2 Dinners & 1 Breakfast & 2 Desserts

From time to time I make a dish and want to blog it but don't. 
These are recipes that I made and loved, but didn't get around to making a full blog post, whether it be because I forgot, didn't take enough pictures or just wanted to eat because I was hungry.   ;)
Paella.  This is the first time I've ever made it and it was delicious! I kept it less expensive by just using shrimp and some spicy turkey sausage, leaving out the rest of the usual chicken and seafood.

Red Lentil Chili.  I saw Mario Batali make this recipe on The Chew.  I added mushrooms instead of corn and preferred this to meat chili.  (not a big fan of ground meat here)


Amazing breakfast - strawberry stuffed pancakes. Basically just pancakes stacked with strawberries and a filling of marscapone cheese and whipped cream.

Easiest dessert to make ever.   Kiwi Strawberry Yogurt Pie
One container of Cool Whip, 2 individual servings of flavoured yogurt.  Mix together, pour into a graham pie crust, top with fruit, chill until set and serve.  It's light and can even be good for diabetic diets.

Coconut Banana Bread.  Adding one little thing can make a traditional recipe kick ass.

The Perfect Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie

I am so excited to have found the absolute perfect chewy chocolate chip cookie recipe!
Steve's birthday was last week and instead of a cake he wanted chocolate chip cookies.  But chewy ones.
I searched the internet for recipes, and came across the few I had already tried.   I had never tried Martha's recipe and decided to do it, but make a few adjustments. 

Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies by Martha Stewart

Ingredients

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup packed light-brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 2 cups (about 12 ounces) semisweet and/or milk chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour and baking soda; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the butter with both sugars; beat on medium speed until light and fluffy. Reduce speed to low; add the salt, vanilla, and eggs. Beat until well mixed, about 1 minute. Add flour mixture; mix until just combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.
2. Drop heaping tablespoon-size balls of dough about 2 inches apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper.
3. Bake until cookies are golden around the edges, but still soft in the center, 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from oven, and let cool on baking sheet 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack, and let cool completely. Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature up to 1 week.

For one, I don't use an electric mixer.   I might as well burn a few calories stirring, if I'm about to eat a bunch of cookie dough to taste if it's ok.   Also, I hate washing all the extra pieces.   A fork works fine for crushing the butter into the sugar.

Second, add the chocolate chips to the gooey stuff before the flour.   If you overmix flour things get tougher.   If you add the chocolate chips last, you would have stirred the flour twice as much as needed.

Third, I think Martha (or one of her hundreds of employees) missed a step here.   Chill the dough.   It's gotten warm and gooey and sticky while you mixed it, and would melt too fast when placed on the baking pan and into the oven.    Chill it for 15 mins even, and the cookies will be thicker and chewier in the end. 

By the time I had the chance to take pictures of the cookies there were only 3 left!

Do you have any perfected recipes for classic foods? I'd love to know. 
Happy baking!

Featured in Ruche's Handmade Holiday

I just found out that my perogy recipe was chosen to be part of Ruche's Handmade Holiday magazine!

The issue looks absolutely beautiful, full of all kinds of crafts, recipes and decorations for the holidays.

My favourite page may or may not be #73 ;)

Lemon cookies are the best thing in the world.

I love lemon.  Lemon cookies are the best thing in the world.  

Oh yes, best enough to mention that twice.

I found this recipe a few months ago on the Whisk Kid blog, and made these on a rainy afternoon. 

Over on her blog she made them thinner and crispier, but I like nothing more than chewy cookies.  

So I made them thicker, and they were lovely. 

Especially when served with tea, fresh roses and a good book. 

Lemon Cookies

1/2 c (118 g) unsalted butter, room temp
3/4 c (149 g)sugar
1 egg, room temp
1 1/2 Tbsp lemon juice (I just used the juice of half a lemon)
1 1/2 Tbsp lemon zest (I used the zest from the whole lemon)
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/4 c (156 g) flour

Preheat oven to 350F (175C).
Cream together the butter and sugar, then add the egg, juice, zest and vanilla. Sift in the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Drop by 1 1/2 tsps onto lined baking sheets and bake 10-12 min until lightly golden around edges. Let cool on sheets one minute before placing on racks to cool completely.   Makes about 2 dozen.

