Lemon Shortbread Cookies

I'd had this recipe card in my box for a long time--well over a decade, easily, and had never gotten around to trying.  I can't say that I recommend this one personally, but my husband enjoyed the cookies, so I guess it's not a complete failure lol.  The recipe in just a slightly different form can be found here: http://www.argostarch.com/Recipe/Holiday_Shortbread_Cookies
The one I have on the card does not include putting icing on them, nor does it call it a holiday cookie.  The site is right about one thing--they are very tender...a bit too tender, actually.  They would crumble if you held them with anything more than a light grip, which was difficult since they were on the dense/heavy side.  Either way, here is what my experience with it looked like...

Ingredients:

1 1/3 c. corn starch
2 c. butter or margarine (I used butter)
2/3 c. powdered sugar
1 tsp. finely shredded lemon peel
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 c. all-purpose flour

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.

2. Beat butter until softened:

3. Add powdered sugar; beat until well combined:

4. Add lemon peel and vanilla; beat well.

5. In a medium bowl, stir together flour and corn starch; add to butter mixture and beat well:

6. Roll dough into 1-inch balls and place on ungreased cookie sheet.  **The dough was so soft that "rolling" it was not really an option.  Instead, I just tried my best to make rounded heaps:*

I put them far apart, as I really had my doubts about the batter holding up at all.

7. Bake about 15 minutes, or until bottom edges are lightly browned.
**I did exactly this, and the cookies barely changed shape; for some reason, I can't find the pictures I took of them.  The first one I tried to get off of the sheet nearly crumbled from being touched by the spatula a little too hard.**

The other odd thing about these cookies is that the picture on my card shows the finished product with fork lines on it, as though the cookies were pressed down prior to baking (which would make sense for a shortbread type cookie).  I added a little flour to the second batch and attempted in vain to make the fork mark flattening on them.  This still didn't help the results, honestly.  I won't be doing them again, as I have another shortbread recipe I like far better; just wanted to blog this one to remember NOT to do these lol :)

Nutella Cookies

I was inspired to make these not only due to the love of Nutella, but also an ingredient I had purchased a while back and never got around to using: hazelnut sugar.  I've yet to come across a recipe calling for it; the original recipe for these doesn't, yet I figured with Nutella as one of the main flavors, substituting the cinnamon sugar for hazelnut sugar would work well (and it did :)).  The title of the original recipe is "Double Chocolate Hazelnut Cookies"; I did not choose to call them this as I think this title makes it sound like actual hazelnuts are in the cookies (there are not any).  Link to original: http://www.crisco.com/recipes/double-chocolate-hazelnut-cookies-6907?loc=7

Ingredients:

1 1/4 c. all-purpose flour
2/3 c. cocoa powder
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 c. original or butter flavored Crisco shortening (I used butter flavored)
3/4 c. sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 c. Nutella
1/3 c. milk
2 T. hazelnut sugar (or cinnamon sugar mixture)

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 325°F.

2. Combine flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl and set aside.

3. Beat shortening, sugar, and vanilla with mixer until fluffy:

4. Beat in Nutella until smooth:

5. Add flour mixture and milk alternatively and mix in completely:

8. Form balls of dough (around 1 inch diameter) and roll in hazelnut sugar (or cinnamon sugar) to coat:

9. Place on cookie sheet:

10. Press flat with bottom of a measuring cup or flat bottomed drinking glass:

11. Bake 10 to 12 minutes:

13. Let cool on cookie sheet for 5 minutes before removing to rack to finish cooling.  Enjoy!

Bread machine cinnamon rolls

Mmmm...how can one deny the appeal of cinnamon rolls??  Back in junior high, when I was taking cooking classes, I believe we made some from scratch in the advanced course.  This was without a bread machine, of course, thus it took quite some effort.  I now have a bread machine and love it--what a wonderful appliance!  I should use it more often, honestly, yet somehow I forget to do so.  It dawned on me that I had yet to attempt cinnamon rolls with it, thus my mission...even if I should have gotten up much earlier to start them.  Oh well, cinnamon rolls for lunch work, too, right??  :)  Anyway, the original recipe I used can be found here:
http://www.food.com/recipe/super-fantastic-cinnamon-rolls-bread-machine-recipe-203785
I followed the part for the dough and filling exactly; I made my own icing, though (I don't care for cream cheese--which I know leaves me in the minority).  The result was super tasty awesomeness!

