Mmm....Peanut Butter

These are the BEST peanut butter cookies I've ever had! I hate making peanut butter cookies because as soon as they cool they start to turn rock hard and they're crumbly and just not that good. When I saw the picture for these cookies on Baking Bites I was so excited to try them. I'm glad I made a double batch. They aren't flat and they're soft and chewy, even the next day. The toffee melts so it becomes part of the chewiness of the cookie. I no longer hate making peanut butter cookies.

**Side notes: I didn't make mine into sandwiches. I also used creamy peanut butter for the cookies instead of crunchy and dark brown sugar since I already had an opened bag I needed to use up. Anyone know the difference between quick cooking oats and old fashioned oats? I don't cook with oats much and all I had were old fashioned and they worked great. I used a cookie scoop instead of rolling them into the balls. Less work and much cleaner. Do not overcook, mine took 9 minutes and were barely brown on the edges. I let them sit on the pan for 1 minute and then put them on the cooling rack.

Toffee Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies

Recipe from Baking Bites

1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup quick cooking oatmeal
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup crunchy peanut butter
1/2 cup finely chopped toffee bits (such as Heath)
approx 1 cup smooth peanut butter (if making sandwiches)

Preheat oven to 375F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, oatmeal, baking soda and salt.
In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugars until light. Beat in egg and vanilla until smooth, followed by crunchy peanut butter. With the mixer on low speed or working by hand, gradually blend in the flour mixture, then stir in the toffee bits. Drop scant 1-inch balls onto prepared baking sheet.
Bake for 9-11 minutes, until edges are golden. Cool on baking sheet for 3-4 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
When cookies are cooled, sandwich each pair with 2-3 tsp smooth peanut butter.

Makes about 40 cookies, or 20 sandwich cookies

Creamy White Chili

This is a really good recipe for a white chili. It was creamy and I really liked it with Monterey Jack cheese. Although we had a really good white Chili in Colorado and Matt says he likes that version better. So I'll have to get the recipe and try it again. I didn't add the cayenne pepper since Kaleb doesn't like anything spicy. My chicken was already precooked and cut up in the freezer and so I just added everything but the sour cream and whipping cream to the pot at once.

Creamy White Chili
from My Kitchen Cafe

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 medium onion, chopped
1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 tablespoon oil
2 cans (15 1/2 ounces each) Great Northern Beans, rinsed and drained
1 can (14 1/2 ounces) chicken broth
2 cans (4 ounces each) chopped green chilies (if you like less kick, add just one can)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup whipping cream

In a large saucepan, saute chicken, onion and garlic powder in oil until chicken is no longer pink. Add beans, broth, chilies and seasonings. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes. Remove from the heat; stir in sour cream and cream. Garnish with fresh cilantro, if desired. Serve immediately. This is especially good served with tortilla chips. Makes about 6 servings.

This is another recipe from My Kitchen Cafe. Matt has never liked Stroganoff, at least not the kind with Cream of Mushroom soup. So I was excited to try this recipe. We all really liked it. We served it over brown rice but I think next time I'll try noodles. It was good with the rice but brown rice has a nutty flavor that to me distracted from the stroganoff. We also love mushrooms and so I added 2 containers of sliced mushrooms and I also cooked them on the stove for a couple of minutes so that everything at the end could be added without cooking for another 15-30 min.

The Ultimate Beef Stroganoff
From: My Kitchen Cafe

Put in crock pot:
2-3 pounds stew meat
1 tsp. salt
dash of pepper
1 onion, sliced

Mix in a bowl and pour over meat:
¼ tsp. garlic salt
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 ½ cups beef broth or stock
1 tablespoon ketchup


Cook in crockpot on low for 7-8 hours or high for 4-5 hours. When cooked make a simple roux by whisking 1/3 cup flour with enough apple juice (about 5-6 tablespoons) to make a thick but still pourable flour mixture. Whisk the roux into the crockpot and add 4 ounces sliced mushrooms.


Cook on high for 15-30 minutes. Then stir in ½ cup sour cream. Serve over pasta, rice or baked potatoes.

Sausage Breakfast Casserole

My uncle (he's an amazing cook) made this breakfast casserole a couple of months ago and I loved it! I've now made it twice and both times I've forgotten to take a picture. So no picture but just imagine a breakfast casserole, they kind of all look the same anyways, but this one tastes much better! And I love that I can make it the night before and since it makes more than enough for the 4 of us we have breakfast for a couple of days.

Sausage Breakfast Casserole

• 2 12oz. pkgs. Jimmy Dean Sausage (mild)
• 1 sm. onion (I use 1/3 c. dried onion)
• 2 1/2 c. Pepperidge Farm Seasoned Stuffing Croutons (in a bag by the stuffing)
• 2 c. Sharp Cheddar Cheese (I've used sharp and mild so whatever you have on hand)
• 8 eggs
• 2 c. milk
• 1 c. heavy cream
• 1 t. dry mustard (I didn't have this)
• 1/4 t. pepper
• 1 can cream of mushroom soup mix
• 1 c. sour cream

Cook onion and sausage and drain drippings on paper towel. Arrange Stuffing Croutons on bottom of lightly buttered 9X13 baking dish. Spread sausage and onion over baking dish evenly. Spread cheese on top of sausage. In a bowl mix eggs, milk 1/2 c. of the heavy cream, dry mustard and pepper until well mixed. Pour over the top of the cheese, sausage, stuffing mixture. Cover and put in the fridge overnight.

