Matcha Leaf Shortbread Cookies

I saw these cookies while browsing matcha dessert recipes and knew I had to make them. These cookies have a very delicate flavor and are not too sweet. They would pair well with a cup of coffee (I know, a little ironic). I wasn't lucky enough to have a leaf-shaped cookie cutter, so I just cut them myself with a small knife. It didn't take that long, but I know having a cookie cutter would've probably saved me a lot of time. It was a fun project, nonetheless. Enjoy!



Recipe can be found at Kirbie's Cravings:

Extremely Dark Chocolate Truffles

While I was walking through Trader Joe's the other day, I saw this HUGE bar of chocolate. I didn't even think about what I could make with it, I just bought it, and I'm glad I did. What else can you make with a huge block of chocolate but chocolate truffles? I like to call these truffles "Extremely Dark Chocolate Truffles" because of the 73% Cacao. I think most people use 60% or below, but the darker, the better. 

Truffles are surprisingly easy to make and require 4 (yup, you read that correctly) ingredients: heavy cream, cocoa powder, vanilla extract, and bittersweet chocolate. Easy, peasy!

Here's the line-up:

First off, you want to chop the chocolate and heat the heavy cream until it just starts boiling.

Next, pour the heavy cream over the chopped chocolate and let it sit for about a minute before you stir. You can also add 1 tsp of vanilla extract.

Stir the mixture until it looks like melted chocolate. Cover and put in the fridge for a couple hours.

Once the chocolate is nice and chilled, take it out of the fridge. Use a spoon to dig out little balls of chocolate. You're going to want to work quickly because the warmth of your hands melts the chocolate.

Put them on a piece of parchment. Roll the little balls in some cocoa powder.

Voila! 

Dark Chocolate Truffles from here:

8 ounces of bittersweet chocolate chopped into small pieces

1/2 cup of heavy cream

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Cocoa powder

1 In a small saucepan, bring the heavy cream to a simmer.

2 Place the chocolate in a separate bowl. Pour the cream over the chocolate, add the vanilla, and allow to stand for about a minute, then stir until smooth.

3 Allow to cool, then place in the refrigerator for two hours. Remove and roll out balls of the chocolate. Roll in your hands quickly and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

4 Roll in cocoa powder.

You can serve it chilled or at room temperature.

Yield: Makes 30-40 chocolate truffles.

Katsudon

Today is the last day of my spring break, and my b/f wanted to make it special by making Katsudon for me. If you're like me and don't know what katsudon is, let me tell you. It's a bowl layered with rice, sauteed onions, fried egg, donkatsu cutlets, and parsley. I've never had it before, so I was really excited to try it. As he slaved away in the kitchen, I wanted to be helpful by baking something for dessert, but that's for the next post!

My first bite was amazing, and I loved everything about it! It's definitely a comfort food that I can imagine eating on any occasion. I wish I could've taken pictures of the process, but I was busy so all you get is the final product.

I believe this is the recipe he used, although the original recipe uses chicken instead of pork:
Katsudon Recipe and Katsudon Recipe 2
Both are good starting points for making your very own Katsudon! Bon appetit!

Lemon Bars

It's been a long time, friend! I do realize that the last post I made was in August. Horrible, I know. I can't blame my lack of updating on anything except my laziness. Thank you to my friend, Debbie, for the constant encouragement to update my blog...AND for passing along this recipe! Let's get straight to it!

I've come to realize that this lemon bar recipe is one that everyone enjoys, even people who don't normally like lemon bars love this recipe. It's not as goopy as the ones you eat/buy in restaurants or bakeries. I love them because they have this delicate, lemon flavor, and the crust is to die for!

It's been awhile, so I forgot to take a picture of the ingredients that you'll need, but I'm sure you'll figure it out. :)

First off, combine flour, powdered sugar, and cold butter into a food processor.

Pulse until the butter is incorporated and it starts clumping together.

Dump the dough into a 9x13 baking dish.

Spread evenly before pressing it down to make the crust.

Here's what the crust should look like before putting it into the oven to bake.

While the crust is baking, start making the filling. Combine eggs and sugar.

Add lemon juice and mix well.

In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt.

Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients.

Here's the important part: FOLD GENTLY AND DON'T OVERMIX!

It's okay if there are a couple small clumps of flour. 

The crust should be lightly browned.

Add the lemon filling on top of the crust and put back into the oven

Bake lemon bars for 25 minutes, or until it is lightly browned.

The final product: Chewy, lemony goodness!

Lemon Bars by Claudia Hinnebusch

For the crust:

1c butter

2c flour

1/2c powdered sugar

Mix as pie crust. pat into 9x12 pan. 

Bake 350 for 20 min or until light brown

For the filling:

4 eggs

2c sugar

4T lemon juice

4T flour

1/2 t salt

1/2 t baking powder

Beat eggs & sugar - 3 min

Add lemon juice & mix

Gently fold in flour salt, baking powder

Spread on crust and bake 350F for 25 min until set

Once it has cooled, dust with powdered sugar. 

Cut into squares and serve!

Award-winning Apple Pie

When I say this apple pie is "award-winning," I mean it! This apple pie is one of the best recipes I've ever encountered in my life...IN MY LIFE! It's from All Recipes, has 5 stars, and with over 4,600 reviews. It's even better than most pie specialty restaurants (ehem...M.C. and P*lly's). It might even be better than McDonald's apple pie. Yup, you read that correctly. I think McDonald's apple pie is one of my favorite pies, although I don't know if you could officially call it a pie, but I would, and I think it's great.

