Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Brownies...

We tossed caution to the wind with the Treat Day goodies we made for Jeff's co-workers last week - I mean, who *really* puts raw cookie dough on top of an already baked pan of brownies and then calls it done? Well, in fact, we did just that by making these outrageous Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Brownies.

I found the idea for this killer layered sweet from Michelle over at Brown Eyed Baker - it went directly to the back of my mind and sat there, teasing me, until the perfect time came up to make it.

Underneath that thick layer of cookie dough (and yes, it is egg-free and safe to eat by the handfuls, raw) is a brownie that is neither cake-y nor gooey - it fell somewhere in between, best described as moist and a bit chewy. Rich in brown sugar, to give a slight zing and bump up the chocolate factor, I did toss in a bit of espresso powder into the batter. Hang around the lower amount listed if you don't want too much of a coffee bite, or, if you like, knock it up to the full teaspoon and grab a buzz!

While the brownies were off cooling from their short stint in the oven, we had plenty of time to haul out the mixer and get going on the cookie dough topping. You'll find the classic ingredients to chocolate chip cookies - butter, flour, brown sugar, granulated sugar, salt (don't skimp on this since we call for unsalted butter), plenty of fragrant vanilla and instead of the normal eggs you'd find, a few tablespoons of milk to smooth all the ingredients out.

I do suggest you give plenty of time to the creaming step - several minutes, with a couple stops every now and then to scrape down the sides of the bowl. This should hone down the edge of the graininess you get from the sugars in an unbaked dough. You could use mini chocolate chips if you like, but we're fans of robust bittersweet chocolate here - chop the pieces small, but not to dust. About half the size of your average chocolate chip to keep slicing the treats easy.

I don't think they needed it, but if you really wanted to take these over the top (as if they were not already), give them a fancy smear of ganache or, perhaps, a judicious scattering of more chopped bittersweet chocolate. Decidedly rich and decadent, you will want to keep these on the smaller side when cutting - also, give them plenty of time in the refrigerator to chill before taking a knife to them. I wasn't able to have any (more on that on another day... believe me, it nearly killed me not to try them), but Jeff gave his quality control approval by eating two (!) the night before he brought them in!

Recipes
Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Brownies

Severed Finger Cookies...

I had such a good time making those funky Chocolate Tarantula cookies last week, and since they went over so well at the office, we decided to keep the Halloween theme going with our Weekly Treat Day by making these wicked Severed Finger Cookies.

Yeah, really - we went there! You will need to set aside some time to make these as there are a couple chilling steps and it takes a minute or two per finger (and you'll be making about 38!) to shape them. The not-too-sweet dough only called for vanilla to pump up the flavoring, but I happen to dig a slight almond-y note in the background with these types of butter cookies - a quarter teaspoon of almond extract was just about right, but feel free to leave it aside if you prefer.

If you can, only work with 5 or 6 pieces of the firm, yet creamy all-butter chilled dough at a time, keeping the rest wrapped up in the icebox. This makes it a snap to work with, keeping the dough from becoming too warm as it sits around while you pass the time forming many finger cookies. It may become a little redundant, but take a seat, turn up some music or have your favorite TV show on and create lots of severed digits!

With all the manhandling of the dough, I do recommend setting the assembled fingers in the freezer for about 20 minutes or so before baking - not only does this allow you to wait to start preheating the oven until you are ready, it will also help them retain most of their shape. Sometimes all-butter doughs tend to spread more than you'd like, especially if they've been at room temperature for awhile. If you give them those extra minutes to firm back up first, they will puff up and out some, which is what you want to help fill out the fingers, but the cookies won't stray far from the intended shape as much as if you were to bake them while soft.

Want to up the stakes on these cookies? Think about brushing some red food coloring on the almond "fingernails" or take red gel icing and pipe it around those sickly blonde nails. I also thought about taking some of the smaller broken almonds and sticking them out of the opposite side of the nails, creating a broken bone-like appearance. Perfect with the blood, no? However, we decided against that for now (Jeff thought that might be taking them too far... hee hee!) and will save the idea for another time!

Recipes
Severed Finger Cookies

Tarantula Cookies...

I know it may be a couple weeks early, but since we always make those Butterfinger Eyeballs for the Wednesday Treat Day just before Halloween, I thought it might be fun to sneak in an extra themed goodie beforehand. Chocolate spiders anyone?

