A great day to spend in the kitchen!

So I've contracted nasty pink eye, and have to wear my glasses that are too weak, and make me nuts. Lovely. Thank you to my wonderful husband for giving the pink eye to me. Regardless...my daughter went Christmas shopping with her Grandma all day today, while I sat at urgent care (luckily it was empty other than one other poor soul), got some drops, and have began the OCD hand washing the minute I got home. Therefore I figured it was safe to do some cooking. I've been come the cookie lady for Nick and his buddies at work. They were completely bummed I didn't send him with anything today, so I had to make up for it.

I spent the early afternoon making Butter Toffee Crisp, another recipe from my mother in law's cookbook collection. We go there every Monday and have dinner with her, and while we hang out and Nick watches Monday Night Football, I copy recipes from her 100+ cookbook collection. Then I knew I needed to make a cookie that I knew would turn out good. So I went with peanut butter peanut butter cup cookies. Um YUM! With all this baking and candy making, I was sure to look at my toes, while the nurse weighed me at Urgent Care (because when I get weighed I make sure to take off my shoes...that few ounces really makes a difference LOL) I told the nurse not to tell me what it said, since its December and I wasn't planning on being weighed this month. She cracked up. I think she knew the feeling.

Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

1/2 c. butter, softened

1/2 c. sugar

1/2 c. brown sugar

1 egg

1/2 c. peanut butter

1/2 t. vanilla

1/2 t. salt

3/4 t. baking soda

1 1/2 c.flour

30-40 peanut butter cups

Combine the first 6 ingredients till fluffy. Then add in the rest of the ingredients slowly. 

Rolls the dough into 1" balls and place in greased mini-muffin pan (with or without papers)

Bake at 375* F for 10 minutes.

Take out and place a mini peanut butter cup in the middle. 

Let cool completely in the pan.

*This is the easiest recipe for those of you who rarely bake..simple and yummy!

Butter Toffee Crunch

1 c. sugar

1 c. butter

3 T. water

1 T. light corn syrup

1/2 c. coarsely chopped pecans or almonds

3/4 c. chocolate chips (milk or semi-sweet)

1/2 c. finely chopped pecans or almonds

Cover a 13" x 9" baking pan with foil. 

Sprinkle the 1/2 cup of coarsely chopped nuts all over the pan.

Grease a large saucepan with butter on all sides and bottom.

Melt butter on medium high heat. 

Once melted add in sugar, water, and corn syrup. 

Stir till boiling. Turn heat down to medium.

Then clip candy thermometer to side of the pan, and watch carefully.

Let boil/simmer steadily, while frequently stirring.

Watch when temperature get to about 280*, once it hits 290* (I'm going to try 300* next time since mine was a tad soft)

Remove from heat, and pour the mixture over the nuts on the prepared pan. 

Wait 5 minutes while it firms up. Then sprinkle chocolate chips all over the toffee. 

Wait 1-3 minutes till they melt. 

Then spread over the toffee till smooth, then spread the finely chopped nuts on top.

Put in the fridge to firm completely.

Lift up foil and separate slowly from toffee and break into pieces.

Heaven in a Cupcake Wrapper!

I'm going to gloat! These are seriously amazing!!! I couldn't even resist them once I started to take them out of the pan to cool! I got this recipe from my mother in law's recipe collection. This is the best thing I've baked in a while to be honest and I can't see them lasting long in my house lol!  Make sure that you put the 2 T. of cream cheese filling in so that it doesn't cave in like mine. Regardless, the chocolate chips and peanut butter chips are an amazing secret ingredient that takes these above the cream cheese muffins you normally have.

Cream Cheese Chocolate Muffins

1 pkg. (8 oz) cream cheese, softened
1/3 c. sugar
1 egg
1/8 t. salt
1 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 c. peanut butter chips

Beat cream cheese until fluffy. Beat in sugar, egg, and salt until smooth.
Fold in chocolate and peanut butter chips; set aside.

Muffin dough:
1 c. sugar
1 c. water
1/3 c. vegetable oil
1 T. white vinegar
1 t. vanilla extract

Combine. Then add:

1 1/2 c. flour
1/4 c. cocoa powder
1 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt

Mix together, and spoon into paper-lined muffin cups till about half full. Top with about 2 T. cream cheese mixture. (This seems like a lot but you need it, I didn't and mine sort of cave in). Bake at 350* for 25 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes in pan, and then remove them and place them on wire racks to cool completely.
* Spray the inside of the cupcake wrappers with non-stick spray to have moist outsides.

Stuffins!

I got this recipe before Thanksgiving from www.dealseekingmama.com, she has everything from online deals (I've used many of these) to freebies, contests, recipes, and grocery game coupons. The thing is I didn't want to try them for Thanksgiving since it was a new recipe. I rarely want to try something new for a holiday that I have to make everything for. I always try it out before, just in case. One bad recipe will make you do that!

