Sugar Cookies from I Am Baker

Sugar Cookies (from here)

Notes: Try these next time (recommended by Sheelagh Evans)

Amanda's Amazing Sugar Cookies II

* 1-½ cup Butter (I Use Unsalted)
* 2 cups Sugar
* 2 whole Eggs
* 2 whole Eggs Yolks
* 4 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
* 2 teaspoons Almond Extract
* 4 cups All-purpose Flour
* 1 teaspoon Salt
* 1 teaspoon Baking Powder

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a mixer, beat butter and sugar until well combined, about 2 minutes.

Add in 2 eggs and 2 egg yolks and mix until combined.

Add in vanilla and almond extract; mix until combined.

In a separate bowl, sift together flour, salt, and baking powder. Slowly (about a cup at a time) add flour to butter mixture and combine. You can use a mixer or not, just depends on how strong you are. ;)

I usually just mix ingredients until they are combined, as I have heard that if you over-mix this dough it will get tough.

Put dough in some Saran wrap and refrigerate for at least one hour. When you are ready to bake, heat oven to 350 degrees. Roll dough out, cut out cookies, and bake for 6-8 minutes.

Homemade Bagels

Homemade Bagels (from here)

Notes: These were awesome! As Brandon said, "they taste like real bagels". These were definitely a "plain" bagel recipe. I tried adding some cinnamon, but I wasn't sure how much so I just threw some in. I couldn't even taste it, so I'd need to double or triple it. I think next time, I will add more sugar, less salt, more cinnamon, and maybe some craisins or raisins and see what happens. I just did a half batch this time to see if they were good. I also didn't use bread flour. I just used all purpose-unbleached white flour. I think that's all my notes for this time around.



Homemade bagel recipe

4 cups bread flour

1 Tbls sugar

1 1/2 tsps salt

1 Tbls vegetable oil

2 tsps instant yeast

1-1/4- 1-1/2 cups of warm water.

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl. You don't have to worry about soaking the yeast when you use instant yeast (most yeast sold these days is instant yeast). The dough should feel stiff, but add the extra water if it's really stiff, or you can't get all the dry flour incorporated.

Plop the dough down onto the counter, and knead for about ten minutes, or until the dough is uniform and smooth.

Cut the dough into 8 equal sized balls, and let rest for 10-20 minutes.

Pre heat your oven to 425.

Now, take each of the dough balls and using two hands, roll it into a little snake on the counter. When the snake is longer than the width of your two hands, wrap it around your dominant roiling hand. The dough rope should be wrapped so the overlapping ends are together at your palm, near the start of your fingers. Now take the two overlapping ends, and use your palm to squish/roll these two ends together. Once the dough is fused, you should have a perfectly circular bagel-to-be! This is the only part of the process that can take a little practice before your bagels will look really professional. Don't get discouraged if they don't look perfect, it just takes practice!

Let your bagels rest on the counter for about 20 minutes, and meanwhile, bring a pot of water to boil, and grease a large baking tray lightly. You can just rub a splash of vegetable oil and rub it around.

After the 20 minute wait, your bagels will start to look puffy, and it's time to get them boiling! Add them as many at a time as you can to your boiling water without crowding them. Boil for about a minute, turn them over, and boil for another minute. Take them out a let dry for a minute and then place them on your oiled baking tray. Repeat until all the bagels are boiled.

Add the tray to the oven, and after 10 minutes, flip the bagels over, bake for another ten minutes; and they're done!

Let them cool for at least 20 minutes, get the cream cheese ready, and feast on what's got to be one of the best weekend brunch treats possible!

Homemade Marshmallows

Homemade Marshmallows (from here)

Notes: I made these today, and I fell in love. They are so soft and delicious. I reconstituted meringue powder (and beat them to stiff peaks by hand since the marshmallow mix was already in the Kitchen Aid). I think those are all the notes I had. I didn't have any other modifications. I did use vanilla extract as the recipe says.

Springy, Fluffy Marshmallows
Adapted from Gourmet, December 1998

These homemade marshmallows are not only easy to make, they set as perfectly as promised: puffed and lightweight, bouncing off one another as I tossed them in the container. Even better, they toasted like a campfire charm speared on the end of a skewer, and s’mooshed between two graham crackers with a square of chocolate.

Makes about 96 1-inch cubed marshmallows

About 1 cup confectioners’ sugar
3 1/2 envelopes (2 tablespoons plus 2 1/2 teaspoons) unflavored gelatin
1 cup cold water, divided
2 cups granulated sugar (cane sugar worked just fine)
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large egg whites or reconstituted powdered egg whites
1 tablespoon vanilla (alternately: 1/2 of a scraped vanilla bean, 2 teaspoons almond or mint extract or maybe even some food coloring for tinting)

Oil bottom and sides of a 13- by 9- by 2-inch rectangular metal baking pan and dust bottom and sides with some confectioners’ sugar.

In bowl of a standing electric mixer or in a large bowl sprinkle gelatin over 1/2 cup cold cold water, and let stand to soften.

