Soldiers Angels - Baker Angels

Soldiers Angels

I normally don't post much on my blog about the volunteer work I do. Partly because, until I retired, I didn't have time to do very much volunteering but also partly because, it sometimes sounds like bragging "hey, look at me, I'm doing volunteer work, are you?" Which is not the point of doing volunteer work. You don't do it for the gratitude or attention or recognition. You do it because it's the right thing to do. In Filipino culture, giving back is a way of sharing your blessings. There's no thought of "socialism" that you're somehow helping other people "too lazy" to help themselves and work hard like you do so they'll just benefit from your work. Nope. That's not how it is. It's acknowledging the blessings you've gotten through hard work, opportunities, circumstances, and (more than likely) other people helping you to get to where you are. And it's giving back by sharing what you've been blessed with to show your own gratitude for what you've received.

On this day, Veterans Day, there's nothing more fitting than giving back to our military personnel, active duty and retired. I was fortunate enough to discover a nonprofit called Soldiers Angels (a 4-star rated charity on charitynavigator.org) which allows people to do just that. It's nice to display a flag or "like" posts from other people posting memes about honoring our veterans. As someone once said though, that isn't activism, that's typing. Soldiers Angels lets you do more than typing.

Their holiday program lets you sign up to contribute filled stockings to distributed to veterans, active duty military members and their families. They have a list of suggestions for stocking stuffers and I bought as many as I could stuff into the three stockings I signed up to contribute: crew socks, beanies, beef jerky, hot chocolate mix packets, holiday note cards and post its and holiday candy. Their goal is to gather 15,000 stockings and, last time I checked, they had received nearly enough pledges to meet their goal.

What spoke even more to me was the opportunity to become an "Angel Baker". As an angel baker, for $1 a month to Soldiers Angels (to maintain their database costs), I can sign up to send a care package of homemade baked goods to a deployed military service member. The minimum is 1 package a month to a soldier but you can send as many as you choose. Is that a perfect volunteer opportunity for me or what???

wrap individual brownies tightly to prevent drying out

I sent my first package last week and packaged up brownies, the White Velvet Sugar Cookies and World Peace Cookies (post to follow; they're one of the best chocolate cookies I've ever made - stay tuned). I used this recipe for the brownie and added chopped up Snickers as the mix-in. Brownies are easy to send in the mail since they're sturdy, durable and will keep longer than cookies, especially when wrapped properly.

White Velvet Sugar Cookies

When sending baked goods through the mail, air and movement are the enemies. It's important for baked goods, especially cookies, to be wrapped securely to prevent air from drying them out sooner than later. 

You also want to pack things in snugly so they won't move much during transit. Movement leads to breakage. Fortunately, brownies don't break but cookies do so make them snug in that shipping box.

It's also important to label what you're sending so your recipient knows what they're getting and when they share with their unit, anyone with allergies can make informed choices of what to eat from your package.

The brownies that went into the package

Flat rate priority mailing boxes from USPS are a boon for sending these packages. They're free from the post office and ship for one flat rate (mine was $14.35), no matter how heavy the box is. Be aware though that the soldier's address will likely be an APO/AE mailing address which will require a customs form so you might want to fill that out before you get to the USPS teller window.

Lastly, I included a handwritten note to the soldier to thank them for their service and remind them their duty and sacrifices are recognized and appreciated. Because they are. More than I can type.

There are many opportunities to contribute to and volunteer with Soldiers Angels, no matter where you're located so I hope you take a look at their website and, if you're so inclined, do what feels right to you to support our veterans and active duty military and their families. Happy Veterans Day.

White Velvet Sugar Cookies

White Velvet Sugar Cookies - made October 26, 2019 from Mel's Kitchen Cafe

I don't often post a recipe where I say "drop everything, go to your kitchen and make this" but if you like not-too-sweet, dense-textured butter cookies that don't spread and will keep whatever shape or impression you make them into, well, then, drop everything, go to your kitchen and make this.

Seriously, this might be the best butter cookie I've ever had. With the holiday season coming up, I wanted to try experimenting with sugar cookies I can ice and decorate. Which is not usually my thing since I always value taste over decor. But, as I expect to have more spare time now, I decided I'd try my hand at the ubiquitous decorated holiday cookie.

