Peanut Butter Cookies

My kids go crazy for peanut butter cookies. If you want to drive them really wild, put a few chocolate chips in. For years I tried to find the perfect PB cookie recipe with no success; they were dry and hard as hockey pucks. I went to my friend Kip for advice and he posted this little gem.

Chunky peanut butter works best in these cookies; for this batch I was forced to use creamy and tried dressing them up with some chopped peanuts. Next time I'll go back to the chunky stuff.

Peanut Butter Cookies

1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup peanut butter (I like to use chunky peanut butter, but that's just a personal preference)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 egg
3/4 teaspoon baking soda dissolved in scant 1/3 cup hot water
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups flour

Cream shortening, peanut butter, and sugars. Beat in egg. Then add water and baking soda with the dry ingredients. Roll the dough into balls and bake at 350-375 degrees until done (about 12-13 minutes).

You can tell these are done when they're golden brown but still a little gooey. They'll cook a little more after you take them out of the oven. You want them slightly underdone in order to preserve the soft cookie goodnes.

Salsa with an Edge

There's snow on the top of our tallest local mountain tonight. We know that our warm fall won't last long, and the tomatoes will freeze any day now. Here's a recipe for one last gasp of good weather. I found it a few years ago in Cooking Light magazine. It's a fun combination of flavors, even if it does require remarkable amounts of chopping.

I've made this with any number of different fruits. Peaches are very tasty, but a little sloppy. Apples add a nice crunch and are oh-so-very tidy. This is a salsa with a little bit of everything--sweet, savory, hot, you name it. It's great with Fritos or tortilla chips.

Salsa With and Edge
2-3 chopped Roma tomatoes
1 cup chopped Granny Smith apples (or use mangoes, pears, peaches, or other fruit)
1/2 cup chopped cucumber
1/2 cup fresh corn kernals
1/2 cup chopped red pepper
1/4 cup chopped green onions
1/4 cup chopped red onion
2 1/2 tablespoons fresh chopped cilantro
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon chopped, seeded jalapeno pepper
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoon sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Combine all ingredients, stirring well to combine. Serve at room temperature or chilled. Makes 4 1/2 cups.

Jearlene's Brownies

Of all of our many brownie recipes, this is a favorite standard. It's full of chocolatey goodness. We usually frost these, but left them unfrosted in this photo because we were (of course) topping them with vanilla ice cream and chocolate syrup. And we do have our limits.

This recipe came to us from my childhood friend, Jearlene.

Jearlene’s Brownies


1 c. butter or margarine
¾ c. cocoa
4 eggs, beaten
2 c. sugar
1 t. vanilla
1 1/3 c. flour
1 t. baking powder
½ t. salt

In large saucepan, melt butter. Remove from heat and stir in cocoa until smooth. Blend in eggs, sugar and vanilla. Stir in dry ingredients; mix well. Bake in greased 13” x 9” pan at 350 degrees for 32 to 35 minutes until done.

Frosting

¼ c. butter
1 t. vanilla
2-3 c. powdered sugar
5 T. cocoa
¼ c. milk

Blend butter, vanilla, sugar, cocoa and milk until smooth. Spread over hot brownies. Cool and serve.

Chunky Blonde Brownies

We're big brownie fans. Not necessarily because we like our brownies large (although, truth be told, that's probably more right than wrong). But we like brownies of all kinds. When we want to mix things up a little bit we try these blonde brownies as an alternative to classic chocolate brownies.  Even Bob, who claims not to like blonde brownies, likes these.

I think the recipe is originally from Taste of Home. I found it on a now-unknown website and have modified it slightly based on the ingredients we tend to have on hand. I've found that this recipe is especially popular with kids, but everyone likes it with vanilla ice cream on top.

Chunky Blonde Brownies
Makes about 24 brownies, unless you cut them very large

1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup white chocolate chips
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 - 1 cup chopped walnuts

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Cream butter and sugars in a mixing bowl. Add the eggs and vanilla; mix well. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt; add to the butter and sugar mixture and blend well.

