Mexican Hot Chocolate Cookies–Brrr, It’s Cold!

In my head I’m belting out “Baby, it’s cold outside!” It’s in the 40s right now. The 40s. Last week I was complaining about the 50s and I feel like a jerk for that. I’m sorry! I was adjusting. Funny thing is, I’m going to North Carolina next weekend and it’ll be even colder there. Thank goodness I’ll have the mittens my Grandma made me. Maybe when I’m there she’ll teach me how to make a pair. That would be sweet!

Meanwhile, I’m doing everything I can to stay warm. I’ve got on my fuzzy socks and am under about 42 layers of blankets as I type this. If I had hot chocolate, I’d be drinking that, but instead, I have cookies. Of course I have cookies.

Mexican Hot Cocoa Cookies, from Martha Stewart

Ingredients

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 teaspoons cream of tartar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 3/4 cups sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon chile powder

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees, with racks in upper and lower thirds. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, cocoa powder, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat butter and 1 1/2 cups sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Scrape down side of bowl. Add eggs and beat to combine. With mixer on low, gradually add flour mixture and beat until combined.

2. In a small bowl, combine remaining 1/4 cup sugar, cinnamon, and chile powder (if using). Using heaping tablespoons, form balls of dough and roll in cinnamon-sugar mixture. Place, about 3 inches apart, on two parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake until cookies are set in center and begin to crack, about 10 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through. Let cookies cool on sheets on wire racks 5 minutes, then transfer cookies to racks to cool completely. (Store in an airtight container, up to 1 week.)

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: Martha Stewart is a genius. Her recipes, or at least those that I’ve tested, are solid. They’re not fussy, they’re to the point, and they are good. Very good. I’ve made these cookies several times and they are always a crowd pleaser. They’re sweet with just a subtle hint of spiciness. If you didn’t know the recipe called for chili powder, you’d wonder where the kick came from. They’re light, tender cookies that will stay soft for a couple days. But don’t expect them to last that long – they’ll be gobbled up in no time.

Next time it’s too cold outside to leave the house, fire up that oven and get to baking.

Might I suggest having a couple with a glass of hot chocolate?

The chocolate chip cookie is a classic. What is your favorite unconventional cookie?

CSA Week 5: Orzo with Chicken and Green Beans

I’m now on my 5th week of my CSA with Gruber Farm. I’m really enjoying the variety of each box and how fresh the vegetables are. Every box is a new surprise. Sometimes I don’t even wait until I leave my pickup location to look at what’s inside.

Week 5 contents:

• collards
• broccoli
• purple potatoes
• zucchini
• yellow squash
• strawberries
• string beans
• kale (not pictured – I donated it to one of the nice gym employees)

This face shows how excited I was about the purple potatoes.

In my right hand are some fancy beets that are known as both “Candy Cane Beets” and “Bullseye Beets” for the striped pattern inside.

The inside of the purple potatoes are pretty too. They are a purplish color because they contain anthocyanin – the same antioxidant found in blueberries.

I’ve shared plenty of beet recipes with you: Beets with Yogurt & Walnuts, Citrus Walnut Beet Dip,  Beet Chips, Glazed Beets, and my very favorite Beet Risotto with Goat Cheese.

I’ve even made mashed purple potatoes with goat cheese!

Time for something new. Check out this recipe from my hero, Martha Stewart. Did I choose to share this recipe with you because it contains Orzo? Yes.

Orzo with Chicken, Corn, and Green Beans

Ingredients

• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• 1/2 pound orzo
• 8 ounces green beans, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 package (10 ounces) frozen corn kernels, thawed
• 1 whole roasted chicken, (3 pounds), skin discarded, shredded (about 3 1/2 cups)

Directions

1. In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook orzo until al dente, according to package instructions; add green beans during last 6 minutes of cooking. Drain; rinse under cold water until cooled.
2. Meanwhile, in a large nonstick skillet, heat oil over medium. Add garlic; cook until fragrant, 1 to 2 minutes. Add corn and 1 teaspoon salt; cook until warmed through, 2 to 3 minutes.
3. Toss pasta and green beans with corn mixture and chicken. Season generously with salt and pepper.

