10 Apr 2015

Dark Chocolate Pecan Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookies

by | posted in: chocolate, food, north carolina, The Charming South Kitchen | 0

Dark Chocolate Pecan Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookies

I didn’t grow up on homemade cookies.  The closest we got were a couple of Christmas goodies I remember my Mom training me to bake and Publix cookies.  Oreos were always my favorite and of course I was a Girl Scout so the peanut butter sandwich cookies were my favorite thin – now, it is the Thin Mints, hands down.

But, now, sometimes, I wake up thinking about chocolate chip cookies.  Who knows?  But, I woke up this morning thinking about cookies.  It was raining.  I have boys.  Friends were coming over.  No time to go to the store.  This is how these amazing cookies started.

A new friend gave me some toffee on a recent trip to the Triangle.  I had mini chips in the freezer.  My mom always stocks my pantry full of pecans, and I had bars of chocolate in my baking stash.

These are the perfect chewy consistency.  Nice and big but not too flat.  I tweaked a recipe and it turned out great.  I hope you enjoy!

Chewy Cookies

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Dark Chocolate Pecan Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookies
Author: 
Recipe type: Dessert
Cuisine: Cookies
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 24-30
 
These chewy chunky toffee cookies will be a crowd pleaser!
Ingredients
  • 2 cups all purpose flour
  • ¾ tsp sea salt
  • ¾ tsp baking soda
  • 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
  • 1 cup sugar
  • ⅔ cup packed light brown sugar
  • 2 tsp vanilla
  • 2 eggs
  • Half cup each:
  • chopped toffee
  • mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
  • chopped milk chocolate
  • 1 cup chopped pecans
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 375. Lightly spray baking sheets.
  2. Combine dry ingredients and set aside.
  3. Cream together the butter and the sugars.
  4. Add eggs and vanilla.
  5. Add in the dry ingredients and stir together.
  6. Fold in the add-ins.
  7. Do not over mix
  8. I got 6 cookies per baking sheet - so these are pretty generous cookies.
  9. Bake for 12 minutes.
  10. Do not over bake.
  11. Let cool for 1-2 minutes and remove to a cooling rack. If you let them stay on the baking sheets, the toffee will stick to the pan.
 

1 Nov 2014

Halloween Trash Peanut Butter Rice Krispy Treats

by | posted in: chocolate, food, The Charming South Kitchen, Uncategorized | 0

Halloween Trash Peanut Butter Rice Krispy Treats

Now that Halloween is over and a new month is upon us, must of us are gearing up for the other two big holidays – Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Let the baking season begin (or, um, continue).

Some people wonder what inspires me to cook what I do.  One of the ways is by following great foodie people on Instagram.  That’s how these came about.  One of the best places in Savannah is Back in the Day Bakery. Cheryl Day, co-owner and baker, featured a chocolate covered rice krispy treat yesterday in her feed.

How to Use Leftover Halloween Candy

Well, I thought I would just run to target with my littles and get the ingredients.  Little did I know that it would be the worst Target run ever.  In front of our local Target store, the city has been demolishing a building.  The backhoes and front loaders and bulldozers are in full force.  Yes, I’m a mom to two little toddler boys!  My older one is mesmerized by their action.  So, cue drama and meltdown as I pushed the boy-filled cart toward the Target entrance, away from the construction site.  Then, I get in there and finally am able to calm him down, when my younger one who is usually happy as a clam in a store, completely screams his head off for 20 minutes while I’m in the store.  He was teething.  But, I couldn’t find the marshmallows.  I had everything else.  Finally just put everything back on the shelves and walked out.  Forget making dessert.

Well, later that afternoon I decided I still wanted to make them and we tried again.  This time at our local Publix.  No construction site.  Employees with candy and balloons.  They were happy. Momma was happy.

Thankfully, these were made.  I’m not usually a fan of milk chocolate anything, but I’m glad I went with the milk chocolate frosting as it was just perfect paired with the peanut butter in the rice krispy treat.

