Best Biscotti

I actually found this recipe in the Womans Day magazine while at work and forgot about it. I was flipping through my binder of recipes and decided to make them today. They are so good.. I did not use the "add-ins" that they suggest. Instead, I used semi-sweet chocolate chips and crushed walnuts and in the other "log" I added some mint chocolate chips. Both turned out great!
I looked it up on the website, so there is a link to the recipe.

INGREDIENTS

3 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened

1 cup sugar

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

1⁄4 tsp baking soda

Add-ins:
1⁄2 cup each shelled pistachios and chopped dried apricots, OR

1 grated ginger and 1 cup dried cranberries, 1 Tbsp grated orange zest and 1 cup dark chocolate chips

Drizzle: Melted white or semisweet chocolate, and white sprinkles (optional)

PREPARATION

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Beat first six ingredients in a large bowl with mixer on medium speed until combined. Add your choice of flavors and mix together. Divide dough in two; roll each half into a 12-in.-long log. Place on an ungreased baking sheet, 3 in. apart. Bake 25 minutes.

2. Remove from oven; cool 10 minutes (cool orange-chocolate completely). Cut logs into 1⁄2-in.-thick diagonal slices, place slices upright on baking sheet and return to oven. 10 to 12 minutes until pale golden. Cool completel

Classic Soft Pretzels

I love soft pretzels, so when I was looking though Bakingbites.com blog and found the recipe I couldn't resist making them. These were the best pretzels I've ever made. Such a good recipe.
I made them a couple months back and today just whipped up the dough to freeze for later.
This is such an easy recipe and the dough rises quickly.
Once they were done baking I brushed them with butter and sprinkled with garlic powder, so yummy!

1/4 cup warm/hot water (110F)
1 teaspoon sugar
1 packet active dry yeast
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup water2 tbsp baking soda
1 cup cold water

Combine yeast, hot water and sugar in small dish and leave to foam for 5 minutes. Stir flour and salt in medium bowl. Add yeast mixture and 3/4 cup water and stir until everything comes together. Knead on a lightly floured surface until smooth.
Place in a slightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and leave to rise for one hour.
Dissolve baking soda in cold water. Preheat oven to 400F.
Punch down dough and cut into 8 pieces. Roll out each piece until approximately 18 inches long and twist into a pretzel shape. Dip pretzel into baking soda mixture and place on parchment covered baking sheet. Repeat to make 8 pretzels.
Bake for 15-20 minutes, until golden brown.

Apple Dapple Cake

Mmmm.. Another great recipe from Allrecipes. com

I found this recipe a long time ago on the website, but keep forgetting to post and take a picture of it. This one of our favorite apple cakes and I don't make it as often as we would like because it's very high in calories with all that butter and oil, but it's very delicious.

I only put the apples and chopped walnuts in the mix, because I don't like raisins or coconut and I do not make a glaze
This cake always comes out very good and moist.

Enjoy !

INGREDIENTS (Nutrition)

• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 3 eggs
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups diced apple without peel
• 1 cup flaked coconut
• 1 cup raisins
• 1 cup chopped walnuts
• 1 cup brown sugar (optional)
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/4 cup milk

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease and flour one 10 inch tube pan.
2. Combine oil, butter or margarine, and sugar together. Beat well with a mixer. Add eggs, flour, baking soda, salt, and vanilla; mix well. Stir in apples, coconut, raisins, and walnuts. Pour batter in prepared pan.
3. Bake for 90 minutes. Remove cake from oven. Let it cool in the pan for a few minutes, and then remove from pan.
4. If desired, make glaze. In a small saucepan, heat brown sugar, butter or margarine, and milk. Bring mixture to boil, and stir for 1 minute. Pour over warm cake.

Peach-a-Berry Pie

Peach-a-Berry Pie


I had taste for pie and some cans of peaches and strawberries in the cabinet and remembered that I saved this recipe a long time ago from Allrecipes.com

It was really good, so easy to make and I will make it again in the summer when I can get my hands on fresh peaches and raspberries.
I did not have raspberries, but the strawberries tasted just as good in this recipe.

Ingredients:
4 cps fresh peaches-peeled, pitted and sliced ( I used 1 can of sliced peaches)
1 cup fresh raspberries ( I used a can of strawberries)
3/4 cup white sugar
3 tablespoons all purpose flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 (9inch) pie crusts
2 tablespoons butter, softened and cut into pieces
1 tsp coarse granulated sugar

Directions:
1. Preheat over to 400 degrees F
2. Place peaches and berries in a colander for about 15 minutes to drain any excess fluid, then transfer to large bowl. Gently toss with sugar, flour, and cinnamon. Transfer to a pie crust. Dot with butter and top with remaining crust. Cut vents into top crust and sprinkle with sugar.
3. Bake 45minutes in the preheated oven, until crust is golden brown.

