amyBITES

05/12/2009

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Pumpkin Cheesecake

I hope everyone’s Thanksgiving was fantastic and filling. I know mine was! The dishes I contributed were maple glazed turkey, three-cheese mashed potatoes, and pumpkin cheesecake. I’ll only be posting the latter, however—and it is the most worthy of posting anyway.

For the dessert this year, I didn’t want to make a straight-up boring old pumpkin pie. I don’t really like plain pumpkin pie, and I’m not an amazing pie-maker. I did want to involve pumpkin though, so pumpkin cheesecake was the logical choice.

This recipe comes from Paula Deen. I generally don’t use her recipes because they’re…well, kind of disgustingly fattening. However, I figured if there’s anyone to whom I should turn for a ridiculously decadent dessert, it’s Paula Deen. So I caved. And it was worth it…only this once, though. This cheesecake is so airy and creamy, and super easy to put together. No water baths, separate-crust-baking, extra-long bake times, etc.

You could easily lighten this recipe up with some simple swaps, but I decided to go full throttle with this one simply because it was Thanksgiving. Also, most of the time, when I’m cooking for other people, I don’t like subjecting them to my experimental healthy-ingredient-swaps.

Ingredients

Crust:

1 3/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
3 tablespoons light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 stick melted salted butter

Filling:

3 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, at room temperature
1 (15-ounce) can pureed pumpkin
3 eggs plus 1 egg yolk
1/4 cup sour cream
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
2 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

For crust:

In medium bowl, combine crumbs, sugar and cinnamon. Add melted butter. Press down flat into a 9-inch springform pan. Set aside.

For filling:

Beat cream cheese until smooth. Add pumpkin puree, eggs, egg yolk, sour cream, sugar and the spices. Add flour and vanilla. Beat together until well combined.

Pour into crust. Spread out evenly and place oven for 1 hour. Remove from the oven and let sit for 15 minutes. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 4 hours.

Here’s your cast of characters. Not shown: vanilla and cinnamon. Not sure why.

First thing you have to do is crumbify your graham crackers. I got to use my spiffy new food processor! However, you can use a ziploc bag and a rolling pin or heavy pan if you have some frustrations to work out.

Combine your crumbs, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Then add your melted butter and kind of work it all together with your fingers a little bit.

Now get out your springform pan and press your crust into the bottom and about halfway up the sides. You could do it just on the bottom for a really thick bottom crust. I used a glass to make sure everything was pressed really flat and evenly with lots of pressure. You can use your fingers though.

When you’re done, it should look something like this. It doesn’t have to be perfect—after all, the filling will cover everything up.

Allll the cream cheese. Cream it for a few minutes before the rest of the ingredients are added. Make sure it’s really soft or you have a really heavy-duty mixer. Mine was probably not as soft as it should’ve been, and my mixer is not the most formidable piece of kitchen equipment ever, so I ended up with some tiny cream cheese lumps. It really didn’t matter as far as the deliciousness goes, but if you want to ensure the silkiness of your cheesecake, make sure your cream cheese is soft and smooth.

Now add your pumpkin, eggs, egg yolk, sour cream, the sugar and your spices and mix it all up. Make sure it’s really well combined and as smooth as you can get it!

Mmm. Now pour all the filling into your prepared crust, smooth it out, and pop it in the oven.

It’ll come out looking something like this. There are cracks on top (presumably because this recipe doesn’t use a water bath), but I promise you that absolutely no one will care once they taste this cheesecake. Serve it up with some whipped cream and enjoy!

So fluffy and rich. And the crunchy crust is delicious too, with the touch of brown sugar and cinnamon. This is a perfect holiday dessert, whether it be Thanksgiving or any other winter holiday. Definitely a must for holiday dinners! Enjoy your holiday season!

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24/11/2009

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Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake

It was Pranas’ birthday on Saturday. He is 24. Yay! Happy birthday!

So of course, I made a cake. I gave him several options, and this is the one he chose. Goooood choice.

This cake is so decadent it’s almost ridiculous. No, it definitely IS ridiculous. It took me three sittings over the course of 24 hours to finish my first (thin!) slice.

But ohhh man, is it good. This is definitely the best cake I’ve ever made—if not the best cake I’ve ever tasted. It takes like a cakey-delicious peanut butter cup. If you love chocolate and peanut butter (and if you don’t, let’s be honest—what’s wrong with you?!), you may soon need gastric bypass surgery because you will LOVE this cake.

All I can say is, keep your slices thin and your glasses full of milk. This recipe is from Sky High: Irresistible Triple-Layer Cakes via Smitten Kitchen, one of my favorite food blogs.

Sour Cream-Chocolate Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting and Chocolate-Peanut Butter Glaze

Makes an 8-inch triple-layer cake; serves 12 to 16 (my cake will have served a lot more by the time it’s all eaten)

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, preferably Dutch process
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup neutral vegetable oil, such as canola, soybean or vegetable blend
1 cup sour cream
1 1/2 cups water
2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter the bottoms and sides of three 8-inch round cakepans. Line the bottom of each pan with a round of parchment or waxed paper and butter the paper.

2. Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt into a large bowl. Whisk to combine them well. Add the oil and sour cream and whisk to blend. Gradually beat in the water. Blend in the vinegar and vanilla. Whisk in the eggs and beat until well blended. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and be sure the batter is well mixed. Divide among the 3 prepared cake pans.

3. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a cake tester or wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out almost clean. Let cool in the pans for about 20 minutes. Invert onto wire racks, carefully peel off the paper liners, and let cool completely. (Smitten Kitchen suggested freezing the cakes for 30ish minutes before frosting and I second that emotion. They’ll be much easier to frost once they firm up a little)

4. To frost the cake, place one layer, flat side up, on a cake stand or large serving plate. Spread 2/3 cup cup of the Peanut Butter Frosting evenly over the top. Repeat with the next layer. Place the last layer on top and frost the top and sides of the cake with the remaining frosting. (Another SK suggestion was to refrigerate after frosting, then refrigerate again after glazing. Also very wise.)

5. To decorate with the Chocolate–Peanut Butter Glaze, put the cake plate on a large baking sheet to catch any drips. Simply pour the glaze over the top of the cake, and using an offset spatula, spread it evenly over the top just to the edges so that it runs down the sides of the cake in long drips. Refrigerate, uncovered, for at least 30 minutes to allow the glaze and frosting to set completely. Remove about 1 hour before serving (totally optional—I happen to think it’s really delicious when it’s cold and it somehow cuts the richness a little).

Peanut Butter Frosting
Makes about 5 cups

10 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1 stick (4 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
5 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted (Note: I only used 4 cups and it was PLENTY sugary and a perfect consistency. Test for taste and consistency as you go so you don’t overdo the sugar)
2/3 cup smooth peanut butter, preferably a commercial brand (because oil doesn’t separate out)

1. In a large bowl with an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy. Gradually add the confectioners’ sugar 1 cup at a time, mixing thoroughly after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl often. Continue to beat on medium speed until light and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes.

2. Add the peanut butter and beat until thoroughly blended.

Chocolate-Peanut Butter Glaze
Makes about 1 1/2 cups

8 ounces seimsweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
3 tablespoons smooth peanut butter
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1/2 cup half-and-half

1. In the top of d double boiler or in a bowl set over simmering water, combine the chocolate, peanut butter, and corn syrup. Cook, whisking often, until the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth.

2. Remove from the heat and whisk in the half-and-half, beating until smooth. Use while still warm.

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Your cast of characters. Ignore the baking powder. It’s not in the recipe and therefore won’t be appearing in the show. Somehow he snuck into this photo though.

So, the first thing is to combine all of your dry ingredients. That’s your flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. I kind of hate sifting things, and I don’t own an adequate sifter, so I whisk everything. Have you noticed? It doesn’t get ALL the lumps out, but it works. The rest of the little lumps will work themselves out.

Now, dump in your oil and sour cream. I definitely didn’t do anything to try to healthify this recipe. I thought, first of all, it’s not MY birthday, and second of all, if you’re gonna go for it—go for it. Right? Right?! Whisk these together…

…until your whisk becomes clumpy and unusable and you resort to your electric mixer.

Slowly pour in the water as the mixer goes. And I do mean slow—it’s quite a bit of water and you may make a mess of yourself if you dump it in all at once.

Now add your vinegar and vanilla.

And your eggs. And then mix until everything is blended. Then pour your batter evenly into three prepared cake pans (I put parchment rounds in the bottom of each pan and sprayed with baking spray and the cakes turned out beautifully). I don’t have any pictures of this part because all of them happened to be extremely unflattering photos of me. So too bad, you won’t be seeing them. Ha! Now bake according to the recipe. Mine took about 37 minutes rather than 35.

I did not let my cakes cool in the pans for 20 minutes. I turned them out immediately. I don’t know why, I just did. I was in the moment. Look at how pretty they are! But anyway, I put them on wire cooling racks and let them cool for about 30 minutes before I started the frosting.

Now for the frosting. This is super easy and arguably the best part of this cake. First, cream your butter and cream cheese together.

Start adding your confectioners’ sugar about a cup at a time…

…until you get a good taste and consistency. As I mentioned above, I only used four cups of powdered sugar. I probably could have used even less. Five cups is a LOT and trust me, the cake is PLENTY sweet…it could stand a little less sugar. So just play it by ear.

Plop in your peanut butter and mix away until just blended.

Um…let me collect myself for a moment. This frosting will make you re-assess your life. Oh lord.

Now frost! Pretty self-explanatory.

I don’t know what happened to the big “Ta-da!” picture of the frosted cake here, but it’s ok. I guess I don’t have one. It’s pretty though. But we still have glaze to add!

At this point, I stopped taking pictures. I had to take a shower and Pranas’ friends were arriving and yadda yadda yadda, I had to throw the glaze together in approximately 4 seconds. And it was really easy! You can do it in a double boiler or you can be super ghetto like me and do it in the microwave. I just melted the chocolate (stirring every 30 seconds) and stirred everything else in. Super easy.

Then, I poured the glaze on top of the cake and let it drip down the sides. I stuck it back in the fridge until it was time to serve. And..

Voila!

Let’s have some more, shall we?

Haha, look at all the crumbs everywhere. Classy!

Anyway. This cake. I can’t even…it’s amazing. It was a big hit. Go make it for your next special occasion. Or maybe just in honor of Tuesday. Enjoy!

