Looking for spice...in nutella-stuffed brown butter & sea salt chocolate chip cookies

Lately, I've been in the land of milk and cookies. (get it? get it?) All I think about are cookies. What I can put in them, on them, around them...you get it. I have found myself stuck in traffic more often than not lately, so I've got plenty of time to consider my cookie options...cayenne cookies, cheesecake cookies, toffee cookies (I'm starting to sound like that guy in Forest Gump. Cajun shrimp, boiled shrimp, shrimp stew...) So I decided on these nutella-stuffed brown butter and sea salt chocolate chip cookies. Now there's a mouth full (of cookies.) 

Allow me to just point out that up until very recently, I thought brown butter was butter mixed with brown sugar. I even told people that AND THEY BELIEVED ME. Turns out, brown butter is, in fact, NOT butter and brown sugar. Brown butter is the process of, well, browning butter. The proper term for it is "beurre noisette" which means hazelnut butter and makes me feel like a French woman without a baguette. The process of browning butter is not particularly difficult, however, it is a bit time consuming and the butter is incredibly easy to burn. Now, I'm no Paula Deen, but I do enjoy butter. Especially brown butter, as it has an intense nutty flavor. In order to learn the process, I turned to my favorite blogger in the whole wide world, Jessica. On with it, people (aka all of my invisible followers and very possibly Barack Obama.)  

I will warn you that these cookies get a bit messy. And by messy I mean you're going to get nutella every where and you're (like me) going to end up licking nutella off of something the entire time. I somehow ended up with nutella on my forehead, in my hair and I'm pretty sure in my bra as well. Which is why my first word of advice would be: keep your jar of nutella in the fridge until you're ready to use it!

For the cookies:

2 1/4 cup all purpose flour

1 1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup unsalted butter

1 1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg + 1 yolk

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 tbs plain greek yogurt

3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips 

1/2 cup milk chocolate chips

1/2 cup dark chocolate chips

1 jar Nutella, chilled

coarse sea salt (for sprinkling on top)

To start, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt in a mixing bowl and set aside. 

Start on browning your butter, by placing one cup of cubed unsalted butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. It's important that you whisk your butter during the entire process, as it's incredibly easy to burn. The butter is going to start to foam, keep whisking until you see some browning happening at the bottom of the saucepan, and then remove from heat. But the key is to not forget what your favorite blogger (me) told you, keep whisking! Whisk until you smell a fairly strong nutty flavor, at which point transfer the butter from the saucepan to a bowl to prevent burning. 

In a separate bowl (sorry, lots of dishes to wash with this recipe) combine butter and sugars until thoroughly blended and then add egg, egg yolk, yogurt and vanilla extract. 

(horribly blurry photos and I just noticed my blinding nail polish matches the yolk)

Once all of the ingredients are combined, gently fold in the chocolate chips. 

Wrap the dough and place it in the fridge for two hours, or the freezer for thirty minutes. I'm insanely impatient so I paced around my kitchen for about an hour, and then stared at the nutella jar in the fridge for about another hour contemplating whether or not I should just eat the nutella with a spoon and make regular cookies. You'll be happy to hear I endured the two hour wait, and made these cookies for your viewing and my eating pleasure. 

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, and in the meantime take 1 1/2 Tbs. of dough, roll them into balls and then flatten them out to place 1 Tsp. of nutella in the middle. 

Gently fold the dough over the nutella, and roll into a ball. Make sure to do this carefully, as you don't want any nutella to seep out of the dough. Place dough on a nonstick cookie sheet about 2 inches apart and gently flatten the tops of the dough balls. Cook for 9-11 minutes, and remove from oven. The cookies make look a bit undercooked, but believe you me..they are not!  Sprinkle sea salt on top and serve. They're gooey and warm and delicious. Aaaaand you'll thank me later.

Until my next adventure...

xx,

ronit

Looking for spice...in steak tacos with cucumber-avocado salsa

Ladies and gentleman, I attempted a romantic gesture. That's right, I can be romantical.

He'd had a rough day at work, and what better way to feel better than football and red meat? Football is totally lost on me (I just cheer when they cheer.) However, the red meat part was easy for me: steak tacos with cucumber-avocado salsa. He's a foodie and loves lots of flavor and spice, so I knew the steak would have to carry some serious kick...and it did. Combined with the creaminess of the avocado and the crunchiness of the cucumber, I'd say this deserves a "best girlfriend of the...day" trophy.