Ingredients for dough:

1 c. warm milk (I used 2% milk at around 100°F)
2 eggs, room temperature
1/3 c. margarine or butter, melted (I used unsalted butter)
4 1/2 c. bread flour
1 tsp. salt
1/2 c. white sugar
2 1/2 tsp. bread machine yeast

Ingredients for filling:

1 c. brown sugar (packed)
2 1/2 T. ground cinnamon
1/3 c. margarine or butter, softened (I used butter)

Ingredients for icing:

3 c. powdered sugar
3 T. melted butter (or margarine)
splash of vanilla extract
milk (add a little at a time until preferred thickness--I estimate I used around 3 T.)

Instructions:

1. Put all ingredients in the bread machine hopper in the order listed (or the order recommended by manufacturer, if different).  Select DOUGH cycle and press start.  Remove hopper at end of cycle.

2. Combine brown sugar and cinnamon in a bowl:

3. Roll dough out on floured surface to make 16" x 24" rectangle.  Spread butter (or margarine) over rolled out dough:

4. Sprinkle evenly with cinnamon sugar mixture all over buttered dough:

5. Roll up dough (starting from longer side):

6. Cut dough into 12 pieces and place rolls in lightly greased 13" x 9" pan:

7. Preheat oven to 400°F.  Cover cinnamon rolls and let rise (in warm area if possible) for 30 minutes.  **original recipe indicated to let rise to almost double in size, which is supposedly 30 minutes--mine were not a lot bigger, but I think it's ok, probably a matter of temperature difference.**

8.  Bake rolls for 14-16 minutes:

9. While rolls are baking (or immediately after done), make the icing by blending all the icing ingredients in a bowl:

10. Spread icing over the warm rolls:

11. Enjoy!

Thai Beef Red Curry Stir Fry

Once again, found myself craving some Thai food and wanted a fairly easy, quick recipe.  Williams-Sonoma, as I've mentioned in other posts, has a wonderful collection of recipes--found one there that I adapted into this tasty treat.  Original recipe is found here: http://www.williams-sonoma.com/recipe/thai-style-beef-and-broccoli-curry.html

Here's my version :)

And here's a link to my YouTube video of preparation of this recipe: https://youtu.be/9h2w6YBUKqU

Ingredients:

1 T. canola oil
1 lb. flank steak, cut in bite size strips across grain
Kosher salt and coarse ground black pepper, to taste
1 large shallot, minced
1 1/2 T. grated fresh ginger
1 heaping Tablespoon of Thai red curry paste (you can adjust the heat with this; this amount yields a medium spicy level)
1 can (14 oz.) coconut milk, well shaken
1 T. firmly packed light brown sugar
1 T. Asian fish sauce
approx. 1/2 tsp. dried basil
splash of fresh lime juice

Directions:

1. Heat canola oil over med-high heat in a wok (or large frying pan).  Add flank steak to pan and cook until nearly all pink has disappeared.  Remove from pan, set aside.

2. Add shallot and ginger to the pan; sauté until fragrant, about 1 minute.

3. Add curry paste, coconut milk, brown sugar, and fish sauce.  Stir and bring to simmer; let simmer for 2 minutes.  Return flank steak to the pan.

