Pumpkin White Chocolate Chip Snickerdoodle Cookies

Yum

Makes about 2 dozen cookies, takes about one hour.

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This has become a staple in my Fall baking repertoire, for multiple reasons. One, they are delicious. Two, they're bite-sized. Three, Due to how moist they are initially plus the addition of coconut oil, they stay good for weeks in the refrigerator. I love pumpkin but one of the only downsides is that unless a recipe explicitly states you need an exact-size can amount of it for a recipe, you end up with leftovers in an odd amount. In my own recipes, I have that happen with my Pumpkin-Apple Streusel muffins from last week, and with this week I can use up the majority of that leftover with these cookies.

Ingredients

    1/2 cup Coconut Oil (melted)
    1/4 cup Dark Brown Sugar
    1 cup Sugar, divided
    1 teaspoon Vanilla
    6 Tablespoons Pumpkin (puree)   
    1 and 1/2 cups Flour
    1/4 teaspoon Kosher Salt
    1/4 teaspoon Baking Powder
    1/4 teaspoon Baking Soda
    2 teaspoons Cinnamon, divided
    1/4 teaspoon ground Nutmeg
    1/4 teaspoon ground Cloves
    1/2 teaspoon Allspice
    1/2 cup (90g) White Chocolate Chips

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Directions

1. Melt the Coconut Oil. In a medium bowl, whisk the melted Oil, Brown Sugar, and 1/2 cup Sugar together until the brown sugar is fully combined.
2. Whisk in the Vanilla and Pumpkin. Once smooth, set bowl aside.
3. In a large bowl, toss together the Flour,Kosher Salt, Baking Powder, Baking Soda, Nutmeg, Cloves, Allspice and 1 and 1/2 teaspoons Cinnamon.
4.  Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix together with a large spoon or spatula. The dough will be very soft. Fold in white chocolate chips.
5. Cover the dough and leave to set in refrigerator for 30 minutes.
6. Take out your dough and preheat the oven to 350°F. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper or baking mats.
7. Roll the dough into balls, about 1 Tablespoon of dough each.
8. Mix together the remaining 1/2 cup of Sugar and 1/2 teaspoon of Cinnamon. Roll each of the dough balls generously in the cinnamon-sugar mixture.
9. Slightly flatten the dough balls with a fork, as the cookies don't spread very much.
10. Bake the cookies for 11-12 minutes, they will look soft and slightly under-baked.
11. Cool cookies for at least 10 minutes on the baking sheets before transferring to a wire rack and letting cool for a minimum of one hour.
12. Enjoy!

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Tips/Tricks

As with all Pumpkin and Banana baked goods, these cookies taste better a day or two later, though they are delicious immediately.

If you have Pumpkin Pie spice, you can swap the Nutmeg, Cloves and Allspice for 1 teaspoon Pumpkin Pie Spice instead.

For really longevity, you can store these bad boys in an air-tight container in the fridge. Just pull them out about a half hour before intending to serve so they can come back up to room temp. Because of the Coconut Oil, they harden up under 75 degrees and soften when they are at room temp.

You can store the unbaked dough in an airtight container in the freezer for several months. Sometimes I'll just double the recipe, roll out the dough into all 1 Tablespoon balls and then put half in an airtight container in the freezer and then all I need to do is thaw them in the fridge and roll in cinnamon sugar and bake when I want them...or if I have multiple holiday parties to go to and want to bring some to each.


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Pumpkin Apple Streusel Muffins

Makes 2 Dozen Muffins, Takes about 35-40 minutes


  Yum
   This recipe comes from my late grandmother, who by all accounts was a great baker. Her 3x5 index card of this recipe is succinct in instructions so I am going to try and keep this about the same.  In the fall and winter seasons, we are greeted with two predominant produce items that make their way into everything; Pumpkin and Apple. This recipe let's you have the best of both worlds; A pumpkin muffin that has small chunks of apple mixed throughout, relieving you of what I consider to be one of the hardest decisions to make of the season. The batter is thick, but don't be alarmed, this is an easy recipe that will satisfy anyone looking for their seasonal sweet-tooth fix.

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Ingredients:

Muffin

2 1/2 Cups Flour
2 Cups Sugar
1 Tbl. Pumpkin Pie Spice
1 tsp. Baking Soda
1/2 tsp. Salt
2 Eggs (lightly beaten)
1 Cup Canned Pumpkin
1/2 Cup Oil
2 Cups Apples (peeled and finely chopped)

Streusel Topping

4 Tbl. Butter (softened)
2 Tbl. Flour
1/2 Cup Sugar
1/2 tsp. Cinnamon

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Directions

1. Preheat Oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and while you're waiting, peel and dice your apples.
2. In a medium sized mixing bowl, combine first 5 ingredients (Flour, Sugar, Pumpkin Pie Spice, Baking Soda, Salt)
3. In a separate bowl, combine Eggs, Pumpkin and Oil.
4. Stir in the contents of the liquid ingredients bowl to the dry ingredients bowl. This is slow going, looking entirely too dry until it finally all comes together into an orange-ish batter.
5. Once the wet and dry ingredients are fully mixed together, add in your finely chopped up apples and stir them into the batter.
6. In a small bowl, add your streusel topping ingredients together and use a fork (or your fingers if you work quickly) to crumble the butter into the mixture. You should have a bowl full of little clumps.
7.Lightly grease your muffin pans and drop the batter in, filling about 3/4ths of the way full. Top with streusel topping.
8. Bake on middle rack of oven for about 35-40 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.

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Tips/Tricks

When baking, there are some things you should always be doing in order to make your bakes the best they can be. One of those things is sifting your flour so that it's lighter, and the second is using eggs and room temperature.

Any solid apple will work in this recipe, though as usual I suggest apples that are known for baking, Granny Smith's Mcintosh, Pink Lady's, Gala, Honeycrisp.

I don't often use a pre-made Pumpkin Pie spice mixture, since I usually have all the individual spices on hand, but that is how this recipe was written. If you don't have a pre-made pumpkin spice mixutre, you can make up a similar blend that is 1/4 teaspoons of Nutmeg, Clove, Allspice and a 1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon.

As with all Pumpkin and Banana baked goods, something happens in the baking process that mutes their Pumpkin/Banana flavor that comes back in full force a day or two after baking. This means that should these muffins last longer than 24 hours, they will taste more strongly of pumpkin on days two and three. Ideally, you should bake these one day ahead of when you intend to serve them, for that full pumpkin flavor to really develop.
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Apple-Walnut Crumble with Chinese Five Spice

Yum
Takes about 40 minutes, Serves 6So the base of this was a Williams-Sonoma recipe, and the style of crumble they were going for, I'm calling a "dry" crumble. It's not that this recipe itself is too "dry", otherwise I wouldn't be sharing with you guys, but instead it's a kind of apple crumble that isn't cooking the apples first into an apple pie kinda filling before topping with crumble and baking. Instead, this recipe just has you putting raw apples under some crumble topping and baking. I don't think one is better than the other, instead I think they both serve a purpose. This version, while I think would be delicious as a more traditional crumble dessert, is geared towards a quick, no-muss-no-fuss version. The same flavors (with a five spice twist!) while taking about half the normal cook time as a traditional version.

