Fat Tuesday Beignets

A few weeks back, on Fat Tuesday to be exact.  I was perusing a few of the blogs I check out regularly.  I stopped by Living the Scream to see what Carly had been up to.  She mentioned a food blog that somehow I hadn't heard of, Our Best Bites. I don't know how I'd missed that one.  But when I flipped over, they were making Beignets for Fat Tuesday.  I thought it was a sign. 

I've never been to New Orleans.  But I have had beignets.  They are delicious.  But who wouldn't love some fried dough heavily dusted with powdered sugar?  So I decided to give them a try.

Beignets

Recipe by Our Best Bites

1 c. whole milk
1/4 c. + 1 Tbsp. sugar, divided
1/4 c. vegetable oil
1 tsp. table salt
3 1/2-4 c. all-purpose flour
1 scant tablespoon dry active yeast
1/2 c. warm (about 105 degrees) water
1 egg
Peanut oil for frying-I just used vegetable oil

In a small saucepan, combine the milk, 1/4 c. sugar, vegetable oil, and salt. Heat over medium heat until small bubbles form around the edges of the pan. Remove from heat.

While the milk is heating, combine the yeast and 1 Tbsp. of sugar with 1/2 c. water. Allow to stand for 10 minutes or until it’s very bubbly.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the heated milk and 2 c. flour. Mix, scraping the bowl occasionally, until smooth (about 2-3 minutes). Add the egg and mix until well-combined. Add the yeast mixture. Add enough flour to make a soft dough that slightly sticks to your finger.

At this point, you can either place the dough in a bowl sprayed with non-stick cooking spray and cover with a piece of sprayed plastic wrap and refrigerate the dough up to 1 day or you can roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface. I have made these both ways and either way worked great. Either way, when you roll it out, roll it into a large rectangle about 1/4″ thick. Using a pizza wheel, cut the dough into about 3″x4″ rectangles. Slightly separate the dough pieces and cover with a clean cloth. Allow to rise for 30 minutes.

When the dough has about 15 minutes left to go, heat 2-3 inches of peanut oil in a large skillet or saucepan to 325 degrees (just use a candy thermometer). This actually broke my candy thermometer.  After that I just tested the oil by dropping one in at a time.  If it didn't raise immediately to the surface, the oil wasn't ready.  If it started to smoke it was too hot. When the oil is heated, fry the dough pieces for about 90 seconds-2 minutes per side or until they are golden. Carefully remove from the oil and allow to drain on a paper towel-lined baking sheet.

Place some powdered sugar in a fine-mesh strainer and sprinkle the powdered sugar generously over the beignets. I put about 1 cup of powdered sugar into a lunch sack.  Then I dropped them into the bag and gave them a good shake.  It was less messy.  Serve immediately. Makes about 24-30 beignets.

We loved these and I have added the recipe to my recipe box.  Thanks Carly and thanks Our Best Bites!

Lemonhead cookies

I made these cookies a few weeks ago and they were gone in a flash.  Unfortunately I can't remember where I found the recipe.  But I have already bought some more Lemonhead candies for the next batch. 

Lemonhead Cookies
1 Cup of Butter
1 Cup of White Sugar
1/2 Cup of Brown Sugar
the zest from 1 lemon
2 tsp of Lemon Extract
2 Eggs
1/4 tsp of Salt
1 tsp of Baking Soda
3 Cups of Flour
6 oz Bag of Lemonheads-Crushed or chopped into smaller pieces

Cream together butter, white sugar and brown sugar.  Add in lemon zest, lemon extract and eggs.  Mix until smooth. Stir in flour, baking soda and salt.  Add crushed lemonhead candies.  Drop by tablespoonful onto ungreased cookie sheet.  I like to use parchment paper on my cookie sheets.  Bake at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes. Drizzle with lemon glaze.

Lemon glaze
Start with 2 cups of powdered sugar in a small mixing bowl. Add lemon juice 1 tablespoon at a time and mix until desired consistency. Drizzle on top of cookies.

I interupt this food blog...

To bring you what we did ALL. LAST. WEEKEND.

MARCH MADNESS!!!

I have a 22 year old son who was serving a mission for our church for the past 2 years.  He loves sports! Actually the whole family love sports.  But he felt like he had really missed out on some serious viewing while he was gone.  This year the NCAA changed a few things for their basketball tournament.  Every game in the tournament would be played on live tv.  That meant 4 channels would be covering every game. Live. It also just happened to be my sons spring break from school.  Coincidence?  He thinks not!  So he and his good friend planned out what would be the "perfect weekend".

Here is what greeted any guests.

Here is how the converted family room looked.

Yes.  That's 4 tv's.  We normally only have one tv in there (although now my husband thinks this is a perfect setup).  

And of course we needed to have our bracket nearby.

Yep, husband managed to print out a 3 foot by 4 foot bracket.  That baby will be up until April 4th when the championship game is played.

There was plenty of excitement here last weekend.  We had tons of guests.  And plenty of food too.  I'll be posting a few of the recipes I made in the next few days.  But we also had some good old standbys too.  Like...

PW Sheetcake
Shirley J Chicken Enchiladas
Peanut butter Cookies
Queso Dip and Chips
Panini's
Hot Wings
Corn Dogs
Banana Bread
Chips and salsa
Pot Roast Sandwiches
Lemon Squares
Caramel Popcorn

And of course, plenty of soda pop and candy. 

We all had a great weekend.  48 games in 4 days.  I was tired by Sunday night!

I hope your weekend was as good as ours!