4. Add the dried basil and lime juice, cook for 1-2 minutes to blend flavors.

5. Serve with desired side; I chose boiled Basmati rice.

Fried Ravioli

When I used to live in the St. Louis area, I would get an order of this with carryout pizza or as an appetizer at Italian restaurants.  I never thought to make it myself for some reason.  Came across it the other day as I was having another look at one of my "cookbooklets" (basically, a thick magazine with a nice cover, not hardbound).  This recipe comes from "Cuisine At Home: Perfect Pasta"; I have very slightly adapted it.

Ingredients:
1 c. fresh bread crumbs
1/4 c. grated Parmesan
1 T. paprika
3 eggs
3 T. milk

25 frozen meat-filled ravioli
3/4 c. all-purpose flour
4 c. vegetable oil

shredded Parmesan
chopped fresh parsley or dried parsley (I used the latter)
marinara sauce (I used Classico Tomato & Basil)

Instructions:

1. Combine bread crumbs, Parmesan, and paprika in a plastic bag:

 
2. Beat eggs and milk together in a bowl:

3. Dredge ravioli first in flour, then dip in the mixture and coat in the crumbs.  **I made it like an assembly line and used a fork to dip in the flour and eggs, did about 3 at a time.**

 

4. Arrange on a rack and refrigerate 15 minutes; heat vegetable oil to 360°F in high sided pot (I used a fry daddy).

5. Fry ravioli in batches for 2-3 minutes (I did 2 1/2 minutes, which was just after they started floating in the fryer).

6. Drain on a paper towel on a rack:

7. Garnish ravioli with the shredded Parmesan and parsley.  Serve with marinara sauce and enjoy!

Cherry Limeade Pound Cake

I'm back!  I recently took a vacation to Europe with my wonderful mother (which was AWESOME), thus my time preparing for it and then going meant no blog posts for a couple of weeks.  And yes, I do miss cooking when I go away, or when my schedule gets too busy for me to do it...very happy to be getting back to it :)

Mmmm cake.  I love cake.  I had a tough time deciding what cake exactly I wanted to make this time; very glad I took the time to end up discovering this tasty one!  I used the recipe from this blog page (you have to scroll down a bit to get to the recipe):
http://www.theslowroasteditalian.com/2014/04/cherry-limeade-pound-cake-recipe.html

I followed the recipe exactly and it tastes exactly as one would expect--a cake version of a good cherry limeade.  It's also quite easy to make!

Ingredients for cake:
3 c. sugar
1 1/2 c. (3 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 T. fresh grated lime zest
5 large eggs, room temperature
3 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 c. Cherry 7-Up (or regular 7-Up with splash of Maraschino cherry juice)
2 (10 oz. size) jars Maraschino cherries, drained--set aside 10 for use in glaze

for Glaze:
1 1/2 c. powdered sugar
10 Maraschino cherries, chopped
2 T. Cherry 7-Up
1 T. fresh grated lime zest

Instructions for cake:

1. Preheat oven to 325°F.

2. Butter and flour a 12-cup Bundt pan.

3. In large bowl, use electric mixer to cream butter and sugar:

4. Mix in the lime zest, then begin mixing in the eggs one at a time:

5. Add salt to flour, then mix in 1 cup at at a time, alternating with 1/4 c. of Cherry 7-up after each addition:

6. Add Maraschino cherries, fold in to mixture with wooden spoon until evenly mixed.

7. Pour batter into prepared pan:

8. Tap pan on counter several times to remove any air bubbles.  Bake 1 hour and 15 minutes or until knife inserted near middle of cake (halfway between center flute and pan outer edge) comes out clean.  **I used a fork to test, and baked for closer to 1 hour 25 min.

9. Cool cake on wire rack for 20-30 minutes (this pic was just after removing from oven, actually):

10. Invert cake onto a plate to finish cooling completely.  **I had to use a knife to help 'coax' the cake out gently.

Glaze instructions:

1. Add all ingredients to a medium mixing bowl.

2. Beat ingredients until glaze forms (add slightly more powdered sugar (1 T. at a time) if consistency is too runny):

3. Pour over cake:

Grab a glass of milk and enjoy!!