Peanut Butter Cookie Frozen Yogurt

I have owned my ice cream maker for about a year now.  This is the first frozen yogurt I have made?  Seems kind of silly, since I love yogurt, frozen or otherwise.  Ice cream is a bit more challenging and fun-- you have to make sure you don't overcook the custard and whatnot.  Frozen yogurt is, frankly, pretty easy. I adapted this recipe from this blog, which I highly recommend that you check out.  There all all sorts of interesting recipes that I can almost guarantee that you will see in some form on this blog in the future.

Peanut Butter Cookie Frozen Yogurt

3-6 oz containers fat free Greek yogurt (0% Chobani)

1-6 oz container reduced fat Greek yogurt (2% Chobani)

3/4 cup chunky peanut butter

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup half and half

1 Tbsp. vodka (optional-- but it helps the yogurt to freeze a bit softer)

1 tsp. vanilla extract

8 peanut butter sandwich cookies, chopped (if you can't tell, I used NutterButter)

1. In a small mixing bowl, stir to combine: yogurts, peanut butter, sugar, half and half, and vanilla, and vodka.
2. Freeze in ice cream maker according to machine instructions (if it seems too thick for your motor, add more half and half to thin it out, stirring to combine completely).  I did not notice too much textural change, so I judged by sampling to see if it felt frozen.
3. Add chopped cookies and continue mixing until combined with yogurt.
4. Freeze in freezer until set.
5. Serve, probably with more cookies if you're clever.

This frozen yogurt is VERY rich.  I recommend small portions.  Also, if you don't like yogurt, you will NOT like this; we have tested this-- Mom and Becca were not fans, Dad and I loved it.

Gougeres

In yesterday's post, my baby sister made her Darling Mermaid Darlings Apple Pie.  A side effect of this tremendous pie was a good hunk of leftover gruyere.  Now, gruyere is not cheap cheese; additionally it is delicious.  The Bradarich family fridge is something of a black hole.  You put in a beautiful hunk of cheese, move on to something else, and before you know it your cheese has made it to the back of the drawer and goes to work growing mold.  Yuck.  Such a fate could not be allowed to befall our beautiful gruyere!  Enter, gougeres, delicious French cheese puffs.  This recipe was closely adapted from here, but since I loathe nutmeg, I decided to go for a different flavor.  Finally, a warning: your family will hate and love you for making this-- they are delicious and you can eat them like popcorn.

Gougeres

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup butter (1 stick), cut into tablespoons

   generous pinch sea salt

1 cup flour

4 large eggs (actually, we only had three, so I used that carton egg white crap too-- turned out fine)

1 cup shredded grueyere (about 3 1/2 ounces)

  pinch black pepper

  pinch garlic powder

1. Preheat oven to 400 F.  Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. In a small saucepan, combine milk, water, butter, and salt.  Heat over medium until boiling.
3. Reduce heat to low.  Stir in flour with a wooden spoon until it becomes a smooth dough,
4. Heat dough over low heat, about 2 minutes, until it pulls away from the pan.
5. Transfer dough into a small mixing bowl and let cool 1 minute (pictured below).
6. Thoroughly beat eggs into dough, one at a time (don't worry, it'll mix thoroughly, just keep working).
7. Stir in pepper and garlic.  Stir in cheese.
8. Transfer dough to (a) pastry bag with 1/2" round tip; or (b) the corner of a plastic bag, then cut the tip off.
9. Pipe dough onto parchment, two inches apart, about 1 tablespoon each mound (pictured below).
10. Sprinkle lightly with more sea salt.
11. Bake 22 minutes or until puffed and golden brown.
12. Serve warm.

If you are concerned about eating all of the gougeres, or if you want to make them in advance for a party, cool completely, then freeze in a plastic bag.  Reheat at 350 F until hot.

Dough before adding eggs.

Super-appetizing piped dough

The finished product again.

Darling Mermaid Darlings Apple Pie

You are in for a treat today!  Allow me to introduce my first guest blogger...

...the spectacularly snarky, lovely and talented Ms. Becca Bradarich, who happens to be my baby sister.  Here is her interpretation of the pie enjoyed by the Darling Mermaid Darlings of Pushing Daisies, with gruyere baked right into the crust.

Without further ado, Ms. Becca Bradarich and her delicious pie.

