Easy Peasy Peanut Butter Blossoms (Gluten Free too!)

Posted on December 18, 2012 by skibootsinthekitchen

Christmas = peanut butter blossoms (to me). I am a huge fan of peanut butter and chocolate any way you serve it, but these cookies are always the best! I found this easy recipe a long time ago online and since then I’ve tweaked it to make it better. These are gluten free and only require 6 ingredients that you probably already have laying around in your kitchen! Whats better than not having to go to the store? I always manage to go in to the grocery store only needing bananas and almond milk and I some how end up with $60 worth of crap in my cart (even when I use the small one!) needless to say saving a trip to the store is good for my bank account! Here’s what you’ll need..

Ingredients-

1 cup creamy peanut butter (don’t use the fancy stuff for this, Jiff or Skippy works best)
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla (optional)
Hershey’s Kisses (unwrapped please!)

Instructions-

Preheat oven to 350. Combine sugars in medium bowl. Beat egg and vanilla, combine with sugar. Add peanut butter and stir until completely incorporated. Using your hands, roll dough (about 1 to 1 1/2 tablespoons) into balls and evenly place them on a un-greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool on the cookie sheet for 2-3 minutes before pushing a kiss gently into the center of the cookie. Allow to cool completely before covering (the kisses will be soft while cookies are cooling down) Enjoy!

Nutella-Stuffed Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Posted on December 17, 2012 by skibootsinthekitchen

I have been on the hunt for the perfect chocolate chip cookie and I’ve found it… the most delicious chocolate chip cookie EVER.

Nutella on anything is amazing- then you stuff it inside a chocolate chip cookie and you’re on cloud 9. I found this recipe on Ambitious Kitchen yet another one of my new favorite blogs. Two tricks to this recipe, browning the butter before mixing it with the sugar gives the cookies a wonderful nutty flavor and making sure to refrigerate the dough before baking it keeps the cookies chewy and plump!Three different kinds chocolate chips (dark, milk and semi-sweet) combine for awesomely chocolatey cookies.

I don’t know if I’ll make a normal chocolate chip cookie again! sprinkling the cookies with some coarse sea salt gives that salty sweet combination that I love! Gooey and delicious, you’ll be addicted too!

Nutella Stuffed Brown-Butter Sea Salt Chocolate Chip Cookies:

Ingredients

2 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon of salt
2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter
1 1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 tablespoon plain Greek yogurt
3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup milk chocolate chips
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
1 jar of Nutella, chilled in refrigerator
Coarse sea salt for sprinkling

Whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl and set aside. Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. The butter will begin to foam. Make sure you whisk consistently during this process. After a couple of minutes, the butter will begin to brown on the bottom of the saucepan; continue to whisk and remove from heat as soon as the butter begins to brown and give off a nutty aroma. Immediately transfer the butter to a bowl to prevent burning. Set aside to cool for a few minutes.

With an electric mixer, mix the butter and sugars until thoroughly blended. Beat in the egg, yolk, vanilla, and yogurt until combined. Add the dry ingredients slowly and beat on low-speed just until combined. Gently fold in all of the chocolate chips.

Chill your dough for 2 hours in the refrigerator, or place in freezer for 30 minutes (I tried putting mine in the freezer the first batch and found it was nearly impossible to work with the dough- so try to leave enough time to put dough in the refrigerator even if its only for 1 hour).

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Once dough is chilled measure about 1 1/2 tablespoons of dough and roll into a ball. Flatten the dough ball very thinly into the palm of your hand. Place 1 teaspoon of chilled nutella in the middle and fold dough around it; gently roll into a ball — it doesn’t have to be perfectly rolled! Make sure that the nutella is not seeping out of the dough. Add more dough if necessary. Place dough balls on cookie sheet, 2 inches apart. Bake the cookies 9-13 minutes or until the edges of the cookies begin to turn golden brown. They will look a bit underdone in the middle, but will continue to cook once out of the oven. Cool the cookies on the sheets at least 2 minutes. Sprinkle with a little sea salt. Remove the cooled cookies from the baking sheets after a few minutes and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. I continued my holiday baking with an updated version of the chocolate cinnamon pretzels I blogged on before. This time I used pretzel thins which catch even more cinnamon, sugar and chocolate! I crushed up some candy canes and sprinkled them on top! Its a great combination! I’ve packaged up all my holiday goodies! Happy Holidays everyone!

Rose’s Caramel Graham “Crack”er Bark

Posted on December 11, 2012 by skibootsinthekitchen

This holiday treat is totally addicting (you will see why I call it crack once you’ve made it) and a huge crowd pleaser. The delicious recipe is courtesy of my friend Jacki’s mom, Rose, who always has this graham cracker bark around the house during the holiday’s. The best part about it…it’s a snap to make and you can tweak the toppings to your liking! The classic recipe calls for slivered almonds, but we also added dried cherries to one and dark chocolate chunks to other (we doubled the recipe). Next time I’d love to try this recipe with some chopped pretzels or popcorn or a little Fleur de Sel sprinkled on top. Bring this to your next holiday party and you’re sure to be the most popular guest! Thanks Jacki and Rose for sharing! Enjoy! 🙂

Rose’s Graham Cracker Bark

Ingredients:

12-14 graham crackers
1 cup butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
Slivered Almonds (or another kind of chopped nut)
Dried Cherries (Optional)
Dark Chocolate (Optional)

Preheat the oven to 350degress. Line a cookie sheet with tin foil and spray with cooking spray. Lay graham crackers side-by-side on the cookie sheet so there are not gaps between the crackers. In a medium sauce pan, melt butter on medium heat until completely melted. Slowly add brown sugar to the melted butter and stir. Allow to the butter and sugar mixture to boil and thicken for about 4 minutes, stirring constantly make sure it doesn’t burn. Remove sugar from heat and pour sugar mixture over graham crackers, spreading evenly. Sprinkle graham crackers with slivered almonds, cherries or chocolate (or both!). Bake at 350 for 8 minutes. Remove cookie sheet from the oven and allow it to cool completely (this is the hardest step as you will want to eat it right away!) before breaking bark into smaller pieces. To store, line tupperware or tin with wax paper, separating each layer of bark with another sheet of wax paper. Enjoy!

