Going native, maple sunflower seed butter cookies

If you grew up near Brookings, S.D., you most likely visited McCrory Gardens for an elementary school field trip. Chances are, your brown-bag sack lunch contained a soggy, white-bread bologna sandwich and a plastic baggie filled with Dakota Style chips. Fast forward twenty-five years and you can bake cookies with maple syrup straight from McCrory’s trees and sunflower seed kernels from the potato grower in Clark, just 80 miles up the road.

The inspiration for these cookies came from three things:

1. I bought a jar of sunflower seed butter from Trader Joe’s a few weeks ago and I wasn’t sure what to do with it.
2. I purchased a little jug of maple syrup from the McCrory Gardens gift shop.
3. I love peanut butter and maple syrup on my waffles.

So, I bought a bag of Dakota Style sunflower kernels and whipped up a batch of cookies quite different from my normal baking — there’s no chocolate!

Maple Sunflower Seed Butter Cookies

1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup sunflower seed butter (of course you could use peanut butter if you prefer)

2 tablespoons maple syrup

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened

1 egg

1-1/2 cups crispy rice cereal

1/2 cup sunflower seed kernels

Make the cookies:

Preheat the oven to 350°.

In a large bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

In a small bowl stir together the white sugar, brown sugar, sunflower seed butter, maple syrup, vanilla, and softened butter. Briskly stir in egg until the mixture is well combined and creamy.

Add the sunflower seed butter mixture to the dry ingredients and stir. A wooden spoon works best. Stir in the crispy rice cereal and sunflower seed kernels.

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Drop the cookie dough by the teaspoonful onto the pan, leaving an inch between cookies. Gently push the cookies down slightly to make circles. Bake 10 minutes.

Remove from oven. Let cool on the cookie sheet for at least 20 minutes. These cookies are really soft so they are hard to move onto a cooling rack when they are hot. Once the cookies have cooled enough to move them without falling apart, transfer to a wire rack and cool completely.

Store cooled cookies in an airtight container. Makes approximately 32 soft cookies.

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Have you been to McCrory Gardens recently? They have developed the botanical gardens nicely the last few years and they recently opened the Education and Visitor Center. Here’s a picture of the cute little cottage in the winter. I have a nostalgic connection to this cottage — if I remember correctly, it used to be a little gas station in Lake Preston. For those of you who remember my best friend and our classmate, Darya, she loved this little station. There was a time after Darya died that her parents and another local family had the opportunity to donate the small building to McCrory gardens in memory of their loved ones. It makes a romantic, dreamy background for photos so bring your camera.

If you’re in the area:

McCrory Gardens

631 22nd Avenue

Brookings, SD 57006

www.mcrorygardens.com

When life hands you limes, make lime chicken street tacos

One thing professional bakers are good at that I clearly am not is buying appropriate amounts of ingredients for large-batch baking — unlike me, who has a pantry full of limes even after serving Key Lime Cheesecake with Patrón Sauce to 230 guests.

And although margaritas would be the no-brainer, I’m-a-mom-let-me-drink way to use up the extras, I squeezed their zesty little selves into two fresh, flavorful chicken dishes. Before filling a large bowl with Chicken Black Bean Salsa, we enjoyed Lime Chicken Street Tacos for an entire weekend. Can YOU resist a soft corn tortilla warmly blanketed around tender shredded chicken, melty cheese, and the warming taste of cumin? Me either.

The inspiration for these came from Taste of Home Lime Chicken Tacos. I’ve followed the recipe exactly a few times and loved them. But this time I wanted to use soft corn tortillas and I wanted to throw in crispy peppers and red onions, and use fresh red tomatoes instead of using salsa. Now that I’ve become a cumin addict thanks to Beer Chili Spaghetti, you’ll find a warm, smoky heat to these as well. You can take or leave any of the ingredients, and you can add your own favorite traditional Mexican toppings.

