Brown Butter Caramel Snickerdoodles

Ingredients

Snickerdoodle Dough:

• 1 cup (8 ounces, 16 tablespoons) butter (salted)
• 1 1/4 cups (9.25 ounces) light or dark brown sugar
• 1/2 cup (3.75 ounces) granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 3/4 cups (13.75 ounces) all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons cream of tartar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Caramel + Cinnamon/Sugar:

• 18 square or rectangle soft caramels cut in half
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. (see note) Line baking sheets with parchment paper or lightly grease with cooking spray. Set aside.
2. For the browned butter, cut the butter into pieces and add to a stainless skillet or saucepan. Heat on medium-low until the butter melts. Continue cooking, swirling or stirring occasionally; the butter will foam and sizzle as it cooks and golden bits (the butter solids) will settle to the bottom. Cook until the butter has a nutty fragrance and the solids are golden brown. Watch closely; it can burn quickly.
3. Remove from the heat and scrape the butter and all the browned bits into a large bowl. Cool the butter until the texture is thick and sludgy - or at the very least, no longer warm. This cooling step is important so the cookies don't spread while baking!
4. Add the brown sugar, granulated sugar, eggs and vanilla and mix until well combined.
5. Add the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, cinnamon and salt, and stir until evenly mixed.
6. In a bowl or shallow dish, whisk together the 1/4 cup sugar and 1 teaspoon cinnamon.
7. Scoop out two tablespoons of dough (I use a #40 cookie scoop) for each cookie, flatten into discs, place half a caramel in the center of each, roll up the dough around the caramel and roll the balls until smooth.
8. Roll in the cinnamon and sugar mixture and place the cookie dough balls a couple inches apart on the prepared baking sheets.
9. Bake for 9-11 minutes until flattened and a few cracks form in the top (see note if your cookies are flattening or NOT flattening while baking).

Notes

Caramels: the caramels I use from Trader Joe's are .35 oz/10 gr each and are 1 1/2 inches X 1/2 inch. I cut them in half and use a half for each cookie.

Baking Temp: These cookies are on the thinner side, but they shouldn't flatten and melt all over the pan. To help them hold their shape a) bake on convection bake at 325 degrees OR b) bake on normal bake at 375 degrees (the only exception to this is if you already know your oven bakes hot; if so, bake at 350 degrees F). Conversely, if your cookies are staying puffy while baking, decrease the oven temp by 25 degrees. 

 

Recipe and Picture from Mel's Kitchen Cafe

 

Sticky Coconut Chicken

 Ingredients

• 6-8 boneless, skinless chicken thighs, breasts or tenders (about 1 1/2 to 2 pounds)
  
  
  

Marinade:

• 1 cup canned coconut milk, light or regular
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger or ginger paste (see note)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt (I use coarse, kosher salt)
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper (I use coarsely ground)
• 1/4 to 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes (see note)

Glaze (see note about doubling):

• 3/4 cup rice vinegar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 to 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Instructions

1. Whisk together the marinade ingredients (or blend until smooth).
2. Pour the marinade over the chicken, tossing to coat evenly. Cover and refrigerate at least one hour or up to eight hours (any longer and the texture of the chicken can soften and get a little mushy).
3. Toward the end of marinading time, bring the vinegar, sugar, soy sauce and red pepper flakes to a boil over medium heat. Simmer vigorously until the mixture is reduced by about half and is slightly thickened, about 10-15 minutes. Remove from the heat. If it doesn't seem to be thickening, just keep an eye on the reduction level, and keep in mind that it may still look a bit thin on the stove but will thicken as it cools.
4. Grill the chicken over medium heat (or bake in the oven at 375 degrees on a greased, foil-lined pan), 4-5 minutes per side. The exact time will depend on type of chicken and thickness of the pieces - chicken thighs will take longer to cook than chicken breasts.
5. The last few minutes of grilling or baking, brush the chicken with the glaze (repeat if you want a thicker coating). Serve with leftover glaze and rice, if desired.

Notes

Coconut Rice: I often use the leftover coconut milk from the can for a modified coconut rice recipe (cook 1 cup of long grain basmati or jasmine rice with 2 cups liquid - a combination of broth or water and the leftover coconut milk + a pinch of salt).

