Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Big Be Mine Heart Cookie #CreativeCookieExchange

Bake a Big Be Mine Heart Cookie for your sweetheart. A big M&M cookie cake baked in a heart pan and decorated with red sugar icing: Be Mine!

Food Lust People Love: Bake a Big Be Mine Heart Cookie for your sweetheart. A big M&M cookie cake baked in a heart pan and decorated with red sugar icing:  Be Mine!
Giant M&M cookies make the best Valentines.  Who could say no to such a blatantly sweet and clearly heartfelt request? Be Mine!

I have an enormous amount of optimism about the creativity and potential of the human race.  Just when we think that every idea has been thought, every invention must have been created, someone comes up with something so brilliant and simple that the rest of us all slap our foreheads and wonder why WE didn’t think of it!  It’s so OBvious, right?  This is a silly example of that but take, for instance, those cookies that are as big as cakes.

When I was growing up, we had cakes and we had cookies. And then suddenly, there were cookies as big as cakes and they were being decorated for birthdays! Who had that idea first? I’ve done a little research and even Wikipedia doesn’t seem to have a clue. And those people make stuff up when they don't know. I'm certain of it. (In other news, I’m thinking I could write a Wikipedia article and take credit now.)

Anyway, to cut a long story short (I know – too late!) I’ve made a cookie cake for this month’s Creative Cookie Exchange Pink and Red challenge because I have a red silicon heart-shaped pan and there’s hardly anything prettier than a huge cookie Valentine. Plus, this falls right in the middle of Appetizer Week, which started with Cocktail Day and it's also my birthday week!  So I couldn't do a regular sized cookie, it had to be something big and fun!

Big Be Mine Heart Cookie


Ingredients
For the cookie:
2 cups or 250g flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups, firmly packed, or 300g light brown sugar
1/2 cup or 115g butter, at room temperature plus a little more for buttering your baking pan
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 12 oz or 340g bag M&Ms (I used the red, white and pink Valentines edition milk chocolate ones.)

For the icing, to write your message of LOVE:
1 cup or 125g powdered sugar
2 teaspoons butter, at room temperature
Pinch salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
2-3 teaspoons milk
Paste food coloring (I used Wilton No-Taste Red.)

Method
Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and butter your baking pan really well.

In a small mixing bowl, combine your flour, baking powder and salt and mix well.



Cream your butter and sugar together until you have a nice smooth homogeneous mixture.


Add in the eggs and vanilla and beat again.



Now take a heaping 1/4 cup or about 55-60g of M&Ms and set them aside to decorate the top of the cookie before baking.   Mix the rest of the package into the dough.



Spoon the dough into the prepared pan and spread it around evenly to all corners.


Decorate the top with the reserved M&Ms.


Bake in your preheated oven for about 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean from the middle.


Allow to cool for few minutes before inverting and removing from the pan.  Turn pretty side up once more and allow to cool completely before adding any icing.

To make the icing, combine the sugar, butter, salt and vanilla together with two of the teaspoons of milk and mix thoroughly.


 Depending on your powdered sugar you could need the last teaspoon of milk to get a writing consistency.  Add it in, if necessary.  Then add in some food coloring paste.

This stuff is very hard to quantify.  I usually dip the tip of my everyday knife in the little pot and scoop out perhaps a quarter teaspoonful.  If you use an actual quarter teaspoon, it is very hard to get all the coloring out of the well of the spoon and you end up washing it out.  Which is a waste.  Using a knife allows you to scrape it completely clean.

Mix the coloring in thoroughly.  If you want to add more, always use a clean knife to dip into your color pot.  Keep in mind that the icing will darken somewhat as it rests and even once it's on the cookie.


When the cookie cake is completely cooled, decorate it with the icing in a piping bag and a small round tip.  Have fun with it!  (You'll probably have icing left over for another project.  It can be kept in the refrigerator or even frozen.)

Food Lust People Love: Bake a Big Be Mine Heart Cookie for your sweetheart. A big M&M cookie cake baked in a heart pan and decorated with red sugar icing:  Be Mine!


Cut in small squares to serve.

Food Lust People Love: Bake a Big Be Mine Heart Cookie for your sweetheart. A big M&M cookie cake baked in a heart pan and decorated with red sugar icing:  Be Mine!