For the cucumber-avocado salsa:

2 cups English cucumber, seeded & diced

2 firm, ripe avocados, peeled, pitted & diced

1/2 red onion, diced

1/4 cup lime juice

1/4 cup cilantro

3 jalepeno peppers, seeded & finely chopped

salt to taste

Combine all of the above listed ingredients in a mixing bowl and gently combine to mix. Serve within an hour of preparing. 

For the steak tacos:

1-1/4 lb. top sirloin steak

1 Tbs. chili powder

2 Tsp. minced fresh garlic

1/4 Tsp. cinnamon 

1/4 Tsp. salt

pinch of cayenne pepper

12 6-in. diameter corn tortillas

3 cups shredded red cabbage

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro 

1 lime cut into wedges

In a small bowl, stir together chili powder, cinnamon, salt, garlic and cayenne.

Rub the spice mixture into both sides of the steak. And in the meantime, coat a large nonstick skillet with cooking spray and allow to preheat over medium-high heat 

Grill the steak for five minutes per side, turning once, for medium-rare. My boyfriend practically likes his steak still mooing so this was perfect for him. I, however, like my steak medium-well, so my steak took a bit longer than his. Remove from the skillet and let the steak sit for at least five minutes before carving into thin slices.

Moo.

Since I was using a gas stove, I had the luxury of toasting the corn tortillas directly on the fire. If you're using a grill, you can do the same by putting the tortillas on the grill. If you're using an electric stove, just place corn tortillas on a nonstick skillet and allow the tortillas to toast that way. Have the steak prepared by the time you are toasting your tortillas, so that they can be served while hot. Toss some red cabbage on the tortilla, then top with steak and salsa. I plated with a wedge of lime, and some cilantro on top. 

To be honest, I actually ended up liking my boyfriends tacos better than mine. Turns out sirloin is a bit chewy when grilled for too long. Although his were far more rare than I'd prefer, they actually ended up tasting way better and the meat was more delicate. The flavors were phenomenal, and the salsa really cut down the spiciness of the steak. I made a quick side dish by throwing snap peas, a bit of sesame oil, panko bread crumbs and salt into a wok and tossing it around for a few minutes. Quick, healthy, crunchy and delicious!

Until my next adventure...

xx,

ronit

Looking for spice...in raspberry linzer cookies

It's cold. 

And I mean not like kind of chilly, I mean IT'S COLD. Since I refuse to bring out my winter clothing just yet, I've been walking around shivering for days without a warm coat. In fact, on my way to work this morning, I'm pretty sure I got a how-are-you-not-freezing-in-that!? look from a homeless women. Whom, might I add, was dressed far warmer than me. 

Back to the things that really matter: raspberry linzer cookies. Now, if you're thinking "what the hell does this have to do with spices?" well, let me tell you something. First off, it's my blog and I'll do what I want. Second, there are spices in these cookies! And they're delicious. And holiday-y and they make you(me) feel warm and fuzzy. 

Raspberry linzer cookies:

1/2 Cup sliced almonds

1/2 Cup coarsely chopped hazelnuts

2 Cups + 1 Tbs. all purpose flour

3/4 Cup granulated sugar

1/2 Tsp. baking powder

1/2 Tsp. table salt

1/2 Tsp. ground cinnamon 

1/4 Tsp. ground cloves

14 Tbs. chilled unsalted butter

1 large egg

1 Tbs. cold water

1/2 Cup raspberry preserves 

Confectioners sugar for dusting 

In a food processor, process almonds, hazelnuts and a 1/2 cup of flour until fine textured but not powdered. Avoid over-processing by occasionally stopping the machine to feel the nuts; (haha, I just said feel the nuts on my blog) they might still look chunky because they're bunching together. Add the remaining flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and cloves. Pulse to combine ingredients. Chop up the butter into small cubes and add to the flour mixture. Pulse to combine until the mixture looks coarse and flaky.

Transfer the flour mix to a large bowl. Mix the water and egg together and then combine with the flour mixture. Mix gently to combine, and once combined - the flour should hold together when pinched. If it seems too dry, add a tiny bit of water. Gather the dough into two balls and knead for about a minute, just to blend. Wrap both balls in plastic (stop it, don't make me laugh) and let chill for about 2 hours. 

Once your dough is firm, remove from the fridge and generously cover your working surface with flour. Leave half of the dough in the fridge so that it doesn't get too soft to work with. Place the dough on your floured service and use a rolling pin to flatten the dough to about 3/16 inch thickness. Then, cut out as many 2 inch rounds as possible, re-rolling scraps to make more rounds. Shit got real when I realized I didn't have circular cookie cutters for the large rounds as well as the middle rounds. So, what did I do? Well, I used my measuring cup as a large round cookie cutter and the lid from a chocolate syrup for the little rounds. Aren't I resourceful? 

