Pistacho Cake and Peanut Butter Munchies

I made the cookies and pistacho cake last weekend, but just getting around to posting the pictures.

The cookies were pretty time consuming. I halfed the recipe because I didn't want to make all those cookies. It was somewhat hard to work with only half the ingredients. For example, taking half the egg was a little non-traditional.

The result, however, was very good cookies and got great reviews by all those who tried them. The peanut butter on the inside was soft and the texture was perfect. I cooked them for exactly 8 minutes.


Here's some pictures of the best of the cookies.




















I also made the pistachio cake. Not having a bundt pan, I used the springform pan that we used earlier for the first recipe. (Remember that piece of equipment? (= ) It came out delicious, but also had a strange texture. It was wet and heavy...I'm guessing it was due to the sour cream. I called it the shrek cake because of the color and the texture. Pretty much everyone loved it.

Peanutbutter Munchies

Jess and I made the peanut butter munchies almost a month ago but just recently got the pictures up on the internet.

Mixing this recipe wasn't simple. The chocolate portion mixed up just fine and we didn't make the balls ahead of time. Next we mixed up the peanut butter and powdered sugar. We used Jess' mixer and turned the mixture into very small chunks. The mixture never got smooth and so it was hard to actually form balls out of the mixture.

Eventually we were able to form peanut butter balls and surround it with the chocolate mixture. The chocolate mixture was very very sticky(could have been because of our rice/tapioca flour mixture) and it became increasingly complicated to form the chocolate around the peanut butter. Finally we got things sorted out and ended up with a pan of cookies.



I used a fork to press down each cookie.

The end result tasted very good even if they didn't look the best.

Khabab's Lemon Bars

Hello everyone,

I made the lemon bars a few days ago and they turned out delicious. I found that it was pretty easy to make and they were very tasty. I ate them warm and I ate them cold, and either way they were good.

I took the left-overs (not many) to my co-workers and surveyed those that got a chance to have a piece of this deliciousness.

Everyone liked the texture, overall flavor, and lemon flavor. One person thought it was too "lemony" and too slimy.

I didn't add the powdered sugar on the top, and one of my co-workers recommended to add the powdered sugar. The crust was delicious!






I also made a quiche (after asking Megan 101 questions!) It turned out very good as well! Hit up Megan for the recipe if you are interested. It's very easy and great for dinner.











Still going to make those peanut butter chocolate cookies and pistachio cake! Will post those soon.

February: Lemon Bars

The February recipe is Lemon Bars.

I have made these bars in the past and they are so very tasty warm from the oven. Make sure the lemons that you buy have a good skin since you will be using it for the zest, you don't have to be to picky but you don't want a bad skin.


CRUST:

1/2 cup (1 stick) (113 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature

1/4 cup (25 grams) confectioner's (powdered or icing) sugar

1 cup (140 grams) all purpose flour

1/8 teaspoon salt

FILLING:

1 cup (200 grams) granulated white sugar

2 large eggs

1/3 cup (80 ml) fresh lemon juice (approximately two large lemons)

1 tablespoons (5 grams) grated lemon zest (2 lemons)

2 tablespoons (25 grams) all purpose flour

TOPPING:

Confectioner's (powdered or icing) sugar

Lemon Zest - The yellow outer rind of the lemon that contains the fruit's flavor and perfume.

TIP: Always remove the zest first before halving and squeezing the lemon. Use a fine strainer to remove the seeds and pulp from the juice.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C) and place rack in center of oven. Grease with butter (or use a cooking spray) a 8 x 8 inch (20 x 28 cm) pan.

FOR CRUST: In the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the flour and salt and beat until the dough just comes together. Press into the bottom of your greased pan and bake for about 20 minutes, or until lightly browned. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool while you make the filling.

FOR FILLING: In your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the sugar and eggs until nice and smooth. Add the lemon juice and zest and stir to combine. Fold in the flour. Pour the filling over the shortbread crust and bake for about 20 minutes, or until the filling is set. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool.

To serve: Cut into squares or triangles and dust with powdered sugar. These are best eaten the day they are made but can be covered and stored in the refrigerator for a day or two.

Yield: 16 - 2 inch (5 cm) squares

Loafin' Around

Last night I finally made the meat loaf. I have to say that it was much better than I had expected. I don't much care for meat loaf. Sorry Mom, but the recipe I grew up on was kind of... well... this one is much better.

Since I am back to counting points, and we rarely eat red meat around here, I used ground turkey. I also used Craisins instead of dried apricots and raspberry jam for the glaze, oh and whole wheat bread. I did my best to figure out the points, and found this recipe to be a great addition to our standard set of menus. I served mixed veggies on the side to give the dinner some bulk.

I liked how easy this recipe was, and the tangy sweet flavor the jam added.... as well as the cranberries. If I ever think to buy cranberry sauce, I'd likely pair that with the Worcestershire sauce for the glaze.

Yassine ate nearly the whole loaf in less than 24 hours, so I know I'll be making/teaching him how to make it again!

I'd definitely try this with craisins for anyone who may not have an affinity for apricots.

Happy Baking!

January Recipe: Pick One of Three!

