Cream Filled Cookies

It's been a while since I posted on here, I guess I've been slacking.  And surprise, it's a dessert!  These are seriously awesome cookies though.  These cookies are pretty easy, and super tasty too.  I bet kids would love them.  They are a basic chocolate cookie, with a marshmallow-cream filling.

Makes about 12 cookies

Cookie:
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 cup evaporated milk
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour (maybe a little more, add more if cookies are flat)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
Cream Filling:
1/2 cup softened butter
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 jar marshmallow cream
optional - cream or milk



Heat oven to 400, and grease a cookie sheet.

Cream 1/2 cup of butter and white sugar together in a mixing bowl.  Add egg, evaporated milk, and vanilla.  Mix well.

Dry bowl:  mix flour, salt, cocoa powder, baking soda, and baking powder.  Add this dry mix slowly to the sugar mix while stirring.  Don't overmix it though--only mix it until your ingredients just combine.

Drop dough onto cookie sheet in rounded balls, but leave a good 2 or 3 inches between cookies, they will spread out significantly while they cook.  Use smaller balls if you want smaller cookies.

Bake cookies for 6-8 minutes, they shouldn't be mushy when you feel them.  Let cookies cool before filling, or the cream filling will melt.

Marshmallow filling:  In a medium bowl, blend cream filling ingredients.  If this mix is too dry, you can add a cream to moisten it up a bit--whipping cream, half and half, and even milk will work.  Mix or whip until smooth.

Fill cookies with cream, and see how long they last!

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Southern Peach Cobbler

It's peach season, so it's time to make good use of all the fresh peaches.  This is a recipe for a tasty cobbler I made--it's much better cold than hot in my opinion.  You can use wheat flour if you want in the recipe, I don't think it would make much of a difference to the taste.

Ingredients:

Peach Filling
8 peaches, peeled and sliced into thin wedges
2 Tablespoons brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon lemon juice
2 teaspoons cornstarch
Flour Mix
1 cup pastry flour (you can use all purpose if you don't have pastry or cake flour)
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 Tablespoons butter, cut into small cubes and chilled
1/4 cup boiling water
Cinnamon Sugar
2 Tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1.  Preheat oven to 425.  Combine peach filling ingredients in a big bowl, tossing to coat the peaches evenly. Put in a baking dish, and bake for 10 minutes.
2.  Combine the flour mix dry ingredients in a big bowl, and blend in the butter until it reaches a consistency similar to that of roughly ground cornmeal.  You don't want huge chunks of butter, but be careful not to overmix--this could make your cobbler topping tough.  Stir in the boiling water until it is just combined.
3.  Remove peaches from the oven, and drop spoonfuls of flour mix over the top.
4.  Mix the cinnamon and sugar together, and sprinkle over the top of the cobbler.  Bake until the top is golden brown--probably about 30 minutes.
5.  Chill the cobbler before eating it if you can, this will improve it's taste dramatically.

Peach Ice Cream

I made this with some of dad's fresh peaches, and I seriously think it is the most delicious homemade ice cream I have ever had.  It's pretty easy to make too

4-5 medium peaches
3/4 cup simple syrup (cold)
3/4 cup whipping cream (cold)
1/2 cup milk

Peel and pit peaches, and then place in blender and puree with simple syrup.  For those who haven't made simple syrup, it's very easy.  Just use a 1:1 ratio of water and sugar, and heat it up and stir until the sugar is mostly dissolved.  Anyways, after blending place peach puree, put in a large bowl, and mix with whipping cream and milk.  Then add to ice cream mixer and let it mix for 20-30 minutes, depending on the size of your batch.

Chocolate Cream Pie

This is a recipe I got from the Best Recipe book mom gave me for my birthday.  It is really, really good.
This pie can be made in a regular or graham cracker pie crust.