So the big twist here, Chinese Five Spice. If you're unfamiliar, Chinese Five Spice is a spice blend that is prevalent in a lot of Chinese cuisine. While ingredients may vary (and may actually have more than five spices) the typical Five Spice blend combines Cinnamon, Cloves, Star Anise, Sichuan Pepper and Fennel. The amount we're adding in here isn't enough for you to super notice every flavor that Five Spice brings to the table, but it's enough for you to realize this isn't your normal fall spice mix. Try it out for a very simple twist on a classic flavor profile!

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Ingredients

2 lbs. apples (preferably Granny Smith, McIntosh, Pink Lady)
1 Tbsp Lemon Juice
2 Tbsp White Sugar
1 tsp. Chinese Five Spice Powder
1/2 tsp. Ground Cinnamon
1 tsp. Vanilla Extract
3/4 Cup Old Fashioned Oats
1/2 Cup Dark Brown Sugar (packed)
1/3 Cup Flour
1/2 Cup Walnuts (finely chopped)
6 Tbsp Butter (melted)
1/4 tsp. Salt

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Directions

1. Preheat Oven to 375 degrees F and make sure there is a rack in the center of the oven. Lightly butter or grease a 10-inch Pie Dish or 9-inch square baking pan or dish. Peel and Core apples.
2. Dice apples into about one-inch cubes. Transfer to medium sized mixing bowl.
3. Add lemon juice, sugar, cinnamon, five spice and vanilla to the apples, use a spoon or rubber spatula to stir apples until all are evenly coated.
4. In a separate medium bowl, add oats, brown sugar, flour, chopped walnuts, salt and butter. Use stirring spoon, fork or rubber spatula to combine everything. Try to incorporate all dry ingredients with the butter, so that there is no completely dry parts left.
5. Take your apples, add them to your greased baking pan/dish of choice. Then take your bowl of crumble topping and lightly coat the top of the apples until there is a cohesive and even coating. Try to cover everything.
6. Bake! Apples should be fork tender and crumble topping should be browned. Takes roughly 35-45 minutes, check at 30 minutes.
7. Enjoy!

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Tips/Tricks

If you find that Five Spice isn't your thing, you could easily substitute with Pumpkin/Apple Spice powder, or 1/4 teaspoons of Nutmeg, Clove, Allspice and increase cinnamon to 1 1/2 teaspoons.

Different apples give different flavors, and you can experiment with a combination of apples. The only real requirement is that it has to be an apple that is considered a "baking" apple so that it will hold up when under heat. I used Pink Lady's because that's what I had on hand, but usually a Granny Smith is my go to. Honeycrisp are great if you can get them, but they are so expensive I often lean towards not using them in baked goods.

Top with whipped cream or a good Vanilla for a sublime time. One better, drizzle some good quality caramel sauce on top too!

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Sharing Mini - Orange and Huckleberry Honey Butter

Yum

I'm back with another little mini post, and once again it's a compound butter! Possibilities really are endless out there for compound butters, and I'll have more here and there in the future as I use up previous ones! This time we have a bit of a cheater, but it's a good one. This recipe combines the flavors of honey, huckleberry and orange into one nice little spread. You could use huckleberry jam for a concentrated huckleberry flavor, but in this version here we're hitting two birds with one stone and using a pre-made huckleberry honey butter to make this even easier!

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Special Tools Alert!


You will need something to get orange zest with for this recipe. I have a Microplane grater, but any grater/shredder that has a "fine" option will work.

Ingredients

1/2 Cup Butter (1 stick)
1/2 Cup Huckleberry Honey
 2 Oranges (for zest)

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Directions

1. Make sure your butter is softened before starting
2. Zest your two oranges into a small bowl
3. In a small mixing bowl, combine softened butter with zest and huckleberry honey. Whisk to combine.
4. Really whip it with that whisk. Store in an airtight container in the fridge for longest shelf life. Otherwise, enjoy within about two weeks at room temp!

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Tips/Tricks

Once again with compound butters, almost anything is possible. Toast up a Tablespoon of pecans or walnuts and then chop them up and you have yourself an even more complex and interesting whipped butter.

Perfect for breakfasts on toast or english muffins. A great topper for pancakes or waffles if you have a berry syrup to accompany it.

If you wanted to use huckleberry jam instead, use 1/4th Cup Jam and 1/4th Cup Honey to keep the proportions about the same.

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Ultimate Soft and Pillowy Vanilla Chai Cinnamon Rolls

Yum

Serves 4-8 Takes About 3 1/2 Hours.

I have been making a version of this for years, but I think now, with the help of a technique taken from King Arthur Flour, I have my favorite version of Vanilla Chai Cinnamon Rolls yet. I love the flavor of Vanilla Chai, and by steeping the tea in the milk used for this dough and using it in the icing, you get a healthy dose of Vanilla Chai that compliments the flavors of a Cinnamon Roll very well. The trick to this recipe is taken from the wonderful King Arthur Flour, which is using a "starter" slurry of milk, water, a flour that you use to help bind the rest of the ingredients without needing much extra work for such a soft dough. It takes a long time to rise, Slighty more than a normal Cinnamon Roll recipe, but I promise you these are the softest, most pillowy Cinnamon Rolls you have ever made. For anyone who has made Cinnamon Rolls before, the majority of this recipe will be pretty familiar. If you haven't...making Cinnamon Rolls is a long process but absolutely worth it.

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Ingredients

This recipe has four stages, so I've broken down the ingredients that you will need by stage instead of one giant total amount. I think this makes it easier to know what all of it is for.

Starter
5 Tbl Water
5 Tbl Whole Milk
3 Tbl + 1 tsp Unbleached Bread Flour

Dough
2 Tea bags of Vanilla Chai Tea
All of Starter listed above
4 Cups 2 Tbl Unbleached Bread Flour
1/3rd Cup Nonfat Dry Milk
1 3/4 tsp Kosher Salt
1 Tbl Instant Yeast (Room Temp)
3/4 Cup lukewarm Half and Half (Vanilla Chai Tea)
2 Large Eggs (Room Temp)
6 Tbl Butter (Melted)

Filling
1/2 Cup Butter (1 stick, softened)
3/4 Cup Dark Brown Sugar)
2 tsp Ground Cinnamon
1 tsp Ground Nutmeg
1/2 tsp Ground Cloves
1/2 tsp Ground Allspice

Glaze
3 Tbl Butter (melted)
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
2 Cup Powdered Sugar
1/4 Cup Half and Half (Vanilla Chai Tea)

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Directions

1. Let's start with the easy part. Heat 1 Cup of Half and Half in a Microwave in a Microwave safe Measuring Cup. We want it warm-hot, but not boiling. It took me about 1 and a half minutes in the microwave. Once it's about lukewarm, steep two Vanilla Chai Tea Bags for a minimum of 5 minutes, set aside.

2. Making the Starter. Combine all of the starter ingredients in a small saucepan, and whisk until no lumps remain.

3. Place the saucepan over medium heat, and cook the mixture, whisking constantly, until thick and the whisk leaves lines on the bottom of the pan. This will probably take only a minute or two. Remove from the heat, and set it aside for several minutes.

4. To make the dough: Mix the starter with the remaining dough ingredients until everything comes together. Let the dough rest, covered, for 20 minutes; this will give the flour a chance to absorb the liquid.

