The Cookie Tree

Since I am visiting with my husband on a job site in Northern California for a few weeks, I thought I would explore the surrounding area and some of the food that can be found here. A friend of mine in New York City writes constantly about getting cupcakes and such from various bakeries throughout the city. I thought this would be a great place to begin my explorations. I did a quick Google search and found the Cookie Tree. It is a place that has served Yuba City and the surrounding areas for twenty-six years. Their website (http://www.cookietree.net/) is simple and the cookies looked promising. The reviews for the place were glowing. The new location is in the heart of downtown Yuba City. The whole area has recently been remodeled and I was very glad to see that the businesses there were open and there were many people shopping. When we were here last time, about a year or so ago, downtown was very quiet and most of the businesses were closed because of the construction blocking the roads and sidewalks.

I stopped at Mr. Pickle Sandwiches for a bite of lunch before heading to the Cookie Tree right around the corner (Delicious turkey, cheese, salami, and ham sandwich on sourdough bread BTW). The Cookie Tree looks clean and smells like you would expect when you walk in, like fresh baked cookies. I walked around the case to where their cupcakes were. They were very pretty but they only had a few regular flavored ones there that day (vanilla, chocolate, cherry). I decided to get a dozen cookies. They have a very large selection of cookies ranging from regular chocolate chip to oatmeal chocolate chip to the Rascal – a peanut butter and chocolate swirled cookie. I chose just about one of every cookie except the ones with walnuts because, well, I don’t like walnuts They were out of menus for the day but their website has a list of all the flavors they have each day.
I ended up getting:
Molasses (One of the Specials of the Day):

Oatmeal Cranberry White Chocolate:

White Chocolate Macadamia Nut (one of the Specials of the Day):

Snickerdoodle:

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip:

Coconut Oatmeal (Not on the menu):

Butterscotch Oatmeal (Not on the menu):

Black and White (One of the Specials of the day):

Rascal:

Chocolate Crackle:

The whole box:

So far we have tried the White Chocolate Chip Macadamia cookie which my husband said tasted a little off. I tried to get him to tell me what that meant but he said he didn’t know and that it was just different. He said maybe it was a little old or something. I tasted the chocolate chip cookie, chocolate crackle cookie, butterscotch oatmeal cookie, and the black and white. I thought all three were very good. They were slightly under baked, which I like. When I worked for the bakery in NJ, I learned that this helps the cookies stay softer for longer as well. The chocolate crackle cookie is like eating a delicious brownie with a crunchy exterior. The butterscotch cookie tasted like my favorite flavor of oatmeal, cinnamon roll. I have enjoyed the cookies I have tried so far and will definitely get more next time we are up here.

Failed Lasagna, Awesome Brownies

So, I decided that I wanted to try this lasagna recipe that looked amazing in photos and in theory. It turned out to be not so awesome, even though it looked exactly like the pics from the website. A little word to the wise: Just use cheese. Beschamel sauce is shitty and makes the entire lasagna taste like cooked milk (think pudding without the sweetness from flavorings)
The recipe can be found here (maybe you can try it and it will come out better?): Mediterranean Greek Vegetarian Lasagna

Pictures!

Really good greek salad!

I made the brownies before I made the Lasagna but I wanted to get that abomination out of the way in the beginning of the post. These have to be some of the best brownies ever and I totally overcooked them. I used my brownie pan that has the insert but its only an 8×8 pan and the recipe called for a 9×13 pan. I ended up overcooking the outside brownies while the insides were still a bit raw. They still taste awesome though. I could not find any instant espresso powder so I got some instant coffee instead. It worked the way it was supposed to and the brownies tasted rich and delicious. These brownies were recommended by a Shacker (multisync)and his girlfriend, who writes a fantastic food blog called Amy Blogs Chow I had promised them I would make the brownies this past weekend and just never got around to it. I was so happy that I made them last night because after that failed lasagna, I needed the pick-me-up that only chocolate can provide The recipe originally came from BAKED in Brooklyn, NY (BakedNYC.com) and the recipe can be found HERE.

Pictures!

