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Candy Corn Cookies, A Pinterest Find Just in Time for Halloween

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Posted on Thursday, October 30, 2014 9:23 AM | By: Lauren

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I can't think of any Halloween or fall candy that I like better than candy corn.  It has to be a "good quality" candy corn, and not just any cheap imitation, but the particular taste, that chewy texture...yum!




I saw these cookies on Pinterest and loved how they looked so pretty and chewy, speckled with candy corn.  I made the dough up Monday night and baked up about half of it or so for some of the youth in our church last night.  Drew and I had to sample them beforehand.  You know, to make sure they were OK for others. 


These cookies are wonderful!  As you can see, the candy corn for me did not stay in tact as well as I thought they might, but the soft, chewy dough, mixed with the chewy, sugary candy corn...Halloween treat for sure.  Oh and the dough itself is so tasty that I probably need to keep this in mind when I go to reach for some more.

When they first come out of the oven, they are puffy, but don't worry; they will settle.


Candy Corn Cookies
from Averie Cooks blog

1/2 cup unsalted butter, soften
3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons cream or half-and-half
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons corn starch
1 teaspoon baking soda
pinch salt, optional and to taste
1 1/2 cups candy corn (1o to 11 ounces)
1 cup white chocolate chips (or salted peanuts)

To the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or large bowl and electric hand mixer), cream together the first 5 ingredients (through vanilla) on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.

Stop, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and add the next 5 ingredients (through optional salt), and mix on low speed until just incorporated, about 1 minute; don't overmix.

Add the candy corn, white chocolate chips (or peanuts), and mix until just incorporated.
Using a medium 2-inch cookie scoop, form heaping two-tablespoon mounds (I made 20). Place mounds on a large plate, flatten mounds slightly, cover with plasticwrap, and refrigerate for at least 3 hours, or up to 5 days, before baking. Do not bake with warm dough because cookies will spread and bake thinner and flatter. Important note - Strategically place candy corn so that it's not baking directly on cookie sheet because it will melt, burn, or turn runny if it is. The candy corn pieces need to be in the interior of the cookies, shielded and buffered by dough.

Preheat oven to 350F, line a baking sheet with a Silpat or spray with cooking spray. Place mounds on baking sheet, spaced at least 2 inches apart (I bake 8 cookies per sheet) and bake for about 9 minutes, or until edges have set and tops are just beginning to set, even if slightly undercooked, pale and glossy in the center. Do not overbake because cookies will firm up as they cool. Baking longer than 10 minutes could result in cookies with overly browned undersides. 

Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet  for about 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooking. Cookies will keep airtight at room temperature for up to 1 week or in the freezer for up to 4 months. Unbaked cookie dough can be stored airtight in the refrigerator for up to 5 days, or frozen for up to 4 months, so consider baking only as many cookies as desired and save the remaining dough to be baked in the future when desired.


Notes

  • If you visit the original post site (the link to the original post is the recipe title), you will see that Averie's cookies are a bit thicker.  I used about half the dough she uses for one cookie, so that I'd have more.  This may have affected the candy corn staying in tact.
  • I baked mine 9 minutes, just like the recipe suggested.  Some still looked too underdone, and even after about 5 mins. were too soft to pick up from the baking sheet.  After further cooling- maybe 30 minutes- they were fine to pick up.

Homemade Baked Tortilla Chips

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Posted on Monday, October 27, 2014 9:49 AM | By: Lauren

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This post was borne out of necessity.  One day we were having fajitas, and we realized I forgot to buy tortilla chips, which as you know is a travesty, being that there's all that salsa just begging to be dipped.  We did, however, have a bunch of 6- inch corn tortillas, and so I decided to try to bake some up, and you know what?  They turned out awesome.  They're sturdy, have good flavor, and they almost have layers.  We loved them.


I used a Misto sprayer to get the oils nice and evenly distributed, and sprinkled them with Kosher salt.  I then baked them up and we ate them like our lives depended on it.  The corn tortillas, as opposed to the flour tortillas, stay nice and crispy, even a day or two after you bake them, which is nice if you want to make a batch to have for later snacking.


If you make these for a party, then you will want to start early.  I could only fit about 4 whole tortillas on a baking sheet, and that's only like 1 serving.  So yes, I ate a whole pan.  I'll go be filled with self loathing now.

Baked Corn Tortilla Chips
to make 1-2 servings

4- 6 inch corn tortillas
Canola or other flavorless oil OR cooking spray/spray oil
Salt (I use Kosher but regular would be fine)

 Preheat an oven to 350 and center your oven rack.  Line a baking sheet with foil or parchment (optional, but makes for much easier cleanup).

Cut your tortillas into quarters (or whatever size you desire- sixths would be fine too).  Lay them flat in a single layer on your baking sheet, and spray with oil.  You can use a Misto sprayer, a pump sprayer, or even a spray bottle with a nozzle, or even cooking spray- you just want an even, light layer of oil on the chips.  Sprinkle with salt.  Turn over and repeat on the other side.