Enjoy!

Food Lust People Love: Bake a Big Be Mine Heart Cookie for your sweetheart. A big M&M cookie cake baked in a heart pan and decorated with red sugar icing:  Be Mine!




If you are looking for inspiration for Valentines Day, I’ve got some great cookies for you today, all following the theme of Red and Pink:




You can also just use the Creative Cookie Exchange as a great resource for cookie recipes - Be sure to check out our Facebook page,  our Pinterest Board and our monthly posts.  You will be able to find them the first Tuesday after the 15th of each month!

Big shout out to our host and organizer, Laura at The Spiced Life!  The Creative Cookie Exchange is her baby.

If you are a food blogger who would like to join the Creative Cookie Exchange, send an email with your URL to Laura at thespicedlife AT gmail DOT com and she will get you added to our Facebook group, where we discuss our cookies and share links.


Monday, January 20, 2014

Caesar Mini Muffins #MuffinMonday

Savory muffins make perfect nibbles for any party. These Caesar mini muffins have all the things that make us love Caesar salad, except the romaine! Garlic, anchovies, lemon juice and Parmesan!



I was awake in the middle of the night last week, thinking up muffin flavors and pondering what goes good together. And suddenly inspiration hit. What goes better than all the ingredients that make up my favorite Caesar salad dressing? And even better, it occurred to me that a little savory muffin is perfect for my birthday week and the party continues!

Ingredients - 36 cocktail muffins
2 cups or 250g all purpose flour
1 cup, grated, or 90g Parmesan cheese (plus a little extra for after baking, optional)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup or 60ml fresh lemon juice
3/4 cup or 180ml milk
1/4 cup or 60ml olive oil (For added flavor, I like to use the oil from the anchovy can then top up with more olive oil to make the required amount.)
2 eggs
1 small can (46g net weight, 25g drained) anchovies in olive oil
1 large clove garlic

Method
Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and liberally grease some 36-cup combination of mini muffin pans.  I have three pans that make 12 mini muffins each.

Grate your Parmesan, if not already grated, and mince your anchovies and garlic.


Grind your half teaspoon of black pepper.

Set your measuring spoon on a plain piece or paper and start grinding.  When you think you have just about enough, fold the paper in half and finish filling the spoon.  Voila!  Mess-free, measured, fresh ground pepper.

In a large mixing bowl, combine your flour, baking powder, baking soda, black pepper and Parmesan.


In a smaller mixing bowl, whisk your eggs, milk, oil, lemon juice, garlic and anchovies.



Pour your liquids into the dry ingredients and fold until just mixed.




Divide the batter between the prepared cups in the muffin pan.



Just for fun, I made the last batch in my (well-greased) little madeleine pans.  They came out so cute!



Bake in your preheated oven for 15-20 minutes or until the muffins are lovely and golden.  Sprinkle on a little more Parmesan, if desired.  More cheese always equals better in my book.

The heat of the muffins should melt the cheese sufficiently for it to stick to the tops but if you need to put the pans back in the oven for just a couple of minutes, that works too.  After all, it’s probably still hot enough without turning the oven back on.

Allow to cool in the pan for a few minutes then remove to a wire rack to continue cooling.  If the cheese sticks to your pan, just run a knife around the muffins to loosen them.



These are fabulous warm and go great with a glass of wine or whatever cocktail you are serving.

Enjoy!



Here are a few more appetizer recipes you might enjoy!

Sunday, January 19, 2014

Squid with Garlic Chili Olive Oil

Despite the title, this wonderful tapas dish also has smoked bacon pan-fried to crispy nuggets of deliciousness, along with the chilies, garlic and squid. And please don’t forget the squeeze of fresh lemon juice at the end. It elevates this dish to brilliant like a flood of hot sunshine on a sparkling white Majorcan beach.


Sunday Supper is getting the party started this week with tapas recipes. Delicious bites or snacks that are made especially for eating with drinks. And since, as I mentioned in my #CocktailDay post, this is my birthday week, I'm going to pretend that they are all for my own virtual party. Yay! Such fun!

