VGP #5 Chocolate Peanut Blow-Out Cookies

I have died and gone to chocolate peanut heaven. And you can, too. You know anything with this going on is gonna be special:
I've done pretty well with my diet amongst all this baking - a few tastes of dough, one or two cookies, then freeze or give the rest away. Yeah, but I really struggled with these. I had to call Ed at work and have him talk me through it while they cooked. Honestly! I just wanted to eat all the dough! And then all the cookies!

These are soooo yummy and comforting. They are Christmas Eve cookies, feel-better-on-a-bad-day cookies, impress-the-church-potluck-or-school-bake-sale cookies, make-your-kids-seriously-smile cookies, and definitely must-put-on-holiday-goody-plate cookies. Anyone you share these with will beg - BEG! - for the recipe (between stuffing their mouths with them!) And they're never better than ooey gooey hot right out of the oven.

Come to Momma.

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg
1/4 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate pieces
3/4 cup honey-roasted peanuts
3/4 cup coarsely chopped bite-size chocolate-covered peanut butter cups (about 15)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large mixing bowl beat the butter and peanut butter with electric mixer on medium for 30 seconds. Add the sugars, baking soda, and salt. Beat until combined, scraping sides.

2. Beat in egg, milk and vanilla until combined. Beat in flour a little at a time. With wooden spoon, stir in chocolate pieces, peanuts, and chopped peanut butter cups.

3. Drop dough by generously rounded teaspoons (or cookie scoop) 2 inches apart onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake about 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Transfer to wire racks to cool. Makes about 3 dozen.

Recipe from Better Homes & Gardens 100 Best Cookies

VGP #4 Raspberry Almond Cookies

Bridget of Manly, Iowa, came in as a Cook's Country cookie runner-up with this traditional recipe from her mother-in-law. My favorite jam is seedless black raspberry so that's what I use for the glue. And, since I had it, I rolled the edges in Penzey's vanilla sugar - such a sweet treat and very pretty!2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/4 cups slivered almonds (or 1 1/2 cups sliced almonds)
1 cup sugar, divided
16 T (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces and chilled
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup raspberry jam

1. Preheat oven to 350. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Process 1 cup flour and almonds in food processor until finely ground. Add 1/2 cup sugar and remaining flour and process until combined. Add butter and vanilla to food processor and pulse until dough forms.

2. On lightly floured surface, roll dough to 1/4 inch thickness. Using 2-inch round cookie cutter, cut out cookies, gathering and rerolling dough as necessary. Place cookies 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets and bake until light brown around edges, about 15 minutes. Cool 5 minutes on sheets, then transfer to wire rack.

3. Transfer remaining sugar to bowl. Working quickly, spread 1 tsp jam on bottom half of warm cookies, then press remaining cookies onto jam to form sandwiches. Roll cookies in sugar to coat. Cool completely on wire rack.

VGP #3 Brownie Waffle Cookies

These clever treats are for my friend Christy, whose oven is broken and who has been using alternative cooking methods lately, like the grill and crockpot. She even tried grilling cookies, but they didn't turn out so well. So let's try the waffle iron, shall we? These are simple, chocolatey, and pretty darn fun to make. Plus they look cool. Unfortunately Christy is allergic to pecans but any nut will work, or you could try them without.

1/3 cup shortening
1 (1 oz.) square unsweetened chocolate
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup sugar
2 T milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup finely chopped pecans, divided

1. Preheat waffle iron. Combine shortening and chocolate in a heavy saucepan. Place over low heat, stirring constantly, until melted; cool. Combine egg, sugar, milk and vanilla in a bowl. Stir in chocolate mixture.

2. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt; add to chocolate mixture. Add 2/3 cup pecans, stirring well.

3. Lightly spray waffle iron. Drop batter by level tablespoonfuls onto iron, at least 2 inches apart. (I have a Belgian waffle iron with 4 squares so I just did one in the middle of each.) Sprinkle with remaining pecans. Close iron and bake about 3 minutes or until done. Remove to wire racks to cool completely. Makes about 2 dozen.
Recipe from Chocolate Fantasies by Oxmoor House

VGP #2 Cranberry-Orange Pinwheels

These lovely chill-and-slice cookies are slightly time intensive, with the double chill, so just plan ahead. They are worth it, though. The bright, tart cranberry is perfectly complimented by the sweet orange butter cookie. Totally festive, too.