Bake in preheated oven about 10-15 minutes, flipping about halfway through.  They are done when they've crisped up and are golden with some light browning.

Notes

  • Depending on your love of salt, you may want to go easy at first.  Remember you are salting both sides (or just salt one side if you were heavy handed on the first side).  These can tend to be a little salty if you aren't careful.
  • Despite their sturdiness, they get soggy more easily than the store bought chips.  Be warned.


Almond Snack Mix

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Posted on Thursday, October 23, 2014 11:34 AM | By: Lauren

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Hi!  I'm coming to you today with a good snack idea.  Eating between meals can be such a pitfall for those of us who want to eat healthy, but get really hungry about 3:30 pm or crave something sweet in the afternoons.  This snack mix is a really good answer to that.  I got the idea from one of my former Zumba participants and have since made it a lot, and likely adjusted the ratios of ingredients.

It's simple and customizeable, so let it fit your tastes.  I love the combination of almonds, dried cranberries, and dark or bittersweet chocolate chips.  I'm not a nutritionist, but this has protein from the almonds, and the chocolate and dried fruit answer that sweet craving in a less guilty way.

Almond Snack Mix

1 cup raw almonds
1/2 cup dried fruit (cranberries, mixed fruit, raisins)
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Mix all ingredients together and store in an airtight or resealable container.  Try to enjoy no more than 1/4 to 1/2 cup at a time!  Note: the ratio I am using here is 2 parts almonds to 1 part each dried fruit and chocolate chips.  Feel free to play with your own combination.  

Trisha Yearwood's Marinated Vegetable Salad: Church Potluck Dish #3

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Posted on Tuesday, October 21, 2014 8:37 AM | By: Lauren

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I saw an episode of Trisha's Southern Kitchen a while back, and she made this recipe.  It reminded me of a sort of older style (old church rather than old school- ha!) potluck dish, but I liked that she used fresh and frozen vegetables rather than canned ones to make it.  I wanted something vegetable based to take to the church dinner, but wanted it to still retain some freshness rather than a cooked taste and texture.  

While I think I would still need to tweak this a bit to really suit my tastes, this is overall not a bad dish.  It makes a ton (like 4 quarts), and is good for potlucks because of its volume and it's just a bit different, but not out of the realm of familiar.  It's easy to make, and you have to make it ahead of time, so it's a good time saver.  When it's first made, it is the prettiest- all the green.  Unfortunately the green of the green beans and peas fades just a bit, but it's still a few nice colors.

I changed the amount of sugar, so be sure to click the link to see her original recipe.

Marinated Vegetable Salad
adapted from Trisha Yearwood

1/2 cup sugar
1 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
16 ounces frozen cut green beans, defrosted and drained, or fresh green beans
16 ounces frozen green peas, defrosted and drained, or fresh shelled green peas
1 1/2 cups thinly chopped celery (about 4 stalks)
One 2-ounce jar chopped pimientos
2 small sweet onions, thinly sliced
1 red bell pepper, cored, seeded and chopped

Bring the sugar and vinegar to a boil in a medium saucepan. Add the oil and salt and set aside to cool.

Add to a bowl the green beans, peas, celery, pimientos, onions and bell peppers. Pour the vinegar mixture over the vegetables, cover with plastic wrap and marinate in the refrigerator for 24 hours.

Serve with a slotted spoon to drain the excess oil.

Notes
  • I decreased the original amount of sugar by about half, and I'd probably decrease it further next time.
  • I will also decrease the olive oil next time, likely to about 1/3 cup.
  • The onions said "sweet" in the store, but they were hot!  If your onion is hot, I'd encourage you to cut it back to 1 onion AND/OR to rinse the onions under cold water and let them drain a couple minutes before adding them to the rest of the mix OR to quick pickle them in the vinegar before the vinegar and sugar are mixed together and heated.

Pinterest Find: Maple Dijon Chicken

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Posted on Thursday, October 16, 2014 2:38 PM | By: Lauren

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Can you ever have too many chicken dishes?  Especially when they're easy and deliver a huge amount of results in relation to the ingredients and time you spent putting the dish together?


This was one of the first dishes I ever pinned to my food board, and after nearly 3 years on Pinterest I am finally trying it out, and I'm glad I did.  It's really good.  It's a solid recipe for your repertoire that is one of those go-to, sure bets.  It's almost stupid-easy and is quick to prepare.  Serve with a salad or other vegetables on the side.

Maple Dijon Chicken
from Witty in the City blog

1.5 lb package of boneless, skinless chicken thighs (about 6 thighs)
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
1/2 cup Dijon mustard
1 Tb vinegar (rice/rice wine/white wine/apple cider)
1/2 tsp fresh rosemary, chopped

Preheat oven to 450.  Line a 9x13" baking dish or pan with aluminum foil for easy cleanup.  If you wish (and I did), trim excess fat from thighs and salt and pepper both sides.  Place into a single layer into the dish.

