Sudden Tuesday Night Brownies

I got up an hour early this morning in order to get to work for a mandatory meeting.

I spent a long day at work solving other people's problems.

I came home, had a glass of wine and opened up the latest issue of "Cooking With Paula Deen" that came in the mail today.

ORANGE HAZELNUT BROWNIES!!!

Damn it . . . I don't have all of the ingredients that Paula Deen calls for.  So what!!!  I always alter and improvise . . . so I am making some brownies . . . Orange Pumpkin Pie Spice Almond Brownies!!!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup Dutch processed cocoa
• 1 tablespoon instant coffee
• 3 large eggs
• 1/2 cup melted butter
• 1 teaspoon strong orange extract
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup Planters Pumpkin Pie Spice Almonds, chopped

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Line an 8-inch square baking pan with foil.
3. Lightly grease foil.
4. In a large bowl, stir together sugar, cocoa, and instant coffee.  Add eggs, melted butter, and orange extract.
5. Beat at medium speed with a mixer until smooth.
6. Stir together flour, baking powder, pumpkin pie spice, and salt.
7. Add flour mixture and 2/3 of the chopped nuts to the egg mixture, stirring until just combined.
8. Pour batter into prepared pan.
9. Sprinkle with the remaining nuts.
10. Bake for 22 minutes.
11. Cool completely.
12. Lift from pan using the foil as handles.
13. Remove foil and serve.

My mother said that these brownies just melted in her mouth . . . and she had never had a brownie do that before.

Please note . . . Cooking these brownies for 22 minutes leaves them slightly under-cooked in the center.  I particularly like my brownies this way, but if you like a more "done" brownie, you can cook these for up to 26 minutes, totally depending on your personal tastes.

So, my next two endeavors are going to be Ratatouille and Corned Beef.

Ratatouille . . . I want to make the kaleidoscopic, layered and beautiful version that was in the cartoon Ratatouille . . . and not the soggy, peasant stew version.  So I found a recipe for Ratatouille's Ratatouille . . . and I will be making it this coming weekend.

And some time between Thanksgiving and Christmas I plan to try my hand at making homemade corned beef and Thousand Islands Dressing.  Why?  Because I want to . . . and I want to make homemade Reuben sandwiches.  YAY!!!  ***DROOL***

Keep watching for these and other new, fun, and interesting dishes!

Southern Cooking At Its Finest

I've never cooked a Creole/Cajun dish before.  But we all know that Southerners just have to have their Cajun fare whenever they can get it.  And, I hate to admit it, but the Cajun food they serve in the Midwest . . . honey, that AIN'T Cajun!!!  (LOL!!!)

Anyway . . . there was a great recipe for Chicken and Andouille jambalaya in my new Paula Deen's Southern Cooking Bible, so I decided to take a shot (with a couple of alterations from her book).  (SPOILER:  DELISH!!!)

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 3/4 pound Andouille sausage
• 1 yellow onion, chopped
• 2 green bell peppers, chopped
• 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast
• Salt
• Black pepper
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 teaspoon thyme
• 41 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon celery seeds
• 2 bay leaves
• 3 cups chicken broth
• 14-1/2 ounce can diced tomatoes
• 1-1/2 cups long grain white rice

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. In a large skillet with a lid, heat the canola oil and butter over medium heat.
2. Add the sausage and cook until browned.
3. Transfer the sausage to a bowl.
4. Add the onion and bell pepper to the skillet and cook for 2 to 3 minutes.
5. Lightly sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper.
6. Add the chicken and garlic to the skillet
7. Cook, stirring, for about 3 minutes.
8. Add the thyme, smoked paprika, cayenne pepper, celery seed, and bay leaves.
9. Cook for about 1 minute.
10. Add the chicken broth and diced tomatoes and bring to a boil.
11. Return the sausage to the pan with the accumulated juices.
12. Sprinkle the rice evenly throughout the skillet.
13. Cover the pan and reduce heat to low.
14. Cook until all liquid has been absorbed and the rice is tender, about 15 minutes,
15. Remove from heat and let stand, covered, for 10 minutes,
16. Remove and discard the bay leaves.
17. Serve.