My webcam setup while waiting for the chocolate to melt

So the brownies and salad came out awesome but the lasagna was an EPIC FAIL. I hate when that happens I don’t know what to do with all this leftover lasagna. I don’t want to give it to anyone because it’s so bad.

Christmas Cookies: Round 2!

I baked some Christmas cookies to send to the East Coast of the US today where my friends and family live. If anyone wants the recipes, I can post them but they all have been posted here before except the chocolate peppermint pinwheels.
Those are just a modification of Alton Brown’s sugar cookie recipe my brother found on the food network website. They are awesome too!

Oatmeal Craisin:

Snickerdoodle + Caramel Filled Hershey Kiss sugar cookies:

Snickerdoodles:

Caramel Filled Hershey Kiss Sugar cookies:

The Best Ever Chocolate Chip:

Chocolate Peppermint Pinwheel:

Graham Crackers:

All the pics start here: http://picasaweb.google.com/dragon0207/BakedStuffs#5415343569447580098 and end at the end of the album.

MrsWok’s stuffed mushrooms

8 large portabello or large field mushrooms
8 slices of bacon
1/2 red pepper
4 spring onions
100g (3.5oz) cream cheese
handful of dried breadcrumbs
shredded cheese to put on top

Take the stalks out of the mushrooms. Chop the bacon/pepper/spring onions/stalks finely and fry it off until onion/pepper is softened. Put the cooked stuffing mix a bowl and mix with cream cheese and bread crumbs.
Spoon mix into mushrooms, sprinkle with shredded cheese and bake for 15 minutes or until cheese is golden. I had the oven at 350F.

Obviously, I cut this recipe way down for the one I made tonight. I only did 2 mushrooms. I add a clove of garlic and some salt and pepper to my mixture as well. I didn’t have any bacon in the house so I just used butter and a little olive oil. I also added like 1/2 tsp Balsamic vinegar to the mixture as well because I like the way it tastes with the mushrooms. I used half a 3oz package of cream cheese for 2 mushrooms. These are photos I got of the last time I made them – with the bacon!

First Christmas Cookies

These are my first christmas cookies of the season! Alton Brown’s sugar cookies. They are actually very very delicious. Probably the best sugar cookies I have ever made. I didn’t make his royal icing but I had Pillsbury vanilla frosting in the spray can that I used for decorating plus a bunch of different colored sprinkles. Enjoy!

Sugar Cookies

Recipe courtesy: Alton Brown
Prep Time: 15 min
Inactive Prep Time: 2 hr 0 min
Cook Time: 9 min
Level: Easy
Serves: about 3 dozen-2 1/2 inch

Ingredients
* 3 cups all-purpose flour
* 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
* 1 cup sugar
* 1 egg, beaten
* 1 tablespoon milk
* Powdered sugar, for rolling out dough

Directions:
Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. Place butter and sugar in large bowl of electric stand mixer and beat until light in color. Add egg and milk and beat to combine. Put mixer on low speed, gradually add flour, and beat until mixture pulls away from the side of the bowl. Divide the dough in half, wrap in waxed paper, and refrigerate for 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Sprinkle surface where you will roll out dough with powdered sugar. Remove 1 wrapped pack of dough from refrigerator at a time, sprinkle rolling pin with powdered sugar, and roll out dough to 1/4-inch thick. Move the dough around and check underneath frequently to make sure it is not sticking. If dough has warmed during rolling, place cold cookie sheet on top for 10 minutes to chill. Cut into desired shape, place at least 1-inch apart on greased baking sheet, parchment, or silicone baking mat, and bake for 7 to 9 minutes or until cookies are just beginning to turn brown around the edges, rotating cookie sheet halfway through baking time. Let sit on baking sheet for 2 minutes after removal from oven and then move to complete cooling on wire rack. Serve as is or ice as desired. Store in airtight container for up to 1 week.
© 2009 Scripps Networks, LLC. All Rights Reserved

Baking is fun

So I decided to bake a whole bunch of things today. I needed to practice the dinner rolls for thanksgiving to see if I should make them from scratch or just get the ones from the frozen department of the store. I also put together a pecan pie, from scratch as well as cranberry scones! Everything came out awesome so far. I have to remember that when I put something on the bottom rack of the oven, it tends to burn the bottom of whatever it is I am baking. The recipe for the scones is up first since I have made it twice now. The first time I made it, I added fresh blueberries. The scones ended up deflating and spreading instead of puffing up like they were supposed to. This time, I used craisins and they ended up coming out PERFECT. I am VERY proud of these.