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12/11/2009

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Red Onion, Potato, and Goat Cheese Pizza

I made this pizza about a week ago and didn’t take pictures of it. I guess I just wasn’t in the mood. However, after tasting it, I knew that it was too delicious to not share with my loyal readers.

This was in the November issue of Cooking Light and when I first saw it, I thought it looked absolutely repulsive. Then, I broke it down. I thought, “I like potatoes. I like cheese. I like red onions. And I like pizza.” So, obviously, I changed my mind and had to make it.

Thus, I made it again today with Pranas standing by to document the process, and now I would like to impart this knowledge to you. Go forth and make pizza.

NOTE: I chose not to sautee the onions this time. I did the first time I made this and I didn’t particularly like the result, so I decided to leave them raw, and I liked it much better this time. I’m going to be posting the original instructions below, but you won’t see the sauteeing in the photos. Do whatever you wish with your onions!

INGREDIENTS

7 ounces fingerling potatoes (about 5 potatoes)
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 medium red onion, cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices
1 (13.8-ounce) can refrigerated pizza crust dough
2 tablespoons cornmeal
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
3/4 cup (3 ounces) crumbled goat cheese
1 garlic clove, minced
1 1/2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 450°.

2. Place potatoes in a saucepan; cover with water. Bring to a boil. Cook 10 minutes or until just tender; drain. Cool slightly; cut potatoes crosswise into 1/4-inch slices.

3. Heat olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion to pan, and sauté 8 minutes or until tender.

4. Roll dough out on a lightly floured surface to a 14 x 10–inch rectangle. Sprinkle cornmeal over a large baking sheet; place dough on baking sheet. Sprinkle mozzarella evenly over dough. Arrange potatoes and onion over mozzarella; top evenly with goat cheese and garlic. Bake in lower third of oven at 450° for 15 minutes or until browned. Sprinkle with thyme; cut into 12 pieces.

Your cast of characters. So few ingredients, I love it! Notice three changes: 1) I used fat-free mozzarella cheese instead of part skim, 2) I used garlic powder instead of fresh garlic (didn’t have any on hand), 3) There’s no thyme. I didn’t have thyme, couldn’t find it fresh, and I don’t particularly care for it anyway. So THERE!

First, put some water on the stove to boil and set your oven to 450. In the meantime, skin your potatoes. You don’t have to skin them if you don’t want—but if you don’t, make sure you clean them thoroughly.

Cook your potatoes. This should take about 10 minutes.

While the potatoes cook, chop your onions. Since I wasn’t going to sautee them, I cut them very thinly instead of the 1/2 inch recommended in the recipe. Also, since I was only covering half the pizza (Pranas hates onions), I used less than half the onion.

Now, open your pizza dough and roll it out. You can do it on a floured surface but because of the lack of space in my kitchen and the lack of motivation to do even more dishes, I just did it right on the baking sheet. I spread out some cornmeal on the baking sheet first.

Try to shape it into something vaguely rectangular. It might be a little difficult, so you’re probably going to have to shape it with your hands. I did a lot of stretching of the edges with my fingers because the dough is so elastic. A short rest period may also help this problem.

Your potatoes should be done by now, so take them off the heat and drain them. Then slice them—mine were about 1/4” thick. They should be pretty tender and easy to slice. If they’re not, you haven’t cooked them long enough!

Sprinkle your mozzarella cheese down over your crust. Then, arrange the potato slices on top. You can do it randomly but I’m a little OCD so I arranged them all neatly in rows like so.

Sprinkle your goat cheese crumbles on top. You can buy the goat cheese pre-crumbled (in fact, that’s the only way they sell it at my grocery store), so it saves you a step.

Don’t be afraid of the goat cheese. It’s extremely creamy and has a bit of a sharp tang to it. It’s really delicious with the tender, starchy potatoes and the creaminess of the mozzarella—plus it balances out the slight sweetness of the crust and onions perfectly.

Place your sauteed (or raw) onion slices on top…and only on half of the pizza if you have a picky eater in the house. At this point I also sprinkled on the garlic powder since I didn’t have fresh garlic.

Bake for 15 minutes in the bottom third of the oven at 450 and it’ll come out looking like this. Amazing.

I can’t even describe to you the deliciousness of this pizza. The combination of ingredients is so unexpected and perfect. You must try it. An added bonus is the fact that this recipe is super easy, I promise. It only takes about 30 minutes total and it’s completely worth it.

It’s also really pretty. :)

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07/11/2009

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Pumpkin Cake (Light!)

Sorry for the hiatus—I’ve been very busy with school and work and have not been taking the time to document my cooking. Winter break is very soon though (thank goodness) and there will be many posts to come in that time. Hooray!

So I’m doing this thing lately where I’m taking recipes and making ingredient swaps to make them healthier. This recipe came from the November issue of Cooking Light, so it was pretty light to begin with, but I made a few swaps to trim a little more fat/calories/carbs/whathaveyou. I’m going to post the original recipe below, with my ingredient swaps in bold.

This is a great fall recipe. Anything with pumpkin is, right? I’m not a huge fan of pumpkin but this cake is delicious. The cream cheese frosting doesn’t hurt either. :) This cake would be great for any kind of holiday get-together.

Before I go on, big ups to my boyfriend, Pranas, for being the official amyBITES photographer for the day. It allowed me to focus exclusively on the baking and therefore the photos are much better than usual. Thanks Pranas! Now onto the goodies!