I couldn't wait to give these cookies a try, but note they are fairly labor intensive, at least in the decorating department. The faintly chocolate (there is only 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder added) cookie dough comes together in a snap and is easily workable without needing to chill the dough first. The original instructions would have you roll the dough into rounds balls, then insert the pretzel legs - however, I found it was a bit tough to fit in eight legs. Shaping the two dozen pieces into rounded rectangles was much easier - think a fat, slightly flattened Tootsie Roll.

Instead of using the thin pretzel sticks as they were (perhaps ours were extra long?), I did snap off about 1/4" worth of each on one side. I did this because they seemed a bit too long sticking out of the dough. I'm glad I did this because the weight of the melted chocolate poured on top may have given them a reason to snap off while decorating if I had kept them that long. When these go into the oven, I found the easiest way to check for doneness was to watch for one or two small cracks to form on the top and if you gave them a gentle press in the center, the cookie would spring back. It can be hard to tell since the dough is stained from that dark cocoa powder.

When you go to drench the completely cooled cookies in melted bittersweet chocolate, what I found that worked for me was to place the cookie on top of a fork, hold it over the bowl of chocolate and use a small ladle (or spoon) to cover the top of the cookie and pretzel legs entirely. While the original directions asked you to line the baked spiders up on a wire rack and pour the chocolate over (faster to do, yes), I think this would have been more messy and then you'd have to deal with the giant amount of excess chocolate that created a flood below. Also, you would have a bunch of sprinkles mixed into all that chocolate left behind!

I found that coating three or four cookies at a time, then going back to give them their "hairy coat" with a blizzard of chocolate sprinkles, gave the chocolate enough time to barely begin to set, leaving the tops sticky enough to hold the sprinkles. The first spider I coated I watched in disappointment as some of the sprinkles (and Red Hot eyes!) drooped off. Depending on the temperature, it may take a few hours for them to completely set - I was able to pick up them without touching wet chocolate in about three hours. I did end up with plenty of pretzel sticks and melted chocolate leftover, all which ended up together (perhaps a few Oreo's went in for a dunk too, but I'll deny that) for a salty/sweet snack over the next few days!

Recipes
Tarantula Cookies

Way overdue...

Can it have really been over 2 months since I've last posted? Yikes! I apologize for the lack of information over the past few weeks - life here is fine for the both of us and the pups, but we've been extraordinarily busy. Sadly, we haven't been on an extended vacation or taken jobs in Disney World (Jeff's dream!).

While Dora is being a complete sweetheart around us, she still tends to go a little wacko when it comes to strangers and other dogs (inside or out of the house).

Our trainer suggested we may have better luck going the route of using a clicker - we have been doing that for only a couple of days now, but we think we've already see improvement in her reactions. What about Gus? He is still his silly, cute self as always - now that is seems to be cooling down outside, he is spending plenty of lounging around in the grass, soaking up the sun.

Jeff is finally done with all of his surgeries (3 total in less than a year - neck, knee and shoulder!), along with all of the physical therapy that goes with it, which is a nice relief. It was getting a bit tough shuffling schedules around to make sure he had enough time for all of his appointments. Now that he is Mr. Bionic, hopefully we can make it through the rest of the year with no more surgeries!

Where's all the food? I have been pretty firm about setting enough time aside to continue our constant flow of new recipes each week, though maybe not as many as we used to. What I have been lacking is time and energy to snap pictures of said food, along with sitting down and siphoning all my thoughts about the meal into a coherent post. I don't know whether or not this means we're done with this encompassing project we started six years ago back in Phoenix - only time will tell I suppose, but I hope we can manage to settle into a slower groove.

Six years?

I can't believe it sneaked past us... a couple of days ago, the 6th anniversary of this site passed us by. Yikes, boy does time fly! I didn't actually realize it until a reader sent us an e-mail asking if we were going to make anything special for it - oops, guess not! Even though we didn't make a new dish to celebrate, I do have a couple new recipes we've made recently that are worthy of being noted. The first being what we made for this week's Wednesday Treat Day - Mini Cheesecake Tarts.

You will need a fancy pan for these, but I suppose you could always try and use a muffin tin - if you go that route, you would want to line that pan with paper liners to ensure the tarts will pop out. The almond-laced crust is lovely - crisp and nutty, but still tender to cut through with a fork. You can top the individual creamy vanilla tarts with whatever suits your fancy - we went with raspberry jam and three plump fresh raspberries on each. Blueberries are flooding the farmers' market here and I imagine a blueberry compote with some sort of lemon infusion would make a killer topping.

