Roasted Brussels Sprouts

I never had Brussels sprouts growing up. In fact, I never had a lot of stuff that "average" American families had. My mother is Korean so she didn't make a lot of typical American food. It wasn't unusual to find kimchee on the table at Thanksgiving! The first time I had Brussels sprouts was at a dinner at my mother-in-law's house, and I decided to give them a go myself. This recipe is for roasted Brussels sprouts - the high heat really brings out the sweetness of the sprouts, and the addition of smoky bacon and sweet onions makes it even better.

ROASTED BRUSSELS SPROUTS

INGREDIENTS:

1 small sweet onion, sliced
8 oz bacon, chopped
2 pounds Brussels sprouts, trimmed and halved
Olive oil
Salt & Pepper to taste


DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2. In a small frypan saute onion and bacon until onions are soft and bacon is cooked about halfway through. Drain most of drippings. Add brussels sprouts and toss to coat. Transfer immediately to baking sheet. Drizzle lightly with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.

3. Roast in oven, stirring occasionally, until Brussels sprouts are tender, onions caramelized, and bacon is crisp, about 30 minutes.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

I made these cookies for a holiday cookie swap. I've made pumpkin bread with chocolate chips before and I liked the flavor combo (it sounds odd, but it's actually pretty good) so I thought it'd make a good cookie. This is a soft, cake-like cookie that mixes sweet pumpkin, spices, and chocolate. I think it would also be good to add nuts to the mix to contrast to the softness of the cookie.

PUMPKIN CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup butter

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup canned pumpkin

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS:


1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. In a large bowl beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add pumpkin, egg and vanilla and mix well. In a medium bowl combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Gradually add to pumpkin mixture until combined. Stir in chocolate chips.

3. Drop by rounded teaspoons onto baking sheets, about 2 inches apart. Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown. Allow to stand on baking sheets for 2 minutes, then remove to wire rack to cool completely.

Nutella Thumbprints

Ahhh, Nutella! I could eat this stuff straight from the jar (and have, I'm not ashamed to admit). If you haven't had it, Nutella is a chocolate hazelnut spread, and one of the most delish things ever invented if you ask me. I've wanted to find a way to use it in a cookie and figured it might make a good filling for a thumbprint cookie for a cookie swap. I love thumbprint cookies, it's like having a dessert within a dessert! Overall I liked this cookie a lot - the dough is a basic sugar cookie dough, not terribly sweet, which is good since Nutella has a pretty strong, rich flavor. I added hazelnuts for some crunch and to make it look a little fancier.

INGREDIENTS:

3/4 cup butter, softened

1 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 1/2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 jar Nutella spread

1/2 cup hazelnuts, chopped

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a large bowl, mix butter and sugar until smooth and fluffy. Beat in eggs and vanilla.

2. In a medium bowl combine flour, baking powder and salt. Gradually add into butter mixture and beat until just combined. Form loosely into a flat disk and cover in plastic wrap. Refrigerate at least 1 hour until chilled.

3. Preheat oven to 375 degrees and line baking sheets with parchment paper. To prepare cookies - take heaping teaspoons of chilled cookie dough and form loosely into balls. Place on baking sheet 2 inches apart. Return remaining dough to fridge to stay chilled until ready for the next batch. Using a small spoon or your fingertip, make an indentation in the middle of each cookie and spoon 1 teaspoon of Nutella into each indentation. Sprinkle with chopped hazelnuts. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Let stand for 2 minutes, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

Pumpkin Banana Nut Muffins

This was something I whipped up in yet another of those "I've got bananas that are about to go bad" moment. It's a mix of banana bread and pumpkin bread baked into muffins so my husband can easily take them for breakfast on his way to work. I used applesauce instead of oil and they came out really moist.

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups granulated sugar

1 cup bananas, mashed

1 cup pumpkin puree

3 eggs

1 cup applesauce

1/4 cup water

2 1/2 cups flour

3 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup walnuts, chopped

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease muffin pans with nonstick cooking spray.

2. In a large mixing bowl beat sugar, bananas, pumpkin, eggs, applesauce and water until well combined.

3. In a medium mixing bowl combine flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda and salt. Gradually add flour mixture to batter until just combined - do not overmix. Fold in walnuts. Fill muffin tins 2/3 full with batter and bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into center of muffins comes out clean.

German Chocolate Cheesecake

My how time flies. My husband Jeremy celebrated another birthday at the end of March. It occurred to me (and him, although he tried to be a trooper about it) that in all the hoopla of going out to birthday dinners and such that he never actually got a birthday cake this year. His favorite cake is German Chocolate and he usually gets one every year as his birthday cake. As a belated surprise I decided to make this recipe from Kraft - a combo of German Chocolate and cheesecake, two of his favorite things. :)

I've never had much luck with cheesecakes before - they always seem to crack or the texture is a bit off. This time I did some research and asked around to get some tips. I made sure not to overbeat the batter and I used a water bath (place a rectangular baking dish on the bottom rack of the oven and fill it with boiling water). After baking for 50 minutes I turned off the oven, cracked the oven door open a little and let the cheesecake cool in the oven for an hour before refrigerating. This time the cheesecake came out perfectly, not a crack in sight! :) The flavor and texture were great - very smooth and a nice chocolate and cream cheese flavor. Now that I think I have the technique down I can't wait to try other cheesecake flavors!