Cake:

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (white whole wheat flour)

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup butter, softened (Blue Bonnet Light)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 large eggs (1/2 cup egg substitute)

1 (15-ounce) can pumpkin puree

Cooking spray

Frosting:

2 tablespoons butter, softened (Blue Bonnet Light)

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 (8-ounce) package 1/3-less-fat cream cheese

2 cups sifted powdered sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350°.

2. To prepare cake, weigh or lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk.

3. Combine brown sugar, 1/4 cup butter, and 1 teaspoon vanilla in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until well combined. Add eggs, 1 at a time, to sugar mixture; beat well after each addition. Add pumpkin; mix well. Fold in flour mixture. Spread batter into a 13 x 9-inch baking pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 25 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool completely in pan on a wire rack.

4. To prepare the frosting, combine 2 tablespoons butter, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla, and cream cheese in a medium bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until combined. Gradually add the powdered sugar, beating until well combined. Spread frosting evenly over top of cake.

Your cast of characters. You can’t see the brown sugar, but it’s behind the mixer.

Put all your dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt) in a bowl. As you can see, I used white whole wheat flour. This is milder in taste and appearance than whole wheat flour, but has all the same health benefits (high fiber, fewer carbs, etc.). I’ve been really pleased with it and it’s an easy swap. King Arthur Flour makes it so it should be on your grocery shelves.

Whisk the dry ingredients together so there aren’t any clumps and everything’s even.

Now set that aside and move on to your wet ingredients. Cream together your brown sugar and softened butter (or margarine).

Then, add your eggs one at a time (or your egg substitute, in two parts). Mix until thoroughly combined.

It’ll look something like this…a.k.a. wet sand. Delicious. Well, not so much yet, but it will be.

Now it’s time for the star of the show: the pumpkin! I like Libby’s but you can use whatever brand you choose.

Add it allllll in, baby. All 15 ounces. Then mix until combined.

It’ll look something like this. Like…wet, orange sand. Still kinda gross. Don’t worry though. Things will turn around when we add in the dry ingredients.

Add in your dry ingredients about a 1/2 cup at a time. Don’t add the next batch until the previous one is pretty well incorporated. It’ll end up looking like the picture above. It’s a pretty thick batter so you might have a little trouble if you’re using a flimsy mixer. If that’s the case, you can just fold the dry ingredients in with your spatula/spoon.

Now spread the batter out in your 13x9” baking dish. Make sure to coat it well with cooking or baking spray! Try to make it nice and even.

Like so. Now put the cake in your preheated oven and bake for approximately 25 minutes (or until a tester comes out clean).

Let it cool. While you wait, you can go ahead and make your frosting.

Frosting ingredients. Pretty simple.

Cream together your butter/margarine and cream cheese until well combined.

Add your powdered sugar about a 1/2 cup at a time. Note: At this point, you might want to put the frosting the fridge for a little while. It’s pretty humid here so the frosting was pretty gooey at this point. Which tastes delicious just the same but turned out to be a bit messy. So it’s up to you!

Frost the cake!

Cut into 24 pieces and serve! I dusted the top with some ground cinnamon for kicks. This cake is delicious. It’s super moist and you really can’t go wrong with cream cheese frosting!

For those of you interested, here are the nutrition facts of this cake:

Original Recipe (per serving, 1 piece)

Calories: 178
Fat: 5.5g (sat 3.3g)
Protein: 3g
Carbohydrate: 30g
Fiber: 0.9g
Cholesterol: 32mg
Iron: 1.2mg
Sodium: 135mg
Calcium: 62mg

With amyBITES’ substitutions (per serving, 1 piece)

Calories: 156
Fat: 3.6g (sat 1.6g)
Protein: 3g
Carbohydrate: 26.8g
Fiber: 1.7g
Cholesterol: 7.3mg
Iron: 1.2mg
Sodium: 138.8mg
Calcium: 62mg

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03/10/2009

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Chocolate Brownie Cookies

First of all, I’d like to apologize for the exceptionally bad photography to follow. It was especially dark in the kitchen on this day and my hands were especially shaky. Maybe it was the excitement of what was to come—these cookies.

I got this recipe from Joy the Baker, though I had to leave the espresso powder out because I didn’t have any, so mine are not EXACTLY true to the original recipe, posted below. These cookies turned out fabulously so even though the photos are awful I had to share with you anyway.

From Joy the Baker

8 ounces bittersweet chocolate (chopped or in chips)
3 Tablespoons (1 1/2 ounces) butter
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon espresso powder (did not have, did not use)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoons salt
1 cup chocolate chips (optional) (did not use)

In a double boiler, or in the microwave, gently melt together the chocolate and butter. To avoid heating the chocolate too much and possibly burning it, the best method is to heat till the butter is melted and the chocolate has partially melted, then remove from the heat. Stir till all the chocolate melts.

In a separate bowl, beat together the sugar and eggs till they’re thoroughly combined. Add the hot melted chocolate, then stir in the remaining ingredients, including the chocolate chips, if you’re using them. Refrigerate the batter like dough for 1 hour, to make it easier to handle. (Totally missed this step, go me! Mine was definitely batter, not dough…really runny. But it didn’t really make a difference in the final product.)

