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.

Balsamic Bliss

For those of you who are big BBQ sauce fans, or fans of balsamic vinegar (lots!), or just fans of dishes packing a flavorful punch, make this recipe. For the love of God and all that is holy, make this recipe. The simple fact that the BBQ sauce is made from scratch makes all the difference, which if my mother taught me anything in the kitchen it was that making things from scratch is always the way to go.
Anyway, this chicken recipe is pretty simple to make if you have all the ingredients, and will just blow your mind. I made six pieces and it was so good I didn't even have time to take a picture of the final product before it was devoured .
Let me know what you think!


Balsamic BBQ Chicken
(Found on Perry's Palate Blog)

4-6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
salt and ground black pepper

For the BBQ sauce:
1 cup balsamic vinegar
8 oz can of tomato sauce
3 T brown sugar, honey, or molasses
1 garlic clove, minced
1 T Worcesterchire sauce
1 T Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper

Combine all of the BBQ sauce ingredients into a small saucepan. Whisk until thoroughly combined, then simmer over medium heat until it's reduced by about a third. If it starts to stick to the bottom of the pan, reduce heat to medium-low. It'll take 15-25 minutes for the sauce to thicken up and coat the back of a spoon.

Meanwhile, preheat a stove-top grill pan or outdoor BBQ to medium heat (I just used a frying pan). Season the chicken with salt and pepper.

Transfer 1/2 cup of the finished BBQ sauce to a small bowl. Place the chicken on the grill for about 10 minutes per side.

Brush chicken with the 1/2 cup (or more) BBQ sauce for the last 2-3 minute of cooking. (I gave the chicken an extra coat of BBQ sauce on each side right before taking it off the pan)

Transfer chicken to a serving platter and serve with remaining BBQ sauce.
Serves 4.

Here's the finished product, or rather what was left of it by the time I got a chance to take a picture. 

Hash-erole?

The beautiful thing about breakfast food is that you can eat it at any time of the day or night. My favorite mealtime is "Brinner," breakfast for dinner. And when you can take a breakfast food to the next level and really make a meal, well that's just nirvana. Seeing as I'm a carb addict, I have decided to pay tribute to my all time favorite carbohydrate, the potato, while also giving my grandmother honorary mention for this recipe. "Hash Brown Casserole."  This creamy, crunchy, cheesy dish is one for the all-time favorites list. Enjoy!

Grandma's Hash Brown Casserole 

32 oz. frozen hash browns 
2 cups sour cream 
1 cup grated cheese 
1 can cream of chicken soup 
1 stick melted butter 
1 cup crushed corn flakes OR potato chips 

Mix all together, except  1/3 of the melted butter and the corn flakes or potato chips. Spread the mixture in a 9x13 inch pyrex dish that has been sprayed with non-stick spray such as PAM. Mix the 1/3 stick of butter and the crushed corn flakes or potato chips. Spread on top of the potato mixture. 

Bake at 350 degrees for 1.5 hours. 

Nutellaholics Unite!

Seeing as Nutella is one of the greatest inventions ever made and should really just be it's own food group, I have decided to pay tribute to the great sandwich spread/my equivalent to peanut butter. Here we have the heavenly, the gooey, the flaky clouds of Nutella Marshmallow Pillows. Truly a stroke of genius and I must give credit to the Picky Palate blog. Much more to come from that site, I can tell you that much. 
These pockets of gold are incredibly simple to make and really only require 3 ingredients. If you don't think this looks like the greatest invention ever, you're on the wrong food blog. 
Here's my take on the pillow pockets, I altered the original recipe slightly to make many more pockets and much more party friendly. I guess I was feeling generous enough to share tonight. Not quite sure what I was thinking...

Nutella-Mallow Pastry Pockets- Makes 18 pockets

1 package puff pastry, 2 pastry sheets thawed

1 jar Nutella spread

1 bag mini marshmallows

Egg white wash: 1 egg white whisked with 1 Tablespoon water (I forgot to put this on the first batch, and it made no real difference on the second batch, so this is optional)

Powdered sugar, cocoa powder, cinnamon for dusting (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  

   2. Cut each square of pastry into 9 equal size pieces.  

3. Spread some Nutella onto the center of each pastry leaving a border around edges.  

  4. Top each with about 5-6 mini marshmallows and fold over to form a little triangle.  

         5. Crimp edges firmly with a fork.  

         6. Brush with egg white wash. (optional)

         7. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until pastry just turns golden.  

         8. Remove and let cool for 5 minutes, sprinkle with powdered sugar/cocoa/cinnamon

         9. EAT IT AND WEEP.

In the beginning...

So it's 2:00 in the morning and about an hour ago I stumbled onto what appeared to be a gift from the heavens. A simple, easy, and very quick recipe for Chocolate Cobbler. On any other day, it wouldve just been a great find, but today I had just come home from Chili's with the realization that in the midst of my deep conversation with my boyfriend I had forgotten about dessert entirely. God forbid. The insanely delicious chocolate molten cake had been left out of the dining experience and there was nothing I could do about it. 
Until I found the Chocolate Cobbler recipe...at 11:30 at night.
After going back and forth with my boyfriend over whether or not I should make it so late at night, I got to work. I just couldn't resist.

And now, here I am having just enjoyed the gooey, choclatey goodness that is this Chocolate Cobbler; so much so that it inspired in me the need to create a food blog.


 And so, the adventure begins...

Chocolate Cobbler

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• ¼ teaspoons salt
• 7  tablespoons cocoa powder, divided (I used Hershey's Special Dark)
• 1 ¼ cup sugar, divided
• ½ cup milk 
• ⅓ cup melted butter 
• 1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• ½ cup light brown sugar, packed
• 1-½ cup hot tap water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

First stir together the flour, baking powder, salt, 3 tablespoons of the cocoa, and 3/4 cup of the white sugar. Reserve the remaining cocoa and sugar.

Stir in the milk, melted butter, and vanilla to the flour mixture. Mix until smooth.

Pour the mixture into an ungreased 8-inch baking dish.

In a separate small bowl, mix the remaining white sugar (1/2 cup), the brown sugar, and remaining 4 tablespoons of cocoa. Sprinkle this mixture evenly over the batter.

Pour the hot tap water over all. Do not stir!

Bake for about 40 minutes or until the center is set.

Best served with a nice cold glass of milk.