Alfajores!

Tonight I had fun at a Relief Society activity (the organization for women in my church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, aka the Mormons). In my ward Relief Society we are blessed to have members that have been all over the world for various reasons and tonight some of them shared their stories. Several people brought food from countries that they have been to as well. It was a lot of fun and I'm glad I went. 

Now for the best part! I wanted to bring something to share but I really didn't have time to make anything. So I went to walmart and stumbled on this fabulous find! I bought Keebler butter cookies and dulce de leche, I already had the coconut. 

Simply spread the dulce de leche between 2 cookies, squish them together and roll the edge in coconut and you get the most amazing alfajores I've tasted since I was in Argentina on my mission! 

They were a hit tonight and everyone kept asking me for the recipe. Well they probably thought I was some great baker but the truth is I just went to walmart.

A shout out to my BAS friends...you really need to try these. Yum!

Raisin filled cookies

I made these yummy cookies for New Years day. They turned out so well I decided to share the recipe. I found a recipe on allrecipes.com but I modified it slightly. I actually made the dough and filling on new years eve then left them in the fridge overnight which worked well. I rolled them out and baked them yesterday. Here's what I did:

Ingredients:
1 c brown sugar
1 c sugar
1 c margarine
3 eggs
1 tbsp vanilla extract
5 c flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
3 tbsps vanilla yogurt

Filling:
1 tbsp cornstarch
3 tbsps flour
1 c brown sugar
2 c hot water
1 1/2 c seedless raisins

In a mixing bowl cream sugars and margarine. Add eggs and vanilla, beat well. Add dry ingredients and yogurt then mix well. Chill at least an hour in the fridge.
For filling combine cornstarch, flour, and brown sugar in a sauce pan. Stir in water and then raisins. Stir and cook on medium-high heat until mixture boils and is thickened (about 3 minutes). Cool completely in fridge.
Roll out dough on a floured surface and cut in 2 inch circles. Spoon about 1 tsp filling on a circle and top with another circle. Pinch edges and cut a small slit in the top. Repeat with remaining dough and filling. Place on ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 14 minutes or until lightly browned. Makes about 2 dozen cookies. Yum!

Peppermint Bark

I decided to try making new Christmas candy this year. I love peppermint bark so I decided to try making it. The first attempt tasted yummy but I think the second attempt tastes good and looks great!

It was so easy to make! Crush 6 or 8 candy canes (I put them it a ziplock and hit them with a meat tenderizer mallet, it worked great!) Line a cookie sheet with foil or parchment paper. Melt some milk or dark chocolate and spread it thinly on the pan. Put it in the freezer to set while you melt some white chocolate. Stir most of the candy canes in the white chocolate and spread over your other chocolate as the second layer of yumminess. Sprinkle the rest of your candy canes over the top and press in slightly so it sticks (this also makes it look nicer).

My lucky coworkers get to sample this tomorrow!

Baked Red Kale Chips

A few weeks ago I sampled some kale chips at a church activity and I was pleasantly surprised. They are a healthy, crunchy, and salty snack. It's a great substitute for chips. I decided to try making them today. It was so easy and they turned out great!
All you need to make them is
1 bunch of kale (I used red kale), olive oil, and seasoned salt.

(Red Kale)

Preheat an oven to 350 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or foil. Carefully remove the leaves from the thick stems with a knife or kitchen shears then tear into bite size pieces. Wash and then thoroughly dry kale using a salad spinner. Spread out on baking sheet then drizzle kale with olive oil and sprinkle with seasoned salt.

(Before baking)

Bake until it's crispy and the edges start to turn brown,

it takes about 15 to 20 minutes.

(After baking)
The picture makes it look more brown
than it is, it's actually still pretty green.
Ready to sample the yumminess!
You can store these in a ziplock bag for a few days, if they last that long! If you are looking for a healthy, crunchy snack you should give these a try. You might discover that you love kale chips too!

Peanut Butter Blossoms

Yesterday I managed to make the perfect peanut butter cookie. I think pb cookies are usually dry but these were slightly crunchy on the outside and chewy in the middle. They even looked pretty!

Since I was making the cookies for a dessert auction at church I wanted them to be extra yummy. So I turned to my friend 'Google' and found an easy recipe that actually turned out! I did make a few minor adjustments to the recipe and what I'm sharing here is how I made them. You can check out the original recipe online, just click this link.

1/2 cup margarine, softened
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
24 unwrapped hershey kisses

Combine margarine, peanut butter, sugars, egg, and vanilla. Blend together very well. Add flour, baking soda and salt with mixer. Refrigerate dough at least 30 minutes or until you are ready to bake them. Roll into balls by hand (or use a cookie scooper), roll them in white sugar, and then place on cookie sheet. Bake in a preheated 350 degrees oven for 9 to 10 minutes. Just a hint, cook them based on time not how they look. Don't over bake! When they come out of the oven take them off the pan to cool (I like to put them on a paper towel on the counter so the bottom stays flat). Gently push 1 hershey kiss into the middle of each cookie. Enjoy perfection!

Calling all Chocoholics!

I'm a chocoholic and I know I'm not alone in the world! For Valentine's Day this year I wanted to make something fun for a party I was invited to. I read an article in Parade magazine (you can read it here) and decided to give it a try. I'm glad the article described the cake as a "brown, sunken-in, not-very-appetizing thing" so I wasn't surprised when I took my beautiful cake out of the oven and it fell. Apparently that's what it's supposed to do. It was easy and so yummy! I've never seen a cake be devoured so quickly so I decided to share the recipe:

Flourless Chocolate Cake
7 oz really good (45–50% cocoa) semisweet chocolate
(I just used semisweet chocolate chips)
3/4 cup butter (NOT margarine)
1 cup sugar, divided
4 eggs, separated

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Melt chocolate and butter in a double boiler. Stir together half the sugar and four yolks; add to melted chocolate concoction.

2. Using an electric mixer, beat the egg whites; slowly add remaining 1/2 cup sugar until stiff peaks form. Fold mixture into chocolate. Pour into a greased 9-inch cake pan.

3. Bake 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out with just a few crumbs on it. Cool 30 minutes before removing from pan. Dust with powdered sugar.

The end result:

Bread Making

In January I decided that I wanted to learn how to make bread by hand. I've made rolls before with the help of a mixer and I decided it couldn't be that much different. I did learn how to knead bread dough when I was kid. I remember making bread with my dad. The kneading turned into just playing with the dough sometimes.
Fun memories!

I started with white bread because I've heard that's easier to make.

It turned out really yummy!
See for yourself...doesn't that look good?

Round two didn't go so well. Flat, brown bread anyone? It fell when I started to bake it. The bread still tasted ok though and I did eat it. It made good, skinny sandwiches. Haha!

Round three went much better. This is wheat bread (even though it looks really pale, I think it was just my camera flash).

I plan to keep trying because this is all part of my goal to eat more natural, whole grain foods this year. Bread making is an art and it's also a skill I want to improve. So I might make other posts about this throughout the year as I try new recipes and variations.