In the morning mix cream of mushroom soup with the sour cream and 1/2 c. of heavy cream and spread on top. Bake at 300 degrees for 1 1/2 hours.

Pomegranate Cheesecake

I made this for Christmas Eve dinner but we were so full and we kind of forgot about it until everyone was leaving. So I brought it to Christmas Day dinner for everyone to enjoy. This is an awesome cheesecake recipe. The crust is more like a sugar cookie which I like because sometime the graham cracker crust flavor can overwhelm the cheesecake flavor. Also, it's really creamy but still light and it has the sour cream layer on top. I loved the pomegranate sauce on top. The only thing I might do different is not put the pomegranate seeds inside of the cheesecake batter. I think it's not necessary since they don't have flavor until you bight into them and you're using them as a topping too.

This is my new favorite traditional cheesecake recipe. I still really like THIS version but it's more dense and a thinner cheesecake and this new recipe is more traditional to me.

Pomegranate Cheesecake
From: My Kitchen Cafe (also has a tutorial for seeding a pomegranate)

*Plan Ahead: the cheesecake needs to be chilled for at least 4 hours or up to overnight.

Crust:
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour

Filling:
4 8-oz. packages cream cheese, softened
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1/4 cup all purpose flour
3 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla
1/2 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon finely shredded lemon peel
3/4 cup pomegranate seeds

Topping:
1 1/2 cups sour cream
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

Pomegranate Glaze:
1-16-ounce bottle pomegranate juice (usually found in the refrigerated section of juices)
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch

1/2 cup pomegranate seeds

For the crust: preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a mixing bowl beat butter on medium high speed for 30 seconds. Add brown sugar. Beat until combined. Add egg; beat well. Beat in flour until combined. Divide dough in half. Cover one portion and set it aside.

Remove the sides from a 10-inch springform pan and set aside. Spread first portion of dough on just the bottom of ungreased springform pan base, spreading dough to edges. Place on baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes. Cool completely. When cool, attach sides of pan. Press chilled dough onto the sides of the sprinform pan to a height of 1-3/4 inches, using a thin metal spatula, like an offset spatula, to spread dough.

For the filling: reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees. In an extra-large mixing bowl beat cream cheese and sugar until fluffy. Beat in the flour on low speed until smooth. Add eggs and vanilla all at once, beating on low speed just until combined. Mix in sour cream and lemon peel. Then, using a wooden spoon or a spatula, gently fold in pomegranate seeds (if you use the electric mixer for this part, the seeds will burst and stain the filling with the juice - and it won't look as pretty).

Pour filling into crust-lined pan. Place on baking sheet. Bake for 65 minutes or until edges are puffed and center jiggles slightly when gently shaken. Remove from oven. (It doesn't matter if the cheesecake cracks on top since it will have a sour cream topping.)

For the topping: stir together sour cream, sugar, and vanilla. Spread sour cream mixture over top of baked cheesecake, spreading gently to the edges. Return to oven; bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven. Cool on wire rack for 15 minutes. Loosen crust from sides of pan. Cool for 30 minutes more. Remove sides of pan; cool completely. Cover; chill 4 hours or overnight.

For pomegranate glaze: in a medium saucepan bring pomegranate juice to boiling; reduce heat and boil gently, uncovered, until reduced to 1 cup (12 to 15 minutes). In a separate bowl, stir together brown sugar and cornstarch. Add to juice. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly. Cook and stir 2 minutes more. Transfer to a medium bowl; cover surface with clear plastic wrap. Cool to room temperature. Store, covered, in refrigerator until serving time.

When ready to serve, remove cheesecake and pomegranate glaze from refrigerator 15 minutes before serving. Spoon some sauce over top of cheesecake; pile remaining pomegranate seeds in center of cheesecake. To serve, slice cheesecake. Pass remaining sauce. Makes 16 servings.

Mango Orange Glazed Carrots

Another Christmas Eve dish but we also have this almost every Sunday too. It's that good.

Mango Orange Glazed Carrots

6-7 Carrots (washed but not peeled)

1/4 t. ginger

1 T. sugar

1/4 c. mango-orange juice (you can also use just orange juice)

1 t. corn starch

2 T. butter

1/4 t. salt

Slice carrots crosswise about 1 inch thick. Put carrots in a pot and add just enough water to cover the carrots. Salt the water. Drain when cooked. (Approx. 15-20 min. depending on how thick your carrots are.)

Combine sugar, corn starch, salt and ginger in a small saucepan. Add the mango orange juice. Cook stirring constantly until mixture thickens and bubbles. Stir in butter. Pour over hot carrots tossing to coat evenly. Serve hot, serves 4-5.

Apple Cider

The next 5 posts will be dishes we had at our Christmas Eve dinner. The pictures were taken after everyone had dished up and was already eating, definitely an after thought so the pictures aren't great but at least there is a picture.

Apple Cider

1 gallon apple juice

1 1/2 c. orange juice

1/2 c. brown sugar

6 cinnamon sticks

12 whole cloves

12 whole allspice

Mix together and bring to a boil. Simmer at least 30 minutes.*

*I put all of the ingredients in a crockpot for 1 hour on high instead and it worked great and then it was easy to keep warm through the night.