Ginger: ginger paste OR fresh ginger works great in this recipe. Fresh ginger is super easy to work with. I buy a knob, cut it into 1-inch pieces, store in a freezer ziploc in the freezer. When I want to use it, I pull a piece out of the bag and grate it frozen on the small holes of a box grater or on a rasp grater/zester. No need to peel the ginger!

Red Pepper: a full teaspoon of red pepper flakes will give a bit of heat to this recipe. I use between 1/4 and 1/2 teaspoon for a more family-friendly vibe (but it's delicious with the full teaspoon).

Glaze: I almost always double the glaze or at least 1 1/2 the recipe because we like to drizzle leftover glaze over the rice and chicken. A single batch will be fine just for glazing, but you might consider increasing the amount if you want leftover for drizzling.

Vinegar: the mild flavor of rice vinegar is perfect for this dish; I haven't tried subbing in another type of vinegar, but you could experiment.

 Recipe and picture from Mel's Kitchen Cafe

BYU Mint Brownies

 Brownies:

1³⁄₄ cup flour

2 cups white sugar

1 cup melted butter

4 eggs

¹⁄₂ cup cocoa

2 tablespoons honey

¹⁄₂ tablespoon baking powder

¹⁄₂ teaspoon salt

Mix melted butter and cocoa with whisk. Stir in flour, white sugar, eggs, honey, baking powder and salt. Grease rectangular metal cake pan, line with parchment paper and grease again. Spread batter in prepared pan. Bake at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes. Let cool.

Mint icing:

2¹⁄₃ cups powdered sugar

5 tablespoons softened butter

3 tablespoons milk

1 tablespoon light corn syrup

1 dash salt

¹⁄₄-¹⁄₂ teaspoon mint extract

4-5 drops green (or blue) food coloring

Mix softened butter, light corn syrup and salt with hand mixer. Mix in powdered sugar. Mix in milk slowly until consistency is a little thinner than normal frosting. Scrape bowl, add mint extract and food coloring, and mix. Spread mint icing on brownies with offset spatula. Chill in freezer for 10-15 minutes to set icing.

Chocolate frosting:

4-4¹⁄₂ cups powdered sugar

8 tablespoons melted butter

¹⁄₄ cup milk

6 tablespoons cocoa

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Mix melted butter and cocoa with hand mixer. Mix in milk and vanilla extract. Add powdered sugar slowly and mix on low. Add more milk as needed. Spread chocolate frosting on iced brownies with offset spatula. Lift brownies out of pan using sides of parchment paper lining. Cut and serve.

Monster Cookies

3 Eggs

1 Cup plus 2 TBS brown sugar

1 Cup white sugar

3/4 tsp vanilla

1 TBS light corn syrup

2 tsp soda

1/2 Cup butter

1 1/2 Cups peanut butter

4 1/2 Cups oats

8 oz chocolate chips

8 oz M & M's

Mix ingredients in order given.   Drop by teaspoon onto cookie sheet.  Bake at 350 for 8 minutes.  Do not overbake.  

Hillary's Cookies

 

1 1/2 Cups flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1 Cup shortening

1/2 Cup sugar

1 Cup brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla

2 eggs

2 Cups oatmeal

12 oz. package chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350.  Combine flour, salt and baking soda.  Beat together shortening, sugars and vanilla until creamy.  Add eggs, beating until light an fluffy.  Gradually beat in flour mixture and oats.  Stir in chocolate chips.  Drop batter by well rounded teaspoonfuls onto cookie sheet.  Bake 8-10 minutes until cookies are done.

 

Seasoned Taco Meat

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Ingredients

• 3 pounds ground beef
• 2 large onions, chopped
• 2 cups water
• 5 tablespoons chili powder
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 3/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

Directions

• 1. In a large cast-iron skillet or Dutch oven, cook beef and onion over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain. Add water and seasonings. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, until the water is evaporated, about 15 minutes.

Pasta Salad

Ingredients

• 1 package (12 ounces) tricolor spiral pasta
• 4 cups fresh broccoli florets
• 1 pint grape tomatoes
• 1 can (6 ounces) pitted ripe olives, drained
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• 1/2 Cup sliced red onion if desired
• 1-1/2 cups Italian salad dressing 
• 1/2 Cup shredded Parmesan Cheese

Directions

• Cook pasta according to package directions, adding the broccoli during the last 2 minutes of cooking. Drain and rinse in cold water.
• Transfer to a large bowl. Add the tomatoes, olives, salt and pepper. Drizzle with salad dressing; toss to coat. Chill until serving.