This is a perfect way to use up all of your leftover Halloween candy – or give you a perfect excuse to go buy more!

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Halloween Trash Peanut Butter Rice Krispy Treats
Author: 
Recipe type: Dessert
Cuisine: Sweets
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 12
 
Perfect use for all of your leftover Halloween candy
Ingredients
  • 1 T unsalted butter
  • 3 T creamy peanut butter
  • 1 pinch kosher salt
  • 1 bag mini marshmallows
  • ½ tsp vanilla extract
  • 6 cups crisped rice cereal
  • 1 container milk chocolate with chocolate chips frosting
  • leftover halloween candy
Instructions
  1. Grease a 9x13 pan
  2. In large pot, melt together the butter and peanut butter.
  3. Add salt and stir.
  4. Add marshmallows and stir until melted.
  5. Add in vanilla.
  6. Set pot off the heat.
  7. Stir in cereal.
  8. Press into 9x13 pan by using a piece of parchment paper so the mixture won't stick to your hands.
  9. Let cool.
  10. Frost with frosting.
  11. Immediately top with leftover crushed Halloween candy.
  12. Let sit to harden.
  13. Enjoy!
 

 

9 Sep 2014

Apple Scone Cake ala mode with Red Hot Drizzle

by | posted in: food, The Charming South Kitchen | 0

Apple Scone Cake

One of the true joys about living near the mountains is picking apples.  We actually picked apples in Canada on our honeymoon.  So fun to do something you enjoy with the man you enjoy most in the world.

Apple Picking in Canada

Picking apples is great exercise and you get healthy food out of it – just don’t get most of your exercise from doing squats to pick up the ones from the ground.  Worm eaten apples aren’t worth it.

I also remember crab apples.  My grandparent’s dirt road used to be lined with apple trees and we would run up and down the roads, getting dirty and eating sour apples.  Ah, the joys of childhood.

I can’t wait to take my boys apple picking – to see their joy when they can hold what they pick in their little bitty hands and hold it up as if to say This is my apple!  They love wandering around with anything in their hands, so apples will be just the treat for them!

Eating Apples

 

This recipe is topped with some delicious additions to make it even better.  First, I most give a shout out to the Mister.  He said he would like this cake better with a caramel sauce.  I’ll work on that babe.  Talenti Gelato is amazing and their containers make great desk accessories – and its made right here in Marietta where we live. Their Tahitian Vanilla Bean is rich and deep.  (Side note to any Talenti people reading this: can my boys and I come do a tour and taste testing?)  Then I tried my hand at melting down red hots in apple juice – and it worked as a chewy magic shell.  It basically made the dish pretty.

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Apple Scone Cake ala mode with Red Hot Drizzle
Author: 
Recipe type: Dessert
Cuisine: Cake
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 6-8
 
Ingredients
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • ½ cup sugar
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • ¼ tsp salt
  • 1 stick unsalted chilled butter (cut into pieces)
  • 1 egg
  • ½ cup (minus 2 tbsp) milk
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 2 granny smith apple, thinly sliced
  • 3 tbsp sugar
  • cinnamon to taste
Instructions
  1. Mix the dry with the butter and run it in your food processor till you get coarse crumbs.
  2. Add in the liquid and combine.
  3. Put half of the mixture on the bottom and side of a deep dish pie pan (that's been sprayed). Dough will be sticky.
  4. Thinly slice two apples and arrange on top of the dough.
  5. Then drop the rest of the dough on top like drop biscuits. Top with cinnamon and sugar.
  6. Bake for about 45 minutes on 350.
  7. Top with ice cream and red hot drizzle.
 

24 Aug 2014

Vanilla Lime Pound Cake

by | posted in: food, Sundays in the South, The Charming South Kitchen | 0

Vanilla Lime Pound Cake

For this week’s edition of Sundays in the South, I am featuring I recipe I finished up this morning.

