Christmas Part VI: A few more recipes and a summary

It's time to wrap up this Christmas business.  The cookies have been destroyed and what little leftovers we did have are wrapped in tin foil and placed gingerly in the dessert archive.

For those of you who don't know what the "dessert archive" is, it's what my family calls my deep freezer.  I'm not making this up.   At any given moment, I could defrost enough food to host a 50 person bridal shower with a rockin' dessert buffet.  Waste not, want not.

So here's a little recap of everything sweet that I baked for the holiday, complete with a few recipes and pictures that I haven't already posted.

Desserts
- Red Velvet Cheesecake Cake
- Bread Pudding that I forgot to take pictures of because I was a little bit tipsy
- Chocolate Coffee Pots de Creme Pie times dos

Cookies and Candy 
- Sugar Cookies and Butter Cream Frosting

- Pecan Pie Bars
- Inside Out Pumpkin Bars
- Russian Tea Cakes
- Fudge
     - Maple Walnut
     - Chocolate
     - Chocolate Walnut
     - Peanut Butter
     - Candy Cane
     - Cake Batter
- Almond Bars
- Chocolate Caramel Shortbread
- Oreo Truffles
     - Add mint extract for peppermint Oreo Truffles
     - Replace Oreo's with Nutter Butters and replace the 8 ounces of cream cheese with 10 ounces of peanut butter for Nutter Butter Truffles 

Christmas Part V: Chocolate Coffee Pots de Creme Pie

Chocolate pots de creme is one of those recipes that every woman should have in her arsenal.  It's amazing- rich and creamy and delicious and impressive and incredibly easy to make.  In general, you can take the recipe below for the pots de creme and pour it into little, adorable mini glasses for individual sized desserts.  I like to eat these with mini spoons.  I also like to eat these in succession- about four a time.

Like so.

But anyway- since I never leave well enough alone, I instead poured my pots de creme into a pre baked pie shell along with some ganache, topped it with whipped cream frosting, adorned it with chocolate curls and voila- I had a french silk pie.  Ok not really- but it looks like a french silk pie and tastes so sinful that it's mildly awkward to eat around your parents. 

Two Chocolate Coffee Pots de Creme Pies 

Half each recipe to make a single pie

Components

2 pre baked pie shells

One Recipe Dark Chocolate Ganache 

One Recipe Chocolate Coffee Pots de Creme 

One Recipe Whipped Cream Frosting

Chocolate Curls 

Instructions

Pour warm ganache into the pie shells.  Let set in the fridge while you make the pots de creme.

Mix up the pots de creme and pour into the pie shells with the ganache.  Let completely set in the fridge.

Top with whipped cream frosting and chocolate curls.

Christmas Part IV: Pecan Bars

So, as you might already know, my family and I tend to overdo it a bit on Christmas.  Holidays in general tend to be an all out gorge fest marking the end of a multi-day bake-a-thon where I frantically run around my kitchen coated in flour and shame.  I don't know how we got here.

Actually, I know exactly how we got here.  Ever since we were kids, we had the staple "must do" items at the holiday dessert table: pecan pie, pumpkin pie- things like that.  And every once in a while, we'd try something new.  And inevitably, many of those recipes got added to the "must do" list and the gluttony ensued.  So in order to "cut back," my mom and I sat down for lunch one day and threw the list out.  We started from scratch, only writing down the recipes we really wanted to make for this particular holiday.  I wanted a red velvet cheesecake cake and bread pudding, my mom wanted tirimisu and rhubarb pie.  We decided that we were all old enough to understand that we don't need the classics for every holiday.  I mean, we just had pecan pie for Thanksgiving.... we don't need it again.... right?  There is no reasonable excuse as to why the seven adults in my family can't handle a Christmas without pecan pie.

Well apparently six adults could handle a pecanless holiday.  This adult secretly pouted until she realized that we had stated that we can bake "any cookies we'd like to have on hand."  And this one little bullet point on our holiday menu suddenly took on a new meaning for me- it was my loophole.

So then I made pecan bars.  Technically they are a cookie- so I wasn't breaking the rules.  But apparently I'm still 5 years old and I can't handle breaking tradition in the slightest.  No pecan pie is like no Santa Claus.  I had to.  She practically forced my hand.

Pecan Pie Bars
Recipe adapted from: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/pecan-pie-bars-i-2/

Ingredients

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup butter
• 4 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups light corn syrup
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 3 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 1/2 cups chopped pecans

The most important part of this recipe is prepping the pan.  Unless you 10 X 15 inch jellyroll pan has unusually tall sides, you will need to plan on a little pan overflow.  

