HOME MADE TATER TOTS

This recipe is one the kids will get a kick out of...home made tater tots!! Super quick and simple to make, they are a mixture of chopped potatoes, shredded cheddar, egg, flour, seasonings and fried crisp in a little oil. They are excellent dipped in your favorite barbecue or ranch dressing...inexpensive too!!

2 medium Russet potatoes (see note)
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (don't pack)
1/3 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon seasoning salt
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 beaten egg

Peel and cube potatoes into your food processor bowl. Pulse them a few times but don't chop them so fine that they become mush. (First picture is the cube size, second picture is the desired chopped size)

In a bowl, mix the chopped potatoes & 1 cup of loosely packed shredded cheddar cheese. Thoroughly mix in the flour (make sure everything is coated). Then add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Let this mixture sit for about 5 minutes before you fry them. Heat 1/2" vegetable oil to 375.

Scoop spoonfuls of the potato mixture and compress it a little with your fingers while it is on the spoon. Push the "tater tot" off of the spoon (gently) into the shallow (hot) vegetable oil. Fry until golden brown (about 2 minutes per side). Season with salt while still hot.

NOTE: For those of you who live in Alaska, I don't think our Alaska potatoes would work very well in this recipe (the hold too much water and won't crisp up). Recipe calls for Russet (or baking potatoes).

NOTE: For a variation, I am going to try pepper Jack cheese in this recipe instead of the cheddar. I'll let you know how it goes.
 

 

THE ULTIMATE (FILLED) PEANUT BUTTER COOKIE

These (crispy on the outside - creamy on the inside) cookies are a hit every time I make them. They are quick to make and delicious to eat, with a sweet peanut butter cookie exterior and a Reese's cup interior...need I say more? These cookies are also a great bake sale item.

1 BAG OF MINIATURE REESE CUPS FROZEN

1 & 1/4 CUPS ALL PURPOSE FLOUR
3/4 TEASPOON BAKING SODA
1/4 TEASPOON SALT
1/2 CUP BUTTER FLAVORED CRISCO (don't substitute)
1/2 CUP PEANUT BUTTER
1/2 CUP WHITE SUGAR
1/2 CUP BROWN SUGAR
1 EGG
1 TEASPOON VANILLA EXTRACT


In a large mixing bowl, cream together the Crisco, peanut butter, sugars, egg and vanilla until it is smooth and creamy. Next add the dry ingredients and beat until smooth. Roll this dough into 1" balls and place them in an UNgreased mini-muffin pan:

Bake them at 375 for 10 minutes and they will look like this:

Immediately press a FROZEN miniature Reese's cups into the center of each cookie (pressing down until the top of the candy is at the same level as the top of the cookie).

Let these cool IN THE PAN for about 2 minutes before you try to remove them. To remove the cookies, insert just the tip of a thin knife between the cookie and the pan (the knife will help you lift the cookie out). The chocolate will melt from the heat of the cookie, so it will be messy until the chocolate re-sets. You can speed set them in the fridge.

BE CAREFUL, THEY ARE ADDICTING!!

SPEEDY WEEK NIGHT CHICKEN DINNER

This quick fix chicken dinner is one of my "go to" week night recipes. I always keep boneless, skinless chicken in the freezer, so I can whip this up in a hurry. It is one of those easy recipes that you can cook with your eyes closed and yet its sweet and (mildly) spicy flavor will please just about everyone. We don't care for super-spicy food, so the ingredients below were designed for us. If you like more spice, just increase the amount of crushed red pepper flakes. Leftovers reheat very well in the microwave and make a great hot sandwich the next day.

 Cut 2 pounds of boneless, skinless chicken thighs into nugget size pieces. Roll them in flour, then in beaten eggs, then back in flour. Sprinkle them with black pepper and brown them in about 1/4 cup of canola oil.

 When they are nice and brown, remove them from the pan and drain on paper towels. Wipe the grease out of the pan and add the following:

1 cup of favorite barbecue sauce

1/4 cup of water
1 tablespoon honeyscant 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

Return to heat and mix sauce thoroughly. When it is bubbly, put the chicken in the sauce and stir to coat all of the pieces (I use a wide flat spatula to turn the pieces in the sauce).

 Lower the heat and let the sauce sink into the chicken and caramelize a little in the pan. The chicken will be ready to serve when the sauce darkens (about five minutes).

 NOTE: I have used chicken breast in this recipe, but it is not as moist and tasty as chicken thighs.

NOTE: Once you have put the sauce on the chicken, keep the heat down and watch it because it can scorch easily.

NOTE: I don't add salt to the sauce because there is plenty of salt in the barbecue sauce.

