Double Chocolate Chip Cookies

I shop at Costco on a regular basis, especially with a family of seven to feed.  The thought of being a mother to five children surprises me whenever I have it.  Back to my story, on occasion I bring my friend Whitney and her daughter with us to Costco.  We went to her home after Costco, and she shared the most delicious butterscotch cookies.  You might be asking yourself why I'm telling you about butterscotch cookies when clearly the title of the post is double chocolate cookies.  I used Whitney's recipe is a wonderful base recipe to add any sort of chips.  The double chocolate is actually white and milk chocolate chips in these cookies.  You can do what I did and add whatever chips you would like, semi-sweet, white, butterscotch, the choices are yours.

I have tried a multitude of chocolate chip cookies, these are the best chocolate chip cookies I have ever made.

Ingredients

1 1/2  cup Butter 

1 1/2 cups White Sugar

2 cups Brown Sugar

3 Large Eggs

2 tablespoon Vanilla Extract

1 1/2 teaspoon Sea Salt

1 1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda

4-6 cups Flour

1 1/2 cups Milk Chocolate Chips

1 1/2 cups White Chocolate Chips

Preheat oven to 350 Fahrenheit

 Combine baking soda, salt, sugars, and butter in mixing bowl.  Mix with a whisk until combined.

 Fluffy sugar, this is known as creaming the butter and sugars.  Mix until the sugar is noticeably lighter in color.

Crack eggs into bowl and whisk until combined, add vanilla and whisk to combine.

 Add flour starting with 4 cups or more depending on the consistancy and whisk on low until combined.  Flour helps give cookies structure, to little creates flat cookies and too much creates dry cookies.

 Add chocolate chips and whisk on low until combined.

 Using either a cookie scoop or a spoon create 1 1/2 inch balls of cookie dough.  Place cookie dough on ungrossed cookie sheet, leave room between balls to allow them to spread.

Bake cookies for 7-10 minutes.

You will have A LOT of cookies, really you will if you make this cookie dough.

Enjoy!

Double Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

1 1/2  cup Butter 

1 1/2 cups White Sugar

2 cups Brown Sugar

3 Large Eggs

2 tablespoon Vanilla Extract

1 1/2 teaspoon Sea Salt

1 1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda

4-6 cups Flour

1 1/2 cups Milk Chocolate Chips

1 1/2 cups White Chocolate Chips

Process:

Preheat oven to 350 Fahrenheit

Combine baking soda, salt, sugars, and butter in mixing bowl.  Mix with a whisk until combined.  Mix until the sugar is noticeably lighter in color.

Crack eggs into bowl and whisk until combined, add vanilla and whisk to combine.

Add flour starting with 4 cups or more depending on the consistancy and whisk on low until combined.  Flour helps give cookies structure, to little creates flat cookies and too much creates dry cookies.

Add chocolate chips and whisk on low until combined.

Using either a cookie scoop or a spoon create 1 1/2 inch balls of cookie dough.  Place cookie dough on ungrossed cookie sheet, leave room between balls to allow them to spread.

Bake cookies for 7-10 minutes.

Enjoy!

Swiss Steak

Back in January Julia Xanthos from the NY Daily News came to our home.  Julia had found this blog/website and was asking if I had a recipe I would share in a food feature.  With my three daughter's we shared the process of making Swiss Steak and Julia filmed us.  She asked a lot of questions for her article and took photos of the recipe process as well.  Today my recipe was featured on EthNYC Eats, isn't that so cool!  Maybe being the mom of five children makes my recipe an especially good choice for Mother's Day.  Who knows why my recipe was chosen, but the video turned out really well.  If you get a chance check out my recipe here.   The video is below as well.

Spring Salad Balsamic Vinaigrette

For my son's 5th birthday in December last year, I made a salad to go with the homemade pizza.  The salad was sort of like a salad my sister-in-law Kandi made for family holiday dinner's.  Our friend Carmen asked me for the recipe.  I told her I would be posting it, and here we are months later.  I'm sorry Carmen, this took way too long to post.  This salad even won over her husband Tom, go figure! If you happen to be like my friend Angela, and love salads, then this is for you. 

 If you like salad, and your into everything in your salad, this will fit the bill nicely.

Brown Sugar Pecans Ingredients

1 cup raw Pecans

3 tablespoons Butter

1/2 brown Sugar

 Place a medium size skillet over medium heat.  Add butter to pan and allow to melt.

 Add brown sugar to butter and stir.

 Allow butter and sugar to melt and bubble.

 Place pecans in pan with melted sugar.

Stir pecans until coated and shining.  Allow to cook for a couple of minutes.
Be careful they will burn.