Although, no, don't look for fabulously decorated cookies in this post. I have to take these things one step at a time. And the first step is to find a good cookie that would hold its shape and keep any impression I make on the dough. But the taste needs to be everything and this cookie delivers. You know my one-taste-test-piece rule? Well, I had a taste test cookie of this. Then I ate four more. Granted, they were small since my cookie cutter was small. But still....

You want to make sure your butter and cream cheese are at room temperature or at least softened enough that they'll blend together uniformly when you beat them. No butter lumps allowed. Once mixed, the dough is easy to work with. I used a trick from Dorie Greenspan to roll out the dough between sheets of parchment paper. Saves you from adding too much flour during the rollout and once you roll out the dough between the parchment, you can easily stack each rolled-out slab in the refrigerator to chill since the parchment paper separates each slab.

Depending on your cookie cutter(s), you don't want to roll these too thick or too thin. I rolled out mine to slightly thicker than 1/4". I don't like thin cookies. But you don't want too thick either unless you want behemoth cookies.

Bake until the edges just get barely golden brown and the middles are dry-looking with a few cracks. But don't overbake. Once they're cool, you can decorate however you wish. I'm currently experimenting with cookie icing and plan to try making royal icing for piping and flooding. And am gratified that I'm finally using cookie cutters I bought long ago for when I was going to learn how to decorate cookies "someday". Someday is coming in a future post.

2 cups (16 ounces) butter, softened to room temperature
8 ounce package cream cheese, softened to room temperature
2 cups (15 ounces) granulated sugar
2 large egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 3/4 cups (23.75 ounces) all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and cream cheese until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
2. Add the sugar, egg yolks and vanilla, beating another 1-2 minutes to combine.
3. Add flour and salt; beat until just combined. Do not overmix.
4. Spread the dough into a thick rectangle on a sheet of parchment paper; cover. Refrigerate and chill the dough for 2 hours or up to 12 hours.
5. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
6. Roll the dough between 2 sheets of parchment paper to about 1/4" thick. If dough is too firm, let it rest at room temperature for 10-15 minutes before rolling.
7. Use cookie cutters/cookie shapers to cut into shapes and place 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets.
8. Bake for 10-12 minutes until set but not browned on the edges or bottom. Remove to wire racks to cool completely. Frost as desired.

Spicy Szechuan Noodles with Beef Sauce

Spicy Szechuan Noodles with Beef Sauce - made November 2, 2019 from Detours in Life

You might start seeing more "real food" posts coming up. Partly because my last day at work was on November 1 and now I have more time to cook and partly because there are only so many dessert recipes I can try before the 8 pounds I lost on the work weight loss challenge (I came in 3rd place, btw) try to creep back on. So cooking instead of baking, it is.

I try to look for recipes that make a reasonable amount, i.e. not enough to feed an army of teenagers but yet a little more than half a serving to make dirtying up pots and pans worthwhile. Plus they have to be easy to make. While I don't mind working on a multi-step, multi-day dessert, when it comes to cooking, 30 minutes or less is ideal.

This recipe fits the bill. Once you get your mise en place, it comes together in literally a few minutes. Boiling the water for the pasta and browning the ground beef vie with each other for being "time consuming" if 5-10 minutes is time-consuming to you. So this qualifies as another easy, weeknight meal that's totally doable to put together at the end of a long day.

And - this is the exciting part - it tastes really good too. The sauce is creamy and, like the Instant Pot Spicy Sweet and Sour Chicken, isn't too spicy but has enough flavor to be much better than the bland pasta stuff you buy in a box. No judgment here - those bland pasta boxes got me through college and most of my adulthood. But this dish is equally easy to put together and is delicious. I've almost impressed myself that I can make something I could even serve at a dinner party. If I was inclined to host a dinner party that involved more than serving just desserts to my guests. Which I'm not....yet. But maybe someday.

1 pound ground beef
1 1/2 cups chopped onion (I put in half that amount)
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1 1/2 teaspoons minced ginger
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
2 tablespoons sesame oil
2 tablespoons cornstarch
3/4 cup beef broth
1/3 cup hoisin sauce
2 tablespoons soy sauce
8 ounces angel hair pasta
1/2 cup diced green onions

1. Brown the ground beef in a skillet. Drain and keep warm.
2. Pour sesame oil in the pan and heat until hot. Add garlic, onion, ginger and red pepper flakes. Saute until tender.
3. In a separate pot, bring water to a boil and cook pasta according to the package directions.
4. In a small bowl, combine cornstarch and beef broth, whisking until smooth.
5. Stir broth mixture into the onion mixture. Add the hoisin sauce and soy sauce. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly, for 1 minute.
6. Add back the ground beef and stir to combine. Toss with cooked pasta and sprinkle with green onions.

