One Pan Dark Chocolate Chunk Skillet Cookie

So summer is finally here in New England. We take a few weeks longer to get started then most of the country but we eventually get there.

This past weekend was just perfect. It was sunny and 75 with no humidity. I wish the weather would stay like this all summer long. We sat by the fire every night, we grilled, we had family and friends over for Father's Day. It was pretty idyllic.

My garden is in and thriving. The yard work, though it will never really truly end, is pretty much under control. We widened a few flower beds and changed the landscape up just a bit. I love working with stones and pavers. It’s one of my most favorite things to do. Maybe that’s why I’m always changing the size and shape of my beds? I sit in the grass with my shovel and rubber mallet and dig trenches and pound rocks and pavers into the earth. I really love it.

On those long days when we are out in the yard until dusk, I’m not serving up dessert too often. They are lucky if they get a hot meal on those kind of days. Mama gets tired!

There are exceptions though. Like this one. I love this recipe - one pan, a few measuring spoons & cups and a trip to the oven. Done!

What could be easier?

A giant chocolate chip cookie you can cut into wedges like a pie. Big chunks of gooey chocolate surrounded by a big soft and chewy cookie.

Perfection.



I recommend using a cast iron pan when making this recipe. If you don't have one...I highly suggest you put it on your wish list. It's one of the most used pans in my kitchen. Once you cook an egg in cast iron, you will never go back to a regular skillet again.

I used Trader Joe's Belgian chocolate with this recipe. I bought the little 4 pack of bars and chopped it into chunks. You can substitute chips in a pinch.



One Pan Dark Chocolate Chunk Skillet Cookie
Recipe from Sophistimom
1 stick butter
½ cup granulated sugar
½ cup light brown sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 egg
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate, cut up into chunks (or chocolate chips)

Preheat the oven to 350. Melt the butter in an 8 inch cast iron skillet set over medium high heat. Stir in the sugars and vanilla and remove from the heat. Let rest in the pan until it is warm, but no longer very hot (about 5 minutes).

Crack the egg into the butter and sugar mixture and use a fork to whisk it into the mixture. Place the flour, baking soda, and salt on top and very carefully stir it in until the mixture is smooth and well-mixed. Stir in the chocolate chunks. Bake for 20 – 25 minutes or until the edges start to turn golden brown but the center is still soft.

Wordless Wednesday~

Cucumber Spread

We planted eight cucumber plants this year.

Eight.

You know what that means right?

It means I better prepare myself for a boatload of cukes.
It means my friends and family and co-workers will have an abundant supply of cukes.
It means I'll be having cukes for lunch and with dinner at least 5 times a week.
It means that I'll be on the lookout for recipes to make that contain cukes...like this one.

I found this on a site called Better Baker. Although it's clearly not a baked good, I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to make this. It reminded me of the Dill Pickle Dip that my friend Rebecca turned me on to.

We happen to love cucumbers. My husband could put away a half dozen by himself I swear. One of his favorite summer treats is a cucumber straight out of the garden with a little salt & pepper. He loves them.




I served this with my favorite new cracker from Trader Joe's....Raisin Rosemary Crisps Crackers. I love them! They went perfectly with this recipe.

I used mini cukes in this recipe. I found them on my latest trip to the market and I just couldn't pass them up, they were so darned cute!

Cucumber Spread
adapted from a recipe by Better Baker
1 ½ cups cucumber (peeled and cut into chunks)
3 scallions or green onions, chopped
1 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese, softened
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
dash salt

To make in the food processor: Place all ingredients in the processor and pulse until coarsely chopped. You can make this as smooth or as chunky as you like.

If preparing this by hand, finely chop the cucumber and onions. Combine all ingredients in a bowl and beat with an electric mixer until you get your desired consistency.

Cover and refrigerate overnight for flavors to blend.

Serve on crackers, with veggies, on a bagel, etc.

Blueberry Cream Biscuits

One of my most favorite things about the summer is the abundance of berries.

Strawberries, blackberries, raspberries and blueberries in particular. I just can't get enough of them.