Stir in the white chocolate chips, semi-sweet chips and the nuts. Spoon into a greased 13 x 9 inch pan and spread evenly over the bottom. Sprinkle with any remaining nuts.

Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack.

Onion Straws

I mentioned onion straws in a post about steak and blue salad a couple of months ago. At long last, here's the (very simple) recipe. We made them a few nights ago for a lovely steak salad that we made with some leftover grilled tri tip. It was delicious. I can assure you, however, that our kids like the onions equally well as a simple side dish. The same recipe also works well for deep fried zucchini; it's light and more like a tempura batter than a standard onion ring recipe.

This recipe makes enough to batter one large onion. We actually even battered a medium-size zucchini with the leftover batter. We used a sweet onion this time, but have used regular yellow onions with great success.

Onion Straws

1 large onion, julienned

3/4 cup cornstarch

1/4 cup flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic

1/2 cup water

1 egg, beaten

In a medium mixing bowl, combine all of the ingredients until you have a smooth batter. Stir in the onion slices and cover thoroughly. Drain slightly (I hold the onions over the bowl with tongs for a few seconds while they drip a bit), then fry in 1/2 inch of hot oil until golden brown. I usually turn them over half way through the cooking process.

Use as a side dish, or as a topping for salad.

Peanut Butter Fingers

I found this delicious little recipe on In My Kitchen. The author of that blog recounts her childhood memories of having this as part of a Utah school lunch. I am a native Utahn, and don't remember having them for lunch in elementary school (although I do remember some incredible peanut butter cookies, the only peanut cookies I would eat at that point in my life). But they are awfully good.

Warning: this recipe makes a lot of cookie bars. It's baked in a jelly roll pan, which we call a cookie sheet at our house. It's something like 16 x 9. So either make it when you're going to a very large gathering, or plan on having it around for a few days. I made it on Monday of this week (which was spring break), and we still had lingering leftovers by Thursday. It holds up well over time, though, and the kids were in heaven with readily available snacks all week.

Peanut Butter Fingers

3/4 cup butter or margarine

3/4 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup sugar

2 eggs

Cream these ingredients together and then add:

3/4 cup peanut butter, cream until smooth

Note: We used creamy peanut butter because we had a surplus of it and because the kids prefer chunky on their sandwiches. But I think chunky PB would work great, and would add a little nuttiness to the mix.

Add:

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons vnilla

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups oats

1 1/2 cups flour

Mix together and pat down into a jellyroll pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.

Let the cookie substance cool a little, but while it is still warm, spread a think layer of peanut butter over the top. After it has cooled quite a bit, add the frosting on top:

Frosting

6 tablespoons butter

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

4 3/4 cups powdered sugar

1 tablespoon cocoa

1/4 cup milk

Blend frosting until smooth and spread over cookies.

Coconut Pecan Brownies

I found this recipe at For the Love of Cooking. It's a nice variation on your standard brownie. Although the recipe only makes a 8x8-inch pan, it was plenty for our large family because the brownies are rich enough that you don't need much to feel satisfied.

Coconut Pecan Brownies

Original recipe from Epicurious
Makes nine ample brownies

Topping:
3/4 cup of sweetened coconut, shredded
3/4 cup of pecan pieces
1/4 cup of brown sugar
1/8 tsp of salt
2 tbsp butter, melted

Mix all ingredients together until well combined. Set aside.

Brownies:
1 1/4 sticks (10 tablespoons) unsalted butter
1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
3 large eggs
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and coat an 8x8 baking dish with cooking spray.

In a saucepan, melt butter over moderately low heat. Remove pan from heat and stir in sugar and vanilla. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well with a wooden spoon after each addition. Sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt into a separate bowl add to the sugar mixture until just combined well.

Spread batter evenly in pan. Bake brownies in the middle of the oven for 20 minutes; remove from oven and add topping to the top then continue to bake for an additional 15-20 minutes or until a tester comes out of the center with crumbs adhering to it. Cool brownies completely in pan on a rack before cutting. Enjoy.