5.After 20 minutes, knead the dough  by hand or mixer, to make a smooth, elastic, somewhat sticky dough. About 5 minutes in a mixer with a dough hook, 10 by hand.

6. Shape the dough into a ball, and let it rest in a lightly greased covered bowl for 90 minutes. It will grow in size and be puffy, but it won't be doubled in size.

7. While you're waiting, assemble your filling ingredients. In a small mixing bowl, combine Brown Sugar with your spices and half your softened stick of butter split in half ready to go.

8. Gently deflate the dough, work into a ball and split the ball in half and shape into as close to a rectangular shape as you can.

9. We don't want to add flour to this dough while working on it, so cover your rolling pin in a light layer of neutral-flavored oil, I used canola. Take one half of your dough and roll out on a cutting board to about 9"x15" That is, about 9 inches vertical and roughly 15 inches horizontal. Go slow as to not tear the dough.

10. Use a butter knife or (or offset spatula if you have one) to spread one half of your softened butter across your first 9"x15" rectangle, getting as thin and even of a coating as possible. Then very gently toss half of your brown sugar and spice mixture over your dough, trying to keep a light, even layer across all of the dough.

11. Rolling the dough. This part takes some care. Very slowly and with care, roll your dough from the top down, making as small of rolls as you can going down. The smaller the rolls you get, the tighter the rolls will be when you cut them. Once you have a log, straighten it out any to be a uniform size and pinch the ends to try and keep the filling in. Using a sharp knife, cut the log into pieces that are about 1 1/2 inch long. For me, this was 8 pieces, 2 ends and 6 middle.

12. Lightly grease a 9"x13" baking pan and set your rolls in the pan.

13. If your cutting board/rolling area got any filling on it, clean it off and take your second dough rectangle and repeat steps 9 through 11.

14. Time for the second rise. Cover your Cinnamon-Roll filled baking pan and let rest for 60 more minutes. Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees F while you are waiting, putting your racks to the bottom-middle of the oven.

15. Uncover the Rolls, they should be a nice bulky size now. Place in oven and let cook 22-25 minutes. Check at 22 minutes, but mine took the full 25. They will be fairly pale with only minimal browning. This is the desired color, we do not want them more than slightly browned.  Let stand 10 minutes.

16. While waiting for Rolls to cool, make the icing. Whisk together the icing ingredients until it comes together. It will be thick, it will thin a little with the heat. After the Rolls have cooled for ten minutes, drizzle rolls with icing and serve.

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Tips And What Could Be Done Differently

If you do not have a microwave, you can heat the milk in a small saucepot on the stove, whisking on low heat to keep it from scalding. Remember, you are heating it to steep tea in, so lukewarm, not boiling.

The beauty of these rolls is that because they are so soft, they also stay soft when properly covered and stored in the refrigerator. At the time of this writing, I made the rolls in the photo 5 days ago, and this morning I warmed up my stored leftovers for about 2 minutes in the microwave and they were literally just as soft as they were when I made them. King Arthur's recipe says you can store leftovers in the freezer for a month or so, but I don't ever imagine them lasting that long. They will last at least one week in the fridge.

The last time I made this, I realized I didn't have Clove or Allspice, so I substituted 4 tsp. of a pre-made Pumpkin Pie Spice for the Cinnamon, Clove Nutmeg and Allspice mixture and since that's pretty much exactly what's in Pumpkin Pie Spice (except sometimes it also has Ginger) It's a perfectly fine substitute in a pinch.

Toasted Walnuts or Pecans would be an excellent addition to these if you have them. Toss them on when Rolls are fresh out of oven and before covering in icing.

I love Vanilla Chai and warming spices in general (has that been made obvious yet?) so that is why I have included it here, but this technique to make Cinnamon Rolls will work with any sort of flavored tea you can steep in milk and pair with warming spices. Here are other flavors I intend on trying myself that you could do too: Caramel, Chocolate, Cinnamon, Orange, Raspberry and Peach.

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Coconut-Caramel Rice Pudding with Vanilla Tea-infused Jasmine Rice

Serves 6-12 Takes about 1 1/2 hours

Yum

This recipe was born out of the desire to make a dessert for my rice pudding loving, gluten-intolerant friend Jayde. I found a very basic recipe from Kraft and made that and it was a rousing success. Over time though, I've been wanting to find a way to make this dish mine, and I believe this speaks more to my sensibilities than that Kraft recipe ever did. Rice pudding itself is a very easy dessert, in concept and execution. But this recipe is not for those who don't have patience, because this will take a good hour to come together. My personal twist that I've added here is infusing Jasmine Rice with a Vanilla Tea. Without doing much more than brewing two tea bags in the prescribed water amount before making the rice, you impart an extra layer of warm and earthy vanilla flavors into the final dish.

One final note: This is a very rich dessert, and one cup uncooked rice makes about 3 cups cooked, and you aren't losing any of it. So don't go in thinking you can eat this by yourself. Probably best served as a small-portioned dessert to a lot of people rather than a big bowl for a few people. A little goes a long way.


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Ingredients

6 Cups (1 1/2 qts.) Half and Half
1 1/3 Cup Water
2 Vanilla tea bags (I used a Madagascar Vanilla Rooibos)
1 Cup Uncooked Jasmine Rice
1 lb. (16 oz) of a caramel milk topping (I used this one)
1/2 Cup Shredded Coconut, toasted
1/4 tsp Cinnamon
1/4 tsp Ground Nutmeg
1 1/4 tsp Kosher Salt


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Prep  Directions

1. Step one and two here are gonna be our preparation steps for a couple of our base ingredients. Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Spread at least half a cup of shredded (or flaked) coconut onto a lined baking sheet. Once oven is ready, set them in on a middle rack to toast. Will probably take more than 5 minutes and less than 10 minutes. Open oven halfway through and use a spatula to move coconut around for maximum toasting. Once it starts to get a golden-brown hue and some dark brown edges, pull out of oven and leave to cool. Meanwhile, put water in a medium sauce pan (one that has a lid) and heat to a boil. Once boiling, add tea bags, turn off the heat, and let steep 5-7 minutes. Then remove tea bags.
2. Bring Tea up to boiling and add the Jasmine Rice and a teaspoon of salt, stir to combine, put a lid on it and turn the heat down to low. Cook without lifting lid for 15 minutes. Once done, remove lid and fluff rice with fork. Set aside to cool or do what I did and make the day before and keep rice in a sealed container in the fridge until cook time.


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Pudding Directions

3. Okay, with that out of the way, let's make the pudding. In a medium-to-large saucepan, bring half and half to a slow boil. Keep the heat between Medium-Low and Medium, you want to do this gently enough that the dairy doesn't get scorched. It's a lot of dairy and we're doing this slowly. Stir with spatula occasionally to keep it from sticking too much to the top and the sides.
4. Once milk starts to boil, add in our cooked rice, caramel sauce, cinnamon, nutmeg and remaining salt. Turn to Medium-Low if not already there and stir.
5. Stir.
6. Stir some more. This is a slow process. By adding all this rice and caramel and lowering the heat, we have greatly disrupted the heat of the dairy and it will need to get back up to boiling (on it's own terms) before it really starts to take off. This is gonna take like...an hour probably. The saucepan will start mostly white with no visible rice, and by about halfway through it should take on the golden brown color of the caramel with a lot of rice visible. Stir once every 5 minutes or so to start, but as the temperature gets up to boiling, stir every 2-3 minutes. You'll know it's about finished when the dairy forms a skin on top every two-three minutes with bubbles boiling underneath, and stirring becomes a challenge.
7. Once pudding gets to the desired consistency (kinda like thick oatmeal) turn off the heat and drop in our toasted coconut, stir to combine. Transfer to a large dish to house the pudding, like a round casserole dish or a deep bowl.
8. Can be enjoyed hot or cold, so for hot rice pudding, let cool for about ten minutes and serve, possibly with a splash more coconut and cinnamon for garnish. For cold, set into the fridge and let cool about 3 hours before serving.


