Chocolate-Coated Peanut Butter Balls

Mmmmm love these...a lot...10/10.  I have made them twice and would make them again right now if I could!  The first time, I did a half batch, using white chocolate for half (of the half batch) and dark for the other.  I very much preferred the dark choc over the white.  Liked them so much I wanted to make and share with my mom and family, so we made full batch and did half with milk choc and half with dark.  I think they taste very, very much like a homemade reese's pb cup.  They are best kept in the refrigerator--and they keep for a long time there. I made them rather small, just under the size of a quarter's diameter, think it's perfect, and yields more than the original recipe says. 

Link to my YouTube video of preparation: https://youtu.be/Tup98b37j0k (made for Halloween)

Link to original recipe: https://www.delish.com/cooking/recipe-ideas/recipes/a57037/peanut-butter-snowballs-recipe/

Recipe below contains my modifications.

Ingredients (for full-size batch):

2 c. powdered sugar
1 1/3 c. creamy peanut butter
1/4 c. butter, melted
2/3 c. graham cracker crumbs
1 T. maple syrup
1 tsp. kosher salt

8 oz. of chocolate of your choice (milk, dark, white--see notes in intro)
1-2 tsp. shortening
sprinkles, if desired

Instructions:

1. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. Combine first 6 ingredients (powdered sugar through kosher salt) in a large bowl, using a whisk and/or wooden spoon, until smooth/well combined (I ended up just doing it with my hands, but that might not be everyone's favorite method lol).

3. Form into small balls (just under diameter of a quarter) and place each on the prepared baking sheet.

4. In a double boiler, melt the chocolate and shortening, stirring to combine.

5. Dip the balls in the melted chocolate, then transfer back to the prepared baking sheet.  Top with sprinkles if desired.  (Original recipe indicates to do this with a cooling rack so that the excess chocolate can drip off; I have not tried this yet, as I don't care if there's a bit excess on one area.)

6. Transfer to refrigerator and let chill for 10 minutes to set before serving.  Enjoy!

Sharp white cheddar potatoes gratin-style

I made this back in February and mmmm was it ever, ever good!  10+, I will absolutely make this again and again.  I created the recipe based on inspiration from others that I found online...another successful creation :)  For the ingredients that do not have measures indicated, it is because I didn't measure and have no true estimation for amounts--and you can adjust these to taste anyway.

Update/addition/alternate: I have also used Wood River's Cheddar Gruyère instead of the white cheddar, and I actually like it even better! It also works if you use Russet potatoes, but the cooking time needs increased by 5-10 min.

Ingredients:

butter for buttering the baking dish
1.5 lbs yukon gold potatoes, sliced (I used food processor to make this quick)
kosher salt, pepper
fresh thyme, chopped
7 oz. sharp white cheddar, shredded (I used Cabot extra sharp, excellent!)
bottled minced garlic
1 c. heavy cream

Instructions:

1. Butter 8" x 8" baking dish (I used glass/Pyrex type). Heat oven to 400°F.  (Note to self: I used convection setting this time, not sure if it made a difference, though).

2. Make a single layer of potatoes in bottom of dish.  Sprinkle with salt, pepper, thyme, a bit of the bottled minced garlic, and then top with a layer of cheese.  Repeat this to obtain 4 total layers.

3. Pour heavy cream atop the layers/all around.  Cover dish with foil.

4. Bake for 45 min.

5. Remove foil and bake for additional 15 min., or until potatoes are fork-tender.

6. Let rest for at least 5 minutes after baking before serving.  Enjoy!

Skillet chicken drumsticks with creamy mushroom sauce

Once again, I am in France, and this time, under quarantine, so I will now have time to get a whole bunch of drafts completed that have been waiting for quite some time.  This one, however, is a recipe I just tried last night, here in my friend's kitchen.  And it is delicious!  I had to adapt it slightly and added my own touch, of course.  I give this 10/10, will make again for sure :)

Link to original recipe: https://juliasalbum.com/easy-chicken-legs-creamy-mushroom-sauce/

Ingredients:

