Friday, April 2, 2010

THE WINNER! Chocolate Chip Cookie


After trying dozens of chocolate chip cookie recipes, I believe I found the winner! These puffed up like they are supposed to, are gooey inside, and taste unbelievable. I am going to post the recipe as it was written HOWEVER, I would back off of the sea salt to 1/2 teaspoon instead of one teaspoon. ENJOY!

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup (2 sticks) salted butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
3 cups (12 oz) all-purpose flour *If at all possible, please weigh the flour

1 tsp. smallish-medium coarse sea salt *please do not use table salt, the sea salt gives the cookies a nice flavor and hints of texture. If you only have table salt, use 1/2 tsp. *When using sea salt, you will get small crunchy flecks of salt when you bite into the cookie. If you do not like this taste, go with 1/2 teaspoon of table salt.

1 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
2 cups/16 oz of semi-sweet chocolate chips *I use Nestle Toll-House

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 360 degrees. Cream butter, sugar, and brown sugar until it is nice and fluffy (approx. 5 minutes on medium speed on a K-5). Add both eggs and vanilla and beat for an additional 2 minutes. Add baking soda, baking powder, salt, and flour until cookie batter is fully incorporated. Finally add chocolate chips until well distributed. The cookie batter should be somewhat thick. Drop about 2 tablespoons of dough or use a medium cookie scoop and plop the batter onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for 12-14 minutes until the edges are nice and golden brown. Remove from heat and allow the cookies to stay on the cookie sheet for an additional 2 minutes. Pick up the parchment paper with the cookies still on top and transfer to a cool non-porous surface. Allow the cookies to cool on the paper for at least 3 minutes before serving.

YUM!

GREAT Steak Marinade!




SENSATIONAL STEAK MARINADE

1/4 c. soy sauce
3 tbsp. light brown sugar
3 tbsp. vinegar
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. seasoned salt
1/4 tsp. seasoned pepper
1/3 c. Sprite

Whisk all ingredients together until sugar is properly dissolved. Put steaks in an air tight container, pour marinade over the steak. Marinade for at least one hour on each side. Grill to perfection!

Can also be served as kabobs:
2 green peppers (parboiled)
2 lb. boneless sirloin steak, cut in 1 1/2" cubes
1/2 lb. fresh mushroom caps
Peppers
1 pt. cherry tomatoes
1 sm. fresh pineapple
Combine all ingredients and mix well to make marinade. Put sirloin steak in marinade sauce overnight refrigerator. Turn occasionally. Parboil 2 green peppers, cubed, 1 minute; drain.
Allow meat to come to room temperature. Remove meat from marinade. Pour marinade over mushroom caps, peppers, cherry tomatoes and pineapple. Alternate meat and vegetables on skewers. Grill over medium hot fire 10-15 minutes basting frequently with marinade.

Thursday, April 1, 2010

Fried Ice Cream



Peeps, this is way easier than I ever expected! I made this for our Mexican Gourmet night and everyone really enjoyed it!

FRIED ICE CREAM

1 pt. chocolate or vanilla ice cream (can use any kind of ice cream you desire)
1 beaten egg
1/4 tsp. vanilla
2 1/2 c. frosted flakes, crushed
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 beaten egg
1/4 tsp. vanilla
Cooking oil for deep-fat frying
Whipped cream (optional)
Chocolate syrup (optional)
Marachino Cherries (optional)
Mint sprigs (optional)

Place 4 scoops (about 1/2 cup each) of ice cream in a small pan. Freeze for 1 hour or until firm. In a small mixing bowl, stir together egg and vanilla. In a pie plate, carefully stir together cereal and cinnamon. Dip each frozen ice cream ball in the egg mixture, then roll it in cereal mixture. Return coated ice cream balls to pan and freeze for 1 hour or until firm. Reserve remaining cereal mixture.
In a small mixing bowl, stir together egg and vanilla. Remove coated ice cream balls from the freezer. Dip balls in egg mixture, then roll them in remaining cereal mixture. Return to pan. Cover and freeze for several hours or until firm.

In a deep fat fryer or heavy saucepan(I used a sauce pan), fry frozen, coated ice cream balls, 1 or 2 at a time in deep hot oil (375 degrees) for 15 seconds or until golden brown. Drain on paper towels. Return the fried ice cream balls to the freezer while frying the remaining balls. Serve immediately with whipped cream and garnish with mint, if desired. Makes 4 servings.