Technically, street tacos should be wrapped in two soft corn tortilla shells. [Unlike pictured above.] That way, you won’t need to eat them hovering over the kitchen sink.

You’ll like making these on Saturday mornings because if you pop the chicken in the crockpot right when you get up, these tasty tacos will be ready for a late lunch. (That is, if you weren’t partying like it’s 1999 the night before.) Once you have the chicken in the crockpot you can dice up the tomatoes, jalapeño pepper, red onion, and cilantro and shred the cheese for the garnish. At that time if you want, you can go back to bed.

Once the chicken is done, you’ll take it out of the crockpot and shred it.

Then, you’ll toss on your frozen corn and diced tomato and jalapeño. I also dash on more cumin and onion salt. Slide it all back into the crockpot. Pour the remaining 1/4 cup lime juice over the chicken and vegetables and stir thoroughly. Put the lid back on and cook on low for 30 minutes until everything is hot.

You’ll find many ways to use the red onion and cilantro sauce. I like it on my favorite tortilla chips, nachos, and on scrambled eggs.

Lime Chicken Street Tacos

2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts

3/4 cup lime juice, divided into (3) 1/4 cup portions (I used approximately 16 small Persian limes which was most of a 2-pound bag. Ten or twelve large, regular limes would give you approximately 3/4 cup. Or, you can use bottled lime juice.) If you don’t want to make cilantro and red onion sauce, you can omit one of the 1/4 cups of juice.

1 tablespoon chili powder

1 tablespoon cumin

1 teaspoon onion salt

1 cup frozen corn

1 tomato, diced

1 jalapeño pepper, finely diced

24 soft corn tortillas

1/2 large red onion, finely diced

1/2 cup chopped cilantro

sea salt to taste

2 cups shredded cheese, Monterey Jack, Sharp Cheddar, or your favorite cheese

sour cream

Make the taco filling

Place chicken breasts in a crockpot. Combine 1/4 cup of lime juice, chili powder, cumin, and onion salt. Pour over chicken, put the lid on the crockpot, and slowly cook the chicken until cooked all the way through and no longer pink, approximately 5-6 hours.

Remove the chicken from the crockpot and place on a plate. With two forks, shred the chicken into pieces small enough to fit in your mouth. If you desire to add a little more flavor, sprinkle a few additional dashes of cumin and onion salt over the chicken.

Dump the frozen corn, diced tomato, and diced jalapeño pepper on the plate with the chicken. Put it all in the crockpot and pour 1/4 cup lime juice over it all and stir. Cover and cook at low temperature for another 30 minutes or until everything is hot.

To serve: place a couple spoonfuls of chicken on a warm tortilla. Top with cilantro and red onion sauce (see recipe below), shredded cheese, and sour cream.

Serve with margaritas, mojitos, or my new favorite ice-cold adult beverage, Cayman Jack hand crafted margaritas.

Store leftovers in refrigerator.

Cilantro and Red Onion Sauce

In a small bowl, combine the diced red onion, chopped cilantro and 1/4 cup lime juice. Add sea salt to taste. Keep refrigerated.

Tequila for the Kids, Key Lime Cheesecake with Patrón Sauce

Call off the Department of Social Services. The kids don’t actually drink tequila in this story. For the third year in a row, I had the tremendous honor of making dessert for the East Central Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) Fire & Ice gala in Brookings, S.D. The fundraising event benefits children who have been victims of abuse and neglect.

The menu description for my Key Lime Cheesecake with Patrón Sauce: Like a margarita sitting in the sand, tart Key lime filling nestles into a graham and vanilla crust. The cheesecake is topped with whipped cream and served with juicy Key lime cream spiked with Patrón Silver 100% Blue Agave Tequila.

Two years ago for Fire & Ice I made raspberry white chocolate truffle cheesecakes, and last year I made Italian Tuxedo Parfaits stacked full of amaretto brownies, silky white chocolate cream and fresh strawberries. This year we went tropical and from what I could tell, these babies were a hit. It might have something to do with the pre-gala Bel Brands VIP Reception — it added an extra hour of wine drinking before the meal. *Wink. Wink*

On the other hand, how often do you eat cheesecake with a shot of juicy Key lime Patrón sauce drizzled over the top?