Lemon Icing
1 c (150 g) icing sugar
4-6 Tbsp lemon juice

Beat together and drizzle over cooled cookies. 

 Enjoy the deliciousness!

What's your favourite cookie?

How to Make Perogies

I hope I don't get in trouble from my family for sharing this recipe ;)
This is a staple crucial item at holiday dinners.  I just made them for our (Canadian) Thanksgiving, and decided to document the process. 

The dough recipe is really simple. 

4 cups of flour

2 eggs

1/2 teaspoon salt

about 1 cup of water

1/2 cup softened butter or margarine

For the filling you can get creative.  The classic is mashed potatoes with a few cups of shredded cheese (to taste) mixed in while the potatoes are hot.  I've also had potato and cottage cheese, jalapeno ones, ricotta and spinach and I haven't tried, but I know blueberry dessert ones exist. 

Back to the classic.  While your cheesey mashed potatoes are cooling, mix your dough.  If the dough is too dry, add more water.  Too wet? Add some flour.
Knead the dough about a hundred times to get the softest dough you've ever seen. 

Roll out the dough onto some parchment paper.  

Don't roll too thin, you don't want holes in the dough, but too thick will make tough perogies.  If you have a round cookie cutter, congrats.  If not, use a drinking glass to cut the dough into circles.  

Plunk a spoonful of the cheesey potatoes onto the dough circles.  

Fold the dough circle around the filling and pinch the edge closed.  

Don't let the potato get in the way of the pinch, it won't stick properly. 

Repeat until you've run out of dough! This made 5 dozen perogies for me. 

(I used about 8 large potatoes and a half brick of old cheddar for the filling.)

Be careful to never stack the little pouches of deliciousness - they are very sticky. 

You're almost done! Fry some onions in butter.  Cook the perogies by boiling in water for 3-4 minutes, or until they float to the top.  Toss in melted onions and butter and serve!

If you'd like to freeze them you can.  Before cooking, place perogies in single layer on parchment paper on a cookie sheet in the freezer.  When frozen, toss into a container and store.  

Leftovers can be microwaved or fried in a pan to be extra unhealthy/crispy on the outside :)

Serve with sour cream, plain yogurt, or even salsa - sooo tasty!

Enjoy! And let me know if you make them!
Does your family have any must-have recipes?

chocolate chip cookies - a challenge.

chocolate chip cookies. an absolute all time favourite.  i've made them many times before, but never under such conditions.  i have not found baking soda or chocolate chips in cannes. and i don't own an oven or a cookie sheet. here goes.

(i adapted the recipe from here)

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Here's what the French ingredients look like, just in case you're curious.  I learned that if you double the baking powder in the recipe and omit the salt, it replaces the baking soda.  Found baking powder in the 'imported foods' section of the grocery store.  Brown sugar as I know it doesn't exist either - so there's raw cane sugar, but it's much sweeter, so I used only half.   No chocolate chips, so I bought milk, white and dark chocolate bars and chopped them up.  Also added about 1/2 a cup of oatmeal - not rolled oats because they don't sell that here either, but I thought I'd try just the regular instant oatmeal breakfast stuff...worked fine.

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets or line with parchment paper.
2. Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.
3. In a medium bowl, cream together the melted butter, brown sugar and white sugar until well blended. Beat in the vanilla, egg, and egg yolk until light and creamy. Mix in the sifted ingredients until just blended. Stir in the chocolate chips by hand using a wooden spoon. Drop cookie dough 1/4 cup at a time onto the prepared cookie sheets. Cookies should be about 3 inches apart.
4. Bake for 15 to 17 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the edges are lightly toasted. Cool on baking sheets for a few minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.  
   

So at this point I warm up my toaster oven to... 5 out of 8...?

And make a cookie sheet of some sort.  I fashioned one out of tinfoil and some dessert packaging.

Popped them in the toaster oven and watched like a hawk while hoping for the best. 

cooled them off on a cheese grater - resting on an ice cream container and voila!

the best cookies i think i have ever made. 

soooo good.