middle wasn't raw dough but by the time that happened, the edges had become fully baked. And we know I don't do fully baked. So it seemed a bit more dense-cakey than I would like as opposed to moist-chewy.

I wish I could explain it better but if you look at the picture of the inside below, you can see the cookie is baked more than I usually bake my cookies. Still a good cookie so I'm probably just being picky. But honest.

3 1/2 cups (13.5 ounces) bread flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter, cold and cut into cubes
3/4 cup + 4 teaspoons (6 ounces) dark brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips
1 cup walnuts, toasted, optional (I left them out)

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together bread flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; set aside.
2. Using an electric mixer, beat the butter on medium speed until smooth and creamy, about 1 minute. Add brown sugar and granulated sugar; beat for another 1 to 2 minutes, until combined. Add the eggs, one at a time, and the vanilla, beating until just combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
3. Reduce the speed to low and gradually add the dry ingredients, mixing until just combined. Do not overmix. Fold in the chocolate chips and walnuts, if using.
4. Portion the dough into slightly larger than golf-ball size. Cover and chill or freeze for several hours or overnight.
5. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Space cookies evenly on baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Bake for 18 to 24 minutes or until edges are golden and middles are no longer raw or shiny. Cool for 5 minutes on baking sheets then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

Baked General Tso's Chicken

Baked General Tso's Chicken - made December 15, 2016 from Pickled Plum

This is probably relatively the healthiest of the three chicken dishes I made since it's baked, not fried. Just a light coating of breading (why is breading chicken pieces such a messy pain?) then lay in a single layer in a shallow baking pan and bake.

It doesn't get as crispy, of course, as it would if you fried it, but sacrifices must be made if calories need to be cut. Taste-wise, I don't know how authentic this is to the real deal of General Tso's Chicken since I'm not an expert but it was pretty good. Same basic equation: bread chicken, cook chicken, toss with easy-to-put-together sauce. Dinner.

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 2-inch chunks
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 large eggs, beaten
2 cups panko crumbs

Sauce
3/4 cup chicken broth
1/2 tablespoon tomato paste
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon hoisin sauce
1 1/2 teaspoons sriracha sauce
3 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 1/2 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch mixed with 2 tablespoons water
Sesame seeds for garnish, optional

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Cover a large cooking tray with aluminum foil or parchment paper.
2. Arrange three large bowls and fill the first with flour, the second with beaten eggs and the last with the panko crumbs.
3. Dip each piece of chicken in flour, then egg then panko crumbs, gently pressing to coat. Place on cooking tray in single layer.
4. Bake in the oven for about 113-15 minutes, until chicken is cooked through and outside is golden brown.
5. Sauce: combine all sauce ingredients, except the cornstarch and water, in a medium saucepan and bring to a gentle boil. Whisk together the cornstarch and water and slowly add to the bubbling sauce; stirring constantly. Cook for a minute until sauce thickens; remove from heat.
6.  Toss sauce with warm chicken, coating each piece evenly. Garnish with sesame seeds if desired; serve immediately.

Chinese Orange Chicken

Chinese Orange Chicken - made December 16, 2016 from Damn Delicious

This is another easy chicken dish. Well, easy in terms of putting the marinade together. The biggest pain with these types of recipes is the breading and frying of the chicken. I admit I have no patience for it.

If you want it somewhat healthier, you can either bread and bake it instead of frying it or leave off the breading altogether, stir fry the chicken then add the marinade. I did it as the recipe instructed and it was a pain with all the breading and frying. Not the recipe's fault, my patience just doesn't stretch that far. I don't think my efforts would make Panda Express' Orange Chicken lose any sleep about competition but for an "easy" orange chicken dish, this was pretty tasty. I like to zest the oranges before I squeeze them for the juice then garnish with orange zest instead of sesame seeds and green onion but you can do either or both.

1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch chunks
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons cornstarch, divided
2 large eggs, beaten
1 cup vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon sesame seeds
1 green onion, thinly sliced

Marinade
1 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup distilled white vinegar
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon orange zest
1 teaspoon Sriracha, or more, to taste
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon white pepper

1. Marinade: whisk together chicken broth, orange juice, sugar, vinegar, soy sauce, garlic, orange zest, Sriracha, ginger and white pepper in a large bowl.
2. In a gallon-size Ziploc bag, combine chicken and 2/3 cup of the marinade. Marinate for at least 30 minutes, turning the bag occasionally. Drain the chicken from the marinade; discard the marinade.
3. Heat remaining marinade in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil and stir in 2 tablespoons cornstarch combined with 2 tablespoons water. Cook, stirring frequently, until thickened about 1-2 minutes; keep warm.
4. Working one piece at a time, dip the chicken into the eggs then dredge in remaining 1 cup cornstarch, pressing to coat.
5. Heat vegetable oil in a large saucepan. Working in batches, add the chicken and dry until golden brown and cooked through, about 1-2 minutes. Transfer to a plate lined with a paper towel to drain. Discard excess oil.
6. Toss chicken with the marinade, garnish with sesame seeds and green onion, if desired. Serve immediately.