The sauce is simple to make — a sweet mix of sour cream, sugar, Key lime juice, lime zest, and tequila.

People often ask me how I make baby cheesecakes. The cuteness comes from these Chicago Metallic pans. 

The first 50 or so didn’t turn out so well. I believe weather can sometimes affect your baking. This happened…

…because this happened on baking day:

So to ease my frustration, I went outside and took pictures of a female woodpecker that knocked herself into a no-fly zone after hitting her head on our French doors. The pesky robin kept photobombing the picture!

And then I went back in the house and baked more than 260 beautiful baby cheesecakes.

I want to give a shout out to Mike, Ben, Chris, and Evan at the Hy-Vee grocery store in Brookings. Mike (not pictured) is the produce manager and for the last three years, he has hooked me up with fresh, juicy raspberries, strawberries, and Key limes for my Fire & Ice desserts. When I went to pick up my limes this year, Mike was gone and Chris, Evan, and Ben (pictured from left to right) made sure I had the best-looking bunch of Key limes. So I took their picture – the best looking bunch in the produce section. You know the tune, “Where there’s a helpful smile in every aisle.”

I had so many limes leftover that we ate lime chicken tacos for a few days and now we’re crunching through a batch of our favorite Chicken Black Bean Salsa.

Thank you also to the Brookings High School Honor Society and the event staff from SDSU Catering. The kitchen was a harmonious frenzy that night and you helped pull off the dessert presentation and service with swift and gracious style.

Lastly but most importantly, to Julie Wermers, Executive Director East Central CASA, and Darilyn Odegaard, President East Central CASA, and to the East Central CASA Board of Directors, staff, volunteers and Fire & Ice committee — thank you for giving a voice to children who would otherwise be unheard, and for giving them hope for the future.

Key Lime Cheesecake with Patrón Sauce

A 9-inch springform pan will give you 12 slices. If you are using the mini cheesecake pans, this recipe will make 24 babies. 

Crust

3/4 cup vanilla wafer crumbs

3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs

3 tablespoons sugar

5 tablespoons butter, melted

Cheesecake

3 packages (8 ounces each) cream cheese, softened to room temperature

3/4 cup sugar

5 tablespoons sour cream

5 teaspoons flour

4 eggs, room temperature

1 egg yolk, room temperature

1/2 cup frozen limeade concentrate, thawed to room temperature

1/3 cup Key lime juice, either fresh or bottled – I use Nellie and Joe’s

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Key limes for garnish

whipped cream for garnish

Key Lime Patrón Sauce

1 cup sour cream

1 tablespoon sugar

2 tablespoons Key lime juice

1 teaspoon lime zest

1 to 2 teaspoons Patrón Silver 100% Blue Agave Tequila, or tequila of your choice (optional)

Preheat oven to 350°. Mix crushed wafer and graham cracker crumbs with sugar and melted butter. Stir until well combined. Spray a 9-inch springform pan or two mini cheesecake pans. Press crust evenly into pan(s). For 9-inch pan, bake for 10 minutes. For mini cheesecake pans, bake 5 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool.

If you are using mini cheesecake pans, reduce the oven temperature to 250°.

In a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese until soft and smooth, making sure there are no lumps. Add the sugar and sour cream, beating until smooth. Beat in the flour. At this point, make sure the cheesecake filling is smooth because once you add the eggs, you don’t want to beat it too hard.

With the mixer on low speed, beat in the eggs and egg yolk, one at a time, scraping down the sides after each one.

Add the limeade concentrate, Key lime juice, and vanilla. Mix well.

Pour the filling into the cheesecake pan(s).

For 9-inch cheesecake: bake at 350° for 15 minutes and then turn the heat down to 200° and bake for another 60-70 minutes. The center should be a little jiggly, but it shouldn’t look wet.

