Super Bowl recipe roundup

I have been quiet lately but busy. This past weekend was the superbowl, in case you lived under a rock, and of course western PA was decked out in black and gold OR black and yellow if you are a fan of this song

Due to the mess of our house, we are rearranging my studio and the hubby's office, we went over to the inlaws for the game and I offered to make some dips and of course dessert. In an epic fail, I have NO PICS UGH.

The two dips I made were from Brown Eyed Baker. she posted about a dip party she went to and shared some of the recipes. I LOVE the idea of a dip party. I am a huge appetizer fan, I like small portions of all different types of food.

Reuben Dip

This is my new favorite dip, displacing buffalo chicken dip from the #1 spot. I started weight watchers last week so I did substitute low fat ingredients when possible.

Yield: 6 to 8 servings

Prep Time: 15 minutes | Bake Time: 15 to 20 minutes

8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1½ cups (6 ounces) shredded Swiss cheese
4 ounces deli sliced corned beef, chopped
½ cup Thousand Island dressing
½ cup drained sauerkraut

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

2. In a large bowl mix together the cream cheese, 1 cup of the Swiss cheese, the dressing and corned beef. Spread in a pie plate or other shallow serving dish. Top with the sauerkraut and the remaining ½ cup of Swiss cheese.

3. Bake for about 15 minutes, or until bubbly around the edges. Serve hot with pretzel crisps or cocktail-size rye bread squares.

Sausage Dip

I've made this before but I call it fiesta dip and also add velvetta cheese. I also baked it for 15 mins as opposed to microwaving it.

Yield: About 8 to 10 servings

Prep Time: 15 minutes

2 16-oz. rolls of regular sausage (Bob Evans, Jimmy Dean, whatever your favorite brand is)
2 8-oz. packages of cream cheese, softened
28 ounces picante sauce

1. Brown the sausage, breaking it up and crumbling it as it cooks. Once cooked through, remove from skillet with a slotted spoon and place in serving bowl. Mix in the cream cheese and picante sauce.

2. Microwave in 30 seconds increments, stirring between each, until the dip is heated through and the cream cheese is melted.

3. Serve with your favorite tortilla chips, pretzel crisps or crackers.

now on to dessert!

Since the steelers were in the game, I had to make something black and gold so I went to a tried and true recipe-BOSTON CREAM CUPCAKES Nomnomnom

These are SO easy.

1 pack vanilla pudding mix

Chocolate chips

Heavy cream

1 box yellow cake mix

plus all the items needed to make the cake and pudding.

Prepare cake mix according to directions. Decide if you are doing cupcakes or a whole cake.

Prepare pudding according to directions for pie filling.

Instructions for cupcakes-

Prepare cakes and let cool. Once pudding is done setting, carefully cut off cupcake tops. Spoon vanilla pudding onto the cupcake and replaced cupcake top. You want to make sure you keep the vanilla pudding in the middle when you are spooning it on, so it doesnt run down the sides.

Repeat for all cupcakes.

Microwave chocolate for 2 mins. You will want to stir it after 1 minute and then keep a close eye on it.

Once chocolate is melted, whip in the heavy cream until it is creamy.

Drizzle chocolate mix over cupcakes or use like frosting.

Whole cake instructions-

Make 2 round cakes. Once they are cooled, spoon vanilla pudding on the bottom layer and then place top layer on top. Once again, keep the pudding away from the edges so it doesnt run down the sides.

Coat the top of the cake in the chocolate sauce and then drizzle it around the sides.

Enjoy!

Very easy dessert that is sure to impress.

Giant chocolate chip cookie cake

The recipe as written makes 7 layers, each being 8 inches. I decided to only make two layers and make them 12 inches. I used an extra large serving plate as a guide.

Ingredients

4 cups all-purpose Flour

1 1/2 tsp Baking Soda

1 1/2 tsp Salt

6 Tbsp Butter, softened

1 1/2 cups packed Light Brown Sugar

3/4 cup granulated Sugar

3 tsp pure Vanilla Extract

2 large Eggs, plus 2 Egg Yolks

3/4 cup Heavy Cream

3 cups Semisweet or Milk Chocolate Chips , I actually did 1 cup chocolate chips and 2 chips red & blue M&Ms

Frosting

2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened (I used reduced fat)
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk flour, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. Put butter and brown and granulated sugars into mixer bowl; mix on medium until pale and fluffy. Mix in vanilla, eggs, and yolks. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture in 2 batches, alternating with the cream. Stir in chocolate chips.

