Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

 

 I’m ashamed to admit that I ate about 20 of these cookies.  But they were so good!  Another fantastic recipe from AllRecipes!  This was in the December/January 2014 issue.

Ingredients:

1 ¾ c. all-purpose flour

½ t. salt

1 t. baking soda

½ c. butter, softened

½ c. white sugar

½ c. creamy peanut butter

½ c. packed brown sugar

1 egg, beaten

1 t. vanilla

2 T. milk

40 mini peanut butter cups, unwrapped

Directions:

Prehead oven to 375 degrees.  Sift together flour, salt, and baking soda.  Set aside. 

Cream together butter, sugar, peanut butter, and brown sugar until fluffy.  Beat in egg, vanilla, and milk.  Add flour mixture; mix well.  Shape into 40 balls and place each ball into an ungreased mini muffin tin. 

Bake for about 8 minutes.  Remove from oven and immediately press a mini peanut butter cup into the center of each cookie.  Cool and carefully remove from pan.

In my test kitchen:

Other people suggested that you can use a cookie sheet and don’t need to use a mini-muffin pan if you don’t have one.  I was fortunate to have a 24 cup and 12 cup pan and it was really nice to cook them that way.  These cookies are definitely done at 8 minutes.  They may not look like it, but they are done.  I might even suggest pulling them out at 7 minutes…but then again, that’s because my oven runs rather hot. 

~Happy Cooking!

Honey Mustard Chicken

Honey-Mustard Chicken

 

 

I’m in a fun cooking group.  We meet monthly and the person who hosts the group at her house selects a theme and provides the entrée.  It was my turn to host last month and the theme was “Simple.”  I had everyone select a recipe that used 5 ingredients or less.  I think one of the most daunting parts of learning to cook is seeing a recipe that calls for a zillion ingredients.  For working moms like me, that sometimes discourages me from wanting to cook.  This was a fun get together because I discovered that you can still cook an amazing, family-pleasing dinner with a handful of ingredients.

Ingredients:

1/3 c. Dijon Mustard

¼ c. honey

2 T. mayo

1 t. A1 sauce

4 chicken breasts

 

Directions:

Mix wet ingredients in a bowl or large Ziploc bag.  (Set aside ¼ c. for basting and/or dipping.)  Add chicken and fold to coat.  Lightly oil grill and cook chicken until no longer pink, basting with sauce as needed.

In my test kitchen:

I’ve never really been a big fan of Honey-Mustard items before.  So I was hesitant to try this recipe.  And when I taste tested the sauce before putting it on the chicken, it seemed really bitter.  So I added another 2 T. of honey.  So maybe try the sauce and add more mustard or honey to your liking.  Also, one great thing about this recipe is that it really doesn’t need time to marinate.  I cooked it right away the first time I made it and let it marinate the second time and didn’t taste much of a difference.  You can also use an indoor or outdoor grill for this.  (I used a George Foreman grill the first time.) 

~Happy Cooking!

Cheese Blintz Hot Cakes

Cheese Blintz Hot Cakes

 

I was flipping through a magazine a came across these little delights.  Never would have guessed that these would taste as good as they did.  And they were really easy to make!  Perfect Sunday morning breakfast!

Ingredients:

2 eggs

½ c. flour

¼ c. milk

1 ½ T. sugar

¼ t. baking powder

1 c. cottage cheese

2 T. butter

Jam, powdered sugar

Directions:

In blender, mix eggs, flour, milk, and baking powder, 10 seconds.  Add cottage cheese; blend until just incorporated.  On griddle, heat butter over medium heat.  Working in batches, spoon batter by ¼ cupfuls onto griddle.  Cook, flipping once, until golden, 5 minutes.  Repeat with remaining batter. Makes 8.

In my test kitchen:

I made these exactly as directed but instead of pouring them onto the griddle in ¼ cupfuls, I did 1/8 cupfuls.  They also took a little longer than 5 minutes to cook.  I got 16 pancakes out of it.  They tasted great with raspberry jam and powdered sugar.

~Happy Cooking!