Shrimp with Garlic and Cilantro

Shrimp with Garlic and Cilantro - made May 12, 2013, recipe adapted from Cooking Melangery

The original recipe called for using parsley but I needed cilantro for another recipe and I didn't want to buy both when I only needed a little of each.  So I substituted cilantro in this recipe.  I thought I had a dusty bottle of white wine in my pantry but it turns out it was a dusty bottle of red wine from the last time I needed a couple of tablespoons for cooking so I also substituted that in as well.  The good thing about cooking is it's a lot more forgiving than baking on substituting random ingredients. And while I have the pickiest taste buds when it comes to desserts, I'm less picky about savory foods, especially when I have to cook it myself.  Then I'm a lot more flexible.

This is another quick shrimp stir fry that took mere minutes to throw together.  It was good and it was simple, making it a contender for an easy weeknight meal when you're short on time.  Plus healthy and low calorie when you have it on a bed of salad greens which is what I did.  I saved my calories for dessert.

4 to 5 tablespoons olive oil
4 garlic cloves, finely minced
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon sweet paprika
1 pound medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 to 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 to 2 tablespoons dry white wine
salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

1. In a sauté pan over medium heat, warm the olive oil. Add the garlic, red pepper flakes and paprika and sauté for 1 minute until fragrant. 
2. Increase the heat to high, add the shrimp, lemon juice and dry white wine, stir well, and sauté until the shrimp turn pink and are opaque throughout, about 3-5 minutes. 
3. Season with salt and black pepper, sprinkle with the cilantro and serve.

Top Favorite: Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Chocolate Chips and Chunks Cookies - made (again) May 15, 2013 from Averie Cooks

People!  It's National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day!  Just thought you would want to know.... (and I'm posting this so late because blogger took over 2 hours to upload the three pictures in this post - argh).

So it's quite apropos that I blog about these chocolate chip cookies today.  Although, technically, I made these with chocolate chunks but let's not split hairs.  Or chocolate.  I first made these cookies last holiday season and they were definitely worth making again. This is one of the cookie doughs I made over the hot weekend when it was too hot to turn my oven and bake yet I wanted to do something baking-ish.  The only thing I love more than chocolate chip cookies is chocolate chip cookies with chunks of milk chocolate instead of chips.  As in, I took one of my remaining slabs of milk chocolate that I'd bought on my last European trip and cut them into chunks for this cookie dough. I can have the slabs of chocolate in my pantry for weeks and even months without touching them but once I get it into my head to put them in cookies, they're dust.  Or chunks.

I actually have a couple of favorite chocolate chip cookie recipes - one of them being Alton Brown's version.  But I also like this one from Averie's blog.  Regardless of which recipe you use, here are my recommended cookie-baking techniques for moist, chunky cookies with little spread, crisp edges,  chewy middles and just overall goodness:

• Only use butter.  Trust me.  If you're going to use shortening, make sure to use at least an equal amount of butter.  Butter-flavored shortening will not save you or your cookies.
• Start with your butter slightly chilled, not softened and not room temperature, especially in warm weather.  If your butter is too soft, your cookies will spread too much, even if you chill the dough first.
• Use the good chocolate!  You can get away with Nestle Tollhouse chocolate chips but if you're going to go with chocolate chunks, use good quality chocolate.  Go large with the chunks.  They're called chunks, not chocolate slivers or bits, for a reason.
• Chill your dough until firm, preferably overnight in your fridge or freezer before baking.  Make the dough into dough balls before you chill or freeze them.  
• Bake the cookies on light-colored cookie sheets.  Dark-colored pans will brown the bottoms of your cookies too quickly and cause them to be too hard or dry before the tops are baked properly.  I like to line my cookie sheets with parchment paper for easier cleanup and better baking. 
• Bake the cookies just until the edges are golden brown and the middles are just barely past the raw stage, i.e. not shiny or doughy-looking.  Do not bake until they're puffy and have cracks in the middle - they're overbaked by then.
• Eat your first cookie 10 minutes after you take them out of the oven. The edges will be crisp, the middle moist without being too mushy and the chips will be melt-y.  It should be lukewarm and not so hot that you can't taste the cookie. You'll be spoiled forever and won't eat chocolate chip cookies any other way after that.  

