These toffee bars are kind of like brownies, but not so cakey; and kind of like cookies, but a lot softer; and kind of like whatever-happens-when-you-mix-brownies-and-cookies-and-smother-it-in-caramel.  These are very rich and one pan will go a long way for dessert.  The mix of chocolate chips, toffee bits, and sweetened-condensed milk is absolutely fabulous.  I’m sure if you like your brownie-cookie-bar on the nuttier side, you could add some chopped/crushed nuts in there somewhere.  But I don’t actually like nuts, so I left them out.

Toffee Chocolate Bar Cookies

Preheat oven to 350′

2 1/3 cups flour
2/3 cups brown sugar
3/4 cups butter, room temperature
1 egg
1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 1/2 cups Skor/Heath Bar bits
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Mix flour and sugar together, cut in butter until the mixture is crumbly.  Add egg and chocolate chips and mix well.  Set aside 1 1/2 cups of crumbly mixture and press the rest into a greased 9×13 pan.  Bake 10 minutes.  Pour milk evenly over the top of the hot crust, top with 1 1/2 cups Skor/Heath bits.  Sprinkle remaining crumbly mixture over the top of that.  (If you’re a nut person, you can also add 1 cup of nuts here.)  Top with 1/2 cup chocolate chips.  Bake 25-30 minutes until golden brown, the edges may be a bit bubbly.  Sprinkle any remaining Skor/Heath bits over the top.  Allow to cool completely and cut into bars.

If you have ever questioned the importance of Twitter in your life, here is where you will be convinced that it is a god-send.  Twitter introduced me to Snickerdoodle Cupcakes.  ‘Nuff said.  End of Story.  Twitter is now second (ok, third) only to Real Butter and Mexican Vanilla on my Scale Of Cooking Dieties.  Snickerdoodle Cupcakes, people.  Amazing.  So, here’s the story: I follow KathyDaltonSLC on Twitter, she tweeted about Snickerdoodle Cupcakes with a link and I immediately decided that I would be making them.  I even re-planned a party to make cupcakes the main dish in order to have an excuse to make them.  (As if anyone needs an excuse to make cupcakes, really.  What am I thinking?)  At any rate, the party was (re)planned, the cupcakes were made, and the party–and cupcakes–were a huge success.  I highly recommend you do the same.

Snickerdoodle Cupcakes
Recipe from DanishMama

Pre-heat oven to 350′

1 1/2 cups butter, softened
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla

3 cups cake flour (I used regular flour)
1 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/4 cups buttermilk

Cinnamon Sugar
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Beat butter and sugar until fluffy, add eggs, one at a time and mix well after each egg.  Add vanilla.  Sift dry ingredients and add alternately with buttermilk, mixing well after each addition, beginning and ending   with flour mixture.  Line cupcake tin with papers, fill each 2/3 full of batter and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.  Bake 20 minutes, remove from oven and let cool 5 minutes in pan before removing cupcakes to a wire rack.

Cinnamon-Rum Buttercream Frosting
Recipe adapted from DanishMama

1 cup butter, softened
3 cups powdered sugar
2-3 tablespoons whipping cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon rum flavoring
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Cream butter and 1 cup of sugar until fluffy, add remaining sugar slowly, mixing well.  Add rest of ingredients and beat until fluffy and delicious–about 3 minutes. When cupcakes are completely cooled, generously spread with frosting and prepare yourself for the onslaught of cupcake-adoring-fiends who are bound to completely devour the entire batch of Snickerdoodle Cupcakes.

Several weeks ago I went down to my sister’s house so she could babysit me through some craft project (she’s amazing at crafty things).  For lunch she had made this amazing Italian Wedding Soup, which I immediately fell in-love with.  I have made this twice since and am more in-love every time.  The fresh flavors from the veggies, mixed with the Italian Sausage meatballs is just amazing.  Be warned, this is a chopping-intensive soup.  If you have a food processor that can chop everything for you I suggest you use it.

Italian Wedding Soup with Meatballs

2-3 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, minced
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
3 carrots, shredded
4 celery ribs, minced
2 bay leaves
8 cups chicken stock
2 cups milk
1 1/2 cups dry pasta*
1/2 bag spinach, cut into ribbons

Meatballs
1 lb. Italian Sausage
1 egg, slightly beaten
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/3 cup Italian bread crumbs
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
ground pepper to taste

*Mini shells or Ditalini works well, Orzo is too small, actual noodles are a bit too large.