Anyways, this recipe is pretty close to my stuffing recipe, but I did make alterations such as more and different spices and less onion (thank goodness I cut down on that! There was too much already). This recipe is good, it does come out as stuffing muffins, however, here is my complaint. I like my stuffing pretty moist. I seemed to have forgotten what muffins taste like and how the outsides cook to be a bit drier. Now mine weren't really dry, but I didn't like the outside of the muffin. However, I'm betting that if I, or you, tweak and play with this recipe there is a way to get them to perfection. The base recipe is good, I'm thinking I needed to spray more non-stick spray in my muffin cups, and add a bit more stock. However, with that being said, they are delicious and wonderful with a bit of gravy on top :)

Stuffins

Before baked

3 stalks of celery, chopped thin

1/2-1 medium onion, chopped (depends on how much you like onion)

1 T. butter

1 loaf of bread (I used cheap white, but use whatever you like)

3 medium eggs, lightly beaten

1/2 c. of milk

3 T. parsley

2 T. sage

1 1/2 T. thyme

3 c. chicken stock (I used about a cup on mine)

salt & pepper

Saute the celery and onion in the butter over medium heat until they turn translucent and caramelize. It pays to take your time with this step, because this is what really makes for a flavorful stuffing.

Meanwhile, toast each piece of bread in the full loaf. 

Chop the toasted bread into cubes (I just ripped it into small pieces-much faster).

Add the celery and onion mixture and dried parsley, sage and thyme.

Salt and pepper the mixture well. Lightly beat the eggs and milk together, and pour over the top.

Pour some of the chicken stock over the top, and start to mix everything together.

Keep adding stock until everything is moistened (wet but no soupy). 

You may not need to use all of the stock.

Give you muffin pans a through coating of non-stick spray, and fill each cup up with stuffing.

Bake at 350* F for about 30-45 minutes (check them and make sure the outsides don't burn).

If you prefer a stuffing that's a little more moist, cover with aluminum foil. 

Yields about 18 stuffins.

*You can also pour a little stock over each muffin after you put the stuffing into the muffin tin for softer stuffins.

Christmas is upon us...which means baking time!!

The cookie recipe I'm about to post is a long standing tradition in my family, on my mother's side. They are called anise drops. The way the cookies are supposed to bake is like a little mountain top, if you look at the picture below, you'll see they have little tops on them, which we call peaks. Every year my grandmother, aunts, mother, and now me try to get the peaks on these cookies. Its nearly impossible, and yet my Great-Grandmother would get them every year, and only once did my Aunt Nancy get them. And then everything changed...I got them the first Christmas we lived here! I had never gotten them before, didn't even know what peaks looked like, but I got them! And to make sure I made another batch a couple days later and got them again!  So now I've gotten the peaks for 3 years in a row! I just pulled a batch out, and gazed at rows of perfectly popped peaks! :)

So why is a peak so important? Well in my family its what you look for when you put a tray of Christmas cookies out, its the one cookie you asked about, its the one cookie I call and wake up my mom at 8:30 in the morning and say "I got the peaks!" and laugh and gloat lol! (Sorry mom). My mom even came down last year and watched how I made them and what I did different, we got the peaks, she went home and tried it and got flat ones. I've come to the conclusion that perhaps the way I make them, combined with the different altitude and dryness of the air might determine whether you get them or not. It also is bragging rights, and a sign of what a good baker you are. I have proven myself now as a good baker at the age of 26! Oh yeah! lol! But I welcome all of you to try and join up in our Christmas tradition and goal of getting the peaks.

I personally didn't like them very much for years, but my husband LOVES them. Luckily the recipe only makes 2 dozen, just enough for him to munch nightly. However once, I started to get the peaks the cookie has a different flavor..and no that's not just my imagination! They are really dense and the anise flavor is lighter. If they are flat, they are more crunchy, to me atleast. Now I love them.

Anise also tastes like black licorice, if you like that flavor you'll like these, if you don't and your partner does, or you know someone who does like it, then you can still make these, because like I said its only 2 dozen. I personally have to make them 2-3 times a month (in December) for my family.

Anise Drops

3 room temperature eggs- beat until light and lemon color, about 5 minutes with the whisk attachment on medium speed (6 on the kitchen aid)

Slowly add 1 cup of sugar, and I do mean slowly, while you keep the medium speed.

Beat that for about 5-7 minutes, or until light in color

Then add 1 t. of anise flavoring

2 cups of flour

1/2 t. baking powder, mixing for a minute or two between each addition.

Continue to beat completed mixture for 2-5 minutes.

Put on greased cookie sheets (I use a cookie scoop); let sit out overnight on the counter.

Bake at 350*F for 12-15 minutes.