I can't stress enough how important it is to have a good amount of flour on your working surface when rolling/cutting the dough. Once you've cut your rounds, line them on baking sheets and place in the oven for 15 minutes at 325 degrees. Once they've baked, remove from oven and dust with confectioner's sugar. 

While the cookies are baking and then cooling down, remove the other ball of dough from the fridge and repeat the same process. However, since you're now making the bottom of the cookie, you won't need to cut a smaller round in the cookie. So just cut out an equal amount of 2 inch rounds and bake for 15 minutes. 

Once the cookies are baked and cooled, place about 1/2 tsp of raspberry preserves on the whole cookie rounds. Top with your sugar dusted cookies, bottom sides against the preserves. 

I ended up with 20 cookies, and will most likely make the cookies a bit smaller next time. The taste of the hazelnut and almonds with the raspberry preserve was absolutely delicious. The butter gave these cookies a bit of a shortbread texture, which I absolutely love. The cookies are warm, nutty, sweet and awesome for the holidays! If you're feeling in the baking spirit like I was, these would make a great dessert for any holiday dinner. Or in my case, an office meeting.

Until my next adventure...

xx,

ronit

Looking for spice...in roasted Brussels sprouts in a mushroom-cream reduction

There's a weird stigma when it comes to Brussels sprouts. I'm not sure why, because they're seriously delicious. I'd have to agree with the fact that it's not particularly kid friendly, but the same kids that hate broccoli most likely hate Brussels sprouts as well. I stayed away from those kids at recess, they were far too normal for me. 

Growing up, my mom made Brussels sprouts fairly often. It was probably one of the only side dishes she cared to make (I've mentioned before, my mom was no top chef.) She sauteed the Brussels sprouts with olive oil, garlic and bread crumbs, and I really loved it. I recently decided to make a different version of it, something a bit more rich and luxurious. I just called Brussels sprouts rich and luxurious. It makes them sound like a Real Housewives cast member. 

For Brussels sprouts:

5 Cups trimmed, halved Brussels sprouts

5 Tbs. olive oil

4 Tbs. unsalted butter

4 1/2 Cups halved mushrooms (I used baby bella)

1/2 Cup thinly sliced shallots (about 5 or 6 if small)

1/4 Cup dry white wine (chardonnay works best)

1 Cup heavy cream

1 Tsp. Pepper

1 Tsp. Salt

Once you've trimmed and halved your Brussels sprouts, preheat the oven at 450 degrees and place the Brussels sprouts evenly on a baking dish. Drizzle with 3 Tbs. olive oil and season generously with salt. Roast for about 25 minutes until tender, then remove from oven and set aside. 

Heat a skillet on high heat and add 1 Tbs. olive oil and 2 Tbs. butter. Once the butter has melted, add the mushrooms in an even layer and allow to cook until mushrooms are golden brown (about 5-8 minutes.) Season to taste and transfer to a plate temporarily. 

Using the same skillet, set to medium heat and place 1 Tbs. olive oil and 1 Tbs. butter. When the butter has melted, add shallots and cook until tender and golden (about 3 minutes.)

Once the shallots are tender, add wine and continue to cook until liquid is reduced to at least half (about 1 minute.) Return the mushrooms to the pan and add in the Brussels sprouts. Add cream to the skillet and continue to cook until the cream has thickened and evenly coats the Brussels sprouts. Season with salt and pepper and serve immediately. 

I didn't take a picture of the end result because, like I said above, serve immediately. You're right, I could have taken a second to take a picture for your viewing pleasure, but I was too busy eating. The dish was really creamy and full of flavor. I paired it with well seasoned chicken, but will try pairing it with a steak in the future. If you're a weird kid, like me, you'll enjoy this dish. I love Brussels sprouts, and the hint of creaminess and wine made this a winner in my book. 

Try it out, weird kid. Let me know how you like it.

Until my next adventure...

xx,

ronit

Looking for spice...in homemade snickers bars

Hi, my name is Ronit and I'm a chocoholic. Ok, that's not entirely true, I was just trying to impress some friends this weekend. I threw a bit of a Dexter premiere party, and my guests cleaaaarly needed dessert. Even if they didn't need it, they were going to get it. 

If you're on a diet, like my roommate is, I suggest you close your eyes, ears and mouth immediately. Or continue reading. This is seriously one of the easiest desserts to make. Like had a few drinks easy. The ingredients may sound intimidating, but they're not at all. Trust me. Would I lie to you?