Halloween Cupcakes

Bloodshot Eye Cakes




I made these about a month before Halloween to test them out. I was planning on bringing them to work, but wanted to make sure they were good in taste before I did.
I tweaked the recipe a bit to my liking. I'm not a big fan of peanut butter or butterscotch pudding, so I omitted those. I also did not use Chocolate milk, just regular.
In the end they still turned out delicious and were a big hit at work.
The second time around when I did prepare them for work, I made chocolate and yellow cupcakes and I used chocolate pudding and vanilla pudding and pie filling to fill them.
I got the recipe from ladies home journal last year, but I think I also saw the same recipe online somewhere.

I will post the ingredients and directions per the original recipe, but of course you can change it up to your own liking.

Makes 24 cupcakes

Prep time: 25min
Total time: 1 hour 20min.

24 standard paper baking cups
1 box (18.25oz) dark chocolate cake mix
1 1/3 cup chocolate milk
1/3 cup canola oil
3 large eggs
1 box (3.4oz) instant butterscotch pudding and pie filling mix
1 1/2 cups milk
1 1/2 cups smooth peanut butter
1 container white frosting
1 tube red decorating gel
24 plastic eyeballs ( I bought mine at a Halloween store)

Preheat oven to 350F . Line 2 (12 cup) standard muffin pans with baking cups;set aside. Beat together cake mix, chocolate milk, oil and eggs in large mixing bowl on low speed 30 seconds. Scrape sides of bowl with a rubber spatula increase speed to medium and beat 1 minute more. Evenly divide batter among cups.

Bake until a toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean, 21 to 26 minutes. Transfer cupcakes in pan to rack and let cool completely before filling and frosting.


Whisk together pudding mix, milk and peanut butter in medium bowl until thickened and smooth, about 2 minutes. Refrigerate 30 minutes, for filling.

Spoon filling into a pastry bag fitted with a medium plain tip. Fill cupcakes and squeezing a couple of tablespoons of filling into each.
Spread 2 tablespoons frosting on each cupcake.


Using decorating gel, draw squiggly lines on frosted cupcakes to create blood vessels. Place an eyeball in center of each.

Avocado Pico de Gallo

I found this recipe in Good Housekeeping magazine that was laying around at work.

It says to serve with Jicama and carrot slices, but we used tortilla chips instead. It was delicious and gone within minutes.

Total time: 15 min
Makes : 2 3/4 cups

2 medium ripe avocados, cut into 1/2 inch chunks

2 plum tomatoes, seeded and coarsely chopped

1 jalapeno chile, chopped

1/3 cup chopped sweet onion

1/4 cup loosely packed cilantro leaves, chopped

2 Tbsp. fresh lime juice

1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt

In bowl, combine avocados, tomatoes, jalapeno, onion, cilantro, lime juice and salt. Store covered in the refrigerator up to 4 hours.

Mexican Night!

Saturday was Mexican Night! I've been craving Burritos for a while now and finally got around making them yesterday. You can use any meat you like to fill the burrito, but I used steak!

Steak Burritos

2 lbs. of steak (thin/sandwich type)
1 Burrito Seasoning Mix
5 Burrito sized Flour Tortillas
3 tomatoes
Fresh Cilantro (chopped)
Lettuce (chopped)
1 1/2 brick of cheese (any type you like) I used pepper jack cheese
1 small can of green chile peppers (diced)
1 hot jalapeno pepper (chopped)
1 container of sour cream
1 can of refried beans

Cut the steak into small bite sized pieces and cook until done. Add the Burrito seasoning mix with 1 cup of water and simmer for a few minutes.

While the steak is cooking, coarsely chop the tomatoes and mix with the fresh cilantro.

Shred the cheese, unless you already buy the prepared package.

Chop the lettuce

You can start heating up the refried beans on low heat.

Mix the diced chile peppers and the chopped jalapeno pepper together and set aside.

When the steak is done, warm up the tortillas. You can do this on the stove or in the microwave.

Spread about a table spoon of beans on each tortilla and top with steak, cheese, sour cream, peppers, lettuce and tomato/cilantro mix and fold according to package directions. Enjoy!