Pour pecans on a piece of parchment paper on the counter to cool.  Break up when cool.

Balsamic Vinaigrette Ingredients

2 tablespoons Honey 
1 tablespoon Spicy Brown Mustard 
1/2 teaspoon Sea Salt 
1/2 teaspoon freshly crushed Black Pepper
1 large crushed Garlic Clove
1/4 cup Balsamic Vinegar 
3/4 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil

 Place all ingredients in a pint size mason jar with lid and ring screwed on.
Shake the jar to combine.

Spring Salad Balsamic Vinaigrette Ingredients

Brown Sugar Pecans
Balsamic Vinaigrette
Spring Salad Greens
1/2 cup dried Cranberries
1/4 cup Feta

Rinse and dry spring salad and place in a large bowl.  Add pecans, cranberries,
and crumbled feta.  Toss with Balsamic Vinaigrette.   Add as much you prefer.

Serve with pizza or any other entree.  

Enjoy!

Brown Sugar Pecans Ingredients

1 cup raw Pecans

3 tablespoons Butter

1/2 brown Sugar

Process

Place a medium size skillet over medium heat.  Add butter to pan and allow to melt.

Add brown sugar to butter and stir.

Allow butter and sugar to melt and bubble.

Place pecans in pan with melted sugar.

Stir pecans until coated and shining.  Allow to cook for a couple of minutes.  Be careful they will burn.

Pour pecans on a piece of parchment paper on the counter to cool.  Break up when cool.

Balsamic Vinaigrette Ingredients

2 tablespoons Honey 
1 tablespoon Spicy Brown Mustard 
1/2 teaspoon Sea Salt 
1/2 teaspoon freshly crushed Black Pepper
1 large crushed Garlic Clove
1/4 cup Balsamic Vinegar 
3/4 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Process

Place all ingredients in a pint size mason jar with lid and ring screwed on.  Shake the jar to combine.

Spring Salad Balsamic Vinaigrette Ingredients

Brown Sugar Pecans
Balsamic Vinaigrette
Spring Salad Greens
1/2 cup dried Cranberries
1/4 cup Feta

Rinse and dry spring salad and place in a large bowl.  Add pecans, cranberries, and crumbled feta.

Toss with Balsamic Vinaigrette, add as much you prefer. Serve with favorite entree.

Enjoy!

Chili Macaroni & Cheese

We have been really busy, my family moved to another apartment here in Queens.  Moving is a huge undertaking here in NYC and add a baby and it becomes almost impossible without a lot of help.  I apologize for not posting sooner, but cooking is difficult when your kitchen is being packed or still being unpacked.  I made this recipe before we moved thankfully, but the pictures were on my external hardrive and so I had to get our computer set up and working before I could find them.  Did I mention my baby is super cute and likes to take 5 minute power naps?  Yes she isn't very helpful in my attempts to get anything done.  Without further ado, here is my recipe.

My dad makes something similar to hamburger helper without the box from the helper. He used a special blend of spices and herbs to flavor it (aka Lawry's Spaghetti Mix). My husband even liked it, I don't use dried flavor mixes very often, so I wanted to try to make my own version. This is a spicier version of my dad's hamburger helper, it even passes the husband and children test. This particular recipe does depend on a certain chorizo that is awesome. Yes my secret ingredient to this extremely simple recipe is chorizo. Sort of a chorizo flavored sausage, not really the typical dried chorizo.  You could make this recipe with ground beef and bypass the chorizo altogether, I wouldn't be offended I promise.

Cheese and just the right amount of spice and pasta, such a wonderful comfort food.

Ingredients:

3/4 lb. Elbow Macaroni
2 cups Crushed Tomatoes
1 lb. Chorizo Sausage (ground beef nay be substituted)
1/2 lb. Monterey Jack Cheese
Kosher Salt

The chorizo I use is a flavored sausage.  It isn't a dried chorizo.  This chorizo is the best!
Remove chorizo from the casing and brown in a large skillet. 

Beautiful browned chorizo, if you could smell this you would, well anyway, it is really yummy.

Pour the crushed tomatoes onto the chorizo and cook on medium heat until it boils.
 Reduce heat to low and simmer the sauce.

Bring a large stockpot full of water to boil over high heat and sprinkle with salt.  Start this
process just before cooking the chorizo.  Boil macaroni according to package instructions.
 I cooked the full pound of macaroni.  My sons are very picky eaters, who will only eat
buttered macaroni, so I separated the pasta accordingly after it was cooked.

Drain the macaroni.

Add macaroni and grated cheese to sauce.  Stir and cook over medium heat until cheese melts.

Serve in a big bowl, and 

Enjoy!