BLT Pasta Salad

My dear friends, Andrea and Bill, have a huge garden every year.  Last year they planted 47 tomato plants.  They are generous with their tomatoes.  Andrea also shared this recipe with me.  It's a great way to use up some of those delicious tomatoes in the summer. 

My sister-in-law requested this salad at a recent family event.  It was pretty good with the store bought variety of tomatoes.  But boy it got me thinking of summer days with fresh from the garden tomatoes.

This recipe makes a lot.  I double it for family events but I have a HUGE family.  So unless you have a HUGE family (and a HUGE bowl), I'd stick with the original recipe.

BLT Pasta Salad
1 package (16 oz) wagon wheel pasta
1 pound bacon, cooked and crumbled or chopped
4 ripe plum tomatoes, halved then sliced
3 cups chopped romaine lettuce

dressing
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 T. cider vinegar
1 tsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper

Cook pasta according to package directions, al dente is best.  Rinse under cold water and set aside to drain.  In a large bowl combine pasta, bacon, tomatoes and lettuce.

In a separate small bowl, mix dressing ingredients until smooth. 
Pour over pasta mixture and toss to coat.

Serve Immediately.

Thanks Andrea.  This one's a winner!

Chocolate Parfait Cookies

A friend gave me this recipe more than 20 years ago.  They look like chocolate chip cookies, but no.  The almond flavoring and the chocolate chunks make them so different.  They are my families favorite cookies.  Thankfully this recipe makes a very big batch.  They still don't last long. 

They can be made with nuts.  But we aren't a big nut-loving family, so we go without the nuts.  I also use Hersey's Symphony bar, but the plain one.  But any good plain chocolate will work well.  The recipe calls for 1-2 chocolate bars.  You can decide how much you like.  I usually use 1 1/2 bars.  Plus we can eat the other half while we are baking the cookies.

Chocolate Parfait Cookies

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 1/2 cups brown sugar

1 1/2 cups butter

4 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

2 tsp almond flavoring

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

6 cups flour

1-2 large chocolate bars (4.5 ounce), cut into chunks

1 cup chopped nuts, optional

Cream sugars and butter.  Add eggs and flavorings.  then stir in soda, salt and 4 cups of flour.  Add remaining flour until it ceases to be sticky.  Stir in chocolate chunks and nuts.  Drop heaping teaspoonful on parchment paper lined cookie sheet.  Bake for 8-9 minutes at 350 degrees F.  Cookies should have a light brown tinge but mostly white. 

Makes about 6 dozen cookies

Cherry Checkerboard Cookies

This month was my turn for hosting my book group.  I was feeling the need for some fun party planning and thought it would be fun to have a red and white theme.  Seeing as my book group was meeting on the 10th of February, I jumped in.  I found these little beauties while searching online for red desserts.  I must admit they took quite a bit of time but they weren't hard.  They were perfect for a ladies group.  They were originally made by Womens Day Magazine

Cherry Checkerboard Cookies
1 1⁄2 sticks (3⁄4 cup) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
1 large egg
1⁄2 tsp almond extract
1⁄4 tsp salt
2 1⁄4 cups all-purpose flour
1⁄4 cup maraschino cherries (8 to 10), finely chopped
Red liquid food color
1 white of 1 egg, slightly beaten

1. Beat butter, sugar, egg, extract and salt in a large bowl with mixer on medium speed until blended. With mixer on low speed, gradually beat in 2 cups flour.

2. Remove and reserve 1 cup dough. Divide remaining dough in half. Roll each half between 2 sheets of wax paper into a 6 x 3-in. rectangle. Slide onto a baking sheet; refrigerate.

3. Put reserved dough in bowl; add remaining 1⁄4 cup flour and the chopped cherries. Beat until well blended, adding red food color (about 14 drops) until dough is bright pink. Divide in half; roll out as above; refrigerate 1 hour.

4. Remove paper from top of each rectangle. Brush tops of each white rectangle with egg white; top with a red rectangle. Wrap stacks separately; refrigerate 1 hour.

5. Cut 1 stack in half lengthwise (keep other stack refrigerated) to make two 1 1⁄2 x 6-in. strips. Brush top of 1 stack with egg white; place other stack on top, alternating colors. Rewrap and freeze 20 minutes. Repeat with remaining dough.

6. Cut each stack in thirds (1⁄2 x 6-in. strips); turn strips on their side. Brushing egg white between each strip, stack strips, alternating colors. Wrap in plastic wrap; freeze 20 minutes, or refrigerate longer until ready to bake. Repeat with remaining stack.

The sides don't come out all even.  So I just trimmed off the edges.

7. Heat oven to 350ºF. Cut square logs into 1⁄4-in.-thick slices. Place 1 in. apart on ungreased baking sheet. Bake 10 to 12 minutes until set and edges are slightly golden. Remove cookies to wire rack; cool completely.

Easy Microwave Fudge

This is an easy treat to make.  It does take some time to set up.  And of course, the better the chocolate you use, the better the fudge.  I still had some good dipping chocolate from Christmas and decided it was a great treat for Superbowl Sunday.  But then really, what isn't a great treat for Superbowl Sunday?

Easy Microwave Fudge
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 stick butter, not margarine
1 bag of chocolate chips, semi-sweet or milk chocolate

Place all ingredients in a microwave safe bowl.  Microwave for 2 minutes, stirring several times throughout cooking time.  At the end of the 2 minutes, it should be melted.  Stir well, until smooth.  If your microwave is a little slower you can add 30 seconds more.  But do not overcook.  Pour into a buttered 9x9 pan.  Set aside to set up.  It can take up to 4 hours or put it in the refrigerator to set up faster.