Minty Cream Cheese Cookies

It’s a cookie that swerves completely off the track from traditional chocolate chip cookies. You’ll grab a cookie thinking you’ll eat just one. You take a bite, roll your eyes back in delight as you chew the lightly crisp edge. With the next bite comes the soft, dense center that’s dotted with minty chocolate chips. A few more bites and you don’t even realize it but your hand is reaching for another.

1 cup butter-flavor shortening

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups all-purpose flour

1-3/4 cups mint chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350°. In a medium bowl, beat softened cream cheese until smooth. Add shortening, sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla. Beat on medium speed until well combined.

About half a cup at a time, mix the flour into the cream cheese batter on low speed just until blended. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Drop the dough by tablespoonfuls onto an ungreased cookie sheet, about 2 inches apart. The cookies don’t spread so they are about the size that you place them on the pan.

Bake 8 minutes or until just lightly browned. Don’t overbake. Cool a few minutes in the pan and then transfer to a cooling rack. Makes about 3 dozen cookies.

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You know how most cookies are best warm out of the oven? These are good then too, but they seem even better after they’ve been sitting around a few hours or a day or so. What’s even better is if you make the dough, refrigerate it a day or two and then bake them. But keep your eye on the dough. Once the kids find out it doesn’t contain eggs, they’ll be sneaking spoonfuls when you’re not looking.

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Please Bring the Sausage Stuffing

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and we’ve all planned our menus. Groceries are lining the counters and over-stuffing the refrigerator. Some of you are already performing culinary magic in the kitchen. It’s not like you need a stuffing recipe in order to prepare for this year’s turkey day. But I only make this savory sausage dish for holiday meals and I want to share it now so you can add it to your Christmas, or other religious holiday, celebration.

I’ve refined this recipe to feed my family of 17 and still have leftovers — give or take a few kids who probably have never tried it. But then there’s the sizeable appetites of the T Boys, my football and baseball-playing nephews, who request this every year. (Check out their favorite hot dog casserole.)

The cool thing about this recipe is that it’s pretty easy to customize. Just use the amounts of bread, sausage, and butter as the recipe calls for so it doesn’t get greasy or dried out. You could substitute some of the celery with mushrooms or a different vegetable, and add garlic, cashews, or cranberries. I’ve used all kinds of breads so pick your favorites and go with it. You don’t have to dry out the bread first for this stuffing.

You may have a larger stove top than I do, or bigger pans, but this batch of stuffing is so large that I need to use two large frying/sauté pans to cook the butter, celery, and onion mixture. You’ll need large pans because once you add the bread, you need room to stir everything together. Or you could split it into batches. You’ll want a very large bowl or pan to bake this in. I’ve used my KitchenAid^® roaster and an aluminum roaster. I’ve also put it in a crockpot.

Staci’s Sausage Stuffing

2 pounds bulk pork sausage, cooked, keeping a few tablespoons of the fat in the sausage

1 pound bulk Italian pork sausage, cooked, keeping a couple of tablespoons of the fat in the sausage

4-1/2 cups celery, washed and chopped

2-1/4 cups diced yellow onion

5-1/2 sticks butter

3 tablespoons bacon grease, optional

24 cups of bread cubes (2 to 3 loaves of bread), I use at least two different varieties like white and wheat, wheat and rye, I’ve used pumpernickel and today I used white, wheat, and a small pan of cornbread

5 teaspoons dried sage leaves, or 6 tablespoons of chopped fresh sage leaves

3-4 teaspoons dried thyme leaves, or 3 tablespoons fresh chopped thyme leaves

4-1/2 teaspoons salt

1-1/2 teaspoons pepper

Preheat oven to 325°.

Over medium heat, cook the celery and onion in the butter (add bacon grease if using), stirring frequently, until the vegetables are soft. Stir in about 1/2 to 3/4 of the bread cubes. Keep on low heat while tossing together, getting as much of the bread coated with butter.

Transfer to a very large bowl or roasting pan. Add remaining bread cubes, seasonings, and the cooked sausage with fat. Toss to combine.

Transfer to roasting pan, cover and bake at 325° for 40 minutes. Uncover and bake another 15 minutes.

To use to stuff the turkey, stuff turkey just before roasting.

This stuffing can be assembled and refrigerated a day ahead and baked the day you need it. I actually think it’s better that way.

Happy Thanksgiving!

What kind of stuffing is a tradition at your family celebrations?

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{I Was a Better Than Sex Cake Virgin}

Although the names and variations of this caramel cake are as broad as Pink’s hair color, the dessert has been a family tradition for some people for so long they can’t imagine there are people trying it for the first time. For me, it was only a few years ago. My friend, Caitlin O., shared it with us at work and even though I was “cake reluctant,” I slid my fork in it and with one sticky bite I was hoping not everyone in the department knew we had cake = more for me.

