Cooking In A Powdered Sugar Wonderland...

It's that time of year, and I know I haven't been the most avid blogger the last few months but lucky you because I will reciprocate by treating you with my all-time favorite Christmas 'cookie' recipe, compliments of my mom's holiday recipe stash. She's been making these for as long as I can remember and making them always puts me in the holiday spirit. The last two years I've made them, they were a huge hit so here is my holiday gift to you. 

Rum Balls
2 1/2 cups vanilla wafer crumbs (buy them whole and crush them) 
2 Tablespoons powdered cocoa 
3 Tablespoons white corn syrup 
1 Cup powdered sugar 
1 Cup chopped nuts (pecans work best) 
1/4  - 1/2 Cup rum (to taste) 
Powdered sugar for rolling 

Combine vanilla wafer crumbs, cocoa, corn syrup and sugar and mix well. Add nuts and rum and mix well. Shape into bite-size balls and roll in confectioners sugar. No cooking required. Keep in an air-tight container in the refrigerator. 

Chicken Of The Yogurt Variation

When I think of yogurt, I think of a sweet, creamy breakfast alternative. Personally, I'm not a huge fan, though a plain Spanish yogurt with a tarty end note is always delightful, but so hard to find just right. Call me picky, but I'm a spoiled eater. So when I found this recipe for Yogurt Chicken, I was kind of surprised. I don't really consider yogurt much of a chicken topping but i could just see how good it tasted through the pictures. And if I've learned anything from recipe hunting, when a recipe speaks to you, make it. 

I've had this recipe in the back of my mind for a while now, and when I was stumped for what to make for dinner the other night, chicken seemed simple enough, maybe even a little too simple. Which was when this recipe popped into the front lines of my hunger stricken mind screaming, "Oh me! Pick me!" I knew what I had to do.
So one trip to the grocery store and one minor (but I felt vital) recipe change later, I was eating this very straightforward meal, and it was fantastic. The easy to make yogurt concoction managed to infuse the chicken and keep it juicy and succulent while still keeping the breading crispy and golden. Its quick to make and simple to bake, so give it a try and see for yourselves!

Yogurt Chicken
Plain, unflavored yogurt (1 or 2 containers, depending on how much chicken you want to make)
Chicken (I used chicken breasts/strips)
Garlic (minced, to taste)
Parsley minced (fresh is good, but I just used dried) 
Lemon Juice
Salt
Crushed Corn Flakes (bread crumbs work too, but I think the corn flakes give it added flavor)


In a bowl, add yogurt, parsley and garlic and mix well. Now add lemon juice, about one lemon should do the trick. Mix.After cleaning your chicken, salt it lightly.In another bowl, add crushed cornflakes. 
One at a time, put your chicken into the yogurt first, covering it thoroughly. Then lay it in the cornflakes bowl and cover well. 
Place on a sprayed baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees for an hour. 
I should point out that putting a little slab of butter on each piece before it goes into the oven is good if you're using breadcrumbs or Panko as it dries out, but with cornflakes, it just made them a little soggy on the bottom.
Enjoy! 

Nutella + Cinnamon = Nutellamon Rolls

I know, I know, I've been a terrible blogger the last couple months and I apologize. For my loyal readers who still check in every once in a while, I thank you. You would think since I moved into an apartment for the summer and actually had my own kitchen, that would mean I would be coming up with many more recipes, but unfortunately all it means is that I now have a kitchen in which I have to cook dinner every single night AND clean up after myself, which means I can't pull the "I cook, you clean," rule on my boyfriend as often, nor can I always come up with incredible mind boggling recipes for every meal that this blog holds to such high standards. Only the best for you, my beloved foodies. 
 
So in the spirit of incredible food and tasty recipes, I bestow upon you my latest find: Nutella Cinnamon Rolls
I made these tasty treats on a bit of a last minute run when for Fourth of July one of my friends and a possible Cupcake Chronicles food addict asked me to please bring something to his BBQ if it wasn't too last minute. Seeing as my cooking is apparently in such high demand (haha) I decided to indulge. And so I came across this recipe and thought it would be a great finish. 
But be warned, there is a lot of waiting involved, between making the dough and baking, etc.
 