Every year we pick enough blueberries to freeze and last us the winter. They always seem to just run out when the next years picking is about to begin. I spend an entire day picking and then freezing berries every July. It makes me happy when I open my freezer and see bags and bags of berries just waiting to go into pancake batter or a delicious baked goods.

Out of all the berries, it's a total toss up for me as to which one is my favorite. I think it's a tie between the strawberry and the blueberry.

You go berry picking too?

What's that you say? You'd love to find a new recipe for those berries? You'd like an easy biscuit recipe? You want to be able to substitute any berry you fancy in said recipe?

You want it to be easy, delicious, practically no-knead?

Well I have the perfect recipe for you! These biscuits were amazingly good and so quick to make. I did make a few changes from the original recipe, I increased the sugar (imagine that!) It had a scant 2 tablespoons and even with the sweet berries it just need a tad more. If your sweet tooth is even more sugary than mine, add in even a bit more sugar.



Blueberry Cream Biscuits
The key to theses melt in your mouth biscuits is a light touch. Don’t overwork the dough.
adapted from a recipe in Better Homes & Garden Magazine
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
6 tablespoons sugar
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon grated nutmeg
1 cup blueberries
1 ½ cups whipping cream

Oven to 425. In a large bowl stir together the flour, baking powder, sugar, salt and nutmeg. Toss the blueberries with the flour mixture. Stir in the cream until just moistened.

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface. Gently lift and fold four or five times, making a quarter turn between each fold. Place the dough on a parchment lined baking sheet. Form into a 7 to 8 inch square approximately 1 inch thick. Using a floured pizza cutter or knife, cut 12 to 16 biscuits, leaving the biscuits intact. Bake in the upper half of the oven for 17 to 20 minutes or until golden brown. Cut or pull apart to serve.

I’m going to make this savory too. I’m going to add garlic, chives and Parmesan cheese the next time I make it.

I'll post it when I do!

Wordless Wednesday~

Brussel Sprouts with Chinese Sausage

I visit my local Asian market about once a month or so.

I have a list of items that I buy pretty regularly:

• Baby Bok Choy
• Mushroom
• Lemongrass
• Soy Sauce
• Rice Wine Vinegar
• Sesame Oil
• Rice
• Sweet Chili Sauce
• Fish Sauce
• Frozen Dumplings
• Won Ton Wappers
• Noodles Galore
• Lap Xuong

I had you up to that last one right?

Lap Xuong - Chinese Sausage.




I LOVE it. I mean I love it in the same way that I love figs and caramelized onions and chocolate. I am totally addicted to it.

It's a good thing it's usually in the freezer until I'm ready to use it cause I swear I would cook it up and eat it every night.

What is it? Well let me allow Jaden from Jaden's Steamy Kitchen tell you:

"I should probably compare Chinese Sausage to pancetta, as it’s more like pancetta than bacon. But it’s much sweeter and not quite as salty. Each sausage is dotted with fat…lot of it. Is that a good thing? Well, I believe that sausage without fat is just pork. The fat is where the flavor is, but I do understand the fine line between full-flavored and too fatty. I’ll show you exactly how to deal with this and let you decide how much of that fat to keep or discard".

You know when you order take out fried rice and you see those little bits of reddish sausage? That's it. It's a little sweet and a tiny bit chewy and a whole lotta delicious. You just don't get the full spectrum of it in those little tiny bits in the fried rice.

If you haven't visited your local Asian market, I strongly recommend that you get out there and find it and explore all the amazing foods that Asian markets offer.

So you get that I love Lap Xuong. Imagine how happy I was when I saw Jaden made Brussel Sprouts with Chinese Sausage. I think I let out a gasp of joy when I first saw it. One of my favorite veggies with my favorite sausage!

I used my slicing blade on the food processor to shred the sprouts. If you don't have a food processor you can cut each brussel sprout in half and then finely chop.

I've made this twice since this posting. It's pretty quick and easy to make. I did cook mine for a bit longer than Jaden's recipe specifies.