Got this one from Better Homes and Gardens 100 Best Cookies magazine, which also included this helpful hint regarding slice-and-bake cookies like these: "To prevent rolled dough from becoming lopsided, cut in half if longer than 8 inches. Wrap rolls in plastic wrap and twist ends to seal. Place wrapped rolls in tall drinking glasses. Lay the glasses on their sides while chilling in the fridge. When you slice, use a sharp, thin-bladed knife in a sawing motion and rotate the dough roll frequently to avoid flattening one side." I tried it, it works.

1 cup cranberries
1 cup pecans
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
2 tsp finely shredded orange peel
3 cups all purpose flour

1. For filling, in a blender or food processor combine cranberries, pecans and brown sugar. Cover and blend or process until cranberries and nuts are finely chopped; set aside.

2. In a large mixing bowl beat butter on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add granulated sugar, baking powder and salt. Beat until combined, scraping sides of bowl occasionally. Beat in eggs and orange peel until combined. Add flour and mix in. Divide dough in half. Cover and chill dough about 1 hour or until easy to handle.

3. Roll half of dough between pieces of waxed paper into a 10-inch square. Spread half of the filling over dough square to within 1/2 inch of edges; roll up dough. Moisten edges; pinch to seal. Wrap in plastic wrap. Chill 4 to 24 hours. Repeat with remaining dough and filling.

4. Preheat oven to 375. Cut rolls into 1/4-inch slices; place 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake in preheated oven for 8 to 10 minutes or until edges are firm and bottoms are light brown. Cool on cookie sheet for 1 minute. Transfer to wire rack; cool. Makes about 60.

VGP #1 Hazelnut Chewies

Welcome to Day 1 of your Virtual Goody Plate! (And Happy 16th Birthday to my oldest nephew Thompson!)

Every issue, Cook's Country magazine (which I LOVE) has a recipe contest and publishes the $1,000 first place winner and four runners up. The most recent (Dec/Jan) issue's contest was cookies, and while I was not at all tempted by the winner - "Fudgy Peanut Butter Mousse Cups" - all four runners up looked awesome.

The first one I tried was "Hazelnut Chewies" from Jennifer in Tucson, Arizona. The original recipe called for 1 tsp espresso powder so I substituted cocoa powder. Also, Jennifer must have a very sweet sweet tooth, because I found the final roll in powdered sugar overkill. I mean, they already have a whole freaking jar of Nutella in there. So while the white is pretty, I think it's optional, and they taste just as good or better without. This is a cookie for someone in the mood to enjoy the process - there's a little more toasting, chopping, chilling and rolling than more straightforward drop cookie recipes. But it's great for a rainy day and they are totally delish. Plus they ode to my firstborn.

3 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/4 cups Nutella spread (a 13 oz. jar)
4 T unsalted butter, softened
1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp instant espresso powder (or cocoa)
2 large eggs
1/3 cup milk
1 1/2 cups hazelnuts, toasted and chopped fine
1 cup powdered sugar, optional

1. Line baking sheet(s) with parchment paper. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in bowl. With electric mixer on med-high speed, beat Nutella, butter and granulated sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add vanilla, espresso (cocoa), and eggs and mix until incorporated. Reduce speed to low, add flour mixture and milk, and mix until just combined. Fold in 1/2 cup hazelnuts and refrigerate dough until firm, about 1 hour.

2. Preheat oven to 375. Place remaining hazelnuts in bowl. Add powdered sugar to another bowl. One at a time, roll dough into 1-inch balls, roll in hazelnuts, then roll in powdered sugar. Place balls 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets. Bake until set, about 8 to 10 minutes. Cool 5 minutes on sheets, then transfer to wire rack and cool completely. Repeat with remaining dough.

Makes about 3 1/2 dozen cookies

(With)

(Without)

Your Virtual Goody Plate

Last year December was an awesome month on the blog. I held a series of posts and discussions called "Making Christmas." We covered Christmas music, decorations, cards, gifts, traditions, events, books and movies. It was awesome - you guys are awesome. If you missed it, go back and check it out. It really made the season more special and meaningful to me.

So I wondered - What could I do blogwise this year to set the month apart? I wanted to reach out and give all my friends far away a big hug. Or bake you a plate of cookies.

That's it!

Yes, I'll make you all a plate of goodies. The hugest, most massive month-long virtual goody plate ever. In fact, I have been baking it for months in order to get pictures and tastes and comments to share. Inspired by the success of Slow Cooker Week and my insatiable love of baking and blogging, there will be a new Virtual Goody Plate (VGP) recipe here every single day for the month of December. I have most of them lined up but there are still a few open slots so if you have a holiday treat winner we can't live without email it to me. It's not like I hold a monopoly on good recipes - far from it. It has to be a cookie/square/bar/ball or otherwise belonging on a goody plate for the most part.

