Peanut Butter M&M Cookies

There has been a jar of mini M&Ms in my baking cupboard since just before Christmas. I cannot, for the life of me, remember why I bought them. They catch my eye every time I open that particular cupboard and I've been waiting for the perfect opportunity to use them. Peanut butter M&M cookies? Yes please!

A peanut butter cookie is only as good as it's texture. They should be soft, but not overly chewy; firm but with a bit of crumble. Am I peanut butter cookie snob? Don't answer that...

These didn't quite meet my criteria, but the M&Ms were a fantastic addition. Perhaps a shorter bake time next go-round will improve the texture for me. I'm not sure I'll be able to make peanut butter cookies without M&Ms now. Matt thought the cookies were great and the Bear, well, if it's a cookie, it's awesome. He approved.

Peanut Butter M&M Cookies
Pennies on a Platter
Makes 2-3 dozen

1 3/4 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup shortening or butter for a flatter cookie
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons milk
1/2 large bag M&Ms

Preheat oven to 350F. Line baking sheets with parchment or silpat. Whisk together the flour, salt and baking soda in a medium bowl, set aside. With a hand or stand mixer, cream the shortening (or butter), sugars and peanut butter. Stir in the egg, vanilla and milk. Add the dry ingredients and mix till just combined. Using a wooden spoon, gently stir in the M&Ms.

Drop by tablespoons onto baking sheets and lightly press down with a fork to barely flatten cookies. Bake 10 minutes; let cool on wire racks.

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Broccoli Cheddar Soup

I spotted Tracy's post about broccoli-cheddar soup (with mustardy croutons!!) and decided to give it a try for dinner a few nights ago.

This isn't an unhealthy soup, I promise. There's all of that broccoli of course, and to thicken? Just a couple of potatoes. A few healthy glugs of chicken broth, a fistful of cheddar, a good grainy mustard to season and combined with the usual onion and garlic suspects...soup! Next time I'll try a bit less garlic as we found it overpowered the flavor of the broccoli, but overall a delicious recipe.

Broccoli Cheddar Soup
Shutterbean
Serves 4-6

croutons:
6 ounces whole wheat bread torn into pieces, about 3 cups worth
2 tablespoons salted butter, melted
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons whole grain mustard
sea salt

soup:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 shallot, chopped
pinch salt
1 medium onion, chopped
1 large potato, peeled and diced small
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
32 ounces chicken or vegetable broth
1 large head broccoli, chopped into florets
3/4 cup freshly grated aged cheddar
2 teaspoons whole grain mustard
paprika, for garnish

Preheat oven to 350F. In a large bowl, mix melted butter with olive oil and mustard. Stir well and add bread. Mix until all bread chunks are coated. Place on a baking sheet, sprinkle with sea salt and bake till croutons are nicely browned, about 10-15 minutes. Stir the croutons once or twice during baking.

In a large stock pot, add 2 tablespoons olive oil and saute the onions and shallots with a pinch of salt until translucent and softened. Add the potato and continue cooking another 4 minutes. Cover the pot. Add the garlic and broth and bring to a boil. Cook until potatoes are tender. Add broccoli and cook another 4-5 minutes until broccoli is tender.

Remove soup from the heat and puree with a blender or immersion blender. Add half of the shredded cheddar cheese as well as the mustard. Continue blending and add remaining cheese. Serve soup in bowls garnished with cheddar, croutons and a sprinkling of paprika.

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Whiskey Glazed Carrots

We held a small (belated) 'house-iversary' dinner for our parents and Matt's brother and sister in law a few weekends ago, to thank them for their help and support in the purchase of our home. We're very grateful for our families, and realize that not everyone has as close-knit a family such as ours.

So what better way to say thank you than with food?

I made tourtiere, a traditional Quebecois meat pie. Really ought to post about that, too...

A sweeter side dish is recommended with tourtiere so we served whiskey glazed carrots. They were spectacular although the glaze could have reduced more than the recommended five minutes - next time I'll trust my instincts instead of rigidly following the recipe, and let it reduce longer.

Whiskey Glazed Carrots
The Pioneer Woman
Serves 8

1/2 cup butter, divided
2 pounds carrots, peeled and sliced into coins
1/2 cup whiskey
3/4 to 1 cup brown sugar
salt and pepper

Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a large skillet over high heat. Add carrots in two or three batches, cooking for 60-90 seconds each batch. Remove from skillet.

Add whiskey to skillet and allow to evaporate 30 seconds. Reduce heat to medium and add remaining butter. When butter melts, sprinkle brown sugar over top and stir together.

Add all carrots to skillet. Cover and continue cooking 5 minutes. Remove lid and add salt and pepper to taste. Cook until carrots are done and glaze is thick, about 5 minutes. Pour on platter and serve.

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Bacon Pancakes

You win some, you lose some.

This recipe wasn't a hit for us. In fact, I was the only one who tried them.

Onto the list of complaints...the pancakes themselves were rubbery and flat. I've made better pancakes. The pancake area surrounding the bacon was soggy and not the sort of texture I'd want to experience first thing in the morning.

