Showing posts with label holiday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label holiday. Show all posts

Sunday, September 2, 2012

Chocolate Chip Cheesecake

A couple of years ago, a friend bought me a springform pan when I was getting into cooking.  I'm pretty sure she just wanted me to make a cheesecake so we could eat it together, which I completely respect as a reason for choosing a gift.  Once I had it, though, I realized a lot of cheesecake recipes seemed overly complicated.  "Water bath" this and "adjust wire rack" that.  It took me so long to read the directions, I finished a whole bottle of wine and woke up the next day, very thirsty in a house still devoid of cheesecake.  

When I saw this recipe on the Betty Croker website, I assumed it was going to end up like one of those soft, no-bake "cheesecake pie" attrocities that you'd find at Denny's - but quite the opposite.  It's easy as all get out, and it yields a firm, true-to-form cheesecake without all of that fancy talk.  It only takes about 15 minutes to throw together and an hour or so to bake, then you have the rest of that time for getting day drunk.  


Saturday, August 18, 2012

We Got Apps: Bacon Parmesan Faux-caccia

Remember last year around Thanksgiving when I cooked three awesome dishes and told you I'd post the recipes? Yeah, me too. Sorry about that.  So, slightly in advance for this Thanksgiving, I'll finally be posting them - starting, naturally, with the appetizer.  I usually just do dessert or an appetizer for family dinner hosted at Ma and Pa FvF's house, but by Thanksgiving of last year, my swollen, pregnant ass was on partial bed rest and bored out of my mind. So, I insisted on making both.

1 pkg refrigerated breadstick dough
10 sliced precooked bacon*
1/4 C shredded parmesan cheese
1 tbsp herb of your choice (I used fresh rosemary)
1 egg, beaten + a table spoon or two of cold water

*Yes, the Oscar Meyer stuff that is shelf stable.  Trust me, this is one of the only things it's good for.  Real bacon just isn't pliable enough.  


Unroll the dough and separate it into sticks.  Coil the bacon and breadsticks together, pinching the breadsticks ends together as you go, to make one big, slightly loose spiral.  It's best to start on a cookie sheet or pizza stone, because this is impossible to move once you start.  Brush with the egg wash, then sprinkle your herbs and cheese over the top and bake about 25 minutes at 350.  After you've let it cool for 10-15 minutes, cut it pizza-style into thin, triangular slices.  This comes out a bit smaller than you'd expect, so I'd make two if you're serving more than 5-6 people.  Or any combination of one very pregnant woman and one or more people.

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Cookie Party!

We were invited to a cookie exchange this past weekend - something I'd never participated in before. I can cook up a storm, but baking is a whole different ball game, and I don't feel it's my strong suit. Too scientific. I turned to my favorite trusty food blog, Serious Eats, to provide me with a recipe that was easy and versatile. I found this recipe for a drop cookie dough that you could easily turn into at least three different kinds of cookies, and it made about 50.

The dough was a breeze to whip up and add to, but once I started seeing the results, I realized I should have taken the high road. The oatmeal raisin cookies plumped up pretty nicely, but weren't remarkable in flavor, even though I added some Saigon cinnamon. The chocolate chip cookies, however, turned into a hot mess in the oven and all ran together, leaving me with thin, lifeless treats.

I was more than happy to be wildly upstaged by some of the other cookies at the party, namely Cindy's red velvet whoopie pies. Dang. Double dang! These suckers were amazing, and apparently a surprising cinch to make.
Other cookies present included cinnamon butterscotch, peanut butter chocolate chip, cowboy cookies, toffee chip cookies, oatmeal chocolate chip, sugar cookies, mint chocolate chip, spritzes, chocolate chip with walnuts, peanut butter kisses, and of course regular chocolate chip. One of those host's friends from Columbus played an ace with his banana-peanut butter-chocolate spring rolls, too. Magical! Then of course, there were Good Josh's "Shitty Christmas Cookies."

No, really - the label just out of frame says "Josh's Shitty Christmas Cookies."

Can't win'em all, Pillsbury!