Jalapeno Poppers

One of the things we love about our neighborhood is that there are a lot of people who care deeply about food. Bob especially loves this feature because many of the people who love food are men. This makes for fun sharing and comparing.

A couple of years ago, one of our neighbors stopped by on a summer evening with this particular snack, made from jalapenos from his own garden. Bob tried for a moment to figure out a polite way to let him know that he doesn't care for jalapenos, but then decided it would be a lot easier to simply try one. It changed him forever. He still doesn't like jalapenos in general, but he does love these poppers. I made them a couple of weeks ago when jalapenos were on sale. They are always a hit at our house.

Jalapeno Poppers
1 8-ounce package of cream cheese, softened
1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
6 bacon strips, cooked and crumbled
¼ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. garlic powder
¼ tsp. chili powder
1 pound fresh jalapenos (about 12), halved lengthwise, and seeded—wear plastic gloves and cut on glass surface (I have never cut on a glass surface because I have no glass surface. So far, they seem to turn out okay cut on a regular cutting board. Be aware, though, that you're going to feel like you're being gassed by the fumes from the peppers. And if you don't like spicy food, be sure to completely remove the seeds and membranes).
½ cup dry bread crumbs

Sour cream, onion dip, or ranch dressing for dip (we prefer ranch dressing; some kind of southwestern ranch would probably be really good).

In a large mixing bowl, combine the cheese, bacon and seasonings; mix well. Spoon about 2 tablespoonsful into each pepper half. Roll in bread crumbs. (Note: I’ve found that if you cut the peppers in half as evenly and perfectly symmetrically as possible, they tend not to fall over in the pan and leak cheese all over everywhere).

Place in a baking pan. Bake, uncovered, at 300 degrees for 20 minutes for spicy flavor, 30 minutes for medium, and 40 minutes for mild. Serve while warm with dip.

Oatmeal Coconut Cookies

I've been thinking lately about a kind of cookie I made when I was a kid. I remembered that it had both oatmeal and coconut in it, and that I loved it. Recently our friends Steve and Laura gave us a HUGE bag of white chocolate chips. This cookie seemed like the perfect opportunity to use them.

I found this recipe on recipezaar.com. It called for raisins, which didn't sound that great for my raisin-boycotting family. So I substituted the white chocolate chips, which were dreamy with this particular combination of flavors. Also, after the first time I made it, I realized that the recipe didn't call for salt, and it really seemed to need it. So you'll see my modified version of the recipe below.

The comments on the recipezaar version noted that the recipe made huge quantities of cookies. I didn't find it to be all that outlandishly volumnious, but then again, there are nine people in our household and we like to make our cookies a little on the large side. The recipe probably made between 2-3 dozen of generous-sized cookies.

Also, watch the cooking time. These aren't good if they're over done.

Oatmeal Coconut Cookies

1/2 cup shortening

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup brown sugar, packed

1 cup white sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon of vanilla

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 cups rolled oats

1 cup flaked coconut

1 cup white chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In mixing bowl, cream shortening, butter and sugars. Add eggs and vanilla and mix until blended. 

In a separate bowl, combine dry ingredients except coconut and chocolate chips. When all other dry ingredients are blended, add the coconut and the chocolate chips. Combine wet and dry ingredients until moist.

Drop on a greased cookie sheet about 1-2 inches apart (I make them the size of a generous teaspoon). Bake for ten minutes or until golden brown. Remove from the oven immediately.

Stuffed Mushrooms

I've noticed that most people tend to have strong feelings one way or another about mushrooms. They either love them or they really don't. These stuffed mushrooms are hard to beat, and are really quite easy to make.

There are endless variations for the stuffing. We like seafood because it's a little lighter than sausage or bacon. But if your going for all out richness, substitute your favorite processed pork product and enjoy!

