December 16, 2008
Chocolate-Filled Mexican Wedding Cookies
I think Mexican Wedding Cookies are one of the quintessential Christmas cookies out there*. Besides decorated sugar cookies and gingerbread men, they are definitely what come to my mind when I think of holiday sweets. I’ve also seen them called Mexican Wedding Cakes or Russian Teacakes. I remember my mom would make them for Christmas parties and she’d always have to make special ones for me because I don’t like nuts.
*Update 5/1/2009: A commenter said she was making these for Cinco De Mayo, too. Great idea!
Last month I thought about these cookies, which I haven’t had in years, and decided to whip some up. They are so easy to make and just as good as I …
December 9, 2008
Irresistible Peanut Butter Cookies
So I guess December is the official cookie baking month, right? I don’t feel so bad about making/eating cookies in November and December. Diets are what January is for. I consider myself quite the cookie connoisseur but I realized last month that despite my love for all things peanut butter, that I’ve never made peanut butter cookies from scratch. Of course, I had to remedy this immediately. Brandon had a cookie craving one night and didn’t want to wait the requisite 36 hours for chocolate chip cookies so I found this recipe and whipped it up. I LOVED how fast and easy these were to make. This recipe also had more peanut butter in …
December 4, 2008
Black and White Chocolate Cheesecake Supreme
I decided to buck tradition this year and I made a cheesecake for Thanksgiving instead of apple or pumpkin pie. Brandon and I both LOVE cheesecake and he insists that it’s more pie than cake, so in his mind I still made the traditional pie. I used my previous cheesecake recipe, (which IMHO is the best) but modified it by adding melted white and dark chocolate, a method I’ve seen in a bunch of other recipes. If you remember from my previous sojourn into cheesecake baking I had some issues getting it right (it looked undercooked, though it really wasn’t). I baked it a bit differently this time and found this is definitely the right way to do it. Plus I think this new method makes it much more like a real New York cheesecake (or so I’ve heard) because it browns the top and sides slightly. While this method made the top kind of flaky looking (nothing you notice when you are eating it), the cake itself didn’t crack.
I thought all the chocolate would make it too rich, but it really didn’t. It tasted deliciously smooth and creamy and was also quite fun to make. I was in the mood for a normal graham cracker crust this time, but I can’t help thinking how good it would be with the oreo cookie crust of my original recipe. Hmm, maybe for Christmas…
UPDATE: If you like this cheesecake recipe also check out these new variations:
- Cherry-topped Cheesecake Supreme
- Peppermint Bark Cheesecake Supreme Cheesecake Supreme
- Oreo Cheesecake Supreme
- Red Velvet Cheesecake Supreme
- Swirled Caramel and Pumpkin Cheesecake Supreme
December 1, 2008
Easy Chili with Honey Cornbread
Who’s tired of turkey? I am, I am! I’ve eaten nothing but turkey and leftovers since Thursday and I’m ready for something new. The problem is that after preparing such a big meal last week, I am not in the mood to make anything complicated or time consuming. For times like this, I have my two old standbys: my mom’s spaghetti and chili. It was rainy and cold all day, so that translates to the perfect weather for some chili.
Now, I’ll be the first to tell you that this is not some mind-blowing recipe for chili. There are probably tons of more creative recipes out there. But I’ve been making this stuff …
November 21, 2008
Chicken Dinner Pie
I’ve already established my love for chicken pot pie in soup form. What I love about that is how simple it is to throw together. When I think about making real pot pie, well, that just seems really complicated what with the, you know, pie part. So because of that I’ve never actually attempted to make real chicken pot pie. But lately I’ve been feeling more and more adventurous about cooking. These days I usually look forward to making dinner every night, most especially when I’m making something I’ve never made before.
Last week I got it in my head that I wanted to make a real pot pie and despite being almost 8pm I decided to …
November 18, 2008
Cheesecake Brownies
I was really craving some chocolate last Friday night. My usual standby is brownies, because they are simple to whip up, but plain old brownies sounded so boring. I went and searched for brownies at one of my favorite recipe sites and as soon as I saw the name of these brownies I was already drooling.
They did not disappoint at all. Simple to make and they turned out so rich and fudgy. I’ve made a ton of brownie recipes and this is definitely one of the best. The recipe has chocolate chips in it, but I don’t think they were even necessary. They made the brownies almost too rich, so I don’t think I’ll be …