I'll link you directly to the site where we found the next recipe - Black Forest Ham Rolls. I have Dan's site loaded into my rss reader and saved this idea aside just as soon as I finished the post.

These cheesy spiral rolls are prepared using a homemade dough made with bread flour and one of Jeff's favorite flours - rye! To boost the flavor in the dough, butter softened onions, seasoned with caraway seeds to toast along the ride, slide into the dough to mix in with the other liquids. When the dough has rested and been stretched out, a solid layer of grainy mustard is slathered on, followed by shreds of Emmental cheese and chopped pieces of Black Forest ham.

Rolled up (à la cinnamon roll fashion) and sliced into chunky rounds, you can arrange them on the baking sheet a couple of ways - while we did them single file (about an inch or two away from one another), you could also shingle them together in two lines or a large ring. There are no measurements for the fillings, so we just followed our instincts - you don't want too much of any single ingredient as you may have a hard time rolling the log or keeping them together while slicing. Jeff and I both thought these were exceptional, especially hot out of the oven with the golden gooey cheesy oozing all over - they also reheated well, making for a snazzy lunch the next day!

Recipes
Mini Cheesecake Tarts
Black Forest Ham Rolls

Good day to play catch up...

Happy Fourth of July!

Jeff, the pups and I decided to just hang around the house today - it's pretty sticky and hot outside, so we decided to grab some movies and keep cool. I did make another batch of those Root Beer Float Cookies to snack on, but only a few - the rest will go into Jeff's PT office tomorrow morning. He's recovering well from his rotator cuff repair, but is still pretty sore with all the stretching he needs to do everyday.

I do have a couple recipes to share with you today, but we definitely did not make either of them within the past couple of weeks - the weather has been the same over that time... a blazing heat with plenty of humidity! We prepared them several weeks ago, when there was a cool(er) snap and we had a chance to breathe the fresh air flowing through the open windows. Up first was this hearty dish, a take on Pasta e Fagioli, that Jeff and I both enjoyed for not only its simplicity, but how little we had to do to get it in the pot and going!

There was a little chopping involved, but only a few celery stalks, a couple carrots, a small red onion and a trio of zippy garlic cloves. Given a chance to weep and soften, to those vegetables went in a fragrant sprig of fresh oregano, a large can of fire-roasted tomatoes, vegetable broth and what I thought was one of the key ingredients, the stocky heel from a salty wedge of Parmesan cheese! Rather than toss those edges away, I stick 'em in a bag kept in the freezer for safe keeping - the cheesy nubbins are always good to drop into all sorts of soups and stews.

As soon as the liquid hits the boiling point and begins to thicken, small pasta, ditalini in our case, are stirred in to cook through, followed by a can of rinsed and drained chickpeas to heat through. Now, if chickpeas don't make sense to you in this, by all means do a switch-a-roo with cannellini beans (which is what the original recipe called for). This was really just catering to Jeff as he doesn't much care for the softer, more creamy white bean - he thankfully doesn't have any objections to the firmer garbanzo. This dish is quite thick, but you can just as well thin it out if you like - stir in a bit of extra broth just before serving.

We happily cleaned our bowls the first night, but I wondered how it would hold up overnight for lunch the next day. The noodles were a little softer, as expected, but overall it was still pretty darn tasty as the flavors had a chance mix and mingle. I do plan on making this again, but perhaps later in the year when the temps start to take a nose dive!

The next recipe? Ancho-Chipotle Turkey Chili! Yes, another one that probably probably would have been more suited for the fall or winter, but after I read through the ingredient list with Jeff, he gave the thumbs up and said go for it! I guess I'll just close my eyes when the electric bill comes... the AC has definitely been workin' overtime!

What attracted me to this specific recipe was the use of several dried ancho chiles, rehydrated in warm stock until pliable and soft. Not that this is a radical new method, but in the times we have done this as a base enhancer to a stew or chili, we've always been more than pleased with the robust results!

Getting down to the nitty gritty of this chili involves browning a few slices of bacon (you know it's going to be good if that's how we start!), then reserving a couple tablespoons of its useful dripping to start cooking a pound of ground turkey. Once crumbled and beginning to take on some color, into the turkey meat went chopped onions, spicy chipotle in adobo, paprika, cumin and coriander. There are also a couple ingredients tossed in that some may turn their nose to - cocoa powder and cinnamon - but I highly suggest you don't leave them out! With several cloves with of minced garlic added, tomato paste joined the party - at this point, be sure to give the paste a solid minute or two to cook, while stirring. This gives it a chance to bloom, bringing the essence of tomato back to life.