Scones
Recipe courtesy Alton Brown
Prep Time:
15 min
Cook Time:
15 min
Level:
Easy
Serves:
1 dozen

Ingredients

* 2 cups flour
* 4 teaspoons baking powder
* 3/4 teaspoon salt
* 1/3 cup sugar
* 4 tablespoons butter
* 2 tablespoons shortening
* 3/4 cup cream
* 1 egg
* Handful dried currants or dried cranberries

Directions

Heat oven to 375 degrees.

In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Mix well. Cut in butter and shortening. In a separate bowl, combine cream with beaten egg then add to dry ingredients. Stir in fruit. Turn dough out onto a floured surface. Roll dough out and cut into biscuit size rounds. Bake for 15 minutes or until brown.

For this one, I followed the recipe exactly as written. I try not to deviate from things that I have never made before.

I also made a pecan pie for the very first time. It looks amazing but I haven’t tasted it yet.

Ingredients:
3 eggs
1 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 cup corn syrup

2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups pecans
1 (9 inch) unbaked pie shell [I mixed up a batch of my Great Grandmother's pie crust]

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Place pie shell in a 9 inch pie pan.
2. In a medium bowl, gently beat eggs. Stir in sugar and flour, then the syrup, butter and vanilla. Fold in pecans. Pour mixture into pie shell. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes; knife inserted in center of pie should come out clean.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © 2009 Allrecipes.com

I made some dinner rolls from The Bread Baker’s Apprentice book that Bean recommended to me but they have just gone into the oven. I am hoping that they will work for Monkey bread. My mother in law loves Monkey Bread. Not sweet, but savory. I made something up with frozen bread rolls last year and I wanted to see if making them from scratch will be worth it.

Here they are rising for the last time.

Finished baking:

Bean’s Texas Chili

I am going to post a friend of mine’s Texas chili. Most of you know Bean from Shacknews. I made the chili following his recipe as exactly as I could. I don’t know if it is right yet because I am still simmering it! I also have pictures of each phase (except Phase 1). Maybe he can tell me if it looks the same as his!

UPDATE: This is the best chili I have ever had. I can’t wait to make it again. We invited my BIL and his gf to eat with us and they said the same thing. Thank you Bean!!

Bean’s Texas Chili
(Has no beans, because beans in chili are like little cancer pellets full of Super AIDS)

for Morgin and Vantage

PHASE 1
- 2 TBsp olive oil
- 2 medium yellow onions (sweet), diced
- 5 cloves garlic, minced

PHASE 2
- 3 lbs meat, cut into 3/4″ to 1″ cubes or ground (Can be whatever. I usually mix beef tri tip or skirt steak, pork loin, and hot italian sausage)

PHASE 3
- 4 roma tomatoes, peeled and diced
- 1/2 cup tomato paste (one of those little cans)
- 1 tsp black pepper, freshly ground
- 2 TBsp chili powder
- 1 tsp cumin, ground
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt

PHASE 4
- 3/4 cup dark beer (Shiner Bock is “traditional” down here)
- 3/4 cup beef stock (broth is fine too)
- 2 TBsp apple cider vinegar

PHASE 5
- 1/4 cup fresh parsley, minced
- 1/4 cup fresh oregano, minced
- 1/2 tsp pequin pepper (or cayenne if you can’t find pequin)
- pinch freshly grated nutmeg

PHASE 6
- salt and pepper to taste

STEPS
(Use a wooden spoon to stir throughout this process for the authentic Texan experience)

1. Put PHASE 1 ingredients in a large (6-quart or larger) enameled cast iron dutch oven, or other large cooking vessel that can hold heat evenly for a decent length of time, and turn the heat to medium-low. Start cold and allow the oil to come to heat (you will start to hear sizzling), and then simmer for about 5 minutes until the onions become translucent and the garlic is fragrant.