Darling Mermaid Darlings Pie


Crust (adapted from Perfect Pie Crust from Ree Drummond, the Pioneer Woman):
1 1/2 c. Crisco (it MUST be Crisco)
3 c. flour
1 egg (beaten)
5 Tbs cold water (the colder, the better)
1 Tbs white vinegar
1 tsp salt.
3/4 c. grated gruyere cheese, divided

Apple filling:
4 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and sliced
3 Tbs flour
2 Tbs dark brown sugar
2 Tbs cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg (I used so little because a certain someone you know isn't a big fan, but if you love it, add as much as you care to)
2 Tbs maple syrup
butter
1 egg

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Using a pastry cutter, cut the Crisco into the flour until it resembles "course meal." Basically for about 3-4 minutes until combined, but little lumps of shortening are still visible.
3. Add the beaten egg, vinegar, and salt and stir. Add water one tablespoon at a time until you reach a good dough consistency. Add 1/2 c. gruyere cheese and knead softly until combined.
4. Split the dough into two balls and place each in a plastic bag. Smash each ball down to about 1/2 inch thick, and place in the freezer for 15 minutes. 
5. Roll out each ball of dough. Place one in the bottom of the pie pan, and set other aside.
6. Now for the filling. If you're as lucky as I am, you have someone to whom you can delegate the peeling of the apples. After coring and slicing them about 1/4 in. thick, put them in a large mixing bowl.
7. In a separate bowl, combine flour, dark brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Pour over the apple slices and toss lightly. Finally, add the syrup and give a good mix, getting all the apple slices covered in cinnamony deliciousness.
8. Pour the apple mixture into the bottom crust and dot with butter. Place the top crust and combine edges with the bottom crust. Slice vents in the top, and beat the egg with water to make a wash. Brush the top of the pie with the egg wash, and bake for 45 minutes.
9. Take the pie out to sprinkle the top with the remaining tasty gruyere, and put it back in the oven for 15 minutes. Remove the pie and let it rest for half an hour and enjoy the splendor! All it's missing is the homeopathic drugs, but who needs 'em when you have pie this delicious to make you happy?

LB here.  Here are some gratuitous photos of Becca doing her doing her guest-blogger duties:

Cutting the pie

Catching me taking a picture of her blogging.

Bacon and Cheddar Shortbread

With the boyfriend in Dallas, I have no one to take care of pajamas (I know I am not supposed to end a sentence with a preposition, but I didn't really know what else to say, so I just tacked a noun on the end).  So when my mom said she needed to come up with an appetizer to bring to her friend's party, I stuck my nose in and insisted that I would do it for her and began to rattle off all the delicious things I could make.  She cut me off.  The party is 45 minutes away: my appetizer could not be hot.  Crap.  Feeling like Robert Irvine, but without all the muscles and lies, I began to furiously wrack my brain.  This is what I came up with, adapted from here.

Many of the cookies had much more visible bacon chunks,
but mom had already packed them up for the party.  Oh well.

Bacon and Cheddar Shortbread
1 1/2 cups flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
1/4 cup sugar
2 sticks butter, room temperature
1/2 cup shredded cheddar (I actually used cheddar jack because it's what we happened to have around)
6 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
1 tablespoon fresh chives
  sea salt for sprinkling (should be in large-ish chunks that you can clearly see, but wouldn't hate to bite into)

1. Preheat oven to 350 F, move racks to top two positions.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, and salt.  Add cornmeal and whisk until everything is blended.
3. Using an electric or stand mixer, beat together butter and sugar until very smooth.
4. Add dry ingredients and mix until blended and a ball of dough (not just small pebbles) forms.
5. Fold in cheese, bacon, and chives-- the dough is stiff, so a wooden spoon will work better than a spatula.
6. Form a ball with the dough.  Place the dough in a large plastic bag.  Roll out dough to 1/4" (if necessary, split into two bags-- you must get the dough to the right thickness now, because it will be too hard later).
7. Refrigerate dough at least 2 hours.
8. Remove dough from fridge and plastic bag.
9. Line two cookie sheets with parchment and spray with cooking spray.
10. Cut dough into squares, or use your favorite cookie cutter, and place on the baking sheet.
11. Using a fork, prick holes all the way to the bottom (if you're doing squares, just prick in a grid patter in the middle.  I did stars, so I pricked once for each point of the star).
12. Sprinkle each cookie with a little bit of sea salt and press it lightly into the dough.
13. Put cookies in the oven and immediately decrease temperature to 300 F.
14. Bake cookies 25-30 minutes or until slightly golden and firm, rotating trays half way through.
15. Remove from oven, cool completely on wire racks.

Bourbon Chicken Spinach Salad

I have been pretty busy in the kitchen recently, with the boyfriend all the way in Dallas and the apartment now the cleanest it has ever been.  You will not see very many salads on this blog.  Why?  The boyfriend does not like salad.  At all.  Will not eat it.  I happen to love spinach salad; luckily my family agrees with me and they are my current guinea pigs.