Line your jelly roll pan with several sheets of aluminum foil that hang over the edge.  Bend the foil up so that it creates sides which will prevent overflow.  Grease the pan.  Place your jellyroll pan on a cookie sheet.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, stir together the flour, 1/2 cup sugar, and salt. Cut in 1 cup of butter with a pastry knife until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. It will be very crumbly and will not come together in the bowl.  Sprinkle the mixture evenly over the prepared pan, and press in firmly. 

Bake for 20 minutes in the preheated oven.

While the crust is baking, prepare the filling. In a large bowl mix together the eggs, corn syrup, 1 1/2 cups sugar, 3 tablespoons butter, and vanilla until smooth. Stir in the chopped pecans. Spread the filling evenly over the crust as soon as it comes out of the oven.

Bake for 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until set. Allow to cool completely on a wire rack before slicing into bars.

Christmas Part III: Inside Out Pumpkin Bars

So Trader Joes is the best store on the face of the planet for buying non-baking related grocery items like produce and meat and meals and things like that.  (But who really does that anyway?  I'm pretty much a "pie for dinner" kind of gal.)

And Trader Joes has these amazing things called "Inside Out Carrot Cake Cookies" which are these two yummy little chewy carrot cookies filled with nuts and raisins with cream cheese frosting sandwiched between them.  My husband would kill for these cookies.  So when he asked for something "pumpkiny" for Christmas, I thought I would try to recreate these cookies but with pumpkin instead of carrot.  Hence the name "Inside Out Pumpkin Bars."  They are just delicious pumpkin cookie sandwiches with cream cheese filling.  Pretty simple- but a huge hit!

Inside Out Pumpkin Bars
Recipe Adapted from: http://www.howsweeteats.com/2011/10/chewier-pumpkin-chocolate-chip-cookies-2-ways/

Ingredients

1 2/3 cups of all-purpose flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 stick (1/2 cup) of butter, melted and cooled
1 1/4 cups packed light brown sugar
1 large egg + 1 egg yolk
2 teaspoons real vanilla extract
1/4 cup pumpkin puree from a can
2 Cups White Chocolate Chips

1 batch of Cream Cheese Frosting

Directions

Mix the flour, salt, cornstarch, pumpkin pie spice and baking soda in a bowl and set aside. In another bowl, mix the melted butter and sugars until they are combined. Add the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla and stir until mixed. Stir in pumpkin puree until smooth. Gradually add flour mixture and mix until a dough forms – it will look crumbly at first, but it will come together. Fold white chocolate chips.

Refrigerate dough for 30 minutes, then roll into golfball-sized balls. Bake for 8-11 minutes, then let cool completely. (Mine took the entire 11 minutes) If you keep these in the fridge for even longer, you may get a more cakier cookie.

When the cookies are cooled, fill two cookies with cream cheese frosting and let the frosting set in the fridge. 

Christmas Part II: Russian Tea Cakes

Russian Tea Cakes are one of those Christmas treats from my childhood that I cant go without.  The recipe is not all the dissimilar from a shortbread (don't worry, I made that too.... two kinds) and they had that simple, sweet buttery taste that just makes you think of Christmas when you eat them.  They are also called Mexican Wedding Cakes or Butterballs (thank you, Wikipedia) and this is the recipe that has always served me well.

The fact that I've been making these since before I owned a stand mixer of course didn't prevent me from screwing up and having to make them again.  That happened several times this season (like the Red Velvet Cheesecake Cake where the beautiful, expensive cheesecake I made ended up in a pile on the counter.  I drop things...)  I apparently let my beautiful walnuts that my wonderful friend got for me fresh from her family's farm to spoil without noticing.  Fabulous.  Well of course I didn't taste the walnuts or the batter before the entire recipe was made and something smelled like death.  Even my husband wouldn't eat them.  So I used pecans because they are better anyway and I had those in the pantry- not spoiled.


Russian Tea Cakes
Recipe barely adapted from: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/russian-tea-cakes-i/

Ingredients 

• 1 cup butter
• 1 teaspoon real vanilla extract
• 6 tablespoons confectioner' sugar
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 1/3 cup confectioners' sugar for decoration

Directions 

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees
• 
  
• Cream butter and vanilla until smooth. Combine the 6 tablespoons sugar and flour. Stir into the butter mixture until just blended. Mix in the chopped pecans. Roll dough into 1 inch balls, and place them 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.
• 
  
• Bake for 12 minutes in the preheated oven. When cool, roll in remaining confectioners' sugar. 