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

3/4 cup brown sugar, packed

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup bread flour (all-purpose flour may be substituted and used exclusively in place of bread flour)

2 teaspoons cornstarch

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt, optional and to taste

6 ounces (3/4 cup) semi-sweet or milk chocolate chips

6 ounces bittersweet or dark baking chocolate, chopped into bite-sized chunks

1. To the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter on low speed until smooth, 1 to 2 minutes. 
2. Add the sugars and beat on medium-high speed until creamed and well combined, about 3 minutes. Stop, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and add the egg, vanilla, and beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. 
3. Stop, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and add the flours (solely using all-purpose flour will work, but the cookies will not be as chewy), corn starch, baking soda, salt, and mix until just combined, about 1 minute. Add the chocolate chips and chunks, and either fold in by hand or beat for a few seconds on low speed. Transfer dough to an airtight container and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes, up to 5 days (although chilling the dough is theoretically not necessary; in reality cookies spread less with chilled dough).
4. Preheat oven to 350F, line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Using a 2-ounce cookie scoop or a 1/4 cup measuring cup, form heaping mounds  and place them on the baking sheet, spaced at least 2 inches apart. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, until barely golden brown around the edges, even if slightly undercooked in the center, noting the tops will not be browned and will be pale. Do not cook longer than ten minutes as cookies will darken and firm up as they cool. Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing and transferring to a rack to finish cooling. Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months.  Alternatively, unbaked cookie dough can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days, so consider baking only as many cookies as desired and save the remaining dough to be baked in the future when desired.

Caramel Bundt Cake

Caramel Bundt Cake - made May 10, 2013 from Bake or Break

We're getting into warm weather and picnic season so it's picnic cake time.  Actually, I'd be willing to eat this cake at any time of the year.  It was really good with the perfect pound cake texture.  Think of it as a vanilla cake lightly flavored with brown sugar.  Then pour a brown sugar caramel icing over it.  Despite my preference for cake more than frosting, I have to admit, it was the frosting that made this cake.  It was almost like penuche but not as sweet and not as grainy.  It was just ridiculously good and perfectly complemented the cake.  You want to pour the icing over it while it's still warm as it sets rather quickly.  I didn't use all of the icing in the recipe since I didn't want to make a thick layer of it but I reserved it for some pecan praline cookies I made later (to follow in a future blog post).

Cake
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
3 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk

Caramel Sauce
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
2 teaspoons corn syrup
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into tablespoon-sized pieces
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Generously grease a 10-cup Bundt pan.
2. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
3. Beat butter, sugar, and brown sugar until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Mix in vanilla.
4. Gradually add flour mixture, alternating with buttermilk. Begin and end with flour mixture. Mix just until combined and batter is smooth.
5. Transfer batter to prepared pan. Bake 35-40 minutes, or until a pick inserted into the center comes out clean.  Cool in pan for 5-10 minutes. Then, transfer to a wire rack, frost and let cool completely. 

To make the caramel sauce:

1. Combine brown sugar, condensed milk, corn syrup and salt in a heavy saucepan.  Bring to a boil, stirring constantly.  Continue to boil for 4-5 minutes or until mixture is smooth.
2. Remove from heat.  Add butter and vanilla and stir until butter has melted and mixture is smooth.  Pour desired amount over cake.  Store any remaining sauce in refrigerator.

Honey and Soy Baked Chicken

Honey and Soy Baked Chicken - made May 4, 2013 from She Wears Many Hats

I feel like I've made some semblance of this already but I had all the ingredients and no idea what to pack for lunches for the coming week so I threw this recipe together since it had all my requirements for a savory dish: quick and easy.  Marinating something is the easiest way to provide flavor in my otherwise bland cooking repertoire.  I mixed up the marinade ingredients, put the chicken thighs in a gallon-size ziploc bag and poured the marinade over it.  Then I put the bag in a bowl and plunked the bowl in the refrigerator overnight, turning it occasionally to redistribute the marinade.

When it came time to bake, I placed the chicken skin-side down first and covered the baking dish with foil.  After 20 minutes, I turned the chicken skin-side up, left off the foil and let it bake until the skin was nicely golden brown.  This couldn't have been simpler.  The only downside is the sauce is what gives it the most flavor and would have been perfect with rice.  Except I was cutting back/cutting out rice (bucking my Asian roots once again) so I ended up just eating the chicken as is, sans the skin since I don't eat skin even though that looked like it would have been flavorful as well.  So you can make this dish as fat or as lean as you want - your choice.

