Perfect Ginger Cookies

When people find out I have a food blog, they always ask the same question: "What type of food theme is it?" This question causes me to stare blankly at them waiting for an answer to come to me. This silly little blog has been up for about a year and I am still unable to answer this. "Food I like to eat?" I tell them questioningly, hoping it is enough of a legitimate answer to pacify them. The truth is, I have no idea. I really like cooking, eating, sharing, reminiscing, thinking  and talking about food. That is really the main reason for this whole thing. If anyone has a good way of describing what that theme is I am all ears. 

I was asked a new question the other day.  "So does everything you make have ginger in it?" That is obviously an easy question to answer. I think there has been only one recipe posted with ginger even in it. To be completely honest, I am picky about my ginger usage. It shows its best ability in desserts. Case in point: ginger cookies. This is a recipe I have modified from the Barefoot Contessa to make it a bit easier and uses a few less ingredients. These cookies are spicy, chewy and just perfectly toothsome. 

Ingredients

1 cup of brown sugar

1/4 cup oil

1/3 cup molasses 

1 egg

1 cup chopped crystallized ginger

2 1/4 cup flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons apple or pumpkin pie spice

 Combine all of the wet ingredients and mix them well. You may think that just 1/4 cup of oil is not enough, trust me these cookies will be perfect!

There are two types of crystillized ginger, wet and dry. This is the type you need. I have found this in a few different places. You can get this in itty bitty jars for about seven dollars. Don't get that kind. I have had pretty good luck in the dried fruit section, as well as stores that sell things in bulk bins. Just a scoop should do you for these cookies.

Chop up the crystalized ginger. This is was makes the cookies so spicy, so make sure they are in little bits. You could certainly leave this out of you are not as big of a ginger fan, but it does add a nice warmth to the cookie. After you stir in the ginger, add the remaining dry ingredients.

 

Roll the combined dough into tablespoon sized balls and bake them on a greased cookie sheet in a 350 degree oven for bout 8 to 10 minutes. Make sure these are not over baked, they are not nearly as tasty. 

 

These are really tasty with coffee or milk, even with ginger tea!

Chicken Chile Baked Potatoes

 " Is this going on the blog?" This is a question I get pretty frequently when I feed people. Typically, the answer is no. Many of the things I love are just really simple and in my opinion boring. Some of the stuff would make me feel like a phony putting it out there for people to read and acting like it is a recipe they would even need to write down. 

"This should go on the blog." My fiance says that about everything I make. Sometimes I want to make him something really terrible and see if he still makes the same remarks. I'm pretty sure he would. After some urging, I decided maybe he was right about this one. It is really, really good and you can have an amazing dinner in 15 minutes. 

Ingredients

4 potaotes, scrubbed very clean

2 to 3 cups of cooked chicken, cubed

1 cup of red chile sauce

1 teaspoon garlic salt

1 cup of cheese

Start by baking the potatoes. If I have time I do love to do them in the oven at 350 degrees for about an hour.  The skin is so crisp and tasty. However, time is not usually on my side so the microwave is my regular method.Just throw them in the microwave for about 8 minutes or until a fork comes out easily.

 

While your potatoes are getting themselves ready, heat up with chicken and sauce. Add in the garlic salt. I sometimes add a little cheese to this to make it extra tasty.Let this simmer for about 5 minutes until the chicken has absorbed the sauce.

When you are ready to serve, split the potatoes open and season them to your liking. Just salt and pepper is my favorite, but you could even add a little taco seasoning. Then pour the chicken and sauce over the potatoes. Sprinkle the top with cheese and serve with a nice veggie on the side. Not bad for 15 minutes!

Pumpkin Bars

"Guess what time it is?" My sweet fiance doesn't really like this game. It usually involves him fixing something or me squishing his face. Which explains his apprehensive response "ummm noon?" "No, it's PUMPKIN TIME!" Silly, he should have known by the 10 cans of pumpkin sitting on the table. Pumpkin is one of my favorite things in the entire world. It goes with all the best fall spices and pumpkins have a natural resemblance to my own head. Or is it the other way around?

Either way pumpkin season is upon us and I am thrilled about it. Colder weather is not usually my favorite, but if I get to seasonably eat some pumpkin goodies I will consider myself appeased. Pumpkin delight number one are these little beauties. Pumpkin bars are happier than leaves falling off the trees.These bars are crazy moist and full of flavor. I spread a light layer of icing on them to force the candy corn pumpkins to become friends with the bars. If you would rather not have the icing on there, I did the hard work of I testing plenty of them naked and they are also crazy good. Science will thank me for it, I'm sure.