With the smoky chile puree stirred in, there is one more piece to the puzzle - a bottle of Mexican-style beer! This won't make it taste boozy in the least, but the malt-y undertones make a mild appearance and work to enhance the lingering background notes. If you just don't like, or can't cook with alcohol, that's fine - I see no reason why you couldn't use stock or broth instead.

The bacon that was crispy at one point won't stay that way; rather than being used as a garnish on top, the bits are added right into the pot with the pureed chiles and beer, along with a couple scoops of red kidney beans to simmer and thicken. Not a fan of beans in your chili? Take 'em out and increase the turkey by another pound to fill out the dish. While spicy, this chili wasn't slap-you-in-the-face hot - if you'd like to turn up the fire a bit, don't remove the seeds from the chipotles. To give our tongues a break from the heat that was there, we served each bowl with a droopy dollop of sour cream on top. We left it at that, but feel free to smother the top with your favorite chili toppings!

Recipes
Pasta e Fagioli
Ancho-Chipotle Turkey Chili

Ginger-Lemon Bars...

Fresh ginger, ground ginger and crystallized ginger - you'll always find these three lurking somewhere in our house, be it in the freezer, the pantry or spice drawer. We're crazy about its zippy bite, used either in savory or sweet dishes - most especially though in that addictive Gingerbread Popcorn. For this week's Wednesday Treat Day, two of those ingredients found a home into these Ginger-Lemon Bars I made today.

The whole process of making these bars is rather intriguing and on the bonus side, you don't even have to haul out the mixer if you don't like (I didn't!). The dough can be prepared using one bowl and a sturdy wooden spoon. Rather than using the traditional method of creaming together softened butter and sugar, you'll be combining all of the dry ingredients (flour, granulated sugar, two full tablespoons of aromatic ground ginger and a bit of baking powder) together, then mixing in a couple sticks worth of melted butter. Once that golden slick is worked in, an egg, a generous scoop of finely chopped crystallized ginger, sticky honey and tiny bits of brilliant lemon zest complete

Kind of an odd order, but it does come together! Do note that once you start patting the dough into the pan, you'll start to notice glistening butter oozing out - this is to be expected and will not be a problem. Rest assured, the butter will reabsorb as the bars bake. When the top is golden, the sheet of dough is firm to the touch and your nose perks up as the distinct ginger-y scent seeps from the oven, it's time to pull the pan out from the oven.

Be prepared to work with these right away as they get their shiny, tart topping not when they have cooled, but when they are pipping hot fresh out of the oven! Being very careful, you'll be turning the flat of bars out onto a board, then smearing on a thick, yet runny, glaze made from confectioners' sugar and enough fresh lemon juice to thin. If you are at all worried about the bars sticking, feel free to line the baking pan with parchment paper or foil (and of course, coating with either nonstick spray or butter).

These scream to be stacked on a holiday cookie platter - Jeff said they are a strong contender to make the list for our annual Holiday Baking Spree! I think the best way to describe these bars is that they are like a cross between shortbread and thin ginger blondie (minus the brown sugar, of course) - dense and chewy, with this addictive light crispness to them that got my attention. The ginger is definitely up front and center, but both the lemon and the added sweetness balance its spicy, sharp bite. As I mentioned, the bars can be stacked when serving as the icing sets to a firm shell - however, if you are storing them for a length of time stacked, lay sheets of parchment or wax paper between the layers to separate them.

Recipes
Ginger-Lemon Bars

S'Mores Popcorn Balls...

I know we just did a S'mores-like work treat with those snazzy cookies back in May, but I couldn't help myself when I came across these S'Mores Popcorn Balls. I can't remember the last time I made (let alone eaten!) a popcorn ball, which was more than enough of an excuse to make these now instead of waiting a few more weeks. Already prepared packaged ones never really did it for me - they are usually a bit stale and rough, but fresh on the other hand is a whole other story! I'm sure Jeff's co-workers won't mind when we bring them in tomorrow for the Weekly Wednesday Treat Day!

You'll need 10 cups of popped popcorn to make these, which we got from using roughly 1/2 cup kernels, popping them the good 'ol fashioned way on the stove. How much oil you use is up to you - I drizzled in about 2 tablespoons, but you could get away with as little as one. You could also use more, but this is what worked for us.