The recipe graces pages of community cookbooks, from fundraisers, employee-submitted, family heritage, etc., but to find Better Than Sex Cake in a church ladies cookbook, you’ll find it under a discreet name like Better Than Anything (or Almost Anything) Cake, Better Than Whatever you Wanna Call It Cake, or Heath Cake.

I know, I know – some of you have been reading my blog long enough to know I don’t like cake. Especially the kind you poke holes in and pour in Jell-O or pudding. But this is different. It’s sweetened condensed milk and caramel. You use your favorite caramel ice cream topping. (Like the butterscotch one I drink from a shot glass when I make Chocolate Explosion Cheesecake.) Are you with me?

Better Than Sex Cake

1 box (13 x 9-inch pan size) German chocolate cake mix, and ingredients to bake the cake

1 can (14-ounce) sweetened condensed milk

1 jar (approximately 17 ounces or so) caramel ice cream topping

1 tub (8-ounce) whipped topping, thawed

1 package (8-ounce) chocolate toffee pieces (I use Hershey’s Heath Milk Chocolate Toffee Bits)

Bake the cake according to package directions.

As soon as the cake is done, pull it out of the oven and poke holes in the cake with the handle of a mixing spoon. (I use a long-handled lemonade-stirring spoon.) Immediately pour the sweetened condensed milk evenly over the cake and repeat with the caramel topping.

Let the cake cool in the refrigerator until completely cool. Top with whipped topping and put back in the fridge. Immediately before serving, generously sprinkle the toffee bits on each slice. Store in the refrigerator.

Plan to share this cake because it’s best within 24 hours.

Will this be your first time eating Better Than Sex Cake? Do you have a different name for it?

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{I’ll have my cake but only eat the middle, chocolate peanut butter layer cake}

Having a love affair with baking means trying new recipes. But by no means does it mean you will like everything you bake. Has this ever happened to you?

You find a recipe that has you dashing to the store to pick up items you don’t keep on hand, (for me that’s whole milk and buttermilk), you spend a few hours in the kitchen gingerly assembling what you think will have you and your family fighting over the last slice, only to take the first bite and remember you don’t really like cake anyway. So what made you think THIS one would be so special?

It happens to the best of us. I chalk it up to “practice makes perfection” in the kitchen. My most recent incident happened with chocolate peanut butter layer cake. I don’t really like cake because I think it’s usually too dry, but this recipe had me at nutty peanut butter mousse layer. As it turns out, that was the only part I liked so I ate it out of the middle and tossed the extra calories in the trash.

If you like cake, peanut butter, and chocolate, there’s a good chance you will savor this extra sweet treat. Click here for Paula Deen’s Lipsmackin’ Chocolate Peanut Butter Layer Cake. The recipe was published in Paula Deen Best Desserts 2009.

I really liked the nutty peanut butter mousse (using creamy peanut butter instead of crunchy), so I may use it as a filling for my heavenly chocolate cupcakes with snow frosting.

Since Jason was crunching on celery while I was digging out the middle of the cake, he spread some of the mousse on his celery. That’s what’s so fun about working in the kitchen, you can go from chocolate layer cake to a new version of ants-on-a-log. And it’s ok, and probably healthier, not to like everything we bake.

Nutty Peanut Butter Mousse

1/2 cup peanut butter morsels

1-1/4 cups heavy whipping cream, divided

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter (the recipe calls for crunchy but I like creamy)

1/4 cup confectioner’s sugar

In a small saucepan over low heat, melt peanut butter morsels and 1/4 cup whipping cream. Stir until mixture is melted and smooth. Stir in peanut butter and let cool.

In a small bowl, beat remaining 1 cup of whipping cream at high speed with an electric mixer until soft peaks form. It works best if you use a glass or metal bowl that you’ve chilled in the freezer along with the beaters. Add the confectioner’s sugar 1 tablespoon at a time, beating until stiff peaks form.

Gently fold the whipped cream into the cooled peanut butter mixture. Cover and chill. Use as filling for cupcakes or celery.

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What’s something you couldn’t wait to bake and it turned out you didn’t enjoy it as much as you thought you would?

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{Key Lime Pie for Two Seasons}

Ah, summer time. That’s when you want to make this chilled, no-bake summer pie. The filling is light and fluffy with the perfect sourness of tart lime. When you bite into the pie, the salty crust balances out the sweetness.

