My new cookbook!

I don't know if you can tell from the picture, but this book is HUGE! I've been wanting to buy a cookbook from America's Test Kitchen (Cooks Illustrated) for awhile now. They have so many great books to choose from, but I finally decided on The New Best Recipe.

(Here it is compared to a normal sized book)

From Publisher's Weekly:
"A literal encyclopedia of recipes (culled from the magazine), this revision to Cook's Illustrated's popular The Best Recipe is almost double in size and includes more than 1,000 recipes. Cook's Illustrated is known for careful (some would say compulsive) testing of recipes with a focus on foolproof technique; detailed line drawings that take readers step-by-step through recipes; and opinionated guides that assert that their way is the best way. This methodology appeals particularly to a specific kind of cook, one with a primarily scientific rather than artistic or intuitive approach to cooking. Though there are a few photographs, readers who buy cookbooks for full-color photographs and personal anecdotes aren't likely to be drawn to this work. Twenty-two chapters cover appetizers to desserts."

Okay, so it may not have the charm of The Pioneer Woman's cookbook or be the most colorful or artistic cookbook out there but it is full of great information. I like how they test out out a bunch of recipes and see what produces the best product! They tell you what works, and what doesn't. Usually when I'm looking for a specific recipe I look at a ton of recipes, read the reviews/comments, see what people have done to make it better, and make a recipe based on everything I've read. I guess that's pretty much what America's Test Kitchen does (they also have the time & money to exhaustively test the recipes!). Now I have a cookbook I can go to and not have to worry about researching anything!

What are some of your favorite cookbooks?

Cinnamon Sugar Whop Doughnuts

While I was in town today, I needed to stop by Walmart and get a few things. I was starving! Going grocery shopping on an empty stomach is never a good thing. I had a strict few things I had to get and that was it. Sandwhich meat, bread, chips, milk, etc. Nothing fun. Once I get started, it tends to get a little pricey. Making homemade stuff is delicious, but you have to buy SO many ingredients. But anyway. I had my eye on some powdered sugar doughnuts. I was being good and didn't buy them.

On the way home, I remembered I had the ingredients to make some cinnamon sugar whop doughnuts. Great name, huh? To make them all you need is a can of "whop" biscuits, butter, cinnamon, sugar, and some oil to fry them in. I'll explain what a whop biscuit is just incase anyone is in the dark. You know if you buy the cheap store brand canned biscuits, they never want to pop right open. You have to use a spoon, or whop them on the counter. Whop biscuits help when you want to make doughnuts super quick. They're easy as can be! My fiance's family use to make these, but instead of using the cinnamon sugar mixture...they would make a powdered sugar glaze.

Me, being the person I am... I love to have a recipe when I first try something out. Some people like to experiment, I like to have a recipe to go by. So awhile back, I found a super easy cinnamon sugar doughnut recipe on Southern Plate. I love Christy's website,  I'm so glad I found it! She has so many recipes I want to try. My fiance grew up eating a lot of southern food. I now have a great resource to a BUNCH of great southern dishes!

Here is Christy's recipe, slightly adapted:

• 1 (five count) can texas style biscuits *Don't use flaky layer biscuits*
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tbsp cinnamon
• 4 tbsp butter or margarine, melted
• Canola oil, for frying 

Pour oil into skillet filling to about 1/2 an inch. I used a 10" skillet. Heat the oil at medium high for about five minutes.

In a bowl, melt the butter. In a separate bowl, combine cinnamon and sugar.

Using a plastic bottle cap, cut the center out of each biscuit.

I started frying the doughnut holes once the oil got to about 355ish. I read that the ideal temp to fry doughnuts is 375F, but they were getting way too dark at that temp. I also read that when you fry them at 350, they absorb more of the oil. I didn't want burnt doughnuts, so I stayed between 355F & 360F.


Drop dough into hot oil (I could fit 5 at a time in my 10 inch skillet), watching carefully and turning with tongs when golden. Once doughnuts are golden on both sides, remove to paper towel lined plate. Repeat until all dough is cooked, including doughnut holes.

Dip both sides of each doughnut into melted margarine, then press both sides into cinnamon sugar mixture. Serve warm.

*Be prepared to make more! I thought 5 doughnuts would be plenty. Oh, was I wrong! My fiance ate about 5 by himself (One was plenty for me!). To make more just open another can of biscuits, remove the centers, and fry. I didn't need to melt any more butter or make extra cinnamon sugar mixture.