Triumphant Return to Baking.... and hip hip hurrah for the birth of Christ.... and fudge

So once upon a time life happened and I stopped blogging for awhile.  But I continued to bake- oh boy did I continue to bake.  I would make things, get excited, eat all the things and forget where I got the recipe and what massive changes I made to the recipe.  Then I would want to give out the recipe or make it again, and I would turn to my trusty blog where I kept my detailed notes and archives, get really annoyed with myself and cry.  Hence the triumphant return to baking!  And what a time to start- I just had two full days of non-stop baking to prep for Christmas.

Christmas is a glorious time in my household.  To celebrate the birth of Christ, we consume more cookies, pie and cake than the average glutton would be able to eat in a month.  We pretty much do everything in excess- the presents, the food, the alcohol, the presents.... Oh- presents!  That leads me to another reason why I have to blog again.  My really pretty husband got me a computer!  I'm typing on it right now!  Look.  At.  Me.  Type.  My old computer was....well.... less than sufficient.  I got it my first year of college and immediately strapped it to my back for the next four years of my existence.  It's a little worn.  I fall a lot.  And I don't respect my physical belongings.  But I'm pretty sure I am in no way at fault for the fact that it barely functions anymore.  But regardless- I have a new computer.  So long old computer who stood loyally by me for countless papers, group projects and study guide compiling.  You are dead to me now and I've replaced you with something younger and prettier.  Husband- don't get any ideas.  

So I've gotten off track again- baking.  This is a baking blog, right?  Yes?  Good- the holiday food was wonderful, and about 30 sticks of butter (no exaggeration) and 5 lbs on my hips later, it's time to document all that I created for next year.  I'll also be going back through the last few months and typing up the big hit recipes in order to catch myself up.  So expect a few entries that are less rambling and more informative.  Who would want that?  Everyone but me?  Ok...

I'm going to start out with my favorite discovery of the season: THE EASIEST AND MOST AMAZING FUDGE YOU'VE EVER MADE OR EATEN.  This recipe has been a huge hit and I've shared it with pretty much everyone I know.  Let's count how many batches I made in the last 30 days... two maple, four peppermint, three chocolate, two peanut butter and (my favorite) two cake batter!  That's a bakers dozen batches of fudge.  Let's do this:

The Easiest Fudge Recipe Ever:
Recipe Adapted From: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/fudge/detail.aspx detail.aspx
The recipe below is for a double batch.

Ingredients
3 (12 ounce) bags of chocolate or other flavored chips
1 Stick Butter
2 (14 ounce) cans of Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk
Various Extracts and mix ins, see variations below for exact details

Directions
Line a 9x13 inch pan with parchment paper, leaving extra paper on the sides in order to help remove the fudge later.

Pour the chips in a large microwave safe bowls.  Cut the stick of butter into pads and layer on top of the chips.  Pour the two cans of sweetened condensed milk over the chips and butter.  Stir together.

Put the bowl in the microwave and microwave for 90 seconds.  Stir.  Microwave for another 90 seconds and stir again.  If after stirring well all the chips are not melted, return to the microwave for 30 seconds increments until the mixture is completely melted.

Add any mix ins or extracts you want, described below.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and let set in the fridge before cutting.

Peanut Butter Fudge
Use Peanut Butter chips instead of chocolate chips

Chocolate Walnut Fudge
Use Chocolate Chips and add in 2 cups of chopped walnuts before pouring into the pan.

Maple Walnut Fudge
Use White Chocolate chips instead of chocolate chips.
After the mixture is melted, add 1 tsp of maple extract (more to taste) and 2 cups of chopped walnuts.  Stir well.

Candy Cane Fudge

Use White Chocolate chips instead of chocolate chips.
After the mixture is melted, add 1 tsp of peppermint extract (more to taste) and 1 package of chopped candy cans.  Stir well.

Cake Batter Fudge

Use White Chocolate chips instead of chocolate chips.
After the mixture is melted, slowly incorporate one cup of dry yellow cake mix a quarter cup at a time. Stir well.  Top with sprinkles.

Cinnamon Sugar Caramel Blondies

So it's September.  It's football season.  It's officially too cold to wear shorts and tank tops.  Most people are busy getting all depressed and sad that their days of drinking beer by the pool are coming to a close, and scantily clad ladies will no longer be roaming the streets.  But I, as a baker and a glutton, couldn't be more stoked.


My family had a gathering last weekend, and I got to bring the desserts.  And due to all the reasons stated above, I decided I needed to bring "fall" treats.  I wanted my house to smell like cinnamon and spice after baking...whatever it is I was going to bake.  I wanted to grab a pumpkin spice latte from Starbucks and sit down and enjoy a little bit of autumn.  So, I made two different bars- Pumpkin Pie Bars and Cinnamon Sugar Caramel Blondies.  They were both good, but I'll write about the blondies first.