Brussel Sprouts with Chinese Sausage
recipe from Jaden's Steamy Kitchen
1 1/2 pounds brussels sprouts (I used 1 pound)
6 ounces Chinese Sausage (or substitute with 4 ounces pancetta), diced
1 teaspoon fish sauce (or soy sauce)

Add the Chinese Sausage to your wok or large saute pan. Turn heat to medium low and let the sausage cook gently for 5 minutes. Watch the heat - don't let the Chinese Sausage burn. Move the Chinese Sausage up the sides of the wok to let the fat drip down. Remove the Chinese Sausage to a plate, use a slotted spoon to keep the fat in the pan.

Turn the heat to medium-high and add in the brussels sprouts. Toss to coat the brussels sprouts with the fat. Stir fry for 2 minutes. Add in 1 tablespoon of water and toss. Let the brussels sprouts cook for 2 minutes. (I cooked mine for about 10 minutes).

Add in the fish sauce. Toss in the cooked Chinese Sausage. Taste and add season with additional fish sauce if needed. Remember, the Chinese Sausage is very salty, so when you're tasting, get a bite with both ingredients.

Southern Style Strawberry Cake with Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting

I'm not a girly girl.

I'm not a tomboy either, but I'm not one of those women who paints her fingernails (I like my red toenails in the summer though), or takes a lot of time in the bathroom, or puts on a lot of makeup. I couldn't tell you the last time I applied lipstick. It's been years. I don't enjoy clothes shopping. I'm so short that everything has to be hemmed so it's a hassle.

I don't mess with my hair. It's just has a mind of it's own and I'm finally coming to terms with the fact that I just need to let it do it's thing.

Some girly things I do like:

• I do enjoy the occasional pedicure.
• I do love to shoe shop.
• Handbags - forget about it. I would have a closet full if I didn't stop myself.
• Body Spray - I don't pour it on by the boatload but I do like to smell nice. Bath & Body Works Rice Flower and Shea is my favorite.

I'm not into the color pink. Maybe it's because I never had a little girl? Give me a deep purple, or dusty green and I'm happy.

Sometimes pink is called for and what more appropriate day to make something pink? Mother's Day.

I made a pink cake for my Mom.

It sure was pretty and it tasted good too. I had men eating pink cake and they liked it.

You will too.



Southern Style Strawberry Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
recipe from Joy the Baker
1 (18.5 ounce) box white cake mix
1 (3 ounce) package strawberry Jell-o
1 Tablespoon self-rising flour (I didn’t have this, so I just threw a pinch of baking powder in and it worked just fine))
4 teaspoons granulated sugar
3/4 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
1/2 cup water
1/3 cup fresh strawberries, finely diced.

Preheat the oven to 350.

To make the cake, combine to cake mix, Jell-o, flour and sugar in a large bowl. Mix well. Add the oil. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the water and strawberries and mix well. Divide the batter evenly into two 8 or 9inch round baking pans that have been greased and floured. Bake for 25-35 minutes, or until a tooth pick inserted into the center of the cakes comes out clean and the layers pull away from the sides of the pan.

Transfer the layers from the oven to wire racks. Let them cool, still in their pans, for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, run a knife around the inside edge of each pan, then unmold each layer onto the racks to cool completely.

Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting
1 (8 ounce) block cream cheese, softened
2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, softened
2 (1 pound) boxes powdered sugar
pinch of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup sweetened shredded coconut
pink food coloring
strawberries for garnish

To make the frosting, in a bowl combine the cream cheese and butter. Beat until soft and pliable and no lumps remain. Add one box of the powdered sugar, salt and vanilla extract. Beat until incorporated. Add the second box of sugar and mix until incorporated. If you would like a smoother consistency, and a slash of milk. If you would like a thicker consistency, and a bit more powdered sugar until the desired consistency is achieved.

Put the coconut in a small bowl and sprinkle with two or three drops of pink die. Mix with hands to distribute the color and wash hands immediately. Once the cake is frosted, decorate the top of the cake with the shredded coconut and strawberries. Enjoy!