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What I Could Do Differently

There are a million different variations of rice pudding, mostly things to give you a textural change. In place of, or included with the toasted coconut, you could also add raisins, dried cranberries (craisins) and/or chopped up toasted pecans as a topping.
To remove a little richness from this dish (and/or use what you have on hand) you can substitute the half and half for whole milk or 2% and it will still come together nicely.

Stuffed Acorn Squash with Caramelized Onion, Sausage, Apple and Parmesan Cheese

 Serves 6 - About 1 1/2 hours

Yum
This was a recipe inspired by my friend Emily. Full of fall flavors, but not limited to fall, these Acorn Squash are stuffed with lots of hot pork sausage (not actually very hot) celery, caramelized onions, garlic, apples and flavored with thyme, rosemary and sage. There's some time involved in making this, but really it's all in assembly and prep and all that can be done in advance with about 15 minutes actual cook-to-finish time.

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Ingredients

3 Acorn Squash
1 Large Yellow Onion, diced
1 Pound Ground Hot Pork Sausage
2 Apples, finely diced
2 Stalks of Celery, finely diced
1 Cup of Parmesan Cheese
2 Cloves of Garlic, minced
1/2 tsp Ground Sage
1 tsp Ground Rosemary
2 tsp Ground Thyme

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Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit, use a sturdy knife to slice the top of the Squash with the stem off. Try to get as close to the stem as you can. Then split squash in half and scoop out seeds and innards. Before the next step, have your onion diced and ready to go.
2. Rub your preferred cooking oil (vegetable, canola, olive) over the exposed inside area of each squash half, then sprinkle with salt and pepper. Once that is done, set them face down (skin side up) on a lined (or greased) baking sheet. At the same time, put a medium sized skillet on medium heat.
3. Put Squash in oven and leave to cook for about 40-55 minutes, or until skin is tender when touched with a fork. Then, add diced onions to pre-heated pan along with a neutral cooking oil. Season with seasoning salt/salt pepper and turn heat down to medium-low.
4. While your squash is roasting, you're caramelizing your onions, which will also take about 45-55 minutes. Stir every five minutes or so and keep heat medium-low. You're looking for an amber-ish color and to your whole onion to reduce down to about a quarter of what you put in. Use this time to prep your celery.
5. Once your Squash is fork tender, take out of oven and set aside for the time being. Once onions are to desired caramelization, also set aside.
6. In a large skillet over medium heat, coat the bottom of the pan in oil and put in your hot sausage. As it cooks, break apart with spatula until it's fairly small bits. Leave to cook until all or almost all brown, about 5 minutes. During this time, dice up your apples, skin on.
7. Add celery to sausage, leave to saute for another 2 minutes.
8. Add in your diced apples, garlic and the onions from your other pan, leave to cook for about 3-5 minutes.
9. Stir in 3/4 Cup parmesan, sage, rosemary and thyme. Let cook until parmsean starts to melt. About 1-2 minutes.
10. Take mixture off heat. Turn your squash halves over and spoon mixture into Squash halves. Try to fill them as much as possible, though you might have leftovers depending on size of Squash centers.
11. Return stuffed squash face side up to oven and bake for another 15 minutes or so.
12. Remove from oven and top with remaining, 1/4th cup parmesan. Enjoy!



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What I Could Do Differently

You could very easily switch out the hot sausage for breakfast sausage and have a just as tasty and even more fall-flavored meal.

Hearty Breakfast Scramble with Roasted Red Peppers, Pepper Bacon and Yukon Potatoes

Yum

Serves 2-4, About 35-40 minutes

This recipe is a really no-frills, easy to make breakfast/brunch. I've been making some version of this for years now, sometimes at the rate of every other weekend. It's easy, filling and satisfying to both make and eat. Your kitchen will smell amazing the entire time. The directions here are gonna be short on steps but lengthy on instruction, largely because there is a lot of waiting to do in between steps, so to shorten prep time, you can easily prep each ingredient before the step in which it is needed.

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Ingredients

2 Yellow Potatoes, cut into wedges
1 Yellow Onion, large, sliced
4 oz. Roasted Red Bell Peppers, sliced
4 Slices of thick-cut Pepper Bacon, diced
4 Cloves of Garlic, minced
2 Eggs lightly beaten
1 1/2 Cups of Cheddar/Monterrey Jack Blend, Shredded
Some Seasoning Salt/ Salt and Pepper, to taste

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Directions

1. Heat a 10" or larger pan on the stove on medium heat. Once sufficiently hot, cover bottom of pan with neutral oil. Once oil is glistening, drop wedged Potatoes.
2. Potatoes take awhile to get soft, so let potatoes sit for about 10 minutes, stirring around only every couple minutes. During this time, you can easily cut your onion, peppers and bacon.
3. After the 10 minutes have passed, add Onions and your favorite seasoning salt over whole pan, stir every couple minutes for 5 minutes.
4. After about another 5 minutes have passed and the onions have sweat a little, add Sliced Peppers, Bacon and Garlic. Again, leave to cook for another 5-10 minutes, stirring only every couple minutes.
5. While you're waiting, crack 2 Eggs into separate bowl or cup and lightly beat with fork until combined. Once time has elapsed, move ingredients to one side of pan and pour eggs into your now empty side. Let sit for a minute or so to start forming before stirring it into whole mixture. Cook for another 4-5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
6. Finally, throw your Shredded Cheese blend on top of your scramble, doing your best to evenly cover the top. Turn heat off and cover with a lid or foil. Let sit for about 10 minutes and enjoy.

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What I Could Differently

• This recipe is really just a base of potatoes, onions, egg and cheese. Without anything else, that is a solid, basic scramble. Everything else is customizable. That makes this the perfect "kitchen sink" recipe, where you can throw in anything else you have laying around that you think might work. Some deli turkey or ham diced, sliced mushrooms, asparagus and even eggplant would make fun additions or substitutions.

• Pepper Bacon is my most used meat, since I buy it in packs of 3-4 pounds and freeze them into separate 1-pound bags. I've made it previously with Breakfast Sausage, diced Deli Meat as mentioned above and Chorizo. If you want to go a more Mexican route, swap the Yellow Potatoes for Red and Bacon for Chorizo and add a teaspoon of Taco Seasoning for a Southwest-inspired scramble.

• For some heat, this dish also lends itself very well to a hot sauce. I use my favorite Barrel-Aged Sriracha.