GERMAN CHOCOLATE CHEESECAKE

INGREDIENTS:
1 cup chocolate graham crackers, finely crushed
1 cup sugar, divided
3 tbls butter, melted
3 (8 oz) packages cream cheese, room temp
1/4 cup flour
1 (4 oz) package Baker's German sweet chocolate, melted
2 1/2 tsp vanilla, divided
4 eggs, divided
1/3 cup canned evaporated milk
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup sweetened flaked coconut
1/2 cup chopped pecans

DIRECTIONS:

1. PREHEAT oven to 350°F if using a silver 9-inch springform pan (or to 325°F if using a dark nonstick 9-inch springform pan). Mix chocolate wafer crumbs, 2 Tbsp. of the sugar and 3 Tbsp. butter; press firmly onto bottom of pan. Bake 10 min.

2. BEAT cream cheese, 1/2 cup of the sugar and the flour in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended. Add chocolate and 2 tsp. of the vanilla; mix well. Add 3 of the eggs, 1 at a time, mixing on low speed after each addition just until blended. Pour over crust.
BAKE 45 to 50 min. or until center is almost set. Run knife or metal spatula around rim of pan to loosen cake; cool before removing rim of pan. Refrigerate 4 hours or overnight.

3. PLACE evaporated milk, remaining sugar, the 1/4 cup butter, remaining egg and remaining 1/2 tsp. vanilla in small saucepan; cook on medium-low heat until thickened, stirring constantly. Stir in coconut and pecans. Cool. Spread over cheesecake just before serving. Store leftover cheesecake in refrigerator.

Bacon Cream Cheese Pinwheels

Ahh, bacon, you magical thing! This was a little appetizer I made inspired by a recipe from Kraft. The original recipe has a few more ingredients including parmesan cheese which I didn't have. We didn't really notice though, it was yummy and pretty easy to make!

BACON CREAM CHEESE PINWHEELS

INGREDIENTS:
8 slices bacon, chopped
1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, softened
1 tablespoon milk
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 teapoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon dried basil
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
1 (8 oz) can refrigerated crescent roll dough


DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a small frypan cook bacon over medium heat, stirring frequently until browned and crisp. Drain and set aside.

2. In a small bowl combine cream cheese and milk until well combined. Stir in salt, garlic powder, basil and black pepper.

3. Open can of crescent roll dough and unroll flat. Divide into 4 sections (2 triangles of dough each) and pinch diagonal seams together to make a 4 single sheets of rectangular dough. Spread cream cheese mixture over sheets dough, stopping 1/4 inch from edges. Sprinkle evenly with cooked bacon bits. Starting with one end of each rectangle, roll dough into logs, pressing end seam against logs of dough to seal. Cut into pinwheels approximately 1/4 inch thick. Arrange pinwheels flat on a baking sheet about an inch apart. Bake for 11-13 minutes until golden brown. Serve warm.

White Chocolate Pretzel Bark

Damn you Paula Deen! How dare you show a fragile pregnant woman a vat of salty/sweet white chocolate bark, hence triggering a craving that forces her to the grocery store to buy the ingredients to make your recipe! This is a recipe adapted from Paula Deen's Pretzel Peanut Bark. I adjusted the ingredients slightly and added M&M candies. It's a nice combination of salty, sweet, smooth and crunchy.

WHITE CHOCOLATE PRETZEL BARK

INGREDIENTS:
2 (11 oz) bags white chocolate chips
4 cups pretzel sticks, broken but not crushed
2 cups salted peanuts
2 (3.14 oz) bags plain milk chocolate M&Ms

DIRECTIONS:

1. Using a double boiler, melt white chocolate chips until smooth, stirring often.

2. In a large mixing bowl combine melted white chocolate, pretzel sticks, peanuts and M&Ms. Stir until well coated. Pour out onto a large baking sheet lined with parchment paper and spread evenly across pan. Allow to cool completely before breaking into bite sized chunks.

Peanut Butter Chip Brownies

It was a brownie kind of day today. Work was hectic, I'm starting to feel more whacky and uncomfortable as the baby grows, and the only thing I thought could help was chocolate. This is a recipe from Hershey for chocolate brownies with peanut butter chips. I've actually never made brownies from scratch before, I've always made them from a box mix but these turned out really well. They're very rich so a little goes a long way.

PEANUT BUTTER CHIP BROWNIES

INGREDIENTS:
2 1/2 sticks butter, melted
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 2/3 cups flour
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 (10 oz) bag peanut butter chips

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 13x9x2 inch baking pan.

2. In a large bowl, mix butter and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla and beat until well combined. In a medium bowl combine flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt. Add to butter mixture and stir until just combined. Fold in peanut butter chips. Spread batter evenly into prepared baking pan.

3. Bake for 30-35 minutes until toothpick inserted into the center of batter comes out clean. Remove from oven and cool completely before cutting into squares.

Oatmeal Scotchies

Ah, my poor little blog, how I have neglected you. It's been a long time since I've posted anything, but I blame it on morning sickness! Yes, for those who haven't heard we're expecting our first baby in June. It's been a bit rough going at times and I just haven't been up for cooking much lately. So I'm starting off slow, with a batch of oatmeal butterscotch cookies from Nestle.com. These are a fun change from the everyday chocolate chip.

OATMEAL SCOTCHIES

INGREDIENTS:

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups rolled oats

1 (11 oz) package butterscotch morsels

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

2. In a medium bowl combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. In a large mixing bowl beat butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar until fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla and beat until well combined. Slowly add flour mixture, beating well until combined. Stir in oatmeal and butterscotch morsels.

3. Drop by rounded tablespoons onto cookie sheets, about 2 inches apart. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Allow to cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes, then remove to wire racks to cool completely.