The original recipe called for a sugar glaze to go over the rolls, but I raised the stakes a bit and spread Nutella on it. ;)


Nutella Cinnamon Rolls
Makes three 8" pans
  
2 cups whole milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup sugar
2 1/4 active dry yeast
5 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 stick butter
1/2 cup Nutella
Cinnamon


In a large pot, whisk milk, oil and sugar. And I mean whisk. I didn't do it at first and the milk and oil just wouldn't blend no matter how much I stirred. Turn off heat and cool for 45 minutes (I told you there would be waiting). Once the pot is lukewarm, whisk in the yeast and let dissolve, then slowly stir in the flour in parts, this makes it easier to make the dough, at one point i just stopped stirring and used my hands to mix in the four, but if you have a Cuisinart mixing apparatus, by all means use it. Finally cover and let dough rise for at least an hour (I left mine over night).
 
Once your dough has risen, add the baking powder, baking soda and salt. Place on a  floured surface and use a rolling pin to flatten the dough out into something of a rectangle. Next, cut the butter into chunks and add to a bowl with the Nutella. Place in the microwave until the butter is almost all melted. Stir the mixture until you have a smooth, tasty, Nutella concotion, then spread evenly onto dough. It'll look like you have a lot on, but my recommendation, is to add a little extra. Once mine was baked I felt like it wasn't Nutella-y enough for me, so indulge. Finally, sprinkle some cinnamon on top. 

Now for the hard part. Roll the dough over, a lot of the sauce will ooze out, and there may be holes in the dough, but just try to pick up the dough and make sure it rolls, not just crinkles together, my first batch did this and it was still good but kind of awkward to unroll when I ate it. I like to peel off the layers of my cinnamon rolls. Pinch together the ends and voila!

Spray the round cake pans, and cut rolls about an inch thick then place in pans. Now let the rolls raise again for about 20-30 minutes, then preheat oven to 375 and bake for 15-18 minutes.
Spread some extra Nutella on warm rolls and ENJOY!

The Mangocado!

Spring is here and I thought what a better way to celebrate than to chef it up! I found a wonderful recipe for a light, healthy and fresh meal that I absolutely loved. This particular recipe combines my two all time favorite fruits: mango and avocado. The two combined create a savory yet not too sweet concoction that I was happy just eating on its own. This, topped on a saucy chicken strip made a meal to remember. The process of it is so incredibly simple and quick, you have to try it. As my good friend likes to say, you get a big bang for your buck. I had to alter the recipe a bit for lack of ingredients but it was well received so give it a try! 

Saucy Chicken topped with Mango-Avocado Salsa
Chicken:
1 lb of chicken tenders
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce 
1tbs soy sauce
1 tbs balsamic vinegar
half a can Enchilada Sauce (I used medium)
lime juice
chopped jalapeños to taste
Salsa:
1 large mango
1 large avocado
1 tbs minced onion
1/3 cup orange juice
lime juice to taste
1 tsp chopped rosemary
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Combine Worcestershire, soy sauce, vinegar, lime juice and enchilada sauce and mix. Marinate chicken in sauce for at least 30 minutes.
While the chicken marinates, cut avocado and mango into chunks and put in a bowl. Then, add  onion, orange juice, rosemary, salt and pepper. Mix until you get a nice 'fresh salsa' consistency, but dont stir too hard! Otherwise your avocados will turn to mush :( Store in the fridge until the chicken is ready to be served.
Next, bake the chicken in the oven with the marinade for about 20 minutes or until done.
Serve the chicken with a generous amount of your 'mangocado' on top and enjoy!

The Chronicles of Cupcakes: Chapter I

For those of you who are bewildered over why this food blog is named the "Cupcake Chronicles" but does not feature cupcakes, I KNOW. 
Yes, I am well aware of the lack of adorable cupcakes on my blog. 
Yes, it has been weighing on my conscious for a long time. 
Yes, I feel badly about leading you on to promises of magnificent tasting cupcakes.
And yes, this ends here and now. See, the thing is, as you may be well aware (or not) I am a struggling college student. As are most of my guinea pigs (I mean friends) who eat my food. So when you have a kitchen supplied by college students, the immediate purchases for said college kitchen are not going to be the ever so helpful cupcake pan, which is pretty essential in Cupcake Land. 
Which is why, my faithful foodies, I haven't been able to make the aforementioned cupcakes. Until now. 

One day, while walking through the store, I was relaying my cupcake troubles to my number one fan, mon chérie, when he heroically stepped in and bought a pan. 

So, without further ado, the first in a long series of cupcakes: The Nutella Cupcake. (duh, what else did you think I was gona make?)