I showed up with giant tray of amazingness to contribute to the festivities.  (What can I say.  I'm nothing if not modest!)   How my husbands family does get togethers is pretty epic to begin with, and this was the just the icing on the metaphorical cake.  But instead of cake, these treats topped off an atery clogging day of fried deliciousness.  I'm talking fried fish, fried chicken wings, cheese balls, jalapeno poppers, doughtnuts- you name it, these people will deep fat fry it.  God, I love my family.  


Oh- and they also make their own wine.  I use the term wine loosely.  I think "wine flavored everclear" more accurately describes this stuff.  Did I mention that I love my family?


Anywhoo- after mowing down on all this fried goodness, I broke out the dessert tray.  Despite being not hungry in the slightest, I think I ate like 9 bars throughout the course of the day.  Then I sat around immobile/watched people shoot things until dinner time rolled around.  Most normal people would skip dinner at this point, or have a salad or something lame like that.  We are not normal.  We heated the oil up and threw in more food.  Seriously- I LOVE MY FAMILY!


So then I came home, ate more bars, and prayed that I could somehow learn to digest faster due to the massive food baby that had reached full term somewhere between my 5th serving of fried cheese and my last caramel bar.


Oh yeah, the caramel bars.  Holy cow- these are good.  Hands down my favorite bar I've ever made.  Sweet, a little salty, and wonderfully flavorful.  Soft, gooey, happy- and they made my house smell beautiful.  I <3 them.  Make them.  Before winter rolls around and you are forced to embrace all that is peppermint.

Cinnamon Sugar Caramel Blondies
Recipe adapted from: http://www.the-baker-chick.com/2011/08/cinnamon-caramel-blondies.html

Ingredients 
2-2/3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 cups packed brown sugar
1 cup (8 ounces) salted butter, at room temperature
2 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract (plus one tsp, optional)
1 14 oz bag of caramels unwrapped

1/3 cup heavy cream

2 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon


Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9×13-inch baking pan; set aside.  Whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg in a medium bowl; set aside.



Beat together the butter and brown sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, and then the vanilla. Beat, scraping the bowl, until thoroughly combined. On low speed, gradually add the flour mixture until just combined. Give the dough a final stir with a spatula or wooden spoon to make sure the flour is incorporated.  Spread half of  the dough evenly into the pan (It is going to be a thick batter so you may need  greased spatula...or greased hands... to help with this).


Heat the caramels, cream and a tsp of vanilla (optional) in a saucepan over medium-high heat until thick and melted. Pour the caramel sauce over the batter.

Distribute the remaining batter as evenly as possible over the caramel. (I grabbed small handfuls, pressed them flat, and pieced them on top of the caramel.  If it isn't perfect, that's ok!)  Combine the granulated sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl and sprinkle evenly over the top of the batter.


Bake for 25 minutes or until the surface springs back when gently pressed (They may look a little brown- but that's only due to the cinnamon- it's OK!)  Cool completely before cutting. Store in an airtight container.

More Popcorn and a Triathlon

So in all the haste and excitement of signing up for summer races this year, my friends and I decided we really wanted to get in on the HyVee Triathlon.  It's apparently a pretty big deal.  It's an Olympic qualifier event, they give away over a million dollars in prizes, and athletes from all over the world to swim in our lake, bike on our streets, run to our capital, and eat our free post-race cookies.

There were, of course, a couple mild problems with wanting to compete.  At the time of singing up, A. I hadn't swum further than the distance between the pool bar and the deep end in about 5 years... and B. I didn't own a bike. Solution: Find two saps friends to form a relay team who will do the swim and bike while I run.  They do the parts I don't like, and I get all the glory of crossing the finish line and getting a medal.  Love it.

So to say thank you to these fine women, without whom I would not have been able to participate in this event, I made popcorn.  Our swimmer had tried my birthday cake popcorn that I made awhile back (after it sat in the car for 36 hours, melted, and reformed into a gallon sized bag hunk of deliciousness) and despite all this, she loved it.  So I made a couple new varieties- half of which we shoved into our transition bag to munch on during the event, the rest stayed in the car for the ride home.

Side note- apparently bringing in candy coated popcorn to a serious athletic event makes the "serious" athletes stare at you disapprovingly.  Whatever- carbs make you go fast.  We were just carbo-loading.  And every real athlete knows that cake mix is the best and purest pre-race carb.  I think.  Probably.  I like popcorn.

Other side note- this was probably one of the best, and most fun days of my life.  We hauled our little race-tattooed selves out of bed sometime between the hours of I hate life and F-off I'm still sleeping (so, like, 4) and made our way to the lake.  Two of my friends did the swim and after much waiting, they took off and absolutely rocked the entire 1.5K.  To give you some perspective, I did a baby-tri last month that was a 300 meter swim.  That's about 3 city blocks.  This was 5 times that length.  Holy god, that would have been a lot of flailing and lake water ingested.