MAPLE TWISTS

I highly recommend that you visit Mennonite Girls Can Cook. They posted a sweet roll recipe that looked delicious; it was called Charlotte Rose's Maple Twists. Three hours later, this beauty was cooling on my kitchen counter. It may sound complicated, but it really isn't and the final product is a show stopper.

CLICK ON THIS PHOTO TO GET A BETTER LOOK.

DOUGH
2 and 3/4 to 3 CUPS ALL PURPOSE FLOUR
3/4 CUP MILK
1/4 CUP BUTTER
3 TABLESPOONS SUGAR
1/2 TEASPOON SALT
1 TABLESPOON DRY ACTIVE YEAST
1 TEASPOON MAPLE EXTRACT
1 EGG

Heat the milk and butter until very warm. Blend it (in stand mixer) with 1 cup of flour, 3 tablespoons sugar, 1/2 teaspoon salt, yeast, egg and maple extract. Beat this on low for 2 minutes. Add the rest of the flour 1/2 cup at a time (you may not need all 3 cups). Knead into a soft dough. It will become smooth an elastic in about five minutes. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let it rise for 45 minutes (or till at least double in size).

While the dough is rising, make the streusel:
1/4 cup melted butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1/3 cup chopped nuts (I used pecans)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon maple extract
Mix everything together and set aside.

ASSEMBLY
After the dough rises, divide it into three pieces. Roll each piece into a 12" circle. Place the first circle on a buttered 14" pizza pan (I used parchment paper and sprayed it a little). Top the first circle with 1/3 of the streusel mixture and spread it around as thin as you can get it (repeat with 2nd and 3rd circles).

Find something that is 2" across (like a dixie cup) and center it on the circles (press down a little to make a mark). Using scissors, cut from the outer edge into the cup mark, making 16 wedges. Sounds confusing, but a picture is worth a thousand words, so here is what it will look like:

Gently life and twist each section 5 times. Tuck the end in just a little so that it stays twisted. It will look like this:

Lightly cover this with plastic wrap and let it rise for about 45 minutes to an hour. Bake in a 375° oven for 18-22 minutes (mine took the full 22 minutes). Remove from oven and let rest for 5 minutes before you top with glaze.

GLAZE

1 cup powdered sugar

2 tablespoons melted butter

1 to 2 tablespoons milk

1/2 teaspoon maple extract

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract (my tweak)

Whisk until smooth and drizzle over warm rolls.

NOTE: I didn't have any maple extract, so I used a Crescent flavoring called Mapeline (worked great).
 

NOTE: Sorry about the photo quality, the maple twists were too big to fit into my light box, so I had to take the photo on the kitchen counter...like the old days, lol.

BLUEBERRY SOUR CREAM BUNDT CAKE

My daughter recommended this cake recipe and she was right, it is delicious (she found the recipe on allrecipes.com). Not only is it super moist (made with a cup of butter + a cup of sour cream + a cup of blueberries) but it has a brown sugar and pecan layer that swirls through the batter as well!! Thank you for sharing the recipe BreeAnn!!!

1 CUP BUTTER AT ROOM TEMPERATURE
2 CUPS WHITE SUGAR
1 CUP SOUR CREAM
2 EGGS
1 TEASPOON VANILLA EXTRACT
1 TEASPOON LEMON ZEST (my recipe tweak)
1 & 5/8 CUPS ALL PURPOSE FLOUR (see note )
1 TEASPOON BAKING POWDER
1/4 TEASPOON SALT
1 CUP FRESH OR FROZEN BLUEBERRIES
1/2 CUP BROWN SUGAR
1 TEASPOON CINNAMON
1/2 CUP CHOPPED PECANS

Preheat your oven to 350 and grease and flour a 9" bundt pan.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy; beat in eggs one at a time; stir in sour cream, vanilla and lemon zest. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt and stir it into the butter mixture until well blended; fold in blueberries.

Spoon half of the batter into the prepared bundt pan. In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar, cinnamon and pecans. Sprinkle half of the brown sugar mixture over the batter in the pan & top with the second half of the batter. Sprinkle the rest of the brown sugar mixture over the top of everything. Gently swirl a butter knife through the batter a couple of times to irregularly distribute the brown sugar pecan layer.

Bake the cake for 55 to 60 minutes in preheated oven. Cool cake (in the pan) on a wire rack for about 10 minutes before turning out onto a cake plate.


A couple of people have written to ask me about the glaze on this cake. I start with two or three tablespoons of melted butter, two cups of powdered sugar and a teaspoon of vanilla. I then whisk in just enough whipping cream to make a good consistency. Sorry I can't be more specific than that (I don't measure glaze ingredients).

As for the question I received about the intensity of lemon...I used one teaspoon of finely grated lemon zest in this recipe and you can taste it, but it is very subtle. I think next time I will go for two teaspoons of zest.