Sharing Mini - Roasted Red Pepper Cream Cheese Dip with Sriracha and Garlic

Yum
Serves 6-12, takes about 5 minutes

Another mini post here, a quick, easy and delicious cream cheese based dip that's perfect for chips and crackers. I make this just about every time I host a party at my place, and it's always a hit. Roasted red bell peppers make the dip slightly sweet and smoky, while the sriracha adds some heat that is well-balanced out by the cream cheese. You'll know it's there, but it's not gonna hurt you.


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For this recipe, you will need a food processor or mixer; hand or stand with whip attachment. Doing this by hand would be tedious and exhausting. I used a food processor.

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Ingredients

8oz. Cream Cheese (1 block)
4 oz. Roasted Red Bell Peppers
1 Tbsp of your favorite Sriracha
1 tsp. minced garlic (2 cloves)

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Directions

1. If Cream Cheese is from a block, cut into cubes so it will blend easier. Add cream cheese to processor bowl.
2. Add Roasted Peppers, Sriracha and garlic.
3. Pulse to combine. Once it looks like it's come together, use a rubber spatula to clean down the sides and push everything to the center of the bowl, then pulse until thoroughly combined.
4. Use rubber spatula to remove all the dip from the bowl into a resealable container and enjoy!

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Tips/Tricks

This will last about 2 weeks in the refrigerator, but it will harden up sitting in there. So if making in advance or saving leftovers, take out about 15 minutes before you expect to use it.
You can use any sriracha sauce. I used a barrel-aged sriracha that is less hot but more sweet than your average bottle of Huy-Fong.

Bourbon Maple Syrup Brined Pork Tenderloin with a Bourbon Maple Syrup and Honey Mustard Glaze

Yum

Serves 2-4I make Pork Tenderloin a lot for work, but I was actually nervous about making it at home because at work I'm making about 16 at a time and have never made just one. Truth be told, this recipe came about because I have roughly 7 different kinds of maple syrup at home and I wanted to use one for something that wasn't pancakes. While my usual go-to for pork tenderloin is an apple-based sauce (I'll be doing one for fall, don't worry!) I wanted to experiment with a slightly different style than I usually go for while still being an absolute flavor winner for pork. Brining the pork with maple syrup and a hickory smoked sea salt really make sure that hickory-bourbon-maple flavor was present throughout the meat and not just relying on the glaze to deliver that punch.

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Ingredients

1 Pork Tenderloin (1.5-2 lbs.)
1 Quart Cold Water
1/4th Cup Hickory Smoked Sea Salt
1/3 Cup and 2 Tbsp. Bourbon Barrel Aged Pure Maple Syrup
6 Cloves Garlic, minced or crushed
3 Tbsp. Fresh Ginger, Chopped
1 Tbsp. Black Pepper
2 Tbsp. Honey Mustard
2 tsp. Dried Rosemary
2 tsp. Dried Thyme
1 tsp. Red Pepper Flakes

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Directions

1.  Make the Brine. In a large bowl, combine Water with 1/3 Cup of the syrup, Garlic, Ginger, Black Pepper, Rosemary Thyme and Red Pepper Flakes and stir until thoroughly incorporated.
2. Add the Pork to brine bowl and make sure it is fully submerged in brine. Cover with plastic wrap or lid and leave in fridge 5-10 hours. More than 10 hours and it could end up being too salty.
3. Preheat Oven to 325 degrees and remove Pork from Brine and thoroughly rinse off in cold running water. Pat dry.
4. Quickly mix together in a small bowl the remaining 2 Tbsp. of Syrup and the Honey Mustard, set aside.
5. Heat up an oven-safe skillet on medium heat on the stove top and pour in just enough neutral cooking oil (Canola, Vegetable) to cover the bottom.
7. Season your pork on all sides with salt and pepper and place in your hot pan.
8. Sear your pork on the stove top on all sides, about 10 minutes, a nice golden brown color.
9. Once seared all the way around, take the whole skillet and place it in the oven. Cooking time will vary by size of the tenderloin, but we're looking for the perfect internal temperature of 145 degrees. For me, I had a 1.5 lb. tenderloin, and this took about 10 minutes.
10. Take your pan out of the oven and brush the Syrup and Honey Mustard mixture over the pork, return to Oven to let set, about 5-10 minutes. For me it was about 5.
11. Remove Pan from Oven, take pork out and place on cutting board, letting rest for about 10 minutes.
12. Slice pork into medallions and if you have any of the Syrup and Honey Mustard mixture remaining, drizzle over top of the sliced medallions.

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What I Could Do Differently

As previously mentioned it in my Apple Cider Brined BBQ Pulled Pork recipe, I picked up this Hickory Smoked Sea Salt from a specialty store. I believe if you have a cooking specialty store it might be available there, and I am sure you can get some online. However, I feel like this recipe will work just as good without it and you can just substitute in Kosher Salt in the brine instead if need be.

The bourbon barrel aged maple syrup is another craft specialty item, which I got from Costco. This recipe can be made without it as long as you have a good pure maple syrup, but if you're on the fence about buying a specialty-flavored pure maple syrup, you can just add regular pure maple syrup and put a shot of Bourbon in your brine instead.

As with most of my recipes, this is really just an excuse for me to play with different flavors I have laying around in my kitchen. If you know you like a flavor that goes well with pork, feel free to try out different variations. For example, I also happen to have a locally produced Apple Cider syrup from a nearby farm and while it's not going to give you the same flavor combo, I could see subbing in that Apple Cider Syrup and a shot of bourbon in the brine in place of this bourbon maple syrup for a similar profile and just as tasty tenderloin.

This recipe easily scales, as most of the ingredients are just in the brine. I know in my bowl I had room (and enough liquid) for at least a second tenderloin of similar size. More than that and you'll probably need to double the brining amounts however. As for glaze, just double the amounts of Syrup and Mustard for each additional tenderloin and for cook time probably add another 10-ish minutes per loin, but you should be using a meat thermometer to be the ultimate judge of time for pork. As long as you're pulling them out when they hit 145 degrees, you're good.

Sharing Mini - Cinnamon Honey Butter

Yum

Originally I intended this to be part of a larger series of compound butters, but it didn't come together in time. Instead, I decided I'd break these compound butters down into their own mini posts as I make them, so that I don't have like...6 different butters in my fridge at one time.

So today's recipe is very easy and delicious. A butter infused with cinnamon, vanilla and honey. Compound butters, sweet and savory, are an easy way to impart flavor on something without doing much work. Make the butter ahead of time and wham! you have it ready to use whenever you feeling like adding some to a meal. This butter, a cinnamon and honey butter, is my most made and used, as my breakfast most weeks includes English Muffins. Perfect as a topping for my Mexican Chocolate Banana Bread as well as cornbread and even melted and tossed with carrots. Without further ado, let's get down to it.

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Ingredients

1 8oz Stick Butter, room temp
1/4th Cup Honey
1/2 tsp. Cinnamon
1/2 tsp. Pure Vanilla Extract

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Directions

1. Take your room temp Butter and place it in a small mixing bowl and whisk
2. Once butter is broken down a bit and whipped up, add your Honey, Cinnamon and Vanilla
3. Whisk together to combine, making sure no butter has gone un-mixed
4. Transfer your butter to a sealable container. Can be stored room temp for about two weeks or in the fridge for about a month.