The creamy filling uses lime curd, cream cheese, whipping cream, powdered sugar, lime zest, and lime juice. That’s why it’s great for spring and summer. For fall and winter, my favorite Key Lime pie is the kind you bake with sweetened condensed milk and eggs. Problem is, I can’t find the recipe right now.

A few months ago, I was looking for a Key Lime pie recipe that uses lime curd but I couldn’t find one. Last weekend, I was going through piles of recipes and magazines in my office and found this one in a Midwest Living magazine from June 2005. (It’s not Key Lime, but you can use Key Limes if you want. I’ve never been able to tell the difference anyway.) It’s on my blog and Pinterest board now so I’ll know where to find it next time.

Summer Breeze Lime Pie from Midwest Living 

Now, if I can just find my “winter” Key Lime Pie recipe before November…

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{Once a month beer chili spaghetti}

I’m not sure if I even had cumin in my spice cupboard before I found this recipe for Beer Chili Spaghetti. But now I keep an extra bottle on hand. I talk about this meal often; I seriously crave the spicy spaghetti at least once a month, so I’ve shared the recipe with a few friends. And since I still owe some people the recipe, I’m sharing the link for everyone to enjoy.

Get the recipe for Beer Chili Spaghetti from The Enchanted Cook’s blog. Please note: I do not use 1/2 cup of chili powder as listed in the recipe. I probably only use 1/4 cup at the most, maybe even less. Measure to your liking. For the beer, you can use any dark beer you like, but make sure it’s a dark beer. I also add a few tablespoons of the pasta water to the sauce.

May your bowl be as empty as mine.

 

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{Comfort Food for the Bigfork Construction Crew}

It was a cold and rainy morning when our construction crew arrived for rebuilding day #1. First on their agenda – build us a garage before the sometimes light and fluffy, but usually blinding and brutal, Minnesota snow flies. When I brought the guys warm cinnamon coffee cake straight from the oven, my dad said to them, “You’ll gain 10 pounds working here.” What a great way to be introduced to strangers! I knew we’d picked the right crew when one of the guys commented back, “That’s ok, winter’s almost here!” I just have to be careful not to make them too comfortable or they’ll still be here when the flowers bloom in the spring.

The coffee cake recipe is from Taste of Home. I added a few teaspoons of vanilla to intensify the flavor of the yellow cake, and I didn’t make the icing; not for any particular reason, other than I know the cake is moist and flavorful without it. (You may notice that the recipe on the Taste of Home website says to bake 30-35 minutes but both times I made it this week, I noticed that even in my convection oven, the cake took 45 minutes or so to bake completely.)

The chili is a ”throw in what you like” recipe so you can choose what types of beans and spices you use. This batch, perfect for the slow cooker, makes enough for six hungry guys, one hungry girl, and one serving for later. And because comfort food includes chocolate in my domain, I also made a batch of my Marshmallow Creme Crunch Brownies.

Beginning of rebuilding day #1.

End of rebuilding day #1.

You may be wondering why we are feeding our construction crew. The owner, Lyle Enger, and his crew are from Bigfork, Minnesota which is so many miles from here that they are close to the Canadian border. (As a food blogger, I think it would be awesome to live in a town called Bigfork!) Lyle is a long-time family friend of Jason’s and they know his work well. He owns, and built most of the Maple Ridge Resort on the edge of wilderness in northern Minnesota. (And don’t even get me started on owning a place with the word maple in it. Yum.) The crew is staying in a hotel 10 miles from our house so we felt that the least we could do is feed them lunch each day.  

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Make-it-Your-Way Rainy Day Chili

3 pounds ground beef

1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped

1 (15-ounce) can red beans, drained and rinsed

1 (15-ounce) can chili beans with sauce

2 (15-ounce) cans kidney beans, drained and rinsed

1 (8-ounce) can tomato sauce

1 (46-ounce) can tomato juice

BBQ sauce, approximately 1/4 cup

a few dashes of Worcestershire sauce

a couple tablespoons of prepared yellow mustard

cayenne pepper

salt & pepper

garlic powder

onion powder

ground cumin

hot chili powder

onion salt

1 tablespoon or so of brown sugar

Let’s make the chili!

Season the ground beef with onion salt (to taste) and cook with chopped onion until meat is no longer pink. Drain. Put the beef in the slow cooker and add all the beans and the tomato sauce, BBQ sauce, mustard and Worcestershire (all to taste), stirring to combine. Add the can of tomato juice and then add the spices. This truly is a “make-it-your-way” recipe so add any spices or sauces you like. I’ve also been known to add steak sauce and hot pepper sauce. Stir all the ingredients until well combined. Cook until piping hot. Top with shredded cheese, sour cream, and diced red onions.

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What kinds of beans and spices do you use in your homemade chili?

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