I am definitely from the South.  And if there is any dessert that is commonplace in the South, especially the Deep South, it is pound cake.  Unfortunately, pound cake might rank right up there in my just-never-asked-for-desserts.  Unless you are this one particular pound cake found at a tiny bakery in a tiny town off I-40 in North Carolina.

Ketchie Creek Bakery serves an amazing Five Flavor Pound Cake with a rich and smooth buttercream which I would take over most any dessert in the world.  You get a huge piece and need to split it with about 4 friends, but man, it just melts in your mouth.

But, this pound cake features two of those flavors…lime and vanilla.  I made it today for our family reunion and my Dad’s comment “Its dense and moist.”  Exactly what a pound cake should be.

I tweaked How Sweet Eats recipe of this – I thought it was too lime-y, so the recipe you see below makes that adjustment.  Also, I didn’t have a vanilla bean, so I upped the amount of vanilla.  The end result was still tangy and smooth.

 

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Vanilla Lime Pound Cake
Author: 
Recipe type: Dessert
Cuisine: Pound Cake
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 8-10
 
Tart and warm...a Southern vanilla lime pound cake
Ingredients
  • 1½ cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
  • ¾ cup white sugar
  • 1½ sticks unsalted butter
  • 3 eggs
  • 3 T whole milk
  • 1½ T REAL vanilla extract or paste (don't use imitation as this is a huge taste of your pound cake)
  • 1 T lime zest
  • ¼ cup lime juice
  • For the glaze:
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1 T heavy whipping cream
  • ¾ cup powdered sugar
  • juice of two limes
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350.
  2. Put parchment paper in a loaf pan and spray with cooking spray.
  3. Mix dry ingredients. Sugar in this recipe is a dry ingredient. Reminds me to always read directions before starting a new dish.
  4. Mix wet ingredients and combine with dry.
  5. Bake for about 60 minutes or until done.
  6. Let the cake cool.
  7. Mix the glaze, adjusting the sugar and lime juice to your consistency liking. Drizzle on top of the cake.
  8. Slixe, share, and enjoy.
 

 

18 Aug 2014

Blueberry Italian Cheese Tart

by | posted in: food, The Charming South Kitchen, Uncategorized | 2

Blueberry Italian Cheese Tart

The longer you are married to your spouse, the more you begin to think like him (or her) and what the other person likes or dislikes becomes you.  That is probably how the old adage got started by saying the longer a couple is married they look more and more like each other.

My Mister and I have only been married for (almost) 3 years.  One of the blessings of those three years is having someone to cook (and bake) for all the time.  Some women find that daunting.  I find it challenging in a good way – but I also need to eat out sometimes, even if it is Chick-fil-A.

Blueberries and Crystal

One of the things that my Mister loves is fruit desserts.  So, I wanted to create a sweet fruit recipe that he could enjoy.  Two of the unmistakable tastes of summer to me are lemons and bluberries.  I remember picking buckets of blueberries at Huber’s Family Farm up in southern Indiana when I lived in Louisville.  I could eat a lot just standing there picking in – never filling up my bucket.  (To anyone from Huber’s reading this – I really didn’t, I may have snuck one or two (berries, not buckets).

Blueberry Tart

So, with Italian cheeses on hand and some blueberries and lemons, I set out to create this tart.  Enjoy the final days of summer!

Blueberry Tart

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Blueberry Italian Cheese Tart
Author: 
Recipe type: dessert
Cuisine: Tart/Fruit
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 10
 