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What Could I Do Differently

Really in this case, you can play around with what kind of honey you're using to great effect, as each one has it's own flavor. I'm using a hyper-local wildflower honey, made about 7 miles from my house. Want more floral notes, use a lavender infused honey. Want more citrus notes, use an orange blossom variety
.

Three Layer Chicken Enchilada Casserole

Yum

Serves 6-12

I've been playing around with this recipe for a few years and I think this version hits all the notes I'm looking for in this Mexican-flavor inspired casserole dish. Like a lasagna, you're building the layers up and then baking until it's all one nice set rectangle. Brining the chicken before cooking gives the chicken just a little bit more of it's own character instead of being a filler in this dish. If you like enchiladas and/or ugly cheesy messes, this casserole is for you. 

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Ingredients

15-ish Corn Tortillas
1 Can Refried Beans, 16 Oz
1 Can Mild Diced Green Chiles, 4 Oz
1 Can Medium Red Enchilada Sauce, 12 Oz
2 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts, Shredded
4 Cups Mexican Cheese Blend, Shredded
1 Cup Heavy Whipping Cream
1 Container Mexican Style Sour Cream, 16 Oz
Taco Seasoning, to taste

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Directions

1. Start by brining the chicken breasts. In a medium sized bowl, bring 1 1/2 quarts of very cold water together with 3 Tablespoons of table salt and once mixed together, add in Chicken Breasts and let sit in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to an hour. Any longer and the chicken will absorb too much salt water.

2. Once Chicken has been brined, wash off breasts and pat dry. Cover chicken breasts in Taco Seasoning and some ground black pepper, heat skillet, and begin to cook chicken breasts in a lightly oiled pan.

3. While doing step two, also pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees, pull out a 9x13 (or similar sized) pan, lightly grease it and prep your other casserole ingredients (Tortillas, Refried Beans, Chiles, Enchilada Sauce, Cheese) so that layering the casserole can be quick.

4. Once chicken hits 165 degrees F, take out of pan and shred with your preferred method. I use my stand mixer with a paddle attachment. You can also use a hand-mixer and also the ol' two-fork separation method. If you use the fork method, best to let it sit for like five minutes so you don't burn yourself. Once chicken is shredded to your liking, put (or keep) in bowl and bring it over to your other prepped ingredients.

5. Now the assembly. Essentially you just want to cover as much space in the bottom of your casserole dish with tortilla as possible, without a ton of overlap. This will be different for everyone based on what your pan looks like, but with mine, I was able to fit 5 standard six inch corn tortillas in the bottom layer of the pan; one full tortilla in each corner and then one ripped in half and laid in the center. If you want to cover more space you can rip them up smaller, but the smaller you make them, the harder the next step will be.

6. Next, use a spoon to drop about half of your can of refried beans into the center of the tortillas. Use a rubber spatula to gently push them around until you have them covering as much of the tortilla layer as possible. The beans are our glue in this casserole.

7. Once beans have been spread, layer your other ingredients evenly across the beanfield like so; half your can of Diced Green Chile, half of your shredded chicken, one cup of shredded cheese and about a third of your enchilada sauce.

8. Once your first layer is complete, start anew with tortillas, trying to cover as much space as possible with as few tortillas as you can. For me, that was once again 5 tortillas. Then layer your ingredients the same as in step 7.

9. Time for the top "crust" layer. Cover your second layer of toppings with your favorite tortilla covering pattern. Then distribute remaining two cups of shredded cheese across the top as evenly as possible. Next, try to evenly drop the last third of your enchilada sauce. Then pour the Heavy Whipping Cream across the top, trying to get it as evenly distributed between the top and the sides.

10. Time to bake. Set the casserole on your middle rack and let bake. Exact time will vary based on what dish you used, but I think a good rule of thumb is to check it at 20  minutes and check again every 10 minutes after that until the cheese starts to brown. For me, it was about 40 minutes.

11. Once cheese is sufficiently golden, pull out of oven and let sit for about ten minutes before serving. Cut yourself a slice and top with a dollop of Mexican Style Sour Cream and voilà.
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What Could I Do Differently

This is another recipe that will hold up to experimentation if you keep your flavor base in the same wheelhouse. You can swap your red enchilada sauce for green or for a hotter red sauce. You can choose your own blend of shredded cheeses, hotter diced chiles, adding a layer of a mexican hot sauce in as well.

You could swap the chicken out for a Mexican style pulled pork to I think great effect. I'd be really interested to try a Cuban Mojo Pulled Pork in place of the chicken.

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Loaded Baked Potato Soup

Yum

This recipe started it's life as a slow cooker loaded baked potato soup I found online. You were supposed to use the slow cooker to boil the potatoes for hours, and then towards the end combine it all to make the soup. I almost immediately found that while that works, it was actually much more convenient for me to just boil the potatoes, and do the whole thing on the stove top in under two hours. If you want an even faster cooking time, this is a great way to use a couple cups of leftover roasted potato wedges from a previous meal. The original recipe was also more about giving you a potato soup that had loaded baked potato toppings served as a garnish, whereas overtime, I found that actually incorporating those flavors into the soup just...tastes better. And, if you do happen to have some leftover cheese, bacon, chives and sour cream, you can still do a fun loaded baked potato look on top of your individual bowls of soup.

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Special Equipment

You will need an Immersion Blender for this recipe. This can be substituted with a regular blender, if done in small batches and pulsed a couple times.

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Ingredients

6 Large Russet Potatoes
1 White/Yellow Onion
1 Quart Chicken Broth
4 Cloves Garlic
1/4th Cup Butter (half a stick)
2 1/2 tsp. Kosher Salt
1 tsp. Black Pepper
1 Cup Heavy Cream
1/2 Cup Sharp Cheddar, Shredded (More for Garnish)
1/2 Cup Colby Jack, Shredded
3 Tbsp. Chives, Chopped
1 Cup Sour Cream (More for Garnish)
8 Slices of Thick-Cut Bacon

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Directions

1. Dice your potatoes, leaving the skins on. Cover in a pot with cold water until potatoes are fully submersed. Add 1 tsp. kosher salt for each quart of water used. Bring to a boil and then simmer. It should take around 20 minutes, or until a fork will easily pierce a potato, but check in around every 5 minutes or so until done.

2. Once you get your potatoes boiling, fry up your bacon. You want it to be fairly crisp, but not burnt, we're going for bacon bits here. Once it reaches that perfect consistency, pull out and leave to drain on a plate covered with some paper towels to remove excess grease. Drain out excess bacon grease from your pan (you can save it in a mason jar in your fridge like I do!) and set aside.

3. Dice your onion, hopefully while the potatoes are boiling and your bacon is frying, or before you started. Get your pan with leftover bacon grease back on medium heat, and once hot, throw in your diced onion and season to taste with your favorite seasoning salt, I use Johnny's. Cook the onions until soft and translucent, about 5 minutes.

4. Take your bacon strips and set them as best as you can on top of each other. Use your knife to chop them into small bacon crumbles. Set aside.

5. Once potatoes are fork tender, drain them and dump the water. Use this pot to make your soup. Add to your potatoes the Chicken Broth, Butter, Onion, Garlic, Salt and Pepper, put this pot on medium heat. Bring to a boil, then turn down to low and let simmer for about 20 minutes.