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

Drop the cookie dough by the tablespoonfuls onto a baking sheet. A tablespoon cookie scoop makes this task extremely simple. Leave about 2″ between the dough balls, as they’ll spread as they bake.

Bake the cookies for 11 to 12 minutes, until their tops are shiny and cracked. They won’t crack until the very end, so keep a close eye on them; when they’re cracked all the way across the top surface, they’re done. The point is, you want these baked all the way through, but just barely; additional baking makes them more crisp rather than chewy. Remove the cookies from the oven. Wait 5 minutes then transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool.

I just stuck this in the microwave for about a minute, then started stirring it all together. The heat of the butter (which will be almost fully melted after a minute) will melt the chocolate, which won’t be melted yet. This way you won’t burn the chocolate by heating it too long.

Mmm, delicious. Don’t eat this with a spoon despite the temptation. There’s more!

Eggs and sugar. What I did is add a little bit of the hot chocolate mixture into this egg mixture and stir it together just to heat up the egg mixture a little. That way, when I stirred both mixtures together, the eggs wouldn’t cook from the heat of the chocolate.

And this is the finished batter. If I had read the instructions carefully, I would’ve refrigerated this for an hour. But I didn’t, so it’s pretty runny. The only effect the non-refrigeration might’ve had was that it was pretty messy and the cookies may have turned out a little flatter than they would have otherwise.

Baking! I was really fascinated by the baking process of these cookies. I just watched them the whole time and it’s not like they suddenly start cracking—it’s a really subtle, gradual process. Make sure you pay attention towards the end so you don’t overbake them.

This is how they look after they’ve cooled. See, mine turned out pretty flat, but refrigerating the dough may help with that, so do what I say, not as I do.

Look at the beautiful crackly surface! Love it.

These are super moist and rich, and they really are just like brownies in cookie form. They’re super easy to throw together too, and you probably have everything to make them in your kitchen right now. I love recipes like that. Enjoy!

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14/9/2009

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Healthy Baked Mac N' Cheese

Well, healthier. It’s true! I got this recipe from my mom, but I don’t know where she got it. Mom, if you know, comment and let the good people know the source of the cheesy goodness in this post.

Anyway, I am kind of obsessed with mac n’ cheese. I posted a decidedly not-so-healthy version a while back (but oh man, was it good…) but this is a much lighter version that weighs in at only 356 calories per serving (divided into 6 servings total). And that’s opposed to…probably about twice that (at least) for most other versions of baked mac n’ cheese. So it’s a nice alternative, and it actually tastes good! Imagine that! No seriously, it’s really good. Onto the recipe!

4 cups cooked elbow macaroni or other pasta (about 2 cups uncooked)
2 cups (8 ounces) shredded reduced-fat sharp cheddar cheese
1 cup 1% low-fat cottage cheese
3/4 nonfat or lowfat sour cream
1/2 cup skim milk
2 tablespoons grated fresh onion
1-1/2 teaspoons reduced-calorie stick margarine, melted
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 egg, lightly beaten
Vegetable cooking spray
1/4 cup dry breadcrumbs
1 tablespoon reduced calorie stick margarine, melted
1/4 teaspoon paprika

Combine first 10 ingredients; stir well, and spoon into a 2 quart casserole (I only had a 3-quart dish…it did no harm) coated with cooking spray. Combine breadcrumbs and next 2 ingredients; stir well. Sprinkle over casserole. Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Uncover; bake 5 minutes or until set. (I actually broiled it for the last few minutes just to get a nice bubbly crust on top).

Easy, right? It really is! It only takes a few minutes to put together. Here’s the proof:

Your cast of characters. Not shown: sour cream. It was behind the cheese and I forgot to move it. :( I just grated my onion with the large-holed side of my box grater. It only took about an eighth of the onion to get 2 tablespoons. Please don’t leave the onion out even if you’re not a huge fan of onion. I served this to two boys who don’t like onion and they both loved it. The onion is really important to the overall flavor and if you grate it, there won’t be big chunks and onion-haters won’t even notice!

The first order of business is to cook your pasta. Start this before you start anything else, and everything should be ready to put together at about the same time.

While the pasta’s going, prepare and combine your first 10 ingredients (cheddar through egg). You can stir this together now or wait for the pasta to come to the party.

Stir everything together when your pasta is done (al dente, this is very important as your pasta will continue to cook a little in the oven, and you don’t want it to be all gross and soggy, do you? I usually don’t even just do it al dente, I leave it slightly undercooked. I hate overcooked pasta! It’s the worst of all food sins!).

Pour the mixture into your cooking-spray’d casserole dish. Then mix up your topping (I used my fingers to mush the breadcrumbs with the butter—otherwise it would’ve been quite clumpy).

Sprinkle the topping over everything, then cover it with aluminum foil and put it into your 350 degree oven.

It’ll eventually come out looking like this. Yummm.

There’s a weird tint to this picture, but please ignore it and focus on the cheesy goodness.

And that’s it! Super easy, no? What could be bad about a healthier version of a dish that everybody loves? Nothing!

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03/9/2009

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Vegan Cookies n' Cream Cupcakes

So a couple of our friends moved in across the street from us, and as a welcome gift-type thing, I decided to make them some cupcakes. However, they are vegan. So the cupcakes, in turn, became vegan. I found the recipe at CHOW and they turned out amazing. In fact, believe it or not, I’ve made quite a few different vegan cupcake recipes in my time, and these are by far the best I’ve ever had. They may be the best cupcakes I’ve ever had, period.