3 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons soy sauce
5 tablespoons honey
4 cloves of garlic; minced (or substitute 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder)
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
3 pounds (approximately) chicken thighs (or preferred chicken meat)
salt and pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to 425°F.
2. Mix first 6 ingredients together in a large plastic zip-top storage bag. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add the chicken to plastic bag making sure to coat each piece.
3. Place chicken in baking dish along with sauce/marinade or leave in large plastic bag to marinate in the refrigerator.
4. When ready to cook, in a baking dish, bake chicken in a 425° oven for 20-25 minutes with the skin side down. Turn the chicken skin side up and cook another 15-20 minutes to crisp up the skin. Cook until internal temperature of chicken reads 165°F and/or until skin is golden brown.

Coconut Cake

Coconut Cake - made May 5, 2013, recipe adapted from Cookin' Food

I had actually planned to make my standby coconut cake recipe as part of my "Top Favorites" series but I got sidetracked with this recipe I'd pinned on pinterest so I thought I'd give it a shot instead.  Whenever I think of coconut cake, I always picture a multi-layer cake frosted with cream cheese frosting and covered with coconut.  It always looks impressive and enticing.  But, since I was making this to distribute at work, it was better to make in a 9 x 13 pan instead for easier cutting and serving.

This has ingredients similar to my favorite coconut cake recipe but the main difference was in my standby recipe, you separate the eggs and beat the whites separately to fold into the batter.  That makes for a lighter texture and I could really tell the difference between the two.  My recipe also doesn't include coconut extract and I don't like to use the extract because it gives an artificial taste so instead I substituted coconut oil.  The taste wasn't really apparent like it was in the Coconut Chocolate Chip cookies though so I don't know if it really added anything. This was a nice butter cake with coconut but I think I prefer the Mrs. Fields' recipe for taste and texture. Looks like I may need to make that recipe again after all to satisfy my sweet tooth for coconut cake.

1 cup butter, softened
2 cups sugar
1 cup buttermilk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 teaspoons coconut extract (I used 2 teaspoons coconut oil)
5 eggs
2 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup sweetened flaked coconut

1. Preheat oven to 350° F.  Spray two 8” round pans with cooking spray and line bottoms with parchment paper (or you can line a 9 x 13 pan with foil and spray with cooking spray).
2. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt.  Mix together and set aside.
3. In a small bowl, combine buttermilk, vanilla, and coconut extract.  Mix together with whisk or fork.  Set aside.
4. In a separate, large bowl, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.  Add eggs, one at a time.  Beat well after adding each one.
5. Alternately add flour mixture and buttermilk combination to butter mixture until all is combined and mixed until smooth. Add 1/2 cup of the coconut and reserve the other half to sprinkle over the frosted cake.
6. Pour batter evenly between the two prepared 8” pans.  Bang pans lightly on hard surface a few times, like a counter or table, to force air bubbles in batter to come to the surface.
7. Bake for approximately 30-40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted near the center of the cake.
8. Allow cakes to cool in pans for at least one hour.  Transfer to wire racks to finish cooling.  When completely cool, frost with your favorite frosting and sprinkle reserved coconut on top.. (I typically use the cream cheese frosting recipe from my standby coconut cake recipe - link above.)

Giant Double Chocolate Cookies

Giant Double Chocolate Cookies - made dough May 4, 2013 from Annie's Eats

It was the picture of these on Annie's Eats that first sucked me into this recipe.  They looked so uniformly chubby on her blog (chubby is good when it comes to cookies) that I had to pin it to make later.  This was one of the cookie doughs I made when it was too hot to bake and I've had them sitting in my freezer waiting for the temps to come down and a social occasion to take them to.  The stars aligned this week for that to happen and I finally got to bake off some of the dough in my freezer.

The most critical thing to remember when baking chocolate cookies is to never overbake them or even fully bake them.  The lure of a good chocolate cookie is for it to be fudgy and you're only going to get that moist, fudgy texture by underbaking them.  If you're like me and are horrible about timing things in the oven (I have a mental block about using a timer - it's a matter of baker's pride to be able to tell when something's done just by looking at it), then another trick is to bake until the middle no longer looks raw or shiny.  The instant that happens, take the cookies out of the oven.  They'll continue to bake on the hot cookie sheet and that's okay because you don't want to move hot cookies too soon as they're too fragile.  Even if you like gooey chocolate, it's best to let these cool to at least lukewarm.  The edges will be a little crisp and the middle will have the perfect fudgy-but-not-overly-gooey texture.  In addition to a handful of chocolate chips, I actually chopped up a big bar of Milk Chocolate Hazelnut Toffee I had brought back from Europe (let's hear it for Heathrow duty free) into chunks.  The sweetness of the toffee and caramel in the chocolate paired well with the dark chocolate cookie.  As always, how good these cookies turn out will depend on the quality of the cocoa you use.  I recommend Pernigotti's, Scharffenberger or something equally high end to get the maximum chocolate flavor.