1/4 c. all-purpose flour (I used type 65 here in France)
3/4 tsp. salt, divided
1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
~2 lbs. chicken drumsticks (original lists chicken legs; amount I used here was 800g)
2 T. olive oil (you may need a bit more, too (I did))
10 oz. button mushrooms, sliced in halves or quarters (I went quarters on most of mine, as they were large)
3 garlic cloves, minced (mine were large chunks)
herbes de Provence (I didn't measure, would guess I used about 1-2 tsp.)
1 c. chicken stock (here, I had to sub 1 pod of Knorr marmite de boullion poulet plus 7/8 c. of water)
heavy cream (original recipe says 1/2 cup, but I didn't measure, fairly sure I put 3 T. at most)

Instructions:

1. Combine flour, 1/2 tsp. of the salt, and pepper in a small bowl.  Dredge chicken pieces in the flour to coat.

2. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Add chicken pieces and cook for around 4 minutes per side to brown well.

3. Transfer chicken pieces to a plate.  Add mushrooms to skillet and stir to coat, cooking for about 1-2 minutes.  Add a bit more olive oil if needed, then the garlic.  Cook around 2 minutes more.

4. Stir in the chicken stock plus remaining 1/4 tsp. of salt (if desired), then return chicken pieces to pan.  Sprinkle the herbes de Provence atop the chicken and mixture (I hadn't yet added the herbes in this pic).

5. Reduce heat to medium-low and cover.  Cook for 25 minutes, or until chicken pieces are thoroughly cooked.

6. Transfer chicken pieces to a clean plate and keep warm.  Meanwhile, add the heavy cream to skillet mixture and cook for 2-3 minutes. 

7. Return chicken to pan to coat, then serve and enjoy!

Gingerbread Snowman Faces

While the dough is great, the spice mixture isn't.  Pepper is far too dominant, needs balance.  I would like to try making these again with a better spice blend.  And I absolutely would NOT use royal icing again--it was brittle hard after just 2 days!  I'd take canned frosting over that any day.  (Note: I used the Food Network recipe for royal icing, not Family Circle's). 6/10.  Will re-rate and update when I try with different spice blend.

Link to original recipe: https://www.familycircle.com/recipe/gingerbread-snowmen/

Ingredients:

2 1/3 c. all-purpose flour
1 T. cocoa powder
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. ground ginger
1 tsp. ground white pepper
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 c. (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 c. sugar
1 egg
1/4 c. molasses (NOT blackstrap)
frosting/icing (see note at beginning of post; royal icing was the recommendation in the original recipe)
candy corn and mini chocolate chips, for decorating

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl, combine flour, cocoa, baking soda, ginger, pepper, and cinnamon; set aside.

2. In the bowl of a stand (or electric) mixer, cream butter and sugar together.

3. Beat in egg and molasses.

4. Gradually mix in reserved dry ingredients mixture (you may wish to switch to dough hook or finish by hand).

5. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours.

6. Heat oven to 350°F and line baking sheets with parchment.

7. Divide dough in half and roll one of the halves out on a floured surface, to 1/8" thickness.

8. Cut 3"-3 1/2" circles with round cookie cutter (largest I had was 3", so that is what I used).  Transfer dough circles to prepared baking sheet.

9. Bake for 11 min. and transfer to wire rack to cool.

10. Once cookies have cooled, frost and decorate.  Enjoy!

Garlic Parmesan Boneless Pork Chops

Decent, but not fabulous--they get done too quickly on outside, as happens with many pork chop recipes.  If I were going to make this again, I would only make 1/4 of the breadcrumb mixture--it was WAYYY more than needed for 6 pork chops!!  I listed original amounts, as that is what I used.  7/10 for this one.

Link to original recipe: https://iwashyoudry.com/garlic-parmesan-pork-chop-recipe/

Ingredients:

6 boneless pork loin chops, around 1/2" thick
salt and pepper (for seasoning)
1 c. Italian breacrumbs
1/2 c. grated Parmesan
1 tsp garlic powder
2 large eggs, beaten in a small dish (for dipping/coating)
1 T. salted butter
2 T. olive oil

Instructions:

1. Heat oven to 400°F.

2. Season pork chops with salt and pepper.

3. In a shallow dish, combine the breadcrumbs, Parmesan, and garlic powder.

4. Dip pork chops in the beaten eggs, then coat in the breadcrumb mixture.

5. Heat a cast iron skillet over just under medium heat.  Add the butter and oil, swirl to melt and combine.

6. Add chops to skillet, cook just long enough to brown a bit on both sides (only a couple of minutes per side).

7. Transfer skillet to oven.  Bake for 5-10 minutes, depending on exact thickness of chops (check after 5 min), until internal temp is 145°F.