Chili Macaroni & Cheese

Ingredients:

3/4 lb. Elbow Macaroni
2 cups Crushed Tomatoes
1 lb. Chorizo Sausage (ground beef nay be substituted)
1/2 lb. Monterey Jack Cheese
Kosher Salt

Process:

Remove chorizo from the casing and brown in a large skillet. 

Pour the crushed tomatoes onto the chorizo and cook on medium heat until it boils.  Reduce heat to low and simmer the sauce.

Bring a large stockpot full of water to boil over high heat and sprinkle with salt.  Start this process just before cooking the chorizo.

Boil macaroni according to package instructions.

Drain the macaroni.

Add macaroni and grated cheese to sauce.  Stir and cook over medium heat until cheese melts.

Serve in a big bowl.

Enjoy!

Cranberry Turkey Pizza

Remember that cranberry sauce you made for Thanksgiving ages ago and didn't eat all of it?  Oh, you ate it all?  Well we had some and I thought it would make a delicious barbecue sauce.  My recipes almost always have destiny.  This particular recipe is destined for a turkey and cheese pizza.  Yep I was reinventing Thanksgiving dinner as a pizza.  Anyway, you don't have to try my idea, but if you do, I think you'll like this new spin on a Thanksgiving pizza.  

Pizza is our Friday tradition, and this was a great addition to our traditional pepperoni. 

Cranberry barbecue sauce, the secret sauce of the delicous cranberry turkey pizza.

Cranberry Barbecue Sauce Ingredients:

1 cup Cranberry Sauce
1/2 cup Brown Sugar
1 cup Orange Juice
1 tablespoon Spicy Brown Mustard
1 tablespoon Worcesthershire Sauce

Place all ingredients in blender and blend until smooth.

Pour sauce into small saucepan and boil over medium heat and reduce heat to low
and simmer until thickened about 10 minutes.

Remove sauce from sauce pan and pour into lidded container, I used a pint sized Mason Jar.

Refrigerate remaining unused sauce.

Cranberry Turkey Pizza Ingredients:

Cranberry Barbecue Sauce
4 Slices Turkey Breast (sliced into strips)
2 cups Sharp Cheddar Cheese (grated)
Pizza Dough

Preheat oven to 500 Farhenheit for atleast a half hour after the oven has reached temperature.

Roll out pizza dough to 12 inch wide thin circle.  Spread a thin layer of sauce.

Add all the cheese, then the turkey and finally drizzle some more sauce on the pizza.

Bake pizza on the bottom of the oven for 5-8 minutes, until golden brown around the edges
and underneath.  Rest for three minutes before slicing, this allows the cheese to cool
enough to cut and become slightly solid.

Enjoy!

Cranberry Turkey Pizza

Cranberry Barbecue Sauce Ingredients:

1 cup Cranberry Sauce
1/2 cup Brown Sugar
1 cup Orange Juice
1 tablespoon Spicy Brown Mustard
1 tablespoon Worcesthershire Sauce

Process:

Place all ingredients in blender and blend until smooth.

Pour sauce into small saucepan and boil over medium heat and reduce heat to low and simmer until thickened about 10 minutes.

Remove sauce from sauce pana and pour into lidded container, I used a pint sized Mason Jar.

Refrigerate remaining unused sauce.

Cranberry Turkey Pizza Ingredients:

Cranberry Barbecue Sauce
4 Slices Turkey Breast (sliced into strips)
2 cups Sharp Cheddar Cheese (grated)
Pizza Dough

Process:

Preheat oven to 500 Farhenheit for atleast a half hour after the oven has reached temperature.

Roll out pizza dough to 12 inch wide thin circle.  Spread a thin layer of sauce.

Add all the cheese, then the turkey and finally drizzle some more sauce on the pizza.

Bake pizza on the bottom of the oven for 5-8 minutes, until golden brown around the edges and underneath.  Rest for three minutes before slicing, this allows the cheese to cool enough to cut and become slightly solid.

Enjoy!

Frikadellers

Two days after my last post, I went into labor and baby Gwendolyn was born on December 8.  She has been taking all of my time.  Maybe an apology is in order for not posting sooner, but she is so cute, and I'm kind of tired.  My mom made frikadellers when I was a kid, little meatballs in a sweet sauce. Traditional frikadellers are a Danish pork/veal meatball in brown gravy.  Now my mom's version is different.  I asked about the history and she said my grandmother made them with a sweet sauce and found the recipe and used it because it was Danish. My mom is the youngest of three daughters, so I decided to ask her older sisters about the recipe. The middle daughter, Julene, responded to my request and told me the history of the recipe.  My Aunt Julene's husband worked for Hunt-Wesson, and the company had a campaign promoting Hunt's Ketchup and a frikedeller recipe was created and shared.  My uncle Val changed the recipe to include apple sauce, which is the sweet element in the sauce.  This recipe is a family favorite thanks to my Uncle Val.  My fikedellers are a little different from frikedellers that my family grew up eating.