Why, you ask? What is my rating system for cupcakes? Well, let me explain. The reason these are so awesome is because 1) the frosting is incredibly light and fluffy. I am ridiculously picky about frosting, and I hate cupcakes overloaded with rich, sugary, dense frosting. I like to actually taste/enjoy the cake. This frosting is light, airy, and doesn’t overwhelm the cupcake, even with a pretty good amount on top. 2) The cake tastes really great by itself and doesn’t rely on the frosting for flavor. 3) There’s an awesome variety of textures in these from the cake, the frosting, the chunks of cookie in the batter, the fine grains of cookie in the frosting, and the cookie on top. It’s tasty. 4) Additionally, many vegan cupcakes can turn out flat, dense, and even brick-like. These don’t. They’re just as moist and fluffy as regular cupcakes.

Ok, enough of my jabber. Onto the cupcakes! I know you all want to make them, and by golly, you should.

NOTE: This recipe makes 12 cupcakes.

INGREDIENTS - CUPCAKES

1 cup soy milk
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract, chocolate extract, or more vanilla extract (I just used more vanilla because that’s all I had)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder, Dutch-processed or regular
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup wheat-free, dairy free Newman-O’s (or other vegan Oreo-like cookies), coarsely chopped (approximately 10 cookies—chop and then measure)

INSTRUCTIONS - CUPCAKES

Preheat oven to 350°F and line a muffin pan with paper or foil liners.
Whisk together the soy milk and vinegar in a large bowl, and set aside for a few minutes to curdle. Add the sugar, oil, vanilla extract, and other extract, if using, to the soy milk mixture and beat until foamy. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add in two batches to wet ingredients and beat until no large lumps remain (a few tiny lumps are OK).
Add in your chopped cookies (the pieces should be about pea-sized, they don’t have to be perfect) and stir in.
Pour into liners, filling 3/4 of the way. Bake 18 to 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Transfer to a cooling rack and let cool completely.
Frost and top each cupcake with half a cookie, as you’ll see in the pictures below.

INGREDIENTS - FROSTING
NOTE: This recipe made way more frosting than I used. I don’t like a lot of frosting on cupcakes, and I used way more than I’d usually use, and I still had about half of it left. I would definitely half this recipe next time, but don’t if you like copious amounts of frosting on your cupcakes.

1/2 cup nonhydrogenated shortening
1/2 cup nonhydrogenated margarine, like Earth Balance
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted if clumpy
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 cup plain soy milk or soy creamer
1/2 cup wheat-free, dairy free Newman-O’s (or other vegan Oreo-like cookies), finely mashed (approximately 5 cookies—mash and then measure)

INSTRUCTIONS - FROSTING

Beat the shortening and margarine together until well combined and fluffy. Add the sugar and beat for about 3 more minutes.
Add the vanilla, soy milk, and your mashed cookies, and beat for another 5 to 7 minutes until fluffy.

Your cast of characters, minus the shortening. Pretend it’s there.

This is the soy milk and the vinegar curdling. I took a picture so you’d know what to look for. It should be quite bubbly. That is all.

Your dry ingredients. If you don’t have a sifter (or just a really crappy one, like me), then you can just use a whisk to combine them and get out all the clumps. Works just as well!

The soy milk mixture, the sugar, and the vanilla. With some stray cocoa. Shh, don’t tell anyone.

Beat that until it’s foamy, like so. Don’t be afraid of the high speed on your mixer.

Aaand this is what your finished batter looks like after you add the dry ingredients, beat them together, and stir in the chopped cookies. The lumps are the cookies, so in this case, lumps are awesome!

If you fill your liners this full, you’ll have exactly enough for 12 cupcakes.

Mmmm, fresh out of the oven.

And cooling on a wire rack, just because they’re pretty. Don’t try to frost hot cupcakes. It’s not going to be awesome. Trust me on this, I have done it before. Just wait.

Frosting time! This is your vegan margarine and shortening, and this is where the magic happens. This is why this frosting is so good. The combination of these two ingredients is so much lighter and fluffier in texture than regular old butter. At least in my opinion.

After the sugar, vanilla, and soy milk, and before the cookies. I almost forgot to add them! You can add these all at the same time if you like, or do like I did and wait to add the cookies until the very end. Delicious. You can’t tell from the picture, but the texture is so creamy and amazing. I promise.

And then, chop 6 cookies in half to have half a cookie with which to top each cupcake. It looks so cute! And it’s an extra treat. You could be really fancy and use a pastry bag to frost these, but I am not fancy enough for that. If you are, go for it.

Here, have another picture because these cupcakes are so awesome. Surprise your animal-friendly friends with some; they’ll love you forever. Heck, even surprise your carnivorous friends with some—they’ll never know they’re vegan. Enjoy!

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31/8/2009

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Potstickers

Hi there. Long time no see. I’ve had a busy summer and I really haven’t been cooking as much as I should. I stopped blogging when everything involved in the process became too time-consuming and stressful, but I have not forgotten about it. I’ve decided to start again, but I don’t think I’ll be doing a set schedule (i.e. every Thursday). Rather, I’ll probably just do it whenever I have the time and the itch to blog. I think that will take off some of the stress and I’ll probably end up doing it more often than I would if I tried to stick to a stringent schedule. I know I have a lot of loyal readers (although none of you like to comment, *cough* hint *cough*) and I can see that many of you still check every day, so I will do my best to try to update regularly.