I'll tell you now, there will be a lot of chocolate. And a few surprises. It has been fantastic having an excuse to try so many recipes. A lot will have pictures but not all of them. When I came up with the idea a few months ago I figured out that I'd have to make 2 goodies a week to get 31 pictures, and that just didn't happen. But I am making an effort, so thanks to Mom & Dad and all my local friends who graciously received goodies all fall.

After all, I'm on a diet.

I leave you with this quote from food writer Elizabeth Wood in Better Homes and Gardens magazine, December 1955:

"Yes, there is a Mrs. Claus. She's YOU - busy making visions of sugarplums come true. No gift is more welcome than goodies from your own kitchen."

See you tomorrow!

Sighting

I lived in New York for three years and saw one - ONE - celebrity: Uma Thurman walking down the street in Tribeca. Ed saw more since he was in Manhattan every day. And I got all kinds of stories of sightings from friends - Keanu Reeves in the line at the movie theater, Luke Wilson jogging in Central Park, Ashton Kutcher and Cameron Diaz filming at a park. Well today I had a sighting. A most unlikely person - one that I just saw on TV last night in fact - in a most unlikely place.

I was at the gym, warming up with laps on the track and who do you think I saw on a treadmill? Carla from Top Chef. Of course I thought, no way, it's just a resemblance. But she is kind of a distinct-looking person, glasses and hair and all, and each time I passed her I became more and more sure. I also remembered she was from DC, so that kind of sealed the deal. Later she got on the elliptical machine next to mine and I got a better look. Pretty sure, sure enough to post about it anyway. Unless she's got a sister.

I delved deep into my - granted, shallow - reservoir of social protocol, trying to come up with an appropriate way to approach or ask her, but in the end I came up empty-minded and let it - and her - go. Maybe I'll see her again. In the meantime, I'll just have to..."watch what happens!"

Call for Recipes: Jello Salad

I have been asked very specifically to bring a jello salad to a potluck this weekend. Never made one before, though I've eaten many, both good and bad. Got a winner? PLEEEEEEASE post it in comments, I will be grateful for the time I don't have to go searching the internet, and to avoid the gamble of an untried recipe.

Grated carrots need not apply.

Blackberry and Peach Recipes

You will die. Everything here is wonderful.

Blackberry-Lemon Pudding Cake
"As the dessert bakes, a light, spongy cake forms over a delicate bottom layer of custard."
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup lowfat buttermilk
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice (from about 2 lemons)
2 tablespoons butter, melted
2 large egg yolks
3 large egg whites
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups blackberries (or blueberries or raspberries)
Cooking spray
3/4 teaspoon powdered sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Combine flour, 2/3 cup sugar, salt and nutmeg in a large bowl; add buttermilk, lemon rind, lemon juice butter and egg yolks, stirring with a whisk until mixture is smooth.
3. Beat egg whites with a mixer at high speed until foamy. Add 1/4 cup sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating until stiff peaks form. Gently stir one-fourth of egg white mixture into buttermilk mixture. Gently fold in remaining egg white mixture. Fold in blackberries.
4. Pour batter into an 8-inch square baking pan coated with cooking spray. Place in a large baking pan filled with water to a depth of 1 inch. Bake at 350 for 35 minutes or until cake springs back when touched lightly in the center. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve warm. Makes about 5 servings

Light Peach Ice Cream
3 cups chopped peeled peaches (about 1 1/2 pounds)
1 cup half-and-half
1/2 cup whole milk
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. In a food process or blender puree peaches until smooth. Combine with the other ingredients in a large bowl.
2. Pour mixture into freezer bowl of ice cream machine and process according to machine directions. Pour soft ice cream into an airtight container and freeze in freezer for at least 2 hours.

