Cookie Dough you're actually supposed to eat!

I don't know many people who are able to bake chocolate chip cookies without swiping a few mouthfuls of dough in the process. It's the best part of baking! That's why I was so excited when I got this recipe for Cookie Dough Truffles in my inbox the other day. It's from My Fabulous Recipes, and it's super easy to make.

I used a package of semi-sweet Bakers chocolate to melt on the outside, and I didn't have quite enough to cover all the truffles. I made probably 70 (I'm not sure how many I ate before dipping, so I don't have an exact number for you!) They are delicious... I hope they last till Christmas!!

Bacon-Wrapped Chicken

When in doubt, wrap it in bacon. Trust me, my kids will eat anything if it's wrapped in a piece of bacon!

BACON-WRAPPED CHICKEN
8 sliced of bacon
4 chicken breasts, seasoned with salt & pepper
cream cheese (optional)

Lay chicken in a baking dish. If using cream cheese, spread it on top of the chicken (you can flavour the cream cheese with an Epicure dip mix). Lay two pieces of bacon on top of each chicken breast, in an X, and wrap the ends underneath the chicken. Bake at 400 F for 20-30 minutes.

You can also modify this recipe by pounding the chicken flat, spreading the cream cheese on top, and then rolling it up and wrapping the bacon on the outside, securing it with a toothpick.

Cream Puffs

We made Chocolate Eclairs in cooking class this week, and I used the same recipe to make Cream Puffs this weekend. Super simple, and honestly, who doesn't like cream puffs?

CREAM PUFFS
1 c. water

1/2 c. butter

1 c. flour

4 eggs

whipping cream (whipped with a little sugar and vanilla)

Bring water and butter to a boil. Stir in flour and heat over low for 1 minute or until mixture forms a ball. Remove from heat, and stir in eggs one at a time, combining well after each egg. Drop spoonfuls onto a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes or until golden. Let them cool, then slice them open half-way and use a piping bag to squeeze in some whipped cream.

To make eclairs, use a piping bag to squirt the dough onto the baking sheet in little lines instead of balls. You can make mini ones, or larger ones, whichever you like. After they are baked and cooled, slice them lengthwise and use another piping bag to squeeze in custard, then top with chocolate frosting.

CUSTARD

1 c. whole milk

3 eggs

1/3 c. sugar

1 tbsp. cornstarch

1 tsp. vanilla (or liqueur!!)

1 tbsp. butter

Sift sugar and cornstarch together. Add eggs and vanilla, whisking till smooth. Heat milk in a saucepan, and then pour 1/2 of it over the egg mixture, stirring well so eggs don't cook. Pour this mixture back into the remaining milk in the saucepan, whisking well, and add butter. Bring to a boil, then set aside and let it cool before piping into the eclairs.

CHOCOLATE FROSTING
1/2 c. chocolate

1 tsp. butter

1 c. icing sugar (might not need this much)

2 tbsp. water

Melt chocolate and butter over low heat. Remove from heat and add icing sugar and water. Stir until smooth, and brush onto eclairs.

Christmas Baking

I'm surprised I got a picture of any of these cookies.... they're disappearing quickly from the freezer (I learned at a young age that if you aquire a taste for frozen goodies, no one realizes you've polished off a whole container of butter tarts until it's too late.)

We have made an assortment of Christmas cookies so far this year, and I have a batch of cream puffs in the oven right now. (I'll post those tomorrow!)

We made (and decorated) Sugar Cookies, using this recipe that my friend Loree suggested. It was an awesome recipe, although we would have had way too much icing if we made the whole batch. (Luckily I only had a little bit of icing sugar, so we made 1/4 of the recipe and had enough to do most of them.)

We also made Cookie Nests, which are my all-time favourite Christmas cookie.

COOKIE NESTS
1 c. butter
1 c. icing sugar
2 egg yolks
1 tsp. almond extract
2 c. cake flour (not all-purpose flour)
1/4 tsp. salt
rosebuds

Cream butter, and add sugar, yolks, and extract. Sift flour & salt, and gradually add to butter mixture. Roll into balls on ungreased baking sheet. Push in a rosebud. Bake at 350 F for 10-12 minutes.

Then we made the best ever chocolate chip cookies, using some of the leftover rosebuds chopped into chunks, rather than using regular chocolate chips. I also used 1 tsp. vanilla and 1/2 tsp. almond extract, left out the nuts, and only used 1/2 tsp. salt. But it's based on the Original Tollhouse Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe, which is the only recipe that seems to be foolproof for me when it comes to chocolate chip cookies.

I had some frozen Gingersnap cookie dough in the freezer, so we cooked those up as well. They are nice and chewy (except when you eat them frozen solid), and I put in pieces of crystallized ginger as well. Yum!

Here's a plate of the finished products. There's no way they're gonna last till Christmas!!

I've neglected you

I'm sorry I haven't posted any new recipes for a while. Renos have started in the basement, and life has gotten a little crazy. But I do have some new, simple recipes to share with you, some with pictures and some without.