Bosses Day = Booze & Syrup

The law firm that my mother works for has an annual Bosses Day pot luck luncheon.  This year my mother decided that she wanted to take a pecan pie.  So I pulled out my handy Paula Deen cook books and found a recipe for a pecan pie with bourbon and molasses.  But since my mother prefers cane syrup, I changed the recipe up a little and this is what I came up with.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 cup sugar
• 3 tablespoons melted butter
• 3 beaten eggs
• 2 cups pecan halves
• 2 tablespoons bourbon
• 1 frozen, unbaked, deep dish pie shell, 9-inch

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Stir together the sugar and melted butter.
2. Add the cane syrup, eggs, pecans, and bourbon.
3. Stir until all ingredients are combined.
4. Pour the mixture into an unbaked pie shell.
5. Place on a heavy duty cooking sheet.
6. Bake for 10 minutes at 375 degrees.
7. Lower the temperature to 350 degrees and bake for another 25 minutes.
8. Cool on a wire rack before serving.

Time Flies . . . Playing Catch-Up

Wow!  It feels like just yesterday I posted but then I look back and see that it has actually been almost a month.

Well, last time I posted, I mentioned the new Paula Deen cooking utensils and cookware set.  I have since added a few more Paula Deen utensils . . . a French rolling pin, a frosting spatula, a slotted wooden spoon, and an ice cream scoop.  (My Paula Deen crockery utensil holder is now officially at capacity.  LOL!!!)

Now on to my cooking adventures.

Since my last post, I have cooked a few different things.  One of which was a battered and deep fried cabbage dish with a homemade tomato bacon wine sauce.  I got some photos of it, but I am missing some parts of the recipe.  (I kind of made it up as I went along.)  So I will eventually get around to posting that some day.  I also made a meal of Southern Pasta Carbonara for some visiting relatives from out of state.  I have the recipe for that, but since I was cooking at my brother's house, I forgot to bring my camera along and so I couldn't get any pictures.  Again, I will get around to posting that some day.

So for now we are left with three dishes I made that have two things in common . . . 1.)  They were AMAZING!!!  2.)  They are all my takes on some Paula Deen recipes.  (Yeah, yeah, so I like altering recipes a bit to make them my own.)  And then there is a cake I made . . . let us just start with that.

My older brother's wife celebrates her birthday on October 31.  (I'm a little jealous because I was born exactly 14 days too early to be a Halloween baby.)  So I decided to make her a "spooky" cake.  I used regular Duncan Hines cake mix and frosting, but you throw in some black sugar and chocolate Twizzlers and you get yourself a SPOOKY HALLOWEEN SPIDER CAKE.

I baked a plain white cake, two layers, and frosted it with plain chocolate icing.  Then I used my jumbo muffin tin and baked plain Devil's Food cupcakes.  (I gave away 5 and used one for the spider.)

I frosted the cupcake with white icing then completely covered the white icing with decorator's black sugar. I then piped two dollops of white icing onto one side of the cupcake and used just a dot of black decorating gel on the white to make the eyes.

Next, cut 4 chocolate Twizzlers in half and stick 4 into each side of the cupcake.  Bend them over and stick the other ends into the top of the cake.

Now you have a Spooky Halloween Spider Cake

Moving on . . . I'll post each of my other recipes and pictures in separate posts.  Stand by . . .

Kitchen Gadgets . . . Again

Shopping and I do not mix.  I go for groceries and I come home with almost $200 worth of new kitchen toys . . . and some groceries too!

Today I got a Mr. Coffee Keurig brewer.  That is something, at the least, since the actual Keurig brand was $100 more than the one I bought.

I also got a 12 piece Paula Deen cookware set.  I already had the HUGE Paula Deen covered skillet and a very big Paula Deen stock pot.  (As well as a Paula Deen Wooden spoon, tongs, whisk, and Spatula.)  So then of course I also had to buy the Paula Deen stoneware utensil holder.  Hahah!!!

The 12 piece set has 4 different sized pots with lids, two different sized skillets, a turner, and a spoon.

No more shopping for me . . . until payday at least.

My Favorite Month (Part Deaux)

Everything is just so exciting to me during this month.  And I can not help myself when I see a cute pan or cooking thing.  I just have to have it.  (And those 40% off coupons that Michael's keeps giving me do not help!!!)