1 cup (2 sticks) cold, unsalted butter, cubed
1¼ cup sugar
2 large eggs
½ cup dark cocoa powder (I used Pernigotti's Cocoa from Williams Sonoma)
2¼ cups all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
2½ cups semi-sweet chocolate chips (I cut up a big Milk Chocolate Hazelnut Toffee bar)

1. Preheat the oven to 350˚ F.  Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.  
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the butter and sugar.  Beat together on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes.  Blend in the eggs one at a time, scraping down the bowl as needed.  
3. Mix in the cocoa powder until well blended.  Add the flour, salt and baking powder to the bowl and mix on low speed just until incorporated.  Fold in the chocolate chips with a spatula. Transfer the dough to a work surface and knead briefly by hand to be sure the ingredients are well combined.
4. Divide the dough into 4 ounce portions (or divide into 12 equal pieces).  Roll each portion of dough into a ball and flatten just slightly into a disc.  Place on the prepared baking sheets, a few inches apart.  Bake 16-20 minutes.  Let cool on the baking sheets 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Coconut White Chocolate Cookies

Coconut White Chocolate Cookies - made May 4, 2013 from Gonna Want Seconds

Last weekend was really hot in my part of the country.  As in too hot to turn my oven on.  But I would never let that deter me when I want to bake.  Technically, I didn't bake but I got ready to do some serious baking, meaning I stockpiled cookie doughs.  I mixed up several different batches (which will appear on my blog in the coming days), portioned them into dough balls and stored them in my freezer, waiting for an appropriate time to bake them. It was too hot to bake in the afternoon so I waited until early the next day when it was a little cooler to bake off a test batch to take to my parents' house after church.

This was slightly different than a typical coconut white chocolate chip cookie in that it was more like a cakey butter cookie than a caramelized brown sugar cookie.  I chopped up Lindt white chocolate into chunks as the "chips" and had a liberal hand with the coconut.  I liked this cookie overall although I would probably shave a minute off of the baking time to make it slightly less cakey and a bit more "fudgy".  The second cookie sheet I baked off at a later date was better since I underbaked it - the texture was more moist, less cakey and more dense.

10 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup sweetened flaked coconut
2/3 cup white chocolate chips or chunks

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF
2. Beat the butter, sugar and vanilla with an electric mixer until light and creamy. Add the egg and beat well. Add the flour, baking powder, salt and coconut and mix well. Add the white chocolate.
3. With  a large cookie/ice cream scoop parcel out dough and flatten slightly with the bottom of a glass. Place on a baking tray lined with non-stick baking paper or silpat silicone liner. Leave 1" space between each cookie to allow for cookies to spread, leaving room to spread. Repeat with remaining mixture. Bake for 10 to 14 minutes or until light golden. Allow to cool on trays.

Orange Cinnamon Shrimp

Orange Cinnamon Shrimp - made May 3, 2013, recipe adapted from The Gracious Pantry

This is one of those dishes so easy to make that, on the one hand, you don't really need a recipe but on the other hand, without one, I don't know that I would've come up with this flavor combination on my own.  It's shrieks healthy, easy cooking with an undertone of summer citrus flavor.  Bonus that it takes about 5 minutes to prepare and is a perfect weeknight type of dish to make.  It's also really versatile in that you could serve it as a starter on a bed of greens, a side dish or build it as a main course.  I ate it as a salad for dinner on a warm night and it was perfect since it was too hot to turn on the oven or be over a stove for very long.  The only thing I would change in this recipe is after zesting the orange, I would squeeze the juice and add it to the stir fry to give it more orange flavor and a bit of sauce.

It's also good to have something light for dinner when it's hot since heat is a natural appetite suppressant.  I didn't want to be hungry, especially since I workout at night but I didn't want to eat anything heavy either.  Shrimp is a good answer to that situation.  Since I classify myself as a lazy cook, I usually buy one of those packs of raw shrimp with the tails on from Costco, strip the tails off the entire bag of shrimp, separate them into meal-size portions, and put them in quart-size freezer bags.  Whenever I want to cook something easy, I take a bag out of the freezer and throw together a quick stir fry of shrimp and spices.  I'm cutting back on rice (I know, I know, that goes against my Asian roots) so I'll usually eat the shrimp atop some salad greens.  No fatty dressings needed since the shrimp provides its own flavor.  And lest you think I'm being "so healthy", what a light dinner really means is I have room for dessert.