Chop all veggies.  Mix up meatballs, I just used my hands.  Heat olive oil in large stock pot, saute onion and garlic until soft, add carrots and celery and saute another few minutes.  With wet hands, start forming meatballs while the veggies are cooking, make them small–about 3/4″ across.  Add chicken stock and milk to veggies and bring to a boil.  Drop meatballs into boiling soup, add pasta, let boil about 8 minutes and reduce heat.  Let simmer 10-15 minutes.  Add spinach, and when the spinach is wilty the soup is done.  Garnish with Parmesan cheese.

Sometimes, a girl just needs some girl time, to talk about girl things with girls who get stuff like girl things.  In times like these, it is best to throw an unbirthday party–girls only–with a lot of pink cupcakes.  I found everything I needed on RecipeGirl.com and fell in-love immediately.  Pink. Strawberry. Cupcakes.  What’s not to love?  I also hoisted Recipe Girl’s perfected buttercream frosting recipe, and that one will be used over and over.  Now,  I don’t have fancy frosting bags and tips, I just used a spatula.  I also couldn’t find any pink sprinkles at my grocery, but I think both of those things would turn these into even better pink strawberry cupcakes, if such a thing exists.

Pink Strawberry Cupcakes
(Recipe from Recipe Girl)

Preheat oven to 350′

Line cupcake pan with cupcake papers (makes about 18 cupcakes)

3/4 cup butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup smashed/pureed frozen strawberries
2 1/4 cup flour
2 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 large egg whites
1/3 cup milk
a few drops of pink food coloring or gel paste

Whip butter and sugar until light and fluffy, add strawberry puree and mix well.  Sift flour, baking powder and salt and add to strawberry mixture, stir to combine.  Batter will be VERY thick, you did it right, I promise.

Whisk egg whites, milk and dye together until frothy, add to dough in three separate batches, mixing only until incorporated.

Fill cupcake liners about 3/4 the way full, bake 18-22 minutes until toothpick in center comes out clean.

Buttercream Frosting
Recipe adapted from Recipe Girl

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon whipping cream
pink gel paste

Cream sugar and butter until well blended, add vanilla, whipping cream and coloring, beat another 3 minutes until fluffy and delicious.  Add more powdered sugar or whipping cream to get desired consistency.

When I get sad, depressed, frustrated, or upset I do two things.  I go for a run, and I play in the kitchen, not necessarily in that order.  In fact, usually not in that order; I generally will make something sugary and carby and delicious, and then go for a run to get rid of it.  Eh, I’m okay with that.  At any rate, yesterday was cheesecake day.  I don’t have a spring-form pan, but I do have muffin tins and a recipe that calls for Vanilla Wafer crust cheesecake-cupcakes.  Sold.  These are deliciously light and fluffy, a cinch to whip up, and look absolutely stunning.  I will be making them over and over (and over and over).  I used Neufchatel cheese instead of cream cheese because it has a slightly lower fat and calorie content, but all the same goodness.  I’m sure this recipe would work equally well with cream cheese, however.

Mini Cheesecake

Preheat oven to 375′

Vanilla wafers

16 oz. Neufchatel cheese, softened (2 packages)
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tablespoon lemon juice (I used half a lemon because I like it lemony)
1 teaspoon vanilla

Topping

2 cups sour cream (1 pint)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Line cupcake tin with cupcake papers–I used the foil ones because this is a pretty dense cake and I didn’t want the papers to get all soggy and gross–and crush 2 vanilla wafers in each cup.  They don’t need to be powdered or anything, just break them up a bit.  Set aside.  (Recipe makes about 18 cheesecakes).

Whip Neufchatel cheese until fluffy in electric mixer.  Add eggs, lemon juice and vanilla and stir to combine.  Fill muffin tins 2/3 full and bake 15 minutes.  Turn oven down to 300′.

Whip sour cream, sugar and vanilla together.  Spoon mixture on top of baked cheesecake and return to oven (now at 300′) for 5 minutes.

Let cool completely.

Top with fruit or chocolate or both, keep in refrigerator until ready to serve.

I don’t know if I’ve ever eaten Deviled Eggs.  Well, I’m actually quite sure I have at some point during a family summer barbeque, but I don’t recall anything about them.  I’ve seen Deviled Eggs at a thousand parties, but never had any real desire to try one.  Over the weekend I met someone who claimed to bring some variation of Deviled Eggs to every single party he attended.  It was his trademark.  His thing.  The only recipe he could make.  Whatever.  This person was intriguing enough to inspire me to attempt to make a batch of these little hors d’oeuvres, and soon I was skipping about the Internet for inspiration.  I have cobbled a recipe together with my own little twists, and due to the delicious tastiness of said morsels, I believe you will see several variations on Deviled Eggs before too long.