Next, my girlfriend went off on the bike ride.  After dropping a chain and conquering the 25 miles of "rolling hills" (which is a really pretty way of saying that this ride was going to kick peoples asses.) She rolled on up and passed me the race chip.  My turn!

So, here's the thing.  I can run- I know that.  I've done a marathon.  I enjoy running.  I have, in the past, run a lot and trained well for various events.  I apparently have developed a bit of a running 'tude where I think I'm too good to train for a 6 mile run because I've done so many distances much longer than that.  But it had been awhile since I ran those distances.  Like, months.  And apparently my arrogance kicked my ass.  After standing for 5 hours, not training, and being freaked out/tense for the 30 min before my run because I was eyeing down every biker looking for my teammate... the run sucked.  After what I thought was about 20 minutes of running, my body was killing me and I was 99% certain they must not be posting mile markers every single mile.  Then I passed the sign that said "One Mile" and I knew I was in for it.

But somehow I stumbled across that finish line 53 minutes later, collected my medals and found my team.  Then the post race binge fest commenced.  Crap food tastes so much sweeter when it's free and I'm in spandex.  So after 4 free cookies, 3 pieces of free cake and a free protein bar, we grabbed lunch (and beer!) and called it a day.

But then we discovered the car popcorn.  Despite being not hungry in the slightest, we concluded our fantastic triathlon event by diving into the bags face first and frantically gorging, leaving our faces and hands completely covered in melted white chocolate.  We are the definition of classy.  It helps that I was a little drunk by this point.

So there you have it.  Running.  Swimming.  Biking.  Popcorn.  Beer.  Good friends.  Free stuff.  A medal.  Epic.

And now for some notes on my popcorn....

These are the four kinds I made: Birthday Cake (which I already described here), Nutterbutter, Cookies n' Cake, and Reese's Peanut Butter Pretzel.

Cookies n' Cake
One bag of popped, buttered popcorn (placed in a large bowl, no kernels)
8 ounces white chocolate
3/8 cup yellow cake mix (dry mix, not batter)
10-15 crushed Oreos

Melt chocolate in microwave according to package directions and whisk in cake mix.  Pour over popcorn and Oreos and mix.  Spread on a piece of parchment paper.  When hardened, break into pieces and serve.

Reese's Peanut Butter Pretzel

One bag of popped, buttered popcorn (placed in a large bowl, no kernels)

5 ounces white chocolate

5 ounces of peanut butter chips

1 cup chocolate coated peanut butter filled pretzels

Reese's Pieces (as many as you want)

Melt chocolate and peanut butter chips in microwave according to package directions.  Pour over popcorn, candies and pretzels and mix.  Spread on a piece of parchment paper.  When hardened, break into pieces and serve.

Nutterbutter 
One bag of popped, buttered popcorn (placed in a large bowl, no kernels)
5 ounces white chocolate
5 ounces of peanut butter chips
1 cup mini Nutterbutters


Melt chocolate and peanut butter chips in microwave according to package directions.  Pour over popcorn and cookies and mix.  Spread on a piece of parchment paper.  When hardened, break into pieces and serve.

State Shoot

So it's been a week since my first official catering gig, and I have to say, it went better than expected.  Of course, little Miss Negativity here figured that I was doomed to fail in a fiery explosion of burned miniature cupcakes and undercooked chicken.  But, to my knowledge, everyone left full, satisfied, happy, and sans food poisoning, so I'm pretty much a happy camper.  And after sampling everything at least seven times, I do have to toot my own horn a little.  On a budget of $500, I had to serve appetizers and desserts to the 200 people who signed up for the event (that's only $2.50 per person.)  I served four hot dishes, three appetizers, two cold dips, and six desserts, all of which turned out surprising edible.  So yeah, toot toot!  I rock.  Go me.

And then I celebrated by eating my weight in sashimi and downing enough beer to drunkenly follow my sister around a nice restaurant chanting "gong gong gong gong" until she succumbed to my not-so-subtle hints, rang the giant decorative gong, broke the mallet, and ran way. 

Were there any hiccups? Of course- that's my life.  I spent two solid days in my kitchen running around like a crazy woman which was only interrupted by me going to the store to forget ingredients (I went to Wal-Mart twice to get green peppers.  Guess how many green peppers went in the chicken salad.  None.  Fail.)  Pretty much everything I made took at least 4 times longer than I thought it would.  My gi-hue-normous tray of cookie bars got broken into by some over eager guests (for serious?)  I got a late start setting up due to the facilities not being ready, and people wanted to eat about an hour early.  Oh- and the kitchen was upstairs, and the buffet was downstairs, and I wore not-so-supportive shoes.