Anywho, onto the eats! Raise your hand if you have a food crush on Alton Brown (or just a plain old crush). I definitely admit that I do. I watch Good Eats obsessively. I love Good Eats more than any other show on the Food Network because it’s so darn informative. I learn so much about food and cooking every time I watch it, and though his recipes are certainly not quick-fix type recipes, he is so good at explaining that I’m not intimidated by any of the dishes he makes.

This past week and a half I was back home in Denver visiting, and I was ridiculously sick the whole time. It wasn’t fun. However, one afternoon I was stuck at home watching TV, and a Good Eats episode entitled “Wanton Ways” came on. Alton made several different dishes using wonton wrappers, but I was absolutely drooling when he made Potstickers. I’d actually never had potstickers despite how much Asian food I eat, because I never really knew what they were. After watching the episode, I knew I had to make Alton’s Potstickers as soon as I got back to Savannah. So I did. And guess what?

They were awesome.

Like, really awesome. Holy crap. And though a little time-consuming, it was not difficult at all. Let’s do this.

Ingredients

1/2 pound ground pork
1/4 cup finely chopped scallions
2 tablespoons finely chopped red bell pepper (note: I did not include this because I don’t like peppers, so you will not see it in the below photos)
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 teaspoons ketchup
1 teaspoon yellow mustard
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon light brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
35 to 40 small wonton wrappers
Water, for sealing wontons
3 to 4 tablespoons vegetable oil, for frying
1 1/3 cups chicken stock, divided

Directions

Preheat oven to 200 degrees F.

Combine the first 11 ingredients in a medium-size mixing bowl (pork through cayenne). Set aside.

To form the dumplings, remove 1 wonton wrapper from the package, covering the others with a damp cloth. Brush 2 of the edges of the wrapper lightly with water. Place 1/2 rounded teaspoon of the pork mixture in the center of the wrapper. Fold over, seal edges, and shape as desired. Set on a sheet pan and cover with a damp cloth. Repeat procedure until all of the filling is gone.

Heat a 12-inch saute pan over medium heat. Brush with vegetable oil once hot. Add 8 to 10 potstickers at a time to the pan and cook for 2 minutes, without touching. Once the 2 minutes are up, gently add 1/3 cup chicken stock to the pan, turn the heat down to low, cover, and cook for another 2 minutes. Remove wontons to a heatproof platter and place in the warm oven. Clean the pan in between batches by pouring in water and allowing the pan to deglaze. Repeat until all the wontons are cooked. Serve immediately.

Your cast of characters. Note the lack of red bell pepper.

All your filling ingredients go into a bowl. To mix, use a wooden spoon, or better yet, just get in there with your hands. It really works much better. Just make sure to wash your hands before and after, of course.

All mixed up. Appetizing, no? It smells amazing already at this point though.

So. Making the wontons. It’s pretty simple. If you need help, you should watch the actual episode of Good Eats from which this recipe originated. Just make sure not to overfill them, and don’t use too much water to seal. I did them all on a cookie sheet and covered with a damp paper towel. They don’t have to be perfect, they just have to be able to close completely. Try to get most of the air out when you seal it.

The perfect amount of filling. Don’t overdo it, please. Oh, also, I’m using round wonton wrappers because that’s all my Kroger had, but feel free to use square ones! Remember, you only need to brush the outside of one half of the circle/square to seal.

This is right after I’ve brushed the pan with oil (I used canola because that’s what I had). Do not overcrowd the pan! If you’re using a smaller pan, don’t put so many in at a time. At this point, you do not touch them for 2 full minutes! Resist the urge!

After two minutes, pour 1/3 cup-ish of chicken stock over them and quickly clamp on the lid.

Now let them sit undisturbed for another 2 minutes. I got my nails done professionally for the first time a few days ago. They’ll never look this good again, so enjoy it. Back to the food…

After two minutes, take off the lid and remove your potstickers one by one. They will probably stick a little. This is the point. Don’t worry—just be gentle with your tongs.

Move them directly into your preheated oven so they don’t get cold while you cook the rest. I just put them on a pizza pan. It worked out pretty well.

Rinse and repeat—literally! Between each batch, deglaze your pan with some water. You don’t have to scrape everything up though—I found the more tenacious residuals actually helped crisp up the later batches. Dump it out and brush the pan with oil again. Make sure you let the pan reheat properly after each de-glazing.

Now, cook up the rest and serve any way you like! Appetizers, dim sum, whatever. We ate them with rice and sweet and sour sauce for dipping. It was beyond delicious.

This recipe would probably feed at least four hungry adults (and that’s if you’re having them as a main course like we did). But we have leftovers, which is never a problem! :)

There is so much flavor and texture in these tiny little packages! Definitely try out this recipe. It’s pretty fun to assemble the wontons, too—an excellent task to delegate to kids or significant others while you start cookin’. ;)

Special thanks to my significant other, Pranas, for taking the action shots and helping assemble the mass amounts of wontons!