So, after a long day of shopping and baking and a long night of baby sitting my 7-1.2 month old nephew, I am sitting in bed with a glass of wine, a bowl of Cheetos, and my lap top and wishing this sinus infection would just go away already.  So I decided to start posting some of my "Culinary Adventures" from the past two weeks.

Right now I am just going to focus on the baking.  Later (or tomorrow) I might get around to a new little recipe that I "invented" last weekend.  (Which, I might add, was super delicious!)

Let's start with the Halloween Gingerbread Cookies . . .

I headed off to Michael's this morning with my $40% off coupon and found a cookie pan for $9.99.  (Only $6 with the coupon!)

I also picked up some more Sparkle Gel.  I had black and orange that I bought last week to make the ghost cakes, but I grabbed some green and yellow this week.

So then I had to decide what kind of cookies to make.  I eventually settled on gingerbread cookies.  Who doesn't love warm, soft, chewy gingerbread?

Ingredients

• 4 cups flour, divided into 1-1/2 and 2-1/2 cups
• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar, firmly packed
• 3/4 cup molasses
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup butter or margarine
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon allspice
• 1/2 teaspoon ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

Directions

1. Combine 1-1/2 cups of flour with the brown sugar, molasses, eggs, butter, baking soda, salt and spices.
2. Mix together until blended and smooth.
3. Add the remaining flour and mix until the dough becomes stiff.
4. Press a spoonful of dough into the cavities of the cooking pan.
5. Bake for 6-1/2 minutes at 375 degrees. 
6. Let cool on a wire rack.
7. When completely cooled, enhance designs with icing.

With the cookies out of the way, I decided Ii wanted to make some cupcakes in my new silicon molds/cupcake pans.  I bought one that does Jack-O-Lanterns and one that does Oak Leaves and Pumpkins.

I decided to make just a white cake and color it orange with food color.  And what flavor?  Why orange of course!!!

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup shortening
• 1-1/2 cups flour
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2-1/2 tea spoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1 egg
• 1-1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1-1/2 tablepoon orange extract
• Red & yellow food coloring

Directions

1. Spray the molds with non-stick cooking spray and place on a flat baking sheet (for stability).
2. In a large mixing bowl, beat together the shortening, flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, approximately half of the milk, egg, vanilla extract, and orange extract.
3. Best until well blended.
4. Pour in remaining milk.
5. Beat until smooth.
6. Add red and yellow food coloring and beat until you achieve your desired shade of orange.
7. Pour batter into molds.
8. Bake at 375 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes.
9. Cakes are done when a wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
10. Place on a wire rack and cool completely.
11. Enhance the designs.

I just really wish that it was safe and appropriate to give homemade treats to kids on Halloween.  If it was, like it was when I was a child, I would make these cookies and cupcake and hand them out to the trick-or-treaters.  Oh well,  Until then, my family will have to suffer with eating all this wonderful food.

My Most Favorite Month of The Year

HAPPY OCTOBER!!!!!

Good evening to you all, my loyal and devoted minions!

Today I bought a wonderful cupcake pan that makes ghost topped cupcakes.  So, being that it is October, the best month in the whole year, I decided to make some ghostly cupcakes for my family and I.

I got the cupcake pan at Michael's for $7.99 . . . a real bargain if you ask me.

Then I kind of cheated and I used Duncan Hines Dark Chocolate Fudge cake mix and Pillsbury White Vanilla Frosting.  But, in my own defense, I did add some pure orange oil extract to the cake mix to make it more interesting.  (And believe me, it is delicious!!!)

I also bought some tubes of orange and black glitter gel for decorating.  I lined each ghost, gave them little smiley faces, and wrote "BOO" across each one.

Then, I had a bunch of batter left over, so I just put it in a regular cupcake pan and made simple round cupcakes.  But I frosted them in white then used the glitter gel to outline each one and write "BOO" across those as well . . . had to keep with the theme don't ya know!

Even if you aren't baking from scratch, you can still have fun with boxed mixes.  Try it next time you make a cake or cupcakes.  Throw in a nice flavored extract and see what you get.  (I noticed they had peanut Butter extract too.  I think that would be AWESOME in chocolate cookies!)