Deviled Eggs with Bacon and Avocado

12 eggs

1/2 cup quality mayo
1 1/2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
4 green onions, minced
white pepper, to taste
salt, to taste

1 avocado, sliced thin and chopped into very teeny pieces
6 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled

Place eggs in large pot and cover with cold water.  Bring to a boil and boil for 30 minutes.  Give eggs a cold water bath and let them sit and cool.  Carefully crack each egg all over on the counter and without removing the shell, replace in cold water bath (this allows a little water to get under the shell and will make peeling them a million times easier).  By the time you’ve got all of them cracked, you can start peeling the first ones.  Carefully remove the shell and any of the slimy skin stuff.  Rinse any leftover shell pieces off with cold water.

Slice each egg in half lengthwise with a non-serrated knife.  Carefully shake or scoop out the yolk and place the shell on a plate (or in one of those fancy Deviled Egg plates if you have one).  Add mayo, mustard, and minced onions to egg yolks and mash with a fork, stirring until relatively smooth.  Add salt and white pepper. Give it a good taste test and adjust any quantities as necessary.

Spoon the egg mixture into a ziploc bag, snip off the corner and smoosh the eggs yolks back into their shells.  Carefully push a couple bits of avocado and a pinch of bacon bits on the top of each egg.  Voila!  Deviled Eggs that are not actually devil-ish.  I suppose you could add paprika if you like, but at this point it seemed a bit unnecessary, I like my bacon unadulturated, thank you very much.

Reference Site for Deviled Eggs

Last week I found a recipe for jalapeno corn chowder that looked a little, well, bland.  I tried it and my fears were quickly confirmed.  To make the stuff palatable I had to add about a cup of Tabasco sauce and a tablespoon of salt.  I was a little discouraged, but after a bit of snooping around the Internet I found a few ideas that would improve-slash-completely rework this initial recipe and as I sit here slurping down my third bowl I can proudly say that this chowder is one of my favorite recipe’s to date.  You can always up the spicy-factor a bit by adding more jalapeno seeds or a little cayenne pepper, however as-is it has a lovely kick.  I served this dish with Spicy Cheddar Biscuits and imagine I will be serving it again and again.

Jalapeno Corn Chowder

3 tablespoons butter
1/2 yellow onion, diced
4-5 cloves garlic, minced
2 jalapeno peppers, diced and with a few seeds
1/2 cup roasted red pepper, chopped
1 large can green chilies
1 tablespoon green Tabasco sauce
1/2 teaspoon cumin
3 cups chicken stock

3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
1 1/2 cups whole milk
1 teaspoon white pepper
1/2 cup feta cheese

1 1/2 lbs. frozen corn
(optional: 1-2 cups cooked chicken, shredded or diced)
handful of fresh cilantro, minced, for garnish

Melt 3 tablespoons of butter in large pot, saute onion, garlic, jalapeno, and red pepper until tender.  Add green chilies, Tabasco, cumin and chicken stock & keep over medium heat.  In small saucepan melt 3 tablespoons of butter and whisk in flour and white pepper until thick, add milk and bring to boil, stirring constantly.  When the mixture is thickish, remove from heat and whisk in feta cheese until smooth.  Add white sauce to chicken stock and stir to combine.  Add frozen corn. Bring to boil and then reduce heat, add chicken if desired and simmer 25-30 minutes.  Garnish with fresh cilantro and serve.

I love biscuits.  You love biscuits.  It isn’t a big jump to fall in-love with cheesy biscuits, right?  I have a fantastic recipe for baking powder biscuits that I have loved since I was a little girl.  I can whip up a batch of those babies in less time than it takes for the oven to pre-heat, and the taste difference between homemade biscuits and that Pillsbury crap is remarkable.  So, I find myself making biscuits whenever the urge strikes.  Today, that biscuit craving was coupled with a strong desire for green chilies and cheesy goodness…and a new recipe was born.

Spicy Cheddar Biscuits

Preheat oven to 450′

2 cups flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoon sugar
2 teaspoons Emeril’s Essence

1/3 cup shortening
3/4 cup milk
1 small can green chilies, drained
1 1/2 – 2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded

paprika, for garnish

Sift flour, baking powder, salt, sugar and Emeril’s Essence together.  Cut in shortening with pastry cutter until the mixture is crumbly.  Stir in milk and green chilies with a fork, add cheese and stir to combine (it should be really thick).  Using 1/3 cup measuring cup, scoop dough onto parchment-lined baking sheet.  Sprinkle generously with paprika and bake 15-18 minutes, or until biscuits are crispy in places on the outside, and the center is cooked.  Recipe makes 9-10 biscuits.