6. At this point stir in the Heavy Cream, Shredded Cheeses, Sour Cream and about 3/4ths of your Bacon bits. Cook for another 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally to make sure everything gets to know each other.

7. Turn off the heat and use your Immersion Blender to gently blend your soup up. It will go from one shade of beige to another shade of beige, but thicker. Blend for short bursts to help break up some of the potatoes and bacon, but you're looking to leave some intact as well.

8. Once blended, stir in about half of your chives and you are ready to serve.

9. When serving, top your individual bowls of soup with a dollop of sour cream, and a sprinkling of  shredded cheddar, reserved bacon bits and chives.

10. Enjoy!

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What I Could Do Differently

Lots of ways to vary up this recipe, as a creamy soup base with cheese and bacon can go a lot of fun ways.

1. Experiment with cheese combos: I always use cheddar, but the other half cup I like playing with. I listed my second 1/2 a cup as Colby Jack because it's ol' reliable, but I've also had a lot of success with shredded Smoked Gouda. Any cheese that melts well can be tried as a substitution.

2. Experiment with Bacon: Same idea as cheese, most bacon will taste good here, might as well play around with different flavor profiles and see which one you like the best. When I make this, I am almost always using a thick cut, Applewood Smoked Pepper Bacon.

3. Use different/roasted potatoes! This was born out of me working in a kitchen that often has a surplus of leftover roasted yellow and red potato wedges and not wanting to waste them. I listed Russets in the recipe because they are the cheapest to get and taste great in this recipe...but yellow potatoes can really give you an extra "buttery" flavor in the soup. They would work great either half and half with russets or fully substituted for an extra rich flavor. Also, if you want to simply roast potatoes for a dinner side dish, dice up your potatoes of choice, combine olive oil, some thyme, rosemary, parsley and a little kosher salt in a bowl and toss potatoes to combine. Roast at 425 degrees for about an hour and bam! easy dinner side dish, and if you end up with at least two cups of leftovers you can save yourself 20 minutes in this recipe and just start at Step 2.

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Mexican Chocolate and Toasted Sugar Banana Bread

Yum

This is a twist on a family banana bread recipe. I only needed 3/4ths of a cup of sugar for the chocolate chip cookies so I used some of my leftover Toasted Sugar for this banana bread recipe to add an extra caramel-y note. Much like chocolate chip cookies, banana bread is so good, easy and mellow on it's own that it is rife with opportunities to make little twists and turns to make it your own. This will probably not be the only banana bread recipe I post either. Bananas are both cheap and easy to forget about until they're too brown to eat, so it's a perfect match for turning something lost into something gained. Mexican chocolate, for those unaware, is a flavor profile that's very much up my alley. Commercially it's sold primarily as round discs from brands like Abuelita and Ibarra, and is spiced with cinnamon and intended to be melted into milk to make a hot cocoa. It's a lot more grainy than your average chocolate bar, so instead of chunks you get mostly shavings and powder from chopping it up, giving this loaf a continuous but not overpowering taste of chocolate and cinnamon.

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Ingredients

1/2 Cup Melted Butter
1/2 Cup Buttermilk
2 Room Temp Eggs
1 Cup Toasted Sugar
1 tsp. Baking Soda

1/4th tsp. Kosher Salt
2 Cups flour
3 Very Ripe Bananas (as close to black as you can get without being moldy)
1 Disc Mexican Chocolate Shaved


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Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
2. Whisk Butter and Sugar in a fairly large bowl until thoroughly mixed together
3. Add eggs one at a time into mixture, making sure they are fully combined before continuing
4. Add buttermilk to batter
5. Add Baking Soda, Salt and Flour, being sure to slowly whisk flour in so that everything is fully combined without overpowering the batter with flour
6. Add Bananas and Chocolate shavings. Banana will be lumpy, but should be soft enough that a good couple hits with the whisk fully integrates them into batter
7. Pour into well-greased loaf pans. (should make two loaves with a standard 1.5 qt loaf pan. I use one large 3-ish qt. pan.)
8. Bake for around 45 minutes until toothpick comes out clean in center.
9. Take out of oven, set whole loaf pan on wire rack to cool and run a butter knife around the edges to make sure it comes out easy.
10. After cooling for about 30 minutes to an hour in the loaf pan, turn out and leave to cool completely on wire rack, then cover and store.

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What I Could/Would Do Differently

Like I said up top, this is a pretty versatile recipe base for banana bread if you just take out the Mexican chocolate. Adding in a cup of toasted and finely chopped walnuts or a cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips are both easy and fun variations.

If you do not have Buttermilk, you can do what my family's original banana bread recipe says to do and make "sour milk" by combining 1/2 cup whole or 2% milk with 1 Tbsp. of Distilled White Vinegar and leave that mixture sitting for 5 minutes before use. Not exactly the same, but it gets the job done.

I have a large 3-ish quart loaf pan and only one 1.5 quart standard size loaf pan, so I tend to make one large banana bread loaf instead. If you also want to do this, follow the recipe until you get to 45 minutes in the oven, at that point open it, cover the loaf pan with foil so it won't get any darker while still cooking, and let cook for around 20 more minutes, or until it passes the toothpick test.

While banana bread is good on day one, bananas share this magical property with pumpkin where it tastes more like itself in the days following the initial bake. So it can be very difficult, but I highly recommend waiting a day or even two to eat the banana bread, as you get so much more of the banana flavor on the second and third days. I often won't even cut my banana bread open until it has sat for a day.

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Toasted Sugar Chocolate Chip Cookies with Cinnamon and Espresso Powder

Yum

I had a hard time naming this one anything catchy, because really it is just the classic Tollhouse chocolate chip cookie with some tweaks and twists. The more baking posts I do, the more you'll probably notice that I love cinnamon, I add it to most of my baked goods.

So in this recipe, we have a couple things going on. The Tollhouse chocolate chip cookie recipe is not only purportedly the original chocolate chip cookie recipe, but it also so good, it's a good base for experimenting, as it pretty much always comes out a winner with no tweaks. I love cinnamon, so adding a touch into the cookie dough here doesn't give the cookie an overwhelming cinnamon taste, but tasting the cookie gives you a hint that something else is going on. Likewise, the espresso powder adds a nice "mocha" hint to the cookie. Neither overpower the original taste but add subtle complexity to the standard flavor base. Toasted Sugar works very similarly. It's a technique developed over at Serious Eats that I have been experimenting with. Toasting the sugar, in this case baking it in an oven safe metal pan before use, gives the sugar a less sweet and more caramel-y note to the cookie. If you do attempt Toasted Sugar, I do advise you to be careful, because the first time I attempted it I was dumb and touched the metal handle after it came out of the oven, burnt my hand in several spots and dumped two cups of sugar onto the floor and had to start over. If you do attempt it though, it's a very delicious and easy substitute for regular sugar to give a more complex flavor without much extra work.

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Toasting Sugar

Like I said up top, this comes from Serious Eats. I put two cups of sugar into an oven safe metal pan, into a 350 degree oven and let it sit for about 25-30 minutes and then took it out and poured it into a container and let it cool completely before covering. The sugar will be a slightly tan color that is a little hard to discern while looking at it, but comparing it to the original sugar you used will show it looks pretty different. Once it's completely cooled, you can use it in place of normal sugar without any substitutions.