Ingredients

Bars:

1 (15-ounce) can unsweetened pumpkin

1 cup canola oil

3 cups sugar

3 large eggs

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder 

1 teaspoon pumpkin or apple pie spice

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Icing:

4 Tablespoons of butter, softened

2 cups powdered sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

candy corn pumpkins, optional

Combine the first four ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Make sure everything is well blended. Combine the remaining dry ingredients in a separate bowl and mix those well. Usually I am not the "let's dirty another bowl" type of person, but the spices don't blend as well if you just throw them in. 

Pour the batter into a well greased cookie sheet that has fairly high sides. I have a few super deep pans so I was able to fill it about 3/4 of the way up. This recipe will give you about two pans full of the batter. Just to be on the safe side, I put another pan at the bottom of the oven to catch any batter that may explode over. Bake these at 350 degrees for about 20 to 30 minutes. Cool before frosting.

While the bars are baking, combine all the icing ingredients and whisk them until there are no lumps in it. If you like a thicker icing, add a bit more powdered sugar. Spoon this over the cooled bars and cut them into small squares. Then add any decorative flair you like. I like the little candy corn pumpkins, it makes them look like a little pumpkin patch!

This is a recipe adapted from /http://sugarmamacooks.com/. Head on over to her site, she has some amazing pumpkin wisdom to share!

 Bruschetta Dip

 Homegrown tomatoes are probably one of my favorite things in the whole world. I frequently say "I could eat a whole acre of fresh tomatoes." I have never tried it, but it's probably true.

Knowing this you could only imagine my delight when I got a huge bag of tomatoes from my parent’s sweet neighbors. 

The whole way home I imagined all the yummy things these tomatoes could be transformed into. In my mind I saw myself grilling perfectly sliced French bread, slathering each one with garlic infused oil and topping them perfectly with a delicious tomato mixture. 

Fast forward to 20 minutes before a gaggle of girls descends upon my apartment.  My vision was a bit more appropriate for a summer in Tuscany than real life.  There was no time to grill or slather bread, but I couldn’t pass up the chance on using those shiny, ruby spheres of joy. 

As I chopped the tomatoes, I remembered a delightful brick of cream cheese in my fridge just begging to be used. One of my favorite appetizers is spreading jalapeno jelly over cream cheese and serving it up with a few crackers. I figured this whole concept could be applied to the tomatoes. Luckily I had a good cracker to serve these with as well. It was crazy delicious! The ladies loved it and so did I. So much so I even made more to for lunch the next day.

Ingredients

6 average sized tomatoes, diced

1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper

1/3 cup Italian Salad Dressing

1 tablespoon chopped basil

1 8oz brick cream cheese, softened

assorted crackers (I used Rosemary and Garlic flavored)

 

Combine all the ingredients before the cream cheese and crackers. Let this sit for about 15 minutes to let the flavors meld. 

If your cream cheese is not room temperature, throw it in your microwave for a minute on defrost and it should be perfectly smushy. Once it's the perfect temperature, put it into a pretty serving dish that is deep enough to house all that delicious tomato mixture.

 

Pour the tomatoe mixture over the cream cheese and serve this with crackers. I really loved this at room temperature or slightly chilled. Try this out, you will love it!

 Triple Chip Nut Clusters

"Ms. Little, you look kind of...bad." I have such sweet children, don't I? He was right, I did look terrible, but it was no where near the level of terrible I felt. Those of you who check this silly blog with some regularity probably noticed I have not posted in quite some time. The main culprit for my absence has not been a vacation in the Caribbean or shopping sprees lasting days. Instead it was super awful pneumonia. 

What started as a mild case of the yuck yucks ended up causing the most adorable hacking cough and super high fever that lasted for weeks. Despite my hatred of going to the doctor, it was needed. I am glad I did as it would have led to a few days in the hospital and eating green jello. No one likes that kind.

 There was one silver lining surrounding my moment of illness. I was still able to eat just fine. I'm pretty sure I know the cure to any sickness: chocolate! These are crazy good and fairly easy. Sorry there is not more pictures in the process, My kitchen was embarrassingly messy. You're a bright cook, I think you can figure out what spooning ooey gooey chocolate onto wax paper looks like.  I won't even tell if a few spoonfuls go missing.