Wild Berry Bread
2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
6 tablespoons soft butter, in ½-inch pieces
1 egg
1 tablespoon orange peel
½ cup orange juice
½ cup raspberries*
½ cup blackberries*
1 cup blueberries*
(*You can do any combination of berries as long as you have 2 cups total)

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 9x5 loaf pan.
2. In a large mixing bowl combine dry ingredients.
3. Add the soft butter in with your fingertips until it is like flakes of coarse meal.
4. Add the egg, juice, peel and berries; combine but do not over mix.
5. Bake for 1 hour or until done.
Peach-Glazed Barbecue Pork Chops and Peaches
3 cups chopped peeled peaches (about 1½ pounds)
1 cup dry white wine
¼ cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt, divided
¼ teaspoon black pepper, divided
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
2 tablespoons molasses
1 teaspoon chili powder
½ teaspoon paprika
¼ teaspoon ground red pepper
6 (6-ounce) bone-in center cut pork chops (about ½- inch thick), trimmed
6 peaches, halved and pitted

1. Combine first 3 ingredients in a small saucepan, bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 25 min. Uncover and simmer 5 min. Place peach mixture in food processor, process until smooth. Add ¾ tsp salt, ⅛ tsp pepper, vinegar, and next 4 ingredients; pulse to combine. Let stand 5 min. Place half of peach mixture in a large heavy duty ziploc bag; reserve other half for basting. Add chops to bag; seal and refrigerate 30 minutes to 4 hours.
2. Preheat grill. Remove pork from bag; discard marinade. Sprinkle pork with ¼ tsp salt and ⅛ tsp pepper. Place pork and peach halves on grill rack coated with cooking spray, and grill 10 min or until the pork is done and the peaches are tender, turning once. Baste pork and peach halves with reserved mixture every 2 minutes during the first 6 minutes of cooking.
Makes 6 servings

Morning Glory Muffins

For Christmas my brother gave me an amazing cookbook - The Best of America's Test Kitchen: the year's best recipes, equipment reviews and tastings 2007. I'm an idiot and didn't know what America's Test Kitchen is but now I do. These are the guys who do Cooks Illustrated and Cooks Country magazines, and the PBS show "America's Test Kitchen." They have a 2,500 sq foot test kitchen near Boston where two dozen test chefs work full time year round testing and perfecting recipes. Some have been tested 20, 30 or 40 times to get them absolutely perfect. Nice to have someone else do it since I hate nothing more than working hard to chop, puree, fold, and dice, and dirtying every bowl I have only to have a recipe fail.

So every time I flip through the book my mouth waters and I finally got around to trying a recipe tonight: Morning Glory Muffins. I was looking for something to use shredded carrots in, since I have half a bag leftover from making Rachael Ray's "Curry-in-a-Hurry Chicken Salad" (which by the way is really good, especially the mango chutney salad dressing...) a few weeks ago. Sometimes Ed is in a hurry out the door in the morning; it's nice to have muffins around that he can grab and go, so I'm always looking for good recipes to try. And so far the book has lived up to its name. These muffins came out perfect - great texture, not too dry nor too moist, fabulous flavor and extremely aromatic.

Before I give you the recipe let me just mention a few little changes I made to make them my own:

• left out the coconut because I don't like it
• 2 tsp instead of 1 tsp of vanilla - Dave taught me the great trick of always doubling vanilla in recipes
• salted instead of unsalted butter just because that's what I had; didn't notice the difference in taste
• added a dash of freshly grated nutmeg - I add it to anything I can
• my oven runs hot so they were done in only 22 minutes
  
• instead of raisins I used Trader Joe's "Golden Blend", which has dried golden raisins, cherries, blueberries and cranberries - YUM!

Morning Glory Muffins
1/2 cup walnuts or pecans
2 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/4 cups sugar
3 large eggs
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 carrots, peeled & grated (2 cups)
1 (8-0unce) can of crushed pineapple, drained and pressed dry with paper towels
1/2 cup sweetened shredded coconut
1/2 cup raisins

1. Adjust an oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 375. Coat 12-cup muffin tin with spray or line with paper cups.
2. Spread the nuts on a rimmed baking sheet and toast them in the oven until fragrant, about 5 minutes. When cool enough to handle, coarsely chop.
3. Whisk the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt together in a large bowl.
4. In a separate bowl, whisk the sugar, eggs, melted butter, and vanilla until smooth. Gently fold the egg mixture into the flour mixture with a rubber spatula until just combined. Fold the carrots, pineapple, coconut, raisins, and toasted nuts into the batter.
5. Use a large ladle or measuring cup to divide the batter evenly among prepared muffin cups. Bake until golden and a toothpick inserted into the middle of a muffin comes out with just a few crumbs attached, 25-30 minutes.
6. Let muffins cool in the pan on a wire rack for 5 minutes, then flip out onto wire rack. Cool at least 10 minutes before serving.

Let me know if anyone tries them!