Nutella Swirl Cupcakes

(from Feisty Cook)

Ingredients:

10 tbsp butter, softened
3/4 cup white sugar
3 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 3/4 cups sifted all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1/3 cup Nutella

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees and line cupcake pan with paper cupcake liners. Cream butter and sugar together until light and creamy. Add eggs and mix thoroughly.Add vanilla, flour, baking powder and salt. Mix until slightly lumpy.Spoon mixture into cups until about 3/4 full.Place a dollop of Nutella onto each cupcake, then use a skewer stick to swirl Nutella into the batter. (I found it helpful to try folding the batter over the Nutella to really mix it up). Bake cupcakes for 20-30 minutes or until golden brown on top. 

The Little Mexican in All of Us

Chilaquiles with a side of mandarins for a touch of color :)

After my short hiatus to travel for spring break, I have returned, my faithful foodies!


I feel bad about leaving you guys hanging for a couple weeks so what better way to make it up to you than with a tasty recipe from my very own heritage; Mexico!


Who doesn't love Mexican food? Being the Mexican-American that I am, I couldn't very well ignore the food I grew up with; so here is an homage to  the little Mexican in all of us, and for those of you who might be afraid of a spicy foods, not to worry,this dish isn't spicy at all so you can add at your will.
Enjoy!

Ingredients

• 4 tablespoons diced onion
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 2 cups tomato sauce
• 1 chile (jalapenos or serranos) -seeded and chopped, or more to taste
• 1 can chicken broth
• 8 Corn Tortillas cut into chip sizes
• 2 cups cooked chicken breasts, shredded
•  
• Toppings:
• minced onion (optional)
• shredded mozzarella cheese (optional)
• sour cream

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Bake tortilla chips until crisp. (about 10-20 min) Set aside. Do not turn oven off! 
3. Saute onion and garlic in an oiled skillet until translucent, approximately 4 minutes. Mix with the tomato sauce, chilies and broth in a bowl. season with salt and pepper
4. Boil chicken until done and shred with a fork. 
5. Add chicken to tomato mixture.
6. Make a layer of  tortilla chips in the bottom of a casserole dish and sprinkle shredded cheese on top of chips.
7. Pour tomato/chicken mixture into casserole dish and top with more chips and cheese.
8. Bake in oven for about 20-30 min.
9. Serve with sour cream drizzled over dish.

1. Bake Chips

2. Mix tomato sauce mixture and chicken

3. Layer ingredients in casserole dish 

4. Bake to perfection!

When Cookies Come Together

This is one of those recipes where your first reaction is going to be,"I wish I'd thought of that..." (which I do wish I had). And I can already imagine people's eyes popping out of their heads when they saw the recipe I am about to bestow upon you. If you're not a cookie fiend, chocolate fiend, or simply a fan of good old fashioned munchies, then you have stumbled onto the wrong blog. But if you can appreciate the art of bringing together the two most classic cookies of all time to make one gargantuan cookie, then read on my friends.


Here we have it: the Oreo Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookie. Let me just say, you have been forewarned, these cookies are pretty big and would probably be most enjoyed with a glass of cold milk. 
I don't think I really need to explain further than that. 


Oreo-Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies
Recipe from "Picky Palate"

2 sticks (1 cup) softened butter
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon pure vanilla
3 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
10 oz bag chocolate chips
1 pkg. Oreo double stuff cookies

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix butter and sugars together until well combined.  Beat in eggs and vanilla.In a separate bowl mix the flour, salt and baking soda.Add to egg and sugar mixture until combined.  Using a spoon, take one scoop of cookie dough and place on top of an Oreo Cookie.  Take another scoop of dough and place on bottom of Oreo cookie. 

Seal edges together by pressing and cupping in hand until the Oreo cookie is enclosed with dough.  

Place onto a  sprayed baking sheet and bake cookies 9-13 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool for 5 minutes before transferring to cooling rack.

Makes about 2 dozen LARGE cookies.

I added a fork for size reference. Didn't quite do it justice.