Sometimes, one has a stroke of inspiration which more-often-than-not can be directly traced to a lack in sugar.  I had just such an experience yesterday afternoon and within the hour I was at the grocery store picking up some things to whip up some lemon coconut goodness.  I used mini cupcake tins because I was in the mood for bite-sized deliciousness. Lemon Coconut Cupcakes

Preheat oven to 350′

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sweetened coconut (plus additional for topping, set aside)
4 teaspoons lemon zest
1/2 cup whole milk
2-3 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

Cream butter and sugar until fluffy, about 3 minutes.  Add eggs one at a time.  Sift flour, baking powder and salt, add coconut and lemon zest.  Stir one third of flour mixture into butter, then stir in 1/2 of the milk, then an additional third of the flour, the remaining milk, and the last of the flour.  This keeps everything nice and fluffy.  Add the lemon juice at the end.  Spoon into cupcake tins and bake, 11 minutes for mini cupcakes, 20 minutes for regular-sized cupcakes.

Frosting

2 tablespoons cream cheese, softened
1 tablespoon butter, softened
1 teaspoon lemon zest
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1 cup powdered sugar
whole milk to get desired consistency

Whip cream cheese and butter until frothy, add lemon and powdered sugar, whip some more.  Add enough milk to thin the frosting a bit so it is spreadable.

When cupcakes have cooled, spread generously with frosting and sprinkle with shredded coconut.

Last year I had a goal to make gnocchi and I managed to fit it in just under the wire.  (For those uninitiated, I make resolutions for Chinese New Year, not January 1 New Year, so I still have until Sunday to finish up my List.)  I absolutely underestimated how much work goes into this potato-pasta morsel.  I actually had to take a little break and have a snack it took so long.  I’m sure as I got a little more comfortable rolling and chopping the dough I’d be quicker, but for a first run?  It was crazy-labor intensive.  Also, in retrospect, I’m sure this photo would have looked much lovelier if I had chosen a nice, robust marinara sauce instead of a cheesy white sauce.  But I happened to have bacon and chicken and spinach and romano cheese in the fridge, so into the white sauce they went for an incredibly tasty dinner.

Gnocchi Pasta

2 lbs russett potatoes (this was about 3 large potatoes, each the length of my hand)
1 egg
1 1/2 cup flour
2 teaspoons salt

Boil the potatoes in their skins, drain, cool and peel.  Run the potatoes through a ricer, or just use the smaller-than-hashbrowns part of your cheese grater to get them into fine little pieces.  Combine flour and salt.  Gather potato mixture into a mound and make a well in the center.  Break egg into well, and knead together a few times.  Add flour mixture and knead into a smooth, firm dough.  Break off pieces about the size of a tangerine and roll into long sausage shape about the width of your pinky finger (I have large hands, like, man-sized hands, if that helps you gauge this at all.  Tiny handed people?  Use your index finger instead).  Cut into pieces about an inch long and roll each gnocchi over concave part of a fork.  Coat well with flour (I put about a cup of extra flour in small bowl and just plopped each gnocchi in and swirled it around a bit) and set aside.

When you have finished enough for your dinner, bring a pot of water to boil.  Drop gnocchi into boiling water a small handful at a time and when they float to the surface (in about a minute or so), lift out with a slotted spoon.

Serve immediately with your choice of sauce.

**Warning:  This makes enough gnocchi for what seems like an army, or rather, what seems like an army when you are cooking for one and you have gnoochi’s coming out of your ears.  In reality, this recipe would probably serve 6 people for dinner.  Ish.**

Chicken-Bacon-Spinach-Alfredo Sauce

4 pieces bacon, chopped
1/2 chicken breast, diced
1/2 white onion, minced
2 tablespoons minced garlic
ground pepper to taste
couple of handfuls of baby spinach, rough chop (set aside)

Throw all of this (except the spinach) into a skillet and stir until bacon and chicken are cooked and onion is tender.

Sauce:
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 tablespoons flour
1 1/2 cups milk
a dash of salt
1 1/2 cups Romano cheese

Melt butter in small saucepan and add flour, stir into a paste.  Add milk and salt and bring to boil, stirring constantly so it doesn’t burn.  When the sauce starts to get thick and bubbly, remove from heat and stir in cheese.

Add white sauce to bacon-chicken and add the spinach, when it gets all wilty, the sauce is done.

The sauce recipe will most likely serve 4 people for dinner, to make it stretch add another tablespoon of butter, flour, and an extra 1/2 cup of milk to the sauce.