But it's DONE!  I officially did it.  It's behind me!  And I can officially focus on my new and upcoming baking adventures (erm, I might have signed myself up to create a dessert buffet for my friends wedding.  I have no idea how this happened.)

Some of these are new, some of these are old, but all of these have been consumed by the fine shooters that attended the Iowa State Shoot this year.  

Hot Dishes

Italian Meatballs:  I made ten recipes, totaling just under 200 total meat balls.

Barbeque Little Smokies:  Ok, these really aren't my thing- but you have to think of your audience.  And pathetically enough, these were the first thing to run out. I made six recipes, which should have been about 100 servings.

Cheese Dip:  I'm not too proud to admit that I eat Velveeta.  I made three recipes, which was about 75 servings.

Buffalo Chicken Dip with tortilla chips:  This was by far the biggest hit of the hot dishes.  Recipe below.  I made four recipes which makes about 100 servings.  

2- 8oz. pkgs. cream cheese
4 or 5 chicken breasts, cooked and chopped
2 cups cheddar cheese – shredded
3/8 cup buffalo sauce (Franks is best)
1 cup ranch dressing

   Mix and bake.  (Either in a crock put for a few hours, or at 350F until bubbly around the edges)

Cold Dishes

Dill Dip with vegetables: I made three batches which was about 50 servings.

Chicken Salad served open face on a roll: I made eight- yes eight- batches which should have been 100 servings, but was probably a lot more.  This stuff was amazing.  And there was no green pepper in any of it.  

Here are my proportions:
   14 green onions (a package) 
    7 cups celery 
    8 packages (6oz) cranberries 
    30 cups baked, cubed and cooled chicken 
    4 cups pecans
    7.5 cups mayo
    
 Spices the same (eight times what is listed in the link above.) 

BLT Bites: These were incredibly popular and delish.  I made about 90 servings. 

Assorted Pinwheels:  I made 16 tortillas worth which was about 175 servings.

Texas Caviar with tortilla chips: I made two big batches, but with a lot of modifications, as follows.  

   1 big can of black beans 26.5 ounces
   2 cans of normal black eyed peas 
   1 can of jalapeno black eyed peas
   1 can of tomatoes 
   1 large onion
   2 jalapenos
   1 yellow pepper 
   Double the rest of all the other ingredients. 

Desserts

Carmelitas:  My favorite thing of the day.  I made three batches, and cut very small pieces to have just under 150 bars.

Cookie Bars: I made two batches- pecan and dark chocolate chunk, and traditional chocolate chip.   

Miniature Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes:  I made a single batch with no ganache, about 60 cupcakes.

Miniature Almond Cupcakes with Buttercream: I made a single batch with no ganache, about 60 cupcakes. 

Birthday Cake Popcorn: I made six batches, which would be about 100 servings.   

Italian Meatballs

So a while back, I posted that I was going to start testing recipes for this catering gig I had coming up in August.  Fast forward to August- didn't practice anything since.  So, I'm going to be baking up a storm these next two weeks, and I'll be posting the fruits of my labors, sans my lengthy stories.

Ok, maybe a few short sentences to document how this all went down.

So on Sunday I made over 200 meatballs.  Holy freaking cow- that was a lot of meatballs.  Thank goodness for the husband, who stepped up and help me roll these suckers out, or I might still be up in my kitchen up to my elbows in raw hamburger.

Yeah, if that mental image doesn't make you hungry, I don't know what will. 

So here's the recipe- SUPER simple and easy and darned delicious.


Italian Meatballs
Recipe from http://www.food.com/recipe/authentic-italian-meatballs-92095 
I made 10 recipes resulting in about 200 meatballs

Ingredients
1 lb ground beef (I used 85% lean)
1 egg
1/4 cup milk (I used whole milk)
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon oregano 
1 tablespoon parsley
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 jar of Pasta Sauce 



Directions 
Preheat your oven to 350.

Mix all of your ingredients by hand in a large bowl until fully combined.  Roll one ounce sections into balls, and place on a cookie sheet (with sides) lined with aluminum foil and sprayed with cooking spray.


Bake for about 20 min, or internal temperate reads 160.


Serve in a crock pot with sauce.  

Bob's Brownies

So for the first time ever, I actually have a totally legit, cute story about my baking.  And it has nothing to do with me getting frazzled, ruining recipes, running out of ingredients or injuring myself in some manner.

I know- I'm just as shocked as you are.

So a few weeks ago I was totally ready for my triathlon.  Training- completed.  Taper- reluctantly completed.  Clothes and equipment- ready to go.  Hotels- booked.  I was totally ready for this.