I've decided to post three of the recipes I made during the month of December and let you each pick which one you want to make. They are three varying degrees of time intensiveness and I will put them in order from easy to difficult. So your three options are wicked fast: Pistachio Cake; on the quick: Low Fat Banana Bread; Worth the wait: Peanutbutter Munchies.

Pistachio Cake

(From Allrecipes.com)

INGREDIENTS

1 (18.25 ounce) package yellow cake mix
1 (3.4 ounce) package instant pistachio pudding mix
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups water
1 container sour cream
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
7 drops green food coloring

Frosting (Optional)

1 tub of whipped topping

1 (3.4 ounce) package instant pistachio pudding mix

7 drops green food coloring

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a bundt pan.

In a large bowl stir together cake mix and pudding mix. Make a well in the center and pour in eggs, water, sour cream, almond extract and green food coloring. Blend ingredients, then beat for 2 minutes at medium speed.

Pour into prepared bundt pan. Bake in the preheated oven for 50 to 55 minutes, or until cake springs back when lightly pressed. Cool in pan 15 minutes. Turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely.

Frosting:

Mix whipped topping, pudding mix, and food coloring.

Lower Fat Banana Bread
(From Allrecipes.com)

INGREDIENTS

2 eggs
2/3 cup white sugar
2 very ripe bananas, mashed
1/4 cup applesauce
1/3 cup nonfat milk
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup chopped walnuts

1/3 cup mini chocolate chips (optional, although I've always used them!)

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Spray a bread pan with non-stick cooking spray, and lightly dust with flour. In a large bowl, beat eggs and sugar in a large bowl until light and fluffy, about five minutes. Beat in bananas, applesauce, milk, oil and vanilla.

In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir flour mixture into banana mixture, mixing just until blended. Fold in walnuts.

Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake in preheated pan until golden and a toothpick inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean, about 1 hour. Turn bread out onto a wire rack and let cool.

Peanutbutter Munchies
(From Better Homes and Gardens)

Ingredients
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup peanut butter
1 egg
1 tablespoon milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup sifted powdered sugar
1/2 cup peanut butter
2 tablespoons granulated sugar

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degree F. In a medium mixing bowl stir together flour, cocoa powder, and baking soda; set aside.

2. In a large mixing bowl beat together butter, the 1/2 cup granulated sugar, brown sugar, and the 1/4 cup peanut butter with an electric mixer until combined. Add egg, milk, and vanilla; beat well. Beat in as much of the dry ingredients as you can with mixer. Stir in remaining dry ingredients by hand with a wooden spoon. My own advice here: Do not make the 32 balls all at once for either the chocolate or peanutbutter - I'd make them as you go. Form chocolate dough into 32 balls about 1-1/4 inches in diameter. Set aside.

3. For peanut butter filling, in a medium mixing bowl combine powdered sugar and the remaining 1/2 cup peanut butter until smooth. Shape mixture into 32 (3/4-inch) balls.

4. On a work surface, slightly flatten a chocolate dough ball and top with a peanut butter ball. Shape the chocolate dough over the peanut butter filling, completely covering the filling. Roll dough into a ball. Repeat with the remaining chocolate dough and peanut butter filling balls.

5. Place balls 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Lightly flatten with the bottom of a glass dipped in the 2 tablespoons granulated sugar.

6. Bake cookies in preheated oven for 8 minutes or until they're just set and surface is slightly cracked. Let cookies stand for 1 minute. Do not over cook these tasty treats - you want them to be chewy not crunchy! Transfer cookies to wire racks; cool. Makes 32 cookies.

To Store: Place in layers separated by waxed paper in an airtight container; cover. Store at room temperature for up to three days or freeze for up to three months.

Happy Baking Everyone!

Oh - and yes, I made the spritz cookies, but forgot to take photos, then my family ate them all during Christmastime :) I will have to try them again. They are a very buttery cookie, but it does make a large volume of cookies (because they are fairly small). I had a lot of trouble getting the cookiepress to make a uniform sized cookie, and also had trouble getting the dough to stick to the cookie sheet. This is likely because my cookie sheets are non-stick already and that is NOT what you want to use when using a cookie press. I tried using aluminum foil, but that didn't seem to work either. Even if they were a little funny looking, they still tasted good and there were no complaints from my family members! I ended up using the Spritz recipe out of my Pillsbury cook book. I think I'll try the recipe Jess posted next time, maybe I'll have better luck with the consistency.

~mrs. curlyhairedmegan

Love the Loaf!

Blame it on the holidays - we finally got around to making the December meatloaf! We substituted lean ground turkey for the beef and had to use rice bread instead of 'regular' sandwich bread. We weren't quite sure how it would turn out. The rice bread has a different consistency to it, and it was frozen when we bought it a half an hour before using it.




(it's out of focus but you get the idea)

The finished loaf was great (and that's coming from someone who is not a fan of meatloaf!). I liked the sweetness of it, and its overall consistency. Steve noted that next time we need to chop the bread smaller. He also said the curry and apricots give it a very different taste than standard meatloaf.

Just as an aside, to go along with the meatloaf we made an apricot and kale salad. Shredded kale, sliced green bell peppers, tomatoes, cut apricots, crumbled goat cheese, and balsamic vinaigrette as a dressing. The balsamic vinaigrette offsets the sweetness of the apricots.