2. Turn the heat up to medium-high and add PHASE 2 ingredients in small batches so that you brown all the meat effectively. Take your time, you are making flavor here (do not worry about cooking the meat through, that happens on the long simmer, just get brown). Get that meat nice and brown all over the outside. About 10 minutes, depending on how much surface area you have in your dutch oven.

3. Reduce the heat to medium and add PHASE 3 ingredients and stir it all up. You want to mix together all the spices, get them all over the meat, brown the tomato paste, release the essential oils, and all sorts of good stuff. Your kitchen should be smelling AWESOME at this point. About 5 minutes.

4. Add PHASE 4 ingredients, stir vigorously to distribute everything, and use your spoon to scrape any brown bits off the bottom of the dutch oven and dissolve them back into the mix for maximum flavor. Allow the mixture to come to a light boil. Once it gets up to temperature, drop the heat to medium-low and simmer for 45 minutes.

5. Add PHASE 5 ingredients, stir to distribute, and simmer for 15 minutes.

6. Adjust seasoning of the mixture at this point (PHASE 6), add more liquid (water is fine) if needed, etc… final tweaks to get it the way you want it. Then simmer for another 15 minutes.

7. Take off the heat and let rest for 10 minutes before serving. Finishing suggestions below.

FINISHING
- Serve:
A) with a dollop of sour cream and minced fresh chives, OR
B) with roughly shredded sharp cheddar or colby jack cheese and a bit of diced red onion, OR
C) ladled over a nice slice of corn bread (just use Jiffy corn bread mix in the 40-cent blue box, fuck you zakk, srsly)

* Note – I backed off the heat in this recipe to account for the fact that most of you probably aren’t used to true Texas Firehouse heat. The heat level of this recipe is moderately high, and is the way I make it when I have a mixed audience, especially one including yankees.

If you want to truly have this chili the way I make it for myself: use 3 TBsp chili powder in PHASE 3, and 1 tsp pequin pepper in PHASE 5 and once you add the liquids to the mix in PHASE 4, drop in a whole habanero pepper that you have perforated with a fork (remove the habanero before serving).

I took the recipe directly from his post exactly as he wrote it. For the meats I chose ground beef(80/20) – which i would use something with less fat next time prolly – a pound of top sirloin steak cut into cubes, and a pound of hot italian sausage taken out of the casing. Hopefully I did that right. I am going to have to use dry oregano in the last steps because I don’t have any fresh and couldn’t find any at the store. **I added another Tbsp of Chili Powder and another 1/4-1/2 tsp of cayenne to it at Phase 6 to make it a bit more spicy**

After simmering!

My bowl with cheese, sour cream, like 3 diced onions and some cilantro:

Carter’s bowl with nothing.

Pumpkin experiments

I wanted to make something different with pumpkin. I have done pumpkin cream cheese cupcakes and pumpkin cheesecake and of course, pumpkin pies. I am not usually a big fan of pumpkin but when I finished with these cookies, they were delicious. Apparently, there is a shortage of canned, purreed pumpkin right now so I had a hell of a time all day looking for it. I finally decided to just use the canned pumpkin pie mix. The only difference is that the pie mix has spices and sugar already in it. To compensate for this, I only used 1/2 cup of brown sugar and 1/2 cup of white sugar. This made the cookies the perfect sweetness. I also made a frosting to go on top with confectioner’s sugar and milk. I used craisins instead of raisins because they are supposed to be better for you and because cranberries seem to go well with pumpkin. Next time I might add chocolate chips to the recipe as well. I am very happy with these and will be making them again before the end of the season for sure.