Cream Filling:
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
4 ounces semisweet chocolate
1/8 teaspoon salt
5 large egg yolks, lightly beaten
2 cups 2% or whole milk
1/2 cup evaporated milk
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1-2 teaspoons brandy (or something with alcohol, i used vanilla extract)

Whipped Cream Topping
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Filling:
Whisk sugar, cornstarch, cocoa, and salt in a medium saucepan.  Add yolks, then immediately but gradually whisk in milk and evaporated milk.  Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently at first, then constantly, as mixture starts to thicken and beings to simmer, 8 to 10 minutes.  Once mixture simmers, continue to cook, stirring constantly, for 1 minute longer.  Remove pan from heat; whisk in butter, brandy, semisweet chocolate, and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract.
Pour filling into a shallow pan, and put plastic wrap directly over filling surface to keep it from forming a skin--cool until warm.  Then poor into crust, and chill before serving.

Whipped Cream:
Beat cream and sugar in mixer until they get soft peaks; add vanilla.  Continue to beat just until it just barely forms stiff peaks.
Spread over filling and refrigerate.

Its official!

So, guess who has two thumbs, and has been accepted to the Culinary Arts Institute at UVU?
This guy!
Sorry, no recipe in this post.

Cinnamon Swirl Bread

I made this bread the other day, and everyone seemed to like it, especially the kids.  This is not the quickest bread recipe, but it's really not very hard either--it just takes a bit of time.
Yield: 1 loaf.

Ingredients:

Bread Dough

• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 stick unsalted butter
• 2 1/2 teaspoons dry, active yeast
• 1/2 cup warm water
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 3 1/2 cups flour 

Filling

• 1/4 cup sugar
• 5 teaspoons cinnamon
• milk for brushing

Glaze

• 1 egg
• 2 teaspoons milk

Directions

1. Heat milk and butter until butter melts.  Cool until mixture is lukewarm (about 110 degrees)
2. Sprinkle yeast over warm water in a mixer (you can do this in the bread-mixer) if you want.  Beat in sugar and eggs, and blend at a low speed.  Add salt, lukewarm milk mix, 2 cups of flour--mix until well blended, for about a minute.  Add 1 1/4 cups of flour, and knead at medium-low speed, adding more flour until dough is smooth and doesn't stick to the bowl (or your fingers when you pinch it).  This will probably take about 10 minutes.
3. Once dough is smooth, soft, and elastic transfer it to a large oiled bowl to rise in.  Make sure and oil both side of the dough.  Cover with plastic wrap and let it rise until it doubles in size (2-2 1/2 hours).  After it has risen, punch down the center (you can refrigerate it at this point for up to a day if you need to).  Turn the dough onto an unfloured surface, and let it rest for about 10 minutes.
4. Grease sides and bottom of bread pan.  Mix sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl (you can throw in raisins, nuts, etc at this point too).
5. Roll the dough into a rectangle, as close to 8x18" as you can (lightly flour counter if dough sticks), and brush it with milk.  Sprinkle filling evenly over dough, leaving 1/2" border along far end.  Starting with the close end, roll up dough, and push sides in if it gets wider than 9".  When you reach the end, pinch the dough together tightly to form a secure seam.  Pinch the ends together firmly as well, and place loaf seam-down in pan, pressingly lightly to flatten.
6. Cover top of pan with plastic wrap, and let it rise until dough is 1 inch above the top of the hand (this will take about an hour or so, or 2 if the dough has been refrigerated.  As the dough rises, move the oven rack to the center and heat oven to 350 degrees.
7. Meanwhile, whisk egg and milk together in a small bowl.  Gently brush loaf top with egg mixture.
8. Bake until loaf is golden brown, this should take 30-35 minutes.  Remove from pan and cool on a rack.
9. Devour--once you cut it, it won't last long.

Chicken Nuggets

Every kid loves chicken nuggets, but not every parent loves buying them from the store when they're really just chicken with crumbs on them.  These are cheaper than the store kind, and tastier too.

Ingredients

• 3 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
• 1 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 tablespoon dried basil
• 1/2 cup butter, melted

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
2. Cut chicken breasts into 1 1/2-inch sized pieces. In a medium bowl, mix together the bread crumbs, cheese, salt, thyme and basil. Mix well. Put melted butter in a bowl or dish for dipping.
3. Dip chicken pieces into the melted butter first, then coat with the breadcrumb mixture. Place the well-coated chicken pieces on a lightly greased cookie sheet in a single layer, and bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes.