Kitchen Adventures 10.3

Ah, it's good to be back and sharing recipes! Life has definitely been busy over the past month. The parents came to visit in early March, the sister and brother-in-law came to visit a week later, work got crazy busy, and of course there are always social things to be done. I'm going to try and do some catching up today, so we'll see how that goes.

As I have mentioned before, I am more aware of dietary restrictions such as gluten free these days since I have several friends and co-workers that have to follow those guidelines. Hence, I am always looking for easy GF recipes I can share with them. While flipping through some of my Rachael Ray magazines my parents brought me, I stumbled across a GF pie recipe. This was perfect, since I had just been talking with a friend about GF pie crusts and finding a way to make them. I of course had to tell her the secret: use Chex instead of graham crackers. If you think about it, Chex have always been gluten free, but now the product can be advertised that way. I have never thought about using them as a substitute, but it was pretty delicious.

Included with this information was a recipe I just couldn't resist. Chocolate and peanut butter has to be one of the best culinary combinations ever. The timing was perfect, too, since I wanted to make a pie to celebrate PI Day (I told you I had some catching up to do). Even though I'm no longer taking math classes, I remember with fondness celebrating my first PI Day in Mr. Wertenberger's trig class. I had been looking for a great recipe to share at work to celebrate and this one fit the ticket.

This recipe came from the February 2011 Every Day with Rachael Ray magazine.

Double Chocolate-Peanut Butter Pudding Pie

Ingredients:

3 c. Chocolate or Rice Chex cereal, finely crushed
5 T. butter, melted
12 oz. semisweet baking chocolate, chopped, plus more for chocolate shavings
1 1/2 T. unsweetened baking cocoa, sifted
2 c. half-and-half
1/2 c. sugar
1 egg plus 3 egg yolks
6 T. whipping cream, plus 1 c. whipping cream, whipped for topping
1/2 c. white vanilla baking chips
1/4 c. creamy peanut butter

Directions:

1. Stir together the crushed cereal and melted butter in a small bowl. Press this mixture in the bottom and up the sides of a 9-inch pie pan. Refrigerate the crust for 30 minutes or until set. Heat the oven to 350 degrees and bake the crust for 15 minutes. Sprinkle with one-third (4 oz.) of the chopped chocolate after removing the crust from the oven.
2. Meanwhile, in a large heatproof bowl, mix the cocoa and remaining chopped chocolate together. In a 1-quart heavy saucepan, heat the half-and-half over medium-high heat until it is almost boiling. In a medium heatproof bowl, beat the sugar, egg and egg yolks together with a whisk until the mixture is light yellow. Slowly beat in half of the hot half-and-half, then pour this egg mixture into the saucepan. Reduce the heat to medium and heat the mixture just to boiling. Cook this mixture, beating with a whisk, for about 1 minute or until thickened. Pour this through a sieve into the cocoa mixture and beat with a whisk until smooth. Pour this into the crust and refrigerate 30 minutes or until fairly set. (As a short cut, you could just buy instant pie pudding and use that. I realized that after I had made it.)
3. Wipe out the saucepan, then add 6 T. cream to the pan. Heat to boiling over medium-high heat. Place the vanilla baking chips and peanut butter in a medium heatproof bowl and pour the hot cream over them and let stand until chocolate is melted, about 2 minutes. Beat this with a whisk until smooth. Spread this mixture evenly over the chilled pie and refrigerate until firm, about 1 1/2 hours.
4. If desired, serve with whipped cream and chocolate shavings.

Here is a picture of the delicious creation.



For more gluten free recipes, check out chex.com/glutenfree

Kitchen Adventures 9.4

This will be a short posting as I am just making a note regarding previous postings. Recently, I have become more aware of the need to consider dietary restrictions when baking and cooking for others. I am fortunate to not have any restrictions except for my own personal likes and dislikes. However, I have several co-workers and friends who are not in this same situation. Gluten-free diets are becoming more and more common these days and so I try to keep this in mind when baking. I have found a few cake mixes that work well, especially those made by Betty Crocker. There are also GF flours available. I bought one of those awhile back from Target and had not used it yet. When preparing to use it, I realized I needed an additional item, xanthum gum, to add viscosity to the mixture. After searching for this at several stores, I finally decided to use a type of substitute, Gum-Tex, that I found in the cake section of Michael's. I could have found what I needed at a specialty foods store, but I just didn't have time to make it there. I used this substitute and it seemed to work well enough.