Corked Breton Galettes

Corked Breton Galettes - made dough October 31, 2019 from Dorie's Cookies by Dorie Greenspan

I'm a book nerd. I borrow from two digital libraries (ebooks and audio books) and belong to a brick and mortar library where I borrow print books. I also have a kindle unlimited subscription on amazon. Being an (ex) Finance nerd, it's a matter of pride and thrift to make sure I read enough kindle books to more than pay for the monthly membership fee.

One of the great things I discovered is that there are some cookbooks available as kindle unlimited borrows. Including this one by Dorie Greenspan. Any longtime readers of my blog will know I went through an overly acquisitive phase of buying baking books and topped the 200 mark at one point. I've donated a lot to my local libraries, especially before I moved, but I still have a fair number. I won't let myself buy any new ones until I use more of my existing ones so I was thrilled to find this on kindle unlimited. The thrill of finding new recipes without the guilt of buying a new baking book is a win-win.

The book itself contains some recipes that are a trifle too exotic for my taste buds. If you consider exotic to be jam and jelly. Which I do. Fortunately, this cookie is adaptable to any filling you choose and I chose Nutella. Or the Costco brand hazelnut spread which, to me, tastes just as good and doesn't contain palm oil.

One of the best tricks I picked up from reading Dorie's Cookies (and yes, I read it like a book from cover to cover) is to slice cookie logs into thick slices and bake them in muffin tins. That will be give perfectly round cookies. Since my cookie logs end up being more square sided than round logs, this was a good trick.

And I have to say, this dough comes together beautifully and is one of the best cookie doughs I've worked with. It's pliable, not sticky or dry and crumbly. Seriously, this dough was great to work with and easily shapes into a log.

The taste itself was basically of a light, airy butter cookie with a hazelnut spread filling. I think I baked it a minute too long as I like my cookies a little more dense but this wasn't cakey. Just airy. These are good for afternoon teas and, if you want to dress them up a bit more, you can sprinkle the tops with toffee bits, mini chocolate chips, toasted nuts or toasted coconut or even drizzle with caramel.

2 1/4 cups (306 grams) all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into chunks, at room temperature
1 cup (200 grams) granulated sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons fleur de sel or 3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
2 large egg yolks, room temperature

Filling
Nutella, cookie butter, dulce de leche, jam, your choice

1. Whisk flour and baking powder together.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter, sugar and salt together on medium-low speed until smooth. Add the yolks, one at a time, beating after each addition until fully incorporated.
3. Add the dry ingredients all at once and pulse until the risk of flying flour passes. Mix on low speed, scraping bowl as needed, until the flour is incorporated. Turn the dough onto a work surface, press and gather it together and divide in half. Shape each piece into a log about 6 inches long and a scant 2 inches in diameter. Wrap the logs and freeze for at least 1 hour or refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
4. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 325 degrees. Lightly spray regular muffin tins.
5. Cut logs into slices about 1/3" thick. Drop one slice into each muffin tin. Bake the galettes for 18 to 20 minutes or until the edges are golden brown. Remove the cookies from the oven and immediately press an indentation in the center of each cookie. You can use a wine cork, a tart tamper or the rounded side of a teaspoon. Cool the cookies in the tins then pop them out when cooled to room temperature.
6. Spoon filling of choice into indentations.

Instant Pot Spicy Sweet and Sour Chicken

Instant Pot Spicy Sweet and Sour Chicken - made October 30, 2019 from Aunt Bee's Recipes

Last week the temps dipped to the teens. And, somewhat oddly, when I checked my weather app when I woke up one morning, it showed 17 degrees as the current temp then promised to drop another 2 degrees at sunrise which was in an hour. Erk. Normally I try to go for a walk in the morning. Yeah, didn't go that morning but waited for the afternoon.

However, cold weather did give me an excuse to break out my Instant Pot. I hadn't used it in awhile since my recipe ADD led me down other cooking paths. But it was just as easy to use as ever.

What made it easier is the directions are for using frozen chicken breasts so you don't even have to plan ahead. Other than shopping for the ingredients. But if you already have chicken breasts lurking in the freezer, haul them out and drop them into the Instant Pot. Then add the rest of the ingredients and walk away for 40 minutes.Voila, dinner.