(via)

You can make this in about 20 minutes! And when you pick up that box of orzo, I hope you think of me. ;)

I pretty much just asked for a slew of tweets of orzo pictures, didn’t I?

Tonight is the first meeting of the book club I organized last month. I’m so excited to have everyone over to discuss Fifty Shades of Grey. I  can just imagine the conversations we’ll have…

What’s your favorite green vegetable?

Are you in a book club? What are you reading right now?

Easter 2011 Recap

Hello!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter! I spent the day with my family at my aunt Kelly’s house. Each year we have a bunny ear photo shoot. Yes, even at 26 years old, I’m not ashamed to dress up with my little cousins.

We took one normal one:

One kissy one:

And we were lucky enough to get in a very sweet one…

…before somebody, ahem, Zachary, couldn’t take it anymore.

For dinner we feasted on ham,

mashed potatoes,

Paula Deen’s sweet potato casserole,

and my favorite spinach soufflé by Martha Stewart.

We had a few other sides but I drank too much wine and forgot to take pictures. I am definitely the lush of the family. And I’m okay with that.

After dinner, I nabbed a some dark chocolate Dove promises my cousins’ baskets. I love the messages inside.

I also really love this fantastic plastic holiday plate I found in Kelly’s kitchen. I have no idea where this came from but it should be thrown out immediately. She agrees, I’m sure.

Of course I wore those ears all day. Why wouldn’t I?

Have a great week!

Carrot Cake Is The Only Cake You Should Eat. Ever.

For a birthday party on Saturday night, I decided to make a carrot cake. Not your typical birthday cake, I know, but it was one of the birthday boy’s favorites as well as mine. I had never made a carrot cake before, so I tweeted asking for recommendations. Allison immediately suggested Martha Stewart’s recipe. Well duh, she is the master!

I was already a bit nervous about making a cake. I am a cookie girl, and the only cakes I’ve ever made are angel food cake and pumpkin chiffon cake. This particular recipe is a 3-layered cake, so I knew I was in for some fun. What I didn’t realize is how messy this fun would be.

Take a peek at what I did to my kitchen. This is what you would call a disaster.It took nearly the entire time the cakes were in the oven for me to clean up. Another thing about the cake-baking process is that you can’t sample it before your serve it! This scared me, a lot. I did, however, sample plenty of the batter. Because my hands were covered in cake frosting, I was afraid to use my dslr too much, so I snapped a few pics with my blackberry. Excuse the poor quality photo and know that my phone is currently covered with dried up frosting. It smells great, though!Unveiling the cake at the party was pretty fun because Margaret and I made a pretty big deal about it. That’s just what we do. We decided that it was no longer a birthday cake – it was a bestie cake and we were going to be the first to indulge in my creation.

And this would be a very blurry photo of us feeding each other.Believe it or not, we decided to share with others and everyone’s response was the same: “Omg, you made this? This is amazing. And I don’t even like carrot cake.” Seriously, I heard that about 50 times. It is true. This recipe is perfect. The only change I made to Martha’s recipe (I know, how dare I!) was substitute water for crushed pineapple to add more flavor and added in raisins. Both added ingredients made for a delightful texture!

After feasting on cake, we feasted on too much beer. Kegs + carrot cake = quite the rager of a party. Especially when I brought out…the SWORDS! Call me a five year old, but when I saw these ONE DOLLAR foam swords at Target, I knew I had to have them. My friends and I are really mature.And then we realized the swords could fall apart. Whoops!

Question 1: What is your favorite cake? Have you ever made it?

Question 2: Do you bring stupid toys to parties/the bar for extra entertainment? It is perfectly fine for you to tell me that I am out of control, but I will keep doing it.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!