Into those airy bites, we tossed in a handful of squishy miniature marshmallows and heaps of broken graham crackers. To be able to keep everything cohesive, make sure the crackers are not too large - think slightly smaller or the same size as the popcorn, about 1/2" in size. Either use a knife and hack away at the sheets (it will take about 8 to 10 rectangles for the amount needed) or use your hands to snap off small chunks. Rather than a bowl, combine the trio of ingredients in a large roasting pan if you have one - this will give you ample room to stir.

What holds the popcorn balls together? Instead of a boiled sugar syrup that you may be more accustomed to, these are made just like Rice Krispie Bars! Butter, marshmallows and a couple pinches of salt, all melted together, are first spiked with vanilla, then poured all over the popcorn concoction. Stirred to coat, leave the mixture be for a couple minutes so you don't burn your fingerprints off. As soon as it was comfortable, scoops of the popcorn were formed into tidy spheres - just be sure to keep your hands coated with cooking spray (or even better, a smear of butter!) to keep any stickiness to a minimum.

To fulfill the S'mores aspect, chocolate needs to make an appearance, right? Instead of working chunks or chips of chocolate into the mixture, each crunchy, yet easy-to-eat ball, is showered in a drizzle of melted bittersweet chocolate. If your kitchen is cool enough, you can keep these stored at room temperature for a day or so before they start to loose their crunch. I, however, don't have that ability today - not only is it a scorcher outside today (hurray for a recipe that doesn't heat up the oven!), inside the house isn't much cooler.

We are having work done on the master bathroom (which means the doors are being left open as they go in and out all day!), so I'll most likely need to keep the balls in the refrigerator to keep the chocolate firm. I also plan on wrapping each individually in either plastic wrap or dropping them into a cellophane bag.

Recipes
S'Mores Popcorn Balls

Lavender and Cherry Cornmeal Cookies...

Garden update time! The plants have been doing pretty well, save for a large aphid attack - those darn tiny green monsters almost got the best of us. We thought about purchasing a sack of ladybugs to see if they would help, but just never got around to it - a good spray with water knocked most of them off, but that didn't do much to stop them from coming back (we're trying to not use any repellents or sprays - even the natural ones can kill good bugs!). Here are a few snaps of our bounty.

Our carrots have done quite well - we've been pulling them out for a couple weeks now and still have a good couple dozen brewing in the ground.

Kale was a slow start for us for whatever reason, but has actually gone a little bonkers! Here's a bowlful before we used it in a recipe a few days ago.

We just dug this potato out from the bed the other day - our first one! I haven't actually pulled the plants out yet, but we carefully shifted the dirt away to see what was happening underneath and found this guy.

Finally we have a bounty of Swiss Chard to show you - here's about 6 pounds worth, with plenty still left behind on the plants. I have plans to do a repeat recipe (that Tortilla Lasagna with Swiss Chard) with some of the stalks, and Jeff brought in a big bagful into work to share today - not sure what we'll do with the rest yet.

I do also have a new recipe to share with you today - a fun cookie! Let's get to it.

Coarse cornmeal can be used for more than just polenta or cornbread... have you ever thought of using the crunchy bits in cookies? In fact, I could have sworn we had already done just that, but for the life of me I couldn't remember exactly what they were. After going searching through our archives on the site, I finally managed to find that post - it was those Italian Polenta Cookies we made all the way back in '08!

These Lavender and Cherry Cornmeal Cookies are quite different, however, in not only taste and texture, but shape too! I came across the original recipe from one of my favorite blog writers and cookbook authors, David Lebovitz, who in turn adapted it from one of Carol Field’s brilliant books (which, incidentally, looks like it is being revised and printed again with a holiday release date). I didn't make many changes at all to David's version - just two, one being a few drops of extra vanilla and the tiny dried lavender blossoms.

For creating the stiff dough, you'll see I have listed coarse polenta in the ingredients - I went that route as I love the robust crunch the tiny golden pearls add. If you wish for a more sandy (or less gritty for lack of a better word) texture, look for finer dry polenta (think instant) or even regular cornmeal if that's all you have. The dried lavender blossoms can be fairly potent, so I wouldn't suggest using too much - I kept the amount to two teaspoons, which left us with a definite presence, without tasting perfume-y.