Except one minor detail.  I have a dog.  A dog that generally needs to be fed and let out on occasion.  I mean really, that's about it- she moves only slightly more than your average pieces of furniture, but she does require her kibbles and the occasional potty break.  And she most certainly wouldn't be happy spending 60 consecutive hours in her kennel.  So that's a problem.

Thank goodness I have very sweet, kind and understanding in-laws that take my dog even when she subsequently poops on their carpet repeatedly (Well now, she showed them who's boss!)

So to say thank you for watching my dog/cleaning poop I decided to bake.  Gee- what a shocker.  (Here's where this story gets cute.)  I gathered up a bunch of potential recipes in my "Recipes: WANT" section of my Internet Explorer bookmarks, and grabbed the closest co-worker who would listen to help me make my decision. As I'm tabbing through showing my wonderful next-door-cube neighbor the recipes- she stops me at a recipe called "Oatmeal Almost Candy Bars."

This co-worker had a friend who passed away a few months ago, Michelle.  From what I know of her, she was pretty amazing.  Besides being an amazing friend, she was apparently a pretty incredible cook.  She catered, so she never shared her recipes, and they were all lost when she passed away.

Well apparently I stumbled across a blog that made one of her patented, crowd pleasing recipes.  Michelle always called these "Bob's Brownies," so that's what they shall remain.  I got to make these and give some to my co-worker to share with her family- and I'm happy that now they can have these any time they want.  It felt wonderful bringing back a little memory that she can now share with her family.


Bob's Brownies
Recipe From:  http://annies-eats.net/2010/05/19/chocolate-oatmeal-almost-candy-bars/

Ingredients
For the oatmeal layers:
2½ cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature (I used Irish)
2 cups light brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp. pure vanilla extract (I used Mexican)
3 cups old-fashioned oats
1 cup salted honey roasted peanuts, coarsely chopped




For the chocolate layer:
1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk
2 cups good quality semisweet chocolate chips
2 tbsp. unsalted butter
¼ tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla extract
¾ cup salted honey roasted peanuts, coarsely chopped

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350° F.  Grease a 9 x 13-inch baking pan.

To make the oatmeal layer, in a large mixing bowl, beat the butter on medium-high speed until it is soft and creamy, about 1 minute.  Add the brown sugar and beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.  Mix in the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.  Blend in the vanilla.

With the mixer on low speed, mix in the flour, baking soda and salt just until incorporated.  Mix in the oats and peanuts with a rubber spatula until evenly combined.
 
Reserve 2 cups of the mixture.  Place the remaining dough in the prepared pan and press over the bottom of the pan in an even layer.

To make the chocolate layer, combine the condensed milk, chocolate chips, butter and salt in a double boiler.  Stir occasionally until the mixture is warm and the chocolate chips and butter are melted.  Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla and peanuts.

Pour the warm chocolate mixture over the oatmeal cookie layer and spread evenly with an offset spatula. Crumble the remaining oatmeal cookie mixture and scatter evenly over the top of the chocolate.

Bake for 20 -25 minutes, until the topping is golden brown and the chocolate layer is starting to pull away from the sides of the pan.  Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool completely.  Cut into bars as desired and serve.

Caramel Chocolate Cake (a.k.a. Milky Way Cake)

So I'm really bad at remembering things.  Like birthdays.... especially birthdays.  Thank god for Outlook.

Several months ago I was talking with my husbands awesome Aunt, and she mentioned how much her daughter would LOVE a birthday cake made by me.  Of course I said yes.... and then promptly forgot about this conversation until Monday.

So Monday rolls along, and I'm reviewing my work week, and after getting awfully excited when I see that I’m taking part of the day off on Friday (To go to my very first triathlon!)  I see that darned little birthday reminder on Wednesday.  And then I realize I totally forgot about her cake.

Bad wife!  I fail my husbands family!

So I immediately email her, and let her know that despite me not bringing it up for the last several months, I can so totally still do this.  So now I'm left to make a cake by Wednesday.  Leaving me only Tuesday and Monday to bake it.  Good thing I'm busy Tuesday.

Monday it is!

And since I'm an idiot, I decide I'm still going to do that bike ride I had planned.  I was going to bike to the pool to meet a friend and bike back.  Sounds innocent enough, no?  Husband even offered to whip up the 8 inch rounds so they'd be cool by the time I got home.  He rocks!

So I'm biking along merrily, and I see the giant hill of death and hatred and doom and despair that leads to the pool.  Stupid freaking hill.  I hate you.  So I think to myself "gee, I've never used the lowest gear on my bike before!  I bet THAT'S my problem!  This hill is going to be SUPER EASY and I'm going to be so excited to try out that new gear!  Yay ideas!  Smart me!"