In a 3-quart heavy saucepan cook granulated sugar, corn syrup, second 1/2 cup of cold water, and salt over low heat, stirring with a wooden spoon, until sugar is dissolved. Increase heat to moderate and boil mixture, without stirring, until a candy or digital thermometer registers 240°F, about 12 minutes. Remove pan from heat and pour sugar mixture over gelatin mixture, stirring until gelatin is dissolved.

With standing or a hand-held electric mixer beat mixture on high speed until white, thick, and nearly tripled in volume, about six minutes if using standing mixer or about 10 minutes if using hand-held mixer. (Some reviewers felt this took even longer with a hand mixer, but still eventually whipped up nicely.)

In separate medium bowl with cleaned beaters beat egg whites (or reconstituted powdered whites) until they just hold stiff peaks. Beat whites and vanilla (or your choice of flavoring) into sugar mixture until just combined. Pour mixture into baking pan and don’t fret if you don’t get it all out (learning from my mess of a first round). Sift 1/4 cup confectioners sugar evenly over top. Chill marshmallow, uncovered, until firm, at least three hours, and up to one day.

Run a thin knife around edges of pan and invert pan onto a large cutting board. Lifting up one corner of inverted pan, with fingers loosen marshmallow and ease onto cutting board. With a large knife trim edges of marshmallow and cut marshmallow into roughly one-inch cubes. (An oiled pizza cutter works well here too.) Sift remaining confectioners’ sugar back into your now-empty baking pan, and roll the marshmallows through it, on all six sides, before shaking off the excess and packing them away.

Do ahead: Marshmallows keep in an airtight container at cool room temperature 1 week.

Baking Powder Biscuits

Baking Powder Biscuits (from here)

2 c. sifted flour
2 tsp. baking powder
4 tbsp. butter or shortening
1/2 tsp. salt
about 3/4 c. milk

Sift flour once, measure (didn't remeasure), add baking powder and salt, and sift again. Cut in shortening or butter (review said to do this with hands by rubbing butter into the flour, so that's what I did). Add milk gradually, stirring until soft dough is formed. Turn out on slightly floured board and lightly "knead" for 30 seconds (forgot to do this), enough to shape. Roll 1/2 inch thick and cut with 2 inch floured biscuit cutter (didn't have so I used a kid's cup). Bake on un-greased sheet in a 400 degree oven (I did 400 degrees convection) for 12 to 15 mins. Makes 12 biscuits.

These were really good as well! They don't puff/rise up, but they are light and fluffy.

Homemade Sausage

Homemade Sausage from Lean Ground Beef or Turkey (from here).

1 pound of ground turkey or very lean ground beef

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1/2 teaspoon of garlic salt

1/4 teaspoon of pepper

1 teaspoon of cumin

1/2 teaspoon of sage

1/4 teaspoon of basil

1/4 teaspoon of oregano

I just added it to the pan as the meat was browning. It was realllllly good! I'd maybe cut the salt down a little bit. Between the salt in the sausage and the salt in the gravy, breakfast was a little salty. I also didn't have sage, so I just left it out.

Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies

Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies (from here)

Note: I just made these, and they are SO GOOD. I started making them before I realized that I didn't have any eggs. So, I added a little extra pumpkin and they turned out great. I'll probably do the same thing next time. I think I'm going to make some cream cheese frosting to go with them. I also used chocolate chips instead of raisins and left out the nuts....which is probably why they are even better! haha

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/3 cups quick cooking oats
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup butter or margarine
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup LIBBY'S® 100% Pure Pumpkin
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup chopped walnuts
• 3/4 cup raisins
• decorating icings, NESTLE® TOLL HOUSE® Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels, candies, raisins or nuts

1. PREHEAT oven to 350 degrees F. Grease baking sheets.
2. COMBINE flour, oats, baking soda, cinnamon and salt in medium bowl. Beat butter, granulated and brown sugar in large mixer bowl until light and fluffy. Add pumpkin, egg and vanilla extract; mix well. Add flour mixture; mix well. Stir in nuts and raisins. Drop 1/4 cup dough onto prepared baking sheet; spread into 3-inch circle or oval. Repeat with remaining dough.
3. BAKE for 14 to 16 minutes or until cookies are firm and lightly browned. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely. Decorate as desired with icing, morsels, candies, raisins or nuts.

Sugar Cookies

Sugar Cookies (from here)

Note: This make a really YUMMY crunchier/chewy sugar cookie.

Ingredients:
1 cup butter
1 cup powdered sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 ½ t. almond extract
1 t. vanilla
1 t. salt
2 ½ c. sifted flour

Directions:
Cream butter. Add powdered sugar. Blend in egg, almond extract, vanilla, salt and flour. Chill dough until firm. Roll to ¼” thickness on well-floured surface. Cut with cookie cutters. Place on greased cookie sheets. Bake at 375° for 8-10 min. Cookies should not brown. Frost and decorate when cool. Yields ~40 cookies.