Pumpkin Cookies I
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © 2009 Allrecipes.com
Ingredients:
8 ounces butter, softened
1 cup white sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup pumpkin puree

1 cup rolled oats
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup raisins
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Cream together butter, white sugar and brown sugar until fluffy. Beat in egg, vanilla and pumpkin.
3. In a separate bowl, mix together the oats, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, raisins and flour. Stir into pumpkin mixture.
4. Drop cookies by the heaping teaspoonful on to cookie sheets covered with parchment paper. Bake 12 to 15 minutes or until slightly browned around edges.
5. Remove from oven and place on cooling racks. Frost with your favorite powdered sugar glaze or leave plain.

Refridgerator cleaner

I made some minestrone soup the other day so I had a bunch of leftover vegetables. I chopped half an onion and a clove of garlic. I sauteed it in some olive oil, very little til it was translucent. Then I added one zucchini, cut in half then chopped into half moon shapes. I cut about 1/4 of an inch off a head of cabbage and then cut that in half and chopped it and added it to the pan. then I added some salt and pepper and szechuan seasoning mix. It needed something orange or red and I didn’t want to add tomatoes so I grated some carrot into it as well. Then I decided it needed a sauce. I put a heaping tsp of Hoisin Sauce, tablespoon of soy sauce, 1 teaspoon of sriracha sauce, and a dash of rice wine vinegar. I cooked this all down on low until the angel hair pasta was done cooking. It was so good but I would add the pasta to the sauce pan and cook it for a minute or two with the sauce before plating next time for sure.

No awesome pics of this one tho, I ate it too fast for fancy camera pictures. maybe next time!

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=30298171&l=38cb10b7f4&id=139400972

Larry the Thanksgiving Turkey

24 Standard pumpkin spice cupcakes baked in white paper liners
24 mini size pumpkin spice cupcakes baked in white paper liners
You will need to double this recipe to get 48 total cupcakes.
1 box yellow cake mix
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/3 cup oil
4 large eggs
Make as directed by the package instructions.

1 cup vanilla frosting
1/2 cup chocolate frosting
24 thin ginger-flavored scalloped edge cookies (Anna’s Ginger Thins)
2 cups candy corn
1 1/2 cups caramel jimmies (sprinkles)
1 can plus 1 cup caramel frosting
24 pieces indian candy corn
48 brown chocolate covered sunflower seeds
1 roll red fruit leather (fruit by the foot)
24 graham cracker sticks
12 marshmallows

1. Spoon the Vanilla and chocolate frosting into separate ziplock bags, press out the air and seal. Snip 1/8-inch corner from the bag with the vanilla frosting and pipe a dot of frosting on 7 adjacent scallops on each ginger cookie to make the tail fan. Add a piece of candy corn to each dot of frosting, pointed end facing in.

2. Place the caramel jimmies in a small shallow bowl. Spread the caramel frosting on top of all the cupcakes, standard and mini, and smooth. Roll the edge of the standard cupcakes in the jimmies. Dip the top edge of the mini cupcakes in the jimmies.

3. Press 1 piece of indian candy corn into the center of each mini cupcake, flat side down, for the beak. Pipe 2 dots of the vanilla frosting above the beak for the eyes and insert 2 brown sunflower seeds, pointed and down. Cut the red fruit leather into 24-1 1/2 inch long teardrop shapes and lay them over the beak to make the wattle.

4. Snip a 1/8 inch corner from the bag with the chocolate frosting and pipe names on the flat side of the graham cracker sticks.

5. Enlarge the hole in the corner of the bag with the chocolate frosting to 1/4 inch. Using clean scissors, cut the marshmallows in half on the diagonal. Place 1 marshmallow half, cut side down, near the edge of one of the standard cupcakes, with the tapered end facing the center, to make a support for the tail. Pipe a dot of chocolate frosting on the tapered end. Place the tail cookie on the marshmallow, pressing the undecorated edge into the frosting on the marshmallow. Add the mini cupcake head on top so that half of it is resting on the undecorated edge of the cookie and the other half is pressed lightly into the frosting to secure.

6. Add the graham cookies at the base of the mini cupcakes, securing with a dot of frosting.

7. Arrange the turkeys on the table as place cards. Place 2 candy corns on the table in front of each turkey to make the feet.