So Christmas is coming and i thought let’s make some cookies. I searched online and found a nice recipe for molasses crinkles. They are like the ginger snap cookies with that nice spice flavor you get around christmas time. So what could go wrong with Molasses Crinkles? Well Nothing went wrong. Just I realized don’t make cookies that taste just like if you bought them. I made these cookies and thought to myself …. I can just buy the same thing. I should of made something like crazy ooey gooey chocolate chip cookies or something. Though i have to say i do enjoy the cookies especially with some milk but i’m not going crazy over them! Next time i’m gonna make a carrot cake or something like that.
Anyways here are the pics of my little cookie monster adventure
The ingredients for these cookies were
- 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup vegetable shortening
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter
- 1 cup dark brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 cup molasses
- 1/3 cup sanding or raw sugar for topping
Whisk together the Flour, Allspice, Cloves, Ginger, Salt, Cinnamon, Baking Soda so that everything is mixed together. Start beating together the Vegetable Shortening, Butter and Brown Sugar for about 3-4 minutes in the mixer. When it’s mixed and fluffy add the egg and molasses and keep beating it together. When that has been mixed in lower the mixer speed to low and slow pour in the flour mixture. Keep mixing until everything is mixed together very well.
Preheat oven to 375F. Start rolling the cookie dough into 1 inch balls. It helps to have wet hands when doing this because the batter can get really sticky. After you roll the balls dip one side of the ball into the sugar you have for topping. You want one end to have sugar so when it bakes it is on top. Put these balls about 1-2 inches apart from each other on baking sheets. Put the cookies in the oven for about 8-11 minutes. The longer it cooks the crisper it is. I did around 8-10 and it came out half and half. Next time i might go for about 8 minutes. Anything lower than that and the cookies are still in a ballish shape. So after the time is up take them out and let them cook for a couple minutes. I had to do about 3 rounds of baking because i only had 2 baking pans. It’ll make around 50-60 depending how big your dough balls are…. 
There you go! Molasses Crinkles! Enjoy!
So after a long and stupid messup over at bon appetit my subscription finally arrived. I have to say though that i really like this magazine. Especially the pictures and the recipes. The recipes are pretty realistic and the pictures help guide you to what it should look like and also to give you ideas on how to plate. There are also interesting articles about different spices and such….. (I realize i’m talking about cooking magazines) (If you want to get the magazine look on ebay. It’s super cheap. That’s where i get all my magazine subscriptions like wine spectator, gourmet, saveur and bon appetit)
Soo anywho… I thought i’d do something from the magazine. Something simple, quick and for lunch and dinner…. I picked the Crab and Corn Chowder. I really like corn chowder (especially bacon corn chowder) and i wanted to make. I had most of the ingredients except for .. clam juice and crab… It actually turned out ok. I won’t say super but it was decent and enjoyable, nothing to write home about. I have to say though that i should of throw in some bacon!!!! Bacon always makes food even better!
Here are the pics of my chowder time!
So that’s it. It’s pretty simple to make. Here are the ingredients.
- 1 16 ounce bag of frozen white corn
- 1 cup low fat milk (i use 1/2%)
- 8 ounce bottle of clam juice
- 4 tablespoons of green onions (sliced thin)
- 2 teaspoons minced ginger
- 5 teaspoons of lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons of butter
- 4 ounces of canned crab meat
Start out by separating 1/4 cup of frozen corn on the side. Then bring the rest of the corn and the milk to a boil in a medium pan. Remove it from the heat and cover it and let it sit on the side for 10 minutes or so. Throw the mix into a blender or use a hand blender and puree the mix. Add the clam juice, 1 teaspoon of minced ginger and 3 tablespoons of the green onions and continue blending. I blended it till it was like a thick sauce but you could still see some chunks of corn. Throw the mix back into the pan and simmer it. Min in 1 1/2 teaspoons of lemon juice and mix it around. Salt and pepper the soup and let it sit there on the side keeping warm.
Now take a skillet and throw the butter in it on medium heat. Melt the butter and then add the leftover corn. Let it sautee for a while. About 2-3 minutes or so. Add the leftover green onions, crab, leftover ginger and 3 teaspoons of lemon juice. Stir it all around and let it cook for a little. About a few minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
Put the corn soup in a bowl first then add the sauteed corn and crab on top. That’s it! Eat it for lunch, dinner, xiao ye whatever you want to eat it for. Bon App!
MMMMmmmmmmmmmmm….. Chocolate!!!!! Everyone loves chocolate!! Especially ME! And i love molten chocolate cake! I love the one they have at Pacific Rim in Ann Arbor. They have it with sake-macerated cherries and a coconut-Kahlúa ice cream…. (Sometimes which i need to learn how to make). Though i can’t get the sides to it i can make the chocolate cake!!! I made this and it was soooo goood. I ate it with some Vanilla ice cream. I was trying to find coconut ice cream but i couldn’t find any good ones. Basically you can make the batter way ahead of time and put it in ramekins. Ramekins are the custard bowl like things. You can google it and see. I used 4 inch ramekins but i’m pretty sure any size will do. You might have to adjust the cooking time accordingly though. I’ll stop rambling and let you see what it looks like. It’s soooo simple that anyone can do it in very little time!