Seafood Stuffed Mushrooms

About 12 large mushrooms

1 small can broken shrimp and/or

1 small can crab meat

4 ounces or so of softened cream cheese

1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

1-2 teaspoons worchestershire sauce

1/3 cup seasoned breadcrumbs

3 Tablespoon. butter

1 teaspoon finely minced garlic

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Wash mushrooms thoroughly and remove stems. Slice off the woody ends of the stems and discard. Chop the stems very finely and place in a medium-sized mixing bowl. Add the shrimp and/or crab, the cream cheese, parmesan cheese, worchestershire sauce and breadcrumbs. Melt the butter and sautee the garlic in it for about ten seconds. Place the mushroom caps hollow-side up in a baking dish. Put a heaping tablespoon of filling in each mushroom. When all mushrooms are filled, drizzle garlic butter over the top of them. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes.

Pigs in a Blanket

One of our favorite holiday traditions is hosting an appetizer dinner party on Christmas Eve. We invite everyone from any side of our family. Half of the fun is thinking in the weeks preceding Christmas about all the many appetizers we can make.

This particular appetizer is a favorite with kids. It's also easy enough that our kids can make it. It's probably a stretch to even call it a recipe, but I'll include a recipe for honey mustard dipping sauce just to keep everything on the up and up. Other favorite dipping sauces include barbecue sauce or mandarin sauce. The kids insist that ketchup is also really good with them, but I haven't been able to bring myself to try it.

Pigs in a Blanket
1 package cocktail sausages, such as Little Smokies
2-3 packages pop out crescent rolls

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Open the packages of crescent rolls. Cut each perforated roll into three roughly triangular sections. Wrap a cocktail sausage in each section of roll. Seal it carefully and place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 10-11 minutes or until golden brown on top. Remove from the oven and serve them while they're hot!

Honey Mustard Dipping Sauce
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons honey
Mix honey and mustard and serve alongside Pigs in a Blanket

Cheese Ball

When I unveiled this cheese ball at a dinner party a few nights ago, someone commented that it must be holiday time. I guess nothing says "Christmas" like a cheese ball, even though I've been known to make this in the summer because we like it so much. It's simple and delicious, and looks a lot fancier than it really is. This is one recipe that I think I can take full credit for, even though I've experimented by looking at other cheeseball recipes through the years. This has become our standard.

As with many recipes, the possibilities for variations abound. I've found that sharp cheese really does make a difference. But green peppers work just as well as red peppers (although they aren't as festively pretty at Christmas time), and red or yellow onions can easily be substituted for the green onions if you prefer or don't have green onions on hand. And walnuts and pecans work equally well for the nuts on the outside.

Kathy's Cheese Ball
8 ounces cream cheese, softened to room temperature
1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1/3 cup finely chopped green onions
1/3 cup finely chopped red bell pepper
1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic
2 teaspoons Worchestershire sauce
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Combine cheeses, onions, pepper, granulated garlic and Worchestershire sauce in a large bowl. I find it easiest to do this by hand, wearing a latex glove. When all ingredients are thoroughly mixed, shape the mixture into a ball. Place the chopped nuts on a plate and roll the ball in the nuts until all outside surfaces are covered. Refrigerate until about 30 minutes before serving time; then take it out of the fridge so that it will be soft enough to spread. We've found Wheat Thins to be the cracker to serve with a cheese ball because they're sturdy enough to not crack under the pressure of the cheese and also have a great complementary flavor.

Microwave Carmel Popcorn

Normally I shy away from recipes with the word "microwave" in their names because they sound sort of, well, cheap. But this is a wonderful snack that became a minor addiction when I was first out of school and living on my own. I can still eat myself sick on it if I'm not careful. It is easy, and is made with ingredients that are usually around the house. At our house, even those who don't care for carmel popcorn like this.

Microwave Carmel Popcorn
4 quarts popped popcorn
1 cube butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup miniature marshmallows

Cook the butter for one minute in the microwave. Stir in the brown sugar and cook for another minute. Stir in the marshmallows and cook for another minute. Stir. Cook for another 30 seconds and then stir until smooth. Pour over popped popcorn and stir until popcorn is evenly coated.