As David suggested, you can use any sort of dried fruit that you think you'd like in these cookies - I kept with the theme and went with dried cherries. Unless you decide on a tiny dried fruit like currants, finely chop the pieces - if they are too chunky, the dough can become difficult to slice.

Speaking of slicing, these cookies are cut off well-chilled bricks of dough, making portioning them out a snap. Our method gives you rectangular cookies, but if you'd like round ones, just shape the halved dough into two cylinders instead. Dividing the dough in half first not only makes for more manageable-sized pieces, but it also allows you the freedom to toss one half in the freezer for freshly baked cookies whenever the impulse arises. If you find that the dough starts to crumble at all when slicing it right from the freezer, give it a few minutes at room temperature to soften slightly. We quite enjoyed these as is, but if I were to make any other changes, I think I'd add the zest of a lemon for an extra burst of brightness.

Recipes
Lavender and Cherry Cornmeal Cookies

Asian Turkey Meatballs with Carrot Rice

You might be wondering where the Wednesday Treat Day post is - we had to skip it this week as Jeff had another surgery on Tuesday. Not nearly as major as his neck surgery last December, but he had a rotator cuff tear that needed to be repaired, along with a large bone spur (which caused the tear!) that needed to be cleaned away. He is doing well and the surgery went as expected, but he is in a fair amount of pain... and we haven't started the physical therapy yet (tomorrow!).

While Jeff was napping and I was in between training sessions with Dora, I did manage to sit down and write about this Asian Turkey Meatballs with Carrot Rice recipe we made for dinner recently.

You'll need a pound and a half of ground turkey for the meatballs - I suggest using a combination of breast and dark meats as we've found that to be a good balance. Meaning, the result will have lightness to it, yet still packs a punch in flavor and moisture. Could you simply just use either one? Sure - you could also use ground pork if you groove on that more than turkey, it just depends on what you like!

To push in as much oomph into the meatballs as possible, the meat was gently combined (go easy - think meatloaf... try not to handle the mixture too much!) with the whites of a few scallions, fresh cilantro, pungent fish sauce, a few squirts of rooster sauce (Sriracha, that is), a bit of sugar to balance, and a clove or two or minced garlic. Scooped out and rolled into balls, the meaty spheres are cooked in a heated skillet to give them a crusty, golden exterior, then placed into the oven to finish baking through.

You can use white rice as the bed of this dish, but we opted to go the brown rice route and augmented the directions using our favorite no-fuss method. If you'd like to do that, use the same amount of rice to roughly 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 cups of broth (or water if you are so inclined) and cook the rice using the same manner as usually do. When the rice is tender, remove the cooking vessel from the heat, scatter the shredded carrots on top and let the mixture sit, covered, for an additional 5 minutes before fluffing and serving.

With the tender meatballs tossed on top of the colorful, orange-flecked rice, be sure to serve this dish with a wedge taken from a juicy lime to squeeze on top of each plate. It most likely would have been ok without it, but the extra acidity lifted and complimented the more complex flavors with a fresh brightness that I would have missed if it was left off. If you'd like to take out some of the prep time to make it a snap to prepare on a busy work night, you could knock out the raw meatballs the day or night before. Keep them covered in the refrigerator until you're ready to cook them - be aware that they may take an extra couple of minutes to bake through.

Recipes
Asian Turkey Meatballs with Carrot Rice

Savory Chicken Pocket Pies...

I can't believe how fast time seems to by slipping through my fingers this spring! Between the new pup, the garden outside and all the other daily happenings around here, I'm ready to hit the sack long before I used to. While I'm still making plenty of new recipes, I'm finding myself less and less inclined to set aside time for pictures and whatnot - there are just too many other things I need to be doing! I did make an exception for these swanky Savory Chicken Pocket Pies we made recently though.

You'll want to prepare the dough for these hand pies ahead of time if you can as it needs to rest in the ice box - a couple hours would be ideal, but you could get away with as little as thirty minutes. The dough definitely isn't your ordinary pastry - butter is cut with tangy cream cheese, and both are used with a softened consistency rather than right-out-of-the-fridge cold. Instead of freezing cold water as the liquid to bring the dough into a cohesive mixture, you'll be mixing in a few tablespoons of heavy cream.

While adding richness, the cream plus the cream cheese will make for a forgiving crust to work with - meaning, a snap to roll out, while still having a tender and flaky quality. Great for beginners to the world of pastry dough!