Now doesn’t that make you want to get in your car, buy the ingredients and make it yourself?????!!!!!!!! Just writing this makes me want to make it again
The ingredients are so simple..
- 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder (i used the Penzey’s dutch processed)
- 2 ounces semisweet chocolate (I used Ghirardelli semi-sweet baking)
- 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 2 large egg yolks
- 1 large egg
- 2 teaspoons all purpose flour
That’s all the ingredients!!! So the first thing to do is preheat the oven to 350F. Then mix the sugar and the cocoa powder together in a bowl. Then melt the semisweet chocolate and the butter in pan in low heat. You want it to slowly melt. While it melts mix it to a nice smooth consistency. After it all melts and it’s a nice smooth liquid take it off the heat. Then whisk in the cocoa powder/sugar mix. After you whisk in the cocoa/sugar mix whisk in the egg yolks first. Then whisk in the egg and the flour. Whisk it good and try to keep it as smooth as possible. Butter up the ramekins so that the cake comes out really easily and doesn’t stick. Throw in the ramekins into the oven and let it sit there for about 10 minutes. Mine were in there about 10-11 minutes for 4 inch ramekins. This should make 2 small 4 inch cakes or 1 large 4 inch cakes. If you have 3 inch ramekins you could probably make 2 larger ones. After 10-11 minutes take out the ramekins from the oven. (BE CAREFUL NOT TO BURN YOURSELF). Then gently loosen the cake around the edges of the ramekin. The knife should glide around the ramekin. Turn them over onto the serving plate and voila! You have now made molten chocolate cakes. For simple toppings i used confectionery sugar on top and scooped some vanilla chocolate on the side. There are recipes for a nice mint-fudge sauce and such which maybe i’ll try another time. When cherry season comes i’ll maybe try the sake-macerated cherries or some other type of cherry sauce. BON APP!
So this was recipe #3 of the festival of pork. This sauce came out really nice. As you can tell all pork recipes are just herb crusted or sauce based. So this is another variation on the cranberry sauce. The pork itself had a very simple spice mix. But even with a simple spice mix both the pork and the sauce came out really well.
Anyways, here are the pictures of the third pork recipe
The ingredients are really short and simple
- 1 Pork loin
- 2 3/4 teaspoons minced rosemary
- 1 tablespoon of butter
- 3/4 cup chicken broth
- 3/4 cup Tawny Port
- 1 cup Whole berry cranberry sauce
Basically take some salt, pepper and 1 teaspoon of the rosemary and create a spice mix and spread it all over the pork.
Melt the butter in a skillet on medium/medium-high heat. After the butter melts put in the pork loins. I cooked it around 5 minutes on each side. You should make sure the pork is at around 145F to eat. I just assumed that 10 minutes total would be alright. After it’s cooked set it aside. Then add the broth, port and leftover rosemary to the pan. Let it boil and reduce for about 4 minutes. Then add in the cranberry sauce and simmer it all until it reduces and thickens which should take around 7-10 minutes. Season the sauce a little and then finish plating. I added green beans and potatoes and the onions to the side of the pork loins. Bon App!
Now this is good stuff! This time i followed directions! The sauce and the pork was really nice today. The sauce had a nice tartish taste from the cranberry and a nice sweet taste from the vinegar. Though i did have a booboo where i burnt my hand. My oven towel slipped off the bottom of the pan when i took it out of the oven and the middle of my hand got burnt. I’m pretty much used to getting burnt though so it wasn’t a big deal.
Here are the pics!
So the ingredients are
- 1 1/2 tablespoons butter
- 1 pork tenderloin
- 1/2 cup chopped onion
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary (i used a spice grinder with a few pulses)
- 1/2 cup canned low-salt chicken broth
- 1/3 cup canned whole berry cranberry sauce
- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
So cooking the pork we do a sear bake thing. Preheat the oven to 450F. So the first thing to do is salt and pepper the pork. Then melt 1/2 tablespoon of the butter in a medium-high oven safe skillet. It needs to be oven safe because we have to put the skillet in the oven. After the butter melts sear the pork in the pan. It’s about 1-2 minutes on each side. After all the sides are seared and the oven is ready throw the pan in the oven. This should sit around 10 minutes. Now you can make the sauce while that is cooking in the oven. Take another skillet and put it on medium-high heat. Melt the rest of the butter in there. After the butter melts put the onion and rosemary in there. Cook till the onions are soft which should take a few minutes. Add the broth, cranberry sauce, and vinegar to the pan and whisk it together for a while. When the pork is done in the oven take it out and place it to the side to sit. (BE CAREFUL NOT TO BURN YOURSELF ON THE PAN) Then scrap all the juices and stuff from the pan to the sauce. Boil the sauce for a while so it reduces to a nice thick sauce. Then you’re done! Slice the pork, plate and pour the sauce over. Once again i did the green beans and potatoes…. Bon App