Bourbon Chicken Salad  (serves 4)
3 cups of frozen Bourbon Chicken (we used Tyson, but if you find some other brand of sweet and crispy chicken, that is totally fine; as far as the amount goes, just approximate)
4 cups fresh spinach
1/2 English cucumber, sliced
1 mango, diced
1 avocado, diced
1 bell pepper, diced
1/2 cup feta cheese crumbles (blue cheese or a softer goat cheese would work if you prefer)
1/2-2/3 recipe Warm Shallot Vinaigrette (below)

Warm Shallot Vinaigrette  (adapted from here)
1 large shallot, sliced (we got these giants at Whole Foods.  They were seriously huge.  If you can only find the normal, smallish ones, get 2)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup olive oil
2 1/2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon honey
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 tablespoons dried basil (blah blah fresh is better.  I didn't have any.  Leave me alone.)
   pinch dried chipotle pepper
   salt and pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven and cook chicken according to package instructions.
2. Prepare the vinaigrette:  heat pan to medium.  Add oil and shallots, reduce to low.  Cook 7 minutes.  Add garlic.  Cook 3 minutes or until shallots are tender and just starting to brown.
3. Remove from heat.  Pour into blender.  Add vinegar, honey, mustard, basil, and chipotle.  Puree until smooth.  Season with salt and pepper (hint: blend it to mix well).
4. In a large bowl, combine spinach, cucumber, mango, avocado, bell pepper.  Top with feta and chicken.  Drizzle with vinaigrette (remember, you will not need the entire recipe).
5. Toss & serve with delicious garlic bread.

I'm back baby!

I found my camera!  I was sure it had been stolen on Mardi Gras because I couldn't find it anywhere, but it suddenly reappeared last week.  So apparently I was just careless.  At any rate, I have my camera again!

If you've been following along, I'm sure that you've noticed that I've been living a butter-rich lifestyle.  Well, as no one could have guessed, it took it's delicious toll.  So I'm on a diet and pretty serious workout schedule for the time being.  I may not be cooking as much for a bit, while I figure out how to cook healthy dinner via Cooking Light Recipes.  But I present to you an adapted version of this and an ice cream for the boyfriend, who got me this beautiful necklace for my birthday:

It's a little dark so you can't really see, but they're amethysts.  And yes, I'm still wearing my apron from making dinner.  At any rate, he deserved some ice cream!  But first, dinner:

Wine-Braised Chicken with Grapes

1/4 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

1/8 tsp. cinnamon

4-5 chicken thighs

2 Tbsp. butter

3/4 cup chopped onion

5 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 cup white wine (I used some Barefoot something or other)

1/3 cup chicken broth (low sodium, fat free)

1 Tbsp. apple juice (optional)

1/2 tsp. dried sage

  salt to taste

  pepper to taste

1 cup green grapes, halved

1. Combine salt, pepper, and cinnamon.
2. Heat pan over medium-high.  Melt butter.  When butter just begins to brown, it's ready.
3. Sprinkle seasoning on one side of chicken thigh and place in the pan, seasoning side down.  Repeat with all the other chicken thighs.  Sprinkle the remaining seasoning on the exposed side of the chicken.
4. Cook chicken until brown and crispy on both sides.  Remove to a plate and set aside.
5. Add onions to the pan.  Cook about 4-5 minutes or until soft and translucent.
6. Add garlic, cook 1-2 minutes or until fragrant.
7. Add wine and cook until reduced by about half (leaning in favor of more reduced).
8. Add sage, salt, and pepper (I like to put 7-8 turns of the grinder of each in at this stage).  Stir.  Add stock and juice.  Bring to a boil.
9. Return chicken to the pan (if you haven't removed the skin, put it in skin-side up).  Cover and cook 12 minutes.
10. Add grapes.  Recover and cook 8 minutes or until chicken is done.

Serving suggestion:  Chop a (smallish yukon gold) potato fairly small, like homestyle hash browns.  Heat a pan over medium (do this when you heat the pan for the chicken).  Spray with cooking spray.  Add potatoes.  Spray potatoes with cooking spray.  Sprinkle with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder.  Stir to distribute.  Cook almost the entire time the chicken is cooking, stirring periodically.  This should give you potatoes that are soft and crispy.

And for dessert...

Milk Chocolate Brownie Chip Ice Cream

300 ml whole milk

200 ml heavy cream

1/2 cup sugar, minus 1 Tbsp.

