Pizza Dough (using

Happy National Pepperoni Pizza day! Decided to try this recipe to compare it to our usual dough recipe, which uses the bread machine (recipe actually came in the machine's booklet). Really like this one, it's just as easy as the bread machine one and bakes more quickly. We will be using this regularly!

Original recipe link: https://anitalianinmykitchen.com/best-pizza-dough/

Recipe below contains my modifications.

Ingredients:

2 c. water at 98-105°F

1 pinch sugar

1 1/2 T. active dry yeast

2 T. olive oil

630g (5 1/4 c.) all-purpose flour (I used unbleached)

1/2 T. salt

Directions:

1. Add the water to the bowl of a stand mixer, followed by sugar and yeast. Do not stir yet. Let sit for 10 min.

2. After waiting, stir mixture and equip mixer with dough hook. Add the olive oil, flour, and salt. Start mixer on speed 1 to combine ingredients. Stop and scrape down the sides of bowl, then put mixer on speed 2. Mix for 6 minutes.

3. Lightly oil a large bowl. Transfer dough to bowl and cover with a towel (or plate, which is what I used). Let rest in a draft-free area. Note to self: I used the bread proof setting on my oven, left on for about 15-20 min, then turned off and left dough in the warmth for another 30 min or so. The dough had risen a lot already, so I took it out, punched it down, then left it on the stovetop. It was ready at about 1h45 min (original recipe said to go 2 hours).

4. To make pizza: Heat oven to 450°F. Lightly oil pizza pans (I used 2 circular 16" pans). Lightly dust your hands with flour and divide the dough into 2 (or 3) portions. Place each portion on its pan and dust lightly with a sprinkle of flour. Work and pat dough until it is even thickness and reaches the pan edge(s). 

5. Top with sauce and desired toppings except cheese* (see note at end of this direction). Bake for 8 minutes, then remove, top with cheese, and bake for 8-10 additional minutes.  *if you are doing cheese only, go ahead and add it, bake for whole 16-18 minutes with the cheese on*

6. Let rest on pan for 5-10 minutes before cutting. Enjoy!

 

Peanut Butter Temptations (with video link)

Tempting, indeed! Another 10/10, so tasty and easy! Was a bit worried they were underdone when taking them out of oven, but they turned out great, would not change the baking time. I would not recommend, however, doing these unless you have the mini-muffin pan, as the ones I did on baking sheet (as suggested for alternative in original recipe) just looked odd in comparison--the cookie doesn't stay around the peanut butter cups.

Link to my YouTube video of preparation: https://youtu.be/OpRXedJZbNQ

Original recipe credit: https://www.midwestliving.com/recipe/cookies/peanut-butter-temptations/

Recipe below contains my modifications.

Ingredients:

1/2 c. unsalted butter, softened

1/2 c. creamy peanut butter

1/2 c. sugar

1/2 c. brown sugar, packed

1 large egg

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 1/4 c. all-purpose flour

3/4 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

~48 mini Reese's peanut butter cups, unwrapped

Directions:

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together butter, peanut butter, sugar, and brown sugar until creamy and fluffy.

2. Beat in the egg and vanilla.

3. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease the cups of two mini muffin pans (if you only have one, you'll have to do two cycles/batches).

4. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Add to the mixture in the bowl of the stand mixer. Mix on low speed until just combined.

5. Shape dough into 1" balls. Place each ball in a cup of the mini muffin pan.

6. Bake 8 minutes, or until lightly browned on top.

7. Right after removing from oven, press an unwrapped mini Reese's cup into the center of each baked ball. Leave in pan to cool.

Chocolate Chip Zucchini Cupcakes

Very good! And a yummy way to use up a zucchini :) 9.5/10 (can't give every recipe a full 10!)

Link to YouTube video of preparation: https://youtu.be/W8AquEA5pVA

Ingredients:

1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour

2 T. Dutch-processed cocoa

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

3/4 c. + 2 T. sugar

1/2 c. canola oil

1 large egg

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 c. coarsely grated zucchini

1 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with cupcake liners (and have spares ready in case your batter makes 14 like mine did!)

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

3. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together the sugar, canola oil, egg, and vanilla for 2-3 minutes.

4. On low speed, mix in the reserved dry ingredient mixture until just incorporated.

5. By hand, stir in the zucchini, then the chocolate chips.

6. Pour mixture into the cupcake liners, dividing as evenly as possible (mine came out about 3/4 full each, had 14 total cupcakes).

7. Bake for 30-35 min, until tops spring back when lightly pressed. Cool in pan 5 minutes after removing from oven, then remove cupcakes from pan and transfer to cooling rack to cool completely. Enjoy!

Meringue Wreaths (with video link)

#16 in the 2024 Christmas Countdown! 

 

Got some leftover egg whites to use up? Want a light and airy treat? Here's your recipe! These are like the meringues that you can get at French pastry shops, only a much smaller version (thus you will not feel you've gone on a sugar bender eating one lol). The resulting texture will depend a lot on the level of humidity in your kitchen; no matter what, they are far from heavy. If you feel they need a little something extra, you can dip them in melted chocolate or garnish as you like (I have seen M&M's and all sorts of bits mixed in the ones of the bakeries in France). You could also change up the flavor by using a different extract instead of vanilla.

For the video, I changed these up to make Christmas wreaths, for which you will just need to add some coloring for green wreaths and shape them accordingly.

Link to my YouTube "making of the recipe" video: https://youtu.be/qQerxHG2LzY

 

 

Original recipe credit: https://stressbaking.com/french-meringue-cookies/

Recipe below contains my modifications.

 

Ingredients:

4 egg whites

1/2 tsp. cream of tartar

pinch of kosher salt

1 c. sugar

1 tsp. vanilla extract

food coloring (if desired)

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 200°F. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.

2. Add the egg whites, cream of tartar, and kosher salt to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Mix ingredients on medium-high speed until frothy and soft peaks form (around 30-60 seconds).

3. Leave mixer running and begin adding sugar 1 teaspoon at a time, letting mix in after each addition (yes, this takes time, but it's necessary!).

4. After all sugar has been mixed in, keep mixer going and add the vanilla extract (and food coloring, if using). Continue mixing until glossy with stiff peaks (takes around 10 minutes total, be patient :))

5. Transfer mixture to a piping bag fitted with a large round or star tip. Pipe mixture into desired shapes on prepared baking sheets (I made small "mounds" that were about 2" in diameter). These won't spread at all, so you won't need them to be far apart from each other (mine were maybe 1/2" apart). **Pic is after they baked and 2 had been sampled lol**

6. Bake both sheets at same time (I put two racks fairly close to each other in middle of oven) for 1 hour.

7. When time is up, do NOT open the oven. Turn it OFF and let the meringues rest in oven to finish with the residual heat for at least 1 additional hour.

8. Remove from oven and transfer to an airtight container. Enjoy!