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.