Sweet Avocado Pie and Coconut Whipped Cream

Posted on November 15, 2012 by skibootsinthekitchen

Looking to have a little fun with your desserts this Thanksgiving? This is not your typical pie, I was skeptical at first but after tasting it, I was hooked. It only has 3 ingredients and it doesn’t require baking! I normally serve the pie with homemade whipped cream but I wanted to try a dairy free option. I found myself eating the coconut whipped cream by the spoon full (I didn’t just admit that)… I also tried it over strawberry rhubarb pie and brownies (wow). I definitely prefer it over classic whipped cream. Try both these easy 3 ingredient recipes… I promise you won’t be disappointed. Enjoy!

Avocado Pie

Filling:

2 ripe avocados, flesh scooped out
1 Lemon, juiced
1 14oz. can sweetened condensed milk

Crust:

1 1/4 graham cracker crumbs (or ginger snaps)
5-6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix together the graham cracker crumbs and melted butter. Press into the bottom and up the sides of a 9-inch pie pan. Bake in oven for about 8- 10 minutes, don’t allow it to get too brown. Let cool completely.

With a hand mixer combine avocado, lemon juice and sweetened condensed milk. Pour filling into pie crust and press a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface and chill for 2- 4 hours. (Note: Avocados oxidize when they are exposed to air (which makes them turn brown) by pressing the plastic wrap tightly to the surface of the pie it will prevent the pie from turning brown! Now for the coconut whipped cream…

This whipped cream is so delicious and creamy, its hard to believe its dairy free! Its a great option if you’re lactose intolerant or vegan or if you love whipped toppings.

Ingredients:

1 can coconut milk (full fat, do not buy ‘light’ it will not work!)
1 Tablespoon powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Place can of coconut milk in the fridge over night (if you forget ahead of time put in freezer for 1 hour) put bowl and hand mixing blades in freezer for 10-15 minutes before whipping the coconut- this really helps with the process.

I placed this whole bowl in the freezer for 15 minutes to make sure everything was super cold. Without shaking the can of coconut, open can and remove solid white coconut leaving the remaining coconut water at the bottom of the can. (you can discard the remaining coconut water- you do not want to mix the water with the coconut cream!) Mix cream in chilled bowl with chilled mixers until fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Add powdered sugar and vanilla and mix until fully incorporated.

Coconut whipped cream does not break down the way dairy whipped cream does and can be stored in the fridge for a few days without separation. Place whipped cream over the avocado pie or your favorite dessert and ENJOY!!!

The Best Cookies You’ll Ever Eat

Posted on November 3, 2012 by skibootsinthekitchen

I found this recipe on one of my favorite food blogs, Food52. Named “Magical Marvelous Memorable Cookies” I was intrigued…Then I saw the ingredients list and I knew I had to make these cookies. If you have left over Halloween candy laying around- these cookies are perfect! Any kind of chocolate will do- these are fun to make because you can really add whatever you like. The result, amazingly crispy (almost like brittle) irresistible – you will eat the whole plate of cookies and much of the raw dough, cookies! ENJOY (I did!)

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 3/4 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup granola (or other cereal)
1/2 cup crushed salted pretzel pieces (or other salty snack food)
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, chopped chocolate candies, or small bar of good dark chocolate, chopped into chunks
1/2 cup chopped pecans or other nuts, optional (I didn’t add nuts because I used Snickers which already has peanuts)
If you don’t add nuts you may want to add more cereal, snacks or chocolate to compensate
You may want to add a little cinnamon, allspice, cardamom, or whatever your favorite spice is. I didn’t because I wanted the taste of the granola to come through

Heat the oven to 375. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper or aluminum foil. Whisk flour baking powder, baking soda, and salt in medium bowl.

In another bowl, beat butter and sugars at medium-low speed (or hand whisk) until light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla and beat on medium-low until fully incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula.

Add Flour mixture and mix until smooth with a wooden spoon. Gradually add granola, pretzels, chocolate and nuts, and mix until well incorporated, ensuring that no flour pockets remain and ingredients are evenly distributed. (Restrain yourself from eating the the dough).

Scoop dough into balls, each about 1 1/2 tablespoons then roll between palms into balls (now its literally impossible not to eat the dough). Place cookies on prepared baking sheets, spacing them about 2 1/2 inches apart, 8-12 per sheet. (I did not follow this step exactly.. I tried to get more cookies on the sheet then recommended. These cookies spread A LOT, see picture below. Try to space cookies with plenty of space to bake so they do not stick together.) Freeze dough at least 20 minutes or refrigerate for one hour before baking.

Example of what not to do- add as many cookies as you can fit on the baking sheet.

Bake one sheet at time until cookies are deep golden brown about 13-15 minutes. Let them cool completely on the baking sheets before moving to wire rack. They will be fragile.

Whoops.. one solid cookie… Don’t worry the flavor wasn’t compromised. (I cut cookies apart before they cooled- if you wait until they are cool they will break)