Superbowl Series: Part II

The Superbowl is over and done with and I'm pooped. But of course I have food to show for it. So here is part 2 of the Superbowl series with "Bacon Wrapped Potato Bites."  These melt-in-your-mouth bites of tasty goodness are easy to make and were pretty much inhaled the first 5 minutes I set them out yesterday. They were decidedly an instant party hit and I couldn't make them fast enough. I'm certainly glad my helpful kitchen aid (Thanks Gunnar!) convinced me to triple my recipe. Last night I also made my new classic "Nutella Puffs" but I won't post the recipe again. 
The general commentary on the Bacon bites was that it was like mashed potato heaven in your mouth and I have to say I agree. The spicy sour cream sauce that goes with this recipe was fairly simple and really brought it together but I altered it a bit to give it some more punch. What can I say? I'm Mexican, one measly teaspoon of hot sauce in my sour cream just doesn't quite do it for me.
Anyway, while Fergie's rendition of Sweet Child of Mine put a bit of a damper on my evening, I have to say the continuous compliments on my cooking more than made up for it. 
More to come!

Bacon-Wrapped Potato Bites with Spicy Sour Cream Dipping Sauce
makes about three dozen bites

1 pound small or medium red potatoes
1 1/2 teaspoons chopped, fresh rosemary
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
freshly ground pepper
12 ounces-to-1 pound thick-cut bacon
1 cup (8 ounces) sour cream
1 tablespoon hot sauce
salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Wash and dry the potatoes. Chop them into 1-inch pieces, keeping the chunks roughly the same size or good bite sizes. Put the potatoes in a medium pot, cover with cold water, and bring to a boil. Season the water with salt. Once the water begins to boil, cook the potatoes for about 3 to 4 minutes, until you can stick a fork into them without too much resistance. You want the potatoes to be almost, but not fully, cooked through (so they won't fall apart during the next steps).

Drain the potatoes and put them in a large bowl. Add the rosemary, olive oil, salt, and a few grinds of pepper, and toss until the potatoes are evenly coated.

Cut the strips of bacon in half (with a short, vertical slice. I had long pieces of bacon so I cut it in thirds). Wrap each piece of potato in a half-strip of bacon, securing it with a toothpick. Put the potatoes on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil.

Cook the potatoes for 15 minutes, then flip each piece. Cook for another 10 to 15 minutes, until the bacon is cooked through and crisp. (I had trouble getting my bacon to cook through so I kept it in the oven for about 5-10 minutes intervals until the bacon was well done)

Spicy Sour Cream:

Mix the sour cream and hot sauce in a small bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Pile the potato bites on a plate and serve with the dip.

P.S. Did anyone try out the Buffalo Chicken Bites yesterday??? Let me know how they turned out!

Superbowl Series: Part I

Buffalo Chicken Bites

Here we have part one of my Superbowl appetizer menu. Except you wont be getting part two until after the Superbowl, you'll just have to keep it in mind for future reference. For this  year's Superbowl party, I'm making  two apps, the first of which is a must have and really great for any party. Buffalo Chicken Bites. It's the new and improved buffalo wing, and it's mighty tasty. Although I decided it was a surprisingly tedious process, they were well worth it for a party food, but I probably wouldn't make these regularly seeing as there's a lot of prep work involved. Between shredding the chicken, crushing the cornflakes, and rolling each ball it turned into a long process, but still fun if you have some help.

I found this recipe on a few blogs and there were a couple variations but overall it's pretty basic and soooooo tasty and creative. The great thing about these is that you can freeze them if you need to make them ahead of time, or even make a big batch and cook them in small batches as you crave them. Give it a try and tell me what you think!

Buffalo Chicken Bites

Yield: about 48 small bites, or 30 medium bites

3 cups shredded cooked chicken (About 1 store-bought rotisserie chicken, skin discarded)
1/4 to 1/2 cup hot sauce (I used Texas Pete hot sauce)
3 1/2 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 3/4 cups sharp or medium shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 cup chopped green onions
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
3 eggs, lightly beaten
2 cups Corn Flakes cereal, crushed

Preheat oven to 350˚F.  Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.  In a large bowl, mix the chicken, cream cheese and hot sauce until combined.  Stir in the cheddar cheese and green onions.

Using a small spoon, scoop out the chicken mixture and roll into about 1 1/2 inch balls.  

In three separate bowls, set out the flour, eggs and Corn Flakes.  Dip each chicken ball first into the flour, then the egg and ending with the Corn Flakes. 

Place on the prepared baking sheet and bake for 20 to 25 minutes.  Serve with ranch or blue cheese dressing.

**If freezing for later, store the dipped and uncooked chicken balls  in the freezer until ready.  To bake, place the frozen chicken balls back on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake at 350˚F for 25 to 30 minutes, until crispy and golden brown.