Royal Icing (from here)

Royal Icing
Ingredients:
4 cups powdered sugar, sifted
2 tbsp. meringue powder
5 tbsp. water

Directions:
Combine all ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on low speed until the sheen has disappeared and the icing has a matte appearance (about 7-10 minutes). Transfer the contents of the mixing bowl to an air-tight container. This will be the stiffest consistency of the icing, and at this point it is still too stiff to use for decorating. Add water a very small amount at a time and stir by hand until fully incorporated. Continue until the icing has reached a consistency appropriate for piping. (Remember, if you are having any difficulty piping, it is still too thick. Add a little more liquid and try again.) Using a pastry bag, pipe around the edges of each cookie. Let stand so the icing will set. Make sure to keep the leftover icing covered at all times when not in use so that it does not begin to harden.

Once all the cookies have been edged, transfer some of the remaining icing to a separate air-tight container. Thin out by incorporating a small amount of water at a time, until the icing drips off the spoon easily when lifted and then smooths in with that still in the bowl. If you go too far and the icing is too thin, add more sifted powdered sugar to thicken it again. Once the icing has reached the desired consistency, transfer it to a squeeze bottle (or a plastic bag with a hole in one corner), and flood the area surrounded by the piping on each cookie. If it does not completely spread to the edges, use a toothpick to help it along. Allow to set.

Use the remaining thicker icing for piping decoration as desired. Gel icing color is best as it does not add a significant amount of liquid. Liquid food coloring can be used as well – add powdered sugar as needed to compensate for any thinning that occurs.

Starbucks Pumpkin Scones

Starbucks Pumpkin Scones (from here)

* 2 cups all-purpose flour
* 7 tablespoons sugar
* 1 tablespoon baking powder
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
* 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
* 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
* 6 tablespoons cold butter
* 1/2 cup canned pumpkin
* 3 tablespoons half-and-half
* 1 large egg

White Icing Option

* 1 cup powdered sugar
* 1 tablespoon powdered sugar
* 2 tablespoons whole milk

Spiced Icing Option

# 1 cup powdered sugar
# 3 tablespoons powdered sugar
# 2 tablespoons whole milk
# 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
# 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
# 1 pinch ginger
# 1 pinch ground cloves

1. TO MAKE THE SCONES:.
2. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Lightly oil a baking sheet or line with parchment paper.
3. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and spices in a large bowl. Using a pastry knife, fork, or food processor, cut butter into the dry ingredients until mixture is crumbly and no chunks of butter are obvious. Set aside.
4. In a separate bowl, whisk together pumpkin, half and half, and egg. Fold wet ingredients into dry ingredients. Form the dough into a ball.
5. Pat out dough onto a lightly floured surface and form it into a 1-inch thick rectangle (about 9 inches long and 3 inches wide). Use a large knife or a pizza cutter to slice the dough twice through the width, making three equal portions. Cut those three slices diagonally so that you have 6 triangular slices of dough. Place on prepared baking sheet.
6. Bake for 14?16 minutes. Scones should begin to turn light brown. Place on wire rack to cool.
7. TO MAKE THE PLAIN GLAZE:.
8. Mix the powdered sugar and 2 tbsp milk together until smooth.
9. When scones are cool, use a brush to paint plain glaze over the top of each scone.
10. AS THAT WHITE GLAZE FIRMS UP, MAKE THE SPICED ICING:.
11. Combine the ingredient for the spiced icing together. Drizzle this thicker icing over each scone and allow the icing to dry before serving (at least 1 hour). A squirt bottle works great for this, or you can drizzle with a whisk.

Enchilada Pie from Healthy Cooking Magazine

1 pkg. (12 oz.) frozen vegetarian meat crumbles *A
1 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped green pepper *B
2 tsp. canola oil
1 can (16 oz.) kidney beans, rinsed & drained
1 can (15 oz.) black beans, rinsed & drained
1 can (10 oz) diced tomatoes & green chilies, undrained *C
1/2 cup water
1 1/2 tsp. chili powder
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1/4 tsp. pepper
6 whole wheat tortillas (8 in.)
2 cups (8 oz.) shredded reduced fat cheddar cheese

1. Cut three 25-in. x 3-in. strips of heavy duty foil; crisscross so they resemble spokes of a wheel. Place strips on the bottom and up the sides of a 5-qt. slow cooker. Coat strips with cooking spray. (I didn't do this)

2. In a saucepan, cook meat crumbles, onion & green pepper in oil until vegetables are tender. Stir in both cans of beans, tomatoes, water, chili powder, cumin & pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes.

3. In slow cooker, layer about 3/4 cup bean mixture, one tortilla & 1/3 cup cheese. Repeat layers five times. Cover and cook on low for 4-5 hours or until heated through.

4. Using foil strips as handles, remove the pie to a platter. (I didn't do the foil, but with the cheese as part of each layer it stayed together pretty well anyway.)

Yields 8 servings, 367 calories, 11 grams of fat per ingredients above.

*A - I used 1 lb. ground beef
*B - used banana peppers because that's what I had in the freezer
*C - used 1 - 14.5 oz can of diced tomatoes & 1 - 4 oz. can of diced green chilies

Notes: This was good, but I felt it needed a bit more sauce than the diced tomatoes & chilies provided. I would probably use a can of enchilada sauce and divide between the layers. With that said, the spices could probably be eliminated.