For mini cheesecakes: bake at 250° for approximately 25 minutes or until the tops just begin to look done.

For all cheesecakes, cool on wire rack for at least 1- 1/2 hours. Place in refrigerator in the pan. After a few hours, you can remove the cheesecake from the pan and cut into slices but it should chill again in the refrigerator for at least 12 hours for the best flavor. Cheesecake is actually best a couple days after it’s made. When ready to serve, remove from the refrigerator about 1/2 an hour before eating.

Serve with tequila sauce on the side or drizzled over the top. To make the sauce, simply stir together the sour cream, sugar, Key lime juice, lime zest, and tequila. Top with whipped cream and tiny slices of Key limes. They are even prettier with a little lime zest sprinkled over the top. You can find the 1-ounce shot glasses at most party supply stores.

Store any leftovers in the refrigerator for up to two weeks. Cheesecake can also be frozen for up to three months. Thaw in the refrigerator a day or two before serving.

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Dare to try someone else’s favorite | Chocolate cake with fudge frosting

It’s time for us to try another family’s favorite recipe. It might mean stepping out of our chocolate cake comfort zone because if you’re like me, you have your own favorite way of making chocolate cake and cupcakes. And your favorite frosting.

Since I’m not much of a cake eater anyway, the only one I make is heavenly chocolate cake with snow frosting. It has Miracle Whip in it which keeps the cake nice and moist. My favorite frosting is the white, sticky, marshmallow-like frosting that we call snow frosting (you may know it as 7-minute frosting). But last fall at the Minnesota Blogger Conference, my friend Michelle shared with me her recipe for margarita cupcakes and we got to talking about chocolate cake. She told me that her family’s favorite is a chocolate cake that she makes with sour cream. The dense, fudgy frosting is her favorite part.

In the picture below, I baked a dozen in my tiny tart pan and piled three into a cupcake tower topped with shaved white chocolate and mini chocolate chips.

I was skeptical. Everyone thinks their chocolate cake is the moistest — kind of like how every fisherman thinks he guts and debones a fish better than anyone and that there are “no bones in fish that he cooks” but there are always bones. (My dislike for bones is reflected in “Buffalo chicken dip for people who don’t like bones or blue cheese“.)

The cupcakes were a hit! I brought them along on our Easter weekend to Minneapolis and the kids (and moms) ate them up. I actually liked the frosting better the second day so it was a perfect treat to bake and frost the day before we left. Thank you, Michelle Hals, for sharing your family favorite with us.

Chocolate cake with fudge frosting

4 oz. unsweetened chocolate (4 one-ounce squares)
1/4 cup butter
1-2/3 cups boiling water
2-1/3 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup sour cream
2 eggs
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350°.

In a small saucepan over low heat melt chocolate, butter, and boiling water. Stir until melted and smooth. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl stir together flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt.

In a small mixing bowl, beat eggs with a whisk and then whisk in the sour cream and vanilla until smooth.

Slowly add the melted chocolate mixture to the dry ingredient mixture. Stir until combined.

Now add the egg mixture to the cake batter and stir until silky smooth.

Pour into a 9×13-inch cake pan and bake at 350° for 35-40 minutes. You can also make two round cakes (bake for 35-40 minutes) or approximately 2-1/2 dozen regular cupcakes (bake 25 minutes).

The frosting is extremely generous so go crazy especially on the cupcakes!

FROSTING
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 cups powdered sugar
1 (12-oz.) package semi sweet chocolate chips, melted
2-3 tablespoons milk

Over low heat, melt the chocolate chips. Set aside to cool slightly.

Beat shortening and butter with an electric mixer until smooth. Add vanilla. One cup at a time, add the powdered sugar. Once the chocolate is cooled a little (just make sure it’s not hot), pour into the frosting mixture. Add milk as needed to get to your desired spreading consistency. Frost the completely cooled cakes or cupcakes.

