Chocolate Chip Candy Cups

The date is 12/13/14!!

Take your fave chocolate chip cookie recipe. Scoop dough into mini muffin pan. Bake. As soon as you remove from oven top with a chocolate: rolos, kisses, hugs or mini peanut butter cups. 

Waffle Sunday

I don't think I will ever get tired of waffles, or of trying new waffle recipes. Today, I made a recipe from the Pioneer Woman. I did use buttermilk instead of milk, and unsalted butter, because that's what I stock in my fridge.  

2 cups All-purpose Flour
3 teaspoons Baking Powder
1/2 + 1/8 teaspoon Salt
1/4 cup Sugar
1-1/2 cup Milk
2 whole Egg Yolks
4 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
1 stick (1/2 Cup) unsalted butter, Melted
4 whole Egg Whites, whipped to stiff peaks.

It took my waffles about 4 minutes to cook up nice and crisp. I know why she said serve immediately. After a few minutes. They lost that initial crispness. 

Now, slather on some toppings. How about some leftover ganache? 

See entire original recipe here: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2014/02/waffles/

Crème Brûlée

Crème Brûlée

Ingredients:
1 qt. heavy cream
8 large egg yolks
1 cup (~6.5 oz.) white sugar
1 vanilla bean*

Preheat oven to 325°F. 

Split and scrape vanilla bean. Place vanilla bean, vanilla bean seeds, 1/2 c. sugar, and heavy cream in a large sauce pan over medium heat. Stir to incorporate. Scald, but do not boil. 

Meanwhile, whisk together remaining sugar and egg yolks. When the heavy cream mixture is almost at a boil, remove from heat and temper the yolks (add and quickly stir in a little of the hot cream at a time. Otherwise, you get scrambled eggs!) Until all your mixture is whisked together. If it won't fit into your bowl, pour tempered yolks into the pan and whisk together. 
*If you do not have a vanilla bean, substitute with vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract, but add them now, after the mixture has been removed from the heat.

If you are cooking ahead, you can stop here, cool and refrigerate the mixture up to 3 days before baking. 

Now, you are ready to finish your crème brûlée off in the oven. Place a tea towel on the bottom of a roasting pan or a 9x13 cake pan. Place ramekins on top of the towel. Carefully fill the ramekins with the custard mixture. Place any remaining mixture into the refrigerator. You can keep it for about 3 days. 

Next, you need to fill the pan with HOT water about half way up the side of your ramekins. THIS IS IMPORTANT! DO NOT GET ANY WATER INTO YOUR RAMEKINS. If you do, your beautiful custard will NEVER SET and all your work was for naught. :( 

I usually place the pan in the oven, then carefully ever so slowly add hot water to the roasting pan. Then gently slide it into the oven. The more shallow ramekins make this harder. 

Bake until set, but still jiggly. This takes about 20 min, but can be more or less depending on the ramekin size.

Refrigerate a minimum of 2 hours. Nothing says nasty like a hot crème brûlée. Just before serving, dust the top with some sugar and "brûlée" with a torch. FOLLOW SAFETY PROCEDURES! If you don't know how to do this, Alton Brown has a video. 

Mashed Rutabaga with Potato

Ingredients:
2 pounds rutabaga, peeled and cubed (about 3 large)
2 pounds potatoes, peeled and cubed (about 2 medium)
3 cloves of garlic, peeled
4 tablespoons butter
2/3 cup milk, half and half, or cream (pick your fat level...) 
Salt and pepper to taste
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, or to taste
2 teaspoons chopped parsley (optional)

Instructions:
Cook rutabaga and potatoes in salted water in separate saucepans with garlic cloves. When both are tender, remove from heat. Rutabaga will take longer than the potatoes. Drain; mash rutabaga well, then mash the potatoes. Combine mashed root vegetables; add butter, salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Slowly add in milk until you reach desired consistency. Beat well. Taste and add more salt if necessary. Garnish with chopped parsley.

Inspired by: http://southernfood.about.com/od/turnipandrutabagarecipes/r/bl81114i.htm