Tomato-Herb Focaccia

Oops! I hadn't realized this had been posted until I popped onto the computer this morning. I guess I was distracted when I exited last night, because I thought I had just saved this as a partial post, not actually published it. 

So last week while my husband and I were out one evening our 10 month old puppy, Mr. Peabody, decided I needed an open-toe pair of boots.  He literally chewed off the toe of my suede boots.  This dog is the most destructive little animal I've ever come across.  In fact, I've nick-named him Destructo because of all the property he has destroyed, too much to begin to name here.  But my husband absolutely loves him and I keep holding out hope that he will get better once he gets older.  I've included a picture of him, although it is a few months old.  He's bigger than this now.

Ingredients:

• 1 package (1/4 ounce) active dry yeast
• 1 cup warm water (110° to 115°)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
• 1-1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon each dried oregano, thyme and rosemary, crushed
• 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
• Dash pepper
• 2 to 2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 plum tomatoes, thinly sliced
• 1/4 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
• 1 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 small can chopped olives

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add 1 tablespoon oil, salt, sugar, garlic powder, herbs, pepper and 1-1/2 cups flour. Beat until smooth. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough (dough will be sticky).

2. Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease the top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.

3. Punch dough down. Cover and let rest for 10 minutes. Shape into a 13-in. x 9-in. rectangle; place on a greased baking sheet (as you can plainly see, I shaped mine as a pizza). Cover and let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes. With fingertips, make several dimples over top of dough.

4. Brush dough with remaining oil; arrange tomatoes and olives over the top. Sprinkle with cheeses. Bake at 400° for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Remove to a wire rack. 

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Chicken Puffs

The best part of this recipe is how easy goes together. So for a quick last minute meal here are the chicken puffs.


3/4 cup flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 cup whole milk
1 egg, lightly beaten
4 ounces mozzarella cheese, shredded (about 1 cup)
4 ounces chicken cut into small cubes (about 1 cup)
1/2 cup Philadelphia Italian Cheese & Herb Cooking Creme
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh basil
1 red bell pepper, sliced (optional)

1. Preheat the oven to 375°. Grease a 24-cup mini-muffin pan. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour and baking powder; whisk in the milk and egg. Stir in the mozzarella and chicken let stand for 10 minutes.
2.  Stir the batter and divide among the mini-muffin cups. Bake until puffed and golden, 20 to 25 minutes.
3.  Meanwhile, microwave the Philadelphia Italian Cheese & Herb Cooking Creme until warmed through, then stir in 1 tablespoon basil. Sprinkle the puffs with the remaining 1 tablespoon basil. Serve the puffs with the Philadelphia Italian Cheese & Herb Cooking Creme drizzled over and sliced red peppers if desired.

These are quick and easy and can be modified for different tastes.  Use pepperoni and pizza sauce, or broccoli and cheese.  The ideas are endless.  They even freeze well and can be reheated in the oven at 350 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes.

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Filled Holiday Sugar Cookies

It took me awhile to get this posted. I made these cookies about a month ago for Valentine's Day and gave them away for gifts to my children and granddaughters.  Everyone loved them.  :)

Ingredients

• 2-1/2 cups butter, softened
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup milk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 8 cups all-purpose flour
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• colored sprinkles

Directions

1. Cream together butter and sugar in a large bowl.
2. Add milk, vanilla and eggs.
3. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt; gradually add to the creamed mixture, beating just until combined.  Stir in colored sprinkles for a more festive look.  Cover and refrigerate for at least one hour to make rolling easier.

4. On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to 1/4" thickness.  Cut out desired shapes.

5. Place 2" apart on ungreased or parchment lined baking sheet. Leave plain to frost after baking or sprinkle with colored sugar.