As far as praise...the flavor? Amazing. Matt suggested cooking the bacon first, chopping it up and adding it to the pancake batter then frying the pancakes in a small amount of bacon grease to retain the flavor but to omit the strange texture. I thought that was a good idea.

I love the look of the pancakes, though. They're neat. Sorry, Martha...we didn't really dig this one.

Bacon Pancakes
Martha Stewart
Makes 8

1 cup flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
1 1/4 cups buttermilk
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 large egg
8 slices bacon

Preheat oven to 200F.

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a small bowl. In a large bowl, whisk together buttermilk, butter and egg. Add flour mixture and mix until just moistened with small to medium lumps.

Cook bacon over medium high heat in a large skillet. Drain all but 1 teaspoon fat from skillet. Heat skillet to medium.

Pour 1/4 cupfuls batter into skillet and top each with a bacon slice. Cook until bubbles appear on top of pancakes, about 2 minutes. With a spatula, carefully flip pancakes and cook until browned on underside; 2 minutes. Transfer to a platter with bacon side up and loosely tent with foil. Keep pancakes warm in oven and repeat with remaining batter.


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Chicken Strips

In an effort to sway the Bear's opinion on chicken strips (he doesn't like them - whaaaat??), we tried this simple, kid-friendly recipe and accompanied them with homemade honey mustard dip and french fries (he likes french fries!). To add a bit of 'healthy' to the meal, I threw together a broccoli salad.

There's nothing fancy about these chicken strips - you'll notice a distinct lack of herbs or spices, and the coating is also very simple. They are perfect for choosy kids or for a quick, easy meal. Don't skimp on the buttermilk marinating time - it renders the chicken moist and tender instead of dry and tough. Don't have buttermilk? Add a half tablespoon vinegar to a half cup regular milk and allow to sit for ten minutes.

We found that baking wasn't enough to brown the coating. The chicken cooked through moist and juicy but the panko crumbs stayed an anemic pale color. Since we had a pot of oil going for the french fries anyway, we gave them a quick fry to crisp and brown the coating and that worked well.

Don't forget to serve some sort of dip alongside the strips - plum sauce, ketchup, whatever you like!

Side note - these would make fantastic appetizers. Cut the chicken smaller than you would for dinner portions, thread onto a skewer and bake as below. They could be served set in small glasses of your chosen dip or set out with a selection of dipping sauces for guests to choose from.

Chicken Strips
Simple Bites

1 lb chicken, fillets or breasts cut into strips
1/2 cup buttermilk
salt and pepper
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1 cup corn flakes, crushed into fine crumbs
1 cup panko bread crumbs

In a small bowl, mix buttermilk, salt, pepper and paprika. Add chicken and marinate at least 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 375F. Combine corn flakes and panko, season with salt and pepper (plus any other herbs or spices you desire) and place on a plate. Coat one or two pieces of chicken at a time in the breadcrumb mixture and place on a greased wire rack on a baking sheet. Bake 8-10 minutes or until thoroughly cooked and golden.

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Buttermilk Biscuits

I've been MIA for awhile, haven't I? The new year brought about several changes for we three, and our home, that have kept us busy....

Our basement flooded just over a week ago, due to a foot of snow melting in twenty-four hours plus endless, heavy rain that started the day after the snow fell and continued for the next five or six days. It was as unpleasant as you can imagine. Thankfully, the water has now stopped seeping up through the foundation, the house has a functioning sump pump, and our basement is unfinished so nothing was damaged save for our weary backs.

The Bear is developing in leaps and bounds. He's talking a mile a minute, in full sentences! He will, for example, request a specific movie (Cars being the current favorite with CHiPs reruns a close second) or tell us where he's driving his Hot Wheels car (Grandma's house, usually). We're regaled with stories of preschool (baking cookies) and he loves to pray for his meals (mentioning everyone he can think, of during said prayers). Bear's physical ability is steadily improving as well. He is able to walk quite far without any assistance and thoroughly impressed his preschool aide this past week by walking independently from one play center to the next.


Now that it seems we've settled back into normalcy (fingers crossed, knock on wood), I'm feeling the desire to bake and cook again. Enter buttermilk biscuits.

Ok - I am loving these. They're the perfect texture and make a beautiful vehicle for sweet and savory (grape jelly! eggs!). We dipped them in a ham and cannellini bean soup. Matt thought they needed a bit more salt; I'd used unsalted butter and although I found them fine, I'll probably use salted butter next time around.

Buttermilk Biscuits
via Honey & Jam who adapted it from Food & Wine

4 cups flour, plus more for dusting
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 tablespoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup salted butter, cubed and chilled, plus more for spreading
1 1/2 cups buttermilk

Preheat the oven to 400F and position racks in the upper and lower thirds. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. In a large bowl, whisk the flour with the salt, baking powder and baking soda.

Cut in the butter until it is the size of small peas. Add the buttermilk and stir until a shaggy dough forms. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface; knead until it comes together. Pat the dough 3/4 inch thick.

Using a 3 1/2-inch round cutter, cut out as many biscuits as possible. Reroll the scraps and cut out more biscuits. Transfer the biscuits to the baking sheets and bake for about 30 minutes, until golden and risen, shifting the pans halfway through baking. Let the biscuits cool.

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