4 egg yolks

4 oz. milk chocolate, chopped

2 tsp. honey

1 1/4 tsp. vanilla extract

1/4 tsp. coffee extract

     pinch fleur de sel

1/4 cup mini chocolate chips (semisweet)

6 mini brownies, chopped into smallish chunks (I used the Two Bite kind, but you could use the Entenmann's mini brownies if you can't find anything fresh.  Alternatively, use full-sized unfrosted brownies and just put in as much as you want.)

1. Heat milk and cream in a saucepan over medium until scalded.  Remove from heat.  Whisk in chocolate and honey until melted and fully incorporated.
2. In a medium-sized mixing bowl, whisk together egg yolks and sugar.
3. Temper the egg mixture by pouring in just a little bit of the cream mixture while whisking.  Bit by bit, add the cream mixture while whisking until everything is incorporated.  If you are at all unclear about how to do this watch an instructional video.  It is crucial.  Otherwise, you'll have a bowl of scrambled eggs.
4. Return the mixture to the saucepan over LOW heat.  I cannot emphasize this enough.  Cook the mixture, stirring constantly with a spatula-- be sure to scrape the bottom when you stir.  Cook until the mixture coats the back of a spoon, which looks like this.
5. Remove from heat immediately.  Whisk in vanilla, coffee extract, and fleur de sel.
6. Transfer to a small bowl.  Chill in the fridge 2-4 hours.  Alternatively, if you're impatient like me, put it in the freezer until it's noticeably chilled.  If you take the freezer route, make sure you stir it every 20 minutes or so, scraping the sides of the bowl.  When in doubt, let it chill longer.
7. When the custard is chilled, freeze according to your ice cream maker's directions.
8. When the custard has frozen almost to the desired consistency, add chocolate chips and brownie bits.  Let everything mix for about 5 minutes.
9. Transfer ice cream to an airtight container and freeze until set, a few hours.

Snow Day Brownies and "Quick" Tacos Al Pastor

School was closed starting at 3 pm yesterday for the massive snow-mergency.  I made treats.  Not terribly creative (I largely copied recipes, as you will see) but I cooked, and traversed the snowy tundra of the Central West End to go to the grocery store.  I made brownies because it's a snow day.  Then we watched Machete, and I was overcome with a need for Mexican food.  But the entire city was shut down for this storm, so if I wanted Mexican I was going to have to put on my boots and my giraffe hat and trudge my way to the store.  Which I did.

Snow Day Brownies

These brownies are an adaptation of Bon Appetit's Brown Butter Brownies from this month's issue, plus some other stuff that happened to be lying around in the pantry.

10 tbsp butter, cut into pieces

1 1/4 cups sugar

3/4 cups cocoa powder (the proper way to measure cocoa powder is to scoop it from the container to the  

      measuring cup like flour.  I was feeling lazy, so I elected to just scoop straight from the container.  

      My water measurements take this into account.  If you do it the right way, you probably won't need 

      as much water)

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla

2 eggs, chilled

1/3 cup plus 1 tbsp flour

1-2.25 oz package hazelnuts

6 or more fun sized Kit Kat Bars

4 oz mini marshmallows (give or take)

1. Preheat oven to 325 F.  Line a 9 x 13" pan with aluminum foil and spray with cooking spray.
2. Combine sugar, cocoa powder, and salt in a large mixing bowl.  Set aside.
3. Melt butter over medium and cook until nut-brown.  Remove from heat immediately and pour into the mixing bowl with the sugar and cocoa.
4. Add vanilla and 5 Tbsp cold water and mix until blended.
5. When the mixture is no longer hot, add eggs one at a time, beating completely after each addition. Batter will be thick and shiny.
6. Add flour and stir until combined.  Fold in hazelnuts.
7. Evenly distribute Kit Kats along bottom of pan.
8. Pour batter over Kit Kats.  You will have to spread it pretty thinly, which won't be easy, as the batter is thick.
9. Bake about 20-25 minutes, until a butter knife inserted into the middle comes out clean.  Remove from oven.
10. Pour marshmallows over the top of the brownie pan and broil until golden brown.
11. Let cool about 10 minutes before lifting the foil to remove the brownies from the pan.  Cool completely before cutting.

"Quick" Tacos Al Pastor

When I say "quick" what i mean is "doesn't have to marinate for 24 hours and slow cook" like most pastor recipes.  Apparently, Rick Bayless, who is the man when it comes to Mexican cuisine says pastor is pretty much impossible to successfully execute at home, but he does this recipe when he just has to have the basic flavor.