Busy weekend. Lazy weekend. | Peanut butter KISSES cookies

Certainly there are fancier, more homemade baked goods that come out of our ovens. But let’s not kid ourselves. Even though we crave fresh-bakes cookies, on some weekends we are just too busy, and on some gray cozy Saturdays we are just too lazy, to spend more than half an hour baking and cleaning up the kitchen.

The good thing is that even as classic and simple as these are, I’ve never known a kid, or any human for that matter, to refuse a HERSHEY’S KISS surrounded by a soft peanut butter cookie. That’s why these used to be the perfect classroom or 4-H party treat. (B.P.A. – Before Peanut Allergies)

And I love that I can use my new bowl that I got from my mom last Christmas. It’s from the General Store of Minnetonka in Minnesota — an incredible shopping experience.

Another one-bowl peanut butter and chocolate recipe that makes a couple dozen pop-in-your-mouth goodies is Reese’s P.B. Poppers. Basically, your pantry shelf should always hold a package of peanut butter cookie mix and either HERSHEY’S KISSES or miniature Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups.

Peanut Butter KISSES Cookies

1 package peanut butter cookie mix and the ingredients to make them

1/4 to 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter, optional

approximately 36 HERSHEY’S KISSES milk chocolate candies, unwrapped

Preheat oven to 350˚. Make the cookie dough according to package directions; stirring in 1/4 to 1/2 cup peanut butter to dough if desired.

Place dough by tablespoons on a cookie sheet. I make the cookies really small because my favorite part is the middle bite that has a chocolate KISS with a little bit of soft peanut butter cookie stuck on the bottom. If you make them really small, you’ll get approximately 36 little cookies from one batch.

Bake according to package directions. Do not overbake. Remove from oven. Immediately place an unwrapped HERSHEY’S KISS in the center of each cookie, pressing down gently. Cool 10 minutes. Cool on wire rack.

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Yes! Yes! | Everyone deserves a gooey caramel brownie recipe

You may be as surprised as I was to learn that there are people who don’t have a gooey caramel brownie recipe. Shocking, I know. But if you are one of them, let me share my Yes! Yes! brownie recipe with you. In under 45 minutes, you’ll have a hot pan of gooey, caramel-stringy, could there be more chocolate, brownies on your kitchen counter.

The summer of 1990, I was just out of high school and I worked at 3M as a plant manager. Literally. Besides sorting smocks for laundry, I cleaned bathrooms, refilled vending machines in the cafeteria, and watered the plants around the offices and lobby areas. So they jokingly called me the plant manager. It was during this stint that a co-worker, Judy B., shared these brownies and I’m pretty sure I begged for the recipe.

Years, and years, oh my gosh, 23 years and 50 extra pounds later, my recipe card is bent and crinkled and the plastic protector is melted on the entire left side. When I bring these bars to work now, they disappear. But I never really thought there are people who don’t have their own recipe for caramel brownies. So I never blogged it. I assumed people would be like, “What?! As if I don’t already have a recipe like that.” Boring.

Then one morning I almost fell off my couch when I was watching my favorite T.V. show and Ree from Food Network’s Pioneer Woman showed the world how to make Knock You Naked Brownies. And I was like, “What?! I’ve been making those for years!” Not boring. And then I felt like there was no place for me in the blogging world anymore because anything I had to offer had already been done.

A few months later at work, my friend Mary said she was still waiting for me to blog my caramel brownie recipe. I told her I hadn’t blogged it because I figured everyone had a similar recipe and didn’t need mine. Mary didn’t. She needed my recipe. And for you chocolate lovers out there, you know I really mean needed.

So now, I share it with you. And when you bake them for your friends and they beg you for the recipe, you will say, Yes! Yes!.

{Yes! Yes! Caramel Brownies}

50 caramels (I buy a bag of Kraft caramels and use them all, minus the few my kids run away with.)