NOTE: The recipe called for 1 + 5/8 cups all purpose flour. I'm assuming this must be a metric conversion? I measured 1 + 3/4 cups then removed a tablespoon of flour.

HOT SOFT PRETZELS

I love hot pretzels, especially nice big puffy ones. This recipe is not hard at all, but it does have a few pesky steps. The pretzels are deliciously chewy on the outside and soft and fluffy on the inside and you can top them with just about any seed or seasoning you prefer. I made these with toasted sesame seeds and a light sprinkle of coarse ground salt. This recipe makes 8 large pretzels.

1  and 1/2 cups warm water
1 tablespoon white sugar
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 generous tablespoon of dry yeast
4 cups all purpose flour (divided)
2 tablespoons canola oil


In your stand mixer, mix two cups of the flour, sugar, yeast and kosher salt. Pour the warm water and oil over the top and mix with wooden spoon until all ingredients are wet. Let this stand for about 10 minutes.

Attach the dough hook to your mixer and gradually beat in the additional 2 cups of flour (1/2 cup at a time). If dough is still sticky after you get the 4 cups of flour mixed in, had a little more flour (tablespoon at a time) until the dough pulls cleanly away from the inside walls of your mixing bowl. Once it does that, knead on low for about five minutes (see note).

Remove the dough from your mixing bowl and spray the inside of the bowl with vegetable spray; return the dough to the bowl and spritz the top of the dough with vegetable spray; cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let dough sit for an hour or until it doubles in size.

Preheat your oven to 450. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper and spritz the paper with vegetable spray then rub a paper towel over the parchment paper to remove excess spray. Set aside.

Punch down the dough and cut it into 8 pieces. Roll out each piece into a 24" rope and twist it into a pretzel shape (pinching ends together tightly). Place pretzels on the prepared parchment paper.

In a large (wide bottomed sauce pan), bring 10 cups of water + 2/3 cup baking soda to a rolling boil (it will really bubble). Gently place one of your pretzels onto a slotted FLAT spatula and gently lower the spatula (with pretzel) into the boiling water. Shake the spatula very gently and the pretzel will float off into the water. COOK ONLY ONE PRETZEL AT A TIME.

Boil each pretzel for 30 seconds then gently lift it back out of the water and (before you put it BACK on the parchment paper) rest the slotted spatula/pretzel gently on a kitchen towel (for a couple of seconds) so that it will absorb any water drips......THEN put it back on the parchment paper. Repeat this process for each pretzel.

When all pretzels have been through the water bath, gently brush the tops of them with egg wash (1 egg yolk beaten with 1 tablespoon water) and sprinkle with salt and/or seeds.

Bake in 450 oven for 12 minutes or until they are dark golden brown. Cool on a wire rack for five minutes before serving.

 Not the best for you, I'm sure, but the cheese dip recipe that is on the back of the Velveeta box is still my favorite: 1 pound of Velveeta (cubed) + 8 ounce jar of your favorite salsa. Mix and microwave on high until cheese is really melted (about 4 or 5 minutes...stir once in a while). When it's completely melted, add 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro. Yum!

This evening, hubby had sweet chicken wings for dinner (not my favorite) so I sliced one of the big pretzels and made an egg salad sandwich with it. Oh man, what a sandwich!

 NOTE: I have not tried it, but I do not see why the initial dough mixing and kneading couldn't be done with a bread machine.

NOTE: Be very gentle with the pretzels when you transfer them from the boiling water back to the parchment paper lined baking sheet.

BAKE SALE BUTTERSCOTCH COOKIES

I call this recipe "Bake Sale Butterscotch Cookies" because they are quick and inexpensive to make, they are something a little different and the recipe makes a whopping six dozen cookies! A great recipe for a bake sale, pot luck or family gathering.

5 and 1/4 cups all purpose flour
3 cups of brown sugar (packed)
3 eggs
2 cups butterscotch chips
1 and 1/2 cups butter flavored Crisco
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 and 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

In a large mixing bowl (stand mixer works best because its such a big batch), cream the Crisco and brown sugar together. Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat well after each egg. Beat in the vanilla.

Combine the dry ingredients and butterscotch chips and add gradually to the Crisco mixture and beat well. Roll this dough into balls (about the size of a small walnut) and bake on an ungreased cookie sheet, at 350, for 12 to 13 minutes. Cool on parchment paper.

NOTE: This recipe can be made with butter instead of the Crisco, but it will act very different while it is baking. With the Crisco, the cookie will retain its nice shape that you see in these photos. If you use butter, you will get a much flatter cookie.

NOTE: Personally, I prefer the butter flavored Crisco because it gives you a much more professional looking cookie. My hubby is the cookie connoisseur in hour house and he prefers cookies made with butter flavored Crisco.

 This recipe makes a lot of cookies!