As the title says, this is a bit spicy. At least for me. However, not set-your-mouth-and-hair-on-fire spicy but just a nice heat, thanks to the red pepper flakes. If you want it more bland, omit the red pepper. But I have pretty bland taste buds and if I don't find it too spicy, it likely won't be too spicy for a normal person.

Overall, I liked the flavor of this dish. As in, it actually had flavor, which isn't something I can always claim when I cook. But this made me feel like I'm getting better at cooking. Even if "cooking" just meant throwing ingredients in the Instant Pot and letting it do its thing. If you're busy and tired from a long day at work, this is a perfect dish to make since it requires such little effort and is pretty tasty too. The nice thing about using the Instant Pot is, even starting with frozen chicken breasts, the chicken came out tender and moist. Smothered in sauce and paired with rice, it makes for a great, easy-to-make dinner.

2 1/2 pounds frozen boneless chicken breasts
1 medium onion, quartered and sliced
1 cup brown sugar
2/3 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons lemon or lime juice
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
2 tablespoons fresh minced ginger
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons cold water
sesame seeds and green onion for garnish

1. Place chicken in Instant Pot along with sliced onion.
2. Stir together vinegar, brown sugar, soy sauce, lemon or lime juice, sesame oil, black pepper, ginger, garlic and red pepper flakes.
3. Pour mixture over the chicken and onion. Place lid on Instant Pot, with pressure release valve set to closed.
4. Press Manual and set time for 40 minutes. Allow to complete cycle and pressure release naturally. Remove lid and turn Instant Pot off. Remove chicken from the sauce.
5. Combine cornstarch and water and stir into sauce to thicken. Turn Instant Pot to saute and stir until sauce is thickened. Brush over chicken and broil in oven for 1-2 minutes. Pour remaining sauce over chicken.

Grandma's Brownies

Grandma's Brownies - made October 18, 2019 from https://ulasngerti.blogspot.com/

Before I get into this brownie recipe, given it's the day after Halloween and some of you might have leftover candy you want to use up, here's a post I did several years ago that curated some of the recipes you can throw those leftover chocolate bars into. This particular brownie recipe isn't dense enough to really take a chunky Snickers bar but you could always press leftover M&Ms on top of the frosting.

After my last cupcake fail, I needed something a little more surefire of success. Fortunately, brownies are easier to bake successfully at higher altitudes since they don't need to rise (and it would be preferable if they don't) and don't rely on chemical leavening. This recipe doesn't even have any.

Despite that, when I first tried the taste test piece, I was a little ambivalent about the texture on this one. It was moist like any good brownie should be but it wasn't quite as dense as I wanted. It's still more dense than a cake so it's not quite cakey but it isn't as fudgy as my go-to recipe for frosted fudge brownies.

It isn't that I didn't like it but I don't know if I loved it. Fortunately I baked it to take to my niece and her roommate as I was doing a quick trip to visit. So I packaged up most of them to give away. I did set aside - ahem - a couple of pieces for me to snack on during my extended layover though.

It was a good thing I did as it turns out I liked these just fine the next day. Still moist and they seemed to have gotten fudgier overnight. Or else they were just the best option while sitting at the airport waiting for my flight.

Regardless, thumbs up on these. The frosting isn't that thick and it does set quickly so work fast to spread it evenly over the brownie.

3 sticks (24 tablespoons) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup milk
3/4 cup cocoa powder
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt

Frosting
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
6 tablespoons milk
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9 x 13-inch baking pan with foil and lightly spray with nonstick cooking spray.
2. Cream together butter and sugar until smooth and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla; beat until combined, scraping down sides of bowl as needed.
3. Whisk together cocoa powder, flour and salt in a bowl. 
4. On low speed, alternately add dry ingredients in three additions and milk in two additions, starting and ending with the dry ingredients. Mix just until combined; do not overmix. 
5. Pour batter into prepared pan, smoothing top with offset metal spatula. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until toothpick inserted near the center comes out with a few moist crumbs. Let cool for 30 minutes before frosting.
6. Make frosting: in a saucepan over medium heat, add the butter, milk and granulated sugar. Bring to boil, whisking to combine, and boil for one minute. Remove from heat; stir in salt and chocolate chips. Whisk vigorously until smooth then immediately pour onto warm brownies, spreading before frosting sets. Cool for at least an hour before cutting and serving.