In a small bowl or mixing cup, mix together the maple syrup, the Dijon mustard, and the vinegar.  Pour over the chicken, turning the chicken to coat.  Bake the chicken in the preheated oven for a total of about 40 minutes, or until the internal temperature of the thighs reaches 165.  About halfway through cooking time, baste and or turn the thighs in the sauce for even cooking and flavor distribution.

Remove from oven and sprinkle rosemary on top of the chicken.


Chocolate Chip Pie; A Story of Success, Shame, and Woe

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Posted on Monday, October 13, 2014 10:29 AM | By: Lauren

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If you've never known such drama associated with a pie, you probably have more of a life than I do.  Yesterday was the Harvest Celebration at my church, which is a potluck dinner in which we celebrate God's blessings through the year and we also kick off our revival.  I always think potlucks are a good time to try out new recipes, because you automatically have taste-testers, and if a dish turns out to be a flop, it doesn't ruin your meal because there's a whole slew of other dishes to be had.



After looking through different cookbooks, magazines, and my Pinterest dessert board, I decided to make this pie, because I had almost everything on hand that I needed to make it and it looked really easy.  Plus, the name sounds like it would be a pretty safe bet.



Let me tell you, it was a solid success.  It tastes like a slightly under baked chocolate chip cookie, thick, gooey, and just wonderful.  I was so glad to have a new and proven success on my hands.  

I ended up having just a little over half the pie left over, and this is where the tale of woe and shame starts.  I baked my pie in my glass pie dish, and the dish slipped off the stack of dishes I was carrying and fell on the sidewalk, shattering the dish and landing the pie right side up.  Woe.  Woe.  

Now for the shameful part: I tried to salvage the pie.  I actually thought for a minute, "surely I can just pick the pie up and put it on a plate, right?"  WRONG.  Glass had shattered all through that pie, so I had to throw the whole thing away.  I didn't cry, but I'm still shaking my head.  I'm just keeping it real.

Either way, this pie is a great little dessert- think skillet cookie with a pie crust.  YUM!

Chocolate Chip Pie
From Just Desserts by Paula Deen

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup flour
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted and cooled
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 unbaked 9 inch pie shell

Preheat  your oven to 325.  In a medium bowl, mix together flour and sugar.  Add all other ingredients, stirring until moistened.  Pour into an unbaked pie shell and bake 45-60 minutes, until set.  The top will also be lightly browned.

Serve with ice cream or sweetened whipped cream.

Notes

  • I used mini chocolate chips, because I liked the idea of smaller chips of chocolate scattered throughout.
  • If you use a glass dish like I did, it's best to reduce the heat of the oven by 25 degrees Fahrenheit and extend the time a little, which allows for a better browning of the crust while not burning everything else.

Pumpkin Doughnut Muffins

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Posted on Wednesday, October 8, 2014 10:40 AM | By: Lauren

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I hope you're not sick of pumpkin spice everything, because I have some of it for you today. These pumpkin spice doughnut muffins are the best of both worlds- the texture of a cake doughnut but the size and sturdiness of a muffin.  

These were a little more work than the average muffin, but not much more.  They require an electric mixer, so you would benefit from having a handheld or counter model.  I used my handheld mixer.  They are easy to throw together, and tasty!  I loved the end result.  I also liked that they weren't quite as fatty as some muffin recipes.  They are more pumpkin-y than a lot of the muffins I've made in the past and have a nice balance of spices.  Try these today!

Pumpkin Doughnut Muffins
from Cooking Classy Blog

Makes 12-18 muffins

3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
3/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp ginger
1 pinch ground cloves
1 1/4 cups canned pumpkin puree
1/3 cup plain Greek yogurt
6 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup vegetable oil, divided
3/4 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  In a mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and cloves for 30 seconds, set aside.  In a separate mixing bowl, blend together pumpkin puree and Greek yogurt, set aside.  In another mixing bowl, using an electric hand mixer, whip butter, 1 Tbsp vegetable oil, brown sugar and granulated sugar on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 - 4 minutes.  Blend in remaining 3 Tbsp vegetable oil.  Mix in eggs one at a time blending just until combined after each addition and adding in vanilla with second egg.  Using a rubber or silicone spatula and working in three separate batches, beginning and ending with flour mixture, add 1/3 of the flour mixture alternating with half of the pumpkin mixture and fold (scraping along outsides and bottom of bowl) just until combined after each addition.

Divide batter among paper lined muffin cups, filling each cup until mostly full and bake in preheated oven 17 - 20 minutes until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs. Allow to rest several minutes in muffin tin then transfer to a wire rack to cool 10 - 15 minutes.

Notes
  • I made the actual muffin as the original poster wrote them, but I left out the glaze.  I am just not much of a glaze girl on cake doughnuts or muffins.  For the glaze recipe, just click on the recipe title, which doubles as a link to the original post.
  • These freeze well.  Wrap them individually and place in a zip-top freezer bag.  Thaw either on counter or in microwave about 30 seconds.

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