A cup of shredded chicken is needed for the filling, taken from cooked chicken you've either made yourself or a snazzy rotisserie bird from the market, which is mixed into a light sauce filled with softened vegetables and seasoned with a fresh grating of salty Parmesan cheese. You can't work with this mixture right out of the skillet because it will warm your pastry and make it a mess to work with. However, if you've already made the pastry dough and are ready to move on with assembly, you can speed up this process by moving it into a bowl and setting it in the refrigerator.

With the dough rolled out, we used one of our bowls that we usually fill with snacks to cut out the circles needed for the pies - use a bowl that is about five inches across on top. Don't have a bowl that size? Use a knife and go to town with free-formed rounds! A scoop of the cooled filling, which was done by either leaving it at room temperature or hurried in the refrigerator (we opted for the latter), is dropped slightly off-center on top of each circle. Enclosed by folding the naked side of the dough over the filling, the half-moons are sealed shut with the tines of a fork.

With all this manhandling, the pies will need a quick chill once more to firm up the fat in the dough, giving them the best texture after being baked. Just before they go into the oven, we did brush each down with a light egg wash to reinforce a golden brown crust on the outside.

If you have extra time one day, you could definitely assemble these ahead of time when you need a dinner-in-a-flash kind of night later in the week. Prepare them up to the point where they are sealed shut, then, instead of chilling them, arrange the pies in a single layer on a parchment-lined baking sheet and stick them in the freezer until they are firm. After the stint in the freezer, slide the savory pastries right into a ziploc-type bag for longer storage - you will bake them straight from the freezer, after brushing them with an egg wash, adding just a few extra minutes to the total time in the oven.

We did have leftover dough after all was said and done, but rather than toss it in the trash, we sliced the remainder into scraggly strips, showered them with vanilla sugar and baked them into sweet, pie crust-like cookie treats!

Recipes

Savory Chicken Pocket Pies

Black Forest Cookies...

I was very tempted to scrap the treat day baking when I realized just how hot it was going to get outside today. The average temperature is supposed to be around 80 degrees, but we shot right past that and ended up just under 100. I guess that shouldn't be completely awful, especially after our stint in Phoenix, but it is as thick as mud out there with humidity... it felt like I was opening a heated oven when I let the pups out into the backyard! I decided to keep with tradition though and just put the AC to work to crank out these Black Forest Cookies.

The dough for these cookies is decidedly decadent, with a triple threat of chocolate using melted bittersweet, cocoa powder and stocky pieces of semisweet. The recipe didn't call for any, but I did add a splash of vanilla to the dough while mixing - it also didn't specify sweet or tart cherries. We went tart since that's what we have - I'd suggest the same if you make them, although I don't think it would be that big of a deal if you went sweet.

You should note in the recipe that I don't suggest preheating the oven before you begin the process - once the dough is combined, it will need a good half hour or more rest in the refrigerator to firm up, leaving you plenty of time to warm the oven. There's no point in having it blasting away when it won't be working (especially when its already way over 90 degrees outside!).

When you pull the cookies out from the oven, don't try to transfer them off the baking sheet for at least 4 or 5 minutes as they are delicate when they are hot. The directions did state to move them after a minute or two, which I did, only to see the sad cookie fall apart through the cooling rack! After leaving the rest to sit for a good 5 minutes before going near them, they held together as one would expect.

Close to brownie-like, these thick cookies are dense, moist and chewy, with chunky pieces of tart cherries and an abundance of those semisweet chocolate drops in each one. The baking time is important since you won't want to over-bake these for the best texture (moist vs dried out) - if you're not comfortable with the "until the edges are firm" is as far as doneness, let me suggest baking a test cookie or two to nail down the time before loading up a full tray.

If you touch the edge of the cookie it should be firm, but it shouldn't look like it is darkening more than the rest. The tops will be shiny and look set, but if you were to stick a toothpick in the center, it will look damp and underdone - this is what you want! As noted above, the cookies will finish cooking through the residual heat of the pan before moving them to the wire rack to cool.

Recipes
Black Forest Cookies

Sticky-Fingers Bars...

Yikes! A week has raced by already since our last post... I miss being able to spend the time writing up the dinners and treats we make each day. Such is life these days, especially with the extra time we're having to pay towards Dora.

She's a great pup, but has become a bit protective of us around strangers and other dogs (to the point of being aggressive sometimes!) - since we have no idea about her history before we rescued her, we figured it would be best to nip this in the bud as quickly as possible. We've been working with an excellent and innovative trainer we found in our area and Dora seems to be taking to the teachings quite well - she is one smart cookie!

