Sesame-Teriyaki Chicken Thighs - CEiMB

The recipe for this week was chosen by Jessica. The recipe can be found HERE or on page 209 in Ellie's book.

This was a very easy dish to prepare. The chicken thighs marinade in a mix of soy sauce, sherry, rice vinegar, brown sugar and garlic for 30 minutes. The chicken is then broiled on both sides and sprinkled with sesame seeds. I lined my broiling pan with aluminum foil and the clean up was a breeze.

I think next time I will use boneless chicken breasts. The Hubster likes chicken thighs so I wanted to make it as the recipe called for the first time.

Great pick Jessica!

COMING NEXT THURSDAY: Nutty Granola

Vanilla Malted Cookies

I participated in another bake along. I don't own the Martha Stewart Cookies cookbook but I wish that I did! I just can't resist a cookie bake along. I am not sure who chose the recipe but I found out about it on Megan's blog.

I was excited to bake these cookies because I have never used a real vanilla bean before. I thought that they would look just like regular old beans. I was surprised when I found the vanilla beans in the spice aisle. I was a long strand that was folded over and smelled incredibly good. And only one bean in the jar. Just not what I was expecting!

Vanilla Malted Cookies - Page 149
2 ¾ c. all purpose flour
¾ c. plain malted milk powder
1 tsp baking powder
¾ tsp salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, room temperature
3 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
1 c. sugar
1 vanilla bean, split, seeds scraped and reserved
1 large egg
½ tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degree. Whisk together flour, malted milk powder, baking powder and salt.
With an electric mixer on medium speed, beat butter and cream cheese until creamy. Mix in sugar and vanilla seeds. Add egg and vanilla extract, and combine. Reduce speed to low, add flour mixture and mix to combine.

Transfer dough to a pastry bag fitted with a ½” star tip (such as Ateco #825). Pipe 2 ½” strips onto parchment lined baking sheets, spacing them about 1 inch apart.

Bake until bottom edges are golden brown, 11 to 15 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through. Transfer to wire rack to cool completely. Cookies can be stored in airtight containers at room temperature up to 1 week.

My cookies will not resemble the others. I did not have a pastry bag, nor a star tip, such as Ateco #825?? HUH?!) I was going to use my Pampered Chef Decorator. However, I decided to be lazy after I made the dough and put it in the refrigerator to chill for over 24 hours before baking them. Therefore, the dough was hard and would not come out of the Pampered Chef decorator. I decided to just roll them into balls and bake them.

These cookies were very good. Some of them were very crunchy the next day (just like Nilla Wafers) and others were very soft and cake-like. I think that depended on how big I shaped the balls into or maybe I undercooked those ones. I would definetely make these again.

Great pick! I would love to make some lime meltaways that I read were in this cookbook for another bakealong.......??

Floating Islands - TWD

This just did not work out for me. I wasted a dozen eggs and 4 cups milk before giving up. If I hadn't of run out of eggs and milk I would have tried again. Two times the creme anglaise turned into scrambled eggs. It looked disgusting. This is quite an odd recipe.

I will try again. Maybe this week yet?!

For others that did turn out....check out the TWD website.

Granola Grabbers - TWD

I can't begin to explain how good these are. I just won't do these cookies any justice. They are spectacular. I will make these again for sure. They disappeared from our house in less than 24 hours. YUMMY! The recipe can be found HERE. They were chosen back in August for TWD.

These little grabbers are made with granola, raisins, coconut, peanuts and wheat germ. They are crunchy and chewy at the same time. I think that they are one of my new favorite cookies. I am telling you....they are that good!!

Warm Spinach and Artichoke Dip - CEiMB

So. Deliciously. Good!

The recipe for this week was chosen by Cathy from The Tortefeasor. I love reading her posts, whether for TWD or CEiMB, they are always enjoyable (very funny and well written). I was excited when I saw that she had chosen this for Superbowl weekend. If I hadn't been working during the Superbowl I would have made it for the game. However, I made it for lunch yesterday.

This dip is awesome. You seriously can't even tell that it has reduced fat sour cream and cream cheese. I will be making this one again and again! Even The Hubster was impressed. He said that for once Ellie really outdid herself and didn't screw this one up. Next time I make it I may try adding cheddar cheese instead of mozzeralla....might be good?

GREAT PICK CATHY!! You can find the recipe HERE or on Page 70 in Ellie's book.

Sage-Rubbed Pork Chops with Warm Apple Slaw - CEiMB

I finally made this for dinner yesterday. I know that I am almost a week late though. The mysterious illness that zapped the life out of my husband last week seems to have disappeared from our household. Knock on wood (Knock-Knock) he was the only one who got sick. We are thinking that it was some sort of food poisoning.

Back to the pork chops. The recipe was chosen by Jen and you can find the recipe at her blog HERE. Or on page 195 in Ellie's book.

I am still on the fence if I liked it or not. It certainly was not very filling. I should have made some sort of starch to accompany the meal. I only served the slaw and pork chops. Two hours after dinner I was starving and ran through Culvers on the way home from running errands to scarf down some french fries.

The dinner took a long time to prepare. There was too much cutting, shredding, peeling, etc. I did get some pre-shredded angel hair cabbage though. I think that it would have taken me much longer to prepare if I hadn't. I also wish that I had gotten boneless pork chops. I really hate all the fat on a pork chop. As for the taste of the dish, I actually liked the apple tasting slaw. The Hubster also thought that it was OK, just nothing fantastic.


COMING TOMORROW: Warm spinach and artichoke dip

World Peace Cookies - TWD

The recipe this week was chosen by Jess from Cookbook Habit. The recipe can be found HERE. I love cookies!!

These cookies are made with a specialty salt, fleur de sol or a fine sea salt. I was going to buy this special salt until I learned that it was $8.99 for a small bottle. The recipe calls for 1/2 teaspoon! Nope. Not happening here. I substituted coarse Kosher salt instead. Not sure that it made a difference or not? I also substituted semi-sweet chocolate for bittersweet. The cookies were fairly easy to put together. I coerced The Hubster into forming the dough into the logs. After chilling the dough for several hours, it was simple to slice the cookies and bake them.

I did like the cookies immediately when they came out of the oven. Even a couple hours after baking they tasted OK. However, 6-8 hours later, they tasted like sand. Very gritty! All I can taste is the gritty salt in them. I probably won't be making them again.