6. Bake at 375 degrees for 8-10 minutes or until the bottoms are golden brown.  Remove to wire racks to cool.

Yield: depending on the size of your cutter about 4 dozen.  I used two cookies and filled them with Italian Buttercream

 You can find the recipe here:  Italian Buttercream

Then I frosted them and sprinkled a little colored sugar on them just to make them look festive.  Yummy! 





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Mother Goose Popcorn

This is a childhood favorite, introduced to me by my grandmother.  She made this popcorn every Christmas.  Soon we made it throughout the year, changing the color and flavors for different holidays.  I changed it up by drizzling chocolate (milk and white) over the top.  It tasted great!


RECIPE

1 cup sugar
2 Tbsp water
2 Tbsp butter
dash salt
1 1/2 tsp desired flavoring
Food coloring
Popcorn

Ingredients

Mix sugar, water, butter & salt.

Bring ingredients to a boil.

When it reaches the soft ball stage, remove from heat.

Add flavoring and a few drops of desired food coloring.

Pour over popcorn and stir until it becomes sugary and cold.

Drizzle with chocolate (if desired).

Voilà!  Yummy popcorn, great for gift-giving! 

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Uber-Doober Peanut Butter Brownies

Uber-Doober Peanut Butter Brownies

Uber-Doober Peanut Butter Brownies 
(recipe from the Better Homes & Garden Cookie Magazine)

INGREDIENTS:

4 oz. bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup peanut butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
2/3 cup flour
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/8 tsp. salt
1 cup chocolate-covered peanut butter cups, chopped
   Nutty frosting

Ingredients

 

Combine chocolate, butter and peanut butter.  

Cook and stir over low heat until melted.  

Cool.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line an 8x8x2" baking pan with foil, wrapping foil over the edges.  Grease foil; set pan aside.

Stir brown sugar into cooled chocolate mixture.

Add one egg at a time, beating with a wooden spoon after each addition. 

Stir in vanilla.  

In small bowl, mix flour, baking soda and salt.  Add flour mixture to chocolate; stir just until combined.

Stir in one cup chopped peanut butter cups.  

Spread batter evenly in the prepared baking pan. 

 Bake in the preheated oven about 30 minutes or until set.  Cool in pan on wire rack.

Spread Nutty Frosting over brownies.  Makes 24 brownies.  Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator up to three days or in the freezer for three months.


NUTTY FROSTING
In a medium bowl, combine 1/2 cup peanut butter, 1/2 cup softened butter, 1 tablespoon milk, and 1 teaspoon vanilla.  Beat with an electric mixer on medium speed until combined.  Gradually beat in 2 cups powdered sugar.

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Caramel Crunch Bars

I found this recipe on the back of the bag of Kraft Caramel Bits.  They are tiny caramel balls ready for melting in any recipe.  No more unwrapping caramels!  This recipe is super easy and very yummy.  I have made it a few times now and the only thing I changed was the graham cracker layer.  The recipe called for a layer of graham crackers lining the bottom of the pan, but the first time I made it I didn't like the way the crackers cut.  So after that I made a graham cracker crust layer first and then followed the recipe exactly.

Ingredients:
4 1/2 honey graham crackers
1 pkg. (11 oz.) Kraft caramel bits
 2 Tbsp. milk
 1/2 cup Cocktail peanuts
1/2  cup miniature marshmallows
1/2 coarsely crushed pretzels
 4 squares semi-sweet baking chocolate melted


Line 8-inch square pan with foil, with ends of foil extending over sides.  grease the foil.  Place grahams on bottom of pan cutting to fit if necessary.

(Like I said above, I made a graham cracker crust instead of the graham crackers along the bottom.)

Microwave caramel bits and milk in microwaveable bowl on HIGH 2minutes or until caramel bits are completely melted and mixture is well blended, stirring every 30 seconds.  Pour over graham layer.

Top with peanuts.

Then add the marshmallows and pretzels.

Drizzle with melted chocolate.  Refrigerate 1 hour.  Use foil handles to remove from pan before cutting into bars to serve.

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