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11/6/2009

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Peanut Butter Oreo Pie

Guys, I failed at posting last week. I totally planned to, and then I just…forgot. I have been very engrossed in/distracted by my other blog, and I have been neglecting this one. I’m so sorry! I’ll be better, I promise. On that note, please enjoy today’s extra-yummy recipe.

Those of you who follow me on Twitter may have noticed this the other day:

I was talking about this pie. I saw it on the Pioneer Woman Cooks and it looked too delicious not to make. It’s right up my alley! I love peanut butter, and I love dipping Oreos in peanut butter (though I don’t usually like plain Oreos…). Also, it required so few ingredients and looked so simple that I couldn’t resist.

A forewarning—this is probably the messiest recipe I’ve ever made. This is because I don’t have a food processor and had to use a blender to crush my Oreos. It worked for the most part, but it took soooo long and Oreos got EVERYWHERE no matter what I did. So, if you’re a neat freak without a food processor, probably don’t make this recipe. Also, peanut butter recipes are always messy no matter what.

Also—this is a rich pie. There’s no problem with using “light” and “low-fat” versions of the ingredients. I only had low-fat cream cheese and margarine instead of butter, but if I had them, I would have used low-fat peanut butter and Cool Whip Free too. It’s perfectly fine, and I promise your pie will be just fine either way.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie

Crust:
25 Oreos
4 tablespoons butter, melted

Crush the Oreos until they’re fine crumbs. Pour melted butter over the top and stir with a fork to combine. Press into pie pan and bake at 350 degrees for 5 to 7 minutes, or until set.

Remove from oven and allow to cool completely.

Filling:

1 cup creamy peanut butter
1 8-ounce package softened cream cheese
1 1/4 cups powdered sugar
1 8-ounce package Cool Whip, thawed

Beat the peanut butter with the cream cheese until smooth. Add powdered sugar and beat until smooth. Add in the thawed Cool Whip and beat mixture until smooth, scraping the sides as needed.

Pour filling into crust, evening out the top with a knife or spatula. Chill for at least an hour before serving (I’d recommend at least two or three…I waited an hour and a half and it wasn’t set yet).

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Here’s what you’ll need. So few ingredients, I love it! The only thing not pictured is margarine, of which you’ll need half a stick.

This is where the trouble started. Notice the nice, clean table top.

Now notice all the Oreo crumbs (though I cropped this photo so most of the mess was hidden). And notice my lumpy crust. If you do use a blender (or smash them with a rolling pin or whatever) you’re going to have lumps in your crust. Don’t freak out—it really doesn’t make any difference at all in the final product. I promise. This is after the margarine has been mixed in and everything’s been pressed down. Not super pretty, but who cares? Then it goes in the oven to set.

Peanut butter and cream cheese. It helps if both your cream cheese and your peanut butter are super soft. It was hot and muggy yesterday here in Savannah, so I had no problem with that. Now beat the heck out of it!

Now add your powdered sugar and beat the heck out of that, too.

Lastly, add the whole tub of Cool Whip and incorporate it fully so it’s nice and creamy.

If your crust is cool at this point, go ahead and put the filling in the pie. If not, stick the filling in the fridge until your crust is cool. This is important!

This is a thing of beauty. Now, chill it for quite some time in the fridge. At least a few hours for it to set. Otherwise it will be a mess to cut. Actually, it most likely will anyway. This picture is from the next day, and I still couldn’t get a perfect slice:

Again, though, who cares? It’s still ridiculously delicious and it wouldn’t matter if it was just a big pile of mush in a bowl, I would still eat it with gusto.

Guys, make this. I am totally serious. It is so delicious. And it takes no time at all! So hop to!

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28/5/2009

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Breaded Chicken Parmesan

I’ve been cooking dinner for my friend Andy once a week in exchange for him driving me places, and this past week he requested chicken parmesan. I didn’t really use a recipe for this—I just kind of made it up as I went along, but it turned out to be delicious. Thus, the measurements below are approximate, so feel free to experiment with them as you go through the recipe.

Breaded Chicken Parmesan

3 medium boneless, skinless, chicken breasts
1 cup Italian-seasoned bread crumbs
2 eggs, beaten
Marinara sauce (to taste)
Sliced or shredded mozzarella cheese (to taste)
Shredded or grated parmesan cheese (to taste)
Pasta of your choice (optional)

1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F.

2. Pour your bread crumbs onto a plate or a shallow dish. Dip your chicken breasts in your beaten egg and then dredge each breast thoroughly in the bread crumbs.

3. Place your breaded chicken in a glass baking dish. Bake for 20 minutes.

4. Take out your chicken, cover in mozzarella slices, marinara, and shredded parmesan, then put back in the oven for another 10 minutes.

5. This is a good time to make your pasta, so get to it!

6. Serve chicken over pasta and enjoy!

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Your cast of characters:

Beat your eggs thoroughly. You could also use another coating, such as dijon mustard—the egg’s purpose is just so the bread crumbs stick.

Make sure you coat the chicken thoroughly. Don’t try to shake the excess off.

Time to go into the oven!

And here’s what they’ll look like after 20 minutes in the oven. They’re starting to get crispy at the edges.

Slice your mozzarella cheese and arrange the slices on top of your chicken, or if you’re using shredded cheese, just go ahead and sprinkle it right on top.