1 pound shrimp, tail off, raw
2 teaspoons olive oil
Zest of 1 large orange (plus the juice if desired)
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 – 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (depending on how spicy you like it)

1. Place all ingredients in a large skillet and sauté the shrimp just until pink.  Serve immediately.

Top Favorite: Almond Butter & Nutella Swirl Cookies

Almond Butter & Nutella Swirl Cookies - made (again) May 4, 2013 from Amelia's Savory and Sweet

Whenever people find out I'm a baking hobbyist, the most common question I get is "what's your favorite dessert?" I've mentioned before that it's really hard for me to answer that question because I don't have one particular favorite.  I believe in unconditional love for many desserts.  The analogy I like to use is I can't pick a favorite hair on my head either; I like them all - they keep my head warm.

However, a sure sign that I might like one dessert a bit more than most of the others is if I'm willing to make it again for myself, not just because someone requested it.  So, for the next several weeks (or months, depending on my mood), I'm going to re-make and re-post some all-time favorites, partly because they deserve another spot on the stage because I think they're just that good and partly because I just want to make them again and take a better picture for my blog :).

First up is this one from Amelia's Savory and Sweet blog.  When I first discovered and made this recipe, I merely linked to Amelia's blog so people could grab the recipe from there (you still can, just click on the recipe title in this blog post).  However, I've since learned it's probably a good idea to also post the recipe on my blog just in case something happens to that original blog post.  Wouldn't want the recipe to be lost!

What I love about this cookie is the taste and texture.  It stays nice and chubby, hardly spreads during baking and it's just good.  The best way to get significant swirls of Nutella is to make the batter first without the Nutella then drop dollops of it on top of your cookie dough and swirl only very slightly.  Scoop it out, leaving the big swirls of Nutella intact as much as possible, chill or freeze until firm, then bake.  You only want to bake these no more than 9-10 minutes.  If they bake longer, they won't have that moist, fudge-like texture.  Let them cool to at least lukewarm as these tend to be fragile when they first emerge from the oven.  If almond butter isn't a staple in your pantry, you can easily find it at Trader Joe's or Target.

Oh and one note on the almond butter - you may find the oil has separated from the almond butter when you open it, even it's a new jar.  Some recipes advocate pouring off the oil but I would advise trying to mix it back into the rest of the butter as best you can.  If you pour off all the oil, your cookies might be a bit dry because they're missing that fat.  Trust me.

1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
3/4 cup smooth almond butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4  teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cup flour
1/2 cup Nutella

1. Mix first 9 ingredients until smooth and fluffy.  Slowly sift in flour until well incorporated.  Stir in the Nutella just until you have a pretty swirl pattern.
2. Refrigerate dough for about 15-20 minutes. Then scoop out small dough balls onto lined cookie sheet and bake in 350 degree oven for about 7-9 minutes.

Italian Sub Layered Bake

Italian Sub Layered Bake - made March 9, 2013 from Rachel Schultz

I made these awhile back but never blogged them.  I saw the recipe on pinterest and had a tube of crescent roll dough in my refrigerator to use up so it seemed like a nice easy recipe to try.  And so it was.  I confess the Pillsbury crescent rolls are one of the few pre-made things I don't turn my nose up at - they're so good.  And saves me the time and trouble of making them from scratch.  Plus, you can't go wrong with cheesy, flaky-bready goodness.  Even if it does mean more time on the treadmill to work off the calories from said goodness. I used turkey and ham slices and skipped the salami but you can use the deli meat(s) of your choice. These are best served warm so I recommend them as an easy-to-make-and-serve option for brunch.

1 roll refrigerated crescent rolls
1/2 pound sliced deli turkey
1/2 pound sliced deli ham
8 slices salami
8 slices swiss cheese
2 egg whites
Salt & pepper

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Unroll crescent roll and divide into two squares, along perferated line. Mold one square into the base of a 9×9 glass baking dish. Layer with half of turkey, ham, salami, and swiss.
2. Whisk egg whites and season with salt & pepper.
3. Drizzle half of egg whites over meat. Repeat layering with remaining slices and top with remaining egg whites. Press the second crescent dough square over top. Season with pepper. Cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes. Remove foil and bake for an additional 20 minutes, or until golden. Slice and serve warm.