Here's a note about using GF flours, though. I discovered that with the cake mix, I couldn't tell a difference at all between the regular and the GF. However, with the flour, I could actually tell a different in the taste. I think it is probably due to the types of flours used, but it was still pretty good.

Here is the link to the cake I made. The only difference is that I used the GF flour this time. The other recipe I shared as a GF recipe, for chocolate gooey butter cookies. Hope this is helpful for those that need it!

Kitchen Adventures 7.4

Every now and then I go on a baking binge. I figure it's a little healthier than other types of binges. :) And every now and then, that baking binge has a purpose. I needed to make some goodies to give to my co-workers for Christmas and also have something to eat at my birthday party, and cookies sounded like the perfect thing.

This post will include three recipes, but unfortunately no pictures. :( In my excitement (and haste) in baking, I forgot to photograph the event. You'll just have to use your imagination for these. :)

The first recipe came from my Nana. She sent me a letter with this recipe included, and it really worked well. I always think of sugar cookies around the holiday season, but rarely have time to chill the dough and don't really have the space for rolling out dough. This recipe negates both those obstacles, which makes it one of my new standbys.

Reader's Digest Sugar Cookies

Ingredients:
2 3/4 c. flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 c. oleo
1 1/2 c. sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Beat oleo, sugar, egg, and vanilla together. Combine dry ingredients, then add to wet mixture. Form in to balls and place on ungreased cookie sheets. Dip in sprinkles if desired. Bake for 8-10 minutes and cool on wire racks. Frost, if desired, when completely cooled.

The next recipe comes from a cookbook that the Carl Albert Center put together a few years ago for a holiday cookie exchange. This recipe was contributed by my friend and co-worker at that time, Kate Cornwell. I had not tried it before this endeavor, but I have made snickerdoodles before. This recipe was pretty good. I think the cookies turned out differently than when I have made them in the past because I grew up using margarine rather than butter for baking and this time I used butter. The cookies do flatten out with butter, but they are still delicious.

Snickerdoodles

Ingredients:
1/2 c. butter, softened
1 c. sugar
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. cream of tarter
1 large egg
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 c. flour
4 T. sugar
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a mixing bowl, beat the butter on medium speed for 30 seconds. Add 1 cup sugar, baking soda, and cream of tarter. Beat until combined, scraping sides of bowl occasionally. Beat in the egg and vanilla until blended. Beat in as much flour as possible with the mixer and stir in remaining flour. Cover with plastic wrap and chill for 1 hour.
Combine the 4 tablespoons sugar and the cinnamon in a shallow bowl. Shape the dough into 1-inch balls and roll in the cinnamon-sugar mixture. Place dough balls on ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 10 to 11 minutes or until edges are golden. transfer cookies to wire rack to cool.

The final recipe is a new one I just encountered earlier in the month. I get the Food Network newsletter in my email, and they were doing the 12 Days of Cookies. This recipe is the first one they featured. It's by Paula Deen, so of course it has butter in it. :) If you would like the original recipe, you can find it here.

These cookies were pretty delicious! I also tried a variation, making these cookies gluten-free. I have a couple GF co-workers and did not want them to be left out of the goodness, and this is a good recipe to make GF.

Chocolate Gooey Butter Cookies

Ingredients:
1 8 oz. pack cream cheese, room temperature
1 stick butter, room temperature
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1 18 oz. box chocolate cake mix (or gluten-free cake mix)
Confectioners' sugar for dusting

Directions:
In a large bowl with an electric mixer, cream the cream cheese and butter together until smooth. Beat in the egg, then add in the vanilla and beat until combined. Beat in the cake mix until well blended. Cover and chill the dough for 2 hours.
Roll the dough into balls and then roll them in confectioners' sugar. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 12 minutes. The cookies will be soft. Cool completely and sprinkle with more confectioner's sugar, if desired.