 Tender meatballs with a sweet tangy sauce, reminds me of my mom and childhood.

Ingredients:

1/3 lb. ground Veal
1/3 lb. ground Pork
1/3 lb. ground Beef
3 large Honeycrisp Apples
1 Yellow Onion
1 Egg
3 Slices of Bread
1/2 cup Ketchup
1/4 teaspoon Nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon Sea Salt
1/2 teaspoon Freshly Ground Black Pepper
1/2 cup Brown Sugar
Olive Oil

Wash, core and cut apples into big chunks.  Place in pressure cooker with 1/4 cup
ketchup and brown sugar.

Cook on high for 8 minutes.

Puree apple mixture with an immersion blender.

Chop onion in blender.  Remove from blender and put in a mixing bowl.  Chop bread
in blender.  Remove crumbs to bowl with the onions. 

Mix onion, bread crumbs, meat, salt, pepper, egg, and nutmeg together.

Heat 1/4 inch of Olive Oil in 12 inch skillet over medium heat.

Form meat into 1 inch balls and cook in skillet until browned on all sides.

Pour apple tomato sauce on frikadellers.  Cover pan with lid and cook for 8 minutes.

Enjoy!

Frikadellers

Ingredients:

1/3 lb. ground Veal
1/3 lb. ground Pork
1/3 lb. ground Beef
3 large Honeycrisp Apples
1 Yellow Onion
1 Egg
3 Slices of Bread
1/2 cup Ketchup
1/4 teaspoon Nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon Sea Salt
1/2 teaspoon Freshly Ground Black Pepper
1/2 cup Brown Sugar
Olive Oil

Process:

Wash, core and cut apples into big chunks.  Place in pressure cooker with 1/4 cup ketchup and brown sugar.

Cook on high for 8 minutes.

Chop onion in blender, remove from blender and put in a mixing bowl.  Chop bread in blender, remove crumbs to bowl with the onions. 

Mix onion, bread crumbs, meat, salt, pepper, egg, and nutmeg together.

Heat 1/4 inch of Olive Oil in 12 inch skillet over medium heat.

Form meat into 1 inch balls and cook in skillet until browned on all sides.

Pour apple tomato sauce on frikadellers.  Cover pan with lid and cook for 8 minutes.

Enjoy!

Baked Mini Pumpkin Donuts

I ordered mini donut pans recently, oh my goodness they are so little and cute.  Today we used them, my friend Whitney and I made pumpkin donuts.  We had pumpkin puree I had made recently was perfect for donuts.  These donuts are small and a perfect Fall treat for fingers to hold onto and eat.

Small little bites of sugar, spice, and pumpkin!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup melted Coconut Oil
3 large Eggs
1 1/2 cups Granulated Sugar
1 1/2 cups Pumpkin Purée (canned pumpkin can be substituted)
3/4 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon 
1/4 teaspoon Ground Nutmeg 
1/4 teaspoon Ground Ginger
1 1/2 teaspoons Salt
1 1/2 teaspoons Baking Powder
1 3/4 cup All Purpose flour

Preheat oven to 350 Farhenheit.

Mix all ingredients together in a medium bowl with a whisk until combined.  Do not over mix.

Pour batter into a zip top bag.  Spray donut pans with non-stick spray.

Cut corner of the bag and squeeze batter into donut pan 3/4 full.

Bake for ten minutes.

Fill zip top bag with cinnamon and sugar, place donuts in bag and coat in cinnamon sugar.

Enjoy!

Baked Mini Pumpkin Donuts

Ingredients:

1/2 cup melted Coconut Oil
3 large Eggs
1 1/2 cups Granulated Sugar
1 1/2 cups Pumpkin Purée (canned pumpkin can be substituted)
3/4 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon 

1/4 teaspoon Ground Nutmeg 

1/4 teaspoon Ground Ginger
1 1/2 teaspoons Salt
1 1/2 teaspoons Baking Powder

1 3/4 cup All Purpose flour

Process:

Preheat oven to 350 Farhenheit.

Mix all ingredients together in a medium bowl with a whisk until combined, do not over mix.

Pour batter into a zip top bag, spray donut pans with non-stick spray.

Cut corner of the bag and squeeze batter into donut pan 3/4 full.

Bake for ten minutes.

Fill zip top bag with cinnamon and sugar, place donuts in bag and coat in cinnamon sugar.

Enjoy!