Ingredients

3/4 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

3/4 cup white chocolate chips

3/4 cup butterscotch chips

1/4 cup butter or margarine

3/4 cup chopped almonds or pecans

First, just admire the chips. It's a bowl of beauty! These need to be melted and smooth. I do this in the microwave for 20 to 30 seconds at a time and stir after each cooktime

. Stop before they are totally melted or the mixture will get grey, lumpy and gross.

Once the chips are mostly melted, add in the butter and the chopped almonds. I'm pretty sure I could do a fine job of swimming through this if I were a much, much smaller person.

 After the mixture has been tested for quality, spoon about two to three tablespoons of the mixture in mounds on wax paper. If you need these to be ready in a pinch, throw them on a sheet pan into the freezer. They will harden in no time!

 Mixed Fruit Cobbler

 I love ordering toast in a restaurant. It may seem a little silly to enjoy ordering something you can make at home but it really is the prefect side. My mom always saves the last lonely triangle of toast to put jelly on. She says it's like the dessert of breakfast. It the quadrant containers of jams and jellies, there is an order of best to worst. For me, mixed fruit is the worst. It doesn't really taste like anything and takes up the last piece of toast with it's nothingness. This cobbler is definitely the opposite of boring. I love the combination of the tart rhubarb and sweet plumbs. It makes a really rich sauce just underneath the cobbler surface.

The cobbler part of this recipe comes from a sweet friend of my parents, Faye. She is a darling lady who makes the best cobbler. She usually puts this cobbler with peaches from their backyard. Try this recipe out with either one, and you will love it, too!

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups frozen or fresh rhubarb

6 plumbs, pitted and chopped roughly

2 1/2 cups of sugar, divided

1/2 cup butter

1 cup milk

1 cup of flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon vanilla

 Place the rhubarb over medium heat in a saucepan. You will need to cook the fruit whether it is fresh or frozen to get out the bitterness.

Place 1 cup of sugar in the pot and cook the rhubarb until it is soft and the liquid has made a jelly looking  consistency.

Add in the chopped plumbs and mix well. Once the plumbs are mixed in, turn off the heat and keep this off to the side.

 

Melt the stick of butter and heat the milk at the same time in the microwave. This should take between one and two minutes depending on the model of your microwave.

 

Once the butter is melted and the milk is warm, add in the remaining sugar and the vanilla. then mix in the dry ingredients. 

 

In a greased 9 X13 pan, place the fruit and spread evenly. Then, spread over the dough mixture. You can put the dough mixture on the bottom and watch it rise up, but this is how I do it. 

Bake the cobbler for 40 to 50 minutes at 350 degrees or until the cobbler is set. Don't wait until it's super golden brown, it will be overdone by then. 

 

This is delicious with some milk or iced tea!

 Cool Lime and Coconut Pie

 Everyone has movies they watch all the time. Like an old friend they just give you a certain comfort in knowing what is going to happen and how it's going to be solved. One of my favorite movies is "Practical Magic." You may chuckle, but it really is cute. And there is a red head in it, which always boosts the credibility for me. 

For those who have missed the grand opportunity to watch it, it features two sisters who are witches. It's a silly movie, but I really love it. There is a scene where they are having a party in their house sound tracked to the Hary Nilson song "Coconut." As a kid I didn't really understand what this was all about, but I did know for sure that limes and coconuts were meant to be together. This pie reaffirms that idea. 

This pie is really easy to make and it's tasty. It has been a perfect treat in this late summer heat we have going on in the Denver area. It's super simple to put together and people love it!

Ingredients

2 limes

1 small can of sweetened condensed milk

1 1/2 cups shredded coconut, divided

1 small container of whipped topping

1 graham cracker crust

 In a large bowl, zest and juice both of the limes.

Mix in the sweetend condensed milk and 3/4 cup of the coconut

 

Gently fold in the whipped topping to keep it nice and fluffy.

 

Pour the filling into the graham cracker crust and smooth out the top. Cover this and let it chill over night.

 

Toast the remaining coconut over very low heat, stirring constantly. This will burn really quickly! Let this cool before sprinkling over the pie. 

Sprinkle the cooled coconut over the pie just before serving. Enjoy with some limeade for a super citrus filled punch!