When we were living in Paris, we took advantage of charter flights to head south and get away from the cold, damp winters that extended way too long into months we felt should have been quite rightfully spring. I’ve already written about Portugal here but one of our other favorite holidays was to the island of Majorca. To date this is our only venture into Spanish territory but I remember it so fondly, with its fresh seafood, white sandy beaches and clear, aquamarine waters that I knew immediately what I wanted to cook when the tapas theme was announced for Sunday Supper.

Majorcan traditional cooking uses mostly seafood and pork, so a dish of bacon and squid, with some garlic and chilies was perfect! I don’t mean to imply that this dish is authentic in any way or that I remember eating it there. I do want to say that it brought me back, in a way that only the clean smell of the sea in seafood and a good imagination can. I can almost feel the sand between my toes.

That little blondie is our elder daughter - Majorca, 1994


Ingredients
4 oz or 115g smoked slab bacon
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 or 2 small red hot chilies
Olive oil
1 lb or 450g whole fresh squid (I prefer baby squid, if I can get them.) Or about 9 oz or 260g already cleaned and sliced squid rings.
Sea salt flakes
Small handful fresh parsley leaves
2 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves picked off
1/4 large lemon

Method
Slice your garlic thinly and split the red chilies in half lengthwise. Chop your parsley and fresh thyme. Set aside.



Chop your bacon into the small, slim chunks the French like to call lardons.

Pan-fry them with a good drizzle of olive oil over a low heat while you clean and slice the squid.


For those of you using squid rings, you can skip this next part. Move ahead to where we are making sure the bacon is golden and crispy.

To clean the squid, first grab hold of the part that has the tentacles and pull it out of the tube-y bit. (I tried to find the technical terms for you but I didn’t think they’d be helpful after all. Who would have known what the mantle is? Yeah, me either.)

You can discard the leggy body bits from the squid but I happen to like the look of the little tentacles once they are cooked. If you agree, cut that part off just below the eyes and discard the part with the eyes. The ink sac is in that part. If you happen to pierce it, just wash everything off with water and put to dry on a paper towel. The squid ink is harmless. In fact, a lot of cooks use it to color pasta or add it to sauces.



Run your finger around inside of the tube-y bit until you find the hard thing that feels and looks like plastic. Pull it out. It should be almost as long as your squid tube so if it breaks off short, fish around and get the rest of it out and discard.

See, that thing. Take it out and throw it away.


Go check on the bacon. It should be starting to render the fat and fry gently. Give it a stir.



If you do decide to keep the leggy bit, turn it over and pinch out the hard bit with the black spot in the center and discard it.



Go check on the bacon. Give it another stir and make sure it isn’t burning.

Now peel off all the colored stuff from the outside of the squid tubes. You can use your hands but the easiest way is to rub it off with dry paper towels and then discard them. Rinse your squid in clean water and put it on paper towels to dry.



Your squid is clean! Slice it into wide rings.



Direct your attention to the bacon and turn the heat up a little if it’s not golden and crispy yet.

When it is golden and crispy, add in the garlic and chilies.

Sauté briefly until the garlic starts to brown around the edges and then put all the squid in at once. Give it a good stir. The squid should turn white and start to curl up.




Now is the time to sprinkle with sea salt and then the parsley and thyme. Give the whole thing a good stir.



Add in another generous drizzle of olive oil. Flavored olive oil is the best for dipping bread in so don’t be shy!

Squeeze in the juice of your lemon, give the dish one more good stir, and serve with slices of a fresh crusty loaf of French baguette.


Food Lust People Love: A wonderfully fragrant tapas dish with smoked bacon pan-fried to crispy nuggets of deliciousness, along with the chilies, garlic and squid. You'll love this Squid with Garlic Chili Olive Oil.
Enjoy!


Join our Sunday Supper host, Conni from Cosmopolitan Cornbread and travel with us to Spain or some other sunny clime for a festival of tapas.

When you are eating tapas, you need a glass of wine: Best Wines To Pair With Tapas from ENOFYLZ Wine Blog.

Pin Squid with Bacon and Garlic Chili Olive Oil!


Food Lust People Love: A wonderfully fragrant tapas dish with smoked bacon pan-fried to crispy nuggets of deliciousness, along with the chilies, garlic and squid. You'll love this Squid with Garlic Chili Olive Oil.


And for those of you who scrolled all the way to the bottom, I reward you with two more Majorca holiday photos. :) Thanks for stopping by!