I don't know if you'd even call this a recipe, but it was really good.

TUSCAN PORK TENDERLOIN WITH BABY POTATOES
1 pork tenderloin
Tuscan Rub
olive oil
baby potatoes, cut in half

Drizzle pork and potatoes with olive oil. Place in a baking dish and shake with Tuscan Rub. Bake at 325 F for about 45 minutes.

The next recipe is basically the same idea, but with salmon (and we had a salad as a side dish instead of potatoes.)

I cut a big piece of salmon into smaller pieces, and rubbed some of them with brown sugar. Then I sprinkled a couple with Teriyaki Seasoning and a couple with Smoked Chili Rub (which is sadly no longer available from Epicure Selections.)The other piece I just sprinkled with Seafood & Fish Seasoning. Drizzle with olive oil and bake at 350 F for 20 minutes. Delicious!

The last recipe I have for you is sort of an accident that turned out better than it looked. A friend made this delicious baked brie last year, with nuts and brown sugar and cream on top. She and her husband came over for wine & cheese last night, so I thought I'd try to replicate it but melting some butter and brown sugar in a frying pan, adding some pecans, and a splash of rum and milk. I sliced the top off the brie and put it in my Brie Baker and popped it in the oven for a few minutes to let it melt. Then when I went to scoop the brown sugar mixture on top, it was all hard, so we put the whole concoction (brie with sugar on top) back in the oven. The sugar mixture sort of solidified onto the cheese, and I thought it was totally buggered. But we just broke up the sugar with a spoon and scooped out the melted brie underneath, and it was delicious! I don't have a picture (and it wasn't pretty anyway), but next time I think I just need to add some more milk or butter or something to make it more liquidy.

Hopefully you enjoyed those recipes, because my creative efforts are being focussed on our basement renos (paint colours are overwhelming!), and I don't foresee any fabulous new recipes coming out of my head until Christmas holidays start. But if I do come up with something, I'll let you know!

Beef Wellingtons

Tonight's supper was Beef Wellingtons, which I learned to make last week in cooking class. My version was slightly different (because I think pâté looks and smells like dog food), so I used Boursin cheese, and I also put a slice of prosciutto as well (which really did nothing for the meal, but it sounds fancy, and it gave me an excuse to snack on prosciutto while I was making supper.)

BEEF WELLINGTONS
beef tenderloin, cut into 4 pieces and seasoned with Beef & Steak Rub
1 pkg. puff pastry (2 squares, which will be cut in half to make 4 pieces)
4 slices of prosciutto
4 tbsp. Boursin cheese
3-4 scallions, finely chopped
5-6 mushrooms, finely chopped
butter
red wine

In a frying pan, heat some butter and sear the beef on both sides. Set aside. Add a couple tablespoons of red wine (or broth, or water, or some other alcohol) and deglaze the pan. Add some more butter and then add the mushrooms and scallions. Cook until the moisture is gone and they are soft.

Roll out a square of puff pastry and slice down the middle to make two rectangles. Lay a piece of prosciutto and some cheese at the bottom of each one.

Place a piece of beef tenderloin on top. Top with with the mushroom & scallion mixture.

Brush the edges of bottom half of the rectangle with water and fold over the pastry, pinching the edges closed. Cut two or three slices across the top to allow steam to escape.

Lay on a baking sheet and brush with egg. Bake at 450 F for 20 minutes (medium-rare) or 40 minutes (medium-well). (I think 30 minutes would have been just right, but I guess it depends on how long you sear it for in the first step.)

For some reason I can't upload the picture that shows you the inside of this tasty little treat, but if I can get it to work later I will add a picture of both the medium-rare and the medium-well.

These were yummy, but very rich and filling.... I could only eat half of one. The kids hated the asparagus, but they liked the wellingtons. I didn't put any mushrooms & scallions in theirs, partly because I knew they wouldn't like it, and partly because I totally forgot to add it before I sealed up the first two that I made. Overall though, it was a success!

Tourtière

I was digging through my deep freeze the other day and discovered a mystery bag.... thankfully I labelled it, because I never would have realized that was tourtière filling. I use this recipe from Epicure Selections, and it turns out amazing (dare I say, better than my mother-in-law's?)

My grandma was here on the weekend, and she gave me a bottle of cranberry ketchup (or "catsup" as she calls it!), which went really nicely with the tourtière. I love my grandma dearly, but sometimes she comes up with some interesting recipes (jellied salad with pineapples and cheddar cheese.... I'm not kidding), so I was a little suspicious of ketchup that wasn't made from tomatoes, but it was actually really good. I have no idea what recipe she used, but if you Google it, there are alot of that come up. Apparently it's not as uncommon as I thought!

So here's my hommage to my Quebecer in-laws, and my dear grandma:

(Please note, I think it's impossible to make meat pie look appetizing. But trust me, it's good.)