Cheesecake

Mmm! Cheesecake. As much as I love chocolate, I think cheesecake would be my favorite "cake." Maybe even my favorite desert! Which is pretty funny considering I wont touch anything that has cream cheese in it with a ten foot pole! Well, there is one other thing I absolutely love that has cream cheese in it. Reese's peanut butter pie! Talk about good! I'll have to post that recipe the next time I make it. I've tried the no-bake cheesecakes before, and they're not my cup of tea. The first time I tried a new york style cheesecake was this past December. After trying it, I was hooked! I make it every chance I get. Birthdays, potlucks, etc. "Hey, it's Monday! Let's make a cheesecake!" I think you get the idea :)

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

• (For the crust)
• 2 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 1 stick of butter, melted
• 3 tablespoons white sugar

• (For the filling)
• 4 (8 oz) packages full-fat cream cheese, softened at room temperature
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1-½ cups white sugar
• 1 lemon, zested*
• 4 large eggs
• ½ cup whole milk
• 1 (8 oz) container full-fat sour cream, at room temp.
• 1 tablespoons vanilla extract

*Lemon zest is optional. I seem to always forget to buy lemons when I’m at the store. If I have some, I will put zest in. If I don’t, it’s not a big deal.

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease the sides and bottom of a 9″ Springform pan well with shortening.

For the crust:

• In a medium bowl, mix the graham cracker crumbs with the melted butter and sugar. Press the mixture into the bottom and up the sides of your prepared pan. Now put your pan, uncovered, into the freezer while you’re making the filling.

For the filling:

• In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, cream the cheese until it’s nice and smooth. You don’t want to have any lumps.

 

• Whisk your flour and sugar together first, to prevent any lumps when they’re added to the cream cheese. 

• Pour flour/sugar mixture into the cream cheese and mix. Make sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl, add lemon zest (if using; I didn't in this particular one), and continue to mix.

 

• Mix in the eggs, one at a time, mixing on low just enough to incorporate. Do not over mix!

 

• Add in milk, sour cream, and vanilla extract.

 

 

• Blend together until you get a smooth consistency.  Again, do not over mix.

 

• Pour filling into prepared crust.

 

• Smooth filling with a spatula or whatever you have on hand.

 

Baking:
You have a couple of options when it comes to baking your cheesecake. You can either:

• A. Stick your pan into the preheated oven, turn down the temperature to 250F, and bake for 1 hr & 30 mins to 1hr & 45mins. The center should still wobble a little. It shouldn’t be pure liquid or completely set. Once it’s done baking, turn the oven off and let it sit for at least an hour (more if you have the time). After about an hour or so, I open the oven door and let it sit for a few more hours. This option gives me the best results. I’ve never had it crack.

or

• B. Stick your pan into the 350F oven and bake for an hour. Turn off the oven and let it sit for an hour or so. Open the oven door, and continue to let it cool for a few more hours. If you choose this option, I suggest using a water bath. You will need to wrap the bottom of your pan with aluminum foil (the more layers of aluminum foil the better), and stick it into a roasting pan. Then pour hot water almost halfway up your springform pan. It will help the cheesecake cook evenly. I’ve cooked it this way a few times (minus the water bath) and it’s cracked every time. The taste is still delicious, just not as pretty. I’ve heard bad stories of soggy crusts, so I haven’t tried the water bath method yet. I just stick to option A, and I get wonderful results.

So either way, once the cheesecake is done baking and you’ve let it cool, wrap it with plastic wrap and stick it in the fridge. It’s best if you let it sit at least overnight. The longer it sits, the better it tastes!

 

I like to top it with sliced sweetened strawberries that have gotten nice and juicy!

I didn't get a picture of it when it came out of the oven or before people cut into it. Here is a picture of a previous (and slightly smaller height wise) cheesecake.

Chocolate chip cookies!

This is my favorite chocolate chip recipe! They are thick, chewy, and have the right amount of chocolate chips. I've tried my share of chocolate chip recipes. The cookies would either be too puffy, too salty, too flat, too much or not enough chocolate, etc. Not these. I would recommend that everyone try this recipe. There is nothing truly spectacular about the ingredients or the recipe. But if you love a good chocolate chip cookie as much as I do... I'm sure you'll love these!

Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

From My Kitchen Cafe, who found the recipe on Cook's Illustrated

Makes around 30 cookies.

Ingredients

2 1/8 cups bleached all-purpose flour (about 10.5 oz)
1/2 tsp table salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
12 tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
1 cup brown sugar (7 oz)
1/2 cup sugar (3.5 oz)
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
2 tsp vanilla
1-2 cups chocolate chips (I use about 1 1/2 cups)

Directions  

Preheat oven to 325F.

Mix flour, salt, and baking soda together in medium bowl; set aside.

Either by hand or with electric mixer, mix butter and sugars until thoroughly blended. Mix in egg, yolk, and vanilla. Add dry ingredients; mix until just combined. Stir in chips.

Form dough into balls. If you have a cookie scoop, use that. It's definitely easier. I just use a regular spoon to scoop up a good amount, and roll it into a ball. Make sure the balls are uniform in size so they cook evenly. Place dough on parchment or silpat-lined cookie sheets (I can fit 13 on a regular sized cookie sheet). 

Bake, reversing cookie sheets’ positions halfway through baking, until the cookie's outer edges start to harden yet centers are still soft and puffy, 15 to 18 minutes. Start checking at 13 minutes – these cookies really do need longer baking time than most average cookie dough recipes. Frozen dough requires an extra 1 to 2 minutes baking time. Cool cookies on cookie sheets. Serve or store in airtight container.

The dough can be refrigerated or frozen if you don't want to make 30(ish) cookies all at once. I refrigerated some once for a day, without forming into balls, and I had one huge mass of cookie dough that was stuck together. I microwaved it a bit to soften it up. The dough was on the dry side so I poured a little canola oil on top and mixed it throughout. Once baked, you couldn't tell the dough had been refrigerated and microwaved :)

I hope you like these as much as I do!

Lemonade

I don't know what it is about lemons, but I seem to always forget to buy them. Sometimes I just opt to omit them from the recipe. Other times, when it's crucial (in a fish dish)... I make a darn second trip to the store. However, we just moved back to Georgia and we're about 40 minutes away from the closest Walmart. I think I better start paying attention to what is on my list!

So this past trip to the store, I actually remembered the darn lemons. Then I find out I can't buy just one. I have to buy a bag of ten. The man who was stocking produce informed me that they didn't get their shipment of lemons. All they had were bags of ten. Do I buy a bag of ten lemons or do I wait since I only need one? I went ahead and bought the bag, of course! I wanted to try a new shrimp scampi recipe. I figured I could come up with something to do with the rest. I used one for the scampi, one for my apple crisp, and the rest... you got it. Lemonade! The easiest way to use a bunch of lemons!

Ingredients

• 6-7 lemons (or enough to get 1 cup of juice)
• 1 cup of sugar
• 6 cups of cold water

Directions
Firmly roll each lemon between the counter and your hand. You want to really get the juices flowing! Cut each lemon in half, and squeeze the heck out of them. You should get 1 cup of lemon juice.

Now combine the lemon juice, sugar, and water in a 2 quart pitcher. Stir (or let your three your old daughter stir since she couldn't quite squeeze the lemons) thoroughly and refrigerate. Makes about 2 quarts.

Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution

I started watching Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution about three weeks ago. I think what he's doing is great! I'm glad so many people are sharing their support. Everyone is going to have to do their part to ensure that the way we eat as a nation changes!

A message from Jamie:

"I believe that every child in America has the right to fresh, nutritious school meals, and that every family deserves real, honest, wholesome food. Too many people are being affected by what they eat. It's time for a national revolution. America needs to stand up for better food!

You live in an amazing country full of inspirational people and you have the power to change things. With your help, we can get better food into homes, schools and communities all over America and give your kids a better future. Sign the petition to save America's cooking skills and improve school food. It could be the most important thing you ever do for your family. America's health needs you now!"

Here is the link for his platform for change.

Just getting started!

My hopes for this blog is to write about my journey into the culinary world. I have been pretty much obsessed with watching The Food Network, looking for the perfect recipes online, and pushing myself to try new things. I can't wait until I get confident enough in my cooking to start developing my own recipes. I would love to be able to go to culinary school or maybe even Pastry school. Our finances aren't in the best shape, so I'm going with the self taught path for now! I guess I'll have to wait and see what the future holds :)