2. For each of the 7 layers, drop 1 level cup batter onto center of a baking sheet lined with parchment (keep unbaked dough refrigerated). Spread batter with wet hands or a spoon into an 8-inch circle. Bake until edges are pale golden brown, about 8minutes. Remove from oven. Use offset spatula to reshape circle. Return to oven; bake until edges are golden brown, 8 to 10 minutes more. Transfer to wire rack; let cool. Can be stored airtight up to 1 day.

Frosting

3.Mix cream cheese, butter, vanilla, and confectioners' sugar on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy. Spread onto 4 cookies. Stack cookies, placing unfrosted cookie on top. Refrigerate until frosting is set, at least 20 minutes or up to 4 hours. Serve at room temperature.

Biscotti and cupcakes

Yesterday I channeled my inner June Cleaver and I baked my little heart out. Granted I didnt do it while wearing a poofy skirt and pearls, but I think any 1950s homemaker would be proud of me.
Betty Ann(Mother In Law) brought us some fresh apples on Sunday so I needed to do something with them. Yes, I did have some as God intended but I also thought that I could make a yummy dessert with them. Now, I hate apple pie. Yep, I do. I know, I am just a commie but I cant stand the mushy apples. If you gave me the choice between a slice of the world's best apple pie and a fresh apple, I would go with the apple. Ya know what is funny, I actually make a decent apple pie. Anyway I was looking for something different so I thought that apple cupcakes would be a good way to go. I turned to my friend Martha(you may know her as Martha Stewart) and decided to use her apple cupcake recipe.

Apple Cupcakes

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 cups coarsely shredded apples, such as Macintosh (about 1 3/4 pounds)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Line two standard muffin tins with paper liners; set aside.
Whisk together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt in a medium bowl; set aside. Cream butter and sugar on medium-high speed in the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle until pale and fluffy, about 5 minutes. -Now, in my great wisdom, I had packed away my kitcheaide mixer. DUMB MOVE, so I ended up using a hand mixer. If you use a hand mixer, the butter and sugar will mix and end up sand like rather than a creamy mix. I just used the hand mixer for 5 minutes and then creamed them together with a spoon for 1-2 minutes.
Mix in eggs and vanilla.Reduce speed to low; mix in apples.
Add flour mixture; mix, scraping down sides of bowl as needed, until just combined.
Fill lined cups halfway with batter; bake until tops are springy to the touch, 18 to 20 minutes. Remove from tins; let cool on a wire rack. When completely cool, frost cupcakes.


Now my dear friend Martha recommends cream cheese frosting and I like that pairing but hubby hates it. I asked him what he wanted on top of these cupcakes and his reply was "cinnamon frosting". Okayyyyyyyyyyy never heard of it but he threw down the culinary gauntlet so I needed to answer. A quick Google search yielded a great recipe. I frosted half the cupcakes with the traditional cream cheese and the other half with a cinnamon-honey buttercream.
Frosting

Cinnamon-Honey buttercream frosting
1 1/4 cups confectioners sugar
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1 tablespoon honey
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
*Frosting recipe from the Serious Eats blog

I also made biscotti yesterday. Biscotti is easy plus I wanted to do a trial run of some recipes. I've signed up with Operation Baking Gals to help bake goodies for a solder overseas. I decided that biscotti would be a great idea so I wanted to tweak my recipes before I go ahead and bake dozens upon dozens.

Chocolate Chip Biscotti*
Ingredients
1/2 c. butter, room temperature
1 c. sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
2 c. flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 c. chocolate chips

Directions
Combine butter, sugar and eggs, mixing well.
Beat in vanilla.
Combine dry ingredients.
Add to egg mixture.
Add chocolate chips.
Batter will be very stiff and sticky.

Cover dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour or overnight.
With floured hands, divide the dough in 2 loaves about 12 inches long (like French bread).
Place loaves on 10 x 14 inch sheet, leaving at least 3 inches between.
Flatten each loaf slightly, evenly. DONT FLATTEN TOO MUCH! This is important.
Bake in preheated 400 degree oven for 20 minutes, or firm to the touch.
Remove.
Cool slightly; lower oven to 375 degrees.
While still warm, slice loaves in diagonal slices, about 1/3 to 1/2 inch thick.
Arrange on ungreased sheet and bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes, or until firm.
Do not brown, you dont want the chips to burn.

Once mine were cooled, I coated one side in chocolate...oh yeah, I went there!


Pictures are forth coming. It took me 3 hours to write this short blog entry, the two babies are just so demanding, ya know.