Biscotti for CEiMB

I apologize. You will not be seeing the biscotti today. Hopefully tomorrow.

My household was sick this past weekend. It started on Friday with my oldest. He has been under the weather ever since. My youngest was sick most of the day Saturday and seems to be a little better today. I received this wonderful bug early this AM and am hoping that it steers clear of the Hubster.

The biscotti will be coming soon. I promise!

Peanut Butter Torte - TWD

Another completed recipe down, 24 more to go!

I baked this extremely rich and chocolately peanut butter torte for a dinner with some friends last week. I apologize for no photos. My pictures turned out terrible and I didn't want to post the fuzzy and blurry ones that I did get. But trust me...I did make the torte.

The recipe can be found HERE. The torte was originally chosen for the TWD group back in May.

It was good. Just very rich. I forgot to add the whole milk that the recipe called for. I don't think that by adding the milk the dessert would have gotten any lighter though. I also decided that I can't talk myself into liking dark, bittersweet chocolate. I am a chocolate lover...but only milk or semi-sweet. It seems that most of Dorie's recipes that involve chocolate call for bittersweet. I am just going to have to alter the recipes to fit my tastes. Everyone who tried the torte liked it though.

Coming tomorrow: Chocolate Cherry-Almond Biscotti

Tall and Creamy Cheesecake - TWD

Oh, simply divine! I love cheesecake and could eat it for every meal. Anne of Anne Strawberry chose this fine dessert for her pick. She baked hers with a peppermint bark twist and it looks fantastic. I was so excited and decided to make it for a Christmas Eve party that we went to. You can find the recipe HERE or on pages 235-237 in this gem of a cookbook.

This recipe involved an incredible amount of cream cheese, 4 blocks to be exact. I also used a combination of heavy cream and sour cream. When I was putting the recipe together I accidently dropped one of the eggs into the batter. Yeah....eggshell and all. Don't know how this happened, I just accidently dropped it in there. My KA mixer was running at the time. I got nervous and jumped to shut it off to get the egg shells out. Well, I accidently kicked up the speed and the egg shells got crunched into even smaller pieces. CRAP! I was not going to start over again and waste all of this cream cheese. I picked out what I could find and hoped for the best.

I put a small amount of fresh raspberries into the crust before I dumped in the filling. I was nervous about the water bath and had visions of the water leaking into the cheesecake. I was quite neurotic about the aluminum foil and must have checked that I double wrapped the pan several times. Luckily it turned out great and no water seaped in. I did have trouble finding a pan big enough to fit the springform pan and water covering the bottom half. Next time I make this (which I will), I am going to buy a huge re-usuable roaster pan for the bath.

The cheesecake was so flippin' good. I served it the same day after it had been chilling in the refrigerator for just a little over 4 hours. It was good, however, the next day was much, much better. The next time I plan to serve it to others I will bake it a day ahead. I hope to make it with key limes soon. My oldest son even liked it and couldn't get enough. I was kind of surprised and thought that this was kind of a "grown up dessert". Not really for 5 year olds. We were both sad when it was gone.

If you haven't made this cheesecake, it is so worth baking. Trust me...you will not be disappointed! I can't wait to see what the others did with it as there are so many variations that you could tinker with.

NOTE: As for the eggshell fiasco...it appears that only 2 people found some. The Hubster being one of them. He said that he couldn't tell if it was an eggshell or a raspberry seed. HURRAY!!

Triple Chocolate Cookies - CEiMB

Chalked full of chocolately goodness......

I am getting this one posted just in the knick of time. These super chocolately cookies were chosen by Gabi from The Feast Within. You can find the recipe HERE that she posted on her blog. Her cookies look great. There appeared to be numerous ways that others went about and made them. Check out what some of the others did. Our talented host Gabi added baking powder and soda to get them to rise a bit.

I followed Jennifer's lead and substituted applesauce for the oil. I liked how hers looked like mini cakes. These cookies were very easy to put together. The only time consuming part was chopping the milk and dark chocolate, which didn't take long at all. The recipe said that it made 24 cookies. Mine only made 20. I also only added in approximately 1/4 cup of chopped pecans. I am not a nut fan in cookies but wanted to use up some pecans that I had. The cookies are very chocolately and go good with a big glass of milk. I don't know if I would make them again though.

Pecan Honey Sticky Buns - TWD

The TWD group made these buns back in May. It was chosen by Madame Chow. She has the recipe posted HERE if you want to try it. I decided to make these up because I had the dough frozen in the freezer since I made the Brioche Raisin Snails a few weeks ago.

My dad was in town for a late Christmas dinner so I decided to make these sticky buns up for breakfast. They were quite delish. I even liked the toasty pecans when they came out of the oven. I usually am not a nut fan in the slightest so I was quite surprised. The sticky part was probably the best tasting part of the rolls though. My dad must have thought so too. I think that he ate 3 of them!!

My "catch up" TWD recipe list is getting smaller.

Chicken Enchilada Casserole

I found this recipe at Growing up Mo. The Hubster has been completely turned off by some of the recipes that I have serving up as of late (more specifically, "Ellie vegetarian dishes"). Since I found a delicious chicken pot pie recipe from this blog awhile back (that he always raves about), I thought that this could be a winner. I thought right. He loved it, inhaled it and wants me to make it again soon. I must say that I liked it too. It had a little bit of spice to it which was great.

Chicken Enchilada Casserole

Source: Pillsbury Casseroles and Slow Cooker Meals, volume 16 number 6

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups cut-up cooked chicken (I used approximately 1 lb. shredded chicken)
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 cup chunky salsa
1 can 19oz mild enchilada sauce
1 can 11oz whole kernel corn, drained
1 can 16 oz chili beans, undrained
2 cups coarsely broken tortilla chips
4 medium green onions, sliced (1/4 cup)
1 medium tomato, chopped (3/4 cup)
1 cup shredded Cheddar Jack cheese (I used cheddar cheese)

DIRECTIONS:
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. In medium bowl, mix chicken, sugar, salsa, enchilada sauce, corn, and beans.
2. In ungreased 2 quart glass dish, place tortilla chips. Top with chicken mixture. Sprinkle with onions, tomato and cheese.
3. Bake 35 to 45 minutes or until hot and bubbly. If desired, arrange additional tortilla chips around edge of dish.

Fudge

I made fudge (peanut butter and traditional) to give away as Christmas gifts this year. The traditional one I make every year. However, this year I found a recipe for peanut butter fudge and wanted to give it a try. I am glad that I did. Quite yummy!

Killer Crack Peanut Butter Fudge

3 cups sugar
3/4 cup butter
2/3 cup evaporated milk
1 cup JIF peanut butter
1- 7 oz jar marshmallow creme
1 tsp vanilla

Combine sugar, butter, and evaporated milk in a heavy 2-1/2 quart saucepan. Bring to a full rolling boil, stirring constantly. Continue boiling over medium heat for 5 minutes, stirring constantly to prevent scorching. Remove from heat. Add the peanut butter, stirring until melted.. Add marshmallow creme and vanilla; beat until well blended.Spread in a buttered 9 x 13 x 2 - inch pan. Cool at room temperature, then refrigerate. Cut into squares when firm.

Fudge

3 6 oz. bags of semi-sweet chocolate chips
14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
pinch of salt
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 cup chopped nuts (I never use nuts)

Melt chocolate chips and condensed milk. Mix in remaining ingredients. Pour in 8 inch square pan lined with waxed paper. Refrigerate several hours or overnight. Cut into squares. Keep covered in an air tight container.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!