Monthly Archives: March 2009

These cupcakes were a cinch to throw together and the icing is sweet sweet sweet! I made a double batch of this recipe from PW and came out with 32 cupcakes (2 smaller events to bake for today – a church meeting and our small group meeting). I doubled the recipe for the frosting/glaze, and I ended up having quite a bit extra – I probably could have stuck with the ingredient amounts for a single batch. Yellow cake with chocolate frosting is one of my favorite combinations (and by favorite, I mean it is a type of cake with frosting on it). This frosting was a little “runnier” than I expected, but still very easy to pull together with minimal ingredients. I’m considering trying it with white chocolate as well – that would have been cute to drizzle over the dark chocolate icing.

I found these mini Reese’s Pieces at the store a little while ago, and thought they would be fun to try in Monster Cookies. Well, I haven’t made Monster Cookies yet, but somehow the package still cut itself open and somehow half the package still found itself in my belly (not all at once, mind you!).
As I was flipping through my recipe binder looking for something new to try, I came across this recipe, which seemed to yield itself nicely to an addition of a half cup of mini Reese’s Pieces. So I added those but left out the 1/2 cup of salted peanuts (only because I didn’t have any). These puppies pack a peanut butter punch second only to Peanut Butter Fudge Crunch. Keeper.

Caution: Do not attempt to eat these without a glass of water or milk nearby!

A friend and I were talking about breakfast foods this past week (yeah, I know – awesome), and coddled eggs flew into my brain and have since taken up residence there, not allowing me to forget about them again. So yesterday I went down to the basement closet and rummaged around and found each of my coddlers. My Grandma collected porcelain egg coddlers, and when I stayed overnight at their house as a child, in the morning I got to choose one of their coddlers in which to have my egg made for breakfast. It is hard to describe a coddled egg. I guess the consistency is in between a poached egg and a sunny side up egg, but steamed inside a small porcelain cup. The smaller coddlers only just fit a single egg inside. The slightly larger coddlers can fit two eggs, or else an egg and different additions, such as cheese, meat, or cooked vegetables. My Grandma also had a couple of very large coddlers, that you could fit a whole meal inside. My favorite is simply a single egg with a little bit of cheese, salt and pepper cooked inside a larger coddler, as then I can stir it around easily and not have it splooge out. I made one today to go with a piece of toast for lunch (daylight savings time really threw off my meals today…). It was as delicious as I remembered, and I will certainly not be packing away the coddlers anytime soon!

After yesterday’s pretzels, both Justin and I thought that the dough might be good to try to make Puka Dog rolls. I made hot dogs wrapped with biscuit dough the other day, and while they were not intended to replicate Puka Dogs, they caused Justin to start craving a Puka Dog. So we ran to the store today to pick up hot dogs (not something I typically have in the fridge) as well as some ingredients to try to copy the signature Puka Dog sauces – namely the Mango Relish and Lemon Garlic Jalapeno Sauce. Mixing up the sauces and baking the pretzel rolls went just fine. The problem came about when we were trying to figure out how to pierce the pretzel bun in a way that would allow us to get the hot dog inside it. I first used the metal handle of a wisk, but it wasn’t large enough in diameter to allow the hot dog to slide into it. We couldn’t think of what else to do, so we ended up just simply slicing them like a regular hot dog bun. This certainly lost some of the authenticity of a Puka Dog, but it was all we could do. Then we slathered on some of the Lemon Garlic Jalapeno Sauce I made (lemon zest and juice, jalapeno pepper, garlic, salt and pepper, and a little mayo blended in the food processor).
Next came a schmear of the mango relish (just mango puree, really).
Add the hot dog, and voila! While not exactly a Puka Dog, it was pretty darn close, and we both enjoyed the silly things for a late lunch/early dinner.

On Monday we booked our hotel for our stay in Las Vegas in June during a conference Justin attends. And all the talk about the hotel got me hungry for the food, primarily huge soft pretzels. I’ve had a recipe for soft pretzels floating around my kitchen for a couple of weeks now, but I never got motivated enough to attempt them. Which was silly, as they turned out to be so much easier than I expected. Honestly, the hardest step in the process was going through my pots trying to find one that wasn’t aluminum! I almost followed the recipe exactly, though I increased the salt added to the dough by about a half of a teaspoon (1 1/2 total), and I didn’t add the extra 1/4 cup of flour (only 3 cups total). Also, the recipe called to make 12 small pretzels. That did not fit the picture in my head regarding a New York pretzel, so I made six large pretzels. I rolled the dough into pretzels without a hitch, and then the boiling process went off without a hitch as well. Nothing fell apart or boiled out of control or was anything other than pretty easy. And the results are terrific! They are not honest-to-goodness pretzels, as I obviously could not boil them in lye, as professional pretzels are, but these are about as close as I’m going to get to an authentic New York pretzel in my kitchen. I will definitely be making these again very soon! I have visions of a “Hot Sam’s” Pretzel Party in the near future. Remember Hot Sam’s in the mall? Gigantic soft pretzels on a stick, and then you pick different toppings – from cheddar cheese to jalapenos to chocolate with sprinkles (my pick!). Pretzels definitely trigger happy (and ridiculously messy) memories!

This is a recipe adapted from a Cooking Light issue. It is a pretty easy dessert that really looks nice (and tastes just as great). I’ve made this for a baby shower before, and added pink food coloring to the mint layer, which was as cute as can be.
These are for a church function tomorrow evening, so I used the green food coloring so people would know what flavor they are.

Because everyone knows that anything green tastes minty, right?

Dark Chocolate Mint Squares

Bottom Layer:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt
1 cup granulated sugar
4 eggs
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
2 Tablespoons water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 (16-ounce) can chocolate syrup

Mint layer:
2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup butter, melted
2 Tablespoons milk
1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract
2 drops green food coloring

Chocolate glaze:
1 cup bittersweet chocolate chips
1/4 cup butter

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. To prepare bottom layer, combine flour and salt in a small bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together the granulated sugar, eggs, 1/4 cup melted butter, water, vanilla, and chocolate syrup until smooth. Add flour mixture to chocolate mixture, stirring until blended. Pour batter into a 9 X 13-inch baking pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350 degrees for 23 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out almost clean. Cool completely in pan on a wire rack.
3. To prepare mint layer, whisk together the powdered sugar, 1/4 cup melted butter, milk, extract, and food coloring until smooth. Spread mint mixture over cooled cake.
4. To prepare the glaze, combine the chocolate chips and 1/4 cup butter in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on high for 1 minute or until melted, stirring after 30 seconds. Let stand 2 minutes. Spread chocolate glaze evenly over top the mint layer. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.