Admittedly not the most appetizing photo of all time.  But (1) it was dark so the conditions for food photography were not so good and (2) I made these tortillas from scratch without a rolling pin, so they're not lookers.  Finally, I should note that I put the avocado directly on my taco, which the boyfriend, being from southern California, finds strongly objectionable because it is not traditional.

1 lb pork chop, sliced 1/2" thick

1 onion, sliced

1/2 can chipotle peppers in adobo

1-8 oz can pineapple chucks, canned in juice

3 cloves garlic

4 tomatillas, husked and sliced in half

   salt

  tortillas (I made mine from scratch using my mom's recipe, which I will not give you.  You can find 

               your own recipe or buy some small ones from the store)

1 avocado

1 lime

  cilantro (if you like that sort of thing)

1. Heat a skillet over medium high.  Spray with cooking spray.  Add tomatillas and garlic cloves.  Cook 3 minutes, then flip and cook 3 minutes on the other side.
2. Transfer tomatillas and garlic to food processor (or Magic Bullet in my case).  Add two chipotle peppers in their sauce.  Puree until smooth and salt to taste.  Chill until ready to eat.
3. Puree the rest of the chipotles and sauce.  If too thick, add a little water.
4. Rub chipotle puree into both sides of the pork chops.
5. Heat a grill pan (if you have one) to medium high.  Put the pork on the pan so that it makes full contact.  Add onion and pineapple around the pork, pouring pineapple juice over everything.
6. Flip the meat after about 3 minutes, stirring the onions and pineapple.
7. When meat is done, remove to cutting board.  If necessary, continue cooking onions and pineapple until soft.
8. Shred meat using two forks, or cut into small pieces.  Chop onion and pineapple into small pieces. Toss all together.
9. Assemble tacos: place a small amount of meat mixture, a slice of avocado, and a dab of the salsa you made earlier onto a tortilla.  If you like cilantro, sprinkle some of that on there too.

Meat cooking.

Breakfast Ravioli

I haven't been cooking lately, or doodling for that matter.  What was I doing then, you ask?  Working on my "note."  Doesn't sound too bad?  Yeah, well it is and I'm pretty sure they call it something unassuming so you don't realize it is really a horrible 75-page scholarly article.  If they called it "Super Duper Boring Death Article-Writing Club," I sure as hell wouldn't have taken it.  Anyway, I've been busy.  But today, I had this breakfast idea, which is genius because: (a) we happened to had all the ingredients lying around, despite the fact that we haven't been grocery shopping since before winter break; (b) it is super easy to make; (c) it is entirely delicious.  In fact, it beats the pants off the bagels I have been living on.

Breakfast Ravioli

10 frozen cheese ravioli

1 Tbsp. chopped pecans (hazelnuts, almonds, and walnuts would probably be delicious as an alternative)

1 Tbsp. butter

2 tsp. honey

   cinnamon

1. Prepare ravioli according to package instructions.
2. Toast pecans at 350 F.
3. Melt butter in a microwave safe bowl.
4. Add cooked ravioli and honey.  Stir gently.
5. Add pecans.  Sprinkle with cinnamon.  Stir gently.
6. Slap your significant other's hand when he tries to steal your ravioli.

...come to think of it, this would probably be good with some chopped pears.  But we didn't have those.  Give it a try though.

Nutella Cookies

Welcome back to me!  I had a lovely vacation, but school has begun again (despite the fact that we still do not have grades from last semester, but that is neither here nor there).  I present to you, my magnum opus of cookies, brought to you by everyone's favorite spread.

Nutella Cookies
3/4 cup Nutella
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup shortening
1/4 cup butter
3 Tbsp. milk
1 Tbsp. vanilla
1 egg
3/4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2 cups flour
1-2.25 oz package chopped hazelnuts
1/2 cup white chocolate chips
   fleur de sel for sprinkling (optional-- but do NOT substitute regular salt, because it is harsh and icky)

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. Lightly toast hazelnuts and remove to cool
3. Cream together: Nutella, sugar, shortening, butter, milk, vanilla, egg.
4. Add baking powder and salt and beat until just incorporated.
5. Add flour to dough in two divisions, again mixing until just incorporated.
6. Fold in toasted hazelnuts and chocolate chips.
7. Roll dough into 1" balls and place on a greased cookie sheet (do not flatten; also, the dough will be a little crumbly, so just gently press together).
8. Sprinkle dough lightly with fleur de sel.
9. Bake for 7-9 minutes.

Makes about 4 dozen.

Oh, hello again!

BLERRRRRRRGH!  I AM A SCARY BLOG MONSTER!  COOKING WILL RESUME WHEN I AM DONE DOING MONSTER STUFF!

No really, they love each other

This happens every ten minutes or so.