Since it is Tuesday after all, you can bet I did get a goodie made for the Weekly Wednesday Treat Day we do for Jeff's co-workers. This one is a real doozy that I found while browsing foodgawker looking for inspiration and with a title of Sticky-Fingers Bars, how could I dare say no? Especially since you know of my infatuation with chocolate and peanut butter!

To get these dangerous treats going, the base was concocted by simply smashing together butter, sugar and plenty of sweet vanilla with a couple scoops of flour and chopped salted peanuts. The consistency should be a little tacky, but not sticky - it should also not be dry and crumbly either. I was able to press the dough into the baking pan without it grabbing hold of my fingers or peeling out of the pan - if you do find yourself struggling with this, lay a piece of plastic wrap on top of the dough and let that barrier help you smooth it to an even layer.

To ensure the shortbread crust bakes through, it will need to be pre-baked before topping it - slip it into the oven and let it go just until the top begins to turn golden brown. Once pulled out and left to rest for a few minutes, the crust is littered with a surprise ingredient - thinly sliced Snickers Bars! Not one bar, not two or even three - you'll need four full bars (though if you're anything like me, have a fifth bar around as a few slices may have accidentally ended up in my belly while cutting them!) to cover the top.

Rather than dirty another bowl, I did use the same mixing bowl that we made the crust in to prepare the rich filling that covers the candy bars - less dish washing is always a plus! Consisting of eggs, granulated sugar, caramel-y Golden Syrup, a couple tablespoons of melted butter and a heavy glug of vanilla, the thick mixture is poured over the sliced snickers and baked until completely set. As in, the filling shouldn't have a loose jiggle when you take the pan out of the oven. If you'd rather not purchase the syrup (it can be pricey, but it is spoon-worthy good), swap it out for light corn syrup.

If that already was not enough, there is one more step to take these bars out of the galaxy - a smearing of slick creamy peanut butter, more of those crunchy peanuts and a psycho drizzle of melted bittersweet chocolate to finish them off.

Now, I won't lie - these are diet busters. However, let me assure you they are worth every. single. lick-your-fingers-clean. calories they might have.

Recipes

Sticky-Fingers Bars

S'mores Cookies...

It's getting to be that time of the year when marshmallows, graham crackers and chocolate bars go on sale as everyone becomes a kid again and sets out to make those gooey layered treats over a campfire, or even over your stove if so inclined! Seeing as that would be fairly hard to replicate at an office (although I guess a microwave could work in a pinch!), we decided to go with that theme in mind for the Weekly Wednesday Treat Day, making these S'mores Cookies.

While there are no actual graham crackers used in the dough, the recipe does do a little magic to try and impart a similar profile, using ground rolled oats (done in the food processor), along with whole-wheat and all-purpose flours. If I had any, I would have probably swapped out the whole-wheat flour for graham flour, but alas our freezer was bare - we used the last of it making yet another batch of those Homemade Graham Crackers a few weeks ago.

Scented with cinnamon and laced with brown sugar and plenty of butter, the cookie dough is scooped out onto lined baking sheets, then each ball is adorned with a solid, chunky block of bittersweet chocolate. Use a good-quality bar of chocolate for this - bittersweet if you can, which will help cut through some of the sweetness. However, if bittersweet is too strong for you, knock it down a notch by using semi-sweet. I wouldn't go with milk chocolate though - that may make the cookies a bit on the cloying side and not as enjoyable. You still want to be able to taste the wheat-y goodness of the cookie without being overwhelmed by sugar.

So how does the classic marshmallow ingredient that goes into S'mores come in? Once the cookies have baked, each is given a hat by laying a halved large mallow right over the dark pool of chocolate in the center. To give the pillowy topping a toasty element, the cookies are lined up like little soldiers and blasted under the heat of the broiler for just a few seconds. I do have one important note - be sure you don't take your peepers off these for a second when they go back in as the marshmallow can go from golden to blackened in the blink of an eye! If you happen to have one of those hand-held kitchen torches, use that instead and go to town!

I do realize that these fun treats probably won't have the same oomph as they did when they came fresh out of the oven, but by the time we got to trying them they were completely at room temperature and we still found them crazy good. I may, however, have Jeff send a suggestion out with his e-mail that if they want the true experience, to nuke them for just a few seconds to remelt their chocolate centers and give the marshmallow a little puff.

Recipes
S'mores Cookies