For the snickers bars:

bottom chocolate layer

1 1/4 cups milk chocolate chips
1/4 cup peanut butter

Melt ingredients in a saucepan or microwave, grease a 9x13 baking pan and then pour into dish and spread evenly. Once you'd spread the chocolate evenly throughout the dish, put it in the fridge to allow it to cool. 

nougat layer

1/4 cup unsalted butter
1 cup granulated sugar (confectioners sugar)
1/4 cup evaporated milk
1 1/2 cup marshmallow fluff
1/4 cup peanut butter
1 1/2 cups salted peanuts, roughly chopped
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Melt butter in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Add milk and sugar and mix consistently until dissolved and smooth. Bring the mixture to a boil and cook for about five minutes. Add in fluff, peanut butter and vanilla and stir until smooth. Remove the saucepan from heat and fold in peanuts. Pour over chocolate layer and then place back in the fridge to cool. 

caramel layer

1 14-ounce bag of caramels

1/4 cup whipping cream

Melt ingredients in a saucepan/microwave and once melted and smooth, pour over nougat layer. Place in fridge and allow to cool.

top chocolate layer

1 1/4 cups milk chocolate chips

1/4 cup peanut butter

Melt ingredients in a saucepan or microwave, then pour over caramel layer and place in fridge to cool. 

For best results, refrigerate them for about an hour before serving. They can stay at room temperature, but they will get gooey. And melty. And yummy. Aaaaand you will want to eat the entire pan. Don't do it. Seriously. Don't.

The bars are really, really sweet so I recommend you cut them into bite-sized squares. 

Like I said, I made these for my Dexter premiere party and they were a hit! What wasn't a hit was my DVR deciding to stop recording the episode about 5 minutes before it was over. Yes, that's right there is my luck - because EVERYONE knows the last five minutes are always the best. Needless to say, my guests were none too thrilled with me. Oops. So, I had to keep them busy - at which point, I decided to have my friends unwrap all of the caramel squares and see who could unwrap the most, the fastest. 

Yes, all they need are games and beer to entertain them.

P.S they said the snickers bars were worth the wait (and the horrible DVR fail.)

Until my next adventure...

xx,

Ronit

looking for spice...in brown sugar cupcakes with brown sugar peanut butter icing

Sooo, I know this blog was made (with love) for the sole purpose of (a) entertaining me, (b) entertaining you, and (c) learning to cook with different spices and ingredients. HOWEVER, I don't think you'll be complaining when you see these creamy, soft, flavorful, yummmmy brown sugar cupcakes. And I know if I'm looking for spice in these cupcakes, I certainly won't find it. I will, however, find the nearest gym ASAP.

So, let's talk cupcakes. I made these cupcakes on a bit of a whim because I was in the mood for something sweet, but not tooth-ache sweet and these were the ingredients I had on hand. I'm not big on dessert, at least not making my own dessert. I'm more of a buy it and tell everyone you made it but when they realize the crust to your "homemade" pie looks totally store bought...deny, deny, deny. Especially because, well, like I've said before - I'm a mess in the kitchen. And flour/confectioners sugar? Ends up ALL over me - I'm talking head to toe. WITH THAT BEING SAID I'm glad I made these because they were the bomb (dotblogspotdotcom.) 

For the cupcakes (12 of them):

1 Cup loosely packed brown sugar

1 egg

1 Tbs. vanilla extract

3/4 Cup milk

1/2 Cup unsalted butter, melted & cooled

1 1/2 Cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 Tsp. baking soda

1/4 Tsp. salt

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, and in the meantime combine flour, baking soda and salt in a mixing bowl. Set aside, and line cupcake tin with cupcake liners. 

In a large bowl, whisk brown sugar and egg until smooth. 

Add in vanilla extract and milk and whisk until once again smooth. Slowly whisk in the melted butter. Make sure the butter is cooled, as hot butter will cause the batter to thicken quickly and become difficult to work with. Add in the flour, baking soda and salt and mix with a spoon until smooth.

Using a 1/4 Cup measure, add batter to the liners. 

Bake for 16-19 minutes, until tops looks puffy, brown and delicious.

For the peanut butter brown sugar frosting

6 ounces softened cream cheese

1/2 Cup creamy peanut butter

1 Cup loosely packed brown sugar

1 Cup powdered sugar (confectioners sugar)

2 Tbs. milk

2 Tsp. vanilla extract

In a bowl, whisk cream cheese until smooth and then add peanut butter and vanilla extract. Add in brown and powdered sugar gradually, whisking the entire time. Add in milk and continue to whisk. 

You can frost your cupcakes by using a spoon/knife/spreading spatula OR if you want to put on your fancy pants, you can use frosting bags. Since I lost my fancy pants in the recession, I opted to use a ziplock bag. Fill the ziplock bag with frosting and cut one of the corners of the bag to use for piping. Let the frosting begin!