1 package chocolate cake mix (Any flavor will do – milk chocolate, chocolate fudge, german chocolate, etc.)

3/4 cup butter, melted

1 small can evaporated milk, divided into two portions, 1/3 cup each

1 cup chopped nuts, optional

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (I cover the pan of brownies so who really knows how much that is.)

Preheat oven to 350°. In a large bowl, mix melted butter, cake mix, 1/3 cup evaporated milk and nuts. This can be done by hand. Spread half of this mixture into a lightly greased 9×9-inch or 13×9-inch cake pan. Bake for 6 minutes. Take out of the oven.

Melt caramels with 1/3 cup evaporated milk. Stir until creamy.

Cover the hot crust with the chocolate chips, then pour the caramel mixture over the chips. Top with the remaining batter and bake the 9×9 pan for 20-25 minutes and for the 13×9 pan, bake 15-18 minutes.

Cool completely before cutting. Store in an airtight container. Share with everyone you know.

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Do you know nutmeats? | Orange Chewins Bars

Before I tell you the conversation that led me to the discovery of nutmeats, let me give you the background on our Orange Chewins. Straight up, these brown-sugared, orange slice candy-filled, coconut, crackly crusted bars are not my favorite. But they are one of my sister Heidi’s favorite Christmas treats that my mom makes.

My sister travels a lot in her corporate trainer job and doesn’t get much time to spend at home, this means no time to bake and a lot of time being exposed to candy bars with a 7-year gas station shelf life. So, being the (sorta) nice sister that I am, I wanted to bake Orange Chewins for Heidi one weekend when she was coming home.

But I didn’t.

Then during our family Christmas, my mom asked me if I had made them for Heidi that one time a couple of months back.

With my sisters, mom, and step-mom sitting around the tables, I said, “No, I didn’t make them because there was an ingredient in the recipe that I didn’t know what it was.”

My mom asked me what it was and I said I couldn’t remember – just that it was something that I wasn’t familiar with.

Perplexed, my mom said, “There’s not anything unusual in them – brown sugar, eggs, orange slices, coconut…”

But I knew that there was something on that recipe card that stopped me from baking Orange Chewins for Heidi that weekend. So I dug into my cupboard and pulled the card from my wooden recipe roll-top file.

“Nutmeats!” I exclaimed. “There are nutmeats in there and I don’t know what that is.”

“Those are nuts. Just the insides of nuts,” my mom said.

“Oh, THAT’S what they are. You can tell it’s an old recipe because they are just called nuts now,” I said trying to recover an ounce of scratch-baking pride.

Pecan Pieces (a.k.a. pecan nutmeats)

A few weeks later, I baked Orange Chewins for the first time. But by that time, the coconut I had was gone. So I substituted oatmeal and sent them off to Heidi’s. She liked them that way so much that she said she’ll bake them that way from now on. I liked them this way too because I don’t like coconut, which is probably why I never really like these. Either way, coconut or oatmeal or a little of both, these could become a favorite at your house.

I thought it would be nice to share a family recipe that isn’t as widely recognized as grandma’s chocolate chip cookies.

But secretly, I’m hoping there’s at least one person out there who reads this and says, “Ha, I wouldn’t have known what nutmeats are either.”

Orange Chewins Bars

3 eggs well beaten

1 tablespoon water

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups brown sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups orange slices (Heidi uses floured kitchen scissors to cut them easily into bite sized pieces. I toss the pieces with sugar to keep them from sticking to each other.)

1/2 cup chopped nutmeats (pecan pieces, chopped walnuts, etc.)

1/2 cup coconut OR 1/2 cup quick-cooking oatmeal

2 cups flour

1. Beat eggs until foamy with the water.
2. Add vanilla, gradually add brown sugar  and salt. Beat well and then add orange slice candy pieces, coconut, nuts & flour. Mix well.
3. Pour into greased 15 x 10 x 1 pan. Bake at 375° for 20 minutes.
   
4. Cut before completely cooled.

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