Here are some pointers when making this recipe. I've had a couple issues when melting the butter and the flour to make the paste. If your burner is on too hot, the butter will burn and you won't be able to make the paste that is required before adding the sugars. So make sure you turn your burner to low, and whisk the flour in as soon as all the butter is melted. This will ensure that the butter and flour become the correct consistency. I've ruined this recipe twice already by burning my butter, and you don't know how sad it is when you have to throw away a precious stick of butter each time you overcook it, especially if the butter is high quality and EXPENSIVE! 

Also, when pouring the liquid onto the pie, pour SLOWLY. In fact, I just spoon the liquid into the holes and over the crust just to make sure every nook and cranny gets an even amount of sauce. 

Other than that, I followed everything exactly as written with the exception of sprinkling some cinnamon over the crust and a couple dashes in the sauce before pouring. I think cinnamon adds a warm touch to the pie. 

Here it is before going into the oven:

Right out of the oven. Notice the sauce is still bubbling up from the heat! Yum~ but don't eat it until it has cooled.

Apple Pie by Grandma Ople

Ingredients

• 1 recipe pastry for a 9 inch double crust pie
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 8 Granny Smith apples - peeled, cored and sliced

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Melt the butter in a saucepan over low heat. Stir in flour to form a paste. Add water, white sugar and brown sugar, and bring to a boil. Reduce temperature and let simmer.
2. Place the bottom crust in your pan. Fill with apples, mounded slightly. Cover with a lattice work crust. Gently pour the sugar and butter liquid over the crust. Pour slowly so that it does not run off.
3. Bake 15 minutes in the preheated oven. Reduce the temperature to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Continue baking for 35 to 45 minutes, until apples are soft.

Chicken Tortilla Soup with Chipotle and Fire Roasted Tomato

I'm not normally a soup person (unless I'm at Splash Cafe eating their clam chowder in a bread bowl), but this soup is one that I will eat for many days without getting sick of it. Its name is a mouthful, but its flavor is incredible. My boyfriend made it for me once and it's definitely one of the top 5 things he's made for me. It's Rachael Ray's recipe from her 30-minute meal show, but, honestly, I don't think anyone can make her recipes in 30 minutes. It has a lot of ingredients, so be prepared to buy a little of many things and do a lot of dishes!

Here is the recipe. I wasn't able to capture the process because I was busy making the stuffed mushrooms in the post below while the soup was being made, but follow the directions to the T and you should be fine.

Ingredients

• 3 cups chicken stock
• 1 pound chicken tenders
• 1 bay leaf, fresh if available
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, 1 turn of the pan
• 4 slices thick, smoky center cut bacon, chopped
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped
• 2 chipotles in adobo, chopped, plus 2 tablespoons sauce
• 1 (28-ounce) can crushed fire roasted tomatoes
• Salt
• 4 cups lightly crushed corn tortilla chips
• 2 cups shredded fresh smoked mozzarella or smoked sharp white Cheddar, 3/4 pound
• 1 lime, cut into wedges
• 1/2 red onion, chopped
• Freshly chopped cilantro leaves, for garnish

Directions

Bring broth to a simmer and add chicken tenders, poach 6 to 7 minutes with a bay leaf.

While chicken poaches, heat extra-virgin olive oil in a medium soup pot or deep skillet over medium-high heat. Add bacon and cook until crisp then remove with slotted spoon. Drain off excess fat, leaving 2 to 3 tablespoons in the pan. Add onions and garlic to the skillet and cook 5 minutes then stir in chipotles and tomatoes.

Remove chicken from stock, dice and then add to soup. Pass stock through a strainer then add to the soup.

Place a pile of crushed tortilla chips in the bottom of each soup bowl. Cover liberally with smoked cheese then ladle the hot soup down over the top. Serve with lime, raw onions and cilantro at table to finish the soup. 

*This recipe makes about 4-5 servings

Stuffed Mushrooms

I first ate these stuffed mushrooms at a church picnic. They were amazing. It's an easy recipe that I've bookmarked and used many times in the past. I just haven't gotten around to posting the recipe. The original recipe is Giada's, but I adapted it by adding cooked ground sausage to the mixture before stuffing the little guys. I also used a 3-blend cheese mixture (parmesan, asiago, and romano) instead of the Pecorino Romano used in the recipe. I also left out the mint...just didn't seem savory with it in. Bon appetit!

Giada's Stuffed Mushrooms

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup Italian-style dried bread crumbs
• 1/2 cup grated Pecorino Romano
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint leaves
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 28 large (2 1/2-inch-diameter) white mushrooms, stemmed

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Stir the bread crumbs, Pecorino Romano, garlic, parsley, mint, salt and pepper, to taste, and 2 tablespoons olive oil in a medium bowl to blend.

Drizzle a heavy large baking sheet with about 1 tablespoon olive oil, to coat. Spoon the filling into the mushroom cavities and arrange on the baking sheet, cavity side up. Drizzle remaining oil over the filling in each mushroom. Bake until the mushrooms are tender and the filling is heated through and golden on top, about 25 minutes. Serve.