Cute, huh?

The cupcakes came out AMAZING! They were a bit dense, but not too sweet. The first time I made these (ok, so we went through the first batch within minutes) the frosting came out way, way different than the second time around. I clearly have no patience and decided instead of waiting for the cream cheese to soften on its own; I'd just zap it in the microwave for a minute. Bad idea. The frosting turned into a strange, gooey consistency and wasn't at all creamy or pretty. Can I get a fail mary? However, the second time around I was smart enough to let the cream cheese naturally soften and it came out perfect. The frosting is pretty sweet, so it compliments the cupcake nicely. I hope you enjoy them!

Until my next adventure...

xx,

ronit

looking for spice...in baked parmesan spaghetti

You know those depression commercials - where they ask you questions and you find yourself answering "yes" to everything? And then you're walking around convinced you're depressed and need medication. You're calling your friends and breaking plans because you're too sad to get off the couch. Well, do you enjoy comfort food? Do you like cheese? Do you love garlic and crushed tomatoes? If you've answered yes to any/all of these, you're not depressed - you just like to eat. Allow me to introduce to you my newest food baby; baked parmesan spaghetti.

It's hot, gooey, cheesy, saucey, yummy....and everything else that ends in a 'y'. It's the perfect comfort food to get you through the hump of your week. You'll be sitting at work dreaming about this meal days after. THAT'S how delicious it is.

I've always hated basil..I found it overpowering and unappealing. However, they say with age comes wisdom and I've been wise enough to let my taste buds go on an exploration of the herbs. My roommate, Brandon, decided to start a hydroponic garden. I know, what? For the longest time I really did think he was growing other "herbs" in his room, but no - he really is growing a non-mary-jane herb garden. He is one of the main reasons I've decided to take this journey into the food blogging world, and will also be my herb dealer during this adventure. He even went as far as buying me cooking lessons, but I have yet to go because I kind of suck at making plans lately. Which makes me wonder if I'd answer yes to all of those questions in the "are you depressed?" commercial....

I digress...

Baked Parmesan Spaghetti

3/4 Pound spaghetti (I chose thin spaghetti)
1/2 onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
2 Pound ground beef
1 Tsp salt
1 Tsp pepper
10-12 fresh large basil leaves, chopped
3 Cups of your favorite pasta sauce (i used four cheese and marinara)
2 Cups shredded mozzarella
2 Cups freshly grated parmesan

While you boil water to cook your pasta, set the oven to 350 degrees. Cook pasta until it is al dente, and don't worry if it's not thoroughly cooked, as it's going into the oven.

Under medium heat, allow olive oil to warm up in a skillet. Add onions and a pinch of salt and pepper, and allow to saute until soft. Add garlic and stir for a minute. Meanwhile, season beef with salt and pepper and add to the skillet. Make sure to use a wooden spoon to break apart the beef and cook until brown on both sides.

Once the beef is browned, stir in one cup of pasta sauce and half of the chopped basil. 

Mix to combine, and then add the (drained) spaghetti to the mixture. Spray an oven safe dish with nonstick spray, and add half of the spaghetti mixture to the dish. Top with a cup of sauce and half of your parmesan/mozzarella cheese mix. Repeat the process, starting with another layer of the spaghetti mixture and then a cup of sauce and the rest of the cheese. Sprinkle the rest of the basil on top and place in the oven for about 20 minutes, or until the cheese is perfectly golden brown. 

The dish, in my opinion (and since it's my blog, I'm going to tell you my opinion) the dish came out really, really well. Like...really, really really well. Like three helpings well. We have enough to last us at least another lunch and dinner. I wouldn't change anything about the dish, except perhaps add maybe one more teaspoon of salt. No one else seemed to think it was lacking salt, so maybe like me - you can just add more salt to taste once you've plated. Mmm...so yummy. 

What kind of an evening would it be without dessert? I decided to buy an ice cream maker and tried to make some toasted marshmallow coconut ice cream. I had to wait for the bowl to freeze, but made the ice cream mix so that I'd be prepared once the bowl finally froze. The bowl froze overnight, and I found myself churning ice cream at 8am this morning. Not only did I feel insanely stupid, but it also came out absolutely disgusting. The ice cream went in the trash, and the evil ice cream maker went right back in the box. Once I realized I'd never be the ice cream maker I've always dreamed of, I opted for cupcakes instead. I made theeee most amazing brown sugar cupcakes with brown sugar peanut butter icing. And you better bet your sweet ass I'll be posting that recipe shortly.

Until my next adventure...

xx,

ronit