8. Let rest 3 minutes prior to serving.  Enjoy!

Chocolate Snickerdoodles

Mmm these have such a lovely texture and are a tasty change from regular snickerdoodles.  However, they don't win over regular snickerdoodles for me...but I would make them again for sure! 9/10.  I modified the original recipe slightly by using half butter, half shortening instead of all butter.  You can use all butter instead if preferred--I just didn't have another stick softened/ready to go :)

Link to original recipe: https://sugarspunrun.com/chocolate-snickerdoodles/

Ingredients:
dough--
2 3/4 c. all-purpose flour
1/4 c. cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp. cream of tartar
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 c. (1 stick) unsalted butter
1/2 c. butter flavored Crisco
1 c. sugar
1/2 c. light brown sugar (packed)
2 large eggs
coating--
3 T. sugar
1/2 T. ground cinnamon
3/4 tsp. cocoa powder

Instructions:

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, cream of tartar, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt; set aside.

2. Cream butter and shortening together in the bowl of a stand (or electric) mixer.

3. Beat in sugar and brown sugar until light and fluffy.

4. Beat in eggs one at a time.

5. With mix running on low speed, gradually mix in reserved dry ingredients mixture until just combined.

6. Cover and transfer to fridge for 30 minutes.

7. Heat oven to 350°F and line cookie sheets with parchment paper.

8. In a small bowl, combine the "coating" ingredients.  Form 1" to 1 1/2" balls of dough, then roll in the coating mixture.

9. Place coated dough balls 2" apart on prepared baking sheets.  Bake for 10 minutes.

10. Let cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to cooling rack.  Enjoy!

Shrimp Etouffé

Tasty!  Just the thing to have on a cold fall-pretending-to-be-winter night (seems that we may be skipping the rest of fall this year lol).  I had made this a few years ago, back before I was blogging and remembered it being quite good.  Hubby agreed, was just as good as the first time.  I'd give it 9/10.  And next time I make it, I'll remember to put the 3/4 c. of water in at the correct step--I did not realize I'd left it out until the very end (thankfully, still turned out great, whew!)

Link to original recipe: https://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/shrimp-touffe-1

Ingredients:

2 cans (14.5 oz. each) chicken broth
1 tsp. dried thyme
1 tsp. dried basil
1 bay leaf
1/3 c. butter, divided
1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1 1/2 c. chopped yellow onion
2/3 c. chopped celery
1 c. chopped red bell pepper
3/4 c. water
1/4 c. tomato paste
1 T. Cajun seasoning
1/2 T. minced garlic (I used bottled)
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/4 tsp. ground red pepper
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
2 T. chopped fresh flat parsley
1 lb. shrimp (41-50 ct.), peeled and deveined
chopped green onions, for garnish

Directions:

1. In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine chicken broth, thyme, basil, and bay leaf.  Bring to a simmer, then cover and remove from heat/set aside.

2. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt 1/4 c. of the butter.  Once butter has melted, whisk flour into the butter.  Continue whisking constantly for around 5 minutes or until very brown.

3. Slowly whisk in the reserved chicken broth mixture until completely combined and smooth; remove from heat/set aside.  Discard the bay leaf.

4. In a Dutch oven over medium to medium-high heat, melt the remaining butter (1 T +1 tsp).  Add the onion, celery, and red bell pepper to pan.  Cook, stirring occasionally, around 8 minutes, or until vegetables are tender and onion is golden brown.

5. Stir in the water with the vegetable mixture, followed by the tomato paste, Cajun seasoning, garlic, salt, pepper, and red pepper.  Cook, stirring constantly, for 1 minute.

6. Add the reserved chicken broth-flour mixture to the pot, along with the Worcestershire sauce.  Stir to combine well and bring to a simmer.  Let simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

7. Add the parsley and shrimp; cook for 3 minutes or until shrimp are done.  Serve garnished with green onions (if desired) and enjoy!  (Suggest to be served with long-grain white rice)