A creamy, cheesy sweet tart with blueberries and lemon
Ingredients
  • For the crust:
  • ¼ cup powdered sugar
  • ¾ tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 egg yolk
  • ⅛ tsp kosher salt
  • 1 stick butter, unsalted, melted
  • 1¼ cup all-purpose flour
  • For the filling:
  • 8 oz whole milk ricotta cheese
  • 8 oz mascarpone cheese
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 egg yolk
  • ⅓ cup powdered sugar
  • ½ tsp real maple syrup
  • juice of 1 lemon
  • For the fruit topping:
  • Whole blueberries
  • zest of one lemon
Instructions
  1. For the crust:
  2. Mix everything together and press into a removable bottom 9.5 inch tart pan. Put in freezer for about 20 minutes. Poke holes with a fork in bottom of crust. Bake covered with foil for 15 minutes (at 350). Remove foil and bake for another 15. Let cool to room temperature.
  3. For the filling:
  4. Mix everything and combine until no more lumps. Pour filling into cooled crust and bake at 350 for another 40-45 minutes or until filling is set. Let cool slightly
  5. For the topping:
  6. Mix the blueberries with the lemon zest. Scatter on top of tart.
  7. Set in fridge until cold. Serve with cool whip or homemade whipped cream and a sprig of mint - and preferably some decaf!
 

 

10 Aug 2014

No Bake Fudge S’mores Pie

by | posted in: chocolate, The Charming South Kitchen, Uncategorized | 2

National Smores Day

Don’t you love how life teaches you lessons?  We all have days where we learn valuable lessons that will profit us to use them in the future.

Like don’t go out without an umbrella if skies are threatening rain.

Don’t date guys who don’t love Jesus first and foremost.

Always wear the same shoes – vital.

Love above all else.

When you get hurt (and you will), don’t hurt in return because it doesn’t do anyone any good.

Leave your heart open for new relationships and friendships.

And this S’mores Pie.

No Bake Fudge Smores Pie

I found out on Instagram yesterday that today is National S’mores Day (who is in charge of making these things up, anyway?).  So, all I had to do was get a few things from the store and this pie is all set for when we get home from church tonight.  It is dark, fudge, not too sweet, and topped with fluffy, sugary goodness.  Slightly burnt edges – just like the perfect campfire marshmallow before you smush it between some chocolate and graham crackers.

The lesson I learned in making this pie?  Buy a culinary torch.  It will just do you wonders and save bunches of time (because my life as a full-time mommy comes first to my adventures in The Charming South Kitchen, so I’ve gotta use those nap times wisely).  At least I was able to sip on my McDonald’s diet coke while I was waiting for my lighter to slightly burn the edges of the marshmallows.  (I adapted this recipe from Brown Eyed Baker)

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No Bake Fudge S'mores Pie
Author: 
Recipe type: Dessert
Cuisine: Pie
Prep time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 8-10
 
No need for a campfire or an oven for this pie. Chocolate, graham crackers and marshmallows.
Ingredients
  • 1 graham cracker crust, chilled
  • 6 oz bittersweet chocolate
  • 2 oz dark chocolate
  • ⅓ cup plus 1 T heavy whipping cream
  • 1¾ teaspoon light corn syrup
  • 3 T unsalted butter
  • ¾ bag large marshmallows
  • handful mini marshmallows
Instructions
  1. Heat the cream and light corn syrup on stove until slightly boiling (you don't want to overheat it because it will burn).
  2. Pour the heated cream mixture over the chocolate and stir until smooth.
  3. Add the butter and stir until creamy.
  4. Gently spread the chocolate mixture in the bottom of the graham cracker pie crust
  5. Place the marshmallows on top, gently pressing them into the fudge filling.
  6. Heat with a torch or match or however you want to light them, to the crispiness of your liking.
  7. Let come to room temp before serving
  8. Cut slices and serve.
 

Marshmallows

 

24 Feb 2014

Buttercream Cookies and Ministering to Widows

by | posted in: food | 1

Buttercream cookies

Food is such a way to minister to people.  Especially the lonely.

The widows.  The lonely.  The Shut-ins.  How do we interact with these people on a regular basis?  I have to admit I fail at this miserably – but I desire to get better at it.  One way we did this as a family recently is by taking cookies to some widows on Valentine’s Day.  I wanted to make some cookies and then deliver them.  I knew the boys would bring a smile to their faces (I was right on that account) and cookies are always delicious!