I switch to this low gear mid way up the hill, immediately drop the chain on my bike, and swerve to the side of the road.  Fantastic.

Still being optimistic, (which I had to hold on to at this point given the fact I was alone without a cell phone... Cause, you know, that's how I roll) I decide that I CAN FIX THIS.  I automatically picture myself heroically flipping my bike over, diagnosing the problem, untangling and resetting my gears all by myself, with my husband and friend none the wiser.

Cut to me, in a swimsuit and shorts, covered up to her elbows in bike grease, panicking and sweating by the side of the road.

Fail.

So nice man in a pretty car sees this, undoubtedly laughs to himself and pulls over.  He flips my bike over and starts explaining what's going on with it (using all the wicked awesome bike terminology.  I think he used the word "sprocket" but I can't be sure.) And he said I'll need to take my bike apart to fix this.

I didn’t have to take it apart to BREAK it, so why should I have to do that to FIX it.  Hmph.

So nice man let's greasy, disheveled girl use his fancy cell phone to call husband.  Who is of course 30 minutes away from being able to get me.  I tell him where I am and quickly give the man his phone back.  I proceed to wait... and braid grass... until my husband gets there.

Oh no- friend.  Friend is at pool waiting for me.  She is going to think I died.  Crap.

So finally husband comes to get me, fixes the bike in about 10 seconds because he's Superman, and takes me to the pool.  Just as friend is running out of the pool in a frenzy, assuming I've been hit by a car or I booked it to Mexico to avoid actually competing in the tri this weekend.  I felt awful.

So this is why I got home late and the cake was haphazardly assembled and kind of ugly.  Happy Birthday!  I'm sorry about your cake.

Caramel Chocolate Cake

First, make two 8 inch chocolate round cakes and cool them.  Since I've done that about nine billion times on this blog already, we can just leave well enough alone.

Ok- caramel buttercream time.  I was super worried about this.  One- because I've never made it and I was sending this cake along to my family and it could taste icky and Two- I had no clue how difficult it was going to be to frost with a icing that has caramel added.  If you haven't heard, caramel makes things sticky and tacky.  And while this buttercream was slightly more tacky than normal, it was perfectly spreadable and happy.

So whip it up (recipe follows) and stack your cake (on a cardboard round that fits the bottom of the cake if you can.)  Don't worry, you'll add another layer.  Sticky frosting plus chocolate crumbs = crumb coat necessary.  Let it set in your fridge for about 20 min.... or like, 4 if you are in a rush. 

Add another layer and smooth it out.  Yum...

Now it's time for your ganache.  I made my go-to-ganache recipe BUT I did it with cheapo store brand semisweet chocolate chips.  Don't do that.  It turned out lumpy and unhappy.  Use nice chocolate- it makes a difference.

So this worked out great- if your cake is on a round that is fitted to the bottom of it, like mine, you can put it on top of bowl or some cups or something.  Then, when you drip the ganache on it, it will fall off instead of puddling up looking all icky at the bottom.  

See how awesome this is!

Then, transfer your cake to where ever it will end up (for me, a cake carrier.)  And decorate it up!  

Mine ended up like this:

A little rushed- but it'll do!

I didn't try this (sad) but I heard resounding positive reviews on the recipe!  I'd say it's a do again recipe!

The Chocolate Cake

Recipe adapted from: http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/too-much-chocolate-cake/Detail.aspx

Ingredients

1 (18.25 ounce) package devil's food cake mix

1 (5.9 ounce) package instant devils food (or chocolate of any kind) pudding mix

1 (8 oz) container of Daisy sour cream (full fat)

1 cup vegetable oil

4 eggs

1/2 cup warm water

2 tsp vanilla

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees  

Mix all of the ingredients together in a large bowl, or your trusty stand mixer.
Pour batter into two greased 8 inch rounds 

Bake as directed on your box mix.

Caramel Buttercream (This is for a double recipe which is enough to stack, frost, decorate and eat a lot of frosting.)

Recipe adapted from: http://www.wilton.com/recipe/Caramel-Buttercream-Icing

Ingredients

1 1/3 cup butter

16 ounce container of ice cream caramel topping 

2 tsp vanilla

2 lbs plus 1 cup (or 9 cups) powdered sugar 

4 tbsp milk (I used whole)

Directions

Cream shortening and butter with electric mixer. Add ice cream topping and vanilla. Gradually add sugar, one cup at a time, beating well on medium speed. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl often. When all sugar has been mixed in, icing will appear dry. Add milk and beat at medium speed until light and fluffy.

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