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Dry Ingredients

2 1/4th Cups Flour
1 tsp. Baking Soda
1 tsp. Salt
1/4 tsp. Cinnamon Powder
1/4 tsp. Espresso Powder
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Wet Ingredients

1 Cup (2 sticks) Softened Butter
3/4th Cup Packed Brown Sugar
3/4th Cup Toasted Sugar
1 tsp. Vanilla Extract
2 Eggs (Room Temp)
2 Cups Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips

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Directions

1. Combine your dry ingredients together in a small bowl.
2. Place Butter, Brown Sugar, Toasted Sugar and Vanilla Extract into Mixing Bowl and mix on low to cream butter and sugars together.
3. Once combined, add Eggs one at a time into mixing bowl, only adding the second one once the first one is fully combined in. 

4. Once the second egg is fully combined, slowly add in flour mixture until it is fully mixed in.
5. Once all the flour mixture is incorporated, add Chocolate Chips
6. Make sure any loose flour is mixed in and chocolate chips have been thoroughly incorporated, then set the entire mixing bowl in the refrigerator for 1 hour.. This helps to stop cookies from spreading in oven.

7. After 1 hour, take dough out of the fridge and preheat oven to 375 degrees. By the time the oven is ready, the dough should be soft enough to scoop.
8. Drop cookies by rounded tablespoon onto an ungreased baking sheet.
9. Bake for 9-11 minutes
10.Let cool for about 5 minutes on baking sheet, then remove to wire rack to cool completely

Slow Cooker BBQ Pulled Pork with Hard Apple Cider Brine

Yum

So a BBQ Pulled Pork recipe is something I have been tinkering with over the years. I got a good slow cooker BBQ Pulled Pork recipe several years ago and have tweaked it over time. Something I never saw with Pulled Pork was a brine of hard apple cider, so I combined the two.

If you are unfamiliar, a brine is pretty simple. Essentially you are soaking a meat in an acidic base plus adding extra flavors with it. The acidic base of the brine helps break down the cell walls of the meat, leaving your finished product more tender, more juicy as it absorbs liquid from the brine, and imparts a little extra flavor with what you put in it. Two of the biggest brines in popular culture are a buttermilk brine for fried chicken and teriyaki marinades. Brining has become a huge bonus to my cooking here at home and I hope you try it out for yourself if you never have...maybe even with this recipe!

So for this recipe you'll need a 4-6 pound boneless pork shoulder, a slow cooker and something large enough to hold the pork plus brine in. I used a large mixing bowl, it just needs to be something you can submerge the pork and keep enclosed for a minimum of 6 hours to overnight.

For the Brine You Will Need:

5 Cups of Hard Apple Cider
5 Cups of Water
3/4 Cup of Salt
1/2 Cup Sugar
4 Rosemary Sprigs
2 Bay Leaves
1 Yellow Onion Sliced
6 Cloves Garlic
1 Tbsp Paprika
1/4th tsp Cayenne

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This part is pretty simple. Take your container for brining, be in a large plastic bag or a mixing bowl and add the ingredients. If in a container whisk together to ensure everything is evenly distributed before adding the pork, then add the pork and cover with plastic wrap. If in a plastic bag, add the brine, then the pork, then seal it and gently shake/press everything around to make sure it's all covered. Then put it in the refrigerator for a six hour minimum to overnight maximum. 

For The Rub You Will Need:

 

1 Tbsp Packed Dark Brown Sugar
1 Tbsp Chili Powder

1/2 tsp Ground Cumin
1/4 tsp Ground Cinnamon
*1 Tbsp Hickory Smoked Sea Salt*

Take these above ingredients, stir together in a small bowl and set aside. Take out your container of brine and remove the pulled pork, saving one cup of the brine for slow cooker. You then want to give the pork a good washing in the sink, then pat dry with paper towels. For the next part you want to make sure the pork is dry so it will accept the rub. Then use your fingers to take the rub mixture and spread all over the pork. It doesn't need to be a thick coating, but make sure the entire surface of the pork is covered. The next step is adding it to the slow cooker.

* the hickory smoked sea salt I have is a specialty item I have and I used it to help impart a smoky flavor in the pork since I'm using a slow cooker. If you do not have it, I'm pretty sure regular kosher/sea salt will do just as well*

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Slow Cooker Base:

2 Medium Yellow Onions Thinly Sliced
4 Garlic Cloves Sliced or Minced
1 Cup Chicken Broth
1 Cup Brining Liquid

After Cooking -- 2 Cups BBQ Sauce I used a combo, one cup sweet, one cup spicy/tangy

So this is where it all comes together. Add your onions, garlic, chicken broth and reserved brining liquid to the base of the slow cooker. Then add your pork and cover with lid. Cook on 4-6 hours high or 6-8 hours low. Pull your meat out, it will be super tender so try to get any pieces that fall off. Drain out your liquid out of your slow cooker so that it is empty. Shred with your preferred method, then add the shredded pork back into the slow cooker and stir in that two cups of BBQ sauce. Then it's ready to eat! I added an additional step of taking it back out and putting it on a sheet pan in the oven on 350 for 15 minutes to try and get it a little crispy. Serve with extra BBQ sauce either by itself or on your favorite buns of choice. I used potato rolls.

What I Would/Could Do Differently:

This recipe is super versatile, and I am confident you could do this same recipe with chicken in place of pork. I originally wanted Brioche buns for my finished product but when it came time to shop for ingredients there were none in stock. Since this is such a savory dish I like pairing it with a sweet bread, so Hawaiian or Brioche buns would be my first choice, but potato rolls worked nicely. You should also toast up your buns with a little butter before serving for an extra crunch and bite of flavor. On the day I did this recipe however, everyone was very hungry and we agreed we couldn't wait any longer.

Hope people try this and enjoy!

 

My first post --- Welcome to the Blog!

Hi there,

I'm Raymond.

   I'm a food enthusiast, and cook by trade. Food is a central focus of my life, whether it be eating or making it. I feel like I'm a creative type, always trying to learn and experiment and make new things with what I know, and I decided I wanted to share that with all of you out there. This introduction post is always the hardest thing for me to write, because I feel like I have so much explaining I have to do, but I think this is enough background for now and I can kinda explain how I want this blog to work.

   I do love to write, and tend to ramble when I care about something, but that's actually something I really detest in food blogs, so I intend to keep these posts as minimal on background as possible. How I want these recipe posts to go is this; I introduce the food, include a nice photo (or as nice as I can try and get) of the finished product, shortly explain any special techniques or ingredients I might have used that you should know to recreate the finished product, post the recipe, and underneath that do a little section of what I would/could do differently. I'm a never-satisfied perfectionist, so I'm always thinking of ways I can improve/change a recipe. If I make a change down the road that I feel is significant, I will make a new post and link it down in this "changes" section. This section can also be where I suggest different tweaks or suggestions to slightly change the finished product to fit a different flavor profile or outcome.

  That being said, I already feel like I rambled too much. I've run music and movie review blogs, but never one where I put out there something I solely created myself...so bear with me here as I adapt to something new. I hope people out there enjoy what I post and maybe gain a new delicious recipe for your own life. I would love comments or critiques, especially if people make any of the things I post.

Thank you, anyone and all who read this and the posts to come in this blog. It is my heart and soul.