I read some invaluable posts by my friend Brian Croft over at Practical Shepherding.  I won’t re-hash them here, but encourage you to go read these:

How to minister to widows when a holiday is approaching?

How do you minister to widows when a family holiday is coming up?

As a SAHM, how can we minister to widows?

During the Christmas season and winter, how do I shepherd widows?

There are more at his site – just go search widows and you will get many posts to read and implement.  Brian and his wife, Cara, have years of experience living this out – not just writing down ideas.

One way that I’m going to be doing this is by writing letters.  I’ve asked my husband to get a list of the widows in the church and each week I want to write to one widow, pray for her by name, and if the time allows, visit her with my children and husband.  Visiting widows is very out of my comfort zone.  Aging is something that is hard and makes us examine our own mortality and the end of our lives.  It is also hard to know how long to stay, what to say, how to sit there with them if they aren’t coherent, or if they are really sick.  But, Jesus said to go to the sick and minister to the widows.  And I also know from years of experience – ministry is not easy.  But, still needs to be done.

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Buttercream Cookies
Author: 
Recipe type: Dessert
Cuisine: Cookie
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 8
 
Delicious cake like cookie with buttercream frosting
Ingredients
  • 1⅓ cup all-purpose flour
  • ½ cup sugar
  • ½ tsp vanilla
  • 1 egg
  • ⅔ stick of unsalted butter
  • ⅓ cup whole milk with 1 tsp white vinegar
  • ½ tsp baking soda
  • ⅓ tsp kosher salt
  • Frosting;
  • 1 stick unsalted butter
  • 2 cup sifted powdered sugar
  • ½ tsp vanilla
  • milk or heavy cream to your consistency likeness
  • 2 drops red food coloring
Instructions
  1. Combine dry ingredients
  2. Cream wet ingredients.
  3. Spoon onto greased baking sheet to make BIG cookies (should get 8)
  4. Bake at 350 for about 12 minutes or until done.
  5. Let cool
  6. Make buttercream. Pipe unto cookies.
Here is a simple cookie recipe that you can use as you minister to widows in your church.  A plate of cookies is always good.  If for some reason they can’t eat them, they most likely have caretakers and they will enjoy them!

How do you care for the widows in your church or community?  Enjoy the cookies!

6 Jan 2014

ELR14: Chewy Oatmeal Cookies with Cinnamon Buttercream

by | posted in: food | 0

Chewy Oatmeal Cookies with Cinnamon Buttercream IMG_4228 IMG_4252 IMG_4282

Last week was New Years, and on the second day of the new calendar – I started on my journey of cooking through Jenna’s recipe journal on Eat Live Run.

I hung out with a friend and her daughters for a play date, convo day mixed with yummy cookies. Jenna’s recipes give me creativity and allows me to try  new foods and cooking techniques.  It will definitely be a culinary adventure this year.

These oatmeal cookies were small, thick and chewy.  I added more milk and some cinnamon to the buttercream but that was the only alteration to her recipe.  We had fun and they were all gone in two days.

 

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Chewy Oatmeal Cookies with Cinnamon Buttercream
Author: 
Recipe type: Dessert
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 12
 
Delicious sandwich cookie
Ingredients
  • 1 stick unsalted butter, softened
  • ¾ cup packed light brown sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1¼ cup all-purpose flour
  • 1½ cup old-fashioned oats
  • ½ tsp baking soda
  • ½ tsp salt
  • ½ tsp cinnamon
  • For filling:
  • 1 stick butter, unsalted, softened
  • 3 cup powdered sugar
  • 4 tsp milk
  • 2 tsp vanilla
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 375.
  2. Grease two cookie sheets and set aside
  3. Cream wet ingredients for cookies.
  4. Combine dry ingredients.
  5. Mix wet and dry.
  6. Form 24 hopefully uniform cookies
  7. Bake for 8 minutes.
  8. Let cool completely
  9. Mix all ingredients together for the filling. Place filling in between two cookies.
  10. Eat!